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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Shara Lessley

Shara Lessley, a former Wallace Stegner Fellow in Poetry, is the author of Two-Headed Nightingale. Among her honors are an Artist Fellowship from the State of North Carolina, the Diane Middlebrook Poetry Fellowship from the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing, and Colgate University's Olive B. O'Connor Fellowship. Shara is a recipient of the "Discovery" / The Nation prize. Her poems have appeared in The Kenyon Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review, among others. She currently lives in Amman, Jordan, and records her experiences in the Middle East at her blog.

Learn Arabic—your husband won’t have time.

At Carrefour Express, aisle one is the tax-free line.

For poultry, go to Sweifieh (the Palestinian

chicken man’s shop); pig, on the other hand,
is impossible to find (frozen pork sometimes
turns up at the co-op). Basha  ____________ ’s

wife is pregnant with twins; expect to host

a spa date or two for his mistress. Never make

eye contact with local men. Read Married

to a Bedouin, the Expert Expat’s Guide. (Skip

Queen Noor’s book—she’s from the Midwest.)
During Ramadan Crumbs’ breakfast is the best;
everything else is closed. Never ride

in the front of a taxi with an Arab. If you’re

near the Embassy, avoid hailing a cab (security says

we’re sitting ducks). Help in Amman

runs cheap: hire a driver, a maid, a cook.

Mansef is made with lamb or goat, and stewed

in a hearty jameed. When dining with royalty,

keep conversation neutral. At private parties

be prepared to be the only woman in the room,

save the staff. Look the part, but don’t

show cleavage. Lipstick is fine. Laugh hard
(but not too hard) at Colonel ________’s
dick jokes. Know how to properly cut and light
a cigar. When talk turns to politics, smile

and nod, then say something obscure
in Arabic—your husband will give you the cue

(the Jords will think it cute). Never ask

a woman how long her hair is

under the hijab. Don’t call anyone

but your husband habibi. Explore the souks;

steer clear of the mosques. All Arabs hate dogs—

walk yours after dark; comb your yard
for poison and traps. Close your drapes

(Western women are common victims

of peeping toms). When moving among crowds,

expect children and strangers to stop
to stroke your hair. Always carry your passport.

The number one reason a man’s relieved

from his post? His wife’s unhappy. Avoid this

from the get-go—get a hobby! Play tennis,
take a class, or find a job. (The field’s leveled

for spouses: here, education and experience

equal nada.) The workweek runs Sunday to
Thursday; your husband will clock in Saturdays,

Fridays, too. Pack at least four ball gowns;

stock up on shirts with sleeves. Gunfire means
graduation, or congratulations—a wedding’s

just taken place. Don’t be disturbed by
the armed guards outside your apartment

(their assault rifles don’t have bullets,

rumor has it). “Little America” runs perpendicular

to Ring Six (aka: Cholesterol Circle)—Popeye’s,
Burger King, Hardee’s—you’ll find everything

you need. McDonald’s Playland spans three
upstairs levels. Ship a year’s worth of ketchup,

mayonnaise. Blondes are often mistaken

for hookers; consider dying your hair.

By September or October you’ll learn to

tune out the call to prayer.

When was this poem composed? How did it start?

I began writing "Advice from the Predecessor's Wife" on a very snowy day at the Amy Clampitt House where I was visiting then-fellow Bruce Snider. My husband and I had relocated to the Middle East six months earlier and the journey to Lenox was my first trip back to the states. In restaurants, nail salons, and libraries, I found myself answering questions about life overseas: Why in the world did I move to Jordan? Where was Jordan? Was I afraid to live in a Muslim country? Was I forced to wear a burka? Did I have a car there, or television? Such questions revealed a mixture of fear, disbelief, and curiosity that I found far more interesting than any of my answers regarding Middle Eastern geography, weather, or the overseas availability of satellite dishes.

How many revisions did this poem undergo? How much time elapsed between the first and final drafts?

Considering that some of my poems have taken years to write, the drafting process for "Advice..." progressed rather quickly. I credit this to storing observations and sound bites for nine or more months before trying to shape them into verse. As soon as my husband and I announced that we were moving to the Middle East, I was bombarded with advice—including recommendations from people who'd never even been there! Once we arrived in Amman, I also received tips from other expats, as well as the assistance of locals. Like any new resident, I tried to acquaint myself with the foreign surroundings and customs. I ventured out to find the best butchers and falafel stands, quickly learned which traffic circles to avoid during particular times of day, discovered the appropriate (or, rather inappropriate) protocol for interacting with armed guards, and which routes were best for walking our dog. For many months, I took notes in my head rather than on the page. Details about life in Amman accumulated over time, equipping me with plenty of material to mine once I was ready to write.

Do you believe in inspiration? How much of this poem was “received” and how much was the result of sweat and tears?

Truth told, "inspiration" is one of my least favorite words. I'll take hard work and discipline any day, especially if the alternative is to wait for some proverbial cloud to part or a poem to fall out of the sky. Granted, some of "Advice..." was received: an American who'd once lived in Jordan told me the bit about skipping Queen Noor's book and dying my hair so as not to be mistaken for a prostitute. Although no one recommended I ship bottles of ketchup and mayonnaise with our household effects, I often hear expats complain about the quality of condiments in Amman. (Many are happy, however, with McDonald's 24-7 delivery policy!) What's interesting is that for all I was informed about packing ball gowns and how to hail a cab, I heard very little about Jordanian generosity and warmth. In fact, I was told almost nothing about what I would learn from the good people of Amman.

How did this poem arrive at its final form? Did you consciously employ any principles of technique?

At times I don't know whether I feel more overpowered by the experience of living in the Middle East (its distinct energy, diction, unique social customs, political tensions, religious practices, sounds, terrain, textures, the enormity of its scale), or by the American myth of the Middle East—those popular beliefs and misconceptions about the region's people ("they're a bunch of terrorists!"), leaders ("they're all dictators!"), penchant for violence, and misunderstanding about Islam. Thus, my gut-feeling from the get-go was that a single block stanza best suited the subject. My hope is that this form not only helps build momentum, but that it also overwhelms the reader with information—some of it practical, some outright absurd. By juxtaposing sensible tips (pork is available at the co-op) with suggestions that reveal paranoia and deep-seated prejudices ("All Arabs hate dogs—/walk yours after dark" and " Never ask a woman how long her hair is / under the hijab..."), the poem challenges readers to distinguish sound advice from stereotypes.

Was there anything unusual about the way in which you wrote this poem?

Until "Advice...," I don't think I'd ever written anything with a satirical undertone.

How long after you finished this poem did it first appear in print?

I completed "Advice..." in February or March of 2011. It turned up about six months later in The Missouri Review's Fall Issue and was republished by Poetry Daily in November.

How long do you let a poem “sit” before you send it off into the world? Do you have any rules about this or does your practice vary with every poem?

Typically, I let poems rest a lot longer before sending them out. There are certainly ones in print I wish I'd withheld. "Advice from the Predecessor's Wife" was different. The poem is from my second manuscript-in-progress, which is tentatively titled The Explosive Expert's Wife. Its subjects—stateside bombings by culprits like Eric Rudolph and Ted Kaczynski, spouses of terrorists and counter-terrorists, the difficulty of learning Arabic, the many beauties of Amman and its people, the FBI crime lab—seem more urgent, timely. Perhaps that's why I haven't waited as long to pursue publication. Knock on wood—it's going well thus far...

Could you talk about fact and fiction and how this poem negotiates the two?

The poem's unsaid tension is our lack of incentive to separate fact from fiction. Perhaps it's due to laziness. Or, apathy. Perhaps it's easier to simply accept what we're told. Or maybe I'm mistaken—it's possible that the poem's real claim is that our framing of "fact" is always fictive to a certain extent. What I can say without hesitation in regards to the poem and my experience of living in Amman is that when it comes to popular conceptions of this region, Americans often get it wrong. I know this because many of my own assumptions have been disproven. Since moving to the Middle East, my ideas about my own country and others have been challenged in the best possible sense.

Is this a narrative poem?

I don't know. Is it? I'm curious so see what readers think...

Do you remember who you were reading when you wrote this poem? Any influences you’d care to disclose?

Clampitt, Clampitt, Clampitt (poems, letters, essays, and interviews)—not that she shows herself in any way as an influence in this particular case. I also remember rereading a few novels by Clampitt's nearby neighbor, Edith Wharton. I guess I was in a Massachusetts state of mind. Oh, and the Mayo Clinic's Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy. While visiting Lenox, I was late in my first trimester of pregnancy.

Do you have any particular audience in mind when you write, an ideal reader?

The (half-)honest answer is no, which I think is mostly true, although during the revision process I occasionally hear my mentors whisper wrong move, or misstep! red flag, red flag, red flag! Most often, the voice is Eavan Boland's, although others turn up as well. In the case of "Advice...," it's the less-than-ideal reader I most fear—that person who mistakes the poem's meaning and reads it as some gross caricature of Arab culture.

Did you let anyone see drafts of this poem before you finished it? Is there an individual or a group of individuals with whom you regularly share work?

Bruce Snider is my primary reader, the person who suffers through almost every draft of what I write. In this case, he helped excise and rearrange some of the details in order to help me locate the poem's ending. I'm also indebted to David Roderick, with whom I regularly exchange work and ideas. It makes me somewhat uncomfortable to drop names here—there are so many wonderful people in my life. Even without regularly reading or commenting directly on my drafts, theirs is a profound and lasting influence.

How does this poem differ from other poems of yours?

"Advice..." is less lyrical, more conversational. Serious as its subject matter is, the drafting process felt like play.

What is American about this poem?

Its ugliness and enthusiasm. The residue of capitalism. Its combination of curiosity and fear. I think the poem's humor, its sense of entitlement and privilege are very American, as is its strange amalgamation of knowingness and naiveté.

Was this poem finished or abandoned?

Each day I spend in Jordan, I live this poem. I consider it ongoing.

