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Foreign students flock to the US

Surge in overseas applicants driven by weak dollar

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size + By Peter Schworm
Globe Staff / July 5, 2008

The faltering US dollar, which has steadily lost value against major currencies around the world, has produced a silver lining for foreign students, and the American universities that recruit them.

With every dip in the exchange rate, the cost of college for many foreign students has dropped in kind, a discount that has contributed to a surge in demand for Boston-area colleges and universities, college administrators, consultants, and higher education specialists say.

"Everyone wants an American education, but for many families the cost has been prohibitive," said Marguerite Dennis, vice president for enrollment and international programs at Suffolk University, which attributes a sharp rise in international enrollment this fall to the exchange rate. "But now, the dollar has made coming here so much more attractive and realistic."

Widely considered the worldwide gold standard for higher education, American universities have suddenly emerged as a bargain for a growing number of international students, whose yen, rupees, and pounds go much further than they used to. The influx is expected to reverse the declines in foreign student enrollment that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"We know as a general proposition that worldwide economic trends impact student flows," said Victor Johnson, senior adviser for public policy for NAFSA: Association of International Educators. "If people are coming here for a couple of days to do nothing but buy a new wardrobe, it would be strange if the exchange rate didn't affect their educational decisions."

Many colleges in Massachusetts and across the country report sharp increases in applications and acceptances from international students for the coming school year, especially from India, China, and European countries.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst expects a roughly 20 percent increase in new international students this fall, while Northeastern University will enroll 17 percent more students than last year's class. Foreign students will comprise nearly one-quarter of Babson College's incoming class, after a 67 percent rise in their ranks.

"We've stepped up recruiting, and the dollar has certainly played a role," said Grant Gosselin, Babson's dean of undergraduate admission. "As the dollar decreases in value, American colleges become that much more attractive."

As the throngs of foreign tourists who flock to Harvard Yard and other local campuses attest, the Boston area has long been a beacon for international students. With nearly 24,000 foreign students, Boston is the country's third-leading host city, trailing New York and Los Angeles. Higher-education institutions such as Harvard University, Boston University, Boston College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Northeastern are known around the world.

The surge in foreign student enrollment could have a considerable positive economic effect on the region, education specialists said.

"Students see the exchange rate as favorable for them, but it's also very favorable for us," said Richard Doherty, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. "Higher education is a major export commodity that really distinguishes us from the other states."

Last year, the nearly 29,000 foreign students in Massachusetts contributed almost $1 billion to the state's economy, according to a new study by the association.

Nationally, this fall's influx continues a rebound in international enrollment to previous heights, according to the latest figures from the Institute of International Education. The nearly 583,000 foreign students who attended US colleges last year were the most since 2002, when tighter restrictions on student visas and growing anti-American sentiment abroad caused enrollments to decline.

India set the pace, the sixth consecutive year it has sent the most students to the United States, followed by China and Korea.

Some college officials are skeptical that favorable exchange rates are the main reason for the increase. Officials at Harvard, Amherst College, and MIT report increases in international enrollment, but say their financial aid packages make money less of a concern. Since most colleges offer limited scholarships to foreigners, international students tend to be well off to begin with, others say.

Colleges also point to enhanced recruitment strategies abroad and increased global awareness of American universities, particularly in China and India.

But most admissions officers say they are convinced that the exchange rate has fundamentally altered the financial equation for many middle-class families abroad.

"When you see an unusual increase, you start to wonder, 'What's changed dramatically?' " asked Kristen Haack, director of graduate admission for the College of Arts and Sciences at Simmons College. "What's changed dramatically is the exchange rate. I haven't heard the usual anxiety from international students, the 'Oh my gosh, how am I going to pay for this?' "

At Dean College in Franklin, scores of international students have spent the past few months taking English classes, drawn by the opportunity to learn English in a surprisingly inexpensive locale.

"It wasn't the only reason, but it was pretty important," Martin Prochazka, an 18-year-old from the Czech Republic, said of his decision to study in the United States. "I checked into London, but it was twice the price."

Another student at Dean, Livia Bibian, a 23-year-old from Brazil, said the increase of that country's currency - the real - against the dollar in recent years has made her five-month stay here a relative bargain.

Not only were classes far more affordable, she estimates she saved $1,500 in buying a laptop and digital camera, and that's not even counting the clothes.

"$799 for a HP laptop, with a nice, big screen," she said with a satisfied nod. "Amazing."

Peggy Blumenthal of the Institute of International Education said some national governments, such as Saudi Arabia and Chile, have taken advantage of the low exchange rates to expand international scholarship programs.

Yesterday, one euro bought about $1.57, while the pound bought almost $2. The Australian and Canadian dollars had reached near-parity.

"Ten years ago, we had to provide scholarship assistance to offset the difference between the Canadian dollar and ours," said Peter Miller, vice president for admission services at American International College in Springfield. "Now it's more economical for them to come here."

Adam Goldberg, an education consultant in Braintree, said families with college-bound students from Toronto and Montreal are "giddy over the exchange rate imbalance."

Some colleges say they would like to expand recruitment to capitalize on the currency situation.

But because exchange rates are a zero-sum game, there's a catch.

"Unfortunately, it will make my [international] trips that much more expensive," said Stu Schmill, MIT's admissions dean.

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Amnesty abortion proposal draws ire

Antiabortion, religious groups build attack

ATHENS -- Known for its human rights work, Amnesty International is under siege from religious groups outraged by a proposal that would expand Amnesty's mandate to include supporting access to abortion in cases such as sexual violence.

A small but growing band of antiabortion campaigners and Roman Catholic clerics -- including some who have backed Amnesty's activities in the past -- say the Nobel Prize-winning group is drifting away from its principles of unbiased advocacy.

They have threatened to pull away members and donations, and have called for a flood of protest letters to Amnesty offices, the same strategy Amnesty uses to pressure for the release of political prisoners and others.

Amnesty officials noted that any decision is more than a year away at the earliest, and defended their right to debate abortion and birth control within the context of women's rights.

Top Amnesty officials were unavailable for interviews, but the group released a statement from its London headquarters saying it ``does not make policy according to the ebbs and flows of external pressure."

It's unclear how deeply the antiabortion factions could punish Amnesty. But religious groups have long been a pillar of the organization, which was founded in 1961 by a Catholic lawyer in Britain and has more than 1.8 million members and many supporters around the world. Its work to free people held by repressive regimes led to Amnesty winning the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize.

``This is completely inconsistent with what Amnesty has been about," said John-Henry Westen, a board member of the Campaign Life Coalition, a Toronto-based group representing about 110,000 families. ``We consider this an attack on the rights of the unborn."

Westen said some members -- including several ``significant" financial contributors to Amnesty -- have stopped supporting the group.

``This is forcing people to make a choice," he said.

Amnesty's regional offices are being asked to study whether to end the group's official ``neutral" stance on abortion. In its place, the group could declare access to abortion a human right in specific cases including rape and life-threatening pregnancy complications. The proposals -- growing out of Amnesty's campaign to stop violence against women -- also include whether to support legal access to contraception.

Few places, including the United States, appear ready for an up or down vote on the matter. Instead, the discussions have been general, noncommittal, and passionate. In New Zealand, Amnesty's local director, Ced Simpson, said there have been ``strongly held views on both sides of the debate."

A final decision could come at Amnesty's next international gathering in Mexico in August 2007. If there's agreement that the abortion rights proposal has support, it could be adopted by consensus or put to a formal vote.

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Schilling the talk of town

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The day he signed with Boston he said, "I guess I hate the Yankees now." He has already looked at the schedule and concluded it'll be his turn to pitch when the Yankees first come to Fenway April 16. He spends time in cyberspace, conversing with Red Sox fans.

Any wonder Curt Schilling is a hit with Red Sox Nation?

The Sox thought enough of him to put his face on the cover of the pocket schedule that'll adorn most refrigerators in New England this summer. Appropriately, it's a photo of Schilling with a microphone in front of his face.

Schilling and a microphone. It just goes together like Al Davis and a lawsuit, like Ted Washington and a plate of food.

Today is the first official workout for Red Sox pitchers and catchers (doesn't it feel like it should be the All-Star break by now?) and Schilling has already spilled a couple of million words on the thirsty Boston baseball media.

He talked Wednesday after his first workout at City of Palms Park. Yesterday, the Sox put him in front of nine cameras and dozens of scribes (including at least five New Yorkers) for a press conference after a workout at the Sox' minor league complex.

He touched on a wide range of topics. He said he's working on a new pitch, but would not discuss specifics. He said he'd rather not pitch against division rivals during spring training. He told stories about listening to Ted Williams instruct young Sox hitters when he was a Boston prospect in Winter Haven in 1987. He told us Bill James sent him a letter when he was negotiating with the Sox -- an attempt to persuade Schilling that Fenway is not a graveyard for pitchers. He plans to pitch seven innings per start, which projects to 245 innings. He said former and present teammate Byung Hyun Kim can be a 20-game winner. He said he watched the 1986 World Series at Hooters, and acknowledged he turned off his TV when the Sox took a 5-2 lead into the eighth at Yankee Stadium last Oct. 16.

"I was pretty sure," he said. "I turned it off right before the rally because Pedro [Martinez] was on the hill and that's pretty much a lock . . . I watched the entire postseason except for 10 minutes and it was the 10 minutes that the Red Sox season ended. I was stunned when I woke up the next morning and read the paper. I felt bad for [Tim Wakefield]."

He knows he's here to help the Sox finish the job this time and says he embraces the pressure.

"I firmly believe that from top to bottom, this is the best team I've ever been on . . . My expectations are to win a World Series," he said. "That's why I'm here. That's why I feel like a kid again. The expectations. A lot of people have tried to impart on me the pressure, but I love that. I love that people are counting on me to be a huge part of winning a world championship. I am caught up in it. I've always felt that the bigger the game, the better I got. I live on adrenaline."

