title: Jessica Springsteen

text: Springsteen attended the Rumson Country Day School and Ranney School in New Jersey. She earned an undergraduate degree from Duke University on May 11, 2014. After embarking on a career as a show jumping rider, she also did some modeling and was named the equestrian ambassador for Gucci.


title: Jessica Springsteen

text: Springsteen has been riding since she was four years old, with horses kept on the Springsteen family's 300-acre Stone Hill Farm in Colts Neck, New Jersey. She got her first pony when she was six years old. As a youth equitation rider, she first won classes in the pony division, including the Washington International Pony Equitation Classic Final, and as a teen won the 2008 ASPCA Maclay National Championship in a ride-off where her particularly bold riding stood out. She also won the 2009 George H. Morris Excellence in Equitation Championship.


title: Jessica Springsteen

text: As an adult competitor, in 2011 she competed in the Royal Windsor Horse Show competing on her horse Vordnado Van Den Hoendrik. In September 2012, Peter Charles, who had represented Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the Equestrian events, sold his team gold medal-winning horse, Vindicat W, to Springsteen. Springsteen herself was an alternate rider for the United States at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2014, she won the American Gold Cup. In 2016, she won her first five-star Grand Prix jumping competition with her horse Cynar VA, but did not make the short list for the U.S. Equestrian team for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In May 2017, she won the Falcon Stakes CSI 5* at the Royal Windsor Horse Show riding Davendy S.


title: Jessica Springsteen

text: She formerly trained with Frank and Stacia Klein Madden and then trained with Laura Kraut from 2010 to 2015. Since May 2015 she trains with Edwina Tops-Alexander.


title: Jessica Springsteen

text: In 2021, Springsteen was selected in the US team to compete in equestrian at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She finished equal 31st in the qualifying round of the individual jumping, but only the top 30 advanced to the medals round. On August 7, 2021 she was part of the U.S. team that won the silver medal in the Team jumping.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Tobi Celeste Vail (born July 20, 1969) is an American independent musician, music critic and feminist activist from Olympia, Washington. She was a central figure in the riot grrl scene—she coined the spelling of "grrl"—and she started the zine "Jigsaw". A drummer, guitarist and singer, she was a founding member of the band Bikini Kill. Vail has collaborated in several other bands figuring in the Olympia music scene. Vail writes for eMusic.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Tobi Celeste Vail was born in Auburn, Washington, to teenage parents. Both her grandfather and her father were drummers. When she was young her parents moved the family to rural Naselle, Washington, where her father worked in a youth detention center. The family moved to Olympia, Washington, where Vail attended high school. The first concert she went to on her own was a Wipers show in 1984. In 1988, Vail left Washington to live in Eugene, Oregon. After a year, she returned to Olympia.


title: Tobi Vail

text: While still in high school, Vail volunteered at KAOS (FM), the campus radio station at The Evergreen State College. At KAOS, Vail was exposed to a wide variety of independent music. She served off and on as a disc jockey from age 15 to 21.


title: Tobi Vail

text: One of Vail's first bands was the Go Team, a punk project started with Calvin Johnson in 1985. The group released several cassettes and nine singles on the independent label K Records, mostly on the 7" vinyl format. Billy "Boredom" Karren was one of the rotating musicians who played with the Go Team, and it was in this band that he and Vail played together for the first time. The band toured the West Coast in 1987 as a two-piece, then added Karren for two U.S. tours, both in 1989. After the Go Team disbanded, Vail played in various project bands and made a record as the drummer for Some Velvet Sidewalk; she toured with Some Velvet Sidewalk during early 1990. Since the beginning of her teens, Vail had tried to form an all-female band to "rule the world and change how people view music and politics", including a group named Doris.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In October 1990, Vail, Wilcox and Hanna determined to form a band, which they named Bikini Kill. Vail played drums and on some songs she sang. Through early 1991, Hanna and Wilcox swapped bass player and lead singer duties halfway through the set, and Wilcox also played guitar. After trying out a lot of female lead guitar players, none of whom seemed to fit, the band finally asked Karren to join as he was already known to Vail and a familiar figure in the Olympia music scene.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Soon after the band formed, they started a zine called "Bikini Kill" to promote the band and describe the band's social and political views. Hanna, Vail and Wilcox contributed articles to the zine. In "Bikini Kill" #1, Vail commented on the punk music scene and its overemphasis on males. She wrote about the "Yoko factor": the time when a male musician tells his girlfriend that she should not break up the band (comparing Yoko Ono's influence on the breakup of the Beatles) and that the girlfriend would never be as important to him as his band. Through the "Bikini Kill" zine and publicity for the band, Vail voiced her belief that the world would change for the better if the number of girls joining bands increased until it was equal to the number of boys.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Bikini Kill performed at the International Pop Underground Convention in August 1991, and Vail and Hanna each performed separately on "Girl Night".


title: Tobi Vail

text: Despite frequent mainstream media misrepresentation and serious violence at shows, they continued for several years and today are largely credited (along with Bratmobile) with starting riot grrrl, a movement that merged do it yourself (DIY) punk culture with feminism. The band Bikini Kill tried to reclaim feminism for the punk scene in an attempt to disrupt its male bias. The band fought against male aggression at their shows. Largely because of Hanna's leadership, Bikini Kill encouraged girls to stand at the front of the stage for solidarity as well as for protection from male aggression. Vail and the other members of Bikini Kill encouraged girls to start their own bands. The general idea that girls should create their own independent culture grew rapidly in popularity through a largely underground network of similar-feeling fans, artists, musicians and writers, and soon regular meetings started taking place, usually in punk houses like Positive Force. By the summer of 1991, the riot grrrl movement had coalesced, with Bikini Kill moving to Washington, D.C. for a year.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In February 2016, Vail issued a YouTube takedown request after a pro-Hillary Clinton video utilizing the Bikini Kill song "Rebel Girl" began to go viral.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In 1992, while still involved with Bikini Kill, Tobi started The Frumpies in Washington, D.C. with Bikini Kill bandmates Wilcox and Karren, and also with Molly Neuman of Bratmobile and the PeeChees, and later Michelle Mae. The Frumpies were distinctly less overtly political in nature than either Bikini Kill or Bratmobile, with a different sound. The band toured the U.S. with Huggy Bear in 1993 and they toured Italy with noise rock band Dada Swing in 2000.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In 1993, Vail started Bumpidee, a low-cost method for unsigned bands to increase their listener base, using the distribution of cassette recordings of their songs. This was another embodiment of Vail's strong DIY principle. The name Bumpidee was chosen in honor of the children's television show "Bumpity". One of the Bumpidee bands was Worst Case Scenario which included Justin Trosper and Brandt Sandeno—these two musicians found success in the band Unwound, retaining the DIY ethic from their Bumpidee exposure.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In mid-2004, Vail founded the band Spider and the Webs, with James Maeda on guitar and Chris Sutton on drums and bass. Vail sings and plays guitar, and she trades drumming roles with Sutton. Spider and the Webs played Ladyfest in 2005 in Olympia, and Vail spoke about the riot grrrl movement at other Ladyfest conferences held in Brighton and Madrid in October 2005, during a Spider and the Webs European tour. The band produced an EP in October 2006 on K Records: "Frozen Roses", following a split EP with Partyline on Bristol, UK's Local Kid records. A (cassette) album was eventually released in 2015, also available as a download.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Vail then formed "supergroup" girlSperm - also styled as gSp - with Layla Gibbon and Marissa Magic. gSp released their first album in 2017, receiving praise from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone and the New York Times.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Vail ran the mail order department at Kill Rock Stars from 1998 to 2011, after working there part-time from 1992 to 1997. In addition to blogging through her "Jigsaw" website, Vail also posts as "Tabitha Says" on Tumblr, beginning in August 2008.


title: Tobi Vail

text: With her sister Maggie, Vail joined Alison Wolfe, Cat Power, and members of Sleater-Kinney to organize the first Ladyfest in 2000, a music, activism, and arts conference held in Olympia. The Vail sisters played the festival in a band named Frenchie and the German Girls. In keeping with Vail's DIY ethic, the Ladyfest founders turned the Ladyfest brand over to the public domain so that others could freely organize similar festivals.


title: Tobi Vail

text: From 2006 to 2008, Vail drummed with the Old Haunts, including on their final album, "Poisonous Times". Vail has performed several solo shows, including one in Barcelona at "Primera Persona" in March 2012.


title: Tobi Vail

text: In 1989, Vail published the first issue of her feminist zine "Jigsaw". When she published the zine, Vail was working at an Olympia sandwich shop with Kathi Wilcox who remembers being impressed by Vail's focus on "girls in bands, specifically," including an aggressive emphasis on feminist issues. While Kathleen Hanna was touring with Viva Knievel, she came upon a copy of "Jigsaw" #2, finding resonance in Vail's "Boxes", a five-page article about gender. Hanna wrote to Vail and submitted musician interviews to be published in "Jigsaw" while Hanna was on tour; this was the beginning of their collaboration. In "Jigsaw", Vail wrote about "angry grrls", combining the word "girls" with the powerful growl of "grr". Vail's third issue, published in 1991 after she spent time in Washington D.C., was subtitled "angry grrrl zine". Vail soon became dismayed with the male-slanted media coverage of the riot grrrl scene. Janice Radway notes that her copy of "Jigsaw" #4, also published in 1991, has many instances of the printed word "grrrl", but each one has been crossed out, "presumably by Vail, as a protest against the popularity of the term."


