text:
L.A. Stories: Engaging the City
Getting to Know Los Angeles
In the spring of 1997, I visited photographer Don Normark's exhibition "Chavez Ravine" at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles. Normark's images of a "lost" neighborhood, recalling the nearly forgotten history of the site upon which Dodger Stadium now stands, marked the beginning of the exploration that has resulted in this exhibition.
What intrigued me most about Normark's photographs was a sense of incomplete erasure--the notion that Los Angeles is a place of hidden histories and cultures that have, over time, been overlaid by other, newer ones. I started thinking about those "forgotten," virtually invisible, aspects of the city's culture, shadowy remnants that exist behind the stereotypical images of Los Angeles as a utopian, Hollywood-enhanced land of dreams; and its opposite: Los Angeles as a dystopian, nightmarish "Hell-Town." I began rethinking the myths, stereotypes, and general assumptions I had about L.A.
As Norman Klein points out in The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory,"...we must realize that the myths, whether of tinsel town, of the sunny village, or of the downtown Babylon, have never represented the city accurately. They have always systematically ignored the life of the communities in the city; as if the smaller stores, fragile rituals, mix of classes together in a neighborhood could not exist in our imagination when we think of Los Angeles." This exhibition addresses some of these issues. Who represents Los Angeles? Whose L.A. is it? Who tells the city's stories? Whose voices dominate our consciousness? I wanted to go beyond the "official" stories--those normally told by voices of authority in the media, schools, and cultural institutions--to present personal alternatives, populist histories of everyday life, and to look at the life of "communities in the city."
At the start of my research, I drove around the city (driving is the primary method of knowing Los Angeles) and re-read books about it: fiction--Carolyn See's Golden Days; Joan Didion's Play It as It Lays; Sandra Tsing-Loh's If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home Now--and non-fiction--Mike Davis' City of Quartz, compilations by Michael Dear and Edward Soja, as well as Norman Klein's book. Reading these sources made me realize how complex and endlessly fascinating this city is and further fueled my exploration. I began to focus on a visual portrait of Los Angeles, but, more than beautiful or haunting images, I wanted to see how and why artists have dealt with it, to experience their process of engaging with the city and its inhabitants, and to understand how that echoed or contrasted my own experiences.
This effort--to get to know the city and its cultures--is at the heart of the exhibition, which is, as a result, highly personal, reflecting my point of view as much as it does those of the artists. As I conducted my research, made phone calls, and visited artists' studios, my own vision emerged. I sought others who shared my desire to savor the many facets of Los Angeles overlooked by the mainstream. In addition to seeking artists who had lived and worked in Los Angeles for some time and whose art demonstrated a commitment to its culture, history and life, I became particularly interested in those artists and projects that were deeply and personally engaged with the city's inhabitants. All of the artists presented here have come to know Los Angeles in its complexity and diversity; many also participate actively in raising awareness about the city's pressing social issues. These artists work toward goals of transforming how we perceive Los Angeles and its inhabitants, envisioning new stories that subvert the paradigm of official historical discourse, and presenting alternative models for life in the city. "L.A. Stories" is a selective collection of images and histories--not, by any means, the only ones, just those that resonate with me.
The artists in the exhibition employ a variety of strategies in exploring Los Angeles. Harry Adams and Don Normark take a relatively traditional, documentary approach, photographing neighborhoods and communities frequently overlooked or ignored. Others, like Kim Abeles, Nancy Buchanan, Collage Ensemble, Mallory Cremin, and May Sun, present their impressions and stories in a conceptual and intimate manner. Still others deal with L.A. in a hands-on fashion, working directly with specific downtown communities; Public Works Administration, Collage Ensemble, and the collaborative work by Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst, and Rubén Ortiz Torres represent this approach. In the exhibition, the artists are grouped into two loose categories: those who examine L.A. in a broader geographic sense, who tell stories, both personal and public, that cover a range of neighborhoods (Kim Abeles, Nancy Buchanan, Mallory Cremin, and May Sun); and projects by artists focusing on a specific community or geographic neighborhood (Harry Adams, Collage Ensemble, Don Normark, Public Works Administration, and the collaborative work by Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst, and Rubén Ortiz Torres).
Photographer Mallory Cremin's work echoes my own process of preparing for this exhibition. After moving to a warehouse space in the heart of downtown, she decided to question the mostly negative stories she had heard about the city. Her project, entitled "My L.A. Neighborhood," documents her efforts to learn about and connect with her new neighborhood and its residents. Placed on an inviting couch, hand-made pillows with photo-transfer images beg to be picked up and read, each image corresponding to a specific location on the map quilt. Combining the domestic with the public, Cremin locates us geographically and invites us to share very personal stories about her downtown community.
Nancy Buchanan created the interactive CD-ROM Developing: The Idea of Home out of a similar desire to explore the city she calls home. Buchanan examines the politics of space. Using different ways of conceptualizing both public and private spaces, she suggests new definitions of "home." Buchanan considers "home" the core from which the issues of neighborhood, economics, safety, and environment radiate. Her CD presents interviews, video clips, photographs, and text that examine the role of social services, environmental concerns, development policies, and other historical issues that have shaped Los Angeles. Through a variety of voices and stories, she presents innovative ways in which local residents have addressed housing and development problems.
Kim Abeles explores yet another way of understanding L.A.'s culture and history. In the large-scale installation "Legend for a Mapping (Los Angeles Architecture)," Abeles creates a "portrait" of the city. Focusing on key buildings and their architects, patrons, and clients, she aims to recover an alternative history; this is a personal exploration that reflects her long-standing interest in Los Angeles. Abeles has described her earlier mixed-media assemblages as "worlds constructed from lost parts: researched, unearthed, and fabricated." In this installation, she combines a welded steel cityscape, historical photographs of architects, drawings, written texts, and found and fabricated objects. The result is a multi-layered story of L.A.'s past and present.
As noted above, photographer Don Normark relates an historical story about a "lost" neighborhood. In 1948, while trying to find a vantage point from which to document downtown L.A., Normark accidentally discovered the "hidden" village of La Loma in Chavez Ravine. Several years later, all of the primarily low-income Mexican immigrant residents had been evicted. Initial plans for low-cost housing had been dropped, victims of development interests and local McCarthyism's conservative campaign that public housing was a "communist plot," plans for Dodger Stadium had been approved. By focusing intimately on a specific community, Normark's eloquent photographs capture this village and its setting before they were erased. Years after photographing the area, the artist met Father Juan Santillan, priest of Our Lady of Help Church, who led him to "Los Desterrados," a group of former Chavez Ravine residents. Now engaged in interviewing them, Normark is recording new voices and stories about life in La Loma.
In contrast to Normark's focus on a specific neighborhood, Harry Adams spent the years 1955 to 1985 chronicling the life of South Los Angeles. A professional photographer involved in documenting the African-American communities of L.A., the late Adams worked for churches, social organizations, and private clients, as well as for the Los Angeles Sentinel and the California Eagle. Adams eloquently recorded decisive moments in the history of Black Los Angeles; his scenes of voter registration, civil rights protests, and strikes document the political activism of the Black community. It is to Adams' credit that his images of everyday life are equally eloquent.
The collective Public Works Administration, or PWA, works directly with one community in East L.A. to protest evictions planned to make way for new development. These artists and activists (Elizabeth Blaney, Karina Combs, Dont Rhine, Valerie Tevere, Leonardo Vilchis and Cecilia Wendt) are collaborating with residents and the Union de Vecinos de Pico Aliso to address the impact of urban planning decisions on the Pico Aliso public housing project. Created specifically for this exhibition, their multi-media installation contrasts the role of development in the history of the L.A. Housing Authority with the current struggle of public housing residents to save their community from demolition. Combining original video, archival footage, audio collage, and photography, PWA offers a different perspective on affordable housing in Los Angeles.
Like PWA, Collage Ensemble Inc. (Brandy Maya Healy, Steven M. Irvin, Alessandra Moctezuma, and Alan Nakagawa) uses a range of media, including video, audio, installation, and performance, to address the urban experience in Los Angeles. Founded in 1984, Collage Ensemble creates art works that explore the relationship of the artists' ethnic and personal histories to broader issues of spirituality, class segregation, discrimination, and assimilation. In 1996, the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency commissioned Collage to create a work about the produce district. The resulting video consists of interviews with produce industry workers, footage of regional orchards, and information about the district's history. Newly created for this exhibition, the installation "Lo Cal Frozen Blues" further calls attention to this complex community and its history, exploring its role as a social common denominator in the city.
Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst, and Rubén Ortiz Torres draw attention to another downtown community in their collaborative project "Murder in My Suite: Bienvenidos al Hotel California." Using the comic format of a Mexican fotonovella, the three photographers worked together to address issues facing the hotel workers' unions--human rights abuses, class struggles, and a living wage. In 1993, workers at the New Otani Hotel in Little Tokyo organized a union to protest deteriorating working conditions. By presenting these issues within the context of pop culture, Callis, Ernst, and Ortiz Torres slyly inject social consciousness into our everyday lives. Linking a humorous pop format with serious local issues, the story of a veteran housekeeper who is unjustly accused in the workplace and who struggles to clear her name, resonates on both personal and political levels.
Combining assemblage and photography, May Sun's photo light-boxes present her visions and memory fragments of Los Angeles after the 1992 civil rebellion. Recording concrete events of everyday life, she enriches them by placing individual I Ching (from the ancient Chinese Book of Changes) hexagrams beneath each image. Even though all of the images were taken in Los Angeles, they have a universal quality, and their enigmatic nature enhances their power. Through these somewhat abstract references, Sun addresses the transitory character of time and the nature of history, and invites multi-layered readings of a place and the events that have shaped it. In the triptych "L.A. River," for example, the artist combines three images associated with the river: a scene of the river channel, a view of a now-extinct local fish, and graffiti along the river's concrete edge. While these impressions all refer to the same location, their conflation, along with the resonances suggested by the I Ching, evokes the merging of the conscious and unconscious, capturing random impressions and memories that, together, reflect Sun's view of Los Angeles.
For me, Los Angeles is also a blurring of impressions, multi-layered memories, and fragments of stories and ideas. I selected these artists because of the range of their voices, the diversity of their stories, and the models for the future presented through their work. By including artists who explore their personal responses to the city and others who work actively in particular communities, I wanted to show the enormous range of cultures, histories, and ways of living that Los Angeles offers. The stories these artists tell provide a framework within which to revisit, reexamine, and reconstruct traditional understandings of our past. Whether their approaches are subtle and poetic or direct and engaging, these artists all link innovative formal explorations with new media to push the boundaries of what art can be, thereby expanding our individual and collective awareness. Together, they provide a key to understanding the cultural, political, and social landscapes of Los Angeles, of which we are all a part.
Kim Abeles
L.A. Stories: Kim Abeles
I have this romance with Los Angeles. I wear the stillness of its empty nightgown. I drink it up in the morning light. I find my quiet self amid the noisy movement of lunch trays and wiggling jello.
Historically, at its core, art has served as a guide to the vistas that we see from our own observation decks. My work from the past two decades results from the urban experience*, the contemporary viewpoint of our historical follies, and a Sisyphean journey in search of Nature. My projects and artworks are portraits of Los Angeles, though I view this city and these concepts as symbols of the urban. L.A. has all the components, problems, and achievements of the typical urban schema.
"L.A. is probably the most mediated town in America, nearly unviewable save through the fictive scrim of its mythologizers."
--Michael Sorkin, 'Explaining Los Angeles', California Counterpoint: New West Coast Architecture 1982, San Francisco Art Institute, 1982, p. 8.
Los Angeles hides her magnificent buildings behind a windshield. The architecture ranges from the exquisite lacy interior of the Bradbury Building (born from a séance of psychic dimensions), to housing complexes that are homes for the strong hands that provide for society's comforts. Each building holds a story revealed through books and guided tours. The story I love best about Hollyhock House is not really about the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, but rather, about Aline Barnsdall: the cultural visionary, adventuress, self-determined single mother. Simon Rodia created the Watts Towers from an unusually pure creative force, the momentum of the spirit, in a world where motives most often drive the tool. And by contrast, the destruction of extraordinary feats of architecture, like the demolition of the Richfield Building, leaves a ghost-like silhouette upon the skyline. L.A. holds the genius of Julia Morgan in the Mission-style home of the previous Herald Examiner, and architect Claude Beelman's turquoise and gold Deco wonder of 1930, the Eastern Columbia Building. The Los Angeles Public Library is a monument to Bertram Goodhue's philosophical understanding of art integrated with architecture as a truly inspired space.
