You Are Going to Die - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">My sister and I recently toured the retirement community where my mother has announced she'll be moving. I have been in some bleak clinical facilities for the elderly where not one person was compos mentis and I had to politely suppress the urge to flee, but this was nothing like that. It was a very cushy modern complex housed in what used to be a seminary, with individual condominiums with big kitchens and sun rooms, equipped with fancy restaurants, grills and snack bars, a fitness center, a concert hall, a library, an art room, a couple of beauty salons, a bank and an ornate chapel of Italian marble. You could walk from any building in the complex to another without ever going outside, through underground corridors and glass-enclosed walkways through the woods. Mom described it as "like a college dorm, except the boys aren't as good-looking." Nonetheless I spent much of my day trying not to cry.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; " class="">At all times of major life crisis, friends and family will crowd around and press upon you the false emotions appropriate to the occasion. "That's so great!" everyone said of my mother's decision to move to an assisted-living facility. "It's really impressive that she decided to do that herself." They cited their own stories of 90-year-old parents grimly clinging to drafty dilapidated houses, refusing to move until forced out by strokes or broken hips. "You should be really relieved and grateful." "She'll be much happier there." The overbearing unanimity of this chorus suggests to me that its real purpose is less to reassure than to suppress, to deny the most obvious and natural emotion that attends this occasion, which is sadness.<br class=""><br class="">My sadness is purely selfish, I know. My friends are right; this was all Mom's idea, she's looking forward to it, and she really will be happier there. But it also means losing the farm my father bought in 1976, where my sister and I grew up, where Dad died in 1991. We're losing <em class="">our old phone number</em>, the one we've had since the Ford administration, a number I know as well as my own middle name. However infrequently I go there, it is the place on earth that feels like home to me, the place I'll always have to go back to in case adulthood falls through. I hadn't realized, until I was forcibly divested of it, that I'd been harboring the idea that someday, when this whole crazy adventure was over, I would at some point be nine again, sitting around the dinner table with Mom and Dad and my sister. And beneath it all, even at age 45, there is the irrational, little-kid fear: Who's going to take care of me? I remember my mother telling me that when her own mother died, when Mom was in her 40s, her first thought was:<em class=""> I'm an orphan.</em></div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">Plenty of people before me have lamented the way that we in industrialized countries regard our elderly as unproductive workers or obsolete products, and lock them away in institutions instead of taking them into our own homes out of devotion and duty. Most of these critiques are directed at the indifference and cruelty thus displayed to the elderly; what I wonder about is what it's doing to the rest of us.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">Segregating the old and the sick enables a fantasy, as baseless as the fantasy of capitalism's endless expansion, of youth and health as eternal, in which old age can seem to be an inexplicably bad lifestyle choice, like eating junk food or buying a minivan, that you can avoid if you're well-educated or hip enough. So that when through absolutely no fault of your own your eyesight begins to blur and you can no longer eat whatever you want without consequence and the hangovers start lasting for days, you feel somehow ripped off, lied to. Aging feels grotesquely unfair. As if there ought to be someone to sue.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">We don't see old or infirm people much in movies or on TV. We love explosive gory death onscreen, but we're not so enamored of the creeping, gray, incontinent kind. Aging and death are embarrassing medical conditions, like hemorrhoids or eczema, best kept out of sight. Survivors of serious illness or injuries have written that, once they were sick or disabled, they found themselves confined to a different world, a world of sick people, invisible to the rest of us. Denis Johnson writes in his novel "Jesus' Son": "You and I don't know about these diseases until we get them, in which case we also will be put out of sight."</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">My own father died at home, in what was once my childhood bedroom. He was, in this respect at least, a lucky man. Almost everyone dies in a hospital now, even though absolutely nobody wants to, because by the time we're dying all the decisions have been taken out of our hands by the well, and the well are without mercy. Of course we hospitalize the sick and the old for some good reasons (better care, pain relief), but I think we also segregate the elderly from the rest of society because we're afraid of them, as if age might be contagious. Which, it turns out, it is.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">Because of all the stories we've absorbed, we vaguely imagine that our lives will take the shape of a narrative - the classic Aristotelian ramp diagram of gradual rising action (struggle and setbacks), climax (happy marriage, professional success), and a brief, cozy denoument (kicking back with family and friends, remembering the good times on a porch someplace pretty). But life is not shaped like a story; it's an elongate and flattened bell curve, with an attenuated, anticlimactic decline as long as its beginning. Friends have described seeing their parents lose their faculties one by one, in more or less the reverse order that their young children are acquiring them.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">Another illusion we can't seem to relinquish, partly because large and moneyed industries thrive on sustaining it, is that with enough money and information we'll be able to control how we age and die. But one of the main aspects of aging is the loss of control. Even people with the money to arrange to age in comfort can die in agony and indignity, gabbling like infants, forgetting their own children, sans everything. Death is a lot like birth (which people also gird themselves for with books and courses and experts) - everyone's is different, some are relatively quick and painless and some are prolonged and traumatic, but they're all pretty messy and unpleasant and there's not a lot you can do to prepare yourself.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">I'm not trying to romanticize the beauty of osteoporosis, the wisdom of Alzheimer's or the dignity of incontinence. More than one old person has ordered me, "Do not get old." They did not appear to be kidding. I'm not talking about Learning from the Invaluable Life Experience of Our Elders, or even suggesting we need to accept the inevitable with grace. I am all for raging against the dying of the light, and if they ever develop DNA rejuvenation or some other longevity technique I will personally claw, throttle and gouge my way through Warren Buffett, Rupert Murdoch and any number of other decrepit billionaires in order to be first in line.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">But we don't have a choice. You are older at this moment than you've ever been before, and it's the youngest you're ever going to get. The mortality rate is holding at a scandalous 100 percent. Pretending death can be indefinitely evaded with hot yoga or a gluten-free diet or antioxidants or just by refusing to look is craven denial. "Facing it, always facing it, that's the way to get through," Conrad wrote in "Typhoon." "Face it." He was talking about more than storms. The sheltered prince Siddartha Gautama was supposedly set on the path to becoming the Buddha when he was out riding and happened to see an old man, a sick man and a dead man. Today he'd be spared the discomfiture, and the enlightenment, unless he were riding mass transit.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); " class="">Just yesterday my mother sent me a poem she first read in college - Langston Hughes's "Mother to Son." She said she could still remember where she was, in her dorm room at Goshen College, when she came across it in her American Lit book. The title notwithstanding, it does not make for Hallmark-card copy. <em class="">Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.</em> It tells us that this life is not a story or an adventure or a journey of spiritual self-discovery; it's a slog. And it orders us to keep going, don't you dare give up, no matter what. Because I'm your mother, that's why.</div><div style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.7em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; line-height: 1.375em; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; " class=""><em class="">Tim Kreider is the author of "<a href="http://books.simonandschuster.com/We-Learn-Nothing/Tim-Kreider/9781439198704" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 102); text-decoration: none; " class="">We Learn Nothing</a>," a collection of essays and cartoons. His cartoon, "The Pain - When Will It End?" has been collected in three books by Fantagraphics.</em></div></div><a href="http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/you-are-going-to-die/?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print" class="">http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/you-are-going-to-die/?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; " class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

You Are Going to Die - NYTimes.com

My sister and I recently toured the retirement community where my mother has announced she'll be moving. I have been in some bleak clini...