  1. Please Shara, stay in Jordan.

  2. More like a dramatic monologue, like My Last Duchess by Robert Browning. If there was a larger tale of action and other monologs as a frame for this one, then it would be narrative.

  3. As a fellow expat (although not in Jordan), I appreciate this poem all the more. The well-meant advice, the gaps, all that is left unsaid, the assumptions of the speakers, the ambiguity towards one's hosts - beautifully captured!

  4. This poem is phenomenal. Just amazing.


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Friday, 25 September 2009

Rosh Hashanah - the New Year

A man is walking on a tightrope. From below, he looks like a speck of moving dust, or perhaps a bird hovering over the city. He can hardly be seen. But someone is there. A man is walking on a tightrope – and he is a quarter of a mile off the ground. It has become an iconic image. Step by step, smiling, he moves, attentive and graceful, between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre on a wire an inch thick, less than the width of this book in my hand. Back and forward, step by step, with a sensation of limitless freedom. It is 1974.

The French tightrope walker Philippe Petit wrote a book about his art, A Walk In The Clouds. And you may well have seen the wonderful documentary about him, Man On Wire. And when in the film you see this person, alone on the wire, balanced between movement and stillness, defenceless against sudden gusts of wind, one step away from death – strangely, you do not think of death. You think of life – how fragile it is, how precious it is, and how wonderful it might be to walk through life like Philippe Petit on his high-wire, taking hold of his life and living it ‘in all its exhilarating immediacy, in all its joy’, moment by moment. (cf. Paul Auster, The Red Notebook, Faber & Faber, p. 98).

This evening we pause on our journey, our high wire act – though we don’t usually think of it like that as we make our way through the world, striding along confidently , but every step just a heartbeat away from death. Or worse. We think the ground is solid beneath our feet. We like to feel secure, to avoid too many risks, or at least to take what we think of as manageable, insurable risks. We like to feel in control. But this evening as we pause, as the old year dies and the new year comes into being, comes to life; as we pause at the cusp between what’s past and what’s to come, our unknown (and unknowable) future, we can stop for a few moments and ask ourselves: How do we live our lives: fearless – or fearful ? one step at a time, paying attention to the moment, or in a headlong rush?

Rosh Hashanah is known by many names. Yom Ha-Zikkaron, the day of Remembering; Yom Teruah, the Day of waking up; Yom Ha-Din – the Day of Judgement, with the scales balancing our deeds, weighing up our lives, what has substance and what is ephemeral. And although we stride resolutely through these days together, in community, they are still here for each one of us, individually.

And they are called, these ten days, the Yomim Noraim – The Days of Awe, because they are about the most wondrous and poignant realities: what it means to be a human being, fragile, dependent, fallible – Man On Wire, Woman On Wire - so insignificant in the vast scheme of things and yet so significant. For no-one like us, like me or like you, has ever existed before, or ever will. And does this have any meaning, this uniqueness that each of us is with our own special amalgam of doubts and insecurities, our worries, our foibles and guilt, our sadnesses and failures, our frustrations, our loneliness and secret sorrows as well as our great need for connectedness and belonging and security and hope. What does it mean to be a human being, full of astonishing consciousness and creativity, alive on a small precious, precarious planet on the edge of the universe? What does it mean to be suspended over the void, like Philippe Petit, our bare and naked mortal selves, flesh and blood and mind and heart and spirit, and we have to make the best of it we can, moment by moment? On our own, and sometimes with each other. Huddled against the darkness, the abyss. Is this it? Is this all there is? The gravity-defying high wire act we can life?

Or is there something else as well, something we can turn to, turn towards? After all, we began this service with the words ‘In the twilight of the vanishing year we turn to You...We come into Your presence together with all other holy congregations of Your people’ (Machzor p.131). Are we on this dizzying journey through life alone? Or is there some kind of presence, or energy, or awareness that we can become aware of, attune ourselves to, a presence that we can come into, or let come into us? Something that sustains us, nurtures us, keeps us going when all seems lost, when we feel we are going to fall (into a depression or a bad mood, or feelings of hopelessness or resentment or inadequacy) – is there something that holds us up, that keeps us alive and breathing, breathing moment by moment, literally inspires us? Is there something else? Can we feel the wire, as thin as a finger as broad as an ocean? Can we trust it will support us as we inch our way forward? Impossible to believe in and yet we’ve come this evening seeking it – tentatively, maybe reluctantly, quizzically, shyly – we have come here this evening for something that helps us touch the mystery, helps us touch, and be touched by, that which supports us all in this perilous adventure we call life.

We Jews have this extraordinary mythology, story, a way of seeing the world: we have created a period of time to reflect on these questions, questions about our lives that we know are short and fleeting and without significance until we fill them with significance. We’ve created this New Year and along with all the other names we give it, we say that it celebrates ‘the birthday of the world’ – yom harat olam - not the birthday of the Jewish people mind you, nothing so small-scale and ethnocentric as that. No, we take it upon ourselves to celebrate ‘the birthday of the world’ - which means a day, two days, to remember that we live on a planet that has a history, a past, that started in unimaginably powerful explosions of densities of matter and energy, unimaginable heat and chaos and eons of cooling and congealing and forming itself into rock and water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen and hydrogen and oxygen and all the rest in multitudes of combinations and re-combinations, and the slow, slow evolution of a planet, with a special state-of-the-art air-conditioning system that allowed the slow, slow evolution of microscopic life forms and photosynthesis and the slow, slow evolution out of the seas, onto the land, millennia after millennia, primitive life, evolving – Richard Dawkins is of course right to emphasise, over and over again, this is what happened, this is how it happened, the infinitely slow evolution of slime into life, sea creatures, land creatures, apes, creatures that had hands and legs and fingers that could hold objects – what a glory! – and millennia pass and then – and it is like a miracle, we can describe it without understanding what it means - like a miracle there is us, tribes of us with our migraines and our iPods, us, able to reflect on it all, tell stories about it all, create a new year to celebrate it all, wonder about it all, wonder about our part in it all, our role in it all. Our responsibility in it all.

Because we gather here this evening for many reasons – Rosh Hashanah is about many things, it’s about getting the honey cake recipe right, and making sure the kneidlach aren’t like cannonballs, it is about family recipes and family gatherings and remembering those who are no longer with us; and it’s about friendship and community, and tradition. It’s maybe also about duty or habit – but underneath all these there is something else that brings us here, I think, brings us together: a sense of gratitude and feeling of responsibility. If we are here and have what we call life, and everything is not just random, it must have a purpose.

And there must be something that sustains it all, that keeps the whole show going. We have come to call this something God, Adonai, The One who is, That which Is, and this is what we turn to in these days of Awe. ‘We come into Your presence’, we let this presence come into us, the awareness of life, mysterious, unfolding moment by moment, as we breathe, in and out, and sense there is a spirit that animates us and all of being, that keeps us on the wire. This is the daily miracle, that we daily forget. And what it means – and this is the great Jewish contribution to human development – it means that we carry a sense of responsibility: that how we live, with each other and in the world, makes a difference. A difference to this unfolding drama of life on earth. By the way, this doesn’t mean you have to believe in a Creator, or a Designer, and I’m not speaking about ‘intelligent design’, because there is nothing intelligent about nature ‘red in tooth and claw’(Tennyson), or supernovae, or tsunamis or cancer.

But I’m talking about the ways in which we are drawn here this evening, in spite of our doubts and confusion, because we sense and want to sense the sustaining power that underlies and animates the universe and us within it, and this sense (which doesn’t necessarily make rational sense and doesn’t need to) this deeper sense in us blossoms into a sense of responsibility for what happens in this complex, inexplicable turmoil of a life on planet earth.

We sense that we aren’t in charge - but we can make a difference. And we come because, in spite of all our unbelief, we still believe, as Jews, that we have a job to do. That we Jews have a purpose and a destiny. Life can be crushingly unjust but we are capable of acting justly. Life can be unspeakably cruel but we are capable of acting with compassion and generosity. Life can be harsh and meaningless but we are capable of relieving hardship and creating meaning. That’s our purpose, our destiny, what we are doing here.

On Rosh Hashanah we remember – Yom Ha-Zikkaron – that it is all up to us. Remember from this last year, Obama’s presidential words – ‘Yes, we can’. You can’t get more Jewish than that. It is possible to balance on the wire, amidst the storms around us – whether it is illness, or loss, financial uncertainty, environmental uncertainty – and know, in the words of Gregory Solomon in Arthur Miller’s ‘The Price’: ‘Jews been acrobats since the beginning of the world’. We’ve learnt the high wire act of survival, of faith in our ourselves and our responsibilities, and we’ve learnt too – however daunting the task may appear, however unstable we feel in ourselves, or insecure as a people - we’ve learnt with Nachman of Bratslav : “Kol ha’olam kulo gesher tzar mo’ed , the whole world is a very narrow bridge, a very narrow wire, v’haikkar lo lefached klal, but the main thing is not to feel afraid”.

As the New Year comes into life, we treasure our being alive in it. And we look to the future, the next steps on the way, with hope, with confidence, with and even with a spring in our steps.

Sermon given at Finchley Reform Synagogue, London: September 18th 2009

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Approaching the New Year

Last Saturday night my community, Finchley Reform Synagogue, held its annual late night Selichot service. This is always held the Saturday evening before the New Year, and I’d forgotten just what a peculiar service it is. It’s like a mini-version of the High Holy Days, or a dream-version, that passes in less than an hour. Ten days worth of - and several hundreds of pages of - liturgy and melodies and introspection compressed into 25 pages. It’s the Edited Highlights version – the one that cuts out all the boring bits and gets to the action. And yet it’s really just an overture, a prelude to the main thing. I suspect that I can’t be the only one who has a tucked-away thought that wishes it was the main event: that we could look into ourselves just for that one evening, assess the state of our souls – what we do well and what we fail in – and then move on, back to our lives, our ‘real’ lives (as we like to think of it).

