Forward Growth in Illinois
In July, Illinois held the first of three lotteries for new recreational Marijuana dispensary licenses in 2021. This lottery comes more than a year after it was suppose to award new dispensary licenses, after being held up by covid, and litigation. Out of the 589 applicants 55 winners were chosen. Although these winners have there license it is undetermined when they can start operating. We meet up with Jim Remke as he shares the new developments in Illinois.
Harry Brelsford 0:09
Hey 420 MSP Harry here on the road, but I caught up. We're catching up with my good friend Jim Remke out of the Chicago land area. How you doing, Jim?
Jim Remke 0:21
I'm doing good here. How are you?
Good, good. Yeah, it's starting to get busy again. So, hey, it's been a little while since we talked what so what's news? What's going on in your world? What's going on in Illinois? what's what's happening?
Yeah, yeah, things overall are going well, in regards to the cannabis industry, we're making some headway in there, we're starting to work with more end users and establishing some more partnerships with all sorts of different companies, maybe their software, maybe their network, specialists or it, you know, maintenance providers. And yeah, just kind of get more inroads there. One of the things that has been pretty successful for us, in some regards, is just helping people identify the correct hardware solution. Sometimes you'd be surprised, there's actually some, some companies that have recommended hardware solutions on their sites for certain software, and he be surprised to find out that a lot of those aren't necessarily integrated properly. So we'll actually run through some troubleshooting and do some remote, you know, remote kind of loads are what's the right word to say, just testing labbing, you know, evaluating different equipment and stuff like that hooked up with different terminals and stuff to make sure that people are getting their equipment, right. And they're not having to put it in two or three times. You know, so that's kind of where we're seeing some success right now. And yeah, just keep keep plugging away. Yeah.
Any updates on the state of Illinois? You know, now cheese two years ago, literally two years ago voted to legalize recreational as I recall. What what's any, any developments? Are you seeing the permits were allowed or the dispensaries opening? what's what's going on in your home state?
Yeah, the house in the Senate and the state, put the bill to the governor, and he finally signed it. Well, maybe a couple of weeks ago, or a week ago or so. And so they're going forward with licenses for over 200 craft grows infusers and transporters. And then they're also announced lottery dates for the dispensaries. There's three different dates. I think the first one is July 29, where they'll award 55 licenses, and then now you're going to do two more ladders after that. But yeah, things seem to be moving forward. For the most part. I did read one thing yesterday that said something about now, some group in Michigan is trying to halt the process, again, saying that it excludes out of state applicants, which is against the federal interstate trade commerce act or something. So I don't know. Hopefully, it moves forward. But I'm I don't know what to expect.
Yeah, yeah. No, it's, it's all a mystery, but it is accelerating. We appreciate the update. We'll, we'll we'll circle back to you soon. And check in and see how it's going. But congratulations on for growth.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Good to talk with you here.
All righty. Bye bye.


F2P Week
← Buffalo Beer Buzz: West Shore Can Debut, Buffalo Cask Fest, Santas of Swig Homebrew Fundraiser, Brickyard Brewing Double Can Release & Sale
Buffalo Beer Buzz: Woodcock XPA 17, Sweet & Sour Beers at Pizza Plant, Cookies for a Cause at Resurgence, Beer & Cookies at Pearl Street, 12 Gates 4th Anniversary Party →
West Shore Brewing to Release Green Flyer IPA in Cans
Posted on December 5, 2019 by Brian Patrick
If you would have asked West Shore Brewing Owner Josh Dziomba four years ago, when the brewery was still in the planning stages, if he thought he'd ever release one of his beers in cans, he would have said no. If you would have asked him again two years later, when the Clarence watering hole opened for business, he still would have said no. But, fast forward to December 2019, if you were to ask him once more, he would answer with a resounding yes. That is because West Shore will hold their first ever can release this weekend and they are looking to one of their core staples to lead the charge – Green Flyer IPA (one of the best beers in Western New York no one is talking about in my opinion (which will soon change thankfully)).
West Shore's flagship IPA will be released in cans on December 7 (12pm) at the brewery. All members of West Shore's Mug Club will be able to buy cans the day prior, on December 6. Green Flyer IPA will be released in 4-pack 16oz. cans. There will be no limits.
Dziomba explains that it was a shift in the marketplace, along with the constant evolution of the craft beer industry, that helped led to this can release.
"Two years ago when we opened I did not really think we would be in that market," he says. "However, the market has been changing, and the industry evolving, and cans have become almost a must for a brewery in terms of how much of an impact you can make in the marketplace."
"It really means that we are taking the next big step in our growth," he continues, speaking about what releasing one of his beers in cans means to him on a personal level. "I have always had a 5/10/15 year plan and now we are finally seeing some of those steps start to fall into place. It really did take me almost two years of a lot of trial and error to really refine what I have been doing. I think you have see the first real steps of this with out bourbon barrel aged stout we released over the summer, our fruited sours, and the Bavarian Cream Donut beer. We are now able to nail down some traditional beer while still leaving room for experimentation."
Green Flyer was the obvious choice to release in cans first, because "this beer has become as close to a flagship as we have ever had," Dziomba says, adding "whenever I have talked about canning, this has always been the first beer people have said I should can." West Shore's flagship IPA didn't arrive in its current form overnight; as you might expect, many recipe tweaks, changes and adjustments got it to where it is today and, as Dziomba explains, it's been a hell of a journey.
"This beer has evolved quite a bit over the last couple of years. Just the other day I was looking at the recipe for the first batch, and it was so radically different than today. First batch was over 7% an 75 IBU. I mean, that's crazy for a New England IPA. However, it was my very first NE style ever. Eventually it started to morph and evolve into a mid 6% beer, but the big change came when in January of 2019, my requirements for a NYS Farm Brewery changed from 20% to 60% ingredient bill. Couple that with the rising price of Citra hops, and as a small brewery I can't always get it. That's when I really zoned in on a recipe. I partnered up with Vertical Vines locally and started using NY Centennial as a base for this beer. The super dank tangerine notes play perfectly with the catty pineapple of Simcoe and all around awesomeness of Mosaic. Now, while this beer is NEIPA inspired, I hesitate to call this beer a true New England because it has so much NY flare in it, plus NE has really started pushing the barriers of hop fruitiness. Green Flyer has tons of citrus overtones and this batch has some nice papaya like notes to it, but it still has elements of a classic American IPA."
"As for the name, we have always been a railroad inspired brewery. Our tag line, which hasn't really been represented, is 'The Route To Great Taste.' This is a call back to the railroad of a different era. Green Flyer is inspired by a Vermont Passenger train, The Green Mountain Flyer. Not only in name but in can art as well."
Coming out of all of this, the logical question is, 'what's next,' and luckily for all of us, Dziomba has been asking himself the same thing. "Already planning the next can release, just have to decide which one it will be," he says. He adds that we can expect to see a Double IPA, Sour and an Oatmeal Stout coming in cans in the not-so-distant future, but he just isn't sure what one is next in the pipeline. I think I speak for the majority, if not all, of us when I said, any one of those sounds delicious.
For more information on West Shore's Green Flyer can release, visit https://www.facebook.com/events/718427778641205/.
Brian Campbell is a co-founder/Brand Manager of the BNBA's enthusiast arm, Buffalo Beer League, and writes the weekly Buffalo Beer Buzz column. If you have beer news that should be included in the Beer Buzz, Brian can be reached at buffalobeerleague@aol.com, on Twitter (@buffbeerleague), Instagram (@buffalobeerleague), Facebook (@thebuffalobeerleague) and www.buffalobeerleague.com.
This entry was posted in Beer Event, Beer Feature, Beer Release and tagged beer feature, west shore brewing. Bookmark the permalink.
Join the Buffalo Beer League
10th Annual Buffalo Beer Week
Buffalo Beer Week Book


Visit Credit Valley Parks After Dark at the Ignite the Night Event Series
Conversations, Media Release, News Room / Credit Valley Parks, Explore our Parks, Island Lake, Terra Cotta, Things to Do / Monday, January 23, 2023 Monday, January 23, 2023
Experience the bright side of winter as Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) hosts Ignite the Night at Island Lake and Terra Cotta Conservation Areas. Visitors can explore the parks after dark on trails illuminated with fire and lights. The event series runs Friday and Saturday nights from January 27 until March 4.
Hiking and snowshoeing are great ways to enjoy this outdoor experience. One hour ice skating rink reservations will also be available at both locations, as conditions permit. This after dark event will run from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and regular park admission applies. Credit Valley Parks passholders receive free admission to each park.
On select nights, CVC will host Ignite the Night Plus which offers equipment rentals at both locations, and lake access for moonlit skating and ice fishing at Island Lake. Rentals and lake access are based on safe winter conditions. On these nights the parks will stay open until 9 p.m.
Special dates for Ignite the Night Plus include:
Island Lake Conservation Area, Orangeville – February 4 and March 4
Terra Cotta Conservation Area, Halton Hills – February 4 and 18
Registration is not required. Event details are available at cvcevents.ca. For the latest updates on park conditions, check CVC's Park Advisories page at cvc.ca/park-advisories/.
Terra Cotta Conservation Area illuminated for CVC's Ignite the Night event series
https://files.cvc.ca/cvc/uploads/2023/01/20230118_034131578_iOS-scaled.jpg
About Credit Valley Conservation (CVC)
Credit Valley Conservation is one of 36 conservation authorities in Ontario. Conservation authorities are provincial/municipal partnerships that manage the natural environment of a watershed, an area of land where the rain and snowmelt drain into a body of water. For more than 60 years, Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) has worked with its partners to build a thriving environment that protects, connects and sustains us. CVC is a member of Conservation Ontario.
Jamie Williams
Specialist, Marketing & Communications
Request information or an interview with CVC.


