Gender: Feminine
Origin: Debated
Meaning: Debated

Katherine and Catherine have to be one of the quintessential female classics of the Western World, according to the United States Social Security Administration’s popularity charts, Katherine has not fallen out of the top 100 for over a 100 years. She has remained a staple, bouncing the lowest to 105th position in 1938 and bouncing the highest to the 25th place in 1991. She currently ranks in as the 45th most popular female name in the United States (2008). Her elder English and French counterpart, Catherine, comes in slightly lower, but has remained fairly high in the American charts since 1880. Her highest position being at # 18 in 1914 and then again in 1917 and came in the lowest just this past year, ranking in at # 149.

In other countries, the rankings of Katherine are as follows:

# 78 (Canada-BC, 2008)
# 63 (Chile, 2006)

Her popularity in other incarnations are as follows: (divided alphabetically by cited country)

Katharina (# 8, Austria, 2008)
Catalina (# 3, Chile, 2006)
Kateřina (# 7, Czech Republic, 2008)
Katrin (# 6, Faroe Islands, 2008)
Aikaterini (# 3, Greece, 2004)
Katrín (# 4, Iceland, 2004-2007)
Katie (# 2, Ireland, 2008)
Kate (# 10, Ireland, 2008)
Karin (9th most popular female name among Palestinian Christians in Israel, 2004)
Katharina (# 5, Liechtenstein, 2008)
Katerina (# 10, Macedonia, 2006)
Katie (# 1, Northern Ireland, 2008)
Yekaterina (# 1, Russia-St. Petersburg, 2003)
Yekaterina (# 6, Russia-Moscow, 2007)
Katie (# 8, Scotland, 2008)
Katarina (# 7, Serbia, 2005)
Katarína (# 4, Slovakia, 2004)
Kaitlyn (# 10, United States-Combined Spellings, 2007)

As for the etymology of the name, it has always been popularly believed to mean “pure” but its history and origins are far more complicated and muddled. There are several theories as to its derivations and linguistic origins, the most popular are that it is either derived from the Greek  word, ΚαΘαροσ, (katharos), meaning, “pure”, or the Greek Εεκατερινε, (Hekaterine), a feminine form of the Greek, Hekáteros, meaning “each of the two; singly.” It has also been suggested that it is a form of the Greek goddess name, Hecate, which means “from a far”, or it is possibly from the Greek word, αικια (aikia) meaning, “torture; injurious treatment.” According to Behindthename, another theory suggests that it could be from a Coptic name meaning “my consecration of your name.”

The name was introduced into Western Europe after European Crusaders encountered the Christians of the Middle East, among them, the devotion of a popular 4th-century, Christian saint was discovered, St. Katherine of Alexandria. According to legend, the saint was spiked and tortured on a wheel after refusing to deny her Christian convictions and converting several members of the Alexandrian royal family to Christianity. Her cult was very popular among Christians in Syria, many centuries before her story even reached Europe. After its introduction, European Latin scholars assumed that the name was associated with the Greek Katharos meaning “pure.”

The name was first recorded in England in 1196. It was thereafter an extremely popular name in Christian Europe.

Catherine has several name-days, but the most popular, and the most widely celebrated during the Middle Ages, took place on November 25th. There is an old French celebration that took place on November 25th.  It was a day for unmarried women, twenty-five years and older, (labelled Catherinette’s in French). They would make caps, attend balls and crown the local St. Catherine of Alexandria statue with a custom hat. This was to ensure that the saint would provide the single ladies a partner by the end of the year. The term “capping st. Catherine” was used in reference to a single woman 25 years and up. This tradition died out somewhat, but remains a popular festivity among hat-makers and dress-makers even till today, particularly in the 2nd arrondisment of Paris. Any women who is single, working in the fashion industry, 25 years old and older, can attend a ball in a specially made hat, and go to the City Hall to present their creations for judging.

Though the term is a bit old fashioned, catherinette is a French word used to refer to a single women who is 25 years and older.

Other notable bearers, place and things include:

Catherine of Aragon

Catherina is the name of a crater on the moon, named for St. Catherine of Alexandria.

The Monastery of St. Catherine’s in Sinai Egypt, which is said to be the oldest Christian monastery and boasts one of the largest collections codices and manuscripts in the world.

St. Katherine Municipality lies in the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, its city is St. Katherine’s.

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380), a renowned Catholic saint, theologian, Doctor of the Church and tertiary of the Dominican order. She was known for her mystical experiences and her papal counseling.

St. Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) another Italian saint, she is considered the patron saint of Bologna, artists and against temptations.

Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536) the first wife of Henry VII of England. Actually, Henry went on to marry two other Catherines, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr.

St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) was a Catholic Algonquin woman affectionately termed Lily of the Mohawks, she was also the daughter of a chief. At a young age she was ravished by the scars of small-pox and lived a life of devotion till she died at the age of 24.

Now to delve into her sundry variations.

Latinate Forms

Variations from various Romance based languages

• Catèlena (Artapan)
• Catin/Catineta/Catinon (Bearnais)
• Caterina (Catalan/Italian/Spanish)
• Catalina (Corsican/Gascon/Occitanian/Spanish)
• Catherine (French)
• Katia (Italian: a borrowing from the Russian but very popular in Italy)
• Rina (Italian diminutive form, used as an independent given name)
• Catharina (Late Latin)
• Catarina (Portuguese/Occitanian/Galician/Romansch)
• Cátia (Portuguese: originally a diminutive form or either a Portugeusized form of the Slavic Katya, particularly common in Brazil, where it was most likely introduced by Russian and Ukrainian immigrants)
• Catarino (Provencal)
• Ninoun (Provencal: originally a diminutive, now becoming more common as an independent given name)
• Cătălina/Ecaterina (Romanian)
• Catinca (Romanian: a romanianized form of the Russian diminutive, Katinka, used as an independent given name)
• Catina (Romanian/Sicilian)
• Catrina (Romanian)
• Catrina/Chatrina (Romansch)
• Caderina/Catellina (Sardinian)

Obscure French diminiutives are Catherinette, Trinette and Rinette.

Germanic Forms
Variation from various Germanic based languages

• Caja (Danish)
• Catharina/Cathrine/Katarina/Katherina (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
• Karen (Danish)
• Karin (Danish/Norwegian/Swedish)
• Katharine (Danish)
• Katrina/Katrine/Kathrina/Kathrin (Danish)
• Trine (Danish)
• Catharina (Dutch/Swedish)
• Cato (Dutch)
• Kaatje (Dutch)
• Katelijne/Katelijn (Dutch)
• Katrien (Dutch)
• Katrijn (Dutch)
• Nienke (Dutch)
• Tineke (Dutch: originally a diminutive form, used as an independent given name)
• Toos/Truus (Dutch: initially diminutive forms, used as independent given names)
• Trijn/Trijntje (Dutch)
• Kate/Katie (English: originally diminutive forms, now often used as independent given names in most English speaking countries)
• Katherine/Karen (English)
• Katarina/Katrin (Faroese/Danish)
• Katrina (Faroese)
• Kaja (Frisian)
• Käthe/Caatje (Frisian)
• Katryntje (Frisian)
• Keetje (Frisian)
• Nine/Nynke (Frisian)
• Cathrin/Catrin/Kathrin (German)
• Carin/Karin/Karina/Karine (German/Swedish/Norwegian/Danish)
• Katarina/Katerine/Katharina (German)
• Kathrein (German)
• Katinka (German/Dutch: Germanized form of the Russian diminutive, Katenka)
• Katja (German)
• Trina (German)
• Kaðlín (Icelandic: kahth-LEEN)
• Karín (Icelandic)
• Kata/Katarína/Katrín (Icelandic)
• Kett (Lëtzebuergesch)
• Kaia (Norwegian)
• Kari (Norwegian)
• Trina (Plauttdeutsch)
• Cajsa/Kajsa (Swedish)
• Katarina (Swedish)
• Reina (Yiddish)

Obscure German diminutive forms are Käthchen and Trinchen. A Swiss German dialectical diminutive is Käti. English diminutive forms are Cat, Cathy, Kate, Kathy, Katie, Kay, Kiki, (also used in Sweden and Norway), Kit and Kitty.

