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Patrick Modiano. credit: Nicola Lo Calzo for The New York Times. Nov 2015
…I dress, grab my notebook and a copy of Patrick Modiano’s Paris Nocturne, and cross over to the neighborhood café. Workers are jackhammering the street, the deafening vibrations pervade the walls of the café. Unable to write, I read, traipsing the Nocturne network -- uncertain streets, fragments of addresses, routes no longer relevant, and events that add up to a circle of nothing. I lament not writing but figure losing oneself in the energized torpor of the Modiano universe is almost like writing. You enter the skin of the narrator with his pale sense of paranoia and preoccupation with minutiae and the space around you shifts. (p 7 - Devotion)
Patrick Modiano, winner of the 2014 Nobel prize for literature, is a writer poorly known to English-speaking readers. Highly regarded in France -- his books always make the best seller list -- Modiano has written over 30 novels, the majority of which seek to uncover a largely forgotten world intricately bound up with the German occupation of Paris during WWII. According to the Nobel Committee, the award was made in recognition of “the art of memory with which he has evoked the most ungraspable human destinies and uncovered the life-world of the Occupation.”
The Nobel committee describes Modiano’s works as follows:
“Good stories are often characterized by their exploration of universal but difficult questions, at the same time as they are grounded in everyday settings and historical events. Patrick Modiano's works center around subjects like memory, oblivion, identity, and guilt. The city of Paris plays a central role in his writing, and his stories are often based on events that occurred during the German occupation of France during World War II. At times, Patrick Modiano's stories are based on his own experience or on interviews, newspaper articles, or his own notes.”
Patrick-with-Rudy-and-Mother-Tuileries garden, Paris 1948
Copyright: Personal archives of Patrick Modiano
Copyright: Personal archives of Patrick Modiano
Modiano is the son of a Belgian actress who had little time for children. In his words, “a pretty woman with a dry heart.” He spent his early years in Belgium with his grandmother, and then moved from place to place, living with an assorted range of his mother’s friends, until he was old enough to attend boarding school. A younger brother died of leukemia. His father was of Italian-Jewish descent, and spent the war years in occupied Paris, living life on the edging, hiding his Jewish identity, even associating with members of the French Gestapo who did the bidding of the German Gestapo. He made his money selling stolen merchandise. He was arrested a number of times and came very close to being deported. Modiano and his father were not close, and on one occasion, a verbal dispute between the two ended with Modiano arrested by the police. At no time did his father explain those years during the Occupation, and this central mystery has occupied Modiano’s creative imagination ever since.
I mentioned that we would be meeting up with the writer Raymond Queneau again. Modiano was introduced to Queneau during his high school years. The novelist was a friend of his mother’s, and she asked him to help Patrick who were suffering through geometry. Queneau obliged and quickly noted the state of Modiano’s life and stayed involved. Modiano received his baccalauréat 1964. When his father summarily enrolled him classes required for those planning to attend the most prominent universities, the boy walked out. Not interested.
He started writing around this time, even had some success with songs, including one performed by the French pop singer Françoise Hardy. Queneau continued to mentor him, taking him along to writers’ gatherings at Galliard Publishing where Queneau was director of l'Encyclopédie de la Pléiade, although Modiano states that he was too terrified at the time to tell Queneau he wanted to be a writer. When Modiano was 19, he presented Queneau with a draft of a novel - La Place de l'Étoile. Queneau took him through several more drafts until the story was published in 1968 to resounding success. Queneau was Modiano’s witness at his marriage in 1970. The bride’s witness was the novelist André Malraux. The pair are still married. Queneau died in 1976 at seventy-three, four years after the death of his wife, Janine Kahn.
La Place de l'Étoile was an explosive book and won several awards. A sardonic satire of France during the Nazi occupation featuring a young and extremely wealthy French Jew who is alternately fascinated by himself and utterly contemptuous. Two small reviews:
"It was the work of an angry young man who wanted to torpedo the Gaullist myth of France as a country full of resistance fighters. It was also a son’s revenge." - Tobias Grey, Financial Times
"A young writer's provocative jeu d'esprit, it rounds up every sacred cow in French literature and politics, and mercilessly slaughters them. (...) Translator Frank Wynne captures this scattergun savagery with formidable bite. Yet this literary Molotov cocktail or chucked cobblestone belongs to its moment: 1968, not 1944." - Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
The reviewer is indeed correct that the novel was directed, at least in part, at Modiano’s father, containing as it did all the fantastical imaginations his son had about those Occupation years. Perhaps it was meant as a back-handed attempt to start a conversation. It backfired. The two never spoke again.
Subsequent novels are far quieter in tone, one could almost call them subdued. Most take place in Paris and remain devoted to the task of making sense of the savagery that defined the city during the years 1940 - 1944. Modiano has written novels, novellas, at least one book of short stories. Some of his work might be characterized as hybrids -- fact, fiction and experience together. Most take place in Paris, although Algeria and the French Riviera form the background for at least two.
In addition to his work in literature, Modiano wrote the screenplay of Lacombe, Lucien in 1974 with French director Louis Malle. American audiences may recall his 1981 film My Dinner with Andre. It was a controversial film because of the choices its central character, the teenager Lucien made. The review by Roger Ebert is just stunning. He gave it 4/4. Below is a link to the original trailer as well as a link to Ebert’s review.
Lacombe, Lucien Trailer
Roger Ebert Review:
So we now know why he wrote -- to uncover and I would also say to raise up, to take things that were suppressed or ignored, and reclaim their importance.
Our next question then is how he wrote. By this I mean his choice of words and the geography of his sentences and paragraphs. Are the words short or looping? The sentences punchy, or languorous, or so chock full of abstractions you need to take rest breaks? Even funny little things like punctuation produce an effect on the reader. By design. Every element is a choice, and often something labored after by a writer until he or she finds that exact tangle of language that conveys the exact thought.
Over the years of writing for ONBC I have come to the conclusion that I write best when I really know a subject. With less hesitation, and more ability to trust that I know what I am talking about, my writing is set free. So, if I can, I try to read an author before writing about an author. It’s also kind of immersive. This has been particularly true with Patti’s books -- she has introduced me to some incredible writers simply because I was obliged to follow her lead.
Cover art Paris Nocturne
