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Somerville Public Schools Show Phenomenal Growth on MCAS

Somerville High Makes Two-Level Leap to Level 1 Designation; District’s Student Growth Percentile Surpasses Nearly All Districts with 1,000 or More Students; Notable rise in number of students scoring advanced or proficient in Math and English Language Arts

Somerville, MA – Somerville Public Schools had extraordinary growth exceeding most other school districts according to results from the Spring 2013 MCAS tests, released Friday by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), leading all Massachusetts urban districts in Student Growth Percentile (SGP).

Somerville’s extraordinary SGP growth this year, following incremental improvements in recent years, moved the District from one hovering at the state median level in 2012 to one that is on par with some of the highest-performing districts in the State. As measured by SGP, Somerville Public Schools grew faster than almost any district, surpassing hundreds of districts along the way as it rose from the 35th to 81st percentile rank. The new 81st percentile rank for combined Math and English Language Arts SGP means that students in the Somerville Public Schools performed as well as or better than students in 320 (of 397) districts in the State as measured by SGP. Furthermore, when small districts with fewer than 500 students are removed from the database, the Somerville Public Schools’ percentile rank jumps to 92nd.

In fact, the Somerville Public Schools showed improvement by every measure—School Accountability ratings, Student Growth Percentage (SGP), Composite Performance Index (CPI) and percentage of students scoring proficient and advanced.

Because of these results and Somerville High School’s overall improved performance, the high school made a two-level leap on the state’s five-level Accountability scale and now has a Level 1 accountability designation for the first time in the school’s history—the highest Accountability Level that can be earned. The John F. Kennedy School also earned a Level 1 designation, moving up from a Level 2 school in 2012-2013.

Somerville’s SGP growth was coupled with District-wide improvement in the number of students progressing toward proficiency. The number of students district-wide scoring Advanced or Proficient in Math leapt an impressive 7 percent and the number of students scoring Advanced or Proficient in English Language Arts jumped a notable 5 percent. These score improvements are part of a district-wide total for all students known as the Composite Performance Index, but the gains were system-wide with percentage increases made in every grade and in both core subject areas (Math and English Language Arts), with the exception of 4th grade English Language Arts.

“This is great news for the District, for our teachers and students, and for the City of Somerville. Still, this isn’t a destination—this is a foundation,” said Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi. “These results send a clear and undeniable message that the initiatives we have undertaken yield demonstrable improvement in student achievement. Although we’ve had significant growth to celebrate, these results also serve as a beacon for Somerville Public Schools’ future, and that the hard work of our teachers will lead to higher proficiency levels for all students. That type of effort requires patience, consistency, and diligence. That effort will not stop today.”

SGP measures a student’s progress relative to the progress of other students with similar MCAS performance histories from across the state. According to MCAS data, higher-performing districts tend to consistently post higher SGP numbers. MCAS SGP and Composite Index Highlights include:

  • Somerville students have the highest overall SGP—in both English Language Arts (ELA) and Math—of any of the 26 urban districts in Massachusetts.
  • Somerville students showed District-wide improvement in SGP of 7 points in ELA and 12.5 points in Math, among the largest statewide gains between 2012 and 2013.
  • Somerville’s 7th graders lead the district, with a combined ELA and Math SGP in the 96th percentile rank. This means that only 12 of 291 districts had higher 7th grade SGP scores and less than 2 percent of seventh graders in the Commonwealth were enrolled in a district with higher growth.
  • By subject, SPS performed in the 79th percentile rank for math, meaning SPS performed as well as or better than 314 of 397 districts and only 9 percent of MCAS-tested students were in districts with higher SGPs. For ELA, the percentile rank was 78th, meaning SPS performed as well as or better than 309 of 397 districts and only 12 percent of MCAS-tested students were enrolled in districts with higher SGPs.
  • Somerville’s 2013 median English Language Arts SGP was 58 and its Math median SGP was 59, compared to the statewide median of 51 in both subjects. In 2012, Somerville’s median English Language Arts SGP was 51 and its Math median SGP was 46.5.
  • The percentage of SPS students scoring Advanced or Proficient in both English Language Arts and Math was the highest it’s been in the last four years with a 7 percent improvement in the number of students District-wide scoring Proficient or Advanced in Math and a 5 percent improvement in English Language Arts, led by a 10 percent growth in the percentage of Grade 10 students scoring Proficient or Advanced in both ELA (84 percent) and Math (69 percent).  Close to 70 percent of all 7th and 8th grade students scored Proficient or Advanced in ELA.
  • Somerville’s CPI was higher in all tested areas (Math, English Language Arts, and Science/Technology/Engineering) than in 2012, including a Grade 10 CPI improvement of 10 points in ELA to a 2013 CPI of 94.2.

2011 Student Growth Percentile (SGP) for MA School Districts with 1,000 or More Students

(horizontal axis = Median SGP Math, vertical axis = Median SGP English Language Arts)

2013 Student Growth Percentile (SGP) for MA School Districts with 1,000 or More Students

(horizontal axis = Median SGP Math, vertical axis = Median SGP English Language Arts)

(Embeddable motion graph available online hereHi-res chart images available here.)

While SGP is not the state’s sole measure of progress, it does provide a clear measure of a school’s ability to help students at every level of proficiency show growth compared to their “academic peers” from across the state.

“That measure shows that all Somerville students, from all backgrounds and regardless of their past academic performance, out improved their peers in most other districts. Whether students in Somerville are performing at the higher end of the spectrum, are performing in an at-risk category, or if they fall somewhere in the middle, what this shows is that overall they learned more. Our SGP shows that in nearly every grade in both core subjects overall every level of learner in our schools advanced to a higher level of learning,” said Assistant Superintendent Dr. Vince McKay. “As an urban school district, Somerville has a diverse student population with a wide array of socio-economic backgrounds and past academic performance. These results show that Somerville Public Schools educate each and every child, improving student achievement for all students. In Somerville Schools, every child can succeed.”

“Education needs to go beyond keeping a student at the same level of proficiency from year to year. An ideal education helps students develop into more advanced self-learners no matter what the starting point. Our SGP shows that this is what we are doing in Somerville. We are giving every level of student the tools, the targeted education and support needed to advance to the next level, and ultimately to reach their full potential,” said Superintendent Pierantozzi. “Whether a student is an at-risk learner or an A student, the bar should be set higher every year.”

School administrators credit these results to the district’s highly data-informed systems approach that takes a holistic approach to educating and supporting each student both academically and as a whole child. Within that effort, five factors are key:

  • Somerville Schools have improved general instruction in every classroom by setting high, formal standards.
  • Targeted instructional support that predicts student performance and intervenes early supports Somerville’s richly diverse student population and a wide range of educational backgrounds and learning abilities.
  • Remediation initiatives quickly adapt to students targeted for instructional support—providing intervention to students at risk of a decline in proficiency before they begin to decline.
  • Technology brings leading edge techniques to the classroom and provides the data points that return information fast and quickly to teachers, constantly measuring student progress throughout the year, improving communication between teachers, students and parents or guardians, and empowering teachers and the district to stay nimble and proactive in adapting to the individual needs of each student.
  • Finally, Somerville has expanded academic opportunities both before and after school, while addressing the education and needs of the whole child.

“We’ve been encouraged by the incremental improvements in the last few years, expecting that our focus on laying a solid foundation for improvement would pay off,” said Dr. McKay.  “These steps have included a rigorous and up-to-date curriculum and effective strategies to intervene quickly with students who need extra support.  I have been confident that these improvements would lead to the type of success in student achievement we’re seeing now.  I am thrilled for our teachers to see that their hard work and focused instruction is showing such extraordinary results.”

Today’s results can also be attributed to the all-hands-on-deck approach and cooperation between the City and School District, from the establishment of the SomerPromise joint initiative between the Mayor’s Office and Superintendent’s Office, to providing opportunities for students and their families to stay involved in the community through the Recreation Department and other programs.

“This isn’t about writing a check and handing it over to the schools—it’s about a community effort and this is a community success,” said Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone. “Our investment in active, engaging education, not only within the classroom but outside the school walls, reflects Somerville’s commitment to educating the whole child, engaging the community in a students’ education and ensuring that every student is exposed to the same rich curriculum. We cannot only change what’s happening inside the schools, but must change our whole environment to create an atmosphere where our students’ can reach their greatest potential.”

“This announcement comes as no surprise.  With the close working collaboration both inside and out of our school buildings, together we will continue to better our mark of student achievement,” added School Committee Chair, Mary Jo Rossetti.  “These results are indication that Somerville Public Schools teachers and students are up to the challenge of a rigorous learning environment, and meeting that challenge with innovative and engaging approaches designed to help students reach their individual potential.  With a staff that has a focused commitment to meeting the school committee’s targeted goals, we shall continue to rise.”

“Somerville stands committed to educating the whole child through innovative, engaging and inclusive approaches that meet the needs of our wonderfully diverse community,” added Superintendent Pierantozzi.  “We’re excited about our progress, but are even more excited about continuing to pursue our vision of helping every student in the Somerville Public Schools reach their potential and be inspired to learn and grow throughout their lives.”

For additional details, analysis, and commentary on the Spring 2013 MCAS test results, please contact Dr. Vince McKay, Assistant Superintendent of the Somerville Public Schools at 617-629-5214 or

For an embeddable, interactive motion graphic showing the change in SGP for all school districts with 1,000 or more students in the state, please visit If you need assistance in using or embedding the graphic, please contact Daniel Hadley, Director of SomerStat at 617-625-6600 ext. 2122 or

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Simon Bridges addresses the media as National leader. Photo by Elias Rodriguez/Getty Images

My review for Labour was quietly buried. Will Bridges do the same with National’s?