Why CIGC
Ovarian Cysts & Pelvic Masses
Menopause & Hormone Therapy
Endometrial Hyperplasia
Endometriosis Excision
Ovarian Cystectomy
Resection of Pelvic Adhesions
LAAM
DualPortGYN
Vaginal Access Procedures
CIGC Techniques
Non-CIGC Techniques
The Robotic Surgery Controversy
UFE and UAE Risks
The CIGC Difference
Adenomyosis FAQs
Ready for a Consultation
By Natalya Danilyants, MD - Laparoscopic GYN Surgeon and Co-Founder of CIGC
Adenomyosis Specialists
Our experienced physicians help women understand the symptoms, diagnose the condition, and recommend the best treatment path.
CIGC Surgeons Understand Adenomyosis
Adenomyosis is a condition in which the cells that line the inside of the uterus (endometrium) are abnormally located in cells that make up the uterine wall (myometrium). This condition can result in a somewhat enlarged uterus. This tissue thickens, breaks down, and bleeds during every menstrual cycle and can cause very painful periods and heavy bleeding1. Adenomyosis can be difficult to diagnose — and, without seeing a specialist, symptoms like heavy bleeding and pelvic pain are often dismissed. Many patients also ask the difference between adenomyosis and endometriosis, since the symptoms sometimes resemble each other or occur simultaneously.
Adenomyosis, while not a cancerous or precancerous condition, can still cause debilitating pain and severe menstrual bleeding for some women. Adenomyosis can be detected with a Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) scan — and at times a transvaginal ultrasound — but it is confirmed after surgery through pathology. To be cured of adenomyosis, one must get a hysterectomy. Adenomyosis is an extremely common condition, but it is not always readily identified by many doctors, as initial imaging of the uterus is often conducted by an ultrasound.
The specialists at The Center for Innovative GYN Care® (CIGC®) are fellowship-trained and highly experienced in treating adenomyosis. They have seen many women who have had failed treatments for adenomyosis, including birth control or ablation. Neither of these treatments control the disease. The specialists at CIGC perform minimally invasive hysterectomies using DualPortGYN® with a low risk of complications, fast recovery, and less pain.
Adenomyosis Symptoms
Adenomyosis can vary greatly from woman to woman. It can be localized (to one area of the uterus), diffuse (involving large areas of the uterine muscle), scattered, or clustered. Adenomyosis can cause debilitating pain and severe menstrual bleeding for some women; however, up to 30 percent of women with adenomyosis have no symptoms at all.
The symptoms of adenomyosis may include:
Severe pelvic pain with the menstrual cycle
Pain in the legs and back
Swelling of the abdomen
Pain with intercourse
Clots in the legs and pelvis
Abdominal pressure and bloating
Focal adenomyosis in the uterus
Diffuse, extensive adenomyosis with bleeding in the uterus
Adenomyosis Causes
The causes of adenomyosis are unknown; however, some theories have been formed about its origins. One theory is that the endometrial cells are somehow able to migrate and invade the normal uterine wall. Another theory is that cells in the uterine wall develop into endometrial cells1.
Some causes may include:
Uterine inflammation related to childbirth
Periods after childbirth might cause a break in the normal boundaries of uterine-lining cells
Stem cell origins
Bone marrow stem cells invade uterine muscle
Adenomyosis Risk Factors
It seems that childbearing, previous uterine surgery, short menstrual cycles, and an early age of first period may be risk factors for adenomyosis.
Additional risk factors include:
Fibroid removal (myomectomy)
Adenomyosis Complications
Chronic anemia and fatigue from heavy bleeding during periods
Disrupted lifestyle from pain and fear of bleeding
Adenomyosis Diagnosis
An MRI scan is the best imaging study for diagnosing adenomyosis. The characteristic feature on an MRI is a thickened junctional zone, which is the thin innermost layer of uterine muscle wall. Sometimes adenomyosis forms a mass and is mistaken for fibroids on imaging studies. An ultrasound can also be used to look for adenomyosis but is less sensitive than an MRI. An enlarged "globular" uterus, thickened endometrial lining, and a heterogeneous uterine wall are sonographic features that are indications of adenomyosis. If your OBGYN has a normal ultrasound and you suspect adenomyosis, an MRI should be obtained.
A preliminary diagnosis of adenomyosis is based on reported symptoms by the patient. Since adenomyosis can occur simultaneously with other conditions, a proper diagnosis is missed by clinicians. For example, a woman having heavy periods may have both adenomyosis and fibroids. Since fibroids are a well-known cause of heavy periods, a clinician may assume her heavy bleeding is from the fibroids.
However, if only the fibroids are removed, the adenomyosis will still be present and she will continue to have heavy bleeding.
Unfortunately, the only way to definitively diagnose adenomyosis is by having a pathologist examine the uterus after a hysterectomy has been performed. Imaging studies can be used to suggest adenomyosis but are not completely accurate.
Additional diagnostic tools include:
May reveal that the uterus is enlarged
The injection of saline solution though a tiny tube into the uterus during an ultrasound
The collection of uterine tissue to test whether or not uterine bleeding is associated with adenomyosis
Adenomyosis always needs to be considered in patients who have heavy bleeding and severe pelvic pain with periods. Since the condition is more common than most OBGYNs realize, patients with this condition may experience years of pain and suffering. Adenomyosis needs to be suspected in these patients, and clinical and diagnostic studies performed to diagnose or rule out adenomyosis.
Adenomyosis Treatment
The only cure for adenomyosis is a hysterectomy. Unlike fibroids, which are often surrounded by a capsule, there is no clear border between adenomyotic tissue and normal uterine tissue. Because of this, adenomyosis cannot be effectively removed the way fibroids can, and, when removed, portions of the uterine muscle are removed as well2.
Fertility and Adenomyosis
For women who are not yet finished with childbearing, the symptoms of adenomyosis can be temporarily managed through medication. Although not always very effective, hormonal suppression with continuous birth control pills, Depo-Provera, or the Mirena IUD (intrauterine device) may help to keep symptoms manageable3.
The adenomyosis specialists at CIGC perform advanced minimally invasive surgery to treat all complex GYN conditions. While hysterectomy is the primary surgical solution for adenomyosis, any course of treatment is thoroughly discussed by the specialists, and is weighed against each patient's goals for fertility. The CIGC state-of-the-art laparoscopic techniques make it possible to treat complex GYN conditions using just two small incisions with minimal recovery time.
DualPortGYN was developed by the CIGC minimally invasive GYN specialists to improve the outcomes of GYN surgery. DualPortGYN takes advantage of advanced surgical techniques that enhance the safety of each procedure.
Specialists Not OBGYNs
Your OBGYN may be a good physician, but an OBGYN is a generalist, not a surgical specialist. The majority of the practice of an OBGYN is dedicated to obstetrics care, so your doctor does not get nearly enough patient volume or practice to learn the best surgical techniques. The average OBGYN performs only 10 to 15 hysterectomies per year, while our surgeons average 400 per year. Since a heavy surgical volume is necessary to develop and maintain surgical expertise, it is easy to see why you should see a CIGC surgeon for your adenomyosis surgery.
At CIGC, our adenomyosis surgeons have made a commitment to minimally invasive adenomyosis removal. We perform a higher volume of cases, see a wider range of case types, and undergo comprehensive training in advanced laparoscopic techniques. Our surgeons are able to perform even the most complex GYN surgeries with the lowest complication rates. Whether you are undergoing a definitive surgery or a conservative surgery for your adenomyosis, when you have it done at CIGC, you know you are working with specialists who concentrate only on this type of procedure.
Who does adenomyosis affect?
Although it most commonly affects women in their 40s and 50s, it can occur even among teenagers. Current research suggests that adenomyosis may be common in younger women4.
How common is adenomyosis?
Adenomyosis is an extremely common condition, but it is not always readily identified by many doctors. Initial imaging of the uterus is often conducted by an ultrasound, which is commonly used to detect fibroids, but has more difficulty detecting adenomyosis. An MRI scan is a better visual test to detect adenomyosis.
What is the association between adenomyosis and infertility?
At this time, it is unclear, with some studies showing an association and others showing none. In general, it is thought that the severe inflammation caused by migration of the uterine lining into the muscle prevents implantation of the embryo into the uterine lining, thereby causing infertility.
Will menopause occur after hysterectomy?
Many women fear that removing the uterus will immediately put them into menopause, and all of the symptoms and health concerns that accompany it. This is not the case. The ovaries, not the uterus, produce the hormones that dictate menopause. If the ovaries are left in place, a woman will go through menopause when it is her time.
The only obvious change will be the lack of a monthly menstrual cycle. In many cases, unless there is a genetic risk of ovarian cancer or signs of existing cancer, the ovaries can be retained. Speak at length to your GYN specialist about your long-term goals and how hormone therapy can play a role in managing menopause symptoms, especially in the transition and early stages.
Is adenomyosis the same as endometriosis?
No. Although they can occur together, endometriosis is when endometrial cells (the lining of the uterus) are in a location outside of the uterus. Adenomyosis is when these cells are within the uterus, in the uterine wall. Although both can cause pain, endometriosis does not typically cause heavy bleeding.
If you think you have adenomyosis, our specialists are ready to provide an evaluation of your symptoms and conditions and recommend an appropriate solution.
Huffington Post | What is Adenomyosis? Experts Explain this Common Women's Health Issue
In The Press, Featured
Extremely Painful Periods: Adenomyosis Awareness Month
GYN Surgery, Advocacy
Kia's Adenomyosis Pain Felt Like Being Stabbed Every Month
GYN Surgery, Fibroids, Patient Testimonials
Tiffany D. Needed A Specialist For Multiple GYN Conditions
GYN Surgery, Fibroids, Endometriosis
Learn the Difference Between Adenomyosis and Endometriosis
GYN Surgery, Endometriosis
1 Struble J, Reid S, Bedaiwy M. Adenomyosis: A clinical review of a challenging gynecologic condition. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2016 Feb 1;23(2):164-85
2 Osada H. Uterine adenomyosis and adenomyoma: the surgical approach. Fertil Steril. 2018 Mar;109(3):406-417
3 Pontis A, D'Alterio M, Pirarba S, et al. Adenomyosis: a systematic review of medical treatment. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2016 Sep;32(9):696-700.
4 Adenomyosis. (2018, June 08). Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/adenomyosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20369138
3206 Tower Oaks Blvd, #200
352 7th Ave, #1202
2003 Medical Pkwy, #300
325 Claremont Ave, Unit 1
1860 Town Center Dr, #255
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin-in Youtube
Stay up-to-date on the latest news.
By sending us an email, you acknowledge that you have read, understand, and agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Please do not include confidential personal information and never include your Social Security Number, your date of birth, or any insurance/financial information in any email to CIGC. The internet is not absolutely secure, and CIGC's email system is not encrypted.
"Schedule a Consultation" feature is provided as a courtesy for individuals to initiate conversation with CIGC. Contacting CIGC through this feature is not intended to create, and does not create, a new patient relationship with CIGC or any of its health care providers.
Testimonials or statements made by any person(s) within this site are not a guarantee as to outcomes. Examples of treatment outcomes in this website are not intended to convey any warranty, either express or implied, as to outcomes, promises, or benefits from treatment. Every patient is treated on a case-by-case basis. The content of this site is not a substitute for medical advice, care, or evaluation by a medical professional.
PRIVACY POLICY (U.S.)
© 2019 Copyright – The Center for Innovative GYN Care