In Devotion, Patti is reading Modiano’s Paris Nocturne(2003), which follows in the steps of an unidentified narrator who, as a teenager, received a minor injury while stepping in front of a car on a Paris street. It is thirty years later, and the narrator has become obsessed with finding the woman he saw in that car. Yes, because he wants to see her again, but also because something about her reminds him of a woman he knew as a boy.
From a New York Journal of Books review: “The loner narrator wanders the streets and visits the cafes of Paris trying to connect his memories and experiences. Under the influence of ether and being disoriented from the accident, the unreliable narrator attempts to link the car accident and people involved to previous events in his life such as his unreliable, corrupt father, his dog being run over, getting arrested, and feeling lost and abandoned. The narrator’s wanderings coupled with his free associations, paranoia, and belief that everything in his life is related and significant give the story a dream-like, surreal feeling.” (Balter)
In researching Paris Nocturne, I ran across another book by Modiano -- Dora Bruder -- and instantly knew that it, and not Paris Nocturne, was the book that would give me the most insight into Modiano as a writer. In part this is because Dora Bruder (1997) has been described as “the book” that got Modiano the Nobel prize.
Dora Bruder cover art
It’s a slim book -- 119 pages. The back cover provides a little introduction, “In 1988 Patrick Modiano stumbles across an ad in the personal columns of the New Year’s Eve 1941 edition of Paris-Soir: “Missing, a young girl, Dora Bruder, age 15, height 1 m 55, oval-shaped face, gray-brown eyes, gray sports jacket, maroon pullover, navy blue skirt, and hat, brown gym shoes.”
Like many Modiano books it is considered a hybrid -- a construction that is part biography, part autobiography, part detective novel. There are the bare threads of Dora’s life -- a Jewish girl who disappears on the streets of Paris during the Occupation. There is Modiano’s patient and obsessive tracking down of official records and time-worn photos -- it takes him four years to locate Dora’s birth certificate. There is Modiano’s own past, the faint smattering of facts he has dug out, or imagined, concerning his father’s own close escape from a fate identical to Dora’s. And finally, there is the fine net of narration that Modiano constructs to fuse a bare assemblage of facts, memories and intuition into story.
Modiano’s love of the past informs how he goes about telling his stories. He loves poring through old public records, old photos, and maps, frequenting the booths that line certain streets in Paris, heaped with old and mostly forgotten things, sort of like our second-hand and antique stores. His knowledge of an older Paris helps the reader “see” into the past.
There is a specificity in what Modiano gives us - often the exact street address, or the history of how a building or even a street evolved over time -- that brings the past alive. I got in the habit of running to the internet to learn more about a location that he was describing. Because he made me see it and I needed to understand more.
An example, Modiano writing about the archives of the Prefecture of Police:
“Now that almost sixty years have passed, these archives will gradually revel their secrets. All that remains of the building occupied by the Prefecture of Police during the Occupation is a huge spectral barracks beside the Seine. Whenever we evoke the past, it reminds us a little of the House of Usher. And we can hardly believe that this building we pass every day can be unchanged since the forties….” Modiano then evokes the dead superintendents and inspectors who hunted down people, and the ‘press-gang,’ or street police “also dead or far gone in senility” who made the arrests. While the names of those arrested, and the details behind the arrests are long gone, Modiano continues, “(b)ut there remains in the archives hundreds and hundreds of letters addressed to the Prefect of Police of the day, and to which he never replied. They have been there for over half a century, like sacks of airmail lying forgotten in the recesses of a remote hanger. Now we can read them. Those to whom they were addressed having ignored them, it is we, who were not even born at the time, who are their recipients and their guardians.” (pp 69 -70)
What follows is a page and a half of actual letters which Modiano has transcribed. Short, sorrowful, pleading requests for information about a son or a husband. Stomach churning things. At most the entire section relating the story of the Prefecture is three pages long. Modiano provides no additional historical details, no breakdown of events or personalities. But readers like me take hold of Modiano’s descriptions and convert them into memories. We also end up applying what we’ve learned to other situations. In fact I would say that you cannot read Modiano and not see the lines that connect those days to our lives now.
Modiano Wins Nobel. Photo credit: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images
Modiano’s specificity works like lights along a trail through the dark. He steps in and gives you something very concrete and then he moves on. I found the following quote from Modiano, machine-translated from French, but offering tremendous insight into what he is doing with his specifics. “I try to slip gaps of silence between the sentences. To cause an echo of vibration at the end of each of them. As in acupuncture, I sting at certain specific places for the sensation to spread. As a reader, I like more virtuosic and more oratorical styles than mine. But the risk then is to stifle the reader, to stun him. I prefer to suggest things, leaving shadows. In the cinema, the eye instinctively approaches the dark areas too see better.”
Modiano is always talking to his audience, and there is a feeling of intimacy, as though the two of you were literally walking down a street in Paris, he steering you left, then right and pointing here, and there -- recounting history of his beloved city. There is a clarity to his sentences. Straightforward yet graceful. Not a lot of description, just enough to -- like an Impressionist painting - create the sense of a time.
Perhaps you can tell I have fallen in love with this guy and his story-telling, and it’s likely I that will love any Modiano book I pick up. While each Modiano book gives us a slightly different picture -- like an individual puzzle piece does --each book also fits into a wider portrait and message. A focus best described by Modiano speaking at the Nobel prize banquet in 2014:
“Today, I get the sense that memory is much less sure of itself, engaged as it is in a constant struggle against amnesia and oblivion. This layer, this mass of oblivion that obscures everything, means we can only pick up fragments of the past, disconnected traces, fleeting and almost ungraspable human destinies….Yet it has to be the vocation of the novelist, when faced with the large blank page of oblivion, to make a few faded words visible again, like lost icebergs adrift on the surface of the ocean.”
Dora Bruder is one of the most impressive books I’ve ever read, and I completely understand why Modiano got that Nobel prize.
Nobel Prize Organization. Patrick Modiano.
Cameron, Euan. Interview - Patrick Modiano: ‘I became a prisoner of my memories of Paris’ October 31, 2015
AGNI online. Charbonneau, Jean. Patrick Modiano: Remembrance of Shadowy Things Past.
Dora Bruder (1997)
Flood, Alison. “Patrick Modiano accepts Nobel prize, confident of literature’s future. The Guardian. December 9, 2014.
Riding, Alan. Patrick Modiano’s Suspended Sentences. New York Times Book Review. December 24, 2014.
Schwartz, Alexandra. The Unforgotten - Patrick Modiano’s mysteries. The New Yorker. October 5, 2015.
Taylor, John. Fuse Book Review: The Sad Tenderness of Patrick Modiano’s “Dora Bruder”
Wikipedia -- French entry for Patrick Modiano


