text:
RNase L is one of the key enzymes involved in the molecular mechanisms of interferon (IFN) function. Upon binding with its activator, 5'-phosphorylated and 2'-5' linked oligoadenylates (2-5A), RNase L plays an important role in the antiviral and anti-proliferative functions of IFN, and exerts proapoptotic activity independent of IFN. These biological activities are thought to occur through the RNase L-dependent regulation of RNA stability and expression; however, the molecular targets of RNase L remain largely unknown. Recently we have found that RNase L regulates the expression of several proinflammatory genes. Our research has focused on investigating the molecular mechanism by which RNase L regulates the expression of these proinflammatory genes and the role of RNase L in inflammatory diseases.
Aimin Zhou
- Nora AlghamdiPhD Student
- Dr. Huaiyu WangPost Doctoral Fellow
- Xin Yi
- Boo Seok Yun
- Chun ZengPhD Student
- Lin ZhangPhD Student
1. Huijing Yin, Aimin Zhou and Yalei Dai (2012) The association of elevated 2 5-oligoadenylate-dependent RNase L with lung cancer risk correlated deficient enzymatic activity and decreased capacity of RNase L dimerization , Lung Cancer, in press.
2. Dong J, Bu J, Du W, Li Y, Jia Y, Li J, Meng X, Yuan M, Peng X, Zhou A, Wang L (2012). A new novel mutation in FBN1 causes autosomal dominant Marfan syndrome in a Chinese family, Mol Vis. 18:81-6.
3. Yanmin Huang, Jianguo Cui, Qiaoxia Zheng, Chun Zeng, Quan Chen and Aimin Zhou (2012) 6-hydroximino-4-aza-A-homo-cholest-3-one is a potent inducer of apoptosis in cancer cells , Steroids. 77(8-9):829-34.
4. Jian Kong, Jinge Kong, Bing Pan, Shan Ke, Aimin Zhou, Lemin Zheng and WenBing Sun (2012) Insufficient radiofrequency ablation promotes angiogenesis of residual hepatocellular carcinoma via vascular endothelial growth factor , PLoS One, 7(5): e37266
5. Yi X, Zhong B, Smith KM, Geldenhuys WJ, Feng Y, Pink JJ, Dowlati A, Xu Y, Zhou A, Su B (2012) Identification of a class of novel tubulin inhibitors , J Med Chem. 55(7):3425-35.
6. Fabre O, Salehzada T, Lambert K, Yun B, Zhou A, Mercier J and Bisbal C, (2012) RNase L disruption leads to impaired adipocyte differentiation, lipids storage and insulin response , Cell Death and Differentiation,1-12.
7. Zhong B, Cai X, Chennamaneni S, Yi X, Liu L, Pink JJ, Dowlati A, Xu Y, Zhou A, Su B (2012) From COX-2 inhibitor nimesulide to potent anti-cancer agent: Synthesis, in vitro, in vivo and pharmacokinetic evaluation , Eur J Med Chem. 47(1):432-44.
8. Yanmin Huang, Jianguo Cui, Sijing Chen, Chunfang Gan and Aimin Zhou (2011) Synthesis and antiproliferative activity of some steroidal lactam compounds Steroids. 76(12):1346-50.
9. Zhong B, Cai X, Yi X, Zhou A, Chen S, Su B (2011) In vitro and in vivo effects of a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor nimesulide analog JCC76 in aromatase inhibitors-insensitive breast cancer cells J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 126(1-2):10-8.
10. Baozhong Xin, Stephen Jones, Erik G. Puffenberger, Claas Hinze, Alicia Bright, Haiyan Tan ,Aimin Zhou, Guiyun Wu, Jilda Vargus-Adams, Dimitris Agamanolis, Heng Wang (2011),A homozygous mutation in SAMHD1 gene causes cerebral vasculopathy and early onset stroke, PNAS, 108(13):5372-7.
11. Jin G, Kawsar HI, Hirsch SA, Zeng C, Jia X, Feng Z, Ghosh SK, Zheng QY, Zhou A, McIntyre TM, Weinberg A (2010), An antimicrobial peptide regulates tumor-associated macrophage trafficking via the chemokine receptor CCR2, a model for tumorigenesis. PLoS One. 8;5(6):e10993.
12. Baozhong Xin, Erik G. Puffenberger, Susan Turben, Haiyan Tan, Aimin Zhou, Heng Wang (2010), A homozygous mutation in TMCO1 causes a novel autosomal recessive syndrome characterized by craniofacial dysmorphism, skeletal anomalies and mental retardation PNAS, 107(1):258-63.
13. Jianguo Cui, Hui Wang, Yanmin Huang, Yi Xin and Aimin Zhou (2009), Synthesis and cytotoxic analysis of some disodium 3ß, 6ß-dihydroxysterol disulfates , Steroids, 74:1057-1060.
14. Jianguo Cui, Hui Wang, Yanmin Huang, Xin Yi and Aimin Zhou (2009), Synthesis and evaluation of some steroidal oximes as cytotoxic agents: Structure/Activity Studies (II) , Steroids, 74:989-995.
15. Jianguo Cui, Lei Fan, Liliang Huang, Hongli Liu, Aimin Zhou (2009) Synthesis and evaluation of some steroidal oximes as cytotoxic agents: Structure/activity studies (I) . Steroids. 74(1):62-72
16. Hongli Liu, Shu-Ling Liang, Sheetal Kumar, Crystal Weyman, Wendy Liu and Aimin Zhou (2009) Statin induces apoptosis in ovarian cancer cells through activation of JNK and enhancement of Bim expression Cancer Chemother Pharmacol. 63(6):997-1005.
17.Jianguo Cui, Liliang Huang, Lei fan and Aimin Zhou (2008) "A Facile and Efficient Synthesis of Some (6E)-Hydroximino-4-en-3-one Steroids, Steroidal Oximes from Cinachyrella spp. Sponges", Steroids, 73(3):252-256.
18.Yan Zhou, Crystal Weyman, Alexandru Almasan and Aimin Zhou (2008) "IFN-gamma selectively mediates cytochrome C release and apoptosis in HL-60 cells through decreased Bcl2 expression and increased Bak expression", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 28(2):65-72.
19.Lisam Singh, Michael Berk, Rhonda Oates, Zhenwen Zhao, Aimin Zhou, Yan Xu, (2007) "Overexpression of ovarian cancer G-protein-coupled receptor (OGR1) in prostate cancer cell induces apoptosis and inhibits cell migration", JNCI 99:1313-1327.
20.Jesper B. Andersen, Xiaoling Li, Carrieanne S. Judge, Krystyna Mazan-Mamczarz, Aimin Zhou, Longhu Zhou, Robert H. Silverman, Myriam Gorospe, and Bret A. Hassel, (2007) "Role of 2-5A dependent RNase L/HPC1 in senescence", Oncogene. 10;26(21):3081-3088.
21.Wendy Liu, Shu-Ling Liang, Hongli Liu, Robert Silverman and Aimin Zhou (2007) "Tumor suppressor function of RNase L in a mouse model", European J. of Cancer 43:202-209.
22.Shu-Ling Liang, David Quirk and Aimin Zhou (2006) "RNase L: its biological roles and regulation", IUBMB Life, 58: 1-7.
23.Shu-Ling Liang, Hongli Liu and Aimin Zhou (2006) "Lovastatin-induced apoptosis in macrophages through the Rac1/Cdc42 pathway", J. of Immunology, 177:651-656.
24.Aimin Zhou, Ross Molinaro, Krishnamurthy Malathi and Robert Silverman (2005) "Mapping of the human RNASEL promoter and expression in cancer and normal cells", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 25:595-603.
25.Yan Zhou, Barbara Chase, Mark Whitmore, Bryan Williams and Aimin Zhou (2005) "Double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase R is down-regulated by phorbol ester", Eur. J. Biochem., 272:1568-1576.
26.Beihua Dong, Quangsheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, Aimin Zhou, Ronald N Harty, Santanu Rose, Amiya Banerjee, Roger Slee, Jeanna Guenther, Bryan R.G. Willaims, Therese Wiedmer, Peter Sims and Robert H. Silverman (2004), "Enhanced Expression of Interferon Stimulated Genes by Phospholipid Scramblase 1 Suppresses Viral Replication", J. Virology, 78: 8983-8993.
27.Barbara Chase, Yan Zhou, Robert H. Silverman and Aimin Zhou (2003) "Proteasome Mediated Degradation of RNase L in Response to Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) Treatment of Mouse L929 cells", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 23 (10): 565-573.
28.Khalid S.A. Khabar, Yunus Siddiqui, Fahad al-Zoghabi, Latifa al-Haj, Mohammed Dhalla., Aimin Zhou, Beihua Dong, Mark Whitmore, Jayashree M.Paranjape, Al-Ahdal, M., Al-Mohanna, F. Bryan R.G. Williams, and Robert H. Silverman (2003) "RNase L mediates transient control of interferon response through modulation of the double-stranded RNA dependent protein kinase PKR", J. Biol. Chem. 278(22):20124-32.
29.Wolfgang W. Leitner, Leroy N. Hwang, Michael L DeVeer, Aimin Zhou, Robert H. Silverman, Bryan R.G. Williams, Thomas W. Dubensky, Han Ying and Nicholas P. Restifo (2003) " Alphavirus-based DNA vaccine breaks immunological tolerance by activating innate antiviral pathways", Nature Medicine, 9:33-39.
30.Robert H. Silverman, Aimin Zhou, Michael B. Auerbach, Danielle Kish, Anton Gorbachev and Robert L. Fairchild (2002) "Skin Allograft Rejection is Suppressed in Mice Lacking the Antiviral Enzyme, 2',5'-Oligoadenylate Dependent RNase L", Viral Immunology, 15:77-83, 2002.
31.Robert Silverman, Ammar Halloum, Aimin Zhou, Beihua Dong, Fahad Al-Zoghaibi, David Kushner, Quansheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, Therese Wiedmer, and Peter J. Sims (2002) "Suppression of ovarian cancinoma cell growth in vivo by the interferon-inducible plasma membrane protein, phospholipid scramblase 1", Cancer Research, 62(2):397-402.
32.Quan Chen, Bendi Gong, Aimin Zhou, Mahamad Hussein, Bryan R.G. Williams, and Alexandru Almasan (2001) "TRAIL/Apo2L induction and modulation of Bcl-2-related proteins regulate type I interferon-induced apoptosis in multiple myeloma", Blood , 98(7): 2183-2192.
33.Xiaodong Zheng, Robert H. Silverman, Aimin Zhou, Herbert E. Kaufman and James M. Hill (2001). "Mice devoid of 2-5A dependent RNase L have decreased apoptosis in cornea and increased severity of herpetic keratitis", Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. , 42(1):120-126.
34.Lorraine Rusch, Aimin Zhou and Robert H. Silverman (2000) "Caspase-dependent apoptosis by 2',5'-oligoadenylate activation of RNase L is enhanced by IFN-beta", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 20:1091-1100.
35.Sangeeta Banerjee, Sungwhan An, Aimin Zhou, Robert H. Silverman and Shinji Makino (2000) "RNase L-independent specific 28S ribosomal RNA cleavage in murine coronavirus-infected cells", J. virology, 74(19):8793-8802.
36.Aimin Zhou, Huiqin Nie and Robert H. Silverman (2000), "Comparative analysis and origins of the human and murine RNase L genes that function in the antiviral action of interferon", Mammalian Genome, 11:989-992.
37.Khalid S.A. Khabar, Yunus Siddiqui, Fahad al-Zoghabi, Aimin Zhou, Sandy D. Der, Bryan R.G. and Robert H. Silverman (2000), "Viral replication and antiviral action of interferon-alpha in fibroblasts devoid of the major IFN-mediated pathways, RNase L, PKR and Mx", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 20:653-659.
38.Quansheng Zhou, Ji Zhao, Fahad Al-Zoghaibi, Aimin Zhou, Therese Wiedmer, Robert H. Silverman, and Peter J. Sims (2000) "Transcriptional Control of the human plasma membrane phospholipid scramblase 1 gene is mediated by interferon-alpha, Blood, 95(8):2593-2599.
39.Mikhail Iordanov, Jayashree Paranjape, Aimin Zhou, John Wong, Bryan R.G. Williams, Eliane F. Meurs, Robert H. Silverman and Bruce E. Magun (2000) "Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase by double-stranded RNA and EMCV: Involvement of ribonuclease L, protein kinase R, and alternative pathways", Mol. Cell. Bio., 20:617-627.
40.Aimin Zhou, Jayashree M.Paranjape, Sandy Der, Brayn R.G. Williams and Robert H. Silverman (1999). "Novel innate mechanisms of interferon action are revealed in triply deficient mice", Virology, 258:435-440.
41.Sandy D. Der, Aimin Zhou, Robert H. Silverman and Bryan R.G.Williams (1998). "Identification of genes differentially regulated by interferon alpha, beta, or gamma using oligonucleotide arrays", Proc Nat'l Acad Sci, USA 95:15623-8.
42.Aimin Zhou, Jayashree M, Paranjape,Bret A. Hassel, Huiqin Nie and Robert H. Silverman (1998). "Impact of RNase L overexpression on viral and cellular growth and death ", J. Interferon & Cytokine Res., 18:953-961.
43.Ying Xiang, David A. Simpson, Jason Spiegel, Aimin Zhou, Robert H. Silverman and Richard Condit (1998). "The Vaccinia virus A18R DNA helicase is a postreplicative negative transcription elongation factor", J. Virology, 72:7012-7023.
44.Aimin Zhou, Jayashree Paranjape, Thomas L. Brown, Huiqin Nie, Sharon Naik, Beihua Dong, Ansi Chang, Bruce Trapp, Robert Fairchild,Clemencia and Robert H. Silverman (1997). "Interferon action and apoptosis are defective in mice devoid of 2',5'-oligoadenylate dependent RNase L", EMBO, 16: 6355-6363.
45.Dibyendu N. SenGupta, Banani SenGupta, Aimin Zhou, Amitava Mitra and Robert H. Silverman (1996). "Expression of Mammalian Antiviral Enzymes from the 2-5A system in Transgenic Plants", J. Plant Bichem Biotech, 5: 69-74.
46.Aimin Zhou, L. Wang, S. Vasavada, B. Dong, H. Nie, J.M. Church, B.R.G. Williams, S. Banerjee, and R.H. Silverman (1995). "Elevated amounts of 2-5A dependent RNase in Colorectal Tumors", Clin Cancer Res, 1:1421-1428.
47.Beihua Dong, Lulu Xu, Aimin Zhou, Bret A. Hassel, Xavier Lee, Paul F. Torrence and Robert H. Silverman (1994). "Intrinsic molecular activities of the interferon-induced 2-5A dependent RNase", J. Biol. Chem., 269:14153-14158.
48.Lisa M. Baca, Peter Genis, Ganes Sen, Monte Meltzer, Aimin Zhou, Robert H. Silverman, Howard E. Gendelman (1994). "Regulation and antiviral activities of interferon inducible genes in human immunodeficiency virus infected monocyte", J. of Leukocyte Biol, 55:299-309.
49.Jeremy Squire, Aimin Zhou, Bret A. Hassel, Huiqin Nie, and Robert H. Silverman (1994)."Localization of the interferon-induced, 2-5A dependent RNase gene (RNS4) to human Chromosome 1q25 ", Genomics, 19:174-175.
50.Bret A Hassel, Aimin Zhou, Carole Sotomayor, Avuedaiappan Maran, and Robert H. Silverman (1993). " A dominant negative mutant of 2-5A dependent RNase suppresses antiproferative and antiviral effects of interferon", EMBO, 12:3297-3304.
51.Aimin Zhou, Bret A. Hassel and Robert H. Silverman (1993). "Expression cloning of 2-5A dependent RNase: a uniquely regulated mediator of interferon action", Cell, 72:753-765.
52.Paul F. Torrence, Ratan K maitra, Krystyn A. Lesiak, Aimin Zhou and Robert H Silverman (1993). "Targeting RNA for degradation with a 2-5A oligoadenylate-antisense chimera", Proc Nat'l Acad Sci, USA, 90:1300-1304.
53.Bernard Bayard and Aimin Zhou (1991)." Affinity blotting assay for 2-5A dependent nuclease", Anal Biochem, 200:108-1124.
54.Dibendy N. SenGupta, Ben Berkhout, Anne Gatignol, Aimin Zhou and Robert H. Silverman (1990). " Direct evidence for translational regulation by leader RNA and tat protein of human immunodeficiency virus type1", Proc Nat'l Acad Sci, USA, 87:7492-7496.
55.Aimin Zhou et al. "Detection of Microquantitative proteins" pp210-220 in Experimental Technology of Microbiology. Shuzheng Zhang,ed.,China science Press, 1988. (Chinese).
56.Aimin Zhou and Kaiyu Yang (1986), "Purification and characterization of 2-5A synthetase from rabbit reticulocytes", KEXUETONGBAO, 31:1259-1263 (Chinese and English).