Home » Oregon standoff – an American story
Oregon standoff – an American story
Gunnar Bjornson
The long-suffering Bundy family is again in the focus of the American media. In 2014, its members, with the support of the armed volunteers from all over the United States have opposed the federal government. Then they talked about the protection of their own property. This time the situation is somewhat different.
The Occasion
Formally, the people who occupied parts of the Federal reserve in Oregon on January 2nd are on their own grounds. They need to give federal land to local farmers, loggers and miners. The difference is the initiators came from other states. At the head of the armed group there is Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, who defended his ranch in 2014.
Formally, they are defending the interests of the Hammond family, whose members are in jail, who were first accused of arson, and then terrorism. But the Hammonds themselves now refuse assistance from volunteers. Despite this, people of Bundy continue confrontation with the feds.
The people who nobody hears
Armed men from all the states went to the aid of Bundy, despite Bundy saying that he did not need help. The leader of the occupation movement said they were "not needed, but things can still change". According to the media, Ammon Bandy told the leaders of the militia movement to leave, but previously he addressed all the Americans through YouTube to support his actions if they want to be free citizens in a free country.
The fact that this call received an immediate response from the people from all over the country, demonstrates an important feature of the present American society: the society has a large stratum of people who traditionally do not trust the federal government. American elites, in turn, do not do anything to regain the trust of these people. They are depicted as the lunatics and psychopaths in the media, ridiculed in the popular shows, but none of the politicians are trying to ignore them. The exception is Donald Trump, but his growing popularity is due to the fact that he listens to white working class males of conservative orientation.
The whole policy of the United States in recent years, external and internal, is built on ignoring the vast majority of inhabitants of the country. They do not like pointless and costly wars, did not want Obamacare, do not like gay marriage and oppose the infringement of their right to bear arms, but federal authorities prefer to ignore them. The so-called militia is only the vanguard of the American silent majority. It is not surprising that the US establishment considers the extreme right to be a much more dangerous threat than the Muslim fanatics.
Genuine American values
Members of the Bundy group are people who think that they can throw an armed challenge to the authorities, since they infringe on their individual freedom. "Militia" is a unique American phenomenon, which would be impossible in any other country in the world. The peculiarity of it is that these people protect the values on which the United States was founded: freedom, individuality, independence, self-government and religion.
It is significant that some of the armed Bundy groups, and Ammon Bundy himself, are Mormons, thus belong to one of the most notorious American sects. In the words of Ammon Bundy, he began leading the occupation after receiving a divine message from God ordering him to do so. The explanation is possible only in the United States, where presidents have used it before.
The situation is paradoxical; the US government opposes those who are the most pronounced bearers of the values on which the state and society was built on. The federal government ignores the social stratum that has made America, created a unique identity for American civilization. In this you can see the sunset of the US or a sign that its rulers are no longer linked to the United States themselves. They only care about the global agenda.
Lone wolfs against the system
American social psychology is individualistic. Cult heroes, who, by themselves, save the world in a hostile environment, dominate the public mind. That is why the militia is not able to offer any effective collective action. People act separately, under the influence of spontaneous ecstatic revelations and other individual factors, and therefore are not capable of organizing a series of measures to counteract the authorities.
Redneck-Heideggerians
Nevertheless, the militia is what undermines the hegemony of American liberal elites, contesting the order they have established within in the US, and disputes their forged America from the perspective of authentic America, without an admixture of dangerous European values and concepts brought by highbrow emigrants from Europe since the 1930's. Freedom and global Empire cannot coexist.
To be a pole in a multipolar system, the civilization must return to its roots, to be itself, exists authentically. American rednecks in fact challenge the world system philosophically. It is the challenge of American Dasein, if we dare to use the language of the last great philosopher Martin Heidegger.


Beautiful books to lift your Spirit
Tel: 353 (1) 687 4096
Parish & Pastoral
Saints & Scholars
Women and the Faith
HomeShopTheology & PhilosophyCan I Stay in the Catholic Church
Home / Theology & Philosophy / Can I Stay in the Catholic Church
Can I Stay in the Catholic Church
Brian Lennon SJ
170pp
Can I Stay in the Catholic Church quantity
SKU: 9781856077538 Category: Theology & Philosophy Product ID: 1055
'Can I stay?' is a question faced by many in the light of the Church's response to child abuse. For Brian Lennon, however, the question comes up not only because of the abuse but also because of the faith struggles with which he has lived for many years. The revelations about abuse brought these to a head. They also focused questions about the institution: why is it so dysfunctional and what can we do about this?
In the book, he goes back to the core values of the Church's Founder in the scriptures and also looks at periods in history when Church structures were quite different. Doing this gives hope: if the Church changed in the past it can change in the future.
He addresses directly the way the Church dealt with the abuse by asking why did Church leaders respond as they did? Who was to blame? In what ways, if any, were non-leaders in the Church connected to the crisis? He believes that the influence within Church structures of patriarchal practices, undue deference, lack of accountability and transparency made the appalling response more likely. And this in turn further undermined faith, already difficult because of wider cultural issues.
The Church needs to repent. One sign of this will be structural change. This will not happen without a great effort by many. Part of that effort will involve deeply divided people within the Church learning how to speak to each other about issues that are currently dealt with in a dialogue of the deaf: issues such as the ordination of women, clerical power, and a monarchical papacy. Lay leadership will be needed for that to happen. So also will a Third Vatican Council.
Brian Lennon SJ is a Jesuit priest and has been involved in community and ecumenical work for the past 40 years. He has written several books touching on the Northern Ireland conflict and was a founder member of Community Dialogue. He has led probably 1000 processes which have brought together ex-combatants and others, including those who have lost loved ones in the conflict. As well as this work he currently coordinates a group to support and encourage newly-released prisoners.
Beautiful books
to lift your Spirit
Address: Unit 3B, Block 3, Bracken Business Park, Bracken Road
Sandyford, Dublin 18
Phone: + 353 (1) 687 4096
Email: info@columba.ie
Columba Books © 2020 All Rights Reserved