The Stratum Corneum consists of several layers of flat, non-nucleated, dead or peeling cells. It is often referred to as the horny layer. The stratum corneum has an important job to protect your body from external factors by regulating the permeability of the skin and preventing transcutaneous water loss. Stratum corneum ceramides, together with cholesterol and fatty acids, form extracellular lamellae that are responsible for the permeability barrier of the epidermis.
References for this article:
Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Volume 62, Issue 6, June 1974, Pages 563-568


About the author
Pedro Algorta is one of the sixteen survivors of the Uruguayan plane that crashed in the Andes in 1972. After the accident, he lived in Buenos Aires where he graduated with a degree in Economic Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires, and then went on to get an MBA from Stanford University, California. He also studied International Politics at the Universidad di Tella, Argentina and the teaching of Adaptive Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Massachusetts.
He has had a successful business career as an executive at various companies: Techint, Quilmes and Peñaflor, among others.
On December 22nd 1972, the world discovered that sixteen of the forty-five passengers of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 that crashed in the Andes seventy days earlier were still alive. Pedro Algorta has never spoken of his experience but he breaks his silence of over 40 years and gives a first-hand account of one of the most incredible stories of human survival and team spirit.
Pedro delves into how he personally lived those seventy days in the cordillera, the day-to-day struggle to survive, and how with difficulty, a lot of hard work and strong team spirit the group created a survival machine in the mountains. Each one of us has our own mountain – our own story – and understanding it helps us make sense of our path in life and to see the way ahead. We are all capable of surviving our Andes.
Into the Mountains
The extraordinary true story of survival in the Andes and its aftermath
- ISBN: 978-1-910649-41-1
- Publication date: March 2016
- Price: £12.99 (UK) / $19.99 (US)
- Format: 216 x 138mm • Paperback • 256pp


As a bicycle mechanic, having a repair book on hand is a necessity. Even the most experienced mechanic will need to refer to a written resource from time to time. While there are nearly an endless variety of bicycles and associated components, general repair principles for all of them are generally in key repair books. Below are five essential bicycle repair books that I recommend.
Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair — 4th Edition
The Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair is essentially the “go to” bicycle repair manual for the industry. This is written by Calvin Jones from the Park Tool Company who is the most recognized thought leader on bicycle repair. This paperback book is comprehensive with 251 glossy pages with full color photos of various bicycle components and how to repair them. An appendix of reference materials, include a tool list, glossary, torque recommendations, bottom bracket tool selection, headset standards, and a bike map. I highly recommend this book for your collection.
Zinn & the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance: The World’s Best-Selling Guide to Mountain Bike Repair
While the Park Tool “Blue Book” has full color photos of repairs, the Zinn books offer more illustrations and thorough explanations for understanding how the components operate. There is also more troubleshooting information included. The book is paperback with 483 pages. Appendixes include a troubleshooting index, gear development, mountain bike fitting, and a torque table.
Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance: The World’s Best-Selling Bicycle Repair and Maintenance Guide
Similar to the format of the proceeding book, this one strictly covers road bikes. The book is paperback with 465 pages. Appendixes include a troubleshooting index, gear chart, road bike fitting, glossary, and a torque table.
The Bicycling Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair: For Road & Mountain Bikes
Published by Bicycling Magazine (Rodale Press), this book shows step-by-step, black and white photos of each repair. Whereas the Park Tool “Blue Book” shows a few photos for each process, the Bicycle Guide to Complete Bicycle Maintenance & Repair will literally illustrate each step in the repair process with a specific photo. The book is paperback with 416 pages.
Bicycle Repair Manual, Seventh Edition
This is a smaller paperback book with 176 pages and is appropriate for a more basic overview of bicycle repair. Additionally, it is the most inexpensive out of the five recommended here.
Thank you for visiting! Please subscribe to this blog to receive free educational content, including repair tips, equipment recommendations, and other bicycling-related topics. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This is also the case with other affiliates’ products that I review and recommend.


نام کتاب:Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary and Transplant Surgery: Practical Management of Dilemmas
نويسنده/نويسندگان: Quyen Chu (Author), Charles Vollmer
سال انتشار: 2018
نوع فايل: ORIGINAL PDF
حجم فايل: 62MB
تعداد صفحات : 3973
This unique textbook provides a concise and practical approach to clinical dilemmas involving the liver, pancreas, and biliary tree. Six major sections encompass (1) Hepatic, (2) Biliary, (3) Pancreas, (4) Transplantation, (5) Trauma, and (6) Innovative Technology. Each topic is written by recognized experts from an "experiential" viewpoint combined with evidence-based medicine. The book contains over 170 chapters and over 350 contributors. It is relevant to Surgical Oncologists, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary (HPB) Surgeons, Transplant Surgeons, Traumatologists, HPB Interventionalists, General Surgeons, and trainees and students. The title of each chapter is in a form of a clinical scenario and each chapter begins with a Case Scenario and ends with Salient Points. Special debates are included in each section. There are numerous compelling images, detailed illustrations, comprehensive tables, thorough algorithms, and other adjunctive tools that enhance learning. The authors emanate from different corners of the world. The book is a valuable resource for faculty, students, surgical trainees, fellows, and all health care providers in the HPB/Trauma/Transplant/Oncology fields.
No right click


“Great responsibility comes to those who have been baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The old sinful life is dead, the new life entered into with Christ by the pledge of baptism.
In the new life upon which you have entered, you are pledged to represent the life of Christ....with the virtues of His character, such as Love, compassion, and tenderness, mercy and kindness.
With the new life in Christ Jesus, put on “kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering.” Separate from the world, from its spirit, its practices, and reveal that you are learning of Him who says, “I am meek and lowly in heart.”
Thoughts taken from Manuscript Releases 19:236, 237.
From Devotional: To Be Like Jesus, p. 217.Written by Ellen White


Although Bangladesh is a young country the history of its textile traditions goes back to antiquity. Early centres of cotton manufacture in the Indian subcontinent led the way to this craft being introduced to Persia, Egypt and later, to Europe. The madder dyed fragment of cotton and the textile related tools like spindle whorls and needles, excavated at Mohenjodaro and dated from the third millenium B.C., bears testimony to its ancient history. An indigenous variety of cotton seed also discovered at the time was the type that required long periods of cultivation (Gossypium arboreum) and it was not till the sixth and seventh century when short term cultivation cotton was discovered (Gossypium herbaceum) that cotton spread out of India to other regions of the world.
Written by Sayyada R Ghuznavi


Sunday, November 23, 2008
JFK Assassination: Oliver Stone Talks About Film; Now Sold with New Documentary and Updated Book Looking at Kennedy Legacy
Oliver Stone's movie "JFK" is now being sold with a new Warner Bros. documentary based on the newly updated book of the same name, "The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings". Here's an old clip of Siskel & Ebert reviewing Stone's film when it originally came out. It's now available on Blu-Ray DVD. The book can be found at Amazon.
What Nucky Thompson of Boardwalk Empire Didn’t Know About Joe Kennedy Before He Died. The Secret Boozy Deals of A Kennedy, A Churchill and A Roosevelt. Now in Time MagazineThe Secret Boozy Deals of A Kennedy, A Churchill and A Roosevelt. Now in Time Magazine : The Real-Life Story Is Revealed in A New Book, “ ...
Kick Kennedy & Pam Churchill : A Fateful, Dynastic Friendship Between Two Daughters of the Two Famous FamiliesKathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the favorite sister of future U.S. president John F. Kennedy, and Pamela Churchill, the daughter-in-law of British...