title: Tobi Vail

text: The final issue of the printed version of "Jigsaw" was published in 1999. In 2001, Vail began an online blog named Bumpidee. Vail used the Bumpidee site to publish "Jigsaw" #8 in the spring and summer of 2003, including writings by Alan Licht and Becca Albee. She moved the Jigsaw blog to its own domain in September 2008. In mid-2013, "Jigsaw" issues from the 1990s were archived at Harvard University as a research resource along with 20,000 other countercultural zines.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Vail started working as a freelance writer after graduating from the Evergreen State College in 2009. Her work has been published by "NPR", "Artforum", "The Believer", "Punk Planet" and "Maximum Rock-N-Roll". She currently writes a monthly column for eMusic and was recently published by "The Feminist Press" in the anthologies "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer for Freedom" and "The Riot Grrrl Collection". Hanna commented upon Vail's song "Free Pussy Riot", written in support of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot after three members were arrested in March 2012. "The Punk Singer", a 2013 documentary about Hanna, includes footage from three archival interviews with Vail. The film also includes archival footage of several Bikini Kill performances.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Vail met Kurt Cobain when she was hanging around with the Melvins in 1986. Cobain played guitar on one of the Go Team songs. Vail and Cobain briefly dated beginning in July 1990. The two discussed the possibility of starting a music project, and recorded a few songs together. Some of these songs ended up being Nirvana tracks. Referring to the Teen Spirit deodorant brand that Vail once used, Kathleen Hanna wrote "Kurt smells like Teen Spirit" with a sharpie on the wall of Cobain's bedroom. Cobain, unaware of the deodorant brand, saw a deeper meaning in the phrase, and wrote the song "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Cobain and Vail soon split but remained friends.


title: Tobi Vail

text: Vail's relationship with Tim Armstrong inspired him to write the Rancid song "Olympia, WA" from the album "...And Out Come the Wolves".


title: German New Guinea

text: German New Guinea () consisted of the northeastern part of the island of New Guinea and several nearby island groups and was the first part of the German colonial empire. The mainland part of the territory, called , became a German protectorate in 1884. Other island groups were added subsequently. The Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland and several smaller islands), and the North Solomon Islands were declared a German protectorate in 1885; in the same year the Marshall Islands were bought from Spain for $4.5 million by the Hispano-German Protocol of Rome; Nauru was annexed to the Marshall Islands protectorate in 1888, and finally the Caroline Islands, Palau, and the Mariana Islands (except for Guam) were bought from Spain in 1899. German Samoa, though part of the German colonial empire, was not part of German New Guinea.


title: German New Guinea

text: Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Kaiser-Wilhelmsland and nearby islands fell to Australian forces, while Japan occupied most of the remaining German possessions in the Pacific. The mainland part of German New Guinea (), the Bismarck Archipelago and the North Solomon Islands are now part of Papua New Guinea. The Northern Mariana Islands are an unincorporated territory of the United States. The Carolines (as the Federated States of Micronesia), the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau are independent countries.


title: German New Guinea

text: The islands to the east of Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, on annexation, were renamed the Bismarck Archipelago (formerly the New Britannia Archipelago) and the two largest islands renamed ('New Pomerania', today's New Britain) and ('New Mecklenburg', now New Ireland). Due to their accessibility by water, however, these outlying islands were, and have remained, the most economically viable part of the territory.


title: German New Guinea

text: With the exception of German Samoa, the German islands in the Western Pacific formed the "Imperial German Pacific Protectorates". These were administered as part of German New Guinea and included the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, New Ireland, and several smaller islands), the North Solomon Islands (Buka, Bougainville, and several smaller islands), the Carolines, Palau, the Marianas (except for Guam), the Marshall Islands, and Nauru. The total land area of German New Guinea was .


title: German New Guinea

text: The first Germans in the South Pacific were probably sailors on the crew of ships of the Dutch East India Company: during Abel Tasman's first voyage, the captain of the "Heemskerck" was one Holleman (or Holman), born in Jever in northwest Germany.


title: German New Guinea

text: Hanseatic League merchant houses were the first to establish footholds in the South Pacific: Johann Cesar Godeffroy & Sohn of Hamburg, headquartered at Samoa from 1857, operated a South Seas network of trading stations especially dominating the copra trade and carrying German immigrants to various South Pacific settlements; in 1877 another Hamburg firm, Hernsheim and Robertson, established a German community on Matupi Island, in Blanche Bay (the north-east coast of New Britain) from which it traded in New Britain, the Caroline, and the Marshall Islands. By the end of 1875, one German trader reported: "German trade and German ships are encountered everywhere, almost at the exclusion of any other nation".


title: German New Guinea

text: In the late 1870s and early 1880s, an active minority, stemming mainly from a right-wing National Liberal and Free Conservative background, had organised various colonial societies all over Germany to persuade Chancellor Bismarck to embark on a colonial policy. The most important ones were the "Kolonialverein" of 1882 and the Society for German Colonization ("Gesellschaft für Deutsche Kolonisation") founded in 1884. The reasons for Bismarck's lack of enthusiasm when it came to the subject of Germany's colonial possessions is reflected in his curt response in 1888 to the procolonial, expansionist remarks of Eugen Wolf, reflected in the latter's autobiography. After Bismarck had patiently listened to Wolf enthusiastically laying out his plans that he sought to pitch employing several illustrative maps, Bismarck finally interrupted his monologue:


title: German New Guinea

text: Despite his personal objections, it was Bismarck himself who eventually organised the acquisition of much of what would become the German colonial empire. The very first attempts at the new policy came in 1884 when Bismarck had to put German trading interests in southwestern Africa under imperial protection. Bismarck told the Reichstag on 23 June 1884 of the change in German colonial policy: annexations would now proceed but by grants of charters to private companies.


title: German New Guinea

text: The edition of 27 November 1882 of the "Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung" carried an article which the Colonial Secretary of the British colony of New South Wales drew to the attention of the editor of the "Sydney Morning Herald" and, on 7 February 1883, the paper published a summary of the article under the heading "German annexation of New Guinea". The argument lifted from the German paper began by stating that New Guinea fell into the Australian sphere but had been neglected; although the Portuguese had explored in the 16th century, it was the Dutch from the 17th century "who seemed better satisfied with the country than other European nations had been" but they had over-reached themselves and had fallen back towards Java, Sumatra and Celebes. Recent explorations had given the basis for reconsideration: it "is considered useful by geology and biology people as holding in its forests the key to solve problems... a profitable field for cultivation" but London had only sent missionaries to save souls. "As we Germans have learnt a little about conducting colonial policy, and as our wishes and plans turn with a certain vivacity towards New Guinea... according to our opinion it might be possible to create out of the island a German Java, a great trade and plantation colony, which would form a stately foundation stone for a German colonial kingdom of the future."


title: German New Guinea

text: The publication of the "Sydney Morning Herald" article caused a sensation and not just in the colony of New South Wales: over the border, in the British colony of Queensland where the shipping lanes of the Torres Strait and the beche-de-mer trade were of commercial significance. The Queensland Premier, Sir Thomas McIlwraith who led a political party "considered to represent the interests of the plantation owners in Queensland", drew it to the attention of the Queensland governor together with the general situation in New Guinea and urged annexation of the island. He also instructed the London Agent for Queensland to urge the Imperial Colonial Office to an act of annexation.


title: German New Guinea

text: "Impatient with the lack of results from this procedure" Premier McIlwraith on his own authority ordered a Queensland Police Magistrate in March 1883 to proclaim the annexation on behalf of the Queensland government of New Guinea east of the Dutch boundary at 141E. When news of this reached London, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Derby promptly repudiated the act. When the matter came before Parliament, Lord Derby advised that the British Imperial Government “were not ready to annex New Guinea in view of its vast size and unknown interior, the certainty of native objections and administrative expense”.


title: German New Guinea

text: On his return to Germany from his 1879–1882 Pacific expedition, Otto Finsch joined a small, informal group interested in German colonial expansion into the South Seas led by the banker, Adolph von Hansemann. Finsch encouraged them to pursue the founding of a colony on the north-east coast of New Guinea and the New Britain Archipelago even providing them with an estimate of the costs of such a venture.


title: German New Guinea

text: In 1884, the New Guinea Company was founded in Berlin by Adolph von Hansemann and a syndicate of German bankers for the purpose of colonizing and exploiting resources on "Neuguinea" (German New Guinea). On 3 November 1884, under the auspices of the "Deutsche Neuguinea-Compagnie" (New Guinea Company), the German flag was flown over Kaiser-Wilhelmsland, the Bismarck Archipelago and the German Solomon Islands.


title: German New Guinea

text: Albert Hahl (1868–1945) joined the German Colonial Office in 1895 and until 1914 played a major part in New Guinea's administration. He was an imperial judge at Herbertshoehe (1896–98), deputy governor of New Guinea (1899–1901), and governor (1902–14). As a judge he made three reforms: the appointment of 'luluais' [village chiefs], attempts to integrate the Tolais people into the European economy, and the protection of village lands, which led him to recommend the ending of all alienation of indigenous land. After 1901 Hahl attempted to apply his system to the whole of New Guinea, and although his success was limited, exports rose from one million marks in 1902 to eight million in 1914. He was forced to retire because of disagreements with Berlin officials, and became an active writer on New Guinea and was a leader in German colonial societies between the wars.


