The Man Who Laughs on DVD:
a review by David Gasten
The Man Who Laughs (Universal, 1928), featuring Conrad Veidt, Mary Philbin, Olga Baclanova, and Cesare Gravina. Directed by Paul Leni. Production supervised by Paul Kohner. Silent film with synchronized Movietone soundtrack. Re-released on DVD and VHS by Kino Video in conjunction with Universal Pictures, October 2003 (110 min.)
UK and Europe:
There are two recent PAL editions that are available on standard definition DVD. One is a Spanish release Region 2 PAL version that appears to be from the same restoration as the Kino edition; the other is a French all-region PAL edition that may be from the domestic US print judging by its length. It is also available to rent or buy in the UK in standard defintion streaming format (also the same restoration as the Kino Video edition) from Amazon.co.uk Instant Video.
Olga Baclanova’s best-known and most-seen performance may be as the trapeze artist Cleopatra in Freaks, but her second-best known role is a far better performance and more representative of her abilities as an actress. That role is as the Duchess Josiana in The Man Who Laughs.
The Man Who Laughs stands as one of the most influential films of the silent era, but until recently this amazing film has only made itself known to the general populace by occasional screenings at film conventions and through the bootleg market due to copyright restrictions. Kino Video rectified this problem by releasing a beautiful new restoration of The Man Who Laughs on DVD in October of 2003 on special arrangement with Universal Pictures and with assistance from the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna, who conducted the restoration of the film using a sparkling 35mm foreign-release print. A year later, Sunrise Silents released a version transferred from a domestic-release print and added beautiful tints and tones. Thanks to the ingenuity of these two companies it is now possible to see the film again, and in two different versions at that.
Loosely based on Victor Hugo’s lesser-known novel L’Homme Qui Rit, Universal’s The Man Who Laughs set the prototype for the legendary Universal Horror films which were soon to follow. Although not itself a true horror film, The Man Who Laughs provided many of the genre’s elements: the bleak, Gothic settings; the creepy lighting techniques; the hard-hitting thrills combined with caricaturish humor; and the twisted, monstrous make-up of the main character. Many of these trademark elements were in turn lifted and developed from the German expressionist films of the early 1920’s, whom the film’s director, Paul Leni, was involved with personally as a director and, more importantly, as a set designer. This alone makes The Man Who Laughs a must-have item for all students and fans of the Universal Horror genre and of old horror films in general.
This original lobby card shows something of the large-scale investment that was put into The Man Who Laughs. The caption on the lower right reads, "As usual Lady Josiana is late for the Queen's reception."
The story opens on a grim note in late 17th Century England, with His Majesty King James II sentencing rebel nobleman Lord Clancharlie to the Iron Lady, a brutal instrument of torture. Lord Clancharlie has come back to look for his young son, only to find that the King’s jester Barkilphedro has sold the boy to the Comprachicos, gypsy surgeons who mutilate young children and sell them as circus freaks. The Comprachicos carved a permanent grin on the boy’s face, so that regardless of what emotion he is feeling, his face is always fixed in a permanent grin, which makes everyone laugh when they see it.
This young boy grows up to be Gwynplaine, a strolling player and clown famous all over England as “The Laughing Man”. At a booking at London’s Southwark Fair, one of the old Comprachico surgeons spots Gwynplaine and, in an attempt at blackmail, leaks to higher sources that this laughing mountebank is the rightful heir to Lord Clancharlie’s estate. The plan backfires, as the English royalty kill the surgeon and arrest Gwynplaine, putting him in prison and then making him a peer in the House of Lords. They then plan to force him into a marriage with Duchess Josiana, the current heir to Lord Clancharlie’s estate, in order that she may continue to hold title to the estate. But Gwynplaine protests the forced marriage and runs away, escaping at the last minute on a ship to Holland with the Queen’s guards in hot pursuit...
About the Film
The Man Who Laughs was the latest in a succession of large-scale costume pictures with grotesque themes, which Universal had struck gold with earlier in the decade. The first of these successes was a filmed version of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, and the second was of Gaston Le Roux’s The Phantom of the Opera in 1925. Both films feature Lon Chaney, Sr. in the grotesque starring role. Universal decided to continue the pattern, choosing The Man Who Laughs, another novel by Victor Hugo, as the subject of their next costume picture with a grotesque theme.
By the time the film was ready for production, Lon Chaney, who had been the starring grotesque for the previous two horror films, had left Universal for a contract with MGM, and was therefore unavailable for the starring role. This problem was quickly solved in German actor Conrad Veidt, whom John Barrymore had brought over from Germany to appear in his United Artists-released costume feature The Beloved Rogue (1927), and who was already under contract with Universal. Although the starring grotesque role in The Man Who Laughs is undeniably Chaney-like, the movie certainly did fine without him, as Conrad Veidt hammers the role home using his eyes and body language alone to express a myriad of emotions that his mouth is unable to express due to the transfixed grin. Universal was so happy with Veidt’s performance that they had already begun considering him for another grotesque role: that of Dracula in the soon-to-be-legendary 1931 film of the same name. But this was not to be, as Veidt returned to Germany in 1929, concerned that his heavy German accent would not qualify him for top roles in American sound films.
The Duchess Josiana (played by Olga Baclanova) vamps Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt) in a still frame from The Man Who Laughs.
Olga Baclanova plays the role of Duchess Josiana, a spoiled, debauched heiress who tries to lure Gwynplaine into a rendezvous until she learns that she must marry him in order to keep her fortune, upon which she immediately throws him away. Conrad Veidt was aware of Olga's international renown and her current availability in Hollywood and specifically requested her for this role. Olga plays the perfect slut in this picture, a woman whose low-minded, self-centered attitude is much more at home in the Mardi Gras-like atmosphere of the Southwark Fair than in the royal courts. She looks ever annoyed and unconcerned with the prim and proper etiquette of Queen Anne’s court, even though she can easily play the game of putting on airs. Her real excitement is in gossiping and partying, in seducing men and being ogled by them, and in watching ruffians tear each other apart over her.
Olga's perceived sluttiness exudes from the picture so strongly that one would not guess the real-life Olga Baclanova to be anything but the hussy she is playing in the picture. One would also suspect that off the set she would not have cared one bit for lead actor Conrad Veidt, judging from the way she heartlessly disposes of him in the picture. And yet Olga revealed quite the opposite sentiment when author John Kobal interviewed her later in her life, telling him, “Conrad Veidt was wonderful. I was crazy about him!” This speaks strongly of what a good actress Olga Baclanova was and could be with the proper direction, as does her similarly convincing performance as a dejected wife who murders her husband in Josef von Sternberg's The Docks of New York (1928), a performance many critics considered to be her finest hour.
Two of the other actors in The Man Who Laughs were alumni from former Universal director Erich von Stroheim’s productions with the company. Although Universal had fired Stroheim five years before for using up too much of the studio’s financial resources for his pictures, the studio kept some of the actors that he had brought to the studio, including Mary Philbin and Cesare Gravina. Mary Philbin had successfully played Agnes Urban in Stroheim’s production The Merry-Go-Round (1923) and the opera singer Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, and was therefore an obvious choice for the sympathetic role of Dea, the beautiful blind girl who performs in Gwynplaine’s show and who loves Gwynplaine regardless of his grotesque appearance. Italian-born Cesare Gravina plays Ursus, the writer and philosopher who manages Gwynplaine’s show and plays adopted father to both Gwynplaine and Dea. Gravina had played minor roles in The Merry-Go-Round and The Phantom of the Opera, as well as in Stroheim’s Foolish Wives (1921), but graduates here to a stronger supporting role.
Mary Philbin plays Dea, the beautiful blind girl who loves Gwynplaine despite his disfigured face.
But it was the people behind the scenes who would add the elements that would make The Man Who Laughs the influential picture that it is today. As mentioned earlier, Paul Leni had worked as a set designer and director in German expressionist films such as Backstairs (1921) and Waxworks (1924). When Universal brought him to America, he used the new and different American way of making pictures to his advantage, developing a marked style that combined elements of dark atmosphere, horror and humor, a pattern Universal would continue to use for many horror films to come. And beginning with The Man Who Laughs, Universal brought on make-up artist Jack Pierce, who created Gwynplaine’s death’s-dead grin. Pierce would forever leave his fingerprints on the Universal Horror genre by creating the make-up for most of the key Universal grotesques, including Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, and many, many more.
Universal began pre-production on The Man Who Laughs in May of 1927, and was well into the production of the film when an unforeseen event took place: Warner Bros.' The Jazz Singer, a part-talking film, became a tremendous overnight success in October of that year and began a rush of interest in talking pictures. When The Man Who Laughs premiered in New York on April 27, 1928, the interest in talking pictures was becoming insatiable. Universal did not want to lose their considerable investment in The Man Who Laughs, so they went to work creating a Movietone soundtrack for the film. After its New York premiere, the film received a limited first run as a roadshow attraction before its general release in July 6 as a silent film. It was then re-released with its completed soundtrack on November 4, 1928. Critical response was mostly favorable, and the film made a handsome profit for Universal.