text:
The incident took place at Taft Union high School in California at about 9am local time.
A spokesman for the Kern County Sheriff's department said: "We have had a shooting at Taft High School in Taft, California. A student was shot on campus. That student has been airlifted to hospital in Bakersfield. A suspect, also a student, is in custody. We have recovered a firearm: a shotgun.
"At this point we are still in the process of securing and vacating the school."
Initial reports suggested two people had been shot. The spokesman said that initially police believed that another victim had suffered a minor injury in the shooting, but now do not believe that to be the case.
The suspected shooter is said to have been taken into police custody at about 9.20am.
The television station KERO said that it received a tip about the shooting from people hiding in cupboards at the school.
The station reported that officers from the Kern County sheriff's department were going room to room to secure the school and that parents had been instructed to come and collect pupils.
The incident comes as the US in the midst of a gun control debate following the massacre in December of 20 pupils and six staff at a primary school in Newtown, Connecticut.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
It will premier in April.
On the pages of the newest issue of Hakusensha´s Young Animal has announced that a second season based on the manga "Nobunaga no Shinobi" has been greenlighted and it will premier in April.
Akitaro Daichi is directing the anime at TMS.
AniTay decribes the anime as follows:
"Chidori is a young ninja in the warring states period. Her most fervent wish is to be in the service of legendary warlord Oda Nobunaga, who saved her from drowning in a river when she was a child. After 5 years of training, she and her friendzoned companion Sukezou are pressed into service! Now Chidori will do her best to help Nobunaga achieve his ambitions in this series of comedic shorts."
Via: Anime News Network


text:
If you believe the markets, with a month to go, the British Trainers' Championship is done and dusted whilst there's all to play for in Ireland. Interestingly, there's not much that separates the contestants in both tables – Nicky Henderson is £644,000 ahead of Paul Nicholls in Britain and Gordon Elliott is €491,000 in front of Willie Mullins in Ireland. However, the best I could find on the Exchanges was 1.06 for Henderson to retain his title, while across the sea there looks to be a genuine two horse race, with Betfair Sportsbook offering Mullins at 4/5 and Elliott at 10/11.
One reason the bookies might be finding it hard to put a rizla paper between the Irish contestants is, as history has taught us, Punchestown can change everything. Last year Elliott went into the Festival more than €400,000 ahead, only to finish €200,000 behind Mullins and be denied a first Trainers' Championship. Elliott described the outcome as 'Heatbreaking'.
He may have been the top Trainer at Cheltenham this year, but Elliott has made it clear where his priorities lie 'If you ask me do I want to be leading trainer in Cheltenham or leading trainer in Ireland, there is only one place that matters'.
I sense an increased determination this year to wrestle the title from Mullins' grip. I heard it said at a Cheltenham Preview Night that Elliott had left some horses in Ireland to focus on the valuable end of season handicaps. Whilst I don't know the evidence for this, you can always do worse that back blind an Elliott horse with Davy Russell on board in a handicap.
Elliott also enjoys the patronage of the mighty Gigginstown Stud and with their retained jockies, Davy Russell and Jack Kennedy, firing on all cylinders, this season may well have a different outcome. To strengthen the argument, even if Mullins' top rider, Ruby Walsh, does recover from his injury plagued season in time for the Punchestown Festival, there has to be a question over his fitness and psychological readiness.
There doesn't currently appear to be a great deal of liquidity in the market for the Irish Championship and the odds might not seem attractive, on which ever camp you favour. However, if you are tempted and want to squeeze some value, you should be able to lay Mullins at evens. And that might be where the smart money should go.