title: German New Guinea

text: By the mid-1880s German church authorities had devised a definite program for missionary work in New Guinea and assigned it to the Rhenish Mission, under the direction of Friedrich Fabri (1824–91), a Lutheran. The missionaries faced extraordinary difficulties, including repeated sickness, as well as psychological and sometimes violent tensions and fights between the colonial administration and the locals. The latter, at first, rejected European customs and norms of social behaviour, with few embracing Christianity. In 1921, the Rhenish Mission territory was handed over to the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia.


title: German New Guinea

text: Missionaries sponsored by the Catholic Church in Germany had better resources and influence, and proved more successful. They put more emphasis on tradition and less on modernisation, and were more in line with the world-views and traditions of the locals. European morality and discipline were often adopted, as were notions of dignity and prestige.


title: German New Guinea

text: By the German–Spanish Treaty of 1899, Germany bought from Spain the Caroline Islands and the Mariana Islands (excluding Guam, which had been ceded to the US after the 1898 Spanish–American War) for 25 million pesetas (equivalent to 16,600,000 goldmarks). These islands became a protectorate and were administered from German New Guinea. The Marshall Islands were added in 1906.


title: German New Guinea

text: To expand the highly profitable plantations, the Germans needed more workers. The government sent military expeditions to take direct control of more areas from 1899 to 1914. Instead of voluntary recruitment it became a matter of forced mobilisation. The government enforced new laws that required the tribes to furnish four weeks of labour per person annually and payment of a poll tax in cash, thereby forcing reluctant local inhabitants into the work force. The government did explore the choice of voluntary recruitment of labourers from China, Japan, and Micronesia, but only a few hundred came. After 1910 the government tried to ameliorate the impact by ending the recruitment of women in some areas and entirely closing other areas to recruiting. The planters protested German forced labor policies vehemently, deciding to go to war with the whites, and the government responded by sending 4 warships with 745 troops to defeat the Sokehs workers and impose the forced labour policy. They arrived in January 1911 and by February 1911 the Sokehs leader had surrendered.


title: German New Guinea

text: Following the outbreak of World War I, Australian troops captured Kaiser-Wilhelmsland and the nearby islands in 1914, after a short resistance led by Captain Carl von Klewitz and Lt. Robert "Lord Bob" von Blumenthal, while Japan occupied most of the remaining German possessions in the Pacific. The only significant battle occurred on 11 September 1914 when the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force attacked the low-power wireless station at Bita Paka (near Rabaul) on the island of New Britain, then Neu Pommern. The Australians suffered six dead and four wounded – the first Australian military casualties of the First World War. The German forces fared much worse, with one German officer and 30 local policemen killed and one German officer and ten local policemen wounded. On 21 September all German forces in the colony surrendered.


title: German New Guinea

text: However, Lieutenant (later Hauptmann) Hermann Detzner, a German officer, and some 20 local policemen evaded capture in the interior of New Guinea for the entire war. Detzner was on a surveying expedition to map the border with Australian-held Papua at the outbreak of war, and remained outside militarised areas. Detzner claimed to have penetrated the interior of the German portion (Kaiser Wilhelmsland) in his 1920 book "Vier Jahre unter Kannibalen" ("Four Years Among Cannibals"). These claims were heavily disputed by various German missionaries, and Detzner recanted most of his claims in 1932.


title: German New Guinea

text: After the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, Germany lost all its colonial possessions, including German New Guinea. In 1923, the League of Nations gave Australia a trustee mandate over Nauru, with the United Kingdom and New Zealand as co-trustees. Other lands south of the equator became the Territory of New Guinea, a League of Nations Mandate Territory under Australian administration until 1949 (interrupted by Japanese occupation during the New Guinea campaign) when it was merged with the Australian territory of Papua to become the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, which eventually became modern Papua New Guinea. The islands north of the equator became the Japanese League of Nations Mandate for the South Seas Islands. After Japan's defeat in World War II, the former Japanese mandate islands were administered by the United States as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, a United Nations trust territory.


title: German New Guinea

text: In 1914 a series of drafts were made for proposed coats of arms and flags for the German colonies. However, World War I broke out before the designs were finished and implemented, and the symbols were never actually put into use. Following its defeat in the war, Germany lost all its colonies, and the prepared coats of arms and flags were therefore never used.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: "It Was a Good Day" is a song by American rapper Ice Cube. It was released as the second single from his third solo album, "The Predator", on February 23, 1993. The song peaked at No. 7 on the "Billboard" Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. 27 on the UK Charts. On the "Billboard" Hot 100, the song peaked at No. 15, making it Ice Cube's highest-charting single on the chart to date. "It Was a Good Day" was ranked at No. 81 on the list of greatest rap songs of all time by About.com, No. 77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, No. 36 on "Rolling Stone" 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time, and No. 352 on the latter's list of Top 500 Best Songs of All Time. In 2008, the song was ranked at No. 28 on VH1's 100 greatest hip-hop songs.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: Ice Cube originally recorded a demo of "It Was a Good Day" in his home studio, and later went on to record the album version in Los Angeles at Echo Sound Studios in 1992, where it was one of the first ideas for his upcoming album. Ice Cube commented on the concept behind the song explaining,


title: It Was a Good Day

text: Initially, Ice Cube went into the studio with a sample of the Isley Brothers' "Footsteps in the Dark". DJ Pooh later enhanced the production with bass and vocals. The song has been re-released multiple times, including on Ice Cube's "Greatest Hits" album, "Bootlegs & B-Sides," and "".


title: It Was a Good Day

text: "It Was a Good Day" samples the Isley Brothers' "Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1&2" and "Sexy Mama" by The Moments.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: In a 2012 Tumblr post, stand-up comedian Donovan Strain used clues from the lyrics of the song to determine that the titular "Good Day" likely occurred on January 20, 1992. Strain claims, "The only day where "Yo! MTV Raps" was on air, it was a clear and smogless day in Los Angeles, beepers or pagers were commercially sold, Lakers beat the SuperSonics, and Ice Cube had no filming commitments was January 20, 1992." "Deadspin" later followed up by fact-checking some of the claims made by Strain.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: However, Internet sleuths have noted several inconsistencies in Strain's reasoning. For example, it was reported that "Yo! MTV Raps" did not air that day in 1992, and, "It is unlikely that Ice Cube got 'a beep from Kim' for a booty call since the likely Kim, Ice Cube's fiancée by 1992, was eight-months pregnant at the time." Due to these errors, an alternative date has been calculated by one blogger, pointing to November 30, 1988.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: Ice Cube, however, has stated that the day described in the song never actually occurred and is made up of things that happened on a number of different days:


title: It Was a Good Day

text: In 2014, Ice Cube agreed to support a fundraising campaign started by four close friends, who described themselves as "diehard rap aficionados", wanting to raise and donate $25,000 for the South Los Angeles charity A Place Called Home (APCH), an after-school youth center, if the Goodyear Blimp would display the lyrics "Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp / And it read 'Ice Cube's a pimp'" from the third verse of "It Was a Good Day". After Ice Cube spoke about the fundraising campaign on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", Goodyear quickly agreed. However, given the nature of the fundraiser and the organization, Goodyear decided against using the word "pimp", and instead, flew the blimp with messages including, "Today is A Good Day", and "Flying For a Good Cause -- A Place Called Home."


title: It Was a Good Day

text: The song was universally acclaimed by critics. AllMusic's Jason Birchmeier noted that even though it was "The Predator's" "most laid-back moment, [it] emits a quiet sense of violent anxiety." He further stated that the song was, "a truly beautiful moment, a career highlight for sure." "Blender" magazine writer, Michael Odel, stated that the song contained, "a chilled-out, feel-good vibe". Greg Sandow from "Entertainment Weekly" mentioned that Ice Cube rapped over a "partly melancholy, partly swaggering beat [and] glories in good luck, South Central style". Music writer James Masterton wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary, "Thus it is that when Ice Cube finally crosses over and gets his first UK hit, it is with "It Was A Good Day" a laid-back mellow rap, far removed from his usual uncompromising throwdown and may even stand a chance of crossing over even further." "Vibe" magazine described DJ Pooh's beat as a "smoothed-out production".


title: It Was a Good Day

text: "It Was a Good Day" reached #77 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '90s. The song was also included in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, at number 81. In 2008, it was ranked #28 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: The music video for "It Was a Good Day" was directed by F. Gary Gray and was first aired in March 1993. It was published on YouTube in February 2009. The video has amassed more than 150 million views as of October 2021.


title: It Was a Good Day

text: The music video follows the song's lyrics, with Ice Cube waking up in the morning, eating breakfast with his family, driving around in his green 1964 Chevrolet Impala, winning a pickup game of street basketball, avoiding police, going over to a friend's house, watching "Yo! MTV Raps", winning games of craps and dominoes, and thanking God for no gang violence–related deaths during the day. Later, he picks up an old 12th-grade crush named Kim; they drink, smoke, watch an NBA game, and have sex; he then drives her home and goes to Fatburger. At the end of the video, as Ice Cube is about to enter his house, police cars and helicopters surround him, but he ignores them and enters his house with police following behind him with text onscreen saying "To Be Continued...", setting up the plot for the music video to Ice Cube's following single "Check Yo Self".


