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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Vicarious stress

Wednesday, 28 January

Yesterday afternoon I attended a meeting in my department about budget cuts. The size of the cuts won't be known until the legislature adopts a budget, but fear of the unknown is great. People express this fear differently. Some are angry, mainly with those "at the top" who are pretty sure to be secure in their jobs. Some are critical, because without specifics management cannot take concrete action and seems ineffectual. Some are nearly desperate, throwing out un-thought-through suggestions as if grasping at straws. Discussion went on for nearly 90 minutes. It didn't bring any results or tell us anything new.

My job is probably not in jeopardy, so my fears are mainly for my colleagues, my department, and morale in the workplace. But when I got on my bike to ride home, I felt exhausted and had no energy. Maybe the emotions of others at that meeting were so strong that the stress transferred to me? Maybe fear took a physical toll on my well-being? If so, this does not bode well, either for my workplace in the months ahead or for our society where so many are under similar stresses.

I keep thinking of the man in LA who murdered his wife and five children and then committed suicide because of his debts and job worries. We all need support networks, which means we all need to be someone else's support. We need to check in with people we know who face uncertainty and stress. We need to help each other find ways to relieve that stress, even if it's only listening.

Sorry to be sappy. Maybe the physical manifestation of others' fears was more tangible for me because I could feel it in my performance on the bike, but how will it play out for others in terms of road rage, domestic violence, and so many other ways we humans have devised to "vent"?

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Where was everybody?

Sunday, 25 January

The forecast today was for subfreezing temps overnight with a dusting of snow, and then pure sunshine for most of the day. Um? We had more than a dusting last night, and the temperature was right at freezing when we got up this morning. So no early-morning bike ride (snow on the driveway is a good clue that road conditions might not be the best for bikes). Did some chores and headed out at 12:30, after it had warmed up 2 whopping degrees and just exactly as it started to snow again.

The original plan was to ride around the south end of the lake, but that seemed less than a good idea in case the snow started to stick. We went as far south as U Village and then headed north on the bike trail. At Lake Forest Park, Mick had had enough and went home, but I wanted to ride out the trail a little farther. It was snowing pretty hard but not sticking at all. And I had the trail all to myself. Between Bothell and Redmond, I saw a handful of runners and maybe 2 cyclists. It was peaceful and beautiful with the snow coming down.

On the way back, I figured it would be good to throw in a little climbing, so I went up Hollywood Hill. This was the most wonderful part of the ride. I love the snow--usually--and it was amazing to be a part of it, to see it on the trees all around me, and to be able to ride my bike through it all. The view at the top would have been spectacular if the forecast had been right; you look straight out to the Olympics from here. Today, well, you couldn't even see Seattle.
What great good fortune to have two beautiful rides in one weekend--and beautiful in such different ways!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

LandShark Loveliness for the WooHoo100

Saturday, 24 January

The big FRM team ride today was from Kenmore to Anacortes via Granite Falls. Of course, a bunch of folks would be turning around at someplace(s) as yet unknown rather than doing the whole, epic ride. Me, I was hoping to get to Granite Falls with the group and then toodle my way home via Lake Roesiger or Monroe. Ha. We got as far as the UW Bothell campus and my rear derailleur cable broke. I sent them all on their way with good wishes and headed home. 9 miles on my 34x12 was interesting; I had to walk about 100 meters at the top of a short, steep hill but otherwise just tried to stay on top of the gear.

At home, it was a simple process to set up my new LandShark for its first real ride, and I was back on the road in a matter of minutes. I had no real plan but headed toward Snohomish. Temps were cold, and I was vigilant for ice. I was a little unnerved in Clearview, where there had been LOTS of freezing fog which was just beginning to drop off the trees onto the road. It was like riding through mini hail storms.

Coffee and raspberry bar in Snohomish, then, what the heck, let's see how much nicer it is to ride the light bike on that bear of a back way to Monroe. Lots nicer, that's for sure. There's one absolute monster of a climb where I pretty much have just one speed. But today I was able to "accelerate" (from 6.4 mph to 6.7 mph) in the last 100 meters. There's also a bunch of draggy 2-3% road on this route, and I absolutely flew along (I'm pretty sure there was a tailwind). There are a couple of nice descents, too, and I was really hoping to get the bike up to 40 mph. I never got over 34, but the bike is rock solid with no little flitters (that's a highly technical bike review term, you know!).

It was a wholly uneventful ride. Nothing got sore from being on a new bike for the first long ride. I kept thinking how nice it was to have a custom bike that fit me, instead of me having to fit the bike. (The only other custom bike I have is the tandem, and there are limits to the custom fit of a stoker compartment.) Near the end of the ride, I realized that it was also my first long ride on a new saddle. I've been riding Avocet O2s on all my bikes for years, but sadly they are no more and I had to find something new for the LandShark. Hooray for Erik Moen's perfect suggestion--I don't even think about what I'm sitting on!

At the end of the day, I'd done 19 miles on my rain bike and 81 miles on the LandShark, the first century of the New Year! The Chinese New Year starts on Monday, so I guess it was good timing. :)

P.S. to Brian, Mr. "Nobody Here Knows What De-Icer Is": There is de-icer all over many, many roads in Snohomish County, on SR 522, in Woodinville, lots o' places. Maybe it's just that nobody in West Seattle knows what de-icer is?

Monday, January 19, 2009

Warning signs

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

It was so nice today that I had to turn what started out as a putzy 3-hour ride into something more appropriate for a glorious winter day. So, fueled up with coffee and a chocolate pinwheel cookie (bakery-sized, not the supermarket kind), off I went to the backroads of Snohomish County. It had been a long time since I'd been on this particular road, and it was just as hard as ever.

As soon as you turn off the bike trail, you start climbing and go over a bridge across the Pilchuck River. Well, most bridges today were a bit frosty, which made me realize this rural, woodsy road was going to be iffy in terms of black ice and frost, especially with brilliant sun and dark shadows sometimes making it hard to see the road surface very far ahead. By the top of the first climb, I had devised a little warning system for my paranoid self: if there was frost on the grass (or whatever) beside the road, then there might be frost or ice on the road, but if there was no sign of frozen matter, then the road was probably clear. This scheme worked well for a bunch of miles, through warm and cold patches and one descent that would've been fast on any other day. Somewhere around Lake Roesiger, though, in my peripheral vision I noticed copious amounts of white stuff on the shoulder. My attention immediately focused on the road, but that seemed clear. Then I looked at the white stuff: snow. Lots of snow. Snow up to within a foot of the fog line and receding back into the woods under the trees. This went on for 4-5 miles. It was cold, but the road was safe for riding.

In addition to frosty patches and snow banks, I saw lots of devastation from December's weather events. One picturesque pasture in a tiny valley completely destroyed by a stream that must have altered course and spread rocks and tree parts helter-skelter across the patch of green. A stretch of mossy trees lying sideways where Woods Creek had heaped mud and debris onto the road. Out on the Tualco Loop Road south of Monroe, the barbed wire fences are festooned with strands of grass, and the anchor wires on utility poles have huge "nests" of grass and other debris 10 feet off the ground, left behind by the receding flood waters.

It was a glorious day to ride a bike. It was warm in the sun, chilly between the snow patches, and so beautiful all the day long.

And now to work on today's volunteer task to mark the day that it is and to get ready for the momentous day that tomorrow will be.

Monday, January 12, 2009

New April stage race

Monday, 12 January

There's a brand new stage race in The Dalles this spring that sounds like it's going to be a great event. Chad Sperry knows how to put on a bike race :) and Sorella Forte is all about women's bike racing. I've raced on a couple of the courses and ridden part of another. It's supposed to be slightly less epic than Mt. Hood, but since it falls in early April after winter training interrupted by snow in these parts, I think it's going to feel pretty epic. While you're in The Dalles, be sure to check out their ace bike shop, Salmon Cyclery.

Here's the race announcement and link to the website:

New for 2009
Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic
4 Stages
3 Days
$8000 in Prizes

Sorella Forte and Race Director Chad Sperry have teamed up in 2009 to host the Cherry Blossom Cycling Classic April 3-5th in The Dalles, Oregon. This is going to be a tremendous stage race located just one hour east of Portland and more importantly on the other side of the Cascades (that dry rural side). With an average day time high of 60 degrees and a 1/2 an inch of rain for the month of April, the region is truly the Banana Belt of the Northwest. $8000 in prizes will be up for grabs and the courses will be top notch with many of the roads debuting on the NRC with the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. Travel time to each stage start is 4 miles or less from the city of The Dalles. Race consists of 2 road races, time trial and a criterium. Courses are well balanced and favor no one but those who are willing to ride the hard and have strong early season fitness. Categories include

Pro 1-2 Men
Pro 1-3 Women
Masters Men
CAT 3 Men
CAT 4 Men
CAT 4 Women
Masters Women (will race with CAT 4 women but scored separately)

Registration opens today. Register by February 25th and receive a $10 discount. Field limits are mandatory so be sure and register early to assure your spot.

For course, registration info as well as breaking news and updates be sure and check us out on the web at .

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Flood ride

Saturday, 10 January

(More pictures are posted here.)

My ride buddies today wanted to stay high up on the hills to avoid the flooded valleys, but I wanted to see the new Lake Snoqualmie. We parted company on the Woodinville-Duvall Road, and I headed east, to the flood plain. I knew the West Snoqualmie Valley Road and High Bridge Road were open, so I would probably not be forced by high water to turn around.

The West Sno Road offered watery views across the valley. Bear in mind that on a good day, you can't see any water from this road. The only problem for cyclists was the uncertain content of the muck on the road (and thus the spray onto the water bottle) between dairy farms.

The bridge at the Crescent Lake Road (where you turn to ride to Monroe) was rebuilt a couple of decades ago after the old one washed out, so it was high and dry. However, where the road dropped down toward valley level, you could see the "high tide" line where the flood had deposited debris before it receded. The water level seemed to be about 10 feet lower today than it had been whenever it peaked.

From there, West Sno Road becomes High Bridge and it rises above the valley floor. I had figured the road would be closed at Lost Lake--the 3 Rivers Mobile Home Park always floods, and there's another low spot just down the road where there's a gas pipeline substation. But the road was not closed, and Lost Lake seemed like an epic climb after 3 weeks off the bike, so I kept heading north along the valley. Surely the road would be closed and I'd have to ride up Fales? Nope. That stretch of Elliott Road had obviously been underwater recently, but the water level in the fields was maybe 2 feet below the road. I continued on north up Connelly Road past Kenwanda Golf Course. Hmm, turn left and go up Broadway, or turn right and go down at look out at the sea toward Snohomish? Oh, let's go have a look.

And of course, that meant turning onto Springhetti Road, which was definitely closed. "I just want to look," I told myself. And then, "that water over the road doesn't look tooooo deep." The third section of submerged roadway was pretty long and a little sketchy and rather dampish for the one foot I had to leave clipped in to pedal with. And then I was at the junction with Highway 9 and Airport Way. Oh, keep going--it was either that or turn around. There was lots of debris on the road on the south edge of the airport. And more road closed signs just past the RR tracks. This water was where I had the toughest decision: try to ride through it, or turn around. Well, I couldn't bear the thought of being so close to Snohomish without actually getting there (you'd think I'd never been there before), so I watched a couple of SUVs plow through and then rode through. Piece of cake.

Snohomish was a busy place--mostly folks coming to look at the river, I think. On the way back, I ventured out to the middle of Highway 9. Looking west, Marsh Road was like a boat-launch ramp: it just disappeared underwater. And 9 itself was swamped on the south edge of the valley. I had a little more confidence going back through all those submerged sections; I could usually get up enough speed that I didn't have to pedal while coasting through. It was a little eerie, though, that it wasn't like riding through a puddle; this water was part of a river and was definitely going somewhere.
It was a good ride today, my longest in a month. While there was plenty of sightseeing to keep me distracted, it would be better for everyone if those sights hadn't been there to see. Except the eagles at Log Boom, at both ends of the ride.


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Top 3 Cloud Storage Services in 2016

»Posted in CrashPlan, Dropbox, Google Drive

With so much information to store, it’s no wonder that cloud storage is a profitable business. We’ve got lots of photos and videos to store, and we have started to save them online. A 10,000 feet view of these services would favor the ones that provide a bigger storage space per dollar, isn’t it? Still, there are several other key features that need to be taken into account. Don’t worry, we will cover them all in this article.

  1. What are the supported operating systems? It’s a key factor, because it can prevent you from using the service. The good news is that the providers on our list support all the major OS.
  2. Are you interested in having the ability of syncing your files on several devices? What about sharing them? For some people, the ability to back up their files in the cloud is all they need. Consider these features before choosing one of the service providers.
  3. How secure is your connection with the cloud provider? All of them claim to have bank-grade security (or better!) but we all know that the banks were vulnerable for two years. Is your data critical? Then you may want to pick a service that offers 512 bits encryption, for example.
  4. Can they view your files?

Sure, it’s great to have a provider that offers 256 bits encryption or more, but if their employees have access to your critical / confidential files, your data may end up in the wrong hands.

Without further ado, here are the best cloud storage providers in 2016.

Dropbox. Were you surprised to see Dropbox being our favorite? Truth be told, we didn’t like the service that much until a few years ago, when they have lowered their prices, making them much more acceptable. These days, $10 per month will get you a whooping 1000 GB of storage space. Luckily, you can try the service and see how it performs by making use of their free 2 GB account.

Dropbox will sync your files automatically and makes sharing them with friends and family a breeze. More than that, it supports Windows, OS X and Linux, and can be accessed from mobile devices as well. If you need a good cloud storage service the doubles as a file sync service, Dropbox is the clear winner.

Google Drive provides a low-cost, and yet reliable cloud storage solution. Pricing is similar with Dropbox’s prices, but Linux is not supported. Google Drive has built-in file viewing and even editing for several types of files, so it may be the right choice for you as well.

CrashPlan has the best price among our favorites, costing a low $60 per year. Just install their application, and then forget about it. CrashPlan will work in the background, mirroring your backup folders in the cloud. And have I mentioned that the service offers unlimited backup storage?

All works well in theory, but problems can appear as you store more and more files. The application is developed using the Java programming language, and this may translate to syncing errors once your number of files exceeds one million or so.

Sure, you can edit an INI file and bypass the set memory limits, but the application will start using more and more of your computer memory, slowing it down. Nevertheless, most users, who store photos, videos, and so on, will never hit the 1,000,000 file limit, so getting unlimited storage for $60 per year is definitely an attractive proposal for them.

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“Look, he’s trying to feed the baby.”

The moment that I walk into Maryhouse, I can tell that it’s been a lively morning. Not that it I’m surprised; there is never a dull morning at Maryhouse.

Both lobbies– downstairs and upstairs–are full of women, some waiting for showers, some waiting to talk to a Maryhouse staff member, and others simply relaxing, enjoying a safe space to pause and rest in the morning.

As I stand at the counter I notice Evelyn* with her two-year old son Dee* standing around the corner. Dee has a bottle tilted up to his mouth, spilling most of its contents down the front of his shirt. “We’re working on that,” she laughs, and reaches onto the counter to grab him a cup instead. “He’s better with cups,” she says.

As we continue talking, another woman walks into the lobby, pulling her children in a two-seated red wagon.

“Baby, ” Dee points.

Evelyn laughs “He thinks he’s a lot bigger than he is. Kids can be the same age or older than him, and he’ll point and say ‘baby’. I thought he was going to be jealous when his little brother came around, but no way. He loves babies. He loves taking care of them.”

As she was telling me this, Dee ran straight over to the wagon and climbed right in the middle of the other little boys. He made himself right at home in that wagon, and the other little boys didn’t seem to mind another addition to their vehicle.

“Look, he’s trying to feed the baby,” Evelyn said as Dee held his cup up to the other boy’s mouth.

It was an adorable sight, and I can only hope that each of these boys has a safe place to call home for the night…

*Names changed

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Home » HOME » When I Met My God Of 5 Minutes, He Taught Me An Important Lesson In The Ugliest Of Ways

When I Met My God Of 5 Minutes, He Taught Me An Important Lesson In The Ugliest Of Ways

When I Met My God Of 5 Minutes, He Taught Me An Important Lesson In The Ugliest Of Ways

The story When I Met My God Of 5 Minutes, He Taught Me An Important Lesson In The Ugliest Of Ways appeared first on StoryPick.

My meeting with the God of 5 minutes did not happen by chance. There were events that led me to experience that meeting of awakening, the events that started in my school days.

The only fond memory I have of my school days are the many dance performances I gave and the awards that I won for the same. And generally, though, I was an all-rounder minus my poor singing skills. Now it may seem like why would such a kid call these reasons as the only good things from her most crucial phase of life?

It is because, within that gigantic school campus, thrived an uptight air of freak competition. It made me do all things that I shouldn’t have done. Thankfully, I got back to my true self after I passed out.

It is the madness of horses running aimlessly that brings about mayhem on the road. It is the beauty of the firecrackers in the sky that ends up deafening and choking us on the land.

And I had stayed strong and beautiful for far too long in the mad race. My only fault? I was being strong for reasons which did not really need my time and energy back then. And the accident? It came in the face of clinical depression at a young age of 15.

I used to make sketches of a person hanging from the fan.

I used to cry over my deteriorating grades and rejection from stage performances

Went from a happy heroine to a tragedy queen of a fairytale love story, broke and tore objects, screamed in the voice that still shakes me up each time my mind trails off to those dark past days.

It was not until I told about my rapidly changing behaviour to my cousin (my confidante back then), that I realized the harsh reality I had been surviving with.

The journey that began from my parents’ room (where I told them about it), passed through Mr. Tambi’s (psychiatrist) clinic and continued for a month-long duration with me lying in sedation on my bed. It was one of the most hard-hitting times I never knew I would be living.

Strangely though, even after a month of staying drugged, that unexplained heaviness in my head did not go away. I still used to cry and crash things, albeit at a lesser frequency.

So this time, my parents took me to one of the most renowned neurologists in the city. Whilst I was there, I was taking a stroll outside the doctor’s clinic. It was a long wait for my turn. And suddenly I heard a familiar squeaky voice call out my name. It was a classmate of mine. We were not friends exactly, but when she asked me what I was doing there, I had no problem in letting it all out. I even told her about my previous meeting with a psychiatrist.

Flowers gave up on blooming, new born babies started to question their arrival in this otherwise beautiful life, I started to question what I had been studying into when she remarked…

“ab tu pagal bhi ho gayi kya” (now, you have turned mad also!)

I was hurt.

But not as much yet.

With that stubborn lump soaked in tears lodged in my throat, I told my doctor about the strange weight on my head. I even told him about my round with anti-depressants. He said,

“What’s there for you kids to worry about? Depression at such a young age! Ridiculous.”

But, I liked him a little (okay, a lot) when he said, “Do you like dancing? I can see it in your face, you should resume dancing.”

I was in a state where a slightest of appreciation from someone made me feel like I found my God. So when he said those words, I got all emotional and told him about the incident with my classmate that had happened just a few minutes ago. (Just how those devotees vent their miseries before idols in temples)

The frail touch-me-not(s) that had found hope for a second withdrew themselves in their comfort zone again, the new-born kids cried harder this time, I realized that no matter how much old you grow by following the written word, the brain does what you want it to; when he said…

“You are a mad girl to have told your friend about it. Why did you tell her? You should not tell anyone about this.”

And that was him, my God of 5 minutes, who in spite of saying things that disturbed me more than ever before, helped me realize something important.

I can’t deny that…

I was enraged,

I could not believe the words he had just said,

Thoughts like, “He is a doctor! How can he of all people in this world think like that!” started to play ping pong in my head.

The heaviness in my head now had the added weight of society’s ill-beliefs

Suddenly a strange thought occurred to me.

Burying my anger deep inside, I forced out a smile. The smile of anguish. I resolved to myself that I would bring about a change in the perspective of those who consider depression as a thing of shame. I did not have the how-to plan ready in my head, but I sure knew what my end goal was. I wanted to reach out to those who cry themselves to sleep every night (or, are probably crying themselves to sleep right now). I just wanted to reach them in any which way I could to let them know that among the sea of the mockers of depression, there are those who care.

The world turning their backs towards them when they need that ray of hope the most is the most excruciating pain they can ever feel.

That pain is fatal.

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The story When I Met My God Of 5 Minutes, He Taught Me An Important Lesson In The Ugliest Of Ways appeared first on StoryPick.


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Thursday, 25 August 2011

Catholic Foundation Stones

Written by Fr John Wilson (Episcopal Vicar for Evangelisation in the Diocese of Leeds) and Fr Andrew Allman (Vocations Director for the Diocese of Lancaster), Catholic Foundation Stones is a basic introduction to the Catholic faith.

It is simple and straightforward and can be used with all kinds of different groups and individuals. For example:

• People who are interested in learning about the Catholic faith
 • People who are interested in becoming Catholics
 • Catholics who wish to deepen their knowledge of the faith
 • Catholics who are returning to the practice of their faith
 • Staff in Catholic schools, both Catholic and non-Catholic, who would benefit from learning more about the faith that underpins where they work

Structured around the four sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and divided into twelve sessions, this book will be useful in many different areas of parish and school catechesis and faith formation.

"I highly recommend this resource for use in Catholic parishes and schools. For anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of the Catholic faith, Catholic Foundation Stones is a very accessible and inviting place to begin."(From the Foreword by the Rt Revd Arthur Roche, Bishop of Leeds).

To be published on 15th September, the book will be available from all of our bookshops or online here.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

The Grail Boat

The Christ Journey ends with a journey, the journey of Joseph of Arimathea with the Grail, to Britain. With him on this small boat, miraculously moved through the waters by a presiding angel, are other friends of Jesus, in particular Mary Magdalene. Yet Tricker’s whole intention is to assure us that the Christ Journey does not end. It continues throughout the centuries in various forms and manners, always alive with the Spirit of Jesus.

He has chosen for this climactic sculpture a five hundred year old piece of English oak which has luminous glow. This is the same image we have seen twice before, brightly in a painting and darkly in a drawing. Now we can walk all around it and see for ourselves the trustfulness and holy determination with which these travellers voyage.

The priestly intensity with which Joseph looks ahead to his unknown destination is especially striking. Tricker feels an added tenderness because the little boat is moving toward England and, of course, Tricker himself is an Englishman. When Pope Benedict XVI made his State Visit to Britain, he made a surprising comment. He said that he sensed in the British people ‘a spiritual hunger’. This is not how the British tend to think of themselves, but clearly the Holy Fathwer picked up something which Tricker himself feels.

In different ways, every image in the Christ Journey expresses that spiritual hunger. Tricker lingers on the events of the Life of Jesus and those of His New Testament followers, and adds examples of future followers, because of this fruitful and beautiful hunger.

Picture © Nigel Noyes

Text and picture are extracts from the book The Christ Journey published by ST PAULS, which can be purchased here.

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

St Francis

Tricker has found great spiritual joy and enlightenment in studying St Francis, and with him his dear soul-sister, St Clare. Both saints were children of light, and the format of the stained glass window is especially appropriate.

Even non-Christians often recognise the name of St Francis, who epitomises that gentleness, humility and freedom from material possessions that are inherent to the Christ Journey. He exerts a universal fascination. He was a small man, and he fits neatly into his window, the Umbrian hills rolling behind him. He has turned his back on the securities of the world, indicated by the massive tower on his right. Yet, he was summoned by God ‘to rebuild the church’. Francis took it literally, and a small church arises on his left, but it was a greater Church to which he was really summoned.

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were as material a time as our own, and Francis, like Jesus his Master, preached a way of freedom. As we well know, his awareness of unity of all creation led him to talk to the birds, here clustering around his feet. Perhaps the white dove that he holds to his heart is a silent reminder that there is no love without peace. There is also no love without a willingness to suffer, and Francis was privileged to receive on his body the wounds of Christ, the stigmata. Tricker does not show those wounds. His emphasis is rather on an even greater characteristic of love and that is its awareness of joy. The great gold ball of the sun seems to roll down the hillside, recalling Francis’ hymn to Brother Sun, that great Christian Canticle of Joy.

Picture © Nigel Noyes

Text and picture are extracts from the book The Christ Journey published by ST PAULS, which can be purchased here.

Monday, 22 August 2011

Mary Magdalene

Tricker clearly has a great affection for Mary Magdalene. He portrays her more than any other of the Gospel characters, seeming to find in her human nature at it is meant to be, with an open capacity for God. It is she alone who foresees the Passion, and pours the precious ointment on the head of Jesus.

He explains that she is ‘anointing Him for His burial’, but she is also anointing Him as King and Priest: the Christos. It is she who overcomes her passionate grief after the crucifixion and goes to the tomb to find His body. It is she – and only she – who encounters the Risen Jesus. It is she, then, who has the privilege of being the first ‘apostle’. Apostle means ‘messenger’ and she is the messenger who runs headlong from the garden to announce the Resurrection to the Apostles lost in their grief. She has been called ‘the apostle to the Apostles’. Needless to say, Peter and the disciples did not believe her, but they were to find that Jesus had, indeed, risen and appeared to His beloved Mary Magdalene.

Tricker searches for ways to make visible the beauty and significance of this young woman. Here he has carved her head, from a stone of radiant whiteness. Her hair, long, thick and waving, cascades beside her face. There is probably a reference here to the legend, (one of several legends about Mary Magdalene, all different), that she went to live alone in the desert, leaving behind her all her possessions. As her clothes disintegrated over time, she retained her modesty because she was completely covered by her hair.

Tricker carves a long and slender face, shaped like a holy mandorla. It rises to a peak, and the radiance of the stone, combined with the strangeness of the form, suggest a lighted candle. She burns with the pure light of her closeness to Christ. It is the face of one lost in contemplation, serene in the consciousness in the every abiding presence of her Lord. Materially, she has nothing: spiritually, she has everything. It is a small sculpture, barely two feet high, but it seems majestic.

Picture © Nigel Noyes

Text and picture are extracts from the book The Christ Journey published by ST PAULS, which can be purchased here.

Sunday, 21 August 2011

The Christ Boy

The Gospels tell us only one story about the boyhood of Jesus, and it is not very often painted. When he was twelve and had been taken by his parents to Jerusalem, Jesus disappeared for several days and His distraught parents finally found Him in the Temple amidst the teachers of the Law. The point of the story is that the Child Jesus was the Son of God and felt His primary allegiance to God the Father. But this is not the event that Greg Tricker describes. This is the young Jesus in the carpenter’s shop of His foster father, St Joseph.

To the left we see carpenter’s tools, and he is stripped for work. Yet, to His right, is a bird cage which the Boy has opened to release three splendid doves. All three gaze intently away to the right, as if waiting to begin a purposeful journey. Jesus holds one dove seemingly ready to loft it to the skies where it can begin its flight. The doves, though ready, wait patiently, and the Boy Christ too, is patient. His slender body is wholly relaxed. However, this is not the carpenter’s shop in Nazareth, or, if it is, the background is not literal but a visual expression of the Boy’s mind. Behind the young Jesus stretch the calm waters of a sea. A boat waits with sail unfurled, as ready and as patient as the doves to begin a journey. The symbolism is manifold.

Here is a young boy, most tenderly depicted, innocence and gentleness almost luminously visible. He is at the beginning of the journey of life, one which we all travel, as we move from the safety of childhood into the difficulties of adolescence and maturity. We know something of this journey of Jesus, how He will grow into His full stature as the Word of God, how He will remain free of the cage of human selfishness and pride and how the nails, which we see beside Him in His foster father’s shop, will one day be used to impale Him to the cross. Physically, His journey will lead Him deeper and deeper into an understanding of the human heart, and spiritually it will lead Him deeper and deeper into an understanding of the Heart of God, His Father. (We must remember that Jesus ‘grew in grace and wisdom’ as we all do. His life was never static).

It is impossible for us to imagine what it must have been like for the young Jesus, aware of His closeness to God and perhaps groping to be able to define the uniqueness of this relationship. The journey that Tricker imagines is primarily an inner journey, one that we are all called upon to make but that few of us achieve. When Jesus on the cross cried out ‘Consummatum est’, it is accomplished, He was surely referring to His inner journey having reached its holy end. The work that His Father gave Him that here, in His youth, He is beginning to envisage, has finally come to an unexpected but profound fulfilment.

Look at the way Tricker paints the eyes of the Boy Jesus – they look inwards searching for the mystery of who He is and what He is called to. One thing here is clear: He knows He is called, as we are, to freedom, and by releasing the birds from their cage He is expressing His own commitment to the loneliness and the determination that are inseparable from being completely free. A gem-like sun is rising. It is the morning of the life of Christ.

Picture © Nigel Noyes

Saturday, 20 August 2011

The Art of Greg Tricker with reflections by Sister Wendy Beckett

An exhibition of works by the contemporary Christian artist Greg Tricker is to be held in Westminster Cathedral from Monday 26th September to Saturday 15th October.

Greg Tricker uses a variety of materials, ranging from ink, paint, wood, stone and stained glass, to produce works of art which illustrate the Gospels and the Christian tradition. His style is greatly influenced by Vincent van Gogh, and he continues the mystical tradition in modern British art pursued by Eric Gill, Cecil Collins and others from the last century. Tricker has previously produced collections on St Francis of Assisi, St Bernadette and Kaspar Hauser. His current collection is entitled "The Christ Journey".

ST PAULS is publishing the book to accompany the exhibition, which contains reflections on Greg’s work by Sister Wendy Beckett. As Sister Wendy writes in her Introduction to the book,

"One might expect the Christ Journey to be pictures illustrative of the life of Jesus. The natural assumption would be of a journey beginning with the Annunciation, or at least the Nativity, and ending with the Resurrection and the Ascension. Tricker, as so often, confounds these expectations and exceeds them.

There are, indeed, wonderful images of Jesus but they are highly selective. Tricker will show us only one miracle, and yet he depicts, most movingly, several of the great ‘I Am’ sayings of Jesus. He deliberately passes on to post Ascension time, with paintings from the lives of St Paul and St John, and there is an amazing emphasis on St Joseph of Arimathea and St Mary Magdalene.

He sees Christ as embarking on a cosmic journey through time, and so he adds images of saints, some from later centuries, especially dear to him: St Bernadette, St Francis, St Clare. He is revealing his profound conviction that the Christ Journey is for each of us, our own journey. We do not make it alone or in our own power.

Of ourselves we are helpless spiritually to put one foot ahead of another. But in Jesus, we journey strongly and surely. It is not that we take the same journey. Jesus is our Journey. If our faith cannot accept this and live out its consequences, then we have no faith at all. We either journey in the Christ Journey or we stay lost, on the shore."

The book will be available on 26th September and can be purchased here.

Here are some examples of Greg’s work from the exhibition

 The Grail Boat

 Mary Magdalene
 St Francis
The Christ Boy

We will be posting Sister Wendy's reflections on the featured pieces over the next few days.

Sunday, 14 August 2011

The Dormition of the Virgin and the Assumption of Our Lady

The Dormition is the most important feast of Our Lady in the Eastern Church. It is also a great feast in the Western Church, although there it is not called the Dormition, but the Assumption; but all feasts of Our Lady are also feasts of Our Lord. It is He who gives them their sacred meaning. Here we are celebrating Mary's death. As she lies motionless, above her arises the glorious figure of her Son, gleaming and vertical. The Eastern legend has it, that when Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that her death was near, she summoned the Apostles and prepared her deathbed. This icon shows the Apostles being whirled through the air by angels, coming from all corners of the earth.

This is a remarkably peaceful icon, the Apostles crowd around either end of her bier, behind them two of the Eastern Fathers, (perhaps Theodore the Studite and John of Damascus), who have written so eloquently about this holy death. The feast of the Assumption celebrates Mary carried up to heaven by angels, body and soul. The feast of the Dormition shows Jesus Himself coming down from heaven, or rather bringing heaven with Him, to receive His Mother’s soul. It is a very touching image. When He was born on earth, Mary held Him, wrapped in swaddling cloths. Now He holds her, new born into heaven, wrapped in the swaddling cloths of immortality. Jesus lifts His mother in triumph, she is His perfect disciple, the one who most truly loved and followed Him. She is His ‘first fruits’.

Mary’s ascent into heaven, and we notice Jesus seems to hold a physical Mary, spells out our own destiny. We too, will die temporally in the body, and become small and diminished in death, but the candle of our true life does not go out. Between the scarlet flame of the candle before the bier and the scarlet wings of the Cherubim above the head of Jesus, is a continuity. For each of us, dying in the Faith will mean the same new birth in the arms of Jesus. Mary’s Dormition, Mary’s Assumption, is our future as well. She had the glory of being His perfect joy. Us, He will gather in His arms, with equal love, but without the fullness of grateful delight that He found in her holiness. She rests, utterly content in His embrace. His hands are not bare, He has them covered, in the traditional mark of respect.

No one respects His creation with greater reverence than the Creator. Most of us will not rest as serenely in His arms as Mary does. In His unveiled presence, seeing Him "face to face", we will feel the immense sorrow that our sinfulness causes Him. His sorrow is on our account. Because we have not loved Him according to the fullness of whatever is our capacity, He has not been able to sanctify us as He has wished. That sanctification will take place in the purifying flames of the love that now engulfs us. We call this purgatory. There was no purgatory for the Blessed Virgin, and hence we see the exultation of her beloved Son, lifting up the radiance of her being, to display it to the world.

Picture: The Dormition of the Virgin 12th/13th century. © Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
Text: © ST PAULS Publishing, written by Sister Wendy Beckett in her latest book Sister Wendy Contemplates The Iconic Jesus

Thursday, 11 August 2011

John Henry Cardinal Newman 21st February 1801 - 11th August 1890

Today, 11th August, is the anniversary of the death of John Henry Cardinal Newman in 1890.

This great Englishman, whose own life was filled with turmoil, deprivation and loneliness but also with the love, power and guidance of God, will be horrified to see what has been happening in the country he loved and to the city of Birmingham that he served so faithfully for many years.

Today, more than ever, we should follow the example of Blessed John Henry Newman in caring and praying for each other rather than self, and pray for those who have been affected by and caused recent events in his beloved city and country.

The picture above is from the book Blessed John Henry Newman: Heart Speaks to Heart written by Fr Daniel Seward of the Birmingham Oratory and illustrated by Susan Bateman. We cannot but hope that the "kindly light" that guided Newman throughout his life and at the time of his death will now guide and protect us all at this time.

Fr Seward’s book can be purchased here, as can other books on Cardinal Newman published by ST PAULS, including:

Blessed John Henry Newman by Michael Rear

Out of the Shadows: A workbook on the life of Blessed John Henry Newman

A John Henry Newman Prayer Book

Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.

Wednesday, 10 August 2011

Finding Fatima DVD

Filmmakers Ian and Dominic Higgins present a compelling docu-drama on all the crucial details about the appearances and messages of Our Lady in Fatima in 1917 - a message of prayer, penance and conversion that is desperately needed in our modern world.
From the initial apparitions of the Angel who prepared the children for Our Lady's coming, to the Miracle of the Sun, including moving film footage from The 13th Day, this illuminating and inspiring film will inspire all those who see it to personally take heed of the critical messages of Our Lady of Fatima.

"Great new DVD from the makers of The 13th Day! This film, Finding Fatima, is shot in the same Bresson-esque and super-stylised way as The 13th Day. While hearkening to and honouring filmmaking's past, the Higgins brothers are simultaneously bringing the story and message of Fatima to a new generation.

They use clips from The13th Day for the re-enactments, as we get to know the personalities of the three visionary children in depth. This documentary is chock-full of fascinating, down-to-earth interviews and historical footage, all presented in a sprightly way. There's not a dull moment in this life and joy-filled documentary, even with its more sombre sepia-toned visual edges! Innovative without being novel or gimmicky, Finding Fatima has a 21st-century feel to it."
Sister Helena Burns, FSP, Film Reviewer, The Catholic New World.

The DVD is available from all ST PAULS shops or online here.

Friday, 5 August 2011

Sister Wendy's interview with CNS

The following interview appears on the Catholic News Service website.

After decades of studying iconic paintings and hundreds of works of fine art, British art historian and author Sister Wendy Beckett said her two recently published books are her most explicitly Catholic works to date.

Sister Wendy, 81, a Carmelite, has simultaneously published "The Iconic Jesus," a study of icons of Christ's life, death and resurrection, and "The Art of the Saints," which reflects on the religious significance of the images of 16 saints. In a telephone interview with Catholic News Service July 28, Sister Wendy said the books are important personally because they mark the point when she speaks unashamedly as a Catholic.

"When I began writing many years ago, it was simply about art itself because I didn't want the people who never looked at art and thought it was beyond them to be deprived of such a wonderful gift given us by our artist brothers and sisters," she said. "And I never used religious language (so as) not to put off the atheists and the non-Christians. But I knew that if they really looked at art they would see it drew them to something greater than themselves, something beyond, something other, and that something is God," she explained. "They would be looking at God anonymously." After decades of studying and writing about art, Sister Wendy said she has "come out of the closet and now I can feel I can write about God in his own name." She said: "That is what I have done with these books. I write as a Catholic."

Wednesday, 3 August 2011

Simply Catholic!

Former Protestant Evangelist and now world renowned Catholic convert, Steve Ray will be in the U.K. and speaking at a Day Conference at Westminster Cathedral Hall on Saturday 13th August from 9.30 - 5.30.

Come and hear Steve’s story and his unique and lively presentation of the beauty and truth of the Catholic Faith.

Tickets £10 in advance, £15 on the door. Contact Family of Faith Tel: 020 3286 7989

Please note, tickets are NOT available from ST PAULS.

Three of Steve’s books are currently available in our London shop:
Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church
St John’s Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary
Upon This Rock: St Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church

Tuesday, 2 August 2011

Unlike art, icons are to be adored

In his Sacred Mysteries column in last Saturday’s The Daily Telegraph, Christopher Howse wrote: "Sister Wendy Beckett's emphasis on icons as worship is impressive".

Quoting from her latest book, published by ST PAULS, Sister Wendy Contemplates the Iconic Jesus he rightly argues that an icon is a door into heaven.

Christopher’s full article can be read here.

Novena to Blessed John Paul II

Following his beatification in May, ST PAULS is the first to publish a novena to Blessed John Paul II.

The word "novena" comes from the Latin meaning "nine each" and is prayer offered for nine consecutive days. In scripture, after the Ascension, we see Mary, together with the apostles and disciples, gathered in the upper room devoted to constant prayer prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 1:4-5).

The nine days of prayer can also be considered as representative of the nine months Jesus spent in the womb of Mary. Like Jesus our Head, we His Body are also to be born of Mary and the Holy Spirit. Therefore, each novena can be considered to be a time of gestation before a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus exhorted us to continually ask, seek, and knock for what we need (Lk 11:10), and he gave us strong examples of the value of persistence in prayer - like the widow who kept pleading with the judge (Lk 18:1-8) and the man who woke his neighbour in the middle of the night to give him bread (Lk 11:5-9). But prayer must always be made according to the will of God. Even Christ Himself prayed, "Not my will, Father, but Yours be done." We pray with trust that God will give us what He knows is best for us.

Novenas can be times of persevering prayer for special needs, or of preparation for solemn feasts. They also can help us to focus our intentions so that we can more effectively give thanks for God’s response to our needs - whatever they are - placing ever greater trust in the Lord Jesus.

Our Novena to Blessed John Paul II contains a series of petitions based upon nine of the many writings of John Paul II, with prayers based upon the writings of his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

The Novena is available in all ST PAULS bookshops or can be purchased online from here.


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Innovative designs, creative solutions, constant collaboration, and commitment to our clients is what distinguishes Structural Focus. One of our latest projects, ROW DTLA Building 2, stressed the importance of team collaboration and design flexibility. During the conversion of this 100-year old manufacturing and warehouse facility into a mixed-use center, including ground-floor retail and upper-level office space, many factors united to make this a memorable and challenging project.

Building 2 is approximately 100 feet by 600 feet in plan and consists of six stories with a basement and several rooftop penthouses as well as a non-functioning water tower. New work added a rooftop deck with sweeping, north-west facing views of Downtown Los Angeles. The 400,000 square foot building is a major component of the ROW DTLA development, one of the newest and largest additions to the burgeoning Arts District redevelopment in Downtown LA. Envisioned by developer Atlas Capital Group and design architect Rios Clementi Hale Studios, ROW reinvigorates the vast and historic Alameda Square warehouse and industrial building complex into a vibrant district of offices, retail, and restaurants, and provides a network of public spaces for live music, entertainment and festivals. Structural Focus Associate Samuel Mengelkoch, SE shares his experience shepherding the success of this project through different challenges.

An ownership change in the middle of the project’s Design Phase was one of the project’s more formidable challenges. The initial owner had directed the Structural Focus team to mimic the retrofit design of a similar building on the campus, a strategy that highlighted the new retrofit elements as a prominent exterior feature of the final design. The new owner had a much different vision for the project, part of which was to maintain the “New York City” feel of narrow streets and formidable building facades — a style incompatible with highly visible earthquake retrofits. Structural Focus quickly determined that a series of shear wall cores down the center of the long, narrow building would be the ideal fit for the owner’s design vision. The architecture of the rehabilitation fit well with the new design — and as the structural team had suspected all along — the building behavior was simplified and the performance was significantly improved. Willingness to move on from old ideas, and being open to change moved the project move forward, satisfied the client’s goals, improved seismic performance, reduced cost, and preserved the building’s historic character.

The change in ownership, coupled with changes in both design and executive architects, necessitated flexibility not only in design but also in project management. Contracts and budgets changed, scope increased, timelines compressed, and project goals changed. This project allowed Structural Focus to demonstrate our ease in providing excellent service to many types of clients under dynamic circumstances and expectations.

The building itself presented challenges and opportunities requiring the structural team to think quickly, adapt to existing conditions, and make the best use of the building’s characteristics. With four full-height specially reinforced concrete shear wall cores, the collection of forces was critical. The team employed robust and generously reinforced existing beams and slabs, designed to support 250 lbs per square foot of live load, for double duty in collecting forces in compression, tension, and shear to the new shear walls. Suspecting they would exhibit good behavior, the team performed non-linear finite element analysis on existing round, spirally reinforced concrete columns, and compared their inherent ductility to anticipated building drifts. This strategy allowed us to eliminate the need for Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wrapping on hundreds of concrete columns throughout the building.

To maintain the early 20th-century charm of the building, we carefully analyzed the rooftop water tower and facade fire escapes to prove that they could safely remain. With a few minor suggested upgrades from our team, the water tower sits proudly on top of the finished building; due to strict regulations in the City of Los Angeles, unfortunately, the five 100-year old fire escapes could not be saved.

The building’s size, age, and countless functionalities presented surprises until the very last days of the project’s construction. Electrical transformers from the early 20th-century lined a dark room in the basement; in-floor industrial ovens capped with concrete years ago remained undisturbed, still full of ash and charred concrete; sheet metal spiral chutes used to deliver packages from upper stories down to the loading dock level were found; hidden slab overload damage that previous tenants had attempted to repair; and even windows that had once been above grade, were now below the street level outside with plywood holding back the soil behind them. Design changes and hidden conditions required many unanticipated drawing submittals, bulletins and addendums. By remaining dynamic in our staffing capabilities and tracking changes carefully with ownership, we were able to stay one step ahead of the demanding schedule while successfully meeting our budget targets.

ROW DTLA Building 2 presented unusual and complex challenges for the design team but positive collaboration, flexibility, and adaptability proved key to the project’s successful completion. The owner and the architect had a remarkable vision for this structure and we are proud to have been part of the project. The building’s creative office space perfectly complements the dynamic retail and dining environment downstairs. “I keep going back to events at ROW, not just for the memories of my own work there but because the whole district has a quality that’s truly special,” stated Structural Focus Project Manager Samuel Mengelkoch, SE. “Once the tenancy is filled out, ROW will be a major destination in LA.” ROW DTLA is a huge part of the revitalization of the Arts District in Los Angeles. Standing as an eclectic and elegant example of adaptive re-use without displacement, ROW demonstrates how maintaining a physical connection to our past is not at odds with a promising economic and cultural future.


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Program and Context

We stand united in opposition to the new points-based immigration rules. They frame students as suspects and turn staff into border agents. The Home Office and the Border Agency are outsourcing border policing to universities. We oppose the way these laws force distrust and suspicion upon our environments and we are concerned about the long-term impact of these new regulations on academic freedom, democracy and the right to privacy. We are calling for these new rules to be scrapped. Read on to find out how you can join the campaign and take action.
Introduced across UK universities on 31 March 2009, the new system imposes a series of onerous requirements for non-EU students and academics coming to study or teach in the UK.

• Increased visa application fees
• Requirement for increased funds (Over £18,000 for a year’s study)
• Higher education institutions must take on Monitoring duties
including monitoring foreign student and staff attendance
• A licensing system for all institutions with international students, leading to the vetting of educational institutions by the UK Border Agency

Increased bureaucracy leads to increased errors and many students suffer as a result. There has already been an increase in late arrivals and no-shows of international students for the academic year 2009-10. there is a limited appeals system, so some students have lost thousands of pounds in advance fees, plus visa application fees.

Problems include:
• 100% increase in visa refusals during April-May 2009
• 35% of visa applications from China, 49% of applications from India, and 21% from the USA were rejected
• 14,000 would-be students were stuck in Pakistan when term started in October 2009
• students were rejected by the UKBA for a variety of trivial reasons, including having written ‘Malaysian’ instead of ‘Malaysia’ under country
• At the end of January 2010, the UKBA completely suspended student visa applications from northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh
• Additional layers of bureaucracy and surveillance make it much harder for international students to apply and study in the UK
• Administrative errors are common and ongoing - students have already had their studies and other work interrupted because of ‘mistakes’
• we will see a narrowing of the range of backgrounds and experiences of students coming to the UK and as a result of increased financial burden, the breadth of dialogue in our classrooms will be limited
• New international students staff, and their children, must submit biometric information and carry ID cards
• Unnecessary restrictions on international artists and academics visiting the UK for talks, temporary exhibitions, concerts or artists’ residencies
• New rules are being used to make non-EU staff redundant or to intimidate them into accepting worse conditions

Some international academics are now unable to attend the UK to teach their regular courses or seminars, including one Israeli visiting lecturer at Exeter. Universities, including the Glasgow School of Art and Nottingham Trent, report difficulties putting together international lecture series. Some international academics now choose not to visit the UK, in response to what they see as insulting procedures. Universities, including Imperial College report large expenditures of staff time and resources on securing visas for their international academics. Staff must check international student attendance. If a student fails to attend 10 expected 'interactions’, staff are obliged to report them to the UKBA. This can lead to deportation in extreme cases. When a student does not enrol on the course at the expected time, the reason for this must be given within 10 working days. If this does not occur, the incident must be reported to the UKBA. Academics must inform the UKBA if they have any suspicions that a student is engaging in 'suspicious behaviour’. What would this mean for Iranian or Pakistani students studying in the sciences?

*Briefing content drawn from ‘Fortress Academy’, a report compiled by V. Hartwich of the Manifesto Club.
Disrupt attempts to maintain attendance records. Refuse to accept a register at all and encourage your tutors, seminar leaders and lecturers to join the campaign too. Sign the Students Not Suspects declaration and use your National Student Survey voice to express your views about the PBSI. No positive feedback whilst Goldsmiths remain complicit with these rules!Talk to friends and colleagues in other universities, spreading the campaign to the rest of the country. Get to know one another! One of the effects of such draconian immigration rules is to further separate Home, EU and International Students from one another.


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Wednesday, January 17, 2007

This week at SFC: Bread and Roses

Our screenings are free and all are welcome.

Feature film will commence at 8:15 pm this week....

Bread and Roses (Ken Loach/2001/UK/110’)

After surviving a perilous journey from Mexico to the US, Maya (Padilla) enlists the help of her hard-working sister Rosa (Carrillo) to secure a job among other immigrant cleaners with a non-union cleaning agency in a downtown office block. A fated meeting with Sam (Adrien Brody), a committed activist, leads to a guerrilla-style manoeuvre against their employers for standard union benefits. It is a fight which carries the risk of the loss of livelihoods and deportation from the US.
Based on the real life Justice For Janitors campaign in 1990, Ken Loach's first foray into American production (his shooting style remains relatively unaltered) is a typically committed, and politically and socially aware film about ordinary human dignity in the face of corporate might and indifference. As ever, the director draws naturalistic performances from a largely untried cast with Padilla - in her acting debut - revealing the spirit and defiance which characterised the workers' struggle and the plight of those eking out a living in a foreign and often hostile land.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

This week at SFC: Black Cat, White Cat

Our screenings are FREE and all are welcome.
Feature film will commence at 8:15 pm this week....
We are back in the back studio!

Black Cat, White Cat (Emir Kusturica/Serbo-Croat/1998/124’)

From the acclaimed director of ‘Time of the Gypsies’ and ‘Underground’ this colourful, fast, and farcical comedy of Gypsy life on the Danube develops a wide cast of larger-than-life characters, built around two octagenarian friends and feuding rivals, Grga and Zarije, and their families. One is boss of the garbage dumps, the other is boss of the cement factories, but both have problems with their offspring. Zarije's good-for-nothing son Matko plans a train heist that will finally bring him respect and wealth but is forced to ask help from Grga. He loses all in a double-cross by his partner, the manic, coke-snorting "businessman-patriot" Dadan, who demands that he pay the debt by marrying off his son Zare to Dadan's headstrong sister, Afrodita. Complicating the plot further, the innocent Zare has fallen for comely barmaid Ida, who soon initiates him into the mysteries of love. Frenetically paced and hilariously funny, Black Cat, White Cat builds to its uproarious climax, the arranged wedding of Zare and Afrodita, through a slapstick sequence of wild chases, exuberant parties, fake deaths, skullduggery, double-crosses, mishaps, and pratfalls. Its cinematography, as rich as the action, includes Fellini-esque scenes of pigs eating cars and the obligatory flocks of geese. The rousing sound track of Gypsy music adds to the folklore and fun. Actor Srdan Todorovic as the wild Dadan returns from director Emir Kusturica's earlier somber work, Underground, accompanied by an excellent cast, including many Gypsy non- professionals, who display an uncanny family resembance. A ribald, buoyant comedy.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007

This week at SFC: Sullivan's Travels

Our screenings are free and all are welcome.