Read more »

My Micro NY

Today at the Museum of the City of New York, Mayor Bloomberg announced the winner of the <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/developers/HPD-adAPT-NYC-RFP.shtml"><i>adAPT NYC</i> competition</a> for a micro-unit apartment building in Kips Bay.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycmayorsoffice/8404839263/" title="adAPT_NYC_Rendering_Fall by nycmayorsoffice, on Flickr"><img alt="adAPT_NYC_Rendering_Fall" height="414" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8216/8404839263_d50891a728_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />The winner is "My Micro NY" from a team made up of Monadnock Development, the Actors Fund Housing Development Corporation, and nARCHITECTS. Their winning project is a 10-story building with 55 micro-unit apartments ranging from 250 to 370 square feet.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycmayorsoffice/8405929666/" title="adAPT_NYC_Rendering_Winter_Construction by nycmayorsoffice, on Flickr"><img alt="adAPT_NYC_Rendering_Winter_Construction" height="414" src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8512/8405929666_396a27c748_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Head over to Houzz for more images and <a href="http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/6853312/list/Microunits-Are-Coming-to-NYC--See-the-Winning-Design">my write-up on the winning project</a>.

My Micro NY

Today at the Museum of the City of New York, Mayor Bloomberg announced the winner of the adAPT NYC competition for a micro-unit apartment ...

Read more »

Sr. Global Brand Strategy Manager (#109054)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Title:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Sr. Global Brand Strategy Manager<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";"> Fulltime<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Business Unit:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">Corporate marketing at KLA-Tencor works to deliver highly valued, unique marketing services and solutions that maintain and improve our penetration, share and adoption (PSA) among manufacturers in semiconductors, LEDs and other related nanoelectronics industries. We strive to create a better customer experience in order to add value and differentiate the company from our competitors. Corporate marketing includes: corporate communications (brand, employee communications, P.R., social media, web and advertising); strategic marketing (business intelligence, forecasting and market analysis); field/technical marketing (competitive intelligence, PSA programs/value modeling and technical communications); and groups focused on specific technology segments or markets such as the Process Control Solutions (PCS) group, which provides technical roadmap planning, consulting on yield enhancement and collaboration with customers. The corporate marketing group reports to the President and CEO of KLA-Tencor.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Responsibilities:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">General Brand Strategy and Management:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Lead the development and execution of the global brand strategy and manage and monitor all activities for the company’s visual identity, including, but not limited to, conceptualizing, managing and enforcing the visual identity for a brand or product, both internally and externally<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Develop, execute and monitor employer brand strategies at the global and local levels<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Identify opportunities and monitor brand strategy and standards across all internal and external communication platforms, including the Web, video, social media, print and digital collateral<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Understanding of and ability to adjust brand strategy to the audience, including past, present and future employees, customers, investors, the media and the community at-large, as well as adjust strategies to resonate with global populations or local audiences in all KLA-Tencor regions<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Able to create brand differentiation strategies and plans to ensure that the KLA-Tencor brand makes a positive impact in the communities where we live and work<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Develop, design and protect brand identity, including direct involvement with any new product introduction. Create processes by which to manage the brand and provide employees guidelines to properly execute the brand globally<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Educate employees on the appropriate use of the KLA-Tencor brand. Partner with divisions and regions to develop and maintain the visual consistency of the KLA-Tencor brand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">8.Preserve consistency, ensure branded materials express the most effective and recognizable company message<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">9.Develop regional brand strategies to elevate the presence of the KLA-Tencor brand in the communities where we live and work<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">10.Lead the development of the global KLA-Tencor Foundation brand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">11.Lead the development of the global YMS brand, a KLA-Tencor sub-brand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">12.Oversee creation and use of company collateral materials (logos, trademark, etc.), for commercial-, institutional-, PR- or employee-related purposes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">13.Oversee use of logo on tools and machines<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">14.Manage and update brand book (guidelines, templates, presentations, logos)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">15.Assess competitive and peer brands to gather key insights to report to team<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Project Management:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Work collaboratively to establish processes, procedures and controls to facilitate consistent, timely and effective use of brand<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Manage multiple project schedules, ensure adherence to production goals and communicate progress to stakeholders and team to produce timely deliverables<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Coordinate branding projects and provide guidance to team<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Prioritize projects, develop and execute action plans, report on what has been produced and resources used<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Communicate to customers, internal and external, on any delays or shifts in schedule<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Develop, prepare and manage budgets and annual operating plans associated with internal communication<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Assess fair costs for goods and services, negotiate pricing, and develop external project budgets<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Vendor Management:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Develop, implement and manage the processes that determine how vendors interact with the company<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Develop relationships, negotiate contracts, generate agreements and execute on all communication-related contracts to meet organizational work requirements<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Manage the work of graphic illustrators, print vendors and the use of outside graphic services<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Manage vendor relations and invoicing<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Technical Competencies:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Brand expert with strong understanding of design elements—color, typography, illustration, photography, animation, print and digital media techniques—to organize ideas visually to convey desired impact and message<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Able to understand industry best practices<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Proficient in:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, HTML, Power Point, Word, Excel, Outlook<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Print production<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Photography<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Communication skills<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Effective verbal and oral communication skills with internal and external customers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;"> Strong writing skills and ability to customize content for a variety of formats (presentations, email, reports, etc.), and deliver error-free content in globally understood language<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Strategic planner<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Forecast future trends and consequences accurately<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Uncover defects and develop solutions, while keeping in mind the big picture<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Poses a broad knowledge and perspective of marketing/branding processes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Forward-looking mind set<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Able to paint a clear and credible picture of possibilities, evaluate potential outcomes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Able to create competitive and breakthrough strategies and plans for branding on a quarterly and annual basis<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Able to develop others<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Develop a branding creative network, building capability and facilitating the sharing of knowledge, ideas and best practices across the communication team   and organization as a whole<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Help others grow their skill set<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Provide templates, toolkits and resources to help build competence<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Cultural Competencies:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Customer-focused:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Meet expectations and requirements of internal and external customers<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Flexible and patient; able to integrate many different opinions and changes with ease<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Acquire first-hand customer information, utilizing it for improvements in products and services<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Acts with customers in mind<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Establish and maintain effective relationships with customers, gaining trust and respect<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Strong interpersonal skills:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Ability to relate to people of all professional levels<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Build rapport and constructive and effective relationships<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Diplomatic and tactful<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">  Ability to diffuse high-tension situations comfortably:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Think creatively, explore innovative ways of working and delivering original and imaginative solutions to communication problems<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Strong business acumen and a clear understanding of business issues and how to effectively communicate in order to solve organizational problems and achieve desired objectives<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">5.Commitment to quality and attention to detail<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">6.Committed team player<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">7.Desire to learn new technologies<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">8.Positive, can-do attitude<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Emotional Intelligence Competencies:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Demonstrate self-awareness and self-control<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.Display social expertness<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Exercise personal influence<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Demonstrate understanding of purpose and vision<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Minimum Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">1.Bachelor’s Degree in fine arts or master’s degree in fine arts<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">2.10 years of global brand management experience<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">3.Business-to-business, high-tech brand experience required<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: small;">4.Consumer and employer brand experience a plus<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";">Please send in your resumes to vinod.sanker@kla-tencor.com<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div></div></div>

Sr. Global Brand Strategy Manager (#109054)

Job Title: Sr. Global Brand Strategy Manager Location: Milpitas, CA Duration: Fulltime Job Description: Business Unit: Corporate marketin...