The primary structure of Legend for a Mapping compares the scale of some of the notable buildings of Los Angeles expressed as a welded, steel-rod outline. The outlines of each building fit one inside the other to express their proportional relationships. Each building represented on this metal grillwork is assigned a number attached to its silhouette. Individual artworks in the form of drawings and sculpture become the legend for this mapping of Los Angeles architecture. These respond to the beauty, tales, and human-touched moments of the architecture.
* I walk a 60-block radius to carefully chart the skyline, and pirouette on rooftops to capture round horizons. I draw a mile a minute through the window of a moving train. I walk through people's houses to direct my pilgrimage to the San Gabriels on a day so smoggy that the mountain disappears the closer I come. I trap the footsteps of the sky in haunted messages made of smog. I paint the sky each day like a single patch upon a quilt. I rechart the city's borders to reveal her sister sites. I tape her sounds and show her smokey breath, transforming autos into swarms of cicada. I build in somber puns; "too raz bil' ding iz too târ it doun."
For a look at Kim Abeles' web art, visit http://www.artcommotion.com/Equidistant/. She has also recommended the Arts & Healing Network Site Map for additional information.
Harry Adams
L.A. Stories: Harry Adams
Harry Adams (1918-1988) photographed the African American community of Los Angeles from 1954 until 1988. He was a careful observer of the community and was privy to most of the significant events that occurred during his more than thirty years as a photographer. He had an unerring eye for the significant details that speak volumes about daily life as well as the extraordinary, and was particularly sensitive to the faces and circumstances that surrounded him.
Adams' work appeared in the California Eagle and the Los Angeles Sentinel, as well as a number of national publications, and was produced during one of the most significant and volatile periods in the community. It is a treasure as an historical record of the community and as a testament to the efforts of a man who had a profound respect for the people of his community.
R. Kent Kirkton
Director of the Center for Photojournalism and Visual History
California State University, Northridge
Nancy Buchanan
L.A. Stories: Nancy Buchanan
Developing: The Idea of Home
Los Angeles has been looked to as a model for growth as often as it has been ridiculed for a supposedly chaotic growth pattern. Indeed, while cattle, sheep, silk, oranges, and, most recently, aerospace have failed to sustain California economics, real estate seems to be a bottomless reservoir of wealth (as long as the flow of water continues, that is, to follow this analogy). L.A. is my home. I love it with a deep, fierce and irrational force. It is the strength of this feeling that led me to make this work, to investigate what the emotion of "home" may be, how it is manipulated in the service of marketing, and what shapes the concrete manifestation of this place may take in the future. How will we grow, and why? Who determines this shaping? Who profits?
While Southern California (particularly Los Angeles) is the primary model in this piece, other issues are drawn from places I have visited, as are attempts to look at some of the broader ramifications of growth.
Visit Nancy Buchanan's web page at http://nancybuchanan.net/.
Collage Ensemble
L.A. Stories: Collage Ensemble
Brandy Maya Healy, Steven M. Irvin, Alessandra Moctezuma, and Alan Nakagawa
Lo Cal Frozen Blues is a multi-media installation by Collage Ensemble Inc. that is a cross between a garden and a kitchen. Inspired by experiences during their three years as arts collective in residence in the Los Angeles Produce District, the ensemble has created an installation of inter-personal metaphors referencing produce, kitchen rituals, gardening, urban iconography, and spirituality. You are what you eat. . . but do you know what you're eating?
The Los Angeles art group Collage Ensemble Inc. was founded in 1984 as a collaborative vehicle for artists who address the Los Angeles urban experience and the way their ethnic/personal histories exist in this environment. Collage Ensemble Inc. creates artworks that aim to transport the viewer to a place of social understanding and alternative perspectives. Collage Ensemble Inc. re-examines social norms such as assimilation, spirituality, class segregation, and discrimination, while reestablishing them through a collective human experience. The ensemble is an inter-disciplinary art group and is open to all art media and combinations of media. In the past, collaborations have resulted in video artworks, performances, exhibitions, limited edition poetry books, public art, a web page, limited edition audio cassettes, and compact disc, and have reached out to traditional and non-traditional arts audiences nationally and internationally.
Mallory Cremin
L.A. Stories: Mallory Cremin
When I first moved to Los Angeles, I had a difficult time adjusting. We came to the heart of this metropolis for the warehouse studio space and discovered an alienating neighborhood of huge buildings, fearful owners, and homeless folks. My work had previously focused on my surroundings and issues of homelessness, but I was paralyzed. The quantity of street people downtown is overwhelming. After almost a year, it came time to confront the fear and walk around the neighborhood with my camera. While photographing my neighborhood, many of the few people I encountered outside their buildings admonished me to take care, that I was inviting trouble. I kept thinking, "But this is my home! I am not supposed to walk outside the gate? What if my car breaks down. . ." We have since moved, but in some way I succeeded in connecting to my community.
Please have a seat, pick up a pillow and read some of my stories. This artwork is meant to be handled.
Visit Mallory Cremin's web page at http://www.mallorycremin.com.
Don Normark
L.A. Stories: Don Normark
Hidden Colonies of Chavez Ravine, 1949
One rare clear day in November 1948, I was looking for a high vantage point to get a postcard view of Los Angeles. I didn't find that view, but when I looked over the other side of the hill I was standing on, I saw a village I never knew was there. As I hiked down into it, I began to think I had found a poor man's Shangri-la. It was mostly Mexican and certainly poor, but there was a unity to the place, and it was peacefully remote. The people seemed like refugees to me--people superior to the circumstances they were living in. I liked them, and stayed to photograph. I didn't know it at the time, but I was in Chavez Ravine.
I returned as often as I could in the next few months. I would step down from the number 10 streetcar, walk Bishop Road under the Pasadena Freeway, and climb a dirt path to the houses of La Loma, the nearest neighborhood in the ravine. The camera hanging from my shoulder was a Ciroflex, a cheap copy of the Rolliflex. With my picture-taking machine and a pocketful of film, I would approach the hill, probably whistling. Whistling was an unconscious habit for which my subconscious supplied the tunes, usually something desperately inappropriate to whatever situation I was in. I loved obscure folksongs then and might easily have been piping the sea chanty Santianna, whose mournful refrain celebrates the enormous land-grab known as the Mexican American war:
'O then we beat them up and down, Heave away Santianna, We conquered all of that Mexican ground, All on the fields of Mexico.
The trees and hills of Elysian Park formed the background, the northeast horizon for the communities of Chavez Ravine. In clear weather, the San Gabriel Mountains fill the sky above the park. That parkland was part of a 1781 land grant from King Carlos III of Spain to the pueblo of Los Angeles. By means of the Mexican/American war, Los Angeles was taken from Mexico, along with its park, the distant mountains, Texas, and everything in between. I didn't learn until years later that even then, in 1949, plans were under way to take Chavez Ravine from the American/Mexicans who lived there, and that the neighborhoods I was setting out to photograph were scheduled for demolition.
I had to work up my courage for these visits, not because I felt I was facing any danger, but simply to overcome my shyness at approaching strangers with a camera. People ask why I made these photographs, sometimes with an implied suspicion. . . what was my real motive? What was I really after? I was really after photographing life, and the people of La Loma, the residents of Chavez Ravine, lived lives that were a bit more open than those in more conventional American neighborhoods. More of life happened outside their homes, in public, where the stranger's camera could see. And the ravine was a finite place, small enough that I felt I might make a set of photographs that could encompass a portion of life there, that could represent the place. Beyond that, the people allowed me and my camera among them. Some elders treated me with courteous interest, some children greeted the camera with glee, but for the most part my presence was simply accepted. An acceptance that was like a gift to me.
Public Works Administration
L.A. Stories: Public Works Administration
Elizabeth Blaney, Leonardo Vilchis, Dont Rhine, Karina Combs, Valerie Tevere and Cecilia Wendt
"Your Place, Our Home" (A Realty Tour)
"A Realty Tour" maps out a history of low-income and public housing in the downtown vicinity of Los Angeles. Using original video, city maps, archival materials and audio collage, the tour dramatizes the role of development in the history of Los Angeles' Housing Authority in contrast to the current struggle of public housing residents to save their community in the face of demolition. The tour crisscrosses downtown, providing a history of public housing policy from a point of view committed to economic justice and grass-roots empowerment.
Public Works Administration (PWA) is a Los Angeles based inter-media art group. PWA develops projects around strategic partnerships with local grass-roots organizations, mobilizing communities for economic justice and combating neoliberal economic policies. Public Works Administration works in collaboration with the Union de Vecinos de Pico-Aliso (Boyle Heights), a group of 100 public housing residents organizing to change the political, economic, and social conditions of their community. PWA joins with the members of the Union de Vecinos de Pico-Aliso in fighting for just and affordable public housing in the wake of privatization schemes coming out of HUD and the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA).
Increasingly, artists are compelled to engage the disciplines of urban planning and architecture as a way of understanding our culture. The danger with this is that artists may adopt the bureaucratic tendencies of urban planners, specifically, the tendency to exact neoliberal economic development upon poor and working communities. PWA believes the intentions of many urban planners are revealed in discussions of public housing where plans such as structural adjustments, austerity measures and privatization are prioritized. By employing the full range of artistic media - installation, photography, video, sculpture, sound, graphic art, performance, and writing, PWA is currently developing projects to assist the Union de Vecinos de Pico-Aliso in their organizational efforts and their creation of public awareness of the devastating impact of HACLA's mismanagement of public housing in East Los Angeles.
"A Realty Tour" maps out a history of low-income and public housing in the downtown vicintiy of Los Angeles. Using original video, city maps, archival materials and audio collage, the tour dramatizes the role of development in the history of Los Angeles' Housing Authority, in contrast to the current struggle of public housing residents to save their community in the face of demolition. The tour criss-crosses downtown providing a history of public housing policy from a point-of-view committed to economic justice and grass-roots empowerment.
"A Realty Tour" as part of the "L.A. Stories: Engaging the City" exhibition, works in tandem with PWA's video-bus tours (as part of the L.A. Freewaves festival on September 26, 1998.)
For more information about the work of PWA and the issues surrounding it, please visit the following websites:
LA Culture Net, Neighborhood Views, Built L.A., Series Editor - Leda Ramos - (PWA included in this series)
The Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA).
Included in the site is an email directory and a comments and questions section. Please inundate HACLA with comments and questions.
Arroyo Arts Collective
Check out the "Without Alarm II" exhibition and catalogue (PWA included in exhibition)
May Sun
L.A. Stories: May Sun
The images in this body of work are of photographs that I took--fragments of a city that I know, taken from familiar areas of Los Angeles, sites that have been re-visited many times in my daily driving routines. . .
. . .following a chicken truck to its destination in Chinatown--from the chickens in the truck, to their destinies of being slaughtered. . .a burnt-out building (an architectural casualty from the 1992 Insurrection) near 7th Street and Alvarado. . .the semblance of nature in a shot of the L.A. River taken at its Atwater location and a close-up shot of the graffiti on its banks. . .a parking lot just east of downtown housing damaged police vehicles that symbolized the severe damage done to the LAPD's motto "to protect and serve" during the exposure and publicity of the Rodney King beating. . .and, finally, a teen-aged Central American street vendor selling bags of oranges near Highland Avenue and Pico Boulevard (juxtaposed with a historic photograph taken at the turn of the century of Chinese orange-pickers in Orange County.)
The I Ching hexagrams were chosen for their relevance to the photographic images.
Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst and Rubén Ortiz Torres
L.A. Stories: Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst and Rubén Ortiz Torres
To live and work in L.A. is to witness multiple cataclysmic events and contradictions. Myriad narratives collide here and spin out from the epicenter of the city, which is not one. Among the most pervasive are those cast by the ever-present commercial image industry. From the shores of "Baywatch" to the mean streets of "Beverly Hills Cop," the "Southern California" of the popular imagination defies the lived experience of the place. Largely untold are the stories of the often invisible actors who work behind the scenes in L.A.'s tourist industry.
Working with a budget that might cater a lunch on the set of a Hollywood production, we created a story incorporating the issues that tourist industry workers confront on a daily basis. We chose to draw upon the highly accessible style of the fotonovela, a very popular cultural form particularly in Mexico. The fotonovela, and its media counterpart the telenovela, typically portray lurid tales of sexual exploitation and illicit liaisons in a highly melodramatic, narrative style. We sought to blend this form and noir detective fiction, a genre indigenous to Los Angeles, into an entertaining and informative work.
Murder in My Suite/Bienvenidos al Hotel California is the second project in a series that began with The Big Sweep/La Gran Limpieza. These collaborations emerged from our combined desires to unfold compelling, socially engaged narratives that are experimental rather than based on documentary conventions; to uncover hidden realities of workers whose labor makes L.A. possible; and to work closely with union representatives, union members and community activists to produce cultural projects.
Distinct to Murder in My Suite is the fact that we have delved into an existing narrative-- the organizing efforts of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Local 11 to unionize a major hotel in downtown Los Angeles. This narrative chronicles the conditions immigrant workers face on the job and within a city that is only able to function by virtue of their labor, a city that simultaneously denies them the decency of a livable wage and other basic rights.
Stephen Callis, Leslie Ernst, and Rubén Ortiz Torres have recommended the following websites. Visit them to gain a better understanding of the personal interests and social issues that influence their art:
John Brown Books