I had an allocated slot in the evening , and when I spoke (and this blog mostly contains a slightly adapted version of my ‘sermonette’), I acknowledged the way in which those gathered for the service probably were there because they wanted to use the event as part of their own religious journey - an opportunity for religious reflection, or spiritual deepening, or just a space in the year when they had the luxury of concentrating uninterruptedly for an hour on their life: their priorities, values, strengths and limitations.

And I mused about the work of Teshuvah, of ‘turning and returning’, that is the focus of this period of the year. Who knows how that work is to be done? And how can we know what will work for us? Maybe by the end of that evening the inner work might have been accomplished. Or maybe, I went on,

‘your teshuvah will be done slowly and in an a cumulative way over the next weeks. Or maybe the whole elaborate process will all leave you cold or irritated until you get to Neilah – and then a word or a phrase in the book (or from a rabbi, halevei) will suddenly hit home, will suddenly illuminate something, or stir something in you, right at the end – and only then you will know that the High Holy Days still retain their power, their mystery...

‘None of knows, can know in advance, what will make the difference this year – what will speak to us, what will be helpful in this annual process of turning, returning, Teshuvah, turning our lives over and looking at them again. None of us knows, because if this process is going to be real for us it can’t be controlled – we can’t decide beforehand what prayers will speak to us, what words of wisdom, what melodies. We can’t know in advance, we can only open ourselves to the moment, each moment, and wait and listen and try to catch what effect that moment is having on us...

‘According to Martin Buber, God, ‘the divine’, never stops addressing us, never stops speaking to us (though when he uses the word speaking, he’s using a metaphor – as the Hebrew Bible does). To say that God never stops speaking, is a way of saying that the divine is present all the time, like a great ocean of being in which we are tiny waves. The wave can’t see the ocean but can only exist because of the ocean. To say that God never stops speaking puts the responsibility on us to attend, (shema, “listen” Israel), pay attention – don’t switch off, don’t put your fingers in your ears because you can’t bear the roar and rushing of your life as it sweeps by: stop and listen. Be still and listen. And you may be amazed at what you hear. Parts of yourself you didn’t know were there: courage, honesty, a capacity to sacrifice or let go of something, a calm knowledge of your own worth, a realisation of what you really value, what’s really important to you. Who knows what might be in there if you really listened in , as the Shema suggests? It could change your life – radically; or by just a millimetre - some new spark of understanding or feeling that didn’t exist before, or you didn’t think existed before. That’s how God speaks – in these perceptions, these insights, these fragments of knowledge and self-knowledge that we may never speak about, never even have the words to describe. But that just happen in us, to us, if we are quiet and listen....

‘The liturgy is supposed to help us with this process of listening. Though I know that often the liturgy does a very good job in stopping us listen. So many words, so much repetition, so much language that isn’t our natural language. A difficult theology and a sometimes alienating text. The liturgy can be a stumbling block to this real listening. And I say that knowing, and having often said, that I also think this book, this machzor, is the jewel in the crown of post-War liturgical creativity. But it isn’t going to work for everyone, or not every year. If you find that happening – that the language of the prayers isn’t helping you - then just leave it alone. Use something else – the study passages or the poetry. Or bring your own poetry to the service. There is no one way of doing these days...

‘But there is, I’d suggest, one aim, one overall aim – to listen in to the voice of God in whatever form it is speaking to you. And the music too can help us with this. Sometimes, like the traditional words, it may get in the way but it’s there to help us on the journey, to get at something in us that isn’t verbal, that is pre-verbal or beyond words, that bypasses the mind and all our clever thinking, all the ways we use our minds to protect us from deeper perceptions, to protect ourselves from the divine within us and around us, the music of the spheres. Music can percolate down through all that mental activity in us and seep into our souls, move us nearer to our true selves...’

And then I took a slight risk in a Reform synagogue – one never knows what one will say that can lead to a broygus – I mentioned something I’d come across from another Anglo-Jewish religious grouping, the Masorti movement. Of course we aren’t rivals or competitors, but colleagues - though I know not everyone sees things this way.

‘I noticed that the Masorti movement this year in their advertisements have come up with an advertising headline that says : ‘The High Holy Days should open our hearts, challenge our values and extend our moral imagination’. And I reckon that’s pretty good as a framework to help us think about our work over these days. I take it as a kind of imaginative re-working of the traditional ideas of teshuvah, u’tephillah u’tzedakah being the key themes of this period : that teshuvah , our returning, is towards an open-heartedness that we know we are capable of but that gets battered and bruised in us, because we endure so many hurts along the way, so many disappointments, so many experiences of being let down or rejected, that our hearts shrivel, atrophy – without our being aware of it – and we lose our open-heartedness. So these days are an opportunity to discover again how to open our hearts...

‘And tephillah, prayer, is a challenge to our values because the language of prayer talks about the highest values to which we can aspire. It talks of a God who is just and compassionate with the power to transform - and this language challenges our de-valued values, our compromises and deceits and failures to live up to what we could and can be, it reminds us that these values we attribute to God are our values too – and that we are capable of being like God, of catalysing the divine in ourselves – our compassion and our capacity to fight for justice and our capacity to transform what is into what ought to be. This is who we are – and our tephillah can remind us about that...

‘And finally, ‘to extend our moral imagination’. That’s a great phrase. Tzedakah means ‘righteousness’, but here we can see the expanded horizon of what that could mean. Our moral imagination is the part of us that can embrace what it might be like to be another person, someone who is suffering or in need, whose situation may be very remote from us – and I don’t need to list the countless causes and world-wide issues (from poverty to oppression) where our money, our time, our letter-writing, can make a difference to the quality of life of another human being....

And I concluded by reflecting that

‘I’m sure there is more in this notion– ‘to extend our moral imagination’ - than what I’ve just outlined. But that’s the point of these days ahead: we have the time to reflect on all this, explore individually and in each other’s company, the power of these words and themes. I wish you a good journey over the next few weeks and look forward to sharing some of it with you in one place or another’.

And so, to all who have read this far (and even to those who haven’t , for it does no harm) I wish one and all a Shana Tova, a good New Year. I will be offering some more New Year thoughts, I hope, in the days to come.

Wednesday, 2 September 2009

24 hours in Prague, 70 Years On

I am writing this on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War. On September 1st 1939 Germany invaded Poland on three fronts and two days later Britain and France declared war. It is a truism to say that nothing was ever the same again - with approximately 60 million dead by the end of the war, how could it be? - and a cliché to reflect that we all still live in the long shadows of those devastating events: Jewish history, British history, European history recognises that the experiences of those war years, and their aftermath, are permanently fused into our consciousness.

As I grow older I find myself more and more aware of how decisively those six years in the midst of the last century have woven themselves into the fabric of my conscious and unconscious life: given time, I could trace the multiple ways in which the contours of my life - its intellectual, emotional and religious preoccupations and affinities, the professional work I do, the literature I’m drawn to, the art and cinema I value, the imagery of my dreams, the countries I visit – have lines of continuity with events that pre-date my birth by nearly a decade.

But I’m not going to indulge that autobiographical impulse here. Just offer one experience from this last Bank Holiday weekend, when I found myself in Prague conducting a tombstone consecration ceremony for a lady named Hana Kvardova , whom I’d never met.

In 1942, as a 12 year old girl, Hana had been incarcerated in Terezin (Theresienstadt), where she remained until the camp’s liberation in 1945. She was from the small town of Uhříněves, just south of Prague – and out of the several hundred Jews who’d lived in the town before the War, she was one of only five who survived the War to return home. (At the cemetery on Sunday was an elderly, stoutly-built woman, dressed in grey and holding a forlorn bunch of yellow carnations, who tearfully recalled the moment she waved goodbye to Hana as she was taken away on 12th September that year – the first day of Rosh Hashanah, as it happens).

As it happens.

During the late 1990s my community, Finchley Reform Synagogue – led by Rabbi Jeffrey Newman and some dedicated members of FRS - had established links with the town of Uhříněves. Some 30 years previously, a Torah scroll that had belonged to the pre-War Uhříněves Jewish community had been given to Finchley Reform, who had applied for a scroll to the Czech Memorial Scrolls Trust (see at the Westminster Synagogue. (After the war, the Trust had rescued more than 1500 Torah scrolls from the Jewish Museum in Prague where they had been deposited by the Nazis during their occupation of Czechoslovakia. The obsessional rigour with which the Nazis set about collecting and preserving for the future Jewish artefacts while simultaneously pursuing their annihilatory project in relation to real existing Jews involves an unassimilable irony that assaults the imagination).

Following the end of the communist era, some of the devoted non-Jewish citizens of Uhříněves had worked with astonishing determination to find ways of keeping alive the memory of their pre-War Jewish fellow townsmen and women. In October 2000 a group of FRS members visited the Czech Republic at the invitation of the Uhříněves Town Council. While there, they attended the unveiling of a memorial plaque - the result of close collaboration between FRS members and Uhrineves - on the exterior of the former synagogue building (now a double-glazing showroom).

Friendships and connections were forged, including with Hana, and contact has been maintained – I was asked to join an FRS group in June 2008 as an accompanying rabbinic presence, and had the humbling privilege of leading a Shabbat morning service for the group, who were joined by invited guests from the town and the Prague Jewish community. The service was held in the office-cum-showroom, which still retains the pre-War architecture of a shul, with alcoves clearly visible as well as the space where the Ark once was (and ‘our’ scroll once rested). Desks and computers were pushed aside, a rough oval of ill-matched chairs was formed, and after a gap of sixty-six years the old melodies and prayers filled the unfillable space. “Blessed are You, Adonai, who chooses His people in love...”

I did not meet Hana Kvardova on that occasion, but did meet her childhood friend, Libuse Votavova, who had been instrumental in searching out her old Jewish friend, who was living in impoverished circumstances. Libuse had then contacted the Jewish community in Prague on her behalf and helped her find refuge in the Jewish Old Age Home in Prague. She had also been deeply involved in Uhříněves’s work of reparation for the crimes committed against its Jews during the Nazi times. These bare facts fail to convey the emotional resonance of this history: one human story that stands in for a collective story of loss, the death of thriving communities, the struggle of survivors for decades afterwards – and the integrity of some non-Jews in recognising the need to make restitution, to honour those who lived and those who died, and to keep memories and stories alive.

