Our agency has many different nannies on our book, with new candidates registering daily. We screen the nannies as thoroughly as you would.

First we check if they are eligible to register with us to start with;

-          they need at least 2 years of solid professional experience or a childcare-related qualification

-          they need an up-to-date Enhanced CRB check to make sure they do not have any convictions and are eligible to work with children (we can arrange a CRB check)

-          Paediatric First Aid Certificate (if not, they are encouraged to get one)

-          Flawless references (which are verified)

-          Their right to work in the UK/their visa status if applicable

If they tick all these boxes, they are then invited to a face-to-face interview, where we try to understand the gaps in their CVs as well as capture their character and views on the work with children so that we can match them as closely as possible with the families.

The next step is taking a phone call from you and identifying your needs and preferences and matching them to our nanny profiles. You may prefer a driver, or a Spanish speaking nanny, or even a manny (male nanny), a nanny who can play piano, somebody who is ready to work occasional weekends, who does not mind pets in the house (allergies)… As we work under the instructions we have, the more details we know, the closer match we can get.

We then send you several CVs that are relevant to your requirements, should you like any of them, you can speak to nannies on the phone before arranging an interview.

Before you interview nannies, we will send you a concise interview guide to give you some ideas of what to talk about and ask at the interview. Our clients rarely need to interview more than 4 nannies, but they can if they wish. Once a perfect match is found, we can then help with the outline for the formal agreement between an employer and a nanny and also advise on the tax issues if needed.

As sometimes the starts could be difficult even between the best employers and a dream nanny, we offer a free post-placement consultation to help find bridges and smooth up the lines of communication.

An excellent example of clean, cost-effective graphic design by Form. The photography shows how well each item sits withe the others.

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With significantly expanded content and a strengthened emphasis on Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Programs (CACREP) standards, this user-friendly yet scholarly volume again provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of community counseling. After a thorough introduction to the history and foundation of the discipline, the authors examine the many roles and functions community counselors perform, the variety of settings in which their work is done, and how that work differs from one client population to another. Emerging issues and trends in the field are given appropriate attention; while first-person narratives throughout the text explore specific challenges and opportunities associated with particular areas of expertise. For future community counselors facing a broad spectrum of settings and clients, and specific demands related to their environment……..

Community and Agency Counseling (2nd Edition) Details

 “Great for any counseling course” 2009-09-25
By Dustin Bennett (Louisiana)
This book comes n handy no matter if ur taking a clinical course or not. Contain loads of info.

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By G. L. Dickonson
Book was received on time and in good condition as promised. The seller even sent a 10% off coupon for future transactions. This is required reading for a community counseling class and I find it to be a good choice from a student’s perspective. Overall, I’m pleased with this transaction.

 “A little dry” 2009-02-07
By B. Young (Clinton, UT USA)
This textbook is dry. This book basically went over everything that I have learned during the last year of graduate school. It is a great resource for a person looking into going into counseling. It covers all things that a counselor may do while working in the community.

 “Great Service!” 2008-09-28
By T. Martinez (Philadelphia, PA)
The book came in a promptly manner and was in excellent condition when I recieved it!

 “Well planned” 2007-10-11
By D. Davis (Bourbon County, KY)
This text is well thought out. It has poems and helpful charts and diagrams, but I don’t think I learned very much new material that I hadn’t already read in other books or class.

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Well-written and user-friendly, this scholarly new introduction for community counseling and other counseling courses provides a thorough presentation of all aspects of community/agency counseling—in a readable, accessible format. Coverage highlights the common experiences of community counselors and relates those experiences directly to book concepts……..

Community and Agency Counseling Details

 “Great for any counseling course” 2009-09-25
By Dustin Bennett (Louisiana)
This book comes n handy no matter if ur taking a clinical course or not. Contain loads of info.

 “Satisfied” 2009-02-11
By G. L. Dickonson
Book was received on time and in good condition as promised. The seller even sent a 10% off coupon for future transactions. This is required reading for a community counseling class and I find it to be a good choice from a student’s perspective. Overall, I’m pleased with this transaction.

 “A little dry” 2009-02-07
By B. Young (Clinton, UT USA)
This textbook is dry. This book basically went over everything that I have learned during the last year of graduate school. It is a great resource for a person looking into going into counseling. It covers all things that a counselor may do while working in the community.

 “Great Service!” 2008-09-28
By T. Martinez (Philadelphia, PA)
The book came in a promptly manner and was in excellent condition when I recieved it!

 “Well planned” 2007-10-11
By D. Davis (Bourbon County, KY)
This text is well thought out. It has poems and helpful charts and diagrams, but I don’t think I learned very much new material that I hadn’t already read in other books or class.

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With 2009 being the year of astronomy it is important to underline that Space activities and scientific research in general need curious people who are not afraid to keep asking difficult, awkward questions even if they appear crazy.

Interesting work. Acne has already proven their visual skills, now their conceptual skills are being tested. So far so good.

Based on a talk given by Elder Richard G. Scott at the October, 2009 General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Click on Mormonmom to see my other Teachings for our Times (TFOT) lessons.

Opening Hymn: Guide Us O Thou Great Jehovah

Elder Richard G. Scott’s talk on Acquiring Spiritual Guidance, was inspiring, uplifting and filled with instructions that each of us can apply in our daily lives.  Earlier this year, the General Relief Society Presidency directed each of us to seek our own personal revelation as we strengthen our ward and stake Relief Societies, I felt this was timely information coming now from Elder Scott.

One of the key doctrines that drew me into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that of personal inspiration/revelation.  We have the Spirit as our guide for ANY concern we have in this life.  That is a great comfort, but, like many of the blessings given to us from our Heavenly Father, it must be honed, practiced, and used regularly.

Joseph Smith said, “Follow the influence of that Spirit, and it will lead you into all truth, until by and by, it will BECOME in you a principle of revelation.”  In other words, second nature to you.  Elder Scott testifies that this is the true source of peace and happiness.