Bad Faith, Bad Religion
A new documentary purporting to expose the sexism inherent in certain filmmaking techniques turns out to be an enemy to media literacy
'The trap of representation' in cinema at large and in Hollywood in particular is usually understood to mean the way in which increased presence on screens does not necessarily translate into larger creative power or salaries in front of and behind the camera, and in fact may hurt the fight for these rights as it dulls the motivation to fight for them. It is more rarely used to refer to the extremely superficial, literal-minded, decontextualised approach to cinema which legitimate concerns about representation seem to have encouraged in some people. If there ever was doubt that bad faith 'feminist' readings of films had a life outside of viral TikTok videos, there is no longer: Nina Menkes' documentary Brainwashed: Sex-Camera-Power is proof that this way of approaching art is now trying to legitimise itself. Considering the middling-to-positive reviews the film has received from several serious outlets after its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival, this is the kind of dangerous development in film spectatorship that Martin Scorsese may well write an op-ed about soon.
The film, based on a talk Menkes has delivered in various cities across the world since 2017, begins in voiceover with the words "as a filmmaker and a woman," already outlining the speaker/director's gender essentialist perspective on cinema — one which, while useful when looking at statistics of who gets to make films in Hollywood, surely could never survive the scrutiny of 105 minutes of film analysis. Are we still to believe, in 2022, that men and women — those old-fashioned binary categories — really direct films in fundamentally different ways, either because of their gender and/or because of the experience of the world that this gender comes with? Does Menkes herself even believe it?
She at the very least claims to, and her method for proving her tenuous point relies largely on a series of bad faith arguments, false equivalences and logical leaps, laid upon a flimsy foundation of film theory 101. After a condescending explanation of the difference between subject and object, she briefly interviews Laura Mulvey, whom she actually calls "the original gangster of film theory." Though the legendary theorist's own contribution is rather nuanced, Menkes practically ignores her comment — the way she will continue to do, without fail, with her many other prestigious interview subjects — better to offer a wilfully simplified and decontextualised summary of the thesis laid out in the scholar's groundbreaking, frequently revisited and problematised essay Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. In one of many confounding examples of the supposedly insidious objectification of women in cinema, Menkes talks about women's "to-be-looked-at-ness" while showing a pole-dancing scene from Lorene Scafaria's Hustlers — hardly the kind of subtle, hard-to-decipher "vortex of visual language" that the suspenseful Philip Glass-lite score would lead us to expect. Menkes does not seem to know that objectification is partly the point of pole-dancing, and her 'analysis' misses out completely the way cinematographer Todd Banhazl (a man!) and director Scafaria (a woman?!) go out of their way to amplify not just the beauty, but also the acrobatic prowess of Jennifer Lopez in the scene. She also conveniently leaves out the fact that said pole-dancers are in fact the main protagonists, in a film which explicitly touches on the liberating potential of this activity. It is tempting to interpret Menkes' silence here as an implicit comment about how demeaning she finds pole dancing to be, something only women who have been "brainwashed" into flaunting their forms would do. But looking for any kind of subtext here, even the most reactionary, may be giving a rhetorically confused film too much credit.
As Menkes goes on to deliver correct if obvious readings of the way shot design influences our understanding and perceptions of characters, it is bad enough to see her talk about basic concepts of shot construction like they are mental warfare. What makes this even less bearable is that she seems to have gone out of her way to select examples in which the objectification of women is, again and again, very much the point. She highlights the use of soft focus cinematography on women with a clip of Rita Hayworth in Orson Welles' The Lady from Shanghai (1947), never mentioning the fact that this technique is rarely used anymore — Brainwashed is only concerned with film history to conveniently mention that "the very first narrative film features a woman subject, a woman protagonist, and was directed by a woman producer/director," referring to Alice Guy-Blaché's 1896 film The Cabbage Fairy. More frustrating is the decision to deny what the images alone make obvious: the character played by Hayworth is clearly a femme fatale, a mysterious woman of such entrancing beauty that men would follow her into hell. She is an otherworldly figure, and the soft focus cinematography and saturated lighting do not simply make her traits appear smoother like an Instagram filter — they also make her seductive aura visible, her imperfections literally disappearing as though the viewers themselves were hypnotised.
It is as if Menkes herself was blinded by the seductive power of her own conveniently simple argument, repeatedly ignoring the obvious artistic justifications for objectification present in every single one of her clips save for one (more on this below). One of her most convincing (but also least original) arguments is on the close-up, which effectively fragments the female subject into distinct body parts, turning a character into an object of flesh to be looked at and touched but not approached as an active agent. It's a fair point, especially when considering how rarely male characters are framed in this way. But Menkes chooses to demonstrate it with a long sequence dedicated to the bath sex scene from Gordon Parks Jr.'s Superfly (1972), analysing a fantasy of unstoppable Black male power and sex appeal from a Blacksploitation film like it is a documentary.
She makes a similar mistake later on when looking at the opening credits for Brian de Palma's Carrie — similar, but even more shocking and maddening, as Menkes fails to realise that the film she is trying so hard to portray as an evil indoctrination into 'the male gaze' is already making the exact same point about female objectification that she is. We enter the female communal shower like it is a secret and forbidden world of carefree happiness and sensuality, full of naked young women laughing together and unaware of the camera, and Menkes gets painfully close to understanding the film when she says "you have to wonder, the last time I was in a locker room, I wasn't prancing around!" When the camera lands on a young woman languidly caressing her entire body while she showers, an outraged Menkes tells her audience, "you can't even have an experience of your own body without seeing it from this weird angle."
It is just about possible to imagine someone watching this scene and not realising that it is intentionally over the top, a deliberately unrealistic vision of what young men — the implied audience for most commercial American films at the time — imagine or hope to happen in female showers. It is however inconceivable that anyone who has actually watched the entire film or simply seen what immediately follows this opening sequence would not perceive the intense irony at its heart. Menkes leaves this out: as the young woman suddenly begins to bleed, she screams and panics, then hurries out of the room while her classmates throw tampons at her. The sensual idyll is suddenly interrupted by period blood, that boner killer. The rug is suddenly pulled from under the implied heterosexual male viewer — the exact same one Menkes believes Hollywood is straightforwardly making all its films for.
Where Menkes sees a salacious filmmaker using his tools to hypnotise helpless viewers into objectifying — and therefore, it is implied, always disrespecting — women, De Palma was already conceiving of a cine-literate film watcher, an active spectator capable of grasping tone and humour, one aware of what a film usually does, is actually doing, and can do. For Menkes, the only such person able to see through the 'manipulation' is, of course, herself. The inclusion in Brainwashed of a casual post-lecture discussion among the people who have attended the talk seen in the film — a suspiciously well-dressed and well-groomed crowd — feels like an awkward attempt to mitigate that impression, showing that other people also feel this way about cinema, but only thanks to Menkes opening their eyes to their 'passive interpolation' into the 'dangerous' images that they consume.
It's a lack of tact, a forgiving of the optics of her own project, that she does not grant other female directors. The sequence where she states that Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar win for The Hurt Locker (2008) isn't a triumph for feminism because "every single department head on this movie was male" is almost convincing — it would have no doubt made things easier for women in Hollywood if the first Best Picture winner to be directed by a woman had other women in key positions. But then Menkes lets The Hurt Locker end credits play out in judgmental silence, and the absurdity of what we are watching becomes impossible to ignore. Regardless of one's opinion of the film, casting Bigelow as a traitor of women here is nothing short of ridiculous, a preposterous and simply unreasonable charge that once again shows a complete disinterest in history — though she probably didn't want to, it is highly unlikely Bigelow could have imposed female collaborators on The Hurt Locker, a film made some years before #MeToo gave (some) female directors this very real option and put greater scrutiny on studios regarding quotas. Most importantly, denouncing a film as unfeminist because some men worked on it, because it deals with the "male" topic of war, and features the typically "male" motif of slow-mo explosions, betrays a dispiriting vision of what Menkes' goals for feminism are, namely a world and a cinema where the problem of sexism can only be solved by completely severing all contact between men and women.
This goes some way towards explaining Menkes' counterproductive decision to point out the objectification of women not in random scenes from American cinema, but in sequences of straightforward seduction. If, as Menkes believes, men's lusting after women is inherently degrading, then seduction scenes are simply the most forceful way for her to make her point. "I had no idea how to be a woman and at the same time be an active mover," the director states when looking back at her life as a younger woman trying to make it in Hollywood, and many women can relate to that sentiment; most, however, know that the solution isn't to reject objectification wholesale, to renounce and distrust beauty and attraction. Not Menkes, who seems unable to imagine women reclaiming and participating in their own objectification out of their own free will — to her, all women who do so have simply been 'brainwashed' by society and movies into displaying themselves. She objects to the scene where Gal Gadot walks through No Man's Land in Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017) not because it somewhat dulls the horror of real-life events, but because Gadot's Diana walks down towards the enemy in slow-motion like she is "on a catwalk." Looking good is, for Menkes, always a trap. In a whiplash-inducing sequence, she quotes Audre Lorde's "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house" while looking at the famous opening shot on Scarlett Johansson's derriere from Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation (2003), and says "one might wonder if this is supposed to be her face." Does anyone who has seen this film, about two people of different ages, genders and backgrounds forming a unique connection that does not fit any labels, really wonder if Scarlett Johansson's ass is her face?
A mention of Maïmouna Doucouré's Cuties (2020), a film which caused controversy online when it was added to Netflix, was therefore to be expected, and Menkes retreads the same tired argument as the outraged online users, most of whom had not seen the film (this piece explains it all very well). More unexpected is Menkes linking Cuties to Pretty Baby, Leon and Lolita, all films which to some degree confront viewers with the hypersexualisation of young girls, but in wildly different ways and with hugely varying degrees of responsibility. Menkes simply isn't interested in such nuance and has no scruples throwing the Cuties out with the bathwater.
She refuses to acknowledge the possibility that certain formal strategies might have consistent effects (objectifying a character, emphasising their dominance over another, etc) but not consistent meanings — that their significance always depends on context. Only someone so fiercely resistant to this nuance could argue for a one-to-one correlation between representation and endorsement; between cinema and lived reality. Brainwashed opens on a nifty graphic in the shape of an upside down triangle — just like the one on the poster for Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn (2021), but without the self-awareness — that draws a straight line from "visual language of cinema" to "employment discrimination" and "sexual abuse/assault." Far from actually trying to prove this connection, Menkes simply peppers her banal analysis of shot design with both general statistics and anecdotes. After describing the poolside scene from Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull (1980) as sexist for showing closeups on Cathy Moriarty's body that are not consistent with the distance that actually separates her from her watcher, Robert de Niro (this is called directing), she serenely states that objectification in cinema is why women cannot get jobs. Following a clip from Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) where Deckard forces himself on Rachael who eventually stops resisting, she says "this kind of scene certainly contributed to" Yale university students shouting "no means yes" outside a woman's door in 2010.
The scene from Blade Runner represents a rape, and filming it reportedly made actress Sean Young uncomfortable, in part because it was not initially planned as a scene of coercion. But it is narratively coherent on many levels, and it is disingenuous for Menkes to pretend that it is not. In a futuristic universe where characters are not sure whether they are humans or robots, and whether their memories or desires are truly their own, coercion has different implications than it does in the real world, which is precisely what makes the scene and the film so disturbing. It does not justify what Deckard does, but just because something happens in a film does not mean it is the morally right thing to happen — least of all in a neo-noir film, where characters are often unsympathetic, as Deckard is, and routinely make terrible decisions, as Deckard does.
Menkes also includes examples of such scenes from other films, and she is right to say that "we could make a ten hour lecture" of clips of such moments. But does she really want to absolve those frat boys of all responsibility so easily? Over and over, she makes the mistake of putting the blame for misogyny and all its real-life consequences squarely on cinema, not realising that she is in fact letting people off the hook. In wilfully misinterpreting her clips, she argues for the existence of an utterly passive viewer who takes everything they are shown at face value and simply can't help hating women as a result. Under the guise of teaching film analysis tools that would liberate viewers from the grip of sexist cinema, she further encourages a panicked form of first degree interpretation that not only insults the intelligence of both film watchers and filmmakers, but also seeks to lock them into a narrow, uninventive and literal form of passive film viewing and cynical filmmaking.
Her argument would be more convincing if she included more examples that actually do what she thinks they're doing, such as the scene from Jay Roach's Bombshell (2019) in which the camera, gliding down Margot Robbie's body just as John Lithgow's eyes do, makes the viewer complicit in his abuse. But that would require an actually rigorous approach, and Menkes puts more effort in the appearance of expertise than in its actuality. She includes brief interviews with prominent women directors such as Eliza Hittman and Julie Dash, but reduces their pertinent comments to soundbites, just long enough to give her incoherent film an air of legitimacy, but not so extensive that they could threaten its already wonky thesis. When she ends the film with a question for the audience, asking us to see "what happens if you try to actually listen inward," she does not particularly bother to demonstrate how female filmmakers have tried to do just that. Besides brief mentions of films by her interview subjects, a clip from Céline Sciamma's Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), a spatter of Agnès Varda, a migraine-inducing cut from Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975) to Emerald Fennell's Promising Young Woman (2020), and a montage of female characters across various films breaking the fourth wall (?), she reserves close analysis of woman-made work to her own films only.
It would be interesting to hear more about her attempts to "create something different" and "depict female characters as full on subjects with their own intense desires," but here, too, she cannot escape the anecdotal and the isolated, standalone event. In her first feature, starring her sister as "a highly alienated prostitute," Menkes' way to "express how it feels to be a sexualised object" is to focus on the impassive face of the woman, leaving the writhing body on top of her largely off screen. In her short film The Great Sadness of Zohara, she gives her alienated character agency by having her repeatedly turn around to look into the camera. These are interesting choices, but hardly evidence of an overall visual strategy or language — the same compositions could be put to totally opposite purposes. Menkes once again affords herself and her work special treatment. Near the end of the documentary, while showing a clip from her film Phantom Love (2007) in which a woman floats horizontally in mid-air then explodes, Menkes does not hesitate to draw viewers' attention to her homage to Andrei Tarkovsky's Mirror (1975); considering everything that precedes this moment, it is impossible to imagine Menkes not condemn other women directors who might place themselves in the lineage of a revered male filmmaker in this way.
Elena Lazic
Elena is the founder and editor of Animus.
Previous PostA Tale of Two Cities: Paris and Sydney
Next PostQueer Subversion in Art and Life
Strange Encounters
'I've done so many bad things'
Everything Old is New Again, or How We Grew to Stop Hating and Love Possession