text: Google detailed its Expeditions project back at I/O, and now the company is looking to get schools more involved. To do just that, Mountain View will offer schools the VR field trip kits for free. The New York Times reports that Google is handing out the Expeditions package at no cost to help push the effort ahead. Each kit contains Cardboard VR headsets and ASUS phones for the students alongside an app for teachers that controls the virtual trips. And as you might expect, they're able to pause the action to ask questions as needed. Google isn't ruling out charging for the gear at some point, though, if it's able to make the price affordable enough for educators.


text:
Zinedine Zidane:
"My toughest opponent? Scholes of Manchester. He is the complete midfielder. Scholes is undoubtedly the greatest midfielder of his generation."
Rio Ferdinand:
"He'll do ridiculous things in training like say, "You see that tree over there?" - it'll be 40 yards away - "I'm going to hit it". And he'll do it. Everyone at the club considers him the best"
Marcello Lippi:
"Paul Scholes would have been one of my first choices for putting together a great team - that goes to show how highly I have always rated him."
Laurent Blanc:
"I tell anyone who asks me - Scholes is the best English player."
Edgar Davids:
"I'm not the best. Paul Scholes is. We can all learn from Paul Scholes."
Thierry Henry:
"Without any doubt the best player in the Premiership has to be Paul Scholes. He knows how to do everything, and he is the one who directs the way his team plays. On top of all that he has that indestructible mental strength, and he is a genuine competitor."
Peter Schmeichel:
"His reading of the game is unsurpassed. He has the best eye for a pass, for what the play or the game needs at that precise moment, that I have ever seen anyone else have. He controls and distributes the play and the game better than anyone I have ever seen."


