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Sunday, March 23, 2014
Songlien (n.) A songline bought on the never-never.
Songlines (n.) Title of a 1986 Bruce Chatwin book that depicted a romanticised, present-day Central Australia.
Never-never (n.). The sparsely-populated bulk of the Australian landmass, in which a few urban areas and mining settlements aside, the Indigenous population will outnumber the settler. Also, to buy something on credit, when it is improvident to do so, or it entails paying an excessive interest rate.
I love a good secret business story, particularly when most of the real drama is at the heart of my own culture – educated, urban, predominantly white Australia.
Such is the backstage story behind Nicolas Rothwell's (itself a backstage) double-story in yesterday's Australian.* The about-to-open SA Museum "Ngintaka" show is not something I have any direct familiarity with or stake in. But its divisiveness, as chronicled by the clearly partisan but factually meticulous Rothwell, is like a newly-installed public sculpture in a prominent place – a cultural disaster ripe for the picking. I'm aware of how white-fella unceremonious this may appear; when the "unveiling" has yet to happen, it would ordinarily be polite to suspend judgment, particularly on the eve of the opening (which for "Ngintaka" is Friday 29 March). But it is only the full-frontality of Rothwell's spoiler that makes it a "long and complicated"** white-fella drama; a post-opening "review" (meaning an opinionated, timely backgrounder) would mostly be just a tale of two Pitjantjatjara factions and which way the white-fellas were lining up.
Reading Rothwell's double-story, I get the feeling that it was the latter, less incendiary path that was actually his intention, until quite near yesterday's publication deadline, with his main story apparently written to run on the day after opening, Saturday 30 March, but his accompanying page 1 splash story written later (or if not, just sub-edited) to expressly run six days before the opening. Some secret white-fella business here then, just for starters. Maybe Rothwell was corralled by the powers that be pointing out that a Saturday 30 March print date would still be more pre-emptive spoiler than loose "review" – and that since the gloves were going to be off, anyway . . .
Dates are an odd feature of Rothwell's story, particularly in its cannibalisation of a May 2012*** Stuart Rintoul story (that itself has a large trace of Nicolas Rothwell authorship within it, although Rothwell is not formally credited). The plot thickens – did Rintoul simply lend his name in May 2012, in order for some flak, at least, to bypass Rothwell – a remote Australia specialist, with apparently impeccable access credentials?
Either way, Rothwell's recycling of Yami Lester's May 2012 words seems lazy and uncharacteristic. Mind-you, some of the recycled words are choice indeed:
"White do-gooders among us need their boundaries defined."
Ouch! And rather masterfully, Mr Lester doesn't say by whom – if you need to ask this, you need to go back to clearer bounded territory, perhaps.
Never one to miss an opportunity for a scolding chime-in, if I may suggest a coda – one more pedantic than profound – to Mr Lester's edict: "and white sub-editors among us need their photos of me, Yami Lester, more transparently captioned". If you look up the 10 May 2012 story, you'll see a picture captioned "Yami Lester, in wheelchair, and Mike Williams yesterday at Wallatina, in the far north of South Australia". Fast forwarding to 22 March 2014, a strikingly similar photo was captioned "Yami Lester, in wheelchair, and Mike Williams". Both were by Kelly Barnes. While yesterday's photo didn't say that it was a recent one, most readers would assume that it was, and it is a puzzle why the caption couldn't have just added "in May 2012". In the body text, Yami Lester ironically invokes Indigenous intellectual property rights; shabby captioning of Indigenous subjects, while not a serious violation, is still a point on a continuum of abhorrent practises, in the recent past, regarding film and photography of Indigenous persons and material culture.
As I've previously written in another context, there is a big problem in how to contain, and then possibly physically dispose of and mentally forget, a mountain of visual (and textual, to a smaller extent) material, the capturing, storage and/or publication of which it can be presumed no informed consent was given to. Some of this material may be obvious, captioned "secret ceremony" or similarly, and if so, often be found in only in specialist academic, rare, and/or quasi-banned publications. Most such content, however, is found in generalist publications, and with non-controversial captions. We (meaning white and Indigenous Australians both) need to do something about this, or, at the very least, talk about it. Funnily enough, I have a strong hunch that what's at the bottom of the SA Museum "Ngintaka" show being claimed as a serious cultural violation concerns one chapter of just such a generalist book, and perhaps more particularly, just one photo within.
Certainly, yesterday's story is oddly unspecific about what the actually offensive "bits" (to use an inelegant term) were (the May 2012 story was also unspecific, but then it was presumably early days as to what might actually end up on display). I recognise that naming and shaming particular paintings, objects etc may potentially be counter-productive (by attracting a prurient interest), but a couple of clues suggest that it is the attention that the "Ngintaka" show may give to a particular 1948 book that is the biggest problem, rather than the show's primary content (I am assuming the show makes no more than guarded references to the 1948 book). If so, I think that this source of contagion has to be identified, despite concerns over attracting prurient interest.
Ominously in hindsight, I think, in May 2012, one of the lead white-fellas said: "[Anangu/Pitjantjatjara] people wanted to tell the 'open story' that had been documented". The trouble with this approach is that uncontestably "open" stories are, I would have thought, already told to death – or at least would be thin pickings for an expensive major museum show. "Documented" stories, on the other hand, can be many things, but it would be a clear breach of Yami Lester's "boundaries", I would have thought, to conflate "documented" with "open".
Rothwell yesterday picks up this thread:
"They [the lead white-fellas] pointed out the Ngintaka story had long been public; it had been recorded by an amateur anthropologist in 1948".
As well as not naming the particular white "do-gooder", Rothwell – curiously, I think – chooses not to name the "amateur anthropologist" despite his identity being obvious to anyone with a slight acquaintance with mid-20th Century publications on Indigenous Central Australia. In a probable over-abundance of caution, I am not going to name him either. I will note, however, that in my opinion he does have a chequered reputation at best, with his magnum opus being a quasi-banned book (that I have held but, duly warned, never opened). To base the "openness" of an exhibition's broad premise on the foundations laid by this ethnographer/film-maker/photographer 65 years ago thus seems ludicrous – or a prosaic greedy quest to the Oodnadatta area for fine flour**, at least.
Speaking of Oodnadatta, I recognise that geographical precision is another fraught zone – just as paintings can be sold with their inner meanings encrypted, stories can be told with GPS co-ordinates withheld, as it were. I would hate to be the putz who naively name-dropped Oodnadatta as a cultural site of significance for anything more than the Pink Roadhouse – and the 1948 book has specific Ngintaka sites only way back west, in the tri-state conurbation.
Zooming out to the bigger picture, I do think that the Western Desert may have been "sung" enough in recent decades for white-fella edification, clean through to the Indian Ocean, and that going south-east from the beating heart would be a nice change of songline direction, if you like. Which is to say, a paying back of the songlien. If the damage of obscenity in the stored visual record is to be undone, first we take Oodnadatta – then we take CM.
Update 1 April 2014 – Ngintaka exhibition off, then on again, and "OMG, I've turned into 'Gym Bore'/'Kidder'"
Diana James, in a terse reply to Nicolas Rothwell, defends the thorough consultation processes of the Ngintaka "Project Partners". But Rothwell had already conceded that there was an exhaustive such process over recent years – and for all this, for a handful of dissidents at least, still not enough; or perhaps too much. More interestingly, James details a chain of events, going back four decades, to assert the openness of the Ngintaka story in general; or in industry-speak, its provenance.
Just as Subhash Kapoor had to invent pre-1972 ex-India provenance for his looted antiquities (from that year, a blanket export ban was imposed by the Indian state), James is aware that there is a time-frame into which her "openness" provenance must not cross. While the date here is not hard and fast, plainly she can't go back to the problematic 1948 book. Neatly, she fixes 1974 as the earliest date in the chain of "good" title – a year by which the Bad Old Days of cultural expropriation by anthropologists and others were implicitly over, and a nascent fine-art industry in Central Australia was giving Indigenous artist-custodians the power and finesse to disclose their stories to whatever degree they chose. From her 1974 jump-start however, James seems to have to clutch at straws:
This version of the [Ngintaka] story has been used by Anangu to document their artworks in gallery exhibitions since 1974. The story and song have been taught at the [sic] Angatja in the Mann Ranges to tourists and school children since 1988 and is still taught today to Indigenous and non-indigenous children. The Angatja experience is championed as a flagship of reconciliation by Catholic Schools who include the trip in their Leadership for Reconciliation programme.
Thus, many people, mainly schoolchildren, have already seen and heard the story; indeed, it is something of a set-piece. This should not be taken to mean that the cultural content is relatively trite, although the SA Museum publicity does emphasise that the exhibition is intended primarily for children. The bigger problem here is the Project Partners' seemingly reckless presumption of scalability – that a remote community's in-situ "experience" can be respectfully and meaningfully recreated in a prestigious big-city venue. The acute danger, of course, is that extra "sizzle" will be needed in the greatly-enlarged version, sizzle of which the SA Museum has plenty in its vaults, including a large number of secret-sacred objects, photos and films that came to it via the "amateur anthropologist".
Rothwell's article made it clear that the SA Museum's role in the exhibition was mainly as a room for hire, so perhaps there is some consolation in this fact. Nonetheless, the fact that it is Rothwell, rather than James, making it, speaks volumes. As do these strong words from a lawyer for the pro-exhibition faction, referring to an unsuccessful last-minute legal challenge# to the exhibition going ahead:
"SA Museum has been accused of 'caving in' to the demands of the tribal elders by Graham Harbord, for Johnston Withers lawyers representing Ananguku Arts. Mr Harbord said SA Museum should not even be involved in the dispute".
- Tim Lloyd, "SA Museum decides to proceed with opening of Ngintaka dreaming exhibition despite legal threat from some tribal elders", Advertiser 28 March 2014, 4:35pm
Ah, "caving in" – an English figure of speech that may, I suspect, have an unfortunate (if unintended) set of other meanings in the translation. But that's white Australia's trouble with keeping Indigenous secrets; we feel trapped and suffocated inside that black box.
Meanwhile, onto Bruce Chatwin's provenance. Re-reading Songlines after posting the above (and about 26 years after I first read it), my mind followed a quite different track from my late 1980s self (who would have been on "team Bruce", all the way). The character of 'Gym Bore', or 'Kidder' – who Chatwin apparently based on the real-life Phillip Toyne – stood out, and for reasons opposite to the petty-villain role he plays in Chatwin's book.
But first, let's start with Kidder's rap-sheet: he's a rich young man, originally from Sydney – rich enough to have his own plane, the use of which as an (presumably) unpaid taxi to and from remote communities is apparently the only reason that Kidder is tolerated (by white or black) in his job in the Aboriginal land-rights industry. Kidder's crass departure from a party at a private house in far south-eastern Alice Springs in February 1983 – in an over-large and new 4WD, shining harsh headlights over all and sundry – is possibly the earliest confirmed appearance of the Yuppie Wanker in a 4WD (in 1983, a species far from the plague proportions they were later to assume). It may help here to know that Chatwin and "Arkady" had walked the 5km or so from central Alice Springs to the party house, almost in eerie anticipatory negation of Kidder by their most un-Kidder like (and un-Alice in general also, I would suggest) behaviour.
Chatwin's basis for calling Kidder a "Gym Bore" is similarly loaded; nowhere in the book does Kidder talk or behave like a vain or body-obsessed man, but we definitely know that any deliberate act of fitness or muscle-building is Not Something That Bruce Would Do. Chatwin admits to going for a pre-breakfast jog in Alice Springs once – but he takes care to inform us that this was only because his motel did not start serving breakfast until 8am. Personally, I would not have forever after condemned Chatwin as "Runner Bore" on the basis of a single instance of a jog, however egregious, but Chatwin has much higher standards than me, obviously. Such high standards, in fact, that his unnamed motel's breakfast start time of 8am would make it completely unsuitable for most tourists doing bus-trips out of town (in my experience, which albeit is in recent years and not c.1983, almost all bus-tours will be on the road by 8am). But no doubt having a breakfast without the clamouring tourist hordes would have been all the better for Bruce's erudite and considered notebook jottings. That morning, as Chatwin tucked into his post-jog repast, he may well have thought about how fortunate he was to be naturally lithe – and "Arkady" naturally hunky – in contrast to that horrid, artificially-sculpted colonial, Kidder. And thus been inspired to write this note for himself: "Important: explain that my jog was only because of compulsory late breakfast, and that I normally spend my mornings as languid as Sebastian Flyte".
Early in the narrative, "Arkady" sums up Kidder as "bad news". Unusually for a romanticised "faction" book, there is no later big pay-off to this standard plot device – a single instance of being a Yuppie Wanker in a 4WD is as bad as Kidder ever gets to be. Other than Kidder's (possibly drunken) words about Aboriginal intellectual property, that is. These offend Chatwin to the core, for some genuinely strange reason – they are indeed left-field, and may be impossible to achieve in practice, but their idealism cannot be faulted, I would have thought. So why does Chatwin so despise Kidder's idealism, or was it really just what he (Kidder) was wearing (grey marle) that infected his whole persona?
Anyway, I'm going to put up my hand to get me some of Chatwin's deepest contempt myself, by agreeing with Kidder's ideas about Aboriginal intellectual property (this may also mean disowning my late 1980s self, but if the grey marle fits . . . ). The entire corpus of presumptively stolen Aboriginal intellectual property in non-Aboriginal hands, on my guesstimate, could be bought back for a few million dollars (or even better, just donated). This is small bikkies in comparison to land rights. This figure does not include physical tjuringas, etc, the repatriation of which are often – for good reason – dealt with under a loose heading of intellectual property. But there are also meaty issues of proper custodianship to do with any physical property, and, in deference to Chatwin, I prefer to keep the issue here naturally lithe.
Chatwin's provenance for his best-selling "Central Australian Anthropology for Dummies" is difficult to fault, as befits a man who previously worked in the high-end art trade. Most of his insights come second-hand, from impeccably credentialled whites like "Arkady"; thus side-stepping the who, why, and for how much issues of the supply of the original story. Chatwin is no pre-1970s anthropologist, greedily vacuuming up content from the source, and making only token payment for this. He airily, and in 2014 presciently, takes his content from the "cloud", and not the cave.
Further update 2 April 2014
It turns out that earlier media reports that the Ngintaka exhibition opened for business as usual on Friday 28 March were incorrect (or at least my reading of them was). In fact, due to an injunction, the exhibition opened on a partially-closed basis. Most of this injunction was lifted yesterday, but "two videos, featuring song and dance" remain off-display, for now. See Mark Schliebs, "Aboriginal Exhibition to Go Ahead", Australian, 2 April 2014.
My guess is that these two "videos" are pre-1970s film footage, possibly taken by that ubiquitous "amateur anthropologist". The legal proceedings are ongoing, it seems: "Arguments over the consultation process will continue in the Supreme Court tomorrow" (ibid).
* Nicolas Rothwell "Songlines suffering: desert men in pain when secrets on display", and "Culture war", both Australian 22 March 2014.
** Quote from 1948 book, Ngintaka story chapter. As ever with this author, "famous first words". [Second reference is an element, hopefully innocuous, of the Ngintaka story, as recounted in 1948 book]
*** Stuart Rintoul "Songline at heart of secret men's business", Australian, 19 May 2012 [Note that 22 March 2014 "Culture war" story wrongly dates this as 20 May 2012]
# Verity Edwards, "Songline show on after legal assurance", Australian 29 March 2014
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Kari Katterheinrich and Jeremy Bump, both of Lima, Ohio, announce their engagement.
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Suzie - posted on 03/29/2012 ( 6 moms have responded )
I just turned 43 and have been experiencing symptoms of peri-menopause (night sweats, insomnia, moodiness, etc) and am SHOCKED to discover I am pregnant. At least that's what the home test says. I have an appt. next month to find out how far along exactly, since my periods have been irregular as well. I am a grandma. How can I be having a baby at this stage of my life!?!?!?!
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Cape Town – Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo welcomed their second child – another baby girl named Gio Grace Levine.
A rep for the Maroon Five frontman confirmed baby Gio's birth and her name to E! News on Friday afternoon but offered no other details.
The couple have not yet shared the news on social media.
Adam's last post on Instgram was a snap of his heavily pregnant Namibian-born wife with a box of chocolates on Thursday, 15 February. He captioned the pic: "My Maniac."
Behati's last post on Instagram was a promo one for SK-II's "Facial Treatment Essence".
The couple announced they were expecting baby no 2 in September. The 28-year-old model shared a snap of her growing baby bump with the caption: "Round 2"
Baby Gio joins big sister 1-year-old Dusty Rose.


