LOS ANGELES - Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Nury Martinez announced on January 18, 2022 that Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas will retire after nearly 40 years of distinguished service to the Los Angeles Fire Department — and that Kristin Crowley, a top deputy with a stellar 25-year track record at the Department, has been nominated as its next Chief.

 

If confirmed by the City Council, Crowley, currently Acting Administrative Operations Chief Deputy and Fire Marshal, will be the 19th Fire Chief, and the first woman to ever lead the LAFD.

 

“We’re living through an unprecedented moment that has called on our Fire Department not just to protect us – but to lead us in the fight to overcome public safety challenges we’ve never faced before. At the same time, the LAFD is leading a transformative national discussion about strengthening equity and inclusion within the firefighting ranks, and we must overcome those internal challenges too,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Throughout her distinguished career, Kristin Crowley has proven her brilliance, determination and bravery on the job again and again. She’s also shown this city her heart, with her tireless commitment to helping students access life-changing educational opportunities. There is no one better equipped to lead the LAFD at this moment than Kristin. She’s ready to make history, and I’m proud to nominate her as the Department’s next Chief.”

 

“Today is a big moment in this City. For the first time in its history the Los Angeles Fire Department will be led by a woman,” said Council President Martinez. “Chief Kristin Crowley is known by her colleagues and by this city as someone who is dedicated, hard working, and goes above and beyond what is expected of her. This announcement is not just important for the City of Los Angeles, but for girls across LA who never imagined they could one day serve as Chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department.”

 

Crowley is a 22-year veteran of the Fire Department who has moved seamlessly through the ranks, proving her credibility and character along the way. She made history as the Department’s first female Fire Marshal and is the second woman to earn the rank of Chief Deputy.

 

Chief Deputy Crowley, who serves as program director for the LAFD’s youth development program, has played a key role in ensuring that over 1,000 LAUSD high school students continue in their education.

 

In her current role, she helped to develop a five-year strategic plan to identify areas of growth within the Department and foster culture more open to change. As Chief, she plans to work to both deepen existing efforts and create new mechanisms to foster equity and inclusion in the Department.

 

"I am honored and humbled by the opportunity to be the next Fire Chief of the Los Angeles City Fire Department and to lead the Department into the future," Crowley said. "As the Fire Chief, if confirmed, I vow to take a strategic and balanced approach to ensure we meet the needs of the community we serve. We will focus our efforts on increasing our operational effectiveness, enhancing firefighter safety and well-being, and fully commit to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture within the LAFD. Thank you, Mayor Garcetti, Council President Martinez, and Chief Terrazas for entrusting me to lead and to work with the dedicated women and men of the finest department in the world."

 

Chief Terrazas, who was sworn in as L.A.’s Fire Chief in 2014, was the first Latino to serve in that role. A 39-year veteran of the Department, Chief Terrazas helped steer the City through some of its greatest challenges, and brought about meaningful advancements and innovations within the Fire Department.

 

Under his leadership, LAFD supervised the City’s free public COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs, which has administered nearly 4.86 million tests and approximately 1.43 million vaccinations to date. The City of L.A.’s testing effort was the nation’s largest municipal testing program and tested over 40,000 Angelenos per day at its peak.

 

“Ralph Terrazas has dedicated his life to keeping the people of Los Angeles safe. For nearly 40 years, he has served our Fire Department with bravery, determination and compassion for the Angelenos he’s sworn to protect,” said Mayor Garcetti. “I couldn’t imagine having anyone else as Fire Chief, through some of the most difficult fire and public safety challenges L.A. has ever faced. And when a once-in-a-century pandemic hit, Ralph’s leadership and bold action helped us save countless lives. I am honored to have served alongside him, and I know the mark he’s left on this city will never be forgotten.”

 

Early in his time leading LAFD, Chief Terrazas oversaw the rebuilding of the Department, which had stopped hiring new firefighters for five years as a result of the Great Recession. In 2015, he successfully reorganized the Department into four bureaus – the first restructuring of LAFD in 50 years, which helped to enhance accountability and improve service delivery.

 

Chief Terrazas also launched and implemented a variety of innovative initiatives, including Advanced Provider Response Units, Alternate Destination Response Units, and Fast Response Vehicles, efforts that enable firefighters to go beyond simply bringing patients to emergency rooms. Chief Terrazas has also made diversity a top priority – for the first time in department history, 51.4% firefighters are now people of color. Since 2014, the Department has maintained a steady increase in the number of hired sworn women at LAFD. Of the current sworn force, more than half of those who are currently employed were hired on in the last 8 years, and nearly 10% were brought on in 2021.

 

"It was a privilege to serve as the Fire Chief of this world-class Department," said Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas. "For nearly eight years, we made considerable strides in technology, implemented innovative ways to respond to emergencies, and became a model for other agencies. Chief Crowley is an exemplary leader and has a broad base of experience that will serve the Department well. She has risen through the ranks over the past 26 years and I proudly promoted her three times during my tenure because she demonstrated a commitment to advancing the Department. Chief Crowley has been successful at every position and I expect her success to continue as the next Fire Chief."

 

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Photos courtesy of Missouri City

A new LED message sign, monument wall and landscaping now grace the entrance of City Hall.

 

Missouri City’s Successes Shine Bright in 2012

 

Missouri City continued its march of excellence in 2012 with an array of successful fiscal, civic, business and public safety accomplishments that kept the “Show Me City” on the list of the state’s and the nation’s premier municipalities.

 

Safe streets, best budgets, thriving companies, dynamic diversity, pristine parks and A-plus amenities remain hallmarks of the City, and have an impact on its infrastructure projects and retail and commercial sectors.

 

Showcasing the richness of our cultural, educational and economic strengths, a groundbreaking Rice University study this year found Missouri City has surpassed Houston in diversity.

 

“Our diversity brings different ideas and traditions to the table, and we are united in the direction of our community’s future,” said City Manager Edward Broussard. “With 20 parks, two championship golf courses, first-class amenities and rich historical traditions, we encourage everyone to discover Missouri City.”

 

City Council continued to provide strong leadership for citizens and staff in 2012. From left are Councilmember Don Smith, District B, Councilmember Bobby Marshall, District A, Mayor Pro Tem Jerry Wyatt, At Large Position 1, Mayor Allen Owen, Councilmember Danny Nguyen, At Large Position 2, Councilmember Floyd Emery, District D, and Councilmember Robin Elackatt, District C.

 

Additionally, MONEY Magazine and CNNMoney named Missouri City one of 2012’s Top 10 Most Affordable Cities in the nation for homebuyers and “we are steadfast in our commitment to remain a premier location with scenic neighborhoods, low crime, top-rated schools and expanded quality recreational opportunities,” Broussard said.

 

And, when it comes to living healthy lifestyles; citizens are up to the challenge. Residents and staff formed a winning partnership this year to earn a second place honor in the Healthy at H-E-B Challenge, a statewide initiative aimed at getting Texans to become active and stay fit.

 

Another recreational accolade was earned by the award-winning Quail Valley Golf Course, which has hosted record rounds again this year. Avid Golfer ranked the El Dorado fairway as the No. 1 “Best Value Under $50”, and No. 2 among courses in the category of “Top-5 Intermediate-Priced • $36-$50”. And, the magazine ranked the La Quinta greens No. 2 among courses in the category of “Top-5 Value-Priced • $36-$50”.

 

QVGC is also now the third location for the First Tee of Greater Houston, a youth development program that teaches life lessons such as the importance of honesty, sportsmanship, perseverance, responsibility and judgment.

 

“We all know that Missouri City is a special place and these honors reinforce what those of us who live here know,” said Mayor Allen Owen. “As we move forward, our synergistic relationship with our families and business partners will continue to make Missouri City one of the best cities in America.”

 

Fiscal Fitness

 

Strong fiscal management earned the city a Double A rating for its general obligation bonds and certificates of obligation, a high rank based on sound budget policies and procedures that give the City a bright financial outlook for the future.

 

For more than 25 years, the City Budget and the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report have been recognized annually by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for their detail on City services and programs and the City’s financial condition. And, for the second year in a row Missouri City has earned a “Gold Star” award for financial transparency and online reporting from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

 

Maintaining fiscal excellence is a top priority for the City, with all departments focused on the effective and efficient management of financial resources.

 

A police officer, left, shares safety information with a resident. Firefighters, at right, perform a vehicle extrication demonstration.

 

Protecting the Public

 

Proactive public safety programs protect, educate and engage citizens, often providing a glimpse into the work of our first responders who put their lives on the line to keep us safe.

 

In 2012, the Missouri City Police Department hosted a series of safety seminars, including a citywide crime prevention meeting, ensuring citizens are prepared to safeguard their families and property.

 

And, this year brought a significant first for the Fire & Rescue Services as they hosted their inaugural annual open house. Hundreds visited Fire Station 1 and experienced how to handle a fire hose, learned about life-saving equipment, watched a vehicle extrication demonstration, toured the firehouse and practiced fire exit drills.

 

Another highlight was the graduation of the 26th Annual Missouri City Police and Fire Academy. This year’s class of 27 is now qualified to join the Police and Fire Auxiliary and Citizen’s Response Team after completing a free six-week training program that took them “behind-the-scenes”. The residents learned about traffic and criminal law, CPR, firearms, and the dangers associated with fighting fires and solving crimes.

 

The importance of Missouri City’s public safety investment in commercial areas also is demonstrated via the new Police Mini-Station on Texas Parkway. The station serves as a daily reminder to citizens that the City is dedicated to keeping them and their businesses safe.

 

Business is Booming

 

Continuing to build a sustainable business base is critical to future growth and development.

 

This year, Missouri City’s commitment to private-public partnerships was recognized with the prestigious 2012 Community Economic Development Award from the Texas Economic Development Council. The “Show Me City” won the distinction for its successful bid to attract Niagara Bottling Company, the second largest water bottling firm in the United States.

 

In making its decision, TEDC cited Missouri City’s “team effort” in partnering with the Greater Houston Partnership, the Fort Bend Economic Development Council, Fort Bend County, CenterPoint Energy Economic Development Group and Water Control and Improvement District No. 2 to interest Niagara in opening its doors in Lakeview Business Park, located near Fondren Road and Sam Houston Parkway.

 

The plant is expected to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2013. When complete, it will encompass more than 356,000 square feet, with water processing, bottle manufacturing, warehousing and a distribution facility.

 

A few miles away in the Beltway Crossing Complex on South Gessner Road, another major company is preparing to open its doors. Ben E. Keith Foods will complete the first phase of its 500,000-square-foot facility in the first quarter of 2013. When complete, the company, which was honored in 2012 by having Beltway Road renamed Ben E. Keith Way, will be the City’s largest employer.

 

Other new companies choosing to locate here during the past 12 months include Twin Star Bakery, Southwest Electronic Energy Corp., Fort Bend Brewing Company, Warren Alloy/Allied Fittings, Stream Realty and Bimbo Bakeries USA.

 

And, to create an ongoing dialogue with the business community, the City has launched Business Briefing Breakfasts. These monthly meetings focus on economic growth and development and are hosted in the City Centre at Quail Valley. For more information on the breakfasts, call 281.403.8530.

 

Infrastructure Improvements

 

Infrastructure improvements were a priority citywide. A major accomplishment was the official opening of the City’s new $50 million Regional Water Treatment Plant, the largest capital improvement project ever undertaken by the “Show Me City”. The project was the result of an unprecedented level of cooperation among 40 government and private sector groups.

 

The facility, which has the capacity to store 100 million gallons of water, was built to meet regulations set by the Fort Bend Subsidence District, which mandates that groundwater withdrawals must be no more than 70 percent of total water demand by Jan. 1, 2014. By January of 2025, withdrawals must be reduced to no more than 40 percent of water demand.

 

During a grand opening ceremony for the plant in August, partners raised their glasses—filled with water processed at the facility. Plant engineers say the quality of the refined water should exceed that of the groundwater residents currently drink with 33 types of tests conducted each day to ensure the water is safe to use. And, in recognition of its excellence, the RWTP won the Texas Public Works Association’s Project of the Year Award for “Environmental Projects at least $25 million but less than $75 million”.

 

Other infrastructure upgrades completed citywide include:

 

*Raised medians constructions on Highway 6 and Texas Parkway. The Texas Department of Transportation managed these mobility projects that improved safety for motorists and pedestrians. The projects included the installation of new traffic signals and six Dynamic Messages Signs along Highway 6, and the installation of new turn lanes along both roadways.

 

*Implementation of the $2.8 million Intelligent Transportation System to help synchronize traffic signals and manage traffic flow citywide.

 

*A showcase Missouri City monument wall was added to the entrance of the City Hall Complex, which has been revitalized with the addition of a new LED sign and landscaping. The monument wall is the latest of several new ones that now grace major thoroughfares helping to brand and beautify the area.

 

*Next year, Lexington Boulevard will be extended. Plans call for a decorative traffic signal at Texas Parkway, a four-lane boulevard roadway with sidewalks from Texas Parkway to Scanlin Road, as well as drainage structures. Fort Bend County has agreed to pay all costs of the $3.3 million project through the Fort Bend Mobility Bond program.

 

Other key infrastructure improvements include the reconstruction of El Dorado Bridge, the installment of flashing yellow arrows along major roadways and the construction of Fire Station #5, which is being fully funded by the Sienna Plantation Municipal Utility District. The station is expected to open in late 2013.

 

Another mobility milestone involves the METRO Park & Ride stop located in the Fort Bend Town Center at Fort Bend Parkway and Highway 6. Ridership on the service is steadily increasing, providing convenient, stress-free commutes to and from the Texas Medical Center and Houston’s central business district for hundreds of residents.

 

Pristine Parks

 

City Council followed through on its commitment to citizens that construction of the City Centre at Quail Valley and the Recreation and Tennis Center would be completed this year.

 

Since Missouri City’s new first-class amenities opened their doors, they have received rave reviews.

 

Missouri City’s premier City Centre at Quail Valley can host all of your special events.

 

As Fort Bend County’s premier events venue, the City Centre at Quail Valley, located at 2880 La Quinta Dr., has hosted dozens of festive occasions including weddings, business meetings, birthday parties, tournaments like the 2012 Fort Bend Chamber Challenge and an official ribbon-cutting ceremony.

 

To plan and schedule a function, individuals and businesses can call 281-403-8517.

 

Missouri City’s first-class Recreation and Tennis Center can help you stay fit with lots of fun activities.

 

The state-of-the-art Recreation and Tennis Center, located at 2701 Cypress Point Dr., continues to draw new members and has hosted tennis tournaments for local and regional organizations.

 

The Center, which was featured in the August edition of Athletic Business, has a Kid Zone, a full-size gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, tennis courts, batting cages, the latest cardio and weight equipment, an outdoor walking trail and tennis clinics. To join, visit the City website: www.missouricitytx.gov or call 281-403-8637.

 

Many distinctions set Missouri City apart from other municipalities, and the City’s pristine parks are among the area’s best.

 

The Edible Arbor Trail, which features groves of trees and shrubs that produce edible fruits and nuts, remains a favorite. It was recognized as an innovative project this year by the Texas Recreation and Parks Society and received an Honorable Mention for “On-the-Ground Projects” from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. The trail was also featured on Ch. 13’s Hometown Live Report.

 

Another parks project that has been popular is the expansion of Oyster Creek Trail. The 2.31 mile pathway, an outdoor haven for residents who enjoy a scenic hike, bike, walk or jog, underwent a revitalization that added a paved bike and pedestrian trail along Oyster Creek Bayou between Dulles Avenue and Cartwright Road.

 

Improvements made to the Cartwright Road Bridge extended Oyster Creek Trail under the bridge and connected it to the existing trail south of Cartwright Road.

 

Scenes from the Snowfest Festival, left, and from National Night Out, right. Below, MCJCF founding board members kickoff the group’s golden anniversary at a VIP Reception. Pictured from left, are Michael Mouton, Councilman Don Smith, who is Founder and Chairman, Sonja Thornton, Pamela Poole, Charles Swindell and Derrick Woods.

 

Treasured Traditions

 

Annual traditions build lasting bonds citywide and this year, these successful events helped form a strong sense of civic pride:

 

* The 29th Annual Snowfest Festival drew more than 5,000 to the City Hall Complex and featured a tree-lighting ceremony, colorful fireworks, bicycle raffles, the world’s tallest snowman bounce house, a snow hill, a toy drive and Santa! And, the Snowfest Parade drew hundreds and featured colorful floats, local bands, community groups and trailers decorated in holiday themes.

 

*The July 4th Festival was a fantastic celebration in Buffalo Run Park full of fun and fireworks. Thousands of families gathered to see the sky light up with color at dusk. Children also enjoyed a moonwalk, a rock wall, and a mechanical bull.

 

*The Fourth Annual “Operation Thanksgiving—Stuff the Squad Car!” put the unity in community as “Show Me City” citizens, businesses and staff partnered to fill 15 police patrol cars with canned and nonperishable food items to assist area families in need. The Second Mile Mission Center, Bethel Ministry and the Powerhouse of Love Food Bank benefitted from this benevolent event.

 

*The Missouri City Juneteenth Celebration Foundation commemorated its 10th Anniversary with a focus on families and their core contributions to our communities. At the Community Service Awards Gala tribute, retired NBA star Charlie Ward was the guest speaker. Other special celebrations were the Scholarship Golf Tournament, Family Fun Day in the Park and Night Out, Festival Under the Stars and the One Mile of Smiles Parade.

 

*And, neighborhoods across Missouri City held National Night Out block parties featuring good food, fellowship and fun on the 29th annual observance of the crime prevention initiative. NNO helps neighbors get to know each other and to partner with police officers, firefighters, City Council and staff to discuss and implement measures that help combat crime.

 

A Bright Future

 

In 2012, professionals in all departments honorably represented the City with pride and were recognized by their peers in the region, in the state and across the nation. They include:

 

*Police Officer of the Year Jessica Berry

*Firefighter of the Year Michael Jaster

*Recreation Superintendent Shane Mize, who won the 2012 National Recreation and Park Association Rising Professional Award

*Director of Municipal Court Services Cathy Haney, who is the Texas Court Clerks Association’s 2012 Gulf Coast Chapter Clerk of the Year

*Street Technician II Lyford “Nickey” Hayes, who was recognized as Operator of the Year—Heavy Equipment by the American Public Works Association

*City Secretary Maria Gonzalez, who became President of the Salt Grass Chapter of the Texas Municipal Clerks Association, Inc.

*The Communications Team won the Texas Association of Municipal Information Officers’ Silver Star for Electronic Report, the Texas Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors’ second place award for Best Use of Web, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors’ third place award for the video “Bob on Biz—LEED Certified Building”, and the group’s honorable mention award for the “Show Me Missouri City TV Website”.