text:
Los Tres Hermanos
Friday, April 22, 2011
My younger brother, my older brother, & me, Corpus Christi, Texas, Circa 1985
Photo by Dora Ramirez
No featured poet this week, but I do have some pictures by long-time friend,
Bob Anderson
. There'll be more on Bob when you get to his photos.
My photos this week are some black and whites I picked because I like them. I also have included some personal-history pictures. I don't usually caption pictures, but I did caption these because it's my blog and I get to do what I want to.
Here's the line-up for you reading pleasure.
Stephen Berg
His versions of:
Bankei Yotaku
First Song
Manuel Blas de Otero
Arthur Rimbaud
Pope G and the cowboys
Deborah Garrison
The Kiss
the cootie conundrum
Steve Healey
best bond ever
up at 4:30
Norman Stock
Thank You for Your Helpful Comments
the Spurs lost the first game of the finals
Ralph Angel
Breathing Out
nights are cool and breezy
Rikki Ducornet
She is a Robber
The Lunatic Algebra
happy birthday to me
Sonia Sanchez
Blues Haiku
Bob Anderson
Photos from Turkey (mostly)
the woman who reminds me of Gertrude Stein
Sunday breakfast at IHOP
blind date
Fragments from
Book V - The Taut Tongue
puddles in the parking lot
Wendell Berry
Let Us Pledge
The Vacation
The Widower
The Storm
Julie B. Levine
Rain at Night
I blame it on something I ate
Ishle Y Park
New Year's Eve
ever after
Yusef Komunyakaa
King of the Hill
fat lady with a parasol passing
First off, I have several poems by
Stephen Berg
, some his own work and some "versions" of poems by other poets that have been translated by someone else into English. (I like this "versions" word in that it clearly describes what's going on. I'm quite dissatisfied with well-known poets who present and claim credit for "translations" from languages they have no knowledge of.)
The poems are from Berg'sbook
The Steel Cricket, Versions 1958-1997
, published by Copper Canyon Press in 1997.
Berg's first poem in the book is taken from a work by Bankei Yotaku, a well-known Rinzai Zen Buddhist master, and the abbot of the Ryomon-ji and Nyoho-ji who was born in 1622 and died in 1693.
First Song
never was always will be
mind before mind
earth water fire wind
sleep there tonight
you you on fire
burning yourself
to this burning house
all the way back
to the womb
can't remember a thing
good bad
self self
winter's wonderful
in summer
summer breezes
even before autumn's
rich now
you hate the poor
and forget when you
had nothing
you saved every dollar
a friend
watched by the famished
wraiths of your self
your whole life
making money
could not pay off
clinging wanting
nothing on my mind
that's why I can say
it's all mine
you want someone you love
only because
you never knew her
you can't forget
not to remember
someone you never forgot
looking back
you see it one brief evening
realize see
everything's a lie
bitter? does this
incredible world of grief
hurt? why wound yourself
brooding on dreams?
no hands no eyes
nothing exists
touch see
that's it
all this
is unreal
instead of clutching your head
go and sing
you mind
torments you
because you need it
hating hell
loving heaven
torture yourself
in this joyous world
the hating mind
itself is not bad
not not hating
what's bad
good bad
crumple into a ball
of trash
for the gutter
ideas about
what you should do
never existed
with Buddhism
enlightenment really?
keep wrestling with yourself
these days enlightenment
means nothing to me
so I wake up
feeling fine
tired of praying
for salvation look
at those poor beautiful flowers
along the river
in out
die live
day and night here
listen the world's
your hand
are pitiful
all dressed up dazzled
by brocade robes
come from you mind
right wrong right wrong
never were
call it this that
it doesn't exist
except this page
except these wavering phrases
praised abused
like a block of wood straight through
my head's the universe
can't hide my ugliness my clumsiness
so I just go along
with what is
without anger
without happiness
nothing to see nothing to know
before after now
call and you'll hear
in heartbreaking silence
Next, two short poems Berg made from poems of
Manuel Blas de Otero
de Otero, who was born in 1916 and died in 1979, was a Spanish poet born in Basque country and one of the most influential anti-government poets of the Spanish Civil Way.
Imagine for a minute how miserable I felt
when I though that God, the only living thing, doesn't exist,
or if He does is made of nothing except
earth, water, shadow, and wind,
and that death - Oh I'm shaking like crazy -
is and emptiness without even the light from staircase,
a colossal hole that sinks endlessly
into a noting of moist silence.
Then why live, sons
of mothers, at what window be, crucified ones
and all you others? Enough death.
Enough. God, stop killing us wrong like this
or if you can't, just let us dangle way up
above you - howling river that overflows -.
One body after another until death,
on the edge of nothingness, I cry out
to God, and his silence bounces back and chokes me.
God, if I have to die, at least
be awake. Night after night I still don't
know if my voice is going to be heard. I talk to myself.
I lift my hands, you cut off the fingertips.
I open my eyes to you, they catch fire.
I'm thirsty, salt flows out of sand.
Here's what being a man is: his hands are full -
horrible! He exists, he doesn't exist - eternal, criminal
angel whose giant wings are chains.
And last, Berg provides his own vision of a well-titled piece by
Arthur Rimbaud
ancient animals fucked running
glans filmed with excremental blood
our fathers showed their cocks
unsheathed them pulling the scrotum out to display it
you needed a huge one to fuck women or pigs
don't envy a rhino's we're big enough
but sadly we've given up wielding our shlongs in public
showing off like children frolicking in the woods
often I've watched men
shitting behind hedges
learned what the ass is for
white screened by hair
woman have a tuft of right there
focused like a dark flame
everything to be naked studying it
I also dreamt of eating the deep pink lips that pout
after fucking wet with my sperm
dreamt my mouth was often
open on it
as if proof of a soul depended on that act
as if that were my soul
kneeling sucking on it weeping
I wrote this last Friday, some calendar considerations interrupted by some cowpokes riding in from the range.
Pope G and the cowboys
Good Friday,
so designated by those
who believe the stories, which
I do not, so for me it's just another Friday,
this one April 22 in the year of our Lord, 2011,
as so designated by
Pope Gregory, back in the day
when popes were pretty much
the boss of everyone except in places like
China and Mexico and Peru and
Oklahoma and India and certain islands
where giant heads were carved from stone
and set to serve as sentinels to the sea, but in all places
not overrun by going-to-hell pagans, like Italy
and France, Popes were big deals,
the big enchiladas,
so to speak,
running the show, setting the rules
and the boundaries of fact and fiction
and old Greg was especially
that way
and liked to make up stuff
like calling houseflies dragons
so everyone with a fly-swatter could
be a dragon-slayer
to the glory of Christ…
but wait
four cowboys just walked in,
real cowboys
with jeans and boots and
knife scabbards and cell phones
stuck on their wide embossed belts
and great big hats, like mobile tents for your head,
real, by gosh, cowboys , like I used to see when we lived
further south and don't see to much here
except during rodeo weeks
and they're having a real interesting conversation
about hummingbirds flying thousands of miles
and whooping cranes
flying back and forth to the Texas and where ever they spend summers,
and how the upcoming drought
which limits the flow of fresh water into the bays
along the Texas coast kills the food
they eat when they're here in the winter, it's like knowing
how to get home and nowhere else, one cowboy says, and when
you finally get home, the fridge is empty
and you have nothing to eat
until summer comes and you go back to your other home
in Canada or wherever,
and what a lousy fucking deal it is for the birds
that are screwed when there's not enough rain
and equally screwed when there's too much rain
and too much fresh water flow into the salt water bays,
instead of too little,
which also kills the blue crabs and whatnot,
leaving the fridge
is just as empty for the cranes
and you have to wonder how these creatures
have survived
as long as they have,
a living planet we used to call it,
but the truth is there's always been as much dying
as living going on and somehow,
being optimistic creatures ourselves
who make a big deal
about the first baby born at the beginning
of each new year
but never talk about the first person dying,
and so, all this dying going on and
we just haven't
and old Pope G
just like the birds and the crabs
and, prospectively,
you and me
and he couldn't do a damn thing about it,
one of the things that makes
the cowboys
a whole lot more interesting
than him
in all his papal glory
and intrigue
and heretic burning
and calendar making, fortunately for him,
the only thing he's remembered
in these latter days
The next poem is by
Deborah Garrison
, from her book
A Working Girl Can't Win
, published in 2000 by The Modern Library.
Garrison, born in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1965, worked on the editorial staff of the
New Yorker
for fifteen years and is now the poetry editor of Alfred A. Knopf and a senior editor at Pantheon Books.
A Kiss
It was not like everyone said.
Not like being needed,
or needing; not desperate;
it did not whisper
that I'd come to harm. I didn't lose
my head. No, I was not
going to leap from a great
height and flap
my wings.
It was in fact
the opposite of flying;
it contained the wish
to be toppled, to be on the floor,
the ground, anywhere I might
lie down....
On my back, and you on me.
Do you mind?
Not like having a conversation, exactly;
though not unlike telling
and being told -
That I was like a woman admitting
there was a part of herself she didn't know?
There was a part of myself.
I didn't know.
An introduction
then, to the woman I was like,
at least as long as you kissed me.
Now that's a long time,
at least a couple of women ago.
Another dog and cat story - it's true, I got a million of 'em.
the cootie conundrum
From The New Times Book of Timely Definitions:
- The aura and essences of all living things; That which follows behind all creatures large and small,
as well immobile creatures such as trees and bushes and
rutabagas and carrots; The air breathed in and out, thoughts
left hanging incomplete; an insubstantial substance like the ghosts
of muddy footprints on a kitchen floor after scrupulous
mopping; a conceit of the dictionarily challenged
so here's
the dilemma:
the blind cat
loves dog cooties
while Reba
the deaf dog hates
cat cooties - so
the dog-cootie
likes to sleep
on the dog's bed
because of all the readily available
dog cooties,
leaving behind
a surfeit of cat cooties
in the process, making
the dog's bed
entirely unacceptable
to the cat-cootie-hating
so the dog makes herself a bed
which, in the course of a week or so,
accumulates a full helping
dog cooties,
which draws the cat to the new bed
having, in due course,
the original supply of dog cooties
in the old bed,
leaving Reba the dog
once again out on a search
for a new cat-cootie-free
and, both of these animals
being highly intelligence, old, and
and good-natured
I am concerned
that this constant shifting,
living like Gypsies
from tent to tent,
might harm them, being,
like I said, old,
well past the age
where they have any illusions
about change being their friend,
believing, as I do, that that kind of
change-is-your friend baloney
is what we tell people
as we begin
to repossess their home of fifty years
and nothing more
My father in 1978, two years before he died, when he could still get out and about
The next poem is by
Steve Healey
. It is from his book,
, published in 2004 by The Coffee House Press.
Healey is a critic, essayist and poet who divides his time between Minneapolis, Minnesota, and East Lansing, Michigan, where he teaches creative writing and literature at Michigan State University.
best bond ever
Everyone says Sean Connery
because he has those sleepy eyes
that say even God can't remember
all these secrets. Imagine trying to love
equally every grass blade on Earth,
then lying on the best lawn ever
to feel more like God. While sleeping
I let the green fingers grown through me,
then try to salvage a full--length dream:
waking is where all the best roads
meet the water on my face, and lying there
feels so new it's not possible to talk.
Later, okay, I'll confess aloud:
my father was a covert agent,
and he would've had sex with Sean Connery
any day of the week. Even if they never did it
and this confession goes wrong,
a song may still emerge from it.
A voice is a very naked thing, and even
the best country music is wobbly enough
to say I've had some intercourse,
I've seen some weather, I can't see
where I'm going. Yesterday, for example,
it's summery, kind of nineteenth century:
modern grammar wants to be born,
it wants to exit my mouth.
My best face is where sunny fingers
frequently probe for signs of pain,
and last night I watch lightning
from the broken porch . It's raining
minus signs, my genes mumble
to their briny, obsolete messiah.
Which of my faces grazes
at what flash necropolis
I don't know, nor am I certain where
Shelley is now, or Descartes for that matter,
but I think about how far away you are
to have an ocean at your feet,
and what you said about the dog
washing up on the beach,
reminding everyone of something.
I'll speak for myself:
the hardest part is receiving the loss
and being very quiet for a while,
touching a certain hole, and believing
these words do more than just lie
on a lot of processed wood bound by
what? The desire to catch a spy?
My face is the place where
my boat and the water are one,
embarrassment cradles me to sleep,
and yes, my father is the best-kept secret,
he is actually dead.
I'm an early riser, though usually not this early.
up at 4:30
are a spectacle here,
vivid, ranging from lemon yellow
to searing red,
but I still prefer the sun
as it rises,
less like a movie special
more sedate, a gradual lighting
of the sky
before the sun
slips up over the east horizon…
I think
that as each day ends in a blaze
of glory
it begins as a
tiptoe through the dark night
like my own start in the morning,
down the hallway
to the bathroom, careful
not to step
on the blind cat
who sometimes gets lost at night
and ends
on the throw rug
right outside my bedroom door…
I enjoy the day's beginning,
the sights and sounds
as seen and heard from my patio,
alone in the dark,
then not alone as first light
filters through the trees
waking birds
who begin their morning calls,
then the first pink
of the sun
finally showing itself
over my neighbor's fence,
then full light, the dogs stretch
and bark
at the train passing
several miles away, so quiet the morning
until then that the clatter of their wheels
and the wail of their whistle
sounds so close, just across the creek
and down the street,
right past the house
where the policeman lives
with loud family fights
and parties
every Saturday night
ka-thunka, ka-thunka, ka-thunka,
conjunto bass
shimmering the air,
slipping through dancing squeezebox squeals,
sometimes wondering if I should call
the police on the police,
remembering they all carry guns
all the time,
ka-thunka, ka-thunka…
but this morning,
none of that, up at 4:30,
just me and the gathering sun
and the birds
and dogs
and a train like right next door
Here's a poem by
Norman Stock
, borrowed from his book,
Buying Breakfast for my Kamikaze
. The book was published by Gibbs-Smith in 1994.
Stock won the Peregrine Smith Poetry Contest for this, his first book of poetry. His poems have also appeared in many magazine's, as well as in anthologies and textbooks. His awards include the National Arts Club Scholarship and the Alan Collins Fellowship at Bread Loaf, the Tennessee Williams Scholarship at Sewanee, P &W's Writers Exchange Award, the Bennington Writers Workshop Poetry Prize, the Writers Voice New Voice Award, and a Tanne Foundation Fellowship. He has twice been a finalist for Poet Laureate of Queens.
Who would not admit they have had the exact same feeling, well-hidden by most of us, but there all the same. It's the problem with exposing oneself to the world - you have to pretend you don't care what someone thinks.
Thank You for the Helpful Comments
I sit quietly listening
as they tear my poem to shreds in the poetry workshop
as each one says they have a "problem" with this line
and they have a "problem" with that line
and I am not allowed to speak because that is the
etiquette of the workshop
so I sit listening and writhing while they tear the guts out
my poem and leave it lying bleeding and dead
and when they're finally finished having kicked the
stuffing out of it
having trimmed it down from twenty lines to about four
words that nobody objects to
then they turn to me politely and they say Norman
do you have any response
response I say picking myself up from the floor and brushing
away the dirt while holding on for dear life to what I
thought was my immortal poem now dwindled to nothing
and though what I really want to say is can I get my money
for this stupid workshop what I say instead is...
uh...thank you for our helpfulcomments...
while mumble under my breath motherfuckers
wait till I get to
The Spurs lost the first game, but won the second, leaving it one each in the first finals series. Early money was saying it was going to be the tightest one-eight series in a long long time, with Memphis' skill set unusually strong in areas of the Spurs greatest weaknesses. Anticipating that, I had picked the Spurs to win the series in six games. We'll see how it turns out. I'm not nearly as confident as I was before the series started. Lots of fans in San Antonio going to be very disappointed if the Spurs don't win the championship after one of their best regular seasons ever. We'll know, by the time this is posted, how the best of seven series turned out.
Late update: Down 3 to 1 in the 7-game series, tying last night's game with a 3-pointer in the last 1.5 seconds of regular play, pushing the game into overtime, which the Spurs won, 110-103. Two games remain in the series and the Spurs must win both. If they lose either, they're done for the season.
A long shot, but not impossible.
Here's the poen.
the Spurs lost the first game of the finals
the Spurs
lost their first game
in the finals
so I'm not reading
sports news this week
I'm a true-blue American patriot
and like all true-blue American
I am certain that, if I just
close my eyes tight enough,
I mean really really
them shut really really tight
bad news will go poof
and disappear
and the Spurs will win
the first game of the finals
and retreating glaciers
will freeze and advance again
through the rocky canyons of ages
and petunias
will bloom again in the desert
and if that doesn't work
and it turns out
that nothing goes poof
and the glaciers don't freeze
and the petunias don't bloom
and the Spurs
lost the first game
of the finals,
I will, as a true-blue American
blame it on Jewish bankers
and their minions, socialist, community-organizing
and democratic party bosses
in smoke-filled rooms where freedom
is dissected and put in alcohol jars
like frogs in 10th grade biology labs
and that will certainly
make bad-stuff go poof
and disappear,
including the unfair, un-American
loss by the Spurs
of the first game in the finals
if that doesn't work
I will moan and groan
and cry and go to church
and pray
for deliverance
and tell God to wake up
and smell the roses
and eradicate
from the universal accounting
of time
those 48 minutes
when Satan overran the basketball courts
and caused the unthinkable
loss by the Spurs
of the first game of the NBA finals
and if that
doesn't work
and it turns out the Spurs
lost the first game of the finals
I'll denounce God,
declare him dead, and join a Devil-worshiping
of witches and disenchanted Presbyterians
and kill a goat
and drink its blood
and perform incantations
and chants
while naked, circling
a pentagram
in a frenzy
I will howl and pluck
the flower of her virginity
from a near-sided librarian
if that doesn't work
I'll do it again
or at least the near-sided librarian
and, if that doesn't work…
I'll blame it on the refs
and have a silent, somber beer
(or two)
with others also in the depths
of our co-misery
till next game,
we'll say to each other,
just wait, just
we'll have
another beer
and blow smoke rings
from smelly
till next time -
works on almost
Next, I have this domestically quiet love poem by
Ralph Angel
. It's from his book
Twice Removed
, published by Sarabande Books in 2001.
Angel was born in Seattle in 1951. He is the author of several books of poetry, including this one and
Neither World
, which I have drawn from here a number of times. His poems have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. He is the Edith R. White Distinguished Professor at the University of Redlands, in California, and a member of the MFA in Writing faculty at Vermont College.
I especially like the every-day tranquility of this poem.
Breathing Out
Now you are crossing a wide street at night
anxious in the traffic and rushing
to get to the bakery
before closing. What could be more breathtaking
than your beauty if not in my arms
at least on that side
of peril. That's why I'm yelling at the driver of the pickup truck
I just slammed into so much did I
want to park there and
wait for you.
May I never with love
by surviving love and loving blocks and days away
the most ancient of the dead desire earthly
our getting born again
alone without
children fill the air
the spices and the rugs of the bazaar.
I buy you tulips.
They are yellow and bright.
The port is dark and glittering blue airplanes
hover there. Like clarity
itself. Like
faintly wailing sirens attacher to absolutely
Like socks and sweaters and
the blanket that slipped somehow
from your legs while I
tidied up the falconer so lost in your book
are you tonight.
Animas River, Durango, Colorado,circa 1986-87
It's like going up and down stairs, season to season, and the last couple of weeks like being stuck half way through the step between spring and summer with warm days and cool windy nights.
nights are cool and breezy
are cool and breezy,
not yet the moon shrouded summer furnaces
they will become
in June to September, a different kind
of summer night
than what I grew up with
on the coast, where
there were always fresh winds blowing at night,
cooled by their passage across
the wide gulf,
and wet,
like clothes put through a cold water rinse
and not completely dried,
but those winds,
however cool and the clammy,
were welcome relief from the hot bright days,
working under a sun that burned
like tattoo needles
on any exposed flesh,
sitting in classrooms before air conditioning,
like a salty river
pouring from beneath your arms, dripping
from your nose
onto your Texas history book,
wondering why, in that heat, anyone
ever stayed around in Texas long enough
to make a history
Next I have a couple of short poems by
Rikki Ducornet
from her book
The Cult of Seizure
, published by The Porcupine's Quill,Inc. in 1989. This is probably the last time I'll use this book, not because I don't like the poems, but because each poem is part of the overall narrative of the book, a postmodernist fantasy, and don't make much sense in isolation. But I do admire the fire of the writing.
Ducornet, born Erica DeGre in 1949, grew up on the campus of Bard College in New York, earning a B.A. in Fine Arts from the same institution in 1964. In 1972 she moved to the Loire Valley in France and in 1988 she won a Bunting Institute fellowship at Radcliffe. In 1989 she moved back to North America after accepting a teaching position in the English Department at The University of Denver. In 2007, she became Writer in Residence at the The University of Louisiana. In 2008, The American Academy of Arts and Letters conferred upon her one of the eight annual Academy Awards presented to writers. (Wikipedia doesn't say what she wrote to win the award.)
In an article titled "Back To Annandale" in the March 24, 2006 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was revealed that Ducornet was the apparent inspiration for the 1974 Steely Dan hit "Rikki Don't Lose That Number."
She is a Robber
Erzsebet straddles my dreams -
I swear, her thighs are tigers.
She comes silent, a cold spell a variable star.
And the night is an arsonist.
She scorches towards Christmas.
Past my nebula of crabs,
My riverbed of shards.
Where is the Sandman?
His stylet? His silk noose?
Blindfolded in my familiar pit
I hug a sack of skulls.
And the night is a robber.
She hurls her way to Black Mass
Past my bridal chamber,
Star Chamber.
The Lunatic Albebra
The lunatic algebra
of Love.
The frenzied orbits
of Mood.
The malarial temperatures
of Wound.
Symbols of the Cult
of Seizure:
The flesh, this amulet
This hot spoor
of predators.
This zodiac savaged
in the sky.
I wrote this three years ago on my 64th birthday. Now, at 67, I don't find anything in it that I'd want to argue with.
happy birthday to me
one year, now,
from the internationally
date of coothood
i look for a reason
to be sad or
and find none
are like missed meals
the tastes unsavored
in imagination
but offer
no nutrition
the plain grub
of reality
sustains you
hearing a story
on the radio about
a hard death,
we talk
a Christian
with a promise
of eternal life,
seems more afraid
than me
dying seems the easiest part
it's getting there
from here
that can break a heart
i've reached the age
most of the people
closest to me
in my life
are dead and gone
the ones who remain
even more
when Paul sang
about it
it seemed impossibly
my back
and here it is
catching me by
what can i tell
my son
about this
as he
40 years junior
comes near
some of
the greatest changes
and decisions
of an adult
keep the faith
i'd say
in yourself
and the choices
you make
this day
that has surprised me
surprise you, too
so that when it
you can look around
and find no
reason for
or fear
Here are a series of haiku by
Sonia Sanchez
, from her book
Like the Spring Coming off the Drums
, published in 1998 by Beacon Press.
Sanchez, born Wilsonia Benita Driver in Birmingham, Alabama in 1934, is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books. She was a 1993 Pew Fellowships in the Arts.
In 1955, she received a B.A. in Political Science from Hunter College, where she had also taken several creative writing courses. Later, she completed postgraduate work at New York University where she studied poetry. In 1972, she joined the Nation of Islam, but left the organization after three years in 1975 because her views on women's rights conflicted with theirs. She has taught as a professor at eight universities and has lectured at over 500 college campuses across the US.
Blues Haiku
i am who i am.
nothing hidden just black silk
above two knees.
I ain't your momma
but i am this lil mama
who knows how to burn.
this is not a fire
sale but i am in heat
each time i see ya.
these waves boisterous like
Che's mountains smell of mania
howling in my veins.
legs wrapped around you
camera action. tightshot
this is not a rerun
is there for rent
sign on my butt? you got no
territorial rights here.
my face is a scarred
reminder of your easy
comings and goings.
derelict with eyes
i settle in a quiet
carnival of waves.
i taste your sweet salt come
your face a revelation
of bedtime fairy tales.
his face like chiseled
china his eyes clotting
around rubber asses
it was nothing big
just no one to put suntan
lotion on my back
Rejected Armed Forces recruiting poster - Airman 2nd Class Itz, Indiana University, 1966.
Next, I have several pictures sent to me by long time friend,
Bob Anderson
Bob and I met 45 years ago in 1966 while in Air Force basic training at Lackland AFB here in San Antonio. Both of us were several years older than the recruits we trained with, both being refugees who joined the Air Force to escape imminent draft. (I don't know about Bob, but I had actually received my draft notice and completed my pre-induction physical with just two weeks to find the alternative I settled on.)
After basic training, we were both sent to Indian University where we spent nearly a year studying Russian. After completing the language courses, we were both stationed at the same post in Germany. After a year there, we were sent in different directions, Bob to Turkey and me to Pakistan. We reconnected after our military service and have stayed in touch, off and on, since, me back in Texas and Bob in New Mexico.
The pictures, all but the last one, are from Turkey, historical Turkey, I guess you could say, since they were taken in 1968-69, during Bob's service there. The last picture is very rare and possibly valuable, being a picture of me studying Russian in our dorm in 1966, a true rarity since I don't remember ever studying in the dorm. All the studying I remember, hazily, was done at a bar downtown, in the back, behind a great long horseshoe bar. We usually made it through the first pitcher of beer, trying to adhere to our compact to converse only in Russian, before saying to hell with it and switching to English for the next and subsequent pitchers.
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
Photo by Bob Anderson
During the same period Bob was taking these pictures, I was in Peshawa, on the West Pakistan frontier, and took almost no pictures. There were political troubles in Pakistan at the time and we were only allowed off the base once during the eleven months I was there.
The result of the troubles was that the government was overthrown and we were kicked out of the country. (We weren't ever officially there in the first place).
And the result of that was I got out of the service six months early.
My mother and father, circa 1940-1942, pre-me by a couple of years. The baby-boom began with the return of horny soldiers when the war ended. My father, who lost an eye playing minor league baseball before the war, was ineligible to serve, giving me
a head start and making me part of the pre-boomer baby-bust generation.
Still saving 2008 poems in a more permanent file, running across these short sketches that I like. Early in that year, it seems I was on a roll.
the woman who reminds me of Gertrude Stein
the woman who reminds me
of Gertrude Stein
sits across from me
several tables away,
feet heavy on the floor,
wide bottom
planted in her chair
like a bull
in its own private pasture
she's a large woman
with a sharp beak of a nose
with an occasional sniff
of dissatisfaction
on a fleshy face
that hints at sensuality
behind a domineering facade,
a look of secrets
Sunday breakfast at IHOP
from the booth
behind me
a voice
with youthful lilt
and a full and jolly
that turns heads,
including mine,
to see
an old man
with trembling fingers,
and liver spots
on his bald
wearing a porky pig tie
that matches his laugh,
the pale, still hand
a dead-faced woman
in a wheel chair
beside him
blind date
a lovely couple
out on the evening
it seems
"I'll be right back,"
he says and turns
and leaves
a happy little tune
under his breath
by herself,
she slumps
in the chair
and her smile
like a weight
from some great height,
when he returns
Here are a few fragments from early Greek poet
. The poems are from the Signet Classic paperback
The Love Songs of Sappho
Sappho was born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her. The only contemporary source which refers to Sappho's life is her own body of poetry, and scholars are sceptical of biographical readings of it.
The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving fragments. The following fragments are from
Book V, The Taut Tongue
Live Your Own Life
As for the critic -
let brainstorms and maledictions sweep him away!
My Fine Gorgo
Many happy returns of the day
to the daughter of a great many kings!
Between You and Me
We've had quite enough of Gorgo
I'm not the spiteful sort at all
but have the spirit of a little child
And Now
Love, the limb-loosener,stirs me:
Irresistible, bitter-sweet imp.
But, Atthis, you've come to abhor me
(Even the hint of me)
And flit to Andromeda
fred your fancy?
That clod of a woman
who hasn't even the knack
of pulling her skirts up
over her ankles
I Saw Love
Come down from heaven
and fling off his purple cloak
But I Won't be Stung, So
keep your honey-bee
and keep your honey
Then Aphrodite Said
All was not lost
when she forgot you
And fled to Andromeda.
O Sappho, of little faith!
I too have a right to scold you:
For you should have remembered
That wherever I was I loved you
And could have come from afar as before:
From Paphos, Panormus or Cyprus -
Where I am Queen and a mighty
Force for mankind and for
A poem like the blaze of the sun
Who lights up the world with his glory.
So remember that even in Acheron
I the love-enraveler
Can unravel the gloom...
can be with you.
I Am Glad to Say
Andromeda has been prettily paid back
I wrote this piece two droughts ago.
puddles in the parking lot
some time
this morning,
while I was eating
my queso and crispy taco
at Casasol,
slipped in
then passed on by,
enough rain
to leave puddles
all across the parking lot -
the first puddles
in a couple of months
leaving no such opportunity
I splashed through
every puddle between
me and my car
my feet
are all wet now,
but, wiggling
my wet toes
in my wet socks
in my very wet shoes,
I see no problem in it
The home run king after his first of many
The next several short poems are by
Wendell Berry
. They are from his book
that was published in 1997 by Counterpoint.
Berry, born 1934, Henry County, Kentucky, is a true "man of letters", having to his credit, novels, short stories, poems and essays. He is also an academic, cultural and economic critic, environmental and political activist, and farmer. He is an elected member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers and a recipient of The National Humanities Medal as well.
Let Us Pledge
Let us pledge allegiance to the flag
and to the national sacrifice areas
for which it stands, garbage dumps
and empty holes, sold our for a higher
spire on the rich church, the safety
of voyagers in golf carts, the better mood
of the stock market. Let us feast
today, though tomorrow we starve. Let us
gorge upon the body of the Lord, consuming
the earth for our greater joy in Heaven,
that fair Vacationland. Let us wander forever
in the labyrinths of our self-esteem.
Let us evolve forever toward the higher
consciousness of the machine.
The spool of our engine-driven fate
unwinds, our history now outspeeding
thought, and the heart is a beatable tool.
The Vacation
Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.
The Widower
After she died there came a day
In which he walked from room to room
And found in the house no trace
Of her perfume. And then nothing
Reflected anything there, not mirror
By day, nor window after dark.
The Storm
We lay in our bed as in a tomb
awakened by thunder to the dark
in which our house was one with night,
and then light came as if the black
roof of the world had cracked open,
as if the night of all time had broken,
and out our window we glimpsed the world
birthwet and shining, as even
the sun at noon had never made it shine.
No worries, it's all for fun.
let's be clear
about this -
i'm just
a casual poet
with no illusions
about the head scratching
I put to paper
there's nothing
all that deep,
no great message,
no plumbing the depths
of this, that....whatever,
just a casual poet,
a journal
trying to account
for the days
of my life
in ways
that please me
i welcome you
as my reader,
but if you have
more important
to do -
i'll understand
"I'm almost a writer," he says, "I'm a reader."
Next, I have a poem by
Julia B. Levine
from her book
, published by the University of Tampa Press in 2007.
Levine's poems have been published in many publications and she has received numerous prizes and grants. She received her Ph.D from the University of California at Berkeley in clinical psychology and currently lives and works in Davis, California.
Rain at Night
The child's silence wakes you.
And how long has she slept here
her dream like milk cooling?
Now you stand at the window shivering.
Rain grinds air into sugary phonemes.
Under the streetlight, inside the boundless halo
of light's crumby grain.
your neighbor bends stiffly, lifts his newspaper.
Three a.m., long past what is legible,
he wears his dead wife's sweater,
to tight to button, sleeves midway up his arms.
I wrote this piece this week, a Monday poem that recovers.
I blame it on something I ate
I blame it
on something I ate -
this queasy stomach and watery eyes,
like looking through
a water-streaked shower curtain
that's the word for the way I feel right now,
what it's going to feel like
when I die, assuming
I'm not going to die in some screaming,
crushing, meat-grinder of a car accident, which
I'm thinking would be association with pain and the world
at its most extreme, the opposite of
I'm thinking of how it might be
to die in my sleep,
one moment dreaming, the next moment
becoming the dream
as self separates
from it's carrier, like stockings
slipped smoothly from a shapely woman's legs
a fading,
then transition
to the next form, a new pebble
dropped into an old lake, rising and falling
with a slow and steady tide
thinking of that end
makes me feel better today
Desperately seeking coffeeshop
My next piece is by young Korean-American poet
Ishle Yi Park
. It is from her book,
The Temperature of This Water
, published in 2004 by Kaya Press.
Park was born in New York in 1977. A recipient of a fiction grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts, her work has appeared in many journals and magazines and in various anthologies. She has performed in the United States, Cuba, and Korea and was a featured poet on HBO's
Def Poetry Jam
I like her work very much, but most of it is too long for "Here and Now."
New Year's Eve
Because of snow, one of the five
cab companies - Phoenix, Bushwick,
Four-Twos, Arecibo, or Priscilla -
answers the phone, Street empty.
Three wine coolers, and I hit the roof.
Nelson, curled into covers,
restrings his boots and lugs two chairs
upstairs. He unlatches the top door
jeweled with ladders, paint rolls, and brushes,
pushes into snow so thick - bluewhite - it seems a sin,
and just that pleasurable, to insult it with steps
decisive as Hollywood handprints.
Before us, a city connecting cold rooftops.
St. Barbara's shadowed bell strung with light,
skyline through a skein of thin branches.
Corona tilted in a cave of snow.
We can't see the digits on his beeper
signalling the next millennium, but we hear it,
announced in the music of fireworks,
sirens rattling down Linden.
Through our ice-matted boots, I hear it,
the brrakka brrakka so close we both duck, bullets so close
their echo resounds like a caveblast. Unromantic, now,
the silhouette of a man two blocks away
plugging his .44 upwards, each shot
marked by a small cloud rising.
I want to leave, but feel the heat skimming through my organs
and like it. Nelson wants to call Nicky to check if he owns
a spare. We remain standing, necks craned, alert as gazelles,
witness to the shot poem - dangerous,
seething with the fury of stark canvas,
blank paper.
On a cold rooftop
against the scaffolding of January,
we stare up at the sky
for what furious gifts await us.
Easter not one of my holidays, but important enough to many that it seems worth thinking about.
ever after
to Easter, for Christians
the cycle of birth and re-birth
that is the heart of their religion
for others, too, for thousands of years
the same cycle of cold winter death
to spring revival was the spool around which
they spun their lives, proof in the natural world
that existance was not a temporary thing, coming once
then not again, but ever-regenerating, the rondo
of life and rebirth, proof in even most primitive times
of what science tells us now that there is no
end to things, just beginnings and re-beginnings,
everything in its decay
becoming a part of something different,
that there is nothing truly new in this universe
just old things re-configured
to become part of the ever evolving nature
of the universal forces
that circle, the forever circle, creating life and non-life,
each in its smallest elements becoming the other,
cycle after cycle
it is a wonderful thing to consider, a comforting thing
for those like me who do not believe
in creeds and religions and the recognized truth
of statist arbiters of belief, a comforting thing to know
that no one need die
for me to enjoy a place in eternity
for I am in that eternal stream already,
a part of that community
where all is forever and my present state
just a bus stop on the never-ending expanse
to time and rebirth
The next poem,the last this week from my library, is by
Yusef Komunyakaa
, from his book
Talking Dirty to the Gods
. The book was published in 2000by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Komunyakaa was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana, in 1947. He served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1970 as a correspondent and managing editor of the
Southern Cross
during the Vietnam war, earning him a Bronze Star.
He began writing poetry in 1973, and received his bachelor's degree from the University of Colorado Springs in 1975. His first book of poems,
Dedications & Other Darkhorses
, was published in 1977, followed by
Lost in the Bonewheel Factory
in 1979. During this time, he earned his MA and MFA in creative writing from Colorado State University and the University of California, Irvine, respectively.
Frequently published in journals, anthologies and his own books, he has been Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and winner of the 2001 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. He is a professor in the Council of Humanities and Creative Writing program at Princeton University.
A jeweled wasp stuns
A cockroach & plants an egg
Inside. In no time, easy
As fear eats into someone,
The translucent larva grows
Beneath its host's burnished
Shell. The premature stinger
Waits like a bad idea, almost
Hidden. Summertime
Breathes on a thorny leaf.
Before the new wasp breaks
Free, they are one. No longer
Fat on death's fugacity,
By tomorrow afternoon
It will cling to a window screen
Bright as Satan's lost tiepin.
King of the Hill
After we count the fractured
Bones like notches on a gun butt,
We measure his cranium. A big brain
Doesn't mean a big heart. To heal
These wounds & balance this
Neanderthal's shattered eye socket
With an icy blue horizon, it took
More than faith to embrace
Medicinal herbs months away from flowers.
On his left side, Shanidar
Was blind as the paleoanthropoligist
Who struts the homeless vet
On the corner. Like in Tombstone,
Arizona, where skulls are shot with holes
Of light, if you hold this one up
You can see a new consolation's.
Last poem for the week, I think. I wrote it earlier this week. This is a kind of a risky poem, in that if you never heard the the line about the fat lady singing (coined here in San Antonio by a by an old-time sports writer) the poem won't mean anything to you and you won't get the joke.
fat lady with the parasol passing
then firetruck
then another ambulance
morning rush
becomes morning parking lot
four lanes across
crash on the interstate
going west
fat lady
with a parasol
on a bicycle
fat feet pumping
on the pedals
so I guess it's over
for someone
In the 6th grade, growing into my tuba. In a small town, in a small school with a large band, high school band began in the 7the grade. I was a pretty lousy tuba player, but, since I was never given a lot to do, I had a great time listening to good music, learning in the process a lifetime love of classical music and 1930-40s big band swing.
And you'll recall I warned you about this last week.
And that's it for another week. As usual, everything belongs to the people who produced it. My stuff available if you credit me and "Here and Now." If it's appearing somewhere else, it'd be nice to know where. Every time I Google myself I find my stuff in all sorts of places I never heard of.
But that's okay because i'm allen itz, owner and producer of "Here and Now" and proud tubaista, hear me blatt.
1 Comments:
Loved the pics of the brothers and Uncle Raymond and Aunt Nina.
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TLC Sues Jon Gosselin for Breach of Contract
The network seeks to stop him from making unapproved TV appearances
To the surprise of very few, TLC filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Jon Gosselin on Friday morning, accusing the Jon and Kate Plus 8 star of violating his contract by making paid and unpaid TV appearances without the cable network's permission.
"The network has been trying privately and patiently for months to get Jon to honor the contract he signed and to comply with his obligations relating to public appearances and statements," reads a statement released by the network. "Those efforts have been unsuccessful."
Mark Heller, Jon's attorney, told PEOPLE Friday morning that he had yet to see the TLC legal documents, and later released a statement after "reading the alleged complaint on the Internet."
"Jon will vigorously defend against this baseless action, assuming Discovery and TLC choose to go forward with their claim by legally serving him with notice, and we are confident that through the course of litigation it will clearly be evident that Discovery and TLC exploited, manipulated and abused the Gosselins vulnerability and financial hardship," Heller's statement read.
RELATED: Did Jon Gosselin Hack Into Kate's Emails?
Jon, 32, is in the midst of a bitter divorce with his wife of 10 years, Kate, 34.
The suit was filed in Maryland's Circuit Court of Montgomery County, where TLC's parent company is based. A copy of the lawsuit was not immediately available, but it reportedly also alleges Jon harmed the show "with his constant criticisms" and revelations about what goes on behind the scenes on the show, says the Los Angeles Times.
The suit wants Gosselin to abide by the terms of his agreement and return any money he made for other TV appearances.