Read more »

Dollar dog

<p>Dollar dog......or should I say Euro dog.</p><p>For some reason Bones loves money! Maybe it's the smell but if you leave any notes near where he can get them he will take them and very kindly shred them in to little pieces! I was able to snatch this note back before he ripped it.</p><div class='separator' style='clear: both; text-align: center;'> <a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjywRYGEn6AZj27W35KOT4Pbk-CHfNLpH6cu5hCsGRhH-o59KS6etozrgBnnOERW3lrKrc7uDjEtDFvfsayv-H5wF9FgkFBw1qNM3Fx8mJLt2BDsaX8F_YP1DN1mAWje8g4pV6PPK5aT2/s1600/20130122_201017.jpg' imageanchor='1' style='margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;'> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjywRYGEn6AZj27W35KOT4Pbk-CHfNLpH6cu5hCsGRhH-o59KS6etozrgBnnOERW3lrKrc7uDjEtDFvfsayv-H5wF9FgkFBw1qNM3Fx8mJLt2BDsaX8F_YP1DN1mAWje8g4pV6PPK5aT2/s400/20130122_201017.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Dollar dog

Dollar dog......or should I say Euro dog. For some reason Bones loves money! Maybe it's the smell but if you leave any notes near where ...

Read more »

WILD School Sites

<h1> </h1><em>Another guest author, John Windau, Wildlife Communications Specialist in District Two, writes about the appeal, benefits and process of creating a WILD School Site in Ohio.  Look for more upcoming articles from John on this topic.</em><br /><br />If you ask someone to describe the world around them, most will describe buildings, streets, bridges, and other structures of human endeavor. Beyond that, fewer and fewer people remember that nature and wildlife still exist in and around the world we have constructed. WILD School Sites, land labs, outdoor classrooms; whatever name you use, these programs remind students and educators that nature exists everywhere. In addition, these sites offer a location for educators to enhance their curriculum by allowing students to apply new styles of learning. The new state standards call for project based learning. WILD School Sites offer one way educators can incorporate project based learning into their teaching. <br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="216" src="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/9/nature%20hike-0016.jpg" width="325" /></div><br /><strong>So what are WILD School Sites and how are they used? </strong><br /><br />Although learning has always occurred outdoors, most formal education takes place inside a building. WILD School Sites offer a location near the school that can be used by students, teachers, and the school community as a place to learn about and benefit from wildlife and the environment. <u>Every school, regardless of size or location</u>, can provide outdoor educational opportunities that can and should be part of any integrated education program. <br /><br />The WILD School Site program believes educators should incorporate students in the planning, design, and construction stages of the site. This provides an avenue for cooperative learning, hands-on activities, problem solving, and communication: all 21st century skills students will need. <br /><br />In addition, outdoor areas provide a setting where the goals of different learning disciplines can be met. This is not just a science program. Math, social studies, language, visual art, as well as science, can all benefit from incorporating outdoor learning into the syllabus. These benefits continue beyond the construction phase. Educators and students continue to use the site to meet education objectives throughout the school year.<br /><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="216" src="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Portals/9/nature%20kids-0177.jpg" width="325" /></div><br /><strong>So, how do people get started?</strong><br /><br />Over the next several months, we will feature a series of articles highlighting a few projects which may work in your setting. It is important to remember that no two sites are the same, so each site will face different challenges; however, outdoor education is possible anywhere! There are no size restrictions either. Some sites are quite small, while others can encompass a large area. What is important is that students use the site to become more aware of the environment around them so, as adults, they are better able to make informed decisions. <br /><br />The Division of Wildlife offers are variety of resources for educators interested in WILD School Sites including training, on-site consultations, start-up grants, and school certification. More information on WILD School Sites can be found at <a href="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/wild_resourcessubhomepage/Educator_Resources/Wild_Schoolsplaceholder/resourceswildschoolsdefault/tabid/5821/Default.aspx" target="_blank">wildohio.com</a> or contact your district’s <a href="http://www.dnr.state.oh.us/Home/ContactUsStandIn/tabid/18270/Default.aspx" target="_blank">Wildlife Communications Specialist</a>.

WILD School Sites

  Another guest author, John Windau, Wildlife Communications Specialist in District Two, writes about the appeal, benefits and process of cr...

Read more »

Facilities Maintenance Supervisor (# 109047)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Position:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Facilities Maintenance Supervisor<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Milpitas, CA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Full time<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Real Estate and Facilities group is a corporate organization that is responsible for the management of all leased and owned property domestically and internationally. Facilities group provides Strategic and Tactical space planning, Construction Project management, Facilities Engineering, Facilities and Security Operations, and Site Services for our Milpitas Campus. The group also provides assistance for other domestic and international facilities with these services when requested. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">The Facilities Maintenance Supervisor is responsible for all the normal day to day work and service requests that are assigned to the Facilities Maintenance Group. In this role, the supervisor must be able to determine the most cost effective way to get the work done in established time frames. To accomplish this, the Facilities Supervisor must be able to manage both internal and external resources, provide technical information, and complete quality checks. Other responsibilities would include providing assistance to upper facilities management personnel with group gap analysis, training requirements, and maintenance budgeting and any other related duties.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Preferred to be proficient in Microsoft Office which includes Outlook, PowerPoint, Excel, and Word. Knowledge in construction practices.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;">Basic Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 2 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">OR<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Master's Level Degree with at least 1 year of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kindly send your resume to <a href="mailto:raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com">raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>

Facilities Maintenance Supervisor (# 109047)

Position: Facilities Maintenance Supervisor Location: Milpitas, CA Duration: Full time Job Description: The Real Estate and Facilities gr...

Read more »

Library Director - Kent Memorial Library

<strong>Library <span _fcktemp="1"></span>Director - </strong><strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Kent Memorial Library</span></strong> in Kent, CT is seeking a community-oriented, adaptive and technically proficient Director to lead our growing and progressive library into the exciting next generation - Library 2.0. This position is a unique opportunity to work in the wonderful town of Kent with a dynamic board and creative team of staff and volunteers, managing the diverse operating and planning efforts to get us there. As information science evolves, so will the needs and efforts of our library; the position must stay on top of and integrate new technologies and networking trends while offering diverse programs and culturally rich and educational offerings. The library is a private institution that serves as the Town’s public library. It is a popular destination; our traffic in the past twelve months exceeded 38,000, with annual circulation of approximately 16,100 for adults and 17,200 for children. Last year we presented over 330 educational and interactive programs for children and adults, including a lecture series with nationally-recognized speakers, book discussions, poetry writing, self-help and language classes, authors’ readings, films, art exhibits and special vacation programs ranging from fun reading to Quiz Nights to maintaining an earth-friendly garden. Kent, CT is located in the scenic northwest corner of Litchfield County and is ready to take on the future! The ideal candidate will have the background afforded by Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degrees in Library or Information Science from an ALA accredited college or university. Five years of professional public library experience with demonstrated proficiency in the above skills and capabilities as well as three in a supervisory capacity are preferred. Salary commensurate with experience. For more information and a job description, visit our website at <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org" href="http://www.kentmemoriallibrary.org/" target="_blank">www.kentmemoriallibrary.org</a>. Send resume and cover letter to <a _fcksavedurl="mailto:kladirsearch@gmail.com" href="mailto:kladirsearch@gmail.com">kladirsearch@gmail.com</a>.