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New Zealand has a sophisticated dynamic culture starting a thousand years ago with the first settlers of the ancestors of the present day Maori people. A couple of hundred years ago the European settlers arrived to carve a home from the wilderness. Mixed into the brew is the diversity of Pacific and Asian cultures. A great combination of people.
Travel writers seem to use the words stunning and awesome a lot and for good reason. For size perspective New Zealand is about the size of the US state of Colorado but with over 15,000 kilometres of coastline - more than the entire US. Any wonder it is so water oriented? Predominantly a mountainous backbone through the centre flowing out to coastal plains. It has a basic temperate climate ranging from sub-tropical climes in the Far North to Antarctic winds bringing the cold in its full glory during the winter months in the South.
A majestic land known for its untold beauty and the openess and honesty of its warm friendly people. Take in the vistas of the Southern Alps, explore the fiords, spy on penguins waddling ashore in the evening at the beach, check out lazing seals spread out along rocky shorelines or visit an Albatross colony close up.
Perhaps you will walk one of the famous tracks, bungy jump, take a jet boat ride, scuba dive, surf, climb a mountain, walk a glacier. Maybe you plan to hook into one of the trophy trout or salmon in the myriad of lakes and streams where they abound or hunt for trophy game such as the elusive tahr high in the alpine regions.
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Everything you read before you go to a new place is usually general or written by someone who briefly passed through on assignment or has been geared toward someone who pays for their visit or advertises on their website. The information you receive at information centres target specifics. Excellent information but just not complete. No one mentions anything about the small and sometimes very interesting areas you pass through along the way during the bulk of your holiday time. How would you like to have a
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Speaking at a student forum at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Bawumia said an operational national identification and good addressing system will help drive growth and build new businesses that will employ graduates.
READ MORE: IMF programme flawed - Bawumia
He added that the desire to raise revenue should not be allowed to kill business and cause unemployment.
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"To demonstrate our focus on productivity and jobs for the youth in Ghana, particularly graduates, we should introduce employment tax credit scheme to provide incentive for companies that employ fresh graduates," he added.
He said the mortgage market has a great potential of solving Ghana's high unemployment.
Bawumia also highlighted a favourable trade and industrial policy that supports local industries and focuses on production and employment, with policies like eliminating import duties on raw materials and manufacturing equipment for key industries.
READ MORE:Mahama lost on Ghana's debt - Bawumia
In addition, he said prioritizing agriculture and ensuring value addition to raw materials will be key under an NPP administration.


