View allAll Photos Tagged Commitment
I had the please to photograph my friends commitment ceromoney. They girls have been together for 8 years and thought it was time to make it known to everyone that is was forever. What an amazing day , enjoyed every moment of it. The Bride on the left is pregnant with twins. So happy for them both.
The Commitment March - August 28, 2020, Lincoln Memorial, WDC].
To commemorate the 57th anniversary of the March on Washington, NaN and Rev. Al Sharpton held the Commitment March at the iconic Lincoln Memorial. It was hot as usually in August this day, but, the crowd swelled over the course of the day. The all-day event featured various speakers of all ages and from different walks of life. The theme of the event was "Get your foot off my neck!" which was a reference to the murder of George Floyd, which set off a flurry of protests and the activation of the Black Lives Matter movement across the country. However the BLM movement was focused on Washington DC - mainly around the White House where, then, President Trump resided. The event was peaceful but emotional for some.
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)
FACT SHEET
September 28, 2015
U.S. Government Commitments and Collaboration with the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data
On September 27, 2015, the member states of the United Nations agreed to a set of Sustainable Development Goals(Global Goals) that define a common agenda to achieve inclusive growth, end poverty, and protect the environment by 2030. The Global Goals build on tremendous development gains made over the past decade, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and set actionable steps with measureable indicators to drive progress. The availability and use of high quality data is essential to measuring and achieving the Global Goals. By harnessing the power of technology, mobilizing new and open data sources, and partnering across sectors, we will achieve these goals faster and make their progress more transparent.
Harnessing the data revolution is a critical enabler of the global goals—not only to monitor progress, but also to inclusively engage stakeholders at all levels – local, regional, national, global—to advance evidence-based policies and programs to reach those who need it most. Data can show us where girls are at greatest risk of violence so we can better prevent it; where forests are being destroyed in real-time so we can protect them; and where HIV/AIDS is enduring so we can focus our efforts and finish the fight. Data can catalyze private investment; build modern and inclusive economies; and support transparent and effective investment of resources for social good.
The U.S. Government has advanced priorities and targeted investments toward increasing the availability and application of public data that span many parts of the 2030 agenda. For example, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) invested over $125 million towards strengthening host country health information, inclusive of technical assistance for training and analyses, to ensure greater capacity for countries to prevent and respond to health needs and crises. The U.S. Census Bureau has performed international analytical work and assisted in the collection, processing, analysis, dissemination, and use of statistics with counterpart governments in over 100 countries for increased quality information about country capacity and needs. The U.S. Government is opening and making freely available Landsat geospatial data, which is being used to monitor water quality, deforestation rates, and disaster preparedness, and has generated more than $2 billion annually in economic activity. Across the federal government, guided by President Obama’s Open Government Initiative, new policies and improved data management practices are providing greater accessibility and detail than ever before; and advancing the firm commit to multi-sector partnerships will increase the dissemination and use of open data to improve sustainable development outcomes outside of U.S. Government support and by the local actors.
The Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (Global Data Partnership), launched on the sidelines of the 70th United Nations General Assembly, is mobilizing a range of data producers and users—including governments, companies, civil society, data scientists, and international organizations—to harness the data revolution to achieve and measure the Global Goals. Working together, signatories to the Global Data Partnership will address the barriers to accessing and using development data, delivering outcomes that no single stakeholder can achieve working alone.
As a founding member of the Global Data Partnership, the United States is committed to broadening and deepening its leadership in the collection, analysis, use, and release of data to achieve and measure the Global Goals. The United States, through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), is joining a consortium of funders to seed this initiative. The U.S. Government has many initiatives that are harnessing the data revolution for impact domestically and internationally. Highlights of our international efforts are found below:
Health and Gender
Country Data Collaboratives for Local Impact – PEPFAR and the Millennium Challenge Corporation(MCC) are partnering to invest $21.8 million in Country Data Collaboratives for Local Impact in sub-Saharan Africa that will use data on HIV/AIDS, global health, gender equality, and economic growth to improve programs and policies. Initially, the Country Data Collaboratives will align with and support the objectives of DREAMS, a PEPFAR, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Girl Effect partnership to reduce new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women in high-burden areas.
Measurement and Accountability for Results in Health (MA4Health) Collaborative – USAID is partnering with the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and over 20 other agencies, countries, and civil society organizations to establish the MA4Health Collaborative, a multi-stakeholder partnership focused on reducing fragmentation and better aligning support to country health-system performance and accountability. The Collaborative will provide a vehicle to strengthen country-led health information platforms and accountability systems by improving data and increasing capacity for better decision-making; facilitating greater technical collaboration and joint investments; and developing international standards and tools for better information and accountability. In September 2015, partners agreed to a set of common strategic and operational principles, including a strong focus on 3–4 pathfinder countries where all partners will initially come together to support country-led monitoring and accountability platforms. Global actions will focus on promoting open data, establishing common norms and standards, and monitoring progress on data and accountability for the Global Goals. A more detailed operational plan will be developed through the end of the year, and implementation will start on January 1, 2016.
