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Volume 81, Number 18 | October 6 - 12, 2011
West and East Village, Chelsea, Soho, Noho, Little Italy, Chinatown and Lower East Side, Since 1933

Photos by Tequila Minsky

A legendary night for Weston
Randy Weston, the renowned pianist, composer and bandleader, received the Village Music Legend Award at the Third Annual Village Jazz Alive event at the Blue Note on Mon, Sept. 26. Above, Weston performed with his African Rhythms Quintet. Below right, Weston, with Tony Juliano, chairperson of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the annual award, and Elizabeth Butson, Village Jazz Alive chairperson and G.V.C.C.C. vice chairperson. Below left, Weston performing on piano. With a career spanning six decades, Weston, a Brooklyn native who lived in Africa, is known for synthesizing jazz technique and African musical elements.

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The Waltons Wiki

Verdie Foster

664pages on
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Verdie Grant Foster
Family Edward Grant (father),Ethel Harris (mother),Alice Grant (sister),Sara Grant (daugther),Cody Grant, Vern Grant (sons),Wyatt Grant(First husband),Harley Foster (husband),Jody Foster (step-son), Josh Foster (adopted son)

Played By Lynn Hamilton
Status Alive

First appared The Scholar

Season 1Edit

Sister Alice lives with her s1/e21 Sews a dress for Miss Hunter s1/e21 Learned to read from John-Boy s1/e21

Season 2Edit

She and Harley Foster (and Jody) met for the first time s2/e5 First husband died s2/e5 Met Harley Foster s2/e5 Son Albert s2/e5 Second husband Harley Foster (first met in s2/e5).

Season 6Edit

Later, Alice lives in Ashville s6/e2 Verdie was born at 3:30 am 10/11/1898 in Brightwood, Virginia s6/e18 While growing up, Verdie and her parents lived upstairs to Frank Nelson and his wife s6/e18 Parents Edward (Ned) Nubie and Ethel Harris (died of TB) s6/e18 Grandparents Albert Harris (born October 15, 1831, bought by Unwin's in 18??, died August 27, 1887) and Etta (bought by Unwin's in 18??, died August 23, 1887), both died of an epidemic and were buried in church cemetary in Scottsville, Virginia (as slaves, they were owned by Unwin family) s6/e18 Greatgrandfather Randolph Harris (Seth Ado) s6/e18

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Sunday, March 16, 2014

Florida-based Teco facing opposition to buy New Mexico Gas Co. in multimillion-dollar deal

A Florida company making a bid to buy New Mexico Gas Co. will address concerns about layoffs and costs to consumers at a public hearing next week. The state attorney general and other New Mexico stakeholders have expressed worries about Teco Energy Inc. purchasing the utility, the Albuquerque Journal reported Saturday . Teco reached an agreement last May with Continental Energy Systems LLC, the parent company of New Mexico Gas, worth about $950 million, including the assumption of $200 million in debt. The company in September filed for regulatory approval from the state's Public Regulation Commission, which will hold a series of hearings starting March 22. Company officials previously offered to share up to half of a projected $7.9 million in annual savings from the workforce cuts with customers by issuing unilateral rate cuts that would stay in effect from 2015 to 2017. The company also said it would retain New Mexico Gas President Annette Gardiner...more

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Come & Discover the Wines of Austria

In terms of visibility, the Austrian wine industry has – unfortunately – taken something of a back seat to its neighbour to the east – Germany. However, the western end of Austria is becoming known for producing amazing white wines, intriguing red wines and delectable sweet wines. On Wednesday, April 22nd at the Rosehill Venue Lounge, forty-four wineries gathered together to present the best that Austria has to offer – and it was delicious. There were three outstanding white wines that day – a Sauvignon Blanc, a Morillon (think Chardonnay) and a white blend containing Morillon, Weibburgunder (think Pinot Gris) and Grauburgunder (also similar to Pinot Gris). Followed by two amazing wines and three phenomenal sweet wines, this day was a day to remember. Come and check out what awaits you from Austria.

Weingut Sattlerhof
Sauvignon Steirische Klassik STK 2007
According to regulations set out by the Styrian Terroir and Classic Wine Estates, this wine cannot be released until after March 1st. This particular wine rests on its lees from harvest until that point and, as a result, has a very unique aroma and palate to it. Most people cannot pick out Yellow Capcisum and sugar peas but these are the primary aromas found in this particular wine. The palate is lively and cheery – it is very fruit forward and extremely pleasant to drink. There is a lovely, lingering finish which actually makes this wine rather dangerous – like you cannot get enough of it.

Weingut Sattlerhof
Morillon Steirische Klassik STK 2006
This wine has a particular regulation on release dates as the previous Sauvignon Blanc and, if you have not heard of this particular grape before, it is the Austrian equivalent to Chardonnay. It has a very fruit forward aroma – banana, honey dew melon, rhubarb and a good kick of spice. There is a slight hint of creaminess that is added to the palate along with the aromas previously mentioned. There is a good, lingering finish on this wine as well making it incredibly satisfying and easy drinking.

Durnburg Wine Estate
Ortolan Cuvee Prestige Prime Wine 2007
According to the winery’s website, the name “Cuvee Prestige” was named after a rare bird which inspired Beethoven to write his Symphony No 5 and whose call still frequently resounds in the vineyards of Falkenstein. The aromas of this blend of Chardonnay, Weibburgunder and Grauburgunder carry a lot of flint (or gun smoke) notes along with fruit and mineral. It is an interesting combination – not one that we would normally see but it suits this wine to a “T”. The fact that this wine spent some time on its lees in 500 litre oak casks shows as the flavours have great complexity to them leading to an incredible elegance and a long finish.

Weingut Gernot und Heike Heinrich
Blaufrankisch 2007
This wine is an amazing combination of flavours and aromas – it is a POWERHOUSE!
The predominant aromas are herbal, spice, grilled vegetal and then a lot of berry and other fruit characteristics. A similar mixture can be found in the flavours and it just seems to go on forever and ever. It would be interesting to try this with heavy red meats – like steaks or roasts – but this could just as easily pair well with chicken, turkey or pork.

Weingut Nigl
Eichberg Barrique 2006
Made from the Zweigelt grape, this wine is intriguing from beginning to the medium finish. The colour on this wine is amazing – dark rubies with a garnet rim…just lovely. Smoke, cherries & plums are the predominant aromas and the palate is full of a variety of spices and fruit. Good firm tannins, a hearty structure and a medium finish round this wine out nicely.

Weingut Josef Andert
Neusidlersee Gelber Muskateller Beerenauslese 2007
This region of Austria – the Neusidlersee – is known for producing amazing sweet wines and this one is definitely one of the most interesting sweet wines I have had in a while. Made from Gelber Muskateller – which is Yellow Muscat in English – this wine, despite its young age is already showing amazing complexity and balance. It spent some time aging in barriques which has added a nice complexity to the wine but what intrigued me the most is the slight hint of banana I get in the mid palate.

Weingut Josef Andert
Neusidlersee Gewurztraminer Trockenbeerenauslese 2008
This wine looked like sunshine in a glass – it’s a shade of yellow that you do not normally see and it is just beautiful to look at. The aromas are a combination of honey and fig but with a slight hint of creaminess to come – most likely attributed to the time this wine spent in oak barrels. The honey and figs translated onto the palate where grapefruit joined the party and there was a hint of creaminess like the nose suggested there would be. All in all, a really lovely wine and given that it is only a year old and has just as much complexity as a 10 year old Ontario Icewine at half the price, this wine is definitely a great value for anyone who likes to have a good supply of sweet wines on hand in their collection.

Schloss Gobelsburg
Gruner Veltliner Eiswein 2007
This is unique – none of the Icewine made in Ontario is made with a Gruner Veltliner grape so to be able to try this is an absolute treat. The aromas are mostly stone fruit (like peaches and apricots) with just a hint of melon. There is just a slight kick of spice at the front of the palate but what makes this wine absolutely amazing is that it is only two years old and shows the complexity of a 10 year old Icewine from Ontario.

Some of these wines are available for purchase through importers already but some of them are currently seeking representation. The wines from Schloss Gobelsburg and Weingut Gernot und Heike Heinrich are available through the Andrews Group at (416) 686-3235. The wines from Weingut Nigl are available through Le Sommelier Inc at The other wineries will hopefully have representation

Friday, April 24, 2009

All Hail the Great Wines of Ontario

For the past six years, the Ontario Wine Society has held an event that encompasses the largest number of VQA wines under one roof and they call it the Wonderful Wine Fair. As the Media Rep for the Toronto chapter of the Ontario Wine Society, I am responsible for attending the event, taking pictures and writing it up for the next newsletter. Now, as a walk around wine tasting with hundreds of possible wines in the room to try, this event is probably one of the more difficult events to write up. This year I took a slightly different approach to the article and decided to do a wine and food pairing article giving our members, plus anyone else who reads the newsletter, an opportunity to try some great dishes that pair with great Ontario wine. Unfortunately, the newsletter is rather limiting because it would have been quite easy to pair every wine I tasted with a great dish. Wanting to take it further has inspired me to create this blog entry in the hopes of bringing a wider variety of options to the table. So, take a look over them, try some of the dishes, try some different wine pairings if you like and let me know what you think.

I am sure that a lot of us tend to eat lighter during the summer months and so, with that in mind, here is a recipe designed to go with the Calamus Estate Winery 2007 Half Penny Rose:

Spicy Crab Cakes

1 lb Crabmeat
¾ cup Breadcrumbs
3 Tbsp Cream
3 Tbsp Mayonnaise
1 Egg
¼ cup Chopped Parsley
1/8 cup Chopped Red Onion
½ tsp Kosher Salt
¼ tsp White Pepper
¼ tsp Black Pepper
¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Mix by hand and mold into cakes. Sauté in oil until golden and serve with garlic aioli and chopped basil.