Last Sunday, as we gathered in the beautiful tree-shaded Jewish cemetery in Prague – not the old cemetery in the city centre that all the tourists visit, but the late 19th century one slightly further out in the Zizkov district – I made my way to the far end of the cemetery, past the 40,000 gravestones and the monumental slabs of ivy-strewn marble inscribed with assimilated Germanic names of bourgeois Czech Jewish families who must have imagined that their art deco tombstones and mini-mausoleums would be visited by family members for generations to come.

So much for our capacity to imagine what the future holds, for any of us.

Passing reverently by the grave of Franz Kafka, buried with his parents, (and his three sisters who died in the Shoah), I came to the spot where Hana Kvardova was buried last year. We had a simple ceremony in English, Hebrew and Czech, with my words of introduction and explanation ably translated by Libushe’s grand-daughter Klara. (Last year, Klara’s friend Iva had translated for me at our Shabbat service – and both had the gift of conveying to those assembled the spirit of my words as well as their outer meaning. Thus - as it happens - the Jew is dependent on the non-Jew to help bring fully into being what the Jewish soul carries. There is a mystery and paradox here that would need a Kafka to describe).

Klara’s grandmother spoke powerfully about her old friend Hana and it felt like a chapter was closing – for the participants and Uhříněves itself. Those there to witness this small (but huge) event included old friends of Hana from the town, members of the progressive Prague Jewish community with which Finchley has links, and representatives of Finchley Reform who had helped organize (and pay for) this symbolic yet very real event. At the small reception after the consecration, I approached an elderly lady who had been resting with her stick on the arm of a young woman some distance away in the shade while the ceremony had been taking place. I wondered who she was and why she had kept her distance. She was Hana Fuchsova, and this was her grand-daughter. As a Prague Jew – and she proudly told me she was one of the last remaining of that pre-War German speaking Czech Jewish community to which Kafka also belonged - this Hana too had been in Terezin; and she’d been present at the unveiling of the plaque in 1990.

As we talked – with her grand-daughter Helena translating – she told me fragments of her story: about the boy she’d met before the War, then re-met and married in Terezin. Married? – I wanted to make sure I’d understood this – Yes, married, with a rabbi performing the ceremony. She couldn’t remember his name (in my imagination I wondered if it could have been Leo Baeck, who’d been sent from Berlin in Terezin in 1942). Her husband had been transported to Auschwitz but had survived and returned to Prague after the war. They picked up their life together, had a family – including Helena’s father, who inevitably married a non-Jew and of course together brought up children with no knowledge of Jewish life. A not unfamiliar story in central European post-War families.

As an aside, I asked Helena if she knew all this, and she acknowledged that some parts of it were new to her. So, as it happens, I found that I was facilitating a conversation that helped transmit a family story, a history, a life. So many gaps. So many absences. So much silence. But at that moment I knew why I was there.

So it is that the non-Jewish world needs the Jew - has always needed the Jew - in order to bring to light, to make known, the full richness and complexity of being. The paradox of mutual dependence, and inter-dependence – and all the passionate feelings of attraction and hatred and envy, on both sides, that this unconscious dependence generates.

And in that Prague cemetery, and during that brief ceremony that I’d travelled to Prague for, just for the day, I had a sense that although in so many ways in our own technologically-saturated age we are impossibly distant from those war years, in other ways they are with us still, haunting us still. Nothing is ever over.

...Waves of anger and fear
Circulate over the bright
And darkened lands of the earth,
Obsessing our private lives;
The unmentionable odour of death
Offends the September night...
...Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return...
...Faces along the bar
Cling to their average day:
The lights must never go out
The music must always play...
Lest we should see where we are,
Lost in a haunted wood,
Children afraid of the night
Who have never been happy or good...
...Who can release them now,
Who can reach the dead,
Who can speak for the dumb?
All I have is a voice
To undo the folded lie...
...We must love one another or die...

(from W.H. Auden’s September 1, 1939)

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New Highs and Lows and a new feature – NERD LULLABY

Market sucks. Not the end of the world hopefully for you. Keep things in perspective. It is amazing to me that the market has BARELY burped and the devastation so large. Keep your powder dry.

There just are no new highs to speak of. Was looking at the rapid decline in REITS and in hindsight it looks easy. It is not.

I have some buys tomorrow if we collapse. You should have a list to.

Your daily lullaby is brought to you from Scoble and Pageflakes . He only went 26 minutes here with this Pageflakes company that cures dandruff if you use it as an internet startpage. Do not watch this while driving. Scoble says he is already suing me and I don’t need the extra aggravation. BTW, Scoble is not my type of people so I have banned him. Yes, he is a Lindzon fan , but I never liked him. I gave his book to charity for the deduction.

I recommend all stock bloggers ban somebody from their blog tomorrow. It will be a show of stock blogger solidarity and linkbaiting. Please submit your banning in my comments or on your blog. Let the linkbaiting BEGIN.

TIP – Make sure it is someone with more traffic than you.

  1. mdawsz says:

    Maybe it would be easier to keep track of the number of blogs that aren’t suing you?? :)

    PS: Is it possible to ban one’s self from a certain blog? That would make the decision easier than picking a single person.

  2. Steven says:

    I ban myself from my own blog..Doh!

    You know I used to read HL for his insightful comments…now I just use him as an excuse to click and watch Keri…

    Wife: Are you looking at that Golf girl again?

    Me: No…I told you I am reading Howard Lindzon for his insightful stock tips..look at the monitor see…read the post…soemething about some nerd banning him from the nerd’s website.

    Wife: Ok..well don’t let me catch you watching her again.

    LOL…widgets are great.

    I am wondering if there is a Keri fan club to join somewhere?

  3. Shane says:

    It’s really hard for me to ban my only reader but I’m banning my Mom. She doesn’t need to see the T&A

Comments are closed.


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Ghanaians Go Crazy Over Full Body Massage Video!!

Ghanaian men are going gaga on social media over a video showing an unclothed woman getting a full body massage.

Massage video

The video which was shared by Ransford Afari, a massage therapist, has quickly garnered thousands of views.

Ransford said he had shared the video to create awareness about the health benefits of massage.

“Everyone deserves a massage, especially all you guyz working hard,” he said.

Some male social Facebook users who watched the video questioned whether they were in the right professions and expressed the desire to become massage therapists.

One Alfred Harrison stated that he was prepared to offer massage sessions for ladies.

“Rans I’m resigning from ma field to partner u. Get ready…. I’m starting from moro,”Facebook user Nicholas Tetteh said.

Watch the video below:

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Saturday, November 23, 2013

Hear My Brain a Hummin'

Context - our 22 year old cat, Little Cat, who's been kinda slow and crotchety for a couple years now suddenly took a turn for the worse about 3 weeks ago and every day marked a new, obvious chapter in her decline. Working from a home office, I was her care giver. She finally died in her sleep, at home. Those two weeks were mighty sad and her passing hit hard, though it was also a relief as for 2 weeks her prowling range, and range of activities grew smaller and smaller day by day. That weekend, my son and his wife had driven up from Maryland to help my sister prep her house for sale and were staying wit us. On Sunday, we went to church, had some coffee and then went to our fave locals place for chow and libations - the latter being partaken of quite liberally. On returning home, application of the de-braining fluid continued - moving from the red wine at lunch to Freixenheit (an excellent dry Spanish sparkling wine that ya can grab for about $9 a bottle in NJ). We sat around, yapped and listened to music. Then they headed home. Mrs. W. was having a prolonged ladies-only late luncheon.

Finding myself at loose ends, I grabbed the DVD of "Hear My Train A Comin'" a new documentary on Jimi Hendrix.

Over the years I have seen a number of documentaries devoted to the man and I do own a good amount of performances on VHS and DVD, all fine enough though some have slightly weaker premises than others - one that revolved around dramatic readings of his correspondence (letters he wrote, postcards, diary entries) comes to mind as a kind of a stretch. The basic facts and chronology of his life-story are pretty well established and frankly common knowledge among most fans of rock music, both young and old, and it doesn't appear that there's any especially revelatory material left to uncover -- so the basic criteria for any new documentary on offer would be is: how much footage of the man himself, both on and offstage is there? how much hasn't been shown in previous documentaries? is the basic narrative coherent and effective? are most of the salient points in the narrative touched on. "Hear My Train A Comin'" scores well on all counts. Plenty of Hendrix being Hendrix, making music and just being his diffidently bad-ass self, the major bulk of which seem to be hitting the screen for the first time -- even the scenes from Woodstock, which has been pretty exhaustively documented in the festival film, expanded version of the festival film and then in a 2 DVD set devoted solely to Hendrix's performance, are backstage shots or camera angles not previously seen. The narrative line is handled cleanly and intelligibly, nicely illustrated not only by vintage footage but by the testimonials of various colleagues, friends and lovers -- band members like Buddy Miles, Billy Cox, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding; the man who launched his career and produced his first two albums, Chas Chandler; the women who befriended and championed him, Linda Keith (who famously appropriated one of Keith Richards' guitarist she had in safe keeping for Jimi's use) and Fayne Pridgeon who was his Harlem connection. All in all, a good and lively telling of the story, definitely taking a very upbeat slant.