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Cahoonas. Seriously.
My latest iteration of Opening To Abundance (an evergreen version that is now always available on my website) was launched back in October.
I cannot believe I am saying this, but the ladies who joined during launch week have only just over a week to go before their six months of emails cease flowing into their inbox. I am feeling all the feels about this! I feel like some of my energy/attention/focus will be freed up and available for creating new content and programmes for the site, but I am also pre-empting the lull in vibrant abundance energy that inevitably follows the end of OTA for me.
Many of these wonderful women are of course going at their own pace, and our online classroom stays open permanently so they can, and will, take as long as they need to work through the content, however, for me at this end of the emails, it feels pretty mammoth.
I am always there to support, and cheer-lead, and encourage.
I am there for the 1:1 sessions with those who purchased the Full or VIP versions of the programme.
And I will be always be interacting with current and future participants of OTA in our online space.
But the content creation and the filming of videos is over for me. All of the material is there and available on-demand from this point on.
I chuckled at myself this morning when re-reading the email that will be going out to my gals today, and I wanted to share a sentence from that email for all of you today : :
It takes some serious cahoonas my friends to expand your capacity to receive.
I shall leave you with that delightful nugget.
Find your inner cahoonas today people! Dare to expand the amount you welcome in to your world today. In to your arms. In to your heart.
Dare to be the person you need to be to handle it, to hold it (gently), to receive more than you thought would come your way / you deserved / you were able to.
You can do it!
Angela says...
We are all lighthouses, shining our lights and, in turn, guiding others Home to their greatness too. Shine Your Light Bright One! xxx
August 2020