Learning how to be led by the Spirit takes a strengthening of faith in our Father and in Jesus Christ.  It is not a casual expectation, but a purposeful period of growth. Let me take a minute to talk about “The Spirit”. As far as I’ve been able to learn there are three ways to understand the term ‘The Spirit”:

1. The Light of Christ
Everyone is given the light of Christ as a Child of God.

2. The Holy Ghost
Many religions reference the Holy Ghost.

3. The Gift of the Holy Ghost
Reserved for those who receive the ordinance of baptism by those having authority to confer the gift. This gift isn’t enjoyed in its fullness until fire and the Holy Ghost baptize the recipient.

Back to Elder Scott’s talk. After noting that in times past if one sought guidance they would turn to mentors or advisors, the information overload that is a characteristic of our time, means turning to others for advice can be a very risky proposition. As a digital marketing executive, I often use the analogy ‘it’s like drinking from a firehose’ to describe this phenomenon. Think about it – so much information, but none of it is filtered or curated. Who do we trust?

Rather than bemoaning the plight of the times we live in, we should welcome the excuse to turn our eyes upward for inspiration. Elder Scott seems to be saying that humans as trust agents will always be inadequate and that we will be better served by seeking to commune with the Lord directly through appealing to the Holy Ghost.

Think about this for a minute – our Father has created a condition where we, of necessity, are more dependent upon the Spirit to guide us through the vicissitudes of life. Therefore, we are led to seek personal inspiration in life’s important decisions.I loved this thought! Personally, it has been a year of uphill trials. I do not know where I would be without specific guidance that I have received through the relationship I have personally developed with my Heavenly Father that allows me the blessing of personal answers and spiritual guidance.

Discussion:

• What can you do to enhance your capacity to be led to correct decisions in your life?
• What are the principles upon which spiritual communication depends?
• What are the potential barriers to such communication that you need to avoid?

Elder Scott admits that learning to consistently recognize the promptings of the Holy Spirit, distinguish them from one’s own impulses and desires, and act courageously to fulfill them are accomplishments that we would be lucky to achieve in a lifetime. However, Elder Scott clearly believes that developing these skills is necessary. And perhaps most importantly, in these times of information overload, his recommendation  sounds achievable through the examples he offers us.

He notes the Prophet Joseph Smith’s instruction to John Taylor to begin each day with prayer – being grateful for another day our Father has granted us.

President John Taylor wrote: “Joseph Smith, upwards of forty years ago, said to me: ‘Brother Taylor, you have received the Holy Ghost. Now follow the influence of that Spirit, and it will lead you into all truth, until by and by, it will become in you a principle of revelation.’ Then he told me never to arise in the morning without bowing before the Lord, and dedicating myself to him during that day.”

Which is, in these hectic latter days, counsel that many of us can overlook in the daily haste to satisfy the necessities of temporal life. For example, if I’m woken up by my 3 y.o. doing the potty dance, after I escort her to do her necessary business, she’s hungry, so I start breakfast. Then, like mothers (and fathers) around the world every morning, we are joined by 2 more sleepy towheaded children and somewhere in the blur of showering, breakfast being eaten, teeth being brushed, hair being combed, clothes being put on, lunches being prepared, and busses arriving – it is all to easy to forget that morning prayer of thanksgiving. What I’ve learned to do is have the scriptures in the kitchen, so that a verse or two can be read during the “Waltz of Chaos” in the morning to ensure we all have the right start to the day.

Elder Scott uses two lessons as examples to illustrate his message. In the first, a humble Priesthood leader taught a lesson from his heart. The content of the lesson was less memorable than the impression the leader gave that promote spiritual guidance:  humility, intense desire to communicate truths, pure love of the Savior, as well as those who are taught, sincerity, pure intent, love, and spiritual strength. The spirit was present and powerful as this man struggled to express himself within the church.

In the second example, Elder Scott attended a Sunday School class where the teacher was using the fruits of his education and study to share insights into the lesson, less from a desire to inspire his pupils and more from what Elder Scott interpreted as pride — of a desire to impress his fellow congregants with his knowledge.

By keeping his lesson simple and focusing on his testimony of his ministry, the priesthood leader impressed Elder Scott with his sincerity and emotional depth. By contrast, the intellectual approach of the Sunday School teacher left Elder Scott irritated and bored. I was intrigued by the difference here between the emotional and the intellectual – this contrast exists in our brains (right-vs-left), between our ‘brains’ and our ‘souls’ between men and women. It plays out every week at church, every month of our life.

There isn’t any particular resolution to it – it’s just the way we are. As a teacher, I am always striving to embrace the humbleness of the Priesthood Leader’s approach. I try to be both emotionally fulfilling and intellectually enlightening in my approach. But I’m also cognizant of the fact that many of you have forgotten more about the gospel, church doctrine, lessons of our Presidents, General Conference talks and the like than I will EVER KNOW, even if I focused my studies on these topics for the rest of my life. So I try to infuse my lessons with whatever material I can bring from my experience and knowledgebase to further enlighten each of you (and me) and bring relevance to my ability to teach for our times.

And yet, the more important message here from Elder Scott seems to be that either course can invite the Spirit.

In the case of both lessons, Elder Scott felt the promptings of the Spirit. He stopped paying attention to his immediate surroundings and started listening to and interacting with the voice of God. Whether interested or biding his time, Elder Scott felt the Spirit in both examples and chose to listen to it instead – to be taught by the Holy Ghost – instead of from the content of the lesson being provided to him.

The manner in which Elder Scott recorded his personal inspiration is interesting, perhaps mostly because it follows the pattern that Joseph Smith seemed to follow with his revelations. Once written, the revelation was examined to see if it conformed to the mind and will of God and changes could be made. It speaks to the imperfection of human intermediaries and the humility needed to keep at revelation until one is certain they have gotten it right.