University Student Evaluations of Online Teaching Quality During Covid-19 in Thailand (RSU)
As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19, Rangsit University in Thailand transitioned from in-person instruction to online teaching. This presented a challenge for students who were accustomed to traditional classroom-based learning. Consequently, there is a need to objectively assess how Rangsit University International College students perceived the quality of online teaching during the pandemic. In order to investigate the various factors that influence students' evaluation of online teaching, this study has also examined students' learning attitudes and concentration, as well as their utilization of different online education platforms and devices. Ultimately, the goal of this paper is to propose potential measures for improving the quality of online teaching in the future. To collect data that addresses the research questions, a questionnaire consisting of 29 questions was designed and distributed through a web-based platform. A total of 325 responses were gathered, and the data will be analyzed using the statistical software SPSS. Based on the results, it can be concluded that online teaching had become a mainstream education method since the epidemic, although it had some problems, such as poor teaching quality and effectiveness compared to in-person teaching, and sometimes electronic devices or networks may malfunction, or students were easily distracted and distracted. These issues will all affect the quality and efficiency of teaching. Therefore, it is necessary for school teachers and students themselves to make some efforts to further improve the quality and efficiency of online teaching. And this paper analyzed and discussed the problems of online teaching and proposes some corresponding solutions.
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Contents and information publish in the sandbox conference proceedings is the author (s)'s opinion and must be the direct responsibility of the author (s). The Sandbox editorial board has no reponsibility to agree or partly or joinly agree with the publishing contents by the author (s).
Articles, information, contents and pictures presented in this sandbox conference proceedings is copyright. Formal writing to request for reuse is required.


"The One I Love is My Little Sister But She's Not a Little Sister" Debuts in October of 2018
The popular light novel "Ore ga Suki nano wa Imōto dakedo Imōto ja nai" is going to be animated in October of this year.
The original work of "The One I Love is My Little Sister But She's Not a Little Sister"(Ore ga Suki nano wa Imōto dakedo Imōto ja nai) is a light novel series written by Seiji Ebisu and Gintarō. From January 2016 to April 2018, the series published a total of six volumes. In this light novel, the story of the protagonist Yongmi Yu, who is commissioned by her younger sister, will be described as a story after her debut as a famous light novelist.
The director and the character designer was the director of "My First Girlfriend Is a Gal". The production will be completed by NAZ and マギア・ドラグリエ.


THIS THESIS CONSIDERS how the socio-political circumstances in the former Socialistic Federative Republic of Yugoslavia influenced the leisure architecture on the Adriatic coast of SR Montenegro between the 1960s and the 1980s. Wedged between the harsh opposites of communist East and capitalist West, it examines how the development of coastal tourism was integral to the politics of the ‘third way’. Moreover, the thesis aims to examine the role of tourism economically, and as a tool for embracing ideology, national cohesion and modernisation of the socialist society.
It also questions to what extent Yugoslav architects were allowed to design the coast ‘from above’, in line with contemporary world practice, This phenomenon is followed through the analysis of three case studies, showing the shifting architectural discourse that occurred in SR Montenegro. Such development resulted in a symbiosis of the architectural and urban language erected as a product of flirting with the practices coming from the West.
Finally, the analysis of the leisure heritage left by the Socialist Republic of Montenegro provides just a small piece of the puzzle in the wider quest for rebuilding the forgotten patterns of self-identity experienced by this ex-Yugoslav republic.


Researchers were mystified by the boy from Des Moines born without retinas. Strangers and friends were mesmerized by his luminescent, aquamarine eyes. Retina Boy grew up to be a carefree teenager. He played amazing lead guitar in an awesome, classic rock cover band. His girlfriend, Marcy, though unable to walk, was the smartest kid in their school. They were a perfect pair—she was his eyes and he was her legs. Never did Retina Boy imagine he was from another planet, and that he and Marcy would be called upon to save the Earth and an alien world of blind inhabitants on the brink of environmental collapse.
Link to promo video https://www.retinaboy.com/
Available in paperback.
From the Author, Ben Shaberman:
This book is dedicated to all individuals and families with challenging visual impairments. I am especially grateful to those with retinal degenerative diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa, Leber congenital amaurosis, Usher syndrome, Stargardt disease, and age-related macular degeneration. As a writer for the Foundation Fighting Blindness, I've had the privilege of interviewing dozens of people and families impacted by these retinal conditions. While I fully embrace the Foundation's mission to eradicate all retinal degenerative diseases, Retina Boy is an homage to those who persevere and thrive despite having few treatments or cures for their vision loss. Their courage, resourcefulness, and resilience have been incredibly inspiring for me. They are my heroes.
(Ben is the senior director, scientific outreach and community engagement at the Foundation Fighting Blindness.)


What is hazard farm
Hazard Farm is a children's book and app on farm safety that teaches children to stay safe and avoid the dangers on farms.
How much is hazard farm?
Hazard farm is great value at $14.99.
How much is shipping?
Shipping costs only €4.99 to anywhere in the world.
Do I have to download the app?
You do not have to download the hazard farm app. The book on its own is still a fantastic way to teach children about farm safety and is a great read for kids. The app brings the learning to life and we believe it is a great way to help children learn. And it's completely free.
Where can I purchase the Hazard Farm book?
You can purchase the book on the Farmer's Journal website.
Where can I find the app?
You can download the app on the Google Play Store.


Biomek NGeniuS Reaction Vessel, 24 Well, 64/Box
Next Generation Library Preparation
The Biomek NGeniuS Reaction Vessel (RV) serves as a sample input plate, PCR plate and large volume cleanup plate. By combining three consumables into one, we help you reduce labware inventory. The Biomek NGeniuS Reaction Vessel is purpose-built for the Biomek NGeniuS Next Generation Library Prep System. Optional Biomek NGeniuS RV Lid sold separately.
- Conical bottom
- 24 wells
- Well volume 600 µL
- Round well access
- Quantity: 64/box


