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This essay has been submitted by a law student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers.
A matter of partnership law
1a.) As A Matter Of Partnership Law Can Alison And/Or John Block Julia In Appointing Susan To The New Positions In The Firm?
Since the Roman times, a few people or more would run a business together with a view of making profit. That is why creating the Partnership Act of 1890 was a benefit as it stated the relationship between the individuals that they agree to, to provide a framework for the organization. Therefore, Susan being introduced to the organization to join as a partner needs to be approved by the other members. New partners joining usually is a sensitive issue because the new partner will have the power to impose and will have severe financial burdens on the other partners S24.7 states that No person shall be introduced as a partner without the consent of all existing partners. This would make it difficult for Susan to join as a partner because she is not getting Alison's consent.
Alison should take this matter into thoughtful consideration and see what else Susan could bring to the firm other than some capital. Alison should distinguish the nature or liability of partners for debts and obligations to see if Susan would be prepared for the challenge of the job. It would be appropriate to give Alison an interview in which she will be asked about prior jobs and reasons as to why she left them. This will show not only Susan's qualifications, but her character, Alison's ability to trust her and if required a sensible reason to not accept her. It is important to realize that the partners should have trust and faith between one another because as soon as they agree to take Susan as a partner and depend on the contract, they would be at an increasing risk of having the business split. For example, the case of Miah v Khan (2000) an Indian restaurant was planned to be open together in a joint venture but they fought and it didn't matter because they are still partners and need to share the losses or it would be a breach of S24.5 in having the right to management and sharing risk, profit and losses. If this continues then Susan could then take her shares of the business, which will be then split into two businesses.
Julia wants to bring her daughter Susan to join as a partner and needs to elaborate on what type of a partnership she will be contracted to; from there we could establish part of the relationship intended. We know Susan wants to be active in the business and wants a share in the profit as well as losses. Once Susan joins as a partner, she must be aware of the definition of her role by looking through the Partnership Act under S2 the existing partners need to specify all the concerns and place guidance followed by S1, which is a criteria that needs to be satisfied. If not, S19 clearly is there in case they need to voluntarily add a few principles to satisfy and understand the relationship for example AIB plc v Martin in which the mutual rights and duties of partners, whether ascertained by agreement or defined by this Act, may be varied by the consent of all the partners, and such consent may be either express or inferred from a course of dealing. Having actual authority within a partnership may be restricted in various ways in course of dealing or performance.
All the partners need to consider what circumstances the business is in financially because a partnership business is usually a small business and have small concerns in economic term but would always seek to add value. By doing this, the partners can see if there is a need or use for Susan's expertise and if she is able to add value to the business or if the firm would be liable for having an unqualified Representative as a partner. An example of this is seen in the case of Horner v Hasted. Mr. Horner wanted to become a partner of an accounting firm but did not carry an accountant qualification, which would be followed by S13. An option that Alison could consider is found in S24.6, which is to offer the position of being an agent to the firm without the intent to share profit or in S2.3 only pay by salary, of course it needs to be a written agreement. But that would eventually get Susan to not work as effectively and will need to make sure that she wont be classified as an employee.
Susan needs to keep in mind that "salaries are not salaries" in the ordinary sense of the word but apportioning the profit by agreement. The salary given to Susan is provided from the sharing profits of the company rather than it just being a fixed salary. Julia can choose to employ Susan to work for the firm without the need for Alison or Johns vote that is seen in S2.3b where she would be liable to earn interest of capital contributed and be active in the business. She can also work for the company as an employee and get a share of the profit without having to be a partner. As for trust concerns for Alison, the partners can all come and agree on a fixed term contract for a shorter duration than the existing fixed term partners. S19 explains that they are allowed to make their own agreements and whatever terms and conditions they want to make. All of the partners do not have to follow the Partnership Act of 1890; it can be done by word of mouth unless Susan does not approve, in which they can go through the course of performance having Susan be evaluated on her performance every so often. And if she does not comply or problems rose during this matter, it could be dealt by the court by evaluating her performance and the obligations that were set out to her.
1b.) As A Matter Of Partnership Law Can Alison And/Or John Block Julia In Appointing Harry To The New Positions In The Firm?
Having a bookkeeper would be a relief and the partners would worry less when they are on holiday knowing that clients are kept satisfied and handle phone calls and administer needs are fulfilled; but this requires a lot of trust, focus and training from Harry's part. Any business relation with other companies Harry is involved in represents the partners and the entire company. If for any reason, the business deal goes wrong, the partners are the ones who will have to suffer the consequences as stated under Section 15 in which any deals made by representative of any partner will be evidence against the firm. This will show how it affects or could affect the partnership seen in S13, in which the partner who hired the employee is the only one to be held responsible for any mistakes made by that employee. Alison seems to be afraid of manipulation of the accounts or possibility of unintended mistakes that may affect the company negatively. This would be a very big accusation for breaching more than one offence in relation to Harry's and possibly Julia's duties being linked to S29.1, in which each partner must identify any business deals and transactions that are made in representation of the company, this is seen in the cases Boston Deep Sea Fishing & Ice Co. v Ansell and Bentley v Craven. In both cases there was a profit made out of a partnership transaction and was not accounted for. The probably need to agree on how and to what extent Harry will be liable in case of any breach of fiduciary duties. It is understandable for Alison to be concerned for the security and the future of the company; she needs to keep in mind that Harry's future could be at risk and if he ever does breach the fiduciary duties it would be damaging to his career as a professional. In this case Alison can strongly suggest denying Harry a position having Julia support her case by having Johns approval seen in S24.8, in which partners must come to an agreement with the decision made by majority of the partners in the business. There should not be any objections because the main purpose is the well-being of the whole partnership; this could change however, if the company's rivals ever employed Harry, they then can then exclude him. Having a bookkeeper would need a lot of training and understanding of how the business operates. All the partners need to look at Harry's performance and help guide him and demonstrate exactly how they carry out the ordinary course of the business. If all the partners agree to consider offering Harry employment in the future as a partner under, which can be done under S24.6, in which he is paid only by salary. There are advantages and disadvantages to having Harry as a partner. The disadvantage is that they are giving more authority to another partner in decision-making and would be entitled to share in the profit. On the other hand, the advantages for the partners is that Harry will be contributing towards losses of capital and would be risking his finances if anything went wrong in the business. This would solve Alison's concerns as she realizes that there are risks for Harry as well. This is similarly seen in the case of Popat v Schonchhatra; by having a distinction partnership capital, the contribution in skills and partnership asset vary day to day in value and they share equally in Partnership Property. An alternative solution would be that if all the partners do not agree on having another partner, they can make terms and an agreement to make sure Harry does not ever become a partner. Another option is to not get a bookkeeper and not take any chances with revealing the accounts of the company and its transparency to admissions and representations of partners, which is seen under S15. An example of this is seen in the case of Bevan v Webb because partners are to inspect the partnership books and not partner's agents, which is an example that supports Julia wanting to hire Harry under S24.9 where the Court of Appeal allowed an agent to assist the partner in understanding the position of the firm so that when reports and audits are reviewed by partners they would all understand.
2) Can You Advice Maxine Walls Of Her Responsibilities (If Any) In Partnership Law Towards The Two Creditors: Arthur Ray And White Gold Ltd?
Maxine Walls first needs to acknowledge what kind of contract she agreed to letting me know if it was either a single continuing contract where she could be liable for the debt if it happened at the time where she was a partner, or a series of individual contracts where even though the deal with he creditor was made before the date of her retirement, she wont be liable for the debt and the coming partner would be instead. Maxine had to give the creditor an actual notice of her retirement and not depend only on notifying the firm and the change on the letterhead like in the case of Hamerhsaven Pty Ltd. v Ogge. Maxine would suffer if she has assets in the business either if the firm pays or she contributes in payment to both creditors as noted in S6 unless Maxine knowingly allows herself to be represented as a partner by holding out under S14.1 which credits the representative without the knowledge of the apparent partner. Since Arthur Ray and White Gold Ltd most likely can prove that they had reliance on only associating with Maxine and not the new partner, Making it harder for Maxine to be backed with S14.1 also seen in the case of Lynch v Stiff where Lynch's son started handling Mr. Stiff's affairs and the Court of Appeal did not enforce the charges for the work done during the time. The Court of Appeal could have the two creditors hold "Ruby Red" liable under Maxine's name with the firm under S36.1 and S36.2 for not advertising to the public or the whole public on the change of "Ruby Red's" constitution by having London Gazette do so; in this case, Maxine can get contribution from the firm to pay both creditors because you cannot leave a business without informing the current partners; it would cause a problem even when you leave the firm without notifying the public. But since "Ruby Red's" general partners recently agreed on contracts with both creditors under S36.3, they could therefore apply in favour for Maxine and the Court of Appeal can hold the firm under S18 as a subject to contrary intentions. If Maxine was under a single continuing contract she could still avoid liability for the debt by giving the solicitor a clear accurate notice of her retirement like the case of Court v Berlin where the creditors didn't need to set a new instruction every time someone retired and retired partners needed to pay. Maxine would be liable for the debt with Ruby Red for being an apparent partner, which would fall with S14.1 where the firm is receiving credit on behalf of the representative, and the non-active partners and not S36.1 in which they treat all apparent members as still being members of the firm. Though S17.3 includes terms that the retired partner is not liable for partnership debts contracted after the date of Maxine's retirement, she should have made sure that there was a notice in the London Gazette of a change in the firms constitution or either on the letterhead or in the body of the letter. The court could hold the "Ruby Red" liable for the debt even without Maxine under S14.1, which is required by the Business Names Act of 1985 since it was Ruby Reds responsibility to know how to tell others about the ownership of the business.
3) Can You Advise Julia And Alison Whether They Can Expel John From The Firm And, If So, How This Can Be Done? You Can Assume That Susan's Appointment Has Not Yet Been Considered.
If Julia and Alison agree to kick John off then they can provided that they give reasonable evidence of John's performance in which all the partners need to sign the notice to expel John. If they had some special agreements they can hold him for breach of professional misconduct. Technically, he did not commit any flagrant breach of his duties as a partner as S10 clearly states that a partner can be fired for any wrongful act in the ordinary course of the business. John could defend himself by claiming that he was behaving this way outside of work and that he feels like a resource rather than a human being, which is an ethical issue in respect to a good life. Julia and Alison would show that their reason for the dissolution of a partner should be due to John's fiduciary duty of good faith and not allow John to accuse them of terminating him as an act only for their own personal advantage. They should at least give him a 12-month's notice to find a new job, and depending on his contract John could loose all his shares in the business. It would be even worse for Julia and Alison if John withdraws from the business either for the fact he felt he is being used as a resource or for the fact that he doesn't want to carry on due to his son's death. It would affect the other partners because partnership businesses are usually small so any change would largely impact Julia and Alison. There are two types of dissolutions:
- John splits from the business with his shares being distributed or liquidating his assets in the business to pay off the creditors.
A continuing partner takes over John's positions and shares.
The dissolution of John would happen either way after his fixed-term contract. It could also still happen if his son's death continues to impact his performance until he is bankrupt, where Julia and Alison could then choose to fire John under S33.1 stating that a partnership could be dissolved due to bankruptcy and the partnership would immediately change completely.
Book Keeping Problems,(2007)http://www.bpartners.com.au/index.htm Date Accessed: 29-11-09
Salaried Partner Agreement,(2008) http://www.clickdocs.co.uk/salaried-partner-agreement.htm, Date Accessed: 29-11-09
Fixed Term, (2009) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fixed+term Date Accessed: 1-12-09
Winding up,(2008) http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Winding+Up Date Accessed:1-12-09
Legal Dictionary,(2009) http://www.legal-dictionary.org/legal-dictionary-o/Ordinary-Course-of-Business.asp Date Accessed: 1-12-09
Clause Definition,(2009) http://uk.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861787465/clause.html Date Accessed: 2-12-09
The Business Name Act http://www.newcastle.gov.uk/core.nsf/a/tsbusname Date Accessed: 2-12-09
Explain Partnership,(2005) http://www.teachmefinance.com/Financial_Terms/partnership.html Date Accessed: 1-12-09
Course of Performance,(2009) http://www.yourdictionary.com/law/course-of-performance Date Accessed: 2-12-2009
Geoffrey Morse, (2001), Partnership Law 5th Edition, USA, Oxford University Press Inc.pg
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It is raining.
As Liberia receives about 200 inches of rain a year, I guess this is not unusual. But it still seems novel to me that it is pouring rain so hard we cannot talk to each other in the house as it is too noisy. And it is July. Back in California, it is hot and dry. Here, it is hot and wet. Even after two years, it still seems odd to me.
The rivers are all swollen and running fast. The swamp land is flooded. Now would be a good time to survey land for a prospective land purchase, as one could tell if it floods. For those who did not do their homework, there are newly-built homes that are surrounded by large bodies of water! One fellow down the road recently built a four foot wide cement sidewalk to the door of his store. He built it about eighteen inches tall. There was such a large lake around his new store building that customers could not come in, so the new sidewalk goes to the edge of the highway.
The roads have become muddy rivers. People walking down the road get splashed on by cars driving by, as tires hit mud puddles. Walking anywhere becomes a challenge to stay clean. The mud is slick, red, and tenacious!
In this current storm, it has already rained for thirty hours straight, without ever completely stopping. At times, it was ferocious, with strong winds and deluge downpours, and then it would calm down for a few hours to a steady drizzle before again getting angry and unleashing another round of unrelenting precipitation. We have new streams on the village site today, and the regular drainage streams are overflowing. It is a rather impressive Liberian storm.
I do not mind the rain. Neither do the frogs, as there is a constant symphony coming from the swamp area around the compound. They all sound happy; it is a choir of throaty, cheery songs.
Hope you all stay dry today (oh, that's right! You will stay dry...it is July! I forget.)

subset: commoncrawl


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text:
Fashion Week and the opening of a new Sarah Jessica Parker movie coincided in New York, resulting in women squeezing into too tight shoes and clothes.
A remedy for sore feet is Dr. Scholl's Fast Flats, which saved me at a recent bar mitzvah celebration. We walked the 10 blocks to the party because we don't have a car, and a cab to go that short distance seems overly indulgent. I wore my $10 Fast Flats, then changed into my [price redacted] heels before we entered.
These reusable flats are also great for traveling, for wearing through airport security, or even on an airplane. I have a pair permanently stashed in my carry-on for future shoe emergencies.
On the run
For anyone in that Catch 22 of not looking good enough to hit the gym, Marika active wear has a new Magic line that makes your tummy look flatter and breasts bigger. The body shaping collection includes pants and tops that are perfect for yoga, jogging or running errands and pretending you just exercised.
Marika also makes a tie dye yoga collection with hoodies and matching pants. These comfy outfits are great for long-distance plane flights; you can do sun salutations after a red-eye to get the blood flowing.
For every day wear, Shapeez has a new Unbelievabra, a body-shaper that offers support while minimizing muffin tops. The all-in-one bra, camisole and torso slimmer has no bands or closures, so you don't get bra bulges in weird places.
Leaving you free to travel to weird places all over New York.


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LOVE FOR Chaucer, as for Dante, is the only viable response to our middled and muddled condition. For all the pain it brings, its absence is unbearable. We must love, then, but how do we love with a minimum of selfishness and hence also with a minimum of deception, self-deception and deception of others? This, I take it, is the fundamental question for Chaucer. To begin to answer it, he structures the Troilus with imagery of narcissism and coinage, which, as his allusions and quotations prove, he assumes from Dante's Commedia; and he uses this structure of imagery to probe the imagination's invention of ideals in love. The result is nothing less than a theory of mediation--a theory which, while transformed in them, nonetheless informs The Canterbury Tales.
This theory is henceforward my subject. As I explicate it and follow it to its often surprising conclusions, I will from time to time recommend positions and suggest interpretations which will at first seem disturbing. But it is only like pouring water into a half full pitcher: when the new hits the old, at first there is a splash, disturbance, but then, very soon, calm and continuity return; the pitcher is a little bit fuller. In particular, I will be found to insist, both with his characters and with his plots, more on the somber than on the merry in Chaucer. This is not because I do not think Chaucer merry; I do. It is rather because I believe his capacity for merriment is directly dependent on his often too carefully qualified sympathy with the misery of the human condition. My hope for the rest of this book is that it can see and show the merry Chaucer and the somber Chaucer as the one, inimitable, loving and lovable Chaucer.
The theory of mediation is most visible in the poem's
coinage imagery. This imagery asserts itself in Book 4 at a number
of points but most forcefully near the end of the book. Here,
through an oblique allusion to Inferno 30, Chaucer suggests
that Criseyde is like a coin (4.1534-40; emphasis added):
"For thilke day that I for cherisyngeIn the context of the allusion to Dante through Athamante, the word "fals" announces the problem of corrupt or fraudulent reference. Although she claims otherwise, Criseyde will in fact betray Troilus and be "fals" to him even as a false coin betrays the authority of the prince or the community which issued its original. 1 Chaucer reinforces this reading with the allusion to Juno: under one of her aspects she is Juno Moneta, goddess of the temple of the moneyers in ancient Rome. 2 Moreover, he has already repeated ten times in Book 4 the words "chaunge" and "exchaunge" 3--Criseyde, of course, is to be exchanged for Antenor--and, although Hector claims early in the book, "`We usen here no wommen for to selle'" (line 182), his heroic sentiment serves to pass economic sentence on Criseyde's future. She will, in fact, be sold, more goods for Troy than good for Troilus.
Or drede of fader, or of other wight,
Or for estat, delit, or for weddynge,
Be fals to yow, my Troilus, my knyght,
Saturnes doughter, Juno, thorugh hire myght,
As wood as Athamante do me dwelle
Eternalich in Stix, the put of helle!"
Now Chaucer supplements the image of Criseyde as coin with many suggestions that she is also like a sign or text: for example, her face is "lik of Paradys the ymage" (4.864); and Troilus himself declares, "`Though ther be mercy writen in youre cheere, / God woot, the text ful hard is, soth, to fynde'" (3.1356-57). If Criseyde is a text or a sign or even perhaps the parchment, she is already written before Pandarus, in Troilus's behalf, begins his effort to rewrite her. In the language of medieval grammar, she has already been "imposed" to signify a meaning. The impositio ad placitum by which signs receive a meaning, in her case, has occurred "at the pleasure" of an Authority far greater and more original than either Pandarus or Troilus. If Pandarus attempts Criseyde's "herte for to grave" (2.1241; 3.1499), he not only wounds flesh with his stylus or chisel but also violently effaces an original character, imprinted by that greater Authority (it matters little whether we call it Nature or God) and substitutes for it a character of his own making (poesis) which, to Troilus's sorrow, must necessarily prove false.
Chaucer's strategy with Criseyde and the coinage imagery is, briefly, this: Troilus, by means of Pandarus, intentionally falsifies Criseyde; Troilus, by means of Pandarus, renders Criseyde "irreferent." Criseyde is both word and coin on which Troilus imposes and stamps the meaning of his idealism: she is the gold which his love would mint; she is the voice with which his love would speak. But, as the analogy makes only too clear, he is doomed to {108/109} failure. Criseyde is already gold and minted; she is already a sign. 4 Troilus is belated (and in this, perhaps, is most the poet since the poet must always work tradition's vein).
To open out the analogy: Criseyde is, as it were, an alloy of all those characteristics which make her who she is. She is already a person, an individual, as Chaucer (and E. Talbot Donaldson) make abundantly clear. 5 Criseyde is a woman, a human being, with a will of her own, and she is therefore changeable and capable of changing others. Because she is a self and hence changeable, she can receive Troilus's relentless fin'amors idealism only as a "mondiglia," or a dross which falsifies: Troilus reduces Criseyde to identity with his ideal. Necessarily, therefore, she is "fals"; necessarily, "ir-referent." Indeed, exchanged for Antenor and circulated to the Greek camp, her own alloy dominant again, her own character visible again, especially her "slydynge corage" (5.825), Criseyde becomes Diomede's coin, and he wastes no time in spending her.
But he spends her character. She has a character, and it cannot be, ought not be, effaced. It must out. Hence Criseyde is not to blame alone. Nor, at the same time, is Troilus to blame alone. They are to blame together. Chaucer is as humane as he is profound. If a man imposes such idealism on a woman, even if his motive is helpless love, falsification is bound to result. By its very intensity, the idealism imposed upon others becomes "mondiglia," a dross of personal desire. Humankind cannot bear very much idealism. The "irreference" of the sign, we have seen, derives from the tendency of the sign to replace that which it mediates. Criseyde appears for a brief, blissful moment to be the ideal woman whom Troilus imagines in the privacy of his heart; she appears to be the ideal incarnate, so absolute is Troilus's desire, so irrevocable his narcissism, so helpless his love. But she, the woman, as medium, is changeable, with a will of her own, and she cannot be the private hoard or the blank parchment which Troilus imagines and desires. All signs, words or coins, have always already been "imposed," and the "pleasure" of the authority is absent if not inscrutable. Away from Troilus's desire, Criseyde's alloy asserts itself; and she is "fals"--by her own curse condemned, along with all the other false signs, "`as wod as Athamante'" to "`dwelle / Eternalich in Stix, the put of helle'." Criseyde is to blame for being "slydynge of corage"; but Troilus and Pandarus are also to blame for inhumanely, if in the one case very humanly and even desperately, refusing to see who and what she, the woman, really was. {109}


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Span Dates: 1975-2001
The Quest items in the ephemera collection of the Hall Carpenter Archives consist primarily of the publications Quest Link and Quest Journal. It also includes the first annual report of a Yorkshire group, conference programs, one poster, and Michael Stephens' 1983 report, "Gay Catholics in Britain: the story of Quest." In addition to the ephemera of this collection, the Quest office holds the unprocessed, historical records of the organization. Information about this material may be obtained from their office. Contact information is available on their website.
Hist/Bio Note
A group of gay and lesbian Catholics organized Quest in 1973 in London to promote their well being within the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom. See their timeline on their website for more information about the organization.http://www.questgaycatholic.org.uk/frameset.html
Finding Aid
There is not a finding aid for the ephemera collection nor the unprocessed records at the Quest office.
The Hall Carpenter Archives are located in the British School of Economics and Politics (London, UK). Further information about these items is available by contacting the archives at the following website.http://www.lse.ac.uk/library
Index Terms
Gay liberation movement -- Religious aspects,
Gays -- Religious Life,
Lesbians -- Religious life,
Catholic gays -- United Kingdom,
Gays -- United Kingdom -- History --20th Century -- Sources,


text: Hi, I'm a newbie to this list, so forgive me if this has already been covered. Can someone confirm if LB v1 or v2 will work with the above board? I'd be interested in helping test and debug if that would help? Thanks in advance. Phil. -- If it's real... I'm not interested!


text:
Which Presidential Candidate Plays The Hits?
There have been a number of articles written about the music that presidential candidates — or their staffs – have chosen for their campaign appearances, including a lengthy piece by the Wall Street Journal's John Jurgensen in December and a more recent McClatchy News Service piece. As has now been extensively detailed, it's hard to come up with a well-liked song with an appropriate message and no little lyrical bombshells when you scrutinize the whole lyric, not just the rousing part that sounds good at a campaign rally.
So how well do campaign staffers, paid to have their finger on the pulse of America, do with its musical tastes? So-so, judging from a look at the songs associated with the various candidates over the past few months. Those songs show a mix of songs that reliably perform well in radio stations' music research and those that any radio station program director could have told them not to use. And most candidates have both proven hits and obscurities in their repertoire. (Only Mike Huckabee goes two for two–and those are songs that he himself covers when his band Capitol Offense plays events.)
Candidates can propel songs back on to the national agenda, of course. Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop" was hardly obscure in 1992, but Bill Clinton's election night use gave it a new currency – and, ultimately, perhaps, greater burn. "Move On Up" by Curtis Mayfield and "Give The People What They Want" by the O'Jays, two R&B classics associated with Barak Obama, have become marginal over the years even for Urban AC and R&B Oldies stations. But it's not hard to imagine either of them regaining prominence.
Here's a rundown of songs cited in the WSJ and McClatchy articles and how they generally perform with radio listeners. (All characterizations are based on my broader sense of how songs have performed over the years.)
- Elvis Presley vs. JXL, "A Little Less Conversation" (Romney) – Never an American hit on the magnitude of its European success. Probably a little more familiar now because of its exposure on the TV series "Vegas." But it's hard to get past its lyrical intent — "stop talking baby and let's make out" — which was already a little discomfiting when the song first came out in the late '60s. And if we had known all along that the DJ/remixer "Junkie XL" was a political junkie, there would have been no need to bowdlerize his name for America.
- Journey, "Don't Stop Believing" (Clinton, Romney) – An enduring hit even before "The Sopranos"' finale propelled it back into pop culture.
- Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" (Romney) – Decent, but no "Takin' Care of Business." Then again, "We love to work at nothing all day" might not be the right message.
- KT Tunstall, "Suddenly I See" (Clinton) – Just making the transition from callout to music testing now, so it will be interesting to get a read on its durability, and whether it was helped or hurt by being in all those commercials.
- Wilson Pickett, "Mustang Sally" (Huckabee) – Perhaps because of "The Commitments," this one has actually solidified its place in the Oldies and even Classic Hits canon in recent years, even as other '60s nuggets have receded.
- Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Free Bird" (Huckabee) – Very enduring, not quite as big as "Sweet Home Alabama" but not as burned, either (or as burdened by inscrutable intent as Skynyrd's George Wallace-era reference to "in Birmingham/they love the governor"). In the WSJ article, XM Potus '08 PD Joe Mathieu does raise the question of the appropriateness of the "I love you, but I can't stay with you" lyric.
- Van Halen, "Best of Both Worlds" (Giuliani) – Never extensively played beyond Heritage Rock stations. Never gained enough traction to make it into research in most cases.
- Celine Dion, "You And I" (Clinton) – The odd initial choice, since retired, of this song by the Clinton campaign has already been pretty well dissected. Only a No. 16 AC hit on its release in 2004 and, as such, not researched much since. But Dion herself has become sufficiently polarizing that she can no longer be used as a typical AC artist in music research.
- U2, "City Of Blinding Lights" (Obama) – Like Dion, never a big enough song to make it to library testing (No. 40 at AC).
- Curtis Mayfield, "Move On Up" and O'Jays, "Give The People What They Want" (Obama) – Both are obscure now even at Urban AC or R&B Oldies radio. (The Mayfield song does, interestingly, continue to show up on Oldies radio in the U.K., where it was a much bigger hit.) And while somebody is probably starting to type the e-mail now about how Obama's appeal stems from not pandering to the polls — or music research – consider his use of…
- Natasha Bedingfield, "Unwritten" (Obama) – The ultimate safe choice now for TV commercials, school assemblies, and AC radio.
- Alabama, "Dancin', Shaggin' on the Boulevard" (Romney) – As a deliberate throwback to '60s beach music, it's not a bad choice for South Carolina, where Romney used it in December, but obscure for anywhere else.
- Brooks & Dunn, "Only In America" (Romney and, recently, Obama, who segued from Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered [I'm Yours]") – It became a bigger Country hit after Sept. 11, 2001. Does well enough now to place among the 300 most played Country titles, but well below "Boot Scootin' Boogie" or "My Maria."
- Rascal Flatts, "Life Is A Highway" (Romney and Giuliani) – Never enough sustained Country airplay, then or now, to have been tested much, but it remains a Radio Disney staple, thanks to "Cars," and the Tom Cochrane original has nudged back to being playable for some Hot AC and Rock stations since "Cars" as well.
- Abba, "Take A Chance On Me" (McCain) – "You can go anywhere and it's like, 'Oh, Abba, I can't stand them,' but they happen to have sold more records than anybody else," McCain told reporters. But the only Abba song that American respondents routinely admit to liking is "Dancing Queen"–and not always that one.
- Los Lobos, "Mess We're In" (Richardson) – Never made it to the radio at the time, or since.
- John Mellencamp, "Our Country" (Edwards) – More known to most people for its use in Chevy truck spots than in its brief time on Country and Triple-A radio, Mellencamp's foray into Country didn't duplicate Bon Jovi's success there.
- Tom Petty, "American Girl" (Clinton) – Pre-breakthrough Petty. Appears on Classic Rock radio now as a depth cut, if at all.
- Tom Petty, "I Won't Back Down" (McCain, until Petty objected) – Has come to be a decent record for Classic Rock stations over the years.
There is, of course, a more enduring Petty song than the one either candidate has chose – one that still researches well at not just Classic Rock but Hot AC as well. But don't expect to hear the strains of "now I'm free! /'Free Falling!'" blaring from the podium any time soon.


text: With Enhanced Functionality ROSTOCK, Germany, Aug. 21, 2006 -- The PCS-II perceptive color sensor from Silicann Technologies GmbH is now available with enhanced functionality, setting new standards in industrial color processing, the company said. Besides the well-established color processing modes like "Classify" (recognition of the most similar color taught) and "Check SPH" or "Check CYL" (detection of a taught color within a defined tolerance), it now offers an additional practical-oriented color sequence recognition mode that can be activated in one of those processing modes. All conceivable variants of color sequences, e.g., with cables, can be checked safely by this new feature. The PCS-II now also estimates color deviations just as humans do. Incorrect color checkings that are possible with typical RGB sensors are eliminated. The interaction of perceptive color processing (e.g., in the color sequence recognition mode) and highly specialized demands of the industry on color sensor technology allows it to better handle applications that previously were difficult to solve, Silicann said. Scope of delivery is also included in the PCSLib software package. Win-dll function libraries enable immediate integration in automation processes. On the user side, an additional PC-based control of the sensor with standardized programming languages is possible. By means of a newly implemented master-slave function, several sensors can be run synchronously. One sensor of the joint array is configured as the "master" and provides the modulation step. All other sensors are justified as "slaves" that operate in step with the master. A synchronous functioning of the sensor array is guaranteed and interference of light is excluded. Synchronizing several sensors in master-slave mode meets the complex demands of color recognition in industrial automation. Silicann said the PCS-II is reasonably priced and absolutely reliable. It will be exhibited at the 26th annual International Trade Fair for Assembly and Handling Technology (MOTEK 2006), to be held Sept. 26-29 in Sinsheim, Germany (Booth 7240, Hall 7). For more information, visit: www.silicann.com; e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Technologies GmbH Joachim-Jungius-Str. 9 18059 Rostock Germany Phone: (49-381) 4059-760 Fax: (49-381) 4059-874


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Posted by Bailey in Random | 4 Comments
New YA Book Releases: August 23, 2011
When alchemist Sydney is ordered into hiding to protect the life of Moroi princess Jill Dragomir, the last place she expects to be sent is a human private school in Palm Springs, California. But at their new school, the drama is only just beginning.
Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, Bloodlines explores all the friendship, romance, battles and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive – this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone's out for blood.
The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.
Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.
I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.
And I'm ready to fight.
Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her mom, by the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, it turns out the voices are demons – and Bridget has the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from.
Terrified to tell people about her new power, Bridget confides in a local priest who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her new power, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. Now Bridget must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone close to her winds up dead – or worse, the human vessel of a demon king.
Claire feels like her life is finally settling down and she couldn't be happier. She's been filly initiated into her family's pack of female werewolves, her best friend Emily is back in town, and the gorgeous Matthew Engle us now her boyfriend.
But Claire knows all to well that life as a werewolf is never simple. And when she discovers that new girl Amy knows more about her than she's letting on, Claire feels that things are beginning to unravel.
Claire knows that if her werewolf identity is exposed everyone she loves will be put at risk. And, as her human and wolf live continue to collide, Claire must fight to keep her secret safe.
Twelve years ago, Gretchen, her twin sister, and her brother went looking for a witch in the forest. They found something. Maybe it was a witch, maybe a monster, they aren't sure—they were running too fast to tell. Either way, Gretchen's twin sister was never seen again.
Years later, after being thrown out of their house, Gretchen and Ansel find themselves in Live Oak, South Carolina, a place on the verge of becoming a ghost town. They move in with Sophia Kelly, a young and beautiful chocolatier owner who opens not only her home, but her heart to Gretchen and Ansel.
Yet the witch isn't gone—it's here, lurking in the forests of Live Oak, preying on Live Oak girls every year after Sophia Kelly's infamous chocolate festival. But Gretchen is determined to stop running from witches in the forest, and start fighting back. Alongside Samuel Reynolds, a boy as quick with a gun as he is a sarcastic remark, Gretchen digs deeper into the mystery of not only what the witch is, but how it chooses its victims. Yet the further she investigates, the more she finds herself wondering who the real monster is, and if love can be as deadly as it is beautiful.
This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel
Victor and Konrad are the twin brothers Frankenstein. They are nearly inseparable. Growing up, their lives are filled with imaginary adventures…until the day their adventures turn all too real.
They stumble upon The Dark Library, and secret books of alchemy and ancient remedies are discovered. Father forbids that they ever enter the room again, but this only piques Victor's curiosity more. When Konrad falls gravely ill, Victor is not satisfied with the various doctors his parents have called in to help. He is drawn back to The Dark Library where he uncovers an ancient formula for the Elixir of Life. With their friend Elizabeth, Henry and Victor immediately set out to find assistance from a man who was once known for his alchemical works to help create the formula.
Determination and the unthinkable outcome of losing his brother spur Victor on in the quest for the three ingredients that will save Konrad's life. After scaling the highest trees in the Strumwald, diving into the deepest lake caves, and sacrificing one's own body part, the three fearless friends risk their lives to save another.
A lot of great books out this week.
Happy Reading!!
Goodness, lots of amazing releases today! YAY!
Oh, I have most of these When did Possess get moved up??? Guess I better read it next and review it! LOL
I read SWEETLY & really enjoyed it. Haven't gotten to the others yet! Thanks for the list.
Mary @ BookSwarm


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A Government project to help teachers overhaul the way they work with children with special educational needs is set to be rolled out nationally.
Achievement for All (AfA) aims to get schools to review their support for all pupils, rather than just labelling some as having special needs.
The programme, designed to improve the aspirations of the lowest-performing children, reduced persistent absence by 20 per cent in participating schools and improved behaviour in others when it was first piloted.
The pilot scheme began in September 2009 in 460 schools in 10 local authorities. It will end this August.
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has been awarded a contract by the Department for Education to manage the expansion of the programme into more areas. All schools can now become involved if they choose to do so. Around 200 more have already registered to join.
Children's minister Sarah Teather hopes Achievement for All will help schools to deliver many of her SEN reforms, outlined in the recent green paper. She wants to stop the "over-identification" of children with SEN.
Schools will also be held more accountable for how well they support children with special educational needs. Their progress will be shown in detail on league tables.
Sonia Blandford, who led the AfA pilot, approached PwC to lead the expansion. She and a group of headteachers have set up a new charity to develop Achievement for All, called "AfA (3As)".
A DfE spokesman said: "This partnership brings together the business rigour of PwC with the expertise of some of the most innovative school leaders who understand system improvement. In time the consortium will be run solely as a not-for-profit social enterprise."
AfA will eventually be run as a social enterprise. Brian Lamb, who led a recent government enquiry into SEN, has agreed to chair the charity's board of trustees.


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15/05/2009 Worldwide
Toyoo Gyohten, president of the Institute for International Monetary Affairs, says we did not act soon enough to avert the current crisis, and that CEOs must take seriously their leadership responsibilities to put the corporate sector right again. Apart from fiscal stimulus packages, he believes leaders must find ways to stimulate demand, not simply by providing easy credit.
Drawing on valuable lessons learned from the Japanese crisis of the ´90s, Gyohten says leaders must "go through a period of reflection and probably self-condemnation" but ultimately remain optimistic, because eventually "the night will end."


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A while back I wrote about the negative psychological externalities of city life: the paradoxical feeling of isolation in claustrophobic environs; dissatisfaction caused by too much choice; and fear of missing out (which has even become a popular acronym, FOMO). If I were re-writing the piece today, I would add 'busyness one-upmanship' to the list – another urban pet peeve.
What struck me recently is that the English language doesn't cater to those trying to convey the need to get away from city life from time to time, for a certain kind of respite. The German word Waldeinsamkeit denotes the feeling of being alone in the woods – a very specific sense of solitude that I believe urbanites crave on occasion. Fernweh describes the need for distance, a kind of homesickness for a place unknown. Staid surroundings can make one feel lethargic.
We can't express it, and a lot of the time it seems like we can't experience it either. How does one capture woodland solitude or satisfy the travel bug when in full-time employment in London? The answer may just be found in the wisdom of walking advocates.
Adam Gopnik is a New Yorker writer with a flair for dissecting the banal. In his article Why We Walk, he summarises what other writers have opined on writing as something more than merely a mode of transport. Walking as a sport seems a little far-fetched; however walking to spur contemplative thought is pretty compelling. Recalling briefly his own experience:
"For a long time in the nineteen-eighties, I seemed to do nothing but walk around the city. I was blessed by several bits of new technology: by the first great age of the modern sneaker, for one, which allowed even the flat-footed to stride on what felt like cushioned air. And then the Walkman made every block your own movie. Just as the period of the first flâneurs falls between the rise of gas street lighting, which opened the city to twenty-four-hour circulation, and the onset of the automobile, which made cities loud again, so walking in the nineteen-eighties lay between the invention of the Walkman, which suddenly neutralised the noise of the automobile, and the onset of the iPhone, which replaced isolation-booth serenity with our now frantic forever-on-guardness."
This side of the Atlantic, Will Self champions the city walk. His articles on the subject argue for reconnecting with the physical environment and people, and not falling prey to the constraints of corporate culture. Similar to Gopnik, he laments how mobile devices have – ironically – disconnected us from the world.