Data2X: Closing the Gender Gap – Data2X is a platform for partners to work together to identify innovative sources of data, including “big data,” that can provide an evidence base to guide development policy and investment on gender data. As part of its commitment to Data2X—an initiative of the United Nations Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Clinton Foundation, and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—PEPFAR and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) are working with partners to sponsor an open data challenge to incentivize the use of gender data to improve gender policy and practice.
PEPFAR Data Transparency – By the end of 2015, through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government will release a range of additional data, including PEPFAR procurement transaction data from the USAID Supply Chain Management System and sub-national results on the PEPFAR Dashboards.
Agriculture
Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition – The United States is committed to increasing support for global efforts to make agricultural and nutritionally relevant data available, accessible, and usable for unrestricted use worldwide by expanding and deepening our commitment to the Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) initiative. This commitment will encourage collaboration and cooperation among existing agriculture and open data activities, without duplication, and bring together stakeholders to solve long-standing global problems with a priority toward improving global food security. The United States looks forwarding to working with other GODAN partners to plan the first GODAN Summit to be held in late 2016.
Project 8 – The State Department has joined with the UN Foundation and the Demand Institute to help launch Project 8, which is bringing together leading experts and organizations to build a digital demand commons that will provide greater, centralized visibility into human needs data and projections. Project 8 serves as a tool for public and private sector researchers to collaborate on the science of human needs modeling. The first phase of the project prototype is designed around food security and nutrition and will be launched on the margins of the 70th UN General Assembly.
Group on Earth Observation Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM) – GEOGLAMis a Group on Earth Observation (GEO) initiative that responded to a 2011 G20 call to provide information to reduce price volatility in basic food crops. Through GEOGLAM, the S. Department of Agriculture and National Weather Service joins with major food production countries, international organization, and others to integrate medium-term weather and crop production forecasts, to facilitate responses at the national, regional, and global level to preemptively adjust food production and distribution to situations such as the El Nino weather patterns.
Climate
Climate Services for Resilient Development – To support the Climate Services for Resilient Developmentpartnership, USAID will provide $9 million in support of user-tailored climate service activities and products. The partnership aims to empower developing nations to boost their own climate resilience, and will provide actionable science, data, information, tools, and training to developing countries that are working to strengthen their national climate resilience—with an initial focus on Bangladesh, Colombia, and Ethiopia.
Geospatial
Group on Earth Observation (GEO)– The U.S. Government invests $3 billion annually in civil earth observation across 13 federal agencies, coordinated through the S. GEO subcommittee of the National Science and Technology Council. The Unites States shares and coordinates this information internationally with 95-plus governments and 70-plus participating organizations of the international GEO, of which the United States is a founding member. The U.S. data and information is freely available, and international GEO encourages this principle to be adopted by all of its members. GEO provides public and private stakeholders with critical information about natural resources, climate and weather, disaster events, land use change, and ecosystem health. These measurements are critical to understanding complex social dynamics such as human influence on food and water resources, energy security and climate change, and their resulting impacts on societal health and wellbeing. This data and information also support private sector products and services enhancing productivity, employment, and the economy.
SERVIR – SERVIR is a joint development initiative of USAID and NASA, working in partnership with leading regional organizations around the globe to link NASA’s satellite data with the needs of local decision-makers facing challenges related to food security, water resources, disasters, weather and climate, and land use. Started in 2005 at a modest scale in Central America, SERVIR has grown to a global network of regional hubs that work to improve access to information, build capacity of analysts and decision-makers to work with the information and associated technologies, and provide tailored information products and services that help people manage climate risks and plan for low emissions development. SERVIR has regional hubs in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, in the Himalaya region, and in the Mekong region, and SERVIR West Africa will launch in January 2016.
Innovating with open geographic data – The U.S. Government is maximizing the creation and sharing of geospatial data to put information into local context, promote citizen engagement, and add power to multi-sector analysis, monitoring, and evaluation. Working with the global open mapping community, the U.S. Department of State, USAID, and the Peace Corps are expanding efforts to recruit, train, and mobilize digital volunteers to contribute to OpenStreetMap, an open and editable map of the world. The U.S. Department of State’s MapGive program is catalyzing mapping for a range of human security applications through the provision of high-resolution satellite imagery services, and in conjunction with USAID’s Mapping for Resilience initiative, will build local communities around open mapping. Mapping for Resilience will empower youth in developing countries to create foundational geospatial data that will help inform USAID programming decisions. Together these agencies will continue to advance humanitarian, health, and development missions with high-quality, open, geographic data created via crowdsourced mapping.