Simon Bridges has ordered a review of the National Party’s culture following the Jami-Lee Ross saga. Such exercises tend to set up by those who have a pretty clear idea of the outcomes they want to see and who are likely to be dismissive if they’re not duly delivered, writes Bryan Gould, the former UK Labour MP was appointed to lead a review into the NZ Labour Party after the 2014 election defeat

The standard response of most politicians to a problem that has no obvious solution is to set up a review. The current government has made it into an art form.

The announcement of a review, it seems, offers several advantages – it buys time while suggesting that something concrete is being done, it hands the problem over to someone else, and it might, in the fullness of time, come up with a solution that could perhaps, once longer views have been taken, be acceptable to most of those affected.

True to form, Simon Bridges’ response to the Jami-Lee Ross debacle has been to set up a review – to inquire into, it is said, the National party’s “culture”. A decision along these lines might well have been expected, except for the fact that the National leader’s last experience of setting up a review was hardly a happy one.

That review, it will be recalled, was set up (against the advice of many in his own party) to explore a similarly complicated issue – the question of who from within the National Party had leaked the leader’s travel expenses to the media. It was that ill-fated exercise that – by pointing the finger at Jami-Lee Ross – drew him into the picture, and plunged the party into crisis; the rest, as they say, is history.

It is a measure of the desperate situation in which Simon Bridges now finds himself that he is willing to run the risk again. This time, however, he has tried to take out an insurance policy. The review, we are told, is to be of “the National party’s culture” – a transparent attempt to suggest that the responsibility for the debacle lies with the party as a whole and with amorphous issues like “culture”, and not with the failings and rivalries of identifiable individual National MPs, like Bridges and Ross themselves, and Paula Bennett (whose role in the affair has not yet been fully revealed).

The reference to “culture” is of course an attempt at distraction. The implication is that the issues that now need to be dealt with are whether the organisation as a whole has reacted appropriately when issues of mental health are revealed or when allegations of harassment, sexual and otherwise, are made. The intention is to give the impression that these are issues that are likely to be found in any large organisation (such as, it seems, large law firms) and that the National party is commendably getting ahead of the game by instituting an inquiry.

There is no recognition that the issues revealed by the affair are not about organisations but about individuals – and especially about individuals who put themselves forward to the public as deserving their support and who offer themselves as guardians of our national standards. The questions raised by the Jami-Lee Ross saga concern the personal behaviour and attitudes to matters of legality and public policy of the leader and of other senior members of the party – matters, in other words, that are specific to National’s political pitch to the voters and that go well beyond internal organisational responses to social issues.

The outcomes of reviews are never entirely predictable and seldom justify the decision to set them up. I make this comment with some feeling – it is made on the basis of personal experience.

Following the Labour party’s election defeat in 2014, the party’s Council wished to see what lessons could be learned from the defeat and what course should be set for the future. They decided on a review – and I was asked to lead it.

Three colleagues and I worked hard over a period of a couple of months. We consulted party members and MPs, and reviewed the party’s finances and organisation, its methods and structures, and its policies and its understanding of how society was changing.

The review, when completed, was handed over to the Council and to the wider party. It made a number of recommendations and suggested that Labour needed to understand better the nature and significance of the politics that its opponents had successfully sold to the New Zealand public. It advocated a return to the values of the party’s founding fathers.

I can only surmise, however, that it contained too much strong meat for some tastes. It was quietly buried and most members have never seen anything of it (though today’s party, I am glad to say, does seem closer to its spirit).

My conclusion is that reviews are often set up by those who have a pretty clear idea of the outcomes they want to see and who are likely to be dismissive if those outcomes are not duly delivered. There is no reason to suppose that the latest review ordered by Simon Bridges will be any different. If it were to suggest that the party’s leading figures had failed to meet their responsibilities – especially if it were to recommend that heads should roll – we can be confident that it will be quietly parked in a siding.

In the meantime, Simon Bridges will try to keep his head down, sheltering beneath what he hopes will be its protective cover. He will no doubt try to appoint someone to lead the review who can be trusted to wash the party leadership clean. But unless that person is seen to be incontrovertibly independent, those conclusions will not be taken seriously and the review will have been a waste of time.

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Thought For The Day

“We gain the strength of the temptation we resist.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson) AND

“We’ll never overcome temptation by relying on our own strength.” (Stephen Chappell)

“There’s one reason why you should walk away from whatever temptation you’re facing right now: GOD IS BETTER.” (Francis Chan)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson


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Long Sleeve T-Shirt JP2 design

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A high quality long sleeve t-shirt with the graphic design of Jess Powell depicting mountains, travelling, hiking and wanderlust

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Tag Archives: can’t get you outta my head

Comfort Zone | A Review

Staff Writer, Madison Carter

Sopadelic, Album Cover

It’s not an uncommon occurrence for an individual to be guarded, especially in a relationship. The heart and brain are vital organs, but they are fragile and can be affected by love both beneficially and detrimentally. Young Bull is a band that likes to focus more so on the beneficial aspects of love rather than the topics that can lead to pain and heartbreak. Their first album, Sopadelic, was released August 9, 2016. The Durham natives Tahmique Cameron, Gabe Fox-Peck, and Christian Sinclair all share a common understanding in the vitality of “feel good music.”

In their album, Sopadelic, the theme of love was evident in someway, shape, or form. Out of the 11 songs on their album, there were two I found the most sonically pleasing: “Can’t Get You Outta My Head” and “Let Down Your Guard.” These songs allowed me to formulate a story in my head, “Can’t Get You Outta My Head” would be the beginning, “Let Down Your Guard” would be the near to end event. The two songs specified work together hand in hand to showcase the easy and hard phases of love.

When lyricism and instruments work together as a coalition, they create emotions that convey what individuals should expect in relationships. A piano introduces the song “Can’t Get You Outta My Head,” the bass guitar and maracas follow. The use of these instruments can be theorized in a way that relates to how relationships are in the beginning stages. The three instruments that began “Can’t Get You Outta My Head” represents the complexity of relationships, yet how beautiful they can be in the long run. After about 21 seconds of the instrument’s playing, Tahmique Cameron, the lead singer of Young Bull, came in with the vocals. “I can’t get you out of my head, the way you laugh at all the stupid things that I’ve said,” was the first line of this masterpiece. This line was simple, but held so much significance. Relationships tend to start off with an “I can’t get you out of my head” mentality. Infatuation gets a hold of one’s mind, causing them to want to be with their mental captivator more and more.

This next song, “Let Down Your Guard,” has to do more so with the implementation of the relationship. I went on to interview individuals to get more insight on why people guard themselves in the beginning stages, this is my favorite response: “Love is built on openness and exposure; that same openness and exposure can be exploited or abused, thus you can get hurt. This is the risk of love,” J Kameron Carter stated. The entirety of “Let Down Your Guard” was built upon the fact the people want to protect themselves from harmful endeavors. “Close your eyes and let your hair down…, you ain’t gotta be scared,” was one of the lines that showed how some people need to relax and allow love to make its way in existence. “I can stay awake until the month of June, from the tension in this room. So let down your guard girl… You can make it— we can make it easy.” Harboring hurt and resentment towards a past relationship can lead to people’s inability to love and be at ease in a relationship. “Love is not just a one sided thing, there’s multiple components to a relationship it requires compassion sensitivity, and the ability to make yourself vulnerable…Love is work, compromise, sacrifice, and a whole lot of laugher in between,” Felicia Carter claimed.

From listening to these songs, and collecting multiple interviews, I came to a conclusion; new couples have to learn, grow, and figure each other out. Love goes from requiring general knowledge, to something that holds way more of a complex foundation. The beginning stages of love can sometimes be superficial and not stable enough to endure the events that arise in the beginning. The task at hand is to be able to grow with your loved one, which can be hard because in this world, it’s a common occurrence for relationships to break at the first sight of struggle instead of staying sustained and finding its deep roots. In Young Bull’s song “Can’t Get You Outta My Head” the instruments and lyrics work together to form a piece of work that’s not commonly produced by 19 and 20 year olds. The beginning stage of infatuation is one of the most vital parts of a relationship if an individual wants to stay with that partner for the rest of their life— Young Bull understands this and conveys it through lyricism and musicality. Lastly, “Let Down Your Guard” represents the time corresponding to the beginning of the relationship. People keep their guard up in the hopes of protecting themselves from getting hurt more, from beginning hurt for the first time, and simply because the relationship feels like a foreign essence. There comes a point in time where the hurt ones must realize that everyone is not looking forward to their downfall. An individual must figure out what it’s like to have their heart stolen with no intent of being returned, and experience what it’s like to be mentally captivated by the love of their life. These realizations were commenced by none other than the phenomenal, Young Bull.


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Where There is a Will

When I look back at my journey over the last three or so years, there are times when I think I have made so much progress and then there are days, like yesterday, when I realize I still have a long way to go. I will get into what happened yesterday a little later.

One of the bigger questions I have had in my journey has always been “What is God’s will for me?” How do we know what God wants us to do? I came across a writing from Peter Kreeft, someone way smarter than I can ever hope to be on theology and God and stuff. In this article on “Discernment” he says there are two points that are relevant to the question of how we can discern God’s will:

First, they tell us that God not only knows and loves us in general but that he cares about every detail of our lives, and we are to seek to walk in his will in all things, big and little. Second, they tell us that he has given us free will and reason because he wants us to use it to make decisions.

He then goes on to talk about how one can best discern God’s will.  The link is above so if you want to read the article you may, just come back when you are done. Back? Okay. Basically it comes down to learning as much as you can about the teachings of God, then letting what you have learned guide you in all your actions and decisions. If you believe it is right in God’s eyes, then it is the right thing to do.