text:
The Grammar School at Leeds Junior School
The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL) Junior School is part of a vibrant school community that teaches children from the age of 3 through to Sixth Form.
About the school
Children can join GSAL from the age of 3, with entry to our pre-preparatory department Rose Court, which is based on its own site in Headingley, Leeds. Admission to Junior School is at age 7 (Year 3), with children progressing from Rose Court as well as from other schools in the area. Sharing extensive landscaped grounds in north Leeds with our Senior School, the Junior School benefits from its own purpose built accommodation as well as the facilities and open space enjoyed by the whole school. In addition to the core curriculum pupils learn French, music and sport, with more specialist subjects such as ICT being gradually introduced to ensure they are thoroughly prepared for their transition to Senior School. Beyond the classroom children have the opportunity to try a wide choice of extra-curricular activities from baking to board games, crafts to cubs and a full spectrum of sporting activities. The Independent Schools Inspectorate 2011 reports that Junior School pupils "thoroughly enjoy school life…Their achievement is supported by their positive attitudes to learning, and by the warm relationships they enjoy with each other and their teachers." Admission to Junior School is subject to satisfactory performance in an age appropriate assessment, which includes tasks in English, Mathematics and reasoning, together with a report from the child's current school. Find out more at www.gsal.org.uk

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Art gallery quality with our stretch wrapped 20"h x 16"w canvas panel. Hand painted just the way it would have been in medieval times. We utilize metallic gold and silver leaf in place of yellow and white to complete the museum feel. Each piece is personally signed by the heraldic artist and can be displayed "as is" for a contemporary look or with a slimline wood frame.
Need it bigger? Just call us for a quote on any size canvas you wish to have.