See more data, tools, and resources on U.S. efforts to advance open data at www.data.gov.
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Misty May-Treanor is one of the greatest players to ever set foot on a volleyball court. She works harder in practice than most people do in a tournament and still listens to her coaches without any Prima donna attitude whatsoever. I am lucky to have been able to see her play and realize just how special she is.
Five swimmers that train at the Danny Jones Swimming Complex in North Charleston sign commitments to colleges and universities from throughout the Southeast.
Photo by Ryan Johnson
Reinforcing its commitment to product development and global expansion, Jaguar Land Rover, the UK's leading manufacturer of premium vehicles showcased its breakthrough Land Rover Discovery Sport and Jaguar XE models at the Paris Auto Show.
DRAWSKO POMORSKIE TRAINING AREA, Poland--Specialist Bryan J. Rushford, a healthcare specialist from U.S. Army Europe's 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), participates in round-robin field medical skills training with French and Polish army medical personnel here Oct. 29. The U.S. Army is supporting Steadfast Jazz 13 with participation from the 173rd 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 Sgt. A.M. LaVey/173 ABN PAO)
DRAWSKO POMORSKIE TRAINING AREA, Poland--Paratroopers from the 173rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), U.S. Army Europe, demonstrate the TOW missile system to multinational partners during a live-fire range here Oct. 31. 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 Sgt. A.M. LaVey/173 ABN PAO)
Centre for Indigenous Peoples’ Cultures of Peru (CHIRAPAQ) – Tarcila Rivera Zea, Executive Director
“Representation of women around the world, and in particular indigenous women, is important because I think it is indigenous women who are most impacted by climate change. We need to commit and invest in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and to ensure that the content of the 2030 Agenda seeks to build upon and further support the unmet goals and commitments under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Such political will and such drive will allow us to deliver gender equality, and stamp out remaining inequalities and injustices including violence, discrimination and exclusion from social spheres. An exclusion which still has a female face.”
World leaders convene at the United Nations on 27 September 2015 for the “Global Leaders’ Meeting on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment: A Commitment to Action” to personally commit to ending discrimination against women by 2030 and announce concrete and measurable actions to kick-start rapid change in their countries.
Read More: www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2015/9/press-release-glob...
Read every country's committment from the event: beijing20.unwomen.org/en/step-it-up/commitments
Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
A selfie with my boy Victor. I'm hard pressed to think of a bigger commitment in my life.
Yes, those are beads of sweat streaming down my forehead. We wer taking a break on a family bike ride this morning, where the temps had already reached 29°C. Vic's not sweating because he's the stoker on our tandem, and likes to take it easy!
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
----------------
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
RCM- Africa Concludes Its 16th Session with a Call for Commitment and Action toward Women’s Empowerment in Africa
When you get a dog, you're not getting an accessory..you're getting a life. a life that will forever depend on you. you owe it to your dog to give it the best life possible...after all...they dont ask for much. it irritates the hell out of me to see people getting rid of their dogs for the stupidest of reasons. if you can't keep your commitment, then dont get a dog. its that simple. and it saves a life.
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
----------------
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
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.
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
----------------
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
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GRAFENWOEHR, Germany ---1st Lt. Joshua Herrington, a native of Colorado Springs, Col., and currently stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany with 10th Army Air Missile Defense Command, drags a simulated victim at the Medical Simulation Training Center on Grafenwoehr Training Area during the second day of the U.S. Army Europe Best Junior Officer Competition. The Best Junior Officer Competition is a training event meant to challenge and refine competitors’ leadership and cognitive decision-making skills in high-intensity competition and is a training event unique to the U.S. Army in Europe. The competition runs from July 23-27, 2012. The competitors, company-grade officers ranking from 2nd Lt. to Capt., represent Army units throughout Europe and have already distinguished themselves amongst their peers and exemplify the profession of arms. The competition brings these up-and-coming young leaders together for five days of physically and mentally challenging training, all for the chance to be named U.S. Army Europe’s “Best Junior Officer” for 2012. Challenges include pistol and rifle qualifications, multiple foot marches, and various situational training exercises to test their intellect and instincts as leaders.The knowledge, skill-sets and leadership traits honed at this competition will help prepare the young leaders involved to excel when the time comes to lead Soldiers in a deployed environment. For more information or to see photos and video from the competition go to the U.S. Army Europe web site www.eur.army.mil/BestOfficer.