About the Restored Kino Edition
The Kino restoration of this picture is taken largely from a 35mm foreign release print from Milan, which is supplemented by a 16mm print from London. The use of this original 35mm print has resulted in a viewing experience that can be called nothing less than a revelation for those used to watching the movie from 16mm source material, which all domestic versions of the film derive from.
A short video presentation called “About the Restoration”, found amongst the extras on the DVD, reveals to a small degree the difficulty the restorers had in marrying the restored foreign-release print to the original Movietone soundtrack (which was impeccably restored and provided by Universal Studios). To save money on tariffs and overseas shipping, the studio would cut two negatives, one for the domestic market and one to be shipped overseas. The foreign negative would then be duplicated overseas and appropriately distributed. The domestic and foreign negatives would have the same cutting continuity, but would use different shots and different takes, winding up with slightly different editing rhythms. In restoring the film and preparing for its DVD release, the better-condition foreign print had to be conformed to the domestic soundtrack, which required nips and tucks and the occasional necessity of referring back to a 16mm domestic print to achieve the appropriate effect. Sometimes this is not a noticeable problem at all, but sometimes it does bring some jumps into the continuity of the picture.
For the long shots, the cameramen photographed the same action with two separate cameras. Therefore, the action looks the same in the two prints, except that they are from two slightly different camera angles. Most of the time, the two cameras would be side by side. But in a few of the medium shots, the cameras would be up and down from each other. The most noticeable of the latter type is at the beginning of Chapter Twelve, “The Show Must Go On”. Dea is seated and staring off into space. Ursus comes in, and after a long deliberation, Dea says, “It must be time for the performance.” In the foreign release, the shot is taken from the ceiling, looking down on the subjects. But in the domestic release, the shot is taken from the waist level, looking slightly up at the subjects, even though the action is completely the same.
The Duchess Josiana, fresh from her bath, receives the blackmail letter from the Comprachico surgeon, delivered in person by the court jester. The bathing scene, though modest, is a little less modest in the foreign release version.
In the close-up shots and some of the medium shots, separate takes are shot and used for each negative. Here, the shot sequence is exactly the same, but the content of the shots is obviously different. Sometimes the shots are so similar they are difficult to tell apart, but at other times there is a noticeable difference between the two. As one compares the domestic and foreign prints, it becomes obvious that the better and more fluid takes were kept for the domestic negative, and the second-best takes were used for the foreign release. This results in a slightly jumpy editing continuity for the foreign release, with moments of brilliance amongst moments that don’t work quite as well. Sometimes this even results in a completely different set of emotions being conveyed in the action. For instance, when Gwynplaine sneaks out at night to see the Duchess Josiana, Dea looks more suspicious, at one point slowly turning her head like a live mannequin when she hears the rustling of Gwynplaine leaving the van. In the domestic release, she hears the noise, but does not seem to suspect anything. Both are good, but this sequence in the foreign release comes across in a creepier and more suspenseful manner, but with a less fluid continuity, whereas the sequence in the domestic release is much cuter, uses Mary Philbin’s personality to better effect, and flows effortlessly.
Throughout the picture, Mary Philbin’s facial expressions tend to be more deadpan in the foreign release, but more full and expressive in the domestic. It’s quite possible that this was a calculated move, as Philbin received top billing in the domestic release, but Veidt received top billing in the foreign release. American audiences would expect a more vibrant personality for their star, while as a leading lady in Europe, Philbin would be expected to support Veidt.
Despite the long hours and hard work must have went into preparing this restored version, there are a several places where this restored version misses the mark altogether. The most conspicuous is the absence of a key shot in the boudoir scene in Chapter Ten, "A Private Audience". The original shot in the domestic release is a long, lingering shot of a lingerie-clad Josiana sprawled on her bed, which pans all the way down her body, stopping at her exposed legs for an elongated gaze. The Sunrise Silents version has this shot, and the same shot can also be seen on Kevin Brownlow’s TV documentary Universal Horror, which has been shown on Turner Classic Movies. But the corresponding shot in the Kino edition of the DVD begins with a close-up of Olga’s face, and then stops when the camera is only beginning to pan downward. Unfortunately, we lose some of the effect of Gwynplaine’s surprise and shock at seeing a ready-and-willing Josiana laid out before him, which this one shot single-handedly drives home. Another fouled-up shot occurs at the Southwark Fair, where a clown jumps in place and runs toward the camera with a Gwynplaine flyer. The original effect in the domestic release (which again, the Sunrise Silent version has) was for this to be one continuous shot, with the clown running toward the camera with the flyer and holding it there in front of the camera. But in this release, the clown almost gets to the camera when the film cuts to a shot taken from later in the film where hands are taking copies of the flyer, again missing the intended effect. But these are only minor flaws in a DVD release that is overall a vast improvement on every bootleg copy of this film that has been available up to this time.
Another original lobby card. The caption reads, "What's the news today - - Prince of Scandalmongers?" The DVD release of The Man Who Laughs contains a gallery of similar promotional material from around the world to browse through.
One painfully noticeable mastering flaw is the presence of numerous fine hairs wriggling at the bottom of the screen for nearly twenty minutes toward the end of the picture. One hair getting through is unsightly enough (David Shepherd’s Film Preservation Associates prints are notorious for this), but here it looks like they poured Miracle-Gro at the bottom of the screen! Apparently this mistake was made in the labs in Italy and Kino could do nothing about it, but it looks awful and should be fixed for future pressings.
The extras are plentiful and will give you plenty to look at after you’ve finished watching the picture. The crown jewel of these extras is a three-minute excerpt from the German documentary film Die Filmstadt Hollywood, which features a number of German stars and other foreign stars who were in Hollywood around the time The Man Who Laughs was released, including Conrad Veidt with his wife Felicitas and baby girl Viola, Greta Garbo, Camilla Horn, Dolores del Rio, and Emil Jannings with his wife Gussy (who, interestingly enough, was also Conrad Veidt’s ex-wife!). Also included is a documentary about the film, and an excerpt of the unedited Italian release print used for the restoration, which features some beautiful (and somewhat expressionistic) illustrated Italian-language title cards. It’s too bad that a full release of this Italian version is not yet available!
The rest of the extras on the Kino Edition will add some reading and browsing pleasure that will give you a little more insight into the film and the promotion surrounding it. A twenty-minute documentary offers many facts on the production of the film, and the booklet essay “An Introduction” features more facts not covered by the documentary. An excerpt from the end of the original novel by Victor Hugo reveals a sad ending to the story that is quite different from the happy ending in the film. The short video presentation “About the Restoration” briefly discusses the restoration of the film and gives a visual comparison of the different camera angles in the foreign release and the domestic release. This presentation also shows a visual comparison of Olga Baclanova’s nude bathing scene in the two versions. This bathing scene, although brief and quite modest, is not quite as modest in the foreign release, as the foreign release (and also the Kino version of the film) leaves in a few glimpses of nudity that the domestic release completely conceals. There is also a gallery of photographs from the film, including make-up tests, production photos, and a couple of stills from deleted scenes, as well as a gallery of promotional material and memorabilia connected to the film from seven different countries and in five different languages. These extras are well chosen and will definitely give depth and breadth to the viewing experience.
You will want to see The Man Who Laughs if you enjoy great silent films, if you are a fan of the Universal Horror genre, or just want to be thoroughly seduced by Olga Baclanova. This Kino Video edition has unfortunately gone out of print and has become hard to find; however, it is still available to rent on Netflix in the USA. Also check your local library for a copy, or ask for it on inter-library loan.


La Leche League of Miami-Dade County Library Collection
Miami-Dade county has two area libraries, one based in Kendall and the other in South Central Miami/Coral Gables.
South Central Miami/Coral Gables
Since only a few books are available at meetings, members can request a book to check out from either library by emailing librarian@LLLMiamiDade.org The book you request will be made available to you at the next meeting you attend.
Click the links below to see a list of all of our books


From all of my reading, here are the top 5 business memoirs to read. I agree with the saying that you are the average of your five closest friends – and if you do enough reading, the characters in the books you read begin to feel like friends. When you’re a business geek, that means you might end up feeling like you are friends with Warren Buffett or Bill Gates. A little anecdote for you: a few months ago, I had a dream that Buffett and Gates were teaching me how to play bridge, the card game. This was when I knew that I had passed the point of no return.
Here is a look at my favorite 5 business memoirs to read. May these people become friends of yours, as well.
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder
Apart from this book being first, none of the books on this list are in any order. At age 18, this almost 1,000-page book on securities investing held my full attention. The Snowball tells the story of Warren Buffett, from early childhood, with a unique amount of detail, as Schroeder was approached by Buffett to author his biography. Buffett’s story demonstrates the importance of doing the reading, the research, and asking the right questions. This book functions as a strong introduction to value investing from none other than the man who has exemplified the power of compound interest.
Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance
If you think you know Elon Musk from following his popular tweets, there is a lot to him you are missing. Vance’s book details Musk’s early life in South Africa and the process of Musk’s founding of PayPal, followed by SpaceX and Tesla. The lesson to be learned from Musk is that if ambition is accompanied by hard work, then there is no ceiling on what a person can achieve.
Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business by Barbara Corcoran
Many know Barbara Corcoran as the beloved Shark Tank investor, but her book sheds light on the success that placed her in the ranks to join the show. Shark Tales is a memoir of Corcoran’s journey to build a real estate empire in New York City. Written by herself, the book displays Corcoran’s battle with self-confidence, constantly striving to show the men she worked alongside that she was capable – and show that, she did. (Quick tip: listen to the audiobook version of this. Barbara, herself, reads it!)
Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE by Phil Knight
Shoe Dog records the history of NIKE, a story of vision and determination. NIKE’s founder, Phil Knight, experienced obstacle after obstacle during the birth of his business, from lengthy lawsuits to manufacturing complications, always pushing through. Knight’s example as a successful entrepreneur illustrates the value of tenacity and problem-solving when launching and maintaining a growing business.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin by Benjamin Franklin
A short read on the life and thoughts of Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography positions this Founding Father as a surprisingly approachable inventor, intellectual, and entrepreneur. Franklin’s list of thirteen virtues of which he sought to improve upon in himself show a man with extreme self-awareness and an affinity for self-growth.
That wraps up my list of 5 business memoirs to read. So tell me, what should I read next?
LAStartups.com is a digital lifestyle publication that covers the culture of startups and technology companies in Los Angeles. It is the go-to site for people who want to keep up with what matters in Los Angeles’ tech and startups from those who know the city best.


Curse of the Crimson Throne
The seven quahs (clans) of the Shoanti roam the harshest environments of Varisia, from the Cinderlands to the Calphiak Mountains and from the Curchain Hills to the Storval Plateau. Known for their warlike nature and proud traditions, the Shoanti claim all of Varisia as their own, although they have been forced to cede its southern lands to waves of Chelish conquest. A disparate people, bound together by honor and tradition, the Shoanti share a history steeped in conflict, from their brutally heroic legends to the defeats of the recent past and the harshness of their modern lives. Shaped by strife, the Shoanti are stalwart, tenacious, and suspicious people, oath-sworn to regain all that was once theirs and honor-bound to avenge themselves against all schemers who would dare call them barbarians. The essence of “Shoanti” is more of a set of warrior traditions than it is a true racial group. While by and large most Shoanti are humans, some quahs have adopted foreigners and exiles from other races. Among individual, open-minded tribes, those who demonstrate that they share Shoanti ideals and face the trials of their adoptive quah find themselves welcomed after a measure of persistence. As such, a small number of dwarves, halfelves, and non-native humans on occasion live among the Shoanti. Indeed, in many ways, demihumans have a much easier time overcoming the Shoanti’s ingrained mistrust of outsiders than Chelaxians.
Shoanti possess widely varying skin tones, reflecting the broad diversity of their ancestry from the time of the Azghat, the cruel gods their lore claims carried them to the Storval region in the time before time. Regardless of pigmentation, almost all Shoanti are vigorous, with powerful builds. Most adult males are more than 6 feet in height and adult females are only slightly shorter. Hair is considered a dangerous weakness in hand-to-hand combat, and both men and women typically shave their heads, save for shamans or the elderly. This practice is more pronounced among the eastern tribes, who are typically born with straight hair, and less so amongst the westernmost Shadde-Quah. Some young Shoanti men and women forgo this practice as a sign that they are not bound to another and seek a companion. Their culture besieged, their world changing, the Shoanti fiercely struggle to hold onto the traditions of their people and fight against a world seemingly intent on their destruction. Yet, having survived against the giants of the Kodar Mountains, the predators of the wastes, drought, starvation, and lands that burn for centuries, the people of the Storval Plateau alone will decide when their time is at an end—and that time is not now.
Lyrune-Quah (The Moon Clan)
Known to be expert bowmen and hunters, the swift-footed and keen-eyed warriors of the Lyrune-Quah hunt by dusk and travel by the light of the bright Storval moon. The Clan of the Moon embraces wisdom as much as strength, knowing that one arrow loosed from a precisely aimed bow can fell a giant more effectively than a band of wildly swinging brawlers.
The Moon Clan’s true traditional rivals are the Sun Clan, and centuries ago the two quahs fought bitterly to establish the borders of their respective territories. The two quahs are far more alike than each cares to admit, though, and each quah respects the martial prowess of the other. Now that both have become irrevocably invested in battling their own separate wars with outsiders, they are far more frequently riding to each other’s aid as allies than as enemies. Warriors of the two quahs value nothing more than bragging rights gained by helping members of the other quah out of a tough scrape.
Territory: The Clan of the Moon traverses the open lands east of the Wyvern Mountains, ranging between the Kazaron River and the Yondabakari River.
Sklar-Quah (The Sun Clan)
More so than any other clan in recent memory, the Sklar-Quah find themselves embattled by their foes. Since its retreat over the Storval Rise from southern Varisia, the Sun Clan has found itself in a vise between orc marauders from the Hold of Belkzen and foreign invaders. The Sklar- Quah now acts as an unwitting buffer, protecting its two enemies from one another, a reality that has cost the blood of countless sons and daughters.
Sun Clan youth are taught to hate tshamek (non-Shoanti) at an early age. Their day-to-day prejudice is viewed as a necessary component of their well-honed survival instincts. Indeed, the xenophobia is clan-deep; the Sklar- Quah’s shamans are the most warlike among the shaman of any quah.
Many Sklar-Quah warriors aspire to join the ranks of the Sklar-Quah’s famed burn riders, their elite mounted cavalry who are able to coax their horses to race through the flames and wildfires of the Cinderlands. Burn riders frequently shave much more than just their heads to protect themselves from the flames, and tend to wear minimal armor and clothing.
The quah’s oral history claims that its ancestors once inhabited the fertile lands east of the Fenwall Mountains, and honored their totems from a sacred site upon a massive pyramid (now the site of the city-state of Korvosa) but that they were driven into the Cinderlands by Chelish colonists after decades of battle (see Pathfinder Chronicles: Guide to Korvosa).
Territory: The warlike Clan of the Sun inhabits the eastern and central reaches of the Cinderlands, both south of the Kazaron River as well as the plains south and east of the Yondabakari River.
Skoan-Quah (The Skull Clan)
All six of the other quahs still shudder on occasion when they deal with the enigmatic Skull Clan and its impenetrable skull shamans. Warriors of the Skoan-Quah cake their bodies with a mixture of mud and ash, making their skin smoky white. This ritual is said to give them protection against the walking dead, whom they are sworn to destroy.
The Skull Clan is zealous in its protection and honoring of the dead. Many Skull Clan tribes sojourn far to consecrate the burial sites of their fellow Shoanti. This service is grudgingly appreciated by the other clans, who respect the power of the Skull Clan and their totems, even if their morbid shamans quietly unnerve them. The most honored dead of each tribe are entrusted into the Skull Clan’s care, leaving the guardians of the dead to transport such heroes to the Shoanti’s most honored burial grounds—the Kallow Mounds to the east and the Life Falls to the west. The Skoan- Quah also shoulders the duty of acting as the historians of the Shoanti as a whole. In this way, the memories of many Shoanti live on with the Skoan-Quah, long after their own quah might have forgotten.
Territory: The Skull Clan keeps to the ancestral burial lands of their people, primarily surrounding the Kallow Mounds of the southeastern Cinderlands and the Life Falls northeast of the Stony Mountains.
Shundar-Quah (The Spire Clan)
The Shundar-Quah see themselves as the diplomats and storytellers of the Shoanti people, smoothing tensions between the various clans. Their tribes travel far and continually remind the other quahs that every clan is first and foremost Shoanti, and that brotherhood and bringing honor to their people must be the ambition of every warrior.
Members of the Shundar-Quah hold the monolith wonder Spindlehorn sacred. Once a decade, the shamans of the Shundar-Quah perform a pilgrimage to the shadow of Spindlehorn, on the eastern shore of the Storval Deep. There, they commune with their totems, share what they have learned, and discuss matters that concern their quah and all others.
Because the Shundar-Quah see the welfare of all Shoanti as their sacred trust, by necessity they must also have an interest in each clan’s warfare. Whenever a quah loses ground to a significant foe, it is the Spire Clan that is first to bring offers of reinforcements. To this end, Spire Clan braves train to duplicate the tactics of their fellow quahs so that they can swell their brethren’s ranks as seamlessly as possible.
Territory: To this day, the Clan of the Spire wanders across the northern Storval Plateau, ever seeking to unite the Shoanti tribes into a single people. They fend for themselves in the custom of the local Shoanti tribes in whose territory they wander.


"The Pink Locker Society is a warm, funny story about four friends who get pulled into an adventure, and it's also a book chock full of information that will empower and inform middle grades girls. When the time comes, I'll certainly give my daughter a copy!"