What is one of the first things God teaches us? “To love our neighbors as ourselves.” Jesus also tells us:

40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.’46 And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matthew 25: 40 – 46

This means whenever we have a chance we should take the time to help others, to do the right thing. We never know if that person who needs help is Jesus.

Which leads me to yesterday and a wrong choice I made. While working yesterday, I was driving on a two lane highway out in the northern regions of Vermont, and to my left I saw a motorcycle lying on its side with the rider sitting in the grass next to it. I could see the rider was moving, and there were two bicyclists in front of me who stopped to help. I kept driving, in a hurry to finish my work so I could get home. As soon as I drove past, I realized I made the wrong decision, I should have stopped. Maybe I could have done something, maybe not, maybe the person was hurt, maybe not, I don’t know, nor will I ever now.

For the rest of the day every time I tried to justify why I didn’t stop I realized there was nothing more important than doing what is right in God’s eyes. What was the right thing to do? Stopping and helping.

As I thought about it, I realized a few things. For one thing, old habits are hard to break. We become so accustomed to “minding our own business”, especially if we live or work in the city, that we don’t “see” the problem, or we let someone else deal with it. Helping others isn’t always the first thing on our minds. We also live in a world where we are taught to fear everyone and everything, especially strangers. Media today is full of scary stories, how we aren’t safe from… well anything. This is where the whole concept of trusting in God comes into play.

The right thing to do would have been to stop. That was what God wanted me to do, that was my chance of the day to “be like Christ”, a kind of test, although God doesn’t test us. I failed.

As Jesus teaches us in the “Parable of the Good Samaritan”Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?”  He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Here are some links to a few of Peter Kreeft’s books. If you purchase them using these links (or anything else using these links as a gateway to Amazon), you will be supporting the Wayward Catholic.

Jesus Shock

Prayer For Beginners

You Can Understand The Bible: A Practical And Illuminating Guide To Each Book In The Bible

Shop Amazon – Get the New Fire Phone

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My Everyday Makeup Look

First of all, I would like to start saying that this post was inspired by Erica’s blog and instagram. Erica is the author of and she is probably the only Beauty Blogger I follow regularly. And one of the reasons I have been following her is because she reviews drugstore beauty products as well, which are much more purse-friendly and a great start to anyone who doesn’t know much about beauty products. Second, this is totally not my usual type of post, but we are in 2019 and it’s time for me to open my door a little bit more and talk about other wellbeing-related topics. Beauty is one of those topics and women like myself who have put brains over beauty all their life shouldn’t feel ashamed to talk and share about beauty.

As you can probably notice on the picture above, I’m not the greatest expert on applying makeup – and especially when I’m in a rush. You can clearly notice that my eyeshadow and eyeliner are not blended perfectly, my mascara got clogged, and my lipstick is not perfectly applied. I’m glad there are so many “mistakes” because I want to let you know that we don’t need to be perfect to run the day. All we have to do is to give our best and show up, because sometimes we don’t really have the time or the mood to photoshop our face to the tiniest detail. We just DON’T!

I’m personally a big fan of the Victoria Secret Angels’ Makeup style, so that’s what I try to base my makeup on. If I want a more dramatic look, I apply a brownish eyeshadow (picture above), but I make sure I don’t overdo it for work (we are not going to have a date with bae, are we?!). If I want a lighter look (picture below), I usually only apply some eyeliner on my eyelids and then smudge it closer to my eyelashes.

In terms of colours, here are my current picks:

  • Lipstick – Vintage Rose
  • Blush – Candy Cotton
  • Eyeshadow – Snowflake, Brownie’licious

I guess I have been pretty dramatic the last couple of times I have applied makeup. Life needs to get lighter… I do start to feel like Winter is passing by at the speed of light and soon it will be time to bloom. But in the meantime, if you are reading me from from the south hemisphere, please let us know how’s your Summer and what do you think about using makeup as a self-empowerment tool!

Are you on Instagram too? Let’s hang out in there too!

3 thoughts on “My Everyday Makeup Look

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Balblair 24 Years Old 1990 Authentic Collection (52.2%, Cadenheads, Bourbon Barrel, 180 Bottles, 2015)

Balblair 24 Years Old 1990

Highland single malt scotch whisky

52.2% ABV, £78.90 for 70cl from Wm Cadenheads

Score: 89/100

What they say:

Distilled at Balblair distillery in 1990 and bottled in January 2015 Nose: Fresh sweet and fruity with pears toffee and watermelon, passion fruits with malteaser centres. This dram has a lot of flavours on the nose that invites you to savour the taste. Palate: Fruit delivering an effervescent bombardment across the palate as one zesty citrus after another, then honey and caramel coat the middle palate perfectly. Finish: Nicely balanced finish with an abundance of flavours from the nose to the middle palate that keep going right to the end.

What I Say:

Sampled at the Edinburgh University Water of Life Society AGM 2015

Sauternes gold (6/20) quick rounded medium-sized droplet tears with light trails

Burnt sweet fudge, tropical fruits; lychee, pineapple, passion fruit plus pear and melon, polished and varnished old oak wood, more dark brown sugars, toffee

Mouth-coating and almost oily, spiced fruit punch to the fore, cayenne pepper heat and some spiced cinnamon hints, caramel and toffee, tropical fruit medley of melon, lychee, passion fruit, pineapple, pear, maple syrup and cereal barley malt

Long, fruity and creamy with a citric zest and cinnamon spice

A delicious expression full of tropical fruit flavours and plenty of caramel, the old oak ageing has worked to perfection on this single cask Balblair expression bottled by Wm Cadenheads.

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17 Mar

100_2834My favorite writing prompt this week comes from The One Minute Writer, and they simply asked if I had a “go-to” mug or cup. This notion is sort of a running joke in my house, so I thought it was worth a response!

For a couple of years now, I’ve teased my husband about only drinking from one coffee cup, day in and day out. It’s not as if we don’t have a dozen sizeable mugs, plus the boring old cups that match the dishes, lined up in the cabinet and ready for use. No, his Starbucks mug is used after dinner every night, filled with water and left in the sink at bedtime, and hand-washed the following afternoon in preparation for its next use (he has no time for coffee before work in the morning, or I’d be hand-washing the cup twice a day). Every other mug we own goes in the dishwasher immediately after use, sits there until the dishwasher fills up, and sometimes doesn’t return to its shelf in the cabinet for a week. The only time my husband’s cup can go in the dishwasher is if all of the following conditions are met: 1) he has finished his evening coffee, 2) the dishwasher is full and ready to be run immediately upon adding the cup to the top rack, and 3) my schedule allows time to unload the clean dishes before the cup is needed again. A few times I tried presenting the evening cuppa joe in a different mug, only to be met with a wounded look and a pitiful, “Where is my cup?” and finally decided it wasn’t worth the guilt trip to avoid hand-washing a single mug. I send up a daily prayer that I not be the one to drop this beloved mug on the unforgiving tile floor…

I, on the other hand, couldn’t care less which mug I use for my cup of hot cocoa or herbal tea after dinner. We’ve got an extensive collection of large Starbucks mugs from every Asian city we visited while living in Japan, and I am perfectly happy to just rotate through them, so as not to subject only one or two to excessive trips through the dishwasher. However, this winter I’ve formally adopted the English custom of afternoon tea, usually drunk while I’m trying to dream up a blog post, and I’ve noticed that I habitually reach for one of two plain glass mugs we bought during some move, when our own dishes had not yet arrived and we could no longer tolerate the deprivation we felt drinking from the dainty six-ounce tea cups in the loaner set of tableware. The glass mug is nothing special…just a utilitarian Anchor Hocking mug which can be found on the shelf of any Walmart store in the US. Yet something about this mug is like inviting an old friend for afternoon tea–it’s comforting and familiar, and makes no demands, a perfect foil for the blinking cursor on the screen before me. It’s a heavy mug, with glass thick enough to take an occasional whack without complaint, but well-balanced, with a handle that sits comfortably in my grip. More importantly, there is just enough headroom to make twelve ounces of tea (my preferred volume) and carry it upstairs to my office without spilling along the way.

I’m still happy to use whatever mug I pull down from the cabinet for my evening beverage, but my unpretentious afternoon tea mug now sits in the sink beside my husband’s Starbucks mug, waiting for its daily hand-washing. There is decidedly less teasing on my part, while the prayers for protection from an unfortunate demise on the tile floor have doubled.

1 Comment

Posted by on March 17, 2013 in How It Is, Sunday Best, True Life

One response to “Mugshot

  1. Janet domino

    March 19, 2013 at 12:28 AM

    Love it! I have such mental picture of you trying to slip Jim a different mug! And now you have a special tea mug! I, too, have a special mug for my tea, but I also have a special mug for my cappuccino in the morning. I also hand wash mine for the same reasons. I have to admit that I have also said a prayer or two that I don’t break my special mugs. Mike is not nearly as picky as we are! 🙂

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Book Reviews

Love and Laughter in the Time of Chemotherapy by Manjusha Pawagi

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When I finished reading this book, my first thought was, “oh shit, I have to review it now”. Because, how do you review the memoir of a woman’s journey after she was diagnosed with leukemia? I don’t want to pick through this book! I just want to tell you why I thought think this woman is amazing and why you should read her story.

Goodreads synopsis:

34812533Manjusha Pawagi, a successful family court judge, has written a not-so-typical memoir about her experience with cancer. Wryly funny and stubbornly hopeful, this is her quirky take on what it’s like to face your own mortality when, to be honest, you thought you’d live forever. She describes how even the darkest moments of life can be made worse with roommates; details how much determination it takes to ignore the statistics; and answers the age-old question: what does it take to get a banana popsicle around here?

This is a memoir of Manjusha’s journey after being diagnosed with cancer. In this book, she doesn’t hold back. She takes the reader out for a spin, through the cancer ward. She gives out all the details about the disease, including whole paragraphs about mutations, chromosomes, and a square dance.