Celtic Forms
Variations from various Celtic based languages

• Katarin (Breton)
• Katell/Kattelig (Breton: latter is pronounced kah-tel-LEEK)
• Katik (Breton: kah-TEEK)
• Katou (Breton: kah-TOO)
• Cáit/Cáitín (Irish)
• Catraoine/Caiterína (Irish)
• Caitlín (Irish)
• Caitria/Caitrín (Irish)
• Caitríona (Irish)
• Cathleen/Kathleen (Irish: anglicized form of Caitlin)
• Catreena/Catreeney (Manx)
• Catrìona (Scottish)
• Cadi (Welsh)
• Catrin (Welsh)

Slavic Forms
Variation used in Slavonic based languages

• Kacjaryna (Belorusian: kahts-yah-REE-nah)
• Ekaterina (Bulgarian/Macedonian/Russian)
• Kateřina (Czech: kah-teh-ZHEE-nah)
• Katarzyna (Polish: kah-tah-ZHIH-nah)
• Jekaterina/Yekaterina (Russian)
• Katarina (Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian)
• Katarína (Slovakian)
• Katica (Slovenian: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name. kah-TEET-sah)
• Katja (Slovenian: originally a diminutive form, now used as an independent given name. KAHT-yah)
• Katherine/Kateryna (Ukrainian)

Russian Diminutives include: Katenka, Katiusha and Katya, Czech pet forms are,Káťa, Kačka, Káča, Kačí, Kačenka, Kača, Kačaba, Kačík, Kačuda, Kaťulka, Katerinka, Katica, Katja, Katka, Katla, Katuška and Rina. The most popular diminutive form in Poland is Kasia (KAH-shuh), but there is also Kachna, Kaśka, Kasienka and Kasiunia. Serbo-Croatian diminiutive forms are Kata, Kate (final E is pronounced), Katica, Katja, Katarincica and Rina. A Bulgarian diminutives is Katriška.Ukrainian diminutives are: Katrusya, Katya and Katerynka. Belorusian diminutive forms are Kasja and Katra.

Baltic Forms
Various forms used in the Baltic States

• Kaarin (Estonian)
• Kadi/Kadri/Kadrin (Estonian)
• Kairi/Kari (Estonian)
• Kaisa/Kaisu (Estonian/Finnish)
• Katre/Katri/Katrin (Estonian)
• Triina/Triin/Triinu (Estonian)
• Kaija (Finnish)
• Kata (Finnish)
• Katariina (Finnish/Estonian)
• Kati (Finnish)
• Katja (Finnish)
• Katri/Katriina (Finnish)
• Riina (Finnish)
• Jekaterina (Latvian)
• Kate (Latvian: final E is pronounced)
• Katrīna (Latvian)
• Trine (Latvian: final E is pronounced)
• Katerina/Katrina (Lithuanian)
• Katrė (Lithuanian)
• Katryna (Lithuanian)
• Kotryna (Lithuanian)

Other Languages

• Katarina/Katjusha/Katerina/Katha (Albanian)
• Gadara/Gadarine/Kadara/Kadarine (Armenian)
• Karine (Armenian)
• Katalina (Basque)
• Katalin (Basque/Hungarian)
• Katarin (Basque)
• Ekaterina (Georgian)
• Kattak (Greenlandic)
• Aikaterine/Aikaterini (Greek Modern)
• Katerina (Greek Modern)
• Katina (Greek Modern)
• Kakalina/Kalena/Kalina (Hawaiian)
• Kathani (Hindi/Arabic)
• Katarina (Hungarian/Turkish)
• Kasari (Japanese)
• Katarina (Maltese)
• Kataraina (Maori)
• Kateri (Mohawk)
• Gáddjá (Saami)
• Gáhte (Saami)
• Gáhteriinná/Káhtariinná (Saami)
• Gáre/Káre (Saami)
• Gáren (Saami)
• Kasrin ܟܐܣܪܝܢ (Syriac/Assyrian)
• Akaterina (Turkish)

Hungarian diminutive forms include Kata, Kati, Katica, Katinka, Kató, Katóka, Kitti and Koto.

There are a few masculine forms, the Italian Caterino, Catterino, Cattalino, Catinu (Sicilian dialectical form), and the Romanian Cătălin.

Voilà une dizaine de jours que je rédigeais un article inhérent à une requête simple: la mise à disposition de conteneurs et bacs poubelle.

Le message est visiblement très bien passé puisque depuis hier, c’est chose faite à proximité de mon immeuble d’habitation.

Et pour l’occasion, ils n’y sont pas allés de main morte, pas moins de 4 gros conteneurs poubelle qui arrivent d’un coup d’un seul, à point nommé. Les riverains ne sont pas habitués à cela, car évidemment ils n’en ont jamais eu à disposition! Ils n’auront que l’embarras du choix, quel conteneur pourront-ils bien choisir pour déposer leurs déchets n’est-ce-pas?

Mais en tout cas, je m’en réjouis pleinement et c’était là tout le sens de ma requête, c’est plus de propreté dans les rues de notre ville et plus de responsabilisation des habitants, les invitant à non plus déposer leurs sacs poubelle sur les trottoirs mais dans les conteneurs prévus à cet effet.

Troparion

Greek usage (Tone Plagal 1)

Let us praise the all-lauded and noble bride of Christ,

the godly Catherine, the guardian of Sinai and its defense,

who is also our support and succour and our help;

for with the Holy Spirit’s sword

she hath silenced brilliantly the clever among the godless;

and being crowned as a martyr, she now doth ask great mercy for us all.

Slavic usage (Tone 4)

Thy lamb Catherine, O Jesus,

Calls out to thee in a loud voice:

I love thee, O my bridegroom,

And in seeking thee, I endure suffering.

In baptism I was crucified so that I might reign in thee,

And died so that I might live with thee.

Accept me as a pure sacrifice,

For I have offered myself in love.

By her prayers save our souls, since thou art merciful.

The Holy Great Martyr Catherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandrian Egypt during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-313).

Living in the capital, the center of Hellenistic knowledge, and possessed of a rare beauty and intellect, Catherine received an excellent education, studying the works of the greatest philosophers and teachers of antiquity.

Young men from the most worthy families of the empire sought the hand of the beautiful Catherine, but she was not interested in any of them.

She told her parents that she would enter into marriage only with someone who surpassed her in nobility, wealth, comeliness and wisdom. Catherine’s mother, a secret Christian, sent her to her own spiritual Father, a saintly Elder living in a cave outside the city, for advice. After listening to Catherine, the Elder said that he knew of a Youth who surpassed her in everything. “His countenance is more radiant than the shining of the sun, and all of creation is governed by His wisdom. His riches are given to all the nations of the world, yet they never diminish. His compassion is unequaled.”

This description of the Heavenly Bridegroom produced in the soul of the holy maiden an ardent desire to see Him. “If you do as I tell you,” said the monk, “you will gaze upon the countenance of this illustrious man.” In parting, the Elder handed Catherine an icon of the Theotokos with the divine Child Jesus on Her arm and told her to pray with faith to the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of the Heavenly Bridegroom, and She would hear Catherine and grant her heart’s desire.

Catherine prayed all night and was permitted to see the Most Holy Virgin, Who said Her Divine Son, “Behold Thy handmaiden Catherine, how fair and virtuous she is.” But the Child turned His face away from her saying, “No, she is ugly and unbelieving. She is a foolish pauper, and I cannot bear to look at her until she forsakes her impiety.”

Catherine returned again to the Elder deeply saddened, and told him what she had seen in the dream. He lovingly received her, instructed her in the faith of Christ, admonished her to preserve her purity and integrity and to pray unceasingly. She then received the Mystery of holy Baptism from him. Again St Catherine had a vision of the Most Holy Theotokos with Her Child. Now the Lord looked tenderly at her and gave her a beautiful ring, a wondrous token of her betrothal to the Heavenly Bridegroom (This ring is still on her hand).

At that time the emperor Maximian was in Alexandria for a pagan festival. Therefore, the celebration was especially splendid and crowded. The cries of the sacrificial animals, the smoke and the smell of the sacrifices, the endless blazing of fires, and the bustling crowds at the arenas defiled the city of Alexandria. Human victims also were brought, the confessors of Christ, those who would not deny Him under torture. They were condemned to death in the fire.