*The Information Technology Team managed the installation of the Tyler Technologies Enterprise Resource Planning suite of software. It includes efficiency programs for accounting, payroll, human resources, document management, mapping, permits, licenses and code enforcement.

 

In 2013, Missouri City will continue to provide citizens with excellent programs and services. A committed City Council and award-winning staff will progressively move forward into the future, ensuring the “Show Me City’s” ongoing success.

 

Residents are encouraged to stay informed through the City’s websites: www.missouricitytx.gov and www.missouricityready.com, the “Show Me Missouri City” citizen newsletter, regular and annual homeowner association meetings, Missouri City television (Ch. 16 on Comcast and Ch. 99 on AT&T U-verse) and 1690 AM.

 

Families and visitors are invited to have breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner at the City Centre and to maintain a focus on fitness at the Recreation and Tennis Center. And, to make those memorable moments in life even more special, citizens should plan to host their celebrations in one of the City Centre’s elegant rooms—the magnificent Magnolia Ballroom, the amazing Azalea Room or the beautiful Bluebonnet Grille.

 

Schedule your next tee time at the championship Quail Valley Golf Course.

 

And, golfers can always enjoy a great game at the renowned Quail Valley Golf Course. For greens fees, visit www.golfquailvalley.com or call 281.403.5910.

 

As the City partners with the community to start a New Year together; high-standards will continue to be set and met in the “Show Me City”.

Olivia Sun Cruise 10/30/10-11/6/10

 

MODERATOR: Hey, good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. And let me just go ahead and introduce our speakers real quick and we’ll get it over to them. We have – first of all, this call is on background. We have [Senior Administration Official One], who’ll be Senior Administration Official One. And our second speaker is [Senior Administration Official Two], who will be Senior Administration Official Two. So I’m going to turn it right over to Senior Administration Official One for some opening remarks and then Two for some brief comments as well.

 

So go ahead, Senior Administration Official One.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Thank you very much and thanks for everyone to be – for being on the call today. As many of you will have seen, yesterday we released at the State Department the annual Country Reports on Terrorism for 2012. And one of the most noteworthy conclusions when we put that report together was a marketing resurgence of terrorist activity by Iran and Hezbollah. The tempo of operational activity was something we haven’t seen since the 1990s, with attacks plotted in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Africa in 2012 alone.

 

We believe this is an alarming trend. It’s borne out by the facts and it merits closer inspection as we evaluate the landscape of terrorist activity globally. Add to this, of course, is the deepening commitment both Iran and Hezbollah have made to fight and kill on behalf of the Assad regime in Syria. That involvement, of course, is hardening the conflict and threatening to spread the violence across the region.

 

Hezbollah and the Iranian leadership share a similar world view and strategic vision and are seeking to exploit the current unrest in the region to their advantage. This approach has increased sectarian tensions and conflict and serves further as a destabilizing force during a time of great change throughout the region.

 

The activity is, as I said, alarming, but there’s also an encouraging trend at work and one I think that’s received fairly – relatively little attention in our view, and that’s the increasingly firm response among governments around the world to these actions. We’re seeing prosecutions of Hezbollah operatives in multiple jurisdictions around the world, ongoing investigations, and discussions about proscribing the group as a terrorist organization.

 

Now just to recap a couple of the notable incidents in 2012 that we also covered in our report, in February of this year the Bulgarian Government publicly implicated Hezbollah in a July 2012 bombing in Burgas that killed five Israelis and one Bulgarian citizen and injured 32 others. In March of this year, a court in Cyprus found a Hezbollah operative guilty of charges stemming from surveillance activities carried out in 2012 against Israeli tourists. Thailand is currently prosecuting a Hezbollah member for his role in helping plan a possible terrorist attack in that country. We understand that trial will begin in mid-June. The Qods Force is suspected of directing terrorist attacks in Georgia, India, Thailand, and Kenya in 2012.

 

You will also recall that the Qods Force was implicated in a 2011 plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States in Washington. Manssor Arbabsiar was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for his involvement in that plot. We see no signs of this activity abating in 2013. In fact, our assessment is that Hezbollah and Iran will both continue to maintain a heightened level of terrorist activity and operations in the near future.

 

Now turning to Syria, Hezbollah has long been involved in the conflict and, of course, is making no – no longer making any effort to disguise or downplay the extent of its commitment to kill or die on behalf of the Assad regime. A large number of Hezbollah fighters are now operating in Syria, even though the Lebanese Government has sought to disassociate Lebanon from the Syrian crisis in the best interest of the Lebanese people. The group is openly undermining that policy and working closely with Iran to provide a range of support to the Assad regime, including fighters, weaponry, and training a large pro-regime militia.

 

We judge that Iran and Hezbollah have enlisted Alawite, Iraqi, Shia militant and terrorist groups to participate in counter-opposition operations in Syria. All of this support is helping the regime brutally crack down on the opposition, kill civilians, and is contributing to regional instability, notably in Lebanon. And unfortunately, it’s clear that both Hezbollah and Iran’s involvement in Syria is only deepening as they take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that their close ally survives.

 

Countering these activities continues to be a priority for the U.S. Government, but we’re also seeing other governments begin to take their own actions in response to Hezbollah’s global presence and operational activity. Governments are beginning to see Hezbollah for what it is, and there is a shift underway that we detect in the way that other governments are viewing the organization.

 

I mentioned the prosecution a minute ago of Hezbollah operatives in Cyprus and the Bulgarian Government’s finding Hezbollah responsibility for the Burgas attack. These attacks – these activities, of course, led to the most serious discussion we’ve seen within the EU to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Crucially, France and Germany have called for Hezbollah’s military wing to be added to the EU’s terrorism list, and we’re watching that discussion very, very closely.

 

Recently Bahrain designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and is proposing that the GCC take up similar action across the GCC against Hezbollah. The Arab League Chief Nabil Elaraby recently weighed in on Hezbollah, urging it to stop fighting alongside the Assad regime, urging Hezbollah to reconsider its stance and not get involved in the killing in Syria and stressing that only – the only way to protect Lebanon is to protect Lebanon’s internal unity. That was issued in an Arab League statement, and I think that reflection of Arab League view is certainly a turnaround in the way Hezbollah is being viewed across the Arab world.

 

Of course, Hezbollah’s actions have been condemned by numerous Lebanese political figures for placing Lebanon at risk and placing the country’s interest and those of – and placing Hezbollah’s interest and those of Iran and Assad above those of the Lebanese people. President Sulayman recently urged Hezbollah to withdraw from Syria.

 

Looking again at the global picture, in Southeast Asia, in mid-June, the Thai Government will begin its prosecution of a Hezbollah operative who was detained in January 2012 and who led police to a warehouse located outside of the city – outside of Bangkok, where police found several thousand kilograms of explosives and bomb-making material. We’ve also seen countries beginning to crack down on Iran’s terrorist activities with Nigeria and Kenya arresting and prosecuting Iranian operatives who were in their countries engaged in various illicit activities.

 

I think I’ll stop there, but it does give you a sense of the global scope of activity we’re seeing on both of these – both the – both Iran and Hezbollah’s part, and as was emphasized in our report released yesterday. Thank you.

 

MODERATOR: Senior Administration Official Two, do you have a few remarks before we go to Q&A?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: Sure. I’m happy to make a few remarks on our – on the U.S. Government’s financial efforts with respect to Hezbollah. And I certainly will try to build upon that very comprehensive laydown of all of the illicit conduct that Hezbollah is involved in, both in Lebanon and around the world.

 

What I think it demonstrates is that Hezbollah would certainly hold itself out as a resistance organization and as a social organization, as a political organization. What it actually is is a terrorist organization, and not just a terrorist organization, but a broad organization that’s morally bankrupt to its very core.

 

As a result of all of these activities, and actually a lot of other activities, in our efforts to combat its financial support and its financial activities, we’ve adopted over the last couple of years a new approach. Traditionally, over the years, what we’ve focused on is trying to go after the terrorist financing as terrorist financing activities of Hezbollah, and we certainly continue to do that. But what I think you’ve seen over the past several years is expanding the aperture of those efforts in two ways. The first is taking a comprehensive approach to targeting all of Hezbollah’s illicit activities, and secondly, to focus more than ever before on Hezbollah’s financial activities within Lebanon and trying to make even the Lebanese financial system a hostile environment for Hezbollah to be operating in, so again, a comprehensive approach, an approach that focuses not just on the periphery, but challenging Hezbollah’s ability to conduct financial activities through the Lebanese financial system.

 

We’ve done that a number of ways. First of all, as I said, in the traditional way of focusing on Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, we’ve implemented a number of financial sanctions with respect to Hezbollah targeting their ties with the Iran Qods Force and just their general conduct within Lebanon. And I could be happy to go into some of those designations, if people are interested.

 

Secondly, we focused on Hezbollah’s activities within Syria and its alliance with the Assad regime and the violence that it’s waging upon the Syrian people and tried to highlight that through our financial and economic sanctions.

 

And then finally, and what I think is the most innovative aspect of our strategy, is focusing on Hezbollah’s illicit financial activities, to include its links with narcotics trafficking. We’ve taken a number of actions in which Hezbollah has been implicated under our drug kingpin sanctions program, and using Section 311 of the Patriot Act to target financial institutions within Lebanon that have been involved in these narcotics money-laundering activities and that have had links to Hezbollah. These include actions we’ve taken against the Lebanese Canadian Bank, and just within the past couple of months, against two exchange houses within Lebanon – the Rmeiti Exchange and the Halawi Exchange.

 

We’ve combined this with intense engagement with the Lebanese Government to try to ensure that all Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Rules and regulations and international standards are being applied throughout the Lebanese financial system to ensure the Lebanese financial system is clean and safe and integrated into the international financial system appropriately. But we’ve also made clear that if Lebanon is unable to apply Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing laws and regulations and international standards in an appropriate fashion, then it puts its access to the international financial system at risk.

 

So these are the efforts that we had. Again, I’d be happy to try to go into more detail on any of them, but let me wrap it up and open it up for questions. Thank you.

 

OPERATOR: Certainly. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, if you wish to ask a question, please press * then 1 at this time. One moment please for our first question.

 

And our first question is from the line of Mr. Michael Gordon from New York Times. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: All right. Thank you. I have two questions. One, is there any estimate of the – obviously Iran is making a large effort to supply Assad with arms, Qods Force personnel, advisors, and the like. Is there an estimate of what, in terms of resources, how much Iran is spending on this, how many billions, for example, per year? And two, there was a recent episode that’s come to light through Israeli and Nigerian officials, where they claim to have nabbed a Hezbollah cell in Nigeria that was planning attacks on Western targets and Israeli targets. Do you have any information on that?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: On this, I’ll take the second question there. We are watching very closely those reports coming out of Nigeria. We don’t have anything further than what is – has been announced, both by the Nigerian and the Israeli Governments. But it, again, is reflective of this global scope of operational activity that we’ve been encountering over these last 18, 24 months, and it’s something that we’re very concerned about. Africa, across the continent, has been an area that Hezbollah in particular has been active. Of course, they’ve used Africa for fundraising and traditionally, but they’ve been operationally active in a number of African countries, as have the Iranians, as we saw in the case in Kenya recently.

 

So we’re watching the news very, very closely out of Nigeria, but I don’t have anything further on it for you.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: Hi. I’ll try to answer the first question, although I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get into the amount of detail that I think you’re hoping for. With respect to Hezbollah financing, Iran has always been and remains the primary financial supporter of Hezbollah and Hezbollah survives on the resources that it derives from its Iranian support. That’s not to say that it doesn’t derive funds from other places. It certainly does, and I touched upon some of those in my previous remarks. But Iran still is vital to all of that. This is one of the reasons, as I said before, why we focus so heavily on ensuring that the Lebanese financial system is not a conducive environment for Hezbollah financial activities.

 

With respect to Iranian support for activities within Syria, I don’t have numbers for you. Obviously Iran is committing a significant amount of resources, both financial and otherwise, to the conflict within Syria and they’re doing it in a whole wide variety of methods and mechanisms. But I don’t have any specific details for you on that.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our next question, from the line of Lourdes Meluza, Univision News. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Yes. Hi. How are you? We saw the part of your report about Mexico, and it is very – you compliment the efforts of the Mexican Government. Not only that, but you say that there is no – basically no terrorism threat from Mexico or at the border coming sort of in Mexico or from Mexico. Yet Homeland Security reports last year in November was talking about the links of Hezbollah with drug traffic organizations in Mexico. Are you not concerned about that at all? At this point there is even – they even cite indictments where in the federal district of Virginia, they substantiate reports of (inaudible) between these cartels and Hezbollah.

 

Hello?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Well, I’ll take that – the question. Of course, we have the Arbabsiar case, which is something that has played out in the court and there’s been the sentencing yesterday. We are quite concerned about Hezbollah and its global reach. We don’t have evidence of an operational network – Hezbollah across South America, but it’s something that we watch for very, very, very closely. We know that Hezbollah as an organization does benefit from fundraising activity or commercial activity that ultimately benefits the organization back in Lebanon. But as for an operational link to activities in South America, Central America, or Mexico, we don’t have that.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our next question from the line of Mr. Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Yes. Thank you. I just wanted to ask you to elaborate on what you were saying about governments – “the increasingly firm response of governments” is how you put it. And I know about, yes, the intensified considerations in Europe and even in the Gulf Cooperation Council to declare Hezbollah or to – designate Hezbollah or --

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah, is – have you finished asking the question? I --

 

QUESTION: Yes, yes. I have, sorry.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if you broke up there. Well, it is – those are – the conversation in the EU, of course, is in many ways the most significant, and I think we would all recognize that, given that this question has come up previously but has never really been taken up with the kind of seriousness we’re seeing now among governments across Europe.

 

What’s important, though, is that the conversation there is built really on the back of the investigations that have taken place in courts. As I noted, the Cyprus case and conviction, but also the investigation in Bulgaria that illuminates the evidence quite clearly of Lebanese operational activity commitment of terrorist acts on European soil, so the one builds on the other. We also, however, are seeing the prosecution in Thailand, which we believe is significant.

 

We are – the debate, of course, within the Arab League, as was noted in the GCC, is itself important, particularly when you consider where the issue and perhaps the popular image, as it were, of Hezbollah was within the Arab world just a few short years ago. That is completely reversed. Governments are onto what this organization really is, as was pointed out by my colleague. It’s a criminal organization, a terrorist organization, which really – can really no longer lay claim to its traditional self-identity or projected identity as a political organization within Lebanon.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our next question from the line of Joyce Karam, Al Hayat newspaper. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Yes. Hi. I was wondering if you have any estimate on the number of fighters that Hezbollah has in Syria right now. And I know you said you expect more terrorism in the next year from Hezbollah, but given their involvement in Syria, how will this shape you think Hezbollah’s military calculation going into war with Israel or other conventional things they’ve done in the last few years?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I don’t think we have an estimate on the number of fighters. I mean there are, of course, a lot of people trying to look at this question. I think it’s fair to say, however, that the organization has made an all-in commitment to defend and support the Assad regime and is throwing whatever resources are required at that, and of course as reports indicate is suffering the consequences as well in terms of fighters being killed in Syria as well. But we don’t have an estimate of the numbers.

 

With regard to what these trends indicate for what we can expect for the future and what this means for Hezbollah’s – the potential for destabilizing activity with regard to Israel, I mean I think that’s something that the organization has made a part of its identity. It is a destabilizing force within the region. It certainly is so within Lebanon and its actions in Syria and its declarations to essentially define the Syrian conflict as a sectarian conflict, which of course is sparking an intensified fight within the country of a sectarian nature. These are further indications that the organization itself plays a destabilizing role within Lebanon and then more broadly in the region if we needed further evidence of that.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our next question from the line of Mr. Shaun Waterman, Washington Times. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Oh, yes. Hello. Thanks for doing this, gentlemen, and – but I mean, can I just register a complaint about it being on background?

 

My question – I have two questions. Firstly, could you – do you see the danger – do you see any connection between what’s happening in Syria and the sort of surge of sectarian violence in Iraq, number one?

 

And number two, you talked about – you said we don’t have any evidence of operational networks in Central or South America or Mexico. Did you have evidence of operational networks in Thailand, Bulgaria, Cyprus, prior to the commission of these attacks last year? I guess what I’m trying to get a sense of is, I mean, were you surprised that they had this ability to launch these attacks in these places? And just sort of, can you link back to your level of confidence about your assessment with regard to the situation south of the U.S. border?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Well, let me start by saying that, as I noted before, the – when we released the report, we noted that the increase in activity is something we haven’t seen since the 1990s. And the 1990s was a period, of course, where Hezbollah also was operationally active, committing attacks in multiple parts of the world, to include Europe. So the fact that Hezbollah had operational networks historically in Europe is not new to us, is not surprising. And in fact, we were already in the spring of 2012 having numerous conversations with European governments about the danger that Hezbollah was posing, and that was on the basis of information we were aware of that indicated an increased operational tempo in Europe. And those conversations coincided then with the events that played out in the summer to include the attack in Bulgaria. So we were not surprised that – when – ultimately when we started to see the evidence play out and then in the course of the court case in Cyprus.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our next question from the line of Ilhan Tanir, BBC Turkish. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Thanks so much. My questions, again, is Hezbollah in Syria. First question is: Two days ago, State Department and the White House condemned in strongest terms Hezbollah duties in Syria and demand immediate withdrawal. Do you have any kind of news that they are heeding your demand?

 

Second question is: As far as we can see, they are still fighting fiercely. If they are not heeding your demands, what is your Plan B?

 

And the third: The common theme now in Middle East that Russia is taking care of its allies in Middle East, but U.S. is just basically talking the talk. But when it comes to supporting its allies and Syrian rebels, forces like Syrian rebels, it’s just giving advice and watching the situation unfolding. Syrian military – head of Syrian Military Council Salim Idris has been giving interviews for the last two days and basically begging for some help. There are 30- to 40,000 people, according to different estimates, that if the town Qusayr falls to regime, they might be in danger of imminent massacre. What are you doing besides giving condemnation and talk?

 

Thank you.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Well, I think I’m going to defer on the broader Syria questions to Ambassador Ford and those who are working this issue most closely. However, I will say that we do believe that we need to raise the concern about the involvement of Hezbollah in that conflict. We have done the same thing with our concerns about the involvement of other foreign parties, whether they be nationals of different countries moving in to join the al-Nusrah Front or al-Qaida in Iraq’s sponsorship of al-Nusrah Front, in Syria. We think that this kind of foreign involvement is – marks an escalation in the conflict, and we will condemn it from both sides.

 

But it’s very important that we call out Hezbollah and its activities in Syria for what they are, and I would remind that we began doing that in the fall of 2012. In fact, there were a number of sanctions and designations made by the Treasury Department in the fall of 2012, and my colleague may want to discuss those in greater detail. And that was done in – months and months ago. It’s only now, of course, that Hezbollah is owning up to the extent and level of its involvement in the conflict, which is, of course, turning the conflict into a new, more dangerous direction. And as you heard, that was described and condemned strongly by our spokesman just two days ago at the briefing.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you.