Let’s move on to a nice, refreshing, crisp white wine – say the Rosewood Estates Winery & Meadery 2007 Gewurztraminer. Amazing aromas and a very pleasant, slightly spicy palate made this a very pleasant pairing with the spicy Quesadilla’s the staff at the Faculty Club was passing around that evening but how about we try a different combination. I heard a couple of people saying that evening, and it is something I often hear on Twitter as well, that they always put Chardonnay’s with salmon dishes. How about we mix it up a little and put this delicious Honey Hoisin BBQ Salmon dish with a spicy Gewurztraminer? Here’s the recipe – let me know what you think:

Honey Hoisin BBQ Salmon

6 Salmon fillets

Marinade for Salmon:
Mix together the following:

1 tbsp. Fresh ginger, chopped
2 tbsp. Roasted garlic, pureed
1 tsp. Cracked black pepper
2 tsp. Sesame oil
2 tbsp. Rice vinegar
1 tbsp. Cilantro, chopped

Honey Hoisin BBQ Glaze:
Mix together the following:

½ cup Honey
½ cup Hoisin sauce
2 Green onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp. Rice vinegar
1 tsp. Cracked black pepper
2 tsp. Sesame oil
Salt, to taste

Rub the marinade all over salmon and marinate for 2 hours. Preheat grill to medium high. Place marinated salmon skin side down on grill and cook for 5-6 minutes until skin is crisp and easy to lift from grill. Turn fillets over and baste liberally with Honey Hoisin BBQ glaze. Continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes for medium doneness. Turn fillets over and baste meat liberally with the glaze before removing from the grill.

My favourite wine of the evening was found at the Sauvignon Blanc table – Pillitteri Estates Winery 2007 Sauvignon Blanc absolutely hit the spot…even after having drunk a couple of red wines to throw my palate off. Normally, a Sauvignon Blanc would be paired with a seafood recipe but I have one recipe that I love to pair with Sauvignon Blanc that I would love to share:

Parmesan Crusted Chicken Breasts

2 lbs Fingerling potatoes or red skin baby potatoes
1 small Red bell pepper, seeded and cut into thin strips
1 Italian mild green pepper, cubanelle, seeded and thinly sliced
1 medium Yellow skinned onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves Garlic, cracked away from skin
1 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup Extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Coarse salt and pepper
2 cups Shredded Parmesan
4 6 to 8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 Plum Roma tomatoes or small, vine ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
15-20 leaves Fresh basil, pile leaves, roll then thinly slice -- chiffonade

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.
Cut fingerling potatoes into halves or quarters, depending on thickness of fingerlings -- thin, small fingerlings may also be left hole, larger potatoes should be quartered to speed cooking process. If you are using small red potatoes, halve or quarter them in the same way.

Cover a large cookie sheet with foil. Place potatoes on cookie sheet. Combine with peppers and onions, garlic and crushed red pepper flakes. Coat the potatoes, peppers and onions with extra-virgin olive oil just enough to coat vegetables in a thin layer, 2 to 3 tablespoons. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Place potatoes in the oven and roast 20 to 22 minutes, until potatoes are just tender and peppers and onions are crisp at edges. Toss mixture with tongs, turning the potatoes after 15 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, transfer them to a serving dish and peel the foil off the cookie sheet and discard for super-quick clean up!

While potatoes cook, prepare chicken. Roll out a 2-foot piece of waxed paper or foil near the stove top. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat -- your pan must be very hot when the chicken is added. Pile the shredded cheese on the work surface created with the waxed paper or foil. Season your chicken breasts with black pepper but no salt; the cheese will add enough salt to the taste of the dish. Press the breasts firmly into the cheese. Coat both sides of breasts with as much cheese as possible. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil to the skillet, 1 turn of the pan. Set breasts into the skillet and cook 7 minutes on each side, until cheese forms an even, golden casing around the tender chicken breasts.

While chicken cooks, combine chopped tomatoes with basil in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper, to your taste.
Drain off any excess oil from chicken as you remove it from the skillet. Top chicken with big spoonfuls of raw sauce and serve with potatoes, peppers and onions.

So, now onto the red wines – there are three that deserve highlighting…a Pinot Noir, a very interesting Nebbiolo and a hearty Cabernet Merlot blend. The Pinot Noir came from Lake Erie North Shore – from Colio Estate Wines – and is a part of the renowned 2007 vintage. One sip of this wine and you know that the 2007 vintage in Ontario is all that it is cracked up to be. Normally, and it is the safe way of doing it, red wine gets paired with red meat – but I have never been one for playing it safe and when it comes to pairing red wine, I will always break down the barriers and try some white meat dishes. For the Colio Estate CEV 2007 Pinot Noir, I am taking cue from the fact that it asks for a quarter cup of red wine in the sauce and suggesting my Chicken in Cherry Sauce instead of a red meat dish.

Chicken in Cherry Sauce

3 tbsp. Margarine
4 Large chicken breasts, halved

Cherry sauce:

3 tbsp. Butter
1 cup Chopped onion
1 Garlic clove, minced
½ cup Chopped celery
1 cup Grated carrot
¼ cup All purpose flour
1 tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
2 tsp. Beef bouillon powder
1 cup Water
¼ cup Red wine
14 oz. Canned cherries with juice, halve & discard pits
2-4 tbsp. Chopped walnuts

Melt margarine in frying pan. Add chicken breasts. Brown well. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until tender. Remove to another container to keep hot.
Cherry sauce: Melt butter in frying pan. Add onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Sauté until soft.
Mix in flour, salt, pepper, cloves and bouillon powder. Add water and wine. Stir until it boils and thickens. Add pitted cherries and juice. Return to a boil.
Remove skin from chicken breast. Pull meat from bone keeping in one piece. To serve, chicken breasts may be left in 1 piece or cut into slices. Lay slices, overlapping, on 1 side of plate. Spoon sauce over top.
Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve remainder of sauce in separate bowl. Makes 8 servings.

Now on to the Nebbiolo – a grape varietal that is not commonly planted in Ontario but that is producing interesting results. For a wine like this you want something hearty because the wine has a wide variety of flavours and aromas and a medium big mouthfeel. You could put this wine with a rather fancy steak or roast dinner but I thought we would keep it simpler today and try it with a burger.

The Ultimate Burger

Yields 4

Balsamic Glazed Onions

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
2 Large red onions, peeled, halved & cut into ½ inch slices
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Portobello Mushrooms

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
6 oz Portobello Mushrooms, sliced ½ inch thick
Salt & Pepper, to taste
2 Cloves Garlic, peeled & finely chopped

2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
3 lb Ground beef, formed into 8 oz patties
Salt & Pepper, to taste
6 1 ½ oz slices Brie Cheese
6 Poppy seed Egg buns, split & toasted
2 Ripe tomatoes, sliced
6 Small handfuls fresh Arugula
Garlic mayonnaise

Balsamic Glazed Onions

In a heavy bottomed sauté pan over medium heat melt olive oil and butter. When hot add the onions, season and toss to coat the onions with the oil. Cooks the onions until they begin to soften. Raise the heat to high and add the balsamic vinegar. Stir until the balsamic has reduced and coated the onions. Pour the onions into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to macerate. The onions can be refrigerated up to a week and are a delicious condiment in sandwiches or pasta dishes.

Portobello Mushrooms

In a heavy bottomed sauté pan over medium heat melt olive oil and butter. When hot add the portobello mushrooms and season. Brown the mushrooms on one side and then on the other side. Just before removing from the pan add the garlic to the mushrooms and sauté for several minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and set aside. The mushrooms can be done several days in advance and refrigerated until needed.

Add 1 tbsp of the vegetable oil to two heavy bottomed sauté pans. Heat the oil over medium high heat and when hot add the beef patties, three per pan. Season the burgers and cook until well browned on one side. Flip the burger over and continue to cook on the other side until the desired doneness is reached – eight to twelve minutes total.

Just before serving lay some of the mushroom slices on each of the burgers and top with the brie cheese. Turn the heat on underneath the pan and cover with a lid for several minutes to melt the Brie. Lay some of the balsamic onions on the bottom of the bun and top with the tomato slices. Garnish the top of the bun with some garlic mayonnaise. Add the burger to the bun, top with arugula and serve.

Now, our final wine of the evening is the Vineland Estate Winery’s 2005 Cabernet Merlot Reserve. Now, this wine is a powerhouse – fruit, jam, a little bit of vegetal in the aromas and flavours. It is meant for big meat and it fits perfectly with the Cocoa-Crusted Tenderloin with Stilton Crumble recipe I have.

Cocoa-Crusted Tenderloin with Stilton Crumble

2 ½ lbs Beef Tenderloin roast
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp Coarsely ground pepper
2 tbsp Cocoa, sifted if lumpy
2 tbsp Smoked sweet Paprika
1 ¼ tsp Salt
2 oz Stilton cheese, crumbled

Rub entire surface of roast with olive oil. Combine next five ingredients and rub over roast. Prepare grill for indirect medium-high heat with a drip pan. Cook for 30 minutes, then rotate roast 180 degrees. Cook for about 30 minutes until internal temperature reaches 145°F (63°C) for medium-rare or until roast reaches desired doneness. Cover with foil and let stand for 15 minutes. Cut roast into ½ inch thick slices and then sprinkle with Stilton cheese. Serves 8.

So, after all of this, I hope you have some great ideas for summer cooking and grilling as well as some great wines to pair it with. If you try any of these recipes with different wines and like the combination, feel free to post back here what wine it was and what you thought. I’m sure we would all love to try a different combination given the

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Discover the Wines of Portugal

Several times a year the wineries of Portugal come to Toronto – some of the events are large and some of them are small. On Tuesday, April 14th, trade people in Toronto were treated to a medium sized tasting made up of producers who, for the most part, were looking for representation in the area. Now, what this means is that while you may have a hard time getting your hands on most of these wines right now, once they have representation, they have some really amazing prices on their wines so that they can enter into our market relatively easy.