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The Riegelman Awards for Excellence in Public Health & Health Navigation Education in Community Colleges were presented to three community colleges at the League's 2018 Innovations Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, to representatives from Anne Arundel Community College, Montgomery County Community College, and Palo Alto College. The Riegelman Awards are bestowed upon colleges that have demonstrated excellence in planning or enhancing associate degree or certificate programs in public health and health navigation education; or providing public health/health foundations courses in...
Three outstanding technology students were honored with Terry O'Banion Student Technology Awards at the League's Innovations Conference on Monday, March 19. Named for the League's President Emeritus, who assisted in Monday's presentation, the two awards—Student Developer Champion and Student Technology Champion—celebrate the achievements of community college students pursuing careers in technology fields. Each honoree received a $2,500 scholarship and a commemorative plaque. The Student Developer Champion award, presented annually to a student preparing for a career in software development,...
Josh Wyner, founder and Executive Director of the College Excellence Program and Vice President at the Aspen Institute, was presented with the ETS O'Banion Prize at the League's Innovations Conference on Tuesday, March 20. Victoria Monaghan, Director of Strategic Initiatives at Educational Testing Service, presented the award to Wyner for his contributions to the improvement of teaching and learning. Wyner's work has centered around advancing college practices, policies, and leadership that significantly improve student outcomes, with a focus on students who are historically underserved in...
Nominate Eligible Students From Member Colleges September 10, 2018 - January 11, 2019 Please read the information below carefully. Entries that are incomplete or do not follow these guidelines will be eliminated from consideration. Download the award nomination form here. Eligibility Eligible student nominees must be: Currently enrolled in a League for Innovation Alliance Member Institution; Pursuing a career in technology; and In need of financial assistance to further his or her education. Nominations Community college faculty and staff members are invited to nominate student candidates by...
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University of the District of Columbia Community College


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First Baptist Church & School have used this former residence as a classroom building for nearly 70 years. After a severe electrical fire closed the building in 2012, Liollio was retained to provide a Condition Assessment Report & then to execute a program of preservation & rehabilitation transforming the building into a 21st Century educational space. The goals for this project were not only to repair the fire damage but also to increase the shared space between the church & school, streamline traffic, provide a welcoming presence, optimize use of limited space & improve energy efficiency. We provided campus visioning exercises with key groups while also coordinating communications between the school & surrounding neighborhood. Liollio worked closely with the Preservation Society of Charleston & Historic Charleston Foundation, City Zoning & BAR staff to achieve project approval. View before and after images above to see the amazing transformation.
OLD EXCHANGE BUILDING c.1771
The Old Exchange Building is a National Historic Landmark & is considered to be one of three most historically significant colonial buildings in America. This 235-year old structure requires constant care - a task amplified by a harsh coastal environment, vibration from heavy traffic & past repair attempts. Good preservation is a meticulous, hands-on intensive exercise which closely follows the recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Through extensive research & careful materials analysis the exterior was preserved employing certain common sense construction materials & methods originally used on the building over two centuries ago.
MARSHLANDS PLANTATION HOUSE c.1810
The structure known as the Marshlands House was built upon the Ball rice plantation & was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. When the threat of demolition arose the local preservation community collaborated to save the Marshlands House by accepting the house as a gift & relocating the structure by barge across the Charleston Harbor to historic Fort Johnson on James Island SC. Referring to the Secretary of the Interior Standards, the design team determined the change in context would make restoration to any pre-1961 date generally inappropriate, instead suggesting a preservation approach. The new site & orientation does present the building's beautiful full-width porch with commanding views of Charleston Harbor. The project team decided to expand the scope to restore the (now) North porch detailing by reversing two exterior modifications conducted during the house's many different occupancies. The poorly repaired, coated terne metal roof was replaced in-kind using hand-seamed details appropriate to the structure. The extensive repair & refinishing of the building fenestration & siding were included in the preservation efforts. Removal of caulk from the siding lap joints required two weeks' labor. Careful replacement of lost or broken shutter hardware completed missing details. Mahogany framed copper window screens were reintroduced allowing the occupants to ventilate the building as originally designed.
FORT SUMTER c.1861, HISTORIC STRUCTURES REPORT
Liollio was retained by the National Park Service to prepare a Historic Structures Report for Fort Sumter & Battery Huger. This report has two primary objectives: to provide a concise history of the architecture & to evaluate treatment options for the historic features still visible today. The purpose of the history section was to research & evaluate the past as a way of explaining the present. There are numerous existing present day features that do not correspond to original 1829 plans for the Fort; making it crucial to evaluate past historic events to determine when, how & why various changes were made. This helps clarify the Fort's history & helps set historic priorities for where preservation & rehabilitation efforts need to be focused. While the history of Fort Sumter & Battery Huger is significant to this report, the primary focus consisted of evaluating the existing conditions & preparing recommendations for preservation or rehabilitation. Many hours were spent completing on-site evaluations of the Fort's materials investigating how these materials from different time periods now work together. It was important to evaluate these areas & recommend a solution for correcting the problems without negatively impacting any historic material.
Old Bethel United Methodist Church, c.1797, Charleston, SC
Drayton Hall, c.1752, Charleston, SC
Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, c.1771, Charleston, SC
Christiansted National Historic Site, St. Croix, USVI
Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse, c.1749
Steeple Building, c.1753
Old City Jail Assessment, c.1802, Charleston SC
First (Scots) Presbyterian Church, c.1814, Charleston, SC
Aiken-Rhett House, c.1817, Charleston, SC
Rutledge College, c.1805, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
City of Charleston Low Battery Seawall, c.1837
Pinckney / Legare Colleges, c.1837 / 1847, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Superintendent's Residence, c.1933, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, Greensboro, NC
Charles Pinckney House, c.1824, Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, Charleston, SC
Raben's Tavern, Charleston SC
Cedar Keys Lighthouse, c.1854, Sea Horse Key, FL
United States Custom House, c.1859, Charleston, SC
Plum Orchard Mansion, c.1898, Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA
Dungeness Carriage House, Cumberland Island National Seashore, GA
Ocmulgee National Monument, Macon, GA
Fort Moultrie, Fort Sumter National Monument, Charleston, SC
Planter's Inn, c.1844, Charleston, SC
DHS Consolidate at St. Elizabeth's, c. 1855
Josiah Smith Tennent House, c.1859, Charleston, SC
Andrew Johnson Homestead, c.1830, Greeneville, TN
Old Beaufort College Building, c.1852, Beaufort, SC
The Marshlands House, c.1810, Charleston, SC
Fort Sumter National Monument, Charleston Harbor, SC
Avery Institute, c.1879, Charleston, SC
Christiansted National Historic Site, St. Croix, USVI
Danish Custom House, c.1844
Scale House, c.1856
1 Wilson Street Exterior Preservation
75 Poplar
Central Mosque of Charleston Assessment
Lobeco Library, c.1933, Beaufort County, SC
24 Water Street, First Baptist Church & School, c.1920, Charleston SC
Main Street Children's Museum, People's National Bank, c.1909, Rock Hill, SC
Anderson Federal Building, c.1938, Anderson, SC
Greensboro Federal Building, c.1933, Greensboro, NC
New Bern Post Office & Courthouse, c.1935, New Bern, NC
D. S. Russell Federal Building, c.1931, Spartanburg, SC
Haynsworth Federal Building, c.1937, Greenville, SC
Ravenel Train Depot, c.1900, Ravenel, SC
Holly Hill Train Depot, c.1921, Holly Hill, SC
United States Custom House, Lennon Federal Building, c.1916, Wilmington, NC
The Progressive Club, c.1963, Johns Island, SC
30 Mary Murray Boulevard,The Wayside Inn, c.1901, Charleston, SC
Baker House, Baker-Craig Sanitarium, c.1912, Charleston, SC
Courtenay School, c.1955, Charleston, SC
Bond Hall, The Citadel, c.1922, Charleston, SC
Woodrow College, c.1914, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
LIOLLIO is an ISO 9001 Certified Firm #C0195740-IS2
©2018 Liollio Architecture, PC


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The Security Service of Ukraine chairman Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said this on Channel 5, Censor.NET reports citing UNIAN.
"The Russian military are gradually moving away from the Ukrainian-Russian border. That is good and it must be so. The important thing is not just to show this process or start it but to provide a real plan to restore control of the border from both our side and the Russian one," he said.
Read also: No Agreements About Alleged Border Movement, Poroshenko Says
Earlier, he said that the pro-Russian militants in the east are trying to hide the traces of their crimes.
It was reported earlier that the terrorists began to complain that the Russian law enforcement agencies have recently started to detain "volunteers" at the border with Ukraine who aimed to join the ranks of the terrorists.
Read also: 'Silence Regime' Declared in ATO


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SMS technology could provide simpler options for government compliance and would be easier to implement than online systems that rely on 3G connections, a mobile industry leader has claimed.
Speaking at the recent World Computer Congress 2010 in Brisbane, Bond University Innovation Centre CEO and chairman of Bond Wireless, Dr. Clarence Tan, said the health, commerce and education sector could rely on SMS' security and simplicity.
"Security breaches are not necessarily about the applications or the security of a site, but are often about the security of your internet connection," he said. "A lot of people think they have the most secure applications, but what happens when you take your iPad and browse on a free Wi-Fi public network and you have no idea what's actually behind that?"
With the Federal Government last month announcing plans to upgrade its Emergency Alert warning system, Tan praised the capability of SMS in being able to provide such warnings despite conceding there were limitations to the current capabilities of mobile phone technology.
The Western Australian government also plans to consolidate its emergency communications system and eradicate mobile blackspots.
"A SIM card doesn't actually belong to you, it belongs to a carrier," Tan said. "If you want to delete any information on it, you'll have to basically get permission to re-flash it."
"The two major issues with entering information onto your phone via SMS is obviously your handset is limited to a small keypad," he said. "The other is there is no end user receipt for transactions done by SMS… there is no proof of the transaction taking place.
"In Australia if you're a doctor treating a patient with a disease, by law you have to show the government that you've done your duty of care and communicate the results as quickly as possible," he said. "Some 99 per cent of results are negative, so really a lot of doctor's time is tied up with doctor's calling patients to ask about their results."
"I was approached by one health organisation and I told them to tell their patients, 'don't call us, we'll call you'... essentially what we came up with was an SMS solution."
Tan helped one such company use SMS technology, with text messages providing an all-in-one solution and VoIP offered in addition to SMS as a way for older generations to participate.
"They've been using it for the past four years and have cut down the costs and provided a faster response time in serving the patient," he said. "SMS [messages] are used as proof-of-receipt in order to comply [with government regulations]."
The insights come as CoastWatch shared its use of SMS technology at the congress, with general manager of research and development at the organisation, Chris Lane, successfully trialling SMS as part of its emergency management strategy.


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A couple years ago while I was working at the planetarium, one afternoon in December, Rubina and I took a moment to make some ornaments. Our cube was quite decorated so we added the ornaments to the draped lights.
This year, I decided to have a craft night last Friday to make ornaments.
I supplied the ornaments and some ideas through the invite.
Ideally, I wanted to invite each person by handing them or mailing them the above photo with the details handwritten on the back. But life sometimes gets in the way of ideas. So I emailed everyone the photo and a bunch of details.
I let everyone know I would have glass round ornaments to be decorated in any way. I sent along several ideas for people to think about, but highlighted the idea to put pictures in the ornament. I think the group split in half with putting photos in or going with the painting route.
|cinthya sent me a pic of her ornament on her tree
so pretty
|Rubina was the pro at getting the photos out of the ornaments when we didn't size them appropriately.
yes, she got her finger stuck in the process.
Jason & Justin were heading to an ugly sweater party afterwards and when they pulled out their sweaters to show us, we all agreed they weren't ugly. What better place to make some sweater decorations? A craft party! :) Cinthya got really into it and did most of the work.
|this was stitched on the back of a sweater
I had a couple snacks, but nothing crazy. As I noted in my email invite: I never claimed to be a martha stewart and the goal of this is a relief from holiday stress. I made my grandma's pinwheel cookies & the Sweet & Spicy Honey Nut Chex Mix.
I definitely ran into some issues with the cookies. I've watched and enjoyed my grandma make them for many, many years... seems I still have some things to work on. Over Thanksgiving when Dad & I went over to visit, Grandma was in the midst of cookies. (We were more than happy to have some straight out of the oven cookies.) Before I went over I thought I wanted to get her pinwheel recipe, but then the fact that she was making them when we got there. I knew I had to. She has pretty high standards for her baking and I'm pretty sure my first cookie sheet would have gone into the trash, but I think the second sheet would have passed.
Does anyone else stress about hosting before events and then as it gets closer pretty much completely let go and take a 'whatever' perspective. This is me. It's not that I get frustrated. It's that I figure people will mingle and do their own things, some may not come, some extras may show. I just let it be/happen.
I did enjoy myself, but I do think there were a few too many people. I think in the future, I'll have small craft nights...
(Always good to reflect on events ;)
(Always good to reflect on events ;)
p.s. Craft Night: Photo Transfer


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Yo! Been a while, as I've written before. I feel compelled to mention yet another vocation in which I possess a lack of skill: chocolate alchemy. That's right: when I want chocolate, but convince myself that it's the wrong time of day or find none in the house, I put on my alchemist's robe and try to make magic happen. My not-so-magical ingredients are oatmeal, soymilk, honey, peanut butter, and bananas or apples. Mixed together, I figure they have a whirlpudlian chance of evoking chocolate on the palette…which they sometimes sort of do. When they don't, it's like they're working anyway, because sooner or later some cocoa verité will take place in my kitchen. Regarde la preuve:
Thursday, April 19, 2012
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It's that time of year when the dappled sunlight makes everything look just that little bit softer, the plants in the garden are flowering all in beautiful pastel shades from pale pinks to beautiful blues. You really do feel it's time to pack away all the deeper warmer colours in your home and bring out the lighter airier soft furnishings, fill all the vases with willowy blooms, linen throws and pale cushions. I came across some wonderful powder coated ribbed trays by Kaymet in super stunning pastel colours, I think I need one for my new caravan can you imagine, anything being served on one would just instantly make you smile. Your wardrobe even gets a bit of a make over don't you think, out with the heavy colours and in with the floaty summer prints, you always feel cooler wearing a pastel shade in floaty cotton. Painted furniture always catches one's eye in more paler shades, a fresh lick of paint in a pale blue or mint green would brighten any chair or chest of drawers, placed by a white painted wall really does make an impact. Even the garden furniture welcomes a makeover a beautiful pale lemon cafe chair would really stand out against the fresh greens of the garden. You could even take it one step further and redecorate an entire room in pastel shades, from painting the base of your bath to two toning the walls in contrasting colours. Choose tiles to complement the scheme, even on a dull day it would feel like the sun was shining. Perfect pastels are a must in the coming months even if you only fill a vase with your favourite peonies or treat yourself to a new throw for the bed, enjoy them and throw the windows open. Let the sweet scented breeze blow in anticipation for those halcyon summer days to come.
2 thoughts on "Perfect Pastels"
This page is a retreat for the soul xxxxx


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Avenue B.C. Leamington Spa
About Us
The Avenue Bowls Club, Leamington Spa was formed in 1923, the club is affiliated to Bowls England, Warwickshire County Bowls Association, Warwickshire Women's Bowls Association, South Warwickshire Bowls Association, and South Warwickshire Ladies Bowls Association.
We have a full programme of matches against other local bowls clubs, our fixtures include men's, ladies and mixed games. The club also has teams in the Coventry 6 League, Leamington Courier League and the Stratford Herald Ladies League. As well as running our own internal competitions there is the opportunity to enter National, County and South Warwickshire competitions.
The bar is open every weekday evening throughout the season and on Sunday lunchtimes all year round.
Come and have a go!
The Avenue is a very friendly club and we welcome new members of any age.
Why not come along and give bowls a try!
Club Presentation Evening
Saturday 20th October


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Ever wonder what's going on in the children's program? I'm glad you asked, we are really busy rehearsing dance pieces based on airplanes, balls, and insects for the kid's end of year show at the Space And Aviation Museum. I had the pleasure to talk to Ximena Puente about her piece that she created and choreographed herself. She said that her choreography has very bold and extended movement, her choreography works with a lot of long lines and extensions.
Shara is also co-creating a piece with Kathy and Jon from Rag and Bone Puppet Theatre about airplanes and balls, which is really exiting for us. There are also other dances about arctic animals and penguins, which will be super fun. This show will blow you away, hope all of you can come out and see this performance.
Come to the show on Sunday May 5th, at the Canada Space and Aviation Museum at 1pm. See you there!


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For the Tesla super fans, this is a pretty cool desk ornament
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Ha!! SO COOL.
Joshua Pinter@joshuapinter · Product at CNTRAL. Maker of ntwrk.
Tesla should get one of these for all their employees.


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Skip to content or, if you would rather, Skip to navigation.
Feb. 26, 2010
An article by Dr. Pamela Shannon, associate professor of music, titled "The Solo Songs of Gioachino Rossini" appears in the March/April 2010 issue of the "Journal of Singing."
Shannon also will present a lecture-recital of Debussy songs accompanied by Dr. Ernest Kramer, professor of music, on the piano at the College Music Society Regional Conference in Emporia, Kan., on March 27.
Mark Hornickel, Communication Manager
firstname.lastname@example.com | 660.562.1704 | Fax: 660.562.1900
Northwest Missouri State University
215 Administration Building | 800 University Drive | Maryville, MO 64468


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Campus news
Tan Kah Kee Scholarships Open to International Students of Chinese Descent to Study at XMU
Date: 2017-06-05 Views:3354
The Tan Kah Kee Scholarships have been set up by Xiamen Tan Kah Kee Education Foundation as part of its efforts to promote the legacy of Mr. Tan Kah Kee, "the standard-bearer of overseas Chinese and the glory of the nation", and to foster the Tan Kah Kee spirit in entrepreneurship and dedication to education. The Scholarships are open to outstanding international students of Chinese descent and students in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who are descendents of Jimei alumni to study at Xiamen from 2017. Xiamen University is one of the institutions authorized to enroll students on the Tan Kah Kee Scholarships.
Specifically, the scholarships are open to ethnic Chinese students from countries along the Maritime Silk Road and descendants of Jimei alumni from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan who wish to study in a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree program or in a long-term or short-term non-degree study program in Xiamen. The scholarships cover the recipients' tuition, accommodation and insurance expenses, and living allowances. The Xiamen Tan Kah Kee Education Foundation is responsible for the fundraising, payment and administration of the scholarships.
In 1921, Mr. Tan Kah Kee, a renowned patriotic leader of overseas Chinese, founded Xiamen University (XMU), making it the first higher-learning institution established by overseas Chinese in the nation's modern education history. With Xiamen's close geographic and cultural proximity to Taiwan and its status as a major ancestral home for overseas Chinese and as a special economic zone, XMU has rapidly emerged as a leading center for educational and cultural exchanges with countries along the Maritime Silk Road, as well as with Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The University also enjoys a prestigious reputation as the "Strength of the South" for its scholarly excellence.
The application deadline is July 10, 2017. For details, please visit http://admissions.xmu.edu.cn/en/


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|Yay, Emre
Ortega Ramírez, Juan Antonio
Martínez Madrid, Natividad
|Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Lenguajes y Sistemas Informáticos
|Tipo de documento:
|Tesis Doctoral
Saving energy and protecting the environment became fundamental for
society and politics, why several laws were enacted to increase the energye
ciency. Furthermore, the growing number of vehicles and drivers leaded
to more accidents and fatalities on the roads, why road safety became an
important factor as well. Due to the increasing importance of energye
ciency and safety, car manufacturers started to optimise the vehicle in
terms of energy-e ciency and safety. However, energy-e ciency and road
safety can be also increased by adapting the driving behaviour to the given
driving situation. This thesis presents a concept of an adaptive and rule
based driving system that tries to educate the driver in energy-e cient
and safe driving by showing recommendations on time. Unlike existing
driving systems, the presented driving system considers energy-e ciency
and safety relevant driving rules, the individual driving behaviour and
the driver condition. This allows to avoid the dis...
[Ver más]
|Yay, E. (2016). An adaptive and rule based driving system for energy-e cient and safe driving behaviour. (Tesis doctoral inédita). Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla.
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11441/42200
Mostrar el registro completo del ítem


text: Interview with Cody McLain from SupportNinja.com June 9, 2016WebEntrepreneurEntrepreneur InterviewsAdd comment Who are you? Cody McLain Which startup are you working on? SupportNinja What's your title there? Founder What's the URL? http://www.supportninja.com Who are you? Give us a quick introduction to yourself! I started my first online business, partly in foster care, and by the time I was 17, my business was generating almost a million in annual revenue. The ironic thing about being in business is the snowball effect. I am always finding opportunities to do even more business, even when that business is based on the other side of the world. I am 25 years old. It took me 10 years acquire and apply the tools of running a successful company, and I am grateful for that. 3 words that describe you the best 1) Ambitious 2) Maverick 3) Autodidact 3 blogs you read every day Venturebeat.com Quartz.com Quartz.com TheNextWeb.com 3 web apps you use for your projects Whiteboard Basecamp RescueTime 3 smartphone apps you can't live without Skype – Instant communication with employees/contractors Google Drive/Documents – File Sharing (editing utilising open source software) Asana – Project Management 3 books that you read lately The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine The Prince by Machiavelli What's the quote you live by? "Do not be afraid of new ideas! They may mean to you the difference between success and failure" – Napoleon Hill What would you say that you are really good at? Flying planes? Just kidding, I am good at learning. I am good at observing what has been done by others before me and figuring out a faster, and more efficient way of getting it done. What was the last project you were working on? I am also the Founder of WireFuseMedia, a company that creates sites that not only compliment their clients' brands but use a structure that maximizes conversions. Wirefuse designs using effective processes, experience-based design principles and individualized services to brands large and small a-like. What was causing you problems? How did you manage to prevent/solve it? Realising that someone has reached their peak and that there's not much else that you can teach them. If this happens in your company it's your responsibility to point them in the direction of someone who will better utilise their skills. This will stave off inertia in your company. It's not easy to prevent this from happening, but when you spot the symptoms it is better to deal with it decisively. Since when you are a Freelancer or Working in your profession? I have been building companies since I was a teenager, but I have been happy both learning (and teaching) since I became an adult. How do you keep yourself organized? The key is to delegate. By making sure that everyone around me knows what they are doing, I can use my time more productively. There's also less for me to remember. I use tools like Basecamp to stay on top of what's going on without being inundated with information. What are your biggest accomplishments? Not allowing myself to become jaded, and rebuilding my life in order to be useful to others. How quickly can you adapt to a new working environment? Almost immediately. Everything has a learning curve, but by simply recognising the change, I am able to spot a pattern and either fall in-line or create a more productive alternative. Do you prefer working with others or alone? There are many people who would say working in a team is better; "Two heads are better than one," but nothing beats being alone with your own thoughts and ideas. Adam Jones said it best when he said: "I am my own worst critic," so that's sometimes how I feel. Email firstname.lastname@example.com LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/codymclain Twitter www.twitter.com/codymclain What's the best way to contact you? Twitter Our Reader Score[Total: 0 Average: 0] Previous postInterview with Gulnaz Khusainova Next postInterview with Alexandar Alexiew from sircular.rocks About author View all posts Author website WebEntrepreneur Hamed Farhadian - Web Entrepeneur & Digital Strategist I love writing about entrepreneurial topics that help startups, growth hackers and developers to streamline their work process and get more stuff done.


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Fonty's Pool & Caravan Park
There aren't many places as ideal as this region of the state to set up a tent and savour the natural environment. Fonty's Pool Caravan Park is set in majestic surroundings and takes its name from the huge fresh spring-water pool. The accommodation consists of a self-contained two-bedroom cottage, cabins, and powered and unpowered sites. It's best to book early at this historic and picturesque caravan park so you don't miss out.
Contact information
Seven Day Rd; (08) 9771 2105


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Talked to several employees and told them I would pay at each service and they said okay. They gave me a device to sign and left out a lot of information, including the part where they take the money out of your checking account!
I never allow that of anyone!!! They said there was not automatic renewal, but there is. The corporate office address on the website is gone; my letter was returned. I found them to be deceitful, disrespectful, not caring about their customers or their reputation.
Sent a letter of cancellation and explanation and no one has contacted me. They are not to be trusted since they do not have any intention apparently of working with their customers or listening to what they say or what their service needs are.
Product or Service Mentioned: Edge Pest Control Customer Care.
Reason of review: Poor customer service.
I didn't like: How dishonest and misrepresented things were.


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The full extent of goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune's facial injury will be known on Tuesday morning, but for now the talk of the town all over South Africa, and not just here where a crucial World Cup qualifier will be played on Friday, is: what happens if the shot stopper is unavailable?
"I have full confidence in my goalkeepers," said Bafana Bafana coach Stuart Baxter when asked if he trusted anyone else to fill the void that could be potentially left by his first-choice keeper when the national team hosts Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in their penultimate 2018 World Cup qualifier on Friday.
Khune got hurt in the dying minutes of Sunday's Telkom Knockout quarter-final between Kaizer Chiefs and Chippa United in Port Elizabeth, as he collided with midfielder Kurt Lentjies.
The latest update was that he had fractured a bone in his face, nothing more. Only scans today will shed more light.
"I will be honest, I don't think in terms of when he plays and when they didn't play we didn't win.
"You have got to believe in your players and they have got to believe in themselves.
"If we keep worrying about what has happened in the past lots of things have happened in the past," the coach explained.
Not long ago, Khune was missing in action.
Bafana travelled to Cape Verde early in September and came unstuck when Ronwen Williams filled the big boots of the 30-year-old.
The return leg in Durban was much the same - the same scoreline even (2-1 to the Blue Sharks).
But it was Wayne Sandilands who took over this time around and was equally poor as Bafana's chances of going to Russia dwindled.
Simply put, it almost feels like Bafana are half a team without Khune. Baxter, however, disputed this - as any coach should when trying to gear his men up for a mammoth challenge, which is Senegal over two legs.
"If we constantly drag the past into our now, we will struggle," he said.
"I don't want to think negatively. This is not going to enter my world. It doesn't matter who is in goal.
"These guys have been in goal because I believe they can do the job and that is the way we are going to look at this game."
Baxter argued that he'd not been convinced of Khune, when he arrived to take over the Chiefs job in 2012.
"I'd seen him let one in and I was sitting there wondering if that's going to be my goalkeeper. I'm being honest," Baxter said.
"But him being there didn't turn out so badly has it? Whoever is picked needs to know that they have been picked because they can do a job. They would need to go in and give it everything they have got."
The truth, though, is that Baxter can't do much about the panic that sets in when Khune withdraws.
"The example is that of Morgan Gould and Clayton Daniels when the captain (Thulani Hlatshwayo) and (Eric) Mathoho weren't playing against Burkina Faso.
"Those two were outstanding against Nigeria. And you are wondering how in the world is it going to work out in such a big game without the skipper," said the coach. "We ended up being rock solid. That is the answer. I have been with this squad for 30 days and it is very early doors to say they know their job off to perfection. I think we have a good appreciation of our jobs and roles. I would like to be at a point where players who come in do a job properly."
Williams and Sandilands might have to step up again, but everyone is hoping Khune is declared fit - even if he has to wear a facial mask.
The Star


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|Altered States
|An Interview on Shamanism With Leslie Gray
|by D. Patrick Miller
The Woodfish Institute
Readers of The Sun may be relieved to learn that the "new age" is dead; Time
magazine killed it with a cover story in December of last year, summing up the
ill-defined social phenomenon as "an essentially harmless anthology of
illusions." (Faithful Time readers may recall that it also killed God with a cover
story a while back.) Personally, I couldn't be happier about the demise of the
new age; I think it may give us a chance to begin experiencing anew some of
the esoteric spiritual practices that have been returned to modern
consciousness under the new age rubric. Part of the necessary discipline in
gaining this direct experience is stripping away the misinterpretations,
popularizations, and marketing glitz that the American way immediately
showers upon a good thing.
That's why I found the following discussion with Leslie Gray so refreshing and informative. Before we met, I knew very little about the ancient healing technique called shamanism; in fact, I regarded the whole subject as yet another problematic new age fad, a means by which white folks got to "play Indian," as Gray would say.
Shamanism is a method by which virtually anyone can learn to "journey" to a world of non-ordinary reality and meet one's "power animal" or "guardian spirit"—for the purpose of healing oneself or others and increasing personal power. As anthropologist Michael Harner says in this book, The Way of the Shaman, this age-old and culturally transcendent technique can provide "the opportunity to find that, completely without the use of drugs, you can alter your state of consciousness...and undertake personally the famed shamanic journey to acquire firsthand knowledge of a hidden universe. You can also discover how to benefit from your journeys in terms of healing and health, using ancient methods that both foreshadow and go beyond Western psychology, medicine, and spirituality."
As a Native American with a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, Leslie Gray has made the journey from scientific methodology back to the healing ways of her indigenous ancestors, and calls herself a "bridge" between those perspectives. Besides teaching anthropology and research methodology at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, and lecturing in Native American Studies at UC-Berkeley, Gray provides a form of therapy she calls "shamanic counseling," an adaptation of traditional shamanic practice for contemporary urban dwellers. Her careful discrimination and forceful, articulate self-expression gave me a clear insight into just what shamanic practice can do for one's personal power.
THE SUN: I'm interested in a definition of the shamanic experience for people who are very skeptical or have very little experience with altered states of consciousness.
GRAY: You mean skeptical that there are altered states of consciousness? Is there anyone who's never fallen down and hit his or her head, who's never gone to sleep, who never daydreams? Name me a little kid who didn't do this [gets up and spins around the room] just to go into a different state. Kids play with altered states all the time. How can anyone be skeptical of the existence of altered states of consciousness?
THE SUN: Let me put it another way. Perhaps I should call it a lack of recognition of altered states. For instance, I used to have a difficult time with guided visualizations because I expected to fall into an unbroken trance state, a dream state, in which ego consciousness was entirely suspended. If it was anything less extraordinary that that, I tended to think, "Nothing is happening."
GRAY: Too bad! Who knows what heights you might have reached? I think that's a learned prejudice that gets in the way of paying attention to your own experience. Playfulness in consciousness is an inborn capacity; the culture teaches it out of you.
The fact is, you cannot be a great shaman without keeping a foot in both worlds. The shamans who completely go off, who can't keep operating in this world while they're in an altered state, are considered fools or incompetents, or neophytes. The shamans in the Amazon who take ayahuasca and other extremely powerful hallucinogens can actually do surgery under the influence. So you're expected to be present and function in this world while at the same time calling upon non-ordinary experiences and information in order to work.
This was one of the tragedies of hallucinogen use in the Sixties: people forgot that they were supposed to keep a foot in both worlds, and they just let themselves gowhich would be "poor form" for a shaman, expected only of a beginner. Also, people took hallucinogens without a guide, and without a mission involving the survival of the tribe. These altered states, whether reached through hallucinogens, or fasting, or by doing the sun dance, have always been invoked by indigenous people so that "the people may live," as the Indians put it. It's always done to reinvent the mythology of the tribe, to bring alive the origin myths again for each generation. So they're a congealing factor; they instrument harmony, closeness, and healing in the tribe. In the Sixties, people were doing these drugs for entertainment, or for a solitary spiritual experience, which they then could not share with their own culture or incorporate into their daily lives. No matter how profound the experience, it wasn't something they could integrate with going into the financial district.
THE SUN: So how do you convey the purpose of this work to people who come to see you, people who do not have a tribe or even much sense of community?
GRAY: First of all, my work is not shamanism in the traditional sense. I'm being very specific by using the term shamanic counselingI thought long and hard about why to use those words. I also deliberately did not trademark it, because I wanted it to spread like wildfire. But I am not doing shamanism, and I am not doing psychotherapy.
Shamanism is the use of altered states of consciousness, at will, for the purpose of healing or for gaining power or knowledge. In its usual context, it relies upon a tribal setting, a shared system of beliefs, and an acknowledgment of a spirit world on the part of both the shaman and the patient. These are not the conditions present in contemporary urban America. Nevertheless, it turns out that the technology of shamanismthe use of altered states for gaining information that empowers people's livesis something essentially human, natural powers that we all have. As with any power or talent, some people have more than others. Anyone can be taught the basic methodology to help themselves or a friend or family member, but very, very few people will become master shamans, as was the case in tribal culture.
And not only were very few people master shamans, but who would want to be? It was considered an outrageously difficult job; often the shaman had to get torn to bits and pieces in spirit dreams and undergo tremendous solitude and suffering in the process of getting visions. This is not a position that people were actively seeking. This is what I find so ironic about what's going on with shamanism now, tacking "shaman" on the front of whatever they do: shamanic mask-making, shamanic rolfing, shamanic this and that. Igjugarjik, the great Eskimo shaman, had to sit for thirty days in an ice hut, with no food, very little clothing, and only tepid water to drink, for his shamanic initiation; he came very close to death and it took him a year to recover. This is what he had to do to have his visions.
Traditionally, people became shamans through such an initiation, or a serious illness, or a profound life crisis. They were often deviant from the social normorphans or widows for whom the tribe has no place. It's an ingenious method for a tribe to reincorporate these people, by making them the healers. But they usually had profoundly difficult lives. Nowadays, the word "shaman" just seems to denote someone who has some kind of mystical notionsthe trendy mystic for the Eighties.
THE SUN: How much traditional shamanism do you incorporate in shamanic counseling?
GRAY: I use what I call "core shamanism"techniques that are not culture-bound. For example, sonic drivingdrumming, rattling, chantingenables people to reach an altered state of consciousness wherein they can have access to information that ordinarily wouldn't be available to them. This technique is the same world-wide, from the aborigines to the Siberians to pre-nineteenth century northern Europeans; every culture has some roots in shamanism. It's not something that requires a particular ethnicity to experience.
Unlike psychotherapists, I do not depend on interpretation and analysis. What a person presents as a concern is exactly what I work with. If somebody comes to me because of a problem with compulsive eating, I don't say, "Well, you're hungry for love." I don't interpret his or her experience, or delve into the past, or look for determinants in childhood. My work is educational and spiritual; I teach shamanic techniques which enable clients to have access to parts of their consciousness that they ordinarily can't reach, and that's what does the healing. I show them how to journey, and how to find a power animal or guardian spirit so that they can develop a relationship with these entities to empower themselves. Then they can do whatever they want to do lose weight, work on a stuck relationship, heal their dispiritedness or negativity.
Neither do I give advice; I set things up so that clients get advice directly from their guardian spirits. I help them ask good questions, because it's very important in a shamanic journey to ask a clear and simple question, especially for beginners. It's very easy to get hazy, and have your mind wander, and that's where training makes a difference. I don't solve people's dilemmas for them; you might say I help them strengthen their dilemma muscle. This way they don't have to keep coming to me for a fix. Because as soon as you get rid of one dilemma, you can be sure another is on its way. That's guaranteed.
THE SUN: Is a prior spiritual orientation necessary to benefit from shamanic experience?
GRAY: I did not enter shamanism from a spiritual perspective. I got into this by looking for therapies that worked, and not being able to find any. If you look at the literature, the results on the comparative effectiveness of different psychotherapies show that there isn't any difference. This fact greatly dismayed me, even though I had colleagues who just kept right on working. I found that there were certain individuals who were very talented and could do extraordinary things for their clients, but that didn't give me a dependable methodology.
Near the end of my clinical fellowship in psychology at Harvard, I severely injured my neck. After seeing eleven different orthopedic specialists, I couldn't find a cure in Western medicine. I ended up being healed by a Cherokee shaman. When I met this shaman, so many doors opened up to methis was a person with presence, with power, with a profound awareness. He knew how to use altered states to heal people, and it was obvious to me that he was doing so much better what I was supposed to be trained to do. I looked around me and thought, "What am I doing?" So I was ready to quit, and I asked the shaman if I could study with him, because I could see which work I wanted to do.
I'm really a radical empiricist. I didn't believe in spirit and I wasn't religious when I met the shaman, but I would definitely say I'm spiritual now. And after spending years and thousands of dollars on my training, I wanted to go with the shaman instead, doing what worked. But he told me that I shouldn't do it, and that in order to be myself I would have to be a bridgeI couldn't abandon all my training and simply go back to the old ways.
So I studied"pestered" is a better word for what I did to these peopleas much as I could, following shamans around. It hadn't even occurred to me to practice shamanismI was just plain fascinated with shamans. This started in 1971, when I did a paper on the origins of Western European psychotherapy in primal shamanism. When I came to California in 1980, people didn't even know the word. So you can imagine how weird it is for me to see what's happening now with shamanism.
THE SUN: Is the growing popularity of the subject amusing or worrisome? Where do you think it's going?
GRAY: It's both amusing and worrisomeand I think it's going the way of everything else in California. It'll be faddish for a while, and those who are really serious about it and work to maintain its integrity will last. The others will fall away and follow the next fad. What we've seen happen is that something starts out here and spreads, over a period of ten years, to the East Coast. Meanwhile, California is on the vanguard of the next thing it can devour, as it perpetually looks outside of itself for salvation. What I do like about California is its tolerance for innovation, which makes growth and change possible. But along with the innovators, you also get the total crackpots.
The only time I'm really bothered is when I see people who I know don't know what they're talking about, or I read some description of shamanism that's totally off the mark.
THE SUN: How would you relate the resurgence of shamanism to the growth of transpersonal psychology?
GRAY: About three years ago, the Brain/Mind Bulletin [published by Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy] devoted an issue to the future of psychology. It predicted that the future of psychotherapy would be "guided imagery combined with altered states of consciousness." I almost fell down laughing. Shamans have been doing this for 40,000 years. So in a lot of ways, transpersonal psychotherapy is just reinventing the wheel. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that; it just makes me realize that I'm kind of conservative. I figure if people have been doing something for 40,000 years, maybe they've learned something useful. For instance, before I take on all the ideas being passed around about crystals, perhaps I should study how the native people have used them the last 10,000 years, right here underneath our feet in California.
THE SUN: The problem is that the salesperson tells you what the crystal will do if you buy it. In a sense, we're robbed of direct, original experience because of our expectations about what's supposed to happen. How do we get around that?
GRAY: This is something that comes up often in my work with the predominant culture, the non-indigenous people. They first experience a great disappointment, and then a thrilling liberation. The disappointment is: they're not going to play Indian. I'm not going to make anyone an Arapaho medicine man or a Cheyenne shaman priest. That's the bad news. The good news is that shamanism is something within your own power and ancestry. If you revere the great indigenous shamans and want to be like them, then you will go back to your own ancestors, not their ancestors. Many of my clients begin to get in touch with their Celtic or Druidic ancestors.
I don't know what I'll do if one more person comes to me and says, "I'm sure I was an Indian in my past life." There weren't that many Indians! It's a bizarre notion anyway, a Hindu philosophy glommed onto a new age guided-imagery technique, all for the sake of reassuring you that you're connected with the ancestors of this land, which in fact you are not. It's a kind of placebo, I guessit makes people feel temporarily connected. But why not feel connected to your real ancestors, who deserve your respect, and who had as much shamanic power as any Native American shaman?
There seems to be a desperate need for many Anglos now to have some connection with Indians, or the indigenous people of wherever they are. And it's not very mysterious why. There is a strong feeling of rootlessness. So you took over the whole country, you got all the land and everything, but guess what: you, your children, and your children's children have a feeling of absolute rootlessness and alienation. There's a desperate struggle to feel connected as the land is being destroyed, and we're on the point of the possible annihilation of the human race. People are looking around and saying, "How did this happen?" They're grabbing for anything they can hold on to.
Since Indians were the people who understood that all things are connected, and who treated the Earth as a relative, the Anglo begins to think, "Maybe I'm OK if I was one of them in my past life." Unfortunately, they forget that all peoples held the Indians' attitude before industrial and technological times. As Western European society progressed toward modern technology, it threw out two things: connection with the Earth and connection with spirit. And those are the essential features of shamanism.
THE SUN: Recently, I read an interview with a scientist from the Bay Area Skeptics. His crusade was to wean people away from "ancient superstitions." I remember thinking that was fine in itself, except I was curious to know what fell into his category of "ancient superstition."
GRAY: Possibly anything that cannot be shown at the .01 level with an experimental control. Actually, Western science has only very recently used experimental group versus control group as a method of "proving" something. Prior to that, there was a method that might be called relative validityin other words, given four treatments for a particular illness, or four methods for solving a particular problem, you test them all to see which one gets results. Science has used this approach far longer than that of controlling a study with presumed objectivity; that is, presuming there's no effect on a group from the fact that you're testing them, then comparing them with another group that's been waiting for thirty minutes in a room with white walls, to be tested in an artificial laboratory analogue for real-life experience.
Shamanism, on the other hand, has been based on empiricism since its very beginning. All of its history has been the result of trial and error, finding out what works; it's results-oriented. In a tribe you can't go to school for four years and then hang out a shingle and expect people to call you a shamanyou have to start healing people. And you have to heal them for a long time. And then maybe when you have white hair, and you've healed people for a very long time, they just might call you "shaman."
People actually call me on the phone and in the middle of conversation say casually, "Oh yes, I'm a shaman." I know extraordinary healers, people seventy-five and eighty years old with a lifetime of experience, who wouldn't dare call themselves shamans.
THE SUN: That brings to mind the works of Carlos Castaneda, which are probably the best-known expositions of shamanism in this country.
GRAY: (Laughs softly.) Castaneda teaches like a trickster. He's alluring, but he's not the real meal, and you'll waste your time trying to figure out if it really happened the way he said. Plus he had so many confused expectations; if don Juan said, "Men are like eggs," Castaneda would go out and buy a dozen. You have to remember that these books, as well as those by Lynn Andrews [Jaguar Woman, Star Woman, Crystal Woman], are written from the viewpoints of disciples, not shamans. As such, they give you the experiences, mistakes, and mystifications of the disciplenot the experience of the shaman, and certainly not what your experience of shamanism might be. You can read all of Castaneda's books and not know how to do anything; that's why I tell people to read Harner's Way of the Shaman [Bantam New Age paperback], because when they finish it they know how to do something, at least how to start. I recommend Shamanic Voices ["A Survey of Visionary Narratives," collected by Joan Halifax, Ph.D., E.P. Dutton paperback]. There's also an excellent essay on Castaneda in Hans Peter Duerr's Dreamtime: Concerning the Boundary Between Wilderness and Civilization [Chapter 10].
THE SUN: Do you work with many people coming out of other spiritual practices? Do you see clients experienced in meditation, for instance?
GRAY: I see lots of them, particularly since the dissolution of the Zen Center here in San Francisco [after the departure of Richard Baker Roshi amid charges of sexual misconduct and other controversies]. I've seen people who were involved with the Zen Center for years, and suddenly they're out on their own in the world, sometimes not knowing where to turn. A lot of them turned toward shamanism, which can be very good for them, but very difficult, because shamanism is earthy. In that way, it's more similar to Celtic and Druidic paganism and Earth worship than to meditative practice.
Experienced meditators come to this with both advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that they have had a discipline, oftentimes much more of a discipline than will be required for their experience of shamanism. They have a sense of responsibility for figuring out what goes on in their consciousness, and they expect to work for results. That's a head start compared to many people. Their disadvantage is that their feet aren't on the ground; they're highly abstracted, idealistic in a Platonic sense as opposed to a substantive sense. In other words, the concept of "chair" has become more real to them than what they're sitting on. But shamanism is very earthy, personal, and engaged with things.
THE SUN: What are the advantages of your clinical psychology training in relating to clients?
GRAY: One advantage is that it helps me weed out people who I think would benefit more from traditional psychotherapy. Shamanism is appropriate for people who can use education in the tools of consciousness and a spiritual framework for applying those tools, but it requires both willingness and ability to take responsibility for the process. Some people may be willing but not able; then they may work with me in conjunction with a psychotherapist. For other people, understanding why they are the way they are is the most important thing in their lives. I don't devalue understanding, but shamanism is much more involved with doing than understanding.
For shamanic counselingand I don't mean traditional shamanism in this contexta certain degree of personality integration is required. For shamanism in a tribal setting, a patient might well be what we describe as psychotic, but the tribe is structured to reincorporate this person. In contemporary society, without this kind of support system, the sacrifice of personality and ego consciousness required to work with people in extremis would be very draining for a shaman. I know an Ojibway shaman who sees people here in the Bay Area and does the same thing he did on the reservation: fasting for three days, undergoing tremendous deprivations, and not taking any money for his service, so that he lives in poverty. I've watched him since he arrived and he's going to have to change or he'll burn out. So I have adapted shamanism into a counseling practice suited to a contemporary urban environment.
THE SUN: So what will happen to shamanism in our society? A return to tribal settings doesn't seem likely.
GRAY: Well, the advantage of shamanism over many religious practices is that you are considered to have a direct, personal connection with the spirit all the time. You do not need a priest, rabbi, or guru to tell you what to do; everything happens between you and your guardian spirit. That is the core tradition of shamanism, as distinguished from other spiritual practices: a unique relationship between you and spirit without a church or mediator. So the experience is always accessible in any social environment, and some people are thus initiated as shamans without any training at all.
THE SUN: It's my perception that most people don't take on the rigors of a genuine spiritual pathas opposed to following a religious customuntil they're forced to do so, by virtue of a crisis or revelation. Perhaps we're seeing an upsurge of interest in core spiritual practices because there's a society-wide crisis of transformation going on.
GRAY: Exactly. And I think that's really why something as arcane and obscure as shamanism was only seven or eight years ago is having such a resurgence nowbecause it is the consummate method of experiencing individual spirituality free of dogma, social hierarchy, or structured experience.
© 1998-1999 by Leslie Gray, All rights in the above article are
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