You are here: Home / Local / 16th Annual Kiss A Pig Event Raises More Than $38,000 for Harford County Youth at Maryland BBQ Bash
16th Annual Kiss A Pig Event Raises More Than $38,000 for Harford County Youth at Maryland BBQ Bash
August 14, 2012 By Dagger News Service
From the Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County:
On Friday, August 10, fifteen dedicated volunteers puckered up to kiss a pig onstage at the MD State BBQ Bash to benefit Boys & Girls Clubs of Harford County. These 15 volunteers have spent the last 3 months working on their individual fundraising campaigns, attempting to raise the most money, and win the honor of Most Valuable Puckerer. These volunteers worked diligently in their fundraising campaigns, breaking records and over-shooting the goal of $35,000 by at least $3,000!
The race to win the golden pig trophy was close over the past three months, but in the end the winner was Scott Walker, Executive Director of the Bel Air Downtown Alliance. Walker had a number of events, restaurant nights, and business partnerships throughout Bel Air, helping him raise money for his campaign. Walker raised over $7,000 in his campaign, breaking the record of last year's star fundraiser, who held the record for most money raised by an individual in any Kiss-A-Pig. Scott was followed closely by Angelo Romano of APGFCU and Rocky Gonzalez of Harford County Government.
This event is a lot of fun for all volunteers, staff, and community members involved, but the purpose of the event is to benefit the youth of Harford County. As Club members' dues are only $12 per year, it is critical to have successful fundraisers, such as Kiss-A-Pig, and the unwavering support of volunteers to continue providing high-quality programs and services to Harford County youth. Boys & Girls Clubs would like to recognize and thank our Event Chair, Howard McComas IV, Bree Turner, Paula Casagrande of Big House Signs, and all of our Candidates and Campaign Managers: Bryan Kelly, Michelle Joyner, Brenda Morrison, Rod Bourn, Joanne Shumaker, Teri Reis, Chief Leo Matrangola, Sheriff Jesse Bane, Team Glenwood, Frank Kellner, Paul Magness, Lisa Fuller, Senator Barry Glassman, and Tiffany Jones. We also want to thank our Candidates and Campaign Managers' families, The Mill of Bel Air for donating the pig, all of the businesses that hosted events and sponsored Candidates, and everyone at the Bel Air Downtown Alliance who assisted us in publicizing and coordinating the Kiss-A-Pig finale. This event would not have been possible without all of you! We look forward to another great Kiss-A-Pig next year!
Chel Jump-Woodford says
Congrats on your fund-raising Angelo!!
Q says
It's too bad the poor pig had to kiss Scott Walker. I'm sure he 'had a few' to loosen up before the big event.
Bel Air Girl says
So, Q, who are you saying had to "have a few"?
The pig or Scotty?? 🙂
Scott Walker says
What?!? OK…
Anyway, THANK YOU Bel Air for supporting a GREAT cause and a GREAT event.


Home > visual arts > theartsdesk in Florence: The British Are Going
theartsdesk in Florence: The British Are Going | reviews, news & interviews
theartsdesk in Florence: The British Are Going
The closure of the British consulate this month is a notable moment in the historic relationship
by Jasper ReesTuesday, 06 December 2011
The Duomo in Florence: the city's fabric - even its famous cathedral - has been shaped by the English presence
In the 1450s in Florence, Alberti was working on the facade of Santa Maria Novella, Donatello and Fra Filippo Lippi were active, while Leonardo was born in nearby village of Vinci. And the English established a diplomatic presence. It has continued almost uninterrupted, pausing only in times of direct conflict. This month, it ends as the British consulate closes its doors for the last time.
Cuts to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office budget and global geopolitical shifts mean that the United Kingdom no longer needs a man in Florence to tend to the needs of tourists and expats. It is an important moment in a relationship which has been very largely cultural.
Of all the cultures with which Florence has formed a lasting relationship, the one with the English has been most profound. The English Florence is famously celebrated in books and in films. Or both, in the case of EM Forster's A Room with a View. It's there in the name of one of our heroines, Nurse Nightingale, the first of many daughters to have the city memorialised in her name by sentimental parents. The city fabric - its architecture, even its famous cathedral - has been discreetly shaped by the English presence.
It begins in the tangled web of alleys in the very heart of the city. Somewhere in here is the tiny Via dell'Arte della Lana, modest in length, long in history. The Arte della Lana was the wool guild, and the industry from which the medieval city derived much of its wealth. Before the Black Death nearly a third of all Florentines were supported by it. The evidence of that wealth resides here in Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana, a foursquare thug of a medieval building which bristles on a corner (pictured right).
Completed in 1308, it is one of the oldest surviving structures in Florence. It largely owes its existence to millions of sheep grazing a thousand miles to the north, because the lion's share of the wool which built this palazzo came from English fleeces. A gallery - an enclosed walkway - connects it with the mighty granary, Orsanmichele. Once the wool had been beaten and washed, it was taken down to the River Arno for rinsing. So in a way these sheep were the first English pilgrims to enjoy a Florentine baptism.
If English wool plumped the city's coffers, the English fleeced Florence in another sense. Florentine bankers loaned huge sums back to Edward III as he prosecuted the Hundred Years War. The relationship turned a trifle sour in 1339 when he defaulted on the loan. The city's three biggest banks collapsed in an almighty medieval credit crunch. The names of the families who owned the banks are still all over the city in the names of palazzi and pizzerie, chapels and streets: Bardi, Peruzzi and Acciauoli.
The Via dei Bardi - a tall, sunless winding street where you imagine internecine stabbings were the done thing - later inspired George Eliot as she wrote the almost indigestible Romola. (Pictured left: Niccolò at Work: one of Frederic Lord Leighton's illustrations for Romola). But the long line of English residents spools back much further. The proof is in the cathedral. Brunelleschi's miraculous freestanding dome is the magnet that lures most visitors to the city - "Cupula, worthie to bee seen of all travellars," marvelled Sir Thomas Hoby in his pioneering Elizabethan tour of Italy. The Duomo is notable for its lack of ornamental frippery, but high on the wall in the left nave is a rare piece of decoration. Mounted on a formidable warhorse is a rather gentle-looking old soldier. This fresco is the first permanent tribute ever paid by Florence to a private individual.
But he's not one of the city's own. He's not Dante or Boccaccio or one of the Medici who in the 1400s put Florence on the map. He's a mercenary from Essex. Or as the inscription on this trompe l'oeil tombstone has him, "Ioannes Acutus Eques Britannicus". Don't be deceived by the kindly old face. Sir John Hawkwood - the Florentines preferred their own spelling - was a terrifying condottiere. Florence, among his employers, expressed their gratitude for defending them from Milan by giving him a farm and, 40 years after his death, this splendid memorial. It's not quite as splendid as originally conceived - he was due to get a statue. But this magnificent portrait by Uccello of Hawkwood as a Herculean liberator incorporates the latest principles of bas-relief and perspective (pictured below right).
It does the heart good to know that an Englishman had such a prominent walk-on role in the Florentine Renaissance, even if his trade was violence. Florence was not involved in significant wars involving the English until the Second World War. Instead, for 500 years, we came to look and to loot. Charles I's emissaries bought up paintings by Florentine artists to enlarge his collection. After the Civil War, Florence became a pitstop of choice for royalists in exile. In the following century, the wealthy sons of the Enlightenment descended on Florence as part of the Grand Tour and bought canvases by the carriage-load. Of course there's no suggestion that the English were the only foreigners to leave their mark on Florence.
A plaque on a building opposite the Palazzo Pitti reveals that Dostoevsky wrote a bit of The Idiot here. For a while Henry James paid annual summer visits. But the visitor who most famously summed up the experience of immersion in the city was Henri-Marie Beyle, the French novelist better known by the pseudonym which gives its name to Stendhal syndrome. Stendhal visited in 1817, and proceeded to write up his travels in the confusingly titled Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio. So overwhelming was his sense of wonderment as he toured the sights that he started to feel faint from a kind of exhilaration.
Subsequent descriptions from 19th-century visitors to Florence exist in which the same set of symptoms recur: they feel dizzy and confused, their heartbeat accelerates, and on occasion they even hallucinate in front of especially beautiful images, or a surfeit of them. The Uffizi was a hotspot. It was given a name only 30 years ago by an Italian psychiatrist. Americans and Japanese, both arriving from more distant cultural worlds, were found to be particularly prone to hospitalisation.
Clinical hypersensitivity to the Renaissance is also known as Florence syndrome. The first mass migration of potential sufferers were English. After the Napoleonic Wars the genteel middle classes started to migrate south, among them great writers. In the Cascine Gardens Shelley wrote his Ode to the West Wind in 1819. The woods to the west of the centre are these days a less than romantic marketplace for trannies hawking their wares. On the other hand Santa Croce, the Franciscan barn of a church where many great Florentines are buried, is much as Ruskin found it in 1874 when he marvelled at masterpieces and sneered at tourists. His Mornings in Florence was a bossy improvement on the guidebook. He stood outside the ill-lit chapel frescoed by Giotto and noticed that "two nice-looking Englishmen, under guard of their valet de place, passed the chapel without so much as looking in".
For the fullest English experience of Florence is found across the river to Casa Guidi. It was here, opposite the monumental Palazzo Pitti, that Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning (busts pictured left) made their home from 1847 after eloping. Like many English settlers, the Brownings were not wealthy. The apartment is of modest proportions, but they both wrote much of their greatest poetry in these eight rooms. Furnished and decorated much as it would have been then, it exudes a faintly oppressive atmosphere. You can all but picture Elizabeth draped consumptively on her chaise, battling through damp winters, sweating through virulent summers, slowly dwindling towards death.
She is buried in the so-called English Cemetery. The expats' burial ground was established nearly 200 years ago on a site just outside the old city walls. The oval-shaped island sanctuary nowadays ringed by traffic is a little patch of "home" in this corner of a foreign field. A gravel path leads towards a marble sarcophagus standing on six short Corinthian columns. The letters "EBB OB 1861" are carved into the white marble. It is a fine design by the young Lord Leighton, who studied in Florence. And she is in fine company. Here are the graves of what feels like half of Victorian England's cultural elite. The health of Arthur Hugh Clough failed in Florence while travelling round Europe. Walter Savage Landor retired cantankerously to Fiesole up the hill. Fanny Holman Hunt, the flame-haired Pre-Raphaelite muse, died here in childbirth and her tomb was sculpted by her husband William. Fanny Trollope, the mother of Anthony, lies here alongside four of her household. Even the last two descendants of Shakespeare are buried in the English Cemetery. This is a moving shrine to the life of expatriates drawn to Florence by the finer things.
Near the exit, a verse of Elizabeth Barrett Browning is pinned to a wall. It might have been written for herself. "And here among the English tombs/ In Tuscan ground we lay her,/ While the blue Tuscan sky endomes/ Our English words of prayer". Not sure about "endomes". But you get the picture.
Of all the cultures with which Florence has formed a lasting relationship, the one with the English has been most profound
Find books on Florence on Amazon
Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan, National Gallery
theartsdesk in Florence: Was This the Greatest Renaissance Show Ever Held?
Tuscany is Ready for Her Close-Up