Library Director - Kent Memorial Library

Library  Director - Kent Memorial Library in Kent, CT is seeking a community-oriented, adaptive and technically proficient Director to lea...

Read more »

50x50 - 50 States in 50 Weeks

Over at American-Architects I've been developing a <a href="http://www.american-architects.com/en/pages/50x50">Building of the Week</a> feature that takes a state-by-state look at architecture in the United States in 2013. We are presenting one recent project from each state in alphabetical order, from Alabama to Wyoming. Projects are added every Monday, and this week's building is the <a href="http://www.american-architects.com/en/projects/project-review-detail/39575_south_mountain_community_library">South Mountain Community Library</a> in Phoenix, Arizona.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.american-architects.com/en/pages/50x50"><img alt="50x50.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/50x50.jpg" title="50x50 Screenshot" /></a><br /><br />Have a project in mind for your state? Please <a href="mailto:jh@world-architects.com">email me</a>.

50x50 - 50 States in 50 Weeks

Over at American-Architects I've been developing a Building of the Week feature that takes a state-by-state look at architecture in the...

Read more »

Do we debate? Eracism 2013 is around the corner

<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>I hope you'll forgive the posts about upcoming projects in the Flat Classroom family but so many things are getting ready to start and some of you may not have heard about some of these projects. The Eracism project was invented by students at the first Flat Classroom conference in Doha Qatar and was voted up by the world of educators and students as being most needed. They were so right! Last semester we ran 4 brackets (2 middle school and 2 high school). The debates begin by debating on Voicethread and the finals are synchronous in Blackboard Collaborate. We're excited to be working with ObaWorld as a result of meeting Yong Zhao at ISTE this summer. We'll be beta testing this platform for use with future projects. </i></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>So, I copied an email that Julie Lindsay just sent out to our mailing list and am inviting any of you who would like to do this. It doesn't take a lot of time, but you do need to help students prepare to field a team. My classroom actually won the first competition back three or four years a go, and I had the whole class prepare and debate one another to select the team and then supported the team as they went through the competition. It was a great project. I'm not fielding teams now, just because it is the right thing to do for the projects and because the timing doesn't fit with my keyboarding class. </i></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>You're invited to join in Eracism! Here's information.</i></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i><br /></i></span><h2><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><i>About the Eracism Project: A Message from Julie Lindsay.</i></span></h2><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">You are receiving this email because of your interest in the </span><a href="http://eracismproject.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">Eracism Project.</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"> In fact you may have already completed a project in the past, you may have been a judge, or you may have filled in a form asking for more details, or you may be involved in another Flat Classroom Project. You may also be a classroom teacher who has already signed up for the Eracism 13-1 project! </span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><b style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I am writing to you all to help us spread the word about the NEW project starting in February, Eracism 13-1</b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">. We are madly working in the background to bring you the BEST asynchronous global debate we can. Thank you to those who provided feedback via our survey from the last project, and we are acting NOW to make even more improvements:</span><br /><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><li style="margin-left: 15px;">We have tidied up the <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Eracism wiki</a> - most details are there now for the new semester!</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">We are reviewing all protocols and procedures, including the judges rubric, to ensure all language is clear and provides a 'flattened' learning environment for all global participants</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">We are joined in <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Eracism+in+Oba+World" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">partnership with ObaWorld</a> from the University of Oregon's College of Education to offer, for this semester, a free online platform (ObaWorld) for teachers, judges and students to form a community around this project. Many comments we have received in the past were about the challenges of communication between teachers and the need to get students connecting across classrooms before, during and after the debates. ObaWorld will help us solve this, and be a lot of fun as well!</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">We have reviewed the project Timeline and have the current <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Calendar" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Calendar dates</a> on the wiki - we are giving MORE TIME for each asynchronous debate so that schools can work more efficiently around holidays and interruptions and judges can provide feedback in a more timely manner</li><li style="margin-left: 15px;">We are carefully considering the <a href="http://eracism.flatclassroomproject.org/Debate+Topic+13-1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">Eracism 13-1 Debate Topic</a>, and will provide a Topic and Resource page on the wiki to help clarify and share resources - the topic should be finalised this coming week! Watch this space!</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">So, spread the word! <b>Applications for classrooms and debate teams are due February 7</b>. Expressions of interest to help with judging and coaching will be taken any time from now on. Classrooms applying and Judges and Volunteers fill in the same online form: <b><a href="http://tinyurl.com/Eracism13-1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/Eracism13-1</a><wbr></wbr>. We need more classrooms from all over the world to take part!</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><b><span style="color: #000099;">What teachers said about Eracism 12-2:</span></b></div><ul style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Hearing how the other teams debated was fascinating because we learned about how/what other people think about key global issues.</span></span></span></b></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Working with the students in my school in a different context was a spectacular opportunity to know them better.</span></span></span></b></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">Loved the whole thing. Despite the amount of work and sacrifice it entailed, it was a ton of fun and our team learned a lot about debating. Next time, we will be more prepared.</span></span></span></b></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">The final live debate was a highlight!</span></span></span></b></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; list-style-type: disc; margin-left: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b><span style="color: #000099;"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>T</b>his makes learning applicable and real for the students. They no longer care about a grade, but instead want to do well as the world listens in.</span></span></span></b></li></ul>

eracism flatclassroom Do we debate? Eracism 2013 is around the corner

I hope you'll forgive the posts about upcoming projects in the Flat Classroom family but so many things are getting ready to start and s...

Read more »