And, much like Joseph Smith, Elder Scott teaches that:

A person may profit by noticing the first intimation of the spirit of revelation; for instance, when you feel pure intelligence flowing into you, it may give you sudden strokes of ideas, so that by noticing it, you may find it fulfilled the same day or soon; (i.e.) those things that were presented unto your minds by the Spirit of God, will come to pass; and thus by learning the Spirit of God and understanding it, you may grow into the principle of revelation, until you become perfect in Christ Jesus [TPJS, p. 151]

Paying attention to the first promptings is valuable not for the promptings, but because it indicates an openness to the process of revelation. Just as it is important for the teacher to be prepared spiritually to guide, the students to be open spiritually in order to receive guidance.  He gives us ten things we should do as listeners:

1. Attend class prepared, with a readiness to learn
2. Be aware of impressions that may come
3. Write them down as soon as possible
4. Ponder what you have written
5. Study the meaning
6. Pray to the Lord, and review what was taught, and what was learned
7. Wait for a feeling of peace and confirmation
8. Thank Heavenly Father for the guidance
9. Ask: “Is there more to learn?” You probably will have additional impressions, but it takes courage to ask.
10. Repeat the process from beginning to end as many times as is necessary.  Elder Scott says, “Had I not responded to the first impressions and recorded them, I would not have received the last, most precious guidance.”

Here is an important warning.  “Satan is extremely good at blocking spiritual communication.” We have all been sidetracked by the destroyer.  “The Lord will not force you to learn.  You must exercise your agency to authorize the Spirit to teach you.”

As church members we’re taught that acquiring the gift of the Holy Ghost is the most important thing we can do. Everything else is subservient.

Elder Scott encourages us to practice, have patience, and be aware.  Inspiration comes to us in different ways.  By following the above ten steps, realize the unique way Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit communicate with you.

Elder Scott then launches into a critique of pornography, highlighting in particular the potentially corrosive effects of pornography on family relations. Perhaps more importantly, he discuss its effect on the soul. He notes that the adversary is at pains to induce “individuals, through temptation, to violate the laws upon which spiritual communication is founded.”

The notion is that Satan achieves his goal if “he is able to convince them that they are not able to receive such guidance from the Lord.” The presence or absence of revelation in the life of the individual is presented, in this talk, as the surest means of judging one’s current standing with the Lord.

Returning to those two lessons, the point appears to be that whether or not you are someone who prefers the intellectual or the emotional, putting yourself in the right place at the right time indicates a willingness to receive revelation. The ongoing debate regarding the superiority of one or the other approach to faith, to scripture or to life is shown to be entirely beside the point. Whether you are interested or bored by the lessons offered, your involvement in the process seems to be considered sufficient sacrifice for God to honor it with those first intimations of revelation, if such is appropriate.

What you do with that appears to be far more important than learning the signs of the times or historical facts. Not that either of those is bad, but they seem to be goals secondary to our involvement in the church.

Finally, it is worth noting that, for those ensnared in pornography or other damaging, compulsive behaviors, Elder Scott’s first advice is to re-establish communication with God. I believe this concept of exercising our agency to authorize the Spirit to take part in our lives is a huge part of prayer. God won’t interfere in our lives without our consent, he is that mindful of our agency. We must pray and ask for his influence and hand in our life.

Elder Scott counsels us: The inspiring influence of the Holy Spirit can be overcome or masked by strong emotions, such as anger, hate, passion, fear, or pride. When such influences are present, it is like trying to savor the delicate flavor of a grape while eating a jalapeño pepper. Both flavors are present, but one completely overpowers the other. In like manner, strong emotions overcome the delicate promptings of the Holy Spirit.

Remember the Jalapeno & grape analogy — be more aware of what you surround yourself with and how any negative emotions can block out the positive and good all around you.

Without the Holy Ghost we cannot receive the necessary experiences to have a relationship with Christ. We can study the scriptures, listen to the words of the living prophets, and thereby intellectually learn of Christ, but we won’t be able to experience Christ until we qualify for the Holy Ghost.  The challenge we have as followers of Christ is to diligently seek for the Holy Ghost. It’s not easy to acquire and maintain this gift, but the Lord is merciful to those who work at it.

Intellectual conversion to Christ is fragile, Spiritual conversion to Christ will ground and root us. And offer us the foundation for personal revelation, which is, the most important lesson of all.

Discussion

(Time permitting — we ran out of time due to the discussion questions raised earlier in the lesson. If we had the time, I would have divided the class into thirds, selected a spokesperson for each group and handed them a quote and question for them to discuss and present back to the Relief Society):

1. However, it is my judgment that there are many members of this Church who have been baptized for the remission of their sins, who have had hands laid upon their heads for the gift of the Holy Ghost, who have never received that gift, that is, the manifestations of it. Why? Because they have never put themselves in order to receive these manifestations. They have never humbled themselves. They have never taken the steps that would prepare them for the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Therefore they go through life without that knowledge, and they have not the understanding. Joseph Fielding Smith, Conference Report, October 1958, p.21 – p.22

Question: “How do we draw a balance between spiritual self-reliance and relying on the Spirit?”

2. D&C Section 84: 45-46 says: For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spir, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit.

Questions: What the difference is between being “guided by the Holy Ghost” (for those who have been told to “receive the Holy Ghost” by the laying on of hands) and being “guided by the Light of Christ”?

How can one discern whether an answer has come through the Light of Christ or the Holy Ghost?  What difference does it make?

3. “I tell you these things because of your prayers; wherefore, treasure up wisdom in your bosoms, lest the wickedness of men reveal these things unto you by their wickedness, in a manner which shall speak in your ears with a voice louder than that which shall shake the earth; but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. ” D&C 38:30

Questions: What does it mean to be self-reliant in spiritual things?

Why is it important to be spiritually self-reliant?