Frank Hamilton is a British singer/songwriter/producer best known for #OneSongaWeek, a project in which he wrote, recorded and released a song a week for an entire year. Things started in his living room and ending with a #1 album on iTunes featuring songs written with Ed Sheeran, Newton Faulkner, Lauren Aquilina and many more.
Since then he's recorded an EP on the London Eye in the time it takes to go round once (28 minutes), performed on Channel 4's TFI Friday, released a cover of Teenage Dirtbag featuring Wheatus, toured extensively, slept a little and recorded a 2nd album…
Songs To Make Life Slightly Less Awkward is Frank Hamilton's second album, the eagerly anticipated follow up to Best of #OneSongaWeek.
Apart from the live drums, everything was written, recorded and produced in Frank's living room before being mixed by James Earp (Nina Nesbitt) and mastered by Robin Schmidt (The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club).
"From a sonic point of view I hope it feels like the album was born in my bedroom, grew up in my lounge and then finished in a nice studio by professionals who actually know what they're doing".
Read the album credits.
Tickets: http://myticket.co.uk/artists/frank-hamilton
Big Frank fan? Get involved with his latest idea.
Join the mailing list if you'd like to be kept in the know.
Join the Pre-Order Club!
Fancy a sing-song? Check out the gig listings.
Snapchat – 'frankhamilton'.
Twitter – @frank_hamilton
Instagram: frankhamilton
Facebook: /frankhamiltonuk


Regional Cinema
Khoj Khabar
Lakh Take Ki Baat
Khabar Cut To Cut
# Bhim Army # Sara Ali Khan # Ind vs Aus # NPR # Jeff Bezos # Nirbhaya
TVS NTorq 125 Race Edition Launched In Sri Lanka: Specs, Features Inside
Two-wheelers and three-wheelers manufacturer TVS Motor Company has launched the NTorq 125 Race Edition scooter in Sri Lanka.
New Delhi, News Nation Bureau | Updated : 04 January 2020, 02:40 PM
TVS NTorq 125 Race Edition Launched In Sri Lanka (Photo Credit : File Photo )
Two-wheelers and three-wheelers manufacturer TVS Motor Company has launched the NTorq 125 Race Edition scooter in Sri Lanka. As compared to the Indian version of NTorq 125 Race Edition, the scooter has received minor cosmetic updates. However, there are no mechanical updates.
TVS Motor Company's Executive Vice President - International Business R Dilip said, "Since its launch, the TVS NTorq 125 has become a darling of its Gen Z customers in Sri Lanka. Apart from its striking appearance and the TVS SmartXonnect feature, it is the performance which has been the hallmark of the TVS NTorq 125 experience. The scooter is built on a rich pedigree of 37 years of TVS Racing and the Race Edition is launched to celebrate the same. Today over 4 lakh youthful consumers across the globe are proud NTorq-ians and with this launch we are confident of growing this tribe from strength to strength."
Meanwhile, TVS Sri Lanka CEO Ravi Liyanage said, "The launch of TVS NTORQ 125 has witnessed a huge turn around in the Sri Lankan scooter market. The scooter has become an immediate favourite and we are sure the Race Edition will satisfy customers seeking an element of thrill and wanting more from the scooter."
The NTorq Race Edition comes equipped with an LED headlight, with a LED daytime running light, and a unique colour scheme. The scooter is available in colour options of red, black and silver. It further gets chequered race-style decals on the front apron and body panels.
Also Read: Tata Altroz Launch On January 22: Specs, Features Inside
TVS Ntorq 125 Race Edition uses the same 124. 79 cc single-cylinder engine that delivers 9.25 bhp at 7,500 rpm and 10.5 Nm of peak torque at 5,500 rpm. It comes mated to a CVT automatic gearbox.
TVS Motor Company Launches BS-VI TVS Jupiter: Know Its Prices And Features
Suzuki Motorcycle India Overtakes Hero Motocorp To Be 3rd Largest Scooter Maker In H1
First Published: Saturday, January 04, 2020 02:34 PM
0 Post Comment (+)
© 2019 News Nation. All rights reserved.
This website uses cookie or similar technologies to enhance and improve your browsing experience. By using our site, you agree to
our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. OK


Joust turns 30
July 23, 2012 April 9, 2014 Patrick Scott Patterson 0 Comments 1982, arcade games, classic games, joust, Lonnie mcdonald, Williams electronics
The early 1980s marked a huge boom period for the video game industry. As a result, many of the iconic classics of that time seem to be reaching major anniversaries in rapid-fire succession.
The latest to reach the 30 year milestone is Joust, the unique 1982 title from former arcade powerhouse Williams Electronics. According to government trademark records the first appearance of the title was on July 16, 1982.
Created by John Newcomer, the game of Joust put the player in control of an ostrich-riding knight. The object of the game was the turn away the challenges of numerous enemy knights, also riding the odd birds through levels with several platforms. From time to time an almost unbeatable pterodactyl would join into the frantic pace of the game.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkxY9_dZFI8[/youtube]
The two-player feature helped Joust make an impact in the coin box at arcades across the country. While the ability for numerous players to play together has been a common feature in arcades for some time, in 1982 it was quite the novelty for two players to be able to play at the same time. Adding to the feature were offers of bonus points on certain levels, some of which encouraged teamwork and others that encouraged direct competition.
While the classic has been long removed from most surviving arcade locations today, Kansas City gamer Lonnie McDonald has been bouncing across the country for the past year in an effort to post a high score of 9,999,999 points on every surviving Joust machine he can find. So far on his tour he has hit over 60 different Joustmachines, including one in placed in the former location of a historic arcade just days before the 30th birthday date.
"I have met some cool folks along the way," he said in a previous interview. "Played with current world champs; seen Joust machines in homes, bars, arcades and museums. I'm not as fast or as handsome or thin, but I am wiser and more strategic. On the other hand when you win 500 free guys you can play silly if you want to."
← TaleSpin
First Steps: Guild Wars 2 →
Patrick Scott Patterson
Patrick Scott Patterson (Scott or his gaming handle "OriginalPSP") has been gaming since 1981. A multiple-time video game world record holder as recognized by three organizations, Scott aims to help promote the fun and positive side of both past and present video game culture through this articles here and his official website at PatrickScottPatterson.com.
RedBox offering Game Rentals Nationwide
June 20, 2011 J.A. Laraque 0
Genesis Does
April 6, 2010 J.A. Laraque 1
Games to Buy: December: Week 3
December 14, 2010 J.A. Laraque 1