This particular tasting was host to nine wineries, approximately seventy different whites, roses, reds and Ports to sample. Here are some of my favourites:

Adega Cooperativa de Favaios
Foral da Vila DOC 2007 White
Just an amazing floral, fruity nose on this wine followed by an incredible balance of flavours on the palate. Although, traditionally, Rose’s are the summer sippers of choice, this one is a very pleasant change and may quickly become a favourite.

Uniao das Adegas Cooperativasda Regiao dos Vinhos Verdes, UCRL
Terras de Gelgueiras Espadeiro 2007 Rose
There is a nice little hit of effervescence floating up through the glass which makes this a very “pretty” wine to look at. Although the nose does become very faint when it is over chilled (which is why you will want this wine a little less cool than you would normally have a Rose), the flavours in the glass more than make up for it. Although I would not normally associate a cheese flavour with a Rose wine since it tends to be more fruit than anything else, this particular wine has a distinctive smoked Gouda flavour that is unmistakable.
They were passing around crostini with Mozzarella and Basil at the tasting that matched perfectly with this wine so it stands to reason that this wine will pair perfectly with a Margherita Pizza.

Cooperativa Agricola Santo Isidro de Pegoes
Adega de Pegoes Trincadeira 2007
This is one of those wines that sneaks up on you. On the nose, there is very little to this but when you take your first taste beware because you could end up with whiplash. Mark, who tasted this wine alongside me, said “it goes from 0-60 in 3 seconds.” If you want a fabulous food pairing with this here are two words for you – MINI BURGERS!

Soadegas – Sociedade Comercial de Vinhos, LDA
Mirante 2007 Red
Everything about this wine was amazing – the colour, the aromas, the flavours. The colour was this raspberry red shade with a purple hue…unlike anything I had seen before. The aromas were a wonderful combination of berry fruit and floral while the flavours were smooth, silky, perfectly balanced and a continuation of the aromas. Without a doubt, this was the best table wine I had that day.

Caves Santa Marta Vinhos e Derivados, CRL
Porto 10 Anos
Very pleasant Port overall – aromas of raisins & currants, flavours of the same with a hit of spice at the end. Definitely a great way to finish off an evening.

Caves Santa Marta Vinhos e Derivados, CRL
Porto LBV 2000
Slightly sweeter than the 10 year old Port above but very similar flavours. The extra time on the vines contributes to the extra sweetness – similar to how a Late Harvest wine from Ontario is slightly sweeter than a table wine.

Caves Santa Marta Vinhos e Derivados, CRL
Porto Vintage 2004
To be a Vintage port, the grapes used in it have to be picked in a year that Portugal’s governing body on wines designates as a Vintage year – 2004 was such a year. Although this is the youngest wine on the table, it is showing much more complexity and intrigue than any of its older counterparts so imagine how this is going to taste 10, 20 and 30 years down the road. If you are looking for a good food pairing for this, the restaurant was serving a goat cheese and olive crostini that went very well with it but anything with goat cheese and black olives will work.

Caves Vale do Rodo, CRL
Porto Vintage 2004
As I mentioned with the previous wine, Portugal’s governing body on wines designated 2004 as a Vintage year. This particular wine epitomizes exactly why 2004 was designated such a year. It has an amazing purple ruby colour going on with it and the aromas have this really intriguing mix of cooked fruit but with just a kick of citrus…well, mostly lemon but I think I caught a hint of orange as well just before I took a sip of it. The aromas continue on to the flavours making it seamless and this particular Port had a long, lingering, smooth, delectable finish. Definitely a perfect way to end the afternoon.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Sunny California is Calling…but it’s in Toronto

Every year, a large number of California wineries make their way up to Canada and tour the country presenting their wines for both trade professionals and wine lovers alike to try. At the beginning of April, the California Wine Tour arrives in Toronto at the Fairmont Royal York and fills the room to capacity while GTAers sample the largest selection of California wines under one roof. The wineries come from as far north as Mendocino County, which is north of Sonoma Valley to as far south as Santa Barbara County in the Central Coast region.

Twelve different wine regions are represented – Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, Los Carneros, Lodi, San Fran Bay, Santa Cruz, Monterey, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Amador – and the sheer number of wines makes it impossible to try all of them…to even try one eighth of them. So, how do you go about finding that amazing wine that you can picture having with friends and family at your next party? It is not always easy, and it is a little bit daunting when you see the size of this event but IT IS POSSIBLE. If I learned one thing this year at this event is that you need to keep an open mind – my favourite wines of the day came from a winery that, in the past, I had always considered to be silly, laughable, and – essentially – not worth the waste of time. Boy was I ever wrong! With an event this size, you tend to need to do a little bit of research prior to arriving and have a divide and conquer approach once you get through the doors. The California Wine Institute makes the research part very easy to accomplish – more than a month before the event, a list is available on the website announcing which wineries are participating so you have a general idea of who will be attending. A lot of the same wineries return from year to year so when you find a winery you like, it is always a good idea to return the following year to see what they have available in their current releases. When we got to the event, my colleague and I grabbed a tasting book and quickly flipped through the pages to mark off the wineries we wanted to visit. Once that was done we decided to start randomly selecting wineries that we had not already visited in the hopes of finding something really incredible.

Mark’s table of choice was actually two wineries in one – Dierberg Family of Wines and Silverado Vineyards – and what a find that was. There were two Sauvignon Blancs on the table, a Chardonnay to die for and a Syrah to finish it off. The 2006 Star Lane Vineyards Santa Ynez Valley Sauvignon Blanc was everything you can expect from a typical Sauvignon Blanc. It had an excellent balance of fruit and acidity with flavours of mandarin orange, lemon and grapefruit making it mouthwateringly delicious. The second Sauvignon Blanc – from Silverado Vineyards in Napa Valley – was a year younger (from the 2007 vintage) and was at the same price point as the first Sauvignon Blanc…around $20 Cdn. There is a lesson to be learnt here – a year can contribute to a lot of changes in the finished product in the bottle and that is never more apparent than with these two wines. The 2007 Silverado Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc was overflowing with aromas of grass, flint and citrus while the palate carried the citrus flavours to the max – honeyed grapefruit, slight hints of fig and melon with a very noticeable presence of Thai lemongrass to round it out. I happened to visit California in 2007 for research on a book I was writing and while I will never forget that 2007 is proclaimed to be the Vintage of the decade in Ontario, the same can easily be said for California.

Now, on to the amazing Chardonnay that was on the table. There was a time, not all that long ago, when Chardonnay from California equated to a heavily oaked, not very interesting, single flavoured wine. Thankfully, times are changing and California Chardonnay’s no longer taste like you are “licking the inside of an oak barrel”. The Star Lane Vineyards 2006 Santa Maria Valley Chardonnay was amazing from start to finish. The aromas of this wine are unmistakably fruity – mango, grapefruit and lemongrass are immediately identifiable when you take your first sniff. The flavours continue along the same line with a lot of citrus – mostly lemon – with just a slight hint of cream and hazelnuts. This wine has such amazing balance of the different flavours that the $32 price tag is well worth every penny of it.

As we were finishing up the last wine on the table – the Dierberg Vineyard 2006 Santa Ynez Valley Syrah – we got our tip for our next table, which I will get to in just a moment. The Syrah was almost a contradiction of terms – it was smooth and silky in one taste but then strong and forceful in the next. Almost like yin and yang battling it out for the optimum balance – but in a glass this time. The predominant aroma of grilled meat epitomizes why this powerhouse red always pairs well with steaks and your Mom’s Roast Beef. Adding to the grilled meat aroma was a variety of berry, smoke and herbs. These aromas continued on to the flavours making it a seamless transition in what we are tasting but the struggle between yin and yang on the palate is what made this wine indescribably amazing.

So, what was that tip of our next table to try – it was Bonny Doon Vineyards. For as long as I can remember, Bonny Doon Vineyards had this perception of California jug wine and a very odd website. Well, some people may still call that website odd - my descriptor would be intriguing and maybe a little wacky – but the perception of California jug wine could not be further from the truth. The specific recommendation for this table was their Malvasia Bianca – which is a typical aromatic white wine. Most of the “aromatic whites” produced in Ontario wineries are either Rieslings or Gewurztraminers so it is very refreshing to try an aromatic white wine that is not available in Ontario’s vineyards. Malvasia Bianca is a great combination of floral, melon and citrus notes all combined into one and this one was one of the best wines of the day. The other great wine – and this was Mark’s favourite of the afternoon – was 2004 Le Cigare Volant. You will not find the combination of grapes used in this wine anywhere in Ontario – but they are the combination that makes up the famed Chateauneuf du Pape wines from France. This particular wine was a blend of Grenache, Mourvedre, Syrah, Carignan and Cinsault and the aromas were very fruit forward – a wonderful combination of black cherry and raspberry with just a hint of licorice to make it interesting. The flavours are a perfect continuation of the aromas – berry and cherry that continued on to show black raspberry and an herbal backbone. It was silky smooth, and was the perfect balance of flavours, tannins and acidity. This would be great with a wide variety of grilled meats and you could even try a salmon fillet with it if you want

Friday, April 17, 2009

Organic wine & food matching: Quivira "Wine Creek" Zinfandel & cheeses-to-die-for

Randy Caparoso is an award winning wine professional and journalist, living in Denver, Colorado. For a free subscription to Randy's Organic Wine Match of the Day, visit the Denver Wine Examiner.

Eating and Drinking Green Makes Sense

So now we that we have choices between organic and non-organic foods, eco-friendly and non-eco stiletto heels, hybrid and non-hybrid cars, etc., why aren’t most of us making the choice to drink green as well?

I suspect that, on an intellectual level, many of us figure that since wine is an alcoholic drink made from grapes, the organic-ness of a bottle is neither here nor there. The truth is far from that.

If you’ve visited vineyards in California or France, for instance, and looked at an organic vineyard that happens to be next to a non-organic vineyard, the differences are quite visible. Compared to organic vineyards, non-organic or “conventional” vineyards always look lifeless, practically dead: all you see is dirt between the rows, since any growth apart from vines is usually zapped with herbicides. In organic vineyards, you see not only wild grasses, brush and trees in and around the vines, and cover crops of herbs, beans and flowers planted between the rows, but also a landscape that is literally abuzz with activity – ladybugs, bees, wasps and spiders hopping between the leaves, birds all aflutter, and even squirrels and field mice (hence the owl huts normally found around sustainable vineyards) scuttling about.