In fact if there's any criticism I'd have of "Hear My Train A Comin'" is that it breezily overlooks many of the problems that beset Hendrix -- the basic conflict he confronted of wanting to record more and perform live less vs. the need to generate sufficient income to maintain his basic lifestyle and his artistic ambitions (composing and experimenting in the recording studio at length, and then building his own custom-designed studio, Electric Lady); the pressure he felt being a Black man performing for predominantly white audiences and initially with white backing musicians; the contradiction between his often outrageous showmanship onstage with his innate shyness, vulnerability, sensitivity and Romanticism. So it's NOT the "definitive" Hendrix documentary biography the back cover copy claims -- but it IS a good un. Utterly enjoyable and utterly truthful as far as it goes. As far as I can remember, coz -- as initially noted,I was four sheets to the wind when I watched it. And it cushioned my comedown quite admirably.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

I own a lot of Jimi Hendrix albums, all of them legit releases, all but 4 posthumous and many of them, re-workings of the same repertoire. Frankly, other than the obvious cash-ins i.e. work he'd done as a sideman, are all pretty damned good. Some ARE more essential than others - obviously the albums he completed during his lifetime, the core of the material he'd completed but not released that came out initially as "Cry of Love" and a series of lesser albums, later collated as "Voodoo Soup" initially and then "First Rays of the New Rising Sun." But even the numerous further releases that are primarily alternate takes from all the above are, at worst interesting, primarily to the diehard fan who eagerly pour over the mutliple takes thereby in circulation and wonder at the different guitar solos as well as more subtle differences 'tween said versions. But all have SOMETHING to recommend them.

Likewise the live albums - Woodstock, BBC sessions, Berkeley Community Center, at the Monterey Pop Festival, the four concerts in the "Stages" box, the L.A. Forum show in the "Lifelines" box, Fillmore East. If there's one thing this cat LOVED it was to play live and it shows throughout all these recordings. In many cases, you get the same basic repertoire over and over again -- which is why the Fillmore East concerts are among my best, largely being an airing of then-unreleased material - a lot of these songs being among the best writing of the latter part of his career.

"Miami Pop Festival" is a nice addition to the Hendrix canon. It's a pro recording helmed by his longtime engineer Eddie Kramer from 1968. The song selection is primarily from his debut outing "Are You Experienced" with a cover of "Tax Free," a song by Swedish instrumental duo "Hansson and Carlsson" and the first live recording of "Hear My Train A Coming" - a groove that I'd suggest also is the undercarriage for "Machine Gun." So - the sound is good, the performances spirited. It's a little strange that all the stage patter is at a significantly lower volume than the playing and singing -- but since you're paying for the playing and singing, the point is moo. Also, the bass is a bit low in the mix but that could be down to the circumstances of the original recording of these performances.

The packaging's nice -- all the booklet photos are taken from the occasion the music was recorded, a strategm that the Hendrix family has pursued for the past 3 live releases, which adds thematic cohesion.

Is this the BEST live Hendrix available? The most interesting? The most revelatory? I daresay that judgement is in the ears of the particular beholder and subject to their own historical and aesthetic biases. But this IS an excellent rendering of his and the Experience's post-"Are You Experienced" material plus some neat pointers as to where he was headed next.


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Thursday, December 24, 2009

Non Discrimination Of Benefits

a) Nondiscrimination in Benefits- A qualified health benefits plan shall comply with standards established by the Commissioner to prohibit discrimination in health benefits or benefit structures for qualifying health benefits plans, building from sections 702 of Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 2702 of the Public Health Service Act, and section 9802 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.

(b) Parity in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Disorder Benefits- To the extent such provisions are not superceded by or inconsistent with subtitle C, the provisions of section 2705 (other than subsections (a)(1), (a)(2), and (c)) of section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act shall apply to a qualified health benefits plan, regardless of whether it is offered in the individual or group market, in the same manner as such provisions apply to health insurance coverage offered in the large group market.

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Search in HRJ Tricks

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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tata Docomo Hiking the Tariff, No Details over Website Confusing Subscribers

Tata Docomo Tariff HikeTata Docomo already joined the tariff hiking spree, now another update. Tata Docomo has increased their 3G offerings and SMS packs tariff in either hike in price or decrease in the validity of the pack.
Earlier SMS pack STV 6 was offering SMS at 1p for 30 days, now it is 3paisa per SMS – three times hike! Another 3G STV pack worth Rs 53 has got the validity reduced to 60 days instead of 90 days. Also very popular 3G data pack Rs 246 + Rs 4 (which includes 1GB 3G data & Rs 219 talktime) has been withdrawn from online recharge option for some customers...

Dish to launch satellite broadband service for rural areas on October 1

A surprising number of people live out in rural areas — places where the high-speed broadband sun don’t shine. Dish is looking to change that up a bit by launching a new nation-wide satellite broadband service aimed for rural areas. The company plans to unleash this new service starting on October 1...

N.O.V.A. 3 - Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance Reliance Review

Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance aka N.O.V.A. comprises of an elite squad of intergalactic commandos equipped with all kinds of hi-tech gear to save the earth and its survivors (of the inevitable apocalypse) against the evil Volterites and any other scum of the universe. Sounds familiar? Well, it’s clichéd as games go but that doesn’t stop the latest in the series N.O.V.A. 3 from being any less entertaining...

Gameloft is one of those mobile gaming companies that has tossed out a wider range of action packed games that are all encompassing in terms of entertainment and interesting gameplay. N.O.V.A. 3, a First Person Shooter again, is just as good as any that have come before and more so thanks to the upgraded graphics to suit today’s high-performance mobile and tablet devices. Please keep in mind that N.O.V.A. 3 is a large and heavy game that requires you to have at least 2GB of space available to download and install.
Make interesting allies

How to improve battery life on Android phone without installing any apps

Technology is improving and smartphones are now able to work for a longer time on a single battery charge. However for some users the nightmare continues and some seek help from battery monitor/saving apps...

Lenovo ThinkCentre M92p and M72e tiny Desktops Revealed

Lenovo has outed a pair of diminutive desktops, the ThinkCentre M92p and M72e tiny, along with a new LCD display that has been specially tuned to deliver perfect VoIP and video conferencing results. The M92p and M72e tiny pack a choice of Intel 3rd Gen Core Ivy Bridge processors in a form-factor that’s as small as 3-inches thick, with integrated graphics and WiFi.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Micromax Intros Funbook Infinity P275 for Rs 6,699

funbook-infinity-p275Indian mobile device giant Micromax has launched another new tablet PC product in the country. Named as Funbook Infinity P275, the new Funbook member replaces Micormax’s first Funbook*. With Infinity Micromax has launched four Android tablets. Earlier three models are Funbook, Funbook Pro are Funbook Pro.
With more popular 7 inch form factor Micromax Funbook Infinity runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich and powered by 1.2 GHz Cortex A8 processor512 MB DDR3 RAM and Dual Mali 400 2D/3D Graphics processor. It can play HD videos upto 2160p resolution...

Maluuba: Android Search Assistant With Modern UI & Event Management

The number of Android voice assistants and search apps, such as Vlingo, Google Now, Nuance’s Dragon Go!, Iris, et al, has grown to a point where one needs a very succinct analysis of what exclusive features a new entrant supports. Maluuba, the brainchild of the company with the same name, is the latest to join the list of the apps mentioned above. Sporting an eye-pleasing Windows 8-style UI, the app accepts voice and text input to help you with virtually anything on your Android. Using Maluuba, you can explore nearby food points, conduct general knowledge search queries, request for navigation to desired destinations, get business information, ask for detailed weather forecasts, manage & interact with your contacts via phone calls, mails, text messages & social media, post to various social networks, launch apps, get upcoming event details, play music, set reminders, alarms & calendar events, get movie showtimes, maintain routine schedules, and search across the wide world for web to get accurate answers for your queries. In some areas, the app can help you through its built-in features, whereas for all unsupported features, it presents you with the choice to head over to the concerned apps. Like most aforementioned solutions, Maluuba is quite effective in certain aspects, but can also leave users desiring for more in others. How? We shall explore past the break.

Gigabyte B75M-D3H Review

The most affordable motherboards for Intel Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors are those based on the Intel H61 chipset, which has reached the end of its life. The latest from Intel is the B75 chipset and it will power low-cost motherboards for second and third generation Intel Core processors. It’s a bridge between H61 and the latest 7-series chipsets supporting Intel vPro technology.

Unlike large enterprises that use sophisticated IT infrastructure and high-end PCs, small businesses prefer entry-level PCs and less expensive infrastructure, which don’t feature sufficient management features. The most striking feature of the B75 chipset is the support for Intel Small Business Advantage, which would be a boon for small businesses without a managed network. It’s a simple out-of-the-box solution designed to enhance productivity and reduce downtime...

Friday, September 28, 2012

Fujezone Launches CT-01 Smart Touch Tablet With Free 3G Data Card

Fujezone today announced the launch of its new Tablet CT-01 a ‘Smart Touch’ with free 3G data card...
Fujezone CT-01 Tablet

BSNL Launches Pan India Unlimited Night Call Plan – Rs.59 For Landline Customers

India’s National Telecom back bone Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL)  today announced the launch of  Unlimited OWN Net FREE Night Call Plan for its landline subscribers across all circles...

Battery Doctor Is Arguably The Most Comprehensive Free Android Battery Monitor

With battery being one of the integral and attention-demanding components of an Android device, it comes as no surprise that there are so many different apps in the Play Store that aim to address various issues related to the juice you can extract out of your device without charging it. While apps like Trend Micro’s Longevity Battery Saver, Cosmos and all the different Android system optimizers help users with getting the maximum life out of their batteries, tools like Battery Compare allow you to benchmark your device’s battery life in comparison with other Android devices. While none of the available options can be deemed as bee’s knees, there are certain apps that actually come very close to being out-and-out awesome and functional. One such app is the recently-released Battery Doctor that not only happens to be aesthetically rich, but is also equipped with some of the sought-after battery enhancement and analytics tools. Battery Doctor is among those few apps that can list out estimated battery timing for more than a dozen different types of activities (media playback, internet usage, gaming and camera etc). Using the app, you can also keep an eye on the total standby time available under current, as well as user-specified profile settings. Plus, it lets you toggle system features to prolong the battery timing substantially, monitor day-to-day battery usage via graphs, check real-time battery consumption stats by individual apps/tasks, get useful & viable battery life enhancement tips, maintain monthly charging records, and feast your eyes with a visually attractive Battery Doctor lockscreen and overall app graphics...
Battery-Doctor-Android-Saver Battery-Doctor-Android-Lockscreen

iPhone 5 uses triple-core GPU

Since Apple announced the iPhone 5 earlier this month, there has been only a little news about the innards of the phone. Now according to ArsTechnica, the iPhone 5’s graphics processor is a triple-core GPU.