A donation to the Wapello County Foundation becomes a part of the permanent endowment used for the benefit of communities in Wapello County.
Pledge/Contribution Form
Wapello County Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable entity. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 42-1212642. Your charitable gift is tax deductible as provided by the rules of the Internal Revenue Service and Iowa Department of Revenue.
The Wapello County Foundation is a private foundation established in 1981, which operates for the benefit of Wapello County, Iowa. The Wapello County Foundation is also an affiliate of the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, which assists the Wapello County Foundation with the distribution of funding from the County Endowment Fund Program. That program provides funding to counties in Iowa without a state-issued gaming license. The Wapello County Foundation maintains separate, independent funds generated after an initial generous gift from J. Paul Strother.
Endow Iowa
Gifts to the Wapello County Foundation through the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation may be eligible for an Endow Iowa Tax Credits. Endow Iowa allows taxpayers to receive a 25% Iowa tax credit in addition to normal federal charitable income tax deductions for certain charitable gifts. Endow Iowa tax credits are limited each year on a first-come, first serve basis until the yearly appropriated limit has been reached.
For more information on giving options, please contact the Wapello County Foundation at (641) 954-5782.
Support the Wapello County Foundation. Donate Online Now.
At Tenco we are poised to begin our 54th year of service to the people of southern Iowa and beyond. We are growing in our ability to serve people with disabilities and the number being served is now over 300; this could not be possible without benefactors such as the Wapello County Foundation. We are honored to have earned your friendship and confidence and will strive hard to continue to merit it in the future.
Cheryl PlankExecutive Director, Tenco
We are very fortunate to have Wapello County Community Foundation as a partner in our Ottumwa community and Wapello County! Bridge View Center would not be where we are today without Wapello County Community Foundation, and for that, we are grateful!
Scott HallgrenExecutive Director, Bridge View Center
The Wapello County Foundation is a critical resource for the continued well-being of our local arts community. Its funding of projects and equipment for arts organizations has played a vital role in making the arts available to every single constituent of Wapello County.
Dennis WillhoitExecutive Director, Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra
Main Street Ottumwa is thankful to have the support of the Wapello County Foundation. Their partnership allows MSO to better fulfill our mission by funding projects and programs which would not be possible without assistance. We, and other organizations in Wapello County, are fortunate to have the foundation to make our community a better place.
Fred ZesigerExecutive Director, Main Street Ottumwa
© 2022 Wapello County Foundation. | Powered by Neapolitan Labs


Black Genealogy
Yamasee Tribe
Yamasee Indians (a name of uncertain etymology, and evidently an abbreviated form).
A former noted tribe of Muskhogean stock, best known in connection with early South Carolina history, but apparently occupying originally the coast region and islands of south Georgia, and extending into Florida. From their residence near Savannah river they have frequently been confused with the "Savannahs," or Shawano, and the Yuchi. Missions were established in their territory by the Spaniards about 1570, and they lived under the jurisdiction of the Spanish government of Florida until 1687, when, in consequence of an attempt to transport a number of their people as laborers to the West Indies, they revolted, attacked a number of the mission settlements and peaceful Indians, and then fled north across Savannah river to the English colony of South Carolina. They were allowed to settle within the present limits of Beaufort county, where at a later period they had several villages, the principal of which was Pocotaligo; others were Tolemato and Topiqui (?). They aided against the Tuscarora in 1712, but in 1715, in consequence of dissatisfaction with the traders, organized a combination against the English which included all, or nearly all, the tribes from Cape Fear to the Florida border. The traders were slaughtered in the Indian towns and a general massacre of settlers took place along the Carolina frontier. After several engagements the Yamasee were finally defeated by Gov. Craven at Salkechuh (Saltketchers) on the Combahee and driven across the Savannah. They retired in a body to Florida where they were again received by the Spaniards and settled in villages near St Augustine. From that time they were known as allies of the Spaniards and enemies of the English, against whom they made frequent raids in company with other Florida Indians. A small part of them also appear to have taken refuge with the Catawba, where, according to Adair, they still retained their separate identity in 1743. In 1727 their village near St Augustine was attacked and destroyed by the English, and their Indian allies and most of the inhabitants were killed. In 1761 the remnant was said to number about 20 men, residing near St Augustine, and they seen also to have had a small settlement near Pensacola. The tradition of their destruction and enslavement by the Seminole is noted by several writers of this and a later period. As late as 1812 a small band retained the name among the Seminole, and some settled among the Hitchiti, but they have now completely disappeared. They were said to be darker than the Creeks, and "flat-footed," and from their proficiency as canoe men gave name to a particular method of rowing known as the "Yamasee stroke."
Muskogean, Yamasee,
Hodge, Frederick Webb, Compiler. The Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Bureau of American Ethnology, Government Printing Office. 1906.
Subscribe to AccessGenealogy
Enter your email address to subscribe to AccessGenealogy and receive notifications of new posts by email.
US Genealogy
Alabama Genealogy
Alaska Genealogy
Arizona Genealogy
Arkansas Genealogy
California Genealogy
Colorado Genealogy
Connecticut Genealogy
Delaware Genealogy
Florida Genealogy
Hawaii Genealogy
Idaho Genealogy
Illinois Genealogy
Indiana Genealogy
Iowa Genealogy
Kansas Genealogy
Kentucky Genealogy
Louisiana Genealogy
Maine Genealogy
Maryland Genealogy
Massachusetts Genealogy
Michigan Genealogy
Minnesota Genealogy
Mississippi Genealogy
Missouri Genealogy
Montana Genealogy
Nebraska Genealogy
Nevada Genealogy
New Hampshire Genealogy
New Jersey Genealogy
New Mexico Genealogy
New York Genealogy
North Carolina Genealogy
North Dakota Genealogy
Ohio Genealogy
Oklahoma Genealogy
Oregon Genealogy
Rhode Island Genealogy
South Carolina Genealogy
South Dakota Genealogy
Tennessee Genealogy
Texas Genealogy
Utah Genealogy
Vermont Genealogy
Washington Genealogy
West Virginia Genealogy
Wisconsin Genealogy
Wyoming Genealogy
Free Genealogy
History of the John Wilson Family
Wilson and Allied Families: Billew, Britton, Du Bois, Longshore, Polhemus, Stillwell, Suebering
The Wilson Family of West Virginia
The Wilson Family, Somerset and Barter Hill Branch
Notes on the Genealogy of the Bethel Vermont Wilson Family
Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan
Wainwright and related families
The Waitley family in the United States
Wakefield Kindred of America
Genealogical Record of Thomas Wait and his descendants
Copyright © 2019 Access Genealogy


Virginia cop's retrial begins in teen's shooting at car wash
The retrial of a Virginia police officer is underway in the off-duty shooting of an 18-year-old man at a car wash.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/2lfe2kf) Richmond Police Officer David Cobb is being tried again this week on second-degree-murder and firearms counts in Paterson Brown Jr.'s death.
Cobb said he fired in self-defense after the two men got into an altercation in October 2015. Officials said Brown inexplicably jumped into Cobb's girlfriend's car and drove it out of the washing bay. According to the newspaper, witnesses said Cobb told him repeatedly to get out, and Brown wouldn't.
A judge declared a mistrial in June after jurors became deadlocked.
On Monday, a witness testified that he didn't see Brown with a gun, but did observe the teen reach for his hip at one point.
Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com
https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-cops-retrial-begins-in-teens-shooting-at-car-wash


Rocket League 1.05 patch will let you filter PS4 players out of matchmaking
By Shaun Prescott
I had to stop playing Rocket League because I don't like disappointing people. In Rocket League, I invariably disappoint everyone. The rest of the world is still playing it though, and the forthcoming patch 1.05 should make PC players happy. It'll introduce new matchmaking options, including the ability to filter out PS4 competitors. This should satisfy anyone worried that mouse and keyboard players have any (dis)advantage against controller users. Apart from that (and of course, you can use a controller on PC), I'm not sure why you'd want to do it, but hey. Options.
In other less-consequential patch news, you'll also be able to decorate your vehicle with Chivalry: Medieval Warfare flags and decals. Similarly, Chivalry will receive a patch imminently with Rocket League-themed armor. This is surely a highlight in the history of zany video game cross-promotions.
Finally, you'll be able to program your own music, so if you're not a fan of the game's vanilla bargain bin dubstep then why not add some Brahms instead? The patch is due within the next fortnight. While you wait, read about how Sam Roberts likes to be a dick in Rocket League.
Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.