The saint’s love for the Christian martyrs and her fervent desire to ease their sufferings compelled Catherine to speak to the pagan priest and to the emperor Maximian. Introducing herself, the saint confessed her faith in the One True God and with wisdom exposed the errors of the pagans. The beauty of the maiden captivated the emperor. In order to convince her and to show the superiority of pagan wisdom, the emperor ordered fifty of the most learned philosophers and rhetoricians of the Empire to dispute with her, but the saint got the better of the wise men, so that they came to believe in Christ themselves.

St Catherine made the Sign of the Cross over the martyrs, and they bravely accepted death for Christ and were burned alive by order of the emperor. Maximian, no longer hoping to convince the saint, tried to entice her with the promise of riches and fame. Receiving an angry refusal, the emperor gave orders to subject the saint to terrible tortures and then throw her in prison.

The Empress Augusta, who had heard much about the saint, wanted to see her. She prevailed upon the military commander Porphyrius to accompany her to the prison with a detachment of soldiers. The empress was impressed by the strong spirit of St Catherine, whose face was radiant with divine grace. The holy martyr explained the Christian teaching to them, and they were converted to Christ. On the following day they again brought the martyr to the judgment court where, under the threat of being broken on the wheel, they urged that she renounce the Christian Faith and offer sacrifice to the gods. The saint steadfastly confessed Christ and she herself approached the wheels; but an angel smashed the instruments of execution, which shattered into pieces with many pagans standing nearby. Having beheld this wonder, the Empress Augusta and the imperial courtier Porphyrius with 200 soldiers confessed their faith in Christ in front of everyone, and they were beheaded.

Maximian again tried to entice the holy martyr, proposing marriage to her, and again he was refused.

St Catherine firmly confessed her fidelity to the heavenly Bridegroom Christ, and with a prayer to Him she herself lay her head on the block beneath the executioner’s sword.

The relics of St Catherine were taken by the angels to Mount Sinai.

In the sixth century, the venerable head and left hand of the holy martyr were found through a revelation and transferred with honor to a newly-constructed church of the Sinai monastery, built by the holy Emperor Justinian (November 14).

St Catherine is called upon for relief and assistance during a difficult childbirth. Pilgrims to her monastery on Mt Sinai are given souvenir rings as a remembrance of their visit.

Matéria publicada no Caderno 2 do jornal O Estado de São Paulo no dia 14 de novembro de 2009, na página D4

Juventude – Comportamento

Sexo e sangue? Não, é apenas amor

Em essência, o sucesso retumbante da série “Crepúsculo” é mais um caso de romantismo nos moldes de Romeu e Julieta

Luiz Carlos Merten

Quem já leu “Lua Nova”, o segundo livro da saga “Crepúsculo”, sabe que nas últimas páginas do livro Edward e Bella, que formam o casal protagonista, discutem por que ela está lendo “O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes”, de Emily Bronte. O livro é um dos clássicos da literatura inglesa, mas Edward contesta que o casal de amantes, Heathcliff e Catherine, seja colocado no mesmo plano de Romeu e Julieta e Elizabeth e Darcy (de “Orgulho e Preconceito”), como representações do romantismo. Edward contesta Bella, dizendo que a história de “O Morro dos Ventos Uivantes” é de ódio, não é amor.

O leitor jovem pode nem prestar muita atenção no que Edward e Bella dizem, mas quem está falando ali, naquele momento, não é só o rapaz, mas a própria escritora Stephenie Meyer. Formada em literatura inglesa, ela põe ali um toque pessoal, e quem sabe uma pitada de polêmica, ou então está só querendo provar, para si mesma e para os outros, que sabe das coisas. Stephenie é hoje uma das 100 personalidades mais influentes do mundo, e isso só por causa da saga “Crepúsculo”. Já virou lenda urbana a história sobre como ela teve um pesadelo, acordou, foi correndo para seu computador e começou a esboçar a história da garota de classe média que se sente atraída por seu colega, e ele é um vampiro.

Vampiros de classe média, um tento assépticos? Antônio Gonçalves Filho disseca nesta página (abaixo) o que isso representa de mudança em relação à grande tradição do gênero. Mas a verdade é que toda essa devoção do público exige investigação. O primeiro livro, e até o filme, podem ter sido espontaneamente descobertos pelo público. Agora já tem marketing pesado em cima. Roberta Augusto, da empresa Summit, estima que “Lua Nova” poderá mais do que duplicar o público de “Crepúsculo” nos cinemas brasileiros, atingindo 7,5 milhões de espectadores. O investimento está sendo pesado para garantir que isso ocorra e a TV tem sido aliada, não só a rede Telecine.

Garotas sonham mesmo é com beijo de Robert, com todo risco que significa

A Globo fez um concurso, “O Desafio do Vampiro”, cujo desfecho teve pico de audiência dentro do Fantástico, dia 1º. O sucesso se reflete na venda antecipada, que atingiu 95 mil ingressos na rede Cinemark, bem mais do que o fenômeno “Harry Potter”. Lautner é mero coadjuvante em “Crepúsculo”, hoje à noite, na TV paga. Em “Lua Nova”, Pattison é herói que quase não se vê. Lautner – o lobisomem – cresce em cena. O próprio ator passou por uma transformação.

Ele conta que quase foi demitido da produção, mas conseguiu convencer o diretor Chris Weitz que poderia ganhar massa física, e rapidamente. Os garotos, na fase pré-lobisomens, passam pelo filme com barrigas tanquinhos e bíceps desenvolvidos, quase sempre sem camisa. Em tempos de Mix Brasil, a produção não se arrisca a desperdiçar o potencial de atração para um público, digamos, alternativo. Lautner, apesar do físico sagrado, é meio garotão. Kristen é mais reflexiva. Um pouco para o companheiro de elenco, um pouco para o repórter, ela comenta a agitação na frente do hotel, a correria dos fãs.

“Temos a sorte de estar aqui, e tudo isso é maravilhoso, mas a série é maior que nós e outros atores poderiam estar provocando a mesma reação. O público não está aqui porque eu sou Bella e Taylor (Lautner) é Jacob. Talvez Robert (Pattison) seja o mais carismático de nós todos, mas até ele acha maluco que tenha ido dormir um dia anônimo e acordado uma celebridade por causa de um vampiro que interpreta num filme de Hollywood”. O Repórter tenta puxar o assunto para a iconografia tradicional do gênero. Vampiros são sensuais, voam, o ato de sugar o sangue a vida eterna mexem com fantasias profundas. Nada disso é relevante aqui. O que Stephenie (Meyer) reinventou, o que nós estamos reinventando aqui é “Romeu e Julieta”. Vá lá foram e pergunte para aquelas garotas. Todas gostariam que Robert (Pattison) aparecesse e as beijasse, com todo o risco que isso implica. Só isso”. O romance, portanto, predomina sobre a perseverança. O sucesso da série é um sinal dos tempos.

Serge Pugeault se vante constamment de la rapidité de la majorité municipale à entamer la réfection de la Halle du Boulingrin, alors que par le passé ce dossier paraissait au ralenti.

C’est clairement de la mauvaise foi car si Adeline Hazan et son équipe ont eu la possibilité de lancer aussi vite ce dossier, c’est grâce aux travaux d’études réalisés par l’équipe précédente. Il serait bon qu’ils ne l’omettent pas!

M. Pugeault met en cause la lenteur du déblocage de l’aide de l’Etat à la réfection qui était bloquée depuis 1996…C’est aussi objectivement l’une des causes du non avancement du dossier par le passé !

Surtout, c’est la preuve que gouvernements de gauche comme de droite n’avaient pas rempli cet engagement, alors même que Serge Pugeault se répand partout en affirmant que l’enveloppe accordée dans le cadre du plan de relance n’est que le rattrappage de cette promesse non tenue.

Enfin et c’est important de le souligner, c’est Jack Lang qui a classé ce bâtiment pour des raisons politiciennes en 1985, alors que sa qualité architecturale est très largement décriée.