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
----------------
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
SPENCE, FRANCIS STEPHENS, teacher, journalist, prohibitionist, and politician; b. 29 March 1850 in Donegal (Republic of Ireland), third son of Jacob Spence, a Methodist minister, and Elizabeth Stephens; m. 1 July 1879 Sara Violet Norris in Eglinton (Toronto), and they had two daughters; d. 8 March 1917 in Toronto.
One of 12 children, Frank Spence came to Upper Canada with his parents in 1861 and the family settled in Toronto. Jacob Spence, who had been involved in Ireland in the abstinence movement led by Father Theobald Mathew, immediately took up temperance work in Toronto and would become secretary of the Ontario Temperance and Prohibitory League. An ardent crusader, he spoke from platforms across Ontario, towing his children in his wake to rouse temperance sentiment. He also operated a printing-press in his home to turn out pamphlets, a task for which the children were conscripted as printers and writers. The message of these temperance pamphlets – that material and moral progress were two sides of the same coin – would become a guiding principle for both Frank and his younger brother Benjamin H.
After attending Toronto Normal School, Spence taught near Lundy’s Lane (Niagara Falls), in Prescott, and in Toronto, where he rose to become a headmaster. But his childhood commitment to reform and his experience in publishing led him to leave teaching in 1883 to take on the editorship of the Canada Citizen and Temperance Herald, a task he performed for six years. As well, between 1884 and 1889 he managed its parent firm, the Citizen Publishing Company of Toronto Limited. Spence later edited other prohibition journals, including the Camp Fire, the Vanguard, and the Ontario Good Templar, and in 1902 he founded the Pioneer, which would become the official organ of the temperance movement in Ontario in 1904.
Having identified himself as a reformer, Spence was attracted to the Liberal party, in which he played an active role both federally and provincially. However, it was only in the city politics of Toronto that he campaigned for office. A member of the public school board in 1887–88 and a vigorous opponent of Sunday streetcars as early as 1893, he first ran for an aldermanic seat in 1894. He served as an alderman in 1896–97, 1899–1900, 1902–5, and 1914; as acting mayor in 1911; as a controller in 1904–5, 1908, 1910–11, and 1915; and as chairman of the Toronto Harbour Trust in 1904–11 and a board member in 1911–14 of the Toronto Harbour Commissioners, which he had been instrumental in creating. He ran for mayor twice, in 1905 and 1911, but lost both times, in part because of his announced determination to reduce liquor licences in Toronto, even in defiance of public opinion. Spence also held executive positions in both the Ontario Municipal Association – he was a vice-president in 1910–11 – and the Union of American Municipalities.
As a municipal politician and administrator, Spence was in the reformist mainstream. He favoured female suffrage (his mother had been a prominent suffragist) and was sympathetic to unions and public ownership of hydroelectric power. Indeed, he has been credited with being one of five key figures in the founding of Ontario Hydro [see Sir Adam Beck*]. He also supported the playground movement, and was an advocate of city planning, especially in the development of Toronto Harbour. All of these reforms were, in his view, bound together as elements of a compound of material and moral or spiritual progress. Spence had the twin faiths characteristic of many reformers of his day, faith in reason and faith in God. Their union was reflected in his writings and speeches, which were marked by evangelical righteousness – enemies would call it self-righteousness – hammered home with the reason of efficiency backed by statistics. Speaking to the Canadian Club in 1908 on the subject of Toronto’s street railways, he linked public ownership, efficient operation, the prevention of graft, and moral development. “The city highways ought to be controlled by the city council,” he maintained. “There is a social cohesiveness in the co-operation of a community . . . for the common good. When the man is working for the community he is working for himself. It is thus we attain the ideal. Ours becomes a better city. Ours is a truer Christianity.” The crucial requirement for both material and moral progress, however, was the destruction of the liquor traffic, and it was to this requirement that Spence devoted most of his life.
The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, with branches in every province, and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union [see Letitia Creighton*] were the major voices of temperance sentiment in Canada. Spence had become secretary (and sole full-time worker) of the Alliance’s Ontario branch in 1884 and, by 1891, of the national body as well. In these positions, from which he would dominate the Alliance until 1907, Spence was the chief organizer and strategist for the prohibition campaign. Yet his political affiliations, to the Ontario Liberals in particular, caused difficulty for both him and the movement. Though publicly more sympathetic to prohibition than the Conservatives, the Liberal government of Oliver Mowat* was slow to produce legislation. When in 1893 Conservative mla George Frederick Marter* introduced a bill to bar the retail sale of liquor in Ontario, a bill which Spence and other prohibitionists supported, the government substituted for it a measure requiring a court ruling on provincial jurisdiction in the matter. Spence, a gradualist in reform, was prepared to accept piecemeal legislation and to work within the Liberal party to achieve it. Less patient activists, the so-called Advanced Prohibitionists, wanted full prohibition immediately and were increasingly distrustful of the Liberals’ plodding pace. Their distrust was heightened by the provincial plebiscite on prohibition held by Mowat’s government in 1894; they had wanted a prohibition law without such a referendum. Spence, however, persuaded the Ontario branch of the Dominion Alliance to participate in the plebiscite and he was named secretary-general of its campaign. Prohibitionists won the vote, but the hostility of the Advanced Prohibitionists proved justified when Mowat deferred legislation, again pleading uncertainty over his constitutional powers.