text:
There is a risk military hardware could fall into Islamic State (Isis) hands, as the international community primes itself to lift a UN arms embargo in Libya and bolster the fightback against the group, experts warned on Wednesday (18 May).
Given the track record of arms proliferation in the North African nation since Libya's 2011 revolution – the country has become a hub for weapons and munitions smuggling across the region – monitors are warning that the international community could be courting danger as it looks to relax controls.
"It is always going to be a huge risk that they fall into the wrong hands. There should be extreme caution involved in doing this, given the political and security landscape in Libya in the last few years," Nicolas Florquin, research co-ordinator at the Small Arms Survey, told IBTimes UK.
"Five years after the revolution there is very little success in containing proliferation of arms. You just see how much there is to be done in this area. When you have these military grade weapons available so easily, it just gives you an indication of the challenges there," he added.
Damning reports by the United Nations have shown that despite an arms embargo on Libya since 2014, not only have armoured personnel carriers, jets and helicopters arrived in the country but weapons from inside have been illegally trafficked to terror groups, including Isis (Daesh) in neighbouring countries and beyond.
The UN is currently investigating the arrival of several Mi-24 helicopters in Libya, a contravention of the arms embargo, plus the recent transfer of four MiG-21F jets to Tubruq, believed to be from Egypt.
A March report showed that commercially bought shotguns of a kind used in Isis executions have been smuggled to Tunisia and Egypt, along with other arms and munitions. Materials also trafficked into Syria, Algeria, Chad, Nigeria, Mali and Sudan have reached Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, people traffickers and al-Mourabitoun.
The UK government and its international partners have said they want to make a targeted case for Libya's Government of National Accord to be exempted from the UN embargo. The resulting Vienna Accord places the onus on the new government in Tripoli to make its own case to the UN for safeguards against proliferation. The weapons, small arms and ammunition would be placed in the hands of the newly created Libyan presidential guard.
Libya-based analyst Mohamed Eljahr, anon-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council Centre for the Middle East, believes the guard is a poorly defined military force and explained the body is tasked with guarding government buildings, not with fighting Isis, the stipulated purpose of weapons to be exempted from the embargo.
Eljahr said there was also a real possibility the weapons would not be used against IS, but would instead continue to fuel the violence in Libya's civil war. "If these weapons, instead of being used against the Islamic State, are used by Libyans fighting each other... how is that helpful to Libyans?" he said.
"There is a huge trust issue, there is huge political disagreement between these different factions," he added.
As militias from Libya's rival political factions mass on Isis's stronghold in the coastal city of Sirte, the loosely formed anti-Isis coalition has three rival command centres. Clashes, not with Islamic State but between the differing brigades, have already taken place in the deserts to the south.
Eljahr explained that, ultimately, the arrival of weapons in the country to one group over another could further polarise the conflict.


text:
Beware: the following may only interest the London domestic architecture geeks among us.
I'm always very interested in the history of our building, but ashamed to say often referring to it rather lazily as a 'Regency townhouse' due to it's 'demi-lune' overdoor so reminiscent of this style. After a little searching however, I've discovered the building is in fact much earlier, being built in 1738-9, making it early George III. The text below very flatteringly describes No. 21 as having 'the best surviving interior of the street', and we are happy to say it's still very much surviving.
Another pleasant discovery is the noting of an assumed previous resident, the artist George Clint (no relation to the 1970s funk pioneer), who exhibited from the house in 1805.
All following text property of the British History Online Archive http://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-london/vols33-4/pp202-205
Nos. 21 and 22 Romilly Street
These houses were built in 1738–9, under two Portland leases neither of which was a building lease. No. 21 was built under a sixty-five-year lease to Thomas Cuthbert of St. Anne's, described as 'gentleman' but probably the tallow chandler of that name, and No. 22 under a thirty-five-year lease to Jane Allam of Paddington, spinster, a descendant of Joseph Girle, the early lessee of all Soho Fields. The first occupant of No. 21 was Richard Stainsby, described as 'gentleman' and at one time nominal mortgagee of the Pitt estate. The painter, George Clint, exhibited from the same house in 1805.
The two houses are of closely similar proportions, each of them containing a basement and four storeys, and having a brick front three windows wide (pictured below). The fronts are now of little interest because that of No. 21 has been painted and that of No. 22 completely rebuilt in modern times. However, the original segmental gauged arches of the second- and thirdstorey windows can still be seen at No. 21, where the different character of the windows in the fourth storey shows this to be a later addition. The back wall of No. 21 is of purple-red brick, the windows with rough segmental arches and containing flush frames.
|21 Romilly Street (Third from left) 1964, then as Taj Mahal restaurant.
The houses have the standard plan of a single front and back room, the latter with a dog-legged staircase beside it on the east and a projecting closet-wing on the north. The interior finishings are not well preserved and much of what remains has been concealed by asbestos sheeting. At No. 21, which has the best surviving interior in the street, the entrance hall and the first two storeys of the stair compartment are lined with ovolomoulded panelling in two heights. This is finished with a moulded dado-rail and a boxcornice, the hall having a dentilled cornice and a pair of plain pilasters flanking the entrance to the stair compartment. The lower flights of the staircase have been completely boxed in, but those at the top of the house have moulded closed strings, turned balusters, and column-newels with big square heads. Box-cornices are still visible in the ground- and first-floor rooms, the groundfloor front room having a dentilled cornice and the room above fragments of ovolo-moulded panelling.
|Mouldings on ground & first floor stairs.
|Panelling ground floor to bathrooms
|Panelling Ground floor to bathrooms
|Particularly interesting and possibly earliest balustrading, found at the very top floor landing.


text:
Uber licence renewal turned down
Following the hearing on Monday 23 April, Brighton & Hove City Council's licensing panel has decided against renewing Uber Britannia Ltd's Private Hire Operator Licence in the city.
The unanimous decision was taken as the members of the panel were not satisfied that UBL are a 'fit and proper person' to hold an operator's licence under the terms of Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 and the council's licensing objectives.
The panel considered all circumstances relating to the application and the factors operating in Brighton & Hove. This included a number of issues raised by those objecting to the application, which they found to carry very little or no evidential weight.
However, the panel did have significant concerns about the company's data breach and UBL's lack of commitment to use only Brighton & Hove licensed drivers in the city. These formed the basis of the decision to not renew the licence.
Chair of the licensing panel, Councillor Jackie O'Quinn, said: "When making Hackney Carriage and Private Hire operator licensing decisions, our priority is the safety of residents and visitors and, due to the data breach and the lack of commitment to using drivers licensed here, we were not satisfied that UBL are a fit and proper person to hold an operator's licence in the city.
"All Brighton & Hove private hire and Hackney Carriage drivers in the city operate under the same licences and guidelines contained in the Blue Book and undergo the same background checks, whichever company they drive for. In the original application in 2015, UBL gave a firm commitment to adhere to the standards set out in the Blue Book and only to use Brighton & Hove licensed drivers. We do not feel the spirit of this commitment has been kept to. In the panel's view, large numbers of taxis operating in the city that do not meet our Blue Book standards puts the safety of residents and visitors at potential risk.
"We recognise there are strong feelings on this issue and would like to thank all those who took the time to make submissions to the hearing."
For more details on the decision, view or download the Uber Britannia Ltd licensing application decision letter 1 May 2018 (PDF 451KB).
The hearing was held in public to make the process as open and transparent as possible. As well as representatives from Uber, the panel heard views for and against renewing the licence from interested parties, including residents and the local taxi trade.
If Uber decide to appeal against the decision, their drivers licensed with Brighton & Hove can continue to operate in the city while the appeal is heard. Any appeal must be made to the Magistrates Court in Edward Street, Brighton within 21 days of notification of this decision.


text:
Ladies and gentlemen, it's official. We've reached the midpoint of the International Year of Statistics. Or as Bon Jovi would put it: "Whoa… we're halfway there… whoa--OH! livin' on a prayer." (Seriously, it's hard not to sing this song when you reach the halfway point of anything.) If you somehow missed the '80s, here's a chance to catch up.
I recently had the opportunity to enjoy a bit of time off to rest and recharge my mental batteries. It was a good chance to catch up on some books I've been meaning to read for a long time. One book, or short story to be more accurate, contained a particularly enlightening paragraph that has some bearing on statistics: The Call of Cthulu, written by H.P. Lovecraft and published in 1928 in Weird Tales magazine. If you're not familiar with the story, it describes the awakening of an ancient winged and tentacled creature that was set to bring about the end of life as we know it.
Still with me? The above description may not be your cup of tea, but the introductory paragraph is quite fascinating:
"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light onto the peace and safety of a new dark age."
Statisticians play a key role in the sciences, uncovering relationships between seemingly unrelated factors, describing complex processes and predicting important outcomes with parsimonious models; our gift is finding the signal amidst the noise. So at best, statisticians will rescue humanity from a "placid island of ignorance." At worst, statisticians will bring about the apocalypse.
I'm a bit more "glass half full" than Mr. Lovecraft. I view our ever-increasing understanding of the world and its mysteries with excitement, not fear. We have indeed come a long way. But for every question we seem to answer, several new ones rise to take its place. So it seems unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future, that we'll uncover something so overwhelming or terrifying that we run screaming for the hills. Perhaps the most frightening thing we'll face is the realization of how much more we have yet to learn.
In the meantime, there is a lot of work to do, especially for statisticians. For example, consider personalized medicine. How do we locate the genetic markers that influence disease? How do we identify individuals who will experience the most benefit from a new drug? How can we best alter the treatment course of patients when their outcome changes? Statistics and statisticians are involved in solving all of these problems. And there is plenty more where that came from. (Thank you, Variability.)
So enjoy the remainder of the International Year of Statistics. Spread the word. The end will be here before you know it.
There are no labels assigned to this post.
Brian Greiner wrote:
Ia! Ia! Statistics fhtagn.
[with apologies to Mr. Zink and Mr. Lovecraft]
Richard Zink wrote:
Well played, sir. Well played.
James Cawse wrote:
"The outcome of any serious research can only be to make two questions grow where only one grew before"
- Thorsten Veblen
Laura Wright wrote:
Doom, gloom, catastrophe, and plague are subjects of endlessly fascination. The curious seek understanding while others turn away in distaste. Blissful denial is a temporary comfort, which provides no protection from a frightening reality.
Mike Clayton wrote:
Economists are much gloomier and dangerous to humanity, IMHO.
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.