If the vineyard happens to be cultivated in the even more biodiverse, holistic style called Biodynamic® – which requires at least 10% of a vineyard property to be devoted to forest, wetland, grassland, or as “insectories,” plus integration of active farm life – you’re also likely to see chickens scampering between the vines, sheep or goats munching on grass, and cattle (valued for their compost enriching manure) lowing nearby.

There is more than a world, but a universe of difference between an organic and non-organic vineyard. Between a vineyard cultivated with natural compost, monitored by beneficial insects and animals, and sprayed with teas made from herbs, compared to a vineyard hooked intravaneously to liquid fertilizer drips, zapped with herbicides, and sprayed constantly with insecticides. I know wine contains anesthesizing alcohol, but gee whiz: where would you prefer the grapes going into your wine to come from?

Quivira “Wine Creek Ranch” Zinfandel & cheeses-to-die-for

I’m recommending today’s Organic Wine Match of the Day – the 2006 Quivira Dry Creek Valley Wine Creek Ranch Zinfandel (about $34) – not only because it is 100% Biodynamic® grown and produced, but also because it’s one of the greatest Zinfandels I’ve ever tasted (and I came of Zin drinking age in 1976).

For those of you just getting a handle on biodynamics: Demeter USA actually certifies vineyards and wineries in two separate categories: “Wines Made with Biodynamic® Grapes,” and what they call “Biodynamic® Wine.” Quivira’s Wine Creek Ranch Zinfandel qualifies for the latter because not only is it grown biodynamically, it is also vinified with the highest natural standards: primarily defined by use of natural (rather than cultured) yeasts, zero additives (like sugar, tannin and acid “adjustments,” and bacteria to start malolactic fermentation), and restricted use of sulfites at bottling (for dry wines, less than 100 parts per million).

But the most important thing, however, is always how a Biodynamic® Wine tastes, and Quivira’s is an ultimate Sonoma style Zinfandel: thick as pudding, plump as a Christmas goose, and absolutely teeming with lively, concentrated, nostril tingling raspberry fruit, flooding the palate with an amazingly lithe, velvety texture despite a munificence of tannin and typical big Z alcohol (15.5%). Kudos to Quivira winemaker Steven Canter (pictured right).

Although I normally don’t hesitate to throw the Polish dogs, onion studded burgers or sweet/spicy marinated ribs on the grill when I bring up the bottles of Zin from the bottom floor, an epic bottling like the Wine Creek Ranch almost makes you want to save it for the end of a good meal, when you can show special friends and family how even a wham-bam-thank-you-m’am can shine with some well chosen cheeses.

My first choice? Have you ever had a white truffle specked Boschetto al Tartufo with a perfect Zin? Then you haven’t lived. The springy, sumptuous texture of this blend of sheep and cow milk cheese fills in the grains between a big, tannin laden Zin like the Wine Creek Ranch; while the pungent truffle, which overwhelms almost all other wines, adds complexing notes to the wine’s raspberry liqueur-like aromas.

Second and third choices: also from Italy, a Chili Pepper Pecorino’s subtle spice and grassy sheep’s milk edge brings out the peppery varietal spice almost lost in the lusciousness of a Zinfandel like the Wine Creek Ranch; while the deep, caramelized, well aged Goudas, like the Beemster 18 Year Old or Beemster XO, are some of the few cheeses in the world with the strength to carry a big Zin, and with enough natural sweet, crystal textured qualities to underscore the wine’s penetrating fruitiness.

What the heck, why don’t you go for all three of them, and throw in a fun blue veined cheese (one favorite: Holland’s Moulin Bleu) to complete the spread. Ah, life… ah Zinfandel!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Saturday, April 11, 2009

T EDWARDS, wine importers and distributors have done it again. Tom Byrnes and his knowledgeable sales staff created a very special Trade 'Wine Tasting' event that centered around MARCH MADNESS and the final game...North Carolina versus Michigan State.The all day tasting started at eleven in the morning and finished when the game was over, well past eleven at night. The tasting took place in T Edwards office space that is devoted to fun. This annex office has foosball, electric guitars and a drum set, a full kitchen and an amazing large flatscreen tv mounted on a soundproof wall.Over 175 wines were self-poured from four wine for whites and sparkling, the second for rose's and the third and fourth for reds.There were many standouts in this wonderful display of value wines that should be found or asked for at your favorite retail store. The wines I liked were numerous, but, I 'll name a few worth trying. For Prosecco, try La Colture Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut DOC 'Fagher', a true crowd pleaser. For whites try a buttery, toasty California Chardonnay, 2005 Three Saints Santa Maria. And reds, the pleasing 2007 D. Bosler Pinot Noir.T Edwards, like Lauber Imports (who, also had a March madness tasting from 10pm to 1am several weeks earlier) have taken MARCH MADNESS to new heights in the wine world for professionals.I now have more reason to look forward to next year's MARCH MADNESS than ever before.
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Thursday, April 2, 2009

An Afternoon of Aussie Shiraz

Mr Riggs 2006 Shiraz “The Gaffer”
$23.95 (Cdn) per 750mL
**** (4 stars out of 5)

Very pleasant aromas – most fruit; not overly intense. Black fruit & spice predominate the palate; blueberry on the finish. Good firm tannins make this wine ready to drink now but it would be very interesting to see it in 1-2 years.

Mr Riggs 2006 Shiraz
$55.00 (Cdn) per 750mL
**** (4 ½ stars out of 5)

One of the two darkest table wines of today’s tasting. Similar aromas to “The Gaffer” but deeper and more complex with the addition of tar, leather and a slight hint of cocoa once it has had an opportunity to open up. There was a very large, silky mouthfeel to this wine with flavours of black fruit, spice and more blueberry. Although this wine would definitely benefit from aging, it is tasting great right now so you might have a hard time being patient and letting this one age.

Mr Riggs 2007 “Coonawarra” Cabernet Sauvignon
$22.95 (Cdn) per 750mL
*** (3 ½ stars out of 5)

The only reason why this wine is scoring so low is because it does need some time – give it 3-4 years and it has the potential to be an amazing Cab. If you are drinking it now, decant this for a couple of hours to let the wine really open up and you will be treated to a vegetal, herbal nose that continues on to the palate. It has a very big mouthfeel (like any truly great Cab should) and you can detect the oak influences at the moment but the tannins are smooth and it will benefit from aging.

Penny’s Hill 2007 Shiraz “Red Dot”
$30.00 (Cdn) per 750mL
**** (4 ½ stars out of 5)

This was the second table wine that was extremely dark in today’s tasting. Predominant fruit nose with just a slight (and I do mean slight) hint of cooked fruit. This wine has the potential to have one of those huge, over the top, mouthfeels – it’s almost there now. There are lots of black fruit flavours to it but it is not quite overpowering on that front either. Definitely falls into the category of can drink now but if you can, age it for 2-3 years.

Penny’s Hill 2004 Fortified Shiraz
$37.95 (Cdn) per 500mL
**** (4 ½ stars out of 5)

This wine is unfiltered so don’t be surprised if you see some sediment in the bottom of your glass when you have finished every sweet, delectable drop. When it comes to dessert wines from Australia, the wineries tend to make Port style wines as opposed to Icewines, Late Harvests, Sauternes, etc. This particular wine was made using 100% Shiraz grapes and is so dark that “blacker than sin” is the only way to describe the colour. It is thick, inky and coats the glass and your throat the whole way down. Hopefully the smell of prune juice on the nose won’t put you off trying a taste of this heavenly decadence that has a slight hint of spice at the back. Personally, I would love this with nothing more than Michael Potter’s Chocolate Souffle.

In Ontario, Penny’s Hill and Mr Riggs Wines are available through:

John Hanna & Sons

In the United States, they can be found through:

Epicurean Wines

In Europe, please check the Penny’s Hill and Mr Riggs websites for specific information:


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I am delighted to bring you a picture of Stephen Spitalny’s Kindergarten. Stephen Spitalny is a long time kindergarten teacher and teacher trainer. He is the recent editor of Gateways, the journal for early childhood teachers. He has written many inspiring and helpful articles on early childhood. He is the author of a book on connecting with children. Stephen  works with children from 3 to 7 years of age and has been doing this work for the past two decades. He now is a grandparent. His kindergarten is part of the Santa Cruz Waldorf School  located in Santa Cruz, California. I had the good fortune to interview Stephen and am delighted to bring this interview to you. ~ Lisa Boisvert Mackenzie

:: Welcome Steve, let’s begin with how Waldorf education come into your life…

My stepson Michael needed a kindergarten and we knew he wasn’t going to a public school. So we opened the phone book to the school section, found the Santa Cruz Waldorf school and signed up for an interview. At the interview I was impressed at how the teacher was so interested in Michael, his early experiences, his daily patterns – she was trying to get a sense of who he was. And that image stands out as an essential aspect of Waldorf education – trying to really get to know and connect with the person in front of you as an ongoing activity.

:: How did you become a kindergarten teacher?

I came to be a teacher by first being an involved parent. Then I was hired as a part time maintenance person by the school. After several years, and various anthroposophy study groups, my at-the-time wife who was a kindergarten teacher at the Waldorf School suggested I start a home kindergarten. I took a course at Rudolf Steiner College with Nancy Poer, Uwe Stave and Rahima Baldwin (now Dancy) for a week, and with my wife advising, started up at home.

The year she was pregnant the College of Teachers at Santa Cruz Waldorf School asked me to take over her position. We never went back and that was a long time ago.

:: What is the age range of the children in your class?

In my kindergarten, I have children from three years old until they go on to first grade; so some as old as seven.