Prohibitionists had also been active at the federal level. Spence met frequently with government leaders to demand national prohibition. The Conservative government responded in 1892 by appointing a royal commission to investigate the liquor traffic. Though Spence regarded it, correctly, as a delaying tactic, he agreed to act for the Dominion Alliance as its representative during the hearings. Most of the commissioners were opposed to prohibition, a sentiment reflected in their report, which was presented in 1895. It argued against prohibition, advocating instead more stringent controls on the sale of alcohol. Spence, feeling that the report ignored substantial testimony in favour of prohibition, published a response to it in The facts of the case: a summary of the most important evidence and argument used in the report of the royal commission on the liquor traffic (Toronto, 1896).
In 1893 Spence had been a delegate to the convention of the federal Liberal party, where he pressed for the adoption of prohibition in its platform. However, he grudgingly accepted a motion calling for a national plebiscite on the question, reasoning, again from his gradualist position, that a plebiscite was better than nothing. The Dominion Alliance supported him in this decision and named him its secretary-general for the national campaign. Held in 1898, the plebiscite resulted in another victory for prohibition. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier nevertheless declined to act on it since prohibitionists, though holding a majority among those voting, had only a minority of the full electorate and had suffered a defeat in Quebec. Disappointed and bitter over Quebec’s response, but not yet disenchanted with the Liberal party, Spence turned his attention once again to the provincial scene.
In 1899 George William Ross, a member of the Sons of Temperance and a vice-president of the Alliance’s Ontario branch, became Liberal premier of Ontario. In what seemed a vindication of Spence’s faith in the Liberals, a bill was passed in March 1902 that provided for prohibition. However, conditions were added: the bill had to be ratified in a referendum and ratification would require 214,000 votes in favour (representing a majority of the votes cast in the provincial general election of 1898).
Advanced Prohibitionists in the Ontario branch, led by the Reverend Samuel Dwight Chown*, staged a revolt over this requirement. They organized the Union Prohibition Committee (later the Temperance Legislation League) to run candidates in opposition to the Liberals in the provincial election of May 1902, before the referendum. Spence and the Alliance were able to defuse this revolt by permitting the prohibitionists in each riding to determine which candidate deserved their support and “whether or not it is desirable to bring out an independent candidate.” In the event, six such candidates ran but all were defeated. Third party movements would never again be a serious problem for Spence.
Prohibitionists carried the referendum in December, but they fell some 14,000 votes short of meeting Ross’s requirement, a shortfall Ross used to excuse his government from further action. The convention of the Ontario branch in 1903 stripped him of his vice-presidency, and Spence, at last, abandoned partisan politics to concentrate on winning prohibition gradually by fighting campaigns against the retail sale of liquor within municipal jurisdictions. These campaigns for local option gave the Ontario branch considerable political experience, but the financial cost was high. To meet it Spence induced Protestant clergymen to surrender their pulpits to branch speakers for at least one Sunday each year, with the collection to go to the branch. By 1911 proceeds from these “Field Days” had enabled it to build up a head-office staff of as many as 10 organizers and 30 clerical workers.
This local-option policy brought considerable success to the Ontario branch, with much of the province, especially the rural areas, voting to prohibit retail sales. An added gain was that the Conservatives, who defeated Ross in 1905, enforced liquor laws more effectively than had the Liberals and were cooperative in gradually restricting the issue of liquor licences [see Sir James Pliny Whitney].
In January 1907 Spence stepped down as secretary of the Ontario branch to be succeeded by his brother the Reverend Ben Spence. He was made honorary president of the branch, though his energies were far from being drained. He retained the managing editorship of the Pioneer and continued, in city council, to fight for a reduced number of liquor licences. In 1912 the Alliance’s Dominion Council elected him president and asked him to visit all the provinces “to strengthen the cause,” a job that would necessitate much travel.