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If you're unhappy with the condition of your hair, take a closer look at the state of your scalp; it's the key to strong, super-swishable hair. But this rather unglamorous body part has largely been neglected until now, thanks to a myriad of dedicated tinctures, shampoos and conditioners to remedy a weary crown. Here, Parisian colourist Christophe Robin and Living Proof chemist Judy Nguyen share their top tips for maintaining good scalp health and a killer mane to match.
Exfoliate Weekly
"When your scalp is sensitised – due to stress, diet, pollution, excess oil production or an overload of hair products – it can cause deficiencies in the hair, resulting in weak, thin tresses," says Christophe. Apply a salt–based scrub such as his Purifying Cleansing Scrub with Sea Salt once a week to help detox your scalp from a buildup of the above daily aggressors.
Don't Overdo Dry Shampoo
"It's a great last-minute hair refresher, but you should never sleep with dry shampoo in your hair," advises Christophe. "It's like going to bed with your makeup on – any dry shampoo that's left on your scalp will be absorbed and act as a barrier." Poorly rinsed shampoos and conditioners tend to suffocate the scalp too, he says. Consider using a scalp-friendly dry shampoo like IGK Hair's First Class Charcoal Detox Dry Shampoo and do a deep hair cleanse before bed. Try Christophe Robin's Purifying Shampoo with Jujube Bark Extract.
Make Time For Massage
For hair to grow healthy and strong you need a hearty blood supply. Christophe recommends massaging your entire scalp in the shower to stimulate circulation. "Flip your head upside down to increase blood flow even more." Add a handheld massaging tool to the mix for extra blood flow-boosting power. We love Briogeo's Scalp Revival Stimulating Therapy Massager.
Keep Bacteria in Check
The balance of good and bad bacteria on your scalp (its microbiome) has an effect on the condition of your scalp. Too much 'bad' can lead to a dry scalp together with itching and flaking," says Judy. Living Proof's Restore Dry Scalp Treatment uses a Vitamin B3 and Glycerin complex to help rebalance the scalp's microbiome by killing off the bad bacteria and allowing the good to grow. Apply it directly to the scalp, three times a week to, literally get to the root of the problem.


