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|Stageira & Olympiada
||History of Stageira & Olympiada - Part 6
The uninhabited island of Kafkanas (Kapros), opposite Olympiada. See Olympiada gallery pages 2-3.
|History of Ancient Stageira - Part 6|
Macedonians, 4th century BC
While the states of central and southern Greece continued fighting among themselves, Macedon was gradually gaining power and influence in the north.
Before the Spartans had checked the expansion of Olynthos in 379 BC, the Chalcidian League had taken control of parts of Macedonia, including the capital Pella, despite the 50-year peace treaty it had made in 393 BC with the Macedonian king Amyntas III ( history part 3). It is perhaps surprising that there is so little information about the Olynthians and the Chalcidian League, since if they had not been stopped at this point, they may well have overrun Macedonia and parts of Thrace, and have changed the course of history.
The Macedonians also had to contend with threats from Thebans, Illyrians, Paionians, Thracians... as well as plans by the Athenians to install a pretender. As ever the Greek states schemed and fought to maintain a balance of power which they had long-since proved to be incapable of achieving.
Amyntas' son Philip II (ruled 359-336 BC), "looking, as from a watch-tower, for an opportunity to attack" , slashed through the age-old ruinous feuds and turned this status quo on its head by uniting and expanding Macedon, driving the Illyrians and Thracians back, conquering Halkidiki, and eventually becoming master of Greece.
In 348 BC Philip conquered Halkidiki, in the process destroying Olynthos and Stageira and selling their inhabitants into slavery. Luckily for Aristotle (see Olympiadas gallery page 5), he was not around at the time, being either in Athens or Atarneus, Asia. Plutarch tells us that when Philip appointed him tutor to his son, the young Alexander the Great in 343 BC, he had Stageira rebuilt and brought back its citzens from exile and slavery . Pliny the Elder, on the other hand says that it was Alexander who had Stageira rebuilt .
It appears from Plutarch and other writers that Aristotle petitioned Philip or Alexander to rebuild his home town, was involved in its restoration, and even wrote its laws [34-36]. However, the political realities of refounding the city were a disappointment to him, and a far cry from his philiosophical ideals . His disillusionment may be one of the reasons he chose to spend his last years in Chalcis rather in his hometown.
Halkidiki had become part of Macedonia, and Philip could add the mines around Stageira to those at Mount Pangaion, over which he had gained control after conquering Amphipolis in 357 BC. He, and later Alexander, now had access to large supplies of gold and silver to mint coins and finance their further political and military ambitions (see Big Money at the Cheshire Cat Blog).
The mines in the areas of Stageira and Stratoni (15 km south of Stageira) were worked intensively until around 300 BC, when it is thought that the groundwater level was reached and thus the limit of contemporary mining technology to make further ore excavation viable. From the volume of ancient slag discovered around the mines, it has been estimated that about 1 million tonnes of ore were extracted during this period. [See note 15 in History Part 3]
In September-November 1999, Dr. Kostas Sismanidis of the Greek Archaeological Service was able to make a brief investigation of the site of the ancient mines of Stageira, 2 kilometres west of Olympiada, before the controversial planned start of modern industrial mining. He discovered remains of Early Iron Age (10th century BC) settlements, as well as what he believes to be a Hellenistic walled city. Based on his investigation, Dr. Sismanidis believes that Stageira may have been rebuilt here, further inland than the original Archaic city and closer to the mines.
What part the older city or the repatriated Stageirites played in this new economy remains unclear, however ruins of Hellenistic houses and a large, unidentified building from the Hellenistic period have been discovered there (see Ancient Stageira gallery pages 20
Gold stater of Philip II
of Macedon. Minted in
Pella, circa 323-315 BC.
Obverse: head of Apollo.
Bode Museum, Berlin.
photo: © David John
Philip II of Macedon.
Detail of a Modern
statue in Thessaloniki
We hear even less about Stageira from the 4th century BC until the 20th century than the scanty evidence concerning the Archaic and Classical periods. However, there are three tantalizing legends connected with the city from the time of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC).
According to local folklore, the town of Satghara, in the Punjab, northwestern India (now in Pakistan) was founded around 325 BC by injured soldiers from Stageira who had served in Alexander's army. It is thought that the name Satghara may be a corruption of the name Stageira.
The second legend says that Alexander asked Aristotle to pick citizens of Stageira to colonize the island of Socotra
, off the coast of Yemen in the Indian Ocean. This story is supported (though doubted by many scholars) by the narrative of the 12th century Moroccan geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi
, who wrote that Alexander conquered the fabled island, following the advice of Aristotle to find the source of aloe production.
The island was known to the ancient Egyptians who prized the medicinal properties of its aloes and its frankincense which was used in religious ceremonies. Because of the commercial importance of these products, al-Idrisi tells us that after conquering Persia and parts of India, Alexander had Socotra's population driven away and replaced by Ionic Greek settlers who harvested the precious crops. The island was an important stopping-off point for ships and a trading centre between Africa, Arabia and southeastern Asia from prehistory. The Greeks are said to have been still living there in al-Idrisi's time, and had meanwhile become Christians.
Alexander the Great.
4th century BC.
See Pella gallery.
The most intriguing legend is that Olympias (also known as Olympiada) , the fourth wife of Philip II and mother of Alexander the Great, was banished either to Stageira or the island of Kapros by Cassander, her rival for control of Macedonia, after he had defeated and captured her at Pydna in 316 BC. According to this legend, Olympiada was named after her (see also Olympiada gallery pages 2 and 3).
There appears to be no evidence to confirm this legend or testimony from ancient authors, from whom we learn merely that after her capture, Olympias was tried in her absence, since Cassander feared the effect the presence the mother of Alexander would have on the Macedonian assembly. He sent 200 soldiers to kill her, but overawed by her, they felt unable accomplish their mission. Finally Cassander is said to have set the relatives of those Olympias had killed to execute her, and refused her a burial.
No mention is made of how long the process between Olympia's capture and execution took, or where she was imprisoned, although Diodorus Siculus wrote that the soldiers sent to kill her "entered the royal house".  If Cassander was worried about contact between her and other Macedonians, it seems unlikely that he would have kept her under house arrest at a royal palace in Pella or Aigai. He imprisoned Alexander's widow Roxana and their son Alexander IV, who he had also captured at Pydna, at Amphipolis, where he had them poisoned around 310 BC. Is it possible that he had Olympias incarcerated at a more out-of-the-way place like Kapros island?
Whatever the truth concerning this legend, the name of Olympiada is not a recent invention, and appears on historical maps (as "Lybiada" and other variants: Libiada, Limbaz, Livasdias, Lipsada, Lipsasa...), for example an Austro-Hungarian military map made in 1860-1870 (see map 5 in History part 8).
Inscriptions discovered in 1937 by Charles Edson at Makris Giallos, the site of ancient Pydna, have led to speculation by scholars that a tomb or monument may have later been dedicated to Olympias there.
Detail of a medallion
thought to depict
Dr. Sismanidis believes that Stageira may have flourished into the 1st century BC, after which, according to Strabo
, the city was deserted.
The reason for its abandonment is unknown but it may be connected with the exhaustion of the mineral supplies or one of the many upheavals in the turbulent times following the death of Alexander and the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans in 168 BC.
Cassander became King of Macedonia, founding the short-lived Antipatrid dynasty. In 316 BC he rebuilt the ancient Corinthian colony Potidaia
(Ποτίδαια) in southwest Halkidiki, which had been destroyed by Philip II. He renamed it Cassandreia
(Κασσάνδρεια, Kassandreia), and settled the surviving population of Olynthos there. He also founded the city of Thessalonike
, northwest of ancient Therme (Θέρμη), around 315 BC, naming it after his wife Thessalonike (Θεσσαλονίκη, Thessalian Victory), half sister of Alexander. He moved the inhabitants of several local towns to his two new cities.
Model of a 4th century BC Greek merchant ship which was looted and sunk
Model constructed by E. Kardimis. Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum.
by pirates off the coast of Kyrenia (Greek, Κερύνεια), northwest Cyprus. The
14.75 metre long, single-masted vessel was carrying 404 transport amphoras
of wine and oil from Samos and Rhodes, as well as almonds and stones.
the birthplace of Aristotle"
by Dr. Kostas Sismanidis
Dr. Sismanidis led the first systematic archaeological excavations of Stageira, which began in 1990.
His illustrated 20-page booklet contains a brief history
of Stageira and Olympiada and provides a useful guide
to the main features of the archaeological site.
The booklet includes a plan of the site
Very little has yet been published about
and photos of finds which are in the
Archaeological Museum of Polygyros.
Ancient Stageira, so this excellent booklet
remains the essential guide for the general
visitor as well as those who wish to gain
a deeper understanding of the place.
|Available free in English, German and Greek
from Hotel Germany and Hotel Liotopi, Olympiada.
|Notes, references and links
31. Justin on Philip II of Macedon
Justin, whose full name is thought to have been Marcus Junianus Justinus, was a Roman historian about whose life nothing is known. Even the dates of his life are uncertain, with various theories placing him somewhere between the 2nd to the end of 4th century AD.
He described his work Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV as a selection of extracts - "whatever was most worthy of being known" - (hence the title Epitome) from the 44-volume Historiae philippicae et totius mundi origines et terrae situs, a lost work written by Pompeius Trogus during the reign of Emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC-14 AD). Historiae philippicae dealt with the rise and fall of the Macedonian monarchy, in particular the exploits of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, and is also known from quotations used by Pliny the Elder and other writers.
"The states of Greece, while each sought to gain the sovereignty of the country for itself, lost it as a body. Striving intemperately to ruin one another, they did not perceive, till they were oppressed by another power, that what each lost was a common loss to all; for Philip, king of Macedonia, looking, as from a watch-tower, for an opportunity to attack their liberties, and fomenting their contentions by assisting the weaker, obliged victors and vanquished alike to submit to his royal yoke."
Marcus Junianus Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book VIII. Translated by Rev. John Selby Watson. Henry G. Bohn, London, 1853. At Corpus scriptorum latinorum, a digital library of Latin literature, forumromanum.org.
32. Plutarch: Philip II appoints Aristotle as tutor to Alexander and rebuilds Stageira
"...[Philip] sent for the most famous and learned of philosophers, Aristotle, and paid him a noble and appropriate tuition-fee. The city of Stageira, that is, of which Aristotle was a native, and which he had himself destroyed, he peopled again, and restored to it those of its citizens who were in exile or slavery."
Plutarch, The Parallel Lives; The Life of Alexander, (Part 1 of 7), chapters 7-8. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1919.
See more about Plutarch on Alexander the Great and Aristotle in the article on Olympiadas gallery page 5.
At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius: Into the Roman World website, University of Chicago.
33. Pliny the Elder: Alexander the Great rebuilds Stageira
"It was the same conqueror, too, who gave directions that the descendants and house of the poet Pindar should be spared, at the taking of Thebes. He likewise rebuilt the native city of Aristotle, uniting to the extraordinary brilliancy of his exploits this speaking testimony of his kindliness of disposition."
Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), The Natural History, Book 7, chapter 30. Translated by John Bostock, H.T. Riley. Taylor and Francis, London, 1855. At Perseus Digital Library.
The translation of Philemon Holland concurs with that above:
"The same prince, when he took Thebes, commanded that the dwelling-house and family of the poet Pindar should be spared. He refounded the native place (patria) of Aristotle the philosopher; and so mingled a kind testimony for one who threw light on all things in the world."
Pliny's Natural History in thirty-seven books, Volume I; Book VII, chapter 29. A translation on the basis of that by Dr. Philemon Holland, ed. 1601. Printed for the Wernerian Club by G. Barclay, London, 1847-48. At the Internet Archive.
However yet another translation is more vague on the subject:
"Alexander also gave orders at the sack of Thebes for the household and home of the poet Pindar to be spared; and he felt the native place of the philosopher Aristotle to be his own, and blended that evidence of kindliness with all the glory of his exploits."
Pliny's Natural History, Book VII, chapter 29. Translated by H. Rackham, W.H.S. Jones, D.E. Eichholz. Published in 10 volumes by Harvard University Press, Massachusetts and William Heinemann, London, 1949-54. The entire work on one web-page, with a good clear layout, at Jon Lange's fascinating masseiana.org.
See also Pliny's mention of a remarkable white poplar tree in Stageira on Ancient Stageira gallery page 34.
34. Plutarch: Aristotle restores Stageira
"And what the pleasures of Aristotle, when he rebuilt his native city Stagira, then levelled with the ground, and brought back its exiled inhabitants?"
Plutarch, Non posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum, section 15 (That it is not possible to live pleasurably according to the doctrine of Epicurus). Plutarch's Morals. English translation, edted by William W. Goodwin. Little, Brown, and Company, Cambridge, MA, 1874. At Perseus Digital Library.
"Some there are who blame Callisthenes * for sailing to Alexander in hopes to obtain the rebuilding of Olynthus, as Aristotle had procured that of Stagira."
* Callisthenes of Olynthus (Καλλισθένης, circa 360-328 BC), great nephew of Aristotle, accompanied Alexander on his Asian campaign as an official (embedded) historian. Alexander later had him put in prison where he died.
Plutarch, De Stoicorum repugnantiis, section 20 (Contradictions of the Stoics).
"What value then, think you, would they have put upon it, if they had done such an act as Aristotle did, who procured the restoration and rebuilding of Stagira, the town of his nativity, after it had been destroyed by King Philip?"
Plutarch, Adversus Colotem, section 33 (Against Colotes, disciple and favourite of Epicurus).
All extracts available at Perseus Digital Libray.
Also at Project Gutenberg: Essays and Miscellanies. The Complete Works, Volume 3, by Plutarch. All extracts on one web-page.
35. Diogenes Laertius: Aristotle's part in rebuilding Stageira
Diogenes Laertius (Διογένης Λαέρτιος, Diogenes Laertios, circa 3rd century AD), about whose life nothing is known, was the author of Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων), one of the most important ancient sources on the history of Greek philosophy.
"Next that he [Aristotle] stayed in Macedonia at Philip's court and received from him his son Alexander as his pupil; that he petitioned Alexander to restore his native city which had been destroyed by Philip and obtained his request; and that he also drew up a code of laws for the inhabitants."
Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers, Book 5, chapter 1, Aristotle. R.D. Hicks. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1972 (First published 1925). At Perseus Digital Library.
36. Claudius Aelianus: Aristotle's part in rebuilding Stageira
Claudius Aelianus (Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός; circa 175-235 AD), usually referred to as Aelian, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric, born at Praeneste (today Palestrina), 35 km east of Rome, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. He is known as the author of two surviving works in Greek, usually referred to by their titles in Latin: De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals; Greek, Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος), and Varia Historia (Various History; Greek, Ποικίλη Ἱστορία), which has survived in an abridged form. Both books consist of miscellaneous articles and anecdotes.
Various History, Book 3, chapter 17 is entitled: "That Philosophy is not inconsistent with Political Government, and that some Philosophers have governed Commonwealths."
"Some Philosophers have governed States, though studying onely the good of their own minds they lived privately ... Aristotle, when his Country was not declining, but quite dejected, raised her up again."
Claudius Aelianus, His Various History, Book 3, chapter 17. Translated by Thomas Stanley. Thomas Dring, London, 1665. At James Eason's website, University of Chicago.
"Aristotle willing to appease Alexander's Anger, and to quiet him being much incensed, wrote thus to him; 'Rage and Anger is not towards Equals, but towards Superiours; but to you no man is Equal.'
Aristotle advising Alexander in such things as were fit to be done, did benefit many persons; by this means he re-edified his own City, which had been razed by Philip."
Claudius Aelianus, His Various History, Book 12, chapter 54: How Aristotle endeavoured to appease Alexander's Anger (same edition and source).
For some reason, Aelian also considered a law of Stageira worth a mention:
"This was a Law of the Stagirites, truly becoming the Greeks; What you laid not down, take not away."
Claudius Aelianus, His Various History, Book 3, chapter 46: A Law of the Stagirites.
37. Dio Chrysostom: Aristotle, "founder of his fatherland"
Dio Chrysostom (Δίων Χρυσόστομος, circa 40-120 AD), an orator from Prusa, Asia Minor.
"And I used to envy Aristotle at times because, being a native of Stageira – Stageira was a village in the territory of Olynthus – and having become the teacher of Alexander and an acquaintance of Philip's after the capture of Olynthus, he brought it about that Stageira was resettled, and they used to say that he alone had had the good fortune to become founder of his fatherland. But meanwhile, quite recently, I came upon a letter in which he exhibits a change of heart and laments, saying that some of these settlers are trying to corrupt, not only the king, but also the satraps who came there, so as to thwart any good outcome and to prevent entirely the resettlement of the city."
Dio Chrysostom, Discourses. 47th Discourse: A Speech in the Public Assembly at Prusa. Translation by J. W. Cohoon and H. Lamar Crosby. Loeb Classical Library, 1946. 5 volumes, Greek texts and facing English translation. Harvard University Press, 1932-1951. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius, University of Chicago.
38. Dr. Sismanidis' investigations of the ancient mining area at Stageira
See: Nikos Axarlis, Gold and Aristotle. Archaeology magazine, December 17, 2001. Archaeological Institute of America.
For further references to mining around Stageira - ancient and modern - see note 15 in History Part 3.
39. Muhammad al-Idrisi on Alexander's conquest of Socotra
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti (commonly known as Al Idrisi or Edrisi, 1099–1165/1166), a Moroccan Muslim traveller, geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist, born in Ceuta. He worked at the court of the Norman king Roger II (1095-1154, king of Sicily 1130-1154) in Sicily, where he wrote his geographical compendium Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq (The book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands), known in Latin as De geographia universali.
The translation by Pierre Amédée Jaubert (1779-1847) from Arabic into French:
Géographie d'Édrisi Volume 1, in French, at googlebooks.
Géographie d'Édrisi, traduite de l'Arabe en Francais par P. Amédée Jaubert, Tome premier, Premier climat, Sixième Section, pages 45-48. Recueil de voyages et de mémoires, Tome cinquième.
Publié par la Société de Géographie. Chez Arthus Bertrand, Libraire de la Société. l'Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1836.
Olympias (Ὀλυμπιάς, circa 375-316 BC), also known as Olympiada (Ολυμπιάδα), was an Epirote princess, daughter of the Molossian king Neoptolemus I of Epirus (northwestern Greece). She married Philip in 357 BC. It is said that she was originally named Polyxena (Πολυξένη) but changed her name to Myrtale (Μυρτάλη) before marrying Philip, and that she received the name Olympias after Philip's horse won at the Olympic Games in 356 BC, the same year as Alexander's birth. From around 317 BC, probably following to her victory over Eurydike II of Macedon, she became known as Stratonike (Στρατονίκη) (Plutarch, Moralia 401B).
In the photo above she is depicted on the obverse of a gold medallion struck in the early-mid 3rd century AD, found in Abukir, Egypt in 1902. The reverse side shows a Nereid, possibly Thetis, riding a sea monster, thought to be a reference to Thetis as the mother of the Homeric hero Achilles, and thus associating the mythological figures with Olympias and her son. Olympias' family, the Aeacidae, claimed descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.
These medallions were minted by Roman emperors as gifts for high-ranking officers and officials at the Alexandrian Olympic games, held in Macedonian cities such as Veria (225-250 AD).
Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. MΘ 4304.
The Bode Museum, Berlin also has several of these medallions, including one of Olympias, three types with different portraits of Alexander and one with a portrait of Emperor Caracalla.
See photos of all five Berlin Abukir medallions on the
Alexander the Great page of the MFP People section.
Detail of the Olympias medal
in Thessaloniki Archaeological
41. Olympias and Cassander
Kassander (or Cassander; Greek, Κάσσανδρος Ἀντίπατρος, Kassandros Antipatros; circa 350-297 BC), was the son of Antipater, the regent in Macedonia during Alexander the Great's military campaign in Asia. He and Alexander had been fellow pupils of Aristotle, along with Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Leonnatus (see Olympiadas gallery page 5).
Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, a bitter and bloody struggle for power broke out among his successors (known as the Diadochi). Cassander and Olympias became enemies, and he besieged her at Pydna, below Mount Olympus. Olympias finally surrendered after Cassander promised to spare her life, but he had her tried and executed in 316 BC. Having disposed of most of his competition for the regency, in 305 BC Cassander proclaimed himself king of Macedonia.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 9, chapter 7, section 2. At Perseus Digital Library.
Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XVII, chapter 118, section 2
Polyaenus, Strategems of War, Book 4: Alexander's generals & others, chapter 11: Cassander, section 3. At websfor.org.
and Book XIX, chapters 49-51. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius, University of Chicago.
Marcus Junianus Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book XIV, chapter 6. At forumromanum.org.
Coin of Cassander
Pella Archaeological Museum.
(ruled 316-297 BC).
42. Olympias' tomb at Pydna?
The tomb inscriptions at Makris Giallos, the site of ancient Pydna, associated with Olympias' family members are discussed by Elizabeth Carney in her book Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great.
Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Women of the Ancient World). Routledge, 2006. Excerpts at googlebooks.
See also these forum pages at pothos.org: Olympias tomb in Pydna?? and The Tomb of Olympias.
43. Strabo: Stageira deserted by the beginning of the first century BC
"The first city on this [Strymonic] gulf after the harbour of the Acanthians is Stageira, the native city of Aristotle, now deserted; this too belongs to the Chalcidians and so do its harbour, Caprus, and an isle bearing the same name as the harbour."
Strabo, Geography, Book 7, fragments, 36. At Perseus Digital Library.
44. Cassander founds Cassandreia and Thessalonike
Cassandreia was to become one of the most powerful cities of Hellenistic Greece. Cassander is thought to have built the canal across the isthmus of the Pallene peninsula (Παλλήνη) north of Cassandreia (see photo below), as the Persian king Xerxes had through the Athos peninsula (see History part 4). Unlike Xerxes' Canal, the Canal of Potidaia is still in use; it was redug in the 1930s.
The modern village of Neo Potidea (Νέα Ποτίδαια) is near the ancient city and the canal, on the isthmus of the western-most of Halkidiki's three southern pensinsulas (otherwise known as "prongs" or "fingers", see the map of Macedonia on page 1 of this guide). This peninsula, today called Kassandra (Κάσσανδρα), was known in ancient times as Pallene.
It seems odd that the 20th century settlers here (as at Olympiada, also refugees from Turkey in the 1920s) named their new home Nea Potidea, reverting to the pre-Cassandreian name, while the peninsula is still carries the name of the Hellenistic city's founder.
"He also founded on Pallene a city called Cassandreia after his own name, uniting with it as one city the cities of the peninsula, Potidaea, and a considerable number of the neighbouring towns. He also settled in this city those of the Olynthians who survived, not few in number. Since a great deal of land, and good land too, was included within the boundaries of Cassandreia, and since Cassander was very ambitious for the city's increase, it quickly made great progress and became the strongest of the cities of Macedonia."
Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XIX, chapters 52 and 61, at LacusCurtius, University of Chicago.
Strabo, Geography, Book 7, fragments, 25. At Perseus Digital Library.
Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 5, Chapter 23, Section 3. At Perseus Digital Library.
Aerial photo of the Potidea Canal through the Kassandra peninsula, from the west, early morning.
The Potidea Canal (Διώρυγα της Ποτίδαιας, Dioryga tis Potidaias) was cut through the narrowest part of the Kassandra peninsula (Κασσάνδρα; ancient name Παλλήνη, Pallene), the westernmost prong of Halkidiki. The canal, around 1.2 kilometres long, 40 metres wide and 8 metres deep, connects the Thermaic Gulf (on which Thessaloniki stands) in the west with the Toronaic Gulf (Τορωναίος Κόλπος, Toroneos Kolpos; also known as Κόλπος Κασσάνδρας, Kolpos Kassandras, the Gulf of Kassandra) in the east.
It runs east to west, immediately north of the modern village of Nea Potidea (Νέα Ποτίδαια) which was built in the 1920s by Greek refugees from northwestern Turkey. The village stands on the site of the ancient Corinthian colony Potidaia (Ποτίδαια), destroyed by King Phillip II of Macedonia in 356 BC, and rebuilt in 316-315 BC by Cassander who renamed it Cassandreia (Κασσάνδρεια, Kassandreia). See the location of Potidaea (Cassandreia) on the map of Halkidiki in History part 8.
It is thought that Cassander also built the canal, although there is no documentary record or archaeological evidence for this. The only ancient mention of the canal is by the geographer Strabo (Στράβων, Strabon; 64/63 BC – circa 24 AD):
"After Thessaloniceia come the remaining parts of the Thermaean Gulf as far as Canastraeum; this is a headland which forms a peninsula and rises opposite to Magnetis. The name of the peninsula is Pallene; and it has an isthmus five stadia in width, through which a canal is cut. On the isthmus is situated a city founded by the Corinthians, which in earlier times was called Potidaea, although later on it was called Cassandreia, after the same King Cassander, who restored it after it had been destroyed."
Strabo, Geography, Book 7, fragments, fragment 25a. At Perseus Digital Library.
Very little archaeological excavation has been undertaken here, although there have been several chance finds. Remains of ancient defensive walls can still be seen on the side of the canal at Nea Potidea. The canal appears to have been in use for some time after Cassander's rule, and it is known to have been used as a defensive barrier by Greek fighters in 1821 during the Greek War of Independence. It was redug 1935-37, and during the construction work archaeologists exploring the area discovered a large amount of varied material, mostly architectural remnants.
See: "POTEIDAIA (Nea Poteidaia) Chalkidike, Greece". Richard Stillwell et al, The Princeton Encyclopedia of classical sites. Princeton University Press, 1976. At Perseus Digital Library.
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I tried to think of what my favourite book would be, but I can't - I have so many that I love. I can't even think of a favourite author for the same reason.
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I'm really into the whole Magical fantasy, Warriors on horses type of books, and i recently read a trilogy called the Quickening by Fiona McIntosh. I lurved this trilogy, first book called "Myrren's Gift" the next "Blood and Memory" and the conclusion to the series was called "Bridge of Souls". It follows the tale of Wyl Thirsk, and it's a great read. Robin Hobb, whom i idolise, was quoted as saying "...I am seldom taken by suprise at a plot turn... Fiona McIntosh's books move quickly and unpredictably..." he was certainly right in this respect, but it gives the books more... flavour i suppose, and otherwise, i would have been bored with this Trilogy as i have with others in the past.
Well, i havent read much else of late, but sadly, i never have as much time as i would prefer!
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein: This book was less science fiction and more military, in my opinion. If you can mire through all the military details (and there are a LOT of them), though, the book has some very interesting points about current society and what it could lead to in the far future.
Teacher Man by Frank McCourt: Once again, Frank McCourt amazed me. I've loved all of his books, and while 'Tis is still my favorite, this book was still very good...it would be an especially good read for anyone that is a teacher or wants to become one.
The Rising by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins: If anyone has read the Left Behind series, this book is the first of three prequels to it. It wasn't a bad book, although it lacked a lot of the Christian views that the original twelve books contain. I'm personally looking forward to reading the other two to see exactly how they return to their previous writing style...
- Current Mood: cold
- Current Music:The Nanny
- Current Mood: chipper
- Current Music:Evanescence
OK...favorite books...favorite books...
Do you have a few years to read this list? Cause it'd be really long if I stated every book. You can all understand, I'm sure. So:
1984 by George Orwell. The reason I no longer use netspeak, actually...o_O Most people laugh at me, but that book touched some of my nerves. But it is definitely worth reading.
Animal Farm by George Orwell. It's too early to be sensing a pattern, isn't it? Anyway. I just plain, flat-out love this book because it's realistic, creepy, and not quite so frightening as 1984. I dunno...I'm a huge fan of horrid endings that still teach you lessons. Lessons that need to be learned. *glares at 3/4ths the country*
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Brey, followed by its sequel, Rebel Angels. Both of these books are dark and have a really gothic feel to them, being set in the Victorian era. The writing is beautiful and Miss Gemma Doyle is an amazingly faulted little creature...
The Harry Potter series. *sighs* I hate that it got swallowed by the media, and I hate what they've become, but I can't pull away from the world I found here online way back in 1999. Not my favorite books, but definitely my favorite fandom. If that makes sense.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 'Nuff said.
Wicked. I unfortunately have not read Son of a Witch, but I really, really want to. I saw the musical on broadway back in 2003 and have been addicted to it ever since.
RENT. I know. It's not a book. Shoot me. X_X
Almost anything by Garth Nix, Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Piers Anthony, Terry Pratchet, Orson Scott Card, Terry Goodkind (actually, he's not among my favorite authors, but his Sword of Truth series is still worth reading, even if it is overtly moralistic), Laura Ingles Wilder, and...um...there are more. But I should shut up now before I get too carried away.
Anyway...oh! I just finished reading Memoirs of a Geisha, which was really good, considering that historical fiction isn't usually my genre. It was just...mind-boggling. I would give a detailed review, but this post is getting really long, for an introductory post without an lj-cut, anyway, and I have important matters such as sleep *distasteful frown* to attend to.
- Current Mood: giddy
- Current Music:Wicked Soundtrack
Harry Potter. say no more. I'm absoloutly obbsessed!! (love Luna and Ron!!)
All of Tamora Pierce's works, such as The Protector of the Small quartet, the Trickster series (two books) and the Wild Magic quartet.
Steven Donaldson's series of books about Thomas Covenant. (again, magic, but its a little darker, and the main characer has Leprosy (interesting twist!)) they are called The First (and second) Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Awesome in my opinion, love the characters Lestat and Louis. (my name is a quote, modifyed slightly)
Memoirs of a Geisha. I wanted to read it before i saw the movie (seeing it friday) and i loved it. It was a very good read!
I loved Pride and Predjudice too. My favorite character was Darcy, but also Jane.
Well, over the holidays, i have done no reading, except for the Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Geisha. I can't wait to get to the school library, already i have planned to borrow out at least seven books! :)
- Current Mood: Hyper!
- Current Music:Paint the Silence - South (The OC: Mix 1)
Other books I've read lately: I wasn't too big on As I Lay Dying by Faulkner. It felt like he was forcing the whole novel. Babylon Rising by Timothy Lahaye was good, very DaVinci Code meets Left Behind.
As always, if anyone has any good books to recommend, please post!
- Current Mood: tired
- Current Music:EPCOT's Candelight Processional CD