Marisa de los Santos, author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me
"The Pink Locker Society is a bright, encouraging and informative story for girls navigating through those difficult middle school years, and trying to make sense of all the changes they're going through. Debra Moffitt has created a world with good friends, a secret society, real problems, practical solutions, and a little bit of magic.
The Pink Locker Society will make kids feel less alone and help parents answer the tough questions. As a mother, I heartily recommend this excellent book and website to girls and parents alike."
Beth Harbison, author of Shoe Addicts Anonymous, a New York Times bestseller
"This book rocks! Picture this...an empowered group of middle-school girls help their friends by giving age-appropriate and pertinent information about growing up, growing bodies and growing healthy relationships. Debra Moffitt has done just this by magically weaving a powerful message between the lines of an exciting and mysterious story.
The Pink Locker Society tells girls they are most beautiful when they are their authentic, natural and real selves. I am thrilled to share this book with my own daughter...a valuable tool to excite and encourage her to celebrate her body, her voice and her power."
Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run, a national program that uses running to teach preteen girls about healthy lifestyles and self-respect
"This book presented great advice and different points of view on friendship, school, and other hard subjects. The plot was priceless and interesting, and I was up all hours of the night trying to finish this must-read book."


Call me Ishmael, outward bound seeking the White Whale with Queequeg and Ahab.
An exotic dream. For this tale, better call me Bozo.
My first cook book probably looked like anyone over fifty would imagine, more elementary school primer than library quality. Neutral blocks of color with dark backgrounds and basic concepts of kitchen and appliances. Primitive illustrations with caricatures of mid-20th century housewives in gingham aprons and flouncy skirts, bouffants and pearls surrounded by an immaculate kitchen and empty oven, a bake pan and canisters of flour and sugar beside flats of butter. A measuring cup and spoons laying on the counter to the side. The cover of the cookbook was flimsy cardboard with a foil binding, the kind of book only one in a million buyers might find worthy of inspection much less purchase in a consignment shop where it mingled with more assorted useless items than anything of true collectible value.
My child’s cookbook contained recipes simple enough for anyone who had never cooked or baked from a cookbook, including me, an eight year old boy. At least that was the theory.
The recipe for brownies in the old cookbook was one that my mother had used. I am sure she had better options so I do not know why she chose the recipe in that specific book. Perhaps simplicity for her little boy. When I decided I wanted to experiment with cooking, naturally I wanted something sweet, and I didn’t mean a sweet potato casserole topped with those infernal marshmallows. Mother handed me the cookbook and turned to the page with the recipe for brownies. She read the ingredients to me and helped retrieve the square baking pan, mixing bowl, measuring cup, measuring spoons and large mixing spoon. I assured her I knew where to find the ingredients in various cupboards and the pantry, so she left me on my own, alone in the kitchen with a preheating oven and enough counter space to create an explosive disaster of flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate chips, and melted butter.
I rested the cookbook on the counter open to the brownie recipe and began to collect ingredients in the mixing bowl. When it came time for the vanilla, I plucked the small bottle from the cabinet and poured the vanilla into a measuring cup, but the bottle did not have as much remaining as the recipe called for. I called to Mother in the family room asking if she had any more vanilla and where it was. “I’m sorry Son, I didn’t think I had so little vanilla left. There’s more in the pantry, on the left side.” I found the new bottle, topped up the measuring cup and added the vanilla to the mixing bowl.
[At this point, cooks or readers paying attention may see a problem with my baking technique or my writing. Can you guess which it is?]
With all the ingredients properly mixed in the bowl, I buttered the baking pan and poured in the dough. Thick, wet, and brown, the dough conjured visions of something I would never eat, but I reminded myself of the sweetly satisfying sensation of warm brownies, slid the pan into the oven and set the timer. I did not even pretend to clean up the mess I had made, didn’t even bother to put the bowl or other mixing implements into the sink to soak. I just focused on the baking brownies, watching and waiting for them to be ready to eat. The clock ticked off minutes, and I watched the pan as the brownies sagged and darkened.
When the alarm on the clock buzzed to indicate that I had baked the brownies for the requisite amount of time, I called to Mother, “They’re ready!” She appeared and suggested that we check them by sticking a toothpick into the dough, which she did.
“Why do you do that?” I asked.
“It tells us if the dough is baked properly all the way through.” Pulling the toothpick out, she noted wet dough sticking to it which meant that the brownies needed more bake time. She pushed the pan back into the oven and set the clock for five more minutes.
Eager to taste the dessert of my labor, I stared into the oven more intently, willing the brownies to finish baking. After an hour (I might have been impatient), the five minute alarm buzzed, and Mother pulled the brownies from the oven again. She drew another toothpick from the box of toothpicks and stabbed the dough. And again it came up wet, not fully cooked.
“That’s odd,” she declared. With her forefinger she tested the top of the brownies and found the entire pan was filled with not-yet-fully-baked dough. “Hmm. The dough should not still be this raw. Are you sure you followed the recipe?”
“Yes, Of course, it was easy.” I picked up the cookbook and reviewed the ingredients verbally. “Two cups all purpose flour, cup and a half sugar, cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, cup of vanilla....”
“What?!” Mother exclaimed. “How much vanilla?”
“A cup, just like it says.” I looked at the cookbook again and saw that it listed a “tsp.” of vanilla, not a “C”. “Oh. Oops.” Chagrin pulsed through me, leaving me weak with disappointment and folly.
Mother replied with a smile, “I thought I had enough vanilla left in the small bottle. I should have checked when you said you ran out of vanilla.”
“Well, the brownies smell fine, so I’ll eat them as they are.”
Mother attempted to cut a square from the baking pan, but it collapsed into a soggy mound of mushy crumbs. I tasted a spoonful, and the vanilla had saturated the dough to the point of nausea.
“On second thought, I think I’ll pass. Maybe Julie (my three year old sister) will eat them. Julie,” I called, “Brownies.”
Despite knowing better, Mother simply replied, “Yes, maybe.” She was too kind to tempt her little girl.


This page contains affiliate links.
The great state of Texas boasts many proud but curious traditions and trivia and, this third volume of my "Amazing America" series enumerates fascinating facts, entertaining tales, bizarre happenings, and historical oddities that give the Lone Star State its intriguing and distinctive character. Native Texans, history enthusiasts, curious travelers, and armchair aficionados of
Texas lore will be delighted by the unusual aspects and sometimes-obscure details celebrated
in these pages. Specific locations and visitor information make this a useful guide to further
explore the history, folklore, and folkways of this vast and diverse state, and I've even thrown in some favorite recipes from some of my favorite Texans.
Governor Rick Perry liked this book so much, he wrote the back-cover copy. PUBLISHERS PLEASE NOTE: The third in my "Lacey's Amazing America" series, AMAZING TEXAS was originally published in 2008. It was well-reviewed in such publications as Southern Living and Texas Tripper, but in 2011 my financially-beleagured publisher was obliged to revert ALL rights back to me. All THREE "Amazing" books are for sale again--plus I'm working on AMAZING ALABAMA. Please contact me ASAP indicating your interest.
The following is an interview with travel journalist Paris Permenter of the Texas Tripper site.
She's kindly given me permission to reprint it here:
What can you tell us about the writing of Amazing Texas? What inspired you to add Texas to your Amazing America series?
I love the series I began some years ago, and Texas just seemed a natural for the next in the series. To be more specific, though, Texas as a state has a culture all its own. Visitors from all over the globe are touched by their visit to Texas, and seem to take a bit of the Lone Star State with them when they leave. There was so much to write about Texas--so many fascinating stories and historical tales, my problem was when to STOP! Finally, half my growing-up years were in Texas--I attended Belle Aire Elementary School in San Antonio--so I developed a love for Texas early on.
There are a lot of bizarre things in Texas--but what one especially stands out in your mind as a really unique and bizarre sight?
The lights in Marfa would be one, but my early years were colored with beautiful and fascinating adventures, like fishing in Galveston and camping in the Big Bend area. I grew up hearing stories of Judge Roy Bean and some of our family, Cynthia Ann Parker and Bonnie Parker (of Bonnie-and-Clyde), so these were starting places for me.
Also, I'd like to stress here that my "Amazing America" series isn't about merely the bizarre--you'll find no story of a two-headed cow. My books are what I like to refer to as "Tourable History." You can read about where something interesting happened, then go visit the site, since I also tell you what's there now.
I also like to capture the fascination of a culture--as a state, Texas has a charm like no other.
As you researched Amazing Texas, what was your biggest challenge?
Texas has such a unique history--that, and its SIZE! I was daunted by both! (But, since I WAS half-raised in the Lone-Star State, like every other person from Texas I took up the challenge like any proper Texan).
In talking to Texans and travelers very familiar with Texas, what facts that you uncovered in the writing of this book seemed especially surprising to them?
My editor was surprised by quite a few facts and tales as she read the book. Raised in Texas herself, and a Texas history buff, I think she was surprised to learn quite a few things she didn't know before.