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Plea for parental leave in budget
FAILURE to initiate a paid parental leave system in this year's budget would be a sign the Federal Government did not care about women in the workforce, according to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick.
In a final plea for the scheme to receive funding, Ms Broderick said paid parental leave was fundamental to making sure the Government fully benefited from the money it was spending educating and training women.
"If you consider", she told the National Press Club yesterday, "that $66 billion was spent on education in Australia in 2007-08 and over half of that is spent on females, the hard question we need to ask ourselves is: are we getting a return on our investment in women's education and training?"
Ms Broderick said a report by the World Economic Forum showed that Australia ranked first for women's education, but it was 40th for workforce participation.
"How can we claim to be tapping into the full productive power of women?" Ms Broderick said. "Attempting to force a female life cycle into a male career model does not work, has never worked."
A government-funded parental leave system would make a significant contribution to the number of women in the workforce, she said. It would also mean more women would be able to retire with adequate superannuation instead of relying on the age pension.
Australia is the only developed country without a legislated parental leave system. The United States does not have a national scheme, but several states, including California and New York, do.
Last year the Productivity Commission recommended that the Government pay for 18 weeks of parental leave at $544 a week, roughly the minimum wage. The scheme would cost $450 million a year but much of that would be covered by scrapping the $5000 baby bonus to women who qualified for the scheme.
But the Government appears to have gone cold on the idea. Senior ministers repeatedly refer to it as something that might not be affordable in the deteriorating economic conditions.
Ms Broderick said paid parental leave was "symbolic" of the Government's attitude towards women. "This says that women matter in the workforce," Ms Broderick said.
She suggested she might be open to a compromise such as immediately offering the scheme to low-income women only. But this would only be acceptable if the Government guaranteed all women would have access to paid parental leave.
The Greens senator Sarah HansonYoung has said she will introduce a private member's bill to provide for 26 weeks of publicly funded parental leave when Parliament returns next month.