But, this is not all this book is about. She talks about weird roommates in the cancer ward, craving a banana popsicle, and grappling with facing her mortality. As one of the reviewers remark, this book is both heartbreaking and uplifting. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me want to get to talk to Manjusha for 2 minutes. And, I mean Manjusha the author, not Manjusha the cancer survivor. This book is not all about the disease, and that’s exactly why I loved it. In between no-holds-barred explanations about ileostomy bags, she also tells us how she tried to set up her doctor with a friend.

She’s humorous and she’s philosophical. This could be just me, but I felt that some of her opinions about life and hope are extremely relatable. Look at this little gem:

“You think that if you are prepared for a catastrophe, it will not happen. I think of it in terms of circumvention. Because the gods don’t like it when your expectations are met, you trick them, by expecting something bad.”

Story break: Once, my mom was getting this slight scan thing done for her heart, it’s called an angiogram. It’s a small procedure where they insert a dye into your heart to see if the dye gets pooled around any blockages–it helps detect clots in the heart. (Sorry, biomed student here. 😀 ). Anywho, the nurses had so many waivers for us to sign, about things that could go wrong during the scan. Since you’ve signed them, if something does go wrong, you signed stuff that did warn you that things could go downhill. This is how Manjusha’s wit comes into picture in this book, about all the waivers:

“It occurs to me that the Hippocratic oath, rather than the “First do no harm” of popular belief, should actually be “You can’t say we didn’t warn you.””

Manjusha Pawagi writes her story with a brilliant sense of humor, and I would recommend this book to everyone. I believe that she was brave to battle cancer and I’m happy she’s alright now. As it’s said in the closing chapters in the book, “It’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.” So, thank you, Manjusha, for sharing with us the tale of a bunch of stuff that happened to you.

If there are no stories, there are no gods.

Rating: 5 out of 5

What did you think of my review? Would you read this book? Let me know in the comments!

~ Shruti

Goodreads | Twitter

16 thoughts on “Love and Laughter in the Time of Chemotherapy by Manjusha Pawagi

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Ahahahaha, I don’t think I’ll ever not laugh at your ALL CAPS comments.😂 My review is precise? Ha! I’m wondering if I should be modest or go all Phoebe Buffay and say “I know”. What, I never said I wasn’t weird.😂

      You should contact WordPress support if this is a regular thing. I’m sure they’ll help you out.😊 It was weird when I got a notification that you followed me. I was all “umm, no, that’s my personal cheerleader and she’s been following me for a while now”.😂🤷🏽♀

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Well done. and on a sidenotr, after living 58 Years on this big pair of blue balls. I never wish anyone a long life,i wish them a life well lived. The thought of anyone living with the indudiousness of cancer, for years, pains me,.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. “I never wish anyone a long life, I wish them a life well lived.”–this is AMAZING! This is what everyone should wish for!

      Thanks for stopping by and mentioning this line that I’ll be quoting for years to come! 🙂 ❤

      Liked by 1 person

  3. Thanks, Shurti, this is a great review for a really wonderful book. I got to read it in advance and I loved it. Who would have thought that a story about cancer could be so life affirming? It’s funny, too. I made the mistake of reading it on an airplane and both laughed out loud (something I never do) and cried a few times. Thanks for shining a light on an important book.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, I’m so glad you liked the book too! It’s both funny and sad, but overall, like you rightly put it, life affirming.

      Have you read When Breath Becomes Air? It’s another book about cancer that makes you ugly cry, but at the same time, teaches you about life.

  4. Thanks, Shruti. I have ordered WBBA based on your recommendation. You’re like a book guru! If you are even in Toronto, I would love to introduce your to Manjusha Pawagi and our other book-writing friend, Terry Fallis. If you make the trip, we’ll show you a good time (literarily speaking)!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Wait, you know them personally?! I would love to take you up on the offer! …if I ever make the trip to Toronto. 🙂

      Thanks so much for offering! And, I’m no book guru. I just bully people into reading the handful of books I really enjoyed! 😁

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Behind The Mask, Accused LulzSec Members Left Trail Of Clues Online

When the long arm of the law reached in to arrest members of Anonymous’s senior leadership on Tuesday, speculation immediately turned to the identities of the six men behind the Guy Fawkes mask. With the benefit of hindsight, it turns out that many had been hiding in plain site, with day jobs, burgeoning online lives and – for those who knew where to look – plenty of clues about their extra curricular activities on behalf of the world’s most famous hacking crew.

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Leicester Square Theatre
February 17, 2019

Leicester Square Theatre
6 Leicester St , London, WC2H 7BX, GB

Sunday, February 17, 2019
11:00 AM

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Box Office Tickets

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Artists Performing

Wolf on Thrillcall: concerts, tour dates, & shows

Wolf Biography

There are multiple artists with this name: 1) Wolf is a heavy metal band from Sweden (active). Current line-up: Niklas "Viper" Olsson - Lead Guitars & Vocals Anders "Tornado" Modd - Bass Richard "Raptor" Holmgren - Drums Simon Johansson - Guitar 2) Wolf is a heavy/speed metal group from Japan (Currently disbanded). For this specific band, please change your tags to ＷＯＬＦ. 3) Wolf is a NWOBHM band from Cheshire, UK (disbanded). 4) Wolf is a NWOBHM band from Newcastle, UK. Previously known as Black Axe. (disbanded) 5) Wolf is a black metal outfit from Germany. 6) Wolf is the stagename of a demoscene musician, Maarten van Strien. He predominantly used the handle Wolf_ in his compositions on the MSX home computing platform before adopting the more widely known handle of Crystal Score. Songs on Last.fm have been tagged with crystal score to distinguish them from compositions of other artists named Wolf. 7) Wolf is also an italian singer-songwriter from Pisa. 8) Wolf is also a Jazz Rock/Fusion (progressive rock) artist originating from United Kingdom, also known as Darryl Way's Wolf 9) Wolf was a rac project of Ken McLellan & Kai Stüwe. 10) Wolf is also an Indie band from Belgium: http://www.myspace.com/wolfsamples 11) Wolf is also the nickname of an indie musician from argentina, that plays in lots of bands and solo projects ranging from prog jazz to delta blues and chiptune music. 12) Wolf are a black metal band from Mexico 13) WoLF is the nickname of Patrick Pinion, a downtempo/electronic artist hailing from the UK: http://wolf-music.bandcamp.com/releases


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AmazonWe know Amazon is a leading, if not the leading digital shopping destinations.  Not only is Amazon extremely popular with online shoppers, but it also has become a major search engine for product-related searches.  There was an article written for Marketing Land entitled, “The Future of Search for CPG Companies,” where  wrote about the shift in consumer behavior regarding product-level search, which made Amazon the product search engine of choice for many of its users.

If you’re trying to sell online through Amazon, and you are dreaming of the goal of winning on it, you’ll need two different things.  You’ll need great products worthy of a consumer’s money, as well as a well-optimized product page so consumers can find it.

If you wanting to create some highly optimized product pages, you’ll have to treat and optimize them just like you would with a normal web page.  This means you’ll have to start out with strong keyphrase research to understand what the customer is looking for.

There is another article that was posted recently on Marketing Land by  were he offers us some great keyphrase techniques that will help optimize any product page and ultimately, grow results!

Check out Benjamin’s post by following the link to the Marketing Land article below!

Marketing Land: How to win on Amazon: Tips for successful keyword strategies


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2 Replies Latest reply on Aug 19, 2008 8:48 AM by fishermc

    Smart Group

      Is there a way to create a SmartGroup that list all "Display Names" that start with a certain letter?

       Say i want all "Display names" that start with the letter "A" to be in this folder, what would the Regex expression be for that? When i try i get any "Display Name" that has the letter "A" in it anywhere not just the first letter. I just want things that START with "A"

      Thanks For The Help.


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Tickets / PREMIERSHIP FOOTBALL / Manchester United Vs. Tottenham Hotspur

Please note: All times UK. Fixtures are subject to change. T4F is not responsible for any changes that may be made.

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur Tickets For Sale

Monday, August 27, 2018 20:00

Old Trafford

Old Trafford

Sir Matt Busby Way, Central, Manchester, M16 0RA, United Kingdom

Homeground of Manchester United

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Manchester United .v. Tottenham Hotspur 28 October 2017: Match Report 1-0

Whenever second plays third, fans and neutrals alike expect a barnstormer of a game. But the reality is that two fairly evenly-matched sides in a clash where a top 4 place is at stake, the play tends to be cagey and measured rather than flamboyant and showy. It's as if the protagonists are more worried about making a mistake then they are about scoring goals.

So it was when an in-form Tottenham Hotspur traveled to old Trafford to take on an equally in-form Manchester United, two teams barely a cigarette paper apart in terms of quality. Even the line-ups matched with both teams playing three at the back.

Tottenham were missing their golden boy top-scorer Harry Kane and his absence might go some way to explaining why the Spurs took a generally cautious approach to the game. Which is not to say that it was a barren encounter; far from it. For Tottenham, who probably had the better of the first half, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Harry Winks showed plenty of creativity while Rashford and Lukaku threatened regularly for the home side.

The quality play in the middle of the pitch though tended to fizzle out for both sides in the final third. Rashford looked the most likely to chalk one up for the home side but his clearest chance was from a free-kick that was saved by Hugo Lloris. Spurs had Heung-min Son playing up front but curiously failed to provide him with much in the way of service. Spurs' best chance fell to Moussa Sissoko when David De Gea rather comically collided with Phil Jones, the ball spilling to the waiting Sissoko. But his composure deserted him and he sent his shot high over the bar.
United came on more strongly in the second half and managed to keep Spurs pinned back in their own area for a good while. However, and despite the industry of Rashford and Valenica, they were unable to break down the organised Tottenham defence. It looked for all the world as if this one was heading for a goalless draw when Jose Mourinho made what he would surely claim was his masterstroke, taking off Mkhitaryan for Lingard and the lively Rashford for Anthony Martial, the latter swap being greeted with some audible displeasure from the Old Trafford faithful who revelled in Rashford's buzz and threat.