 

MODERATOR: We’ve got time for one more question, Operator.

 

OPERATOR: Certainly. And our next question from the line of Guita Mirsaeedi from Voice of America. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Yes, thank you very much for the conference call. Iran announced a couple of days ago that it is extending a $4 billion line of credit to Syria. I was wondering – and they’re saying that it’s for economic purposes, for reconstruction, and development of business and things like that. Do you think something like this, given the situation on the ground in Syria, is plausible? Is it legitimate, do you think? And do you – and is it even possible, considering that Iran is heavily under sanctions, financial sanctions, and Syria to some extent as well? Thank you.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: I’ll take that question. I mean, I think – and thanks for the question. I mean, I think it’s an important issue to point out that while the Iranian economy is going down the tubes as a result of its own mismanagement of its economy and as a result of comprehensive international sanctions, and while the Iranian people are suffering as a result of that, that Iran still manages to find resources to send to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and to support the Assad regime’s violence against its own people in Syria. I think it’s important to point that out.

 

The fact of the matter is, is that Iran and organizations like Hezbollah are acting irresponsibly in this regard and we have a whole wide array of sanctions that we are prepared to deploy when we see financial institutions or other types of institutions around the world that are engaged in sanction-able activity. And we’ve demonstrated that we’re prepared to use that, and we implement financial sanctions all the time with respect to entities that are involved in financial activities with Iran.

 

Iran is often big on promises. If we see financial activity that is sanction-able – and that’s an awful lot of different types of financial activity with Iran – we will certainly exercise our tools and ensure that the financial institutions involved are isolated from the international financial system.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And our final question from the line of Mr. Adam Aigner from CNN. Please go ahead.

 

QUESTION: Hey. Yeah, thank you for doing the call. I – this question might be more from the Treasury side, but you talk about how you’ve seen more activity from Hezbollah and Iran, I guess more from the Hezbollah side too, since the 1990s and you list a lot of these sanctions and these activities you’re taking against them. But it seems if they’re able to still expand that these haven’t been effective or as effective as you would hope. Does this recent sort of spurt of activity encourage you to take further actions or look to expand the scope of the sanctions or financial actions you’re taking against these groups?

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: I’m sorry. Are you asking that with respect to Hezbollah? Is that what the question’s focused on?

 

QUESTION: Yes.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO: Okay. I wouldn’t say that our sanctions have been ineffective. In fact, I think our sanctions have been quite effective, and again, challenging Hezbollah’s ability to conduct business as usual in the international financial system at large, and most importantly within the Lebanese financial system. We have taken one important bank offline within Lebanon that was involved in a whole wide variety of illicit types of activity. We’ve targeted the ability to access the financial system through other types of financial institutions like money exchangers. And as I said before, we’ve worked very, very closely with the Lebanese financial authorities themselves to ensure that very strict anti-money laundering requirements are being imposed on Lebanese banks and financial institutions. And we – and this is not the end of this campaign; we’re in the midst of this campaign.

 

And as – to answer your question, and it certainly will continue. We’ll continue to monitor Hezbollah’s financial activities throughout the world. We will continue to work with our colleagues throughout the United States Government, including with U.S. law enforcement to bring people to justice who were involved in supporting Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, and we will redouble our efforts, because I think they’re important efforts, and I think they are, in fact, having an impact.

 

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Can I just add to that, that what we’re seeing in this global response now – people that are – governments that are finally beginning to take their own actions against Hezbollah that might in some ways parallel the actions that we’ve been taking. This offers the opportunity for a significant impact upon Hezbollah and its ability to operate in the way that it has over these years. They will – we will – as I said, we’re watching very closely the EU discussion on designation of the organization, and what that offers is the opportunity for greater scrutiny of Hezbollah’s activities. It will offer opportunities for law enforcement and other actions to begin to reduce their scope of activity in a very significant way. So I think that this global recognition of Hezbollah’s destabilizing activities is going to be a very, very important step in this broader campaign.

 

OPERATOR: Thank you. And that does conclude our question-and-answer session at this time. I’ll turn it back to you for any closing remarks.

 

MODERATOR: I think that’s all we have. Thank you all for joining the call.

 

In recognition of their outstanding service to Delaware, Governor John Carney honored 13 young people and five groups with the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards during a ceremony May 24 at the Polytech Adult Education Conference Center in Woodside.

 

“Across the state, I am impressed by the level of commitment our young people have to serving others,” Governor Carney said. “I am proud to honor their energy, spirit and willingness as they help us to build stronger and healthier communities. Without question, they demonstrate that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”

 

More than 200 people, including Renee Beaman, director of DHSS' Division of State Service Centers, which oversees the awards, and Georgeanna Windley, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service, joined the Governor in honoring the young volunteers for their outstanding service, community impact and inspiration to others.

 

The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the Governor and are coordinated by the State Office of Volunteerism and the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service.

 

2017 GOVERNOR’S YOUTH VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

 

INDIVIDUALS

 

Wei-Ling Moloy

Arts & Culture

Nominator: Angela Williamson

 

Wei-Ling Moloy is an active volunteer at Hagley Museum & Library, serving as a youth leader in its Youth Leadership Program (YLP) and as a camp counselor. As a youth leader, Wei-Ling facilitates and designs programs and activities related to Hagley’s stories of technology, science, and innovation. As a camp counselor, she supported the adult camp instructors by interacting with campers, assisting with activities, and maintaining the enjoyment and safety of campers. Beginning in 2014, as a shy, quiet volunteer, Wei-Ling has grown into a strong leader who is respected both by her fellow youth leaders and the adult mentors in the Hagley Museum & Library volunteer program.

Suprit Bodla

  

Community Service

Nominator: Jim Power

 

Since 2013, Suprit Bodla has volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, Christiana Care Health System and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). He has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit LLS and also to raise public awareness of the fight against blood cancer. Suprit is also a student mentor for the Science Ambassadors Program at the Charter School of Wilmington, where he, along with his peers, helped to organize a STEM tutoring program at Marbrook Elementary School and work with the Delaware Children’s Museum to provide science and match activities for Engineering Week.

 

Nadeem D. Boggerty

Community Service

Nominators: Adrienne Gomez

 

Dover High School honor student Nadeem D. Boggerty has been volunteering in his community for the past six years with his church, his school and through social organizations. One of the many organizations at which Nadeem volunteers is the Calvary Church in Dover, where he and his family help pack boxes and assist with dinner on Thanksgiving each year. Nadeem also participates in several social service organizations (the Omega Gents, a program steered by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; EMBODI, hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and BeB.O.L.D., a nonprofit youth mentoring organization in Dover) where he has helped feed the homeless, staff information tables at Back-to-School Fairs, toy drives, First State Community Day, and other activities that support the local community.

 

Sarah Davis

Education

Nominator: Michelle Neef

 

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Davis been volunteering with Faithful Friends Animal Society for four years. Sarah passionately promotes, educates and supports her community and has become a true leader and advocate for her generation. Furthermore, she displays great compassion while taking the initiative to ensure the safety of animals. Her tenacity has saved the lives of many dogs and cats, and improved the lives of neighbors who care for them. Sarah has provided long-term foster care to neonate kittens and delivered food from Faithful Friends Animal Society Pet Food Bank to pet owners with low incomes or those struggling in other ways to assist them in keeping their family pets in their home. She also rescued dogs and cats from perilous environments and has been instrumental for the Trap-Neuter-Return program, which works to reduce and improve the community cat population.

 

Cheyenne McGowan

Environment

Nominator: Emily Krueger

 

Cheyenne McGowan started with the Brandywine Zoo as a summer teen intern with its Zoo Camps during the summer of 2016. After the summer, she continued her volunteer efforts by signing up to help with various educational events at the zoo, including International Red Panda Day, Vulture Weekend, and Noon Year’s Eve. Her role for these events was educating the public at learning stations using animal artifacts, activities, or crafts. In addition, Cheyenne frequently came in to interpret the zoo’s animal exhibits to the public as a docent. Since she started volunteering a year ago, Cheyenne has helped educate hundreds of people at the zoo, which serves the greater Wilmington area, on different environmental topics, including climate change, animal adaptations, and specific animal facts.

 

Michael Robinette

Health & Special Needs

Nominator: Margaret Jenkins

 

Since 2013, Michael Robinette has volunteered with the Mary Campbell Center’s Children & Youth program. Mike works with more than 100 children each summer, in a variety of age groups with unique physical or intellectual disabilities. His responsibilities include assisting children in different activities throughout the day such as arts and crafts, games, swimming and cooking. Mike also supports staff with talent show planning and production. Additionally, he provides supervision and companionship for campers on field trips during the summer camp program. Mike gets to know the campers on a one-on-one level and is quick to learn their likes and dislikes, and when they need or want help.

 

Santiago Vizcaino

Health & Special Needs

Nominator: Richard Huber

 

Santiago Vizcaino began volunteering with the Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired in the summer of 2016. During his time with the agency, Santiago has provided assistance in producing resource material for students with visual impairments, assisting staff with departmental projects and developing training procedures for the organization. Beginning at the Instruction Resource Material Center, Santiago produced large-print reading material for students, which were provided to 247 students. He developed a process that allowed books to be converted to PDF format, which allows a student with a visual impairment to use an iPad or other electronic device to review the document via voice narration or zoom text option, depending on the individual student’s needs. In addition, Santiago helped to develop training procedures for other volunteers.

 

Joy Baker

Human Needs

Nominator: Joyce Sessoms

 

In 2016 alone, Joy Baker volunteered an estimated 200+ hours in a variety of capacities in the Delmar and Laurel communities. She serves on the Youth Board of Directors of The ARK Education Resource Center, volunteers at her church as an assistant to the program coordinator responsible for youth activities, and is a member of the National Honor Society. For ARK, Joy acts as a recruiter and fundraiser, and is also an active participant in ARK-sponsored events like the Back-to-School Extravaganza held in Janosik Park.

 

Katelyn Craft

Human Needs

Nominator: Emily Holcombe

 

In July 2016, Katelyn Craft began volunteering at Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), Delaware’s first and only nonprofit pediatric skilled nursing facility for children who are medically fragile. Through the Resident Playdate volunteer program, ECC is able to provide the residents the chance to interact with individuals who can offer something other than medical care. At age 14, Katy knew she wanted to bring smiles and joy to children who have extensive medical needs. She has spent more than 100 hours reading, playing games, watching movies, assisting with arts and crafts projects, or just spending quality time with children who have little family involvement. In addition, Katy volunteered her time assisting with special events and fundraisers, like the Gala Fundraiser and Visits with Santa.

 

Daevean DeShields

Human Needs

Nominator: Aaron Tyson

 

Following the inspiration of his grandfather, Daevean DeShields created Project HOOP, which stands for Helping Out Other People. The goal of Project HOOP was to fill 1,000 bags with supplies to be distributed to people who are homeless through Faith United Methodist Church’s Open Hands Sound & Clothing Ministry. After recruiting from his local and school community (including his school principal), Daevean was able to meet and surpass his goal with a remarkable 1,015 bags assembled.

 

Jakob Ryan Thomas

Public Safety

Nominator: Shirin Skovronski

 

For almost two years, Jakob Ryan Thomas has volunteered as a junior firefighter with the Mill Creek Fire Company. In 2016 alone, he responded to 488 calls of emergency responses to structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, medical assistance, and other miscellaneous calls, amassing more than 500 volunteer hours. Jakob’s actions assisted the community in multiple emergencies, which were often quite serious and dangerous in nature.

 

Richard Thomas

Public Safety

Nominator: Robert Bassett, Jr.

 

Richard Thomas has been a volunteer firefighter with Camden-Wyoming Fire Company for two years, assisting in more than 300 emergency situations such as car accidents and house fires. Richard also assists with teaching fire prevention to children. Despite his youth, Richard is well-respected at the fire company and is seen as a mentor for new firefighters.

 

Ananya Singh

Social Justice/Advocacy

Nominator: Meghan Pasricha

 

For the past nine years, Ananya Singh has been a member of the Global Youth H.E.L.P. Inc. (GYH), a Delaware nonprofit whose mission is to train and support young people to become leaders by serving their communities through community service projects. Ananya served first as president of the middle school chapter and is currently chair of the high school chapter. Her time and efforts have been vital for many different community service projects, including the Annual Backpack Donation for the YWCA Home-Life Center, the Christmas Hygiene Product Donation, the Annual Ice Cream Party for the YWCA Home-Life Center and the Premier Charities Feeding the Homeless. She also has taught English and karate to younger children.

 

GROUPS

 

Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club

Arts & Culture

Nominator: Kenny Monroe

 

Following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew (Sept. 28-Oct. 10, 2016) in the Caribbean, the Teen TITAN program members of the Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club developed the “Hope for Haiti Donation Drive.” In a relatively short time, the Team Titan program members spent 400 hours collecting clothing, toiletries, bottled water, educational material and other items. More than 300 items filled more than 10 boxes and were sent to the people in Haiti to be used as they began to rebuild and recover from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.

 

Cape Henlopen High School Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program

Community Service

Nominator: Angela Thompson

 

For 10 continuous years, the participants of the Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program (JROTC) at Cape Henlopen High School have learned that everyone belongs to a community and therefore has a responsibility to that community. The 45 young men and women who comprise the current JROTC roster continue that legacy of service by devoting an average of 2,000 man-hours to community service activities benefiting a number of organizations, including the Delaware Seashore State Park, Beebe Medical Center, American Red Cross Blood Drive, the Salvation Army, Brandywine Senior Citizens Center and the National Kidney Foundation.

 

A.I. du Pont Middle School – Walk in the Kings Footsteps

Education

Nominator: Michele Fidance

 

When posed with the question “What will I do to walk in the footsteps of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the student body of A.I. du Pont Middle School in Wilmington decided to answer the question literally. A small group of students, led by Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) instructors, were given the project of researching the speeches of Dr. King in order to choose quotes that meant something to them. The students then inscribed their selected quote on a cut-out of a footprint, which was then affixed to the wall in the cafeteria as a means to inspire their fellow students. Once students beyond the JDG classes saw the footprints, they wanted to participate as well. The project helped to raise awareness among students of Dr. King’s life, teaching and legacy, and how it translates into community action and service.

 

P.S. duPont Middle School Student Council – Adopt a Family

Health and Special Needs

Nominator: Mallory Stratton

 

Each year, the student council of P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington spearheads its annual Adopt-A-Family Drive. The drive involves the school community at-large adopting the families of 15 to 20 P.S. duPont students who are need assistance to make the holiday season a little brighter. The donations of clothing, books and toys generated by the student council benefited upwards of 50 fellow students and their siblings in 2016.

 

Delmar High School - Wildcat Wellness Pantry

Human Needs

Nominator: Michele Fidance

 

The Wildcat Wellness Pantry is a food pantry at the Delmar American Legion, which provides nonperishable food and household items for individuals in need. The pantry is staffed by as many as eight Jobs for Delaware Graduate (JDG) volunteers. The JDG volunteers come in on Saturdays to assist families in need and taking inventory to ensure the pantry can reach even more people. An additional group of more than 60 volunteers collect the proceeds from canned food drives that occur during the school year to continually stock the pantry.

 

On November 1, 2018 the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Foundation honored members of the Department who have demonstrated exceptional bravery, excellence, and commitment to their community.

 

VALOR

 

This year the Medal of Valor and Award of Merit honorees include seven members who distinguished themselves while off duty in Las Vegas, during the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival and a member who saved the lives of three young children at a structure fire in Wilmington.

 

Medal of Valor: A member is entitled to consideration for this award by performing an act of conspicuous heroism and/or bravery under extreme personal risk above and beyond the calculated personal risk demands of the fire service. Seven members earned this prestigious award this year, they are:

 

Firefighter/Paramedic Rio-Bec Hernandez

 

Firefighter III Darin Crandell

 

Captain II Ted Kalnas

 

Captain I Brett Kearns

 

Firefighter/Paramedic Michael Mandahl

 

Firefighter III Nicholas Shrode

 

Engineer Robert James Hays III

 

Award of Merit: Earned by members taking conspicuous action in rendering aid during a life-saving or life-threatening situation under circumstances which pose calculated risk to the members or performing an endeavor which brings significant credit to the Department. This outstanding award goes to:

 

Firefighter III Anthony Michael Cresta

 

Lifetime Achievement Award: Presented to a retiree of the Department who exemplifies the true spirit of “Service to the Community” through their actions while on active duty and as a retired member. This year’s recipient is:

 

Chaplain George Negrete (retired)

 

The Crystal Flame Community Service Award: Presented to a sworn member of the Department who has gone beyond their regular duties, demonstrating exceptional compassion and personal commitment to the community. This year’s recipients are:

 

Battalion Chief Alicia Welch (retired)

 

Battalion Chief Kris Larson

 

Captain II Monica Hall

 

Captain I Jennifer Wilcox

 

Chief’s Distinguished Service Award: Presented when an individual or a Section of the Department performs with distinction in service to the LAFD and the community. We are proud to present this award to:

 

LAFD Air Operations

 

Legacy Service Award: In her role as the former President of the LAFD Foundation, she was instrumental in raising money to fund and develop youth programs, technology, equipment, and leadership training for our Department. We are honored to give this award to: Ms. Karen Wagener.

 

"Our members routinely respond to a variety of incidents that place significant risks on themselves. The members being honored have exceeded what is typically expected of them and deserve to be recognized. I would like to acknowledge the LAFD Foundation for making this event possible, with special thanks to our new Foundation President, Ms. Liz Lin, our Board Chairman Mr. Mike Ahmar as well as the Foundation Board and Support members who have worked tirelessly to produce another outstanding event." - LAFD Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas

 

LAFD Event - 11012018

  

Photo Use Permitted via Creative Commons - Credit: LAFD Photo | Gary Apodaca

 

Connect with us: LAFD.ORG | News | Facebook | Instagram | Reddit | Twitter: @LAFD @LAFDtalk

Holy Trinity Column

Object ID: 22660 Rathausplatz

The late Baroque Trinity Column was built 1753-1782. It is considered as latest baroque column of Lower Austria, the combination with a fountain facility is a rare design.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_denkmalgesch%C3%BCtzten_O...(Stadtteil)

 

(further information is available by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

History of the City St. Pölten

In order to present concise history of the Lower Austrian capital is in the shop of the city museum a richly illustrated full version on CD-ROM.

Tip

On the occasion of the commemoration of the pogroms of November 1938, the Institute for Jewish History of Austria its virtual Memorbuch (Memory book) for the destroyed St. Pölten Jewish community since 10th November 2012 is putting online.