A lot of Texans I spoke with were surprised to learn about stories of vast amounts of buried treasure in Texas. Others were surprised by the famous football player who donated an organ to another player so he could live a fuller life.
The stories that touched me personally were of disasters and how Texans coped with them. The Texas City explosion made world headlines, and decades later, the people of Houston helped reunite Hurricane Katrina refugees with their pets. The people of Texas have hearts as big as their state.
Amazing Texas sounds like a great armchair travel book for readers who might be watching the gas budget these days. What other readers will especially enjoy this guide?
Anyone who loves trivia would enjoy it, as I have created some little games within chapters, and have thrown in some Q&A for those who love quizzes. Chapters include those on the paranormal, the Civil War, prehistory, flora and fauna (as well as natural phenomenon), sports, etc. One of my favorite chapters, though, is on culture--in here, I have recipes indigenous to Texas, such as some great recipes for cooking cactus. My godmother gave me a few authentic recipes, and a friend from San Antonio gave me a great recipe for tamales. Southern Living hailed a previous Amazing America release as a gem. I think Amazing Texas will be a diamond.
First released in Fall of 2003, this book was re-released by another publisher in 2008 as part of my "Amazing America" series. Released in Spring of 2008, this is the second in the series. Written in the same style as AMAZING TENNESSEE, this book is full of anecdotes, short stories, Q&A, trivia games, and even recipes that are a reflection of the Tar Heel State. PUBLISHERS PLEASE NOTE: THIS SERIES IS FOR SALE. All of the "Amazing" books (3 plus one in the works--AMAZING ALABAMA--are available as a package deal, as my financially-beleagured pubilsher has reverted all rights back to me. Please CONTACT ME with your interest.
The people of North Carolina are so warm and welcoming. If you've never visited the state, it's so wonderful you may as well go ahead and pack up your house, because you'll either stay longer than you planned, or want to move there.
This book has a variety of great stories, from ghosts to golf, sports to war, politics to drama, and a chapter on lighthouse tales--my personal favorite. Like AMAZING TN, the book is indexed, full of photos, and with a section in the back for Internet users entitled "Virtual North Carolina."
This book has sold more than 13,000 copies since its initial release in 2003.
Here is a partial description of some chapters:
Chapter 1. THE TRULY BIZARRE, THE CURIOUS AND THE NOTORIOUS
The Unsolved Murder of Beautiful Nell Cropsey * “Just Hanging Around” in the Caswell County Jail * The Devil’s Tramping Ground * The Mysterious Origins of Judaculla Rock* Now You Can Feel Secure from Alien Abduction: the Alien Abduction Detector * Bath and the Mysterious Hoof-Prints * Pardoning the Legend: Tom Dooley * The Ghost-Ship of the “Graveyard of the Atlantic” * The Original Siamese Twins—in Mt. Airy! * Before Viagra, There Was “Goat-Gland Binkley” * One Hair-Raising Venture * The Haunting of the Double-Wides in Chapel Hill * Bald-Headed Men of America Society in Morehead City * Dolly Death-Chairs in Charlotte * The Haunting of the Executive Mansion * The Story of Blackbeard the Pirate *
CHAPTER 2. POLITICAL, MILITARY, AND TRANSPORTATION TALES
Abraham Lincoln: A Tar Heel by Birth! * The Vice-President Who Never Was! * Before They Even Had Chads to Count! * The Story of the Revolution in Greensboro * Fifty-one (or Two?) for Tea: The Story of the Edenton Tea Party * Hail to the (Vertically-Challenged) Chief! * Doctor Richard J. Gatling and His “Life-Saving” Gun * America’s Smallest Town * When a Tar Heel Saved George Washington * The Tale of the Overmountain Men * Losing the Battle, Winning the War: The Battle of Guilford Courthouse * The Capital of Raleigh and Cherry Bounce (with recipe) * The
Story Behind the Bricks Surrounding the Executive Mansion * The Story of the Illiterate Tailor * Infamous Misadventures of “Nolichucky Jack” * One “Ferry” Tale * The Battle Against Mother Nature for Mattamuskeet Lake * Senator Jesse Helms’ Secret for Longevity? * The Story of the Comeback Train (and another railroad tale) * The War That Built a Dam * The Story of Warping, Rudders and Mosquitoes * How Technology Changed the Historical Accounts of the ‘First Flight’ * The Story of the Bumble Bee * Operation Bumble Bee * The Man Who Transformed Commercial Transportation * Wagons, Ho! The Story Behind Cherohala Skyway * The Road to Nowhere in Bryson City * Two ‘Rights’ and a Wrong Choice: Henry Clay’s Famous Letter * The Paul Revere of the South: Captain James Jack * Why the Name ‘Tar Heel’? *
CHAPTER 3. BEFORE “THE” WAR
An Accident Leads to an Invention: The Story of Sequoyah * The Old-Name Game * Town Names, Now and Then * Strange Town Names in North Carolina * A Tragic Page in History: The Trail of Tears * Some Early Settlers *
CHAPTER 4. FAMOUS NORTH CAROLINIANS
The Convict Who Became a Famous Writer * The Man Who Couldn’t Go Home Again * The Story of Thomas Wolfe’s Real Angel * “Good Night, and Good Luck”: Edward Murrow * The Story of the Battleship U.S.S. North Carolina * Elizabeth Dole * Governor Aycock, The Education Governor * A Match Made in Asheville: Andie MacDowell * A Mother Immortalized, Who Made Her Artist-Son Famous * Andy Griffith * Mt. Airy: The “Real” Mayberry * The “Barefoot Contessa,” Ava Gardner * Elizabeth Blackwell, First Woman to Become a Physician * David Brinkley * Charles Kurault *
CHAPTER 5. FROM THE HILLS OF NORTH CAROLINA
Some Things That Make Great Smoky Mountain National Park Unique * How Mount Mitchell Got Its Name * The Vanderbilt Legacy in North Carolina * The Re-Birth of a Nation: The Eastern Band of the Cherokee * A Moonshine Story * The Mystery Behind Eric Rudolph’s Fate *
CHAPTER 6. RELIGION AND UTOPIAN COMMUNITIES
The Church Moved by the Hand of God! * Cursed by a Man of the Cloth * Stories of Snake-Handlers * The “Christ-Figure of the Religion of the Lost Cause” * The Enduring Mystery and Legacy of Roanoke * How North Carolina Might Have Been Named Florence * The Serendipitous Utopia: Hot Springs * The Moravian Utopian * The Buddhist Temple in Bolivia * The Highland Scots of the Tar Heel State * Other tidbits about Billy Graham, the Quakers, Little Switzerland, and More *
CHAPTER 7. SPORTS
You Never Forget Your First—Home Run (Babe Ruth) * Jim Thorpe and His Foray Into Pro-Ball in the Tar Heel State * Michael Jordan * Sir Archie and the Culture of Horse-Racing * Arnold Palmer * Golfer Charlie Sifford * Holding Court: The Queen of NC State Basketball (Kay Yow) * Roman Gabriel * Enos “Country” Slaughter * Family Dynasties of the NASCAR Kind * Howard Cosell * Fishing Records in NC * and More
CHAPTER 8. THE CIVIL WAR IN NORTH CAROLINA
The Story Behind “First at Bethel, Farthest at Gettysburg and Last at Appomattox” * New Bern, Cover-Girl City of the War * When a Coincidence Saved a Spy From Hanging * The Civil War Meets Modern Archaeology * The Spy and the Missing Gold: The Story of Rose Greenhow * The Story of “Thomas’s Legion” * “Waterloo Teeth” and Civil War Dentistry * The Near-Death Experience of Zebulon Vance * The Brief Reign of the Smithville Home Guard * The Story of the CSS Neuse * The Bonnie and Clyde of the Civil War * The Tragic Story of the Harper House * The Story of “Lion-Hearted Flusser” * The “Gibraltar of the South,” Fort Fisher * The Strange Story of James Reilley’s Missing Sword * The Tar Heel Author Who Helped Abe Lincoln Get Elected President! * Fighting in the Buff * Hard Times in the Carolinas: Off-theWall Recipes From the Civil War * When “Even the Bravest Man Wept”: Surrender * Sunken History: The USS
Monitor * The Economy and the Blockade-Runners * Levi Coffin, Quaker Tar Heel and the Underground Railroad * Quakers in North Carolina: “Freedom’s Gate”*
CHAPTER 9. WHEELERS AND DEALERS
The Story of the “Chicken Competition”: Mast General Store * This Angler Caught More than Fish! Or, The First Documented Discovery of Gold in America * Making the Headlines: Josephus Daniels * “Cuppa Joe”: Tar Heel Expression? * Vicks, the Rub that Relieved (and Made) Millions! * The “Rose Buddies” of Elizabeth City * The Birthplace of Pepsi-Cola * The Home of the World-Famous Krispy-Kreme Doughnuts * Lost and Found! The Queen Anne’s Revenge * Promoting America’s First Airplane (in Murfreesboro!) * The Dukes of Durham * Sunken Treasure, Avast! *
CHAPTER 10. FILM, MUSIC AND DRAMA OF NORTH CAROLINA
