And then sometimes your heroes are Bob Goff.

This weekend author/lawyer/”real-life Great Gatsby” Bob Goff led the first ever Love Does Stuff conference in Tacoma, WA. My girlfriend and I were lucky enough to be able to attend, all thanks to the graciousness of a few loving people in our lives.

I’ve looked up to Bob for years. Meeting and hearing from him in person did not disappoint.

Bob has an incredible philosophy and appetite for life. He invited a few of his incredible friends along, and over two days they shared how they do love in the world. Here’s a few things I took away (I did my best to attribute certain ideas to their respective speaker, in case you want to find out more about them):

1. Bob is way taller in person. And he gives amazing hugs.
2. Every conference should start with a drumline performance, and balloons make everything better.
3. Anyone can solve a conflict between two countries. In the conference center lobby were a half dozen tables with Sharpies on top (and balloons, of course). Guests were instructed to sign the table and leave a message of love. Bob later explained that each of these tables would be cut in half. Each half would be given to an influential world changer, including world leaders from countries feuding with each other. Bob can do that – he just happens to be the United Nations consulate for Uganda. The message was that love doesn’t ask just ask people to come to the people – love tells people they are welcome at the table. 
4. The 3 questions we must ask ourself if we want to do something meaningful are: Who are we? What do we want? What’s the first step? (Donald Miller)
5. It’s ok to be dumb. It’s ok to be wrong. It’s ok to fail. (Don)
6. Satan plays tricks with our identity all the time. At our core, we are actually amazing people. (Don)
7. We spend way too much time preparing as a stalling tactic because we are scared. (Don)
8. Our schedules are not in charge of us. Take orders from love, not from the calendar. This came from Joshua DuBois, the former faith counselor for President Obama. Josh sends a devotional every morning to the President. Because the President asked him to. That’s cool.
9. Brandon Heath is all sorts of awesome.
10. So is Propaganda.
11. Some people are not running from God because nobody is chasing them with His love. (Veronica Tutaj, YoungLives director in Texas)
12. God doesn’t expect us to save the word, but he does section a territory off for us. (Veronica)
13. Ministry can kill you. Sometimes even Jesus needed a minute. It’s ok to take a break. It allows others to a chance to step up into their purpose and potential. Set boundaries for yourself. (Veronica)
14. Whatever you have, it is enough. God looks at it and says, “Awesome – I can use that.” (Kid President and director Brad Montague)
15. You won’t always know the difference you made in someone’s life until much later, if ever. That’s no reason to not step into their lives. - Randy Siever, Bob’s former Young Life leader (you might remember him from the first chapter of Love Does)
16. God is present and busy everywhere. Our goal is to be spiritual archaeologists. (Randy)
17. Life can be like T-Ball. Everyday God places the ball on the tee for us. All we have to do is step to the plate and take a swing. No matter whether we knock it out of the park or dribble it right up to the pitcher’s mound, He will stand up and clap for us. (Randy)
18. Every person who is saved for something is also saved from something. We need to understand what we were saved from so we can help others. (Dean Curry, pastor)
19. Experience is not always better. The ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals. (John Cotton Richmond, lawyer specializing in human trafficking cases)
20. We don’t matter more to God when we do better or less when we do bad. (John)
21. We don’t own this world. We’re not bouncers, deciding who gets to come into the party. We’re ushers, guiding everyone to their seats at the table. We’re all welcome. (Bob)
22. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. Be not afraid. The most common command in The Bible. One which should be etched upon our hearts.
23. God sees us not for who we are. He sees us for who we are becoming.
24. Just start. Whatever the next step is, take it. Don’t be afraid of the result. Be reckless with the way you love one another. (Bob)
25. When you don’t know the answers, respond with an interrobang. An interrobang is the combination of a question mark and an exclamation point. It used to be found on a typewriter. It’s used to express the emotion of confused excitement. As Bob put it, there are a lot of tough questions out there we don’t necessarily have the answers for: “But what about gay people? What about loving our enemies? How can you forgive that?” Maybe the best way to answer them is to say, “I don’t know?! Whatever Jesus did, I’m just gonna do a lot more of that.”
26. You will be afraid. Find your courage in the doing. (Bob’s wife Sweet Maria)
27. “What is done today can never be undone.” Bob explained in Ugandan courts, when someone is given the death sentence, the judge will sign their sentencing and break the pen he used in half to symbolize how his order cannot be undone. Jesus did the opposite when He saved us from death. He ripped our death sentence in half and set us free to follow in His footsteps. Ultimately, this was the message of Love Does Stuff – figure out what Jesus did and do a lot of that.

Did you go to Love Does Stuff 2013? What did you take away from the conference? How can you leave fear behind and do more of what Jesus did?

어쨋든 기쁘게 작년 3월부터 준비하던 논문이 마무리가 되어 다행을 생각하며 좀더 내용을 다듬어 좋은 저널에 냈으면 하는 바램이다.

IEEE MSST는 USENIX FAST이어서 열리는 학회로 스토리지 시스템을 전문적 다룬다. 참석했던 분들의 이야기를 들어보니 USENIX FAST(2월에 열림)에 떨어져 그 다음에 열리는 이 곳을 공략했다고 한다. (몇몇 친구들은 SYSTOR를 고려하기도 한다. FAST를 제외하고 스토리지 관련해서 낼 수 있는 학회가 그리 많지가 않기 때문이다.) 그리고 9월에 모집하는 USENIX FAST를 목표를 하고 있다고 한다. 이 부분에 자극을 받아 앞으로 몇 개월간 열심히 해야겠다…

참고로 MSST는 5일간 진행이되며 내가 참석하는 Research Track은 이틀 동안 열린다. 따라서 2일 정도는 LA근교 여행을 계획을 하였다. 특별히 이번에는 교수님께서 바쁘시고 해서 혼자 참석하게 되었다. 저번 샌디에고 참석하였을때 렌트가가 없어서 매우 불편하여서 이번에는 비용이 좀 들긴 하지만 차량을 렌트하기로 마음 먹었다.

여행계획은 다음과 같다.

(화요일): LAX 12시 도착, 오후 1시 렌트카를 빌려 Universal Studio로 고고
(수요일): Hollywood, Santa Monica, Long Beach 구경
(목-금): 학회 참석
(토요일): LAX-인천 공항

화요일에 Universal Studio를 가려고 했으나 입국심사를 거쳐 차량 렌트를 하니 2시~3시가 되어 포기하기로 했다. 그래서 Rancho Cucamanga에 살고 계시는 사촌 누님집에 찾아가기로 했다. 급하게 연락을했지만 반갑게 맞아주셔서 너무 고마웠다. LAX에서 Rancho Cucamanga까지 1시간이면 걸린다고 했지만 트래픽에 걸려 2시 30분은 족히 걸렸다. 따사로운 햇살에 너무 졸려서 힘들었다.

화요일 이동 경로: LAX – Rancho Cucamonga – Queen Mary (Long Beach) 
내가 이동했던 경로를 보여준다. 거리가 짧아보이지만 A-B나 B-C 1시간 30분은 족히 걸린다.

언넝 사촌 누나집에 가고 싶었지만 퇴근시간 가까워지니 트래픽이 심하다. 한국과 비교하면 그리 심하지는 않지만 …

정면에 보이는 산은 만녈설에 뒤덮혀있다. 운전중에 위험을 무릎쓰고 촬영에 성공!

 
사촌 누님의 막둥이 조셉, 얼굴은 한국얼굴인데 우리말은 잘 못하고 영어만 한다. 귀여운 조셉의 목소리가 귀에서 멤돈다. “쏘다~”

사촌누나 부부가 운영하는 작은 식당. “Iron Skillet” 우리나라로 따지면 백반집 정도 생각하면 될것 같다.

 식당 외부 모습이다.

사촌 누님과 아쉬운 만남을 뒤로하고 Racho Cucamonga에서 Long Beach로 이동하였다. 출발은 대략 10시 정도에 한것 같은데 헤매는 바람에 밤 12시에 겨우 도착했다.

 밤의 퀸 메리호는 상당히 멋진 모습을 뽐내고 있었고 상당히 큰 규모를 자랑하고 있다.

Hotels.com에서 가장 저렴한 창문이 없는 방을 예약했다. 다행히도 그 방들이 다 나가고 없어 무료로 업그레이드 받아서 창문이 있는 방에서 묶을 수 있었다.

 호텔은 배를 개조해서 만들었고 시설이 좀 되어서 좋지는 않았지만 고풍스러운 느낌을 주어서 그러저럭 만족스럽다.

자기전에 발표스크립트 외우고 아들이랑 영상통화를 하고 겨우 잠들었다.

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by Martina Bednáriková

All language teachers are very often pressed for time. Trying to cover as much as possible within their lessons, they often have to sacrifice a very important aspect of the language: student speaking time. Alexandra Chistyakova, an English teacher at the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University in Russia, came up with a revolutionary activity that considerably increases student speaking time. She’ll be sharing it at ELTForum in June. Be sure not to miss her presentation with the unusual title “4 min, 3 min, 2 min… Stop!”

SCET: Alexandra, the name of your presentation – “4 min, 3 min, 2 min… Stop!” –immediately grabbed my attention. You say that the main goal is to increase student speaking time in the classroom. What’s the story behind this activity? How did you come up with it?

Alexandra: At the university, I’m working for, second- and third-year students have only one English lesson a week, which makes a teacher set up learning objectives and priorities very clearly. As I have been teaching English in such circumstances for more than 8 years now, I was constantly setting and re-setting my teaching priorities, and finally, some time ago I came to realize that speaking represents the most challenging but at the same time the most needed skill for my students. Living and learning in a non-English-speaking environment makes it difficult for learners find an opportunity to practice English. So I thought that my lessons should provide my students with such an opportunity. And this is why I started looking for, designing and experimenting with various ideas for an activity which would help to increase student speaking time during a lesson.

SCET: What do you think is the main reason for the lack of student speaking time during the lessons? Can teachers alone consciously influence it?

Alexandra: There could be many reasons for that. In my case, this is the mere lack of academic hours devoted to English studies according to the university curriculum. Unfortunately, this is a rather widespread situation in many schools and colleges in Russia. However, the lack of student speaking time can also be rooted in the priorities and preferences of teachers themselves. But whatever the reason, be it a curriculum or personal preferences of a teacher, these are teachers who can directly influence what is happening in the classroom. The only prerequisite for such a positive influence is the teachers’ desire and willpower to bring the change into their classroom and help students achieve their learning goals.

SCET: Do you measure your students’ involvement in your lessons solely on how much they speak? Do you try to get every student speak in every lesson? Is that possible?

Alexandra: Surely I do not measure how much my students are involved in classroom activities solely by how much they speak. This would be a dangerous trap to substitute quality with quantity. But as long as my goal is to give my students as much speaking time as possible, the more my students speak during the lesson, the better. For me as an English teacher, the best reward is when my students leave the classroom still communicating in English even without noticing that. However, having said that, I’d like to point out that speaking for the sake of speaking could be an aimless waste of time which might bring teachers’ and students’ efforts to naught. To avoid this trap, a teacher should first teach students the necessary vocabulary, functional language, speaking strategies and some other things that constitute speaking skills mastery. Secondly, a teacher should give students more autonomy in choosing the content of their speaking activities. The latter principle, which is the core of the activity I am going to speak about at ELTForum, is the guarantee of students’ genuine involvement and interest in the communication with each other and in the classroom collaboration as a result. Moreover, with the help of my “4/3/2 min” activity it is quite possible to give each student at least 9 min of guaranteed speaking time every lesson.

SCET: Was oral communication central to your own language learning as well? How do you personally learn the best?

Alexandra: Unfortunately, there was no such a thing like communication, oral or written, in my language learning setting. All we had at that time was a grammar-translation approach to teaching languages with a teacher occupying the dominant role in the classroom. And though there have been some positive shifts to a more learner-centred communicative classroom in the recent years, the situation hasn’t largely changed in Russia. So now, when I’m a teacher myself, I feel I should bring the change and be that change.

As for my personal learning style, I’m a strong visual and kinesthetic learner: I need to not only to see a word but also to pronounce it a couple of times and, in some cases, create an image to associate the word with. That’s why the lack of the opportunity to speak and use words and expressions many times in various contexts in my school English lessons was a serious obstacle to my English learning acquisition.

SCET: You’ve also written on the importance of personalization in education. How do you make your teaching meet the expectations and interests of your learners?

Alexandra: First of all, I try to find out what my learners’ interests and needs are. This could be done in the form of questionnaires or interviews, in the oral or written forms. And then I try to build up my teaching on or around these needs and interests. But certainly this is only the first step in personalizing lessons. I would call this step a sort of pre-teaching stage because later when the actual teaching and learning starts it is important for a teacher to keep an open mind and to adjust materials and lessons to the emerging and evolving needs of their learners and to new information learners reveal about themselves. And this is the main stage of the learning process where personalization should not be forgotten but continued. So personalization is a continuous process that requires from a teacher a certain degree of sensitivity, flexibility and responsiveness to ever changing learning context.

SCET: You’ve said that you believe that the best source of motivation for English teachers is being part of the international ELT community. What do you mean by ‘ELT community’? Where is it? How does a teacher find it and become a part of it? What aspect do you like most about it? Why would you recommend a Slovak teacher – or any teacher – become a part of it?

Alexandra: The ELT community is made up of other professionals in your immediate circle or all around the world. What makes these professionals a community is the readiness and desire to share with and learn from each other. But the most outstanding characteristic of any ELT community and the international ELT community in particular is that each and every member of it is valued and appreciated not only for their professional achievements but also for the unique personality they are. That is why becoming a member of an ELT community could be a major step forward in a teacher’s professional and even personal development. But what is more, ELT community can give you a strong inspirational and emotional boost. It’s like a springboard to a brand new dimension. So being part of ELT world can bring a lot of benefits to you and your students no matter what your working environment is. If you are lucky to work with like-minded inspirational colleagues who are passionate about teaching, you can join ELT community to tell others about what you are doing in your school and to establish new connections and contacts which in turn can result in new possibilities and new joint projects. But if you’re a lonely teacher who somewhat feels isolated and who doesn’t have anybody to share and discuss your ideas and doubts with, the international ELT community is the best option for you to be heard and to break your isolation.