Prehistory

The time from which there is no written record is named after the main materials used for tools and weapons: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Using the latest technologies, archaeologists from archaeological finds and aerial photographs can trace a fairly detailed picture of life at that time. Especially for the time from the settling down of the People (New Stone Age), now practicing agriculture and animal husbandry, in the territory of St. Pölten lively settlement activity can be proved. In particular, cemeteries are important for the research, because the dead were laid in the grave everyday objects and jewelry, the forms of burial changing over time - which in turn gives the archeology valuable clues for the temporal determination. At the same time, prehistory of Sankt Pölten would not be half as good documented without the construction of the expressway S33 and other large buildings, where millions of cubic meters of earth were moved - under the watchful eyes of the Federal Monuments Office!

A final primeval chapter characterized the Celts, who settled about 450 BC our area and in addition to a new culture and religion also brought with them the potter's wheel. The kingdom of Noricum influenced till the penetration of the Romans the development in our area.

Roman period, migrations

The Romans conquered in 15 BC the Celtic Empire and established hereinafter the Roman province of Noricum. Borders were protected by military camp (forts), in the hinterland emerged civilian cities, almost all systematically laid out according to the same plan. The civil and commercial city Aelium Cetium, as St. Pölten was called (city law 121/122), consisted in the 4th Century already of heated stone houses, trade and craft originated thriving urban life, before the Romans in the first third of the 5th Century retreated to Italy.

The subsequent period went down as the Migration Period in official historiography, for which the settlement of the Sankt Pöltner downtown can not be proved. Cemeteries witness the residence of the Lombards in our area, later it was the Avars, extending their empire to the Enns.

The recent archaeological excavations on the Cathedral Square 2010/2011, in fact, the previous knowledge of St.Pölten colonization not have turned upside down but enriched by many details, whose full analysis and publication are expected in the near future.

Middle Ages

With the submission of the Avars by Charlemagne around 800 AD Christianity was gaining a foothold, the Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee establishing a daughter house here - as founder are mentioned the brothers Adalbert and Ottokar - equipped with the relics of St. Hippolytus. The name St. Ypolit over the centuries should turn into Sankt Pölten. After the Hungarian wars and the resettlement of the monastery as Canons Regular of St. Augustine under the influence of Passau St. Pölten received mid-11th Century market rights.

In the second half of the 20th century historians stated that records in which the rights of citizens were held were to be qualified as Town Charters. Vienna is indeed already in 1137 as a city ("civitas") mentioned in a document, but the oldest Viennese city charter dates only from the year 1221, while the Bishop of Passau, Konrad, already in 1159 the St. Pöltnern secured:

A St. Pöltner citizen who has to answer to the court, has the right to make use of an "advocate".

He must not be forced to rid himself of the accusation by a judgment of God.

A St. Pöltner citizen may be convicted only by statements of fellow citizens, not by strangers.

From the 13th Century exercised a city judge appointed by the lord of the city the high and low jurisdiction as chairman of the council meetings and the Municipal Court, Inner and Outer Council supported him during the finding of justice. Venue for the public verdict was the in the 13th Century created new marketplace, the "Broad Market", now the town hall square. Originally square-shaped, it was only later to a rectangle reduced. Around it arose the market district, which together with the monastery district, the wood district and the Ledererviertel (quarter of the leather goods manufacturer) was protected by a double city wall.

The dependence of St. Pölten of the bishop of Passau is shown in the municipal coat of arms and the city seal. Based on the emblem of the heraldic animal of the Lord of the city, so the Bishop of Passau, it shows an upright standing wolf holding a crosier in its paw.

Modern Times

In the course of the armed conflict between the Emperor Frederick III . and King Matthias of Hungary pledged the Bishop of Passau the town on the Hungarian king. From 1485 stood Lower Austria as a whole under Hungarian rule. The most important document of this period is the awarding of the city coat of arms by King Matthias Corvinus in the year 1487. After the death of the opponents 1490 and 1493 could Frederick's son Maximilian reconquer Lower Austria. He considered St. Pölten as spoils of war and had no intention of returning it to the diocese of Passau. The city government has often been leased subsequently, for instance, to the family Wellenstein, and later to the families Trautson and Auersperg.

That St. Pölten now was a princely city, found its expression in the coat of arms letter of the King Ferdinand I. from 1538: From now on, the wolf had no crosier anymore, and the from the viewer's point of view left half showed the reverse Austrian shield, so silver-red-silver.

To the 16th Century also goes back the construction of St. Pöltner City Hall. The 1503 by judge and council acquired house was subsequently expanded, rebuilt, extended and provided with a tower.

A for the urban history research important picture, painted in 1623, has captured scenes of the peasant uprising of 1597, but also allows a view to the city and lets the viewer read some of the details of the then state of construction. The economic inconveniences of that time were only exacerbated by the Thirty Years War, at the end of which a fifth of the houses were uninhabited and the citizenry was impoverished.

Baroque

After the successful defense against the Turks in 1683, the economy started to recover and a significant building boom began. Lower Austria turned into the land of the baroque abbeys and monasteries, as it is familiar to us today.

In St. Pölten, the change of the cityscape is closely connected to the Baroque architect Jakob Prandtauer. In addition to the Baroquisation of the interior of the cathedral, a number of buildings in St. Pölten go to his account, so the reconstruction of the castle Ochsenburg, the erection of the Schwaighof and of the core building of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Englische Fräuleins - English Maidens) - from 1706 the seat of the first school order of St.Pölten - as well as of several bourgeois houses.

Joseph Munggenast, nephew and co-worker of Prandtauer, completed the Baroquisation of the cathedral, he baroquised the facade of the town hall (1727) and numerous bourgeois houses and designed a bridge over the Traisen which existed until 1907. In the decoration of the church buildings were throughout Tyroleans collaborating, which Jakob Prandtauer had brought along from his homeland (Tyrol) to St. Pölten, for example, Paul Troger and Peter Widerin.

Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II: Their reforms in the city of the 18th Century also left a significant mark. School foundings as a result of compulsory education, the dissolution of the monasteries and hereinafter - from 1785 - the new role of St. Pölten as a bishop's seat are consequences of their policies.

1785 was also the year of a fundamental alteration of the old Council Constitution: The city judge was replaced by one magistrate consisting of five persons, at the head was a mayor. For the first mayor the painter Josef Hackl was chosen.

The 19th century

Despite the Napoleonic Wars - St. Pölten in 1805 and 1809 was occupied by the French - and despite the state bankruptcy of 1811, increased the number of businesses constantly, although the economic importance of the city for the time being did not go beyond the near vicinity.

Against the background of monitoring by the state secret police, which prevented any political commitment between the Congress of Vienna and the 1848 revolution, the citizens withdrew into private life. Sense of family, fostering of domestic music, prominent salon societies in which even a Franz Schubert socialized, or the construction of the city theater were visible signs of this attitude.

The economic upswing of the city did not begin until after the revolution of the year 1848. A prerequisite for this was the construction of the Empress Elisabeth Western Railway, moving Vienna, Linz, soon Salzburg, too, in a reachable distance. The city walls were pulled down, St. Pölten could unfold. The convenient traffic situation favored factory start-ups, and so arose a lace factory, a revolver factory, a soap factory or, for example, as a precursor of a future large-scale enterprise, the braid, ribbon and Strickgarnerzeugung (knitting yarn production) of Matthias Salcher in Harland.

In other areas, too, the Gründerzeit (years of rapid industrial expansion in Germany - and Austria) in Sankt Pölten was honouring its name: The city got schools, a hospital, gas lanterns, canalization, hot springs and summer bath.

The 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th Century the city experienced another burst of development, initiated by the construction of the power station in 1903, because electricity was the prerequisite for the settlement of large companies. In particular, the companies Voith and Glanzstoff and the main workshop of the Federal Railways attracted many workers. New Traisen bridge, tram, Mariazell Railway and other infrastructure buildings were erected; St. Pölten obtained a synagogue. The Art Nouveau made it repeatedly into the urban architecture - just think of the Olbrich House - and inspired also the painting, as exponents worth to be mentioned are Ernst Stöhr or Ferdinand Andri.

What the outbreak of the First World War in broad outlines meant for the monarchy, on a smaller scale also St. Pölten has felt. The city was heavily impacted by the deployment of army units, a POW camp, a military hospital and a sick bay. Industrial enterprises were partly converted into war production, partly closed. Unemployment, housing emergency and food shortages long after the war still were felt painfully.

The 1919 to mayor elected Social Democrat Hubert Schnofl after the war tried to raise the standard of living of the people by improving the social welfare and health care. The founding of a housing cooperative (Wohnungsgenossenschaft), the construction of the water line and the establishment of new factories were further attempts to stimulate the stiffening economy whose descent could not be stopped until 1932.

After the National Socialist regime had stirred false hopes and plunged the world into war, St. Pölten was no longer the city as it has been before. Not only the ten devastating bombings of the last year of the war had left its marks, also the restrictive persecution of Jews and political dissidents had torn holes in the structure of the population. Ten years of Russian occupation subsequently did the rest to traumatize the population, but at this time arose from the ruins a more modern St. Pölten, with the new Traisen bridge, district heating, schools.

This trend continued, an era of recovery and modernization made the economic miracle palpable. Already in 1972 was - even if largely as a result of incorporations - exceeded the 50.000-inhabitant-limit.

Elevation to capital status (capital of Lower Austria), 10 July 1986: No other event in this dimension could have become the booster detonation of an up to now ongoing development thrust. Since then in a big way new residential and commercial areas were opened up, built infrastructure constructions, schools and universities brought into being to enrich the educational landscape. East of the Old Town arose the governmental and cultural district, and the list of architects wears sonorous names such as Ernst Hoffmann (NÖ (Lower Austria) Landhaus; Klangturm), Klaus Kada (Festspielhaus), Hans Hollein (Shedhalle and Lower Austrian Provincial Museum), Karin Bily, Paul Katzberger and Michael Loudon ( NÖ State Library and NÖ State Archive).

European Diploma, European flag, badge of honor, Europe Price: Between 1996 and 2001, received St. Pölten numerous appreciations of its EU commitment - as a sort of recognition of the Council of Europe for the dissemination of the EU-idea through international town twinnings, a major Europe exhibition or, for example, the establishment and chair of the "Network of European medium-sized cities".

On the way into the 21st century

Just now happened and already history: What the St. Pöltnern as just experienced sticks in their minds, travelers and newcomers within a short time should be told. The theater and the hospital handing over to the province of Lower Austria, a new mayor always on the go, who was able to earn since 2004 already numerous laurels (Tags: polytechnic, downtown enhancement, building lease scheme, bus concept) - all the recent changes are just now condensed into spoken and written language in order to make, from now on, the history of the young provincial capital in the 3rd millennium nachlesbar (checkable).

www.st-poelten.gv.at/Content.Node/freizeit-kultur/kultur/...

In recognition of their outstanding service to Delaware, Governor John Carney honored 13 young people and five groups with the Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards during a ceremony May 24 at the Polytech Adult Education Conference Center in Woodside.

 

“Across the state, I am impressed by the level of commitment our young people have to serving others,” Governor Carney said. “I am proud to honor their energy, spirit and willingness as they help us to build stronger and healthier communities. Without question, they demonstrate that one person can make a difference in the lives of others.”

 

More than 200 people, including Renee Beaman, director of DHSS' Division of State Service Centers, which oversees the awards, and Georgeanna Windley, Chair of the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service, joined the Governor in honoring the young volunteers for their outstanding service, community impact and inspiration to others.

 

The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards are sponsored by the Office of the Governor and are coordinated by the State Office of Volunteerism and the Governor’s Commission on Community and Volunteer Service.

 

2017 GOVERNOR’S YOUTH VOLUNTEER SERVICE AWARD WINNERS

 

INDIVIDUALS

 

Wei-Ling Moloy

Arts & Culture

Nominator: Angela Williamson

 

Wei-Ling Moloy is an active volunteer at Hagley Museum & Library, serving as a youth leader in its Youth Leadership Program (YLP) and as a camp counselor. As a youth leader, Wei-Ling facilitates and designs programs and activities related to Hagley’s stories of technology, science, and innovation. As a camp counselor, she supported the adult camp instructors by interacting with campers, assisting with activities, and maintaining the enjoyment and safety of campers. Beginning in 2014, as a shy, quiet volunteer, Wei-Ling has grown into a strong leader who is respected both by her fellow youth leaders and the adult mentors in the Hagley Museum & Library volunteer program.

Suprit Bodla

  

Community Service

Nominator: Jim Power

 

Since 2013, Suprit Bodla has volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America, Christiana Care Health System and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). He has organized a variety of fundraisers to benefit LLS and also to raise public awareness of the fight against blood cancer. Suprit is also a student mentor for the Science Ambassadors Program at the Charter School of Wilmington, where he, along with his peers, helped to organize a STEM tutoring program at Marbrook Elementary School and work with the Delaware Children’s Museum to provide science and match activities for Engineering Week.

 

Nadeem D. Boggerty

Community Service

Nominators: Adrienne Gomez

 

Dover High School honor student Nadeem D. Boggerty has been volunteering in his community for the past six years with his church, his school and through social organizations. One of the many organizations at which Nadeem volunteers is the Calvary Church in Dover, where he and his family help pack boxes and assist with dinner on Thanksgiving each year. Nadeem also participates in several social service organizations (the Omega Gents, a program steered by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.; EMBODI, hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; and BeB.O.L.D., a nonprofit youth mentoring organization in Dover) where he has helped feed the homeless, staff information tables at Back-to-School Fairs, toy drives, First State Community Day, and other activities that support the local community.

 

Sarah Davis

Education

Nominator: Michelle Neef

 

Fourteen-year-old Sarah Davis been volunteering with Faithful Friends Animal Society for four years. Sarah passionately promotes, educates and supports her community and has become a true leader and advocate for her generation. Furthermore, she displays great compassion while taking the initiative to ensure the safety of animals. Her tenacity has saved the lives of many dogs and cats, and improved the lives of neighbors who care for them. Sarah has provided long-term foster care to neonate kittens and delivered food from Faithful Friends Animal Society Pet Food Bank to pet owners with low incomes or those struggling in other ways to assist them in keeping their family pets in their home. She also rescued dogs and cats from perilous environments and has been instrumental for the Trap-Neuter-Return program, which works to reduce and improve the community cat population.

 

Cheyenne McGowan

Environment

Nominator: Emily Krueger

 

Cheyenne McGowan started with the Brandywine Zoo as a summer teen intern with its Zoo Camps during the summer of 2016. After the summer, she continued her volunteer efforts by signing up to help with various educational events at the zoo, including International Red Panda Day, Vulture Weekend, and Noon Year’s Eve. Her role for these events was educating the public at learning stations using animal artifacts, activities, or crafts. In addition, Cheyenne frequently came in to interpret the zoo’s animal exhibits to the public as a docent. Since she started volunteering a year ago, Cheyenne has helped educate hundreds of people at the zoo, which serves the greater Wilmington area, on different environmental topics, including climate change, animal adaptations, and specific animal facts.

 

Michael Robinette

Health & Special Needs

Nominator: Margaret Jenkins

 

Since 2013, Michael Robinette has volunteered with the Mary Campbell Center’s Children & Youth program. Mike works with more than 100 children each summer, in a variety of age groups with unique physical or intellectual disabilities. His responsibilities include assisting children in different activities throughout the day such as arts and crafts, games, swimming and cooking. Mike also supports staff with talent show planning and production. Additionally, he provides supervision and companionship for campers on field trips during the summer camp program. Mike gets to know the campers on a one-on-one level and is quick to learn their likes and dislikes, and when they need or want help.

 

Santiago Vizcaino

Health & Special Needs

Nominator: Richard Huber

 

Santiago Vizcaino began volunteering with the Delaware Division for the Visually Impaired in the summer of 2016. During his time with the agency, Santiago has provided assistance in producing resource material for students with visual impairments, assisting staff with departmental projects and developing training procedures for the organization. Beginning at the Instruction Resource Material Center, Santiago produced large-print reading material for students, which were provided to 247 students. He developed a process that allowed books to be converted to PDF format, which allows a student with a visual impairment to use an iPad or other electronic device to review the document via voice narration or zoom text option, depending on the individual student’s needs. In addition, Santiago helped to develop training procedures for other volunteers.

 

Joy Baker

Human Needs

Nominator: Joyce Sessoms

 

In 2016 alone, Joy Baker volunteered an estimated 200+ hours in a variety of capacities in the Delmar and Laurel communities. She serves on the Youth Board of Directors of The ARK Education Resource Center, volunteers at her church as an assistant to the program coordinator responsible for youth activities, and is a member of the National Honor Society. For ARK, Joy acts as a recruiter and fundraiser, and is also an active participant in ARK-sponsored events like the Back-to-School Extravaganza held in Janosik Park.

 

Katelyn Craft

Human Needs

Nominator: Emily Holcombe

 

In July 2016, Katelyn Craft began volunteering at Exceptional Care for Children (ECC), Delaware’s first and only nonprofit pediatric skilled nursing facility for children who are medically fragile. Through the Resident Playdate volunteer program, ECC is able to provide the residents the chance to interact with individuals who can offer something other than medical care. At age 14, Katy knew she wanted to bring smiles and joy to children who have extensive medical needs. She has spent more than 100 hours reading, playing games, watching movies, assisting with arts and crafts projects, or just spending quality time with children who have little family involvement. In addition, Katy volunteered her time assisting with special events and fundraisers, like the Gala Fundraiser and Visits with Santa.

 

Daevean DeShields

Human Needs

Nominator: Aaron Tyson

 

Following the inspiration of his grandfather, Daevean DeShields created Project HOOP, which stands for Helping Out Other People. The goal of Project HOOP was to fill 1,000 bags with supplies to be distributed to people who are homeless through Faith United Methodist Church’s Open Hands Sound & Clothing Ministry. After recruiting from his local and school community (including his school principal), Daevean was able to meet and surpass his goal with a remarkable 1,015 bags assembled.

 

Jakob Ryan Thomas

Public Safety

Nominator: Shirin Skovronski

 

For almost two years, Jakob Ryan Thomas has volunteered as a junior firefighter with the Mill Creek Fire Company. In 2016 alone, he responded to 488 calls of emergency responses to structure fires, motor vehicle crashes, medical assistance, and other miscellaneous calls, amassing more than 500 volunteer hours. Jakob’s actions assisted the community in multiple emergencies, which were often quite serious and dangerous in nature.

 

Richard Thomas

Public Safety

Nominator: Robert Bassett, Jr.

 

Richard Thomas has been a volunteer firefighter with Camden-Wyoming Fire Company for two years, assisting in more than 300 emergency situations such as car accidents and house fires. Richard also assists with teaching fire prevention to children. Despite his youth, Richard is well-respected at the fire company and is seen as a mentor for new firefighters.

