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Ancient scraps of fabric found in a grave in Denmark are not made of cultivated flax as once believed, but instead are woven from imported wild nettles, suggesting the grave's inhabitant may have traveled far for burial. ?
This discovery, announced today (Sept. 28) in the journal Scientific Reports, casts a new light on the textile trade in Bronze Age Europe, said study researcher Ulla Mannering, an archaeologist at the University of Copenhagen.
"Since the Stone Age, they had very well-developed agriculture and technology for producing linen textiles," Mannering told LiveScience. "So it's really unusual that a society which has established agriculture would also take in material from things that are not of the normal standardized agricultural production" ? in other words, wild plants.
A luxurious shroud
The soft and shiny fabric dates back to between 940 B.C. and 750 B.C., making it about 2,800 years old. It was discovered in Voldtofte, Denmark, at a rich Bronze Age burial ground called Luseh?j. The Bronze Age ran from about 3200 B.C. to 600 B.C. in Europe.
The fabric was wrapped around a bundle of cremated remains in a bronze urn. It was a luxurious piece of material, Mannering said. [10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead]
"The fibers we get from the European nettle are very, very fine and soft and shiny, and we often say this is a sort of prehistoric silk textile," Mannering said. (Silk, made from insect cocoons, is known for its shimmery texture.)
Previous analysis pegged the Danish fabric as woven from flax, a plant widely cultivated in the region. But along with nanophysicist Bodil Holst of the University of Bergen in Norway, Mannering and her colleagues used advanced methods to reanalyze the scraps of cloth. By studying the fiber orientation as well as the presence of certain crystals found in plants, the researchers were able to learn that the fabric is not flax at all, but nettle, a group of plants known for the needlelike stingers that line their stems and leaves.
Nor is the nettle local, Mannering said. Different soil regions contain different variations of elements. The variation of one of these elements, strontium, found in the fabric, was not local to Denmark, suggesting the plants the textile was made from grew elsewhere.
There are a few regions that match the strontium profile, the researchers found, but the most likely candidate is southwest Austria. The bronze burial urn holding the remains is from Austria, Mannering said, and it makes sense that the fabric might be too.
A well-traveled man?
Despite these imported grave goods, the remains appear to be those of a Danish man, Mannering said. The personal objects in the grave, such as two razors, suggest he was a Scandinavian, albeit perhaps a well-traveled one, she said.
"Maybe he died in Austria and was wrapped in this Austrian urn and Austrian textile and was brought back to Denmark in this condition and then put in a big burial mound," Mannering said. "The personal objects that were placed inside the urn together with this textile and the bones indicate that he is a male of Scandinavian origin, but it doesn't mean that he couldn't have died abroad."
Bronze Age Europeans lived an agricultural life and traded many goods with one another, especially the bronze that gave the era its name, Mannering said. The nettle fabric may have been an ancient luxury good for Bronze Age elite, she said.
"It shows that they also knew how to get fibers from wild plants, and they wanted these fibers probably because of their very different and unique appearance," she said.
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Note: Given the similarities in performance and design between the Dane-Elec ColorBytes and the Dane-Elec ShareBytes, the two reviews share some material.
At the risk of sounding like a grizzled curmudgeon, I still find myself surprised by the progressively younger age that children have begun using computers over the past few years. Alas, this is undeniably the case, and it therefore makes sense that a market exists for peripherals aimed exclusively towards youngsters. The Dane-Elec ShareBytes Value Pack drives ("ShareBytes") ($12.99 direct) fit squarely into this category. They're not the fastest or most durable flash drives by any measure, but they succeed in seamlessly fusing toy and technology, and kids will almost surely get a kick out of their cartoonish designs.
Design and Features
It doesn't take a team of behavioral scientists and several focus group studies to surmise that children like plastic and bright colors. Accordingly, the ShareBytes drives are constructed entirely out of plastic, including the USB plug. Children also tend to misplace things, so it makes sense that both sets feature capless designs, instead utilizing sliding USB connectors.
The ShareBytes set consists of two 4GB flash drives that symmetrically interlock by sliding into one another in a manner that looks like they're embracing one another; our test units featured two cartoonish monsters donning backpacks locked in a genial hug. Other available designs utilizing the hug motif include bacon and eggs, a devil and an angel, and robots as well as skeletons hugging each other, respectively. A side effect of this hug-inspired design is that the outstretched "arm" of the drives protrudes half an inch to the side and, in turn, crowds out neighboring ports.
On the plus side, the ShareBytes drives come with no preloaded software. On the other hand, that means that there's no encryption or password protection whatsoever. Ostensibly, this makes sense for drives designed for children. However, children old enough to understand computers are surely capable of memorizing simple passwords, and if I were a parent, I personally wouldn't feel terribly safe knowing that my child's personal documents and pictures could wind up in the hands of a random stranger with unfettered access to that data. Kids do lose things, after all. Careful parents would be better served by the Editors' Choice Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB) . It's not the coolest or most cartoonish drive by any stretch, but it will give your children added protection ? and yourself some peace of mind.
Each ShareByte drive offers 4GB of storage space, with 3.79GB of usable space. They are sold in sets of two for a price of $12.99, coming to $1.63 per GB; according to these numbers each drive, therefore, costs $6.52. As a set the ShareBytes make for a better deal than the Dane-Elec Marvel Avengers USB Drives ($1.87 per gigabyte), the Verbatim Store N' Go Clip-it USB Drive ($1.83 per gigabyte), and the Kingston DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB) ($1.75 per gigabyte). Only the Duracell Rugged USB Drive (16GB) is more affordable, at $1.25 per gigabyte.
Performance
Naturally, one shouldn't purchase a novelty flash drive intended for children and expect blazing fast performance. That said, the ShareBytes drives perform reasonably well compared to other flash drives in their price range. In our timed data transfer tests, they produced speeds of 4.3MBps (write) and 18.1MBps (read). This read speed outpaced that of the Dane-Elec Marvel Avengers USB Drives (4.4MBps write, 16.3MBps read) as well as that of Verbatim Store N' Go Clip-it (6MBps write, 15MBps read). Moreover, the ValuePack drives outperformed the Duracell Rugged USB Drive (16GB) (4.1 MBps write, 12.5MBps read) on both write and read speeds. Only the DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB) (9.6MBps write, 24MBps read) outflanked the ShareBytes drives on both prongs.