"Her responses to her fellow city dwellers, to the road traffic, to the business of finding her way using a handheld GPS system while listening to music on her MP3 player are all quite normal, and yet, set down like this they seem to me to be indisputably analogous to a clinically defined psychotic state. Like a sufferer from psychosis, our young woman's conception of reality radically diverges from her environment: she is surrounded by actual buildings, with a defined and apprehensible nomenclature; the people she passes are neither clones nor individually known to her but a mass of strangers; neither these people, nor their vehicles are moving in sync with the music she listens to; and finally: her perception of distance is distorted, while her ability to negotiate her environment is dependent on systems external to her own mind that, for all their technical efficacy, are as opaque to her as the magical rituals of a shaman."
For me, walking is a joy. Sometimes an adventure. A time for reflection. For new ideas to germinate. Walking can also be a great comfort, helping to alleviate all sorts of emotional stresses and strains.
So naturally, I concur with Gopnik and Self and would offer the following advice to others. Wander aimlessly. Look around you and tune out of the podcast. Put your phone somewhere hard to reach (and don't buy an Apple Watch!). Indulge in the moment, rather than focusing on where you've got to get to or fogging over with nostalgia. Do as the French do, and flâner.


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GREENBURGH, N.Y. - A Tarrytown man is facing felony drug charges after being busted on Thursday, March 16 for selling prescription drugs in Irvington.
Following an investigation by the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force, 20-year old Zachary Reichman was arrested and charged with a felony count of fifth-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance following an alleged incident on Jan. 18.
According to police, Reichman is accused of selling Adderall in exchange for cash. The investigation is ongoing.
Reichman was arraigned in Irvington Court on Thursday, March 16 and remanded to the Westchester County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail. He is due back in court Monday, March 27.
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Amtrak Resident: Jennifer Boylan
Day 0: The Love Train
Greetings, culture lovers (as Mr. Know-It-All used to say). I'll be departing this Saturday, November 1, from Portland, Maine, for 17 days as the second of Amtrak's "Writers in Residence."
The first resident was the lovely Bill Willingham, who travelled from Redwing, Minnesota to Seattle and back on the "Empire Builder" in mid October. He kept an ongoing blog of the residency's maiden voyage, which you can read here. He also provided a helpful list of suggestions for those of us who follow in his shoes, including,Get a plug for all your electronic devices, and Bring slippers.
Bill and I are Thing One and Thing Two of this still-experimental program, which was actually accidentally christened by writer Alexander Chee last spring in an interview with PEN; his lament, "I wish Amtrak had a residency for writers" has blossomed into this new program. Jessica Gross re-tweeted his comment, and Amtrak, in what I must say was a moment of tremendous agility, basically said, "Make it so, Number One." (Jessica's piece, "Writing the Lakeshore Limited" appeared in the Paris Review here.)
Amtrak then formalized the program, and sent out the call: writers were asked to send in a story to apply, and just like that, 16,000 of us had put our hats in. (Which, as I have said elsewhere, ought to be a seen as a small measure of exactly how eager American writers are to get out of the house.) Inexplicably, I was one of the 24 winners. The full roster is here. It's a diverse list in many ways– equal numbers women and men. I believe I'm the only transgender writer among the bunch, although who knows? The night is young.
I think my journey is likely to be the longest of the group, if for no other reason than the fact that I'm starting out in my home state of Maine. I'm bound for Chicago on the Lakeshore Limited; and from there (after a short stop in Indiana, about which more below), then to San Francisco on the California Zephyr. I'm going to hole up in Big Sur for a few days before heading north: Salinas to Seattle on the Coast Starlight. I'm giving a talk at a college in Seattle, and then it's back on the Empire Builder– from Seattle, through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and down to Chicago; from there I'll hop onto the Lakeshore Limited once more, and back to Boston. And finally, getting on the Downeaster for the journey home, from Boston to Freeport, Maine.
It's seventeen days. My best estimate is that it's 7,298 miles. Say this in the voice of Jeff Probst: "One transgender American. Nine trains. Twenty-one states. One— Survivor!"
I've had a couple very, very distinct reactions to the news of my residency. One group– a smaller number, admittedly– says, "Why on earth would you do this?" A smaller subgroup says, "You know they won't have an exercise room. And the wifi service is spotty. And there will be big stretches out west where there's no cell service at all."
To which I kind of want to say, "Oh god, I hope not." (Although my own experience with Amtrak's wifi service is that it's fairly dependable, if not exactly lightning fast, while also being, oh yeah: FREE. This is in the beloved Northeast Corridor, which is a whole different kettle of fish.)
The other group of people, in hearing of my residency, have given me a dreamy sigh, and simply said, "I've always wanted to do that."
Well, I've always wanted to do it too. The last time I went coast to coast in something that had wheels on the ground was 1982, when my friend Peter Frumkin and I drove from New York to Portland OR. That was the first time I saw the Rockies emerging out of the plains. I have never forgotten that sight. I can't wait to see it again.
Another thing I visited on that 1982 trip was the Museum of Retired Ventriloquists' Dummies, in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky, about which more need not be spoken at this time, although I am not too proud to post a photograph of a much younger, and differently gendered me, looking out through the dummies.
Like our Patron Saint, Alexander Chee, I have always loved writing on trains, although most of the writing I've done on Amtrak has been grading papers. And reading, too. There is something about time on a train that brings out the dreamer in me. And dreaming, for writers, is kind of our version of batting practice.
I have two projects I'll be working on during the residency. One is the final four chapters of a novel I've been working on for about two or three years now; if I actually finish and publish this, it will be my first time publishing adult fiction as a woman (since 2001, and the whole presto-change-o I have published exclusively nonfiction, with the exception of the novella, "I'll Give You Something to Cry About," which came out earlier this year from She-books.). The other piece I'm working on is the long delayed third book in my young adult series, "Falcon Quinn." I'm on about page 75 of that– I was hoping to hold FQ 3 to under 125 pages, but it keeps growing.
As a writer, I have always had plenty of other projects taking up my time; I'm the co-chair of the board of directors of GLAAD, which is a very big commitment. I'm also the Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard, and a Contributing Opinion Writer for the New York Times. You add those things together, plus– oh yeah, having a family: my wife Deirdre and raising our two sons (now safely launched to college), and there hasn't been a whole lot of time to stare out the window the last few years. Plus we are in the heart of building a new house, and selling the old one: don't even ask.
One more thing I'm doing during this trip is stopping in Indiana on Day 3 to attend a Board of Trustees meeting of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. Kinsey has just this week announced its new president, and this– along with the museum debut of the Institutes collection of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe– means that I'll have plenty to consider during my days in Indiana. I was thinking, in fact, of calling this journey "The Sex Train," but I suspect that my sponsors at Amtrak might not be thrilled. So let's call it "The Love Train."
I'm looking forward to the writing. I'm looking forward to the work I'll be able to do. I'm looking forward to that indescribably romantic sound: clackity clack, clackity clack.
Most mostly I'm looking forward to looking out the window at this country. And seeing the mountains emerge from the plains.
Here's the itinerary:
Day 1: The Downeaster from Maine to North Station Boston. (ME –>NH –> MA) Subway to South Staions Boston. Board the Lake Shore Limited. (MA –> NY –> PA –>
Day 2: PA –> OH –> IN Arrive in Waterloo, IN. Car to Bloomington IN for Kinsey and Mapplethorpe show.
Day 3: Bloomington IN. Kinsey Institute Board of Trustees Meeting.
Day 4: Car service Bloomington to Indianapolis. IN –> IL Board the Hoosier State, Indy to Chicago. Board the California Zephyr. IL –> IA –> NE
Day 5: On board the California Zephyr NE –> CO –> UT
Day 6: UT –> NV –> CA Arrive San Francisco, CA (A night in a hotel in SF).
Day 7: South on the Coast Starlight: San Francisco to Salinas, CA. A night at Big Sur.
Day 8: Another night at Big Sur.
Day 9: Another night at Big Sur.
Day 10: Depart Salinas on the Coast Starlight, heading north.
Day 11:On the Coast Starlight: CA –> OR–> WA. Arrive Seattle. A night in Seattle.
Day 12: Teaching a class at a Seattle college. Then, boarding the Empire Builder. WA –> ID –>
Day 13: On the Empire Builder: ID -> MT –> ND
Day 14: On the Empire Builder: ND –> MN –> WI –> IL Arrive Chicago. A night in Chicago.
Day 15: Departing Chicago on the Lake Shore Limited. IL –> IN–>OH–>
Day 16: On the Lake Shore Limited OH–>PA–>NY–> MA. Arrive Boston. A night in Boston.
Day 17: The Downeaster, Boston to Freeport, ME. And home.
I'll be posting (much shorter) updates on my website, www.jenniferboylan.net, which I believe will be cross posted on the amtrak blog, as the journey unfolds. I do fear that many of my observations will be along the lines of, "Wrote for a few hours. Looked out the window, man." But I suspect there will be more to say. I have a knack for trouble, mostly of the good kind.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
30 October 2014
Day 1: Mystery Train
Greetings from Albany, New York. It's just after 6 PM, and we're pausing here while the Boston train joins up with the New York one, in a kind of locomotive version of Let's Form Voltron Force!
Last night went to a Halloween jam in the barn of some friends. Sat in with the Blues Prophets, playing piano for two songs– one of which was "Ghost Riders in the Sky," and one of which wasn't. Home by 10:30, in bed for the last time for 17 days with my wife and the Stupid Dog©. AT 3:15 AM the alarm went off, and the dog raised her head as if to say, "What are you doing?"
I didn't have a good answer.
By 4 AM I was in the car driving from our house in rural Maine to the Amtrak station in Portland ME for the first leg of the Amtrak Residency, the journey that will take me the next 17 days and cover 7298 miles, coast to coast. It was a dark and stormy night. Rain slashed against my wipers. Dead leaves blew past.
Arrived in Portland a little after 5 in time to step on the Downeaster at 5;30. This has got to be the most adorable train in the Amtrak fleet, and by adorable, I mean there are volunteers on the train who want to make sure you're "okay"– handing out maps, explaining history. Train guys. We pulled into Boston a little late, and I took the subway from North Station to South Station, where I stowed my bags and walked over for dim sum in Boston's Chinatown. I ate a whole bunch of things I could not identify, sparked up with chili sauce, and drank a whole pot of tea.
By 11 AM I was in the sleeper train/first class lounge of South Station, which looked a little like the Diogenes Club. I looked around for Mycroft Holmes. Then the redcap helped me on board the 12 noon Lake Shore Limited, where I was met by the sleeper car czarina, Lashawnda Jones. She is very proud of "wearing the blue" (as she put it), and has been taking good care of all of us. Right on schedule we pulled out of Boston, and I sat down to write.
Or, I would have, Ma, except that having to get up at 3:15 AM had me so knackered that I struggled to stay awake. But I fought off the Z's and got to work. Wrote 1200 words– about my average for a single sitting– part of the climax of the book I hope to finish on this adventure. After that, I strolled down to the cafe car, where I made the acquaintance of one Claudia Butler, the manager of the Lake Shore Limited. She's been around trains all her life– her father worked for the railroad too. She was excited to have an Amtrak Writer in Residence on Board, and spoke with pride of her OBS crew (that's on-board service).
I can say that the "roomette" is small; there is barely enough room for my ego.
I looked out the window and watched Massachusetts and New York go by. It's a very Edgar Allen Poe November out there; leaves blowing, rain streaking against the windowpane. I wrote and I thought and I read a little of Maxine Hong Kinsgston's "The Woman Warrior," which I'm teaching at Barnard this spring.
Somewhere around 1 AM tonight–we'll be just outside Dayton, Ohio– the train will come to a halt for an hour. This is on account of the reversion to Eastern Standard Time. I'd heard that trains do this– if they just chugged ahead, we'd all wind up at our destination an hour ahead of the schedule, thus opening up a rift in the space-time continuum. It's like what Steven Wright used to say about: "I put instant coffee in the microwave and went back in time."
I'll be up at dawn tomorrow (plus an hour) to have an early breakfast, in time to step off the Lake Shore Limited about 7:30 in the morning in Waterloo, Indiana. Where, with any luck, a nice black limo will be waiting to drive me the three + hours to Bloomington, Indiana, and the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, where I'll be attending an exhibition of the Institute's Mapplethorpe prints tomorrow night, and a Board of Trustees meeting all day Monday. Tuesday, it's back on the train, and on to California!
Thanks for riding with me.
"Come along, Mrs. Thornhill."
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
01 November 2014
Day 2: At a Siding, (I.)
Day 2 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Bloomington, Indiana, where I am at mile 1190 of this 7298 mile voyage.
Today we are "at a siding," by which I mean that I have stepped off of the train for a day or so as I attend to business.
The Lake Shore Limited pulled into Waterloo IN this morning right on time at 7:33 AM, where a limo was waiting to drive me to Bloomington and the IU campus. I'm here for 36 hours or so, attending a meeting of the Trustees of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. I know many of my readers are more familiar with my work in the NY Times, or with GLAAD, but my more-quiet relationship with Kinsey is something I'm immensely proud of. At tomorrow's Trustees meeting we'll celebrate the arrival of Sue Carter, our newly hired new CEO, and a pioneer in the field of neuroendocrinology.
Tonight, though, the Trustees celebrate the extensive collections of the Institute with a special showing of the prints of Robert Mapplethorpe. I'm really looking forward to looking at and thinking about that work. I can also tell you that my own favorite Mapplethorpe photograph is the one just below here. Patti Smith has a wonderful description of how they took that photo; all these years later I still find it haunting.
I think about the world that Mapplethorpe lived in, and the one in which I do my own work, and it's kind of amazing how far we've travelled. This morning at breakfast on the Lake Shore Limited, I dined with a woman about my age who writes about hip-hop music for the Chicago Sun-Times. She was reading the NY Times Magazine article about "Men at Wellesley" and asked me what I thought about it. I said, kind of shyly, Well, I think transgender people are very brave. And she said, So do I! My daughter has dated three trans men! And so we talked about trans identities, and I talked about my wife, and it struck me what a changed and remarkable world we live in, in which two strangers on a train in Ohio could talk about trans lives and lesbian relationships and it was all pretty much pleasant, normal breakfast conversation. At the end of breakfast, I said, Look, I might as well tell you. (pointing at the magazine cover) I'm like that too.And my seat mate looked uncertain and she said, "And then– you went back to being a woman?"
No, I said, not exactly.
I slept all warm and cozy in my "womb-ette" bed last night. Out the window I saw the dark fields of New York, the shores of Lake Erie. The train rocked me from side to side. I thought about my family. And all the while I kept hearing that whistle. Go on, click here and you can hear it too. A loyal reader sent me a wonderful link to a site that talks all about the classic 5-tone railroad engine whistle. And I learned the answer to a lifelong question: what's that chord?
Why, it's a B major 6th. The notes are: D#, F#, G# B, and D#.
It is surely the sound of dreams.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
02 November 2014
Day 3: At a Siding (II.)
Day 3 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Bloomington, Indiana, where I am, again, at mile 1190 of this 7298 mile voyage. You can read about my time "at a siding" here.
Day 4: Soul Train
Day 4 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from just outside Galesburg, Illinois, where I am now at mile 1572 of this 7298 mile voyage.
I am at last safely aboard the California Zephyr, which departed from Union Station, Chicago at 2 PM. Before that, I rode the "Hoosier State" from Indianapolis to Chicago, which I can affirm was not a fast mode of transportation. Before that I was in a limo being picked up at 4:15 AM in Bloomington, taking my leave of the IU campus and my days at the Kinsey Institute.
Today I have seen a field of windmills. I saw the sun set behind a bank of clouds over a brown, exhausted soybean field. I saw an Amish family with spectacular beards and bonnets. I saw a grain elevator filling up a long semi with corn seed. I saw a place on the tracks where somehow a hundred potatoes had spilled. I have heard the sound of the whistle as we cut through small towns with barriers lowered, red lights blinking, at the one intersection in town. I looked out for an hour or so at places where there didn't seem to be any towns at all. I saw a man standing alone at the edge of a fallow field.
Superliner roomette (on the Zephyr) is, in my opinion, not quite as roomy as the roomette on the Viewliner (Lake Shore Limited). Haven't tried the bed yet. But there's no window on the upper berth. To make up for this, there is a fabulous dining car, where i'll unfold my napkin in about an hour, and a bar car with an upstairs observation deck. My wife and I enjoyed a similar car going from Fairbanks to Anchorage on our honeymoon. I still remember the couple we met on that train ride: as a result of two different strains of cancer, the husband couldn't talk, and the wife could not hear. Deedie and I have long joked that we have based our marriage on the model of this couple.
Here in Galesburg, Carl Sandburg was born in 1878. In his home town he drove a milk wagon, worked as a porter for a hotel, as a laborer on a farm, before going back to driving the milk wagon. Later, he won three Pulitzer Prizes, and published the "American Songbag," a collection that attempted to do for this country, in the early 20th century what Sir Francis Childe had done with Irish and Scottish and English music 300 years earlier: create an archive of traditional folk songs.
Among the songs collected by Sandburg is "The Railroad Cars are Comin'," part of which goes like this:
The prairie dogs in dogtown
Will wag each little tail,
They'll think that something's coming,
Just flying down the rail.
Amid the purple sagebrush,
The antelope will stand
While railroad cars are coming, humming,
Through the prairie land,
The railroad cars are coming, humming,
Through the prairie land.
I wrote 1300 words between Chicago and Galesburg. I don't know if it's any good, won't know for months, probably. But here I am on the edge of the prairie, grateful that I live in this country. It's Election Day, and I admit I've been kind of paying less attention than I might were i at home. At the same time I can tell you that the very last thing I did before leaving Maine was to vote by absentee ballot. I'll go to sleep tonight content that the country, as always, will sort things out. Something is coming.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
04 November 2014
Day 5: Peace Train
Day 5 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from just outside Moab, Utah, where I am now at mile 2819 of this 7298 mile voyage.
I awoke in my cozy roomette at 4:30 AM Mountain time, which I admit is too early, but I'm still on Eastern time, and I'm an early riser anyway. So instead of resisting, I got up, got a cup of coffee, sat down in the observation car with my computer and started to write a scene. This whole voyage west I'm working on the final chapters of a novel I've been writing for two years. I got a lot closer this morning. With the sun rising before me, and the sound of the rails and the whistle, and some dude lying on the floor all asleep, how could I NOT write well?
And then, friends, the sun came up. It began, as always, as just a sly hint of grey in an otherwise black sky, but at 6:30 the sun burst over the plains of eastern Colorado. The morning shift complete, I headed to the dining car, where I had breakfast with a clinical psychologist who was reading the biography of William James, whom, my companion claimed, anticipated everything.