The State Song * The Story of the ‘Song-Catcher’ * When Waynesville Goes International (Folkmoot) * The Song of the Chanteymen * “Tweet” Success: The Annual Whistling Competition * “Saint” John Coltrane * Eva Boyd * Music Maker Relief Foundation * The NC Symphony * The World’s Only Musical Composer—for Animals! * Libba Cotten, Upside-Down Music * East Hollywood: The Film-making Industry in the Tar Heel State * A Flair for the Dramatic: A List of Outdoor Dramas Held Annually * The Hills are Alive With…the Sound of This Boy’s Choir * Piedmont Opera Theatre * Music/Singer Trivia *
CHAPTER 11. FLORA, FAUNA AND NATURAL PHENOMENA
This Place is the Cat’s Meow! The Carnivore Preservation Trust * The Wild Horses of Currituck Sound * In Spring a North Carolinian’s Fancy Turns to…Turtles * The Great Dismal Swamp Story * A Blind Person’s Guide Foundation…Using Pygmy Horses? * Section on Unusual Fauna * The Cradle of Forestry * The Forest History Society * The Kudzu Queen, Kudzu Culture and Alternative Medicine * Straight from a Sci-Fi Flick – the Story of Venus’ Fly-trap * That Touch of Mink: Murphy in Charlotte * Take Your Dog to Work Day in King, NC * The Grandfather of the Blue Ridge * Mildred the Bear * Whales, Birds and Sharks, Oh My: The Town of Aurora * Vineyard Trivia *
CHAPTER 12. SPEECH, FOOD AND FASCINATING CULTURAL TIDBITS
The Way Things are Said * The Vilest-Smelling, Sweetest-Tasting Weed: The Ramp * The Annual Collard Festival in Ayden * One-of-a-Kind Festivals (incl. Transylvania County’s Halloween-Fest) * The Man Will Never Fly Society * The Cypress Grill and the Herring Season * Corn, One of the Four Food Groups * An Eagle’s Next for Humans * Calabash, the Seafood Capital of the World and the Story of Jimmy Durante * Roasted Oysters, Tar Heel Style * The Center of the (Barbecue) Universe: Lexington * North Carolina’s “First, Biggest, Most” Claims to Fame*
CHAPTER 13. UNUSUAL GRAVE AND BURIAL STORIES
The Old Burying Ground in Beaufort * Raleigh’s Oakwood Cemetery * The Circus Diver: They Danced on His Grave! * The Culture of Death in the South, With Bereavement Recipes * When is a Headstone a Footstone? Or, The Game’s Afoot! * Famous People Buried in North Carolina * The Bodies Above the Tunnel * Wilmington’s Oakdale Cemetery * Poetic Immortality: Joyce Kilmer * The Mysterious Disappearance of Peter Dromgoole * Caskets for Pets! * A Mysterious Burial Ground: Kituhwa * Tombstone Inscriptions * The Barrels of Bones in Hatteras Village *
CHAPTER 14. LIGHTHOUSE AND COASTAL STORIES
The Mercurial Nature of the Outer Banks: What Makes Them the “Graveyard of the Atlantic”? * Stories of Surfmen, Keepers and Lifesavers * Beacons of Light and Life: The Lighthouses * Cape Hatteras * Cuttituck Beach Lighthouse * Bald Head Lighthouse * Oak Island Lighthouse * Price’s Creek Lighthouse * Ocracoke Lighthouse * Bodie Island Lighthouse * Cape Lookout Lighthouse * Stories Behind Lighthouse Designs and Colors * The Real Perfect Storm and Elizabeth City’s Heroes * Lighthouse Q&A *
VIRTUAL NORTH CAROLINA
I consider AMAZING TENNESSEE to be a cornucopia of unusual, inspiring, and humorous tales
about the Volunteer State. I came up with the idea for this book when, one, day, I was doing
something I rarely do--filing my freelance-journalism articles--I re-read some of them. Of course,
many of them were about Tennessee in some way, and I thought, "Wow! Tennessee's pretty
amazing." BOOM! The book was born. PUBLISHERS, PLEASE NOTE: The "Amazing America" series is available. This is the first of three, and the fourth--AMAZING ALABAMA--is in the works. Please CONTACT ME with your indication of interest.
The writing of the book itself was pretty amazing, as I wrote it while simultaneously adding a
section on to our house and house-training a new Lab puppy. But the house got finished and
now Maggie's only problem is she loves garbage leftovers. One of the most fun things that
happened to me in promoting ATN was when WSM--yes, the Grand Ole Opry radio station
itself--asked me to come and be interviewed for their talk-show. Live radio! I was both thrilled and
nervous. "Just relax," Bill Cody assured me when I arrived. "We've only got 30 million listeners."
Despite that, I managed to enjoy myself, and the listeners must have liked the interview, too, for I
was asked to come back a second time.
AMAZING TENNESSEE in a nutshell? ATN is a cornucopia of unusual, inspiring, and sometimes humorous tales about the Volunteer State. The book is chock-full of photos (about 60 in all) and
stories that will make you alternately laugh, wonder, or sigh with disbelief--but all the stories in
AMAZING TENNESSEE are true! For example:
Why was the world-famous Scopes "Monkey Trial" really a PR stunt that backfired?
What was Elvis Presley's greatest birthday disappointment?
Who was it that was charged with, then convicted of, killing his political opponent--and even ran against the victim's widow?
What was the most unusual [i.e., nonhuman] lynching in the U.S.?
Just what Tennessee restaurant has the world's oldest cooking grease still in use?
What two Civil War generals had been students at West Point together, with one tutoring the
other--and wound up in a famous battle in Tennessee fighting on opposite sides?
What did Dolly Parton do as a young school-girl that made her refer to herself as "The Creative
Dreamer of East Tennessee"?
Where in Tennessee is the most famous haunted house?
Find out answers to these questions and more between the pages of AMAZING TENNESSEE.
Former Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist liked it so much, he even wrote the forward! As they
say in Memphis, "Thankyouverymuch."
Excerpts from Reviews:
"Lacey has left no stone unturned [in AMAZING TENNESSEE]. The...book is chock-full of
information about Tennessee, from the banal to the bizarre, including quick facts, amazing
stories and even recipes. There's also a section on Internet sites relating to Tennessee, and an
index in the back....you'll just have to read this book!" --Tennessee Connections magazine.
"...it's a wonderful book!" --native Tennessean, actress Patricia Neal
"Martha and I are really enjoying reading it!" -- Governor Don Sundquist
T Jensen Lacey is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com


DisclaimerThis site and program was created by the efforts of the late Laszlo Kiss. It was developed as his own work, and not representative of any official order, or the view or opinion of any group. It serves educational, historical and spiritual purposes pertaining to the Church's sacred liturgy.
Laszlo followed his sources as precisely as possible, and it has been the ongoing task of the Divinum Officium Project to correct errors.
Such a project as this requires others to be involved in maintaining and continuing it, so we hope to improve what is offered here in the hope that many will pray the Divine Office in this way and make it their own. We always welcome volunteers, particularly those with familiarity with other languages.
The code and data are freely available to anyone at the Divinum Officium GitHub repository, and licensed under the MIT License.
LinksCalendaria Liturgica The liturgical calendar with over 75 propers, courtesy of Mr. Peter Day-Milne.
Divine Office Locator Locations where the Divine Office is prayed worldwide.
O.P. Prayer Prayers from classic Dominican liturgical and devotional texts, courtesy of Mr. Calder Claydon.
The 1961 Liber Usualis Tournai/New York: Desclée et Cie., for PDF download via archive.org
Latin-English Diurnal For PDF download (more properly described as the Horae Omnes Breviarii Romani, as this edition includes the psalms of Matins)
1964 Roman Ritual in English via the Canons Regular of St. John Cantius, Chicago, Illinois via archive.org
Pius XII (Bea) Psalter via archive.org
Roman Martyrology in English including PDF download
Breviary and Office Texts: An Overview Contains many useful schemata of the psalters used in the Divine Office. Cura et studio Theo Keller
Corpus Christi Watershed Resources for Sacred Music and the Liturgy, including the St. Edmund Campion Missal and Hymnal
Liber Psalmorum A collection of Internet resources for different translations of the Book of Psalms into Latin.
Elenchus Rituum Rituale Romanum (Latin-Español) CELAM, 1962
Liturgia Horarum (1970) for reading and download
Database of Gregorian chant scores Searchable in various ways.
The New Liturgical Movement News and commentaries about the Church's traditional liturgical forms.
CreditsThe source for the Latin text is the Microsoft-sponsored scanning of the Ratisbon 1888 edition of the Latin Breviarium Romanum by the University of St Michael's College, Toronto, which allows personal, educational and fair non-commercial use. The sequence of the reference books in the above file is: hiemalis - aestiva - verna - autumnalis.