M. Pugeault a la mémoire bien courte et une lecture partiale et partielle de ce dossier, il n’a même pas le souci de la cohérence dans les propos qu’il tient, trop occupé à politiser à outrance et à vouloir discréditer l’Etat et l’Exécutif…

Sorry Catherine, but not much to report today.  Got home from the lab at 10 tonight, and was pretty beat.  I did get a couple of things figured out.  First, Catherine and I discussed how to make the wire wall better, and we concluded that overlapping pictures would be pretty cool.  Then we extended that idea to have bunches of smaller wires at different heights.  When I actually looked at the wall, I decided that a crossword look would combine all of those things, and tie everything together.  So we’ll have horizontal and vertical wires, and try to have pictures in a row or column keep to one theme.

I also acquired some sand paper, which is useful for sanding things.  I bought it from a local hardware store called Lee’s.  Lee, and his associates, have never enjoyed selling anything to anyone.  As I said to Catherine after leaving, their motto should be, ‘Every transaction is a transgression’.  Nothing like supporting the local place.

Tomorrow might be difficult to get anything done, since I’m heading home for dinner and Thanksgiving.  Maybe I’ll have some time in the morning to add some new rows.  I think I’ll spend some time at home researching the on demand heating system and water pump.  Not sure if that’s going to be possible or not, but it might be nice to have a functional dish washer, and I think it would add some value to the house.  Hopefully I have some time this weekend to get some good stuff done.

The Life of Holy Great-Martyr Katherine

The Holy Great-Martyr Katherine was the daughter of Constus, the governor of Alexandrian Egypt, during the reign of the emperor Maximian (305-313). Living in the capital — the center of Hellenistic knowledge, and possessed of an uncommon beauty and intellect — Katherine received a most splendid education, having studied the works of the finest philosophers and teachers of antiquity. Young men from the most worthy families of the empire sought the hand of the beautiful Katherine, but none of them was chosen. She declared to her parents that she would be agreeable to enter into marriage only with someone who surpassed her in illustriousness, wealth, comeliness and wisdom.

Katherine’s mother, a secret Christian, sent her for advice to her own spiritual father — a saintly elder pursuing prayerful deeds in solitude in a cave not far from the city. Having listened to Katherine, the elder said that he knew of a youth, who surpassed her in everything, such that “His beauty was more radiant than the shining of the sun, His wisdom governed all creation, His riches were spread throughout all the world — this however did not diminish but rather added to the inexpressible loftiness of His lineage”. The image of the Christ produced in the soul of the holy maiden an ardent desire to see Him. Truth, to which her soul yearned, revealed it to her. In parting, the elder handed Katherine an icon of the Mother of God with the God-Child Jesus on Her arm and bid her to pray with faith to Mary for the bestowing of the vision of Her Son.

Katherine prayed all night and was given to see the Most Holy Virgin, Who sent Her Divine Son to look upon the kneeling of Katherine before Them. But the Child turned His face away from her saying, that He was not able to look at her because she was ugly, of shabby lineage, beggarly and mindless like every person — not washed with the waters of holy Baptism and not sealed with the seal of the Holy Spirit. Katherine returned again to the elder deeply saddened. He lovingly received her, instructed her in the faith of Christ, admonished her to preserve her purity and integrity and to pray unceasingly; he then performed over her the sacrament of holy Baptism. And again Saint Katherine had a vision of the Most Holy Mother of God with Her Child. Now the Lord looked tenderly at her and gave her a ring — a wondrous gift of the Heavenly Bridegroom.

At this time the emperor Maximian was himself in Alexandria for a pagan feast day. Because of this, the feast was especially splendid and crowded. The cries of the sacrificial animals, the smoke and the smell of the sacrifices, the endless blazing of fires, and the bustling crowds at the arenas filled Alexandria. Human victims also were brought — because they consigned to death in the fire the confessors in Christ, those not recanting from Him under torture. The Saint’s love for the Christian martyrs and her fervent desire to lighten their fate impelled Katherine to go to the pagan head-priest and ruler of the empire, the emperor-persecutor Maximian.

Introducing herself, the saint confessed her Christian faith and with wisdom denounced the errors of the pagans. The beauty of the maiden captivated the emperor. In order to convince her and show the superiority of pagan wisdom, the emperor gave orders to gather 50 of the most learned men of the empire, but the Saint got the better of the wise men, such that they themselves came to believe in Christ. Saint Katherine shielded them with the sign of the cross, and they bravely accepted death for Christ and were burnt by order of the emperor.

Maximian, no longer hoping to convince the saint, tried to entice her with the promise of riches and fame. Having received an angry refusal, the emperor gave orders to subject the saint to terrible tortures and then throw her in prison. The Empress Augusta, who had heard much about Katherine, wanted to see her. Having prevailed upon the military-commander Porphyry to accompany her with a detachment of soldiers, Augusta went to the prison. The empress was impressed by the strong spirit of Saint Katherine, whose face glowed with Divine grace. The holy martyress explained the Christian teaching to the newly-arrived, and they in believing were converted to Christ.

On the following day they again brought the her to the judgment court where, under the threat of being broken on the wheel, they urged that she recant from the Christian faith and offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. The saint steadfastly confessed Christ and she herself approached the wheels; but an Angel smashed the instruments of execution, which broke up into pieces with many pagans passing nearby. Having beheld this wonder, the empress Augusta and the imperial courtier Porphyry with 200 soldiers confessed their faith in Christ in front of everyone, and they were beheaded. Maximian again tried to entice Saint Katherine, proposing marriage to her, and again he received a refusal. She confessed her fidelity to the Heavenly Bridegroom — Christ, and with a prayer to Him she herself put her head on the block under the sword of the executioner.

In the VI Century, through a revelation, the relics of Saint Katherine were found and transferred with honor to a newly constructed church of the Sinai monastery, built by the holy emperor Justinian (527-565). The church and monastery remain to this day.

With her wealth, beauty, education, and high social class, it would have been very tempting for Saint Katherine to deny Christ, save her worldly life, and go back to an easy, privileged lifestyle. Instead, she chose to follow her faith.

HYMNS OF THE SAINT

Apolytikion (Plagal Of The First Tone)

Let us praise the most auspicious bride of Christ, the divine Katherine, protectress of Sinai, our aid and our help. For, she brilliantly silenced the eloquence of the impious by the sword of the spirit, and now, crowned as a martyr, she asks great mercy for all.

Kontakion (Second Tone)

O friends of martyrs, now divinely raise up a renewed chorus, praising the all-wise Katherine. For, she proclaimed Christ in the arena, trampled on the serpent, and spat upon the knowledge of the orators.

“His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” (Psalm 147:10-11 NIV)

I have been in ministry off and on throughout my Christian life and I love it. The hardest time for me is when reluctantly God puts me on the shelf, when both door and window are tightly closed. My thoughts continue to go to the same place, “I should be doing something.” But what?

It is my mistake to believe that activity equals accomplishment; this verse affirms that. His delight is not in my “doing” but in my devotion to Him. I believe that it is during these quiet times that my roots grow deeper as I seek Him for Him alone.

He knows my body tires very quickly and I tend to push past its bounds so He leads me beside quiet waters and restores my soul just as the 23rd psalm says. It becomes about our love relationship, the intimacy we have from spending times together rather than works.

As people with chronic illness our hope remains in His unfailing love. Our bodies don’t work as we would like and our “doing” has been greatly diminished but He continues to delight or, according to the Hebrew, “be well pleased” with us. What a blessing!

It is our heart and mind that needs to be refreshed with this word. Laying down what we think pleases God and embracing what He is now saying to me and you.

Do not fear inactivity, but in those times allow the Lord’s love to be a balm that invades your body, soul and spirit so that when He again calls, you might go out again changed, more like Him because we have laid down the “doing” and embraced Him.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catherine Barron lives in Sheridan, Montana. She is semi retired and loves to read, write and enjoy her latest hobby, outdoor photography, although her first love will always be the word of God. She considers her fibromyalgia a formidable unrelenting teacher.

Tomorrow, 25 November, is the feast of St Catherine the Great Martyr of Alexandria (ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς της Ἀλεξάνδρειας, hē Hagia Aikaterinē hē Megalomartys tēs Alexandreias). It is also the commemoration of Isaac Watts, famous hymnwriter, in the Church of England calendar (and surely those of other churches too).