Marcel Griaule was a French anthropologist born at the end of the Nineteenth century. Beginning in 1931, he spent several years in the Mopti region of Mali in West Africa, studying the indigenous Dogon people.
The Dogon are renowned for their adherence to their old ways, ways that have been surprisingly resistant to change over the millennia. Their traditions offer a rare glimpse in to life as it was a long, long time ago.
In 1946, Griaule spent a month in the company of a man named Ogotemmeli, a blind hunter who divulged the astronomical beliefs of his people, beliefs that amazed the French anthropologist. According to Ogotemmeli, the Dogon possessed knowledge of the star Sirius B, a white dwarf that is invisible to the naked eye, as well as the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter, alongside other cosmic information that is apparently inherent to their views of the Universe and their place within it.
In later years, various authors would jump on the work of Griaule and use it as proof of the ‘Ancient Astronaut’ theory, a line of thought postulating that early man was visited by beings from other worlds. According to this theory, those beings guided humanity to build such wonders as the pyramids of Giza and the stone heads of Easter Island, as well as introducing us to art, literature and other facets of high culture.
I have no time for this theory. I believe it is a mistake to belittle early man by ascribing his great works to extra-terrestrial sources. Besides, prior research suggests that Griaule himself introduced the idea of Sirius B to the Dogon people.
But all this is but background noise.
In 1948, one Germaine Dieterlain, a student of Griaule’s who accompanied him on his trips, was preparing to leave Mali and return to France. On the day she left, a Dogon elder handed her a series of stone tablets, tablets that were inscribed with a strange writing the likes of which Dieterlain had never seen before. The elder explained that even he could not read the words on the tablets, but local legend claimed that these words detailed a creation myth even older than his people’s. Indeed, the tablets were considered ancient even when the Dogon themselves were young.
Unable to find anyone capable of translating these tablets, Dieterlain donated them to the Université de Paris, where they elicited no more than uninterested grumblings. They remained there until 1976, when they found their way into the hands of the British Museum in London, gathering dust in a vault for fifteen years.
In 1991, they were stumbled upon by one Paul Cortez, a linguistics expert working on a hypothetical universal translation system. To test his creation, Cortez required a document in an unknown language that had never been deciphered.
At this point considered untranslatable, the Dieterlain tablets were just that document.
A decade of hard work later, Cortez believed he had cracked the code inscribed upon the ancient stone. In 2001, he published his findings in the academic journal British Historical Review*.
Here is his translation:
In the beginning, there were only two things: the Darkness and the Silence.
The Darkness so deep that it went beyond even forever, and the Silence so quiet that even if there were things to speak, they would not have dared to utter a sound.
Then the Star Whales came, great herds of majestic beasts that roamed through the voids of space. And their call echoed throughout the Universe, a chorus of love and hope. The Darkness retreated and the Silence surrendered, and the stars and the planets took their places in the heavens.
Life was born to that sound, the song of the Star Whales.
The cycles came and went, and the people of the young races began to prosper under the sound, a song that would warm even the coldest of souls. These young races gave names to the voices in the chorus, adding the new calves as they were born, and celebrating the elder whales as they moved on, into the Great Ever After.
The young races passed this practice on to their children, and their children did the same; on and on, down through the generations. First with sounds, then with symbols, and finally with the written word.
As is the way, the customs of the old eventually became the traditions of the new, and many an infant on many a land sat up at night listening to the great concert in the heavens.
As time passed, and civilisations rose up and crashed down like so many waves on the shore, the chorus of the Star Whales grew weaker, as one by one they moved into the Great Ever After. No more calves were born, and the song of love and hope that once echoed through the heavens began to grow silent, until only one voice remained. A quiet voice, unlike the others.
And the song grew sad.
The wisest of the wise men amongst the young races named the whale to whom this voice belonged: ‘Akhtumara Shem, the Lonely One, for whom time is Short’. After all, the laws of survival as understood at the time declared that one being, all alone, cannot possibly live for long.
But the Universe is a strange place, and sometimes it cares not for the laws of those that reside within it. And so the lonely whale sang on.
The young races grew old, ancient even, and eventually they began to leave the Universe, taking their ways with them, and new races appeared, spreading out across the lands. Tales of the great chorus lingered, an imprint on the collective memory of all life that ever was or ever will be.
Still the lonesome whale sang. And even now, it is said that if you can find a deserted plane and stand atop its highest mountain on a quiet night, you will hear it. The song of Akhtumara Shem, the Lonely One, for whom time was not short.
Akhtumara Shem, the last of the Star Whales.
The stuffed shirts of historical academia mocked Cortez’s translation. After all, there are no other documents that speak of anything even vaguely like such a creation myth in any other culture on Earth.
This fact alone was considered enough to brand Cortez’s universal translation system, at best, a grandiose folly, and at worst, a description I have no desire to repeat here.
Unable to gain further funding, Paul Cortez died of pneumonia in 2003, discredited and penniless.
The tablets themselves were returned to the vault in the depths of the British Museum, no doubt to gather dust once more.
Cortez’s daughter has kindly donated her father’s work to me. I have forwarded it to a colleague of mine based at the University of Cairo, an old friend who is an expert in the translation of long dead languages.
Perhaps she can shed some light on the history of this ancient, yet unique, tale of a lonely astral cetacean.
Dr Thomas Gotobed
* I have attempted to trawl through every copy of the British Historical Review for 2001, but it is quite a dry publication for a layperson such as myself. I’ll endeavour to carry on, but I do have a life to live outside of fact checking the good doctor’s notes – C.R.