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG (, ) is a German privately held audio company specializing in the design and production of a wide range of high fidelity products, including microphones, headphones, telephone accessories and aviation headsets for personal, professional and business applications. The company's head office is located in Wedemark, near Hanover, and the company is represented in more than 50 countries worldwide.


title: Sennheiser

text: The German company was founded in 1945 by Fritz Sennheiser and it is still an independent family business. Since 2013, Daniel Sennheiser and Andreas Sennheiser have been co-CEOs. They are the third generation of the Sennheiser family to lead the company. According to its own figures, the Sennheiser Group has around 2,801 employees worldwide. In 2019, the total turnover amounted to €756.7 million.


title: Sennheiser

text: The company was founded in 1945, just a few weeks after the end of World War II by Fritz Sennheiser (1912–2010) and seven fellow engineers of the University of Hannover in a laboratory called Laboratorium Wennebostel (shortened, "Labor W"). The laboratory was named after the village of Wennebostel in the municipality of Wedemark to where it had been moved due to the war. Its first product was a voltmeter. Lab W began building microphones in 1946 with the DM1, and began developing them in 1947 with the DM2. By 1955, the company had 250 employees, and had begun production of many products including geophysical equipment, the Noise-Compensated microphone (DM4), microphone transformers, mixers, and miniature magnetic headphones. Labor W was renamed 'Sennheiser electronic' in 1958.


title: Sennheiser

text: In the late 1950s/early 1960s, Sennheiser met Thomas Schillinger. Schillinger was tasked with starting Sennheiser's presence in the United States. Sennheiser was transformed into a limited partnership (KG) in 1973. In 1980, the company entered the aviation market, supplying Lufthansa with headsets. The company began producing modern wireless microphones in 1982, the same year when founder Fritz Sennheiser handed the management of the company over to his son, Jörg Sennheiser. In 1987, Sennheiser was awarded at the 59th Academy Awards for its MKH 816 shotgun microphone.


title: Sennheiser

text: Also in 1991, Georg Neumann GmbH, Berlin, which builds studio microphones, became a part of Sennheiser.


title: Sennheiser

text: In 2003 Sennheiser entered into a joint venture with the Danish company, William-Demant-Holding, a specialist in hearing aids, diagnostic technology and personal communication. Sennheiser Communications A/S was founded.


title: Sennheiser

text: Daniel Sennheiser, grandson of the founder, joined the company in 2008. In 2010 his brother Andreas Sennheiser also did so. Both are shareholders of the company.


title: Sennheiser

text: On July 1, 2013, Daniel Sennheiser and Andreas Sennheiser were promoted to the position of CEO responsible for Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG.


title: Sennheiser

text: In 2014 Sennheiser founded the new subsidiary "Sennheiser Streaming Technology GmbH (SST)", which develops streaming solutions for software and hardware.


title: Sennheiser

text: In 2019 Sennheiser acquired a majority stake in Dear Reality, a company that specializes in spatial audio algorithms and VR/AR audio software.


title: Sennheiser

text: In 2021, Sennheiser sold its consumer audio division to the Swiss based hearing aid manufacturer Sonova Group.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser is headquartered in the municipality of Wedemark, Germany (near Hannover). Its United States headquarters is located in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The company has factories in Wennebostel (Wedemark, near Hannover); Tullamore, Ireland (since 1990); Albuquerque, New Mexico (since 2000) and in Brașov, Romania (since 2019). Some consumer products are made in China. Sennheiser's R&D facilities are located in Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Singapore, and San Francisco, California.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser has a total of 21 sales subsidiaries and trading partners and is active in more than 50 countries. The company opened its first Sennheiser store in 2016 to make products accessible to customers. Sennheiser now has a total of seven stores in Berlin, San Francisco, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Mexico City and Sydney and at its headquarters in Wedemark. In 2016 there was a temporary store in New York.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser developed the directional microphone model MD 421 in 1960; this microphone was quickly adopted for professional broadcasting applications, for music recording studios and for live concert performances. The MD 421 is an industry standard; more than 500,000 units have been produced.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser was mainly known for its consumer headphones and professional headphones and microphones, such as the MKH 416 short shotgun, which came to be the Hollywood standard shotgun microphone; and the 816, similar in design with longer reach. It also makes the Orpheus headphone set; wireless microphones; aviation, multimedia and gaming headsets; micro-Hifi systems; conferencing systems; speakers; and amplifiers.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser consisted of two independent business units: its consumer division and the professional audio division. The consumer division produced a range of headphones and home entertainment speakers. While the professional audio division produces products for live music, DJing, theater, studio, broadcast, film and video as well as 3D audio and AR/VR/XR. It also includes solutions for business communication like presentations, conferences, meetings, visitor guidance, hearing support and the education sector.


title: Sennheiser

text: Andreas Sennheiser is a German business executive, known for serving as chief executive officer of Sennheiser. He took over as CEO along with his brother Daniel Sennheiser on July 1, 2013. Andreas was born in 1974 in Zurich, and earned a doctorate in Supply Chain Management from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich in 2004. Sennheiser Electronic was founded by his grandfather, Fritz Sennheiser, and he joined the family business with his brother Daniel. In 2013, both Daniel and Andreas were promoted to the position of CEO. Andreas focused on gaming handsets and affordable wireless headphones including Sennheiser PC350. Along with his brother Daniel, they entered the music business in 2014.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser has a total of four research and development sites in Germany, Switzerland, the US and Singapore. In addition, the Innovation Campus in Wennebostel opened in 2015 with 7,000 square meters of space. The company invested a total of 60.5 million euros in research and development in 2018.


title: Sennheiser

text: The AMBEO technology program is supposed to cover immersive audio products and activities from recording through processing and mixing to playback. According to the company, the technology is applicable in areas such as realistic live concert broadcasts, sports broadcasting, 3D recordings, exhibition installations, VR/AR/XR applications and 3D audio for the home.


title: Sennheiser

text: Sennheiser has been recording 9.1 music since 2010 and has developed an upmix algorithm that generates 9.1 music from conventional stereo recordings. The AMBEO Music Blueprints provide information about the recording, mixing and playback of live music in 3D audio. The first AMBEO product to be introduced in 2016 was the AMBEO VR Mic for professional VR/AR/XR sound recording. Sennheiser created the first augmented audio listening accessory for Magic Leap’s AR/VR goggles, the AMBEO AR One.


title: Dice 10000

text: Dice 10,000 (or 10000, 10,000 Dice, Ten Grand) also Greed, Dix Mille, 5-Dice is the name of a family dice game played with 6 dice, it is similar or identical to the commercialized Farkle. It also goes by other names, including Zilch, Zilchers, Foo, Boxcar, Bogus, Zach’s Dice Game, and Crap Out.


title: Dice 10000

text: Typically each roll scores separately, with dice scored at the time they are rolled, so that three or more of a kind must be rolled simultaneously, and dice from later rolls do not "stack" for the higher score. In so-called "progressive" scoring, dice can form combinations with dice previously scored and set aside.


title: Dice 10000

text: "Example: Player 1 rolls all six dice, and chooses to score three "fours" for 400 points. She rolls the remaining three dice for a 2, 4, 5; the additional 4 does not multiply the previous three of a kind unless playing progressive, and she can only score 50 points for the lone 5. If she rolls two more 5's with the remaining dice, if not playing progressive they will only score 50 points each, and do not form a three of a kind with the other 5."


title: Dice 10000

text: There are two main winning variants, one requires an "exact" score of 10,000. The others criteria is that you only have to exceed 10,000.


title: Dice 10000

text: With playing the exact score, in the event that a player goes over, the score for that turn is lost and he needs to try again next turn. If the 10,000 is hit, that player wins immediately without giving the other players a chance to roll. However, in progressive mode if the winner leaves at least one die then the next player may 'roll off the score'.


title: Dice 10000

text: The first player to score over 10,000 points temporarily becomes the winner, and each other player gets one more turn to top that player's score. Whoever ends with the highest score wins the game.


title: Dice 10000

text: A rule variation states that if a player rolls all 6 dice with the same number he instantly wins. This is part of another ruleset which allows rolling dices off other players.


title: Bill Kristol

text: William Kristol (; born December 23, 1952) is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine "The Weekly Standard". Kristol is now editor-at-large of the center-right publication "The Bulwark".


title: Bill Kristol

text: A founder and director of the advocacy organization Defending Democracy Together — responsible for such projects as Republicans for the Rule of Law, Republican Voters Against Trump and Republicans Against Putin — he is also known for playing the leading role in the defeat of President Bill Clinton's health care plan and advocating the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Kristol is a critic of President Donald Trump.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol, an avid "Never Trumper", has been associated with a number of conservative think tanks. He was chairman of the New Citizenship Project from 1997 to 2005. In 1997, he co-founded the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) with Robert Kagan. He is a member of the board of trustees for the free-market Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a member of the Policy Advisory Board for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and a director of the Foreign Policy Initiative. He is also one of the three board members of Keep America Safe, a national-security think tank co-founded by Liz Cheney and Debra Burlingame, and serves on the boards of the Emergency Committee for Israel and of the Susan B. Anthony List (as of 2010). He has featured in a web program of the Foundation for Constitutional Government, "Conversations with Bill Kristol," since 2014.


title: Bill Kristol

text: William Kristol was born on December 23, 1952, in New York City, into a Jewish family, the son of Irving Kristol and Gertrude Himmelfarb. Irving Kristol was an editor and publisher who served as the managing editor of "Commentary" magazine, founded the magazine "The Public Interest," and was described by Jonah Goldberg as the "godfather of neoconservatism." Gertrude Himmelfarb was a prominent conservative historian, especially of intellectual history in the U.S. and Great Britain.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol attended Collegiate School for Boys in Manhattan. He received a bachelor's degree at Harvard University and, from there, a Ph.D. in political science (1979).