When Spence had resigned in 1907, his gradualist strategy was making progress, with the prohibition movement seemingly freed from the Liberal party and the Ontario branch well staffed and funded. This situation, however, soon changed dramatically. By 1910 it was clear that most of those districts which had not adopted local option never would. Any further advance would have to come about through a provincial prohibition law. The Conservatives refused to act but the opposition Liberals, led by Newton Wesley Rowell* from 1911, came close with a policy of abolishing bars. By the provincial election of 1914, a combination of prohibitionist need and Liberal promise had effectively brought the Ontario branch back into the Liberal camp. Spence had taken the branch far in organization and funding, but, in terms of strategy, 1914 found it back at the impasse of 1894.
The stalemate was broken in 1915 when the campaign for prohibition gained enormous momentum as part of the war effort in Ontario. The movement of the Conservative government of William Howard Hearst* towards the enactment of prohibition in 1916 was strengthened in 1915 by a resolution of the Ontario branch, presented by Spence in March, and by the formation in October of the bipartisan Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred. Spence was not a member of this committee, possibly because of his resumption of work as a city controller and perhaps because his years of strong partisanship made him a liability. He was active, however, at the federal level, where a similar bipartisan approach was initiated in the form of the Dominion Prohibition Committee, organized in Ottawa in December 1916. Its “guiding spirit,” Spence prepared its manifesto and was part of the deputation that met with Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden* in January.
Frank Spence died suddenly of pneumonia at his Toronto home in March 1917, just as his life’s-work was about to be completed. All provinces but Quebec had adopted provincial prohibition, and federal prohibition was imminent, thanks in part to prohibitionist support for the Union government formed later in 1917. Though the movement departed from Spence’s strategy, in its focus on bipartisan committees, the organizational base from which it worked had been built largely by Spence. Luckily, he was spared knowing that most of his achievement would soon vanish as one province after another opted for government control and sale of liquor.
GET YOUR KNEE OFF OUR NECKS Commitment March Rally at Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool North Pathway, 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
Leading humanitarian agencies met in the UK today to endorse a global commitment that will prioritise the protection of girls and women from violence and sexual exploitation in emergency situations.
International Development Secretary Justine Greening and Sweden’s International Development Minister Hillevi Engström co-chaired a high-level event in London for governments, UN heads, international NGOs and civil society organisations to agree a fundamental new approach to protecting girls and women in emergency situations, both man-made and natural disasters.
Read the news story: www.gov.uk/government/news/greening-girls-and-women-must-...
Pictures: Sheena Ariyapala/DFID
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
----------------
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
The gold and diamonds for these rings were recycled from a ring that had been one friend's father's ring. The process was very labor-intensive. The diamonds had to be removed then the ring melted down into an ingot. This was then hammered out flat in several cycles of hammering and annealing (softening by heating-- the gold hardens significantly with a little hammering) and finally run though my rolling mill until I had a strip slightly less than 1/16" thick. I then sawed this into thin strips lengthwise and pulled them through a drawplate to make round wire out of it. This again involved several cycles of annealing and of filing the corners down on all the thin strips to help the process of basically turning a strip with a square cross-section into a piece of round wire.
The diamonds were reset into the band first and the gold added later, shaped by hand, and soldered in piece by piece.
SPENCE, FRANCIS STEPHENS, teacher, journalist, prohibitionist, and politician; b. 29 March 1850 in Donegal (Republic of Ireland), third son of Jacob Spence, a Methodist minister, and Elizabeth Stephens; m. 1 July 1879 Sara Violet Norris in Eglinton (Toronto), and they had two daughters; d. 8 March 1917 in Toronto.
One of 12 children, Frank Spence came to Upper Canada with his parents in 1861 and the family settled in Toronto. Jacob Spence, who had been involved in Ireland in the abstinence movement led by Father Theobald Mathew, immediately took up temperance work in Toronto and would become secretary of the Ontario Temperance and Prohibitory League. An ardent crusader, he spoke from platforms across Ontario, towing his children in his wake to rouse temperance sentiment. He also operated a printing-press in his home to turn out pamphlets, a task for which the children were conscripted as printers and writers. The message of these temperance pamphlets – that material and moral progress were two sides of the same coin – would become a guiding principle for both Frank and his younger brother Benjamin H.
After attending Toronto Normal School, Spence taught near Lundy’s Lane (Niagara Falls), in Prescott, and in Toronto, where he rose to become a headmaster. But his childhood commitment to reform and his experience in publishing led him to leave teaching in 1883 to take on the editorship of the Canada Citizen and Temperance Herald, a task he performed for six years. As well, between 1884 and 1889 he managed its parent firm, the Citizen Publishing Company of Toronto Limited. Spence later edited other prohibition journals, including the Camp Fire, the Vanguard, and the Ontario Good Templar, and in 1902 he founded the Pioneer, which would become the official organ of the temperance movement in Ontario in 1904.