text:
Looks like Mike Patey had a nasty accident this morning with Draco. No injuries.
That sucks. Glad hes ok.
You'll get your chance, smart guy!
Here is cottage of the groundloop.
Sure was a pretty piece of aircraft machinery art! So glad everyone unscathed!
Wayne Sagar
"Pusher of Electrons"
Wow. First thought was how "easily" the wings seemed to fold. Obviously a ton of stress was involved but still surprised considering Draco's capabilities. Glad everyone is safe and sound.
This man is amazing builder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn9LjYy03uw
I hope he fixes the plane soon like it was.
Seem to recall John Putman had similar accident landing in P-51 "Georgia Mae" in 1985 with a strong gust from the left upending it causing cartwheel to the right..
One thing is for sure, he does not ever slow down. I saw a picture he posted, Draco appears to already be disassembled and loaded in a trailer for the trip home.


text:
There has been a sharp increase in the number of cases of whooping cough in England, experts have said.
A total of 665 cases have already been confirmed this year, compared with 1,040 for the whole of 2011, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said.
As a result, parents are being urged to check their children's vaccinations are up to date, as this is the most effective way to protect against the infection, according to head of immunisation Dr Mary Ramsay.
She said: 'Parents should ensure their children are up to date with their vaccinations so that they are protected at the earliest opportunity.
'The pre-school booster is also important, not only to boost protection in that child but also to reduce the risk of them passing the infection on to vulnerable babies, as those under four months cannot be fully protected by the vaccine.'
Whooping cough - also known as pertussis - is an infection that mainly affects the windpipe and the airways leading to the lungs.
Symptoms are similar to a common cold to begin with, before progressing to intense bouts of coughing accompanied by thick phlegm and the characteristic 'whoop' sound.


text:
Does Salt Really Harden Your Arteries?
Heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a prominent feature of heart disease and can affect any artery in the body, including those serving the heart and brain. This can lead to serious problems such as heart attack or stroke. Excess dietary sodium raises blood pressure and may play a role in increasing the risk of atherosclerosis.
A Necessary Nutrient
The sodium that occurs naturally in food is found in rather small amounts. The same isn't true for processed foods. Because of this, the average American consumes much more sodium than the body needs. From a nutritional perspective, sodium has a place in your diet. It's an electrolyte that works with potassium to regulate fluid balance in your body. Your body, however, only needs a small amount, about 200 milligrams to function properly.
Sodium and Cardiovascular Health
When it comes to heart health, a diet high in sodium is most commonly linked with an increased risk of high blood pressure. Too much sodium can increase fluid volume, causing water retention, which can place extra burden on your arteries and increase blood pressure in susceptible individuals. Blood pressure refers to the force placed against your arteries during and between heart beats. Having high blood pressure increases the risk of developing heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.
A Potential Path to Atherosclerosis
There is no evidence that salt directly causes atherosclerosis. If you already have high blood pressure, however, a diet high in sodium may increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis. In an animal study, a high-salt diet promoted atherosclerosis in mice with existing blood vessel dysfunction. The excess salt increased oxidative stress, a condition in which your body is unable to keep up with the demand to neutralize free radicals -- unstable atoms that cause cell damage. These findings warrant further studies using humans. The results were published in the journal "Blood Pressure" in 2005.
Sodium Guidelines
Currently, most Americans need to cut back on their sodium intake. The average American consumes 3,000 to 3,600 milligrams of sodium, according to the AHA. It's recommended that you limit your sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams per day or less 1,500 milligrams, depending on your age and risk factors, according to "Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010." Cutting back on processed food can help reduce your sodium intake. Over 40 percent of sodium intake comes from breads, cold cuts, pizza, poultry, soups, burgers and other sandwiches, pasta, meat dishes and snacks such as chips.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Leading Causes of Death
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: What Is Atherosclerosis
- MedlinePlus: Dietary Sodium
- American Heart Association: Why Should I Limit Sodium
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Sodium Q & A
- U.S Department of Agriculture: Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010
- Blood Pressure: High Sodium Intake Increases Vascular Superoxide Formation and Promotes Atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E-deficient Mice


text:
Victor Jara murder: Chile arrests ex-army officers
- Published
Chilean authorities have arrested four former army officers accused of involvement in the murder of singer-songwriter Victor Jara.
Jara was killed days after the coup that brought General Augusto Pinochet to power in September 1973.
More arrests are expected after a judge last week indicted eight ex-officers, including one who lives in the US.
Jara's widow, Joan Turner, has urged the US to extradite Pedro Barrientos Nunez. He has denied any involvement.
On 28 December, Judge Miguel Vazquez accused Mr Barrientos, a former lieutenant, and Hugo Sanchez Marmonti, an ex-colonel, of homicide, while the other six were accused of complicity to commit murder.
On Wednesday, four of the men, including Mr Sanchez Marmonti. handed themselves in to the authorities.
The judge has said he will request Mr Barrientos's extradition from Florida, where he now lives.
Joan Turner Jara, originally from Britain, said on Wednesday that the charges against the former officers were " a message of hope" but that much remained to be done to ensure justice not only for her husband's case but for all the victims of Chile's military dictatorship.
"If Victor's case serves as an example, we're pushing forward in demanding justice for Victor with the hope that justice will follow for everyone," she told reporters.
Broken hands
Victor Jara, who was a member of the Chilean Communist Party, was one of the best-known victims of Gen Augusto Pinochet's coup.
In the 1960s he wrote protest songs against the ruling elite of his country and was a supporter of President Salvador Allende who was toppled and died in the military uprising.
Jara, 38, was abducted on 11 September from a university in Santiago.
He was taken to a sports stadium in Santiago which had been turned into a makeshift prison and torture centre.
He was tortured, electrocuted and had his wrists and hands broken. On 16 September, he was machine-gunned to death.
In June 2009, his body was exhumed as part of an investigation to clarify the circumstances of his death.
Six months later, thousands people paid their final respects to the folk singer, who was reburied after a three-day wake.
More than 3,000 people were killed or went missing during military rule in Chile, from 1973 to 1990.


text:
Contributing a little extra to your super now could make a big difference to your final balance and income in retirement.
Save on tax and boost your super by asking your employer if you can put more of your before-tax pay into your super account. You'll need to tell your HR or payroll department how much you'd like to 'salary sacrifice' from each pay cycle as either a dollar amount or a percentage.
You'll only be taxed 15% on this amount – or 30% if you earn $250,000 a year or more – so salary sacrificing makes sense if your normal income-tax rate is higher than 15%.
Mercer Super customers can call us for free general advice about super.
Call us on 1800 682 525.
If you earn $37,000 or less a year and put some before-tax money into your super, including employer contributions, the Government may pay up to $500 per financial year into your super. You don't even have to apply for it; the Australian Taxation Office will deposit the Government's contribution straight into your fund.
Get some free money from the Government
It's not often we get something for nothing, but the Government's co-contribution scheme is about as close as it gets. If you're eligible and you make an after-tax contribution into your super, the Government may also make a contribution on your behalf.
The scheme works on a sliding scale; the lower your income, the more you may get from the Government. If you're at the lower end of the income scale and you make a personal super contribution of $1,000, you could be eligible for the maximum co-contribution of $500.
Get the facts about the co-contribution scheme.
Help your spouse grow their super too
You can help boost your spouse's retirement savings by making a contribution to their super account.
If your spouse earns up to $40,000 a year and you put as much as $3,000 into their super you could get an 18% tax offset—saving you up to $540 in tax. Spouse contributions aren't subject to the usual 15% contributions tax and they are tax-free on withdrawal.
You can also split up to 85% of your before-tax super contributions with your spouse. This can help their super grow and possibly reduce the tax you'll pay as well. Contribution splitting can only be done after the end of the financial year.
Get the facts about spouse contributions.
Mercer Super customers can call us for free general advice about super.
The Government sets 'limits' called contribution caps which outline how much you can contribute to your super each year and still benefit from the tax concessions super offers.
8am - 7pm (AEST/AEDT), Monday - Friday


text:
May 30 2014
'In Your Eyes' soundtrack release in June/July. "Lakeshore Records will release a soundtrack album for the indie sci-fi romance In Your Eyes. The album features the original song Crumblin' [and] songs by Santigold, Iron & Wine, Opus Orange and Twinbed, as well as a track from the film's score composed by Tony Morales." A score album is also being released.
This is amazing news! I am surprised and excited to hear that they will release a physical soundtrack as well as digital.
This thread has been closed for new comments.
You need to log in to be able to post comments.
About membership.