RELIGIOUS EVENTS IN HISTORY
On March 10, 1681, King Charles II of England grants Quaker William Penn a charter to become the sole proprietor of the colonial American territory now known as the state of Pennsylvania. Penn had proposed a mass emigration of English Quakers to escape hostilities from the Church of England. To help populate the territory, Penn promised religious freedom as well as material advantage. Although Pennsylvania was originally settled by wealthy London Quakers, Penn eventually attracted other persecuted minorities including Huguenots, Mennonites, Amish, Catholics, Lutherans and Jews from England, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Wales. Penn’s charter of liberties guaranteed free and fair trials by jury, freedom of religion, freedom of unjust imprisonment and free elections.
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March 11: Purim (Jewish)
March 17: St. Patrick’s Day (Christian)
March 18: New Year (Hindu)
March 18: Ramayana (Hindu)
March 19: St. Joseph’s Day (Christian)
“The Way of the Warrior: An Ancient Path to Inner Peace” by Erwin Raphael McManus
Erwin Raphael McManus shows that encountering peace does not occur by accident, but rather by artful intention. Warrior is a call to decisiveness, self-examination, and the pursuit of spiritual wholeness. Through the ancient biblical practices of humility, focus, ownership, clarity, strength, and vulnerability, he guides readers to a deeper understanding of their inner workings and provides the guidance they need to establish peace and tranquility in their homes, neighborhoods, communities, and even the world.
Wahhabism: An austere form of Islam dominant in Saudi Arabia and Qatar that follows a strict, literal interpretation of the Quran.
RELIGION AROUND THE WORLD
According to the CIA World Factbook, the religious makeup of Coatia is:
- Roman Catholic: 86.3 percent
- Orthodox: 4.4 percent
- Muslim: 1.5 percent
- Other: 1.5 percent
- Unspecified: 2.5 percent
- Atheist: 3.8 percent
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|Home | World of Heraldry | Attributed Arms | Christian Kings|
Arthur was the legendary King of the Britons and the central figure in many medieval romances (and the first of the Christian worthies described by Caxton). His coat of arms with the Virgin and Child in one quarter (shown here) probably allude to the statement made by the "historian" Geoffrey of Monmouth in his History of the Kings of Britain (written about 1138) that at the Battle of Mount Badon where he was supposed to have repelled the Saxon invaders, Arthur bore "the shield that was named Pridwen, wherein upon the inner side was painted the image of holy Mary, Mother of God." Other coats of arms were also attributed to Arthur including: gules, three crowns in pale or which was sometimes found quartering the arms containing the Virgin Mary.
Charlemagne or Karl der Grosse (as he is known in Germany) became King of the Franks on the death of his father Pepin III in 768. He went on to conquer parts of Italy and Germany, and also fought campaigns in Spain and Hungary. Although the classical Roman Empire had collapsed four hundred years earlier, Charlemagne revived the title of Roman Emperor and was crowned by the Pope in 800. As Roman Emperor and King of the Franks (i.e. France) his attributed arms combined the arms of the old Roman Empire (as attributed to Julius Caesar) and the arms of the Kingdom of France.
Edward the Confessor was not one of the "Christian Worthies", but he was a king of England who reigned between 1042 and 1066. Although generally regarded as a fairly ineffectual monarch, his reputation for saintliness led to his canonisation in 1161, and during much of the Middle Ages he was seen as the patron saint of England (before St. George took over that role). His attributed arms were almost certainly inspired by a design on the reverse of his coinage showing a cross between four doves. A dove also surmounted the sceptre in Edward's seal, so it seems clear that he regarded this bird, a symbol of peace and gentleness, as his special sign. He was responsible for building a church on the site of what was later to become Westminster Abbey, and his arms are found throughout the Abbey, in recognition of this fact. The Confessor's arms were later used by King Richard II of England, who impaled them with the Royal Arms.
Godfrey de Bouillon
Godfrey de Bouillon was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, and was the last of Caxton's Christian worhties. The First Crusade was preached in 1095 and was incredibly successful, achieving its objective of capturing Jerusalem from the Muslims in 1099. Godfrey de Bouillon was elected King of Jerusalem by the other Crusaders that year, but being one of the less self-interested Crusaders, declined the title feeling that it was too great an honour, instead becoming Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri. He died a year later. All these events occured about 30 years before the birth of heraldry proper, and over 100 years before the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem developed fully, but Godfrey was nevertheless attributed the arms of Jerusalem combined with gules, an escarbuncle or.