Having identified himself as a reformer, Spence was attracted to the Liberal party, in which he played an active role both federally and provincially. However, it was only in the city politics of Toronto that he campaigned for office. A member of the public school board in 1887–88 and a vigorous opponent of Sunday streetcars as early as 1893, he first ran for an aldermanic seat in 1894. He served as an alderman in 1896–97, 1899–1900, 1902–5, and 1914; as acting mayor in 1911; as a controller in 1904–5, 1908, 1910–11, and 1915; and as chairman of the Toronto Harbour Trust in 1904–11 and a board member in 1911–14 of the Toronto Harbour Commissioners, which he had been instrumental in creating. He ran for mayor twice, in 1905 and 1911, but lost both times, in part because of his announced determination to reduce liquor licences in Toronto, even in defiance of public opinion. Spence also held executive positions in both the Ontario Municipal Association – he was a vice-president in 1910–11 – and the Union of American Municipalities.
As a municipal politician and administrator, Spence was in the reformist mainstream. He favoured female suffrage (his mother had been a prominent suffragist) and was sympathetic to unions and public ownership of hydroelectric power. Indeed, he has been credited with being one of five key figures in the founding of Ontario Hydro [see Sir Adam Beck*]. He also supported the playground movement, and was an advocate of city planning, especially in the development of Toronto Harbour. All of these reforms were, in his view, bound together as elements of a compound of material and moral or spiritual progress. Spence had the twin faiths characteristic of many reformers of his day, faith in reason and faith in God. Their union was reflected in his writings and speeches, which were marked by evangelical righteousness – enemies would call it self-righteousness – hammered home with the reason of efficiency backed by statistics. Speaking to the Canadian Club in 1908 on the subject of Toronto’s street railways, he linked public ownership, efficient operation, the prevention of graft, and moral development. “The city highways ought to be controlled by the city council,” he maintained. “There is a social cohesiveness in the co-operation of a community . . . for the common good. When the man is working for the community he is working for himself. It is thus we attain the ideal. Ours becomes a better city. Ours is a truer Christianity.” The crucial requirement for both material and moral progress, however, was the destruction of the liquor traffic, and it was to this requirement that Spence devoted most of his life.
The Dominion Alliance for the Total Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, with branches in every province, and the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union [see Letitia Creighton*] were the major voices of temperance sentiment in Canada. Spence had become secretary (and sole full-time worker) of the Alliance’s Ontario branch in 1884 and, by 1891, of the national body as well. In these positions, from which he would dominate the Alliance until 1907, Spence was the chief organizer and strategist for the prohibition campaign. Yet his political affiliations, to the Ontario Liberals in particular, caused difficulty for both him and the movement. Though publicly more sympathetic to prohibition than the Conservatives, the Liberal government of Oliver Mowat* was slow to produce legislation. When in 1893 Conservative mla George Frederick Marter* introduced a bill to bar the retail sale of liquor in Ontario, a bill which Spence and other prohibitionists supported, the government substituted for it a measure requiring a court ruling on provincial jurisdiction in the matter. Spence, a gradualist in reform, was prepared to accept piecemeal legislation and to work within the Liberal party to achieve it. Less patient activists, the so-called Advanced Prohibitionists, wanted full prohibition immediately and were increasingly distrustful of the Liberals’ plodding pace. Their distrust was heightened by the provincial plebiscite on prohibition held by Mowat’s government in 1894; they had wanted a prohibition law without such a referendum. Spence, however, persuaded the Ontario branch of the Dominion Alliance to participate in the plebiscite and he was named secretary-general of its campaign. Prohibitionists won the vote, but the hostility of the Advanced Prohibitionists proved justified when Mowat deferred legislation, again pleading uncertainty over his constitutional powers.
Prohibitionists had also been active at the federal level. Spence met frequently with government leaders to demand national prohibition. The Conservative government responded in 1892 by appointing a royal commission to investigate the liquor traffic. Though Spence regarded it, correctly, as a delaying tactic, he agreed to act for the Dominion Alliance as its representative during the hearings. Most of the commissioners were opposed to prohibition, a sentiment reflected in their report, which was presented in 1895. It argued against prohibition, advocating instead more stringent controls on the sale of alcohol. Spence, feeling that the report ignored substantial testimony in favour of prohibition, published a response to it in The facts of the case: a summary of the most important evidence and argument used in the report of the royal commission on the liquor traffic (Toronto, 1896).
In 1893 Spence had been a delegate to the convention of the federal Liberal party, where he pressed for the adoption of prohibition in its platform. However, he grudgingly accepted a motion calling for a national plebiscite on the question, reasoning, again from his gradualist position, that a plebiscite was better than nothing. The Dominion Alliance supported him in this decision and named him its secretary-general for the national campaign. Held in 1898, the plebiscite resulted in another victory for prohibition. Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier nevertheless declined to act on it since prohibitionists, though holding a majority among those voting, had only a minority of the full electorate and had suffered a defeat in Quebec. Disappointed and bitter over Quebec’s response, but not yet disenchanted with the Liberal party, Spence turned his attention once again to the provincial scene.