Hysterectomy rates drop as women learn their options | Health | Kentucky.com

Not until after the surgery did Sandra Nauer realize how sick she'd been.<br /><br><br /><br>"Oh, my gosh, I had no idea I was in such bad shape," said Nauer, 44, who lives in Galt, Calif.<br /><br><br /><br>After years of excruciating back pain, fatigue and other symptoms, she had an outpatient hysterectomy on May 22 — and on June 7, she returned to work running her catering business.<br /><br><br /><br>"I'm a new woman," she said. "Holy smokes, I feel like a million bucks."<br /><br><br /><br>For earlier generations of women, hysterectomy was all but a rite of passage before age 50, albeit a difficult one. Even now, it remains the second-most-performed surgical procedure for American women still of reproductive age, and by age 60, one in three women has undergone the surgery, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<br /><br><br /><br>Despite that, hysterectomy rates during the past three decades have dropped from almost 56 per 10,000 women to 33 per 10,000, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists statistics show, and the surgery itself has been streamlined into minimally invasive procedures that make the operation and recovery easier.<br /><br><br /><br>But hysterectomy remains controversial. While many medical experts see good news in pioneering advances and quick recovery times, some also see bad news, as well, saying that up to two-thirds of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed each year in this country could be avoided.<br /><br><br /><br>Are too many women undergoing hysterectomies, even now? Should women think twice before having the surgery?<br /><br><br /><br>"The rate has come down a little but not enough," said Dr. William Parker, UCLA School of Medicine clinical professor and author of A Gynecologist's Second Opinion. "In the old days, hysterectomy was all we had to offer for patients. We were taught that it was the solution for almost every complaint."<br /><br><br /><br>Today, alternative treatments often replace surgery, particularly for women younger than 50.<br /><br><br /><br>"One of the problems is that the information on alternatives hasn't seeped out as widely as it should into the medical world," said Parker. "A lot of the newer surgeries now are minimally invasive, but many doctors haven't been trained to do them."<br /><br><br /><br>For younger women, 90 percent of hysterectomies deal not with reproductive cancers but with pelvic pain; uterine fibroids, or benign tumors; excessive bleeding; and endometriosis.<br /><br><br /><br>For older women, the most common underlying diagnosis is cancer.<br /><br><br /><br>Side effects of the surgery — which involves removal of the ovaries in almost three-fourths of patients — can include the early onset of menopause, bladder and bowel problems, and loss of sex drive.<br /><br><br /><br>Research also shows that hysterectomy can increase a woman's risk of heart disease and lung cancer.<br /><br><br /><br>"It's important that women understand, even if they're not having children any more, they might like to have sex, and they might like not having a heart attack," said Nora Coffey, founder of the Pennsylvania-based Hysterectomy Education Resources and Services Foundation.<br /><br><br /><br>"Whether the surgery is life-saving or completely unnecessary, you deserve to know the consequences."<br /><br><br /><br>But other medical experts insist that alternative treatments are always their first choice before surgery.<br /><br><br /><br>Hormone treatments can help relieve abnormal uterine bleeding and other menstrual cycle disorders, for example, as can endometrial ablation. Similarly, medications can help shrink uterine fibroids.<br /><br><br /><br>"There are certainly non-surgical ways to deal with female problems besides removing the uterus," said Dr. Wesley Hilger, medical director of Sutter Medical Center's minimally invasive gynecology program. "It's a conversation you have with the patient."<br /><br><br /><br>Like other experts, he also sees a significant generational change in women's attitudes, with younger, consumer-oriented patients more comfortable demanding answers from their doctors.<br /><br><br /><br>"Many older patients who've had hysterectomy years ago don't know why," he said. "They'll say, 'My doctor said I needed it.' "Now patients have access to information on the Internet. We have a real discussion. The age of the paternalistic doctor is over. Now the decision is more what works for their condition and their lifestyle."<br /><br><br /><br>Noreen Rademacher, 86, remembers the wave of hysterectomies that rippled through her age group of women four decades ago, and she remembers friends being bedridden with pain for much of their six-month recovery.<br /><br><br /><br>When she was in her early 70s — a retired teacher, widow and breast cancer survivor — she had a hysterectomy after she was diagnosed with a benign growth outside her uterus.<br /><br><br /><br>"My doctor said, 'While I'm down there, why not get rid of everything?'" said Rademacher. "He said, 'You don't need it, and I'll remove the possibility of you getting cervical or ovarian cancer in the future.'"<br /><br><br /><br>She spent a few days in the hospital after her hysterectomy and within a week was back to walking her dog and taking exercise class. And she has no regrets.<br /><br><br /><br>"Once you've had cancer, you don't want it again," she said.<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/22/2485436/hysterectomy-rates-drop-as-women.html">http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/22/2485436/hysterectomy-rates-drop-as-women.html</a>

Hysterectomy rates drop as women learn their options | Health | Kentucky.com

Not until after the surgery did Sandra Nauer realize how sick she'd been. "Oh, my gosh, I had no idea I was in such bad shape,"...

Read more »