In closing, God very much wants to help us but we must show our sincerity by being faithful to the knowledge he gives us. His plan is amazing. It helps us navigate the temporal reality but it also builds our soul for eternity. I never want to lose my sense of awe over the workings of God in my life and in the world at large.

I leave this lesson with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sometimes people just need to get bent. Do you know what I mean? No I am not saying people should go f*** themselves.  And I don’t mean bent in the game of Twister sense. Oh h…hold on. Some people do find Twister to be a form of erotic theatre, from what I have been told. So then if you are thinking of erotic practice, then yeah…you are somewhat in the neighbourhood of theoretical contextual terrain.

So what, you must be asking right now, am I rattling on about? I’m talking about Bent, the panel discussion that was held this past Tuesday evening at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. It was an evening of discussions about the complex multi-dimensionalities of intimate social and personal relationships.

I was impressed with the balance of personal accounts of different kinds of intimate relationships, and the theoretical experiential knowledge that was present in so much of the discussion. I was expecting an evening of stories stemming from everyday social realties relating to the terrain of sexuality and relational constructs. What also was present was epistemological abundance. In other words, the discourse present in the room was as energetic as it was reflexive.

Anyone who attended the evening certainly would have walked away with new knowledge and ideas about the various permutations, combinations, and definitions that can be attributed to relationships of intimate, romantic, sexual, and familial constructs. That is precisely the word to use when considering the notion of relationships discussed that evening: construct. I was happy to be in a place, post-graduate school days, where the discussions around partnership, marriage, intimacy, and gender were not tied to the ruling relational boundaries of essentialist formations. Identity is constructed along lines of how people as social actors make sense of the relationships existent in the social, yet quite often relationships are indicative of the identifications rather than identities that are present in our everyday realities. Monogamy, polyamorous, or however one may see and conceptualize their relationship needs and realties, are at the end of the day present formations identified within the structures of gender politics. But even if one acknowledges such political boundaries, boundaries may all they be when one attempts to think about their own identity formations as political in their own way, as stemming from the relentless and rigorous practices present in resistance and action that existed during the discussion.

In my mind, I see such events as a type of direct action against hegemony. Much like the ways French revolutionaries would meet in public houses to discuss methods and strategies to thwart their oppression via the politics of the Ancient Regime, in a somewhat less dramatic and of course in a non-covert way, such discussions are revolutionary. Discourse on the existence of queer-normative relationships happened. We learned about the construct of the leather family and how its complexities relate to the essentialist-normative structures of neo-liberalist families. We learned of kinksexual relational formations as they are present almost symbiotically in a normative, vanilla universe. And we learned that the sex trade has more similarities and related strands of purpose, practice, and meaning to psychological therapy than possibly realized before.

I use the term queer-normative quite specifically here. I like to play and mess around with the idea of normativity, specifically as derived from heteronormativity. Even if one discusses heteronormativity or hetero-normalcy, it implies it’s significance in binomial opposition to the queer other. So when I write queer-normativity, it is directed along the lines of appropriation and political semantics, aligning language with power, as power is aligned with it’s capacity in discussions of agency.

So, yes, overall, it was a good night.

(Part Two of this entry, to be posted later this week.)

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At first there was only darkness, emptiness all around. There was nothing to feel, nothing that could be heard. But then she stirred and there was light. The girl’s eyes burned red as the light enveloped her and she was suddenly awake. The bright red light poured through her vision and pulsed into her mind and there was nothing else.

After a time, the girl began to become restless with the light and it seemed to grow dimmer for her until it was no more than a yellow haze, so then she opened her eyes and again the bright light consumed her, but this time she recoiled from it. As she clenched her eyes shut once more, she sensed the first tingling of feeling across her eyes and in surprise she yelped in pain. The feeling slowly intensified as the girl desperately tried to lose herself in it, but then it was spreading and her nerves began to scream at her.

Then there was nothing but pain. A pain that spread from her eyes across her face, through her sinuses to her ears and nose, and then mouth at which she screamed. Slowly, agonisingly slowly, the pain moved down her body consuming her heart and stomach, chest and legs, until she was clenching her fists and flailing her legs desperately.

It was when the pain had consumed her entire body and she was completely lost to it that a new sensation pierced her senses and poured down her arm from a desperate outstretched finger. Not pulsing and hot like the pain, but suddenly cool and soothing, and prickling with a new energy. Like the pain that it followed, the cold, ticklish feeling flowed over her until her skin was enveloped by the swirls of sensation that lashed over her body, making her gasp with relief and delight.

Slowly she moved her finger slightly, causing an ice-cold sliver to roll down her hand and back into her, and she gasped again and the movement caused fresh chills leaping across her chest and down her legs, and she consumed herself to the feeling, feeling which left her writhing with pleasure and gasping with delight at every fresh brush against her skin. The cold soon pulsed like the red hot pain and after a few seconds of blissful agony she collapsed again and lay still.

As her breathing slowed and the pulses of feeling faded away she finally opened her eyes once more; and there was light.

The sun was now peeking over the hills to the east and sending shafts of clear white light down on to the fields, and was caught in the raindrops hiding in the long grass. The lacklustre wind sent the blades gently billowing down across the rolling landscape, flying small patters of raindrops across the sunlight once more. In the coolness of the morning there were even a few spirits of frost hiding and spreading themselves out amongst the shrubbery, but they would run from the sun before too long. The light spirits danced over them singing and laughing merrily as they shrunk back from the heat, and started to sink back into the earth.

Eleanor looked at the world and saw that it was good.

She watched the light spirits for a while; the little glowing dancing figures of bright white which leapt over the fields and chased out the wide eyed creatures hiding in the shadows. One of the fairy-like spirits danced up to her and leapt through her hair and across her chest, and Eleanor giggled madly as the spirit landed elegantly on her knee, bowed, and ran off to follow the rising dawn.

Eleanor sat up gingerly, still smiling from the little shoots of feeling that the cold wind shot across her, but with a considerable sense of relief that it no longer was as strong as it was. Gingerly she tried to stand up, her feet sliding on the wet mud and sending her collapsing forward face first back into the grass. Laughing again, she struggled back up and got to her feet after another attempt.

The world around her filled her senses. The chattering birds in the trees to her left had calmed a little now since the light spirits had moved on, but instead sang their morning songs to the rustling trees. Eleanor looked down to the next field where the early mist still hovered and caught sight of the light spirits dancing round it, taunting the rain for wanting to stay in the bright morning. Slowly she took a few hesitant steps down the hill to the field, and when she was sure of herself, started to run.

Again, she couldn’t help but grin madly as the disturbed raindrops in the long grass splashed against her skin, and as her foot landed heavily in a puddle she caught the cry of alarm from the water spirit she had disturbed. She laughed and ran on, clambering over the fence which separated the fields and falling heavily into the mud on the other side. She shook her head, and took a brief glance at the mix of mud and a little blood that now covered her hands; before laughing at the shooting and fleeting pain and ran on towards the mist.

The light spirits opened up for her as she approached and began to dance round her, encouraging her to join in. Eleanor sprang up and kicked, and pranced, and waved, and sang with the flashing white spirits as the mist retreated before them. Just occasionally she caught a glance at the spirit hiding inside, who was sullenly shouting at the spirits round him and desperately trying to grab its raindrops close to it. After a few minutes the mist spirit finally seemed to admit defeat and fell back to the ground and the light spirits cheered, their high resonant voices echoing around the fields. Their song finished, they then, as one, bowed to Eleanor in thanks and flew back towards the sun. Eleanor bowed back to them and waved as they spiralled back into the sky to find another likely spot for a dance.

Now aching from her exultations with the light spirits, Eleanor wandered back across to the edge of the field and sat down heavily against the roots of an old tree, staring at the wide panorama of the morning. Absent mindedly, she gently plucked a brightly spotted mushroom and squashed it between her fingers, letting the mush slop down her hand.

“Hey!” A sharp voice, almost nasal, directed at her. “Leave that alone!”.

Eleanor rolled over on to her chest and found herself nose to nose with a small gnomish creature with a long green nose and half-buried branch-like legs in the wet mud. She supposed that the little thing, whose hairy ears were flapping in the wind, was rather irritated.

“Why?” she whispered back, and the little creature blinked back at her with deep dark green eyes.

But all this did was to draw a long, protracted stare.

“Are you an Earth spirit?” she asked playfully.

“‘Course I bloody well am, think these shrooms just spring out the ground, do yer?” he replied sharply, and stared at her menacingly. “You’re Eleanor ain’t yer?”

Eleanor shrugged, and plucked up another mushroom.

“Oi!“ the spirit cried immediately. “Stop that! Do you need to kill all me crop as well as getting’ them light spirits all excited and keeping all the water away? We’re not going to get any good mist down ‘ere for bloody ages now!”

Eleanor giggled at him and prodded him with her finger, making him rock backwards.

“Don’t be so picky” she said softly, as the sprit mumbled his disquiet and tried to replant one of his legs.

“Don’t you go proddin’ me, young miss, I was raisin’ acorns before you was even thought of!” Eleanor rolled her eyes, but smiled. “And anyways, there ain’t no call for you to be prancin’ about with all them sparkly bastards and upsettin’ everyone else round ‘ere. And in the all-together too, I don’t know; don’t know what the worlds comin’ to these days, I really don’t. Ain’t anyone told you you was naked?”

Eleanor shrugged. “No?”

“Well you bloody well are!” the spirit yelled back. “Now stop pullin’ up all me shrooms!” And with that, he bent back and thrust his head back into the mud.

Eleanor stayed in the fields for the next few days, persuading some friendly earth spirit to let her sleep in their burrow at night, and eating the mushrooms and fruits that she found in the bright sunshine of the day. Despite the occasional mutter of disapproval from the gnomish spirits amongst the trees, she stayed naked.

The days passed slowly for Eleanor; each morning she would wake up before sunrise and wait for the light spirits to come prancing out from the dawn and help to chase the down the shadows and mists, but by the third day they barely had any opposition. She would then wander around the fields for hours on end, running through the grass, trying to leap over the fences, eating whatever fruit she found or talking to the spirits that love the daylight.

She chatted with the gloomy and smelly water spirits that sat sullen in puddles near the edge of the fields, trying to excite them to chase her; but they never did, and she would always end up stamping on them in frustration. She’d shout at the winds until an air spirit would come down to see her at which point she’d to try and persuade it to take her flying; but the best she ever managed to get would be to get the invisible wisp spirit to whistle through her hair. Occasionally she got a few words from the huge tree spirits, though it was usually only a angry deep grumble for her to leave them alone.

By the evening she would switch sides and club together with the spirits who love the shadows and chase all the light shadows out of the fields, before lying back and staring at the stars, trying to will them down to play with her. But they never did.

The rushing sensations of the first morning never returned to her; but she still felt the world around her keenly, the sun felt hot and comforting and every scrape, brush or cut against her skin would make her yelp and smile. On the fourth day she started to explore a little further beyond the first couple of fields, and in the next one she found a large pond and befriended the bright and welcoming water spirit that lived there. The sprit let her swim and splash for hours, and affectionately cleaned her down and squirted water at her to make her laugh. However by the end of the day the spirit grew weary of her constant intrusion and finally asked her to let his water lie still for a while. In response Eleanor plucked up a particularly disapproving mushroom spirit that had been complaining the whole day long and threw it into the pond, and she left them arguing.

Soon she knew her way intimately around the half dozen fields that covered the little valley. When she caught herself looking outside the fields, perhaps to the lofty hills or to the wall of high hedges at the far end of the topmost field, she would look away again quickly and forget what she had seen.

By the sixth day she had found that she had walked all the way round the fields three times without seeing anything she didn’t already know. Most of the spirits were ignoring her now; the earth spirits were leaving, angry at the constant interruptions at night; and Eleanor followed their slow progress, by paw, by twig, and by tiny claw as they left the fields through a hole in the top fields’ hedgerow. She didn’t dare follow. Even the light spirits and shadow spirits were ignoring her now, annoyed at her constant shifting allegiance each dawn and dusk. By the evening the meadows felt cold and unfriendly, and she was forced to sleep above ground, as all the earth spirits had gone and caved in their burrows after them.

The next morning she awoke hungry, afraid and colder than she had ever felt. The fruits had been finished the previous day, and the only spirits she could see creeping on the fields were skulking frost spirits. Eleanor wrapped her arms around her knees and cuddled herself against the cold, tears quietly falling from her cheeks.

Her mind suddenly felt empty, and the cold blasts of wind that had once excited her now seemed to be mocking her in her weakness. She rolled over, sobbing quietly, and lay back against a barren apple tree, but the roughness of the bark just seemed intrusive and painful to her now.

Her desperate eye caught her own hands, and found them to be skeletal, and weak.

“What’s going on?” she shouted suddenly, and her cracked voice echoed a little in the morning gloom.

It was then she turned and her eyes caught sight of a small spirit the like of which she had not seen before. It was in the form of a small female dormouse, with a small cluster of baby pups around her, but it seemed bold and was watching Eleanor intently.

Eleanor, very gently, lay face down in front of the watching spirit until its twitching nose was no more than a few inches from Eleanor’s tearful eyes.

“What are you?” Eleanor whispered, her words bubbling through her sobs.

“What are you doing Eleanor?” the mouse whispered back, so gently she had to strain to hear it. “Didn‘t you want to know more than these fields?” Eleanor blinked as her tears began to dry up, and then smiled suddenly as a tiny pup lost a teat momentarily before gaping and suckling once again.

“Are you a life spirit?” Eleanor breathed, as softly as she could. The spirit still winced slightly.

“Listen to me child.” the spirit squeaked back. “You are wandering why all the spirits in these fields didn’t want to stay with you. You don’t understand why they would not want to play with you, and look after you. You can’t blame them, they are only doing what they know.” The spirit looked away momentarily to stop a young pup moving too far away.

“But I’m the same aren’t I?” Eleanor gasped, suddenly hearing the panic in her voice. “I’m a spirit of the field just like they are right?” The life spirit blinked and looked at her sadly.

“No, child. You’re much more than that. You’re different.”

“No, I’m not!” Eleanor replied immediately, but her shout startled the pups who cried suddenly. The life-spirit didn’t reply for a few minutes as she calmed her pups, and Eleanor was lost in the gentleness of her care towards her young. Finally the spirit turned back to her.

“Yes, you are, Eleanor.” she whispered, even more quietly than before. “And it is a very special thing that you are. You will always be amongst us but you are more than we are.” Eleanor leaned in even closer so she didn’t miss a word.

“What am I?” she breathed. The spirit appeared to pause for a moment.

“I do not know.” she admitted finally. “But do you not think you should find out? You cannot stay in these fields because you will not be able to stay with the spirits. You are cold and afraid, and you are hungry. And you long for more than these fields.”

Eleanor cried once more when she heard those words as she recognised the truth in them. As fresh tears rolled down her pale and mud-caked cheeks, she whispered desperately;

“But where should I go?”

The life-spirit looked down and shuddered slightly.

“The world is a big place, my child. It stretches way beyond these fields, and it is filled with spirits of all sorts that will be there for you if you want them. But it is not an easy place, Eleanor.” the dormouse added, looking back at her. “Go and find new fields. Stay and you‘ll only bring death, Eleanor.”

Eleanor shuddered at the coldness of her words, but she understood, and nodded.

“So I need to go look for new fields?” she asked, her voice cracking as she still cried.

“You will need to make new fields.” the spirit whispered back. “But before that you will need to know why.”

Eleanor shrugged. “Why what? What does that matter?” The spirit gently started to curl up so her pups were huddled close to her body.

“You will find out I’m sure.” she whispered, so faintly that the slight breeze stole the words away. “Now go. Make your choice. Leave these fields or deny it. You’re dying here, and my pups do not long for that.”

Eleanor’s eyes filled up with tears and she had to pull herself away to wipe her eyes clean. When she looked back the spirit had gone.

She felt it then – the harsh punch of hunger that was hammering her stomach, the fever that pulsed her head, the numbing cold that rendered her fingers and toes stiff. She would have to sweat and work hard for her food after all.

Slowly, with teardrops falling round her, she clambered to her weary feet and looked to the distant hedgerow at the top of her fields. Gingerly at first, she clumsily staggered towards it, clutching her stomach and moaning at her fever. As she walked, rain began to fall from the deepening clouds above her, and it made her slip and fall. But each time she would hear the little spirits in the raindrops whisper encouragement in her ears, so she would get back up and stride forward as fast as she could.

After a lifetime of torment she reached the hole in the hedgerow that the Earth spirits had left by. She slowly bent down and crawled into the narrow hole, and once again she could see light, a different light, from the other side.

Even through the pain Eleanor smiled. She knew that the life-spirit had been right – for fresh fields already lay before her.

Semplice e geniale. Null’altro.

Agenzia: Horace Kidman
Direttore creativo: Fabio Gasparrini
Art Director: Matteo Pozzi
Copywriter: Matteo Pozzi, Marta Majolino

Yahoo wil graag dat er ook aan hun gedacht wordt bij het uitwerken van een campagne, daarom maakten ze volgend filmpje: hoe het er echt aan toe gaat in een reclamebureau.

(Via Moerman)

Click here to visit Wanhan Consultants official website

How to succeed in the Interviews – Interview tips with few question & answers – - Wanhan Consultants

Over at Poetix Dominic has an interesting post up responding to Pete’s recent discussion of normativity over at Speculative Heresy. Dominic writes:

The crux here seems to be that “man” is not in himself a normal animal: normative accounts of human being are best taken as descriptions of the commitments we make to ourselves and others as preconditions for various kinds of social being, and the capacity to bear such norms is rather haphazardly instantiated in our animal selfhood.

This split between the normed human being and the ab-normal human animal plays out in Badiou, for example, as a tension between the “de-subjectivising” pull of egoic self-interest and the possibility of constructing a political “subject” which affirms (or “verifies”) egalitarian norms. But there’s a problem here: egoic self-interest is arguably also a normed expression of human being – neo-liberalism explicitly affirms it as a norm, as a precondition for higher forms of social organisation (e.g. those based on competitive markets). The conflict between Badiou’s ethical “good” (tenacity in the construction of truths) and “evil” (de-subjectivation, the saggy victory of the flesh) can be seen as a conflict between rival normative commitments rather than between committed and uncommitted being as such. What Rowan Williams calls the “false anthropology” of neo-liberalism does not merely declare, in social Darwinist fashion, that human beings are intrinsically self-seeking creatures: it also goes to considerable lengths to modify the “soul” of society (its basic normative commitments and symbolic co-ordinates) so that individuals will perceive this to be their true nature and act accordingly.

There’s a good deal more in Dominic’s post, especially with respect to heteronormativity and discussions of heterosexuality coming out of the Christian Right, but I wanted to draw attention to this passage in particular as I think it represents something that is truncated or underdetermined within the framework of critiques of neo-liberal capitalism. While I do not disagree with Rowan William’s thesis that the picture of the human as an intrinsically self-seeking creature constitutes a false anthropology, I have noticed that there is a tendency to treat the core of neo-liberal capitalist ideology as consisting almost entirely of this false anthropology.

read on!

What is missing in this conception of neo-liberal ideology is the legal and normative framework that underlies this way of relating to the world and others. On the one hand, in order for neo-liberal capitalist ideology to get off the ground it requires what what might be called a “pure subject” or a “subject-without-qualities”, not unlike Descartes’ cogito or Kant’s transcendental unity of apperception. At the heart of neo-liberal capitalist ideology (NLCI) is not so much a subject pursuing self-interest, as a legal subject functioning as the substrate of property, commercial obligations and debts, and divorced from social context and conditions of production. If this subject must necessarily be a pure subject or subject without content or particularity of any form, then this is because NLCI must establish the equivalence or identity of all subjects populating the social field. In other words, for this social system to present itself as just– and I am not suggesting that this social system is just, far from it –it must be able to hold 1) that the lowest subject is equivalent to the most privileged and successful subject in both the eyes of the law and how the system functions (i.e., that the lowliness of the low is the result of her failure and is her responsibility), and 2) that distributions of wealth are not systematic effects of social structure and how it is organized, but rather is an effect of the individual industry of agents within the social field. These claims are dependent on the positing of a pure subject or subject-without-qualities as the essence of what social subjects are, ignoring any discourse about fields or milieus of individuation (in Deleuze and Simondon’s sense) out of which subjects emerge or are produced.

Second, for NLCI to function it is necessary that the law have a particular form that governs social relations among agents. While the self-interested or self-seeking nature of neo-liberal subjects is certainly one of the key notes of NLCI, this false anthropology is not, in and of itself, sufficient to establish the NLCI as a (dis)functioning system. Were the system composed only of agents pursuing their self-interest we would not have the NLCI, but rather the state of nature so vividly described by Hobbes and Spinoza. More fundamental than agents pursuing their own self-interest is the normative and legal system that mediates relations between agents in pursuing this self-interest. In its minimal form, this normative and legal system is one that revolves primarily around the attribution of duties and debts. That is, it is a normative and legal system that is particularly focused on the grounds under which contracts are maintained. Just as the subject-without-qualities of NLCI is a subject divorced from milieus of individuation, transcendentalized, and universalized in a false transcendental anthropology, the form of the law as the grounds of contractual obligation and debt is a normative system divorced from any milieu of individuation and premised on a subject-without-qualities whereby the equivalence of all subjects is guaranteed so that the law might effect itself despite the inequality inherent in the functioning of the law at the level of concrete social relations. Likewise, such a structure of legality also underlies the structure of private property. These two features, the form of the law and the subject-without-qualities, are, I believe, the fundamental notes of NLCI, not the picture of social relations defined by the pursuit of self-interest.

When Marx argues that Hegel must be turned on his head or describes Kant as a priest of the State, it is this which Marx is referring to. It was Kant, of course, who theorized the subject-without-content and who transcendentalized the structure of debt and obligation underlying contractual relations in the social field. If Kantian normativity and conceptions of the subject are priestly relations to the State, then this is because it ignores the manner in which these conceptions of normativity and the subject are themselves contingent products of certain modes of production, instead turning these forms of normativity and subjectivity into fetishes (in Marx’s sense) that have effaced their own milieu of individuation in order to effectuate themselves all the more forcefully, unjustly, and insidiously while undermining the possibility of any critique of these structures of normativity by transcendentalizing them and thereby treating them as universal and essential structures of all social relations. Likewise, if Hegel must be turned on his head, then this is because he treats these social relations as issuing from the domain of the ideal, the subject, thought, or spirit, rather than structures of production. In both cases effective modes of critique and engagement are undermined by virtue of these structures being detached in thought from their real conditions of production. This, I think, is part of the reason that a focus on ideology within political theory is such a danger for actual political praxis as it tends to obscure this material base and render it invisible to the theorist, creating the illusion that social organization is merely a matter of ideas, the ideal, or signifiers. It is also the reason I see great promise in something like Vitale’s “mediology” (what I would call onticology) and his networkology as at least these forms of analysis, focusing as they do on material mediations, have hope of getting at the base through which these ideal forms are individuated or come into being.

DJ ROB SWIFT (X-Ecutioners, USA)

the Architect album release tour March 2010

The Architect Album
Release Tour 2010
March 2010: 19 – 28 2010

DJ ROB SWIFT (X-Ecutioners)
www.djrobswift.com
www.myspace.com/djrobswift
www.ipecac.com

New Album: The Architect
Rel. Date: February 23, 2010
Publisher: Ipecac Recordings

Interview:

Dear Music Fans,

One of the most famous and celebrated Djs and turntablists in the world is back with a slamming new album “The Architect”, this time blending Hip Hop, scratching and classical music.

DJ ROB SWIFT is part of the biggest Dj group “the X Ecutioners” on the planet and toured and worked with everyone: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Linkin Park, Fat Joe, Everlast, Mike Patton (Faith No More), Cypress Hill, Wu Tang Clan, Eminem, Good Charlotte, Xzibit, Dan The Automator and even truly forward-thinking Jazz legends such as Herbie Hancock and Bob James.

It’s ROB SWIFT’S debut release on Mike Patton’s (Faith No More) Ipecac Recordings label, a perfect fit as both men have been challenging the notion of music for years. They have previously toured together promoting Patton’s Peeping Tom project and their collaborative effort General Patton Vs. The X-excutioners.

Tour Facts, Dates, Videos, Infos … read more …

Jakarta, BNP2TKI (23/11) – Warga negara Malaysia kemungkinan akan bisa kembali mempekerjakan Penata Laksana Rumah Tangga (PLRT) asal Indonesia bulan Desember mentang. Isyarat ini disampaikan Menteri Sumber Daya Manusia Malaysia Datuk Dr S Subramaniam sebagaimana dilannsir harian Malaysia, The Star, Senin (23/11).

Menurut Subramaniam, pembicaraan antara Malaysia dan Indonesia sedang berlangsung untuk menyelesaikan beberapa hal. “Masih ada beberapa hal lagi yang perlu diselesaikan. Begitu ini selesai, para pembantu rumah tangga bisa datang lagi ” ujarnya.

Sebagaimana diketahui, Pemerintah Indonesia telah menghentikan sementara pengiriman TKI ke Malaysia pada Juni 2009 lalu menyusul maraknya kasus kekerasan terhadap PLRT Indonesia di negeri jiran itu.

Ditandaskan Dr Subramaniam, diharapkan semua masalah akan selesai pada bulan Desember 2009. Menurut petinggi Malaysia itu, pemerintah Indonesia telah menyampaikan kesiapannya untuk menyelesaikan permasalahan tersebut secepat mungkin.

Saat ini ada diperkirakan terdapat sekitar 280 ribu PRT Indonesia yang bekerja sebagai Tenaga Kerja Indonesia (TKI) di Malaysia. (hp)

A little background before any reveal. Now AdLand Suit for those who don’t know, is an anonymous character who moves among you in Advertising circles around London. Self proclaimed Senior. Self proclaimed Top Ten agency type. The kind of chap that people who are none of the above would like to know.

Of course anonymity brings both good and bad. It certainly attracted more attention than if he’d been open about his identity. I even get around 5 people a day coming to this blog just to try and find out. Anonymity is a formula which has been played out by some of Britain’s best known comic books and films – the masked, mysterious types. It’s all down to our human nature of wanting to know more. Wanting to make sense of the unknown in it’s more natural survival form it’s how we’ve survived as a race.

But AdLand Suit’s popularity is not one some online fictional character. For those who’ve engaged with him online, he has brought us wit, advice, charm, X-Factor, swearing, but importantly a highly personable, approachable flow of words. He is a talented communicator if nothing else, and a genuine online friend. And those who have socialised with him in real life speak fondly of the man.

You see Twitter and blogs allow you to get to know people more than some may think.

I speculated and fanned the flames a while ago about who he may be. But now the time has come for  ***** to be revealed. Is he a bird? Is he a plane?

Find out who AdLand Suit really is by clicking here…

The public relations industry has seen many changes over the years, but none more significant then the results-based philosophy being adopted throughout the industry.

A new breed of pr agency has sprung up pushing aside traditional pr agencies, boasting results-based services under the banner of performance-led delivery.

Gone are the ‘bad old days’ when public relations agencies would request large fees to represent a client, to then simply send out a press release en masse to see what happens. Or arrange a booze up at the expense of a client, under banner of corporate hospitality.

Now, however, the public relations industry has had to adapt in order to not only re-establish its own reputation as a useable service, but also to show that the art or science of public relations can actually support modern-day business operations.

Indeed, the success of incorporating this philosophy has been so immense, that virtually all public relations agencies now promote the term ‘results-driven’ in their own external communications.

Although the public relations is a separate function to that of the marketing industry, although some would say public relations is a marketing tool (not true), marketing agencies need to consider the principles and practices that have been adopted by the public relations industry.

The business offering of some marketing agencies, such as Millennium, already understand and operate within the guidelines of results-based and performance-led, which has led them to establish long-term business relationships with their clients.

Some critics would say you can’t set a results-based approach to all areas of marketing, because of the industry’s diversity. But the public relations profession is not just about sending out press releases. It’s has numerous tricks – not just media relations – to introduce, maintain and protect corporate reputations. Besides which, if something is worth doing then surely it’s worth doing right. Plus, how can agencies expect to form long-term relationship with their clients if they don’t actually support their clients’ bottom-line?

The move towards setting pre-agreed objectives has already taken hold in the public relations industry, and this ideology has already helped to reflect the term ‘public relations’ as a must have weapon in any corporate armoury and not just an expensive way of wasting money.

So if the public relations industry can do it, surely the marketing sector must see a need to follow and introduce an end-game that reflects the needs of the client – surely.