As per an ArsTechnica report, the iPhone 5 runs on a custom-made dual-core ARM processor that runs at a clock speed of 1GHz. The GPU uses a triple-core with a higher clock speed, so that the phone can achieve double the graphical capabilities of the A5 processor. The processor is most likely a PowerVR SGX 543MP3. The A5 processor that powers the iPhone 4S, iPad 2 and the fifth generation iPod Touch had a PowerVR SGX 543MP2 GPU...
Unlocked version won't be available for some weeks now

Thursday, September 27, 2012

uTorrent Beta For Android Released; Provides On-The-Move Downloading

If you think that you’ve had enough of all the various unreliable torrent downloaders and remote torrent clients for Android, and are looking to enjoy a full-fledged torrent downloading experience on your Android device, then here’s some great news for you; a promising looking beta of the famous torrent client, uTorrent, has just hit the Google Play Store, which brings almost the complete set of capabilities that you’ve so far been able to enjoy on your desktop. Besides catering to your torrent downloading and management needs on Android, this Holo-themed app supports several other handy options, including user-specified torrent download/upload speed limit allocation, BitTorrent featured content & RSS subscriptions, simultaneous downloads, support for local torrent files, auto-start on boot, search across the web for required torrents, instant previewing of downloaded content, custom download folder allocation, notification bar alerts for download tasks, and lots more...

iBall Andi 5c Review

iBall has been releasing a number of Android-based mobile phones and this time it is the Andi 5c on the shelf. One can easily mistake the iBall Andi 5c for the Samsung Galaxy Note because it resembles the latter to quite an extent. The only difference is the brand name on the front of the Galaxy Note and the difference of the back panel. We checked out the phone to bring you the inside story.

Video Review
Video review of the iBall Andi 5c

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Facebook App For Android Gets Automatic/Instant Photo Uploading

The official Android client of Facebook may have its fair share of critics, but one simply cannot deny the fact that the app has been constantly improving, courtesy quite a few useful feature additions and performance enhancements that it gets with each subsequent update. Already a viable source for users to access their social world on-the-go, the official Facebook Android app now caters to your photo backup needs, too, as it has just been updated with the much-anticipated Google+ and Dropbox-like instant upload feature. That’s right, the mobile app now supports the Photo Syncing feature which, if enabled, automatically and instantly uploads all photos lying in your Android’s default camera (DCIM) directory to a private album on your Facebook Photos. Uploaded images can be found under the Synced from Phone tab on your Facebook, and can be shared with masses via a new post, moved to an existing/fresh album, downloaded to the computer or deleted altogether. Maximum storage capacity for photos backed up using the Photo Syncing feature is 2GB per account. Further details and the method to activate the feature will be discussed past the break...

Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 Review

It’s time to get serious about touch-screen computers here in the summer before Window 8 is formally released – and Lenovo’s got your back with a massive all-in-one called the IdeaCentre A720. This 27-inch display-toting AIO works with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, an all-glass “frame-less” front, and an Intel Quad-core Core i7 CPU (Ivy Bridge) under the hood. And it folds flat so you can play touchscreen table hockey – what more could you want???

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Datawind starts Aakash 2 supply to IIT Bombay, October launch likely

Datawind has started supplying units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay. In a statement, the company revealed that an October launch of the tablet is likely. Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told PTI, “Supplies are on to IIT Bombay. In the next few weeks, it should be launched. I do not have the exact date, but HRD Minister (Kapil Sibal) has said he wants to launch on the anniversary date which is October 5”. However, Tuli added that the launch would depend on Sibal’s schedule. While refusing to disclose any further, Tuli added that the supplies to IIT Bombay had begun a month and a half ago...
ITI among other PSUs will bid for Aakash 2

DataWind launched UbiSlate 7Ri, 7R+, 7Ci and 7C+ low cost tablets

DataWind UbiSlate 7Ri, UbiSlate 7R+, UbiSlate 7Ci, UbiSlate 7C+
DataWind the official makers of Aakash tablet, the one that we have been hearing ‘more’ and seeing ‘less’ have now launched 4 new tablets called the UbiSlate 7Ri, UbiSlate 7R+, UbiSlate 7Ci and UbiSlate 7C+. All of these tabs are with 7 inch resistive or capacitive screen with price tag between Rs. 2,900 to Rs. 5,000...

BSNL FTTH 100 Mbps broadband connection for Rs. 83,999 per month

BSNL users will now be able to access high speed internet of up to 100 Mbps via FTTH for a jaw dropping price of Rs. 84,000 per month. Are you kidding me? 100 Mbps broadband – really cool but who would want to spend 84K for that?, I guess it’s for some exclusive customers (who can afford).

Monday, September 24, 2012

Free Video/Voice Calling, IM & File Sharing App AireTalk Comes To Android

Android users have countless ways to interact with their friends over the internet using various VoIP calling, feature-packed instant messaging and remote file sharing apps. While the likes of Viber, WhatsApp, Skype and the official mobile clients of all renowned social networks are most users’  first choice, there are certain relatively less known yet equally formidable alternatives out there, like BeMe,Parlingo and PingMe. Sporting simple looks and most of the features provided by the aforementioned names, AireTalk by PingShow is a cross-platform communication app for Windows, Android and iOS-powered devices that contains almost everything that one could wish to have in a quality IM app. You can make free voice & video calls, chat via texts, use the app as a walkie talkie, share multimedia content and files with your buddies, and trace your contacts’ location on map in real-time, over both Wi-Fi and mobile data. Though, that’s not where AireTalk’s list of features ends. Continue reading past the break for further details.

Disable Or Enable USB Storage In A Single Click With Phrozen Safe USB

Phrozen Safe USB
People who frequently have to share their PCs, may often have faced the nuisance of unauthorized media, such as movies, photos, music etc., being transferred through a thumb drive, without their consent. Kids, in particular, aren’t usually wary about viruses and malware that a USB thumb drive may carry (especially if it’s being plugged into every other computer), and so might not be your non-techie roommate. Moreover, if you have some confidential files on your computer, you would be quite miffed to have them sneakily copied when you’re away. Likewise, people often want to restrict their computers to be used for file transferring and sharing through a USB flash due to various security reasons. Windows 7 doesn’t offer any option to write protect or disable USB storage medium temporarily, or even on permanent basis. Obviously, you can disable the USB ports in the BIOS, but then again, it would also disable your keyboard or mouse, should they support a USB connector. So what would do in such cumbersome situation? Phrozen Safe USB has an answer for you. This tiny little application lets you activate and deactivate USB storage within a single click. Keep reading for more details...

Micromax A100 Superphone Canvas Revie

Micromax, the popular Indian cellphone brand, recently launched a whole host of Android devices. Of these, the Micromax A90 and A100 stood out as they both brought something very unique at an unprecedented price point.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

MX Player For Android Gets Background Playback & New Hardware Decoder

MX Player, the out-and-out favorite video player of most Android users that plays almost all renowned file formats, has just received a massive update in the Google Play Store. Currently standing at version 1.7, the powerful video playing and streaming app by J2Interactive has been updated with a brand new logo, Vietnamese language translation, a new & more powerful hardware decoder called H/W+, added support for Tegra 3 devices, x86 CPU, FFmpeg build, enhanced audio/video sync (with software decoder), improved seeking speed, and plenty of bug fixing. However, the most significant feature addition in the entire update remains background playback, meaning that the app is now capable of persistently running videos in the background, too, allowing users to enjoy just the audio part of it. To avail the background playback feature of MX Player, all you need to do is hit Menu > Play > enable the Background playoption while playing videos in full-screen. Please note that the aforementioned hardware acceleration might not be supported on all Android devices. Instead, if your device supports hardware acceleration, you’ll be prompted by the app upon first launch whether you want to set it your default hardware decoder or not. More details on the update past the break...
MX-Player-Android-Update-September-14-Play1 MX-Player-Android-Update-September-14-Play2

Reliance Mobile Raises Call Prices by a quarter in four circles

Reliance Mobile Tariff HikeReliance Communications Ltd has raised call prices across four telecom circles and intends to extend the hike to all circles in coming days.
Reliance hiked base call price to 1.5 paise a second from 1.2 paise, citing rising costs and lower competition.
The company has increased tariffs across Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.

Tata Docomo Revised STV35 in Tamilnadu

tata docomo stv 35While most operators are hiking their existing tariff plans to get better marks on profit book, Tata Docomo can’t resist themselves.
In recent tariff revision Tata Docomo has hiked its popular STV35 tariffs in Tamilnadu circle.
Earlier STV35 was offering local onnet calls at 1p/6sec, local offnet calls at 0.5p/sec and STD calls at 1.2p/sec.
But now the pack will offer same local calling benefits but 1st local minute of day will be charged at 1.5p/sec and STD calls are to be charged at 1.5p/sec...

Saturday, September 22, 2012

3G Plans in India – September 2012 Comparison Chart

In India 3G came late compared to other developed countries, it has been 3 years 3G had been launched in India, but 3G services are yet to be a mass adopted technology unlike 2G is a massive hit. On 3G the main USP is data services i.e. high speed internet...
Though initially 3G was very costly, but recently all operators cut down 3G prices to make it affordable. The PSU duo BSNL and MTNL often offer better value for data plans than private 3G operators.
Let’s check out September 2012′s 3G data plan comparison chart...

Bharatiya Janata Party website defaced by Anonymous Hackers

Hackers from Indian Anonymous Group hacked Bharatiya Janata Party’s website,, last night, and defaced it.

They post a set of messages with pictures, reflecting the group’s condemnation of recent events including the government’s approval of 51% FDI in multi-brand retail, diesel price hike, corruption, the cartoon controversy, and the Kudankulam Power Project, among others...

Hackers also asked people to stand up and participate in the #OccupyIndiaground protest, which according to the message starts 23rd September 2012 (this Sunday) 3pm at India Gate, Delhi, Freedom Park, Bangalore, Marine Beach, Chennai, Park Street Crossing, Kolkata, MG Road, Pune and Subhash Park, Kochi.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Airtel Introduces Voice Based Navigation Service In Chennai

Airtel has launched SmartDrive that enables users to view their location on a map and plan the route from one place to another in Chennai, the application, which was launched earlier in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai and Bangalore, was launched in recently in Chennai...
airtel smart drive app

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Official Microsoft SkyDrive Android Client Released In Play Store

It’s been almost nine long months now since Microsoft released the official SkyDrive mobile client for Windows Phone 7 and iOS-powered devices, whereas Android users had to wait in anticipation. However, it all changes today, as the guys over at Redmond have finally landed the official Android client of their cloud storage service on the Google Play Store. Packed with almost the same set of goodies as its iOS and WP7 counterparts, the app lets you access your world of SkyDrive storage right from your Android device. Be it the content that you’ve pushed to your personal cloud space, files shared by your colleagues, or your recently used documents, you can access and manage them all via the app. In addition, it supports batch uploading of photos & videos, and lets you share required content with your mates on-the-go. Sporting a gorgeous blend of Android’s Holo and Windows’ Metro Modern UI, the official SkyDrive Android app also lets you download content from cloud to your Android, stream music & videos, preview common file formats via thumbnails (both online & offline), view images in full-screen, switch between multiple browsing modes, create new folders and upload any required file format from your device to cloud on the move.

In 2005, India chose the Scorpène' design; purchasing six for US$ 3 billion (US$500m per boat). These submarines are to be manufactured under a technology transfer agreement by the state-owned Mazgoan Docks in Mumbai and delivered between 2010 and 2015.
Scorpène class submarines are a class of diesel-electric attack submarine jointly developed by the French DCN and the Spanish company Navantia and now by DCNS. It features diesel propulsion and an additional air-independent propulsion (AIP)...

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Bring Back Desktop Gadgets In Windows 8

Since the release of the Developer Preview of Windows 8, we have been covering both useful tools, as well as tips and tricks for Windows 8, quite extensively here at AddictiveTips. Among the many previously discussed additions, subtractions, and changes in Windows 8 compared to the former versions of Windows operating system, one feature that Microsoft has decided to drop in Windows 8 is the availability of Gadgets. Gadgets are useful for a lot of functions, such as keeping an eye on the weather, your new emails, or the current CPU and memory usage of your computer. I am personally a fan of Windows gadgets, and the lack of gadgets in Windows 8 is certainly something that will be greatly missed. If you open the Desktop Gadgets gallery on the Windows website, a notice put up by Microsoft says that Gadgets are no longer available. However, if you have some favorite gadgets that you would like to use even after upgrading to Windows 8, we found a third party application that allows you to do exactly that.8GadgetPack is a tool for Windows 8 that installs the Gadget application from Windows 7 onto your Windows 8 machine. It has a built-in collection of Gadgets, and also lets you add and use more gadgets from your personal collection...

"Indian FGFA will be real challenge for American F-22" claims German Defense Expert Helmut Hirsch. He said that FGFA which will be based on T-50 / Pak-FA will have major design changes to its fuselage due to twin pilot configuration and Indian Expertise in Composite will only enchance Stealth characters of the Aircraft.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750

There are various choices when it comes to wireless keyboards and most of them come with rechargeable batteries that last a couple of weeks (depending on your usage) and always require a recharge or a new set of batteries. But Logitech has tackled this issue by introducing a new solar-powered wireless keyboard that makes using wireless keyboards as hassle-free as possible with zero operating cost...

The Logitech K750 is a solar-powered wireless keyboard that offers convenience and style in a sleek form factor. The keyboard recharges wherever there is light - be it sunlight or indoor light, and still better, it recharges even when it is switched off. Logitech claims that the keyboard, when fully charged, offers up to three months of usage even in total darkness which we think is a winning feature for a wireless device. For Windows PCs, there is a handy program called Solar App that you can download. It displays information like how much battery power is left and the amount of light (in lux) the keyboard is receiving. Conveniently, the app can be launched using a dedicated shortcut on the keyboard.

AGNI 5 '

The Indian Government sanctioned Rs2,500 crore to develop the Agni V missile, with a range of 5,000km in 2008. (The Agni V is also referred to as Agni III+). It will greatly expand India's reach to strike targets up to 6,000 km away. Agni-V will carry Multiple Independent Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV) allowing targeting of multiple assets by an single missile.

Monday, September 17, 2012

How To: Use a laptop as a Wi-Fi repeater

How To: Use a laptop as a Wi-Fi repeater
Almost all homes and offices today have an Internet connection either via a cable operator, telephone line or USB dongle. Sharing a single Internet connection with all other wireless-enabled devices at home or office requires a wireless router and these are available for as little as Rs. 1,000. But wireless routers are usually stationed at home or office and cannot be carried around because of the power requirements. There are times when you go on a holiday or travel around and need an Internet connection. USB 3G Internet dongles serve the purpose of an Internet connection whilst you are outdoors, but this connection is only available on your laptop or a tablet that has USB internet dongle compatibility. But what if you want your mobile or iPad also connected to the Internet at the same time? The Internet connectivity needs to be shared and a router is the only possibility. In this case, you will share the network connection of your laptop with the other devices and Ad-Hoc connectivity is the only option. But this method again has a limitation and only one device can connect at a single given time. We will show you how to create a temporary router using any laptop or PC within a few minutes. This will save you the cost of a new portable router...

Capable of multiple simultaneous engagements in complex scenarios, it provides 360° defense, in all weather and day/night conditions, against a wide variety of airborne platforms and munitions from short and medium ranges.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Dual-SIM Mercury magiQ tablet launched in India for Rs 12,700

Dual-SIM capabilities one of the main features
The size of the displays of high-end smartphones is increasing by the display, bordering on that of tablets. Such smartphones are commonly referred to as ‘phablets’ due to their form factor. Inspan Infotech, one of the largest IT distribution companies for motherboards and hardware components, is targeting the tablet market with the launch of Mercury magiQ. The 5-inch dual-SIM Mercury magiQ is a confluence of features from both smartphones and tablets...

India is constructing two 40,000 ton aircraft carriers. The ship will feature a complement of 1,600 personal and be capable of carrying a 30 aircraft comprising MiG-29K / LCA Trainer, ALH Dhruv and Ka-31.The aircraft carrier will feature a ski jump like the INS Vikramaditya, instead of a steam catapult, for assisted takeoffs.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

TweetLine Is A Holo Themed Feature-Packed Twitter Client For Android

All the alluring mods and hacks apart, another thing that seems to be available to Android fanboys in abundance is the sheer amount of Twitter and weather apps. Talking of the former, the quality and number of features offered by several third-party Twitter clients seem to be continuously on the rise, as we just recently saw with OneLouder Apps’ chock-a-block offering in the form of Slices for Twitter. Although not as comprehensive as Slices, TweetLine by XDA member HappyDr0id is yet another promising unofficial Twitter client for Android that seems to tick almost all the boxes that an app needs to, in order to qualify as the default Twitter app on your Android. Currently in beta, TweetLine sports a gorgeously designed Holo theme that comes in as many as four different shades. In terms of features, the app supports almost all the conventional Twitter tools, such as tweeting, re-tweeting, direct messages, inline preview of embedded content, selection of default image hosting service for photo uploads, integration for auto-shortening of URLs, auto-completion for @Mentions, detailed profile management, built-in search support, clipboard monitoring, in-app navigation via volume rocker, customizable notifications and several other subtle adjustments. Besides all said features, TweetLine supports several other other noteworthy options of its own that we shall explore past the break.

In March 2004 India signed a $1.1 billion deal with Israel for the supply of three AWACS aircraft based on the IL-76MF airframe.The A-50EI systems being supplied to India are based on IL-76MF airframe built by Uzbekistan's Tashkent Aircraft Production Organization (TAPO). Russia's Beriev Taganrog Aviation Scientific and Engineering Complex (TANTK) is responsible for customizing the airframe, including fitting the radar radom. Israel's IAI is fitting the mission sensors and management suite...

Friday, September 14, 2012

10 must-have Android apps for any Computer Engineer

10 must-have Android apps for any Computer Engineer
Google’s mobile app market has been growing by the day. It is inundated with apps for just about everything – be it health, music, movies and or something silly and worthwhile. The Google Play is also loaded with apps to assist professionals. If you are a computer engineer or networking professional, your Android phone can serve as a tool for administering computers, remote access and more. Some of these apps could come handy if you are usually travelling around the clients site for troubleshooting or to set up a new networking environment. We have jotted down 10 such must-have, free Android apps for any computer engineer or networking professional...

The aircraft will be armed with sonobuoys, torpedos and Harpoon anti-ship missiles. So far India has not conveyed to Boeing any interest in arming the aircraft with the Brahmos missiles.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Get Better Offline Maps Navigation with Maps With Me

Android market with plenty of Android Apps is in use now. But to switch to the best mobile apps for your Android Phone here we are to describe their features in detail. Maps With Me is available on Android market for free. Through this Android Smartphone owners can locate their position on the Map being offline at any point on the earth. Maps With Me is such an accurate App which provides the detailed information about that destination.

The 5.5-tonne twin engine LCH is a derivative of Dhruv ALH with tandem seating.
The HAL developed LCH will supplement the 22 attack helicopters that India is seeking as part of an international tender.
The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is a derivative of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv. It features tandem seating, instead of side by side as on the Dhruv, armor protection, and a glass cockpit. Its Shakti engine, jointly developed by HAL and Turbomeca of France, has been optimized for high altitude operations...