text:
The Position Paper on English Language Teaching published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, Government of India in 2005 stated that "English in India can occur in tandem with the first languages(s) of the learners at the lower primary stage, or at least in class I to III" and learning activities should be designed to create language awareness of the children exposed to English for the first time. In spite of this significant suggestion made in the said Position Paper on English Language Teaching, English textbooks used at the primary level in India often ignore the existing cognitive and linguistic abilities of the learners who are exposed to English along with their mother tongue or the school language and consequently, the English textbooks alienate the young learners who fail to make a connection between the new language and their mental world. The fact that children use languages for meaning making and making sense of the world around them is often ignored in presenting materials in the English textbooks.
The textbooks used for teaching the mother tongue or the school language, on the other hand, use the materials very carefully to prompt the learners to make a spontaneous connection between the language and their mental world. This double standard of preparing textbooks in English and the mother tongue creates a discordant note in the minds of the very young learners for whom learning English tends to be a mechanical exercise. An English teacher using a multilingual pedagogy in the classroom should be aware of the fact that L1 and L2 do not reside in two separate compartments in the mind of the bilingual child when she is exposed to a second language. L1 and L2 are interwoven in the L2 user's mind in vocabulary, in syntax, in phonology and in pragmatics. Therefore, 'learning an L2 is not just adding rooms to your house by building an extension at the back, it is the rebuilding of all internal walls' (Cook, 2001:407). Using L2 along with the child's L1 reinforces a child's repertoire in both the languages and therefore, a multilingual pedagogy is likely to be a double blessing for an Indian child learning English along with her mother tongue or the school language. By providing space for exploring two or more languages together and prompting the children to examine the resources of their home languages in the English class room, the English teacher becomes instrumental in developing the multilingual awareness of the children.
Keeping in view the desirability of using multilingualism as a classroom resource (Agnihotri, 1995:3) for teaching English in India, I made a study to examine and explore the suitability of using the resources of the Hindi textbook, Rimjhim along with the English textbook Marigold used in class I of CBSE and many State Board schools of India. The study examined the linguistic and cognitive challenges faced by the learners in using the materials presented in Marigold and highlighted the suitability of using selected materials from Rimjhim along with the materials presented in the English textbook.
The study was s done in two parts: First, the two textbooks were evaluated using some of the established criteria of material evaluation (Tomlinson,2003) and next, the possibility of preparing a revised version of Marigold with the help of the materials presented in Rimjhim was explored from the point of view of a multilingual pedagogy.
The study used following criteria for evaluating the two textbooks. (a) Do the materials connect between the learning experience of the children in the classroom and the life outside the classroom? (b) Do the textbooks relate the new to the earlier knowledge of the child? (c) Are the language items presented in the books age appropriate? (d) Do the materials prompt the children to use the target language creatively? (e) Are the visuals cognitively demanding for the young learners? (f) Are the activities child-centric or teacher driven? (g) How authentic are the materials? (h) Do the materials presented in the textbooks adhere to local conditions and cultures so that the children can relate them to their familiar world? (i) Is there a scope for experiential learning, complete with activities and clear instructions and opportunities?
In both the English and Hindi textbooks, the units are designed thematically as thematic units help the learners to 'interpret new language and new information on the basis of their background knowledge' (Curtain, H. and Dahlberg, C.A, 2004:150). While the Unit 1 of Marigold is about the theme of the house and the people who live in the house, the Unit 1 of Rimjhim is about the school and the life around the school. In the Unit 1 of Marigold, words like girl, boy, grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, sister and brother are introduced while in the Unit 1 of Rimjhim words like school, teacher, park, courtyard, garden, swing are introduced. Though both the Units are theme based, the presentation of the lexical items in Rimjhim is more context embedded than those used in Mariglod.
The theme of the Unit 3 of Marigold and the Unit 9 of Rimjhim is the animal world. In the Unit 3 of Marigold, the children are asked to look at the pictures of kitten, cat, butterfly, rat, fish, seal, seagull, eel, elephant, flea, bee, lizard, alligator, whale and donkey and underline them in the poem. Words like cat, cow, sheep and monkey are, of course, introduced in the first unit of Marigold. In Unit 9 of Rimjhim, the pictures of cow, cat, rat, dog, rabbit, camel, lion, monkey, donkey and the elephant are introduced along with the Hindi words. If supplementary materials for the Unit 3 of Marigold are prepared taking the resources of the Unit 9 of Rimjhim, it would be quite interesting and useful for the children both cognitively as well as linguistically.
The theme of Unit 5 of the Hindi textbook is Transport. Words like car, truck, bus, scooter, cycle, auto-rickshaw, rail, guard and driver are used in this Unit in a highly context embedded manner. Showing the picture of a bus, the teacher tells the children about the passengers, the driver and other related facts. The theme of the Unit 10 of Marigold is primarily transport but the theme is not exploited in a comprehensive and creative manner. Pictures of a sailor, an astronaut, a pilot are given along with the pictures of a dentist, a farmer, a postman and a teacher and the children are asked "What shall I be when I grow up? Match the following: "A person who sails a ship", "A person who flies a spaceship," A person who flies an aeroplane." While the lesson of the Hindi textbook takes into account the child's previous knowledge and creativity, the English lesson ignores them and makes it a meaningless exercise. The Unit 5 of Rimjhim can be used for scaffolding the language activities of the Unit 10 of Marigold.
The materials presented in Marigold often fail to connect between the learning experience of the children in the classroom and the life outside the classroom. The activities given in Marigold are teacher driven and betray the perspectives of the teacher or the textbook writer. The child's voice and the child's perspectives are missing in a number of activities given in the book. In unit 10 of Marigold, for example, the child is asked to share her experience of an imaginary journey by a plane. The task is as follows: "Let's pretend you are a pilot flying an aeroplane. (a) What will you see outside your aeroplane (i) during the day? (ii) at night? (b) What will you see inside your aeroplane?" How can a child imagine what a pilot sees inside the cockpit while flying a plane in the sky? Again, what kind of experiential learning can take place when after reading the poem, The Flying-Man, the child is given the following task? "Choose your answer: The Flying-man is Superman. The Flying-man is a pilot. The Flying-man is an astronaut. The Flying-man is Batman." One wonders how a rural Indian child of class 1 will respond to the fictional superhero of American comic books. The poem Rosoighar (Kitchen) given in Unit 7 of Rimjhim can replace the poem The Flying-Man. The true/false tasks given towards the end of Unit 7 of Rimjhim are more child friendly and culture sensitive than the tasks given in Unit 10 of Marigold.
The visuals presented in Marigold are not cognitively demanding for the young learners, they are often contrived and do not take into account the child's natural instinct to use language for self expression and meaning making. In Unit 1, the pictures of a boy and a girl are given and the child is asked to match the words with the pictures: Draw a line and say "I am a boy" and "I am a girl". Why should a normal girl child say "I am a girl" pointing out at the picture of a girl? On the other hand, on page 24 of Rimjhim, there is a picture of a girl along with a question in Hindi, "What is the girl carrying on her head? Draw a picture". This task is more authentic and child friendly than the artificial utterances given in Marigold.
The Unit 7 of Marigold and the Unit 11 of Rimjhim have the same title, A kite. Both the textbooks have poems telling the child how a kite flies and how a child feels when she sees the kite flying, and, therefore, the lessons can supplement one another from the point of view of a multilingual pedagogy.
On the basis of the discussion done so far, we may surmise that the resources available in the textbook used for teaching the mother tongue can be used judiciously, creatively and effectively for teaching English at the primary level from the point of view of a multilingual pedagogy. Be it English or any other language ,the same cognitive and linguistic process is set in motion when a child encounters a language textbook for decoding and meaning making. Therefore, teachers teaching English should not be allergic to the use of the materials available in the textbook used for teaching the mother tongue of the children. The present study implies that English textbook writers and the writers of other Indian language textbooks should develop textbooks in a collaborative manner instead of working in silos.
Agnihotri, R.K. (1995). Multilingualism as a classroom resource. In Kathleen, H A S. and Peter, P(eds.) Multilingual Education for South Africa. Johannesburg: Heinemann, pp. 3-7.
Cook, V.(2001). Using the first language in the classroom. Canadian Modern Language Journal, 57/3, pp.401-523.
Curtain, H. and Dahlberg, C.A.(2004). Languages and Children: Making the Match: New Languages for Young Learners, Grade K-8. Boston: Pearson.
NCERT (2006). The Position Paper on English Language Teaching, New Delhi: NCERT
Tomlinson ,B.(2003). Developing materials for Language Teaching. New York: Continuum.
NB. This is an edited version of my paper presented in a National Seminar organised by the Regional Institute of Education, Mysore, India in December 2017.


text:
For all the cool and sophisticated things that you can do in Customer Insights, the one thing that people really want to do (or at least really need to do) is pretty simple: take a look at the total number of user profiles you have today, and compare that with the total number of user profiles you had, say, a week ago. Like we said, pretty simple.
Or at least it sounds pretty simple. However, there have been a few issues that complicated matters (not counting the fact that you had to create these profile-counting queries yourself). For example, you faced the very real problem of knowing what constituted a day, something that can be especially problematic for organizations that span multiple time zones. After all, if it's 1:00 AM on December 11th in New York City, it's 11:00 PM on December 10th in Portland, Oregon. If a new user from Portland registers at 11:00 PM Pacific Standard Time, was that profile created on December 10th, or December 11th?
To help clear up this type of confusion, Customer Insights 2.1 includes a new Dashboard called App Profile Counts. By default, App Profile Counts shows you the exact number of user profiles you had as of midnight UTC time for the past 7 days. (It also shows how those profile totals have changed from day-to-day.) In other words:
Two things make App Profile Counts. First, the Dashboard is built on top of a query that automatically runs at the same time every single day (midnight UTC time). That means that you don't have to do anything: the query has already been written and has already been scheduled to run. All you have to do is open the Dashboard and view the results.
In addition to that, you can be confident that your profile totals are always based on a 24-hour period, and on the exact same 24-hour period. You just have to remember that you must take your local time zone into account when viewing the totals. Yes, if you live smack dab on the Prime Meridian, then that 24-hour period runs from midnight to midnight. But if you live in Portland, OR, that 24-hour period runs from 4:00 PM to 4:00 PM. But for every day displayed in the Dashboard, the 24-hour period will always be the same.
By default, App Profile Counts shows a single value representing the combined user profile totals for all your entity types. However, you do have the option of running your query against a subset of your entity types. For example, this filter only returns the user profile counts for the IT_User entity type:
Depending on how your entity types have been configured, this makes it easy to view profile counts for, say, all your users from Africa, or all your users from southeast Asia.


text:
The following is quoted from a letter written by William G. LAWRENCE, Chief Boatswain's Mate, to the Commanding Officer of the Chase
Friday the 9th was a day of apprehension, not as much for the invasion, which was certainly enough, but for the weather. The wind blew all day, whipping itself into a frenzy--the seas building up more and more as the day wore on. Around dusk, we passed Malta, while approaching a rendezvous area where hundreds of ships, all kinds and sizes, were converging. Those who were to be on the small boats kept watching the wind, hoping it would haul up into the northward a little more, as then we would have had a lee on the invasion shore. However, the wind held steady, which meant a sweep along the beach making cross seas. We knew what that meant for us. Last minute instructions being over, we tried to get some sleep around 2200--only to be shaken out by general quarters at midnight. Coming on deck, it was quite, a sight to see--a dark starry night, our own ships silhouetted against continuous firing ahead.
From then on we lost all track of time and what time meant, until after the night of the 12th. It was a period of night running into day, and day into night as though they were one. What little sleep we did get during those three days was very spasmodic.
At the call of condition four, the different members of my crew came aboard. They were Thomas SHEPPARD, CM1c, George KNIPPLE, SF2c, David LIGHT, Cox., Edwin CARSON, F1c, Martin SOTHAMEL, RM3c, Claude JENKINS, SM1c, Wm. JOHNSTON, S1c, J. BOBBITT, S2c, myself, and Lieutenant (jg) BANKS, who was in charge of the invasion craft from our ship.
By this time the wind had abated somewhat, but the seas were still running. Looking in toward the beach where the boats were to land, we saw fires from one end to the other. Afterwards, we say no indication of what those fires were. Suddenly, off shore there appeared a great burst of flame, which turned out to be the fate of an Allied destroyer. We were acting as an escort and information boat for the different waves, sending them to their proper ships as they got off their course or rendezvous area.
At 0245, the first wave hit hit. Explosions started going off, one after the other, along the beach. The same with the next wave. It looked bad for them from where we watched off shore. Our support ships were throwing salvos ashore. The shells, in groups of three, made perfect fiery arcs across the sky. Search lights were causing trouble, which had to be taken care of. Some cruiser fired one shot at a particular light, that seemed to travel forever through space, and when it finally did drop in, the light went out as though you had pushed a button. The next morning we saw the evidence of that shot; there was a gaping hole right through the center of the light.
At dawn, we were at the beach, where we started our salvage operations. The beach was a mess, broached boats all over the place. A plane came down in flames to the west of us, and as it sank, it sent up two large smoke rings from each end.
A surf was breaking over a bar just off the beach. The boats would come in heavily loaded and many were swamped before being unloaded. The boats would beach, the surf would run beyond them, the ramps would be lowered and the out-going water from the beach would fill them up. We kept pulling boats off as we came to them, taking only the ones that would run. At that time, it seemed to us more important to keep as many in operation as we could, than to waste time on a boat that would not run without a great deal of repair.
We tried to keep in contact with the Beach Master, so he could direct us to the next boat in difficulty. However, due to poor radio reception, we had no success with him.
At one time, there were three of my men on the beach--CARSON, SHEPPARD, and JOHNSTON, checking on the most easily salvaged boats. They were forced to take cover in fox holes during a plane attack. It was later that they realized, to do so, they had run across a mined area marked with white tape.
Then, we began to get it hot from artillery fire, strafing and bombing from enemy planes. We kept working along the beach, starting at one end and working up to the other, taking the best boats we came to. An LST ran in to the beach, and forgot to drop her stern anchor. Her commanding officer hailed us, requesting we carry it out for them which we did. It was no mean job with the heavy swells running as they were. But, my coxswain, LIGHT, one of the best, can do everything with that boat but make her talk. We had just completed this and were moving back in when CARSON yelled "Here they come!" Three enemy planes were winging in low in line with three LST's. The outside plane dropped her bomb first and them swung as to strafe us just as we opened up. Thank God we had these guns then as that plane changed course at once. We were convinced that the fire power of our one .50 cal. and three .30 cal. guns decided that Jerry not to fly directly into us. The other two planes dropped their bombs consecutively on the next two ships, and followed the first away. As luck had it, none of the bombs hit anything but water. One of my men who was watching said that the first bomb dropped, hit the water a short distance from one side of the first LST, skipped completely over the ship and landed on the other side before going off. One of those bombs was pretty close to us, making spray that gave us a salt water shower. Unknown to us at the time, it opened up two seams on the after run of the bottom starboard side. We continued operations that afternoon, watching one LST hit by a similar attack. We salvaged one boat that had a broken rudder and towed it out to its ship. Being near the Chase, we decided to try our luck again with chow. The request to the bridge, "Permission to come aboard for chow." The answer came back. "Tie up astern, and come aboard." That was good.
After eating, I reported to the bridge for further orders, which were, "Carry on at the beach." That we did, until well Into the night, as the moon gave us sufficient light to work for a considerable time. We then lay off the beach, directing boats coming in (mostly LCI's) to their right location. I set a watch of three men with two hour watches, giving each man almost four hours sleep on top of ammunition boxes, gear, etc.
Then came the dawn and back to the beach, only to be greeted by morning strafing. We salvaged one of the Oberon boats that would run, but had no crew. I sent it out to the Chase by Johnstown. The ship put a crew aboard, and he reported back after they had taken in a load. One of our own boats was lost through no ones fault, as we watched the entire thing. She came in loaded with an ambulance which made her very low and she got hung up on her first attempt. The surf being heavy, the coxswain had considerable trouble, but managed to back off and try again. On lowering his ramp, the ambulance started out and the boat filled up almost immediately. Nothing could be done about it. The ambulance reached shore safely.
We returned to the ship around noon for chow and further orders. We were told to stand by, and the entire crew fell asleep on deck while waiting. Ensign Tellier and Robert Sargent, Photographer's Mate Second Class, came aboard for the next trip and we left the ship at 1400 to continue operations. We salvaged some boats that could run, but had no crews, and anchored several off the beach. One of our boats, No. 5, with no crew, had the ramp down. We raised the ramp and Carson ran it out to the Chase. The entire beach was being heavily covered by enemy artillery fire, and at one point we had a close one. There was an LST unloading, while just to the west of her was an LCM that seemed in good shape, but was not quite unloaded. So, after moving on down the beach to work, we came back to her. Having made our cable fast in the usual fashion, we turned around, and started pulling. On the beach behind us, near the dune line, there was a burst from artillery fire; then another nearer and in direct line for us. They were undoubtedly trying for the LST, but their aim was a little to the west. The Oberon's LCM was just beginning to move when there was another burst nearer and still in line. If there hadn't been three men on that boat we would have slipped our cable, but we hung on, and she began to move out faster and faster. As we pulled away from the shore, the bursts kept moving down to the water, and then into the water. We cut to the west down the beach, and the next few bursts hit where we had been. It was just a case of being lucky enough to be one jump ahead of them. Sargent received a minor cut on his arm from shrapnel. The lighter would not run, so we were forced to tow her to the Oberon. Meanwhile, the beach had an attack by planes, just as a formation of heavy bombers hit at the ships offshore, dropping eggs all around them.
One Liberty ship was hit. Shortly afterwards, she went up in a terrific explosion. Leaving the LCM, we ran over to the burning ship to pick up any survivors, but found all hands had abandoned ship some minutes before she went up.
We returned to the Chase about 1730, and were told to stand by. We were aboard about an hour and a half, when orders came to proceed to the beach until nightfall. Upon returning to the ship, the word was passed to tie up astern for the night, leaving one man on watch. As it happened, it was Johnston's turn for the watch and he had a night of it. We were just getting settled down aboard, when the planes began to come in, and the order was given, "Cast off all boats astern." The order was executed before any of us could get aft to help out Johnston. He started the engines and began cruising around, torpedo planes started coming in low between the ships, and all ships began crossfire horizontal to the water. Johnston was right in the middle. He said afterward that he saw tracers that streaked across the deck right between the engine box and the winch. After that night, we let Johnston sleep the next morning on top of our soft beds of ammunition boxes.
Lieutenant Donovan and Ensign Tellier reported aboard on the morning of the 12th at 0500. After a hasty check along the beach of the stranded boats, we began operations as before. After pulling off a number of boats, we came to one that was still one half loaded with ammunition, the ramp down and quite a bit of water in her. After pulling up the ramp, she came off easily enough. Off shore a short distance, we hailed an Army duck, and transferred the ammunition to it. The boat began to take on considerable water, having a hole we could not find. After unloading her, we ran to an LST to hoist her before she sank. The slings were for boom hoisting, but after some manipulating, we made them do for davits. She was hoisted out and freed of water by letting the ramp down. We found a hole just over her screw. Sheppard patched it with lead sheeting. We then took her to the ship she belonged to. This operation took quite some time, and, as it was about noon, we reported back to the Chase. Up to this time, we had pulled off thirty-five boats. Then came orders from the bridge for five of us--Knipple, Light, Carson, Johnston, and myself to report with the salvage boat to the Hopi on verbal orders. We needed some repairs, so I requested permission to be hoisted aboard. It was then we discovered where our leak was. We had two teams sprung by bombs. The ramp gasket and our stuffing boxes needed fixing, as well as the two seams. After repairs, we gathered together our personal gear, and were ready to go overboard at 1700. The orders were to drop back to the port quarter and have a fire pump put aboard. In the midst of that, there was an air-raid which held things up for a bit. Next came an order to take several British officers over to the "Monitor" while we were standing by. Sometime around 1800 the Chase shoved off, and from the bridge the Commander called down "Report to the Hopi--good luck." Answering "Aye-Aye, Sir," we all felt as though we were deserted. To see our ship pull out, leaving us on desolate, war torn shores, was heartbreaking.
We reported to the U.S.S. Hopi. We were met by Lieutenant Commander Anderson, in charge of salvage operations in that area, who came aboard and asked to be taken on a round of the Liberty ships. About dusk, we learned he was going to send us out again for salvage work. I requested sleep for my men and myself and we needed it badly. That was agreed to. As they had no quarters aboard for us, we were
forced to live on our own boat from then on, making out as best we could.
The fire pump we had from the Chase was put aboard the Hopi on Commander Anderson's order. It was later given to the advanced base at Gela by order. That was all right with us as it would have made us so heavy, we wouldn't have been able to work the beach. As it was, we had to unload a lot of things to help make us lighter.
July 13th, we started out without chow, which didn't help our dispositions. We reported to the beach at Gela to carry lines for the tugs, so they could pull boats from the beach. They were working on the boats with a tug and a bulldozer when we arrived and had two tugs standing by. Running lines for them seemed a waste of time to us as we moved in and pulled off two boats while the tug was still working on one. When their boat finally did come off it sank and had to be salvaged again. Lieutenant Commander Anderson did not ask us to run lines for the small tugs again. He came aboard our boat and stayed with us that day and part of the next. That day we salvaged fourteen boats. Most of them we had to pump out as well as pull off. We had a three inch pump aboard belonging to the Hopi. This pump was not too heavy and worked quite well. Several of Lieutenant Commander Anderson's men were aboard helping us with the pump.
Knipple received a bad cut over his eye from being thrown to the deck when we hit one of those unexpected sandbars well off the beach. One of the Hopi's men, named Murphy, was thrown overboard but was picked up immediately.
Before reporting in that night, we evacuated casualties from the beach to the U.S.S. Mexico. We began the day of July 14th by taking a load of TNT into the beach for the Hopi. We salvaged five boats and then ran down to Victoria with the U.S.S. Nausett. We handled 600 fathoms of 1 1/2" cable, running from an LCT on the beach to the Nausett. We secured that night at 2330. We stood by most of July 15th waiting for someone to make up their mind. We finally received orders to return to Gela and continue salvage operations. We salvaged four boats in the time that was left. On July 16th, we continued work as before. The Hopi sent men to the beach to pump out and repair boats with minor holes while we used the 3" pump as in the past. As we took the boats off the beach, we turned them over to one of the smaller tugs of the salvage party. Our score for that day was twelve boats.
The morning of July 17th, we ran to Victoria with the Hopi, and handled their cable for a pontoon bridge. We returned to Gela the same day and salvaged six boats. On July 18th we salvaged ten boats. By this time we had salvaged an LCM that was in good condition and some of Lieutenant Commander Anderson's men started working with it using the same principle that they had seen us use. On July 19th we salvaged ten boats which finished up our work of pulling boats off the beach. This gave us a total of ninety-six boats altogether. These ninety-six boats were taken from the beach stretching from Gela to four miles east of Gela.
During the past days we often came across bodies of soldiers drifting near the beach. We reported them to the Army, which always took quick action.
From July 20th to July 24th, inclusive, we stood by, and towed boats to different liberty ships and LST's to be hoisted aboard and brought back for repairs. On the 21st, we were near the dock at Gela where there was a minesweeper stuck on a sandbar. He passed us his hawser, and we had him off in no time at all.
On the morning of the 25th, Lieutenant Commander Anderson told me that if we could get transportation he would give me orders to return to our ship. That was all we wanted to hear, so we started making rounds of the Liberty ships. One didn't have enough food, another no water, another had a jumbo that was not working, and yet another was filled up, and so on down the line, until the S.S. James Woodrow. They treated us with respect and we certainly appreciated it. We were hoisted aboard on the 26th, and from them on, we did nothing but eat and sleep--except for getting some of our gear in order.
At 1800 on the 29th, we landed in Algiers, and found the Chase had left for Oran. We stayed aboard the Woodrow for further transportation. We left Algiers on August 2nd and arrived in Oran on the 3rd. We reported aboard the Chase immediately.
There were several points we found to be absolutely necessary for one of these boats used in salvage work:
- Have your towing bit in the center and as far forward as possible.
- Keep your cable handy. In our case we used our deck winch.
- Don't load the boat down with excess weight when you expect to do quick work.