 

Ananya Singh

Social Justice/Advocacy

Nominator: Meghan Pasricha

 

For the past nine years, Ananya Singh has been a member of the Global Youth H.E.L.P. Inc. (GYH), a Delaware nonprofit whose mission is to train and support young people to become leaders by serving their communities through community service projects. Ananya served first as president of the middle school chapter and is currently chair of the high school chapter. Her time and efforts have been vital for many different community service projects, including the Annual Backpack Donation for the YWCA Home-Life Center, the Christmas Hygiene Product Donation, the Annual Ice Cream Party for the YWCA Home-Life Center and the Premier Charities Feeding the Homeless. She also has taught English and karate to younger children.

 

GROUPS

 

Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club

Arts & Culture

Nominator: Kenny Monroe

 

Following the devastation of Hurricane Matthew (Sept. 28-Oct. 10, 2016) in the Caribbean, the Teen TITAN program members of the Greater Milford Boys & Girls Club developed the “Hope for Haiti Donation Drive.” In a relatively short time, the Team Titan program members spent 400 hours collecting clothing, toiletries, bottled water, educational material and other items. More than 300 items filled more than 10 boxes and were sent to the people in Haiti to be used as they began to rebuild and recover from the effects of Hurricane Matthew.

 

Cape Henlopen High School Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program

Community Service

Nominator: Angela Thompson

 

For 10 continuous years, the participants of the Army Junior Reserve Officers Training Program (JROTC) at Cape Henlopen High School have learned that everyone belongs to a community and therefore has a responsibility to that community. The 45 young men and women who comprise the current JROTC roster continue that legacy of service by devoting an average of 2,000 man-hours to community service activities benefiting a number of organizations, including the Delaware Seashore State Park, Beebe Medical Center, American Red Cross Blood Drive, the Salvation Army, Brandywine Senior Citizens Center and the National Kidney Foundation.

 

A.I. du Pont Middle School – Walk in the Kings Footsteps

Education

Nominator: Michele Fidance

 

When posed with the question “What will I do to walk in the footsteps of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the student body of A.I. du Pont Middle School in Wilmington decided to answer the question literally. A small group of students, led by Jobs for Delaware Graduates (JDG) instructors, were given the project of researching the speeches of Dr. King in order to choose quotes that meant something to them. The students then inscribed their selected quote on a cut-out of a footprint, which was then affixed to the wall in the cafeteria as a means to inspire their fellow students. Once students beyond the JDG classes saw the footprints, they wanted to participate as well. The project helped to raise awareness among students of Dr. King’s life, teaching and legacy, and how it translates into community action and service.

 

P.S. duPont Middle School Student Council – Adopt a Family

Health and Special Needs

Nominator: Mallory Stratton

 

Each year, the student council of P.S. duPont Middle School in Wilmington spearheads its annual Adopt-A-Family Drive. The drive involves the school community at-large adopting the families of 15 to 20 P.S. duPont students who are need assistance to make the holiday season a little brighter. The donations of clothing, books and toys generated by the student council benefited upwards of 50 fellow students and their siblings in 2016.

 

Delmar High School - Wildcat Wellness Pantry

Human Needs

Nominator: Michele Fidance

 

The Wildcat Wellness Pantry is a food pantry at the Delmar American Legion, which provides nonperishable food and household items for individuals in need. The pantry is staffed by as many as eight Jobs for Delaware Graduate (JDG) volunteers. The JDG volunteers come in on Saturdays to assist families in need and taking inventory to ensure the pantry can reach even more people. An additional group of more than 60 volunteers collect the proceeds from canned food drives that occur during the school year to continually stock the pantry.

  

Entrance Walk to GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Constitution Gardens along Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool North Elm Walkway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography

 

Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/

 

Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020

@ THE FINISH LINE

 

My son at the finish of the Commitment Day 5K in Mpls.

(street musician)

Commitment to fashion: I had a whole new level of respect for this lady after watching her casually dive into the River Aire (Leeds) in order to recapture a Trilby hat that was blown away by the wind!

Maxim Gorky

 

Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в or Пе́шков;[1] 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1868 – 18 June 1936), primarily known as Maxim Gorky (Russian: Макси́м Го́рький), was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method, and a political activist.[2] He was also a five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature.[3] Around fifteen years before success as a writer, he frequently changed jobs and roamed across the Russian Empire; these experiences would later influence his writing. Gorky's most famous works were The Lower Depths (1902), Twenty-six Men and a Girl (1899), The Song of the Stormy Petrel (1901), My Childhood (1913–1914), Mother (1906), Summerfolk (1904) and Children of the Sun (1905). He had an association with fellow Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov; Gorky would later mention them in his memoirs.

 

Gorky was active with the emerging Marxist social-democratic movement. He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime, and for a time closely associated himself with Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov's Bolshevik wing of the party. For a significant part of his life, he was exiled from Russia and later the Soviet Union. In 1932, he returned to the USSR on Joseph Stalin's personal invitation and lived there until his death in June 1936.

Contents

 

1 Life

1.1 Early years

1.2 Political and literary development

1.3 Capri years

1.4 Return from exile

1.5 Povolzhye famine

1.6 Second exile

1.7 Death of Lenin

1.8 Return to Russia: last years

1.9 Apologist for the gulag

1.10 Hostility to gays

1.11 Conflicts[citation needed] with Stalinists

1.12 Death

2 Depictions and adaptations

3 Selected works

3.1 Novels

3.2 Novellas

3.3 Short stories

3.4 Drama

3.5 Non-fiction

3.6 Collections

4 See also

5 Notes

6 Sources

7 Further reading

8 External links

 

Life

Early years

 

Born as Alexei Maximovich Peshkov on 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1868, in Nizhny Novgorod, Gorky became an orphan at the age of eleven. He was brought up by his grandmother[2] and ran away from home at the age of twelve in 1880. After an attempt at suicide in December 1887, he travelled on foot across the Russian Empire for five years, changing jobs and accumulating impressions used later in his writing.[2]

 

As a journalist working for provincial newspapers, he wrote under the pseudonym Иегудиил Хламида (Jehudiel Khlamida).[4] He started using the pseudonym "Gorky" (from горький; literally "bitter") in 1892, when his first short story, "Makar Chudra", was published by the newspaper Kavkaz (The Caucasus) in Tiflis, where he spent several weeks doing menial jobs, mostly for the Caucasian Railway workshops.[5][6][7] The name reflected his simmering anger about life in Russia and a determination to speak the bitter truth. Gorky's first book Очерки и рассказы (Essays and Stories) in 1898 enjoyed a sensational success, and his career as a writer began. Gorky wrote incessantly, viewing literature less as an aesthetic practice (though he worked hard on style and form) than as a moral and political act that could change the world. He described the lives of people in the lowest strata and on the margins of society, revealing their hardships, humiliations, and brutalisation, but also their inward spark of humanity.[2]

Political and literary development

Anton Chekhov and Gorky. 1900, Yalta

 

Gorky's reputation grew as a unique literary voice from the bottom strata of society and as a fervent advocate of Russia's social, political, and cultural transformation. By 1899, he was openly associating with the emerging Marxist social-democratic movement, which helped make him a celebrity among both the intelligentsia and the growing numbers of "conscious" workers. At the heart of all his work was a belief in the inherent worth and potential of the human person. In his writing, he counterposed individuals, aware of their natural dignity, and inspired by energy and will, with people who succumb to the degrading conditions of life around them. Both his writings and his letters reveal a "restless man" (a frequent self-description) struggling to resolve contradictory feelings of faith and scepticism, love of life and disgust at the vulgarity and pettiness of the human world.[citation needed]

 

In 1916, Gorky said that the teachings of the ancient Jewish sage Hillel the Elder deeply influenced his life: "In my early youth I read...the words of...Hillel, if I remember rightly: 'If thou art not for thyself, who will be for thee? But if thou art for thyself alone, wherefore art thou'? The inner meaning of these words impressed me with its profound wisdom...The thought ate its way deep into my soul, and I say now with conviction: Hillel's wisdom served as a strong staff on my road, which was neither even nor easy. I believe that Jewish wisdom is more all-human and universal than any other; and this not only because of its immemorial age...but because of the powerful humaneness that saturates it, because of its high estimate of man."[8]

 

He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime and was arrested many times. Gorky befriended many revolutionaries and became a personal friend of Vladimir Lenin after they met in 1902. He exposed governmental control of the press (see Matvei Golovinski affair). In 1902, Gorky was elected an honorary Academician of Literature, but Tsar Nicholas II ordered this annulled. In protest, Anton Chekhov and Vladimir Korolenko left the Academy.[9]

Leo Tolstoy with Gorky in Yasnaya Polyana, 1900

 

From 1900 to 1905, Gorky's writings became more optimistic. He became more involved in the opposition movement, for which he was again briefly imprisoned in 1901. In 1904, having severed his relationship with the Moscow Art Theatre in the wake of conflict with Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, Gorky returned to Nizhny Novgorod to establish a theatre of his own.[10] Both Konstantin Stanislavski and Savva Morozov provided financial support for the venture.[11] Stanislavski believed that Gorky's theatre was an opportunity to develop the network of provincial theatres which he hoped would reform the art of the stage in Russia, a dream of his since the 1890s.[11] He sent some pupils from the Art Theatre School—as well as Ioasaf Tikhomirov, who ran the school—to work there.[11] By the autumn, however, after the censor had banned every play that the theatre proposed to stage, Gorky abandoned the project.[11]

 

As a financially successful author, editor, and playwright, Gorky gave financial support to the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP), as well as supporting liberal appeals to the government for civil rights and social reform. The brutal shooting of workers marching to the Tsar with a petition for reform on 9 January 1905 (known as the "Bloody Sunday"), which set in motion the Revolution of 1905, seems to have pushed Gorky more decisively toward radical solutions. He became closely associated with Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov's Bolshevik wing of the party, with Bogdanov taking responsibility for the transfer of funds from Gorky to Vpered.[12] It is not clear whether he ever formally joined, and his relations with Lenin and the Bolsheviks would always be rocky. His most influential writings in these years were a series of political plays, most famously The Lower Depths (1902). While briefly imprisoned in Peter and Paul Fortress during the abortive 1905 Russian Revolution, Gorky wrote the play Children of the Sun, nominally set during an 1862 cholera epidemic, but universally understood to relate to present-day events. He was released from the prison after a European-wide campaign, which was supported by Marie Curie, Auguste Rodin and Anatole France, amongst others.[13]

 

In 1906, the Bolsheviks sent him on a fund-raising trip to the United States with Ivan Narodny. When visiting the Adirondack Mountains, Gorky wrote Мать (Mat', Mother), his notable novel of revolutionary conversion and struggle. His experiences in the United States—which included a scandal over his travelling with his lover (the actress Maria Andreyeva) rather than his wife—deepened his contempt for the "bourgeois soul" but also his admiration for the boldness of the American spirit.[citation needed]

Capri years

In 1909–1911 Gorky lived on the island of Capri in the burgundy-coloured "Villa Behring".

 

From 1906 to 1913, Gorky lived on the island of Capri in southern Italy, partly for health reasons and partly to escape the increasingly repressive atmosphere in Russia.[2] He continued to support the work of Russian social-democracy, especially the Bolsheviks and invited Anatoly Lunacharsky to stay with him on Capri. The two men had worked together on Literaturny Raspad which appeared in 1908. It was during this period that Gorky, along with Lunacharsky, Bogdanov and Vladimir Bazarov developed the idea of an Encyclopedia of Russian History as a socialist version of Diderot's Encyclopedia. During a visit to Switzerland, Gorky met Lenin, who he charged spent an inordinate amount of his time feuding with other revolutionaries, writing: "He looked awful. Even his tongue seemed to have turned grey".[14] Despite his atheism,[15] Gorky was not a materialist.[16] Most controversially, he articulated, along with a few other maverick Bolsheviks, a philosophy he called "God-Building" (богостроительство, bogostroitel'stvo),[2] which sought to recapture the power of myth for the revolution and to create a religious atheism that placed collective humanity where God had been and was imbued with passion, wonderment, moral certainty, and the promise of deliverance from evil, suffering, and even death. Though 'God-Building' was ridiculed by Lenin, Gorky retained his belief that "culture"—the moral and spiritual awareness of the value and potential of the human self—would be more critical to the revolution's success than political or economic arrangements.

Return from exile

 

An amnesty granted for the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty allowed Gorky to return to Russia in 1913, where he continued his social criticism, mentored other writers from the common people, and wrote a series of important cultural memoirs, including the first part of his autobiography.[2] On returning to Russia, he wrote that his main impression was that "everyone is so crushed and devoid of God's image." The only solution, he repeatedly declared, was "culture".

 

After the February Revolution, Gorky visited the headquarters of the Okhrana (secret police) on Kronversky Prospekt together with Nikolai Sukhanov and Vladimir Zenisinov.[17] Gorky described the former Okhrana headquarters, where he sought literary inspiration, as derelict, with windows broken, and papers lying all over the floor.[18] Having dinner with Sukhanov later the same day, Gorky grimly predicated that revolution would end in "Asiatic savagery".[19] Initially a supporter of the Socialist-Revolutionary Alexander Kerensky, Gorky switched over to the Bolsheviks after the Kornilov affair.[20] In July 1917, Gorky wrote his own experiences of the Russian working class had been sufficient to dispel any "notions that Russian workers are the incarnation of spiritual beauty and kindness".[21] Gorky admitted to feeling attracted to Bolshevism, but admitted to concerns about a creed that made the entire working class "sweet and reasonable-I had never known people who were really like this".[22] Gorky wrote that he knew the poor, the "carpenters, stevedores, bricklayers", in a way that the intellectual Lenin never did, and he frankly distrusted them.[22]

 

During World War I, his apartment in Petrograd was turned into a Bolshevik staff room, and his politics remained close to the Bolsheviks throughout the revolutionary period of 1917. On the day after the Bolshevik coup of 7 November 1917, Gorky observed a gardener working the Alexander Park who had cleared snow during the February Revolution while ignoring the shots in the background, asked people during the July Days not to trample the grass and was now chopping off branches, leading Gorky to write that he was "stubborn as a mole, and apparently as blind as one too".[23] Gorky's relations with the Bolsheviks became strained, however, after the October Revolution. One contemporary remembered at how Gorky would turn "dark and black and grim" at the mere mention of Lenin.[24] Gorky wrote that Lenin together with Trotsky "have become poisoned with the filthy venom of power", crushing the rights of the individual to achieve their revolutionary dreams.[24] Gorky wrote that Lenin was a "cold-blooded trickster who spares neither the honor nor the life of the proletariat. ... He does not know the popular masses, he has not lived with them".[24] Gorky went on to compare Lenin to a chemist experimenting in a laboratory with the only difference being the chemist experimented with inanimate matter to improve life while Lenin was experimenting on the "living flesh of Russia".[24] A further strain on Gorky's relations with the Bolsheviks occurred when his newspaper Novaya Zhizn (Новая Жизнь, "New Life") fell prey to Bolshevik censorship during the ensuing civil war, around which time Gorky published a collection of essays critical of the Bolsheviks called Untimely Thoughts in 1918. (It would not be re-published in Russia until after the collapse of the Soviet Union.) The essays call Lenin a tyrant for his senseless arrests and repression of free discourse, and an anarchist for his conspiratorial tactics; Gorky compares Lenin to both the Tsar and Nechayev.[citation needed]

 

"Lenin and his associates," Gorky wrote, "consider it possible to commit all kinds of crimes ... the abolition of free speech and senseless arrests."[25]

 

In 1921, he hired a secretary, Moura Budberg, who later became his unofficial wife. In August 1921, the poet Nikolay Gumilev was arrested by the Petrograd Cheka for his monarchist views. There is a story that Gorky hurried to Moscow, obtained an order to release Gumilev from Lenin personally, but upon his return to Petrograd he found out that Gumilev had already been shot – but Nadezhda Mandelstam, a close friend of Gumilev's widow, Anna Akhmatova wrote that: "It is true that people asked him to intervene. ... Gorky had a strong dislike of Gumilev, but he nevertheless promised to do something. He could not keep his promise because the sentence of death was announced and carried out with unexpected haste, before Gorky had got round to doing anything."[26] In October, Gorky returned to Italy on health grounds: he had tuberculosis.

Povolzhye famine

 

In July 1921, Gorky published an appeal to the outside world, saying that millions of lives were menaced by crop failure. The Russian famine of 1921–22, also known as Povolzhye famine, killed an estimated 5 million, primarily affecting the Volga and Ural River regions.[27]

Second exile

 

Gorky left Russia in September 1921, for Berlin. There he heard about the impending Moscow Trial of 12 Socialist Revolutionaries, which hardened his opposition to the Bolshevik regime. He wrote to Anatole France denouncing the trial as a "cynical and public preparation for the murder" of people who had fought for the freedom of the Russian people. He also wrote to the Soviet vice-premier, Alexei Rykov asking him to tell Leon Trotsky that any death sentences carried out on the defendants would be "premeditated and foul murder."[28] This provoked a contemptuous reaction from Lenin, who described Gorky as "always supremely spineless in politics", and Trotsky, who dismissed Gorky as an "artist whom no-one takes seriously."[29] He was denied permission by Italy's fascist government to return to Capri, but was permitted to settle in Sorrento, where he lived from 1922 to 1932, with an extended household that included Moura Budberg, his ex-wife Andreyeva, her lover, Pyotr Kryuchkov, who acted as Gorky's secretary for the remainder of his life, Gorky's son Max Peshkov, Max's wife, Timosha, and their two young daughters.

 

He wrote several successful books while there,[30] but by 1928 he was having difficulty earning enough to keep his large household, and began to seek an accommodation with the communist regime. The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was equally keen to entice Gorky back to the USSR. He paid his first visit in May 1928 – at the very time when the regime was staging its first show trial since 1922, the so-called Shakhty Trial of 53 engineers employed in the coal industry, one of whom, Pyotr Osadchy, had visited Gorky in Sorrento. In contrast to his attitude to the trial of the Socialist Revolutionaries, Gorky accepted without question that the engineers were guilty, and expressed regret that in the past he had intervened on behalf of professionals who were being persecuted by the regime. During the visit, he struck up friendships with Genrikh Yagoda, the corrupt and murderous head of the Ogpu and two other Ogpu officers, Semyon Firin and Matvei Pogrebinsky, who held high office in the Gulag. Pogrebinsky was Gorky's guest in Sorrento for four weeks in 1930. The following year, Yagoda sent his brother-in-law, Leopold Averbakh to Sorrento, with instructions to induce Gorky to return to Russia permanently.[31]

Death of Lenin

 

After the death of Lenin in 1924, Gorky wrote the following:

 

Vladimir Lenin, a big, real man of this world, has passed away. His death is a painful blow to all who knew him, a very painful blow! But the black line of death shall only underscore his importance in the eyes of all the world - the importance of the leader of the world’s working people. If the clouds of hatred for him, the clouds of lies and slander woven round him were even denser, it would not matter, for there is no such force as could dim the torch he has raised in the stifling darkness of the world gone mad. Never has there been a man who deserves more to be remembered forever by the whole world. Vladimir Lenin is dead. But those to whom he bequeathed his wisdom and his will are living. They are alive and working more successfully than anyone on Earth has ever worked before.[32]

 

Return to Russia: last years

Avel Enukidze, Joseph Stalin and Maxim Gorky celebrate 10th anniversary of Sportintern. Red Square, Moscow USSR. Aug 1931

 

Gorky's return from Fascist Italy was a major propaganda victory for the Soviets. He was decorated with the Order of Lenin and given a mansion (formerly belonging to the millionaire Pavel Ryabushinsky, which was for many years the Gorky Museum) in Moscow and a dacha in the suburbs. The city of Nizhni Novgorod, and the surrounding province were renamed Gorky. Moscow's main park, and one of the central Moscow streets, Tverskaya, were renamed in his honour, as was the Moscow Art Theatre. The largest fixed-wing aircraft in the world in the mid-1930s, the Tupolev ANT-20 was named Maxim Gorky in his honour.