Whether masterstroke or luck it worked. Spurs were finally undone by a long ball from the back in the 82nd minute which found Martial who slotted home past Lloris to give United the lead. Marcus Rashford, who he?

The final 10 minutes or so were eventful as Spurs searched for an equaliser and nearly found one when Alli ghosted in on an intelligent ball from Erikson in a move that he should have rounded off with a goal but he could not get his feet out from under in time to beat De Gea. Valencia got a yellow card for diving in the Spurs penalty area and Lukaku struck the Tottenham post with a header.

So a 1-0 win for United via Route One football and given how tight things are at the top of the PL, Jose Mourinho won't care about that so much as the three points he stuffed into his hip pocket. Spurs fans probably trudged away grumbling that things would have been different had Kane been on the pitch. They might well be right but that's precious little comfort on the long journey home.

Tottenham Hotspur

This match will see Manchester United F.C, face Tottenham Hotspur F.C, also know as Spurs. Tottenham Hotspurs was founded in 1882, and is located in Tottenham, London. It is an English football club which plays in the Premier League level and has an emblem of a cockerel standing on a football. The club trains in the grounds in Bulls Cross, which is in the northern area of the London Borough of Einfield and White Hart Lane is the club's home stadium.

The club has been successful since the beginning, and was the only non-league club since the formation of the Football League to win the FA cup in 1901. In the 1960-61 season, Tottenham was the first club to achieve the League and FA cup double in the 20th century. Following this, Tottenham managed to win a European Cup Winners Cup club competition, being the first British Club to do so. Several trophies were later to be won during the 1980's with the club gaining the FA cup twice, the UEFA cup, and the FA community shield.

During the 90's Tottenham went on to win the League Cup and the FA Cup, and the League Cup again in 2008. The club had won major trophies in every one of the previous six decades, an accomplishment which had only been realised by its rival team, Manchester United.

Manchester United

Manchester United is based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, in England, and is a professional football club. Manchester play in the premier league, similarly to their rival Tottenham Hotspurs.

The club was founded in 1878 under a different name, before changing to Manchester United in 1902. The club used to be called Newton Heath LYR Football Club and only moved to Old Trafford in 1910.

Scotland Vs Germany TicketsManchester United have won the most league titles of any of the English Clubs, securing a total of 20. On top of this, they have won 4 League Cups, as well as 20 FA Community Shields. They have also won 1 Intercontinental Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 UEFA Cup Winner's Cup and 3 European Cups. The Club managed to achieve a treble of the UEFA Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup.

In terms of revenue, in 2013-2014, Manchester United was the second richest football club, with an annual revenue of €518 million. In 2015 it was also classed as the worlds most valuable football club, estimated to be valued at €1.98 billion. However, as a brand, it is the most valuable club and is estimated to be worth €1.2 billion, as well being one of the most widely supported football teams in the world.


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Archives for category: Sound Art

symposium programme
Jodie Dalgleish: photo Victoria Rick
Last year the writer and curator Jodie Dalgleish wrote an essay in response to the symposium: chalk: time ,sense and landscape A ‘summary, interpretation and inquiry’ of the sounds, images, and themes of the day, the essay was published in EyeContact and a transcript of the full essay is available here: Time Sense Landscape Essay: Jodie Dalgleish

Jodie has subsequently been working on a ‘sonic continuation of my recall and consideration of the one-day Symposium’, weaving sounds, thoughts and voices into a series of audio essays or reveries. The first ‘mix’ is now available and includes sounds and voices from the short award winning documentary, Notes on Blindness, which introduced the day. The film, based on John M. Hull’s autobiography of sightloss Touching the Rock (1990), has subsequently been made into a feature length film (of the same name) released in cinemas across the UK on the 1st July. The spoken thoughts of Dalgleish mingle with fragments of the film’s soundtrack, Prof John Levack Drever’s keynote address reflecting on John M. Hull’s writing and Nick Thorpe’s archaeological dig through the neolithic monuments and rituals of the chalk landscape. The sonic landscape concludes in dripping fragments of my own talk and the performance of rain choir.
Time, sense and landscape mix 1, by Jodie Dalgleish is available here.

Audio transcripts of all the contributions to the symposium will be made available later this year. If you are interested in learning more about this or would like a programme from the symposium please contact me via this website.

fossil dissolve: sebastiane hegarty
Remembering Chalk, a day of rain, hand dryers, neolithic landscapes, guttering and singing dunes, exhausted shelves and spectral houses, the last sightings of extinct songs, lavender sellers and the long quiet fall of light through Connemara.
The curator and writer Jodie Dalgleish reflects on the symposium, Chalk: time, sense and landscape in her article for the New Zealand on-line art review EyeContact:

Link to the full un-edited Essay by Jodie Dalgleish available here:
Time Sense Landscape Essay: Jodie Dalgleish

Sally Ann McIntyre
Sally Ann McIntyre: Victoria Rick
Symposium Chair: Marius Kwint
Marius Kwint: Victoria Rick
Symposium Keynote Speaker: John Levack Drever
John Levack Drever: Victoria Rick
Archaeologist: Nick Thorpe
Nick Thorpe: Victoria Rick
Sound Artist and Symposium Curator: Sebastiane Hegarty
Sebastiane Hegarty: Victoria Rick
Geologist: Michael Welland
Michael Welland: Victoria Rick
Architectural Historian: Karen Fielder
Karen Fielde: Victoria Rick
Composer: Paul Whitty
Paul Whitty: Victoria Rick
Sound Archivist & Curator of London Sound Survey: Ian Rawes
Ian Rawes: Victoria Rick
Sally Ann McIntyre and Marius Kwint
Sally and Marius: Victoria Rick
Film Artist: Guy Sherwin
Guy Sherwin: Victoria Rick
Film: Connemara by Guy Sherwin
Guy Sherwin Connemara 2: Victoria Rick

Symposium Photography: Victoria Rick

Ian Rawes, curator of London Sound Survey and one of the contributors to chalk: time, sense and landscape, has written a fascinating article on sound as it appears in the poetry of Chaucer. In an acoustical dig through the poem, The House of Fame (1370), Rawes unearths sounds that having once stirred the air, resonate and persist beyond the scope of our earthly ear. The poem begins with a dream in which an Eagle lifts Geoffrey into the air and whispers into his shell like:

Sound is nothing but broken air and every word that is spoken, loudly or softly, wisely or obscenely, is by nature just air. When men pluck harp strings, whether heavily or gently, with this stroke the air breaks as it does when men speak; so now you know what speech is. Now if you throw a stone into water, you know how one circle causes another, propagating outwards by the others’ movement, multiplying until the disturbance reaches the surrounding banks. In the same way, every word, spoken loudly or softly, first moves the air nearby, which in turn moves air that is further away. So in the air, my dear brother, every parcel stirs up the next and bares speech upwards, magnifying and amplifying until it reaches the House of Fame – take it in all seriousness or in fun.

The complete article is available here

Poster - chalk: time, sense and landscape
It is with deep sadness that we have learned of the death of keynote speaker, John M. Hull.

John was Emeritus Professor of Religious Education at the University of Birmingham and Honorary Professor of Practical Theology at the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education. Widely published on the subjects of religion and blindness, in 2012 he was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the RNIB. Born in 1935, John developed cataracts in his youth and lost his sight completely 1983. In the book Touching the Rock, John describes and reflects upon his journey into blindness, a journey that not only offers an insight into a sight less world, but also helps to extend our understanding of how the senses involve us in the world around us. In particular, John’s experience of sound and listening reveals sensual landscapes, which transform our physical and emotional presence in the world. The following is an extract from a lecture given by John in 2001 and published in Soundscape: The Journal of Acoustic Ecology:

‘I learnt to listen to the sound of the rain. I can remember times when, in my study at home, I would become conscious that there was a storm going on. I would forget about my disorientated and vacated interior and would become aware of the wind, thundering upon the corner of the house, whistling through the eaves. And then I would become aware of the rain, splattering on the windowpane. I would stand up. I would press my nose hard against the window. And gradually it was as if the glass disappeared, because now my consciousness extended out from my nose pressed upon a panel of glass until it became un-conscious […] The rain had turned the light on […] And as I listened to [it fall], I realised I was no longer listening, because the rain was not falling into my ears, it was falling into my heart.’

We would like to dedicate this symposium to the memory of John and offer our sincere condolences to John’s wife Marilyn, their children and grandchildren.

The symposium will begin with a showing of the award winning documentary Notes On Blindness, made by Peter Middleton and James Spinney and based on the audio cassette diaries, which john used to ‘write’ Touching The Rock.

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Come to Kathina, Sunday Oct 8th.

On Sunday October 8th, the Tisarana community will celebrate the end of the Rains Retreat by offering the Kathina cloth to the monastic community. The event will be held at the monastery (1356 Powers Road, Perth ON) and will start at 10.45 AM, followed by the meal blessing and a meal. At 1 PM, the ceremony of offering the Kathina cloth will take place followed by a Dhamma Reflection given by Luang Por V.

We are delighted that Ajahn Punnadhammo from Arrow River and Venerable Suneetha from Ottawa are joining us this year. We look forward to the gathering on Sunday. Please ensure that you arrive well before 10.15 AM if you are offering dana for the pot-luck meal. Please allow time for parking, getting to your seats and we ask that everyone is seated by 10.40 AM in order to start the event. Help with breaking up and cleaning up after the event will be greatly appreciated.


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The Latest

Clockwork Princess snippets

Here are snippets from Clockwork Princess, which will be released MARCH 19, 2013, that Cassandra Clare has shared online:

Snippet #1

“Would you?” said Gabriel to Will,  hotly. “If it was your family?” His lip curled. “Never mind. It’s not as if you know the meaning of loyalty —”

“Gabriel.” Gideon’s voice was a reprimand to his brother. “Do not speak to Will in that manner.”

Snippet #2

“He began it,” Cecily said, jerking her chin at Will, though she knew it was pointless. Jem, Will’s parabatai, treated her with the distant sweet kindness reserved for the little sisters of one’s friends, but he would always side with Will. Kindly, but firmly, he put Will above everything else in the world. Well, nearly everything.

Snippet #3

Jem knotted his fingers in the material of Will’s sleeve. “You are my parabatai,” he said. “You said once I could ask anything of you.”

Snippet #4

Jem drew the bow back and let the arrow fly; it struck the creature in the side. The massive demon worm writhed in agony, undulating as it swept its great, blind head from side to side, uprooting shrubbery with its thrashings. Leaves filled the air and the boys choked on dust, Gideon backing up with his seraph blade in his hand, trying to see by its light.

“It’s coming toward us,” he said in a low voice.

And indeed it was, the arrow still protruding from its wet, grayish skin, humping its body along with incredible speed. A flick of its tail caught the edge of a statue, sending it flying into the dry ornamental pool, where it shattered into dust.

“By the Angel, it just crushed Sophocles,” noted Will. “Has no one respect for the classics these days?”

Snippet #5

And the gold of her ruined wedding dress.

Snippet #6

Will’s fingers brushed the other boy’s as he took the weapon from Jem: it was the first time, Charlotte thought, that she had ever seen him touch any other person willingly.

Snippet #7

“A very magnanimous statement, Gideon,” said Magnus.

“I’m Gabriel.”

Magnus waved a hand. “All Lightwoods look the same to me.”

Snippet #8 (Snippet read by Cassandra Clare on CITY OF LOST SOULS UK tour)

“What are you doing following me around the back streets of London, you little idiot?” Will demanded, giving her arm a light shake.

Cecily’s eyes narrowed. “This morning it was cariad (note: Welsh endearment, like ‘darling’ or ‘love’), now it’s idiot.”

“Oh, you’re using a Glamour rune. There’s one thing to declare, you are not afraid of anything when you live in the country. But this is London.”

“I’m not afraid of London,” Cecily said defiantly.

Will leaned closer, almost hissing in her ear *and said something very complicated in Welsh*

She laughed. “No, it wouldn’t do you any good to tell me to go home. You are my brother, and I want to go with you.”

Will blinked at her words.

You are my brother, and I want to go with you.

It was the sort of thing he was used to hearing Jem say.

Although Cecily was unlike Jem in every other conceivable possible way, she did share one quality with him. Stubbornness. When Cecily said she wanted something, it did not express an idle desire, but an iron determination.

“Do you even care where I’m going?” he said. “What if I were going to hell?”

“I’ve always wanted to see hell,” Cecily said. “Doesn’t everyone?”

“Most of us spend our time trying to stay out of it, Cecily. I’m going to an ifrit den, if you must know, to purchase drugs from vile, dissolute criminals. They may clap eyes on you, and decide to sell you.”

“Wouldn’t you stop them?”

“I suppose it would depend on whether they cut me a part of the profit.”

She shook her head. “Jem is your parabatai,” she said. “He is your brother, given to you by the Clave, but I am your sister by blood. Why would you do anything for him, but you only want me to go home?”

“How do you know the drugs are for Jem?” Will said.

“I’m not an idiot, Will.”

“No, more’s the pity. Jem- Jem is like the better part of me. I would not expect you to understand. I owe him. I owe him this.”

“So what am I?” Cecily said.

Will exhaled, too desperate to check himself. “You are my weakness.”

“And Tessa is your heart,” she said, not angrily, but thoughtfully. “I am not fooled. As I told you, I’m not an idiot. And more’s the pity for you, although I suppose we all want things we can’t have.”

“Oh,” said Will, “and what do you want?”

“I want you to come home.” A strand of black hair was stuck to her cheek by the dampness, and Will fought the urge to pull her cloak closer about her, to make her safe as he had when she was a child.

“The Institute is my home,” Will sighed, and leaned his head against the stone wall. “I can’t stand out her arguing with you all evening, Cecily. If you’re determined to follow me into hell, I can’t stop you.”

“Finally,” she said provingly. “You’ve seen sense. I knew you would, you’re related to me.”

Will fought the urge to shake her.

“Are you ready?”

She nodded, and he raised his hand to knock on the door.

Snippet #9 (Will and Jem meet for the first time – from Prologue)

“You are not really dying,” Will said, the oddest tone to his voice, “are you?”

Snippet #10

Will rose slowly to his feet. He could not believe he was doing what he was doing, but it was clear that he was, clear as the silver rim around the black of Jem’s eyes. “If there is a life after this one,” he said, “let me meet you in it, James Carstairs.”

“There will be other lives.” Jem held his hand out, and for a moment, they clasped hands, as they had done during their parabatai ritual, reaching across twin rings of fire to interlace their fingers with each other. “The world is a wheel,” he said. “When we rise or fall, we do it together.”

Will tightened his grip on Jem’s hand, which felt thin as twigs in his. “Well, then,” he said, through a tight throat, “since you say there will be another life for me, let us both pray I do not make as colossal a mess of it as I have this one.”

Snippet #11

Tessa put a hand against the wall as she made her way numbly down the stairs. What had she almost done? What had she nearly told Will?

Snippet #12

Gideon touched her cheek, lightly, with the tips of his fingers. “Did you know your name means ‘wisdom’? It was very well-given.”

Snippet #13

Tessa craned her head back to look at Will. “You know that feeling,” she said, “when you are reading a book, and you know that it is going to be a tragedy; you can feel the cold and darkness coming, see the net drawing tight around the characters who live and breathe on the pages. But you are tied to the story as if being dragged behind a carriage and you cannot let go or turn the course aside.” His blue eyes were dark with understanding — of course Will would understand — and she hurried on. “I feel now as if the same is happening, only not to characters on a page but to my own beloved friends and companions. I do not want to sit by while tragedy comes for us. I would turn it aside, only I struggle to discover how that might be done.”

“You fear for Jem,” Will said.

“Yes,” she said. “And I fear for you, too.”

“No,” Will said, hoarsely. “Don’t waste that on me, Tess.”

Snippet #14

Tessa leaned forward and caught at his hand, pressing it between her own. The touch was like white fire through his veins: he could not feel her skin, only the cloth of the gloves, and yet it did not matter. How you have kindled me, heap of ashes that I am, into fire. He had wondered once why love was always phrased in terms of burning: the conflagration in his own veins, now, gave the answer. “You are good, Will,” she said. “There is no one better placed than I am to be able to say with perfect confidence how good you really are.”

Snippet #15

“Wo wei ni xie de,” he said, as he raised the violin to his left shoulder, tucking it under his chin. He had told her many violinists used a shoulder rest, but he did not: there was a slight mark on the side of his throat, like a permanent bruise, where the violin rested.

“You — made something for me?” Tessa asked.

“I wrote something for you,” he corrected, with a smile, and began to play.

Snippet #16

“If Jem dies, I cannot be with Tessa,” said Will. “Because it will be as if I were waiting for him to die, or took some joy in his death, if it let me have her. And I will not be that person. I will not profit from his death. So he must live.” He lowered his arm, his sleeve bloody. “It is the only way any of this can ever mean anything. Otherwise it is only —”

“Pointless, needless suffering and pain? I don’t suppose it would help if I told you that was the way life is. The good suffer, the evil flourish, and all that is mortal passes away,” Magnus said.

“I want more than that,” said Will. “You made me want more than that. You showed me I was only ever cursed because I had chosen to believe myself so. You told me there was possibility, meaning. And now you would turn your back on what you created.”

Snippet #17

London 1873.

“Will?” Charlotte Fairchild eased the door of the Institute’s training room open. “Will, are you in there?”

A muffled grunt was the only response.

The door swung all the way open, revealing a wide, high-ceilinged room on the other side.

Snippet #18

He turned at the familiar voice and saw Tessa. There was a small path cut along the side of the hill, lined with unfamiliar white flowers, and she was walking up it, toward him. Her long brown hair blew in the wind — she had taken off her straw bonnet, and held it in one hand, waving it at him and smiling as if she were glad to see him.

His own heart leaped up at the sight of her. “Tess,” he called. But she was still such a distance away — she seemed both very near and very far suddenly and at the same time. He could see every detail of her pretty, upturned face, but could not touch her, and so he stood, waiting and desiring, and his heart beat like the wings of seagulls in his chest.

At last she was there, close enough that he could see where the grass and flowers bent beneath the tread of her shoes. He reached out for her —

Snippet #19

Will’s eyes met Tessa’s as she came closer, almost tripping again over the torn hem of her gown. For a moment, they were in perfect understanding. Jem was what they could still look each other straight in the eye about. On the topic of Jem, they were both fierce and unyielding. Tessa saw Will’s hand tighten on Jem’s sleeve. “She’s here,” he said.

Jem’s eyes opened slowly. Tessa fought to keep the look of shock from her face. His pupils were blown out, his irises a thin ring of silver around the black. “Ni shou shang le ma, quin ai de?” he whispered.

Snippet #20

“I am not at your beck and call,” Magnus said. “I helped with de Quincey because Camille requested it of me, and Will once, because he offered me a favor in return. I am a warlock. And I do not serve Shadowhunters for free.”

Snippet #21

“Though Will was saying earlier,” Tessa added, “that heroes all come to bad ends, and he could not imagine why anyone would want to be one, anyway.”

“Ah.” Jem’s hand squeezed hers briefly, and then let it go. “Well, Will is looking at it from the hero’s viewpoint, isn’t he? But as for the rest of us, it’s an easy answer.”

“Is it?”

“Of course.” His voice was almost a whisper now. “Heroes endure because we need them. Not for their own sakes. If Will …”

Snippet #22

“By the Angel, Bridget’s depressing,” said Henry, setting down his newspaper directly on his plate and causing the edge to soak through with egg yolk. Charlotte opened her mouth as if to object, and closed it again. “It’s all heartbreak, death and unrequited love.”

“Well, that is what most songs are about,” said Will. “Requited love is nice, but it doesn’t make much of a ballad.”

Snippet #23

Will began to move toward the door to join Charlotte. Halfway there, he turned back, and crossed the room to Tessa: “Please,” he said, “while I am with him, would you do something for me?”

Tessa looked up and swallowed. He was too close, too close: all the lines, shapes, angles of Will filled her field of vision as the sound of his voice filled her ears. “Yes, certainly,” she said. “What is it?”

Snippet #24

Her throat ached: adoration, heartbreak, in equal measure. “Kiss me,” she said. “Please.”

Snippet #25

“You know,” Cecily said, “you really didn’t have to throw that man through the window.”

Snippet #26

“It has been the privilege and the honor of my life to know you.”

Snippet #27

No one can say that death found in me a willing comrade, or that I went easily.

Snippet #28

“Tess?” A soft voice at the door; she looked up and saw Will there, silhouetted in the light from the corridor.

Snippet #29

Gabriel would not soon forget the look that spread over the man’s face at that: there was satisfaction in it, but there was little surprise. It was clear he had expected nothing else, and nothing better, from the Lightwood boys.

Snippet #30

Slowly, Jem put the violin back in its case, and laid the bow beside it. Only then did he turn to Tessa. His expression was shy, though his white shirt was soaked through with sweat and the pulse in his neck was pounding.

“Did you like it?” he said. “I am not good with words, so I wrote how I felt about you in music.”

Snippet #31

(written on a wall in blood in Clockwork Princess)

Snippet #32

Gabriel’s green eyes sought Will. “It was demon pox, wasn’t it? You know all about it, don’t you? Aren’t you some sort of expert?”

“Well, you needn’t act as if I invented it,” said Will.

Snippet #33

“Jem told me what Ragnor Fell said about my father,” Will said. “That for my father, there was only ever one woman he loved, and it was her for him, or nothing. You are that for me. I love you, and I will only ever love you until I die —”

Snippet #34

Jem always said that Will rushed toward the end of a mission rather than proceeding in a measured manner, and that one must look at the next step on the path ahead, rather than the destination in the distance, or one would never reach one’s goal. Will closed his eyes for a moment. He knew that Jem was right, but it was hard to remember, when the goal that he sought was the girl that he loved.

Snippet #35

“You do not want to help us,” Will said to Magnus. “You do not want to position yourself as an enemy of Mortmain’s.”

“Well, can you blame him?” Woolsey rose in a whirl of yellow silk. “What could you possibly have to offer that would make the risk worth it to him?”

“I will give you anything,” said Tessa in a low voice that Will felt in his bones. “Anything at all, if you can help us help Jem.”

Magnus gripped a handful of his black hair. “God, the two of you. I can make inquiries. Track down some of the more unusual shipping routes. Old Molly —”

“I’ve been to her,” Will said. “Something’s frightened her so badly she won’t even crawl out of her grave.”

Woolsey snorted. “And that doesn’t tell you anything, little Shadowhunter? Is it really worth all this, just to stretch your friend’s life out another few months, another year? He will die anyway. And the sooner he dies, the sooner you can have his fiancée, the one you’re in love with.” He cut his amused gaze toward Tessa. “Really you ought to be counting down the days till he expires with great eagerness.”

Snippet #36

Tessa reached to brush the damp hair from his forehead. He leaned into her touch, his eyes closing. “Jem—have you ever—” She hesitated. “Have you ever thought of ways to prolong your life that are not a cure for the drug?”

At that his eyelids flew open. “What do you mean?”

She thought of Will, on the floor of the attic, choking on holy water. “Becoming a vampire. You would live forever—”

He scrambled upright against the pillows of the bed. “Tessa, no. Don’t—you can’t think that way.”

“Is the thought of becoming a Downworlder truly so horrible to you?”

“Tessa …” He exhaled slowly. “I am a Shadowhunter. Nephilim. Like my parents before me. It is the heritage I claim, just as I claim my mother’s heritage as part of myself. It does not mean I hate my father. But I honor the gift they gave me, the blood of the Angel, the trust placed in me, the vows I have taken. Nor, I think, would I make a very good vampire. [redacted for spoilers] I would no longer be Will’s parabatai, no longer be welcome in the Institute. No, Tessa. I would rather die and be reborn and see the sun again, than live to the end of the world without daylight.”

“A Silent Brother, then,” she said.

His eyes softened slightly. “The path of Silent Brotherhood is not open to me.”

Snippet #37

“Why?” Gabriel asked. “Why are you so sure that Charlotte’s side is the right one?”

“Because our father’s is not,” said Gideon. “Because I know Charlotte. Because I have lived among these people for months and they are good people. Because Charlotte Branwell has been nothing but kind to me. And Sophie loves her.”

“And you love Sophie.”

Gideon’s mouth tensed.

“She’s a mundane and a servant,” said Gabriel. “I don’t know what you expect to come of it, Gideon.”

“Nothing,” Gideon said roughly. “I expect nothing. But the fact that you believe I should shows that our father brought us up to believe that we should do right only if some reward was the result. I will not betray the word I have given Charlotte; that is the situation, Gabriel. If you do not want a part of it, I can send you to live with the Blackthorns. But I will not lie to Charlotte.”

“Yes, you will,” said Gabriel. “We are both going to lie to Charlotte. And I will tell you why.”

Snippet #38

“Will.” Tessa caught at his wrist. “You would not abandon me now — not leave me the only one who still hopes? I cannot do it without you.”

He took a deep breath, half-closing his shadowed blue eyes. “Of course not. I will help. I will continue. It is only —”

He broke off, turning his face away. The light that came down through the window high above illuminated cheek and chin and the curve of his jaw.

“Only what?”

“You remember what else I said to you that day — that day in the drawing-room?”

Snippet #39

Rage flared up in Tessa and she considered belting Woolsey with the poker whether he came near her or not. He had moved awfully quickly while fighting Will, though, and she didn’t fancy her chances. “You don’t know James Carstairs. Don’t speak about him.”

“Love him, do you?” Woolsey managed to make it sound unpleasant. “But you love Will, too.”

Tessa froze. She had known that Magnus knew of Will’s affection for her, but the idea that what she felt for him in return was written across her face was too terrifying to contemplate.

Snippet #40

Will looked at his sister. “And you don’t care about being a Shadowhunter. How is this: I shall write a letter and give it to you if you promise to deliver it home yourself — and not to return.”

Cecily recoiled; she had many memories of shouting matches with Will, of the china dolls she had owned that he had broken by dropping them out an attic window; but there was also kindness in her memories: the brother who had bandaged up a cut knee, or retied her hair ribbons when they came loose. That kindness was absent from the Will who stood before her now. Her mother had used to cry for the first year or two after Will went; she had said, in Welsh, holding Cecily to her, that they — the Shadowhunters — would “take all the love out of him.” A cold, unloving people, she had told Cecily, who had forbidden her marriage to her husband. What could he want with them, her Will, her little one?

“I will not go,” Cecily said, staring her brother down. “And if you insist that I must, I will — I will —”

The door of the attic slid open and Jem stood silhouetted in the doorway…

Snippet #41

Tessa couldn’t help herself; despite everything, she giggled. “It laces,” she whispered. “In the back,” and she guided his hands around her until his fingers were on the strings of the corset. She shivered then, and not from cold, but from the intimacy of the gesture.

Snippet #42

Charlotte shook her head. “There is a need here for mercy and pity. Jessamine is not what she once was — as any of you would know if you had visited her in the Silent City.”

“I have no wish to visit with traitors,” said Will.

Snippet #43

Clockwork Princess Chapter Titles

Snippet #44

Will urged the horse toward the stable doors and, bending his head against the wind, galloped out into the night.

Snippet #45

Woolsey threw himself into a flower-patterned armchair while Magnus moved toward the fireplace and leaned against the mantel, the very picture of a young gentleman at leisure.

Snippet #46

Tessa, glancing quickly from side to side to check for traffic, dashed across Blackfriars Bridge.

Snippet #47

He tasted like snowflakes and wine, like winter and Will and London.

Snippet #48

“I am not good with words, so I wrote how I felt about you in music,” said Jem.

Snippet #47

Gabriel Lightwood leaned against the wall inside the Institute doors, his jacket gone, his shirt and trousers drenched in blood.

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TN Milesplit Ten: October Boys Team Rankings

There's just one month until the 2018 State Championship in Nashville, Tennessee.

And the team races in each division are starting to take shape. Moving forward at the start of every month, we'll subjectively pick the top ten teams in the state based on rankings and results. Boys are today, girls are tomorrow.

Here is the Tennessee Milesplit Ten for October.

1. Brentwood Academy

The Eagles won the Wingfoot Classic in Georgia with an impressive one-through-five spread. Four runners are below 16:40, and seniors Matthew McMillan, Matthew Porter and George Payne are one of the best 1-2-3 punches in the region.

2. Siegel High School

Siegel has run well across the country, including in California at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic. That race was only a three-mile, so it's hard to gauge just how well Siegel ran in that competition. But they are the defending champs. And Canaan Anderson is a dangerous front runner.

3. Bartlett High School

Robert Dawson and Landen McNair are a strong 1-2 punch for the Panthers. Dawson ran well at the Horton Classic last week, breaking 16:30 for the first time with a 16:28. McNair made a big breakthrough as well, running sub-17 for the first time.

4. Franklin High School

The Rebels have burst onto the scene with an impressive group this fall. Max Zani leads the way with a 16:02 personal best. That's the tenth-best time in Tennessee this season. Franklin will be in the mix with Siegel for a state championship in November thanks to its 16:54 average.

5. Montgomery Bell Academy

The Big Red are No. 7 according to the numbers, but they got a big head-to-head win over the weekend. MBA travelled to McCallie and won against some strong competition in Chattanooga. Freshman Hall Griffith is one of the best underclassmen in the state, running 17:10 this season.

6. McCallie School

7. Collierville High School

8. Christian Brothers High School

9. Daniel Boone High School

10. Independence High School


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Black Migration From Cities Changes Political Landscape

Black migrationAfrican-Americans once were clustered so heavily in urban areas that the terms ?Black? and ?inner city? came to be used almost synonymously. According to the 2010 U.S. Census results, that time is history.

While Blacks have by no means vanished from cities, unprecedented numbers have headed for the suburbs or left the big cities of the North and headed south. As legislative districts are redrawn, nonpartisan groups and both political parties are watching how this unexpected migration will affect local and state elections.

Moreover, redistricting experts say the Black exodus from cities such as Detroit, Cleveland and Philadelphia contributed to placing Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania among the 10 states that will lose congressional seats because of reapportionment after the census. With Republican governors in 29 states, the GOP has greater influence over redistricting than Democrats.

But it is unclear whether the migration of African-American voters will change the number of congressional districts where Black candidates can win. Rob Richie, executive director of FairVote, based in Takoma Park, Md., notes that Republicans often join civil rights leaders in supporting African-American legislative districts rather than creating politically diverse districts where the Black vote could decide close elections.

?Republicans have a political interest in concentrating the African-American vote,? Richie says. ?When Blacks are concentrated, they can?t have their votes in as many districts. It?s a trade-off.?

Experts on redistricting foresee multicultural coalitions emerging in formerly all-Black communities and people of color eventually gaining more political clout in suburbs and exurbs.

In California, the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission will carve out the state?s electoral districts for the first time. Voters authorized having a nonpartisan board, not legislators, delineate these districts in passing the Voters First Act (Proposition 11) in 2008. To ensure that new districts don?t dilute black voting power, grass-roots organizations mobilized to present the commission with recommendations for keeping communities of color intact. New district lines must be drawn by Aug. 15.

Although Black flight from California cities is changing demographics, experts say that is unlikely to shake up the state?s political scene.

?The 2010 census showed that there has been a drift of the Black population away from the coastal areas to more inland areas in California,? says Michelle Romero, a fellow at The Greenlining Institute, which is based in Berkeley and advocates for racial and economic justice. ?But fortunately in Los Angeles, there?s the potential to build multi-ethnic coalitions of voters after this new redistricting cycle.?

From 2000 to 2010, the Black population in Los Angeles County dropped from 9.8 percent to 8.7 percent, according to census findings. In Alameda County, which includes Oakland and other San Francisco Bay areas, the drop was from 14.9 percent to 12.6 percent.

Erica Teasley Linnick, coordinator of the African American Redistricting Collaborative in Los Angeles, doesn?t view black migration from California?s urban cores as a threat to Black voting power. When African-Americans leave California cities, she says, Latinos and Asians with similar political interests usually replace them.

?In Los Angeles, you?ve had coalitions coming together to vote in Tom Bradley (the city?s first black mayor) to now Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa,? says Teasley Linnick, who also notes that Blacks who have moved from Los Angeles gained political representation in the city?s outlying areas. For instance, Wilmer Amina Carter, a Black woman, has represented the state?s 62nd Assembly District in the Inland Empire region bordering metropolitan Los Angeles, since 2006.

Marqueece Harris-Dawson, president and CEO of Community Coalition, a social and economic advocacy group for South Los Angeles, agrees that Black flight from the city will not undercut African-American voting power.

?It?s been happening over a 20-year period,? he says. ?It?s not a dramatic change, so it?s not significant enough to curtail African-American political representation.?

In fact, experts say Republicans in California face new challenges underscored by the census count. Three million more Latinos moved into California between 2000 and 2010, resulting in predictions that Republicans may lose ground after new electoral districts are drawn. Analysts say Democrats could gain as many as five seats in the State Legislature, enough to form a supermajority.

The shift to having an independent panel redistrict California communities makes it difficult for Republicans to devise a redistricting strategy, according to Matt Rexroad, a GOP strategist in Sacramento.

?As always, the Republican strategy is to recruit good candidates and make sure their message resonates with voters, just like at any other time,? he says. ?Sometimes, it?s worked and, well, sometimes it hasn?t.?

But what effect will Black flight from California cities and the surging Latino population have on the GOP statewide? Rexroad says the Republican Party and African-American community typically share interests in redistricting.

?You?ve found Republicans and African-Americans arguing for the same district configurations,? he says. ?African-Americans want their votes consolidated to win urban seats.?

This time around, however, some California activists want the black vote less concentrated to exert wider influence, Rexroad says, adding that the enormous growth of the Latino population is not necessarily bad news for Republicans. He notes that in California?s Central and Imperial valleys, for instance, Latinos tend to lean to the right.

?They?re largely responsible for Proposition 8 passing,? he says, referring to the ban on gay marriage. ?They?re very conservative on social issues.?

While Republicans may not gain power where Blacks have departed, Blacks who have headed south will probably not be able to turn red states blue in the near future, says Herb Tyson of Tyson Innovative Government Relations Solutions in Washington, D.C.

The Black migration ?doesn?t help Democrats because the South is so heavily skewed Republican you would have to have a huge representation of African-Americans to make a difference statewide,? he Tyson says.

On the other hand, in cities such as Atlanta, the black population is so large that African-Americans relocated there from throughout the nation won?t change the political landscape. The Atlanta area now has the greatest number of blacks in the country outside of New York City. For years, Chicago held that distinction. Moreover, three-fourths of the 25 counties in which the Black population rose most over the past decade are in the South.

In Texas, the Black population grew by 22 percent, in part because of Hurricane Katrina refugees who relocated there permanently. With the Latino population also growing, by 42 percent, minorities could alter the political landscape that Republicans have controlled.

Meanwhile, five counties with the greatest number of blacks 10 years ago?Los Angeles County, Philadelphia County, Wayne (Detroit), Cook (Chicago) and Kings (New York City)?all lost African-Americans. Democratic pollster Ron Lester stresses that populations in northeastern states dropped overall but says he doesn?t expect that to have much political impact.

?The loss has been spread around,? Lester says. ?It?s a lot of college-educated voters who are leaving.?

Lester also questions the notion that population declines in northern states will benefit Republicans in that region or nationally. ?In places like New York, I don?t think that?s going to them help pick up a seat in Congress,? he says. ?I think that right now, you have [43] members of the Congressional Black Caucus. When redistricting is over, you?ll have the same number.?

In the historically black District of Columbia, the African-American population decreased by 11.5 percent between 2000 and 2010. In contrast, the Black population in nearby Charles County in Maryland doubled as African-Americans departed the District.

David Bositis, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C., doesn?t expect the Black population decrease to have a huge impact on the city?s political scene.

?By and large, white voters have almost always had a major say in D.C. politics, so the fact that D.C. is becoming less Black isn?t really changing the politics,? Bositis says. ?The exception is Marion Barry. He was the only politician in D.C. who was able to win without white support.? The former mayor is a City Council member.

Nationally, Black movement away from cities will eventually give minorities more political clout in areas where they settle, Bositis says. He adds, though, that this phenomenon will take time because the Black and Latino population is on average younger than the white population.

?Certainly in the future, it?s going to represent an advantage but not immediately because younger people are not as politically active as older people are, and the white population is getting quite old,? he says.

Source: America’s Wire


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Greg & Gina Thank Buck & Angela

October 6, 2018

Photo by Gina Crash

I love this picture of Buck & Angela Showalter taken at the KidsPeace Maryland "Trick Or Trot 5K" kick off party this May. Buck is smiling and Angela had just told the story of how her Father would say, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," which explained her beautiful bright yellow dress. Throughout their tenure in Baltimore, Buck and Angela were active, local supporters of KidsPeace, the national organization that supports foster youth- a cause close to Angela & Buck's heart. Greg & I got to know the Showalters by participating in the annual 5K and through various trips to our studios for interviews over the years.

Buck would almost rather talk about anything other than baseball most of the time. We bonded one day over both being night owls. He asked me how I got up so early in the morning and admitted even after late games long after Angela had gone to bed, he likes to unwind for a few hours before turning in. He smiled when I told him he is my Dad's favorite manager in the MLB. "He's a good man that Buck," my Dad always says while faithfully watching games no matter what kind of season they might be having. Angela is lovely inside and out and the two of the them make a great team. One thing I remember most is after the KidsPeace 5K race last year when a little girl came up to Angela and thanked her for supporting foster kids. That's what it's all about.

Angela and I also became Instagram followers of each other. She sweetly comments on photos of my niece and shares adorable ones of their grandson. She's often joked to Greg & I she'd like to do what we do, talk on the radio! She should! She's a natural!

When the news broke Wednesday that Buck would not be returning next season, Ray Schulte, their longtime friend and spokesperson, tweeted their nice message to Baltimore:

I'm not sure what the next step is for Buck and Angela, but I know they will be missed by me, Greg, my Dad, and so many loyal fans in Baltimore who loved the guy who "liked our guys."

Thank you from all of us!

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