13th-century icon of St Catherine from Mt Sinai

Popularly, Catherine is associated with her eponymous wheel that makes it gyratory appearance at fireworks displays, symbolising the first attempted means of her martyrdom. Her legend tells of a young virgin woman who contended in dialogue with the pagan Emperor Maximinus Daia (308–13), successfully converting to Christianity his wife and courtiers, countering their philosophical arguments. The frustrated emperor ordered her tortured to death on the breaking wheel, which broke when she touched it, and so she was beheaded. Angels carried her body to Mt Sinai, where her tomb now lies.

The Catherine legend is problematic for a number of reasons. Although that does not mean that there is no real woman behind the legend, almost none of legend seems to be substantial. Maximinus is a hate figure in Christian history, being ruler of Syria and Egypt and accused of restarting the persecutions against Christians after Galerius, his adoptive uncle, had put an end to Diocletian’s persecutions. Maximinus was also part of the post-Diocletianic struggle for power opposing the party of Constantine (considered the victor of Christendom). It makes sense to see the Catherine legend in this political atmosphere. Surely, there must have been martyrdoms in Alexandria in this period.

Poster for Alejandro Amenábar's 'Agora'

However, the legend seems to have accreted another similar, yet quite opposite, legend: the legend of Hypatia (Ὑπατία). Hypatia lived in Alexandria from the late fourth century, dying in 415. She was a brilliant philosopher of the Neoplatonic tradition, skilled in logic, maths and astronomy. She taught in Alexandria, numbering a future bishop as one of her students. Problematically for the Christian community of the city, she was a pagan. A power struggle for the city was taking place between its bishop Cyril and its prefect Orestes. A mob of monks from the Nitrian Desert had previously attacked Orestes, injuring him. Hypatia was believed to be using her influence as a highly respected professor in favour of Orestes. Believing this, the Nitrian monks, led by Peter the Reader, surrounded Hypatia’s carriage, pulled her out, stripped her and dragged her through the streets. Accounts of her death at the hands of the monks have been variously dramatised in disturbingly sadistic detail. Socrates Scholasticus, a Christian historian of the fifth century, has a sympathetic account of her brutal murder, clearly dismayed by the action of his coreligionists. The legend of Hypatia, however, became powerful anti-Christian propaganda in the hands of the dwindling old Graeco-Roman aristocracy and educated elite. She has remained an icon of reason against the assaults of intolerance and religious extremism. The end of the GW Bush regime in the United States was perhaps as good a time as any to revisit Hypatia, as done in film Ágora by Alejandro Amenábar, with Rachel Weisz as our 21st-century Hypatia.

I can understand the Catherine legend having much to do with guilt-fuelled counter-propaganda against the embarrassing Hypatia legend. It is certainly a disgusting blot on the church if we are guilty of rewriting history to turn our shame into a symbol of our suffering under persecution. Perhaps more sad is the daily severe discrimination met by today’s Christian community in Egypt, the Copts.

I don’t know if it counts for anything, but 25 November is also 29 Hathor in the Coptic calendar, and the height of the month named for the goddess Hathor.

Isaac Watts

The story of Isaac Watts is over a millennium away from the stories of Catherine and Hypatia. Born in another great port city, Southampton, in 1674, his father was twice imprisoned for holding to nonconformist religious practices: he was not a member of the state church, the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 had put severe constraints on those who chose to worship in manner not in accordance with that of the state church. Although showing great academic promise, Watts was unable to study at Oxbridge due to his refusal to accept the rules of the state church. Instead he went to an academy in Stoke Newington, that was set up for the benefit of nonconformists. Many others would have submitted in name alone to the state religion in order to progress in life, but Isaac Watts was steadfast in the independence of his belief.

Watts became a dissenting minister in Stoke Newington. While there he wrote a hugely influential work on logic, which became the official text on the matter in the Oxbridge universities that had denied him on religious grounds. He opposed the imposition of trinitarian doctrine on dissenting ministers by the movement’s conservative wing, upholding their right of each to formulate their doctrine in accord with their reason. This has lead to thoughts that he was a unitarian, something that is not apparent from his writings. Shunned and opposed in life, Isaac Watts is the Father of English Hymnody. The hundreds of hymns he wrote are a unity of passionate faith commingled with doctrinal clarity, unsurprising for a great logician perhaps. However, few in the Church of England who gladly sing When I survey the wondrous Cross or Jesus shall reign where’er the sun realise the radical man behind those words and the intolerant hatred of him and those like him by our church.

So, tomorrow, let’s celebrate Catherine and Isaac, for there is plenty to celebrate. But let us also contemplate Hypatia and Watts the rejected dissenter, better to understand our place in the history of religious intolerance.

Here’s a picture of my picture wire, which was really not what I was hoping for. I think a second row of pictures will make it look cooler, but I’m not sure. It also has this stupid flair on the right side, which makes the whole thing look not straight. I’m going to try to fix that right now. Haven’t given up hope, and think it can still look cool. Also kind of annoyed that there is a tremendous glare on the left side. It’s exacerbated by the flash, but still.

Make me better, please!

Also, here’s a link to the pictures we have up currently, which you might think are mostly of me, but I think of them as pictures that Catherine has taken of me. She’s a really good photographer.

Picassa Album

Here’s the list. This will have stuff I haven’t done, stuff I’ve done, stuff I’d like to do, etc. I have no idea what will get done, or how many I can list right now, but I’ll come back and update it as things get done and added.  (bold items have been completed)

Special note for Catherine:  Please sit down before you click the ‘more’ button.  You may see things that when you envision me doing them will make you think, ‘Elizabeth … this is the big one!’

1. Ran TGIF (Grad school event for PhD students that Catherine usually captains)
2. Hung picture wire and pictures
3. Replaced light bulbs in vanity
4. Took books to school (we had a pile of Computer Science books that were just taking up space at home)
5. Spackled nicks in wall
6. Prime entry wall
7. Prime stair wall
8. Paint entry wall
9. Paint stair wall
10. Touch up feature wall in living room
11. Touch up bathroom
12. Arrange picture frames in stairwell
13. Hang second picture wire and pictures
14. Fix kitchen lights (may involve an electrician)
15. On demand hot water for kitchen
16. Water pump for dishwasher (I hate the dishwasher.  I hate even listing something that might improve it
17. Remove/sell washer/dryer (anyone want a washer/dryer combo?)
18. Remove/sell rowing machine
19. Remove/sell old warddrobe
20. Clear/organize storage closet in basement
21. Get RAM for Catherine’s computer
22. Paint a triptych for the wall in our room (maybe this should be three tasks, but one for now)
23. Clear/organize dressers in office
24. The office (the office should probably have numbers 25-75 in this list, but I’ll just put down one for now)
25. Hang a plant or something nice from the ceiling
26. Put up the last shelve from our IKEA trip two years ago
27. Find a place for the picture ledges, and hang those
28. Do at least 15 pushups a day (Hey, I’m something around the house)
29. Gets locks squared away for the condo building
30. Rehang the rose picture that used to hang in the bedroom
31. New picture of the Love sign
32. Magnets to make beer cap magnets from our Germany caps
33. Fix the polaroid strips picture frame, including geting it a backing of some kind
34. Crown molding
35. Fix Liz’s silk screen

An interesting thing happened today.

I was told to remove a book from my book list because of “explicit content.” The book was Stardust, by Neil Gaiman, and the questionable content was the scene in the beginning where Dunstan is seduced by the witch. Luckily, due to the fact that the book isn’t really that risque for a teenager, I was able to get away with a gracious “Thanks for letting me know!” (I knew, I’ve read it) and leave it on the list.

It brings up a compelling & multi-faceted argument, though. I bookmarked Claire’s take on it back when she wrote it, because I love hearing other young teachers’ opinions on classroom politics. I thought of her (and in conjunction, this one from the Guardian book blog) today. Do we have a right to censor what kids read?

The answer is, ostensibly, yes. But is it good for them? No. Life isn’t pretty. People die. Pets run away. Genocides happen. People have babies in one night stands with faerie-slaves. It’s life. So I tweeted earlier that I wasn’t going to take it off the list.

My parents (all 4 of them) never censored what I consumed in any form, especially not books. Sure, Beavis and Butthead were verboten, but I read The Diary of Anne Frank when I was 8. They knew I was smart enough to ask questions if I had them, research what I didn’t understand, and most importantly, they knew that I was intelligent enough to understand the difference between reality and fantasy. In fact, I still mostly can! Bonus.

Do some books blur the line? Absolutely. But riddle me this: what’s worse? A skanky faerie-witch, or a main character whose whole relationship is predicated on saying ‘No’ and being forced to do things anyway? The whole Twilight franchise glorifies ignorance and sexism, and yet… No… Stardust?  We’ll encourage unrealistic teenage relationships, unrealistic teenage marriage fantasies, and unrealistic teenage pregnancy, thanks.

Great.

I clearly win.

Weekend #1 without Catherine, which is time to do some damage on the house, right?

Right?

Well, I was called away to special duty at b’s house again. It was weekend two of railing building at Rancho B, and this weekend was much more successful than last weekend. We actually finished major construction on the railing, which is now usable. Huzzah.

That left me with Sunday, which was plenty of time to get some stuff done. Keep in mind that an additional hurdle is not having a car, so something like going to Lowe’s is not a trivial task. Here’s what happened on Sunday.

Picture hanging wire
Catherine and I recently went to get some pictures developed, and the photo place had a cool idea for hanging pictures. They had a wire strung straight across, and from that wire they had pictures hung by binder clips. It was really simple, and it was much easier to change out pictures: just get new ones printed and hang them up. I went to Lowe’s and bought some braided wire and two eye hooks to hang it from. Easy.

Except that braided wire comes in a coil, which is round, and straight lines come in straight, which is straight. So first I had to wrestle with teh wire to get it decently straight. I think a heavier wire would have been less coiled, but I had what I had. After a few twists, and a couple attempts by the wire to stab me in the eye, I got it mostly straight, which was good because that matches the aforementioned description of straight lines.

Next came the eye hooks, which were a delight. I didn’t realize how important it would be for them to be tightly screwed into the wall at first, so I just kind of screwed them in. They stuck, so everything looked good. I fed the wire through one end, tied it off, then looped it through the other, and discovered that it was sagging. No problem, I’ll just tighten it. And that’s when I discovered how important it is to have the hooks in their tightly, because I immediately yanked a hook out, which caused the hook and wire end to come flying towards my eye, which luckily had my Clark Kent frames in the way.

Now I had two eye hook sized holes in the wall, with eye hooks that had now both come out. After some swearing, and a lot of staring at the wall, I decided to put an anchor in the wall, and then screw the eye hook into that (the anchor is a gigantic screw that acts as a solid base to screw something else into. It provides support, which is what I needed.). I started driving the anchor in, and it hit a stud, which is anchor poison. That meant that the eye hook wasn’t long enough to hit the stud, but the anchor was, meaning I was screwed. I now had a gigantic, anchor-sized hole in the wall, and no anchor.

I moved the entire operation over about 1 inch, and it worked fine. The other anchor didn’t hit a stud either, so we were in business. After screwing the eye hooks into the anchors, I ran the wire through again, and pulled it taut. Voila, I had something. Tomorrow I plan on printing some pictures out and clipping them in there. At that point, I’ll update with some pictures and mark this task as completed. I think I’d also like to run another wire at a lower height. Now that I know what I’m doing, it shouldn’t take nearly as long. Here are the stats from today’s mission:
3 hours total time
1.5 hours staring at wall
.5 hours trying to screw things into the wall
1 hour pulling the wire to make it tight

Spackling the wall
Since I had screwed an anchor into the wall, and then had to pull it out, it was time for some spackle. If I was just spackling to solve a problem I had created, that wouldn’t count on this list. But I quickly noticed that there were a crapton of gashes in the walls, so I tried to spackle everything I could see. I went into the hallway, and a little bit on the stairs. Either we walk around with Spy Hunter style stabbing knives on our pants, or the previous owner did some serious damage to these walls. Regardless, the walls have been spackled.

Light bulbs replaced in the bathroom
OK, so I’m not getting Man of the Year for this one, but fuck me, these were Compact Fluorescent Lights, which cost about $1000 a piece, and last for 1000 years (just don’t smash them because my brother says they smell bad when you do that). Our vanity was down to one working light of 4, and if we had lost one more, it was going to be pretty dark in the bathroom. I am definitely not scared of the dark, and do not have problems sleeping when Catherine is not there to keep me company. That is for sure. But if I did, I would want to make sure that the lights in the bathroom worked when I escaped to there for safety. Now I can be sure that for the next 5 years, they will.

One light ...

Four new lights. Shh ... do not tell Catherine that I replaced a working light with another working light.

Plenty more to do this week. I’m going to create a post with the stuff I’ve done, so Catherine can see all the changes made to the house. Sometime when it’s not 1AM.

Sigo pensando que Felipe González hubiera sido un gran Presidente para la Unión Europea y, sin embargo, tengo que reconocer que sentí cierto alivio al saber que ni siquiera se presentaba como candidato. Lo digo con suma tristeza porque esta reflexión no viene sino a demostrar la escasa confianza que tengo en la política española. Ojo, no quiero decir con esto que los líderes de nuestro país no estén capacitados para dirigir la nueva Europa (reitero lo escrito en la primera línea) o que, como dicen muchos, España sea un país que todavía no se ha desarrollado suficientemente para este tipo de responsabilidades.

Lo que yo pienso es algo mucho más pragmático. Si Felipe González [o Miguel Ángel Moratinos, o José María Aznar o cualquier otro político español] hubiese conseguido llegar hasta la cúpula de poder de la UE, estoy convencida de que habría sido peor el remedio que la enfermedad.

Me explico: por un lado, imagínesen a Leire Pajín con el puño en alto presumiendo del éxito cosechado por el Partido Socialista y anunciando a los cuatro vientos la importancia de los encuentros entre el ex-Presidente español y Barack Obama. Si quieren, póngale el himno de la Internacional de fondo.

Por otro, traten de visualizar a Soraya Saenz de Santamaría [con vestido negro ajustado o no, según prefieran] sacando los trapos sucios de la entrada de España en la OTAN y recordando cómo los GAL hicieron todas sus fechorías durante el mandato de González.

Saben igual que yo que después de estas declaraciones que he puesto de ejemplo vendrían muchas más. Tantas como para eclipsar una noticia tan importante para España como la de que un político de este país formara parte de un proyecto ambicioso para diseñar una nueva Europa.

Pero, ¿qué sentido tendría que España participara activamente en esta iniciativa? En Europa se busca la unidad política de 27 países, cada uno de su padre y de su padre, dispuestos a ceder en favor de una representatividad común. En España, un solo estado de algo más de 45 millones de habitantes, lo que se persigue es la crispación. Es la división en dos bandos que nunca pueden dejar de estar enfrentados. Es la posibilidad de presumir de lo propio y desacreditar lo ajeno.

Más de uno me dirá que todo esto es marca de la política y que en todos los lugares pasa lo mismo, pero no es verdad. Bélgica entera está dando saltos de alegría por el nombramiento de Herman Van Rompuy como Presidente de la Unión Europea. Toda Inglaterra había preparado con sumo cuidado la candidatura de Tony Blair para que si éste no salía elegido lo hiciera otro de los suyos, en este caso la laborista Catherine Asthon. Y qué decir de los franceses y alemanes, que desde la sombra, saben que siguen llevando las riendas del viejo continente. Todos contentos.

Menos los españoles, que no sabemos lo que es disfrutar de un triunfo político porque tampoco sabemos lo que significa la palabra unidad en este ámbito de la vida [la política] que, nos guste o no, casi siempre está presente. Todo por lo nefasto de nuestro pasado.

El deporte ha conseguido que tener una bandera de España en casa y emocionarse con el himno del país donde vives no sea motivo de vergüenza, linchamiento o catalogación de franquista. Ha conseguido que sea una opción tan legítima como cualquier otra. Y parecía imposible.

¿Podremos algún día conseguir que la mayoría de los españoles, sean del partido que sean y tengan la ideología que tengan, se alegren de que uno de sus políticos sea valorado por el resto de países del mundo? Y que nadie piense lo que no es: que la unidad política de España es compatible con todo tipo de nacionalismos, y que nada tiene que ver con la retórica franquista que tanto daño nos ha hecho a todos.

Ce stade, qui il faut le dire, a été un véritable gouffre financier, avec un coût de 57 millions d’euros, est bien loin de répondre aux attentes que l’on pouvait en avoir.