 

He was also appointed President of the Union of Soviet Writers, founded in 1932, to coincide with his return to the USSR. On 11 October 1931 Gorky read his fairy tale "A Girl and Death" to his visitors Joseph Stalin, Kliment Voroshilov and Vyacheslav Molotov, an event that was later depicted by Viktor Govorov in his painting. On that same day Stalin left his autograph on the last page of this work by Gorky: "Эта штука сильнее чем "Фауст" Гёте (любовь побеждает смерть)"[33] ["This piece is stronger than Goethe's Faust (love defeats death)]".

Apologist for the gulag

 

In 1933, Gorky co-edited, with Averbakh and Firin, an infamous book about the White Sea-Baltic Canal, presented as an example of "successful rehabilitation of the former enemies of proletariat". For other writers, he urged that one obtained realism by extracting the basic idea from reality, but by adding the potential and desirable to it, one added romanticism with deep revolutionary potential.[34] For himself, Gorky avoided realism. His denials that even a single prisoner died during the construction of the aforementioned canal were refuted by multiple accounts of thousands of prisoners who froze to death not only in the evenings from the lack of adequate shelter and food, but even in the middle of the day.[35]

On his definitive return to the Soviet Union in 1932, Maxim Gorky received the Ryabushinsky Mansion, designed in 1900 by Fyodor Schechtel for the Ryabushinsky family. The mansion today houses a museum about Gorky.

Hostility to gays

 

Gorky strongly supported efforts in getting a law passed in 1934, making homosexuality a criminal offense. His attitude was coloured by the fact that several leading members of the Nazi Sturmabteilung, or Brownshirts, were overtly homosexual. Writing in Pravda on 23 May 1934, Gorky claimed "exterminate all homosexuals and fascism will vanish."[36]

Conflicts[citation needed] with Stalinists

 

By the summer of 1934, Gorky was increasingly in conflict with the Soviet authorities. He was angry that Leopold Averbakh, whom he regarded as a protege, was denied a role in the newly created Writers Union, and objected to interference by the Central Committee staff in the affairs of the union. This conflict, which may have been exacerbated by Gorky's despair over the early death of his son, Max, came to a head just before the first Soviet Writers Congress, in August 1934. On 11 August, he submitted an article for publication in Pravda which attacked the deputy head of the press department, Pavel Yudin with such intemperate language that Stalin's deputy, Lazar Kaganovich ordered its suppression, but was forced to relent after hundreds of copies of the article circulated by hand. Gorky's draft of the keynote speech he was due to give at the congress caused such consternation when he submitted it to the Politburo that four of its leading members – Kaganovich, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov, and Andrei Zhdanov – were sent to persuade him to make changes.[37] Even in its toned-down version – very unusually for the Stalin era – he did not praise Stalin, did not mention any of the approved writers turning out 'socialist realist' novels, but singled out Fyodor Dostoevsky for "having painted with the most vivid perfection of word portraiture a type of egocentrist, a type of social degenerate in the person of the hero of his Memoirs from Underground. ... Dostoyevsky in the figure of his hero has shown the depths of whining despair that are reached by the individualist from among the young men of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries who are cut off from real life."[38]

Death

 

With the increase of Stalinist repression and especially after the assassination of Sergei Kirov in December 1934, Gorky was placed under unannounced house arrest in his house near Moscow. His long-serving secretary Pyotr Kryuchkov had been recruited by Yagoda as a paid informer.[39] Before his death from a lingering illness in June 1936, he was visited at home by Stalin, Yagoda, and other leading communists, and by Moura Budberg, who had chosen not to return to the USSR with him but was permitted to stay for his funeral.

 

The sudden death of Gorky's son Maxim Peshkov in May 1934 was followed by the death of Maxim Gorky himself in June 1936 from pneumonia. Speculation has long surrounded the circumstances of his death. Stalin and Molotov were among those who carried Gorky's coffin during the funeral. During the Bukharin trial in 1938 (one of the three Moscow Trials), one of the charges was that Gorky was killed by Yagoda's NKVD agents.[40]

 

In Soviet times, before and after his death, the complexities in Gorky's life and outlook were reduced to an iconic image (echoed in heroic pictures and statues dotting the countryside): Gorky as a great Soviet writer who emerged from the common people, a loyal friend of the Bolsheviks, and the founder of the increasingly canonical "socialist realism".

Depictions and adaptations

 

The Gorky Trilogy is a series of three films based on the three autobiographical books: The Childhood of Maxim Gorky, My Apprenticeship, and My Universities, directed by Mark Donskoy, filmed in the Soviet Union, released 1938–1940. The trilogy was adapted from Gorky's autobiography.[41]

The German modernist Bertolt Brecht based his epic play The Mother (1932) on Gorky's novel of the same name.

Gorky's novel was also adapted for an opera by Valery Zhelobinsky in 1938. In 1912, the Italian composer Giacomo Orefice based his opera Radda on the character of Radda from Makar Chudra. Our Father is the title given to Gorky's The Last Ones in its English translation by William Stancil.

The play[clarification needed] made its New York debut in 1975 at the Manhattan Theater Club, directed by Keith Fowler.

In 1985 Enemies was performed in London with a multi-national cast directed by Ann Pennington in association with Internationalist Theatre. The cast included South African Greek actress Angelique Rockas and Bulgarian Madlena Nedeva playing the parts of Tatiana, and Kleopatra respectively.[42] Tom Vaughan of The Morning Star affirmed "this is a great revolutionary play, by a great revolutionary writer, performed with elegance and style, great passion and commitment".[43] BBC Russian Service was no less complimentary.[44]

 

Selected works

Main article: Maxim Gorky bibliography

 

Source: Turner, Lily; Strever, Mark (1946). Orphan Paul; A Bibliography and Chronology of Maxim Gorky. New York: Boni and Gaer. pp. 261–270.

Novels

 

Goremyka Pavel, 1894. Published in English as Orphan Paul[45]

Foma Gordeyev (Фома Гордеев), 1899. Also translated as The Man Who Was Afraid

Three of Them (Трое), 1900. Also translated as Three Men

The Mother (Мать), 1907. First published in English, in 1906

The Life of a Useless Man (Жизнь ненужного человека), 1908

A Confession (Исповедь), 1908

Okurov City (Городок Окуров), 1908

The Life of Matvei Kozhemyakin (Жизнь Матвея Кожемякина), 1910

The Artamonov Business (Дело Артамоновых), 1927

Life of Klim Samgin (Жизнь Клима Самгина), unfinished:[46]

The Bystander, 1927

The Magnet, 1928

Other Fires, 1930

The Specter, 1936

 

Novellas

 

The Orlovs (Супруги Орловы), 1897

Creatures That Once Were Men (Бывшие люди), 1897

Varenka Olesova (Варенька Олесова), 1898

Summer (Лето), 1909

Great Love (Большая любовь), 1911

 

Short stories

 

"Makar Chudra" (Макар Чудра), 1892

"Old Izergil" (Старуха Изергиль), 1895

"Chelkash" (Челкаш), 1895

"Konovalov" (Коновалов), 1897

"Malva" (Мальва), 1897

"Twenty-six Men and a Girl" (Двадцать шесть и одна), 1899

"Song of a Falcon" (Песня о Соколе), 1902. Also referred to as a poem in prose

 

Drama

 

The Philistines (Мещане), translated also as The Smug Citizens and The Petty Bourgeois (Мещане), 1901

The Lower Depths (На дне), 1902

Summerfolk (Дачники), 1904

Children of the Sun (Дети солнца), 1905

Barbarians (Варвары), 1905

Enemies, 1906.

The Last Ones (Последние), 1908. Translated also as Our Father[47]

Children (Дети), 1910. Translated also as The Reception (and called originally "Встреча")

Queer People (Чудаки), 1910. Translated also as Eccentrics

Vassa Zheleznova (Васса Железнова), 1910, 1935 (revised version)

The Zykovs (Зыковы), 1913

Counterfeit Money (Фальшивая монета), 1913

The Old Man (Старик), 1915, Revised 1922, 1924. Translated also as The Judge

Workaholic Slovotekov (Работяга Словотеков), 1920

Somov and Others (Cомов и другие), 1930

Yegor Bulychov and Others (Егор Булычов и другие), 1932

Dostigayev and Others (Достигаев и другие), 1933

 

Non-fiction

 

Chaliapin, articles in Letopis, 1917[48]

Untimely Thoughts, articles, 1918

My Recollections of Tolstoy, 1919

Reminiscences of Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Andreyev, 1920–1928

V.I. Lenin (В.И. Ленин), reminiscence, 1924–1931

The I.V. Stalin White Sea – Baltic Sea Canal, 1934 (editor-in-chief)

Literary Portraits [c.1935].[49]

 

Poems

 

"The Song of the Stormy Petrel" (Песня о Буревестнике), 1901

 

Autobiography

 

My Childhood (Детство), Part I, 1913–1914

In the World (В людях), Part II, 1916

My Universities (Мои университеты), Part III, 1923

 

Collections

 

Sketches and Stories, three volumes, 1898–1899

Creatures That Once Were Men, stories in English translation (1905). This contained an introduction by G. K. Chesterton[50] The Russian title, Бывшие люди (literally "Former people") gained popularity as an expression in reference to people who severely dropped in their social status

Tales of Italy (Сказки об Италии), 1911–1913

Through Russia (По Руси), 1923

May 2014, Helsinki, Finland.

 

Somewhere there is also one for me and my wife.

 

Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M5

Lens: Olympus M.17mm f1.8

Focal Length: 17mm

Shutter Speed: 1/1250 s

Aperture: f/5.6

ISO/Film: 400

Los Angeles 9th May 2015

EOS 30D, Yashica ML 55mm f/1.2

  

Three top business women from Galway, Cork and Dublin win Network Ireland Business Women of the Year Awards

 

Friday, 21 October, 2011: The Galway founder of the successful travel pack for flyers, an internationally renowned hairdresser from Cork and the Head of Prudential Supervision at the Irish Banking Federation were presented with Network Ireland 2011 Business Women of the Year Awards, sponsored by Celebrity Cruises, today at Dublin Castle.

 

The winner of the Network Ireland Business Women of the Year Awards were

 

Ms Mary Kershaw, President Network Ireland.

Business Woman of the Year Awards Candidates for the New Business Award were Ms Louisa Condon, The Ant Team, North Tipperary.

Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President and General Manager, UK and Ireland Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises.

  

Mary Doyle â Irish Banking Federation, Dublin.- NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN (Employee) OF THE YEAR

Ms Julia McAndrew, the founder of Compleat Travel Essentials Packs,- NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN NEW BUSINESS OF THE YEAR

Valerie Cahill â Ikon Hair Design in Cork - NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN (Self Employed) OF THE YEAR

 

Ms Julia McAndrew, the founder of Compleat Travel Essentials Packs, the new Galway company that sells to over 4,000 retail and hotel customers, a range of specially prepared packs containing essential toiletries for those flying and travelling throughout the world, won the Network Businesswoman (New Business) of the Year. Ms Valerie Cahill, CEO Ikon Hair Design in Cork, the award winning hair styling company in Cork, won the Network Businesswoman (Self Employed) of the Year and Ms Mary Doyle, Head of Prudential Supervision at the Irish Banking Federation, Dublin won the Network Businesswoman (Employee) of the Year.

 

The âTrish Murphy Honorary Awardâ was presented by Network Ireland to the successful business woman, Ms Norma Smurfit, for her tireless commitment and work for a large number of charities. This is the inaugural year of this award in honour of Trish Murphy, a past Network Dublin President who contributed significantly to the organisation and also for charity. Sadly she passed away last year prematurely at the age of 53 from cancer.

 

Ms Mary Kershaw, President Network Ireland, an organisation representing over 3,000 women in business, said that the theme for this yearâs awards was âLocal Talent for Global Opportunitiesâ.

 

âOur members aspire to successfully developing their businesses by providing high quality products and services and raising the profile of their company brands among their target markets. Todayâs awards ceremony recognises their achievements. We also recognised the great charity work of Ms Norma Smurfit. She is an inspiration for business women throughout the country,â Mary said.

 

Celebrity Cruises (1800 932 619, www.celebritycruises.ie, the multi award-winning* cruise company sponsored the Network Ireland 2011 Business Woman of the Year Awards ceremony. Jo Rzymowska, Associate Vice President and General Manager, UK and Ireland Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises and Azamara Club Cruises presented the awards and commented: âCelebrity Cruises is known for enjoyable holidays built around innovation, the highest standards of quality of service and enthusiasm. The members of Network Ireland share these same values and so, Celebrity Cruises is delighted to sponsor this important event,â she said.

 

Network Ireland encourages women to do business, market their skills and expertise with the support of other members throughout the country. It represents over 3,000 women working in a wide range of industry sectors.

Members are recognised as serious contributors to the Irish economy and decision-making bodies. Network Ireland also liaises with national and international organisations as well as key Government and State bodies throughout Europe.

 

The award winners each received a specially sculpted piece of crystal crafted by the Irish Glass Company, which was founded by glass blowers from the former Waterford Glass company.

 

*Celebrity cruises recent awards in Ireland include:

âBest Luxury Cruise Companyâ - Irish Travel Trade Awards (ITTA)

âBest Luxury Cruise Lineâ - Irish Travel Agents Association Awards (ITAA)

ENDS

 

FOR MEDIA ENQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT:

 

Network Ireland â David Curtin @086 28 32 123

 

Celebrity Cruises - Andrew Campbell-Edie (partnership.pr1@gmail.com) +353 (0)857 286711, Louise James (louisejames@rccl.com) and Surinder Manku (smanku@rccl.com) on +44 (0)1932 834 200

 

Notes on winners

 

NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN (New Business) OF THE YEAR

 

Julia McAndrew â Network Galway

Julia McAndrew is a mother and an established business woman which involves a lot of travel. She saw at first hand the need for Compleat Travel Essentials Packs â specially prepared packs that contain essential toiletries for those flying and travelling a lot.

 

She spent a lot of time sourcing and trying out products before she found the quality of the products she was looking for, for example the wipes are organic & bio-degradable, the deodorant is natural and endorsed by the cancer treatment centre and the shaving cream is for the most sensitive skin, 3 in 1, pre, post and shave, needing no water for the best shave ever. Due to customer feedback sheâs now launching a unisex pack and a pack for children.

 

Now over 4,000 customers worldwide choose Compleat Travel Essential packs to feel fresh and clean no matter where they are. Compleat Travel Essentials Packs are now selling in Hotels, Pharmacies, Hospital Shops, WH Smith and Airport shops. She is already in talks with companies in the UK and the European Airports.

  

NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN (Self Employed) OF THE YEAR

 

Valerie Cahill â Ikon Hair Design in Cork

In 1997 Valerie opened Ikon Hair Design in Cork, on the first floor of 10 Princes Street with three team members. Ikon is now a multi awarding winning salon and the team has grown to thirteen.

 

Valerie and her husband Decky are looking forward to opening their new salon in Cork in November 2011. She has been involved in the Irish Hairdressing Industry for the last 27 years. She started as an apprentice in Victor Franks in 1984 where she qualified and took up the role as trainer and manager till 1997.

 

Valerie believes that in an industry that is known for its creativity and flair, it is important to get the balance right between the creative and the business side of things. It is something Valerie and the team have been working on over the past few years.

 

In 2008/ 2009 Ikon embarked on a 2 year program in London with Alan Austin Smith, The Ambassador / Salon Programme focusing on the team and the business and developing both.

 

In 2011, Valerie took up the position as The Munster Educator for Joico, doing what she loves most and is incredibly passionate about, teaching the JCut and Colour System. In 2011 she became a member of the Irish Hairdressing Executive Committee.

 

Valerie Finnegan Cahill juggles motherhood (Finn 11years & Jack 6 years) and business every day. Valerie is also involved in The Niall Mellon Township Trust Charity; this year (November) will be her third trip to South Africa where she helps to build houses in the townships of Capetown.

   

NETWORK BUSINESSWOMAN (Employee) OF THE YEAR

 

Mary Doyle â Irish Banking Federation, Dublin.

As Head of Prudential Supervision at the Irish Banking Federation, Mary is responsible for liaising with the industry and relevant parties, to determine policies for the evolving range of Risk and Corporate Governance regulations now impacting on banking. She manages the overall technical work programme for Risk and Governance, both key aspects of current bank regulation, and assists in the development of related sector policy positions.

 

Her career path on the technical side has always involved being ahead of and part of future developments. Initially as an economist, Mary was always looking for examples of future growth sectors for investment. It also included strategic matters; corporate planning and marketing rules.

 

She regularly attends local and international conferences, seminars, as well as networking events on such matters. Her most recent positions relate to banking regulations, again a rapidly evolving area, where she is now involved in planning such training events for the banking industry with local and overseas speakers. She interacts with the banking industry on evolving regulations, to achieve a practical, workable regulatory framework within the Irish and EU framework.

 

Mary is an experienced economist with a broad understanding of business and banking as well as being a media commentator on financial markets. Having been a founding member of Network Dublin she has made a long standing contribution to Network Dublin for over 25 years and believes strongly in the networking concept. She has adapted well to new experiences and challenges, working in the UK, EU, Africa, and primarily Ireland. Throughout all this she uses her networking skills in all aspects of her life. She is Economic Consultant to Nigerian Development Bank for World Bank and was nominated by Network to the Minister for Health for the Board of Health Insurance Authority, a position she held for 10 years.