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LAKE BUENA VISTA (CBSMiami/AP) — It's the song that stays stuck in your head for days, "It's a Small World."
The timeless Disney tune that wafts through our memories from past theme park vacations turns 50 this year.
On Thursday, Disney parks worldwide hosted a global sing-along.
At Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, a huge chorus of the song performed in front of Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. Tributes to the song were also held throughout the park all day.
The song and animatronics attraction debuted at the 1964 New York World's Fair. It was shipped to Disneyland in California then recreated at the other Disney parks. The attraction opened at the Florida park in 1971.
TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How does the program work?
After a simple application process, you will get an advance on your business's future sales. Repayments are flexible, payments are only made when you make a credit card sale. The repayment of this advance is a % of your daily credit card deposits. There are no personal guarantees or complicated documents.
How does my business qualify?
You must have been in business for 1 year, and have at least $2,500 a month in Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover sales. Many newly purchased businesses that have been in business for over a year will also qualify.
Does anyone look at my personal credit?
For most small businesses, the business owner's credit is important in evaluating the company for an advance. However, the underwriting / scoring model used takes into account all factors, not just a personal credit score. Don't worry about your score, we understand that you need capital. We hope that the Advance you request will help in your success. What is most important is that the business is making sales. In fact we do not require a personal guarantee. Your business is evaluated on its own merits.
How large of an advance can my business get?
The amount you can receive is based upon an average of your monthly Visa/MasterCard/American Express/ Discover sales. Unlike our competitors we also look at your American Express and Discover volume. Most Advances fund between $2,500 and $150,000 per location. If you need more, please ask.
How soon can I get the advance?
Once approved, you'll have funds in your bank account in as little as 7 business days. The approval process is very fast: you'll have your money usually no later than the next business day after we receive all the documents!
What is the rate I will be charged?
The money you get is not a loan; it is an advance against your estimated future monthly Visa/MasterCard/American Express/Discover sales. You're selling a portion of your future sales today. Therefore, there is no rate. You simply pay a fixed fee that is paid back over time. The average advance is paid back in six months, however if you take longer there is no penalty.
What can I use the money for?
That's up to you. Many of our clients use advances for such things as payroll, equipment purchases, expansion, advertising, additional inventory purchases, to meet payroll and tax obligations, repairs, and emergency expenses. The decision on how to use the money is yours.
Does my business have to switch credit card processors?
When we look at your processing statements we often suggest a change to make sure you have the best rate. When your costs of processing go down, your profits will go up. This always helps in approving an advance or increasing the amount. If you do need or decide to make a change in processor, we will handle that for you; often, it only takes a few minutes, and you can still use the processing terminals you already have. Our processors guarantee to meet or beat your current processor's rates!
How are my payments determined?
One of the best thing is there are no fixed payments! Simply, an agreed upon percentage of your future Visa and MasterCard/American Express/Discover sales are split off until your advance has been paid back.
So if your business is a little slow one month, the amount you pay will go down. Try asking a bank to offer you that flexibility!
How do I keep track of what I paid?
You will be sent a monthly statement detailing how much you have paid for the previous month and the outstanding balance on the advance. You will have access to on line reporting. You are always welcome to call.
How do I get started?
Simply click below to complete a simple online application or call us. You're about a week away from funds. It takes money to make money, so get started now!


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Green Man Gaming (GMG) is a UK based independent digital retailer for PC Games. Using globally unique proprietary technology, GMG offer consumers the ability to trade-in digitally downloaded games for new purchases.Raise up to 2.5%
Next Day Trampolines is dedicated to providing the best quality trampolines at the best prices. We buy in bulk, store everything in our own warehouse and can send out your order straight away.Raise up to 3.5%
Enjoy a huge selection of entertainment including market leading prices on the latest release Games, accessories and console bundles. Not to mention a huge selection of music, film and more.Raise up to 3%
shop4world.com provides excellent value video games and accessories delivered quickly to your door. They cover everything, from the latest TCG's and t-shirts to collectibles, gadgets, and video games.Raise up to 2.5%
I Want One Of Those (aka IWOOT) has almost too many ridiculously good gifts, gadgets and games. There's a gift for everyone on IWOOT, even for that person you know who has absolutely everything.Raise up to 3%
365games.co.uk deliver games, gadgets, tees and more fun stuff to your door with savings of up to 50% and regular discounts. They cover eveything, from the latest game releases on Xbox or Playstation to t-shirts,...Raise up to 2.5%
The Works is a discount book store also offering discount art materials, toys, games and audio visual products. They have 300 stores across the UK offering books, arts & crafts, and much more - all...Raise up to 6%
Get cash for your old CDs, DVDs and games. musicMagpie.co.uk is the only website that allows users to turn their old or unwanted CDs, DVDs and games into cash in one free and simple process.Raise up to 5%
The Game Collection is a specialist gaming retailer, run by gamers for gamers. Established for over five years they offer great deals on games and accessories for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PSP and PC.Raise up to 1%
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text: After being at a mine site in the interior of Bahia state for two weeks, I got to spend a long weekend with Mariana on the beach. We met up in Ilhéus, Bahia and then drove north to Itacaré. It's a very small & quite beach town If you ever get a chance to get there, please do! ♦


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The level of cancer-causing N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in recalled valsartan products and other angiotensin II receptor blockers was as high as 17 mcg per tablet, an FDA analysis found. The government considers up to to 0.096 mcg/day "reasonably safe for human ingestion based on lifetime exposure."
That deal between Sanofi/Regeneron and pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts to ease access to PCSK9 inhibitor alirocumab (Praluent) in exchange for a lower price has blossomed into more than 20 such deals struck or nearing completion for the drug class, "and officials claim that access for patients with commercial insurance has improved by 33 percent," the New York Times reports.
Have the Monday and early-morning spikes in sudden cardiac death disappeared? (Heart Rhythm)
Three days of twice-daily home blood pressure monitoring might be enough to reliably confirm hypertension, whereas guidelines recommend about a week of it. (Journal of the American Heart Association)
A competitor for prescription fish oil may be resurrected after Amarin announced its agent, Vascepa, prevented cardiovascular events in the REDUCE-IT trial. (STAT Plus, subscription)
Can single-droplet blood analysis work for home heart failure monitoring? Not fearing to tread in Theranos's wake, CardioRenal announced it is working with a French agency on a microfluidic chip for such use.
The PureFlow rapid pulse compression device for optimizing cardiac blood flow was cleared by European regulators. (FDANews)
Cardiac center accreditation programs from the American Heart Association and the Joint Commission will be merged into a single joint certification starting Jan. 1, 2019. (Cardiovascular Business)
Abdominal aortic calcification seen on CT is a stronger predictor of cardiovascular risk than the traditional Framingham score, a study reported in Radiology. (RSNA.org)


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Peter Scott
Frankly, Mr Shankly
Red or Dead
By David Peace
Faber & Faber 720pp £20 order from our bookshop
Until this year's Champions League semifinal, Barcelona looked to have the system cracked. Press high, keep possession, pass, pass, pass. At times, it seemed, no one could touch them. Then better tactics, better players, better luck and even, perhaps, more desire, drove Bayern Munich to victory this May, as they beat Barcelona and went on to win the tournament. There is nothing like success to guarantee failure, but while the Spanish club swept all before them, it was easy to believe that we were seeing something genuinely new: a style of football based on repetition and replicability; one which rendered Plan B irrelevant because, with the players and the execution in place, Plan A was invincible. But of course, it wasn't invincible; it never is. Even when Barcelona were at their best they got beaten from time to time. A system is not enough.


text: caledoniancampers-logo Place Category: Campervan Hire and Conversions Profile Photos Map Reviews VideoCaledonian Campers & Conversions are a family run Campervan hire company based just outside of Glasgow, Scotland. We are specialists in Campervan Hire, Conversions and Sales. We have a fleet of vehicles that are suitable for all budgets and holidays to suit every taste. Caledonian Campers rent campervans near Glasgow, we supply only the finest luxurious campervans that enable you to enjoy the best that Scotland has to offer in a stylish and comfortable manner. Renting a Campervan from us is one of the best ways to see Scotland, giving you the freedom of the open road and letting you experience the rugged beauty of Scotland in a way that is yours and yours alone. Holiday makers, not only from the UK, but from other countries such as the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, have enjoyed a memorable visit to beautiful Scotland by renting a camper van from Caledonian campervan hire. Scotland has so much to offer, and what could be better than to enjoy it at your own pace in one of our well equipped vehicles? You can rise when you want to without the necessity of getting up early, and queuing for breakfast in a crowded hotel restaurant. Stop when you feel like it, and enjoy dinner with your friends and family in the open air in a Scottish glen or overlooking a beautiful loch surrounding by rugged mountains. We are bound to have a campervan that meets your exact requirements whether your choice is a budget campervan or a top of the range model, hire from our premises near Glasgow. So please don't hesitate to get in touch and we will be happy to help you choose the perfect campervan for your trip, whatever your plans may be. Not only do we provide camper hire, but we also offer bespoke campervan conversions. Caledonian Campers & Conversions will be more than happy to assist you with planning your holiday of a lifetime around Scotland in one of our hired, affordable campervans. To Start Your Adventure, Call Us Today on 0141 952 5399 No Records FoundSorry, no records were found. Please adjust your search criteria and try again. Google Map Not LoadedSorry, unable to load Google Maps API. Driving Walking Bicycling Public Transport Miles Kilometers Leave a Review Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment. Previous Next


text: David Clarke is celebrating his 21st year anniversary at DBS. David is the founding director of DBS having started the business in California in 1996. Originally a Yellow Pages Advertising Agency David has overseen profound changes in the business over the years adapting to changes in web design, internet marketing and the birth of social media along the way. This year DBS became an employee owned business with all of its employees becoming certified shareholders in the company and Julie Priestley also promoted to Director alongside David."I'm delighted for DBS to have reached 21 years this year" said David. "2017 will be looked back on as a landmark year for DBS".


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"Traveling abroad, experiencing new cultures, and constantly being pushed out of your comfort zone on a daily basis, undeniably causes a change within you, especially when it is undeveloped countries that you are traveling to. Even if you think you are aware of poverty, environmental degradation, until you see it up close and personal for the first time, you don't fully comprehend its magnitude, and it will impact you," says Andrea Miller '13 research assistant for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.
Andrea works for the Agua Salud Project founded by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. "This is a comprehensive study seeking to understand and quantify the ecological, social, and economic services that are provided to us by tropical forests within the Panama Canal Watershed." explains Miller. "By better understanding the ecological, social, and ecosystem services that are provided by tropical forests in the Panama Canal watershed, we are helping to ensure that the canal continues to function for decades to come."
Miller studied abroad as an undergraduate and noted that her previous international travel experiences better prepared her for post-graduate experiences abroad. Miller was first introduced to the importance of tropical rain forests while studying as an undergraduate at the Tiputini Research Station in the Amazon rain forest and learning about human impact in one of the world's most biodiverse areas. The best way to make change is from within. By understanding the issues and impacts on culture and commerce, alumni are becoming environmental leaders on an international scale.