Obama halts Bush missile plan
US president shelves plan for defence shield bases in Czech Republic and Poland.
Obama has walked away from the Bush administration's programme of missile defence [EPA]
"Our clear and consistent focus has been the threat posed by Iran's ballistic missile programme and that continues to be our focus and basis of the programme that we're announcing today."
The missile defence shield had prompted severe objections from Moscow, which said it was a threat to its own nuclear deterrent.
Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's president, welcomed the US decision on Thursday, describing the move as a "responsible approach towards implementing our agreements".
"I am ready to continue the dialogue," he said, adding he would discuss missile defence with Obama at a meeting in New York next week.
Immediate threats
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, said Iran's long-range missile threat was not as immediate as had previously been feared.
He said Washington would deploy interceptor missiles in northern and southern Europe against more immediate threats posed by Iran's shorter range missiles, as well as place some interceptors on US ships to make the system more flexible.
Mixed reactions to US missile plans
Republicans attack missile U-turn
New shield good for Israel
What Obama gets from Russia
US changes Euro missile plan
Pole and Czech missiles axed
Obama reassesses Iran threat
Richard Weitz, the Director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Insititute, said that the missile defence plan was revised as part of a general review of US military and defence strategy.
"It is a recognition by the Obama administration that the Iranian threat is a bit different than we understood [during] the Bush administration," he told Al Jazeera.
"The initial impetus for the missile defence was a concern that the Iranians were developing inter-continental ballistic missiles which could reach the United States.
"It is now clear that the Iranians are not going to have the capability in the time that was thought; they will have shorter-range systems, capable of hitting Israel and Europe. This missile defence plan is optimising to deal with that evolving threat."
Iran 'under spotlight'
But Alireza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran, said the US decision to alter the missile defence policy was likely to spark anger in Iran.
"I don't think anybody is very happy because Obama's words have put Iran in the focus again," he said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Nick Spicer said the move would provoke a wave of criticism from Republicans in the US.
He said: "Barack Obama is trying hard to say he is not giving up on the defence of Europe ... but he has found a quicker and cheaper way.
"The Republican opposition will see this as a sign of weakness towards Russia.
"It's the end of the love affair between East European states and the US ... since the second world war."
Former Soviet states had seen the missile plan as a symbol of US commitment to
the defence of the region 20 years after the collapse of communist rule.
Russian question
Mirek Topolanek, former Czech Republic prime minister, said the US's decision was "not good news" for the country.
"This puts us in a position wherein we are not firmly anchored in terms of partnership, security and alliance, and that's a certain threat," he said.
Robert Gates said Iran's short range missiles pose a more immediate threat [AFP]
Alan Fisher, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Warsaw, Poland, said parties on all sides would be disappointed that the defence shield is not going ahead.
"Poles will be angry at the timing of this decision - today is the 70th anniversary of the day the Russians came across the border and took control of the country.
"They think this is really just playing into the Russian's hands."
Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said "arguably the Russian side has got what it wanted ... but the more comprehensive plan" announced on Thursday "may cause a new level of concern" in Russia.
Russians had raised concerns that the Bush missile system, a deterrent for Iranian long-range missiles, could be aimed at them.
But the White House said on Thursday that changes to its programmes were "not about Russia".
"This is about protecting our homeland, it's about protecting the troops that we have deployed overseas ... and it was about ensuring the defence of our allies, our European and Nato allies," Gates said.


Wall Street aims to thwart hacking of 401(k)
January 04, 2018, 10:59 a.m. EST
(Bloomberg) – U.S. financial firms plan to expand a secretive project protecting bank accounts against crippling cyber attacks so that it will also guard trillions of dollars in investment funds.
The industry-led project, called Sheltered Harbor, already is known to back up data for savings and checking accounts. But quietly, it's wrapping in data on retail brokerage accounts at some of the nation's largest firms, according to participants. And ultimately, the goal is to expand it to an even heftier pool of 401(k) accounts and pension funds, whose breach could upend global markets.
Sheltered Harbor, which began coming to light over the past year, already includes about 50 firms that collectively hold roughly two-thirds of retail bank accounts. The project relies on a "buddy system," in which companies pair off, promising to step in for their partner with a backup set of account information if hackers succeed in erasing or locking up files.
The idea came in 2014 after hackers ravaged Sony Corp.'s U.S. film unit, deleting troves of data while leaking upcoming movies and embarrassing emails. But in this case, the global financial system is at stake.
"Being able to restore a network quickly is one of the most crucial elements for coping with cyber breaches and increasing resilience," said Edward Stroz, co-founder and co-president of Stroz Friedberg, a cybersecurity firm. "Sheltered Harbor is the financial industry's way of showing how it can perform disaster recovery and thus maintain consumer confidence."
After the Sony attack, bankers conducting periodic cybersecurity exercises realized that a similar assault, even on a relatively small firm, could damage confidence in the financial system. One worry is that consumers could be spooked by a severe attack on one bank, then rush to pull funds from their own institutions, setting off a sweeping run. A similar scenario could play out with securities accounts.
Sheltered Harbor's members include the nation's largest lenders, such as JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., as well as U.S. regional banks and some smaller firms (other names are secret like many other details). It's a subsidiary of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, whose nearly 7,000 members range from multitrillion-dollar asset managers like State Street Corp. to retirement plan providers, insurers and other financial firms of all sizes.
Though a number of big firms have kept daily backups stored in secret mountain hideouts for years, that's not much help without a functioning network. So, Sheltered Harbor's members use a standard format to back up account data and collaborate with a partner company that can take over in an emergency.
If one company's computer system is devastated, the backup account data can be activated on the partner's network, giving affected customers access to their accounts within 24 hours or so. Pairs are tasked with carrying out periodic exercises, using sample data to ensure they can recreate the other's services.
The hope is that a stricken bank would soon restore its systems -- hopefully within a few days -- and resume control of its accounts.
Systemic Focus
The aim is to prevent a stampede of retail clients. There's no plan to expand Sheltered Harbor to wholesale, institutional clients of the firms, according to executives.
For the largest banks, whose institutional client businesses are probably just as large and important as their vast retail networks, the danger is that a disruption would still irreparably harm the company's reputation and business. But the point is to guard the broader financial system.
In fact, some executives see Sheltered Harbor as a tool for resolution not recovery -- as the regulators unwind the firm that has collapsed due to a cyber attack, its partner can provide access to retail accounts quickly.
"Sheltered Harbor doesn't address the operational resiliency of member firms," said Trey Maust, who became chief executive officer of the industry-funded operation this week. "Firms have their own continuity plans, and those typically address how to get back on one's feet after such a disruption quickly without losing clients or business."
Complicated Accounts
Because some of the largest banks in the group operate major retail brokerages, data for those accounts already are included in the backups. Yet, organizers are still working out how to provide continuity for those operations.
Offering basic payments capabilities for checking and savings accounts is relatively straightforward. But practices vary among firms for helping brokerage clients buy and sell equities, fixed-income products and other instruments -- making it much more complicated.
"You could have two different partners, one for your checking and savings accounts restoration, one for your brokerage accounts," said Sheltered Harbor's Maust. "But both partners need to have transaction capability."
Retirement planningRetirement benefitsRetirement incomeRetirement readiness401(k)


Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images
Texas Tech QB Alan Bowman being watched with partially collapsed lung
By Kevin McGuireOct 1, 2018, 12:32 PM EDT
Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman was taken out of Saturday's game against West Virginia, and now it is unknown just how soon he may be able to return to action for the Red Raiders. Multiple reports say Bowman suffered a partially collapsed lung and was being treated at a local hospital over the weekend.
If there was any good news for Bowman, it was the report that there were no broken ribs, according to Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury. But it remains unknown when Bowman will be available again.
"I think without the broken ribs, it should be sooner than later," Kingsbury said, according to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. "But I'm not sure the exact timetable yet."
Jett Duffey came off the bench to fill in for Bowman for the remainder of the West Virginia game this weekend, and it should be expected he will continue to lead the offense for as long as Bowman is unavailable.
Texas Tech is off this week. The Red Raiders return to the field for a Thursday night game at TCU on October 11, followed by a home game against Kansas the following week.
Tags: Alan Bowman, Jett Duffey, Kliff Kingsbury


Why Poverty?
Mission Week
Run to Attack Poverty 5K
Host a Poverty Sunday
Friends of Northside – Young Professionals Ending Poverty
Meet Caritas and her 12-year-old daughter
Attack Poverty showed up for Caritas' family because of our generous donors and partnerships with local organizations
We've known Caritas and her family for four years. She's been involved in our ESL classes and her children have attend our You Can Academy after-school program. We love their family of five.
"they were going to McDonald's to ask for a few napkins to use as toilet paper.
You can imagine how our hearts broke for her when she called us last week. Both she and her husband's jobs shut down due to COVID-19. They had no money coming in to support their family. They were running out of food. Every day they were going to the local McDonald's to ask for a few napkins to use as toilet paper.
"I need help. Can you please find food for my family? And I'd be so happy for just one roll of toilet paper."
This was Caritas reality, like so many other families in the communities we serve. She felt hopeless.
Thankfully, Attack Poverty showed up for Caritas' family because of our generous donors and partnerships with local organizations. One of our seven distribution sites provided food and basic essentials for their family the next day.
Caritas cried tears of joy when she received toilet paper (more than one roll!), children's kit, Houston Food Bank box with food, Supply Bridge Ministries box with toothpaste, shampoo, hand soap and more. She even asked us if we could connect her with a local church. Her hope was restored!
This is why every donation counts.
But there are still people we turn away at our distribution centers because we've run out of supplies. Families like Caritas with a household income of zero right now because they've lost their jobs. We want to be there for them too. Attack Poverty is committed to serving all our under-resourced communities.
To join us and care for our communities together, click here to learn about our distribution centers and donation needs. We are better together!
More Updates >
This update is part of our ongoing COVID-19 Response. We are so grateful for your generous support and commitment to helping us break the cycle of generational poverty.
We are a global organization that serves locally, adopting pockets of poverty and launching what we call 'Friends Communities'. These communities are long-term commitments that require mutual relationships and collaborative efforts with local organizations, churches, residents, and stakeholders committed to community transformation.
E-mail: Info@AttackPoverty.org
Stay in touch with e-mail updates:
HQ:
3727 Greenbriar Dr., Ste. 100
We are a global organization that serves locally, adopting pockets of poverty and launching what we call 'Friends Initiatives'. These initiatives are long-term commitments that require mutual relationships and collaborative efforts with local organizations, churches, residents, and stakeholders committed to community transformation.
Copyright © 2020 Attack Poverty
Privacy Policy | Return/Refund Policy