And what about when fans overreact?

"That's what makes 'em Red Sox fans," he said. "If Red Sox fans weren't passionate and [ticked] off and angry and bitter and hated the Yankees, they wouldn't be who they are. And now they're my fans. So instead of looking at them and saying, `What a bunch of dopes,' I'm going, `That's cool.' I'm glad that they are the way they are. That's what makes everything about being here different. And that's a good thing."

Asked about Alex Rodriguez going to the Yankees, Schilling said, "If one player stops us from winning the world championship, I guess it wasn't meant to be. It makes them a better club. The guy might go down as the best player that ever played. But this team has a legitimate shot to win the world championship and A-Rod to the Yankees doesn't change that."

Naturally, he was asked about Nomar Garciaparra's psyche in the wake of Boston's failed attempt to land A-Rod. Schilling worked out with Garciaparra in Arizona over the winter and reported, "He's good. He's the only player I've ever played with whose wife is in better shape than he is. I don't think he was happy about how the whole thing went down, but he's human. There's no question in my mind that from Day 1 to the end of the season, Nomar's gonna be Nomar. And that's all I care about."

If the Sox had any imagination, they'd put Schilling in the locker adjacent to Pedro's -- a little racehorse stable incentive for the Dominican Diva -- but as of last Sunday, Schilling's Fenway locker is between Jason Varitek and Wakefield, directly across the clubhouse from Martinez.

Schilling's cars have made a big splash in Fort Myers. The white BMW (760) with the spinning hubcaps is nifty, and then there's the vintage Hummer that changes colors depending on where you stand (blue to purple to green to teal). He's also into throwback jerseys. He donned a Phil Esposito No. 7 Wednesday and yesterday opted for Walter Payton's No. 34.

No retro Yankee shirts -- he hates the Yankees now.

"I don't know that this rivalry has ever been at the intensity level it's at now and we haven't played a game yet," he said. "We haven't even had a workout yet . . . The American League East is going to be settled on the field, as it should be, and I think the two best teams in the game are in this division. And we're going to have 19 chances to beat up on each other to prove who's better."

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. His e-mail address is

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Patriots coach Bill Belichick had no answers for Broncos’ Peyton Manning in loss

DENVER — The Hooded Genius finally didn’t have all the answers.

Many fans might point to a listless offense as the reason for the Patriots’ disheartening 26-16 loss to the Broncos in the AFC Championship game Sunday afternoon. The performance on that side of the ball didn’t help, but this game was all about Bill Belichick not having an answer for Peyton Manning, for once.

Belichick’s defense hardly laid a finger on Manning — not only zero sacks, but also zero quarterback hits on 43 pass attempts. Manning appropriately carved up the Patriots’ defense for 400 passing yards, two touchdowns, and an almost 75 percent completion rate, and Belichick’s defense couldn’t figure out any way to stop him.

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The Broncos gained 507 total yards — the most allowed by the Patriots all season — made seven of 13 third-down conversions, and held onto the ball for 35:10. After punting on their first possession, the Broncos scored two touchdowns and kicked four field goals on their next six.

The loss was certainly a result of the Patriots’ injuries catching up with them. Sealver Siliga isn’t as good as Vince Wilfork, Dane Fletcher is no Jerod Mayo, and losing Aqib Talib in the second quarter was a killer.

But this is supposed to be when Belichick shines his brightest. Where was the unique game plan he was supposed to have dialed up for Manning with eight days of preparation? Where were the exotic blitzes, unique personnel groupings, or in-game adjustments that he is so famous for?

For a change, Manning got the better of him. Demaryius Thomas and Julius Thomas were open consistently across the middle all game. Alfonzo Dennard had no chance of stopping Demaryius Thomas on a 30-yard fade pass, and Jamie Collins was helpless on a 37-yard fade to Julius Thomas in the fourth quarter. Manning even checked to a draw play on a third and 10 in the first half, and Knowshon Moreno hit it for 28 yards.

The Patriots lost by double-digits for the first time all year. And this time, for once, it was because Belichick and the defense didn’t have any answers.


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Thornton, Murray team up -- to see Girard

MONTREAL -- Bruins captain Joe Thornton and right wing Glen Murray accompanied the team for last night's first exhibition game -- at Centre Bell against the Canadiens -- but their reason had nothing to do with the on-ice competition.

The two made the trip to pay a visit to defenseman Jonathan Girard, who has been at Hopital du Sacre-Coeur in Montreal recuperating from a serious car accident he was involved in July 24. The players, along with general manager Mike O'Connell and assistant GM Jeff Gorton, went directly from the airport to see how Girard was coming along.

"It was great," said O'Connell, referring to the half-hour visit. "He looked very good. He's thin, he's lost a lot of weight [35 pounds off his 200-pound frame] but his spirits are excellent. He's in great spirits. He's got a ways to go but he's as determined as I've ever seen him. It was really, really good to see him."

Girard will miss the 2003-04 campaign but O'Connell said he is talking like a person who believes he can return to playing hockey. Currently, he is waiting for a bed at a rehabilitation center and will then undergo the next phase of his recovery.

"He has about a month more to go before he can really put any kind of pressure on his legs," said O'Connell. "It's not slowing him down at all. He still can't put any weight on his legs. When he gets in there, [the rehab facility] is a little more conducive to the stage he is in health-wise."

O'Connell felt a sense of relief to see Girard for the first time since the accident.

"You didn't know what to expect," he said. "He still has a neck brace but he looks clear. He's a very shy guy and I didn't sense any shyness at all. In fact, I couldn't believe how good his English was because I had never spoken that much to him before.

"He was very optimistic. He was very happy to see Joe and Glen. We'll see. He's got a long way to go."

Girard is working on getting his strength back and regaining some of the weight.

"He's eating now," said O'Connell. "He wants to get back. He's a determined kid but he's being very patient. He said he doesn't want to push anything. It's always good to see what he looks like. He's getting around in a wheelchair and he's been able to get outside. He's a very strong individual and always very determined and that's one of the things we liked when we drafted him. If anyone can do, you've got to count on him."

Good start

The Bruins won their exhibition opener, 1-0, in overtime on center Patrice Bergeron's one-timer from the left circle with 1:14 gone in the extra session. Brian Rolston set up the 18-year-old for the winner on the power play. Bergeron has been the biggest revelation in camp. It was believed he was going to head back to his junior team in Acadie-Bathurst but so far, he's making a case at the NHL level. "I think we're going to hang onto him and let him play and let him continue to show us his skills," said coach Mike Sullivan. Andrew Raycroft and Hannu Toivonen split the netminding duties for Boston with Raycroft making 18 saves in 40 minutes and Toivonen stopping all six shots in 21:14 . . . The Bruins know they're not going to have Girard all season but they are still uncertain about unsigned restricted free agent Nick Boynton and Bryan Berard, who is shopping for offers. O'Connell said he spoke to Berard's agent, Tom Laidlaw, yesterday. The GM said he was going to come up with some ideas and then get back to him. "We'd like to have him back," said O'Connell. He said there are no hard feelings on Berard's part because the club walked away from his $2.51 million arbitration award issued in August. "If we handled it differently, there might have been, but we told them exactly what we were going to do," he said. "There were no surprises. We didn't have to do that. We could've gone in and done a whole different strategy. We like him, we told him where we thought he was at. We put the offer on the table prior to arbitration. We told them our strategy and they understood it." The Bruins have a two-year offer on the table for $1.75 million per season, which O'Connell said was a substantial raise from the $800,000 he earned last year. However, there's no guarantee it's going to remain there indefinitely. "We're going to talk and we'll see how training camp goes and what becomes available," he said. "If all of a sudden there's a deal to be made out there, things could change."

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National Cancer Institute
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Funding FundingAnnouncementsAnnouncements
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NIH Transitions to Electronic Submission of Multi-Project Applications

All multi-project applications will be transitioned to electronic submission by activity code by January 2014.

Public Access Compliance Monitor
This new NIH resource allows institutions to track compliance of publications affected by the NIH Public Access Policy.
Upcoming Seminars & WorkshopsEvents
April 16, 2013, online
Register at
June 12-13, 2013 in Bethesda, MD

NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration
June 26-28, 2013 in Baltimore, MD
Blog PostBlogPost
The Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP), in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) funds research in human populations to understand the causes of cancer and related outcomes.

The Program fosters interdisciplinary collaborations, as well as the development and use of resources and technologies to advance cancer research and translation of this research, which serve as the basis for clinical and public health interventions.
Send Us Your IdeasSendUsYourIdeas
EGRP encourages readers to submit items of interest to Cancer Epidemiology Matters E-News EGRP reserves the right to decide whether or not materials are appropriate for inclusion.
Contact UsContactUs
Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program
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6130 Executive Blvd., Suite 5000
Bethesda, MD  20892
(301) 435-4906

Dear Friends of EGRP,DirectorsMessage

Thank you for taking the time to read our new newsletter, Cancer Epidemiology Matters E-News.

Previously, via our FRIENDS-OF-NCI-EGRP listserv, we shared information on current funding opportunities that support cancer epidemiology research, relevant research resources, workshops, publications, and Cancer Epidemiology Matters Blog posts. This newsletter will share more information in one place to reduce the number of e-mails sent. We will also highlight our current and emerging scientific priorities for epidemiologic research and how they can be used to reduce the global burden of cancer.

We invite you to share this newsletter with any colleagues, students, and others who may be interested. We also want to hear from you; let us know what information you need the most from NCI's Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program (EGRP). Our goal is to increase transparency, generate more dialogue, and create more personal connections with you.