 

Ten Network Ireland Branches represent 500 firms nationwide in Dublin, Louth, Cork, Limerick, Tipperary North, Kildare, Waterford, Galway, Mayo

and Clare. The businesswomen nominated for the Network Ireland 2011 Business Woman of the Year Awards include:

Candidates for the Employee Award

Ms Lynda Murphy, My Waterford

Ms Eithne Cosgrave, Sales & Marketing Director, Hotel Westport, Mayo

Ms Mairead OâBrien, Accounts Manager, Nash 19, Cork

Ms Lorraine Scully, Sherry FitzGerald Kavanagh, Galway

Ms Maura McMahon, Limerick Chamber of Commerce

Ms Mary Doyle, Irish Banking Federation, Dublin

 

Candidates for the Existing Business Award

Ms Foinagh Ryan, Ryanâs Jewellers, Limerick

Ms Kathleen Delahan, Patient School of Motoring, Kildare

Dr Eithne Brenner, The Brenner Clinic and Faceworks, Waterford

Ms Caroline Gordon, Accountant & Registered Auditor, Mayo

Ms AnnMarie Walsh, The Tipperary Kitchen, North Tipperary

Ms Valerie Cahill, MD, IKON Hair Design Cork

Ms Jenny Beale, Brigitâs Garden, Galway

Ms Pat Reda, PJ Reda Executive Search & HR Consulting, Dublin

Ms Ann Marie Horgan, Allpets Veterinery Hospital, Louth

Candidates for the New Business Award

Ms Martina Ginty, MD Glitz & Glam Ltd, Kildare

Ms Jennifer Cody Murphy, Beautilicious, Waterford

Ms Jenny Brennan, Virtual Office Worx, Mayo

Ms Louisa Condon, The Ant Team, North Tipperary

Ms Joan Walsh, MD, Partnership Europe, Cork

Ms Julie McAndrew, Compleat Travel Essentials, Galway

Ms Juliet OâConnor, The Zip Yard, Dublin

Ms Dorothy Walsh, Dorothy J Walsh, & Co Solicitors, Co. Louth

Ms Anne Maria Moore, Beech Lodge Care Facility & Retirement Village, Limerick

Notes about Celebrity Cruises

Celebrity Cruisesâ iconic âXâ is the mark of the worldâs top-rated premium cruise line, with spacious, stylish interiors; dining experiences elevated to an art form; personalized service, with a guest-to-staff ratio of nearly 2:1; unexpected, trendsetting onboard activities, all designed to provide an unmatchable experience for vacationersâ precious time.

 

Celebrity sails to Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Bermuda, California, Canada/New England, the Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, the Pacific Coast, Panama Canal, South America, and year-round in the Galapagos Islands. Celebrity also offers immersive cruisetour experiences in Alaska, Australia/New Zealand, Canada, Europe and South America. One of the fastest-growing major cruise lines, Celebrityâs fleet currently consists of 10 ships, with one additional Solstice Class ship scheduled to join the fleet: Celebrity Reflection in autumn 2012.

 

During the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly a roundtable dialogue organized by the Group of Champions on Women’s Economic Empowerment and UN Women, with the presence of the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, urged action to advance women’s economic empowerment.

 

At the current pace of change, it will take 170 years to close the economic gender gap, according to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum. The event was an opportunity to call on world leaders to accelerate progress by taking forward the recommendations made by the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel (HLP) on Women’s Economic Empowerment, with a focus on leaving no one behind.

 

President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera, co-chair of the Group of Champions and a longstanding advocate for gender equality, said: “There’s much left to do regarding gender discrimination and exclusion. I am confident that the Group of Champions will serve the UN as an example that gender equality can no longer be regarded as a horizon, but as a real need for all women who cannot wait to show the world what they are capable of.”

 

Speaking at the event, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on all partners to implement the commitments included in the HLP report. “Women’s Economic Empowerment is also a human rights issue. It contributes to building resilient economies and peaceful societies, and it is also a condition to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said, adding: “Let us deliver on the promises we have made to bring sustainable peace to the world today.”

 

Read More: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2017/9/news-event-hlp-wee...

 

Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Click here to learn more about Camp Humphreys

 

U.S. Army photos by Cpl. Ma, Jae Sang

 

Ducks top Hoyas in Armed Forces Classic at Camp Humphreys

 

By Tim Hipps

U.S. Army Installation Management Command

 

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea – In a season opener between teams led by newcomers, Joseph Young scored 24 points to lead No. 19 Oregon to an 82-75 victory over Georgetown in the 2013 Armed Forces Classic here.

 

The Ducks and Hoyas tipped off Nov. 9 at 10:16 a.m., on a Saturday morning in the Humphreys Community Fitness Center. For college basketball fans across America, the game was one of many season openers on Friday night. Only one, however, was played before 2,100 U.S. troops and their family members, along with a worldwide television audience on ESPN.

 

“We’re about to start the journey to determine who is the best team in college basketball, the best team in the country, and we’re doing it in front of the best team in the world,” ESPN announcer Jay Bilas said. “I’m in absolute awe of the commitment, the sacrifice, of our men and women in uniform.”

 

Young, a junior guard who transferred from Houston is a son of Michael Young, who played for the high-flying “Phi Slama Jama” teams of the early 1980’s. He grabbed five rebounds and was perfect on 12 free throws in his first game as a Duck.

 

Joshua Smith, a 6-foot-10, 350-pound junior center who transferred from UCLA, led Georgetown (0-1) with 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 5 of 9 free throws before fouling out of his first game as a Hoya with 9 seconds remaining.

 

Jason Calliste made all 11 of his free throws and scored 16 points for Oregon (1-0). Mike Moser added 15 points, seven rebounds and a career-high six steals, the most by an Oregon player in 15 seasons. Darius Wright was the last Duck to post six steals in a game against USC on Jan. 7, 1999.

 

“We came a long way, so we really didn’t want to lose this one,” Moser said. “It definitely feels good to go home – a 12-hour ride – with a win.”

 

Damyean Dotson grabbed eight rebounds and Johnathan Loyd had seven assists for Oregon. Loyd recorded his 304th career assist for a spot on the Ducks’ top 10 list.

 

The Hoyas shot 1 of 15 from 3-point range, failed to find much offensive continuity, and were outrebounded, 40-32.

 

“Things we can control, we have to control,” Georgetown coach John Thompson III said. “We had too many untimely unforced turnovers. We got our rhythm offensively, but we gave up a lot of threes in a row – it felt like four or five. The timing of that is what we have to learn. When we had to get a stop or a rebound, we didn’t.”

 

Oregon took an 18-7 lead via a 12-2 run, capped by two free throws by Calliste with 12:27 remaining in the first half. Calliste also converted a three-point play that gave the Ducks a 30-23 lead with 5:25 remaining in the period. Oregon led, 37-34, at halftime.

 

Georgetown took its first lead since 2-0 on a steal by Markel Starks and Smith’s feed to Jabril Trawick for a layup and a 40-39 lead with 18:06 left. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera’s jumper put Georgetown ahead, 42-39. Loyd responded with a 3-pointer, Young followed with a layup, and the Ducks led the rest of the way.

 

Starks finished with 16 points and four assists for Georgetown. Trawick added 11 points and three rebounds. Before departing, Moser saluted the troops who welcomed the Ducks to Camp Humphreys, their most distant regular-season game site in school history.

 

“We had a lot of fun,” Moser said. “Getting a chance to hang out with the troops for a couple days inspired us to try and come out here and win this game.”

 

Played on Veterans Day weekend, the game featured a military theme throughout. Rather than players’ last names, Army values, such as “Courage,” “Integrity” and “Respect,” adorned the back of Georgetown’s camouflage-patterned jerseys. The backs of the Ducks’ camouflage-patterned jerseys displayed: “USA.” Members of both coaching staffs wore military-style cargo pants and combat boots.

 

“This was an unbelievable experience,” Thompson said. “It was a privilege to play in this environment, and it was a privilege to play in front of the Soldiers. One of the most rewarding times was serving lunch yesterday and getting the chance to interact with the young men and women stationed here at Camp Humphreys.”

 

Georgetown players Nate Lubick and Starks also were appreciative.

 

“This was a great opportunity to get a close-up look at what life is like for the men and women who protect our country,” Lubick said. “We’re very fortunate to have the opportunity to come here and play a game to thank them for all they do.”

 

“We’re blessed to have the chance to come here and see and tour the base and the helicopters,” Starks added. “It’s amazing all that they do and we’re really thankful to get the chance to meet everyone here.”

 

Folks at Camp Humphreys thought likewise.

 

“It’s such a blessing,” said Cassie Gaudette, wife of Army Capt. Brian Gaudette. “I don’t think that they can truly understand how exciting and wonderful it is to have a little piece of home and have the teams come here to South Korea. We’re originally from Eugene [home of the Oregon Ducks], so this was really exciting to see.”

 

Oregon played without sophomores Dominic Artis and Ben Carter, who were suspended nine games for violating NCAA rules by selling school-issued athletic apparel. If only they knew what they missed.

A box of matches turned into a bonfire.

 

"When you do something, you should burn yourself completely, like a good bonfire leaving no trace of yourself." - Shunryu Suzuki

 

Here's to commitment to Dragonboat, and being MIA in Baguio! :(

Joseph's Church (St. Pölten )

Catholic Parish Church of St. Josef

Object ID : 26022 Kranzbichlerstraße 24a

The wide three-aisled pillar basilica under a gable roof with a transept was built 1924-1929 in Romanesque style according to the plans of the architect Matthäus Schlager.

The Parish Church of St. Joseph is a Roman Catholic church in the city of St. Pölten.

On the north side there are three portals, the middle portal is funnel-shaped, the facades have rounded arch windows and a historicized Traufgesims (eaves cornice). The retracted choir has a round apse. To the west of the church, to Mariazellerstraße is situated a freestanding metal casting statue Christ by sculptor Karl Schwerzek. The high church tower under a pitched roof is to the west at transept and choir juxtaposed. The square in front of the entrance facade was named with Father Paul's Place and on Paul Wörndl as the first pastor of the church a memorial plaque at the church installed.

Inside is the church as well as the organ loft on the north side continuously kreuzgratgewölbt (groined vaulted) and baroquising monumentally designed. The interior of the church, such as altar, Stipes (thick post - substructur of the altar) with stepped retabel wall, tabernacles with reliefs, like a statue of Saint Josef, were created based on designs by the sculptor Heinrich Zita 1933. The wall paintings in the vaults and in the shallow round arched niches in the apse and the side altars are by the painter Sepp Zöchling from 1958.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_denkmalgesch%C3%BCtzten_O...(Stadtteil)

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josefskirche_(St._P%C3%B6lten)

 

(further information is available by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

History of the City St. Pölten

In order to present concise history of the Lower Austrian capital is in the shop of the city museum a richly illustrated full version on CD-ROM.

Tip

On the occasion of the commemoration of the pogroms of November 1938, the Institute for Jewish History of Austria its virtual Memorbuch (Memory book) for the destroyed St. Pölten Jewish community since 10th November 2012 is putting online.

Prehistory

The time from which there is no written record is named after the main materials used for tools and weapons: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. Using the latest technologies, archaeologists from archaeological finds and aerial photographs can trace a fairly detailed picture of life at that time. Especially for the time from the settling down of the People (New Stone Age), now practicing agriculture and animal husbandry, in the territory of St. Pölten lively settlement activity can be proved. In particular, cemeteries are important for the research, because the dead were laid in the grave everyday objects and jewelry, the forms of burial changing over time - which in turn gives the archeology valuable clues for the temporal determination. At the same time, prehistory of Sankt Pölten would not be half as good documented without the construction of the expressway S33 and other large buildings, where millions of cubic meters of earth were moved - under the watchful eyes of the Federal Monuments Office!

A final primeval chapter characterized the Celts, who settled about 450 BC our area and in addition to a new culture and religion also brought with them the potter's wheel. The kingdom of Noricum influenced till the penetration of the Romans the development in our area.

Roman period, migrations

The Romans conquered in 15 BC the Celtic Empire and established hereinafter the Roman province of Noricum. Borders were protected by military camp (forts), in the hinterland emerged civilian cities, almost all systematically laid out according to the same plan. The civil and commercial city Aelium Cetium, as St. Pölten was called (city law 121/122), consisted in the 4th Century already of heated stone houses, trade and craft originated thriving urban life, before the Romans in the first third of the 5th Century retreated to Italy.

The subsequent period went down as the Migration Period in official historiography, for which the settlement of the Sankt Pöltner downtown can not be proved. Cemeteries witness the residence of the Lombards in our area, later it was the Avars, extending their empire to the Enns.

The recent archaeological excavations on the Cathedral Square 2010/2011, in fact, the previous knowledge of St.Pölten colonization not have turned upside down but enriched by many details, whose full analysis and publication are expected in the near future.

Middle Ages

With the submission of the Avars by Charlemagne around 800 AD Christianity was gaining a foothold, the Bavarian Benedictine monastery of Tegernsee establishing a daughter house here - as founder are mentioned the brothers Adalbert and Ottokar - equipped with the relics of St. Hippolytus. The name St. Ypolit over the centuries should turn into Sankt Pölten. After the Hungarian wars and the resettlement of the monastery as Canons Regular of St. Augustine under the influence of Passau St. Pölten received mid-11th Century market rights.

In the second half of the 20th century historians stated that records in which the rights of citizens were held were to be qualified as Town Charters. Vienna is indeed already in 1137 as a city ("civitas") mentioned in a document, but the oldest Viennese city charter dates only from the year 1221, while the Bishop of Passau, Konrad, already in 1159 the St. Pöltnern secured:

A St. Pöltner citizen who has to answer to the court, has the right to make use of an "advocate".

He must not be forced to rid himself of the accusation by a judgment of God.

A St. Pöltner citizen may be convicted only by statements of fellow citizens, not by strangers.

From the 13th Century exercised a city judge appointed by the lord of the city the high and low jurisdiction as chairman of the council meetings and the Municipal Court, Inner and Outer Council supported him during the finding of justice. Venue for the public verdict was the in the 13th Century created new marketplace, the "Broad Market", now the town hall square. Originally square-shaped, it was only later to a rectangle reduced. Around it arose the market district, which together with the monastery district, the wood district and the Ledererviertel (quarter of the leather goods manufacturer) was protected by a double city wall.

The dependence of St. Pölten of the bishop of Passau is shown in the municipal coat of arms and the city seal. Based on the emblem of the heraldic animal of the Lord of the city, so the Bishop of Passau, it shows an upright standing wolf holding a crosier in its paw.

Modern Times

In the course of the armed conflict between the Emperor Frederick III . and King Matthias of Hungary pledged the Bishop of Passau the town on the Hungarian king. From 1485 stood Lower Austria as a whole under Hungarian rule. The most important document of this period is the awarding of the city coat of arms by King Matthias Corvinus in the year 1487. After the death of the opponents 1490 and 1493 could Frederick's son Maximilian reconquer Lower Austria. He considered St. Pölten as spoils of war and had no intention of returning it to the diocese of Passau. The city government has often been leased subsequently, for instance, to the family Wellenstein, and later to the families Trautson and Auersperg.

That St. Pölten now was a princely city, found its expression in the coat of arms letter of the King Ferdinand I. from 1538: From now on, the wolf had no crosier anymore, and the from the viewer's point of view left half showed the reverse Austrian shield, so silver-red-silver.

To the 16th Century also goes back the construction of St. Pöltner City Hall. The 1503 by judge and council acquired house was subsequently expanded, rebuilt, extended and provided with a tower.

A for the urban history research important picture, painted in 1623, has captured scenes of the peasant uprising of 1597, but also allows a view to the city and lets the viewer read some of the details of the then state of construction. The economic inconveniences of that time were only exacerbated by the Thirty Years War, at the end of which a fifth of the houses were uninhabited and the citizenry was impoverished.

Baroque

After the successful defense against the Turks in 1683, the economy started to recover and a significant building boom began. Lower Austria turned into the land of the baroque abbeys and monasteries, as it is familiar to us today.

In St. Pölten, the change of the cityscape is closely connected to the Baroque architect Jakob Prandtauer. In addition to the Baroquisation of the interior of the cathedral, a number of buildings in St. Pölten go to his account, so the reconstruction of the castle Ochsenburg, the erection of the Schwaighof and of the core building of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Englische Fräuleins - English Maidens) - from 1706 the seat of the first school order of St.Pölten - as well as of several bourgeois houses.

Joseph Munggenast, nephew and co-worker of Prandtauer, completed the Baroquisation of the cathedral, he baroquised the facade of the town hall (1727) and numerous bourgeois houses and designed a bridge over the Traisen which existed until 1907. In the decoration of the church buildings were throughout Tyroleans collaborating, which Jakob Prandtauer had brought along from his homeland (Tyrol) to St. Pölten, for example, Paul Troger and Peter Widerin.

Maria Theresa and her son Joseph II: Their reforms in the city of the 18th Century also left a significant mark. School foundings as a result of compulsory education, the dissolution of the monasteries and hereinafter - from 1785 - the new role of St. Pölten as a bishop's seat are consequences of their policies.

1785 was also the year of a fundamental alteration of the old Council Constitution: The city judge was replaced by one magistrate consisting of five persons, at the head was a mayor. For the first mayor the painter Josef Hackl was chosen.

The 19th century

Despite the Napoleonic Wars - St. Pölten in 1805 and 1809 was occupied by the French - and despite the state bankruptcy of 1811, increased the number of businesses constantly, although the economic importance of the city for the time being did not go beyond the near vicinity.

Against the background of monitoring by the state secret police, which prevented any political commitment between the Congress of Vienna and the 1848 revolution, the citizens withdrew into private life. Sense of family, fostering of domestic music, prominent salon societies in which even a Franz Schubert socialized, or the construction of the city theater were visible signs of this attitude.

The economic upswing of the city did not begin until after the revolution of the year 1848. A prerequisite for this was the construction of the Empress Elisabeth Western Railway, moving Vienna, Linz, soon Salzburg, too, in a reachable distance. The city walls were pulled down, St. Pölten could unfold. The convenient traffic situation favored factory start-ups, and so arose a lace factory, a revolver factory, a soap factory or, for example, as a precursor of a future large-scale enterprise, the braid, ribbon and Strickgarnerzeugung (knitting yarn production) of Matthias Salcher in Harland.

In other areas, too, the Gründerzeit (years of rapid industrial expansion in Germany - and Austria) in Sankt Pölten was honouring its name: The city got schools, a hospital, gas lanterns, canalization, hot springs and summer bath.

The 20th century

At the beginning of the 20th Century the city experienced another burst of development, initiated by the construction of the power station in 1903, because electricity was the prerequisite for the settlement of large companies. In particular, the companies Voith and Glanzstoff and the main workshop of the Federal Railways attracted many workers. New Traisen bridge, tram, Mariazell Railway and other infrastructure buildings were erected; St. Pölten obtained a synagogue. The Art Nouveau made it repeatedly into the urban architecture - just think of the Olbrich House - and inspired also the painting, as exponents worth to be mentioned are Ernst Stöhr or Ferdinand Andri.