Join The Next Generation of Cozy Mystery Lovers
In college, for one glorious year, I worked at the library. It was the best job I ever had, and sometimes I regret I didn’t become a librarian. I don’t know how it works where you live, but you can’t just randomly decide to be a librarian here. You must earn a master’s of library science degree, and it’s a kind of long and costly process. Having already studied journalism, the dying industry of print journalism at that, and later getting an MBA, it doesn’t seem prudent to get another master’s degree. Especially considering around here, libraries are constantly at threat of losing funding. Considering the rise of e-books, and people’s tendency to skip libraries and the bookstore, it’s not a prudent step.
Besides, this is my actual job – working to get my own books into those library’s and bookstores, for as long as we can collectively keep the doors open. I’m blessed enough to stay home with my daughter and write; you know, when my tiny toddler tyrant and her dad’s work schedule let me. And yes, that is why this blog doesn’t follow as clear of a schedule as I’d like, but I’m working on it.
Anyway, during that year at the library, in my early 20s, I found a love of cozy mysteries. When you work at the library, they highly encourage reading. Since that was already my jam, it was a bonus. Cozy mysteries were incredibly popular in the small, rural college town in which I lived. I’ll admit, I didn’t wear my cozy mystery badge loud and proud. Most of my comrades were clearly nice older ladies who loved to knit and bake cookies. Granted, I like to do all of those things too, so maybe I’m just a little old lady trapped in a 30-something body. Anyway, I recently I stumbled upon this article by Kate Lansing, exclaiming that Millenials had finally discovered Cozy Mysteries. It was a pretty great day.
I hate to admit to being a Millennial. People have made it seem like a pretty dumb thing to be. But it’s not, and it’s what I am. I’ve grown up mostly around computers. In elementary school, they had us playing Oregon Trail and other weird learning games a couple times a week in the computer lab. My Gen A baby already has a tablet. I don’t accept Mom shaming, thanks. We’re homeschooling/unschooling, so we’re a plethora of crazy over here and don’t need any second opinions about screen time.
In the more than a decade since I discovered cozy mysteries, I have learned to accept my love of them and I’m excited to share that love with you. I hope you consider exploring the genre with one or more of my favorites. While I can’t remember what the first one I read was, I can share some of my favorite’s through the years. And they’re not on the typical list of Agatha Christie and Miss Marple.
My most recent Cozy Mystery find was Destiny Ford’s Kate Saxee series. You can actually find my review of her series on this blog. The first “The Devil Drinks Coffee” is here. The second is here, and the third (and final so far) is here. Kate Saxee is a whip smart investigative journalist in a small Mormon town in Utah. She isn’t Mormon, and it gets her in trouble a lot. An ad for the first book drew me in to this series. It was definitely a title worth investigating.
Another of my more recent finds is Charlaine Harris’s Aurora Teagarden series. I had already read several of Harris’s works, starting with her Sookie Stackhouse series, but that isn’t cozy at all. Aurora is a librarian who is a member of the Real Murders club in her small town. They enjoy talking about actual crime, and when the opportunity strikes, of course Aurora can’t pass up a chance to investigate a real one. This series features ten books. I haven’t heard that she plans to continue it, but the final book hit stands in 2017, so who knows. The series starts appropriately with “Real Murders.” Hallmark has turned several books from the series into movies, casting Candace Cameron-Bure as Aurora, but as with most books, the movies aren’t all that similar.
Another of my favorite cozies is Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swensen Series. The first in the series is “Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder.” If you’re looking for a nice long series to settle into, this is it. With the release of “Triple Chocolate Cheesecake” this month, Fluke boasts 30 books, which include two novellas, 27 full-length novels, and one cookbook featuring a short story and recipes. Each book also contains several recipes. Hallmark also turned these into movies starring Alison Sweeney. Like most books turned to movies, they aren’t very true to form. I’m particularly annoyed by the choice to cast the blonde Sweeney, and leave her hair alone, when the books make a big deal out of Hannah’s red hair. But that’s a whole other rant.
Sue Jaffarian’s Odelia Grey series might be a bit of a special interest one, especially if you’re a Millennial like myself. It might not resonate with you, but I adored them. Odelia, a plus-sized, middle-aged woman who at the start of the series has never married, is a little older than me. But, since I’m personally plus-sized, I could really relate to that aspect of her character. This is very much a case of representation matters for me. Her first book is “Too Big to Miss.” The Odelia Grey series is another somewhat long series. Jaffarian has given us twelve books so far. She actually has some other cozy mystery series, too. I haven’t read them yet. If you beat me to it, let me know how you like them. Her Odelia stories are so good, I can’t imagine they’re anything less than fantastic.
Should You Read Cozies?
So, I’m not a new cozy mystery lover. Before I learned the term cozy mystery, I liked to use the term “accidental detective,” because that’s really what a cozy mystery is. It’s someone who isn’t a detective – a baker, a journalist, a librarian, a legal secretary -sticking their noses where it doesn’t belong. Why do these stories resonate with us? For one thing, they are 100 percent cozy. Sure, they have some minor elements of danger and suspense, but it’s safe and sound. We know the lady is going to wander into a situation she shouldn’t, but we know that it’s going to be tied up in a neat bow at the end.
If you’re a devout feminist, you might not like cozy mysteries. While I was a feminist in the past, I consider myself more of a humanist now. Though, I believe feminism fits into that. Anyway, sometimes these stories focus a little too much on the romance. Love triangles are almost a given. But they’re frequently extremely wholesome. Cozy mysteries are the literary equivalent of a Hallmark mystery. So, if you’re prone to holiday movie binges, then yeah, these are probably for you.
I’m excited for the list of new possibilities that Lansing has given us in her article. And I’m also please to share my love of this genre with you. If you’re interested in more suggestions, hit me up in the comments.
Potential Content Warning: The Destiny Ford series is newer than the other’s listed here, but that doesn’t mean the others aren’t amazing. I’ll admit, it’s been awhile since I’ve read them, so they could have lost some things in translation. As we all know, we all learn things as a culture and realize how things change. So if I forgot something offensive in one of these books, I apologize for the oversight.
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Radio Interview 8/4/2016 with Jefferson Public Radio
New Discoveries on Easter Island
Candace Gossen, Ph.D., is an environmental archaeologist, architect, plant medicine teacher and is in the valley willing to share her research on new discoveries taking place on Easter Island. As she states, this is not a story of collapse but rather one of a strong resilient place called the Navel of the World. Her presentation and a short film on the subject will be shown at the Ashland Branch Library on Thursday, August 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m., 410 Siskiyou Boulevard.
What happened to the trees on Rapa Nui (Easter Island)? Popular theory says these ancient humans cut down their forests, causing ecocide and collapse and leaving a barren island with thousands of stone Moai lying facedown in testament. Newly uncovered evidence is changing the old story into a new one based on survivability, sacredness, adaptation, and hope.
A French-Indian girl from the bayous of Louisiana who loves to dig in the dirt and climb trees, Dr. Candace Gossen has excavated, explored and taught on 6 continents including the last 13 years on Rapa Nui. She discovered an extreme climate event that caused the disappearance of the giant palm forests in 1456 A.D. Previous and simultaneously, she learned Archaeoastronomy, earth and solar architecture from the ancient builders of the Desert SW, raised her son, and was the Climbing Supervisor at REI. Moving to the PNW in 1996, her teachings continued in the form of design/build experiments in the middle of Portland and taught thousands of students to create sustainable solutions. Her other accomplishments include underwater and garbage archaeology, plant medicine woman, Mazama climber, wilderness first aid responder, artist, classically trained musician, Rock n’ Roll lighting designer, Yoga teacher and soccer player. She is also a lover of wolves and nature that finds passion in teaching.
This presentation is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library. For more information, please call 541 774-6996 or visit jcls.org.


--- RECAP ---
Hacking the hustle is something that can't (and shouldn't!) be done alone. And we're thrilled that we have all of you to help us hustle harder and have a blast doing it!
Thank you to everyone that came out yesterday, and extra special thanks to Michelle Jeske for sharing her experience and knowledge. Michelle's journey to becoming Denver's 10th City Librarian is a fascinating one that shows what can be achieved when you follow your strengths, take risks and know when to move on. Michelle offered so many words of wisdom, it may have been hard to capture it all, so here are some highlights:
- Have self awareness (bullet journaling can help), and learn how to quickly shift gears
- Figure out what topics interest and drive you, and go for it
- Identify your innate talents and focus there, rather than trying to improve on your weaknesses
- Have a "major' and a "minor" in your career
- Take risks and pivot - it may be painful, but you'll learn from failure
- Use guiding words, rather than resolutions, to set goals for yourself
- Know when to hold 'em, and know when to fold 'em - moving on is not giving up, figure out when it's right
Michelle also shared loads of resources (many free) to help you hustle:
- Harvard Business Review Blog
- Stanford Innovation Review
- Fast Company
- Books & Digital Magazines
- Denver Organization Development Network
- Derailment Assessment
- DPL Resources
The Denver library is meant to provide people with a creative outlet and community building. EVERYONE is welcome there, so take advantage to improve your career and your life!
You know where else everyone is welcome? Our next event! Mark your calendars for March 15 (location TBD)!
Keep hustling until then!
6 PM - cocktails and convo
7 PM - discussion and Q&A
Michelle Jeske, City Librarian for the Denver Public LIbrary
Tapping into resources offered by the Denver Public Library to help boost your professional development
Denver Women’s March - stick around after the discussion to make a sign for the Denver Women’s March on January 20th
Inclusive event (yes, men committed to the cause are welcome)