Spine specialist, Dr. Katrina Weiland shares a story of a 53 y.o. Air Force veteran with debilitating low back pain.
About Dr. Weiland
Atlanta native, Dr. Katrina Weiland, moved to the Shenandoah Valley in 2016 and has called the Valley “home” ever since. Dr. Weiland obtained her Bachelor of Science degree from Kennesaw State University in 2012 and then attended chiropractic school at Life University in Marietta, Georgia. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with her Doctorate in Chiropractic in 2016.
It is no surprise that Dr. Weiland fell in love with chiropractic and became a chiropractor. After being involved in a severe car accident and several different traumas during her career in The United States Army, she was suffering from debilitating migraines and pain. After some sound advice from a friend, Dr. Weiland saw a chiropractor, and it saved her life! After her experience with chiropractic, she knew that she wanted to become a chiropractor and spread the gift of chiropractic to as many people as possible.
When Dr. Weiland is not seeing patients, she is enthusiastically cheering for The University of Georgia Bulldogs and The University of Virginia Cavaliers. During football season, you can find her at every home game sporting her navy and orange yelling “Go Hoos”. You may also find Dr. Weiland walking around town with her nineteen-year-old dachshund, Frank.
Spine specialist, Dr. Paulette Hugulet, along with her patient shares an inspiring story of a 77 y.o. former dancer.
Dr. Paulette Hugulet, D.C. Prior to becoming a Chiropractor from University of Western States in 2012, Dr. Hugulet served in the United States military from 1992-2002 in the New Hampshire Army National Guard. Dr. Hugulet sought to expand her medical knowledge by working as a Certified Nursing Assistant in various nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Her compassion and respect for elders served her patients well during her continued exploration into different systems of optimal health care.
After the birth of her son, she pursued a career as a Certified Medical Assistant (CMA) in a variety of medical offices ranging from pediatrics, family practice and specialty clinics. The highlight of her CMA career was working with Dr. John Epley, MD and his research with imbalance disorders (dizziness). This experience has made her knowledgeable about the Epley Maneuvers and the treatment of Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV).
So what led Dr. Hugulet to Chiropractic? Through her personal and professional experiences, she has developed a passion for the drug free and integrative approach to healthcare and wellness that Chiropractic provides. She hopes to continue using Chiropractic to provide patients with the proper support to assist the body’s natural abilities to heal itself.
In her free time Dr. Hugulet finds true joy in fishing with her husband. She also enjoys, camping, quilting, dancing, good food and cheering on the Oregon State football team.