Laszlo Kiss and the Divinum Officium Project team have adapted that text using their own copies of the Breviarium Romanum:
Laszlo adapted some offices and the Latin and English psalter from David Siefker's reproduction of the Stanbrook Abbey Day-Hours, with his permission.
Laszlo used the Breviarium Monasticum, (Mechelen: Dessain, 1953) 4 volume edition for the Monastic version.
The Regula for the Latin is adapted from The Latin Library site.
+++++For the English Biblical passages, we have used the Douai-Reims English translation. A copy of this can be downloaded from http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/8300
Unfortunately, Laszlo left behind no documentation of his sources of the Sancta Missa English translation. We regret any inconvenience this may cause.
The daily Martyrologium is adapted with the permission of the owner, David Forster. Unfortunately, his site is no longer available on the internet. This is the Benedict XIV (1749) version with additions. Since the English translation is taken from the Bute 1908 edition (see below), the Latin and the English texts do differ. The English version of the Martyrologium is not identical with the Latin. The English adds explanations and additional saints. Sometimes, the lections of the English and Latin are not identical in the sources. Both have been left as they are in the texts from which they are drawn.
The Regula for the English is adapted from The Online Library of Liberty site.
Laszlo adapted the English translation of the hymns (with the permission of Jeffrey Tucker) from the Musica Sacra (Church Music Association of America) website using Dom Matthew Britt, O.S.B.'s Hymns of the Breviary and Missal.
Any other breviary material in English is from the translation of the Breviary by John, Marquess of Bute, printed in 1908 and made available on the internet from their archive collection by the University of St. Michael's College, Toronto with the same permission as for the Latin version:
The same collection also has a set of the same books without the quoted permission and apparently copyrighted.
We are deeply grateful to all of our friends and benefactors who make this Project a possibility. May God reward you.
We would like to thank Clare G. for help with the English text of the hymns.
We thank our team members for their collaboration throughout the years.
We thank the late Father Peter J. Scagnelli, Th.D. (1949-2017) for his wisdom, erudition, and love of the Sacred Liturgy. His kind support of this Project was unflagging.
We also would like to thank the many correspondents, including Timothy McCarthy and countless others, for their help in pointing out errata; in particular, Fr. John Lawrence M. Polis, FFI and Fr. François Laisney, SSPX for their assistance in ensuring the Rubrics 1960 version is faithful to the editio typica.
We thank New Catholic and the Rorate Caeli blog for their invaluable assistance upon the death of Laszlo Kiss, to ensure that the Divine Office might still be prayed online.
We thank, in the most profound way, the family of the late Laszlo Kiss, for permitting us to continue his work and devotion to the Church's liturgy.
+++++For Hungarian Scriptures, Laszlo used the free-to-fair-use Katolikus Biblia.
Since this translation is from the Nova Vulgata, the Psalms and Ecclesiasticus differ significantly from the Latin Vulgate or Douai-Reims versions. For this site, the New Vulgate psalms have been re-enumerated by adding Psalm 10 to Psalm 9, decreasing by one the numbering of each of the psalms between 11 and 147, and by creating 146 and 147 from the the psalm numbered 147 in the New Vulgate. Textual changes have been retained.
For the hymns in the Hungarian version, Laszlo used the translation available here.
Any other material in Hungarian is Laszlo's translation or an adaptation from the above Bible.
+++++For the Italian translation, we are very grateful to Don Camillo, who made available several rare resources, to Inter Multiplices Una Vox, who gave us permission to use the material on their web site, to ORA, LEGE et LABORA, who provided us with the Italian text of the Rule of St. Benedict, and to Fr. A.R. of Cantuale Antonianum, who posted a scan of the 1965 Latin-Italian Missal.
+++++Polish version is still under development. For the Biblical passages, the Jakub Wujek Bible (Polish: Biblia Jakuba Wujka), transcription B, is used. It can be accessed on Wikisource or on http://www.madel.jezuici.pl/biblia/. It is in public domain and is a very respectable and important translation, which is moreover very useful because it strictly follows the original Vulgate Latin source.
However, the transcription (called „B”) is quite old and uses language forms which becomes more and more unintelligible. There exists another version of the translation done by Fr. Stanisław Styś . It is a revised (not to say modernized) version of the Fr. Wujek translation. It is still very close to Latin original, but can be read as easily as any contemporary text. This transcription, C, in Polish-Newer, is used by permission of the copyright holder.
Athanasian Creed's Polish translation comes from the supplement to the book: O prawdziwości Religii katolickiej / podług św. Augustyna ; wolnym przekładem napisał L. R., Kraków 1853, pages 213-229. The book can be accessed here.
Breviary hymns, except for Te Deum, come from books: Hymny brewjarza rzymskiego oraz patronału polskiego : przekład i objaśnienia, written by Bronisław Gładysz, and Mszał Rzymski z dodaniem Nabożeństw Nieszpornych prepared O. G. Lefebvre, polish translation corrections x. dr Stefan Świetlicki i x. Henryk Nowacki.
Regula translation from book Reguła Świętego Ojca Benedykta, Warszawa 1929.
Few translations (ie. Te Deum, Marian antiphons with their prayers, some parts of the Mass) come from Sanctus.pl (from here).
Parts of the Mass Ordinary and Mass Propers come from Tradycja Katolicka w par. NSPJ w Bydgoszczy page.
Non biblical readings are taken from:
Martyrologium from book Rzymskie Martyrologium. Czytania na każdy dzień roku. 1910, taken from msza.net page.
We are very grateful to the authors of the aforementioned web pages.
+++++German texts are taken from Das kirchliche Stundengebet oder Das römische Brevier. Übersetzt und erklärt von Erzpriester Stephan (2 volumes, Pustet 1926). They are occasionally corrected, where they are blatantly mistranslated (e.g. the translation for "filia" in that work regularly is "liebes"). In some cases, whole (psalm) verses were not taken from that book, but from Franz Xaver Schmidmayer, "Die Andacht der Heiligen Woche, wie sie in der katholischen Kirche besteht". The book provides no lectio III for saints in the 1960 office (=previous lectio IX for simplified feasts); we translated them ourselves, on the basis of the translations for the second nocturn. Sometimes the books has several different translations for the same Latin phrase, in those cases we tried to choose the best translation consistently. Psalms and bible verses that still had been missing, have been added from Die Heilige Schrift des Alten und Neuen Testamentes. Übersetzt und mit erklärenden Anmerkungen versehen von Augustin Arndt S. J. (3 volumes, Pustet 1914).
To avoid anachronism, texts which are well-known (Pater noster, Ave Maria, Requiem aeternam, Rorate caeli, ...) are given in the traditional catholic translation.
+++++Les traductions en français de l'Ordo Missae viennent de Sancta Missa, et particulièrement cette page. Nous sommes très reconnaissant à introibo.fr pour les textes de la Messe qui sont bien commentées (avec les commentaires de Dom Guéranger, Bhx Cardinal Schuster et Dom Pie Parsch), et pour les rubriques de l'Ordo. Nous remercions aussi l'abbaye du Barroux, M. l'abbé Arnaud Evrat, FSSP, Frère Romain-Marie et messieurs Luc Absil et Louis-Guillaume Dubois pour leur aide avec la traduction française des textes. Les traductions du propre en français sont l’œuvre et la propriété de l’Abbaye Ste. Madeleine du Barroux.
La traduction du nouveau testament est celle du chanoine Crampon, mise à disposition sur Crampon. Elle est cependant modifiée en remplaçant le tutoiement par le vouvoiement. La traduction de l'ancien testament est tirée de la bible Fillion.
Les différences entre la Vulgate et la Bible hébraïque sont complétées en utilisant le Psautier du Bréviaire Romain de Fillion.
Les Hymnes et autres textes liturgiques seront issus du remarquable Introibo.
Le reste sera prélevé sur le Bréviaire Romain, Latin-Français, édité par Labergerie, 1956.
+++++Spanish translation is still under development. We sincerely thank publishers of Sapientia Sedei Filii for their kind offering of texts from their translation. The Spanish Vulgate translation used is the Petisto-Torres Amat Sacred Bible revised by Alfonso Mª Gubianas O. S. B., 1935. For the Ordinary of the Mass, we have used the resources hosted on the Una Voce Sevilla website. The Proprium de Tempore are taken from Iglesia de El Salvador's parish blog El rincón litúrgico.
La traducción al español está aún en desarrollo. Agradecemos con sinceridad a los editores de Sapientia Sedei Filii su ofrecimiento desinteresado de los textos de su traducción del breviario. La traducción de la Vulgata que aquí se emplea es la de la Sagrada Biblia Petisco-Torres Amat, en la revisión de 1935 de Alfonso Mª Gubianas, O.S.B. Para el Ordinario de la misa, se han empleado los recursos presentes en la página de la asociación Una Voce Sevilla. Los textos del Propio del tiempo proceden del blog de la Iglesia del Salvador, Toledo.
We are very grateful to all web page authors mentioned herein.
laszlo kiss (+2011)


UPDATE: You can now install pip using pkg.