text:
I think that I might have gotten the spring fever. The weather has been so lovely - a lot of sunshine and also much warmer, but I seem to get more tired every day. Even a neverending ToDo list can't pull me out of my spring blues. I guess, I will just have to endure it and enjoy the sun and fresh air as much as possible. That always helps a bit. Any tips on how to overcome the spring fever?
I wore this on one of those trips to clear my head and catch some fresh air. It was still quite windy, but I can feel the Spring!
What I wore
Blouse: Ernsting's Family
Skirt & Belt: C&A
Cardigan & Earrings: H&M
Socks: Takko Fashion
Boots: Deichmann
Bracelet: Thrifted
Necklace: my lucky charm - bought on a Turkish bazaar years ago


text:
We are always happy to help you achieve your goals in the fitness business. Please view below to see some fitness business owners give their testimony of working with American Club Systems. If you have worked with us and would like to add a testimonial, please contact us today!
[tubepress mode="user" userValue="vhardin1″]


text:
This is one of my favorite teas. It is simple, straightforward, and beautiful to watch in a glass tumbler as it unfurls. Each pearl is comprised of two leaves and a fuzzy bud that are rolled by hand, which means between actual human fingers. The care and precision that goes into making each pearl is apparent in the taste, which is silky, honeyed and refreshing. My notebook reads, "[the flavor] is subtle and sweet. I get the image of goose down floating on still, clear water."
An after-sweetness in the back of the throat provides a nice cooling sensation. It's similar to sucking on the rind of a honeydew melon. The cooling sensation is not so strong as menthol, but there are similarities. The tea itself has the effect of focusing the mind and inducing a sense of calm, more so than other green or white teas. (Is this a white tea? McNulty's is unclear on the subject…)
I could drink this every day. For a while, I did drink this every day, and when I didn't feel like steeping and re-steeping in a teapot, I'd simply drop a few pearls (3 or 4) in a mug that I would refill with warm water until the flavor slipped away. Delicious.


text:
Toyota Prius, Toyota's flagship hybrid underwent a comprehensive revamp for the 2016 model year. As such, the model is still fresh and the 2018 Toyota Prius is set to carry over from the current model with minimal changes if any. The liftback version of the Prius will go on sale first while the "C" subcompact and the "V" wagon will hit dealerships later on. The Prius Prime which was added last year as a 2017 model car will also carry over largely unchanged; this review, however, concentrates on the regular Prius liftback model.
2018 Toyota Prius Exterior
The hybrid is underpinned by Toyota's TNGA platform. In terms of size, the model will carry over unchanged. However, in terms of its exterior design, there are reports that the model will get slimmer headlights with LED lighting as a standard for all models. The taillights housings will be revised as well with the new design adopting a wraparound look. According to rumors, the hood will be made of aluminum; in addition, carbon-fiber and high-strength steel will be used in more quantities than on the current version to reduce the model's curb weight.
Other features carried over unchanged including the model's automatic grille shutters, 15-inch alloy wheels and LED DRLs among others.
The 2018 Toyota Prius has a good layout of the cabin. The cabin features quality materials, latest technology as well as a host of advanced security features. The feature that attracts me the most is the smart device app that enables the driver to control the climate in the cabin, locate battery charging stations (in case you opt for the plug-in ) as well as enable one to examine his/her billing routine among other functions.
Connectivity is also taken care of as the model features voice control, USB ports, Bluetooth connectivity as well as Smartphone connectivity via Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. In addition, there is the Siri Eyes Free for users with iPhones. Base models come with two, 4.2-inch display screens but top trims feature a 6.1-inch touch-screen in place of one of the smaller displays.
For safety, the Prius is hooked up with Toyota's Safety Sense suite which features emergency braking, lane-keep assist, pre-collision mitigation, automated high-beams, pedestrian detection, intelligent auto parking assist and adaptive cruise control. I expect the automaker to add blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert for the 2018 model.
Engine and performance
A new generation of the Prius is expected either in 2019 or early 2020; thus, this being a facelift, I don't expect the model to come with any mechanical changes. As such, I believe the current 1.8 L, 4-cylinder gasoline engine will continue powering all Prius models with the exception of the Prius Prime, V and C variants. The engine combines with an electric motor to produce 121 hp. The hybrid mill will still likely be paired with a CVT system that sends power to the front wheels.
While the base "Two "trim is equipped with a nickel-metal hydride battery, other trim levels are equipped with a lighter lithium-ion battery. In terms of fuel economy, the Prius returns 52 mpg on combined drives. The Eco trim which comes without features such as power seats as well as a spare tire to reduce weight returns as much as 55 mpg on combined drives. If you want more from the Pius, you can opt for the plug-in variant of the model, dubbed "Prius Prime that offers 22 miles range on electric power alone.
Pricing and Release Date
According to credible sources, Toyota will commence production of the Prius in the last quarter of 2017 with sales expected to begin in the second quarter of 2018. Therefore, I don't think the automaker is yet to put a price tag on the model considering it is still too early. Due to the stiff competition in this segment, I don't expect the model's price to increase much from that of the current model. The current Prius prices range from $25,550 for the base trim to $30,000 for the top trim.
The Prius competes with a host of other hybrids in this segment including the Kia Optima Hybrid, Ford C-Max Hybrid, Chevrolet Volt and Hyundai Sonata Hybrid.