--Muin J. Khoury, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Director
Epidemiology and Genomics Research Program
Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences
National Cancer Institute

Strategic Planning for the Future of Epidemiology ResearchTrendsinEpi
Recommendations from 2012 Trends in 21st Century Epidemiology Workshop

table at Trends in Epidemiology meeting
Approximately 90 people were present at the workshop in Bethesda, Maryland.
The Trends in 21st Century Epidemiology Workshop (held December 12-13, 2012) was the main event in EGRP's ongoing conversation about the future of epidemiology research.

Based on workshop discussions, EGRP staff partnered with panelists to draft eight recommendations for cancer epidemiology and the field of epidemiology in general. These recommendations and proposed actions are outlined in "Transforming Epidemiology for 21st Century Medicine and Public Health," an article that will appear in the April 2013 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. EGRP staff are currently integrating the input from the meeting with ongoing discussions with both internal and external scientific advisors to best facilitate these recommendations.
The recommendations will be presented and discussed at the Molecular Epidemiology Working Group (MEG) Town Hall Meeting at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in April. We encourage anyone attending AACR to come.
To learn more, visit the workshop web page, which includes links to videos of the meeting, presentations, related publications, a transcript of the Twitter conversation, and blog posts related to the agenda topics. We encourage anyone with ideas on how the workshop recommendations could be implemented to share comments via our blog.

Visit the Cancer Epidemiology Matters Blog -->
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New NCI resource allows researchers to find and compare simulation software programs

Genetic simulations play an important role in research, but choosing the right tool for a particular study can prove challenging. A new tool, the Genetic Simulation Resource (GSR), is designed to help investigators identify the genetic simulator most suitable for their research needs.
Users are able to search and compare various attributes of the simulation software, including simulation method, type of genetic variation, input/output format, programming language, and license information.

This joint project of EGRP and the Surveillance Research Program (SRP) in NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) includes more than 70 software applications that were identified based on publications in relevant scientific journals. Users are able to search and compare various attributes of simulation software packages in order to quickly identify the most appropriate software application for their study.

If you know of resources that should be added to the GSR website or have additional feedback, please contact the GSR team at

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Results from a survey of EGRP listserv subscribers

In January 2013, all subscribers to the FRIENDS-OF-NCI-EGRP listserv received an invitation to participate in an online survey, which asked questions about the usefulness of EGRP communication approaches and the value of the information we share with subscribers.
During the two weeks the survey was open, we received 60 responses, mostly from researchers, but also from research administrators, health care providers, and public health professionals. The responses gave us greater insight into the information needs and preferences of our subscribers. For instance:
  • Respondents were most interested in reading about funding opportunities, EGRP's scientific priorities, scientific meetings, research resources, and grants policies.
  • The scientific topics of greatest interest included emerging research methodologies and technologies, setting priorities for future epidemiologic research, and challenges for data collection and analysis.
  • Although 47% of respondents don't use social media technologies at all, 39% use some social media tools for professional purposes. LinkedIn is used by 39%; 35% use online discussions, electronic forums, or blogs; and 26% use YouTube, Vimeo, and other video hosting/sharing platforms.
Thank you to everyone who provided their feedback; we will use the survey results to better meet the information needs of our extramural research community.

If you have suggestions for topics you would like us to feature in this newsletter, please e-mail us at


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CWC’s Ridgway receives Outstanding Individual Performance Award

(Riverton, Wyo.) – The Wyoming Workforce Development Council awarded Central Wyoming College’s Lori Ridgway with the Outstanding Individual Performance Award at a state safety summit last week.

Ridgway is the director of workforce training at CWC. The award, which recognizes an individual for their contributions to workforce development, was presented at the Wyoming Safety and Workforce Summit.

“I feel quite honored to have been chosen for this amongst many who work diligently to provide training and education for Wyoming’s workforce,” Ridgway said.

The summit is a gathering for professionals to discuss workforce development and safety within the state of Wyoming. It also recognizes those who have contributed to the development of the state’s workforce.

Ridgway has been CWC’s director of workforce training since 2011 and has worked in the workforce development department since 2008. Her role has included working with organizations and business’ to design training programs that encourage the development of leadership, team building, management, and goal setting skills, to name a few.

Leading up to the award, Ridgway facilitated a statewide project merging the Department of Workforce Services with the former Department of Employment. Other noteworthy accomplishments include delivering Wyoming Introductory Supervisory training to over 100 state of Wyoming employees and facilitating a statewide focus group project for the University of Wyoming Internationalization Lab.

“Lori is a positive force for workforce development in our state,” said Lynn McAuliffe, who nominated Ridgeway for the award. “She is one of those dedicated people that never says ‘no’ to a challenge.”

–Provided by Central Wyoming College, a County10 Community Partner


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5 fold-out desks for small spaces

The Ruphus PodPad desk folds down to act as a desk and storage and folds up to frame an iPhone or iPod.

For those who are space-challenged, or just cluttered and looking to hide their mess, Portland design firm Ruphus has a wall-mounted workspace that will neatly tuck away your wired life when it's not in use.

Fold down to reveal a desk, laptop storage, filing space and a charging station. Fold up and it frames your iPhone or iPod docked in the center.

The modern look and impeccable efficiency come at a price: $1,200 from Ruphus.net.

Here are some more affordable (though admittedly less sleek) small-space desk options.

Holly & Martin's fold-out convertible desk ($199.99).

Bush Furniture's hanging notebook organizer ($152.99)

Datum's Wallwrite folding desk ($129 on Amazon)

Luggage Pros wall desk ($171)

About Alison Sherwood
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Pulitzer Prize-winning multimedia journalist Alison Sherwood is the web producer for the Journal Sentinel's lifestyle section, Fresh.

© 2016, Journal Sentinel Inc. All rights reserved.

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Seeking Great Homes

Do you, or does someone you know, have a cool, funky or exquisite living space that you’d like to see featured in At Home With? Contact Fresh home and garden editor Nancy Stohs at (414) 224-2382 or email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.

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Calvin Johnson roasts Packers' defense

Tramon Williams and the Packers' defense whiffed early and often on Lions receiver Calvin Johnson.
Tramon Williams and the Packers' defense whiffed early and often on Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. Credit: Tom Lynn
Jan. 01, 2012

By Tyler Dunne of the Journal Sentinel

Jan. 01, 2012 0

Green Bay - After eight of the 11 receptions, Tramon Williams had enough. He wanted Calvin Johnson one on one.

"When it came down to the fourth quarter, it didn't matter to me what we were in," the Green Bay Packers cornerback said. "I was just looking to make a play. So I tightened down my coverage whether I was supposed to be there or not."

Not much worked. In Green Bay's 45-41 win, Detroit's receiver burned the Packers deep, on crossing routes, wherever. It didn't matter. The Packers struggled covering him and struggled tackling him. No opposing receiver has ever had more yards against the Packers. Johnson's 244 receiving yards shattered Gene "Choo-Choo" Roberts' 62-year mark of 212.

On Thanksgiving, Williams shut down Johnson. In Round 2, Johnson toasted the Packers.

"He came out and hit some holes in the defense," Williams said. "Once he catches the ball, he's tough to tackle. You have to try to get him on the ground at the same time. When it came down to clutch time, you have to battle. That's what my mind-set was, especially in the fourth quarter."

Williams added that the Packers have learned from their past as a defense - they didn't want to reveal too much. With home-field advantage locked up, there's no use handing over useful game film to anyone. Also, backups dotted the field throughout. Cornerback Charles Woodson and outside linebacker Clay Matthews didn't even play.

Not that Johnson cared. From start to finish, he gave Williams and Green Bay fits. While it may have appeared Williams was locked in on Johnson, he said that wasn't always the case.

Early in the third quarter - on a crossing route - Johnson took a reception 30 yards with Williams trailing. Later in the quarter, he beat Williams up the right sideline for a 27-yard gain. In the fourth quarter, on a 24-yarder, Williams whiffed on his tackle.

Williams said he'd prefer to take on Johnson man-to-man all game.

"Obviously, with some of the things that we did, I was lined up on him, but it was a zone," Williams said. "So he'd go across the middle and I want to chase him at this point. But my assignment's different. I may have a deep third and I don't want to bite on something and he turns it upfield."

In the fourth, he played Johnson more aggressively and it came back to bite him one play. With 3:37 to go, he was flagged for pass interference - a 36-yard penalty that eventually led to a touchdown and a 41-38 Lions' lead.

In the two teams' first meeting, Johnson was practically invisible. A non-factor. Williams gave Johnson a cushion and had safety help over the top. The game plan was different this time around, he said.

"It is kind of frustrating, but at the same time you have to play the cards you're dealt," Williams said. "Complaining doesn't make it change. You have to go out and make a play at some point in time."

Stafford finished with 520 yards on 36 of 59 passes with five touchdowns and two interceptions. As a whole, the Packers' secondary was victimized again.

"They have a lot of good players," cornerback Jarrett Bush said. "You have Johnson, No. 81. You have (Nate) Burleson, 13. Great players, playmakers . . . They were trying to win the game also, trying to get that fifth seed. We executed our game plan and made a little bit more plays than they did. In the end, that's what it comes down to. We got the 'W.'"

Green Bay did force three turnovers. Desmond Bishop's first-quarter forced fumble, Bush's interception deep in Packers territory and Sam Shields' game-clinching pick prevented the defense from implosion. They gave quarterback Matt Flynn just enough possessions to win this shootout.

But the secondary had another forgettable game, another game that has outsiders questioning whether Green Bay can repeat.

Afterward, Williams slipped his swollen left hand - ripe with two red scars across one knuckle - into his pocket. He remains optimistic the unit can flip a switch.

"Hopefully we can come in here and do that and put together a good performance in the playoffs," Williams said, "and hold our end of the bargain."

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About Tyler Dunne

Tyler Dunne covers the Green Bay Packers. He has been on the beat since 2011, winning awards with the Pro Football Writers of America and Milwaukee Press Club.

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All posts tagged ‘kids clothing’

Fools, I’ll Destroy Them All!

Just wanted to share this amusing apparel choice for children. And one for those mad scientist moms.

Her Universe: Star Wars Apparel Especially for Her

Display of "Her Universe" t-shirts at Jabba's Hutt, the official Walt Disney World Star Wars Weekend event merchandise tent. I wish I had a daughter of my own for that "Daddy's Little Girl" shirt. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

My family and I got to spend last weekend at Walt Disney World.  Now that we live in Florida, this is a much easier trip than it used to be.  We had an invitation from friends to share a condo near the parks, so we packed up the kids a day before school let out (shh! don’t tell the teachers!) and made the 7-hour drive.

On Friday we ventured over to Hollywood Studios for the start of their last 2011 Star Wars Weekend.  This is where I caught my first glimpse of Ashley Ekstein’s (the voice of Ashoka Tano in 2008′s Star Wars: The Clone Wars) Her Universe clothing line.  Ms. Ekstein was one of the celebrity hosts of the 2011 Star Wars Weekends, and was available to autograph her merchandise.

Ashley Ekstein, voice of Ashoka Tano in the 2008 film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. She's riding in the Star Wars Weekends "Legends of the Force" Parade at Disney Hollywood Studios. Photo: Patricia Vollmer

Her Universe was launched in spring 2010 and the first products premiered at the July 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.  Thanks to support from Lucas Licensing and The Araca Group, Ms. Ekstein is able to market her beautiful designs along with other fangirl-friendly Star Wars products, such as jewelry.

Ms. Ekstein was especially excited about her apparel on display at this year’s Star Wars Weekends, as this blog post describes.

Want to see Her Universe apparel up close and personal?  Her products will be featured at DragonCon 2011, and both the New York and San Diego Comic-Cons.

Can’t make it to your favorite Con?  Never fear, everything is available online at the Her Universe Shop.

Our friend Katie modeling her new "Padme Noveau" shirt by Her Universe. Katie's Dad was the individual who first introduced me to GeekMom (via last year. I love this girl...she'd told me she'd rather dress up as Elizabeth Swann than Cinderella! Photo: Patricia Vollmer


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Education Groups Mulling Over Governor's Funding Changes

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(Sacramento, CA)
Monday, January 14, 2013

From teachers unions to school administrators, there's wide relief over the potential of an extra $2.7 billion for K though 12 schools.

The governor also proposed changing the school funding formula so that more money goes to schools with more low-income students or English language learners.

Dean Vogel, President of California Teachers Association, says he's glad that Brown recognizes it costs more to educate some students.

Vogel: "We're very interested in the concept around this new formula and we've got a lot of questions, and we're hopeful as we move through this budget process we'll address those."

A similar funding proposal from Brown stalled last year.

But the California School Boards Association says this one gives school boards more authority to decide how to fund economically-disadvantaged students.

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Archiver > BRETHREN > 2002-11 > 1036982314

From: "Barbara" <> (by way of Joe Bosserman <>)
Subject: [BRE] East Dayton CoB History
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 19:38:34

The following query was sent by someone who is not subscribed
to The Brethren Network. If anyone can help her, make sure
you reply to her address <>. If you wish
you can also send a copy to our Brethren Network. .....Joe

Barbara Barniser said:
I am a member of the East Dayton Church of the Brethren in Dayton, Ohio which is celebrating its 100th Anniversary next fall. I would appreciate any information on former members of the church. We are especially seeking information on Goldie Killion who was a pastor there from 1931-1933. I've heard that she moved to Peru, Indiana when she left East Dayton. Thanks.
Barbara Zahniser

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THEOBALD, FLOYD LAUER - Yavapai County, Arizona | FLOYD LAUER THEOBALD - Arizona Gravestone Photos

Floyd Lauer THEOBALD

Mountain View Cemetery
Yavapai County,

b. Sept. 1, 1897, Marietta, Oh.
d. July 28, 1971, Prescott, Az.
h/o Ethel Mary (Farrell) Theobold
s/o John N. & Phoebe (Lauer) Theobold
Occ: US Postal Service

WW II - Korean Veteran
US Air Force

Contributed on 11/22/05 by jlwight
Email This Contributor

Thank you for visiting the Arizona Gravestone Photo Project

On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arizona, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this geneology archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.

Submitted: 11/22/05 • Approved: 6/2/08 • Last Updated: 12/1/12 • R32502-G0

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YERGIAN, MARION - Maricopa County, Arizona | MARION YERGIAN - Arizona Gravestone Photos

White Tanks Cemetery
Maricopa County,

Lot #2. Buried: 04-17-1998

Contributed on 4/13/12 by tylereagleproject
Email This Contributor

Thank you for visiting the Arizona Gravestone Photo Project

On this site you can upload gravestone photos, locate ancestors and perform genealogy research. If you have a relative buried in Arizona, we encourage you to upload a digital image using our Submit a Photo page. Contributing to this geneology archive helps family historians and genealogy researchers locate their relatives and complete their family tree.

Submitted: 4/13/12 • Approved: 4/14/12 • Last Updated: 11/24/12 • R85716-G0

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Bonneville Phoenix Network
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 Arizona Sports
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Arizona Coyotes

Coyotes top Stars, snap skid in season finale: By The Numbers

Not much had gone right for the Phoenix Coyotes in April.

They endured a season-long losing streak and saw their playoff hopes evaporate. They were without two of their top players in Mike Smith and Martin Hanzal, and every bounce seemed to go against them.

But they closed out the 2013-14 season on a high note.

David Moss scored with just 2:31 to play on Sunday against the Dallas Stars, handing the Coyotes a 2-1 lead that they would hang on to for their lone win in the season’s final month.

Here’s a closer look at the win, by the numbers:

Phoenix managed just one win in April, dropping six of their seven games in the month. The Coyotes finished the season by dropping seven of their last eight, though Sunday’s win helped them avoid the worst losing streak in franchise history.

The Coyotes broke the franchise’s single-game revenue record three times in their first year under new ownership, though the team finished last in the NHL in attendance by drawing 13,741 per game.

Phoenix was able to play a relatively clean game on Sunday, taking just six penalty minutes while Dallas took 22. The Coyotes also forced six takeaways by the Stars.

After seeing offensive miscues put their defense in bad situations for the better part of two weeks, the Coyotes got things together and outshot Dallas by 14 — allowing just 17 shots on net from the Stars while getting off 31 of their own.

Phoenix goalie Thomas Greiss was required to make only 16 saves in the game, though several came during a furious Dallas rally in the game’s closing minute.

The Coyotes wrapped up the season with 89 points, putting them just two back of Dallas for the final wild card spot, though the Stars held the tiebreaker between the two teams.

The Coyotes’ season finale also served as fan appreciation night, and Phoenix drew 15,146 fans to close out the 2013-14 season.

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Wednesday, 6 January 2010

Christmas Sausage-Fest

Sausage pulling

The journey towards becoming an accomplished sausage maker is strewn with challenges. For such a humble thing they take a lot of work, not unlike Danni Minogue’s face. But like Danni, the effort is definitely worth it.

After my first sausage post I got some fantastic suggestions for sausage fillings. Many thanks to all of you who chimed in. It was a real thrill to get such great feedback and suggestions. I particularly like the idea of fennel and chilli and another idea which suggested using chocolate.

The other comment that got me thinking was about the fat content. Our first round of sausages had been moist and juicy, but they could have held onto their fat better. Some of the girls out there probably think lean sausages is a good thing. But they’re wrong. Much of the flavour is held within the fat itself, so when it leaks out the sausages become bland and too meaty. The way to remedy this I discovered is to use a balanced combination of better breadcrumbs and using a higher ratio of pork belly to lean shoulder.

The other way to ensure you don’t waste the fat that leaks out is to surround the sausages with things like tomatoes and mushrooms which are brilliant at absorbing the “juices” and becoming incredible flavour bombs. Our breakfast sausages are a case in point.

Breakfast sausages

Having subsequently read a bit more about sausages in Country Life magazine, I’ve discovered that the best way to cook sausages is to gently fry them. Charles Campion suggests that this allows them to cook through evenly and helps them to retain their moisture. When you’ve gone to such effort making your sausages, you’ll feel very protective over how they are cooked.

Inspired by everyone’s suggestions I spent the festive period experimenting with a range of interesting flavour combinations which I will post over the next week or so. The highlights include:

Sichuan sausage ring

Sichuan pork with Chinese Five Spice, ginger, garlic, spring onions and chilli

Fennel chocolate and chilli

Fennel, chilli and chocolate sausages

Apple and bourbon

Apple and bourbon sausages

Mince pie and brandy butter

Mince pie and brandy butter sausages

They all worked out brilliantly, but I was especially pleased with the mince pie and brandy butter sausages which could have been a complete disaster. I will never tire of sausages, but I got the impression that another enforced week of experimental sausage consumption wouldn’t have gone down that well. I will post the recipes for each sausage type and the best things to eat them with over the next week or so...

But in the meantime, if you are keen on a “sausage fest” where we experiment with making different flavoured sausages and have any ideas of venues etc. leave a comment. It would be great to host a sausage party!

Lizzie said...

SOSSIDGE PARTY! I am bang up for that.

You are hanging around with the wrong kind of girls if they're whinging about the fat content. You need it for succulence and flavour.

I laughed out loud all the way through typing this...

thebutcherthebaker said...

Great sausage ideas!

One tip Hubs was given at the RC course he went on was to add a small amount of sugar to the sausages as this helps them to caramalise.

Gareth said...

Great post. Love the festive banger. Would def be up for a sausage party - can bring a basic mincer and sausage attachment if needed too.

jossnotjosh said...

Snorkers. God's own food. Brilliant. Count me in for sausage party.

Manne said...

Sounds like a marvellous idea!

Considering that sausage making is over 5,000 year old art dating back to the Sumerians if I recall correctly (glad to see you keep traditions alive in style Browners), why not the Egyptian section at British Museum?

Make it a dressup. You could go as Ra, I'd be Anubis.

ginandcrumpets said...

Your sausage tweets were torture to read in an office with just a dry sandwich for comfort. These all look so tasty and I am really looking forward to the mince pie sausage recipe.

Browners said...

@Lizzie - The more time I spend with sausages the more I love them. Let's dream up an awesome format for this SOSSIDGE PARTY...

@thebutcherthebaker - a touch of sugar is a cracking shout. Thanks. Good tip.

@Gareth - Good man. I'd love your help with organising the #sausagefest - especially from a wine point of view

@jossnotjosh - Thanks for the enthusiasm and looking forward to seeing you at our #sausagefest

@Manne - the idea of an Egyptian theme never even crossed my mind, but has put a big smile on my face!

Browners said...

@ginandcrumpets - sorry for the sausage torture! I'm looking forward to publishing the mince pie recipe. It's my proudest contribution to the world of gastronomy!

Manne said...

Glad I can make people smile in this abysmal weather. :)

Thought about what my favourite sausage in the world is, and it actually is Swedish: Isterband.

On Wikipedia

Nice phot on Flickr

Crumbles when cut, if done correctly, and has a slightly sour taste which goes oh so well with creamed potatoes, dill and pickled cucumber or beetroot.

Browners said...

@Manne - My word. That is an impressive sausage. Sounds delicious.

Manne said...

@Browners - It is indeed, strangely satisfying. I probably feel even more so as it reminds me of Sweden, dark, empty forests and cold winter nights while inside by the kitchen table.

Brought some over from Sweden three years ago which I think still are located in a freezer in a flatshare in Brixton... What a waste.

Browners said...

@Manne - what a shame. Keen to give it a try though. Freezers are a bit like black holes.

Kavey said...

I adore sossidges!

And yes yes yes a high fat content is a must for a good sossidge AND frying them slowly is the best way to cook them!

I bought a bargain basement cast iron meat mincer with sossidge attachment for husband for Christmas so hoping there is some sossidge-making in our near future!

Helen said...

Wondrous! Spendifurous!Marvellous! I was very excited to see your sausage adventures (!) I love how you carefully typed 'some' girls, as you knew there would be outrage from us lot otherwise. Also loving the tip from Campion about frying them. Now there's a man who looks like he knows a thing or two about sausages.

You know I am stupidly excited about the sausage party. I don't think I need to go on about that!

eatmynels said...

No finer sausage than the chorizo in my opinion....

Love to join in the fest!

why does one need to be sausage shaped? what about making different shaped ones. Magicians balloons spring to mind or typographical sausages??

Jonathan said...

@Kavey - Excellent. Looking forward to seeing you at the sausage-fest

@Helen - Campion does know a few things about the fine arts of frying. He's living profof theat you should never trust a thin food critic! Let's devise a mega plan for the sausage-fest. Should be awesome.

@eatmynels - I agree. Here's to creativity. We may need to get some extra large casings for you.

Dan said...

Browners - have just been catching up on my blog reading (yours crashes my work browser for some reason...and...err..I do most of my blog reading at work hahaha)

I've completely missed the sausage posts!! bloody hell, fantastic work...I am beyond impressed. Maybe I've missed this, but how are you making them? have you got one of the machines?
or a tame butcher?
enquiring minds dude....

Browners said...

@Dan - Sorry to hear that the Paunch crashes your computer. It must be some greater beings way of stopping you messing around at work!

In terms of sausage making, I am pretty much following my original plan:

And if you are interested in participating in Sausage Fest - keep your eyes peeled.

Cakelaw said...

I love all of your experimental sausage posts - they are fabulous and very creative.

Browners said...

@Cakelaw - Thanks! Let me know how you get on if you make any of them.

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Freebie marketing at its finest —

Report: $399 PlayStation 4 costs about $381 to build

New console is much less expensive to make than the PS3 was at launch.

Enlarge / Sony's PlayStation 4.
Andrew Cunningham

Sony's new PlayStation 4 is selling well at its introductory price point of $399, but how much does it cost to make? Research firm IHS iSuppli, long known for its consumer electronics teardowns and cost analyses, has told AllThingsD that the components and the cost of assembly comes to roughly $381.

Two particularly expensive components are the console's AMD-designed APU and its 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, which cost about $100 and $88 respectively. Driving up the cost of the chip is its large size—Chipworks says it measures about 348mm2, owing to the eight CPU cores and dedicated-class GPU that's integrated into its die. As IHS points out, the larger your chip is, the greater the chance that some part of it will have a defect on it somewhere, which drives yields down and pushes costs up. (Unlike standard CPUs and GPUs, it's not possible to recoup any of that cost by selling lower-performance versions of the chips with the defective sections disabled.) Other notable costs include the 500GB hard drive (about $37), the Blu-ray drive ($28), and the controller ($18).

What isn't factored into the teardown cost are research and development, advertising, and shipping costs associated with the console, all of which are likely more than sufficient to eat up the remaining margin. Bear in mind that this is all based on guesswork, however—IHS may be in the ballpark, but the actual cost to Sony will differ depending on the component deals the company has managed to cut.

That Sony is making little (or perhaps even losing a little) on each PlayStation 4 sold comes as no surprise. Selling game console hardware at a loss or at break-even pricing is a time-honored tradition—the thinking is that you get as many consoles as you can into the hands of gamers as quickly as possible and then make money back on the games. The hardware also becomes cheaper to make as manufacturing processes improve. Still, as IHS notes, the situation is far better than it was for the PlayStation 3, which sold for a higher $599 but cost an estimated $805 to build because of then-new, expensive components like its custom Cell processor and Blu-ray drive. At the very least, a manufacturing cost closer to the actual selling price will give Sony a chance to sell the PS4 at a profit more quickly, and it could also lead to quicker and more aggressive price cuts down the line.

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Another 4 Gods

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Good morning, dear readers!

This morning I was able to finish another 4 god card alterations, and I like how they turned out (although I think Heliod's headgear could have looked a little less like horns... whoopsie!)

These take several hours to do each, but they are really fun to work on.

On another note, a lovely friend of mine came over yesterday to visit for the first time since she returned from Scotland.  She is so sweet; she bought me a souvenier unicorn mug (AW YEAH!!:D) and some amaaazing dark chocolate! :'D  In fact, I think I am going to go eat some right now! XD

I hope you have an awesome Wednesday, and toodleooOOOooOOoo!

-Ash :}

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  1. AWWWWW YEAH! Dark Chocolate FTW :D

    But what is even better than that are these works of unbelievable beauty. Seriously, that Erebos is the sickest thing I have laid my eyes on.

    Your talent for this is far beyond that of anything I've seen! Keep up the great work. I cant wait for the next set :D

    1. Thank you so much!!! :'D You are so kind! :"} Right now I am working on Oona and Sliver Queen, so hopefully they will go well. :D

Thank you for your comments! :D


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Work of Art Episode 7 Recap: Take You Riding In My Car

by Ben Macaulay on December 2, 2011 · 1 comment WANGA

Last week’s episode concluded with the offed Sucklord quoting the original Star Wars: “if you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.” While the vow itself is moot, Work of Art has now lost its most reliable font of comic relief. In the wake, chaos: Sarah K. is spooked back into putting thought into her work (“I feel like I really let my partner down, which I feel bad about”), Lola has matured into the villain of Episode 2’s prophecy, and most importantly the sexual tension—no longer constrained by Sucklord and Lola’s chemistry—sends the thinning herd into psychosexual crisis. Dusty takes the lead, with Young’s short shorts: “I can’t even get my junk in these things.”

The gallery has undergone some frightening changes. A red Fiat 500 chassis is the only entrance, birthing the artists into a jarring array of the car's other entrails laid out in what looks like a Song Dong installation. The challenge is simple: to use at least one piece in their work. Dusty thinks it's “hard to gather materials when you don't know what you're working on,” failing to recall half of the other challenges and the frequent pre-studio trips to Utrecht (strangely absent in this episode). The group exclaims their ignorance of car mechanics, especially Young, whose favorite car as a child was the limousine, “because someone else was driving [him].”

The audience is given little time to ponder why he would be driving at such a young age before the unprompted sexual remarks begin. Kymia starts the trend during the Sucklord’s eulogy: “[he] supposedly had sex with every single one of us, including Young,” indeed a petite mort for all involved (save Dusty for some reason). Sarah K.’s breaks the ice with question – “So how many people first made out with a boy in the backseat of a car?” – that, for whatever reason, leads Sara J. to claim that she’d had this experience with Young. The camera pans to Young’s default scowl and an uncomfortable narration about high school “dates” with cute boys in vans. Well past his quota for banal sexuality this far into the show, we are relieved by Sara J.’s soliloquy about how art saved her from drugs and alcohol.

Bravo wants you to understand the importance of context to understanding contemporary art.

Meanwhile, Dusty lies on the floor with his face covered in purple resin, abandoned by his helper Kymia, able only to moan as his nasal passages slowly fail to supply him with oxygen. His exposition, ending with “there was blood everywhere,” regards a car accident he wishes to portray by imprinting his face into a steering wheel. The artists weep for his facial hair.

There are still attempts to add humor to the team’s artistic process—Dusty’s face mask and lotion are an easy Silence of the Lambs reference, and the gossip at the cool kids’ lunch table has deemed Lola a witch for boiling something in a pot. That, and her grandmother's a witch. Even the comic relief isn't safe from emotional family photo montages.

Simon de Pury, the last smiling face in art, waltzes in to prod the crew one last time. He makes his usual “Michelle’s art” face, pointing out that her expanded human body pressed up against glass is a nice nod to her own accident. This prompts her to cry and start over on two inferior pieces that look suspiciously like Pixar’s Lightning McQueen and the handprint scene from Titanic, “like, maybe you’re being plowed from behind.”

Kymia drills shreds of metal off a key, distracted by painful flashbacks of waiting for the scanner and “oh, Dusty, fuck.” The shards, set in wax, are set in a backlit box with a peephole, and rotate with a knob to resemble constellations. Kymia is crying over it for some reason and Simon leaves the workshop confused. Dusty starts over, using tires to roll messages about the monotony of commuting, because he simply hates the sponsors.

Lola's inability to communicate (through art or otherwise) is not new to Simon, who must have practiced his “none of your ideas seem to impress me” speech in the mirror before the studio visit. Not only does she predictably fall back on an inferior art piece provoked by another teary backstory segment about driving with her father to the Grand Canyon, but her choice to trace from a projection insults the integrity of the “real artists” like Kymia.

After a short segment in which Dusty confirms “goats: they scratch your car all up,” the artists exhibit their work to the judges. The guest judge this week is Liz Cohen, who makes exactly the kind of car-related art that the team should have been making. Young believes his pile of wires in the shape of a person “has a lot of presence in the gallery.”

The critics are bored. Jerry Saltz utters uninspiredly: “it’s interesting ’cause it stays a car part but also transforms away from it.” Cohen seems to think that Kymia’s now-broken black box should be even simpler, and that Michelle “needs to get [her] freak on.” Bill Powers churns out another B-pun for Michelle’s piece (“talk about caught in the headlights, right?”) and China tries out a ‘black hole’ remark with Kymia’s cosmic box but sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum, or whatever.

The critique is girls-only. Sara J.’s meaningless but nice-looking foam sculpture takes the cash. Sarah K.’s car-seats-as-animal-hides hangings, that mimic her late father’s bear- and buffalo-skin rugs and her time in the automotive industry, is a close second.

The three who took Simon’s advice are the losers. China wrings as many tears from Kymia as she can before kicking Michelle off. After all, Michelle did lose at Exposition Roulette. Next episode’s preview cuts to the chase: Lola is naked, Kymia is crying, and Young is selling his underwear in the street. What more could we want from Work of Art?

{ 1 comment }

mario cole December 2, 2011 at 3:44 pm

I think the show has a big flaw in that it gets far less interesting as the number of contestants wind down. Also coincidentally the artists start running out of creative juice and pre-formed ideas. It is exacerbated this season by casting alot of people who don’t seem as flexible as they were last season.

Its still alot of fun but I think it might be a bit of a slog here on out.Â

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DRAMA-RAMA 'Awakenings' tops weekend menu of high-minded films

January 11, 1991|By Stephen Hunter | Stephen Hunter,Sun Film Critic

Starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro.

Directed by Penny Marshall.

Released by Columbia.

Rated PG-13.

*** 1/2 "Awakenings" is about a man who goes to sleep one night and leaves a wake-up call not for the next morning but the next decade.

Dramatizing a medical mystery story out of neurologist Oliver Sacks' book of the same title, it watches as a concerned young doctor manages to coax a ward of encephalitis victims out of their perpetual snoozes and back to a life of sorts.

Robin Williams, at his most muted, plays a vaguely fictionalized version of Sacks, here called Dr. Malcolm Sayers, a neurological researcher with a profound horror of actual life and real people. When he applies for a job in a Bronx neurological hospital for chronic cases, he assumes he'll be locked in a lab, measuring chemical levels in rat brains.

But he's quickly thrown into the bedlam of the most profoundly damaged human brains collected in a single space on earth. And those are the other doctors! The inmates seem benevolent, most of them moping around in slow-motion as if the radio stations in their heads are receiving music from a different solar system. Then he discovers the sleepers.

This is a colony of late middle-aged people who contracted encephalitis in the late '20s and '30s and gradually yielded their franchise on consciousness. They appear to be forever sealed off in a state of semi-paralysis, statues in flesh with slack faces and atrophied musculature and barely flickering chests. Perhaps because they metaphorically represent his dozing emotional life, the doctor is weirdly attracted to them, where a previous generation of physicians have let the sleeping people sit.

He begins to notice small things, however. They haven't lost their reflexes, and can catch balls thrown to them. When addressed or touched, the sleepers respond, if only in the language of spikes on a polygraph, telling a truth that the doctor begins to suspect cannot be denied: that in some form or shape, they live in their casks; they have identities.

Penny Marshall's film is best as it chronicles the increasingly obsessed Sayers' attempts to break through to the sleepers, particularly his realization that their condition is like a Parkinson's tremor carried to the logical extreme of a total body lockup: thus he tries an experimental drug called L-DOPA that has been shown to relieve Parkinson's trembling. And thus the sleepers awake.

Simply conceived as melodrama, "Awakenings" has a primal power that cannot be denied; its theme, after all, is profoundly moving -- liberation. It's about being set free after an unjust imprisonment from which, until that instant, there had been no appeal and no release.

Of the tribe of newly wakened, Robert De Niro is the most moving, though the most conventionally imagined. He pops to life as an irrepressible optimist, less a man who's had his life stolen by rogue germs than a visitor to a small planet. Everything he sees delights him and he carries with him Lear's message: Ripeness is all. Or, being awake is better than being asleep. Or, let's boogie.

The screenplay, by Steven Zaillian, dithers somewhat, inventing for him a quick relationship with Penelope Ann Miller. It sentimentalizes also by not confronting the notion that however old his body may be, his mind would have to be the age he went to sleep, meaning that he's still in his teens. And it gives him the sprightly step of a leprechaun rather than the decrepit stagger of a man who hasn't walked in three decades.

But "Awakenings" regains its squandered power when it does face one truth: nothing is forever. The patients, all too quickly and very painfully, discover that their freedom was merely a parole and as they develop a tolerance to L-DOPA its magic effects wear out. The tremors begin to steal over them, and in this last and most tragic passage, De Niro is able to document the fury of a man fighting the villainy of his own body. He has a tour de force of physical acting that is truly extraordinary and moving: a man clinging to his humanity as his own rioting muscles are turning him so grotesque that their very vibrations will expel him from the social condition.

In its heart of hearts, "Awakenings" shares the flaws of the typical movie about minorities -- it turns on a nonmember's growth while among them, and it celebrates his education at their expense -- but at the same time it's so moving and the performances are so convincing, you won't care. I certainly didn't.

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Tolkin Says `The Rapture` Was A Quest

December 29, 1991|By James D. Davis, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel.

`The Rapture,`` dealing with salvation and the Second Coming of Jesus, is the first movie script by Michael Tolkin, a former reporter and novelist. In a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home, he explains his aims in making the movie.

Q-What do you hope to accomplish with the film?

A-To make people think about mortality, morality, eternity, God. To confront (those things) means thinking about faith.

Q-Many people consider ``The Rapture`` anti-Christian.

A-It`s not. There are 50 million evangelicals in this country. As an outsider, I wanted to understand them.

Q-What`s your own religious background?

A-I was raised Reform Jewish. On a scale of 1 to 10 in observance, I`m about a 3. My family lighted Hanukkah candles; we hold a seder on Passover; I fast on Yom Kippur.

I was a religion major for a while at Bard College in New York. As a boy I was affected by a charismatic rabbi in Los Angeles, and I thought of becoming a rabbi myself. But I realized there was a missing connection of religion and personal ethics. Even in the top graduate schools, religion was treated as an object, not as revealed truth that could change someone. They thought they were smarter than the Bible.

I still read a lot about religion, though. I`ve read several books by Renee Girard, especially ``Things Hidden From the Foundation of the World.``

The book by my bed is a halachic (Jewish law) guide on death and dying.

Q-You have said you were a ``fan`` of Paul Crouch and Hal Lindsey on the Trinity Broadcasting Network. How did that come about?

A-I love cable TV, and I`ve been watching them since I got it in the early `80s. They represented an alternate culture. If I have an obsession, it`s obsessions. And they are minutely involved with biblical passages. I once saw a two-hour debate between Hal Lindsey and two other men, on various beliefs about the Rapture. It was fascinating to see how much thought they had invested in these issues.

Q-What was the purpose of the graphic sex in ``The Rapture``?

A-Getting the movie made! (laughs) But it was also a critique on the way movies are made. I wanted to put in the elements and show them in a different light. The sex was cold and unpleasant.

Q-What was the purpose of the deaths? There were at least two brutal shootings, including the mother killing her daughter.

A-She thought she could send her daughter to heaven. I used to ask, If there is really a heaven, why not go now? And it`s in the world; two months before we did the film, I read a newspaper story on a mother who killed five or six children and herself. One child had told a neighbor they were ``going to David`s house.`` A note left behind showed that it was the biblical King David, and the child was talking about heaven.

Q-Why did the protagonist blame God for her daughter`s death?

A-She felt she`d been put in a test that forced her to kill her daughter. She was mad at God for the way he had organized life.

Q-Why was Jesus never shown in this movie about him, even during the Rapture itself?

A-That would have been blasphemy. How would I have done it? Put him in a beard and robe? It would have looked ludicrous. It wasn`t my place to show a corporeal Christ or God. Everyone was allowed to imagine him for themselves.


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Arts Plus. Reggae.

Sunsplash Reggae Tour Rocks The Pier

Buju Banton Says Goodbye To Former Bad-boy Antics

June 29, 1995|By Rohan B Preston, Special to the Tribune.

Now a reggae veteran at only 21, Buju Banton has achieved a reggae dance-hall currency and international stature that belie his youth, if not his experience. Nor is it just a fluke.

The Jamaican dance-hall deejay has released four albums of terse lyricism and fierce licks, including the latest, "Til Shiloh" (Loose Cannon/Island), which sees him charting a course of devout Rastafarianism. And although the comparisons to Peter Tosh and Bob Marley seem overstated at first, Buju's lyrical talent, spiritual growth and trendsetting force in dance-hall reggae makes such analogies immediate and obvious.

As one of the headliners of the five-hour Reggae Sunsplash tour, which came to Navy Pier on Tuesday night, Buju was quick to point out that past negativity-including the controversial "Boom Bye-Bye," which he wrote at 16-as well as rude-boy antics are behind him.

Coming in on the "Death in the Arena" version, or riddim, as laid down tautly by his Flex Band, Buju not only eschewed rude-boy antics-his spirituality seemed to be one with his person. (He performed in the rapt way of a Miles Davis, sometimes turning his back to the audience.) And when he deployed his heavy chain saw-like voice, he chanted only positively (and added new lyrics to seemingly all of his tracks)

"Murderer," a song that changed the tide in dance-hall to consciousness when it was released in November 1993, was a cracked-voice paean to his fallen brethren as well as a finger-pointing attack on those who do not value life. "Browning" was a rounded, bass-heavy salute to beauty while "Til I'm Laid To Rest" was a hauntingly spiritual Nyabinghi chant.

Granted, Buju's thick Jamaican patois, coupled with his scratchy voice, sometimes came across as scattershot labial exercises, sometimes worsened by the muddy mix of the pier's sound system. Still, in his hourlong performance, Buju's conflated his religion and his person to the point where his artistry seemed not only cut from the bone but also issued from the soul, even though members of the Flex Band seemed to lag and did not always feel their leader.

Singer Freddie McGregor, who also shared the bill, drew on his two decades of performing experience and one dozen albums in a set that was R&B crooning to subterranean reggae bass lines. His medley of hits from the legendary Studio One era was a saccharine tribute to the harmonized optimism of the late '60s/early '70s, while his reprise of "Carry Go Bring Come" was a rollicking recall of the ska era (complete with period dancing).

British band Aswad was as cheery as they were tight.

Drawing on their two decades' worth of albums, guitarist Brinsley Ford, drummer Drummy Zeb and bassist Tony Gad delivered sunny sounds, including their current hit "Shine," in such uptempo fashion as if they were happy beyond belief (or perhaps just wanted to lose some weight).

The three-nation trio Worl-A-Girl brought their Brooklyn, London and Kingston vibes to the stage, drawing on their self-titled, no-to-guns album.


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Lake overnight.

Site For Ice Rinks Wins Annexation

June 04, 1996|By Ted Kleine.

Buffalo Grove — The developers of a new ice rink can start grading land for their arena now that the Village Board has annexed it into Buffalo Grove.

At Monday night's meeting, the board annexed the eight acres at the corner of Weiland and Thompson Roads, clearing the way for Ice Partners to do the first physical work on their proposed 65,000-square-foot facility.

The Twin Rinks Ice Pavilion will contain two regulation hockey-size rinks, and be one of only four indoor rinks in Lake County, said Garry Benjoya, manager of Ice Partners.

The rink will host hockey leagues, figure skating leagues, private parties and skating classes, Benjoya said.

Demand for ice time is expected to be so great that the rink may be open 24 hours some days. Stevenson and Deerfield High Schools have already asked about playing games there, and the rink's information hot line gets "a couple hundred calls a month," he said.

Benjoya is pushing to open the rink by the end of this year.

Ice Partners should receive final plat approval, meaning they can actually start building, within 30 days, Village Manager Bill Balling said.


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Beecher players show how to complete task

June 06, 2004|By Bill Harrison. Special to the Tribune.

EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Beecher coach Kevin Hayhurst has been a part of three state title teams as an assistant softball coach for Gary Lagesse at Thornwood and took the 2001 Eddy Curry-led T'birds basketball team to the state title game--which it lost--as a head coach.

Saturday night, Hayhurst finally earned his first state title as a head coach.

"To be able to take kids into the championship game is very thrilling," Hayhurst said. "A coach can only do so much, it's the kind of kids you have; it's up to them to complete the task."

The Bobcats (35-3) completed that task with a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals (32-4), completing a season in which they won their first sectional title in school history before taking the top prize.

Senior Ashley Shearer (24-2) got the win, pitching a two-hitter through six innings before sister Jalyn Shearer struck out the side in the seventh.


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Light, agile saws can yield better results

March 27, 2012|By Mike McClintock | Special to Tribune Newspapers

One size doesn't really fit all, not with houses, cars, clothes, so why should it with tools? A bulky 7-1/4-inch worm-drive circular saw at 20 pounds is okay for a framing contractor. But around the house it's a monster. Sometimes smaller saws are better, like these three alternatives.

Dewalt DC390K 6-1/2-Inch Cordless Circular Saw Kit. For DIY work around the house, this is a great example of less is more. It works like a standard 7-1/4-inch circ saw. But it's lighter, which makes it less fatiguing— 8.7 pounds instead of 10 or 12 for the standard size. And it's smaller, which makes it easier to handle— a 6-1/2-inch blade diameter instead of 7-1/4, but still big enough to cut through 2-by lumber even at 45 degrees.

The high trigger handle and forward, second-hand knob provide good control for guiding the cut instead of shoving the saw through it. The 3,700 rpm blade does the work, powered by an 18-volt ni-cad battery with enough run time to cut about 70 2-by-6s on one charge. Nice touches include a lightweight magnesium shoe and blade guard (not stamped metal), sizable knobs for adjusting the depth of cut and bevel, and a safety lockout close by the trigger. Sold as a kit in a hard case, the package includes the saw, a one-hour charger, an 18-volt ni-cad battery, a 16-tooth carbide-tipped general purpose blade and blade wrench.

Cost: about $200. More info:

Dremel Saw-Max Tool Kit. his compact saw has a 3-inch blade and a 3/4-inch maximum depth of cut. Not to build a house with. But the powerful (6-amp) saw is handy for all kinds of small cuts. The hard-case kit comes with a general purpose carbide wheel for wood, an abrasive cut-off wheel for metal and a diamond-abrasive wheel for tile and grout. (Abrasive cutting wears the wheels and can require a few replacements on larger projects.) The winner is a carbide blade that's offset from the tool arbor so it runs flush with the edge of the tool. That means, for example, you can remove a damaged backsplash by slicing flush along the surface of a kitchen counter.

The cutters (many other types are available) have only a few, small teeth— all that's needed with the high torque of worm-drive gears tuning the wheels at 17,000 rpm. It's a lot of power in a compact tool weighing just under 4 pounds with a grip intended mainly for one-hand operation. You may want to clamp a guide onto your work until you get used to using it freehand.

Cost: about $130. More info:

Porter Cable PC250MTK Oscillating Multi-tool Kit. This type of saw oscillates blades instead of spinning them like a circular saw. Thin cutters extending from the tool head move side to side, but so fast and with such short strokes that the tool works in very tight spaces.

With variable speed control, the oscillation rate is 10,000-20,000 per minute over a 2.8-degree angle. That makes it ideal for jobs like trimming a door jamb in place so you can slide new flooring underneath. The hard-case kit contains a well-balanced 3.2-pound, 2.5 amp multi-tool with 35 accessories. They include several types and shapes of wood and metal cutting blades, a carbide grout cutter, two scrapers, and a triangular sanding base with 27 sheets in different grades.

Multi-tools are versatile, specially if it's easy to switch blade shapes and get just the cuts you want. That's a high point on this model, which features tool-free blade changing. On many tools, standard procedure is to find the allen wrench, loosen the holding bolt, switch blades, then retighten. On the Porter Cable you pull a spring-loaded trigger release, period.

Cost: about $110. More info:


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Miami Marlins - TeamReport

June 29, 2012|Reuters

MLB Team Report - Miami Marlins - INSIDE PITCH

With 10 games until the All-Star break, the Marlins will be thrilled if they can just get back to .500 for the start of the second half of the season.

That might sound like a challenge for a Marlins team that has won just six of 24 games this month. The Marlins (35-40) are five games under as they open a three-game series Friday at home against the Philadelphia Phillies, who are in last place in the National League East, a half-game behind Miami.

"You look at right before the All-Star break who's going to be battling out for first, and right now we're battling it out not to be last," said Marlins reliever Randy Choate.

The two teams have the top two payrolls in the National League, according to USA Today, with the Phillies topping out at $174.5 million and Miami at a franchise-record $118 million.

"That's why payrolls don't always matter when everybody thinks the highest payroll is going to get it done," Choate said. "Just because we're not battling it out right now doesn't mean in September we won't."

The Marlins, however, are encouraged because they have gotten solid starting pitching this week. Each of Miami's five starters went at least into the seventh inning even though the Marlins won only two of those games.

Offense remains their weakest facet. The Marlins rank in the bottom half among NL teams in key offensive categories, which can be attributed to a lack of production from players who were expected to blossom this season.

First baseman Gaby Sanchez, an All-Star last year, and starting catcher John Buck both are hitting below .200. Left fielder Logan Morrison is hitting .227.

And the team has expected more out of third baseman Hanley Ramirez, a three-time All Star who is hitting .260 with 11 homers and 41 RBI.

Second baseman Omar Infante, who's batting .287 with 25 RBI, said the team still hasn't played its best baseball. He said the Marlins can get back in the race if they can play like they did in May, when the team went 21-8.

"We're fine. We are playing together," Infante said. "We just have to play good baseball and show energy."

Manager Ozzie Guillen said he was encouraged when someone wrote on the clubhouse wall earlier this week that the team's 34-39 record was the same as the 2003 team's record after 73 games.

The 2003 team, with Guillen as the third base coach, went on to win the World Series.

"I was asked the other day is this is a bad team or if this is a great team playing bad," Guillen said. "My answer was this is a great team playing very bad. That's what gives me a lot of hope."

Guillen watched the Miami Heat's basketball championship celebration on television Monday afternoon. He said he hoped that celebration provides some inspiration to the Marlins.

"When I saw those guys in the parade, I got jealous. I felt pride. I wanted to be there. I wish I was that coach," Guillen said. "That's my inspiration for the rest of my career in Miami -- hopefully I'll feel the same way (the Heat) felt when they had the parade."

Guillen won a World Series with the 2005 Chicago White Sox, as did Marlins pitcher Mark Buehrle. Greg Dobbs is the only other Marlins player with a ring, from the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies.

"I don't care how much money you make, there's nothing better," Guillen said. "That ring doesn't make you rich. But it's something that will always keep your chin up. I got one. I wish all of those players before their careers are over will get one. Hopefully this year."

MLB Team Report - Miami Marlins - NOTES, QUOTES

--RF Giancarlo Stanton leads the Marlins with 17 home runs but his torrid pace in May tailed off in June. Stanton goes into Friday with four homers in 24 games in June after hitting 12 in 29 games in May to win the National League Player of the Month award.

--Manager Ozzie Guillen threw his arms up in anger in the ninth inning Wednesday when RHP Heath Bell fielded a routine comebacker and nearly threw the ball into center field. Second baseman Omar Infante made a stretching catch to prevent the error.

A night earlier, RHP Carlos Zambrano fielded a similar grounder and threw the ball into the outfield for an error that led to five unearned runs.

"We'll work on that and get it right," Bell said.

--RHP Josh Johnson is 5-6 with a 3.68 ERA in 13 career starts against the Phillies. He goes into his start Friday against the Phillies having allowed just three runs in 13 innings over his last two starts. But he is 0-1 because the Marlins scored a total of one run in those games.

--LF Logan Morrison's home run Wednesday was a goner only after umpires reviewed it. The ball hit the top of the wall, then hit a railing and came back onto the field, ruled initially as a double. Umpires ruled a home run after looking at video. "Thank God for video replay," manager Ozzie Guillen said.


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December 06, 1997

NOTE: publishes the obituaries that run in The Morning Herald edition. To view previous obituaries, please see our archives section.

Sunday, December 7, 1997 Edition

Baneta F.M. Hunter

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Baneta Florence Miller Hunter, 80, of Berkeley Springs, died Saturday, Dec. 6, 1997, at Winchester Medical Center, Winchester, Va.

Born July 19, 1917, in Point Pleasant, W.Va., she was the daughter of the late Harry and Achsah Belle McClung Miller.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Morgret Hunter, in 1978. They were married June 20, 1941.

She earned her bachelor's degree in education from Marshall University, Huntington, W.Va.

She and her husband owned and operated Hunter's Hardware, Berkeley Springs. She also was a reading teacher with the Morgan County public schools, retiring in 1978. Earlier, she taught at The Pines Hospital, Berkeley Springs. Most recently, she had been a homemaker.

She was a member of Francis Asbury United Methodist Church, Berkeley Springs, where she served as organist and as a Sunday school teacher.

She had served on the board of directors of the Morgan County Public Library. She was active with Girl Scouts and Women's Club of Morgan County.

She is survived by two daughters, Linda K. Hunter and Jean Hunter Dick, both of Berkeley Springs; two sisters, Sylvia Dahlstrom of Columbus, Ohio, and Mary Dee Shirk of Lady Lake, Fla.; one grandson; and nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by one brother, Harry Miller.

The family will receive friends Saturday, Dec. 13, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Helsley-Johnson Funeral Home, 306 Union St., Berkeley Springs, where services will be conducted at 1 p.m. The Rev. Kathy Dawson will officiate. Burial will be private. The funeral home will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for the convenience of friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Morgan County Public Library, c/o Children's Fund, 210 Fairfax St., Berkeley Springs, W.Va. 25411; Morgan County Rescue Service Building Fund, P.O. Box 151, Berkeley Springs, W.Va. 25411; or Berkeley Springs Volunteer Fire Co. Building Fund, P.O. Box 142, Berkeley Springs, W.Va. 25411.

Ruth C. Stalling

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - Ruth C. Stalling, 88, a resident of Canterbury Nursing Home and formerly of Martinsburg, W.Va., died Friday, Dec. 5, 1997, at City Hospital, Martinsburg.

Born Sept. 17, 1909, in Jefferson County, she was the daughter of the late Robert Wright and Pearl Dunaway Clendening.

She was preceded in death by her husband, John Stalling, in 1976.

She attended Leetown School; and was a 1928 graduate of Kings Daughters Hospital Training School for Nurses.

She was a visiting nurse for Metropolitan Insurance Co. in Hagerstown and in New Jersey.

She was a member of Leetown United Methodist Church.

She is survived by two sisters, Frances C. Bradshaw and Pauline C. Kantner, both of Martinsburg; and nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

She was preceded in death by one sister, A. Elizabeth Clendening; and five brothers, Robert C. Clendening, D. Wright Clendening, J. Leonard Clendening, Edgar Lee Clendening and J. Paul Clendening.

Graveside services will be private.

Arrangements are by Brown Funeral Home, 327 W. King St., Martinsburg.

Betty Baumgarten

SALISBURY, Md. - Betty Baumgarten, 69, a resident of Deer's Head Center, and formerly of Hagerstown, died Friday, Dec. 5, 1997, at Penninsula Regional Medical Center, Salisbury.

Born Nov. 12, 1928, in Chambersburg, Pa., she was the daughter of the late Raymond and Miriam Robison.

She is survived by one daughter, Linda Baumgarten of Hagerstown; one son, James Baumgarten of Stockton, Md.; and three grandchildren.

Services will be private and at a later date.

Arrangements are by Bounds Funeral Home, 705 E. Main St., Salisbury.

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It's not exactly the Mayo Clinic

A rural hospital in India, grappling with power outages, a lack of supplies and the competition of witch doctors, reflects the huge challenge the nation faces in bringing medical care to its poor.

March 27, 2013|By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times
  • Patients undergo treatment at a government-run tuberculosis hospital in Amritsar. India has set a goal of providing free universal healthcare by 2017 to its 1.2 billion citizens, about 70% of whom live rurally.
Patients undergo treatment at a government-run tuberculosis hospital… (Raminder Pal Singh / European…)

RANTHAMBORE, India — The operating rooms are dark and gloomy, the power outages far too frequent; the layout is chaotic, and the recruitment of good doctors difficult.

Running a rural hospital in India is a labor of love marked by shortages, budget deficits and stiff competition from witch doctors and superstition — a tiny slice of the challenge India faces as it tries to lift hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

Rupinder Kaur, executive director of Ranthambore Sevika Hospital in Rajasthan state, strides past villagers huddled on rickety benches into one of the four wards, her yellow scarf racing to keep up.

The hospital is at the end of a steep, bad road beside Ranthambore National Park, one of India's most famous tiger reserves. The park attracts tourists from around the world, visibility that also helps bring in the occasional donation to Sevika.

The location is no accident. Founded in 1997, the hospital is run by the Prakratik Society, which believes in part that investing in local welfare is the best way to stem poaching and protect the tigers' habitat.

But well-intentioned foreign donations go only so far. Though do-gooders are often happy to give medical equipment, most aren't particularly keen on funding surgeries on a continued basis.

"Things are all dilapidated, but the equipment works and we've had to set our priorities," said Kaur, pointing to an aging but working X-ray machine in a small operating room. "People may donate a generator, but it still needs fuel. It's like getting an elephant that you have to feed."

Most of Sevika's patients are from hardscrabble villages that skirt the park, and many can't afford the fees, which range from $100 for a Caesarean to $350 for cataract surgery, including glasses, room and board.

Sevika offers steep discounts as needed and operates at a 15% loss. This year it plans to move to nearby Sawai Madhopur, a city of 1.3 million about 180 miles southwest of New Delhi, where it hopes to attract more affluent patients to subsidize its rural base.

"We set up in the village," said Dr. Goverdhan Singh Rathore, the hospital's founder and son of conservationist Fateh Singh Rathore, known in India as the "Tiger Guru." "But in hindsight, it wasn't the best location."

Satnarayan Saini, 45, a farmer from nearby Sherpur village who was in for a viral infection, said he comes to Sevika if his home remedies fail, including a paste made from flowers that he believes boosts immunity. The $2 he pays for a visit is relatively steep, he said, but worth it.

But some patients are rather selective in their payments and care options, a reflection of deep-seated societal biases. Sevika until recently had a neonatal facility, before it discovered that some parents would pay to save only the male infants. (Indian society has historically placed less value on females.) One woman who recently had fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, refused to breast-feed the girl, so the boy "wouldn't get hungry."

"What can you do?" Kaur said. "You do the best you can."

Poor education is a constant problem for patients, many of whom, for instance, don't understand the concept of medical specialization, demanding to see an ophthalmologist they once used even if they've just suffered a heart attack.

Doctors also must contend with widespread superstition and wives' tales. Some parents place hot metal rods on their pneumonia-infected infants in the belief that the crying will "let out their heat." Then there was the patient who arrived with an infection after inserting a rubber ball into her vagina to hold her prolapsed uterus in place. Doctors removed the ball, but the patient balked at surgery.

"It's superstition; the ball is some traditional remedy," Kaur said. "It can be very frustrating."

Influenced by his father, Rathore returned to the area after medical school in 1989 and started attending to patients in 33 villages around the tiger park, traveling by van. Along with bandages, he passed out advice: Have fewer children, stop taking firewood from the reserve and report poachers. Eventually he realized the villagers' greatest need was a hospital for more serious illnesses, and thus Sevika was born.

Although the hospital — three operating rooms, 10 specialists, three visiting surgeons — is privately run, most rural healthcare is delivered through government facilities.

India has set an ambitious goal of providing free universal healthcare by 2017 to its 1.2 billion citizens, about 70% of whom live rurally. Critics doubt this is feasible, and say that reforming the current system, strengthening oversight and rooting out corruption make more sense.

Doctors in government hospitals are allowed to have private practices on the side, for example, so many all but ignore their day jobs. And centralized procurement by bureaucrats with their own agendas often leaves hospitals lacking even basic medicines.

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