In the end, the Dane-Elec ShareBytes Value Pack drives aren't the fastest or most rugged drives on the market, nor are they meant to be. They're designed to amuse children and add a little color to their nascent computer usage. Given their affordable price, they're also good for parents, too. Still, I'd advise parents to go with our current Editors' Choice for flash drives, the DataTraveler Locker+ (8GB), whose uncomplicated encryption program offers a level of security for children that, in my mind, far outweighs the need for bright colors and cute designs.
COMPARISON TABLE Compare the Dane-Elec ShareBytes with several other flash drives by side.
More flash drive reviews: ??? Dane-Elec ColorBytes ??? Dane-Elec ShareBytes ??? Dane-Elec LifeBytes (8GB) ??? Dane-Elec Marvel Universe USB Drives ??? LaCie RuggedKey (16GB) ?? more
ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2012) ? Brain metastases are common secondary complications of other types of cancer, particularly lung, breast and skin cancer. The body's own immune response in the brain is rendered powerless in the fight against these metastases by inflammatory reactions. Researchers at the MedUni Vienna have now, for the first time, precisely characterised the brain's immune response to infiltrating metastases. This could pave the way to the development of new, less aggressive treatment options.
"The active phagocytes are quite literally overwhelmed by the tumour and even the white blood cells are too weak to fight off these metastases on their own; they have to be stimulated before they can have any effect," explains oncologist Matthias Preusser from the University Department of Internal Medicine I and the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC), a joint institution operated by the MedUni Vienna and the Vienna General Hospital.
Brain tissue was obtained for investigation from autopsies carried out on people who had metastatic disease secondary to breast, lung or skin cancer. These are also the most common types of primary tumour. Brain metastases develop because they spread from the tumours into other parts of the body right up to the brain.
The scientists at the Clinical Institute of Neurology, the Centre for Brain Research, the CCC and the University Department of Internal Medicine I have discovered that metastases in the brain do encounter a wall of phagocytes, but it is too weak to successfully arrest the tumour's development. To do this, white blood cells (lymphocytes) need to be mobilised in greater numbers as the second instance of the immune defence system.
These findings could lead to new therapeutic strategies being developed that will aim to increase the activation of white blood cells or other parts of the immune system -- perhaps through medication such as antibody treatments or vaccines.
300 to 400 patients with brain metastases are treated each year at the MedUni Vienna. The standard treatment in most cases is radiotherapy to the head or generalised irradiation of the brain -- which is associated with certain risks and possible side effects. Only in very few cases are drug-based treatment methods available for certain types of cancer. Says Preusser: "Our findings could represent an important step towards the development of less aggressive forms of treatment."
The study has been drawn up across various disciplines at the Clinical Institute of Neurology, the Department of Neuroimmunology at the Centre for Brain Research and at the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CNS Tumours Unit). Author Anna Sophie Berghoff from the CCC presented the findings of the study at a lecture given at the Congress of the European Association of Neuro-Oncologists (EANO) in Marseilles.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Medical University of Vienna.
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Journal Reference:
Anna Sophie Berghoff, Hans Lassmann, Matthias Preusser, Romana H?ftberger. Characterization of the inflammatory response to solid cancer metastases in the human brain. Clinical & Experimental Metastasis, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s10585-012-9510-4
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) ? Graeme McDowell knew it was a mistake as soon as he glanced up at the scoreboard.
That comfortable lead Europe had taken into the singles matches two years ago was gone, erased in a flurry of American birdies. Instead of coasting into the victory party as he'd expected as the 12th man out, the Ryder Cup ? to say nothing of Europe's pride and honor ? was in McDowell's hands.
"Those last seven holes, I've never been so nervous in my life," McDowell recalled Tuesday. "Coming down the stretch that day was some of the toughest golf I had ever played in my life, and some of the most nerve-racking golf. Myself and Hunter Mahan, someone was going to be the hero and someone was going to be the villain that day.
"Thankfully I was able to get the job done."
Of course he did. When the Ryder Cup is on the line, the Irish usually do.
McDowell delivered the winning point at Celtic Manor with a 15-foot birdie on the 16th hole, joining Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Philip Walton and Christy O'Connor Jr. as Irish heroes on one of the biggest stages in golf.
Don't be surprised if that Irish luck holds this week, too. Though European captain Jose Maria Olazabal refused to give any hints about his lineup, it's almost certain McDowell will be playing with world No. 1 Rory McIlroy, his good friend and fellow Northern Irishman, when the Ryder Cup begins Friday at Medinah Country Club.
Paired together two years ago, the two were 1-1-1 in team matches.
"He's one of our main men," Olazabal said of McDowell. "He loves this competition, and I think it brings out the best in him. He's a very gutsy player. It doesn't matter if he's not striking the ball well, he will fight until the very end. He will fight for every shot, for every inch. And we saw that in the past."
Not just from McDowell, either.
Back in 2006, it was Clarke who carried the Europeans. Playing just six weeks after his wife, Heather, died of breast cancer, Clarke gave the Europeans an emotional charge the Americans never came close to answering. He won all three of his matches, and the Europeans routed the U.S. 18 ?-9 ? for their third straight victory.
Four years before that, McGinley made a spectacular save on 18 to snatch a halve from Furyk and take the cup from the Americans. After McGinley had pulled even with a 12-footer on 17, Furyk was only 3 feet away from a certain par ? after a beautiful bunker shot. McGinley, meanwhile, missed the green ? badly. But he made a gorgeous pitch to about 8 feet, and sank the putt for the halve.
Back in 1995, the little-known Walton had lost what would be his only other Ryder Cup match, in Saturday morning foursomes. He would go 3-up on Jay Haas with three holes left in singles, only to lose 16 and 17. But Haas was in trouble off the 18th tee, and Walton two-putted for a bogey and the point Europe needed to win the cup, kickstarting its current dominance. The Europeans have won six of the last eight Ryder Cups.
And in 1989, O'Connor ? a captain's pick ? upset Fred Couples by making two birdies on the last three holes. One of the most celebrated shots in Irish golf was O'Connor hitting 2-iron from 229 yards to about 4 feet for birdie. It shook Couples so badly that he missed the green with a 9-iron, and it was key to Europe retaining the cup.