title: Bill Kristol

text: In the summer of 1970, Kristol was an intern at the White House. In 1976, Kristol worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan's United States Senate campaign, serving as deputy issues director during the Democratic primary. In 1988, he was the campaign manager for Alan Keyes's unsuccessful Maryland Senatorial campaign against Paul Sarbanes.


title: Bill Kristol

text: After teaching political philosophy and U.S. politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Kristol went to work in government in 1985, serving as chief of staff to United States secretary of education William Bennett during the Reagan administration, and later, as chief of staff to the vice president under Dan Quayle in the George H. W. Bush administration. "The New Republic" dubbed Kristol "Dan Quayle's brain" when he was appointed the vice president's chief of staff.


title: Bill Kristol

text: He served as chairman of the Project for the Republican Future from 1993 to 1994, and as the director of the Bradley Project at the Bradley Foundation in Milwaukee in 1993. In 1993, he led conservative opposition to the Clinton health care plan of 1993.


title: Bill Kristol

text: In 2003, Kristol and Lawrence F. Kaplan wrote "The War Over Iraq: America's Mission and Saddam's Tyranny" (ISBN), in which the authors analyzed the Bush Doctrine and the history of Iraqi-U.S. relations. In the book, Kristol and Kaplan provided support and justifications for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


title: Bill Kristol

text: After the Republican sweep of both houses of Congress in 1994, Kristol established, along with John Podhoretz, the conservative news magazine "The Weekly Standard". Rupert Murdoch, chairman and managing director of News Corp., financed its creation.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Beginning in 1996, Kristol was a panelist on the ABC Sunday news program "This Week". Following declining ratings, his contract was not renewed three years later.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol was a columnist for "Time" in 2007. The following year, he joined "The New York Times" as a columnist. Several days after he did so, "Times" public editor Clark Hoyt called his hiring "a mistake," due to Kristol's assertion in 2006 that the "Times" should potentially be prosecuted for having revealed information about the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program. Kristol wrote a weekly opinion column for "The New York Times" from January 7, 2008, to January 26, 2009.


title: Bill Kristol

text: For ten years, Kristol was a regular panelist on "Fox News Sunday" and often contributed to the nightly program "Special Report with Bret Baier". In 2013, his contract with Fox News expired, and he became a much sought after commentator on several networks. It was announced on "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos on February 2, 2014, that Kristol would be a contributor for ABC News and to that program.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Since the summer of 2014, Kristol has also hosted an online interview program, "Conversations with Bill Kristol", featuring guests from academic and public life.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol was key to the defeat of the Clinton health care plan of 1993. In the first of what would become many strategy memos written for Republican policymakers, Kristol said the party should "kill," not amend, President Clinton's health care plan. A later memorandum used the phrase "There is no health care crisis," which Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole used in his response to Clinton's 1994 State of the Union address.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol was a leading proponent of the Iraq War. In 1998, he joined other foreign policy analysts in sending a letter to President Clinton urging a stronger posture against Iraq. Kristol argued that Saddam Hussein posed a grave threat to the United States and its allies: "The only acceptable strategy is one that eliminates the possibility that Iraq will be able to use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction. In the near term, this means a willingness to undertake military action as diplomacy is clearly failing. In the long term, it means removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from power. That now needs to become the aim of American foreign policy."


title: Bill Kristol

text: In the 2000 presidential election, Kristol supported John McCain. Answering a question from a PBS reporter about the Republican primaries, he said, "No. I had nothing against Governor Bush. I was inclined to prefer McCain. The reason I was inclined to prefer McCain was his leadership on foreign policy."


title: Bill Kristol

text: After the Bush administration developed its response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, Kristol said: "We've just been present at a very unusual moment, the creation of a new American foreign policy." Kristol ardently supported the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq. In 2003, he and Lawrence Kaplan wrote "The War Over Iraq," in which he described reasons for removing Saddam. Kristol rejected comparisons to Vietnam and predicted a "two-month war, not an eight-year war" during a March 28 C-SPAN appearance.


title: Bill Kristol

text: As the military situation in Iraq began to deteriorate in 2004, Kristol argued for an increase in the number of U.S. troops in Iraq. He also wrote an op-ed strongly criticizing United States secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld, saying he "breezily dodged responsibility" for planning mistakes made in the Iraq War, including insufficient troop levels. In September 2006, he and fellow commentator Rich Lowry wrote, "There is no mystery as to what can make the crucial difference in the battle of Baghdad: American troops."


title: Bill Kristol

text: This was one of the early calls for what became the Iraq War troop surge of 2007 four months later. In December 2008, Kristol wrote that the surge was "opposed at the time by the huge majority of foreign policy experts, pundits, and pontificators," but that "most of them — and the man most of them are happy won the election, Barack Obama — now acknowledge the surge's success."


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol was one of many conservatives to publicly oppose Bush's second U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Harriet Miers. "I'm disappointed, depressed, and demoralized," he said of Miers. "It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. Miers is undoubtedly a decent and competent person. But her selection will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination of cronyism and capitulation on the part of the president."


title: Bill Kristol

text: He was a vocal supporter of the 2006 Lebanon War, stating that the war is "our war too," referring to the United States.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol was an ardent promoter of Sarah Palin, advocating for her selection as the running mate of John McCain in the 2008 United States presidential election months before McCain chose her. However, he later recanted his support for her, saying: "I'm perfectly willing to say that given what I now know about her, she would not have been a good vice president."


title: Bill Kristol

text: In response to Iran's nuclear program, Kristol has supported strong sanctions. In June 2006, at the height of the Lebanon War, he suggested: "We might consider countering this act of Iranian aggression with a military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities. Why wait?"


title: Bill Kristol

text: In 2010, Kristol criticized the Obama administration and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen for an unserious approach to Iran. He wrote: "The real question is what form of instability would be more dangerous — that caused by this Iranian government with nuclear weapons, or that caused by attacking this government's nuclear weapons program. It's time to have a serious debate about the choice between these two kinds of destabilization, instead of just refusing to confront the choice."


title: Bill Kristol

text: In the 2010 affair surrounding the disclosure of U.S. diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, Kristol spoke strongly against the organization and suggested using "our various assets to harass, snatch, or neutralize Julian Assange and his collaborators, wherever they are." In March 2011, he wrote an editorial in "The Weekly Standard" arguing that the United States' military interventions in Muslim countries (including the Gulf War, the Kosovo War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War) should not be classified as "invasions," but rather as "liberations." Kristol backed President Barack Obama's decision to intervene in the Libyan Civil War in 2011 and urged fellow conservatives to support the action.


title: Bill Kristol

text: On October 4, 2021, Kristol debated, and lost to, Scott Horton, host of Antiwar Radio, and editorial director of Antiwar.com at the SOHO Forum. Kristol took the affirmative position on "A willingness to intervene, and to seek regime change, is key to an American foreign policy that benefits America."


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol vehemently opposed the nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for president in 2016. He has continued to express animosity towards Trump's domestic and foreign policy aims, and dismay at conservative Republicans who have accommodated themselves to the Trump administration.


title: Bill Kristol

text: In January 2019, Kristol criticized President Trump's planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan. On December 21, Kristol and a group calling itself Republicans for the Rule of Law released an ad encouraging viewers to call their Senators to demand top Trump officials be forced to testify in his impeachment trial.


title: Bill Kristol

text: In March 2020, Kristol endorsed former U.S. vice president Joe Biden for President of the United States. Kristol is founding director of Republican Voters Against Trump, a project of Defending Democracy Together, launched in May 2020. On October 15, Kristol voted for the Democratic ticket. He stated "Just filled out my early absentee ballot in VA for Joe Biden & Kamala Harris, Mark Warner, and Jennifer Wexton. No regrets at all about this."


title: Bill Kristol

text: Kristol did an interview with Jewish Insider in 2021 where he said that he identifies as more of a former Republican.


title: Bill Kristol

text: Since 1975, Kristol has been married to Susan Scheinberg, whom he met while they were both students at Harvard. Scheinberg holds a Ph.D. in classics. The couple has three children. Their daughter, Anne, is married to writer Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief of "The Washington Free Beacon" website. Their son, Joseph, served in the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan and worked for the management consulting company McKinsey & Company before taking a job as legislative director for Senator Tom Cotton in 2018. Kristol lives in McLean, Virginia.


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: Slouching Towards Bethlehem is a 1968 collection of essays by Joan Didion that mainly describes her experiences in California during the 1960s. It takes its title from the poem "The Second Coming" by W. B. Yeats. The contents of this book are reprinted in Didion's "We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction" (2006).


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: According to Nathan Heller in "The New Yorker", the book came about this way: "In the spring of 1967, Joan Didion [was ...] engaged to write a regular column for the "Saturday Evening Post". [...] At some point, an editor suggested that she had the makings of a collection, so she stacked her columns with past articles she liked (a report from Hawaii, the best of some self-help columns she'd churned out while a junior editor at "Vogue"), set them in a canny order with a three-paragraph introduction, and sent them off. This was "Slouching Towards Bethlehem"."