2002 – 2022
“Native Cell” is an ongoing project that questions the relationship between languages and the sociopolitical power dynamics within modern societies. Driven by the tension between the need to communicate and the need to hide, a language was created as an act towards decolonizing language and opening new channels and opportunities surrounding identity.
In different chapters of the project, Nish evolved from a written to a spoken language that expands through different artworks and forms. Originally, Nish was born out of necessity as a visual language I created in 2002 to write freely without censorship. After the Egyptian revolution in 2011, Nish became a symbolic and useful rebellion against censorship and cultural colonization, specifically as it relates to the dominance of U.S. culture and English as the lingua franca of the art world.
In 2014, I wrote my first book, an autobiography written in Nish, declaring my power in the presence of my language. In 2018, I performed a 3-minute intervention called “Naznah Musajih,” in which I speak Nish. In 2020, I worked on developing the phonetics of Nish language to be able to present a sound album manipulating the existing languages and presenting Nish in a form an accessible form. In 2021, I created a zine manipulating the visual development of English alphabets in favor of Nish language in an act of reverse colonization.
“Native Cell” moves through different phases and in different places, collaborating with artists around the world, building a dictionary for a language made of artworks that represent a rising culture, including samples of music, films, books, and texts. Collaborative artworks enforce the language. In turn, the language influences the culture and reinforces the language, a cycle of destruction and recreation.
Medrar for contemporary art.
Cairo, Egypt, 2021
“Native cell – Source ” Manipulates the visual development of English language Alphabets on Wikipedia, in favor of “Nish” language and presents the possibility of new lands through painting and photography.
Native cell – Reset
researches the nature of language power relations in cosmopolitan cities.
“Reset” is an album sampling human voice, extracted beats, melodies and ambient sounds from interviews made in different languages. It represents the first attempt to normalize the existence of “Nish” language through intervening in a musical context. The main goal is the reconstruction of existing languages to create a language for a preferred future.
The cite internationale des arts.
Paris, France, 2020
“Native cell – Reset” 2020 focused on studying the underground electronic music movement happening in Paris, exploring the possibility of integrating a new language into the current music movement, and documenting it through a series of photos and videos.
Native cell -Naznah musajih
Free Fair, Art Basel.
Miami, USA, 2018
Native cell – Garble
Nabta Art Center.
Cairo, Egypt, 2014
Symbols created by the “Nish” language alphabet.


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From a young age, we learned from Winnie-the-Pooh: “You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” These and countless other gems can be found in books for children.
Books open up a world of adventure, inspiration and possibility for kids. Not only is reading a great way to help your child develop early language skills and a foundation for school success, it’s a way to teach life’s important lessons.
Books can help teach your kids to believe in themselves and to follow their dreams; that it’s okay to be different and that everything we do matters.
As we begin the new year, take time to read to and with your kids. Here are some books with important life lessons to get started:
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein: This 1964 classic follows a growing boy and his relationship with an apple tree, which gives everything it has to make the boy happy. Even as the boy becomes more self-centered, the tree continues to give unconditionally. The story teaches us about generosity and how our actions affect others.
Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud: This story teaches the importance of being kind and treating others with respect. Using the metaphor of an invisible bucket we all carry around, you can fill buckets by helping others and being kind, while being unkind empties buckets. The lesson is that kindness brings happiness to yourself and others.
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? by Dr. Seuss: This 1973 story offers advice from a wise old man in the Desert of Drize, who says even when we’re feeling down, we should remember how lucky we are. The story points out all the unlucky situations someone could be in. The lesson is to be thankful for what you have and not dwell on the bad.
The Berenstain Bears And The Truth by Stan and Jan Berenstain: The story follows Brother and Sister Bear when they accidentally break Mama's favorite lamp, and their little lie grows bigger until Papa Bear helps them set things right again. The lesson is you feel good about yourself when you tell the truth.
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper: This is a classic story of a little train engine that gets stuck at the bottom of a hill and keeps telling himself “I think I can, I think I can” until eventually he makes it to the top of the hill. The lesson is to believe in yourself and keep trying, to never give up.
The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds: The story features a young girl who tells her teacher she cannot draw. The teacher encourages her to try, “make a mark and see where it takes you.” This starts the girl’s journey to discover her hidden talent. The lesson is to be brave and express yourself; you can do great things.
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak: This is a story of a little boy who was acting up and gets sent to his room. There, his imagination runs wild and he visits a world with no parents and no rules. The boy learns that even though his behavior is wild, he can still come home where he is loved best of all — a lesson of unconditional love.
There are so many great children’s books out there with lessons you can carry with you throughout your life; these are just a few.
So the next time you’re looking for something to do, grab a book and read to your child. Who knows, you may just learn something too!
What are your favorite children’s books? What life lessons do you want to teach your kids? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
Get resources for reading with your kids.
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I teach in the Department of Linguistics and Modern English Language at Lancaster University, UK.
-Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990).
-Words in Ads (London: Arnold, 1994).
-Ad Worlds (London: Arnold, 1999).
-Matters of Opinion: Talking about Public Issues (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
-The Discourse of Blogs and Wikis (London: Bloomsbury, 2010).


No time like spring to dust down those books you have read, share them and get some new ones. I know from personal experience that I tend to hoard books that I never again open when others could benefit from them.
With that in mind we have set up a Congregation Book Club to make it really simple to share and receive books. Some very basic rules:
For those with books to share:
- Tweet about books you would like to pass on with #congbookclub and details of the book.
- First to respond or get their physical address (recommend DM) to you gets the book.
- Post the book.
- Ideally sign with your name or Twitter handle and date so we can see how far it goes.
For those who receive the books:
- Thank the person who posted you the book publicly on Twitter using #congbookclub.
- Read the book as quickly as possible and offer up again on twitter using #congbookclub.
- Karma is central to the success of this book club so if someone posted you a book please post it on to another when you are finished.
- Sign book with name or Twitter handle.
- Treat the book with respect.
- We would love to get your views of the book and would be delighted to post your review on the site.
The aim of this initiative is to keep conversations going about social media and related areas. Everytime I read one of these book I pick up some really great thinking and the pressure to pass on the books means I get through them in a timely manner.
I would love to expand this to an occasional Google+ handout or similar for people to share their thoughts in a virtual book club so let me know if you are interested.
- Check out #congbookclub for books you might be interested in.
- Have a root through your own library for books you would like to share.


Welcome to the Alberni Clayoquot Regional District Agendas & Minutes database. This database highlights the current month's agendas and minutes of the ACRD Board and its two committees. You may also search the database of previous month's minutes of the ACRD Board and its committees by selecting the date where prompted.
Disclaimer: Minutes of meetings available on this web site are provided for information and research purposes only and are not the official versions. In some cases, the minutes posted will not have been officially adopted. The official versions of all minutes are available through the Alberni Clayoquot Regional District Administrative Office.