Settled into the observation car as we climbed the Rockies. I can only say it is every bit as breathtaking as you dream. We passed beneath the Continental Divide via the Moffet Tunnel and arrived at 8500+ feet as we stopped in Fraser, CO. Snow on the mountains. Air crisp. I didn't find the altitude daunting at all, even though we were warned not to exert ourselves. Then we began our long descent into the canyons.
I wrote another 1500 words in the afternoon. For a while I was hoping to write 8500+ words, one for every foot of elevation, but that's way out of my range now. I declared victory at about 3000. Then I returned to the observation car and watched the sun set and drank a Sierra Nevada.
It's the day after election day, but I haven't heard much talk of politics on the train. As a Democrat, it's a sad day for me, especially as I've caught up with news from Maine. But yeah, looking at the sun illuminating Red Rocks Canyon in western Colorado lifted my spirits.
I'll sleep through much of Utah and Nevada, arise in Pacific Time and California. We are supposed to arrive in Emeryville–near SF– around 4 o'clock PM, where supposedly a friend is scooping me up, taking me to my hotel to settle in, and then it's off to an author reception and book party in the evening. I'll begin the next leg of the trip Friday morning as I head down to Salinas and Big Sur for a few days of quiet, meditation, writing, and hiking.
It will be hard to top today, not just this month, but for the rest of my life. What a precious gift this journey has been.
In Denver (where the photo of me genuflecting before the California Zephyr's engine was taken), I asked the train manager if it might be possible for me to visit the engine. I had fantasies of blowing the horn. She looked at me just like I thought she would, gave me the same look I give my son when he asks, Is it okay if I spend the night at my girlfriend's house? So that didn't happen. But I tried, and in my mind I blew the whistle TWICE.
My sleeper's manager is a delightful Irishman named Dennis Byrne. We were talking this afternoon, and by way of summing things up, he said the following: "Each trip is a micro sociological experiment in its own right in that a host of disparate elements are tossed together in one sense, against their will."
I said, Yes. You are right.
He smiled, and added, "It's phantasmagorical."
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
05 November 2014
Day 6: Blue Train
Day 6 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from just outside Martinez, California, where I am now at mile 3795 of this voyage.
Once more I woke before dawn; we had just pulled into Winnemucca, Nevada. I had spent the night safe and warm in my California Zephyr roomette. I have had curious, but strangely comforting dreams on the train, perhaps the result of the effect of being gently rocked all night long. I got myself to the observation car where for the second day in a row I watched the sun rise, this time over the desert of western Nevada. I wrote a good 1300 words this morning, and when I finished, the dawn came up like thunder. The woman next to me began to sing, "Here Comes the Sun," and for a few seconds all of us were singing there in the observation car in the intense morning light.
I had breakfast with a woman who designs video games, and a librarian from Provo, Utah. We spoke about "Gamergate" and children's books, and the world of fantasy.
After breakfast–"Railroad French Toast" with bacon, yow! — I engaged with the Amtrak shower, and I can report that the water was HOT and the pressure was GOOD and that I was surprisingly refreshed. Again, if you go: remember to bring your own shampoo and conditioner. No, there's not a blow dryer. Please.
I settled into the observation car as we ascended the Donner Pass. Crossing the Sierra Nevadas was almost as spectacular as the Rockies the day before. Although, gazing down at Donner Lake, it did make me think about the settlers of this country. It's a miracle to me than anyone survived. It's impossible to imagine pioneers spending five, six, seven months crossing the plains, and then the Rockies, and then the Sierras. How on earth are any of us here?
After lunch, I wrote another 1200 words. I'm so close to finishing the climax of this novel. The extended time alone has enabled me to do this kind of sustained work– such a precious gift. The only obstacle to the work– and I say this for the writers who will follow me– is that you really want to spend your time looking out the window. Every second there is something new to see.
We are crossing the Cartinez Straights, and out the window to my left I can see big ships– oceangoing tankers out on Suisun Bay, and evidence, if any more were needed, that we are drawing near the end of the western leg of the trip. Tonight, an SF hotel for me, and an author book signing and party.
Tomorrow morning I'll board the Coast Starlight south, bound for Salinas., and then Big Sur, where I will hole up for the weekend: hiking, writing, meditating, thinking. I'll be "On a Siding" for a few days, but I'll try to connect back up before departing on the next leg of the trip– the northern leg from Salinas to Seattle, which begins on Monday the 10th.
In a way I am very sorry to be leaving the Zephyr. What can I tell you: you should do this, if you can swing it. As my sleeping car manager Dennis said yesterday, "It's phantasmagorical."
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
06 November 2014
Day 7: At a Siding (III.)
Day 7 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Big Sur where I am now at mile 4005 of this voyage. You can read more about my time "At a Siding" here.
Day 8: At a Siding (IV.)
Day 8 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Big Sur where I am now at mile 4005 of this voyage. You can read more about my time "At a Siding" here.
Days 9 & 10: At a Siding (V. & VI.)
Days 9 & 10 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Big Sur where I am pausing at mile 4005 of this voyage. You can read more about my time "At a Siding" here.
Day 11: Slow Train Coming
Day 11 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Salem, OR where I am at mile 4843 of this voyage.
I awoke on the Coast Starlight this morning just shy of Dunsmuir, CA to find our train stopped dead. Tunnel construction on the mountains near Shasta Lake had us sitting unmoving for hours, as one giant freight after another occupied the tunnel before us. At last we found ourselves underway once more, but by the time that came to pass, we were five hours behind schedule.
(This is a good moment to note that passenger rail service in this country usually takes place upon tracks that are leased, not owned, by Amtrak, meaning that trains carrying actual human beings are put in the queue all behind ones carrying pig iron. Our rail system would be much more efficient, and be able to serve a much larger number of people, and with more efficiency, if Amtrak's budget were larger, and if we, American taxpayers, ACTUALLY OWNED THE RAILS WE TRAVEL UPON.)
Interestingly, no one seemed too terribly disturbed by this. For one thing, the sidetrack enabled us to see by daylight what normally we'd pass by under dark of night– namely, Mt. Shasta for one (and, for the ladies, Mt. Shastina!), and Shasta Lake– the latter shockingly low as the drought years in California take their toll. I had breakfast with a couple from Texas who described the small roomettes (which I call our "coffinettes") this way: "They're so small you couldn't cuss out a cat in one of 'em without getting fur in your mouth." And yet: they– and, really, everyone I've met, LOVES BEING ON THE TRAIN. Yes, we'd have been happier if we weren't stuck behind all those freights. But this is the reality of train travel in this country, and it's clear the Starlight, like the Zephyr before it, is full of people who feel that making this journey is one of the great adventures of their lives. Including the people who do it all the time.
I spent the day revising the work I'd sort-of finished yesterday at Big Sur. No fatal flaws yet, but lots of little stupidies. I sat in the "parlor car" in the afternoon– these 50+ year old cars have been refurbished, and exist only on the Starlight line– cushy seats, a bar, polished wood paneling, really like something from a more elegant era. I started talking with folks in that car at 3 PM and stayed until the "wine tasting" began at 4. And then I had dinner in the parlor car with the same group of people. Delightful. Someone asked me if I was the Amtrak Writer in Residence, and I admitted to it, and they were all over me– they'd read about the program, they'd read the blog, and so on. As a result of this program, they'd decided to do a month of business travel BY TRAIN. It all made me very happy: the conversation, the amazing vistas, the short ribs for dinner. This life is very tasty.
We'll be arriving in Seattle too late tonight for me to see my friends, alas; I'll scurry to the hotel and hunker down for a few hours before visiting North Seattle Community College tomorrow and teaching a class (!) Then my friend from college, Johnny C., will get me to King Street station, where I'll step onto the Empire Builder tomorrow for the trip that leads across Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and home.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
12 November 2014
Days 12 & 13: Glory Train
I woke in the fabulous "Author Suite" of the Alexis Hotel in Seattle yesterday morning– my absolute favorite place to stay in the world. They buy your book when you're a guest, and you sign it and it becomes part of the library in that huge room. Once, I picked a book by David Sedaris off of the shelf, and found that it had been signed: "I stayed in the same bed as Toni Morrison. And she kept stealing all the covers."
I had dinner last night with a woman who taught music theory at a college in North Dakota. This morning, I had breakfast with an Amish couple who said they don't approve of music. We were something of an odd threesome, but I was delighted to break bread with them. The man, with his abundant beard, noted, "We have 77 grandchildren!" His wife, in her bonnet and plain dress, nodded. She seemed tired.
Having fought my way to a rough draft of my novel before I left Big Sur, today I began the revisions. I cut 10,000 words, and yes, that's a lot, although no one should be surprised that occasionally I use 10,000 words when zero will do just as well. In the afternoon today, I turned my attention to a commissioned project for a new anthology, and I cranked out 4000 not terrible words before declaring it time for a beer.
I settled into the observation car and looked out at the plains and drank a Sierra Nevada and listened to Beethoven's Third on headphones. That morning, I'd seen the sun come up over the Rockies, watched the sun glimmer off the crystalline moonscape peaks of Glacier National Park. By noon, though, we'd come down into the plains, where everything was white and frosty and empty. I had never quite gotten my mind around the vast emptiness of the plains, but I got my mind around it now. The horizon goes on to infinity.
I had dinner with an Irishman from Indiana and a young woman who appeared to be on her way home for Thanksgiving after seven years away from her family. "They sent me a train ticket," she said. "They wanted me to come home." The Irishman and I tenderly tried to note how much parents love their children, and how glad they will be to have her home once more. We noted that neither of regretted anything about our twenties except the worry. "I would do it all again the same way," said the Irishman, "just this time I wouldn't worry about the future."