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: The title essay describes Didion's impressions of the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco during the neighborhood's heyday as a countercultural center. In contrast to the more utopian image of the milieu promoted by counterculture sympathizers then and now, Didion offers a rather grim portrayal of the goings-on, including an encounter with a pre-school-age child who was given LSD by her parents.


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: One critic describes the essay as "a devastating depiction of the aimless lives of the disaffected and incoherent young," with Didion positioned as "a cool observer but not a hardhearted one." Another scholar writes that the essay's form mirrors its content; the fragmented structure resonates with the essay's theme of societal fragmentation. In a 2011 interview, Didion discussed her technique of centering herself and her perspective in her non-fiction works like "Slouching Towards Bethlehem": "I thought it was important always for the reader, for me to place myself in the piece so that the reader knew where I was, the reader knew who was talking...At the time I started doing these pieces it was not considered a good thing for writers to put themselves front and center, but I had this strong feeling you had to place yourself there and tell the reader who that was at the other end of the voice."


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: In her preface to the book, Didion writes, "I went to San Francisco because I had not been able to work in some months, had been paralyzed by the conviction that writing was an irrelevant act, that the world as I had understood it no longer existed. If I was to work again at all, it would be necessary for me to come to terms with disorder."


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: The book was immediately favorably received; its popularity continued to grow and become a "phenomenon" with a devoted readership in subsequent years.


title: Slouching Towards Bethlehem

text: In "The New York Times Book Review", novelist and screenwriter Dan Wakefield wrote, "Didion's first collection of nonfiction writing, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem", brings together some of the finest magazine pieces published by anyone in this country in recent years. Now that Truman Capote has pronounced that such work may achieve the stature of 'art,' perhaps it is possible for this collection to be recognized as it should be: not as a better or worse example of what some people call 'mere journalism,' but as a rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country."


title: First Communion

text: First Communion is a ceremony in some Christian traditions during which a person of the church first receives the Eucharist. It is most common in many parts of the Latin Church tradition of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Church and Anglican Communion (other ecclesiastical provinces of these denominations administer a congregant's First Communion after they receive baptism and confirmation). In churches that celebrate a rite of First Communion separate from baptism or confirmation, it typically occurs between the ages of seven and thirteen, often acting as a rite of passage. In other denominations first communion ordinarily follows the reception of confirmation, which occurs at some point in adolescence or adulthood, while Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Christians first receive the sacrament of Holy Communion in infancy, along with Holy Baptism and Chrismation.


title: First Communion

text: Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist occupies a central role in Catholic theology and practice.


title: First Communion

text: First Communion is not celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox churches, the Oriental Orthodox churches or the Assyrian Church of the East, as they practice infant communion (which often is simultaneously administered with infant baptism and confirmation). Some Anglicans allow infant communion, while others require the previous reception of confirmation, usually during the teenage years.


title: First Communion

text: The celebration of this ceremony is typically less elaborate in many Protestant churches. Catholics and some Protestants believe that Christ is truly present in the Eucharist; Roman Catholics believe this is through transubstantiation, Lutherans believe that this is through a sacramental union, Methodists believe that the way Christ is made manifest in the Eucharistic elements is a Holy Mystery, while the Reformed affirm a pneumatic presence.


title: First Communion

text: Other denominations have varying understandings, such as the Eucharist being a symbolic meal and means of remembering Christ's last supper.


title: First Communion

text: First Communion is an important tradition for Catholic families and individuals. For Latin Church Catholics, Holy Communion is usually the third of seven sacraments received; it occurs only after receiving Baptism, and once the person has reached the age of reason (usually, around the second grade). First confession (the first sacrament of penance) must precede one's first reception of the Eucharist. For those entering into the Catholic Church as adults, Confirmation occurs immediately before first Communion. In 1910, Pope Pius X issued the decree "Quam singulari", which changed the age at which First Communion is taken to 7 years old, due to the case of Ellen Organ. Previously, local standards had been 10 or 12 or even 14 years old. Byzantine Catholics celebrate the sacraments of baptism, confirmation (Chrismation), and Holy Communion on the same day as an infant's baptism.


title: First Communion

text: Traditions of celebration surrounding First Communion usually include large family gatherings and parties to celebrate the event. The first communicant wears special clothing. The clothing is often white to symbolize purity, but not in all cultures. Often, a girl wears a fancy dress and a veil attached to a chaplet of flowers or some other hair ornament. In other communities, girls commonly wear dresses passed down to them from sisters or mothers, or even simply their school uniforms with the veil or wreath. Boys may wear a suit and tie, tuxedo, their Sunday best, or national dress, with embroidered armbands worn on the left arm and occasionally white gloves.


title: First Communion

text: In many Latin American countries, boys wear military-style dress uniforms with gold braid aiguillettes. In Switzerland, both boys and girls wear plain white robes with brown wooden crosses around their necks. In Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, and Guam, girls are dressed up as little brides, although this has been partly replaced by albs in recent times.


title: First Communion

text: In Scotland, boys traditionally wear kilts and other traditional Scottish dress which accompany the kilt. In the Philippines, First Communion services often occur on or around the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (the country's patron saint), with boys donning either the Barong Tagalog or semi-formal Western dress, and girls a plain white dress and sometimes a veil.


title: First Communion

text: Gifts of a religious nature are usually given, such as Bibles, children's or teenager's daily devotional books, rosaries, prayer books, religious statues, icons, and holy cards. Monetary gifts are also common.


title: First Communion

text: Many families have formal professional photographs taken in addition to candid snapshots in order to commemorate the event. Some churches arrange for a professional photographer after the ceremony.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is a practice that dates to the 16th century in England. Charity schools such Christ's Hospital, founded in 1552 in London, were among the first schools to use a uniform for their students. The earliest documented proof of institutionalised use of a standard academic dress dates back to 1222 when the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered the wearing of the "cappa clausa".


title: School uniforms by country

text: The practice of wearing school uniform has been adopted by many other countries, and is now common in many parts of the world. Uniforms can be regarded as promoting social equality among students and an esprit de corps, but have also been criticised for promoting a form of uniformity characteristic of militarism.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The decision as to whether to implement school uniform policy or not is a controversial one and also polarised in societies and countries. In countries such as the United Kingdom, South Africa and a number of Asian nations, school children have to wear approved school uniforms that conform to the uniform policy of their school. In modern Europe, Britain, Malta and Ireland stand out as the only countries where school uniform is widely adopted by state schools and generally supported by national and local governments, although there is no legislation governing school uniform in the U.K. There are some independent schools and state schools that do not have school uniforms: their pupils are at liberty to dress in a way considered to be appropriate by the school, themselves and their parents or guardians.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghan schoolgirls were required to wear white headscarves and black knee-length dresses over leggings. In 2017, President Ashraf Ghani blocked a directive by the Ministry of Education obliging girls aged 12 and over to wear floor-length tunics.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In 2009, Albania's Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth announced the implementation of compulsory school uniforms for all high school students.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Algerian primary school students are obliged to wear smocks over their clothes. These are colour-coded by gender: blue for boys, pink for girls.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are ubiquitous in Antiguan and Barbudan schools. In 2004, the School Uniform Grant Programme was introduced to help citizens meet the associated costs.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Argentinian primary school students have traditionally worn white smocks as uniforms. Teacher pioneered the garment's design in 1915, which were made mandatory nationwide in 1942.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Aruban schools generally oblige students to wear uniform polo shirts, while pants and skirts must meet certain requirements. In September 2021, students at Colegio Arubano successfully protested against changes to the school dress code they felt were overly restrictive.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, students wore school uniform. Since independence in 1991, their use has largely declined in Armenian public schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Australia, each school or school system can set its own uniform policy. Wearing a uniform is compulsory in most Australian private and all Catholic schools, as well as in most public schools, as well as primary schools. Uniforms usually have a colour scheme based on the school colours. Uniform and appearance are generally strictly enforced in private and Catholic schools, though less so in public schools, which generally allow their students a reasonable amount of leeway. Most, if not all, private schools have the school logo incorporated in the uniform ensemble, typically on the tie and the blazer breast pocket.


title: School uniforms by country

text: For boys, the uniforms generally include a button-up or polo shirt with either shorts (especially for summer wear) or long trousers, usually in grey or navy blue or the school colour. Some schools allow boys to wear shorts only in younger years, and they must wear long trousers once they are a senior (17-18). At others, even older boys wear shorts in summer due to the heat. Where short trousers are to be worn, socks in school colours (more commonly white) are often required. Girls' uniforms generally include a checkered or striped dress (usually sleeveless or short-sleeved) worn over a blouse for summer and, in most secondary schools, girls wear a skirt as well as a button-up or polo shirt in winter with a blazer and tie. In a number of schools, girls are also permitted to wear a button-up or polo shirt and dark trousers.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In public schools, the uniform is usually a polo shirt for juniors and a different one for seniors and trousers or skirt. This set may be complemented by a school tie and, typically, a v-neck jumper (pullover or sweater) or a blazer. In the summer, boys usually do not wear ties, pullovers, or blazers. Instead, they wear a short-sleeved version of the shirt and short trousers. A neck-tie, blazer, and hat are also common in private and Catholic schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In most high schools a PE uniform is the norm for sports days only. At many high schools, children are required to change into and out of their PE uniform around the PE lesson. The PE uniform usually consists of shorts and a polo shirt, as well as a light weatherproof rain jacket (mainly at private or Catholic schools), usually made of polyester, for winter and wet weather and sometimes a netball skirt for girls. It is common for students in their final year of primary school or secondary school to have their own jersey, jumper or jacket to denote their final-year status.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are mandatory in all Bahraini public schools. Prior to 2011, this only applied to girls' schools and boys' elementaries. In January 2011, the Ministry of Education announced uniforms would be required in boys' middle and high schools in the subsequent academic year.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are mandatory in all public and private schools (up to 12th standard) in Bangladesh. While the colour and exact cut of the uniform depend on school regulations and policies, male students in Bangladesh are usually expected to wear full/half sleeve shirts with trousers and female students are expected to wear skirts/trousers with shirts or salwar kameez with belts and dupattas.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The uniform rule only applies to students of primary, secondary, and higher secondary education. Although there are no uniforms for university students in Bangladesh, they are expected to follow the respective dress codes of their institutions.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The rationale behind the uniform policy of Bangladesh is that the authorities want to protect the students from class stratification that can become apparent when students are given the choice to dress as they like. In addition, authorities believe that students should not misuse their time in trying to dress up for school.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In August 2022, education minister announced plans for every Belarusian school to have its own compulsory school uniform by 2023.