"The Ryder Cup's become such a big deal, I think people love it as a spectacle," McDowell said. "The aftermath (in 2010) and the 17th green when everyone swamped that green, it was something like I've never seen in golf before, and cool to be part of."
McDowell was hardly an unknown at Celtic Manor. He'd been unflappable in winning the U.S. Open just three months earlier, barely blinking as he withstood charges by Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els at Pebble Beach. He wasn't a Ryder Cup rookie, either, going 2-1-1 at Valhalla.
But it was his performance in Wales that transformed the 33-year-old ? on and off the course.
"Winning the U.S. Open, there was sort of an aftermath of congratulations from everyone. I think that lasted a few weeks," McDowell said. "But the Ryder Cup was something a bit different because that was enjoyed by European fans, the European Tour, anyone that calls themselves European. I think I certainly got recognized more for that putt at the Ryder Cup than I did for my U.S. Open. There's no doubt about that, certainly in Europe."
McDowell hasn't won a tournament since 2010 but he's never far from the conversation, either. He's made all but four cuts in 22 starts on the PGA and European tours this year, and has five top-five finishes. He settled for second at the U.S. Open after missing a 25-footer to force a playoff, and was fifth at the British after blowing up with a final-round 75.
If Olazabal sends him out last again in singles, McDowell will be ready to deliver again.
"Where will I play on Sunday? Who knows?" he said. "Part of me would love that opportunity again ? part of me would love it, part of me would hate it. I'll take whatever comes."
ZURICH (Reuters) - Export-oriented Swiss industrial companies have started to recover from the ill-effects of the strong Swiss franc and are doing better now than at the start of the year, a study showed, suggesting Switzerland may yet avoid a recession.
Large corporations were improving at a quicker pace than small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), the survey by Swiss bank UBS found, with firms focused on the domestic market positioned best of all thanks to robust consumer demand.
Switzerland earns every second franc abroad, and the highly-valued currency has stifled exports, particularly to the euro zone. To prevent deflation and a recession, the central bank set a cap of 1.20 Swiss francs per euro a year ago.
"While a low-level turnaround may be evident in the industrial sector, where a growing number of companies are reporting improved figures, sectors focusing on the domestic market such as the construction and service sectors are benefiting from consistently high domestic demand," it said in a statement on Thursday.
"With only a few exceptions, the large companies posted better figures than the SMEs," it also said.
Domestic demand accounts for nearly 60 percent of annual output.
The machine and electrical (MEM) industry is one of the sectors particularly hit by the franc's strength against the euro. Some firms have threatened to move production abroad to lower costs.
The economy contracted in the second quarter, fuelling fears that Switzerland -- which for long seemed immune to the neighboring euro zone's woes -- might after all suffer a recession due to the strong franc.
And in a possible sign of more weakness in the third quarter, PMI manufacturing data posted its fifth contraction in a row in August.
The Swiss National Bank said earlier this month it expects growth of 1 percent this year.
Another sector of the Swiss economy to be hit is tourism, with hotels complaining of falling visitor numbers as holidaymakers choose cheaper destinations.
"The effects of the strong franc are still very evident in the tourism industry. However, the situation has stabilized at a low level," the UBS survey said.
(Reporting by Catherine Bosley; editing by Ron Askew)
Experienced Tax barristers have the education, coaching, and experience to help disentangle your tax worries. A good tax barrister will be informed about the IRS ? complex tax code and more closely fitted to help you resolve your tax debt. IRS Defense As you almost certainly already realize the IRS can be really assertive in their collection efforts. If you should happen to feel the IRS has treated you inequitably, then it is in your own interest to hire someone that has experience in coping with the IRS and will not be threatened.
You do not always need a barrister to help, but there are occasions when it'll make your present position less stressed while also rocketing your odds of getting what you are after. In a general sense, you need to hire a tax counsel when you want pro help. The IRS could be a frightening entity, but with some help from a professional barrister you may feel happier about your current position. You can hire a tax counsel if you desire, and it's crucial to do so each time a situation comes up that requires pro help. If you purposively fail to report your business money invoices, including checks that are cashed at the maker?s bank, the IRS has particular audit programs which will analyze this activity. And you do not have to be a tax counsel to grasp the red flags that cause the IRS to think tax evasion. Tax evasion encloses any cheating of the govt in taxes. Additionally, if the quantity of earnings reported on your taxation estimate far surpasses the prior year?s ? you'll be flagged as suspect! That might be a difficulty.
Tax evasion is a transgression and can carry up to a five year jail sentence and / or IRS penalties up to $100,000. This leads them to a position where they write reports in preparation for a trial and then eventually take part in surveillance. The tax policy regularly traps people, because almost all of the people aren't very mindful of the tax laws and rules. Tax barristers also help people in making and filing their tax returns. This unawareness causes major legal and monetary implications to the tax payers.
*?LESSONS LEARNED?-?BECAUSE OTHERS CAN TELL YOU BETTER THAN ME
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Well written articles would also boost your sites reputation. If they are filled with many information you will be regarded as well informed and an expert on the subjects that you tackle.? Your articles must be well researched so that the people will trust you. When you have gained their trust, they will always come for you for their needs on that subject.
In connection, you must write articles or commission them to tackle subjects that are closely connected with your type of business. If you have a site for a medicine tackling a certain disease, your articles must be about the diseases. Or if you sell materials for home improvements provide articles with those themes. Most articles searched for are tips, guidelines, methods, manuals and such. If you provide these articles to your customers and you have their trust, they will always go to your site for help and advice as well as for your products.
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You should provide links in your newsletter so that when other people are reading it and wants to read more, they may click on the link and go to your site. With the articles you have in your site that are good, they may decide to sign up as well for your opt-in list. This will build your list and make it bigger.
Make sure to keep your subscribers happy and interested in your newsletters and promotional materials. Keep on posting and writing good articles for your site and newsletter. If you are not interested in writing them or if you just don?t have the time, there are many available well experienced and knowledgeable writers available to help you out. This is an investment that will pay for itself in time.
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Have you checked your website security lately, if not please do because a single loophole on your site could be an avenue for the hackers to take advantage and breach your system, installing scripts and malware, they can steal valued information from your site or even defraud your client. Remember that?internet crime is one of the fastest growing types of crime, so website owners are warned to be vigilant all the time and avoid losing clients and revenue.
Anti-virus software, privacy policies and trust seals to make sure your website is legitimate, PCI scans perform every quarterly of the year, secure mail server with strong passwords and with qualified domain name, keep security patches up to date, secure SSL certificate for an e-commerce site from a legitimate company and set up personal fire wall are among the most important considerations in managing a secure website.
Educating yourself on website security is of great importance, there are a lot of issues concerning the matter, if you don?t want to lose client, traffic ?and maintain your reputation take extra precautions, be smart and find web hosting provider that could help you in what security measures for your websites is needed as part of your regular business operation and what extra security measures they can offer.
Tip:?Consider an email hosting service that specializes in email security. A good email hosting service will offer server-side spam and virus detectors that clean out potential problem emails before they get downloaded onto local area networks. Bear in mind that?Nasty viruses that bring down networks worldwide are almost always spread via email.
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CHICAGO?? Carolina Hernando was a senior in high school in 1999 when her guidance counselor delivered a devastating blow: She needed a Social Security number to go to college. ?An illegal immigrant from Mexico, Hernando had no idea what a Social Security number was, let alone that it would prevent her from becoming a teacher.
More than a decade later, Hernando still tears up when talking about it. ?I was the first in my family to graduate high school,? she said. ?I felt like all that hard work was wasted.?
When Hernando, who lives in Chicago?s Logan Square neighborhood, heard about the Logan Square Neighborhood Association?s parent mentor program last fall, she leapt at the chance to get what she calls a ?taste of being in the classroom.?
The year-long program places parents into a classroom in their child?s school for two hours every day. They work with individual students or small groups, helping teachers give more one-on-one attention to children. They also earn a stipend of $500-$600 per semester for their time.
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Started in 1995 as a way to get more parents into schools, the parent mentor program has been adopted by other neighborhood groups and the city school district, spreading to 29schools; the Logan Square Neighborhood Association oversees the program in eight of them. Each year, the program places hundreds parents in the classrooms of participating schools.
Some research suggeststhat the more involved a parent is in his or her child?s education, the better the child performs academically. Yet parent involvement in high-poverty schools is often an elusive goal. Some parents are unable or unwilling to participate; others are unsure of how to get involved. Logan Square views its mentor program as a response to this last problem ? it provides clear-cut access to school involvement for nearly any willing parent.
Advocates say the program has contributed to improved student performance in the largely poor and minority neighborhood in northwestern Chicago, both for individual students and for the schools that participate. ?At James Monroe Elementary School, for instance, 74 percent of third-graders were proficient in reading in 2011, compared to 24 percent in 1999.
Letting parents explore
Yet the program, which draws a large percentage of immigrants, is just as much about adult education as it is about student achievement.? After finishing the year helping in a classroom, many parents go on get a GED, enroll in college or start a career. The Logan Square Neighborhood Association estimates that 80 percent of its parent mentors go on to jobs or some sort of education.
?The parent mentor program is a place for them to be able to explore themselves and realize they can do things they think they can?t,? said Leticia Barrera, an education coordinator for the association and an alumna of the program.
Hernando is still not a citizen and therefore ineligible for government aid for postsecondary education; college remains out of reach. But she?ll become a part-time classroom aide at her children?s elementary school this fall. She?ll also be a parent mentor coordinator at the elementary school, recruiting and supporting other parents in the program.
Her fellow coordinators have similar success stories. Adam Little grew up in a single-parent household with five siblings and is now a single father of two teenage girls. After an injury forced him to leave his job, he slipped into a three-year depression, until his mother dragged him to a parent mentor meeting at his girls? school, he said. He?s now training to become a teacher.
Iyabo Anifowoshe, a former math teacher in Nigeria, still carries around her diploma at all times as proof she graduated as an electrical engineer from a university in Africa. She missed the classroom terribly until she found the parent mentor program.
?When you come to America you have to start your life all over again,? she said. ?This year my whole life just changed.?
And the mentors? children likely benefit as well, says Joanna Brown, Logan Square?s lead education organizer. ?People?s goals for their children either go up or get really enforced,? she said. ?That?s one of the big things they say ? they learned how to help their kids at home.?
'Digital toolkit': Putting parents to work in the classroom
Recruitment for new mentors starts the first week of school, with fliers, notes sent home with children, even phone calls to potential candidates. Parents have to apply and go through a formal interview, but nearly everyone who clears a background check and meets other Chicago Public Schools guidelines, such as passing a tuberculosis test, is accepted. Parents with any level of education can participate.
Teacher participation is voluntary. Logan Square tries to place parents in a class in the same grade as their child or one above, but never in the same class as their child.
Parents often pick up strategies by watching the teachers. ?They observe how we do it,? said Margarita Ampudia, a first-grade teacher at Monroe Elementary School. ?They learn a little bit.?
Hernando said that by the end of her year as a parent mentor she?d seen grades improve for the students she worked with regularly.
Funding limits how many parents a given school is able to accept, Barrera said, but some schools ? having seen how effective the program is at integrating parents into the school ? are willing to pitch in. Logan Square asks that each participating school set aside $5,000 to $10,000 to pay for part of the program. The association then contributes $40,000 to $45,000 per school annually.
'There are a lot of obstacles'
At Monroe, Principal Edwin Rivera meets with his parent mentors every other week to update them on school news and let them ask questions. His mentors also pitch in as crossing guards and lunch monitors; they supervise the hallways during standardized testing time.
Although test scores have skyrocketed at Monroe, proficiency rates still are slightly under state averages in most grades. The school has also recently seen a small dip in test scores, and it has been placed on a federal list of schools that are eligible for state sanctions based on a formula of expected test score growth.
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Despite Monroe?s success in attracting parent mentors, there are still many more parents who aren?t involved at the school, where 96 percent of students qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch. Parent mentors must pledge 10 hours a week during school hours, meaning positions are primarily taken by those who don?t have other day jobs.
?It?s not that they don?t want to come,? Rivera said of the other parents. ?There are a lot of obstacles.?
When parents become mentors, they learn, too
Updated 107 minutes ago
9/24/2012 11:59:05 AM +00:00
A parent mentor program started in one Chicago neighorhood in 1995 has been adopted by other neighborhood groups and the city's school district, spreading to 29 schools.
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For those without steady work like Hernando, though, time is not a limiting factor. In fact, she, along with otherparent coordinators, dedicated a week of the summer to get ready to work with newcomers. Each coordinator-to-be practiced leading a different part of the parent mentor training that they would do in the fall.
During one session,one of the coordinators, Samantha Garrett, led the group through a goal-setting exercise. ?Your goals [are] for you,? she said, ?not for your children, not for your husband.?
Hernando scribbled down her own goal immediately: to take leadership classes so she can give future parent mentors the best experience possible. ?Latino parents, she explained, are often isolated from their children?s education, not understanding how schools work or how to get involved. Her own parents didn?t know how to help her get into college. She wants to make sure that?s not true for the next generation.
?It?s great,? she said about her new mentor coordinator role. ??I can help other parents get involved.?
This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet based at Teachers College, Columbia University.
MINSK, Belarus (AP) ? Authorities in Belarus say that all but one of the 110 seats in parliament have been assigned after elections that critics of the vote say were tainted by improbably high turnout figures.
Central Elections Commission chairman Lidiya Yermoshina said Monday that only official turnout tallies would be considered, and downplayed assessments by independent observers. Yermoshina reported a preliminary turnout figure of 74.3 percent.
Parliamentary elections were held Sunday without the main opposition parties, which boycotted the vote to protest the detention of political prisoners and opportunities for election fraud.
The parliament in Belarus has long been reduced to a rubber stamp by authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko. He has ruled the former Soviet nation since 1994. Western observers have criticized all recent elections in Belarus as undemocratic.
China?s economy will continue to slow, and probably into next year, a PBOC advisor said.
Song Guoqing, a PBOC advisor and Monetary Policy Committee member, told Bloomberg that growth will slow further to 7.3-7.4% in the third quarter, and 7-7.5% in the first half of next year, and he saw little signs of rebound.? Earlier, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences also told Bloomberg that growth will slow into next year, and will probably be below 7% in the first quarter.
Over the weekend, he also said in a conference that monetary conditions may probably remain tight on cautious banks lending and weak fiscal spending.? Also, perhaps most notably, he recognises that there are a lot of criticisms on China?s economic policies, particularly the consequences of high inflation and over-investment, the possibility of increase of fiscal spending in the near-term is low (via Wind).
This is nothing new for us, as we noted that as economists and commentators within China is more ?pro-austerity?, and as we think that such views shared by some policymakers, we have been expecting a slow reaction towards the slowdown.? Although many believe that this ?policy paralysis? has something to do with the fact that China?s leadership will soon be in transition, we doubt if the new leadership will change course very drastically.
This article originally appeared here: No signs of rebound for the Chinese economy, says PBOC?s adviser Also sprach Analyst - World & China Economy, Global Finance, Real Estate
I heard you last night. Oddly (?), I anticipated your entire argument.
I agree with you in terms of the President?s effectiveness and overall strategic error in dealing with the current Republicans.
And yet, what really troubles me about your intervention (now for a second time reiterated in this context ? you?ve argued the same thing before), what troubles me is that you are making an effort to be a reasonable voice in your party but cannot be steadfast in calling out the horrendous behavior of these men and women who refuse all reason for political and ideological (loosely applied term) calculations. These Republicans ? I believe soon to be swallowed whole by the ?tea party? ? deserve scorn from ALL thoughtful people.
The most salient element of dysfunction in the current political drama is NOT Mr. Obama?s fundamental decency and believe in rationality (yes, I grant you: Not the right attributes for this time ? his burden of failure before history) but the ignorance, irrationality and cowardice of all Republicans (where are the voices of Snow, Lugar, Grassley, etc? ? Cowards!)
The Sunday morning service wasn't to begin for another 10 minutes, but the assembling worshippers, clustered near the front of the cavernous Rock Church sanctuary, were on their feet, swaying and singing along with the pulsating music.
A half-dozen singers, backed by electric guitars, an electric keyboard, a saxophone, trumpet and drums, stood at the center of the blue-carpeted platform, eyes closed and hands raised:
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us all ...
After several more minutes of sacred revelry, the music faded, and Bishop Anne Gimenez, the congregation's pastor and co-founder, made her way to the microphone.
"Praise Jesus!" Gimenez shouted as she surveyed the 5,200-seat auditorium, less than a fifth filled on this summer morning.
A slight woman in carefully coiffed hair and a navy blue suit, Gimenez, 79, appeared undaunted by the modest turnout.
"Praise Jesus!" she repeated, thrusting a hand into the air.
The congregation - a well-blended mixture of men and women, white, black, Hispanic and Asian - responded with exuberant shouts of "Hallelujah!" and "Praise the Lord!"
What the worshippers may have lacked in number, they more than compensated for in enthusiasm.
Four years after the passing of her husband and the church's co-founder, and two years after her own brush with death, Gimenez shows no signs of slowing down.
The 5,000-member congregation on Kempsville Road continues to draw seekers, though not at the dramatic pace of a few years ago. Like many churches, the average age of the congregation has grown older.
Rock, like other megachurches, also faces the challenge of preparing for the inevitable change at the top when the founding pastor dies or steps aside.
Despite the adversity, Gimenez and her flock are maintaining the fervent revivalism and Christian activism that have become hallmarks of the region's premier megachurch.
When they arrived in Hampton Roads as newlyweds in 1968, John and Anne Gimenez envisioned starting a small, Spirit-filled congregation that would minister to drug addicts and the downtrodden.
The worldwide ministry that grew out of that vision, Anne now says, "came as a complete surprise. We never planned for it to happen."
A former drug addict from Spanish Harlem, John had spent his teen and young adult years in and out of New York prisons before he accepted Christ at a Pentecostal church in the South Bronx in 1963.
He became a preacher shortly thereafter and met and married Anne Elizabeth Nethery, a fiery preacher in her own right, from Corpus Christi, Texas. Together they traveled the country, holding revival meetings in tents and small auditoriums.
During one East Coast preaching tour, they stopped in Portsmouth to appear on Pat Robertson's "The 700 Club," broadcast in those days from a small studio near the naval hospital.
While in town, they found an empty church building on Lens Avenue in Norfolk. A few months later, they began holding services in the rented space, and Rock Church was born.
Within three years, they had built a congregation of several hundred and erected a new sanctuary in Virginia Beach.
The flock continued to multiply, thanks in part to a weekly television broadcast of the church's Sunday services. By the mid-1970s, the church had added a Christian academy and a Bible Institute for the training of pastors and missionaries.
Twice during the next two decades it would outgrow its sanctuary and build bigger ones. The church moved into its present facility in 1997.
The Gimenezes' ministry included a growing network of satellite churches, many of them planted and led by ministers trained at Rock's Bible Institute.
Today the Rock Ministerial Family Fellowship counts more than 500 congregations throughout the world that look to Anne Gimenez as their bishop.
As the "prayer-and-praise" portion of the Sunday service drew to a close, the congregants settled into their seats. After a few welcoming remarks and announcements, Gimenez launched into a ringing commentary on the nation's moral decline and its need to turn to Jesus.
A few days earlier, she noted, impressive crowds had turned out at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country to show support for the company's president, who had spoken out against same-sex marriage in an interview with a Christian news service.
"Hooray and hallelujah!" Gimenez said. "If the churches won't speak out with a loud voice, maybe it will take a businessman to lead the way!"
Members of the congregation leapt to their feet, applauding and shouting "Amen!"
"This church stands for a biblical definition of marriage as one man and one woman!" Gimenez shouted over the rising din. "That's the word of God!"
It was a familiar subject to the Rock Church faithful. The Gimenezes had addressed it from the pulpit often over the years - one of several hot-button issues that had become rallying cries for evangelical Christians in the political arena.
From very early on, the couple displayed a keen interest in Washington affairs and became vocal critics of government policies they believed had contributed to a moral decline in the nation.
Chief among their concerns: Supreme Court rulings banning school prayer and legalizing abortion, lax enforcement of anti-obscenity laws, and policies they saw as promoting a "homosexual agenda," which they considered a direct assault on the traditional family.
In 1980, they organized "Washington for Jesus," a daylong rally that drew an estimated 200,000 evangelical Christians to the National Mall.
It was billed as a nonpartisan prayer event, and no political candidates were endorsed or allowed to speak. But John Gimenez later would declare the election of Ronald Reagan as president that November a direct answer to the prayers at the rally.
The Gimenezes followed up with similar events in 1988 and 1996, although those rallies drew smaller crowds than the first.
In 2004, they expanded their sights, summoning believers to a rally billed as "America for Jesus." About 25,000 people showed up on the Mall to hear John Gimenez, entertainer Pat Boone and a host of others call the nation to repentance and pray that America would return to its moral roots.
"We did what God called us to do," John Gimenez said at the close of the event. "The rest is up to Him." Gimenez later would describe George W. Bush's re-election that year as another act of providence.
This week, Anne Gimenez will continue the tradition, leading an event in Philadelphia that organizers again are calling "America for Jesus." They expect it to draw at least 30,000 to the city's Independence Mall on Friday and Saturday.
"It's a solemn occasion and a call to prayer," Gimenez said of the event. "It's not about the election or who is in the White House. It's about America needing the presence of God. We're praying for a miracle."
In the 39 years he has attended Rock Church, Nick Alvis has seen plenty of changes. While not all have been for the better, he says, it hasn't dampened his enthusiasm.
"I feel like the way they worship is the way God wants to be worshipped," says Alvis, 61, a stockroom worker at Target. "It's where I want to be."
He recalls attending services as a child in a Methodist church where Sunday morning worship seemed "pretty cut-and-dried."
Then he started attending Rock as a young adult in 1973, and "everything just came alive. People were singing and shouting and praying in tongues," he said, describing a form of worship common in Pentecostal churches. "That was much more appealing to me."
Those early years saw rapid growth, and by the mid-1990s the church was running two Sunday-morning services, both filling the old 2,500-seat auditorium to capacity.
But by the time the church moved into its 5,200-seat sanctuary in 1997, Alvis recalls, attendance seemed to have hit a plateau.
"I've never seen it filled on a Sunday morning," he said. "Some people have come and gone. I haven't a clue where they went or why."
Anne's preaching, he said, "is as vibrant as ever" and is supplemented by guest speakers and younger preachers on the staff, including Gimenez's son-in-law, John Blanchard.
Ricky Ross, another longtime attendee, says he, too, has detected a gradual decline.
"The level of activity has diminished over the years," Ross, a 52-year-old high school teacher, explained.
When he and his wife first came to Rock in the mid-1980s, Ross said, "there was something going on all the time - prayer breakfasts, Christmas cantatas, service projects, activities for young people - things that were drawing people. We'd run into people at church who we went to high school with. It was great."
That began to change in the late 1990s, he said, and seemed to coincide with the move to the new sanctuary.
"There was a great expectancy" connected with the new building, Ross said. "People were sure it would bring a great influx." When it didn't happen, he said, "the enthusiasm began to wane," and people gradually drifted away. "It was never quite the same."
Gimenez and others present a different picture.
"We're growing, and we're going strong," Gimenez said. The church membership totals about 5,000, she said. While the church doesn't disclose weekly attendance figures, she estimates it is close to 4,000, including turnout at all services and activities.
The church supports an active youth ministry and a local food bank, conducts weekday Bible studies and sends groups on short-term mission trips. The youth group recently returned from a 10-day mission in Fiji.
"They have lots of activities for families, and that's really important for us," said Antoinette Charles, 28. She and her husband, Jason, and their two sons began attending about a year ago. "We love the diversity, and everyone is very welcoming. It's just a great place to be."
Giving also shows no signs of weakness, Gimenez said. Earlier this year, she noted, the church burned its mortgage papers after paying off a $5.3 million note on its sanctuary.
Most of the money came from the $5 million sale of property to the city of Virginia Beach late last year. The church had bought the 800-acre waterfront parcel off Indian River Road in the 1980s, with the intent of building a retreat center. The city wants to turn it into a park.
After the sale, the church still owed $387,000 on the mortgage, Gimenez said.
"So the church got busy, and from the first of December to the last Sunday in March, they gave $387,000, on top of their regular tithes and offerings," she said. "It was a pure miracle."
It wasn't the church's only recent "miracle," and certainly not the most dramatic.
In January 2010, Anne had just returned from an ocean cruise with members of the Rock Church Ministerial Fellowship. She had battled a blood platelet disorder a few weeks prior, but doctors had cleared her to go on the trip. She was sick during most of the time at sea.
By the time she returned to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., she was unable to fly home. She was rushed to a hospital, and doctors told her daughter, Robin, that she may not survive. Her organs were shutting down. Doctors could not determine the cause of her illness.
Back in Virginia Beach, the church was alerted and began praying earnestly for her recovery.
For 18 days she was on life support and in a medically induced coma. Eventually, she was diagnosed with myocarditis - a viral infection of the heart.
The crisis subsided, but when she awoke, she was paralyzed below the neck. After three weeks, she was moved to a hospital in Dallas and began physical therapy. Slowly, she began to learn to walk again.
Late in April, Anne returned home, and on July 4, she returned to the pulpit for the first time since becoming ill. The congregation greeted her with a standing ovation and shouts of joy.
"It's like I have a new lease on life," she said, recalling the episode. "I wasn't supposed to live, according to the doctors. But I'm a true miracle. I personally believe my life was spared so I could do the work I'm doing right now."
For now, Rock Church is determined to continue doing what it's always done, but its future is far from settled.
Church-growth experts say Rock and other megachurches - generally defined as those with weekly attendance of 2,000 or more - face the daunting challenge of maintaining the vision and energy when the founding pastor is no longer on the scene.
More than 80 percent of the nation's 1,600 megachurches are still being led by their founders, many of whom are in their late 60s or older, according to The Leadership Network, a church consultant group. Many have not dealt with succession.
Rock confronted that challenge in 2008, when John Gimenez died unexpectedly of a stroke at the age of 76.
Even before her husband's death, the church had set out a succession plan. According to Anne, the Gimenezes designated who would succeed them as bishop and pastor, and other leaders of the Rock Ministerial Fellowship have signed off on the plan.
"We haven't announced who it is, but the leaders know," she said. She said it would be another husband-and-wife team.
Speculation at the church has centered on the Gimenezes' son-in-law, Blanchard, and their daughter, Robin. Both have become increasingly visible in the church and its worldwide network - he as one of the church's executive pastors and a former youth minister, she as the church's business manager and music director.
By keeping it in the family, Rock would be following a well-worn path in megachurch-leadership transitions, a trail blazed by such iconic evangelical families as the Falwells, Schullers and Osteens.
She knows it's coming eventually, but for now, Anne says, she has no plans to retire.
"I'm 79, and I'm running around like I'm 30," she said. "I preach every Sunday, and I'm traveling all week long. It's what the Lord has given me to do, and I plan to keep doing it until He decides otherwise."
Jeff Sheler, 757-222-5563, jeff.sheler@pilotonline.com
With its season premieres of Dexter and Homeland (trailers are embedded after the break) on deck for next Sunday evening, Showtime has refashioned its second screen iPad app in version 2.0 and even changed the name to reflect new features. Now dubbed Showtime Sync, it follows other network branded apps (AMC, MTV, NBC and Syfy come to mind) by focusing on pushing relevant content, viewer polls and the like to the tablet while the show plays. It syncs up automatically from the show's audio, which should make things simple when watching via DVR, VOD and even DVD / Blu-ray or streaming (could you have Showtime Anytime streaming on one tablet synced to another one?), while promising lots of photos plus behind the scenes content when the episode ends. Hit the source link to grab the free app, how you come by the episodes you'll have to figure out on your own.
Sometimes my grandkids like to pretend that they are at a restaurant, called Gramma Connies Caf? that specializes in PB&J sandwiches with milk. I take their orders with their choice of grape or strawbery jam. Most of them will not eat the crust on the bread though. Sometimes they will only take a couple of bites from the middle for fear of getting the crust in their mouths. So I coax and prod and find all sorts of creative ways to try and get them to eat just a little more and not waste it. I argue that there?s still lots of perfectly good bread they are leaving behind with that crust. Usually instead of eating anymore, they ask for another sandwich!
Well, I finally broke down and quit trying to make them eat that last little bit of the bread still attached to the crust they left behind and just cut the crust off before I begin the sandwich making in the first place. No more arguing or creative coaxing needed. Pretty much all of the sandwich gets eaten and I don?t fret about the waste.
(Yes, purple is her favorite color :)?
When you make sandwiches for little ones who prefer not to eat the crust??are you a crust cutter off?er or do you leave the crust on and make them eat it?
I have had a lot of content theft lately. If you are reading this post anywhere else but at Family Home and Life then it was used without permission! Copyright? Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved
Pittsburgh?police said they had serious concerns when an armed man took a business owner hostage in a downtown high-rise office building ? and not just because he had a knife.
The suspect, 22-year-old Klein Michael Thaxton, made Facebook posts during the five-hour ordeal Friday, authorities said, and they feared that responses from friends, family and others might goad him into violence.
In the end, police say, Thaxton surrendered peacefully and released businessman Charles Breitsman.
Now police believe that Thaxton might have chosen Breitsman because he spotted a smartphone and computer in his office and saw a high-profile opportunity to express himself on the social networking site, Chief Nathan Harper said.
Thaxton was arraigned early Saturday on felony charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. He remains jailed on $1 million bail.
Harper said authorities might never know the reason Thaxton decided to take a hostage.
"We will leave that to the mental professionals to figure that out and get the man some help," Harper said. Thaxton will automatically receive a mental health review because of the charges.
Thaxton told police he left a halfway house about 3 a.m. Friday carrying a kitchen knife, hammer, cellphone and charger. After meandering through various neighborhoods, Thaxton arrived downtown at about 7 a.m. and briefly considered attacking two separate traffic officers with the hammer so he could steal their guns, police said.
"It makes me feel powerful when I have a gun," Harper said Thaxton told police.
Deciding he might get shot in the process, Thaxton instead sat and munched on a candy bar and noticed women streaming into a 24-story high-rise, police said. Without any particular goal, Thaxton took an elevator to two upper floors, found he couldn't get around without an electric key card and went down to the 16th floor.
That's where Thaxton saw the financial firm CW Breitsman Associates and the owner's name on the door. He also saw a smartphone, TV and computer and "felt this was the office where he needed to be," Harper said.
Except for the electronics, Thaxton's choosing the office was "totally random," Harper said, noting Thaxton didn't know Breitsman or his firm, which handles union pensions and insurance funds.
Police initially believed Thaxton had a gun because he told police negotiators he was going to shoot the victim. Instead, he threatened Breitsman with the knife, sat across a table from him breathing threats and, otherwise, used Breitsman's phone and computer to post mostly forlorn Facebook messages, police said.
"i cant take it no more im done bro," said one post.
"this life im livin rite now i dnt want anymore," another post said. "ive lost everything and I aint gettin it back."
Thaxton has been in legal trouble in recent months, pleading guilty in January to robbery for a carjacking last year. That crime was apparently on his mind, Harper said, because his carjacking victim was a woman and Thaxton told police the only other reason he picked Breitsman was that "he didn't want to victimize another female."
Thaxton was sentenced to six to 12 months in jail by the county's newly established court to help veterans with mental health and substance abuse issues. It wasn't immediately clear how Thaxton's service record contributed ? if at all ? to his mental health problems because he never saw active duty.
Instead, records show Thaxton served as a private in the U.S. Army from December 2008 to June 2010. The Army said he trained at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri before being assigned to Fort Riley in Kansas.
Whatever the motivation, Thaxton felt a need to call attention to his feelings through Facebook and told police he watched coverage of the hostage situation on his victim's TV.
Initially, police wanted the Facebook page kept open, hoping to gain useful information, but they later asked Facebook to take it down so that Thaxton could focus on conversations with police negotiators.
Most of the 700 or so responses to Thaxton's posts were from friends or family expressing their love. But a few were "ridiculous" and others were "outright distasteful," Harper said. Police were still sifting through them Friday, but Harper said any posters who authorities determine urged Thaxton to harm Breitsman or himself could eventually face charges, too.
Thaxton eventually told police negotiators he wanted to speak with an ex-girlfriend whom he hadn't seen since 2008. After shutting down the Facebook page and getting the woman on the phone to speak with Thaxton, he surrendered peacefully.
Breitsman was interviewed by detectives at police headquarters but left through a back door to avoid the media. He didn't return calls to his home Friday. Harper said the man was doing fine though "quite shaken."
Facebook didn't comment on the hostage-taking but referred reporters to a Web page that says it sometimes shares information with law enforcement if necessary to "prevent imminent bodily harm" to someone.
Some of the social network's nearly 1 billion users boast about their criminal exploits on Facebook, making it easier for law enforcement to catch them. Just last month, a woman charged with posing as a nurse and kidnapping a newborn at a Pittsburgh hospital was tracked down using messages she posted about her faked pregnancy on Facebook.
In Thaxton's case, Facebook didn't completely explain his actions nor would he as he was led past reporters at police headquarters.
Instead he grinned and ignored their questions saying, "I can't hear you, bro."
Joe Mandak wrote this story;?Associated Press writers Kevin Begos in Pittsburgh and Michael Rubinkam contributed to this report. AP Technology writer Barbara Ortutay and AP news researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed from New York.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK (AP) ? One by one, the ballerinas of New York City Ballet made their grand entrances in "Bal de Couture," a new work by Peter Martins, and the glittery crowd applauded in delight. But the applause, this time, wasn't for the dancers.
It was for the costumes.
You might have thought Fashion Week at Lincoln Center was already over. But on Thursday night, on the same plaza where models had strutted the runways just days earlier, it seemed like that had been a mere prelude to NYCB's glittery fall gala. The evening's star was legendary designer Valentino, and the focus was on clothes, onstage and off.
And they were pretty cool clothes: Designer gowns in the audience, of course, many of them in Valentino's signature red, but truly dramatic concoctions onstage: flouncy dresses in layers and layers of black and white tulle, for example, revealing a surprise under-layer of bright red or pink, like red bloomers on a can-can girl.
Or a one-shoulder ballgown covered with rosettes, all in ruby red. Or sculpted, bubble-shaped tutus with tight bodices, in black, white, and, of course, red.
Valentino, whose full name is Valentino Garavani, is now 80, a statesman of the fashion world. He retired nearly four years ago from the fashion house he founded in 1960.
But one of his most loyal celebrity fans, Sarah Jessica Parker, a board member of City Ballet, came up with the idea of a collaboration for the fall gala. It didn't hurt that Valentino was a longtime friend of Martins, City Ballet's master in chief. Fashion, the company clearly reasoned, could be a way to connect with younger audiences.
It wasn't the first time City Ballet has reached out to top designers; the last gala, in the spring, was a French-themed evening featuring costumes by Gilles Mendel, of the J. Mendel label. And last spring's gala featured "Ocean's Kingdom," with music by one Paul McCartney. The costume designer? His designer daughter Stella, of course.
But Thursday's gala was the company's most sweeping ode to fashion yet. In the crowd, along with Parker, were other famous fans like actress Anjelica Huston, model Iman, actress Anne Hathaway, and Martha Stewart. A number of ballet patrons wore Valentino, sometimes with accompanying rubies and diamonds.
Speaking of "Rubies," that Balanchine classic ? the middle section of his famous "Jewels" ? was the only ballet performed Thursday that Valentino didn't design for. Its well-known red costumes are by Karinska, and its inclusion was a clear tribute to the designer.
The evening began with two new ballets created by Martins. In "Sophisticated Lady," to music by Duke Ellington, Maria Kowroski glided ballroom-style around the stage with a contingent of tuxedo-clad men, 17 to be exact, led by the suave (and recently retired) Charles Askegard. The dancing was pleasant but the focal point was clear: Kowroski's fabulous red, one-shoulder Valentino gown. (Hopefully, she recycled it later for the evening's gala dinner.)
Another new Martins work followed, "Not My Girl" to music by Fred Astaire and Van Phillips, notable for the tapping of Robert Fairchild and the bright, engaging dancing of Tiler Peck in a frothy pink-and-red Valentino tutu.
The best dancing by far, though, came in the lovely and heartbreaking new pas de deux by Christopher Wheeldon, "This Bitter Earth," to music by Max Richter and Dina Washington. It was a preview of Wheeldon's new ballet, "Five Movements, Three Repeats," and though there are no immediate plans for City Ballet to perform it again, it was the highlight of the night for those who came for dance. Whelan remains a wonderful muse for the hugely gifted Wheeldon, her every move conveying meaning, purpose and feeling.
The evening would end with a sumptuous dinner on the promenade of the David H. Koch Theater, where tables were decked with pink tablecloths and bright red flowers, with red sashes crisscrossing the room overhead.
But first came the true fashion show of the night, Martins' "Bal de Couture," with those tulle-filled creations. (It was a pleasure to see the expressive Janie Taylor in a lead role, a hopeful sign for the season ahead.)
Afterward, the crowd stood ? but only when Valentino came out for his bows.