I love the wide range of ages for many reasons, including that it creates the family feeling of various aged children being together on a daily basis. The older ones show the younger ones how to do things – either by their example or, sometimes, by explaining. The older ones also are called on to be the helpers for example tying the shoes for the little ones, and helping to button coats.

I like that the mixed age group gives the older children experiences of differently-abled people and being lead them into helpful service. The younger ones are a constant source of ideas for play, and sometimes the 6 year olds experience ‘imagination block’ as they transition in their play from a more externally stimulated to a more inner, imagined style of playing.

:: Example and Imitation are very important in Waldorf early childhood, would you tell us why and what it looks like in your classroom?

I understand and have experienced the reality of imitation as the primary learning mode for the young child, so I try to do and say things that I would be happy if the children imitated.

For example when they have a conflict, instead of asking them questions I speak short statements on behalf of the children. I don’t ask the children to say this or that, or attempt a mediation session with the two parties. Let’s say Sally was playing with a particular doll, and Susie came along. Susie took the doll. Sally cried, Susie played with the doll. I say, with my hand outstretched, palm up, toward Susie; “It’s Sally’s turn now. You can have a turn next.”

Susie puts doll in my hand, I give it back to Sally. End of intervention.

I may have to repeat this basic scenario with these two many times, but eventually Sally might say when seeing Susie approach; “It’s my turn now. You can have it next.” Or Susie might say, “Can I have a turn with that doll?” The social realm is an important area to work with the principle of imitation for a variety of reasons including that it works.

I wouldn’t instruct a child to “Say you’re sorry.” I would instead tell the sad or injured child that “I am sorry.” My hope is eventually the child would imitate that sort of statement. I do sometimes say, “Jack is sad now. I wonder what we can do to help him.” Almost always the child who was related to the cause of the sadness will say, out of their own will taking hold, “I am sorry. Here, you can have it back.” Or, perhaps rub the injured child’s back, or something out of themselves that could be a help for the other, and they have already seen me act or speak in the same sort of manner.

:: What is it that makes imitation so powerful with young children?

The principle of imitation works because it meets the child’s level of consciousness development. This is one of the main reasons I wrote my book, Connecting With Young Children. I have observed so many, many adults, parents and teachers,  trying to reason and negotiate and explain to young children, and those approaches do not serve the young child. My book is an offering of help and support in the realm of communication, and in becoming worthy of the imitation the child will practice on YOU.

Another example is tidying up. One approach is to announce it’s time, or ring a bell, and give all the children a job. “You do the clothes, you do the crates, you the playstands” and so on.  Another approach is to simply start tidying up yourself and let the children engage out of imitation (perhaps with some various encouragements needed). When something is left not put away, say, “I see a cloth over there.” And let the child’s will engage in the seeing and doing required without instructing.

In the real of practical activities, I work with imitation as well. For example, if I am using a file on a piece of wood, and one of the children wants to as well, then I supply them with wood and a file a they go to work, based on their observation of how I used the tool. I will intervene if they are being unsafe, and if they ask how to do it ‘better’ I will show them. But I do not explain how to use the file.

:: What sort of activities do you bring to the children and why?

Most of the activities the grown-ups do in my kindergarten are activities needed for the life of the kindergarten.

Each day we make snack and lunch, and clean. We mend dolls, or torn cloths. We fix broken chairs and slow draining sinks. 2 weeks ago we dug a trench for the new drain pump in our often-flooding backyard. We weed and prune. We plant seeds and seedling, and harvest the ready to eat food. We care for the chickens and gather the eggs. And the children might participate or they might play.

The quality of ‘meaningful’ informs what activities the adults take up, so we rarely create a ‘project’ that all the children are to engage in. The 2 exceptions are making a present for their parents at winter holiday time, and making a Mothers Day present. Then we all are engaged in a similar project.

It could be that I notice there is a favorite wooden toy animal, perhaps a small bear. Each day the children argue over who gets to use it. It is creating conflict. So I decide to make another one with no fanfare or announcement. I simply start cutting out the wood, and already by then surely one or 2 children are interested. “What are you doing Steve?” I tell them. Perhaps one says, “I want to make a bear too.” Or “I want to make a fish out of wood.” Or  “I want to make a shield.” Okay, we get the materials and tools and the children get to work.

It is out of their imitation of my activity, and it is flavored by their own imagination. This is how we can help the children develop their own will – by giving them opportunities to engage their will and create out of imitating at the same time. Again for me the principle of imitation is central to the activities I take up. I want to be worthy of imitating, and I want to create for the children an environment in which their will can be active.

:: How does you experience of parenting and being a grandparent shape your work with the children?

I think my work as a kindergarten teacher, my study of the young child and attempts at understanding Steiner’s thoughts on that stage of development have shaped my work as a parent, have made me a better parent and grandparent. Perhaps a more human being. I feel lucky to have been able to have 2 of my daughters in my own kindergarten.

Being a grandparent is a relatively new experience for me – the oldest is now six. It is wonderful to have grandchildren, and there isn’t the same kind of attachment or investment one has with their own children. It is easier to not take things personally like we are more prone to with our own children. Being a grandparent is like being a teacher in a way – you get to experience all the cuteness and the times when things go other than you want or planned, you don’t have to get all bent out of shape because you can be clear that it isn’t personal.

I think really one of the secrets of parenting or teaching – or being a human being – is not to take things personally, not to frame the world into fault and blame, and judgment. One can take up as a practice, a path of development, learning how to try on others’ perspectives, try to see into what needs they are trying to meet, and then it is easier to stay calm and try to work out a solution.

In my book I have tried to describe practices that can make life flow better because one has developed qualities useful for parenting or teaching, but it really is all about the path of developing one’s own will toward becoming more truly human; that is being able to respond to what comes up rather than react based on habits and earlier experiences.

:: Thank you Stephen for taking the time to do this interview and for sharing a glimpse into your work with children with us.

A Give Away for the book is here.

Steve Spitalny has been a kindergarten teacher at the Santa Cruz (California) Waldorf School for 23 years. Since the mid-1990’s, he has given workshops, lectures and courses on many themes  for various institutions and groups including Rudolf Steiner College and is on the faculty of the Waldorf Institute of Southern California. For the past decade, Steve’s mixed-age kindergarten has included children from 3-years-old until they are ready for first grade. Steve is a former Board member of Waldorf Early Childhood Asociation of North America, as well as former editor of Gateways, the bi-annual newsletter of WECAN. His many articles have been published in Gateways, and various other publications. Steve is a parent and grandparent, as well as an active storyteller and musician. He has recorded two storytelling cds accompanied by music, and as a musician has appeared on several cds. His book, Connecting With Young Children: Educating the Will was published in 2011. His FaceBook Page can be found here.

6 Responses to Spotlight on Early Childhood :: Stephen Spitalny

  1. Christine Natale says:

    Great interview. We need many more men in Early Childhood! My personal dream would be a man and woman together. For archetypal (not stereotypical) reasons! : )

    • Funny you should mention your personal dream. It has always happened that I have had a woman assistant. For several years it was my current partner. One year one of my daughters was my assistant. There definitely is something archetypal about a male/female team.
      And I have seen many great 2 woman combos. I have considered a man assistant as well.
      There is an interesting book called “Motherly and Fatherly Roles in Education” by Erich Gabert on this theme.

  2. Renee says:

    Love your interview. I think intention of experiences for young children is key. I appreciate your reminders of why we do what we do as educators.

  3. dora says:

    Thank you for how you manage to also put your work in words.
    Sounds true… as if were an evidence! Mostly for the inner resonance allied with – or because of that – the so down to earth knowledge of how to make it happen in practice ( or “spiral knowledge” as I see it ).

    Ps, just ordered the book.

    Best regards from Portugal,

  4. […] The new book out by Master Waldorf Kindergarten teacher, Stephen Spitalny.  Here is a link.  The link also includes the many wonderful articles and stories he has written.  http://chamakanda.com/.  I am reading this book right now, and it is wonderful.  More on that later.  You can read an interview with Mr.  Spitalny here: http://thewonderofchildhood.com/2012/02/spotlight-on-early-childhood-steve-spitalny/ […]

  5. michelle reid says:

    Wonderful interview,I am a sub in public schools and there is no fun or magic in these classrooms and the whole child is not being taken into consideration. I am a founding parent of the Waldorf School on Cape Cod,and believe every child should have this oppurtunity that is shared in the Waldorf Schools. I am also a foster parent and my dream is to have a village for these children,much like Camp Hill so they can heal and be nurtured because these children are our future.

    Anyone in MA. who is interested in helping with this project,please email me michellereid1313@yahoo.com

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Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Keowee Valley $1.99 on NOOK

Happy Ash Wednesday–or, as some call it, pouting, the day AFTER Fat Tuesday. (I’m looking at you, husband.)

Just thought those of you out there who are NOOK fans should know that Keowee Valley is currently only $1.99 at the Barnes & Noble NOOK Store. It’s a quick promo: only runs through this Friday, February 15th!

Check it out here.

Hope y'all are recovering well from any Mardi Gras celebrations. If you did or ate something particularly fabulous, I’d love to hear about it!

No comments:


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Going To School In Chicago: High Poverty, Short School Days, Crumbling Buildings

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"Going To School In Chicago: High Poverty, Short School Days, Crumbling Buildings"

Chicago’s public school teachers were on strike for a second day today, continuing a standoff with the city’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel (D). Negotiations stalled over a handful of issues, including teacher evaluations, the funding of charter schools, and class sizes.

Meanwhile, some 350,000 students are left missing time in the classroom. And a look at the statistics regarding the performance of Chicago students — and the facilities in which they try to learn — shows just how critical it is that the city both invest in new resources and get its teachers back on the job as quickly as possible. Here are the key facts about the conditions students in Chicago currently face:

33 percent of Chicago’s children were in poverty in 2010, versus a rate of 20 percent for Illinois children as a whole; 80 percent of Chicago students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Research suggests the academic achievement gap between children of differing income levels has now far outpaced the gap between back and white children, and income disparities can account for 40 percent or more of the variation in test scores.

Chicago has a shorter school day than the national average for elementary schools, at five hours forty-five minutes (though secondary school days in the district are slightly longer than the national average). Many Chicago students are in class for 10 days less than the national average of 180 days. Emanuel and the teachers negotiated a deal to extend hours and hire hundreds of new teachers to deal with the increased workload. Studies have shown that expanded learning time can provide a significant boost for students, particularly those most likely to fall behind in the classroom.

Chicago scores lower than other big cities on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) tests, with just 20 percent of students performing at “proficient” levels in 2011. 60 percent of students performed at “basic” levels. However, the district has made big strides to improve student achievement since 2003.

–According to CTU, 42 percent of Chicago’s elementary schools lack full funding for arts and music teachers, even though the Dept. of Education called arts and music education “particularly beneficial for students from economically disadvantaged circumstances and those who are at risk of not succeeding in school.” Chicago schools also lack adequate funding and equipment for physical education — only 13 percent of middle school principals reported having enough physical education resources for their students in 2011.

Many of Chicago’s lowest-performing schools are crumbling, but Chicago Public Schools acknowledged last year that it won’t invest in improvement projects for schools it expects to be closed in the next five to 10 years, instead focusing on other schools, including those that share facilities with charter schools. CPS allotted $25 million to six schools that it will no longer control next year, according to the Chicago Tribune, and many of the funds in the city’s capital improvement plan are disproportionately aimed at more affluent schools.

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Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Widowed and retired Major Pettigrew leads a quiet life in the small English village of Edgecombe St. Mary. That is, until he strikes up an unexpected friendship with Mrs. Ali, the widowed Pakistani shopkeeper from the village. While their neighbors, friends, and family members look on mostly with shock and disapproval, these two lonely people from different worlds tentatively explore the possibility of a future together.

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© 2011 Thomas Crane Public Library

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Cory Booker, Mitt Romney, Bain Capital, and Obama failures. :

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Cory Booker, Mitt Romney, Bain Capital, and Obama failures.

May 23, 2012 by
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

( Newark Mayor Cory Booker is a rock solid Democrat and a President Obama backer. But he inadvertently and almost certainly unintentionally raised a campaign problem for Obama. The problem is the danger to Obama of what many perceive as going negative in his campaign salvos at presumptive GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney. Cory Booker initially criticized Obama’s hit ad on Romney for his Bain Capital days, and then later walked it back after he took heat from Democrats. In any case, Obama’s attack ad was legitimate and appropriate in the sense that Mitt Romney has made these five words, jobs and the economy, Obama failure, jobs and the economy, Obama failure, jobs and the economy, Obama failure, his one and only campaign mantra. This made Mitt Romney fair game for criticism since there has been endless pro and con political and financial debate on whether Bain, and private equity firms, are job and business creators or job and business slayers.

The hit ad also played to the two decade long penchant of presidents and their challengers to spend king’s ransoms to pound their opponent with an emotion wrenching, voter disgust engendering, knock-out blow to the political gut. This means invariably grasping at every piece of gossip, innuendo, and  negative fact to taint their opponent. There’s a mountain of research on just whether political hit ads actually do what they’re intended to do and that’s to fatally wound an opponent and/or give a bump up to the attacker. The evidence is mixed. Some ads do hurt their target; others do nothing, or back fire against the attacker, by stirring anger and revulsion in voters.

But the research is near universally conclusive on one point. And that’s that hit ads work best when a presidential challenger, or the president, is either trailing badly, or the race is close or the incumbent needs a game changer. The three most notable examples are Harry Truman’s freewheeling attacks on the GOP, George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton hit ad on his opponent Democrat Michael Dukakis, and George W. Bush supporter’s swift boat hit ad against his opponent Democrat John Kerry). The attack and ads were desperate last ditch efforts to snatch victory from defeat or possible defeat. In those cases, there was little risk of backlash, since the embattled presidents were on their way to being earmarked as one term presidents.

That is hardly the case with President Obama. This made the Bain hit ad at least at this stage of the game superfluous and even risky. The fallout from it confirmed that. The ad did not give Obama any lift. A week earlier polls showed that Obama had widened his lead over Romney but in the backwash of the Bain ad, Romney either pulled even in some polls or actually maintained a slight lead over Obama. The ad has been an unnecessary distraction. Obama and his team, and a troop of Democrats have had to spend inordinate amount of time fending off accusations that the ad was political dirt, a low blow, and fact challenged (Mitt Romney left Bain in 1999).

The topper was Cory Booker’s initial blurting out about it. The GOP quickly jumped all over it and played it up for all it was worth with a web video that pieced together Democratic stalwarts singing the glories of private equity funds and funding. It even managed to make Mitt Romney momentarily seem like the fount of sober minded, reason. He simply turned the attack on its head and railed that this was just another White House crass put down of private enterprise. In this campaign, Obama will take tens of millions from corporations and the wealthy, and a majority of Americans still firmly believe that the revival of private industry is the salvation of the economy, and the Obama administration and virtually all Democrats agree with this, this makes Bain-type hits even more problematic.

The message from the Bain Capital flap is a simple one for Obama. That’s to stay on message. The message is to run on your record. It’s a stout record that keeps the focus exclusively on an economy that has shown signs of rebound, with unemployment down, with most economic indicators indicating positive growth, and the administration’s proposed measures to reduce the deficit without putting at mortal risk, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, praised. Obama has more than enough ammunition in his positive economic and fiscal record to make a solid case for another four years in the White House. The message for the president then is to stop wasting time and money on Bain Capital and Bain type hit ads — and Mitt Romney. Obama’s record stands on it its own, and that’s what Americans can and will judge him on not his rip of Mitt Romney.

Written By Earl Ofari Hutchinson

One can find more info about Mr. Hutchinson over at the following site; TheHutchinson ReportNews.

Also feel free to connect with him through twitter;

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TIME Television

5 Crazy Things You Should Know Before Watching Lifetime’s Lizzie Borden Took An Axe

Tune in tonight

Lifetime is taking a stab at one of America’s oldest murder mysteries for this week’s original Lifetime movie, Lizzie Borden Took an Axe.

It’s the story of Lizzie Borden, the girl who was accused of murdering her father and stepmother with an axe. Though she was acquitted of the murder in 1892, for many, the question of her guilt remains unanswered to this day.

That’s where Lifetime is stepping in. Reviews aren’t great, with the Los Angeles Times saying that it veers into “camp” and The Washington Post complaining that the movie is “tedious.” But there’s no question that the story is an enduringly bloody tale and is bound to entertain.

We won’t spoil the movie’s take on the “whodunnit” question, but here are some crazy things you should know about Lizzie Borden before you watch tonight.

1. For the novices out there, she killed her parents with an axe…or did she? The trial was so sensational, in part, because the murder was so bloody. Lizzie’s parents were hacked to death with a hatchet, so it was the trial of the century.

2. One of her father’s eyeballs was chopped cleanly in half. Enough said.

3. You may have sung a fun little children’s rhyme about the murder.

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

The rhyme isn’t quite right, however: Her father got up to 10 or 11 whacks, her mother 19.

4. Lizzie stuck around town after the murders. She inherited her parents’ money, moved into a large modern house in a different neighborhood, and lived until age 66 in relative isolation. But she wasn’t done making headlines: in 1897, she was accused of shoplifting in Providence, Rhode Island.

5. Status? Unsolved. Whoever killed the Bordens didn’t leave many clues. A murder weapon was never convincingly identified, including the hatchet that was found in the Borden’s basement. Lizzie burned one of her dresses shortly after the murder, saying she’d gotten paint on it, but no bloody clothing was ever found. And, there were no direct eyewitnesses. No one else was ever charged for the murders.

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TIME apps

Instagram’s New Features Will Turn You Into A Photography Pro

The app added 10 features that will give smartphone photographs a more professional look

Instagram added a slew of new editing features Tuesday that go beyond the scope of an ordinary filter, giving photos taken on your humble smartphone a professional veneer.

With a new update, phone photographers will be able to edit their photos to incrementally alter brightness, saturation, contrast, warmth, shadows, sharpness, filter strength, and more.

Instagram’s blog explains the specifics of how to use the tools, which are unlocked when you tap a wrench icon that appears at the point of filter selection.

“All of us [at Instagram] are kind of photo geeks, but we’re trying to bridge the gap between being a photo geek and the rest of the world,” Peter Deng, director of product at Instagram, told Mashable of the new tools, which have been in the works for just under six months. “Instagram’s always been about taking these tools that were previously inaccessible … and making them accessible for free for everyone that uses Instagram.”

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PJL: January 2014 (Part 1)

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Curated by Mikko Takkunen, a collection of the best photojournalism around the web from the past two weeks.

Features and Essays

Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times

Daniel Berehulak: Afghanistan’s Child Hunger Crisis (NYT) Afghanistan’s worsening, and baffling, hunger crisis

Michele Palazzi: Gobi Nomads in Mongolia (Wired Rawfile) Nomads mix solar panels and iPhones with the brutal herding life

Gaël Turine: India’s Wall of Shame (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Turine has been documenting the border between India and Bangladesh

Andri Tambunan: Chongqing: The world’s little-known megacity (CNN Photos) China

Stephen Dupont: A Haiyan Portfolio (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Dupont’s work documenting the typhoon aftermath

Moises Saman / Magnum
Moises Saman / Magnum

Moises Saman: Syria’s Dispossessed (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Syrian refugees, which number more than a million in total, have scattered throughout the Middle East, mainly to Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Iraq

Ed Kashi: Syrian Refugees (VII) To reveal the turbulent lives of Syria’s displaced youth, Kashi travelled to Iraq and Jordan to illustrate the plight of this lost generation

Lynsey Addario: Syrians Living as Outsiders, as Squatters or in Camps (NYT) About 2.3 million refugees have fled the civil war, but only about one-fifth of them live in refugee camps, making it harder for aid to reach them

Andy Spyra and Younes Mohammad: Rojava: Life and War in Kurdish Syria (Jadaliyya)

Dmitry Kostyukov : Refugees in Syria Put Strain on Bulgarian Resources (NYT) Bulgaria, unready, is poor host to Syrians

Tanya Habjouqa: Palestinian Pleasures (NYT Lens) Avoiding cliches in documenting lives life of Palestinians

Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for TIME
Yuri Kozyrev / NOOR for TIME

Yuri Kozyrev: Pussy Riot’s Next Act (LightBox) Kozyrev hung out with members of Pussy Riot, photographing their busy first days of freedom

Misha Friedman: Gay And Lesbian Russians (Buzzfeed) What life is like for gay and lesbian Russians far from Moscow

Yuri Kozyrev: Kiev Uprising (NOOR) Ukraine

Stanley Greene: Love in the Barricades (NOOR) Ukraine

Kosuke Okahara / Prospekt
Kosuke Okahara / Prospekt

Kosuke Okahara: In Sochi’s Shadow (Newsweek) Life in Georgia’s disputed Abkhazia region, which neighbors Russia’a winter Olympics city

Eirini Vourloumis: In Waiting: The Greek Economic Crisis in Pictures (The New Yorker Photo Booth)

Philipp Ebeling: Vibrant Communities in Neglected London Suburbs (Feature Shoot)

Michael Robinson Chavez / The Los Angeles Times
Michael Robinson Chavez / The Los Angeles Times

Michael Robinson Chavez: Charcoal and Steel (LA Times Framework) Brazil struggles toward progress

Sebastian Liste: People’s Republic of Corinthians (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Liste’s photographs of the supporters of Brazilian soccer club Corinthians

Kai Wiedenhöfer: Confrontier (Wired Rawfile) Panoramic wall photos examine the world’s most volatile borders

Gianmarco Panucci: The life of a Cape Flats gangster (CNN Photos) The lingering effects of racial segregation can still be seen in Cape Flats, a violent, gang-infested area of Cape Town

Nancy Borowick: Life, and Death, With Cancer (NYT Lens) Borowick has been documenting her parents’ battle with cancer

Thomas Alleman: The American Apparel (NYT Lens) A Fashion Fetish in Los Angeles

Darcy Padilla: Drill Baby Drill (Agence Vu) New black gold rush in North Dakota

David Silverman / Getty Images
David Silverman / Getty Images

Susan Sontag was right: War photography can anesthetize (Salon.com) Chloe Pantazi’s critical take on celebrated War/Photography exhibition, currently on show at Brooklyn Museum of Art

Excess and Emotion in the Photographic Archive (No Caption Needed) Robert Hariman’s thoughts on Pantazi’s Salon article about War/Photography exhibition

The Controversial Death of a Teenage Stringer (Foreign Policy) On Molhem Barakat

Picture Story: Life Under Austerity in Appalachia (PDN) Discussing Peter van Agtmael’s recent work in Eastern Kentucky

Craig Mod: Goodbye, Cameras (New Yorker) Mod on why he’s done with cameras

Photographer of the year: Goran Tomasevic (Guardian) The Guardian’s photo team have chosen Goran Tomasevic, of Reuters, as their agency photographer of the year. We look back over his work in 2013 including coverage of the conflict in Syria and the Westgate shopping centre attack in Kenya

Narciso Contreras / AP
Narciso Contreras / AP

New York Times: Year in Pictures (NYT)

National Geographic’s Year in review (National Geographic)

Magnum Photos The Year in Review (Magnum)

The best photographs of 2013 – in pictures (Guardian)

The Observer’s 20 photographs of the year (The Observer) From the image of an evicted Roma family sheltering from a storm to the death of Nelson Mandela, photographers describe how they captured 20 defining images from 2013

Atish Saha / Demotix / Corbis
Atish Saha / Demotix / Corbis

The Year in Photojournalism (The New Yorker Photo Booth) Photographers choose an image that particularly affected them over the past twelve months

Documenting the World for 125 Years (NYT Lens) A new book collects images from the round-the-globe travels conducted for National Geographic magazine, the investigative eye for the rest of the world since 1888

Empire by Jon Tonks – review (Guardian) Photographer Jon Tonks investigates four far-flung outposts where the British empire lives on – at least in spirit

From the Front Lines, Regional Photographers Make All The Difference (LightBox) Although it has become more prevalent in recent years, regional photographers have worked for Western news organizations for decades. Here, TIME showcases work made over the past year by three of the strongest local image-makers, examining the wider context and evolution of their work and the issues they face

John Dominis / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
John Dominis / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images

John Dominis, a Star Photographer for Life Magazine, Dies at 92 (NYT)

Gerda Taro: The forgotten photojournalist killed in action (BBC)

Harlem In Photographs: Troubled Neighborhood To Source Of Pride (NPR) Camilo José Vergara’s photographs of Harlem

‘In No Great Hurry,’ a Documentary About Saul Leiter (NYT) Review of the documentary film on the late photographer

Observance, an exhibition by The New York Times’ James Estrin (BJP) James Estrin is best-known in photography circles for his work on Lens, a photography blog at The New York Times. But the editor is also a senior staff photographer, and he currently has an exhibition in New York | More on Lens blog here

‘Global City’ triple exposures (Seattle Times) Marcus Yam on documenting Seattle using multiple exposures

Shaul Schwarz: Music, Guns and Drugs in the film ‘Narco Cultura’ (PROOF)

Mustafah Abdulaziz photographs the Ganges (Phaidon blog) Ex-Wall Street Journal photographer took a trip along India’s sacred river

Photographing Hiroshima, Fukushima and Everything in Between (NYT Lens) The career of Kikujiro Fukushima, who is still an active photojournalist at 92, spans from the aftermath of the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945 to the Fukushima disaster of 2011

Mark Seliger’s greatest portraits – in pictures (Guardian) Highlights from an exhibition of Seliger’s work on show in London

Sim Chi Yin / VII Mentor Program
Sim Chi Yin / VII Mentor Program

“Her work has the potential to bring insights from within a culture that is often difficult to penetrate emotionally” – Sarah Leen, Director of Photography at National Geographic, on photojournalist Sim Chi Yin

British Journal of Photography’s Ones to Watch in 2014 (BJP) Following a nomination process involving an international panel of photographers, editors, curators and educators, thirty photographers were selected as Ones to Watch

Pentti Sammallahti’s best photograph: ice fog in stormy northern Russia (Guardian)

End Frame: Marcus Bleasdale on Philip Jones Griffiths (PDN)

Photo Project Breaks Barriers in Morocco (NYT)

One to Watch: Matt Eich (American Photo) Eich hustles commercial work to fund his photojournalism and fine art projects

Featured photographer: Marika Dee (Verve Photo)

Featured photographer: Olaf Schuelke (Verve Photo)

Interviews and Talks

Rodrigo Abd / AP
Rodrigo Abd / AP

Rodrigo Abd (Esquire) Associated Press photographer Abd on his career so far

John Tlumacki (Image Deconstructed) Tlumacki on his iconic Boston Marathon bombing photos

Jacquelyn Martin (CNN) AP photographer Martin tells how one of her photos ended up reuniting a family

Mariella Furrer (LA Times Framework) Furrer on her child sexual abuse project My Piece of Sky, that just came out as a book in November 2013

James Estrin (L’Oeil de la Photographie) Estrin on his career

David Guttenfelder (National Geographic Live!) Guttenfelder offers a glimpse inside North Korea’s tightly controlled society, where the truth is rarely simple

Yunghi Kim / Contact Press Images
Yunghi Kim / Contact Press Images. Comfort Women of South Korea. 1996.

Yunghi Kim (NPPA) Kim on core values

Brett Carlsen and Juan Madrid (Roads and Kingdoms) Carlsen and Madrid on their project documenting Flint, Michigan

Meaghan Looram (World Press Photo Vimeo) The deputy photo editor at The New York Times discusses photo editing as well as the Joop Swart Masterclass and her role in it

Mike Davis (A Photo a Day blog)

John Minchillo (AP YouTube channel) Minchillo is a New York City-based freelance photographer for the Associated Press

Mikko Takkunen is an associate photo editor at TIME.com. Follow him on Twitter @photojournalism.

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Colleges Cut Back on Generous Financial Aid

The college admissions process is already a crapshoot without throwing in the financial aid game. Subsidized Stafford loans, unsubsidized Stafford loans, Pell Grants, DirectPLUS loans — it all adds up to a bewildering tangle for which families of prospective students are turning to financial aid consultants to sort out.

And now, making the task of financing a recession-era college education even more difficult, colleges are withdrawing generous no-loan policies they implemented as the stock market hit its giddy heights.

Dartmouth College and Williams College are the most recent casualties.

In the wake of a $500 million decline in its endowment, Williams announced last week that it would repeal its 2008 pledge to drop loans from the financial aid packages of students. Williams was among nearly 30 top institutions to make the move for loan-free aid within the past couple of years, following harsh criticism – especially from politicians – that students were buried in debt post-graduation. Dartmouth said Monday it was limiting its no-loan policy to cover only families with income below $75,000, as part of an effort to address a $100-million deficit.

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) helped catalyze the no-loan movement in 2007 when he addressed the crisis of conscience posed by sky-high tuition at a time when colleges were enjoying healthy growth in their endowments.

But the timing could not have been worse for pumping money into financial aid. 2009 turned out to be the worst year for university and college endowments since the Great Depression, with an average decrease of 18.7%.

Still, not all colleges and universities are rolling back their no-loan policies, even in hard times. Top-tier institutions like Harvard University, despite an $11 billion drop in its endowment, have continued their commitment to no-loan education. To do that, the university had to cut costs elsewhere, such as by halting construction on a $1 billion science complex this fall, leaving only its foundation in place.

In President Obama’s 2011 budget request he apportioned an additional $3.5 billion in educational spending, including an expansion of the Pell Grants, the lifeblood of college financial assistance for lower-income families. If approved, the expanded grants would provide aid to one million more students.

The debate continues among college cost experts about whether federal aid like Pell Grants, which will undoubtedly become more necessary as schools roll back no-loan programs, are actually counterproductive. There’s a chicken/egg dilemma here: Does more federal aid mean higher college costs, or do higher college costs necessitate more aid? With its generosity to students, is the federal government effectively padding the coffers of educational institutions?

As it stands, the math is this: Two-fifths of schools with billion-dollar endowments have some sort of no-loan policy in place. (The top 16 universities in U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 ranking, with the exception of Johns Hopkins, fall into this category.) If the endowment amount per equivalent full-time enrolled student exceeds $500,000, a school should be able to afford eliminating loans from financial aid packages for low-income students.

For many schools no-loan policies began as a way to increase enrollment for low-income students — that is, those coming from households with less than around $50,000 in income. But in the case of a number of schools (large universities and smaller liberal arts colleges alike), the programs cover all undergraduates.

Until, that is, it turns out they don’t.

Post updated 2/13/2010.

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Construction Supplies & Services

Construction supplies and services in the Marshalltown area.

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Threebe Plastic Inc

Threebe Plastic Inc

101 W 4th St, Wellsburg, IA 50680

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Franzen, TX, and eTown

I took Jonathan Franzen’s new novel “Freedom” on the plane with me to Austin last weekend. It was hard to put it down, and I just finished it in my pajamas at 11:20am.

Beware of reading it if you have pressing business to attend to. It provided a very nice vacation for my busy mind!

I love that I’m familiar with the story’s Minnesota and West Virginia locations, the clubs and the music scene tangential to the plot, the absurdity of current affairs, and the heart wrenching depiction of a contemporary family that I might have known if it weren’t fiction. I will say it tore me up just a little emotionally, but was more than worth it. While it portrays a lot of screwed up and sad parts of our world, it does so lovingly, and I’m happy to report that the author lets the reader off easily in the end. If you liked his last book, “The Corrections”, you’ll like this one too - good Holiday gift for fiction fan friends.

There’s one more live show on the datebook for this year, and it’s an eTown holiday show taping in Boulder this coming Sunday. I’ll be on with the house band, along with guests the Indigo Girls. Listen for it next month on your local NPR stations. There’s another radio show taped that will be aired in a few weeks as well – Mountain Stage – featuring Hot Rize, Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, Peter Case, Stan Ridgway, and Joey and Rory. Check your local listings, but the Mt Stage website shows it airing the week after December 10.

This has been the busiest year ever for me. Well over 200 hundred days on the road, and lots of fun was had, but I’m ready for a rest. Thanks to Hot Rize for the fun tour we just finished, to Mark Knopfler for the fun in the spring. and to all of you fans for coming to the shows. I hope some of you are enjoying “Chicken & Egg”. I’m still learning new things about the songs and really enjoy playing them, but it’s time for a rest. Have a lovely holiday season everyone.

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News & Events

UI Student Organization Raises Money for Habitat for Humanity

Students in Advertising, a Tippie student organization, developed a Punt, Pass, and Kick competition to raise money for Tippie Build (the College's Habitat for Humanity initiative). The organization's goal for the competition's inaugural year was to raise $200 to $300.

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2 definitions by BDV1

Top Definition
When you "mark out" you stand up for something or believe something completely. If you're a massive fan of a band and you refuse to let people critize them, you are marking out.

Believing something completely.

Comes from the wrestling term markwhere a smark forgets reading the spoilers, guessing the storylines and bitching about backstage and just feels the moment.
1. Dude, you always mark out for crappy emo bands.

2. Yeah, I totally marked out last night when Foley got thrown off the cage.
ayon kay BDV1 ika-12 ng Abril, 2004
Her Milkshake brings all the boys to RA.

One of the Rising Alliance's few, but oh so special ladies.

She likes to row...I think...
Awww Lady Shiannel just posted, I'm totally swooning.
ayon kay BDV1 ika-08 ng Abril, 2004

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Top Definition
A word coined by world-famous Karl Pilkington to describe a sludge-like substance.
I am up to my waist in glunge.
ayon kay addnathan ika-26 ng Pebrero, 2010
2 more definitions
A neologism created to describe a fashion movement seen as a combination of glamour and grunge. Associated with designer Rick Owens.
Shredded jeans and sweaters which cost upwards of $200 must be aspiring to be glunge.
ayon kay R Middleton ika-31 ng Enero, 2006
A gushing clunge; a vagina that has been so satisfied it literally gushes with ejaculational fluids.
Roy: "mate I was with this bird last night"
Chuck: "was she quite the fitty?"
Roy: "indeed! She had quite the glunge by the end of the night!"

Barry: "I should have used some goggles for that glunge, bloody hell!"

Frank: "I could have drowned in that glunge."
ayon kay Grisby ika-24 ng Marso, 2014

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Male equivalent of an ovary.
"Ovaries before brovaries"
"I swear this guy has brovaries of steel"
"Then I hit him right in the brovary"
ayon kay LehcarTheVelociraptor ika-01 ng Nobyembre, 2013
4 more definitions
Top Definition
what you refer to when you want to kick a guy in the nuts if he is a pussy.
Jon: Check out Mike listening to that Ricky Martin Cd

Ashlee: You should go kick him in the brovaries

Jon: *kicks mike in nuts* see smart car
ayon kay blacksiteninja ika-05 ng Abril, 2009
The most emotionally sensitive parts of any man's body. These compel him to watch TV shows like Animal Planet's Puppies vs. Babies unironically. They allow him to weep during an emotionally poignant film.

Once a month, after brovulating, he will manstruate, and may employ a manpon.
Dude, that marathon of Say Yes to the Dress made my brovaries tinnnnngle!
ayon kay Susan B. Manthony ika-13 ng Hunyo, 2012
Male Testicles. Yep.
Chicks before Dicks!
Well, Brovaries before ovaries.
ayon kay Tedoooooooooo ika-29 ng Hulyo, 2009
the egg carrying reproductive sacs adjacent to ones mangina
dude, don't get your brovaries in a bunch
ayon kay Mr.Blackwell ika-18 ng Hulyo, 2010

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Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare | Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare
850-431-1155 1300 Miccosukee Road Tallahassee, FL 32308

Physician Practice Office Manager/Administrator-TMFM Quincy, FT, days

Job Description

This position is no longer posted and unavailable for application from the web.
For additional opportunities please visit http://tmh.jobscience.com.
 Job Title: Physician Practice Office Manager/Administrator-TMFM Quincy, FT, days
 Company Name: Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare
 Employment Type: Full Time (Exempt)
 Location: TALLAHASSEE, FL, United States
 Department: TMFM-Quincy
 Salary: Highly Competitive
 Shift Hours/ Days: days
 Hours/Pay Period: 80
 Degree Required: None Specified
 Job ID: 13.6566
 Date Posted: Feb 4, 2013
 Years Experience: 3
 Job Category: Leadership/Management
 Note:  Please read the complete description below before applying for this job.
  Complete Description

******************This position is located in Quincy, FL*******************

Job Summary:  Responsible for maintaining efficient day to day practice facility operations. Manage the human and physical resources required for appropriate patient flow. Assure financial business records/registrations/patient medical records are correct. Train office staff and maintain computer operations for proper patient billing and report generation. Fill in on an as needed basis. Act as lesion between the practice and Medical Outreach, Central Billing Office and other TMH departments.

Education:  HS Diploma/GED required.  Bachelor's Degree preferred.

Experience:  Three (3) years of supervisory experience, preferably in a physician office (billing, clerical, personel, etc.). Preferred: 3 + years of Supervisory experience, preferably in a physician office.

Hiring Range:  $41,808 - $52,228 annually

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Search This Blog

Celebrating Illustration, Design, Cartoon and Comic Art of the Mid-20th Century

From an earlier time

Thursday, January 26, 2006

For those who enjoy illustration from a slightly earlier time, I stumbled upon a fantastic resource in this remote corner of the 'net: a site devoted to pulp author Ellis Parker Butler.

"Working from his home in Flushing (Queens) New York, Ellis Parker Butler was -- by every measure and by many times -- the most published author of the pulp fiction era."

Who knew? But what's of even more interest to us is that the author(s) of the site have generously included a cover gallery of magazines in which Mr. Butler had articles published.

From "Adventure" to "Youth's Companion", from 1893 to 2003 ( how'd he do that? ) there are 605 covers to peruse so be prepared to set aside a few minutes... this could take a while!

  1. Leif, how do you keep finding all these marvelous sites??? It was bad enough when I was just visiting Today's Inspiration, but now every time I visit I end up boomarking another site. If I don't stop visiting your blog, I am going to lose my job, my home, my wife and my children. They are going to find my bleached bones in front of my computer.

  2. LoL, David, the internet is indeed a most marvelous thing - and will almost certainly be the ruination of us all.

  3. The Amazing Stories are awesome!

    Have you ever come across this site? One of my faves:

  4. Wow! What a great selection of comic covers... thanks for the link!

HartfordMFA IlloMundo NCS

TI Around the Web


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Tolkien Gateway

Ruth Lacon

Revision as of 19:33, 13 April 2010 by Morgan (Talk | contribs)
Ruth Lacon

Ruth Lacon, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, holds two degrees (a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration and Design). She has created numerous J.R.R. Tolkien-inspired illustrations, and is a member of The Tolkien Society since the mid 1980s.


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Verde Marinache Small Bathroom

Verde Marinache Granite: Unusual and Elegant Small Bathrooms are a great place to showcase high-interest countertops. This counter beautifully illustrates Verde Marinache (also called Verde Marinace Granite) granite’s elegant and complex coloration and larger-scale pattern. Add a vessel sink and you have a very current yet classic look. Toluca Granite stocks a wide range of […]

Elegant Bathroom with Vessel Sink

showroom for flier-200x120

Vessel Sink on a Granite Counter Your Style, Your Sink, Your Granite Counter Sinks come in all shapes and sizes. When you select a vessel sink, you gain valuable counter space, and have a bathroom that showcases the latest in designer bathroom styles. This granite bathroom counter shows how you can mix a neutral palette […]