Feature film will commence at 8:15 pm this week....

Preston Sturges was a writer-director the like of which we haven't seen since. He was a well-connected anarchist in a system that frowned on such tendencies - unless they made money. Directors such as Billy Wilder owed a great debt to him.
Sturges's America was cheerfully corrupt, absurd and frequently unaware of its own ridiculousness, and his films were so high on comic dynamism that you could readily forgive the wayward lip service to logic.
His glory days were brief. Within 10 years of his directorial debut, The Great McGinty (1940), he was worn out, and he died bankrupt in 1959. But in his heyday he made half a dozen comedies as subversive as any now, and a good deal funnier. Sullivan's Travels was probably his masterpiece.
It starts off with Joel McCrea's Sullivan, a director of farces who wants to get serious with a script called O Brother, Where Art Thou? (the Coen Brothers were inspired to entitle their movie thus), being berated by studio bosses because he doesn't know the meaning of the poverty that Brother talks about.
So he borrows a tramp's outfit from the wardrobe department andtakes to the road, with a studio bus full of doctors, bodyguards and secretaries a discreet distance behind him. The more he tries to break away from Hollywood, the faster it comes towards him. After picking up a failed actress who says things like "There's nothing like a deep-dish movie for driving you into the open", the rich man's search for poverty ends in a fight with a policeman that has him incarcerated in a chain-gang.
In a key scene, he and the other convicts go to a gospel church hall, where the minister instructs his congregation to welcome those less fortunate. And together everyone roars with laughter at a Disney cartoon. Sullivan may not have found seriousness but at last he has found how valuable true comedy is.
Unconvincing as this may seem - and certainly sentimental - it is an unforgettable moment, perhaps telling us that the high art Sturges despised is worthless if merely inspired by middle-class guilt. Even if you don't appreciate this defining sequence in the film, everything else gels perfectly: the ridiculous studio bus full of hangers-on trying to get Sullivan out of the scrapes he falls into, the butlers who object to the whole enterprise, the ghastly wife who thinks he's dead and lays flowers on his supposed grave like a fashionable zombie.
Is the film serious underneath its hilarity? Perhaps not entirely, since Sturges, like Sullivan, never quite knew how to do it. But the way his assemblage of characters so often seem to realise their own failings at least betokens a sophisticated, perhaps kindly cynic. People have tended to say that Sturges' films were as confused as he was. If that is so, long live abstracted directors, since they tend to see the world as it is rather than as we might wish it to be.


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The Peplum! The last time it was big was back in the mid eighties, I can actually remember my mother wearing them. However this time around the flare or “flounce ” of the bottom isn’t as grand as the 80’s but definitely more grown up, dare I say more sophisticated. Peplum tops, skirts and dresses were seen everywhere in 2012 and there was no shortage of style – colour blocking, leather, lace, glitter, printed patterns…I could go on and on.

I’m not sure how I feel about the peplum, I don’t love it nor do I hate it. The idea of a top or dress adding volume to my curves instead of accentuating them really isn’t appealing to me. Which isn’t to say it wouldn’t flatter someone else. Check out Solange Knowles; she looks great in this yellow Rachel Roy Peplum dress.

solange in rachel roy

These tops are nice but not enough for me to wear them, even the leather one.

peplum top

And these dresses too!

black peplum dress

Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 1.24.44 PM

The Peplum was a pass for me in 2012, but maybe you’re hoping it’ll be around in 2013! What do you think?


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Monthly Archive: August 2010

No grocery shopping workout for Theresa, this week

Normally, I spend Saturday mornings grocery shopping. Grocery shopping in Benin isn’t like grocery shopping in the States. It’s a lot of walking, a lot of carrying heavy bags, and for an out-of-shape woman like me, it’s quite a workout. First, I hit up Soditex for cheese and Lebanese flat bread. They’re the cheapest in town, and I can’t make delicious flat bread pizzas without the basic ingredients. Then, I...

On putting food obsessions to good use: BENTO!

I am obessive about everything I take seriously. Like losing weight getting healthy. I spend hours thinking about food and exercise and calories each day. That’s probably why I’m successful thus far, but it’s also kind of neurotic annoying. I know that nobody knows what normal is, but I’d rather channel my obsessiveness into something productive. Like Bento. Oh yes.

Oh, malaria, I am so over you!

Tomorrow marks my post-malaria return to calorie counting. I’ve continued to lose since the dreaded deadly disease, but it’s more due to a missing appetite than any dedication to weight loss healthy eating. Turns out, when you abruptly cut out soda, coffee, and cigarettes because even the thought of putting poison into your body makes you puke, your body isn’t so quick to accept them later, when you’re healed. We’ll...

I don’t speak Arabic … YET.

I passed my State Department Arabic class! After 12 weeks of not-as-diligent-as-it-should-have-been study, I can now read the alphabet, count to a million, say hello, and introduce myself. My teacher left me with a long list of subjects I need to work on before I start the second course in the series. Good thing it was pass/fail. Exciting things I can do with Arabic in Cotonou: Read Koranic verses on...

On having an incredibly supportive partner while on this journey

I am a lucky woman. When I made my decision to lose weight get healthy, my husband was nothing but supportive. Now, a few months into the process, he continues to be nothing but supportive. He thought I was beautiful and sexy and perfect when I was 225. He thinks I’m beautiful and sexy and perfect now that I’ve lost 20 lbs. And he’ll think I’m beautiful and sexy and...

We got malaria and it was the WORST EVER EVER

How many times have I written and not saved this malaria post because we lost power? NOT THIS TIME. Ctrl+S. A very long story short: Bertrand and I had malaria this week. I lost a lot of weight in a very unhealthy way because I had no appetite and even if I did, I couldn’t hold it down. Ctrl+S. If you’ve never had malaria, imagine the worst fever alternating with...


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Thursday, 6 March 2014

April Class

The next Wick Hall card class will take place on 1st April, 7 - 9 pm.

We will be making these five cards. The cost of £10 will include all the materials needed to make the project and refreshments, along with half a pack of candy dots and a free raffle ticket, when I raffle a piece of the equipment used on the evening.

Suitable for beginners and more experienced crafters alike and a great way to just dip your toe in the friendly pond of crafting! I will also be offering a 10% discount on all items purchased on the night, that we used during the making of the cards.

Hope to see you there. New faces always welcome!!


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Desikan Sujatha has played true to his name in this collection of short stories. An ardent fan of the famous writer, he became his friend and confidante in the later years. The maestro’s style has definitely had an impact on the author, whose treatment of the genre has a strong resemblance to his idol’s, the twist in the end including. Readers, accustomed to Sujatha’s bold ideas, will not be disappointed with this slim volume.

Appavin Radio – Desikan Sujatha – Pathu Paisa Pathippagam – A-1502, Brigade Metropolis, Garudarcharpalya, Mahadevapura, White Field Main Road, Bangaluru – 560048. Phone: +91-98458 66770 .