More story starter sites to inspire your students to write

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-size: x-small;">Submitted by Fiona Beal</span></em></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most popular posts to date on this blog has been one outlining a number of sites that can be used for starting stories '</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://e-blogschool.blogspot.com/2011/09/10-story-starter-sites-to-get-you-going.html">10 Story Starter sites to get your students writing’</a>. I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> thought it was time to add to the list. The Internet is full of the most amazing tools to encourage our students to  write. To this end I created a Scoop.it containing the posts I find as I do research </span><a href="http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.scoop.it/t/reading-and-writing-in-primary-school</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Let’s face it, as teachers we need and LOVE ideas that can help us to get more from our students and engage them to the full. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. Scholastic Story Starters</span></strong><br /><a href="http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This is for K-6th grade. Here you can choose a theme fir starting a piece of writing in one of these categories – Adventure, Sci_fi, Scrambler or Fantasy. The teeacher is given help to use the application. To me this looks like a good scaffolding application for writing. . </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKUzRY9YYWAw4d1hzt4-SWhyphenhyphengQN6bZFkyz4WjnGazNMkNSoHYQkt65JUKJcHpSVgLI1Anmo6WcSU7bi9ghOuztjW5T2_w2JFrhxjX_XIbxfE8OhNbo30xKdoJvq0CE0ireTr9RGeBdCi8/s1600-h/image%25255B27%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdQDf2qK8fMF0I_Foy5qTiMlGrP-yPpyFXloRT98MvOIBzs_7bLsyEAX-kJMRyp46m-26Qq1yTg-CS6rj7QdnmWidphJwG9ANptO8ZUKFJ2iAVo4yf6WwVcxIHA_dIOmvNaIxV-8W_D2k/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRvYjxDXHAPvPrJ8HrTZ6WFheCRA3_c7zNxjY-oHYwCPUtYuZwUHnCK5mi4a0HrHzA02DJi15jHu8oO7WqQiLmGMGZaDTfNcoDIQfdj-3hL2J5eLZFNoqT_ktY_g_WNWf0Yj4BOUq439A/s1600-h/image%25255B2%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. Flickr storm</span></strong><br /><a href="http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.zoo-m.com/flickr-storm/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <br /><br />Flickr is a treasure trove for a teacher. It is a collection of free photos. Flickr Storm would be a way to collect pictures and postcards on a topic of interest, save them to a tray and then write a story using them as illustrations. For example, I typed in the word ‘princess’ and was given a selection. Each one I then click on would be enlarged into the tray on the right hand side of the page. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhveKMAJsXjrbBsMqQneVrZhmfzqgbQBejFvIhorXM9FKd64-PJif11lxaTGu7DgVavAnwQbOI0E5f6sbMGqsMH0b_dxxL0-Cfe-0r3yzEDzP2rhSjqgsNxM1nIaCnsu6761ZjblEWQjrQ/s1600-h/image%25255B28%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfbEsqC5uNgN6MwcC74GpnhQGex0qCKI_21sWWnKHeZm5dIL7-yM-3uqeLEWk1Soa3dQG8RLKsFY51SZx6IQkIG5ESxxy6bV6jE38Cp3s1pKVCsxWdI3RxwzSX76wwJ1rpE9njmHZkeyQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="179" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn825iDeDmF_P5p2a10Jcp9T8NoL_6EHMeBYcIbM8IFGB93nBkx_xO5R7jdlQcUO07gVZgtsF2QOTujDaws2hkI47aFxUQbuRS8ohGXNzXOiQek3_C-JdHZ42x-SMuhTj9-cAhgOsMFdw/s1600-h/image%25255B5%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. 17 larger than life objects</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/01/17-larger-than-life-giant-objects/"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.toxel.com/inspiration/2009/07/01/17-larger-than-life-giant-objects/</span></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">This blog has a great number of photos with some objectos that are unusually large. This would certainly inspire a story!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4l_B0Z3BUWsuADBRMjM_9GtDDCjvjorrXpWFodJbT4xBeSn3xndALMC2d-f6ZWc5XmPR5VkoWE409MqJAGvudIlEr0cO10ZCZqUfWVqd64mYNHX1cxz0EhaPoE3SG0RHdGxpjurm1mPk/s1600-h/image%25255B29%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJbRogW9X1dyshBy8fAy_J5IMK0zOm6qlULA05mH9l0ajweP0axcXXqvSXYVj257pB8i8qa33sBukJH0sgEgeMf8tobST_DIX4YNPX7gq3pzBE33ETFUYL2KTcDwJkACGzgsD3GkiU7z8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMhxec_VmTcYEmGn5quB8o6pfzjQVLmZUIsJZavILpFzrqX21SOngP6l2XV9bay2zgB9T3fKHwTYdyrPKimW7sWJ6fpGIL5_AvpCTsmDtV8Qfn9B5PuNEhz-Cw2ghNzAvZ6cN5kGtkKw/s1600-h/image%25255B14%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. 5 card Flickr</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card">http://5card.cogdogblog.com/play.php?suit=5card</a></span> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiC020Cf1LMwr-50QnPfxW0XjaJwTUs3FrQjY2AkK1_Au2B2F4BlvDqdHaSHcP9n7rkFJ68LKtugrF-whHAUC7Osrkpd74h4AmF9CUZdu14NOgR9bU3jd1RNZTFMYA_WLkiuoj5oVzzqE/s1600-h/image%25255B30%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM11BpNGyGnosPEexwuX2tPV2Z2i5dI3a80ka17R_G_fZkGTye7d_KSeYzDBXV72K16otg33ogRe3TVB62ztiY5bmTf_JRKmqRE3JWNr0PNnBl5HHhKmgYeMtnK8AhHKLQvAjC8ZL805U/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiboXWm_gsJGhXSuNmApiHLf6ah-ClJ2114x5WhdQPsqu8OLwFfjQIppYZeyRrAv8gR7_LDb9vQuTXqMMYyZszICqPykf4UtLSYQdIzlTeBO5i2or4BYWuF2rkw7zt2ccxiHi_LXgy6xVc/s1600-h/image%25255B8%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">You start off by picking one of their images to add to your story. You continue in thisein till you have collected five images that you like. Then you write your story. There are a number of examples of stories previously written to look at with their selected images.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVH4mNn4-MX31MgSJsB7axnYvv3OMSCCNjsFQ5qPseTlONWs7QJY1HK4HbAe0o8JdsexSgnM_7eQwNquatoJ23UgkQ_j194x3uDV9oljqNtYJ8QrEQU2ey-0NRXYHQ-wVQ0EkAQnsYqFY/s1600-h/image%25255B31%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="63" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyjooAxdbgtOpk1n1P56CbtrtznlrpVGzXJ-4BPDDWTh2UIQsamH4EeNWwsl392p0vGamsSSS-Tmf3j5bWlVI30dpgtMwBGLDt6J3JFaZBOH2mQfS8s1yr3LD7G-NPITqMtgPruq1KrAI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiIFX6RqQ-VfKwk7YOb342KHRTsZve6r_gizzaix70Wg1FdUWl-n3IwgvnBKTMS-52oyHfKo7HUulNK0EQ2QjWrqXS47coOmmLdNVocHIJ9AQvYegZNoAxASBrMxrApAuW2Q731nI1Vi4/s1600-h/image%25255B11%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5. Wonder of the day blog</b></span><br /><a href="http://wonderopolis.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://wonderopolis.org/</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a site with pictures videos and words about something wondrous. The students could take a look around till they feel inspired to write. </span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6x6K03DIYlB6Tv0se2Gz8-XwTHNZDMn32jVrZv1tTm1B9STpRhp8vqFsZswTO0b8JzNMTatfOxrmmF724Icmpnu1L5f9JAkSmpThLOrwV-inmdlBSwsQpozA6WUb5GzCwNAbAZwZTGCk/s1600-h/image%25255B32%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9rSCTp_yJ-WfOihsgcxEep3IG7d2pmpy8T7vvTujO7ol3CgVc-P92q3ObUlmVT27l3YJ5gPdUaUvl72jeyYdh-HlY55FeKhJUn6TxIhMqE5aU0vSyFBCpxzQIP9y91U_CbMQlaFH-wGM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhbU2-doDPncyBVJBIRmTKrHQO1Bmg8OKR4yNaoA2V3ODS3c2lM2Yg1-JhqISXHgDTpBMoNruzIyV0kmpY_zE1VRNPvVaUuzmQReabNU1np30bwqcrsz_-tQ2z8-jUhRRcg6efM8JKk_I/s1600-h/image%25255B17%25255D.png"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></a><span style="font-size: small;"></span> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6. 100 best first lines from novels</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2wlUXW/www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2wlUXW/www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html</a></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">In this site the students could read the first lines until an idea strikes them. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9DYCfnbnP_nDQkM4pon632-gk0gca53XTaYjhHOvsCdHoHV8FuL_1X_eIzOnMslzo3Bn6FCCakGkt74Pbpv-zI-9nlTx41MJ4ebVJOx0ZEQ9wEDtTO4OfGsed4UXIxURoWUv7VeOjFbs/s1600-h/image%25255B33%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUb0JbBlfdot3kY1F0Woc3zx39tPVJi_c7N4jx_jUmMwGRUX6n3f-Fj2ifCZLikXJ6UP49Ywv9pa9SKaHPVZnAI7nYojxn9q2NDimsV77FLebXfIH0x-0w_nfi63d2LA2MHsnurbTQ7g/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>7. The Newspaper Clipping Generator</b></span><br /><a href="http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp</span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your students could use this newspaper generator  to generate a story from a list of headlines that you have collected. They write in the headline of choice and then start their report. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilLdRRcCJAbdBrtNi60feg3fToztPUBjZtdnxIwxyiDsGzRF6tOcEOqYr2migI_HqV2x87yNcp36kbfQgwiBrsY_hXDoSeaG2ZHdHz8m8L-wX_Ri6KtO_202rA4ZR20191YvANUAhyphenhyphenU-o/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="143" /></span></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">8. Story Starters from the Young Writer's Workshop</span></b><br /><a href="http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html" title="http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html">http://www.meddybemps.com/9.700.html</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This site is the ‘Young Writers workshop’ Ther e rae plenty of ideas for younger students on this site. When you make a topic choice it takes you a template with a starting line and this can be printed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV0WoHnkeRPdLbh3qFeNYUkjypxmaBv5ZFPFFJg-DSKpA0tfoCFPXPG9rxDTmxbkpXSBXsXZLlBN0cgMcX6YIStrqGhejHdshZa22UFUycYIDHDO3mxqeJ28kRm49boRwv55hJjSftAYk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Work through these and see how your class responds to them. Our biggest challenge as teachers is to get our reluctant writers taking an interest in writing.</span></div>

Creative writing More story starter sites to inspire your students to write

Submitted by Fiona Beal One of the most popular posts to date on this blog has been one outlining a number of sites that can be used for sta...