En effet, ce stade ne peut accueillir d’autre événement sportif car il n’a pas été conçu pour. Ainsi, il a été précisé au dernier Conseil Municipal qu’il manquerait 1 mètre de pelouse pour pouvoir y accueillir des matches de rugby du Top 14! 1 mètre de pelouse, vous rendez-vous compte?!

Ensuite, ce stade vraiment mal situé et très mal ouvert sur la ville. Aucun commerce ne peut se développer autour comme cela peut se faire dans les autres villes disposant d’un équipement digne de ce nom.

Enfin, il est impossible d’y installer une scène pour des spectacles, les poids-lourds ne pouvant avoir accès à l’intérieur du stade!

Que dire de la pelouse dont la piètre qualité empêche, sauf à payer un prix prohibitif de réfection, la présence de publics et de l’insuffisance des loges pour les mécènes et entreprises, l’absence de couverture des coursives…

D’où l’intérêt de réaffirmer l’impérieuse nécessité de construire un Zénith à Reims.

Ce zénith est primordial pour l’attractivité de nos territoires, notamment envers la jeunesse et en terme d’image.

Coté professionnels, la demande est unanime, tous les producteurs locaux sont favorables à ce projet, mais surtout l’exemple le plus flagrant, est la demande de Messieurs les président et directeur de programmation des Flâneries Musicales de Reims qui souhaitent tous deux une vraie salle de spectacle de grande capacité.

Non vraiment, le stade Delaune, même s’il  présente une belle esthétique, est bien loin de correspondre aux attentes des rémois(es) et des champardennais.

Lundi s’est déroulé le débat d’orientations budgétaires de l’exercice 2010 sur fond de projet de réforme territoriale, de réforme de la Taxe Professionnelle et de transfert de responsabilités de l’Etat sur les collectivités locales.

Cette séance de Conseil municipal avait comme un air de déjà-vu ce lundi, chacun restait campé sur ses positions, comme il y a un an. Normal me direz-vous, majorité et opposition dos-à-dos dans un débat stérile, avec des critiques maintes fois entendues et des réponses redondantes contrant ces mêmes reproches, entre petits coups de griffes et phrases pseudo humoristiques. Des échanges verbaux rappelant les discours d’entraîneur de football dans les vestiaires, toujours la même litanie, le même verbiage, les mêmes remontrances, les victoires et les échecs passés… une sorte de bouillie verbale indigeste pour certains et appétant pour d’autres.

Morceaux choisis de ces passes d’armes à fleuret moucheté.

-Jean-Marc Roze (UMP) : « Comment pouvons-nous débattre, nous n’avons pas tous les éléments comptables pour apprécier votre gestion (…),  27 pages de chiffres pour éclairer le débat, mais il n’y a pas la lumière à tous les étages (…). Investir sans nous endetter relève de la science-fiction ».

-Adeline Hazan : « Comme d’habitude pour suivre Monsieur Roze, il faut se munir d’une calculatrice. Depuis plusieurs mois, vous affirmez que les dépenses de personnel vont augmenter de 13%, ce chiffre est purement fantaisiste et peu sérieux. La hausse n’est que de 0,5% ».

-Jean-Marie Beaupuy (MoDem) : « Vous jouez avec les variations de compétence entre la ville et la CAR, il est difficile de comparer d’une année sur l’autre (…)  Il manque un plan de relance(…)  Il faut aller plus vite, plus fort, plus loin (…) Madame la Maire, vous parlez des errements du passé et en même temps de la richesse culturelle et sportive de Reims, mais il faut mettre en exergue le grand écart entre les errements et ce dont vous vous rendez fiere (…) c’est sans doute un pêché de jeunesse ».

-Adeline Hazan : « Vous avez utilisé le terme de schizophrène, restons courtois (…)Vous parler de pêché de jeunesse Monsieur Beaupuy, tout le monde ne peut pas se le permettre (…) Je n’ai aucun état d’âme d’avoir soutenu certains projets sous la précédente municipalité, mais je dénonce certaines gestions financières antérieures (…) Le projet de tramway était dans mon programme en 2001, contrairement à la liste concurrente. En 2008, j’ai soutenu ce projet dès le début, ce n’est pas le cas de certains membres de l’opposition actuelle ».

-Stéphane Joly (Verts) : « Avec ce débat d’orientations budgétaires, en sortant de la salle, nous serons moins inquiets et rassurés ».

-Catherine Vautrin (UMP) reprochant le manque d’un véritable plan de relance et l’instauration d’une taxe sur les enseignes des commerçants…

-Serge Pugeault : « Concernant les enseignes Madame Vautrin, nous appliquons la loi que vous avez votée (…). Puisque l’on parle de plan de relance, l’Etat avait alloué 8 M € en 1996 pour la rénovation des Halles, cette même somme plusieurs années après est allouée à l’édifice au titre de plan de relance de l’Etat ! ».
Finalement, pourquoi créer un festival culturel « Reims Scènes d’Europe », quand une séance de Conseil municipal peut parfois se muer en vaudeville.

O.M-L

Source: http://www.lhebdoduvendredi.com/Conseil-Municipal-un-air-de-deja

I’m in love with Mary-Jane.

Catherine and I stopped seeing each other weeks ago (Didn’t you get the memo?). I think she spoke about that on her blog, so let us not discuss it here. My opinion is of little importance, it would seem.

If there was a contest, which there isn’t, Mary-Jane would win. But there isn’t (although it would be cool if there were. It could be gladiatorial in nature with chained lions, and hordes of armed adversaries in a gauntlet of blood and death).

I’ll tell you why, briefly. Mary-Jane is everything I have ever looked for. She is so incredibly awesome. I want her to kick my ass. It would be welcomed and desired. I consider it a high privilege to simply wash her feet, let alone be kicked by them. My mind reels at the thought of her even looking at me. Yet she has brought me into her life, and I am the better for it. I cannot express the passion with which I would repay that most sublime of favours. She’s got my number, my ticket, my undivided attention, and her response is to blush! Pink and Red, like the spring rose. Nay, she is a lily, clear-cut effervescence, milky white with a centre of gold. See this poetical flimflam? She’s doing this to me! It’s utter gobbledygook! She’s my smock . smock smock smock. num num num… Oh, my darlin’ baby, Stay With Me!!!!!!!!!! Je t’aime mon chérie!

She held me in her arms and I was hooked! I’m in love with Mary-Jane.

Today I ran a TGIF in Catherine’s honor. This is not exactly something around the house that I did to make the house more exciting, but Catherine would be excited by TGIF. Click more to learn about the Wurst TGIF ever.

One of the perks of being a grad student at Penn is that the Computer Science department gives the PhD students $300 every other week to run a party. It’s a way to socialize with other PhD students who you may not normally get to see. There are about 50 students in our PhD program, and there are only 8 or so in my lab. So TGIF is a great way to interact with the rest of the people, and see how they’re progressing in their programs.

Catherine loves TGIF. Actually, it’s not just that she loves them, it’s that she loves the shit out of them. She always has great ideas for them, which I usually whine about becauset they require some effort, and then afterwards I end up saying, ‘wow, that was really cool! I’m glad we did that’. And then Catherine just shakes her head. She is always trying to push the limits of the $300, and I am always amazed with how much damage we can do.

So far, I’m not sure how many TGIFs we’ve organized. I think it’s about 3. They all have themes too. We had an Eagles one, featuring hoagies and Bud Light, a sushi one, featuring sushi and some Philadelphia beers, and an Irish one, with Irish beer and Irish food. We’ve also run several other events, but I think that’s it as far as TGIFs go.

Today, I ran a German-themed TGIF, while Catherine lived a German-themed day in a place I like to call, Real Germany. It went really well, although it took 2 people (and eventually about half of the lab) to play the part of Catherine. I’m not huge on ‘organization’ or ‘planning’, and this was the kind of thing that may have required some. I did successfully acquire about 12lbs of Wurst and Kielbasa, but I wasn’t exactly sure how we were going to prepare it. One hour before the event, I showed up at my friend Damian’s house(who drove all over town in pursuit of Wurst and Bier) with my other friend Ben and said, ‘Let’s cook some Würste’. We quickly realized we had nothing to put all of the prepared sausages in, which Catherine would have seen way in advance. In a complete stroke of luck, Damian had a cooler and sufficient tupperware to cart the whole thing back to the lab, just in time for us to cut all of the bread and take it to the hungry guests. I have to admit that we did not even manage to spend the whole $300, despite buying extra beer. Catherine would be extremely disappointed about that, so sorry Catherine! But everyone loved it, and we had food leftover at the end, which I am now currently eating.

1 down, about 74 more to go.

To explain “New Moon” the film, you not only must compare it to the books but to the style and praise of the previous film.

Disclaimer: I am not a critic, nor a genius, nor have I ever written a review. These are just my thoughts on the film. Just me talking about the pros and the cons. If for any reason you feel this doesn’t meet your standards then stop. I am just a fan of the books sense they’ve come out. I have read the books instantly as they came out after discovery the first novel Twilight from a friend. I read it before anyone had gone Vampire crazy, and before New Moon came out. So I have liked the novels a long time. Don’t get me wrong though, as much as I am satisfied with the plot line of the most of the novels I find the author disappointing.

The Author: Stephenie Meyer came and went like J.K Rowling. The author wrote a great story idea but the writing itself was nothing special. There are writing mistakes an experienced author would not make. Stephenie Meyer’s works aren’t master pieces by any standard of literary work. She got this far as J.K. has because she gave the public a nice plot line that made readers drool over pure romance. The same way that Romeo & Juliet are still read in modern times though not modern whatsoever. Yet, the author of Twilight progressively got worst. Lacking in keeping up with the true story she had started with and progressively developing into an almost different story by her fourth book. Change occurred as money in her wallet developed. The later books came solely for the money. After all she did say it herself that she only meant to write two novels and she ended up with four. Most of all I lost my respect entirely of her. Due to the fact that she  personally wrote a letter on her website telling fans of her distaste at the manuscript of Midnight Sun being released online by one of her people and basically telling the readers punishments will happen for it by her not finishing the novel and releasing the draft on her website for all eyes. This action of so outwardly blaming her loyal fans of which some refused to read it even though they could. Shows the fact of how power-hungry she has become to lose track that these people  are devoted to supporting any action taken by her then to just be kicked in the gut for having done absolutely nothing. Plus, it was clearly her fault for the release for trusting the wrong people.

Twilight: My review of twilight the novel. I give it five stars. The characters felt real, relate-able, and consistent. The writing was neither completely poor nor amazing. It was very average like when a friend ask you to read something they wrote. It was properly written and is definitely for a young person that could not acknowledge mistakes. It was written rather childishly, like an adolescent wrote it, which makes it in essence easier to relate to Bella. Although Stephenie Meyer says it was written for  older crowd like individuals like herself, Twilight would not cut it. Most adults would not totally dismiss it, yet it would not have had as great a turn out as it had with the young adult readers. Overall, it is by far the best novel of the Twilight Saga. This is very bad for the rest of the books because they cannot meet up to the standards of the first novel.

New Moon: This novel is clearly the worst of the four novels to some and to others its just seems like a small stepping stone. This novel feels like it was a filler episode in the series.  It filled in some gaps and brought in some ideas for the future books but over all I feel it was a waste of time expect for a few expectations. If the novel had just contained the first bit with Edward and summarized Jacob’s developing character and had the final chapters of the novel it would be better. Basically keep the beginning, the end, and shorten the middle  a lot then this novel might just be ok. Reading this I just felt like get on with the point of the story already, I get it shes depressed move on already, and Jacob is ok but his no Edward. The thing is Edward made Twilight big no matter how you see it and New Moon containing very little Edward is well boring.

Eclipse: This book should have been the last one. It solves the resolution that had started in the first novel almost completely. Though something would need to be added to make this the end and make it amazing instead it wasn’t the last one. The novel seemed to drag on in the middle like New Moon yet it contained some more interesting facts. The end was thrilling, the beginning is forgetful because I literally can’t recall the beginning. Eclipse was nothing special, it was better than the second but still could not compare to the first. Most readers that I spoke to feel that the Bella everyone had fallen in love with in Twilight and people could relate to had become someone utterly different. I get that characters in novel can grow up and change to but this was a radical attitude change in the series. It just felt like a different person with the same name.

Breaking Dawn: By far the worst of the books in the series to most. This novel has the same character ideals of same names, vampires, werewolves, and fight for good. However this novel seems almost unrelated to the rest to the series. The main characters seem almost like strangers to fans of the series. The actions and plot line of the story are just out-of-place with the rest of the series that most people are disgusted to call Breaking Dawn the end of the Twilight series. This book is entirely like a filler episode to the climax. Then as the reader reaches the climax disappointment is waiting. Some of the ideas or passages of the novel are what the fans of Twilight had been waiting to see, yet with the personality change of characters, mainly Bella, made those passage unbearable to enjoy fully. The beginning plays with the exact answers to  that of the readers questions of  “what would happen if this happened.” The middle didn’t really make sense and seemed to be implemented for a shock effect. The end was a the biggest fail and disappointment for readers looking for a little more action.

Twilight the film: Disappointment. Comprehension that the novel can’t literally be brought to life but it was painful to watch almost. The acting by Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson was horrible. Neither of them can properly act. This is no surprise sense Catherine Hardwicke tends to favor actors and not properly look for actors that can act. The effects in the film were unimpressive and lacked realism. A lot of the details that made the novel famous were left out. Scenes were added that just wasted time in the movie and were pointless. The camera work was done poorly and overall failed in properly symbolizing what the novel was all about. Twilight basically had been butchered to shreds for fans of the novel.

New Moon the film: In comparison to Twilight, the film, New Moon was amazing. The effects were much smoother, there were more of them, the camera angles were nice, and it properly symbolized what the Twilight Saga is about. The actors of the first film were kept and brought down the movie. Due to the fact the worst actors in the film are the lead actors. However one lead actor stands out from the rest. Taylor Lautner was amazing. His acting skills carried the film and made the character Jacob look outstanding. Compared to the novel in which fans didn’t like not having as much of Edward in the film I feel better not having Robert Pattinson on-screen. His acting was literally a joke and Kristen Stewart is so emotionless and seems more like versions of  Keanu Reeves. The film kept very close to the novel, but the film brought the novel to life were the novel had failed. The fail was much more entertaining and accomplished in the areas that novel lacked. It had a much more concrete ideas of romance between Edward and Bella. It brought out the feelings of the novel while still being able to introduce the added plot-line of the werewolves and the Volturi. In the end it was a great film. It was better than Twilight the film and New Moon the novel.

Eclipse/Breaking Dawn the films: As the Twilight Saga rages through the media, I hope success on the future films, and wish for certain actors to get some talent, while the rest of the cast stays gifted in their roles. Much appreciation to the actors that play….

Jacob, Charlie, Cullens (Carlisle, Esme, Emmette, Rosalie, Jasper, Alice!), the Wolf Pack.

(If this doesn’t make sense I haven’t slept this a quick blog. A quick 1554 word count blog~   )

Maybe a Part 2 later.

There you have it… After an extended pregnancy, the EU’s heads of states tonight gave birth to two new head honchos. Belgium’s Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy is the first EU President and EU Trade Commissioner Baroness Catherine Ashton became foreign minister. Two nobodys that were plonked there for complete full circle political correctness. One is lefty the other righty, one man, one woman, one is favoured by Germany and France and the other by Great Britain. We couldn’t have expected anything better from a bunch of political pimps and hookers.

As you probably know, Catherine and I spent some time in Germany this year. Catherine was there for 6 months, and I was there for about 3.5-4 since I had to come back a couple times. Now I am back for good, but Catherine has returned to Aachen for one final trip. Before she left, she calculated that she’d be gone for 75 days. I told her that I’d write something for her counting down the days, and that I’d try to post house improvements up here so she could see some progress at home.

If you love hearing me talk about Catherine, click for more!

We moved into our place in November of 2006, and sometimes when we look around it feels like we just moved in. So I decided that while Catherine’s gone, I’ll be making improvements to the house. I don’t think I can remodel the bathroom like she really wants, but I think there’s a lot of smaller things I can do to spruce the place up. Since she’ll be gone 75 days, I’m shooting for about 75 improvements. That doesn’t mean 1 per day, it just means I’ll average that. I’ll probably do my serious damage on the weekends.

If you have good tips for house fixing, or small changes you’ve made that made a big difference, lemme know.

And of course, ‘Hi Catherine!’