[cmp@server ~]# pkg install py27-pip Updating FreeBSD repository catalogue... FreeBSD repository is up to date. All repositories are up to date. The following 1 package(s) will be affected (of 0 checked): New packages to be INSTALLED: py27-pip: 9.0.1 Number of packages to be installed: 1 The process will require 13 MiB more space. 2 MiB to be downloaded. Proceed with this action? [y/N]: y [1/1] Fetching py27-pip-9.0.1.txz: 100% 2 MiB 858.8kB/s 00:03 Checking integrity... done (0 conflicting) [1/1] Installing py27-pip-9.0.1... Extracting py27-pip-9.0.1: 100%
Somewhat strangely, pip is not installed when you install Python using FreeBSD’s pkg. However, there’s a very simple fix.
[cmp@server ~]# python -m ensurepip Ignoring indexes: https://pypi.python.org/simple Requirement already satisfied (use --upgrade to upgrade): setuptools in /usr/local/lib/python2.7/site-packages Collecting pip Installing collected packages: pip Successfully installed pip-7.1.2 [cmp@server ~]# pip pip pip2 pip2.7


Kenneth MacMillan's Choreographic Imagination and Psychological Insight, 2009
Kenneth MacMillan's Choreographic Imagination & Psychological Insight was the title of a symposium held at Imperial College London on 8 November 2009. The occasion, sponsored by The MacMillan Estate, was a rare opportunity to consider the choreographer's work outside the usual parameters of dance criticism.
Artists and psychoanalysts explored how MacMillan used movement and gesture from the traditions of classical ballet to investigate subjects relevant to the contemporary world and how in so doing he achieved powerful emotional and psychological expression. As well as observing how MacMillan's choreography 'works' on the dancers themselves, there was an examination of what and how an audience 'reads' from the ballet and how they react to what they see (not always comfortably). Equally, MacMillan's own choreographic development was explored, examining to what end his increasing struggle with critical adversity fuelled his creative energies.
Visit the symposium microsite ›
The conference was divided into four sessions which variously explored MacMillan's choreographic language; how he worked with dancers' bodies; the subject matter of his ballets; and his dealings with ballet’s institutions. Listen to audio clips recorded during each of the sessions.
Download MP3's for part 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Part 1 (1:35)
Part 2 (0:17)
Part 3 (0:45)
Part 4 (1:22)
Part 5 (1:45)


After voting today Jeremy and I took a walk in Germantown and discovered something incredible! The Germantown Friends School Library is open to the public and we can even check out books. It is so great: toasty warm, full of children with an AMAZING selection of books and an exceptionally friendly staff. The best part is they are open from 9-5pm on the days you (Abby) are with the kids.
I went ahead and filled out a membership for myself, but I am not sure if you’ll be able to use it. If you’d like to get your own membership for the children, you’ll need 2 forms of ID– like a drivers license and a bill adressed to you (or another ID). I used my voter registration card. I assume any immigration documents you have would do great. Even if you guys can’t check out, it will be a great, great resource for fun in the winter. I can’t wait for you to see it. It is just across the street from the fabric shop.


KELLY YANG, Founder, is the New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of FRONT DESK and winner of the 2018 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature. FRONT DESK is a debut middle grade novel published by Scholastic Inc, the publishers of Harry Potter, about a 10 year-old Chinese American immigrant girl who manages the front desk of a motel while her parents clean the rooms. In 2018, FRONT DESK was awarded the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature as well as the Parents’ Choice Gold Medal. In addition, FRONT DESK is a Children’s History Book Prize Honor Book, a E.B. White Honor Book, and has earned numerous other recognitions including being named an Amazon Best Book of the Year, a Washington Post Best Book of the Year, a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year, a NPR Best Book of the Year, a NBC Best Book of the Year, and a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year. In 2019, it was announced that FRONT DESK is a 2019 Global Read Aloud, connecting 1.5 million children around the world through one book.
Kelly is also the author of THREE KEYS, the sequel to FRONT DESK, released in September 2020, ROOM TO DREAM, released in September 2021 (both from Scholastic), and NEW FROM HERE, released in March 2022 from Simon & Schuster. She also wrote PARACHUTES, her young adult debut novel, released in May 2020 from HarperCollins.
Kelly immigrated to America when she was 6 years old and grew up in Southern California. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School, having entered college at the age of 13 and Harvard Law School at the age of 17. In 2005, at the age of 20, Kelly became one of the youngest graduates of Harvard Law School.
After law school, she gave up law to pursue her passion of writing and teaching children writing. In 2005, Kelly founded The Kelly Yang Project to help students in Asia find their voice and become better writers and more powerful speakers. As an award-winning author, she’s designed the KYP curriculum to instill a passion for writing in children from a very early age.
For her efforts in education, Kelly has won: the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year, USA Today All-USA College Academic 1st Place Team. and ‘CosmoGIRL! of the Year’ from CosmoGIRL! Magazine. In 2010, The Kelly Yang Project was named ‘Second Best Small Education Company in the World’ by The Education Project Global Summit in Bahrain. In 2011, Kelly chaired the Harvard Book Prize in Hong Kong and served as a board member of the Harvard Club of Hong Kong.
Kelly regularly gives talks on writing and education and has spoken at conferences, companies, and schools around the world.
For all publicity inquires related to FRONT DESK, please email Kelly’s publicist Lauren Donovan at email@example.com. For all other inquiries, please email firstname.lastname@example.org.
Mia Tang has a lot of secrets.
Number 1: She lives in a motel, not a big house. Every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, ten-year-old Mia manages the front desk of the Calivista Motel and tends to its guests.
Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they’ve been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.
Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is not her first language?
It will take all of Mia’s courage, kindness, and hard work to get through this year. Will she be able to hold on to her job, help the immigrants and guests, escape Mr. Yao, and go for her dreams?
The story of Mia and her family and friends at the Calivista Motel continues in this powerful, hilarious, and resonant sequel to the award-winning novel Front Desk!
Mia Tang thinks she’s going to have the best year ever. She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel, Mia gets to run the front desk with her best friend, Lupe, and she’s finally getting somewhere with her writing! But as it turns out, sixth grade is no picnic…
#1 Mia’s new teacher doesn’t think her writing is all that great. And her entire class finds out she lives and works in a motel!
#2 The motel is struggling, and Mia has to answer to the Calivista’s many, many worried investors.
#3 A new immigration law is looming and if it passes, it will threaten everything — and everyone — in Mia’s life.
It’s a roller coaster of challenges, and Mia needs all of her determination to hang on tight. But if anyone can find the key to getting through turbulent times, it’s Mia Tang!
Mia Tang is going for her dreams!
After years of hard work, Mia Tang finally gets to go on vacation with her family — to China! A total dream come true! Mia can’t wait to see all her cousins and grandparents again, especially her cousin Shen. As she roams around Beijing, witnessing some of the big changes China’s going through, Mia thinks about the changes in her own life, like . . .
#1 Lupe’s taking classes at the high school! And Mia’s own plans to be a big writer are . . . stuck.
#2 Something happened with Jason and Mia has no idea what to do about it.
#3 New buildings are popping up all around the motel, and small businesses are disappearing.
Can the Calivista survive? Buckle up! Mia is more determined than ever to get through the turbulence, now that she finally has . . . room to dream!
From the New York Times bestselling author of Front Desk comes a poignant middle grade novel about courage, hope, and resilience as an Asian American boy fights to keep his family together and stand up to racism during the initial outbreak of the coronavirus.
When the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans’s mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe. Suddenly, Knox has two days to prepare for an international move—and for leaving his dad, who has to stay for work.
At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. His classmates think that because he’s from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom just got fired and is panicking over the loss of health insurance, and Dad doesn’t even know when he’ll see them again, since the flights have been cancelled. And everyone struggles with Knox’s blurting-things-out problem.
As racism skyrockets during COVID-19, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you’re feared; can you protect if you’re new? And how do you keep a family together when you’re oceans apart? Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own lovable uniqueness.
Speak enters the world of Gossip Girl in this modern immigrant story from New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang about two girls navigating wealth, power, friendship, and trauma.
They’re called parachutes: teenagers dropped off to live in private homes and study in the United States while their wealthy parents remain in Asia. Claire Wang never thought she’d be one of them, until her parents pluck her from her privileged life in Shanghai and enroll her at a high school in California.
Suddenly she finds herself living in a stranger’s house, with no one to tell her what to do for the first time in her life. She soon embraces her newfound freedom, especially when the hottest and most eligible parachute, Jay, asks her out.
Dani De La Cruz, Claire’s new host sister, couldn’t be less thrilled that her mom rented out a room to Claire. An academic and debate team star, Dani is determined to earn her way into Yale, even if it means competing with privileged kids who are buying their way to the top. But Dani’s game plan veers unexpectedly off course when her debate coach starts working with her privately.
As they steer their own distinct paths, Dani and Claire keep crashing into one another, setting a course that will change their lives forever.