What the outbreak of the First World War in broad outlines meant for the monarchy, on a smaller scale also St. Pölten has felt. The city was heavily impacted by the deployment of army units, a POW camp, a military hospital and a sick bay. Industrial enterprises were partly converted into war production, partly closed. Unemployment, housing emergency and food shortages long after the war still were felt painfully.

The 1919 to mayor elected Social Democrat Hubert Schnofl after the war tried to raise the standard of living of the people by improving the social welfare and health care. The founding of a housing cooperative (Wohnungsgenossenschaft), the construction of the water line and the establishment of new factories were further attempts to stimulate the stiffening economy whose descent could not be stopped until 1932.

After the National Socialist regime had stirred false hopes and plunged the world into war, St. Pölten was no longer the city as it has been before. Not only the ten devastating bombings of the last year of the war had left its marks, also the restrictive persecution of Jews and political dissidents had torn holes in the structure of the population. Ten years of Russian occupation subsequently did the rest to traumatize the population, but at this time arose from the ruins a more modern St. Pölten, with the new Traisen bridge, district heating, schools.

This trend continued, an era of recovery and modernization made the economic miracle palpable. Already in 1972 was - even if largely as a result of incorporations - exceeded the 50.000-inhabitant-limit.

Elevation to capital status (capital of Lower Austria), 10 July 1986: No other event in this dimension could have become the booster detonation of an up to now ongoing development thrust. Since then in a big way new residential and commercial areas were opened up, built infrastructure constructions, schools and universities brought into being to enrich the educational landscape. East of the Old Town arose the governmental and cultural district, and the list of architects wears sonorous names such as Ernst Hoffmann (NÖ (Lower Austria) Landhaus; Klangturm), Klaus Kada (Festspielhaus), Hans Hollein (Shedhalle and Lower Austrian Provincial Museum), Karin Bily, Paul Katzberger and Michael Loudon ( NÖ State Library and NÖ State Archive).

European Diploma, European flag, badge of honor, Europe Price: Between 1996 and 2001, received St. Pölten numerous appreciations of its EU commitment - as a sort of recognition of the Council of Europe for the dissemination of the EU-idea through international town twinnings, a major Europe exhibition or, for example, the establishment and chair of the "Network of European medium-sized cities".

On the way into the 21st century

Just now happened and already history: What the St. Pöltnern as just experienced sticks in their minds, travelers and newcomers within a short time should be told. The theater and the hospital handing over to the province of Lower Austria, a new mayor always on the go, who was able to earn since 2004 already numerous laurels (Tags: polytechnic, downtown enhancement, building lease scheme, bus concept) - all the recent changes are just now condensed into spoken and written language in order to make, from now on, the history of the young provincial capital in the 3rd millennium nachlesbar (checkable).

www.st-poelten.gv.at/Content.Node/freizeit-kultur/kultur/...

The Vietnam War

Although the United States' commitment of support to the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) began not long after the French were driven from Vietnam in 1954, the period from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975 is officially designated as the Vietnam Era. During that period, which began with the launching of US air strikes against North Vietnam after the August, 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incidents, and concluded with the April, 1975 fall of South Vietnam two years after American combat troops had departed, nearly 2.7 million Americans served in Vietnam. More than 58,000 were killed in action, 300,000 wounded and more than 2,400 remain unaccounted for.

 

It was our nation's longest war, it became the lead story in the television networks' news broadcasts for nearly a decade and, ultimately, except for the Civil War, it was the most divisive war in United States history. And it took a long time for the nation to begin to recover from its wounds.

 

Landscape architect Perry M. Morgan, the Memorial's designer, said that what he had hoped to accomplish was to honor the memory of those who had been killed in Vietnam as well as provide a place of contemplations for those who had returned from the war to reflect upon their experiences. Thus he created the concept of two facing walls - a curved wall inscribed with the names of the men killed in action facing a straight wall engraved with scenes from the war.

 

The two walls, creating an amphitheater-like setting, are composed of panels of polished, charcoal gray granite, selected by Morgan and quarried in Cold Spring, Minnesota. Stencils and screens were applied to the panels which were then sandblasted to engrave the names and replicate the scenes. The sandblasting was uniform on the panels on the wall of names, but was adjusted to allow various shades of gray to emerge on the scene panels.

 

The Name Panels

The southern wall containing the name panels is a concave structure, slightly raised in the center, on a higher plane than the opposing north wall inscribed with the scenes. Each panel is 34 inches wide, 56 inches high and 13 inches thick. Each name is inscribed in letters measuring 1-1/4 inches in height.

 

The Scene Panels

Based on the sketches by Tom Rice, a graduate student at Temple University's Tyler School of Art, each of the eight scene panels measures seven feet in height, five feet in width and thirteen inches in thickness. They are arranged in a left to right chronological sequence, beginning with the launching of the US carrier aircraft in August, 1964 and concluding with the rescue of Vietnamese refugees at the US Embassy in April, 1975.

 

To the left of the scene panels is a similarly sized panel inscribed with the insignias of the five branches of service above a world map; to the right is a panel inscribed with a large map of Southeast Asia.

www.pvvm.org/main/modules/wfchannel/index.php?pagenum=1

Roddy Doyle's', The Commitments is now a musical in London and is playing at the Palace Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. This is 3 exposures with -1+ stops bracketing, then Photomatix for HDR and tonemapping treatment, and finally Photoshop for the finishing touches.

Nikon D3200 - 90mm f/2.8 Macro -

 

Salmon complete the most profound physiological transformation at the end of their lives. I had the most fantastic experience with the boys tonight. One of my students informed me that salmon were running at Hidden Valley Park and we went to see them. In 36 years this is the first time I have witnessed this astounding evolutionary trait. The boys had so many questions after seeing all the dead fish. Although a little untraditional, this image I think is so gorgeous. This fish has returned to its birth place to help produce the next generation. In its last parental duty it passes away and decomposes in the water column. Its biomass will feed primary producers which will fuel the growth of small invertebrates. The invertebrates will feed the young salmon fry as soon as they emerge...so incredible. Committed parent!

Away. Somewhere warm, no commitments, Mid California, Vacuous Spacial Spectral California, Rolling Hills, Chocolate hills, flowing carpet, Connections to better times. Dreams of the future past, longing, affairs of the heart, pull back the curtain of night, out of the darkness and into the light...

Dec. 1, 2011 marks Iraq's Day of Commitment. The ceremony hosted by the Iraqi government at Al Faw Palace, in Baghdad, Iraq would be the last of it's kind as U.S. forces continue to draw out of Iraq. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, took the opportunity to thank U.S. and Iraqi service members for all of their sacrifices that led to the end of an almost decade long war.

U.S. Forces Iraq

Photo by Staff Sgt. Caleb Barrieau

Related Photos: dvidshub.net/r/x9u2rk

DRAWSKO POMORSKIE TRAINING AREA, Poland--NATO allies train together during the preparation phase of Exercise Steadfast Jazz here Nov. 2. The U.S. Army is supporting Steadfast Jazz 13 with participation from the 173d IBCT(A), one of U.S. Army Europe’s forward-based combat brigades and the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, the U.S.-based ground force contribution to NATO Response Force 2014. Collectively, these forces represent the reinvigoration of U.S. participation in the NRF and the enduring U.S. commitment to NATO, Europe, and regional stability and prosperity. (U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Alexander Jansen/54th Engineer Bn)

 

New Year

Just like a new chapter in life. Recharged with full spirit. Blessed by love

* taken @ Gn Pancar, West Java

Entrance Walk to GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Constitution Gardens along Lincoln Memorial North Elm Walkway, NW, Washington DC on Friday morning, 28 August 2020 by Elvert Barnes Photography

 

Visit Commitment March website at nationalactionnetwork.net/commitment-march-on-washington-dc/

 

Elvert Barnes 57th Anniversary of 1963 March on Washington COMMITMENT MARCH docu-project at elvertbarnes.com/57MOW2020

This week life is crazy (with sketchbook skool commitments and trying to get everything done before I head off to Brazil for the USK symposium later next week ) but I still want to keep posting here as well… so here are a few photos of my sketchbook from last week. I will try to find time to scan and post later in the week.

 

I am enjoying the Zeta book more than I expected and although I don't normally like spiral bound books, the Stillman and Birn books are so sturdy and well made that it is nice to use. I love the book sitting flat. The small size is a constraint but fun.

 

Just a reminder - this is not my normal book - I am using it as a fill-in for 2-3 weeks before I go to Brazil. For details on my normal sketchbooks please check out this page.

 

www.lizsteel.com/p/sketchbooks.html

Nikon D700

Nikon 70-200 VRII f/2.8

This is a picture of my grandparent's hands clasped together. I made it with darkroom photography. My inspiration was just love and hope I can have a relationship like theirs. Available for purchase at fineartamerica.com/profiles/rachael-lahar.html

Committed to Guitar Hero II

 

TUESDAY - APRIL 11, 2023 WASHINGTON DC. WORLD BANK GROUP/INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND 2023 SPRING MEETINGS

 

Western and Central Africa Ministerial Roundtable: Walking the Talk on Gender Equality

 

The empowerment of women and girls is central to achieving sustainable and inclusive development. Over the past decade, countries across Western and Central Africa have made considerable progress in accelerating gender equality, including by promoting girls’ education, championing legal reforms, improving livelihood opportunities, and developing more inclusive financial systems. However, much more needs to be done to deliver results at scale for an equitable tomorrow.

 

Against this backdrop of existing gaps, opportunities, and crisis-induced headwinds, this high-level event put the spotlight on actions that can accelerate the empowerment of girls and women in favor of growth, shared prosperity, and social cohesion. The Ministerial roundtable featured country delegations and partners sharing innovative initiatives and reaffirming commitments to accelerate progress on gender equality, focusing on pivotal interventions such as investments in adolescents, multi-sectoral approaches, and undertaking policy reforms.

 

Speakers: Anna Bjerde, Managing Director for Operations, World Bank; Williametta Saydee Tarr, Minister of Gender, Children & Social Protection, Liberia; Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Development, Cameroon; Amina Priscille Longoh, Minister of Gender and National Solidarity, Chad; Ousmane Diagana, Regional Vice-President, Western & Central Africa, World Bank; Félix Moloua, Prime Minister, Head of Government, Minister of State for the Economy, Planning and International Cooperation, Central African Republic; Dr. Olavo Avelino Garcia Correia, Vice Prime Minister & Minister of Finance, Business Development and Digital Economy, Cabo Verde; Adama Coulibaly, Minister of Economy and Finance, Côte d'Ivoire; Seedy Keita, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, The Gambia; José Carlos Varela Casimiro, Minister of Economy, Planning and Regional Integration, Guinea Bissau; Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Nigeria; Oulimata Sarr, Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation, Senegal; Sérgio Pimenta, IFC’s Regional Vice President for Africa; Hana Brixi, World Bank Global Director for Gender; Moderator: Dr. Aline Simen-Kapeu, AFR Human Development Women and Girls’ Empowerment Fellow, World Bank. Photo: World Bank / Leigh Vogel

a dancer sweating in the midday sun

Boeing announced today at the Farnborough International Airshow a commitment by Avolon to purchase 10 737 MAX 8s and 5 737 MAX 9s, as well as 10 Next-Generation 737-800s. The commitment has a list-price value of $2.3 billion and also includes reconfirmation rights for 5 more 737 MAX airplanes.

 

This image shows a 737 MAX 8 in Avolon livery.

 

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Impact Commitment Workshop: Climate and Nature at the Young Global Leaders Annual Summit 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, 2 September, Copyright: World Economic Forum/Pascal Bitz

Aruna Mohanty

 

Devotion, perseverance and commitment have placed Aruna Mohanty as the finest among Odissi dancers of her generation. Nurtured under the able guidance of Guru Gangadhar Pradhan, Aruna especially excels in the abhinaya aspect of Odissi. She has been a student and Secretary of Orissa Dance Academy. Her unique skill and versatility make her the recipient of many awards and accolades, including the Mahari Award 1997, Sanjukta Panigrahi Memorial National Award 2001, Fellowship by Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, and an award for her contribution to the field of Odissi Dance, from the Utkal University, orissa. Apart from dance, Aruna has also established herself as an excellent choreographer. Some of the items in her repertoire include the dance ballet “Shrusti O Pralay”, “Varsha Abhisara”, “Shravan Kumar”, “Samrat Kharavela” , “Kanchi Abhijan”, “Krupanidhana” & “Krushna Saranam”, etc. Widely traveled to countries like Canada, USA, South America and some of the European countries, she is the advisor-member of Central Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi. Currently she is conferred for the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for the year -2010 by the Govt. of India. And Govt. of Orissa has appointed her to be the Vice-President of State Sangeet Natak Akademi.

 

Concept Note

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Gatha Odissi - from the temple to the stage

 

History is not scripted; it gets created over the ages. It transforms itself according to the tides of life and times. Therefore, from the point of view of the present, how does one view the entire panorama of Odissi Dance, which has traveled through an arduous journey of nearly two thousand years?

 

After the sunrise, comes the dark hour of the sunset. But the rhythmic foot falls of Odissi dance, however, continue to reverberate from within the dark corridors of history.

 

Around the middle of Ninteenth century a new resolve paves the way for the resurrection of the flagging traditions of Odissi Dance. The danseuse damsels break out of their stony incarnation from temple-walls and metamorphose into life. In this hour of revival, the great Gurus of our times create a whole new grammar of Odissi. The genesis of Mangalacharan, Pallavi, Sthayi, Abhinaya and Moksha, which form the superstructures of Odissi, spring up from the sub-structures of the allied art forms and folk forms of Odisha such as Mahari, Gotipua, Sakhi Nata, Raasa and Leela.

 

Through brief narrations and symbolic images Odisha Dance Academy spins the story of transformation and resurgence of Odissi Dance spanning from the Jagannath Temple of Puri right up to the contemporary stage.

 

Conceptualized by - Guru Aruna Mohanty

Kedar Mishra

Music composition - Guru Bijay Kumar Jena

Rhythm composition - Guru Dhaneswar Swain

Guru Bijay Kumar Barik

Musicians :

Mardala - Guru Ddhaneswar Swain

Guru Bijaya Kumar Bari

Vocal - Harapriya Swain

Nazia Alam

Rupak Kumar Parida

Violin - Ramesh Chandra Das

Flute - Srinibash Satpathy

Sitar - Swapneswar Chakravorty

 

Dance Choreography- Guru Aruna Mohanty

 

Dancers :

Odissi Dance : Ramesh Ch. Jena, Madhusmita Mohanty, Yudhisthir Nayak, Pabitra Ku. Pradhan, Sridutta Bhol, Janhabi Behera, Pankaj Ku. Pradhan, Pravat Ku. Swain, Arupa Gayatri Panda , Prashant Ku. Behera, Bijan Ku. Palei , Pragati Das & Rudra Prashad Swain.

 

Gotipua Dance : Sriram Chahatray, Suryakanta Samantaray,Arupananda Pradhan, Santosh Biswal & Rama Pradhan

Small Group Discussion: Learning from Commitments to Action: Innovative & Creative Approaches

The breadth and depth of the challenges being addressed by Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) members are far-reaching. Although powerful, considering this collective impact of more than 3,500 Commitments to Action can at times overshadow the nuanced, unique stories and challenges of each individual commitment. Through a conversation focused largely on commitment design and implementation, participants will have the opportunity to share how their projects have successfully leveraged innovative, creative partnerships and approaches, including the replicating, scaling, and repurposing of other effective models.

 

In this session, participants will:

• Explore innovation and creativity in the context of commitment design and implementation, sharing specific approaches for managing and taking risks in new endeavors.

• Reflect not only on the successes of their commitments, but also on the common challenges and unintended consequences that arise from taking risks and adopting inventive approaches.

• Cultivate a culture of openness among CGI members where they can share commitment stories and lessons learned, illuminating best practices for commitment success.

 

PARTICIPANTS:

Mike Goss, General Manager - Social Innovation, Toyota Motor North America

Chid Liberty, Chief Executive Officer, Liberty and Justice

Secretary Wilkie Speaks at VSO Conventions, Tours VA Facilities

 

Customer service, stability and quality care for Veterans remain top priorities for Secretary Robert Wilkie at the Department of Veterans Affairs. He reinforced that pledge as incoming VA Secretary while visiting medical facilities and attended national Veteran engagements in three states last week. Secretary Wilkie served as keynote speaker at the American Legion’s 100th National Convention in Minneapolis, MN. He called members of the nation’s largest wartime Veterans service organization “powerful advocates” and said “let me thank you, thank the entire American Legion past and present for everything you have done to make this the last best hope of man on earth.”

 

In referring to his prime directive of customer service, Secretary Wilkie said “we have to talk to Veterans, we have to listen to Veterans, because every major advance and relief for those who have ‘borne the battle’ has come through the efforts of Veterans themselves, not waiting on the slow machine of government to move.” He also lauded the passing of the MISSION Act in making it easier for eligible Veterans of all eras to navigate the system and ensure they receive the best health care possible whether delivered in VA facilities or in the community.

 

While in Minnesota, the Secretary also visited with patients and was given an expansive tour and briefing by leadership at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. The facility has an excellent reputation and is known worldwide for its strong research and academic services focused on Veterans. The facility is recognized for its overall performance and rated a 5-Star. Secretary Wilkie was particularly impressed with the advancements in prosthetic technology that is now available to Veterans there.

Secretary Wilkie was also welcomed at Fort Snelling National Cemetery which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cemetery is the final resting place for Minneapolis area Veterans dating back to the Revolutionary War era with more than 225,000 interments.

 

The Secretary then headed to Dallas, TX to visit with Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) leadership and speak to hundreds of attendees at the PVA’s 8th annual Heath Care Summit & Expo. The Secretary reinforced his top priorities and his commitment to working hand in hand with health care professionals saying “as the Secretary of this department, I am the temporary custodian of the flame that first burned on Revolutionary fields in the 1700’s, it is a flame that you all carry and are trusted with and my pledge to you is to be part of your team.” He went on to say, “I am honored to serve with you and I thank you for carrying on the most noble mission in the federal government.”

 

Secretary Wilkie also engaged with Veterans and leadership at the VA North Texas Health Care System (VANTHCS) in Dallas. Topics of discussion included progress in suicide prevention and mental health awareness outreach, innovative surgical care procedures and modernization efforts. As VA’s second-largest health care system, VANTHCS is available to 600,000 Veterans that live in the northern Texas and southern Oklahoma region.

 

At the final stop in Cleveland, OH, the secretary served as a keynote speaker for the unveiling of a Gold Star Families Memorial Monument and Medal of Honor ribbon cutting ceremony alongside retired U.S. Marine Corps warrant officer and VA Veterans service representative Woody Williams. Williams received the Medal of Honor during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Secretary Wilkie also participated in several media interviews including Cleveland’s Morning News in which he told the host “the Gold Star Families…have given the most of all of us and they remind us every day why all of us sleep soundly at night.”

 

Photos Courtesy Dept. Veteran Affairs