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
13 November 2014
Day 14: Ghost Train
Day 14 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Wisconsin Dells, WI, where I am now at mile 7013 of this voyage.
Awoke in Fargo ND, after another strangely soothing night in the sleeper. It really is an odd way of sleeping– rocking back and forth, waking to roll over, but I can tell you I am addicted to it and sleeping in a bed that is not moving is going to be one of the things I will most miss. It's kind of like "Magic Fingers" for the unconscious. For the first day I did NOT arise before sunrise, which perhaps just means we're back in Central Time. Or perhaps it means I finished the draft of my novel, and did not feel the same urgency.
We rolled across Minnesota and Wisconsin today, the land more populous than the high plains of the day before. We travelled along the western banks of the Mississippi for much of the afternoon, which gave this east coast girl quite a thrill. I thought about Mark Twain. At sunset we crossed the river at La Crosse, WI. It was all very beautiful.
The views from the Empire Builder are decidedly more somber and meditative than the fireworks of the California Zephyr. I'd choose the Zephyr's route from Denver to Sacramento for sheer jaw-dropping scenery. But the Empire Builder is good for working.
I received word this morning that the editor who read the piece I wrote the first draft of yesterday likes it a lot– great news, and rare for me: I almost never get it right the first time any more. Part of that piece concerns the adventures of the Amtrak Residency, so it's funny to see a piece lined up for publication that addresses a thing that is still, in fact, happening.
Also spent many hours today writing and polishing up syllabi and agenda for spring courses at Barnard– my class on "Gendered Memoir," and the "Advanced Studies in Prose." I had the general sketch already done, but now I have the week-by-week road map of the courses, no small accomplishment, and kind of a great thing to do while the northern plains roll by, all dusted with snow.
I arrive in Chicago tonight. I am looking forward to a martini and a thick steak. Tomorrow a friend is taking me to a David Bowie show at a contemporary art museum, and I'll eat deep dish pizza with another friend, before boarding the Lake Shore Limited tomorrow night for the final ride to the east coast. Boston by Sunday night.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
14 November 2014
Day 15: At a Siding (VII.) Hunky Dory
Day 15 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Chicago, where I am now at mile 7224 of this voyage. You can read more about my time at a "siding" here.
Day 16: I've Been Writing on the Railroad
Day 16 of this Amtrak Residency. Greetings from Albany, NY where I am now at mile 8028 of this voyage.
Slept, once more, like a baby on the Lake Shore Limited. Awoke on the late side to find us east of Cleveland, west of Erie. Had scrambled eggs in the dining car and for the first time in two weeks my breakfast companion was someone plugged into a device, watching a movie over her French toast who did not wish to have a conversation or engage in any way. I couldn't decide to be hurt by this (having had so many interesting and unexpected talks in the dining car) or relieved (remembering my breakfast with the Amish who did not approve of music).
Spent much of the day doing office work– wrote recommendations for students applying to grad school. Then read the 100 pages of Falcon Quinn 3, my young adult series in progress; I am about two-thirds of the way through that story. I didn't do any work on it today, but I did re-read what I've done till now, and tried to think about what will like ahead in the rest of the story, which I hope to write this winter and spring.
I'm holing up in a Boston hotel tonight before my final ride home tomorrow on Maine's "Downeaster." As we approach the end of this voyage, here are a few tips for other travelers who do long distance train rides in the USA, and my other Amtrak Writers in Residence in Particular.
• Do bring a pair of slippers. In the western trains, the bathroom is down the corridor, and you really want to have something on your feet for that journey. They won't let you leave the car in your socks. I know: one morning, headed to breakfast, I was sent back to my room for shoes. You can only imagine my mortification.
• Do bring a power strip. There's usually only one outlet per roomette, and it sits not flush to the wall, but inside a strangely shaped indentation. You want the kind of power strip that will plug in, and then give you three or four outlets on the other end; ideally some of these would be USB ports.
• There's no wifi on the trains. For vast stretches in the west, there is no cell service either. The station master in San Francisco announced this happily, "So you will have to TALK to each other. Or READ A BOOK." A mifi device or cell service will work a lot of the time, but not in the mountains, or in the tunnels. And especially not in tunnels in the mountains.
• I brought a terry cloth robe for wearing over my pajamas in the morning. I liked getting up very early out west, going into the observation car to write for an hour or two before sunrise. The robe occupied a large chunk of my duffle bag, but I think it was worth it. So were the pajamas. Mine were covered with little yellow stars, giving my friend Johnny in Seattle the chance to mock them as my "wizard pajamas" but I think he was just jealous he didn't have any of his own.
• I brought two bags: a small suitcase I kept in the roomette with me, which I then refreshed and re-supplied from a huge duffle when I was off the train. On the western trains, I kept the big duffle downstairs in the sleeper's storage area; (not the baggage car); on the eastern trains, there's an area in the top of the berth where you can shove a dufflebag–it's just about that big.
• In Boston and Chicago, to name two, there are special lounges for the first class/sleeper car passengers, and this was really a lifesaver– especially in Chicago. Folks doing the sleeper should take full advantage of these swanky chambers.
• The eastern trains are "Viewliners" and have single-decker sleepers with an upper berth that raises and lowers. There are both high and low windows int he Viewliners that give the roomettes more light. The "Superliners" are out west, and there is an upper level and a lower. The upper level rooms have a slightly better view. The Viewliners have a commode right in the roomette with you as well as a sink. Some people will like the convenience of this; I kind of liked going down the hall to the powder room, and there was something a bit over-the-top about a commode right next to my easy chair. (Or maybe it's under-the-bottom.) The Western trains have the observation cars, and why not: there's more to observe. The Coast Starlight has the coolest cars of all– the "parlor" cars, with swivel easy chairs, a bar, and a movie theatre downstairs.
• But look, these rooms are really small. There are larger ones, and riders will have to decide whether the extra money is worth it. A couple would have to be really in love to enjoy the roomette, but then, lots of couples are. How small are the rooms? A fellow from Texas said to me, "You couldn't cuss out a cat in one of them things without getting fur in your mouth."
• My own desire was to get a ton of work done, and I did just that. I finished the last couple chapters of the first draft of a novel; wrote a 4000 word essay for an anthology; wrote a syllabus for a new course at Barnard; did paperwork, and read Falcon Quinn 3. I feel lucky and grateful. Trains really are great places for writers.
• The main challenge to all of this, though, is the great desire to stare out the window going Duh. The best views on the routes, I think, are: crossing the Rockies on the California Zephyr; crossing the Sierras via the Donner Pass on the Zephyr; the view of Mt. Shasta from the Starlight; traversing Glacier National Park on the Empire Builder. The Lake Shore Limited is a more efficient train, but the views are not quite as shockingly beautiful– or maybe it's just that I'm from the east, and I'm familiar with the terrain.
• The Amtrak staff is kind of amazing. From Lashawna on the Lake Shore going west, to Dennis on the Zephyr, to Alfreda ad Al on the Lake Shore east, the people working on the railroad are enthusiastic and professional and truly seem eager to help. I was grateful for the way they made my voyage easier. I'm also grateful to Julia Quinn at Amtrak HQ for masterminding this whole project.
• You will encounter lots of people doing the sleeper route if you do this journey, but one thing they almost all seem to have in common is, THEY LOVE TRAINS. They will talk your ear off about how great this all is, as if you have joined a very select group of lucky people. Which you have.
• This kind of voyage is not for everyone. The quarters are small. In some ways it will remind you of really elegant camping. This is not the luxury train ride you are imagining from those movies in the 1940s, or perhaps even from trains in Europe. The trains get delayed, routinely, especially out west; if you go the full route expect to be delayed, 2, 4, even 6 hours. The only thing it is better than is any form of air travel whatsoever, and in comparison to that nightmare, it is like staying at the Waldorf. You have an AC outlet, really good food, your own private room, and a window onto some of the most spectacular scenery in the world. There are literally places in this country you will never see if you do not take the train. Would I do this again? In a heartbeat. And yes, next time, my family is coming with me.
This train is bound for glory.
Jennifer Boylan
Amtrak Writer in Residence
16 November 2014


text:
Cop saves woman in samurai attack
A POLICEMAN saved a woman from a madman armed with a samurai sword, crossbow and hunting knives.
If it had not been for the officer's bravery and quick thinking the woman and other members of the public could have been killed
She was being slashed repeatedly with the three-foot long sword in a random street attack.
Nearby residents said the terrified victim was screaming "like an animal" and lay bleeding heavily on the ground.
The unarmed sergeant stepped in and asked the crazed attacker to put his weapon down. But the man turned on him and threatened him with his sword before he was eventually tackled and arrested.
Inside his bag were hunting knives, a crossbow, a mallet, samurai-type swords and a gas mask.
His 22-year-old victim, who suffered stab wounds to the legs, arms and face, is in a serious but not life- threatening condition in hospital.
Steven Oltay, 19, who witnessed the Christmas Eve attack in Holloway, north London, said: "I was woken up by a woman screaming. Horrific screams, like an animal.
"I thought it was someone being murdered."
Police have praised the quick-thinking sergeant for his bravery.
Detective Superintendent Steve Wallace said: "This was a vicious unprovoked stranger attack.
"If it had not been for the officer's bravery and quick thinking the woman and other members of the public could have been killed.
"Courage such as this is above and beyond the call of duty and I can't commend the officer highly enough."
He added: "The fact that the officer was unarmed and alone when he tackled the man only underlines his bravery."
The victim's family have rushed over from Italy.
Yesterday a 25-year-old man from central London was charged with two counts of attempted murder.
He will appear before Highbury Corner magistrates today.