Read more »

Warnings From a Flabby Mouse - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><div class="articleSpanImage" style="width: 600px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><span itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/01/20/sunday-review/20KRISTOFSUB/20KRISTOFSUB-articleLarge.jpg" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKtvZ9_G_cPEfxIYQZmc62yMvA8bmtz9wMfepa4Z7Cl6C_C3pPoUs1XhO4s8IU8eCdwDgxCD5L0g9M2JReOkzQt53xIBf4lRj0pXvP4AudX_yv09JICNaDdrDsupOhaqPMt3ONhqWJ0E/s1600/20KRISTOFSUB-articleLarge-762321.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5836246213655574178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizKtvZ9_G_cPEfxIYQZmc62yMvA8bmtz9wMfepa4Z7Cl6C_C3pPoUs1XhO4s8IU8eCdwDgxCD5L0g9M2JReOkzQt53xIBf4lRj0pXvP4AudX_yv09JICNaDdrDsupOhaqPMt3ONhqWJ0E/s320/20KRISTOFSUB-articleLarge-762321.jpg" /></a><div itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="credit" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.9em; line-height: 1.223em; text-align: right; color: rgb(144, 144, 144); margin-bottom: 3px; ">Retha R. Newbold</div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.1em; line-height: 1.2727em; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; color: rgb(102, 102, 102); ">The only difference between these mice: The one at the top was exposed at birth to a tiny amount of an endocrine-disrupting chemical.</div></span></div><nyt_byline style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><h6 class="byline" style="margin: 2px 0px; color: rgb(128, 128, 128); font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; ">By <span itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; "><span itemprop="name">NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</span></a></span></h6></nyt_byline><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span><div class="articleBody" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.7em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><span itemprop="copyrightHolder provider sourceOrganization" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization" itemid="http://www.nytimes.com"></span><nyt_text><nyt_correction_top></nyt_correction_top><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">ONE of the puzzles of the modern world is why we humans are growing so tubby. Maybe these two mice offer a clue.</div></nyt_text></div><div class="articleBody" style="margin-top: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 1.7em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 15px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; "><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">They're genetically the same, raised in the same lab and given the same food and chance to exercise. Yet the bottom one is svelte, while the other looks like, well, an American.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">The only difference is that the top one was <a title="Article in Birth Defects Research Part A: Clinical and Molecular Teratology." href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bdra.20147/full" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">exposed at birth</a> to just one part per billion of an endocrine-disrupting chemical. The brief exposure programmed the mouse to put on fat, and although there were no significant differences in caloric intake or expenditure, it continued to put on flab long after the chemical was gone.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">That experiment is one of a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies suggesting that one factor in the industrialized world's obesity epidemic (along with Twinkies, soda and television) may be endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These chemicals are largely unregulated — they are in food, couches, machine receipts and shampoos — and a raft of new studies suggest that they can lead to the formation of more and larger fat cells.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Before I describe some of this research, a more basic issue: Why should an op-ed columnist write about scholarship published in scientific journals? Don't pundits have better things to fret about, like the feuding between Democrats and Republicans?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">One answer is that obesity is an important national problem, partly responsible for soaring health care costs. Yet the chemical lobby, just like the tobacco industry before it, has impeded serious regulation and is even trying to block research.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">A second is that journalists historically have done a poor job covering public health issues — we were slow on the dangers of tobacco and painfully delinquent in calling attention to the perils of lead — but these are central to our national well-being. Our lives are threatened less by the Taliban in Afghanistan than by unregulated contaminants at home.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Endocrine disruptors are a class of chemicals that mimic hormones and therefore confuse the body. Initially, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/03/opinion/kristof-how-chemicals-change-us.html?_r=0" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">they provoked concern</a> because of their links to cancers and the malformation of sex organs. Those concerns continue, but the newest area of research is the impact that they have on fat storage.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); "><a href="http://www.faculty.uci.edu/profile.cfm?faculty_id=4539" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">Bruce Blumberg</a>, a developmental biologist at the University of California, Irvine, coined the term "obesogen" in a <a href="http://endo.endojournals.org/content/147/6/s50" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">2006 journal article</a> to refer to chemicals that cause animals to store fat. Initially, this concept was highly controversial among obesity experts, but a growing number of peer-reviewed studies have confirmed his finding and identified some 20 substances as obesogens.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">The role of these chemicals has been acknowledged by the <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/sites/letsmove.gov/files/TaskForce_on_Childhood_Obesity_May2010_FullReport.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">presidential task force on childhood obesity</a>, and the National Institutes of Health has become a major funder of research on links between endocrine disruptors and both obesity and diabetes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Among chemicals identified as obesogens are materials in plastics, canned food, agricultural chemicals, foam cushions and jet fuel. For example, a <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/ehp.1205383.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">study in the fall</a> found that triflumizole, a fungicide used on many food crops, like leafy vegetables, causes obesity in mice.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Just this month, <a href="http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/2013/01/1205701/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">a new study</a> in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that endocrine disruptors that are sometimes added to PVC plastic cause mice to grow obese and suffer liver problems — and the effect continues with descendants of those mice, generation after generation.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">Another study found that women with a pesticide residue in their blood bore babies who were more likely to be overweight at the age of 14 months.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">That's a common thread: The most important time for exposure appears to be in utero and in childhood. It's not clear whether most obesogens will do much to make an ordinary adult, even a pregnant woman, fatter (although one has been shown to do so), and the greatest impact seems to be on fetuses and on children before puberty.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">The magazine Scientific American recently <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=should-doctors-warn-pregnant-women-about-environmental-risks" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: underline; ">asked whether doctors</a> should do more to warn pregnant women about certain chemicals. It cited a survey indicating that only 19 percent of doctors cautioned pregnant women about pesticides, only 8 percent about BPA (an endocrine disruptor in some plastics and receipts), and only 5 percent about phthalates (endocrine disruptors found in cosmetics and shampoos). Dr. Blumberg, the pioneer of the field, says he strongly recommends that people — especially children and women who are pregnant or may become pregnant — try to eat organic foods to reduce exposure to endocrine disruptors, and try to avoid using plastics to store food or water. "My daughter uses a stainless steel water bottle, and so do I," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">For all the uncertainty, these latest studies are one more reason to worry that endocrine disruptors may be the tobacco of our time. Science-based decisions to improve public health — like the removal of lead from gasoline — have been among our government's most beneficial public policy moves. In this case, a starting point would be to boost research of endocrine disruptors and pass the Safe Chemicals Act. That measure, long stalled in Congress, would require more stringent safety testing of potentially toxic chemicals around us.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; font-size: 1.5em; line-height: 1.467em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); ">After all, which mouse would we rather look like?</p></div></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-warnings-from-a-flabby-mouse.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/opinion/sunday/kristof-warnings-from-a-flabby-mouse.html</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Warnings From a Flabby Mouse - NYTimes.com

Retha R. Newbold The only difference between these mice: The one at the top was exposed at birth to a tiny amount of an endocrine-disrupting...

Read more »

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/22/2013

<ul class="diigo-linkroll"> <li> <p class="diigo-link"> <a href="http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com">http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/</a> </p> <p class="diigo-description">Aaron Maurer, a Flat Classroom Certified teacher, has started the Bald Eagle project that we are incubating. At Flat Classroom, our goal is to help foster and create powerful online learning projects. While our premier projects are run by teachers and require a small fee, the incubation projects are being incubated and supported by our other projects and efforts,so you can apply and join in. Here's information on the project. Aaron is top notch.</p> <p class="diigo-tags"> <span>tags:</span> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/education">education</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/history_teacher">history_teacher</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/edtech">edtech</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/elemchat">elemchat</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/news">news</a> <a href="http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher/flatclass">flatclass</a></p> </li> </ul><p class="diigo-ps">Posted from <a href='http://www.diigo.com'>Diigo</a>. The rest of my favorite links are <a href='http://www.diigo.com/user/coolcatteacher'>here</a>.</p>

Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 01/22/2013

http://eagleeyecamera.wikispaces.com/ Aaron Maurer, a Flat Classroom Certified teacher, has started ...