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Ek Tha Tiger (2012) DVDScr Rip | Full Movie

Released : Aug 15, 2012
Genre : Action, Romance, Thriller
Starcast : Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey, Girish Karnad
Desc :
In the dark world of intelligence and espionage... all information is guarded in the name of national security... But some stories escape the fiercely guarded classified files... stories that become legends. This is one such story... a story that shook the very foundation of this dark world. In a government neighbourhood in New Delhi, there lived a rugged, handsome and mysterious bachelor about whom his neighbours knew nothing. That was because he was India`s top spy, an officer with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India`s external intelligence agency. This man was known even in official corridors as TIGER (SalmanKhan). Tiger is sent on a relatively easy and safe mission to Dublin, Ireland to observe a scientist of Indian origin who is suspected of sharing his research findings with the Pakistan defence establishment. Tiger attempts to meet the scientist but is not successful. He tries to befriend the scientist`s part time home caretaker, Zoya (Katrina Kaif). As Tiger begins to get closer to Zoya... he begins to discover his human side. For the first time in his life, Tiger falls in love... What follows is a tumultuous journey that Tiger and Zoya embark upon, battling the dark world of intelligence and espionage that forbids its soldiers from falling in love...

Free Premium Minecraft Account

Free Premium Minecraft Account

User :
Pass : parker909

Arjun Mark II MBT is an advanced version of the Arjun MBT being developed by Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CRVDE), part of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)...


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San Pasqual lefty an escape artist

03/26/2013, 10:29pm PDT
By John Maffei

Eagles junior frustrates Coronado in Lions Tournament triumph.

San Pasqual junior left-hander Preston Hartvigsen made some big pitches to escape several jams in a 6A Division Lions Baseball Tournament triumph over visiting Coronado.

— For six innings, San Pasqual High left-hander Preston Hartvigsen walked a tightrope.

And Coronado couldn’t push the junior off as San Pasqual scored two runs in the first inning, two more in the third and hung on for a 4-2 win Tuesday in a 6A Division game in the 63rd annual Lions Baseball Tournament.

“We had chances, had him on the ropes and let him off the hook,” Coronado coach Sam Ceci said after his team saw a four-game winning streak come to an end.

“We hit some balls hard, but their kid settled in, and we couldn’t break through.”

The Islanders (5-5) scored a run in the first but left the bases loaded when Hartvigsen got a popup and fly ball to end the inning.

Coronado had a runner thrown out at the plate in the fourth, but still had the bases loaded with two outs when Hartvigsen got a fly ball to end the threat.

The Islanders scored a run and had runners on first and second in the seventh against a reliever when San Pasqual coach Tony Colantono summoned Hayden Wright from the bullpen. Wright got a strikeout and popup to end the game.

“I didn’t have my best stuff, but I was able to make some adjustments,” Hartvigsen said. “I was able to locate some pitches and get out of some jams.”

Coronado had just five hits, but left 10 runners on base, seven of those in scoring position.

“Our little left-hander was tough,” Colantono said of the 5-foot-9 Hartvigsen. “He’s not big in stature, but he has a big heart. He has given us all we’ve asked for, been the big gun in our rotation.”

San Pasqual (6-4) banged out 14 hits against four Coronado pitchers.

David Gutierrez led the way with three hits, including his second home run of the season, and two RBIs. Justin Vogt, Jo Jo Escarcega, Zack Zevenbergen and Clay Morgan all had two hits for the Eagles.

“I wish we had gotten a little more production, but we hit the ball pretty well,” Colantono said. “We let a good team hang in, and it almost cost us. It got a little hairy there at the end.”

Coronado and San Pasqual are both 1-1 in pool play and have a chance to advance to Thursday’s semifinals, depending on today’s results.

San Pasqual hosts The Rock Academy while Coronado hosts Westview.

“We need help to advance, but anything can happen in tournament play,” Colantono said. “Our goal right now is to go 2-1, take care of our business, and see what happens.”

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B.L. Bierley is a wife, a mother, a professional data specialist  and writer. She is the author of adult contemporary/literary and regency romantic fiction as well as young adult fiction. She is addicted to writing. Find out more on Amazon.com/kindle books in the US and additional countries. Check out her website at www.blbierley.com or follow her on Twitter @BLBierley and Facebook/B.L. Bierley.

B.L. writes humorous personal essays and gives people a direct look into the world of a Southern woman and a writer.

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Northern Illinois University, B.A. 2012
Maritza Gonzalez

Phone: (630) 221-1755     mgonzalez@huckbouma.com

Maritza Gonzalez is a paralegal in the Estate and Trust Administration group. She joined Huck Bouma, PC December 2016, bringing a diverse legal and trust administration background.  Maritza began working as a legal assistant at Prairie State Legal Services, a non-profit legal firm that provides free civil legal services to low-income individuals and seniors. While working at Prairie State, she finished her Bachelor of Arts degree at Northern Illinois University, majoring in Political Science with an emphasis in Public Law and Public Administration.
Maritza began her career in 2012 working at a community bank as a trust associate specializing in operations and administration of traditional trusts, estates, guardianships, and special needs trusts. Her primary focus is the administration of trusts and estates, guiding clients and their families through the administration process.
Maritza resides in St. Charles and enjoys coaching youth soccer. She is also an Outreach Coordinator for FIRST Robotics Team 2451 and travels with the team for competitions as much as she can.

© 2017 Huck Bouma PC. All rights reserved.


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Funeral services took place Jan. 7 for Joseph “Joe” T. Frank, 55, of Kearny, formerly of Jersey City. He passed away Jan. 1 at home. Joseph was an Animal Control Supervisor for 37 years with The Jersey City Health Department. He also was in The Army National Guard for 18 years. He was the son of Virginia Castaldo Frank and the late Joseph Frank. Brother of Albina Mackey, Roseanne Lillis, Judy Cooney and Josephine, Thomas, Nicholas, William, Virginia, Gerard, Christopher and Robert Frank. He is also survived by 54 nieces and nephews. Services arranged by the Armitage and Wiggins Funeral Home, Kearney.
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Monthly Archives: March 2017

Spring Poetry Reading – April 7, 2017

A Spring Poetry Reading Celebrating Poetry & Two Italian American Journals

Please click here for detailed flyer: Celebrating Poetry

Via, Edited by Chiara Mazzucchelli

Readers:  John Bargowski, Gil Fagiani, Mary Giaimo, Maria Mazziotti Gillan, Maria Lisella, Susan Miller, Vittoria repetto, Maria Terrone

Italian Americana, edited by Carla Simonini

Readers: B. Amore, Phyllis Capello, Terese Coe, Peter Covino, Marisa Frasca, Joanna Clapps Herman, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Richard Parisio

Moderated by Maria Terrone and Peter Covino

Friday • April 7, 2017 • 6:00 PM Reception to follow. Books available for purchase.

John D. Calandra Italian American Institute 25 West 43rd Street, 17th Floor New York, NY 10036 RSVP: 212-642-2094

IAWA: Features Award-Winning Poets Stephen Massimilla and Judith Vollmer – April 8, 2017

The Italian American Writers Association is celebrating its 26th Anniversary. Since 1991, IAWA has given voice to writers through its literary series every 2nd Saturday of the month. Readings begin with an Open Mic: IAWA-East is held even months at Sidewalk Café and IAWA-West continues at Cornelia Street Café on odd months. Visit and join us at

WHERE: Sidewalk Café, 94 Avenue A (6th Street) East Village, NYC-10009

WHEN:  Saturday, April 8, 2017 5:30 – 7:30 pm

WHO: Stephen Massimilla is a poet, scholar, professor, and painter/photographer. His 500-page co-authored volume Cooking with The Muse: A Sumptuous Gathering of Seasonal Recipes, Culinary Poetry, and Literary Fare (Tupelo, 2016) won the New England Book Award and a USNews Best Book Finalist Award. Acclaim for his other books includes the SFASU Press Prize for The Plague Doctor in His Hull-Shaped Hat; the Bordighera Prize for Forty Floors from Yesterday; the Grolier Prize for Later on Aiaia; a Van Rensselaer Award, selected by Kenneth Koch, and other honors. He teaches at Columbia and The New School.

Judith Vollmer is the author of five full-length books of poetry, including The Apollonia Poems, winner of the Four Lakes Poetry Prize of the University of Wisconsin Press (2017).  Vollmer’s poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in Poetry International, The Women’s Review of Books, Agni, Poet Lore, The Cambridge Companion to Baudelaire and elsewhere.  She is a Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awardee of the University of Pittsburgh, and Emeritus Professor of English, Pitt Greensburg; currently she teaches in the Drew University MFA Program in Poetry & Poetry in Translation. Her areas of scholarly interest include Italian and Sicilian 20th century poetry and fiction; urban geography and architecture; and in her work as an editor, contemporary American poetry.

HOSTING: Marisa Frasca, author of Via Incanto (Bordighera Press).

COVER: $8 includes beverage.

DIRECTIONS: By Subway, F to Second Avenue or #6 to Astor Place

CONTACT:; 212-473-7373

IAWA Newsletter:

BLOG: italian american writers café

Next IAWA Events & Readings

MAY 13: Mark Chiusano and Paul Salisini @ Cornelia St. Café

JUNE 10: Olivia Kate Cerrone and Nino Provenzano/bilingual; Jessica Femiani, hosting @ Sidewalk Café

JULY: No Reading

AUGUST: No Reading

SEPTEMBER 9: Jessica Femiani and Playwright Elizabeth Primamore @ Cornelia St. Cafe

OCTOBER 14: Poet Maria Mazziotti Gillan and Novelist Camilla Trinchieri @ Sidewalk Cafe

NOVEMBER 11: TBA @ Cornelia St. Cafe

DECEMBER 9: Emerging Voices 3rd Edition @ Sidewalk Café

Our Mission: IAWA promotes Italian American literature by encouraging the writing,

reading, publication, distribution, translation, and study of writing by Italian American authors.. The three rules of IAWA:

Read One Another, Write or Be Written, and Buy Our Books.