In 1899 George William Ross, a member of the Sons of Temperance and a vice-president of the Alliance’s Ontario branch, became Liberal premier of Ontario. In what seemed a vindication of Spence’s faith in the Liberals, a bill was passed in March 1902 that provided for prohibition. However, conditions were added: the bill had to be ratified in a referendum and ratification would require 214,000 votes in favour (representing a majority of the votes cast in the provincial general election of 1898).
Advanced Prohibitionists in the Ontario branch, led by the Reverend Samuel Dwight Chown*, staged a revolt over this requirement. They organized the Union Prohibition Committee (later the Temperance Legislation League) to run candidates in opposition to the Liberals in the provincial election of May 1902, before the referendum. Spence and the Alliance were able to defuse this revolt by permitting the prohibitionists in each riding to determine which candidate deserved their support and “whether or not it is desirable to bring out an independent candidate.” In the event, six such candidates ran but all were defeated. Third party movements would never again be a serious problem for Spence.
Prohibitionists carried the referendum in December, but they fell some 14,000 votes short of meeting Ross’s requirement, a shortfall Ross used to excuse his government from further action. The convention of the Ontario branch in 1903 stripped him of his vice-presidency, and Spence, at last, abandoned partisan politics to concentrate on winning prohibition gradually by fighting campaigns against the retail sale of liquor within municipal jurisdictions. These campaigns for local option gave the Ontario branch considerable political experience, but the financial cost was high. To meet it Spence induced Protestant clergymen to surrender their pulpits to branch speakers for at least one Sunday each year, with the collection to go to the branch. By 1911 proceeds from these “Field Days” had enabled it to build up a head-office staff of as many as 10 organizers and 30 clerical workers.
This local-option policy brought considerable success to the Ontario branch, with much of the province, especially the rural areas, voting to prohibit retail sales. An added gain was that the Conservatives, who defeated Ross in 1905, enforced liquor laws more effectively than had the Liberals and were cooperative in gradually restricting the issue of liquor licences [see Sir James Pliny Whitney].
In January 1907 Spence stepped down as secretary of the Ontario branch to be succeeded by his brother the Reverend Ben Spence. He was made honorary president of the branch, though his energies were far from being drained. He retained the managing editorship of the Pioneer and continued, in city council, to fight for a reduced number of liquor licences. In 1912 the Alliance’s Dominion Council elected him president and asked him to visit all the provinces “to strengthen the cause,” a job that would necessitate much travel.
When Spence had resigned in 1907, his gradualist strategy was making progress, with the prohibition movement seemingly freed from the Liberal party and the Ontario branch well staffed and funded. This situation, however, soon changed dramatically. By 1910 it was clear that most of those districts which had not adopted local option never would. Any further advance would have to come about through a provincial prohibition law. The Conservatives refused to act but the opposition Liberals, led by Newton Wesley Rowell* from 1911, came close with a policy of abolishing bars. By the provincial election of 1914, a combination of prohibitionist need and Liberal promise had effectively brought the Ontario branch back into the Liberal camp. Spence had taken the branch far in organization and funding, but, in terms of strategy, 1914 found it back at the impasse of 1894.
The stalemate was broken in 1915 when the campaign for prohibition gained enormous momentum as part of the war effort in Ontario. The movement of the Conservative government of William Howard Hearst* towards the enactment of prohibition in 1916 was strengthened in 1915 by a resolution of the Ontario branch, presented by Spence in March, and by the formation in October of the bipartisan Citizens’ Committee of One Hundred. Spence was not a member of this committee, possibly because of his resumption of work as a city controller and perhaps because his years of strong partisanship made him a liability. He was active, however, at the federal level, where a similar bipartisan approach was initiated in the form of the Dominion Prohibition Committee, organized in Ottawa in December 1916. Its “guiding spirit,” Spence prepared its manifesto and was part of the deputation that met with Prime Minister Sir Robert Laird Borden* in January.
Frank Spence died suddenly of pneumonia at his Toronto home in March 1917, just as his life’s-work was about to be completed. All provinces but Quebec had adopted provincial prohibition, and federal prohibition was imminent, thanks in part to prohibitionist support for the Union government formed later in 1917. Though the movement departed from Spence’s strategy, in its focus on bipartisan committees, the organizational base from which it worked had been built largely by Spence. Luckily, he was spared knowing that most of his achievement would soon vanish as one province after another opted for government control and sale of liquor.