Read more »

Jay's Hillbilly Neighbor Speaks!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />Hola! Did I do that right? I don’t speak Mexican and don’t think they should be allowed to in this country either. But, whatever. Anyway, this Jayman’s loud Hillbilly neighbor Shastina! Jay thought it would be great if I guest blogged for him and this Matt-Man fella.<br /><br />Of course, I didn’t know what a blog was. Jay seemed kind of surprised which surprises me cause that’s more credit than I thought he gave me. Anyway, he told me there’s like a billion blogs out there and I was like “Yeah, well if one shits on my car, there’ll be nine-hundred ninety-nine million nine-hundred ninety-nine.” Then I counted on my fingers and giggled and said “Well, you know what I mean!”<br /><br />Anyhoodle It’s 7 pm and I’ve only been drinking vodka since 8 this morning, so I’m not really drunk enough to be funny, but I’ll give it a try. Am I allowed to say “fuck” on here? Cause if I’m not I might not be able to artic .. arctic … hell I won’t say what I mean. Shit, I gotta go outside and have a cigarette and call my mom. I’ll be back.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2q1vwQuFmuPnlXL6Q1hONiKAu6gjbTUV5E8ZLv5bPkXDMLjVyLMo-qGQdyMHdKc5EuMlV_u7hb7TQ0rnFALc_Jg_xz0hHCO49NCSFiTHxHHmhx4kEEcEA-xacab3zi_hd63LUUVSGOA/s1600/Sexy+Girl+Gun+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir2q1vwQuFmuPnlXL6Q1hONiKAu6gjbTUV5E8ZLv5bPkXDMLjVyLMo-qGQdyMHdKc5EuMlV_u7hb7TQ0rnFALc_Jg_xz0hHCO49NCSFiTHxHHmhx4kEEcEA-xacab3zi_hd63LUUVSGOA/s400/Sexy+Girl+Gun+Hot.jpg" width="231" /></a>Hahaha … My fucking mother is so damn funny. She was slurring all over the place. Woman is 74 years old and she can still put it away with the best of them. You better not saying anything bad about her though or I’ll fuck you up. I’m not fucking kidding. I’m not afraid to cut a fucking bitch.<br /><br />I heard that Jayman thought maybe I was stealing his paper for a while. That’s pretty fucking funny. What the fuck would I do with a newspaper? I ain’t got no birdcage to line with it. I’m sure as shit not gonna fucking read it either. It’s full of all kinds of bullshit and I don’t give a damn about the news. And I definitely don’t wanna hear about our <i>HNIC</i> WHO-SANE Obama or whatever. Besides, I ain’t even registered to vote or nothing.<br /><br />I asked Jay, who is a sweetheart, what to write about and he said anything I want. Well, shit I don’t have no idea what that might be. I’m just a simple girl from Newton County, Arkansas who likes to smoke and drink and fuck and have a good time. I’m really loud too. I should have done this in all caps so you would know I was yelling what writing this, but Jay said that was “rude.” What the fuck to I care about being rude? What’s anybody gonna do about it?<br /><br />I’ll tell you about my weekend cause Jay already heard about it. He didn’t have a choice cause I was standing outside his door talking as loud as I can to my friend. I met a really hot guy on Match.com and had a great time talking to him. We were gonna fuck but we both gotta get tested first cause we ain’t been tested in a while. Once we do that, it’s fucking on bitches. So, instead we just drank all day today.<br /><br />Also, this damn bitch who lives here in Redneckville better stop talking shit about me. I’m gonna fuck her up if she doesn’t. She thinks she’s so much better than me since she grew up here in the big town and I’m from the country. Well bitch, I’ll show you some of the shit I learned down on the fucking farm if you don’t shut your fucking pie hole. You ain’t no better than me you cunt.<br /><br />Well, I think I’m about to pass out. What a fucking pussy I am. Only twelve straight hours of drinking and I’m done. My momma would be ashamed of me for giving in so fast. Whatever. I’m horny but can’t do nothing about cause I haven’t been tested. I asked Jay if he had been tested and he said “for what?” Hahaha … He’s so fucking cute.<br /><br />Well, that’s it. I hope you like my little blog post thingy. If not, I don’t fucking care. What are you go do about it? I’ll fuck you up! You just email Jay if you have something to say to me cause I don’t do computers and shit. God bless y'all!<br /><br /><b><i>Shastina </i></b><br /><br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><br /><br /></div>

Jay's Hillbilly Neighbor Speaks!

Hola! Did I do that right? I don’t speak Mexican and don’t think they should be allowed to in this country either. But, whatever. Anyway, th...

Read more »

Jennifer Lawrence on ‘SNL’: The ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ star trashes her Oscar rivals

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px;">Lawrence calls out Streep again, but this time also goes after Quvenzhane Wallis, Jessica Chastain and others competing for the Best Actress Oscar.</span><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><img src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1243567.1358802915!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/snl-8-0120.jpg" /></span><br /><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: white;">Jennifer Lawrence giving her opening monologue while hosting 'Saturday Night Live.'</span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span><br /><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Continuing her week in the spotlight, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Jennifer+Lawrence" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Jennifer Lawrence">Jennifer Lawrence</a> tried her hand at hosting "Saturday Night Live," and the comedic odds were certainly in her favor.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The quirky "Silver Linings Playbook" starlet began her opening monologue addressing the Meryl Streep comment once again, but also playfully bashed all of the other Oscar contenders in her category.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I would never trash-talk any of my fellow nominees at the Golden Globes," she said, "but the Oscars are another story."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/jennifer-lawrence-defends-meryl-streep-comment-article-1.1241245" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">RELATED: JENNIFER LAWRENCE RESPONDS TO 'I BEAT MERYL' BACKLASH</a></strong></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Well, well, well. Look who it is," she said. "Jessica Chastain. More like, Jessica Chas-ain’t winning no Oscar on my watch!"</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">And on Naomi Watts, she added, <span id="intelliTXT" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You were in 'The Impossible'. You know what else is impossible? You beating me on Oscar night.”</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/golden-globes-2013-gallery-1.1239475" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">PHOTOS: GOLDEN GLOBES RED CARPET WINNERS AND LOSERS</a></strong></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Even little Quvenzhane Wallis wasn't spared.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"You think you can beat me?" she joked. "What you talkin' bout, Wallis? ... The alphabet called. They want their letters back."</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lawrence went on to participate in several hilarious skits, including a spoof of her own movie "The Hunger Games," reprising her role as Katniss Everdeen.</div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="SNL_1_0120" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1243484!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/snl-1-0120.jpg" /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white;">Jennifer Lawrence participates in a 'Hunger Games' skit on 'SNL.'</span><span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="357" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://widget.newsinc.com/single.html?WID=1&VID=24253465&freewheel=69016&sitesection=nydailynews&w=635&h=357" width="635"></iframe></div>

Jennifer Lawrence Oscar The ‘Silver Linings Playbook Jennifer Lawrence on ‘SNL’: The ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ star trashes her Oscar rivals

Lawrence calls out Streep again, but this time also goes after Quvenzhane Wallis, Jessica Chastain and others competing for the Best Actress...

Read more »