In this inerview – my first interview about my work in english – I give a brief presentation of my book “To learn with the Heart – When knowledge and value becomes one”. The book is a theoretical and practical book about the need of concious lerning in a new time and a new Schoolparadigm.
The book “To learn with the Heart – When knowledge and value becomes one” is yet about to get translated into English. Here you will have a short introduction to the book:
The book is raising awareness of the opportunities and perspectives that brings us closer to the answers to how we may:
… Give our children the opportunity of a personal development based on their individual needs, circumstances, talents and abilities, whatever those are.
… Give our children the opportunity to maintain and develop their own leadership, their internal management, motivation and drive.
… Give our children the opportunity to maintain and develop their free and creative thinking.
… Give our children the opportunity to develop into confident, self-aware individuals with an understanding of both their own and other people´s value.
As well as how we may:
… Create an inspiring environment in which our children may develop in joy and confidence in their own ability.
….Raise sustainable human beings in order to create a sustainable society.
… Create a more healthy and prosperous future generation, than the one we see today.
… Create a society inhabited by a humanity which is fully willing to take responsibility for their lives, their needs, thoughts, feelings, actions and relationships.
In this book Sanna Nova Emilia shows us a path toward a more self-aware and caring society, where the future we wish to create for our children lays closer than we ever dared to believe. Within every single one of us …


Meet the Children’s Music Network!
In the 1980s, like-minded teachers, performers, songwriters, radio hosts, and parents who cared about the quality and content of children’s music established The Children’s Music Network (CMN) – a nonprofit association that now has members across the United States and Canada. The Children’s Music Network celebrates the positive power of music in the lives of children by sharing songs, exchanging ideas and creating community. Their membership includes full-time and part-time performers, songwriters, classroom teachers, music educators, librarians, storytellers, record producers, distributors, broadcasters, parents, grandparents, and children. Members sing, share, teach, write, play, perform, produce and enjoy children’s music. The organization membership is diverse in age, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and culture. They welcome all musical styles!
What CMN Does
CMN members meet and stay in touch to share songs and ideas about children’s music and inspire each other about the empowering ways adults and young people can communicate through music. They are a positive catalyst for education and community-building through music and Guitars in the Classroom has long been grateful for our collaborative relationship. Several of our GITC trainers have come from the ranks of the CMN.
Join GITC on October 18-20th in Los Gatos for the Annual Gathering!
This year for the first time, GITC faculty trainer and mentor teacher Teri Ketchie will be representing Guitars in the Classroom at the annual gathering, sharing our developmental approach to learning to play guitar and lead music in the classroom. Teri will offer a GITC introductory workshop on Saturday at 1:45. and hers is one of MANY exciting workshops. You can read about all of them here. Attendees can hear the keynote address given by early childhood creativity icon, Bev Boss, too.
If you would like to register for the 3 day song extravaganza and meet many other music leaders and performers, here is the link for registration.


If I had known
Two years ago how drear this life should be,
And crowd upon itself all strangely sad,
Mayhap another song would burst from out my lips,
Overflowing with the happiness of future hopes;
Mayhap another throb than that of joy.
Have stirred my soul into its inmost depths,
If I had known.
If I had known,
Two years ago the impotence of love,
The vainness of a kiss, how barren a caress,
Mayhap my soul to higher things have soarn,
Nor clung to earthly loves and tender dreams,
But ever up aloft into the blue empyrean,
And there to master all the world of mind,
If I had known.
“If I Had Known” by Alice Dunbar-Nelson, published at age 20.
The purpose of this blog is to highlight unknown playwrights and we’ll look at Mrs. Dunbar-Nelson as a playwright but also in regards to her other work as it seems fit.
She was born Alice Ruth Moore in 1875 in New Orleans. Her mother was a seamstress and former slave and her father was a white sailor. She grew up in the Creole culture of New Orleans.
Moore was able to graduate college in an era when almost no Americans even attended college:
“Founded to offer shelter and food to destitute migrants,The White Rose Mission also offered job placement for the new arrivals. As African American workers were relegated to jobs as unskilled laborers, conditions and opportunities for African American female workers in New York City were deplorable. The aim of the employment placement service of the White Rose Mission was to furnish skilled, circumspect domestic workers to middle-class homes. The Mission also offered instruction in aspects of housekeeping, such as: cooking, sewing, expert waiting and laundering. Additionally The Mission provided a clean parlor where women who were dues-paying members could entertain callers.
The White Rose Mission evolved to provide social services unavailable to African Americans in New York City such as enrichment classes, child-rearing instructions and a Penny Provident Bank thrift program. The White Rose Mission also maintained a library of works relevant to the history and accomplishments of African and African American people.”
The mission’s library even included a 1773 edition of Phyllis Wheatley‘s poems. I like to think maybe Dunbar-Nelson made that happen.
By the late 1890s, her poems and stories were being regularly published in America, where they caught the interest of famed poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar. Supposedly he fell in love with her at first poem/photo. They corresponded for two years before finally meeting at which point he proposed to her.
According to the brilliant book about their marriage by Eleanor Alexander , Dunbar raped his future wife before the marriage and her physical recovery from that rape took several months. His treatment of her (not surprisingly) remained the same throughout the marriage when he was actually home. He’d leave her home alone for months at a time while he went on recitation tours. The marriage effectively ended when “he beat Alice within an inch of her life.”
In Alice’s own words:
“He came home one night in a beastly condition. I went to him to help him to bed—and he behaved . . . disgracefully. He left that night, and I was ill for weeks with peritonitis brought on by his kicks.”
She never returned to him and only communicated once when she replied “No” to one of many, many letters he sent her begging forgiveness, etc.
Now we must take a time out for a bit.
If you’re in an abusive relationship or even just have questions, please use this site in the US.
In fact, I propose we rename all those high schools named after Paul. Let’s rename them after his wife…
Though Dunbar-Nelson is chiefly remembered for her exquisite poetry, short stories and journalism, she did write at least three plays.
The play is so short, you can read it in two pages.
So the humor is l
ame corny gentle. I could totally see a modern artistic director rejecting this play for having too many characters in such a short amount of time as well as “We don’t do period pieces.” Then, when being told it’s by the famous Alice Dunbar-Nelson, having a theatregasm and producing it with an era-appropiriate atlas and a prologue explaining the Boer War. Sigh.
It’s doubtful this was ever performed. It seems to be a closet comedy. The magazine, The Smart Set, was on its way to becoming a big deal. It would go on to publish Joyce, Conrad, Yeats, Pound, Strindberg and Fitzgerald. That Dunbar-Nelson could publish a piece in a magazine targeted at New York City’s elite shows her immense ability.
Between this and her next play, she taught high school, wrote a bunch of short stories and poems which made her relatively famous and she left Dunbar, secretly married Henry Arthur Callis, a prominent doctor and one of the founders of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity , divorced him and married Robert J. Nelson. And had a few girlfriends.
Among the women Dunbar-Nelson would have relationships with in her life were Edwina B. Kruse, the principal of the high school where she taught, artist Helene London and journalist/activist Fay Jackson Robinson.
I’m pretty sure explicitly racial content in her fiction and poetry would’ve hampered her publication chances for a larger (i.e. white) audience.
This changed around the time of her last marriage where she began to explicitly write about race quite often.
One interesting work she composed was An Hawaiian Idyll, a full-length operetta. This script was never published, but two documents related to it are in her papers at the University of Delaware.
The plot is loosely inspired by the sad fate of Hawaiian Princess Ka’iulani
For those of you not familiar with her story, it’s tied up with Hawaii’s story, namely the monarchy was overthrown by a missionary kid and annexed by the Americans. Then the princess died, of rheumatism.
In the play, the plot is similar, but the setting has been re-imagined to serve Dunbar-Nelson’s purpose: as an allegory for “Africans’ loss of culture and identity in the Americas.”
In the play, “Kaiulani” is sent abraod to be educated, ends up in San Francisco where she learns her mom has been overthrown and rushes home to save the day where she restores Hawaiian sovereignty and the monarchy. None of that happened. Some interesting postmodern alternate history there.
As far as we know, the play was performed only once, at the high school where the author taught. The play would’ve been performed by an all-African American cast.
Here is an interesting analysis of what little is known of the operetta.
And thus we move on to 1918 and The Crisis, the magazine put out by the NAACP. Shortly before this this time editor W.E.B. Du Bois was taking the magazine in a radical (for then) direction, even publishing a photo of the lynching of Jesse Washington. WARNING: the Wiki article has some graphic photos. He also opposed African Americans supporting the war effort against Germany, though he may have had personal reasons for doing so….
“Du Bois was so taken with some aspects of German social behavior that he retained certain habits from his student days in Berlin for the rest of his life. Prussian social customs gave him, or at least reinforced in him, a certain distinguished bearing or carriage, an apparent aloofness not uncommon among shy people. This trait, augmented by a clipped manner of speech Du Bois acquired in Germany, was often misunderstood as reserve, distance, even haughtiness, and was to characterize Du Bois for the rest of his life. In his physical appearance Du Bois, described later in life as a mandarin, was just following the fashion set by the Kaiser in his style of trimming his hair and beard, as well as his habitual use of a cane and gloves.”
Exhibit A: Kaiser Wilhelm II with goofy moustache and eagle taking a dump on his head.
Exhibit B: W.E.B. Du Bois with goofy moustache, but no eagle plus a goatee.
So the US government used the Espionage Act to lean on the paper and Du Bois promised to self-censor, which resulted in the magazine actually supporting the war against Germany.
And that is where Dunbar-Nelson’s play fits into the puzzle of WWI propoganda. She wrote a play with a purpose and that purpose was to encourage African Americans to totally support America fighting a European war.
The plot is pretty straightforward. A family who lost their father in a lynching and now live in the north have a debate when one of the boy’s is drafted. Various ethnic neighbors chime in and an outside social worker also gives her two cents. It’s interesting and definitely a relic of it’s era. This isn’t the first time this blog has profiled a WWI propoganda play.
Highlights of the play:
- The play establishes a place and time and one quite different from the comedy.
2. An early written use of the word “not” to negate the previous statement.
This trend was popularized by the Bill & Ted movies and Wayne’s World sketches and movies in the 1990s. Further discussion here.
It is pure propoganda, as this exchange about
Huns Germans commiting some insane atrocities:
Man, that brooding character of Chris. He gives zero f*cks about little white babies.
This Chris is a bit of a badass. And familiar enough with ancient and Biblical history to invoke Moloch.
He even gets to deliver a badass monologue. Warning: archaic racial slur at the end.
This was such a tough monologue that an actor on Youtube covered it…
See what Dunbar-Nelson did there with the card game metaphor?
And for the ending, which is a relic of its day:
At least one scholar has suggested Cornelia is the author’s avatar in the story.
Here’s a video of a table read of the play from Chengchi University in Taiwan:
The only known full production happened at the high school Dunbar-Howard taught at, where, according to her niece “She produced her play and we all took parts. The audience loved it…but nobody would publish it.” That niece, Pauline Young, was her aunt’s student at the time and would go on to do great things.
A formidable part of this play is that it may have been written with white readers/audiences in mind. There’s the criticism of how America treats her minorities but also reassurrances that black soldiers and civilians will do their part to stop the “Hun.” In this manner it may very well be worth reviving, as this is an argument that isn’t going away any time soon.
Dunbar-Nelson left a relatively small (two short plays and a full-length operetta) but highly interesting canon of theatre work that deserves rediscovery.
Before the link dump, here is a video of a young student reciting the Dunbar-Nelson poem/lament “I Sit and See” – a commentary on American women’s plight in her era.
For all our other playwrights, please check here.
Mine Eyes Have Seen (slow load, but worth it)
An Hawaiian Idyll (analysis of two documents).
Her life (with MASSIVE list of links)
Scholarship regarding Dunbar-Nelson.


Top ten grown-up colouring books
Grown-up colouring is all the rage at the moment, with various colouring books making their way into the best-seller lists. This calming activity promotes wellness and stimulates creativity, which is great for reducing stress. And the best thing is that you don’t have to be an artist to enjoy it! Our point 88 and Pen 68 are perfect for the intricate designs of grown up colouring and with so many books now available, we’ve put together our top ten:
Calling all cat lovers! These feline-inspired designs cover all cat personalities and because it’s about the same size as a paperback, you’ll be able to find your inner calm wherever you are.
9. The Tattoo Colouring Book by Megamunden
A unique take on grow-up colouring, The Tattoo Colouring book is full of sensational tattoo designs from the traditional heart and skull motifs to the contemporary compositions.
8. The Art Therapy Colouring Book by Richard Merritt
The partly-coloured in sections in these anti-stress designs mean you won’t have to spend hours choosing your colour palette so you can relax and enjoy Art Therapy.
7. Japanese Patterns by Various Authors/Illustrators
For delicate florals to roaring dragons, the elegant illustrations in this colouring book are inspired by the rich culture and traditions of Japan.
6. Animorphia: An Extreme Colouring and Search Challenge by Kerby Rosanes
If you think colouring books can be a bit twee, then the Animorphia book is for you! Featuring weird and wacky designs with incredible detail, this book is fantastic colouring challenge.
5. The Can’t Sleep Colouring Book by Various Authors/Illustrators
Can’t sleep? This colouring book will focus your mind on relaxation to calm your insomnia. There’s something for everyone with a diverse range of illustrations on great quality paper.
4. The Time Garden: A Magical Journey and Colouring Book by Daria Song
Through beautifully detailed illustrations, Korean artist Daria Song tells a story in ‘The Time Garden’ of a little girl who follows a fairy into the magical inner workings of her cuckoo clock.
3. Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest and Colouring Book by Johanna Basford
Johanna Basford takes you on a journey through the enchanted forest in this colouring book. As well as designs to fill with colour, there are hidden objects to find leading to the castle at the heart of the forest.
Look out for Secret Garden: An Inky Quest and Colouring Book as well.
2. Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta
Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom is a sumptuous colouring adventure full of stunningly intricate illustrations. From butterflies and fish, to reindeers and whales, Millie’s kingdom will definitely get your creative juices flowing.
Look out for Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland as well.
1. The Mindfulness Colouring Book: Anti-Stress Art Therapy for Busy People by Emma Farrarons
This pocket-sized colouring book is packed with quirky patterns to promote meditation. Its size makes it easy to carry around so you can enjoy your colouring anywhere!
Look out for More Mindfulness Colouring from Emma, coming soon.
If you’re a fan of grown-up colouring, why not enter our competition. You could win a pack of STABILO Pen 68 and our top rated grown-up colouring book, ‘The Mindfulness Colouring Book’ by Emma Farrarons.Add to favorites


I don't know if there is a cuisine more appreciated or loved in this country than that of Italy. American's are obsessed with all things Italian. 2011 has been a particularly good year for Italian cookbooks. These chefs and culinary scholars have studied, wrote, and perfected the art of Italian cookery. These seven cookbooks are Foodista's favorites.
Molto Batali by Mario Batali
Mario Batali's new book, Molto Batali, focuses on seasonal family fare. The book is divided into the twelve months of the calendar year. Each chapter contains a mouth-watering main dish such as braised chicken with sweet onions and parmigiano, three al dente pastas like spaghetti with cauliflower and coppa, four flavorful vegetable sides such as stuffed acorn squash, a comforting soup, and a decadent dessert. Additionally, there is a full color photograph by Quentin Bacon for each dish. Molto Batali presents Italian food in an approachable yet authentic way.
The Country Cooking of Italy by Coleman Andrews
The Country Cooking of Italy from food expert Coleman Andrews features real farm to table cooking. You will see familiar dishes like fried squash blossoms, caponata, and baked winter squash but you will also get to taste less mainstream dishes like pork cooked in milk, pheasant with figs, and Sardinian potato ravioli. This book is beautifully photographed by Hirsheimer and Hamilton. Cooking your way through this book will make you feel as if you are traveling to the small towns, farms, and little known regions of Italy yourself with tasty memories all along the way.
The Silver Spoon by Phaidon Press
The new edition of Silver Spoon is the updated version of this classic tome on Italian cooking. With over 2,000 recipes and 400 new photographs, you will never run out of dishes to cook. You will find recipes from the different culinary regions of Italy as well as menu ideas for festive occasions and from celebrated chefs including Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, Massimo Bottura, and Paolo Lopriore.
The Glorious Pastas of Italy by Domenica Marchetti
When we think of Italy, one food comes to mind above all others-pasta. In Domenica Marchetti's The Glorious Pasta of Italy, she provides countless ways to prepare pasta that will always leave you wanting more. The first chapter is devoted to the art of making fresh pasta. You will learn not only how to make standard egg dough but also whole wheat pasta dough, pumpkin pasta dough and even saffron pasta dough. The dishes range from pasta in soup, stuffed pasta, baked pasta and showstoppers beautiful enough to serve at a dinner party. This book highlights pasta's versatility and daily presence in American homes.
The Italian Baker by Carol Field
Carol Field's first published The Italian Baker in 1985. Field's spent two years documenting regional baking specialties and adapting them to suit the American kitchen. You will learn how to make authentic foccacia, rolls and breadsticks, celebratory breads and other Italian specialties. This updated version is complete with full color photography, new information on sources, equipment, weights and measurements, and thorough instructions on the natural yeast method. Even if you have the first edition, it's well worth getting the new version of this Italian baking classic.
Lidia's Italy in America by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali
Lidia Batianich takes readers through the kitchens of Italian-Americans in her new book, Lidia's Italy in America. Bastianich tours various Italian-American communities where she discovers recipes that are in essence Italian yet at the same time, distinctly American. She finds muffuletta sandwiches with briny olives and Sicilian-style semolina bread, California inspired artichoke soup, Italian beef sandwiches in Chicago, and much more. This book pays homage to their roots in the old country while also honoring the the culinary influences of the new world.
Rustic Italian Food by Marc Vetri
Marc Vetri's Rustic Italian Food is not just another Italian cookbook. This book is as much about the food as it is about proper technique and culinary knowledge. Vetri's passion for what he cooks comes through the pages as if he is telling you about the best way to make pizza dough himself. Rustic Italian Food contains 120 of Vetri's favorite recipes including fusili with fava beans and pecorino, chocolate zabaione tart, and others. In addition, the reader will learn indispensable information about rolled and extruded pastas, salumi, and dough that could match any professional textbook. Rustic Italian Food will undoubtedly enhance your understanding of Italian cuisine and ultimately make you a better cook.


I have a new web site
Please visit my (nearly completed) new web site at kerrytremain.net
This is the 10th Anniversary of the Andaman earthquake and tsunami, which killed nearly 300,000 people on Boxer Day, December 26,
\2004. Read a first-hand account by marine biologist Dwayne Meadows, who was in Khao Lak, Thailand, when the wave hit. (Khao Lak is depicted in the Oscar-nominated 2012 movie, The Impossible, with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor.) In this account, written at the time of the Japanese tsunami of 2011, I also explain how the two tsunamis were triggered and how the Andaman wave traveled with deadly speed across the Indian Ocean, and ultimately around the globe. -Kerry Tremain
YOSEMITE: A STORIED LANDSCAPE
WINNER OF A 2015 DIGITAL BOOK AWARD!
Explore Yosemite’s hidden stories—and contribute to its future. Go on a unique journey through the park’s history and the people who shaped it. Experience Yosemite anew—with lavish illustrations and stories by Ken Brower, Rebecca Solnit, Kerry Tremain and others—and contribute to its future! Twenty percent of all proceeds support Yosemite Conservancy programs. More info and links at yosemitestories.org
A Wild Flight of the Imagination
THE STORY OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
Our new ebook chronicles the history of this treasured icon, just as hundreds of thousands of admirers of the Golden Gate Bridge converge on San Francisco to celebrate its 75th Anniversary. California Historical Society is releasing a FREE multi-media eBook that captures the rich history and amazing story of the Bridge through a collection of rarely seen artwork, photographs, video, memorabilia, stories, images and audio recordings of the original bridge workers.
The eBook title is based on an exhibition of the same name that is currently being featured at the California Historical Society. The phrase is borrowed from a 1921 promotional prospectus for the Golden Gate Bridge in which the authors, chief engineer for the bridge Joseph Strauss and San Francisco city engineer M.M. O’Shaughnessy, use inspirational language to set a tone for the enormously ambitious engineering feat.
The interactive multimedia app makes over 350 historic objects, as well as dozens of photographs and other ephemera from the CHS collection available to the reader. Highlights include photographs by Ansel Adams and Dorthea Lange, paintings by Maynard Dixon, Ray Strong, and Chesley Bonestell, architectural drawings by the two architects who worked on the bridge design, and recordings from original workers about building the bridge, including a first-hand description of the accident that killed ten men shortly before the bridge opened. The book also features an opening music selection from composer Rob Kapilow’s “Chrysopylae,” A Golden Gate Opus, written for the Marin Symphony, with contributions from sound designer Fred Newman.
“The story of the Golden Gate Bridge is a remarkable one, captivating millions of people around the world with its themes of promise, innovation, perseverance, and artistic inspiration,” said Anthea Hartig, Executive Director of the California Historical Society. “This eBook will help share that story with so many more enthusiasts and bring to life in an interactive way the amazing story of this California treasure. We are pleased and delighted to have worked with Sol Editions and Wild Blue Studios to bring the richness of our historic collection to a global audience than can now share in the Golden Gate’s 75th Anniversary.”
A FREE MULTIMEDIA BOOK
Sol Editions has created a new interactive ebook on the early history of Russian settlement in California. Developed for the California State Parks Foundation and the Renova Foundation, the book appears on the bicentennial of the establishment of Fort Ross. This Russian American Company outpost in Sonoma County, founded in 1812, and sold to John Sutter in 1842, is now a state historical park. Stories of the settlers, famous and unknown, is told through contemporary and historic photography and paintings, video and audio narratives, interactive maps and more. Download your FREE COPY here.
The Magnificent 70, a web site conceived, designed, written and directed by Sol Editions for California State Parks Foundation, is a celebration of 70 California state parks slated to close July 2012, and a reminder of what will be lost if they are shuttered.
On this site you can discover a stagecoach stop on the El Camino Real, now surrounded by a city, or a mountain where a Silicon Valley pioneer first measured the earth’s magnetism. There are historic buildings where Northerners and Southerners battled for control of California before the Civil War, where a suffragette was married to a pioneer with two Native American wives, where a buckskinned hunter entertained troops with a mule-skull fiddle, and where an anti-capitalist crusader and Ronald Reagan both lived. Among these parks are Clark Gables’ forest retreat (now home to a popular reggae festival), the site of a school built by a woman who survived the Donner Party only to see her husband hanged by a mob, a Taoist temple from Gold-Rush days, and a ranch that boarded camels imported from Egypt. There are forests with trees older than the Roman Empire and grinding stones used by Native Americans whose ancestors arrived ten thousand years ago. There are streams where salmon have been returning to spawn for millions of years and mountains made of granite plutons from the dinosaur era.
The Magnificent 70 are places where California’s great geologic, natural, cultural, and political legacies come alive and where families return year after year to celebrate their own traditions and invent new ones. Nearly 80 million people visit California’s state parks each year. These are the places that our forefathers and mothers stopped and said: Something important lives here, something beautiful or tragic or both, something to appreciate and enjoy now, and something to conserve for the future.
Video produced for the Magnificent 70 by Doug McConnell and ConvergenceMedia in collaboration with Sol Editions
Apple and the Apple logo and iPad are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc.


Welcome to the NHTSA Material Ordering System.
The Traffic Safety Materials listed in this website are available from the NHTSA Resource Center. Each entry provides an item number (order number), a description or annotation, the year an item was published, the format, and the audience for which an item is directed. Materials are available for various age groups and audiences, and range in complexity from technical to general awareness.
Please click on the link below to view all of NHTSA’s publications and materials:
Also, check out the NHTSA Image Collection for a variety of graphics, photographs and logos for downloading and use in highway safety programs.


Many people who are not in the IT industry know the parts of a computer. At least they know enough to look at specs from time to time. However, a lot of them do not understand what the various parts of the computer actually do, and why they are important. They know that more RAM equals a faster computer, but they don’t know why.
Today we want to explain the various parts of the computer so next time you are researching what to buy, you will be able to make a more informed decision.
To help even the most non-technical folks understand the parts of the computer, we are going to relate them to a library.
The outer case of the computer, whether it is a desktop tower or a laptop would be like the walls of the library, or even the building itself. It keeps all of the parts of the library safe and indoors. When it rains, snows or the wind blows, the building is going to keep all of the books inside protected.
Once we walk inside the library we are met with shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books. Consider these shelves your hard drive. The more shelves you have the more books you can fit on them. So, the more hard drive space you have, the more files and programs and data you can store.
There are 2 different types of hard drives though. An SSD is a solid state drive, and an HDD is a hard drive disk. The HDD will be cheaper but will have more storage capacity, while an SSD will be more expensive and won’t be available in the extremely large sizes. Back to our library analogy, an HDD would be like having to walk all the way up the stairs and down rows of stacks to find the book you need. An SSD would just have all of the books you want right in front of your face. While obviously, that wouldn’t be possible, but the example is just to show you how much quicker an SSD works. An HDD is also like a record, it spins and has to follow the path to get to the files, whereas an SSD would just be able to locate the file immediately.
When you are ready to browse through some books you grab all of the ones you need and move them to a table inside the library. The table is your RAM (Random Access Memory). Since these books have already been found, and they are on your table it is easy for you to jump from book to book. As you open programs and files, they get moved to the “table” or the RAM for quick access.
When you save the files and close them, you put them back on the shelf. The table is still has a limited amount of space and can fill up. If your table is full of books it is still difficult to find the right one you need and may take some time. The bigger the table, the more books you can have out at once, and the more spread out you can make them which allows you to find things easily. Essentially, the more RAM you have, the bigger your table will be, and you will be able to run more programs and have more files open at once.
The processor in the computer is like the librarian. It’s basically the brains of the whole operation. The librarian knows where to find the books, can go get them for you, or tell you where to get them. The processor is what is telling all of the parts what they need to do in order to complete your requests. Better processors will be able to work more efficiently and can help you perform your tasks quickly.
The floor of the library connects everything together. The shelves, the table, the case are all attached to the floor. Even the librarian is standing on the floor. The motherboard keeps all of the parts connected and allows the librarian to move around and perform the tasks required of them.
Each of these parts work together to make a smooth computing experience. You can imagine if one shelf in the library is broken, some books might not be in the correct locations, or they may have gotten damaged when it broke. Each part needs to be functioning for the library to work, and so does all the parts of the computer.
The post Technology Explained: Computer Parts appeared first on briteCITY.


Reading skills are crucial for preschool and teenage development, but unfortunately, not many kids are keen on reading and perfecting their reading skills. The modern technologies have contributed to this fact, and they would rather watch TV and browse the web than reading books. Getting your children interested in reading can be a challenge, but with the use of quality books and doesn’t have to be an issue. We are going to provide you a couple of advice and make this task much more comfortable.
Start from an early age
Many kids love colorful and exciting stories, and if you start practicing reading from an early age, then this shouldn’t be a problem. If he or she is still small or attending a preschool, then you can always supply them with books for their age. Make sure that books contain a lot of pictures; this will keep their attention.
In addition to this, teach them how to hold the book, how to turn the pages and to explain what they read. If you are the one who is doing the reading, the use a lot of facial expressions and voice intonation to describe them particular situations, we are sure they will love it.
Fill their room with books
If you teach them from a young age to love books and to spend a lot of time in libraries, then this will become their everyday routine. On the other hand, you can fill their room with books and have them in their presence all the time. Different titles, colorful books, and encyclopedias will attract their attention and keep them motivated.
They will be drawn to book, and they will become their best friends and biggest allies. Your kids will want to peruse an adventure and learn about many exciting things.
Be a good role model
If you love reading books, then your kids will love them as well. It is essential to become a good role model because kids when are young they often adopt parents’ skills.
Your job is to prove them a positive example and to encourage reading with them. If books aren’t their cup of tea, then you can start with the magazines. There are a lot of teen and kids’ magazines which will interest your children. The crucial thing is to be persistent and to continue the same practice, but make sure you aren’t too nagging.


Children picture book of farm animals with both textual and real sound effects
This great baby and toddler learning application presents a selection of colorful illustrations of farm animals and the sounds they make both textual and with real sound effects. The selection of animals are taken from our immediate surroundings. The bold and colorful illustrations appeal to children, encouraging them to make sounds of their own. The application may work as a children picture book as well.
Learn 2 Speak is a fun and educational picture book with 14 different languages for your kids. The picture book contains more than 100 pictures that your baby can easily browse through just by clicking the pictures. * 100+ images and words * 7
Picture book for toddlers is a fun and educational app for children between the ages 1-3 years! Through sight and sound there are 115 different words and items to get acquainted with. Your child will easily progress through the action by dragging


now browsing by month
I have been asked to look at a new app for iPad called OfficeWrx by Entwrx.
It is a way of reading, creating, and editing documents created in Microsoft Office, such as Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. While all the functions are not available in the applications, it is a good way of creating documents on the move and saving them for later editing and formatting on a PC. It’s also a good way of ‘taking’ your Microsoft documents with you.
It functions with Dropbox and Google Docs, so you can save things for ease of access. You can also email the docs to yourself, print to a wireless printer, and make a copy. You can also open the docs as a pdf in Adobe Reader.
Overall, this is not a substitute for the full Microsoft Office package but is a useful way of creating MS Office files on the move. Recommended for anyone, like me, who is a big user of both an iPad, and MS Office.


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Value of a Chiaravalle Education
Planning Your Visit
Special Learning Resources
Resources for Parents
Campaign for Chiaravalle
CFA Holiday Gift Drive
The CFA Holiday Gift Drive is November 29 through December 10. Chiaravalle is focusing on giving the gift of reading to Evanston-area Head Start children by asking families to purchase two children's books for each child.
See how students, faculty, and parents work together to take "Big Steps" at Chiaravalle Montessori School. Get a glimpse of how even very young children explore their environment with confidence. And consider taking the first big step in your child's educational journey at Chiaravalle.


Click on photo to view in the 21st century.......
Wellington Street, with new Town Hall, c. 1906. The freehold was bought
for £15,880 and was the first use of a Compulsory Powers Order
to purchase land for municipal purposes. The site was originally intended
for use as a new market place, but following opposition, the public
baths, a library, the police station and the fine Town Hall, designed
by Mr A. Brumwell-Thomas, were all built on this piece of land.


Time is a precious commodity for both budding and experienced eCommerce business owners and professionals, to be invested wisely. So when it comes to the best books to spend time reading, it really depends how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed this down somewhat, the human interaction that comes from attending as many of the eCommerce industry meetups, networking and educational events as possible cannot be underestimated either.
At these events you can share advice, war-stories, successes and failures with your eCommerce peers, meet marketers and merchants small and large, and pick the brains of various technology and implementation partners and consultants – many of whom may be authors of management and business books as well!
In the absence of physical events in 2021, business books and reading material for eCommerce entrepreneurs are a good substitute. There are hundreds of books you could read on every facet of business, sales, operations, leadership, UX, B2B, marketing, start-up life, investment, product development and so on.
Distilling down to just five is a difficult task, so I’ll simply suggest here some of the books that Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, frequently shared with his top Executives. These are notable because they provide the framework that Bezos used to shape the future of the company, and provide a good guide to the question, “What books do millionaires read?”.
Consider this book as the ultimate guide to productivity. Drucker explains how effectiveness can be learned like any other skill.
Read this book and then, more importantly, practice its top tips for productivity:
Record where your time goes;
Focus on what you can contribute;
Make your strengths more productive, rather than building on your weaknesses;
Do the things that are important, not merely urgent;
Take rational actions.
Get “The Effective Executive” on Amazon
Many eCommerce business owners dream of being a disruptor. Now, naturally, The Innovator’s Solution cannot guarantee success, but this book explores the concept of “how can” and “why should” companies become disruptors?
The core principle underpinning this is identifying how to create and sustain business growth over the long term. The authors pinpoint the common key forces that cause managers and business owners to make bad decisions that negatively impact the ability to grow, based on in-depth research and test theories in hundreds of companies across many industries.
What the first recommended book here was to productivity, The Innovator’s Solution is to disruption and sustainable growth – the ultimate guide to long-term scalability.
Get “The Innovator’s Solution” on Amazon
Pro tip: A previous book from the same author, called The Innovator’s Dilemma, was apparently the only business book that Steve Jobs ever actually liked. A companion read definitely worth checking out as well.
Okay, so this one is very different compared to the above, and different from most other business books, which can sometimes be very dry and matter-of-fact.
The Goal is actually a novel about a failing manufacturing plant and how it is turned around by its manager. We all love a good story, and the narrative format of The Goal makes it easy to digest these fundamental business theories.
Published in 1984, the business messages present in this bestseller are as relevant today as ever, including the need to develop a process to manage system constraints, learning how to drive continuous improvement, and promoting better collaboration between teams.
The lessons imparted in this book can be applied to many business processes, including:
Accounting & Management Reporting
Sales & Marketing Operations
Achieving a Better Work-life Balance
For an exercise in seeing how tenacity and working smarter, not harder reaps rewards, The Goal is a real page-turner!
Get “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement” on Amazon
First published in 2013, four years after Zappos’s acquisition by Amazon, Tony Hsieh shares the different lessons he has learned in business and life. Fast-paced and down-to-earth, Delivering Happiness shows how a very different kind of corporate culture is a powerful model for achieving success — and how by concentrating on the happiness of those around you, you can dramatically increase your own.
Get “Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose” on Amazon
Two of Australia’s most successful online superstars, brothers Gabby and Hezi Leibovich, started with no money and no connections but went on to build, launch, merge, and sell some of the most disruptive businesses in Australia today, including Catch, Scoopon, Menulog and Luxury Escapes. This book reveals how they did it, with little-known secrets and strategies to help you shorten your learning curve, avoid mistakes, and bring your business dream alive.
Get “Catch of the Decade: How to Launch, Build and Sell a Digital Business” on Amazon
This article is taken from an expanded extract originally featured on WhatSayTheExperts.com. For bonus book recommendations, please do check out the extensive book list in the source article, grouped into categories: Specific to Ecommerce, Business Management, Business Development and Strategy, Marketing/Communication, Consumer Behavior/Psychology, Data/Testing/Usability, Business Biographies, Relationships and Audiences and Miscellaneous.
International eCommerce web development agency SmartOSC provides iconic brands with scalable, cost-effective enterprise commerce solutions. Contact us today.


FOUNTAIN HILLS COMMUNITY CENTER
With 31,000 square feet and rooms designed to accommodate a variety of activities, the Fountain Hills Community Center is a hub for local arts, culture and recreation. The 5,000 square-foot lobby is frequently used for staging large receptions and exhibitions, while the grand ballroom accommodates as many as 800 people.
The Center is located at 13001 N. La Montana Drive. For community center events and marketing information, call 480-816-5117.
FOUNTAIN HILLS LIBRARY/HISTORICAL MUSEUM
The Fountain Hills Library is a branch of the Maricopa County Library District. Within its 15,000 square feet it houses over 50,000 books, eBooks, videos, DVDs, audio CDs and magazines. Located at 12901 N. La Montana Drive, the Library is also home to more than 40 public access computers and a resale book store. For more information, call 480-837-9793.
Sharing the same building with the Library, the River of Time Museum is a must-see for area history buffs. Operated by the Fountain Hills & Lower Verde River Valley Historical Society, the Museum features exhibits exploring our area from the time of Native American villages and early settlers through the present day. For information, call 480-837-2612.
FOUNTAIN HILLS TOWN HALL
Located at the intersection of Avenue of the Fountains and La Montana Drive, Fountain Hills Town Hall shares the Town Center complex with the Fountain Hills Community Center, the Fountain Hills Branch of the Maricopa County Public Library and the River of Time Museum.
At Town Hall, residents and visitors can access services in the departments of Public Works, Building Safety, Community Development, Engineering, Street Maintenance, Municipal Court and Parks and Recreation. For information, call 480-837-2003.


The following books are available for purchase from numerous vendors including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indiebooks. To order from Amazon, just click on the cover image and you will be connected to the order page.
Are you a fan of Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems? This companion text by author and teacher Gloria Heffernan will enrich your experience of the popular anthology. Inside you’ll find a list of engaging reading strategies, fifty stimulating writing prompts, and a twelve-week workshop curriculum. Exploring Poetry of Presence isn’t an instruction manual or a textbook. It’s an able guide through the wondrous terrain of mindfulness poems presented in Poetry of Presence. Perfect for individual and/or group use. (Published by Back Porch Productions.)
What the Gratitude List Said to the Bucket List is an invitation to notice the world around us and appreciate its gifts. Heffernan pays homage to the loved ones who have shaped her world view, and the poets who have inspired her to express that view. A firm adherent to Louise Gluck’s declaration that we must risk joy, Heffernan invites readers to do exactly that–even while recognizing the grief that often goes hand-in-hand with gratitude. (Published by New York Quarterly Books.)
Gloria Heffernan’s debut poetry chapbook, Some of Our Parts was published by Finishing Line Press in 2018. According to Linda Tomol Pennisi, author of Seamless, Suddenly, Fruit and Minuscule Boxes in the Bird’s Bright Throat, “Gloria Heffernan reaches into the depth of memory’s purse to locate the women who have helped shape her. With a keen eye for image and a strong, sure voice, her poems reveal and examine issues of class and suffering and love and loss.” (Published by Finishing Line Press.)
Hail to the Symptom is a chapbook of poems exploring the political polarization of the Trump era. While the author had hoped that it might become outdated in the aftermath of the 2020 election, she sees that the poems continue to have relevance in our evermore fractured time and place. (Published by Moonstone Press. Out of print.)


This page contains a full revision booklet for the Advanced Higher History study option, Russia: from Tsarism to Stalinism, 1914–45. This document, which includes essays and source questions, could also be of use to those studying A Level and IB History.
This is a large file(114 pages). You can view the whole document in the pdf viewer below. You can also save and print from this window or from the pdf icon below. This file is free for educational non-profit use.