title: School uniforms by country

text: As of 2018, less than ten Belgian schools (principally Catholic institutions) enforced compulsory school uniform policies.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is mandatory in Belizean schools. Traditionally, many students' uniforms were custom-made by local seamstresses and tailors.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is ubiquitous in Beninese schools. In June 2018, Minister of Secondary Education announced khaki-colored uniforms would be worn by students in both public and private secondary schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Bhutanese schoolchildren wear uniforms based on the country's national dress: gho for male students and kira for female students.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Use of school uniform is widespread in Bolivia, but public and private schools can neither enforce uniform policies as mandatory nor punish noncompliant students.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some schools enforced a mandatory uniform consisting of a navy blue "apron".


title: School uniforms by country

text: As of 2013, several primary schools in Republika Srpska regions had introduced uniforms, consisting of logoed T-shirts and sweatshirts.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are widespread in Botswanan schools. In October 2021, the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry announced a ban on the importation of school uniform.


title: School uniforms by country

text: There is no legal requirement for school uniforms in Brazil. On a state-by-state or city-by-city basis, governments may issue uniforms to public school pupils but may not require their use. Private schools are free to set their own uniform policy.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Brazilian school uniforms can vary widely by school. There are many schools that opt for a more elegant outfit, while others opt for a simpler one (social shirt, shorts). In this country, where schools have set a uniform, it is the student's obligation to wear it.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Most schools in Brazil choose the use of uniforms. The average Brazilian school uniform for boys is a T-shirt with the school's logo, sweatpants or Bermuda shorts and a sweatshirt or hoodie. The uniform for girls is very similar, but instead leggings or short shorts are worn, although ballerina pants are also popular. Girls may also wear mini-skirts/skirts. Most schools require trainers.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Both public high schools on the British Virgin Islands, Elmore Stoutt High School and The Virgin Islands School of Technical Studies, enforce uniform policies.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is not widely worn in Bulgarian public schools, although several schools adopted compulsory uniform policies in the 2010s.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are compulsory for school children in Burundi. Burundi, like most African countries, has a compulsory school uniform policy. Burundi's school uniform policy dates back to the colonial days. During those days, chiefs' sons wore a white uniform and all other children wore khaki. The uniform policy is still in force in Burundi to date. However, schools decide on what uniform the pupils wear. It is also argued that the cost of buying the school uniform and poverty, especially in the rural areas, negatively affect school enrollment.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Cambodia, students of all ages (pre-school to college) wear school uniforms. The uniforms differ by school and age level. Generally, boys wear a white dress shirt and a pair of shorts. The colour and length of the shorts varies at each school. Male college students wear the same kind of uniform, but instead of shorts, they wear black dress trousers. Girls usually wear white blouses and a skirt. Their skirts vary in colour and length depending upon the school and their ages. Generally, the younger students wear long skirts that almost reach their ankles and older students, particularly in college, wear shorter ones. Skirts are generally blue or black but may be other colours as well, depending on the school. Some schools also have alternative uniforms that students of both sexes wear every other day. These often consist of a coloured shirt and slacks. High school girls must wear black or blue long skirts. High school boys wear long black or blue trousers. The white shirt can be short-sleeved or long-sleeved for both sexes. High school students are also required to wear name tags on the left-hand side of their shirts.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Canada, English language schools in the province of Quebec is the only segment where school uniforms is most common. Within the English school system of Quebec, almost all schools from elementary to high school have mandatory school uniforms. French school, which represents the majority in the province, generally do not have uniforms except for a minority of private schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the rest of Canada, school uniforms are not required in most public schools or separate schools, except in exceptional circumstances such as school performances or international field trips. However, the majority of Catholic high schools in southern Ontario (Grade 9-12) do require uniforms. These uniforms generally have long- or short-sleeved shirts with the school logo or crest near the collar and trousers or kilted skirts. Schools often allow girls the option of choosing to wear a skirt or trousers. Some schools also mandate dress shoes and a particular type and length of socks to go with the uniform. A cardigan sweater, vest, or blazer may be part of the ensemble, particularly in winter. Additionally, as of 2011, the Toronto Catholic District School Board has implemented an "Appropriate Dress Code" of navy blue and white in all elementary separate schools that do not already have their own uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Otherwise, specific regulations and policies regarding school-appropriate dress and the extent of dress code enforcement will vary by school.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are used in most private schools, and also in special or alternative programs of public and Catholic schools, such as the Traditional Learning Centres, a program that takes a liberal arts approach, while focusing on high levels of academic excellence. In Quebec, most metropolitan anglophone school boards require a uniform.


title: School uniforms by country

text: All Caymanian primary and high schools, whether government-funded or private, have specified school uniforms, as well as shoe and hat policies.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In April 1979, Bokassa I ordered the arrest of a group of students protesting the extravagant cost of their mandatory school uniforms, over 100 of whom were later murdered. Public anger over the massacre contributed to Bokassa's subsequent overthrow in September 1980. As of 2006, school uniforms are widely worn in Central African secondary schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: A school uniform prescribed by the Ministry of National Education is compulsory in Chadian public and private schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Until 1930, it was uncommon for students to wear a uniform. Under the government of Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, all students became obliged to wear a school uniform. During the administration of Eduardo Frei Montalva, a unified uniform was introduced for all public and private schools and other education centers. Today, these uniforms have disappeared in private schools, who prefer to use a customised one.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are a common part of the schools in China. Almost all secondary schools as well as some elementary schools require students to wear uniforms. Uniforms in mainland China usually consist of five sets: 2 formal sets and 3 everyday sets. A formal set is worn on Mondays or special occasions (school anniversaries, school ceremonies, etc.) They consist of a white collared shirt with a sweater on top and a skirt for girls or a suit for boys. There is one formal set for summer and one set for winter. Everyday uniforms for boys in the winter usually consist of a zippered sweater and trousers and a collared shirt (usually white). Thinner materials are worn in the spring and fall and short or long trousers may be worn in the summer. The everyday uniforms for girls are very similar to the boys' uniform. It is relatively common for there to be some kind of sponsored advertisement on some non-formal school uniform shirts, though this trend has fluctuated in recent years.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The vast majority of schools in the former British colony adopted uniforms similar to that of British schools, while Catholic schools in Hong Kong usually follow the tradition of Catholic school uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: A number of older Christian girls' schools established around the midpoint of the 20th century, however, retain the heritage of using the Chinese cheongsam as their uniform, such as St. Stephen's Girls' College, True Light Middle School, Ying Wa Girls' School, and Heep Yunn School. Sailor suits are also used as uniforms in some kindergartens for boys and girls, and secondary schools but for girls only, for example the Bishop Hall Jubilee School and New Method College.


title: School uniforms by country

text: St Paul's Girls' College, now St Paul's Co-educational College, introduced a cheongsam as its uniform in 1918, making it Hong Kong's first school uniform. True Light Girls' College was the first Hong Kong secondary school to have a cheongsam uniform.


title: School uniforms by country

text: While Hong Kong campuses of British public schools use hats for reasons of tradition, most Hong Kong schools have no hats in their uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Colombia, all students are required to wear uniforms in public and private schools. Uniforms in Colombia consist of two sets, one for everyday use and a sports one for physical education. Everyday uniforms for girls generally include a knee-length skirt, a white T-shirt with a vest, and white calf-length socks. For boys, the uniform generally includes dark-coloured long trousers and a short- or long-sleeved shirt. The shoes for both girls and boys are black lace-up shoes (sometimes the shoes may be dark blue or wine-coloured, depending on the uniform colours) and the shirts usually have the school's symbol at the left side. The sports uniform includes sweatpants, a collared T-shirt, and white sports shoes. The designs and the colours of the uniforms depend on the school's colours and the principal's preference.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is compulsory in Congolese schools. Controversially, many schools oblige to students' parents to buy uniforms directly from the institutions.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In October 2016, the Ministry of Education instituted a standardised uniform in all public and private schools across the Republic of the Congo.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Croatian schools, children generally do not wear uniforms. Their use is confined to independent schools, such as those operated by the parent-run Rino Institut.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are compulsory in Cypriot schools. Student organisation PEOM campaigns for the abolition of school uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniform is compulsory in Djiboutian schools. In 2020, presidential decree N° 267/2018 imposed a standardised beige uniform in all high schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniform is mandatory in Dominican schools. When the island's schools were closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, education minister Octavia Alfred announced students would be obliged to wear their uniforms while participating in online classes.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniform is mandatory in Dominican public schools. All students wear khaki pants, regardless of sex or gender identity. Students nationwide wore blue shirts until 2017 when the Ministry of Education introduced a colour-coded system of polo shirts based upon a school's geographical location:


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms were compulsory during the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. Following independence, the use of uniforms persisted.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are mandatory in Ecuadorian public schools. In April 2018, the Ministry of Education ruled skirts cannot be made compulsory for female students.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the late 20th century, Egyptian schoolgirls predominantly wore an "apron" ( المريلة "almarilati") — a type of smock — while their male peers wore shirts and pants. More recently, unisex polo shirts and pants have grown in popularity.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, mandatory school uniforms were introduced in the late 1950s. Uniforms were initially abandoned at the end of the 1980s but had already come back into use in some schools by the mid-1990s. This trend continued into the 2010s.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are compulsory in Emaswati schools. In July 2000, Senator Majahenkhaba Dlamini instructed the education minister to issue a directive compelling schoolgirls aged eleven and older to wear knee-length uniform skirts, ostensibly to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniform is compulsory in Fijian public schools. In January 2022, the Ministry of Education, Heritage and Arts relaxed this rule for the first three months of the academic year.


title: School uniforms by country

text: According to the , under current Finnish law, public school students cannot be obliged to wear school uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms have not been enforced in French schools, a few exceptions (such as Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur, les Écoles TUNON, and Vatel). Xavier Darcos, a former teacher and Minister of Education from 2007 to 2009, is an advocate of the reintroduction of uniforms: "This is not outrageous. This removes the visible differences in social status or wealth. This is an additional factor of integration".


title: School uniforms by country

text: The wearing of any religious symbols, such as a hijab or turban, has been banned in French schools since 2004.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Since March 2012, the students of the Boarding School of Excellence Sourdun wear a uniform with the insignia of their establishment.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Les lycées de la défense, formerly known as military schools, require their students to wear uniforms. At some universities, the academic dress is becoming popular.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In 2012, French Polynesia's Minister of Education ordered the overseas collectivity's public schools to adopt mandatory uniform policies. The following October, the Court of Administrative Law annulled the order, by which stage 24 schools had adopted uniform policies. As of August 2015, 13 schools retained these policies.


title: School uniforms by country

text: As of 2014, a third of the 345 schools on the French overseas department Martinique impose a non-compulsory uniform policy.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In 2017, uniform polo shirts were made compulsory for students attending all 96 primary schools in New Caledonia's South Province.


title: School uniforms by country

text: As of 2012, Collège Sainte-Geneviève in Saint-André is the only Réunionese school to operate a uniform policy: students are obliged to wear logoed white T-shirts.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Collège Mireille-Choisy, Saint Barthélemy's only public secondary school, enforces a dress code requiring students to wear a logoed T-shirt and prohibiting certain types of legwear and footwear.


title: School uniforms by country

text: School uniforms are widely worn in Gabon. A ban on Gabonese schools compelling students to buy uniforms directly from the institutions has led to some students making their own uniforms.


title: School uniforms by country

text: There is no tradition of wearing school uniforms in Germany, and today, almost all students of state schools, private schools or universities do not wear school uniforms. However, certain garments have been common to students in former times:


title: School uniforms by country

text: From the 16th century, students (especially of secondary or grammar schools and similar institutions) were often subject to regulations that prescribed, for example, modest and not too stylish attire. In many cases these regulations were part of wider laws concerning the clothing of all citizens of certain social classes.


title: School uniforms by country

text: A blue coat became a widespread obligatory status symbol of students of secondary schools; it fell out of use during the latter half of the 18th century. In more recent times, school uniforms in any real sense did not exist outside of convent schools and private boarding schools. At times, certain fashions became so widespread that they approached uniform status; this is true in particular for so-called student hats ("Schülermützen") that became widespread from the 1880s on and remained somewhat popular until they were banned by the Nazis. Their wearing was advocated by teachers and the students themselves and occasionally made mandatory, but never on a national or statewide level. Another instance are the sailor suits that became fashionable around the turn of the 19th century. These, too, were not usually a prescribed uniform.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The Nazis banned student hats – the last remaining, if voluntary, form of unified student clothing – because they considered them an attribute of class society. They did, however, institute mandatory membership in the uniformed Hitler Youth ("HJ") from 1936 until their fall. HJ uniforms were worn in the HJ training academies and in the Napolas; students of other schools sometimes wore them to school at their own discretion.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In recent times, the introduction of school uniforms has been discussed, but usually the expression "uniform" (the word is the same in German) is avoided in favor of terms like "school clothing" ("Schulkleidung"). School clothing has been introduced in a small number of schools, for example in Hamburg-Sinstorf in 2000, and in Friesenheim and Haag (Oberbayern) in 2005. In these cases the clothes are collections of shirts, sweaters, and the like, catering to contemporary fashion senses. Uniforms in a more traditional sense are almost never proposed in earnest.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The debate on mandatory school uniforms intensified in Germany when two Muslim girls dressed in burkas arrived at a school in Bonn in 2006. The girls' actions were interpreted as political action and they were subsequently suspended from school. Then-Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag stated that the simple solution to the issue under consideration is mandatory introduction of school uniforms for boys and girls across Germany. She further argued that school uniforms would help to prevent conflicts arising from religious or political differences. Her stance was supported by then-Minister Of Education Annette Schavan. The proposal was met with opposition from the teacher union and opposition political parties. The teacher union argued that school uniforms are not the solution for integration problems nor the issue of fashion obsession. The leader of the teacher union Heinz-Peter Meidinger also added that the school uniforms have been a controversial issue in Germany over the years.


title: School uniforms by country

text: A senior member of the Green Party, Krista Sager, also said that the introduction of school uniforms would be unacceptable state interference in religious matters. She then proposed that individual schools have to find their own solutions and rejected solutions imposed by government. She further noted that school uniforms are no longer up to date and their imposition would be rejected by the current generation of students. The Conference of Education Ministers, a body that decides on school policies, also kicked back against school uniforms. They cited historical reasons dating back to WWII with memories of Hitler Youth's uniform still fresh in people's minds. They also concluded that the imposition of school uniforms would be excessive government encroachment on personal liberty of pupils and parents.


title: School uniforms by country

text: The Bildungsstreik movement fights against school uniforms due to their belief that it represents some kind of militarism.


title: School uniforms by country

text: All children have to wear school uniforms in Ghana. Pupils in public schools have the same type of school uniform with the school's emblem imprinted on the left chest. This helps to distinguish pupils of one school from the other. Private schools determine which uniforms their pupils wear.


title: School uniforms by country

text: On April 11, 2019, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof Kwasi Opoku Amankwa announced at a press conference in Accra that public Junior High School pupils will start wearing a new uniform beginning from the 2019–2020 academic year. The new uniform is primarily to distinguish the Junior High pupils from their peers at the primary level. The current brown and yellow khaki school uniform, locally referred to as Konkonte and nkate nkwan (groundnut soup) and worn by pupils at the basic level in public schools, was introduced over 30 years ago by the government.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Students wore school uniforms in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, but the practice had largely faded by the late 1980s.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms ceased to be worn in Greek public schools in 1982. Their use is now confined to certain private and international schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are worn in all Grenadian public schools. The Grenadian government runs an annual School Uniform Voucher Programme to help students' families meet the associated costs.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In 2008, Álvaro Colom prohibited the enforcement of mandatory school uniform policies in Guatemalan public schools. However, the use of school uniform remains widespread.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In October 2020, it was announced a standardized uniform would be introduced across all Bissau-Guinean public and private schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Guyana has a long history of school uniforms being compulsory. Students attending public and private schools up to the secondary level are required to wear them. In some instances, this extends to those attending classes on Saturdays and during periods when schools are officially closed. The Guyanese government dispenses grants to assist students with uniform costs.


title: School uniforms by country

text: On 18 March 2014, the National Congress of Honduras approved a decree introducing a single uniform of white shirts and blue pants or skirts in all Honduran public schools.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In September 1973, the "school coat" ( "iskolaköpeny") had become compulsory for all schoolchildren in the Hungarian Soviet Republic.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In 2012 there was consideration to reintroduce it, but the idea was quickly abandoned. Currently there are no school uniforms in public schools in Hungary.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Uniforms are compulsory in India in both public and private schools. The boys' uniforms are often made of a light-coloured shirt, long trousers usually blue, white or black, and those of the girls are often a shirt and a skirt. Most schools employ this form of uniform however Shalwar Kameez is prescribed in some of the rural north Indian areas but rarely seen in urban areas.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Many schools require students to wear uniform shoes, ties and ID cards, and comb their hair down and keep it clean and short. Long hair is tied in braids. Uniform is one of the most important components of school life and is taken very seriously in India. Many government-run schools across different states also provide free uniforms and school bags to the students.


title: School uniforms by country

text: Some institutions also require the use of a tie, especially the schools run by private institutions, and the Indian education system does not prohibit the children on the ground of religion. There is no discrimination on the basis of religion in the field of education in India. That's why all the children are allowed to wear the same uniform, no matter what religion you belong to. However, most of the schools, whether public or private, prohibit students to have a dyed hair or males to have a ponytail.


title: School uniforms by country

text: In Indonesia, school uniforms are mandatory for every student. They can be simply described as below for each stage of education: