Greetings from NDSU and all who are currently show called participants. I didn't expect to get turned out this morning but as the email that I sent out earlier today indicated we said we would meet regardless of drought or not and or not seems to be the predominant outcome. Is there anybody that's sitting in a situation that's contrary to being wet right now? Yes, this is Kurt. The old saying of who you talk to of what you get is really true. Dickinson appears to be about the line. Anytime I live west, about South Hart Country, if we would get a half inch at my place Dickinson three quarters of an inch in east or in better and that would be moving east. You get to Medora and then go up to grassy Butte and in that country those folks if there was when that half inch was coming they might get 10 hundred. So there is basically the badlands. They are dry. Thanks for that quick update. I certainly suggest that we can't make any general assumptions about the entire state. I can't help but news just a moment here. Early on when I was Extension Dairy Specialist I was down in that McIntosh country and they had pointed out this is back in the early 90s and they had pointed out that as dry as it can be in this country that even back in biblical times when it rained for 40 days and 40 nights Herman told me they only got 40 hundreds down there in McIntosh County. So I know that we have some. We're not all sharing the same moisture. Carl Hoppe just wrote something up there. Carl I see your pastures in Central North Dakota are still short. They're too cool or grown ground as it's still dry. Any further comment there? Anything else anybody want to interject before I turn it over to Adnan to give us a weather outlook? Eastern part of our county could use three-quarter an inch. Western parts wet. Okay. Obviously some quite a variation yet. Adnan let's turn to you this morning. You give us a weather update and what you might have to share related to the outlook for the coming couple weeks. Thank you. May was very wet in half of the state. If you draw a straight line between southwest corner to northeast anywhere to the southeast, the eastern portion of that line received a lot of rain in May. But to the east, I mean west and north of that line continue to stay dry. In fact the reports that I have been having including the one I heard this morning is confirming that. And some of the rainfall amounts were in May were very impressive especially the one in the eastern along the Red River especially Fargo did receive 7.86 inch in the month of May which was the wettest May. Shattered the previous record by more than one inch. So some of these records were very impressive. If you live in western portion of that line then you have no idea what I'm talking about probably and I would like to hear from you. If you look at the drought monitor again the western North Dakota still have a little drier than normal or abnormally dry conditions or D not conditions. And if you disagree with that depiction and I would like to hear from you along with your drought impact. However if you hang on maybe a day or two or so I am looking at the forecast in the immediate couple days from today. Especially if you live in southwestern portions and you are looking at the greatest threat of severe thunderstorm possible today into tonight. This is the storm prediction centers forecast which is very much likely of happening. So if you live into the west of Bismarck, McLean County Ward, Montreal, Williams County and to the south of these counties and you are in the greatest threat of this thunderstorm that is to begin late this afternoon and spread into the entire state by tomorrow noon. So this is the strongest threat that I have into the next seven days. And the amount of precipitation is about one inch and possibly a large hail of one inch and damaging wind up to 60 miles per hour. So these are the immediate, the hazard that I see. The rest of the week is looking drier. And again I would like to hear your emails coming to me if you disagree with the drought monitor. It looks like this threat is the drought eraser for the western North Dakota. You might want to wait for a couple days and let me know if it didn't happen or if it happened too much. This is the report that I have so far. Very good. Thank you for that update. Any questions for Adnan? Well hearing none, we can make a quick trip around the state. We all just quickly had some here and there updates. But let's start in the northeast. Anybody in the northeast that's on would like to add to what you've heard so far? Anybody from the northeast? Yeah, this is Angie Johnson. Can you guys hear me? Yes we can. Go ahead. Thank you.  We could use, you know, a half inch rain wouldn't hurt. There's some areas in the county that are a little bit wetter than others, but for the most part it's, we could use a little bit like they were chatting earlier. Pastures, there's been a lot of cattle went out to pastures this weekend. Grass is pretty short. I'm kind of concerned on that. They're going out pretty early with not a lot of grass out there. So that'll be interesting to kind of keep an eye on and watch. But other than that, no crops, crops are looking great. Our slews and ponds are full again. And like I said, a half inch, three quarters of an inch wouldn't hurt. Thank you. Thank you, Angie. Soil temperatures. Have you checked those lately? Yeah, soil temps for the most part they look good. They've been, you know, it kind of cooled off. We did get a little nip of frost here on what was it Friday night into Saturday morning. But checking the end-on station, it did get 29. It reached 29 Friday night in Saturday morning. A few, the crops damage, I guess it hasn't really affected it because it wasn't cold for an extended amount of time. So no soil temps look good. We're just, just saw some edible bean fields up on Saturday. They looked good conditions. Like I said, we just need some heat and things will roll right along. Very good. How about from the southeast? Anybody from the southeast who'd like to add to that? Yeah, this is Brock Shoulders in Richmond County. I guess last week we got about an inch to four inches in some places and it's very wet in some areas and definitely plenty of moisture for the time being. So are you seeing some crop losses from flooding? Not yet, but I think some in the future. Sure. Anybody else from the southeast? Yeah, this is Kelsey Eglin from Emons County. We got about another inch over the weekend. I think we're sitting pretty well actually. Nobody's complaining about the rain. I mean, they would like it to stop so they could actually get back into the fields. But at the same time, I've been told not to complain about it because we will take any moisture we can get. But as of now, I mean, people were turning their cattle out into the pastures this past weekend.  They have grown a little, but I mean, everybody's getting them out there now. Hopefully that doesn't affect them too much. Sure thing. Let's slide over into the southwest. Southwest update in addition to what Kurt shared earlier. This is Becky in Dunn County. I guess this last week we kind of had two different days. I believe it was Tuesday and then Thursday again where we actually got Tuesday we had anywhere from three quarters of an inch to an inch and a quarter in some places.  So moisture-wise we're looking way better than we were.  A little heat here hopefully if it gets 80 degrees today will kind of help awaken some of our pasture and everything that's going on. Get them going a little better. Melfelfas kind of slow coming too because we just haven't really had that heat to help give it the jump start. Sorry folks, I muted myself and I was talking to three people in the room. Anybody else from the northwest would like to add to that. I see Chris, you're on. Yes, we're here but I would just say report as others. Okay. Chris Augustine from the northwest. Anything from the station? Can you hear me J.W.? Yes we can, please go ahead. Can you give me out or something? In Minot during the month of May we had about three and a quarter inches or three and a third inches. And we had pretty good subsoil moisture before that. And my thought was when we started this whole drought call, if we got an inch of rain we should be sitting pretty well to get at least the crops going so they can start tapping into that subsoil moisture. And we've got a little bit more than that but we haven't gotten too much rain where it's really impeded in a lot of the farming out this way anyways. And Sirius River was still flooding until about the 15th of May in the town area. So a little bit of both worlds at one point. Sure thing. Anybody else from the northwest? This is Dan, Robin Burke. And we could use a little shower but we certainly don't need much, especially right in the Bobales area. We had 260 a week ago. And but guys are pretty much getting finished up. We're looking now where it's kind of the isolated areas in the county that still are too wet and guys are having trouble getting into stuff. But I would say we're about 99% finished with planting. The crops that are in, really they just need warm weather. Soil temperatures under bare ground are about 56 degrees at the end on station right now.  They just need some good growing degree days. Thanks for that update Dan. As you can tell from the short email this morning, I don't have an extended agenda. And offer this opportunity if there's anything else you'd like to bring up that would be germane to the discussion since you do have the years of about 19 participants. Plus people sitting in the room here. Is there anything crops or livestock related that somebody would like to bring up for the good of the order? This is Irene. Great. Can you hear me?  Would you have either closer to your mic if you could? I don't see what we can do here. Is that any better? Yes. Yes, that's better. Thank you Irene. Okay. We have, the people in the area are saying that we have a tick epidemic. The wind ticks are just rightful. At what point can they actually be detrimental to livestock? I don't have an answer for you. I'll have to look into that. Of course it's more obvious on the horses. One of the girls the other night pulled 40 ticks out of her horse's tail and more out of the mane. Yeah, it's definitely tick season. It sounds like it's in the high gear there. Definitely here.  Well, point noted. We're doing some recording here and we're sure to our vet medical folks for Syvelpu are not able to participate in the call this morning. According to the comments, ticks are terrible. I guess that's going to be the word for today. It's going to be a wild week of weather. Sorry for the alliteration and ticks as well. Anybody else have something you'd like to bring up that might be of interest to others or you'd like to question if others are experiencing similar challenges? I'll just bring something up here.  Can we get a sense from people what the degree of winter kill is on the alfalfa in the counties? I'm glad you brought that up. It's one of the things I was wondering. It appeared that from earlier discussion today that crop damage from frost has not been a problem. What are you seeing for setbacks and forages, particularly in alfalfa stands? Anybody? JW, can you hear me? I sure can. Go ahead. We had some damage here in Mercer County in alfalfa canola. I know of a guys that have had to replant some canola because of frost damage. And I had a guy on Friday tell me that he replanted a quarter of corn which was over 75% damage to frost. I would say alfalfa here in Mercer County is probably 20 to 25% loss due to frost. We definitely do have some damage. It's coming back quite well, but it's going to be a little thin on the first cutting. But hopefully with the moisture availability, we'll be able to get a second cutting. Guys don't seem too concerned about it to be honest with you. They're happy that the rain came with the cold weather. So that was a mixed blessing, I guess. So we do have some damage here in Mercer County. I again end on reported two weeks ago. It got all the way down to 19 according to end on Hazen weather station here. And then on Sunday night, it showed 27 for about two hours. So we did have a frost here would have been excuse me Friday night. I got Friday night. We had a frost here again in Mercer County. So we've definitely had two frosts here in the last two weeks. So that's where we're at. Okay. Anybody else in terms of frost? Okay, Hoppy. Not much winter killing alfalfa or some frost that leaves. Yeah. All right. As you can see, Carl has added some comments in the conversation column. Anybody else? I know I've gotten a few calls and I talked with Mary Berg and she had a few calls about the winter kill issues as well. So that was what I heard. Just open winter kind of more east. But I figured I'd throw that out there to see if anybody else had other concerns out there with their alfalfa. Sounds to reaffirm what we were hearing about a month ago coming from the agronomy side. And from here east, there was over stands where we're suffering frost, open winter. Just a curiosity. So Kelsey or Brock, are you guys seeing much replant on sugarbeats? I haven't heard of any so far either. Okay. Talks to Northern Valley people and I said there's been some replants, but I didn't know anybody in the south that had that issue. A alfalfa site for Cass County. It's really spotty. We're 30 miles west of Fargo here and even some of our alfalfa fields for the family side. It's just really spotty on that winter kill. But back in Dickey County on my parents' farm, my dad's alfalfa got hit really hard. But it's kind of coming back pretty nicely, but he said he could definitely use some heat for that. Okay. Thank you. Somebody else was trying to speak there. This was Craig. I had a question for Carl. Okay. Go ahead, Craig. Any concerns, issues, cattle would be grazing this frost damage stuff, alfalfa, whatever. I don't know if anybody's really got any out on alfalfa right now, but any concern for cattle to feed frost damage forages? For the forages that we have up now, no. We get into some of those sorghum sedans and then we, of course, got some big issues. But now I guess the majority of the questions that we're fielding are people who are trying to deal with these winter kill pastures or winter kill alfalfa stands. And then it just gets going back to the whole potentials with bloat and anything else that we have concerns of just grazing the high legume content pastures. Okay. Second question. When they do this first cutting in a month from now, roughly timeframe, to be ahead of the game, do they need to manage it any differently than they would normally? Are you afraid of alfalfa, Craig? Yeah, alfalfa when they start cutting it and bailing it and stuff like that. Anything to worry about because, you know, I know some of my guys, some of that has been frosted. So to what degree, I'm not sure, but I'm thinking some of it is probably 20% or better. So the top leaves are going to definitely be probably killed off or darkened and covered in a month from now when they go out to cut it. Do they need to do anything differently as far as bailing it and storing it and things like that or nothing to worry about? I can't think of anything you'd have to worry about. Commonly questions will come up about nitrate poisoning and some of those issues. That's not a factor with alfalfa. Alfalfa converts its nitrate so quickly that you're not going to see that kind of issue. My experience over the years suggests that as I look back, people often delay cutting and it's never been a good, never been a productive practice to delay cutting on alfalfa just because you're waiting for it. Especially with this moisture would be if you can cut it, get it up and give the moisture a chance to bring on the second crop. Now I realize second crop is an anomaly for some in the West, but with the moisture you've had, I know that you've gotten more than one cutting alfalfa out there. As far as how you handle it, if it's going into silage, the silage practices still apply and if it's going into hay, those practices apply as well. Just make sure it's dry enough before you put it up so you don't have a mold issue. Otherwise you're not going to have any critical health challenges, especially with alfalfa. As Carl said, now when we get into sodium sedans, some of those issues which are going to be later in the year, who knows what later in the year has to bring. So Craig, I don't think using good production practices, I cannot think of any hidden problems that you would uncover with alfalfa. Yeah, and Craig, I can't really comment on from the production side on the alfalfa that timing of cutting in this unique condition, if that's going to impact the regrowth or anything like that. The other thing that Carl Hoppe just put up there, and I see he just had to leave for a search committee meeting, but he did put up, and this isn't really related to alfalfa or frost, but this is for that, you know, we've got a ton of moisture out there. If we do get some good heat units, we're going to have some pretty rapid pasture growth. And he just did put out a caution in his little text there about some grass tetany or potential grass tetany issues. And again, this is all about grass growth and, you know, kind of how nutrients are partitioned in these plants. Main issues or potential with grass tetany are pastures that do not have a lot of extra trash. So pastures that were grazed down heavily last year, those kind of look like golf courses when you drive by them. If we do get good lush growth on those, potential biggest impacts are cows that are right in their peak of lactation. And it has to do with a calcium balance and magnesium balance. So we can watch out for those kind of issues if we do come into some cases of tetany. And we've got a bulletin out about that, and maybe I can just kind of forward that out to people again to do a little bit of reading on some preventative measures and just a little awareness about what might be happening if this does turn into nice good grass growth weather. The other thing that's unique about that is the type of days that tetany really seems to be prevalent if it's going to be out there. It's when we still have some cloud cover. So, you know, these warmer conditions with more cloud cover, those conditions are good setup for grass tetany. Carl. Yes, sir. To refresh my memory, I'm getting old. You said when cows are at maximum or high lactating, when would that exactly be? Peak lactation is basically now, you know, 60 to 90 days after calving. Those are the cows that are going to be most critical or most susceptible. And so the way you manage that is that if you've got pastures that you know are that, you know, you left them like a golf course a year ago, we try to not put these heavy milking cows out on those. If you had good grazing management practices or you had the luxury of being able to leave some excess forage standing out there, we try to get cows onto those types of pastures. Now, if you've got yearling cattle or replacement heifers or whatever else, those cattle aren't really susceptible to that. If you've got bulls that need to be pastured somewhere before breeding season here for a bit, I would certainly put those cattle out if we need to graze those pastures that have that rapid growth. And again, it's not an alfalfa issue. This is a cool season grass issue. And so we get into some of the crested wheat grass and things like that. Those are the types of forages that are really going to leave cows susceptible to tetany. Thanks, Carl, for that update. And recall, all this stuff is online in bulletin form. It's good to refresh your memory of what some of the challenges might be. Anybody else? This is an open forum right now. Anybody would like to ask a question or further extensive discussion related to livestock, weather, or other current happenings? This is Alicia. Is there any updates about birds at fairs? Is there anything changing since last call? No idea. I've not heard a thing. Thanks for asking. We'll have to use some checking, but have you heard something or is there anything? I haven't. I was just trying to see if there was anything else that we should know about. General recognition around the areas. I'm sorry, it sounded like somebody else was responding. Go ahead. Yeah, I don't know anything about the North Dakota decision on poetry, but I know Minnesota shut everything down. There's no shows at all in Minnesota. That message came out about a week ago. To my understanding, they're supposed to be meeting June 10th again. The North Dakota state vet, not sure who they're all meeting with, but they're supposed to have a meeting on June 10th to relook at things from what I was told about a week ago. Craig, you are correct. I was in Minnesota last week. All in the news, every cultural exhibit from county to state fair has been shut down for the year, and they're using the opportunity to use it as a teaching opportunity for H&F, FFA, presenting like related demonstrations, and otherwise it really encouraging a lot of outreach to help understand as well as appreciate the importance of animal health. I think North Dakota, the last discussion that we had is that we should probably do likewise, but I don't think that I've heard from the state veterinarian that they were cancelled. So we'll get some clarity on that or ask Susan if there is a proclamation. That's the right choice of words if there is a recommendation and get that out on our listserv. Hey, Jared, are you still on? Yeah. So your fair is like the 11th of June, is that correct? Correct. Okay, so you're one of the earliest. Have you guys done anything about any policies on your poultry side at all? Yeah, we cancelled the poultry show completely. Okay, has anybody else out there gone ahead and done some of these cancellations? This is Alicia, we did too, after the state fair cancelled there as we did ours too. But I'm just kind of, the one I'm really worried or wondering about is the eggs, the people she's bringing the eggs to. Hey, Alicia, this is Kelsey. I talked to Dean the other day about the egg situation because I had some members asking it, and he contacted Susan Keller at the state and she said if the eggs are clean and dried prior to be taking to the show for an exhibit, that they shouldn't be a concern of any sort as long as they're coming from a non-infected farm.  So she said that the eggs are fine. Okay, thank you. Yep. And I see Carla's added to the comments, Carla Ryan, that there are July 9, 10, 11 fairs cancelled poultry, as well as address the petting zoo, which is an important point here. And other people type in a way, feverishly. The comments Rowan and Becky said the same thing. Well, great. It looks to see that everybody is on top of that and exercising on the side of caution. Becky's cancelled. Because of the magnitude of the issue. And so I think it's good practice to cancel the poultry shows. Any other issues? We certainly don't have to take any more of your time today. If there's nothing else that you wish to bring up. Since we have still have 18 participants online plus folks in the office here. Is there anything else anybody'd like to bring up still an open form? Yeah, J.W. I got another question. Sorry for all the questions today. I'm just curious. And I can't even remember what, but this pig deal, is that good to go now? I mean, obviously, I think we've read the problem has been solved. But has there been any more updates or anything on that deal with the pigs that we were fighting last year? Are we good or is there still issues out there? Just curious. I kind of just popped into my head when we started talking about canceling poultry shows. Craig, it's a valid question, and I'm guilty of not looking into it before this meeting, not anticipating that question. My sense is because we've not heard anything that pigs are good to go, but I can't. That's off the record. Alan's taking some notes here. And by the way, these notes and the archive will be up for those that want to review this or weren't able to attend today because of prior commitments. But since we've not heard anything, I'm not anticipating there's a problem, but we should get some clarity on that as well. Judging by the silence, I think we've exhausted most of your questions. So last chance, if you've been thinking about something and hesitating, give you a few more seconds to ask a question. This is Becky in Dunn County. I guess I don't have a question as much as I just wanted to let everybody know if anybody's interested. Dunn County was able to secure one of the sites for the FEMA tabletop exercise that they're going to be having. It'll be June 18th. It's going to be based off of how to handle a livestock emergency at a county fair if we would have an outbreak or something that way. So if anybody is interested and would like to attend or come with and join us, you are more than welcome to just contact me. And I can get you the information on that as well. Thank you, Becky, for offering that. And since you have our ears, could you give us the date and the place again? It'll be June 18th in Kilder at our ambulance hall starting at 10 o'clock Mountain Time. Okay. And that will be a hands-on enactment of a pending emergency? Yep. It is basically going to be how to, you know, if something would come up, you know, kind of the step-by-steps that you should take, you know, to help combat that as well. It's going to be actually, it's a nationwide tabletop exercise. They're having it three days. And we'll actually be over Ivan Network with nine other facilities throughout the nation that are all going to be participating in it. Okay. Yeah, very good. If you have the opportunity to participate, one of those I highly encourage, most of the specialists here have been involved in them, some sort of another, usually to our national affiliations with the breeds or species that we work with. I participated one a couple of years ago in Kansas City on FMD and they are quite revealing. There's a lot to think about that. It's well worth your time. I encourage you to participate if you can fit it into your schedule. And so I'm assuming, Becky, that's an invitation for agents and others to come on over and sit in. Yep. Very good. Thank you. Anybody else? J.W., I got one more thing, I guess. This is Craig. You said one more last time. I know. Go ahead, Craig. I'll just throw it all up there since quite a few are on the call here. If anybody's interested on the 15th and 16th of June, I'll be conducting a tractor safety school for kids 13 or 16 years of age. A lot more information or if you have any kids that would like to attend that, give me a call. Thank you. They should be thanking you.  I'm doing it good for you. Craig, can you give the times and locations for that? It's 15th and 16th of June here in Beall at the Beallis Civic Center from 8.30 to 5.30 those two days. They can call me for more information. It's $50. Actually, Rick Smith is going to be helping me also. I didn't realize it, but according to North Dakota law, which isn't very well enforced, if there is any kids the ages of 13 to 16 years old, that do not have a valid driver's license, they need this class in order to work on a farm other than their parents to be according to the specs of the law. I just learned that about three months ago. So anyway, it's available. If you want more information, call my office and we can get it sent out to you. I did send it out email to MPU 9 and 10, but if kids want to travel, we'll take them. There's still room. Craig, do you know how long that law has been in existence? Is this one of the new child labor things or is this something dating back beyond that? From what I can tell, it's been on the books for at least 20 years. Craig, I hear people breaking that law everywhere. I can remember going to tractor safety school. Oh, I'm lying. 30 years ago, I went to one and I was told then. So I went to one in part paper 30 years ago. Brad wasn't there yet, but he was close. Craig, you're right. It has been on the books. I participated in my first as an agent. My first tractor camp 40 years ago this month and at Western 4-H. Yeah, that's been on the books. It's because nothing really counts or is enforced when it goes in the family. But then as soon as you start working for relatives or others, you're supposed to have this training. And I know one of the challenges we had at that time was just sending us kids that... We were getting to the point where we were transferred kids that didn't even have tractor experience level in their safety. So we were teaching them how to drive a tractor and that got to be a bit of a challenge. And I imagine it's going to be more than that with you. But yeah, they need to be aware that that is in place, but that really hasn't been enforced to my knowledge. Okay, everybody. Last chance. Good timing. Perfect. All right. Well, hearing none. I wish you all good and prosperous, safe and prosperous in June. Remember, June is Dairy Month. On June 14th, the Van Vidoff Dairy in the Carrington area is hosting breakfast on the farm. That's a Sunday. And if you want to see a well-run operation, this is one of the top operations in the state, the pumpkin 1200 cows, you can add that to your calendars. I guess at this point it's really a question whether we set up another meeting. This one was a drought or not. And since you fixed that, I guess unless there's some other crisis, now if somebody would suggest that you'd like to meet again in about a month, we can certainly do that. Any thoughts on that before parting? Hearing none, I will presume that everybody's busy enough this summer and we'll add one if the situation arises. So with that...


Aircraft are still being assembled, primarily using rivets and other mechanical fasteners to discreetly join all of the parts together. But this joining mechanism is inefficient as it concentrates load transfer to individual fastener locations. Joining methods which more evenly distribute load transfer, such as adhesive bonding, would be far more structurally efficient and thus result in lighter weight and more efficient aircraft. So why are we not widely using adhesive bonding to assemble aircraft? One of the major barriers to the widespread application of adhesive bonding is that of ensuring the quality and strength of the bond. You may have inadvertently encountered this problem yourself if you are an avid user of sticky notes as I am. If you put a number of sticky notes on a wall, being sure to try and repeat this process in the same way for each note. You may encounter over time that one or more of the notes falls down. The nature and complexity of the bonding process results in a risk that some bonds may form that appear to be intact but are in fact weaker than expected. This risk is difficult to accept in aerospace structures, particularly if their failure would be catastrophic to the aircraft. As a result, we continue to use the more inefficient but less risky joining method. In my master's research project within the aerospace structure and materials department, I am examining ways of mitigating the risk in bonded joints. Numerous researchers have attempted to tackle this problem through stringent process control to eliminate the risk of weak bonds from forming during the production. But this approach has not yet been able to eliminate the risk entirely. As a result, I have decided to adopt an alternative approach to accept that weak bonds can occur and look at adding features to the bonded joint itself that will arrest the growth of weak bonds preventing catastrophic failure. My research builds on the work of the European project called BOPUX that investigated numerous bondline features that could be used as damage arresting features. This project identified a simple bold as the easiest and most effective design feature to arrest a disbond and demonstrated its effectiveness in composite structures. My work looks at the extension of this concept to metal and hyper-metal composite structures. The first aim of my work was to better understand the key mechanisms for damage arrest introduced by the bold itself. The bold both clamps the parts together, providing mode 1 suppression of the damage and introduces an additional load path for load transfer, providing mode 2 suppression of the damage. To isolate these effects, I designed a clamping fixture that could apply the predefined clamping load across the entire width of a simple test coupon, allowing the effectiveness of mode 1 suppression to be studied in isolation. The second aim of my work was to understand potential risks associated with arresting a disbond in a bonded metal or hybrid structure. If we look at what happens when we arrest a disbond in a bonded joint, we actually fixed the position of a stress concentration associated with the edge of the disbond. Because this edge no longer moves, the stress concentration can lead to fatigue crack initiation within a metal or hybrid structure that could create an even bigger problem than the original disbond. To investigate this, I have developed a simple analytical model to investigate different disbond arrest features that would slow down but not completely arrest a disbond so that the time to detect that damage could be maximized without risking the initiation of a new fatigue crack damage. Through my work, we are gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms of arrest and the desired arresting behavior that would enable the safe detection and repair of bond line damages over the life of an aircraft. This will perhaps enable the tailoring of the fasten design for this damage arresting function and enable more weight efficient bonded aircraft structures without a sacrifice in safety or reliability. If you are interested to know more about my work, my thesis is publicly available on the TU Delphi repository and can be accessed with the following QR code.


Good morning from the west coast and welcome to no summary Golden Threads live stream series of conversations with artists that don't fit in a box. For those of you who may not know and I don't know how you couldn't Golden Thread is the first American theater company devoted to place from or about the Middle East, based in San Francisco and celebrating the 25th anniversary year of art activism and family. My name is Malik Najjar. I'm an associate professor of theater arts with the University of Oregon. I'm coming to you from the land of the Calapuya people of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. And I am just absolutely delighted to be here today with two women who I consider friends and colleagues, dear friends and colleagues, Taranjeh Zaryan and Sahara Asap. And I will just say how honored I am to be asked to to moderate this discussion. I could spend hours talking to both of them. And this is a great chance to share a wonderful dialogue between people who are shaping the Middle Eastern American theater every single day and this is just a really great, great gathering. Welcome to all of you on Facebook Live and on HowlRound. Thank you for joining us. Today we're going to have a great discussion and we will be taking questions. So if you'd like, please put your questions into the box and we will try to address them at the latter end of our talk today. It's a great opportunity and a good fortune to be invited to direct at Golden Thread Productions, seen from 71 years several years ago. And I got to tell you it's, it really is one of the highlights of my time as a Middle Eastern American theater director. So much thanks to Taranjeh Zaryan, who of course is the founder of Golden Thread, the founding artistic director of Golden Thread Productions in San Francisco. She has launched visionary programs like the Reorient Festival, New Threads, fairytale players, what do the women say? She's a playwright, a director, a translator published in the drama review American Theater Magazine, and she's an Amorasia journal contributing to the encyclopedia of women and Islamic cultures and the Cambridge world encyclopedia of stage actors. And she is also an actress who's appearing in Denmo Ibrahim's Brilliant Mind. So I'll urge all of you to please check out that wonderful production which is streaming now. So get your tickets as soon as you can. One of the co-founders of Minatma, the Middle East North African Theater Makers Alliance of the Steering Committee, and has been a guiding force, of course, for all of us on that committee as we continue to do our work to further Middle Eastern North African American theater artists in this country. This is Sahar Assep, who is somebody who I've had the great pleasure of working with both here and in Beirut. Sahar is a Fulbright recipient who studied at Central Washington University, holds a Bachelor of Arts in journalism with a specialty in television and radio, and a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the American University of Beirut. And she was the assistant professor of theater at the American University of Beirut and the artistic director of Tahwila Ensemble Theater and co-founding and working artistic director of the director's lab Mediterranean. And of course is known for many of the plays that she has directed in Lebanon, including No Demand, No Supply, Blood Wedding, King Lear, Watch Your Step, and she's also a venerated Lebanese actress. And so here we are talking to somebody who has founded a company and has guided it lovingly for 25 years and is now passing the torch on to Sahar Assep, who is the new artistic director of Golden Thread Productions. Thank you to both of you and welcome. Thank you so much. I feel so elated with that introduction and humbled by all your praises. Thank you, Malik. Thank you both of you. Thank you so much. I'm thrilled to be here and I'm humbled to be taking the torch from following in the footsteps of Taranja. I said this and I'm going to keep saying this. Well, I have to say that when the job posting came up, I was so hoping that a strong immigrant theater maker from the Middle East would be replaced by a strong immigrant theater maker from the Middle East. So when I heard your appointment, Sahar, I was, of course, deeply excited.  And I've got to say that you've both brought so much art to the world stage. And not just that, but you've also created a platform for so many important Middle Eastern theater artists to do their work. And so let me start with you, Taranja. How has it, how has it felt to you to have had this idea to create this company and look back now 25 years later at what you've accomplished? Can you tell us about what it means to you now in retrospect as you look back? I mean, I would say first and foremost, it fills me with pride. It makes me feel that it was all worth it because of so much that we've accomplished and how strong our community has become. And in a way how entitled we have become. You know, when I first began, I had to convince people that we had a right to space on American stage. And we had a right to tell these stories. And now that's gone. Now it's everybody's, you know, working on telling their own story and really claiming their own space, which gives me deep pleasure. Absolutely. You know, you're right there. It's so astonishing to me even to this day sometimes I run into people who say there is a Middle Eastern American theater and you say to yourself of course there is there. There is not only that it's a flourishing, wonderful genre, all its own. And I really want to credit you for being one of the people who's really given it the attention, love and care it deserves because if it had it not been for your leadership and your guidance, I really don't think that we'd have the kind of Middle Eastern American theater we have today. What are you, it's Ron, can you take us back and talk to us about some of those highlights from your career at Golden Thread Productions. We have some images, and if you can walk us through that we'd love to get a chance to see you explain some of the things that make you proud of your work. Sure. Yeah, and so this is our inaugural production operation, no penetration, which is a contemporary adaptation of Lysistrada, where Palestinian and Israeli women come together and force, go on a sex strike to force men to sign a peace treaty. And it was my graduate thesis at San Francisco State and it became Golden Threads first production, and we sort of continued critiquing the war industry through comedy with a production of Love Missile, which is where this image is coming from.  And it was a comedy musical with puppets. And the other production is my own writing, 444 days, and it examines the sort of US Iran. And still or political political standstill between the two countries through the lens of this very personal story of an Iranian woman and American ex hostage. So this one is the fifth string, which I also wrote and directed developed with an ensemble, and it's the story of Zariab the ninth century musician and fashion designer and cultural trailblazer. It was fun to bring some historic characters and introduce them to our community. And this is an image from Esfahan Blues, which featured my mom, who's been involved in Golden Thread from the very beginning, and this was her last production with us. And it was very much inspired by her life. And the nightclub that she and my dad ran in Tehran and also inspired by Duke Ellington orchestras visit to tour to Iran in 1963. And it was a co-production with African American Shakespeare Company and I'm really proud to say that our audiences were 5050 split between Iranians and African Americans jazz lovers and and people who really celebrated this little known shared piece of history between our two countries. And also the play touched on how much the civil rights movement inspired folks outside of the US. Then I'm also of course proud of the programs that I initiated at Golden Thread fairy tale players, our youth outreach program that tour schools and libraries with original plays based on fables and children stories from the Middle East. This is 21 days that changed the year a celebration of no rules. And then this one is Leila's quest for flight. We always include audience engagement elements in into the plays and it's always fun to get the kids to come on stage and handle some props and say a few lines and be a part of the storytelling. Of course, what do the women say which we initiated in 1999 and is the one is an evening of celebrating International Women's Day, and it's an occasion to showcase women of various artistic disciplines so we have authors, dancers, musicians, as well as theater artists that we feature in the program and usually end with a conversation. Reorient Festival is, I think a core program at Golden Thread. It's a festival of short plays. It brings diverse perspectives and aesthetics to one evening of theater and it's our probably best known program that draws the most diverse audiences as well. It's a chance to, to show experimental work to show comedy to show political work, all in the same evening. And these are just some images from various reorient festivals and, sorry. Some of the, for example, this is an adaptation of a poem that I directed that involved projection and movement on stage. Reorient is interesting because, you know, we bring together a group of directors, we choose the plays and cast an ensemble of actors, and it's the same designers that designed the full evening. It's really, it almost feels like a full length play that's made up of short plays and we curate the festival so that the short plays are in dialogue with each other so that they bring maybe different perspectives on the same topic, or different aesthetic approaches, for example, a comedy piece and a dramatic piece on the same topic, as well as regions, as you know, you know, the Middle East, especially the way we define it very broadly and inclusively. It includes many, many countries. And for example, this play is set in Morocco with North Africa and Reorient gives us an opportunity to represent the work that's coming from or is about different countries in the Middle East. There's also a piece that I directed and it's, again, it was written like a poem, it's by Amir Azraki, an Iraqi playwright who's now based in Canada, and it's a conversation that an Iraqi man is having with his passport. And this is a piece by Hannah Khalil, which was a lot of fun, despite the burn in the burn spots on the actor's body there. It was a comedy in fact. This is an example of scenic design for Reorient, which is, you know, very minimal but also functional, so some of those doors open to create rooms, beds, refrigerator, and, you know, the scenic design is designed to serve the whole evening. And this is from our last 2019 Reorient. It was great to be able to have our first science fiction piece in a way. So this was a futuristic play by Nikushari, who was being produced for the first time at Golden Thread. And I want to say that at the end of the day, I think Golden Thread for all of us is about community, community building is about bringing people together. People who may not think they have a lot in common, but when they're in the same room, when they're watching the same series of plays they discover they have a lot in common and they have a lot to say to each other and I think maybe at the end of the day that this is what I'm most proud of with Golden Thread is bringing diverse artists together and communities together and helping them engage in conversation with each other. They're our board. That's fantastic. Thank you for sharing some of those memories, you know, and that's, that is just the briefest overview of the work that has been done at Golden Thread production. So I'll urge you to go to the website to look up production archives and to learn more about this incredible company. Sahar, you have quite a storied history yourself in working in Lebanese theater. I mean, you are really one of the luminaries of Lebanese theater and so you've worked as an artistic director, you've worked as an actress, you've worked as a director, you've worked as a producer. And it's just such a rich background and that's one thing I love about both of your stories is that you have this amazing back catalog, if you will, of great artistic works. Can you take us through your journey of art up to this point, even though it's going to be brief as well, but we'd love to hear it. Thank you so much Malik. I'm very humbled by your words. Yeah, I perhaps I can start by sharing one of the most recent works that I've done. This is an image from a documentary play that I put together called No Demand, No Supply. And the image here is at the performance at Zoukak studio in Beirut. This is just before the break of the October 17 revolution. We were planning to keep, you know, going with the performance and do a national tour but that we had to stop it before, you know, in support of the revolution basically because we wanted the audience to actually be on the streets, not in the auditorium. But this is the pieces about sex trafficking in Lebanon and there was a huge scandal in 2016.  So the play involved documentary techniques such as the recorded delivery. I used an indictment report. I used interviews with survivors from the ring, from the trafficking ring. I used sociological study. I collaborated with Kafa organization in Lebanon, which is focused on women issues and fighting violence against women to put on this play. I also, this is an image from blood wedding. I, this is a play that's very dear to my heart. The process has been amazing. So blood wedding, Lorca, Garcia Lorca, the famous classical play that Lorca wrote based on a true story at, you know, early, like nine around 1930s Spain ruler Spain and we did this, and we decided to take it to rural Lebanon and we mounted the play in an actual village in Mount Lebanon in Hamena village.  So the scenes were enacted in houses of villagers. This is a scene from an actual house. And this is this was obviously pre covered when we could stand so close to it just seems from a different age now. So the scenes were actually audiences were touring the houses of villagers through the through guides that I transformed the beggar character in the in the play to guide to a guide to a woman guide. And she both women were both guides were taking audiences into different routes to experience the play in different order. So we use like this is a wedding hall and actual wedding hall in the village. We used an actual church. We used an old cinema house that was, you know, kind of deserted. This is one of the guides on on the street, there were like fantastical characters the guides, you know, the guides like the beggar in the stories. And she was like both of them were being fantastical characters like, and what I love about this is that it mishmashed, you know, the lines between the theatricalities and the real so this is, and I don't know if you can tell who's the actor in this image probably you can but I love this image the woman in the center is the mother of of the groom and there's the woman behind her with her hand up is playing the the maid to the bride. So, you know, and, yeah, we see more images from this this is in the church the last scene in the play so we brought the audiences to, you know, witness the play and experience it and this is the last scene and then here from here on they were left on their own to find their way back to the starting point which is how many artists house a beautiful before like artist center that was recently established in Lebanon in Hamina. And we collaborated with them to bring this piece to to live the costumes where you know built based on the actual, you know, context of the play but also Mount Lebanon and we decided to set this piece at the beginning of the Lebanese Civil War in Lebanon so there was a touch of 70s, but also Spanish, you know, that we wanted to honor Garcia and the work. This was from inside the cinema house that we used for the performance and more images from the cinema so it was again it was real and and staged. This is from a piece I put a UB I use the campus of a UB so we like proper theater infrastructure a UB and that gave me liberty and freedom to experiment actually. And this was a play that reenacted speeches by early feminist women in Lebanon. One of them is on the Islam and may see a day and without Cortas three, you know, educators writers, you know, feminist this is, we reenacted the moment when I'm by Islam for instance walked into the assembly hall and took lifted up her face veil this was the first woman to do like such an act in public. And I brought Khalida, you know, the granddaughter of Ali Khalidi, sorry, the granddaughter of Amber Islam to play the role and to reenact the speech so this is a scene from the assembly hall and then again we had I stage these scenes in the actual locations where they actually happened, you know, back, you know, early last century. This is what that was at the stairs of the West Hall, a famous, you know, building a UB delivering the speech that without Cortas delivered then, and the actress. I'm blanking out for Raida, oh my God, Raida Taha, beautiful playwright and actor, Palestinian and this is the famous Julia Asar from Lebanon delivering the speech of Maisyadi and this is a famous speech that Maisyadi gave right after she was released from the mental asylum that she was forced into and in that speech she was, you know, speaking about art and literature and she was proving to everyone that she has her faculties. Brilliant moment it was so lovely this this performance. It really spoke to audiences. This is the veteran, the pioneer Raja Asaf playing King Lear, we're not related, I wish we are, I'm always asked whether we are related, but in this play, I played Cordelia, so I was his daughter and I was his director and this is a play that we collaborated with the Faction Ensemble from London, an award-winning company whose work on Shakespeare has been really acknowledged and we brought them to Lebanon and we collaborated so I co-directed the piece with Rachel Valentine Smith, Raja Asaf in title role, Rif Attar by another great Lebanese actor in the role of Gloucester and the beauty about this work is that it brought, you know, intergenerational actors and designers and artists together and this was staged at El Medina Theatre in Beirut, a beautiful proscenium that is led by Nidal Ashar, another pioneer that we have, yeah. This is another site-specific work that I did in, back in 2014 actually, this is Watch Your Step and this is a play about, I love to think of this as about our memories of the Civil War. So we took audiences to an area in Beirut that's five minutes walking distance from the renovated downtown of Beirut and it's called Khanda Al Ghami and it's still up until 2014, even today. It still had, you know, the outcome of the Civil War on the facade. This is a church that is totally abandoned and destroyed and like 20 plus years after the war is still not rehabilitated and still kept. It's still deserted really. It's an abandoned area. Like part of the area is completely abandoned. The people left during the Civil War and never came back. So you see here like actors and another, the actor guiding them also on the street. So it was a mixture between, you know, fictional writing, Robert Myers, my collaborator at the Theatre Initiative, a fictional architect, like four architectural tour. And then the scenes that were happening inside certain locations were actually scenes that were built on true narratives that we heard from people about their experience of the Civil War, such as a wedding transforming into a funeral because the bride, you know, died in battle. I mean, in fighting, not battle in fighting, or, you know, a woman who is still like 20 years after the war she still waits for her son who disappeared and we have a big number of disappeared from like 17,000 people disappeared during during the Civil War and we still don't know anything about them. So the scenes actually were based on true stories. This scene is between, you know, the two actresses and the passerby is just, you know, random passerby, not part of the even audiences, but the two women you see one on the balcony, one on the street, and the acting is seen about, you know, during the war there were so many stories about people not finding bread, for instance, like a simple story about, you know, a sister sending her, you know, a sister to find food and groceries and not being able to find anything. But we wanted, the experience we wanted to, or what we wanted to highlight in this piece was the, you know, the denial that we have collective amnesia that we have about the Civil War. So the guides were actually, the narrative they were saying was totally off and was totally false, like they were looking at buildings and describing them as if they were like intact. And the audience is obviously not at first like not understanding what's going on because their eyes are telling them something but the narrative is telling them something else. And this is something that we struggle with in Lebanon, you know, there's there's no no no reconciliation happened but also us the people I mean there's a lot of work that we still have to do to acknowledge what happened. So this is just a sample of the work I'm interested in the work that I've engaged with I'm very much interested in. And I usually take stories as my starting point is a story I want to tell and then I figure out the best way to tell it with the best three sources I have. So as I said sometimes the absence of an actual theater space gave me freedom to explore and to take things outside and to actually go to the audiences instead of waiting them at the prescenium. But I'll stop here and I'll leave part for you to ask. It's just it's amazing. It's just wonderful seeing all of your works like that and again, these are just a small sliver of such a great body of artistic work from from both of these artists. I just want to say that if you're just joining us. This is no summary Golden Threads live stream series of conversations with artists artists that don't fit in a box. We're in conversation with Sahara Seth and Taranje Khazarian about Golden Thread productions, the past, the present and the future. And if you have questions you may post your questions to Golden Threads Facebook live for our artists to respond to so we will be doing that in shortly we'll be answering any questions you might have. Can we talk for a moment about this past year. It has been astonishingly difficult between the COVID-19 crisis. The ports explosion in Beirut the political upheaval that we've all experienced both in Lebanon and here in the United States over the past four years. Can we talk about, you know, what is that meant to you artistically, what is it meant to Golden Thread, and how does that shape what happens with a company like Golden Thread that's focused on Middle Eastern slash Middle Eastern American issues. Taranje, would you start us off. I mean, initially, I think we were all in survival mode right. Because the, you know, theater companies in the US live on the edge it's not like we have a lot of reserves to fall on when disaster hits right we can barely get by when things are good so clearly when a production closes. You know, projected revenue doesn't come in you have to very quickly figure out how you're going to make up that shortfall. And I think for us, because we were, we had just opened a show. And which we had to cancel, you know, it was a big question for us how to support our artists through that cancellation knowing that, you know, so many of them are, you know, what is described as gig workers, essentially getting paid only when they're working so we tried to, you know, support our artists through that cancellation, and then figure out how to sustain ourselves through the pandemic initially wasn't clear how long it would be and if we needed to make program program changes. So it was just about getting relief funding and, you know, that kind of support, but eventually became clear that it would last longer than perhaps initially expected. And so we began developing some online programming. We created audio plays. This no summary online conversation with artists we launched. And then really, I think, engaged in conversations around social justice, and what that means for us as a company and what it means for us as a community. You know, obviously we don't think of ourselves as a white organization, we are a theater of color. And we mostly collaborate with other theaters of color, and our work speaks to and is rooted in community and social justice. But it felt like we needed to do more. So we reached out, for example, to our Native American community, and actually asked for their help to develop a statement on a land acknowledgement but a little more elaborate than a land like an acknowledgement that actually, you know, acknowledges all the tribes that are in the Bay Area, and that they're thriving I think one of the things I heard from our advisor from the friendship house intertribal friendship house was that, you know, we often talk about Native Americans in the past. But these are living communities. And we acknowledge that. And we also decided that we will commit to paying a land tax every year. So, these are some of the conversations we've had. But mainly more recently, obviously engaged with the leadership transition and mapping out, you know, the next few years to support Sahar in her, in her, you know, in her position as artistic director. So how about you. Can you talk to us a little bit about the hardships of course that you endured with the port explosion and the political upheaval. And now this wonderful new chapter, starting at Golden Thread. And it was a tough year, I think, for everyone. I would say especially for Lebanon because of the, you know, the different crises that hit together so first we had it wasn't I mean the first thing I'm going to mention is not obviously a crisis that the revolution is something we're very proud of and something that has been long awaited, you know, and, but it did put a like a halt to our theatrical activity by decision I'd rather say so I, I was actually planning a tour for no demand and I was in the rehearsal room for play that I was directing a Lebanese version of Faithful and Her Friends by Maria Eirin Fornes. So, and then we had to stop all of this to, to participate to be able to participate in the revolution and give all our time and energy for that. And then COVID hit. So by that everything has had to stop. And Lebanon was also experiencing, you know, an economic collapse still is. And then the port explosion, you know, Malik, it was probably for me as an artist I would say that it was the first time I felt paralyzed like I couldn't for a long time after the the explosion, you know, think or do any kind of creative work I was completely paralyzed from from the inside. So what I did instead is I reached out to other Lebanese theater artists and we started what we call theater relief group in Lebanon where because many, many beautiful, wonderful theater friends from the world were reaching out for us asking, you know, how could they help us and so we wanted to just think, you know, together about what exactly do we need because even at that moment it was hard for me to answer the question about how can we help you like I, you know, we basically we were feeling some kind of, you know, like, how come we're not dead, you know, so when you're feeling that it's really hard to think about, you know, money or like productions or creativity you just want to be alive you just want to you're wondering how you survived that huge catastrophic explosion so we created the relief group and through it like it was such a beautiful space that connected artists in the country with one another. It was some sort of a support group like it was it was great for us to like breathe and and talk about the explosion and other issues that we have. And through it we were able to bring in support for artists who were wounded artists who lost their homes or had family members who were injured that you know, due to the explosion. So that was something that we did up until like end of December of last year. And this was also happening for me so that was the period you know it was in August that I read the announcement for the position at golden thread and I decided to apply. So I was doing that, you know, as I was working on the relief group and you know, trying to just make sense of the world that we found ourselves in. And, and Torange, can you talk to us a little bit about this liminal moment this this place where you've decided after this long time of, you know, carrying this company for 25 years. What was it in you that said it's time to to hand off the reins. What was that for you. Well, I had been thinking about transitioning for several years. And I think initially, in our conversations with the board we had thought that maybe 2019 would be my last year but then with everything that happened and the changes, it kind of got pushed a little bit later. I guess, you know, I never, it's, it wasn't my ambition to run a company. Right, I ran a company I created a company, because we had no community. Right. And, and in order for my own place to be produced and received. I needed to build that audience, I needed to build that artistic community. You know, I saw it. Right. So, I think, you know, by the by 2015 2016. I felt like we had a community there was a thriving artistic community there we had a broad audience space. The company was thriving. Like it was time for me to hand over the running of a company to, you know, sort of the next generation in a way, and for me to take some time to focus on my own creative work. So, I think the decision to make the transition now is partly a reflection on the success of the, the company and our community's commitment to making sure Golden thread will stay right and will will thrive.  And so what about you.  And now, you know, what was it in you that said you know it's time now to take this opportunity you said you saw the job posting. What was it in you that said now's the moment to to act on this. I think, you know, I loved my work a lot. It gave me, I should start by saying that and it gave me the space to be creative and to create and to produce work. And I was also teaching as an assistant professor as you know. So I, at that point when I saw the announcement I was like, oh great this is something I'd like to do because it will be working full time. It was always my dream to work full time as a practitioner as a theater maker and teaching was something that I grew to love, especially because of the students and because I'm teaching something that I have great passion for. But it wasn't my dream to be a teacher I have to say that. So I thought this will be an excellent opportunity for me as to grow as an artist, obviously, and to be able to experience life as 100% full time, you know, theater maker as a producer as an artistic director giving, you know, helping other people to also grow their artistic career and creation. And I have to be also super honest, I needed a break from Lebanon post explosion. And I'm so sad.  I mean, you know that I'm I built my career and my life and my world in Lebanon. And this is where I was very happy. The explosion broke something in me. And I felt like I just needed a little bit of space.  You know, it really has changed fundamentally and seeing what happened with the murder of George Floyd and so many of these horrific feelings that are happening in this country, the rate, the structural racism that's really come in full view. It was always there. Let's be clear, but it's really come in full view. And now, you know, it feels like if we are at this threshold, and now that if the pandemic is hopefully waning at least on the the Wayne. What now you know what what what becomes the new moment. And let me start with you, Torange, what is the next thing for let's talk broadly about Middle Eastern American theater you know what what is it that that that has been done but now it can go to the next place if there is a break, or indeed within us and maybe a change that can come. One of the things one of the outcomes of the pandemic that I think is valuable to hold on to is this access to digital work right and the digital space so theater practitioners began exploring more seriously how theater could be created online, and how they could create this new art, you know, communities and artists outside of the US through through digital work and I think that is particularly valuable for us in the Middle Eastern American community because I've always thought of us as the, as the natural difference between the US and the Middle East, right, and now working through, you know the digital medium gives us an opportunity to collaborate with artists in the Middle East, in a way that maybe we weren't thinking about before. And I think that's a great opportunity and I hope that we will take advantage of that. What about you, what does the future look like for you, especially about Middle Eastern American theater how does that shape for you in your mind. Yeah, I absolutely second what Taranj is saying there's something very valuable about being able to reach like audiences outside of our immediate circles and that that in itself will affect the kind of work we produce, I believe, because, you know, these are audiences that might not speak the same verbal language or even like not share the same concerns that we do so it will really force us to think outside of our comfort and outside of our own, you know, circle, basically. So this is something that I'd love to explore there's, you know, I, I also, you know, keep saying that Taranj and the team and the boy that Golden thread and all the artists that have been involved have really created very strong grounds for us to build on. So, and I really want to take advantage of what, you know, the, the, the new things that we discovered due to the pandemic, you know, to kind of explore how we can expand the programs the current programs such as the fairytale players this is a program that really stood out for me when I was doing research about the company when I decided to apply. I mean the fact that it's, it really reaches out to schools because I've always believed that if we want to change the culture you have to start at the schools if want to introduce Middle Eastern theater if we want to if we want to change the perceptions about the Middle East this is the right place to start you start with the kids, you know, before they're totally engaged in the community so, so we're looking at how we can expand fairytale players through adding a digital aspect to the program for instance, you know, reorient as well can have a digital aspect and I'm thinking about moving here going back to the previous question that you asked I think of my role now as you know, definitely I see it as a connection to the Middle East because I'm, I'm rooted there this is where I grew up this is where I come from. At the same time I'm now I realize and I'm aware that now I'm working in a different environment I'm here with within a different community there's so much in common but it's, it's a different community so my job I believe will be to try and reconcile the two and to see how I can, you know, keep producing for this community because it defeats the purpose of theater to produce something that's not of concern to your immediate environment, at least in my view and the more specific you are, the more it really would speak to people outside of your circle and I've experienced that with doing specific work about things that I thought would only matter to Lebanese people such as the story about no demand or supply, when we took it to Athens when we took it to New York, and I was saying Lebanese names and the story is Lebanese and, but everyone was completely, you know, engaged with the performance and it spoke to them, they, they were able to relate it to their own problems and situations. And I think by doing that here and trying to link trying to link that to the Middle East, you know, it will, you know, it, I think it will give us something very interesting to keep growing. Absolutely. Absolutely. I'm just checking with Wendy see if there are any questions that have come up but I will check back there. So, Toran, now that, now that you and Sahar are kind of working on this transition. But can you tell us about what you see is the future of this genre that that you've that you've nurtured for so long I mean where do you see a company like Golden Thread for instance, in 25 more years. What has what will in your mind be positive change for the future in the sense of not just the company, but the genre of Middle Eastern American theater where can we be in 25 more years. Well I think there's a lot of work to be done. And I have a list it's by no means exhaustive, but you know, for example, if Golden Thread could have a season of let's say five to seven productions a year, and employ a company of 50 artists and production staff, right, year round. That to me would be success. And I would want that season to include translated work. I would want it to include adaptations of classical Middle Eastern texts. I would want it to, I would want it to have aesthetic diversity in terms of where the origin of the play is, and, and how it was devised. And it was to do, you know, comedy musicals. God knows we have. We do. We have a, you know, a tradition of comedy musicals in the Middle East. So you know I think just in terms of creating work and building a season. There's a lot that can be done if we wanted to move in that direction. Obviously up to Golden Thread but there's also, I think a need to bring the work of a company like Golden Thread to Middle America. And while in the past we've tried touring. We've never been able to do it successfully in the same financially successful it's never we've always lost a lot of money and we're not able to bring in a lot of audiences. Because like our local support was weak, right. But if there is a way to tour some of our productions. I think that would be really valuable. And Sahar, what about you. What do what are you envisioning as a bright future saying 25 years for Golden Thread. I have so many dreams for Golden Thread, obviously. One thing that I'd like to see happen more is, as the ranch said, bring our work outside of the Bay Area and to the international theater scene. This is something that I'm keen on, you know, doing. Because I think it's very important the work that we're producing here at Golden Thread and I think it would speak to audiences everywhere it's like, you know, relevant the subject matters. I think also Golden Thread has the potential to be like a big sister company to other companies in in in the US Middle Eastern companies because I think we need many more Middle Eastern focused theater companies to be able to address the issues at heart. And I, and I know that this happened before like we inspired other companies I was in conversation yesterday with two of our resident artists who are residing in London, Hasan Abdul Razza and Hannah Khalil and they were telling me how their work with Golden Thread inspired them to start their company of they called Menara, which is focused on Middle Eastern issues in the UK. So I think that there's a, you know, potential for us to be like the we have a model that's working, and that worked for 25 years, and that's thriving today. And I think that's something that we can continue to do and I really hope to, you know, to continue engaging artists and making them the center of our work by providing you know them with a safe place and space to be able to create work without fear and anxiety or judgment and that also entails, you know, compensating them better and you know being able to support them, not only artistically but financially this is something that we're really in conversation with during this transitional period that you know the leadership transition. So there's and obviously I have so many plays from the Arab world and the Middle East that I'd love to one day to produce here because I think they will speak to Middle Easterners in the US I think you know to continue fighting for our voices to be heard here. We must be able also to keep that connection with what's happening on the Middle Eastern stages and also Middle Eastern communities because people I noticed this with some of my cousins like they immigrate, you know, and then 20 years later they they come back and they think they speak about things as if they're still the same and things obviously like like all relationships things are like it's a relationship and relationships are very dynamic and changing constantly changing. So I think to keep that connection with the region and what's happening there and keep the voice of the region present here and vice versa, by the way, is something that I would like to do. Wonderful. Well, as you both know I could spend hours talking to both of you but of course we've come to the end of our time. So, my deepest thanks to both of you, Taran, Zarian, Sahara, I have such deep love and respect for both of you thank you for all that you've done and that you are going to continue to do for the theater for the Middle Eastern American theater in this country. I'd like to thank how around for hosting this live stream event. Recording of the session will be available on both how around and Golden Threads websites, and many thanks to our live stream technician Wendy Reyes and Chris steel for managing the live stream on Golden Threads Facebook page. And thanks of course to all of you for joining us today, I will implore you all to please keep supporting companies like Golden Thread Productions, come see the work. When everything gets this back live again it'll be just exciting to be in a theater sharing art once again. Thanks. My name is medic Nizhar, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Goodbye.


Asanda and Dende, my life is very miserable, I can't leave the house. Asanda and Dende tries not to leave her house unless she has a doctor's appointment.  The 24-year-old from the Mthumbini area of Clermont in Durban, KZN told Daily Sun her life was depressing. It started in 2014 when I fell two tumours in my armpits. I didn't pay much attention to them because they were not painful and I thought they would go away. But it all changed in August when I got pregnant. The tumours started growing and have become very painful. She said she had been in and out of the RK Con hospital since then. At the hospital, they are currently giving me painkillers. They have booked me for surgery towards the end of May as they say I need to give birth first. It would be risky for me and the child to undergo an operation while I'm pregnant, she said. Asanda said she had visited a number of inyangas but no one was able to assist her. Kamisa Maevundat, spokeswoman for the KZN Department of Health, said, the department has asked for a report from the health facility concerned, so it can be viewed by experts at head office. Dr Dumizani Zangu, a gynecologist at the Maxwell Center in Durban, said Asanda's case is not rare. In most women in the sixth week of pregnancy a milk line is developed from the armpits which runs down to the groin. During the formation of that line nipples are also formed. In some women the nipples vanish after a few weeks but in others they grow into breasts, said Dr Zangu. He said the breasts don't vanish completely after giving birth but women can go for removal if they feel uncomfortable.