Dr. Kameny received his PhD from Harvard in astronomy in 1956 for his work on photoelectric light curves of RV Tau and yellow semiregular variables.
The nomination letter contains many more details about Dr. Kameny's biography. Other resources:
- Dr. Kameny's papers have been collected by the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian, and you can browse some highlights at kamenypapers.org
- Washington's Metro Weekly has an insightful interview with Dr. Kameny in which he briefly mentions some of the roles the Society played in his career and life.
- AARP radio has detailed interview with Dr. Kameny worth listening to in full.
- Read a detailed account of Dr. Kameny's groundbreaking petition to the Supreme Court here


Book - The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill
A San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller. This is a true and unique story set in an 'urban wilderness' about Mark Bittner, a transient, and a wild flock of conures (captive escapees and their offspring) who have made San Francisco's Telegraph Hill home for over twenty years. Mark gradually forms a relationship with the entire flock and gets to know them intimately and individually.
I found a certain innocence and naivety to the story. After 30 years of living with parrots it made me stop and look back at just how novice I once was, but at the same time realize that the relationship that Mark formed with these parrots is different and deeper than most any relationship a parrot enthusiasts will ever form with their birds. Mark was blessed with being accepted as one of the flock and given the opportunity to make observations about their instincts and natural behaviors that most of us will never have the pleasure of doing. Paperback. Shipping included in price!! We also have the DVD. Check the Videos & DVDs link.


The uncertainties of a family law matter can lead to great anxiety, fear and distrust of the legal system. For most citizens, a family law matter is their first experience with the judicial system. Offered as a public service, the resources below represent a broad range of ideas, information and opinions. The inclusion of these resources does not imply any endorsement by Hooper & Jacobs LLC.
Grandparents’ Role. Grandparents can have an important role in helping shape their grandchildren’s lives for the better. How much grandparenting is too much? This guide attempts to help grandparents find the line between helping and interfering.
Grandparents’ help to avoid divorce trauma. Suggestions for grandparents who hope to help their grandchildren avoid potential trauma of their parents’ bitter divorce.
A National look at family law matters: www.aaml.org – the website of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an organization of approximately 1600 family law attorneys who are generally recognized by attorneys and judges as preeminent family law practitioners across the country. The online library contains well researched articles on many aspects of family law disputes which are posted by Fellows of the AAML. An excellent example is the pamphlet Stepping Back From Anger (located at http://www.aaml.org/go/library/publications/stepping-back-from-anger) — a valuable guide for protecting children from the emotional trauma of divorce.
International family law information: www.iaml.org – website of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, an international organization of family law attorneys elected as Fellows by their peers through three regional chapters in the US, Canada and Europe. The IAML Law Journal presents thorough examinations of international family law topics.
Psychological/ Psychiatric observations on family law disputes: www.apa.org/topics/divorce/index.aspx – published by the American Psychological Association, this website offers observations and advice from psychological experts on family topics including divorce, relocation, parental alienation, and custody information. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (aacap.org) publishes an informative and instructive ‘Facts for Families’ guide for divorcing parents.
Social Security Questions: http://www.ssa.gov/gethelp/gethelp1.htm. From changing the name on a Social Security card to information on how divorce and/or remarriage effect future retirement benefits, this government website helps with questions and answers about social security and divorce. Form SS-5 – Application for Social Security card and necessarysteps for name change is available online.
Passport Issuance Alert Program: http://travel.state.gov/abduction/prevention/passportissuance/passportissuance_554.html : program allows parents to register their US citizen children under the age of 18 so that if a passport application is submitted for a registered child, the Department contacts the parent or parents. Also alerts appropriate agencies if a parent or guardian objectes to passport issuance.
College bound student concerns: On-line applications can be made at www.ezcollegeapps.com and a common applicaton is possible at www.commonapp.org. For information on financial aid try www.finaid.org/calculators and www.college-scholarships.org An informative and humorous guide to college admissions is available at www.gettingintocollegethe movie.com/
Children’s Air Travel: Information and checklists for children flying unaccompanied, this is a helpful guide for planning summer vacation travel. www.airsafe.com/kidsafe/kidrules.htm


The Story of Ann Richards
September 1, 1933 - Dorothy Ann Willis is born in Lakeview, Texas.
1953 - Ann attends Baylor University on a debate scholarship and marries her high school sweetheart, David Richards. She also begins teaching government and working for political campaigns.
1972 - Richards runs the successful campaign to elect Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued the winning side of Roe v. Wade in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, to the Texas legislature.
1976 - Richards is elected county commissioner.
1980 - Richards seeks treatment for alcoholism through Alcoholics Anonymous and remains sober for the rest of her life.
1983 - Richards is elected Texas State Treasurer.
1988 - As the most effective state treasurer of Texas, she delivers the keynote address at the 1988 Democratic National Convention, which gives her national attention.
1991 - Richards is elected as the 45th Governor of Texas. She is the second female governor of Texas, and the first elected in her own right.
“Today we have a vision of a Texas where opportunity knows no race, no gender, no color — a glimpse of what can happen in government if we simply open the doors and let people in.”
- Ann Richards (Inaugural Address, January 15, 1991)
1991-1995 - As governor, Richards appoints unprecedented numbers of women and minorities to state positions. She also creates the state lottery and improves the prison system. She travels the huge state more than any governor in history, making an effort to have government be visible and accessible to the people of Texas.
1996-2005 - Ann Richards, renowned speaker and advisor, enjoys a unique and expanding international welcome as a citizen of the world and inspiration for boys and girls, men and women. "If I can...you can," was always her unmistakable message.
2004 - By happenstance, Holland Taylor meets the dynamic Ann Richards in NYC through mutual friend, columnist Liz Smith.
September 16, 2006 - Battling esophageal cancer for six months, Ann Richards passes away from complications of the disease. Shocked by her passing, Holland Taylor is inspired to learn more about Richards' life.
2006-2008 - Holland Taylor researches Ann Richards, pouring through hundreds of hours of film, speeches, archive files and interviewing close friends and coworkers of Richards.
2009 - Taylor translates her research into a new play titled Money, Marbles and Chalk: An Affectionate Portrait of Ann Richards (later titled ANN).
2010 - Money, Marbles and Chalk debuts at The Grand 1894 Opera House - Galveston, Texas.
2010 - Newly titled ANN, starring Holland Taylor, plays in San Antonio, Texas at the Charline McCombs Empire Theater.
2011 - ANN plays Galveston again and Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theatre to a raucous, loving hometown crowd.
November 2011 - ANN plays in Chicago to great critical success at the Bank of America Theatre.
December 2011-January 2012 - ANN is presented in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
March 7, 2013 - Revamped ANN opens on Broadway, March 7th at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater.
Photos by Ave Bonar