As for Slovakia, I should say that I have a special bond with this country. Slovakia was the place where I joined the ELT community and started building my PLN (Personal Learning Network) thanks to Surpr@ise Day in Kosice, organized by Vladimira Chalyova (@vladkaslniecko) a year ago. If you’re interested, you can read how I became a member of the ELT community on my blog. And now Slovakia has happened to be the place where I’m going to present for the first time. I believe it’s more than just a lucky coincidence.

Alexandra Chistyakova is an English teacher at the Physics Faculty of Moscow State University, Russia. She also works as a freelance teacher giving one-to-one English lessons to the large range of learners: from preschoolers to senior adults. She received her CELTA at BKC-in, Moscow, in 2011. Her professional interests include: professional development, classroom management techniques, motivating the non-developers, teaching English to young and very young learners, integrating web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Alexandra believes that no success can be achieved without motivation and that there is no better source of motivation for teachers as being part of the vibrant international ELT community.

After several months of brainstorming our idea, now its time for us to count the days for our product launch. This blog is one of our baby steps . As we fall and learn to walk steadily do stand by us to watch JollyEventz shape up and deliver what you expect of us.

Are you someone planning for a birthday, wedding, team meeting or a conference anytime soon? If yes, you are the one who we love to help. We’ll keep you posted once we launch our product. vvvrrrrroooooom we go !! Once that happens, do hop in to this blog or our site to learn more about the different options you have in front of you.

Till then, stay cool and keep waiting for interesting posts on how to host a special event in a special place.

“You must fall in love with what you do, because being an entrepreneur is a lot of hard work, and overcoming a lot of adversity. From that love will come the dedication that will get you out of bed at 4 a.m. because of a great idea you just had and get you to work till 11 p.m. and not feel tired.”
– Ken Field,
Real Estate Magnate

Venue for the event 

Conferences these days are held not in the companies itself, but an outside venue is hired for this purpose. Smelling out this tendency, a lot of event venue business concerns have mushroomed. Consequently, when you are conducting a professional conference (or as the Danes say Faglige konference), you must be aware that you can choose from an extensive array of alternatives. So, don’t precisely get caught by big names.

Why conferences?

Business conferences are conducted so as to bond people as well as professionals, amateurs as well as masters of a specific field to discuss, brainstorm, and identify solutions in addition to linked reasons. Furthermore, in the current era the business conferences are currently being carried on as cluster meetings with precise themes on devolving about issues like: future aims and objectives, the relationship between the employee and the employer, sub-contracting, etc. The subjects in a business conference let the key crisis or the circumstances under debate to be stressed. A business conference as well assists in having a better understanding of the affairs linked to business propositions, intentions and establishments.

The conference serves as a platform

A business conference serves as a platform. With its help the different comparable matters of the companies in an individual industry can be joined together in order to locate competent and chic solutions. This occurs when different directors and HODs from several companies get together at business conferences to reconcile and resolve issues.

The event needs to be specific and certain issues need to be discussed

On the other hand, when preparing the business conferences it is significant to be well-equipped in advance. This entails that the agency of the companies has to be well-versed when it comes to the issues, objectives, opportunities and threats that need to be discussed. In addition to this, the choice of the business meetings ought to be in conformity with the connected issues of the corporation, so that any member of any company will be able to gather awareness from the specialist’s advices being spread from the stage. As a key job, the person taking part in the business conference has to know the objective or the reason behind the whole exercise. It is vital that the goals as well as objectives are instilled into their thinking process so that it facilitates them to discover accordingly. When a person who is attending the event has a clear picture of the issues to be focused, they can concentrate on how to actually apply the important information.

The 9th International Masonry Conference will be held in Guimarães, Portugal in July 7-9, 2014, as a joint initiative from the University of Minho and the International Masonry Society. We are happy to inform you that several professional and industrial associations are now endorsing the event (see below).

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is June 30, 2013 through the conference website (www.9imc.civil.uminho.pt). After registration you can access your restricted area and proceed with submission.

We are looking forward to your participation to 9 IMC and to welcoming you in Guimarães in July 2014.

The Organizing Committee,
Paulo B. Lourenço, Barry Haseltine & Graça Vasconcelos.

Secretariat:
Ms. Paula Teixeira
9th International Masonry Conference
University of Minho
Department of Civil Engineering
Azurém Campus
P-4800-058 Guimarães
PORTUGAL

Telephone: +351 253 510 218
Fax: +351 253 510 217

This June 27, 2012 photo shows Google co-founder Sergey Brin demonstrating Google’s new Glass, wearable internet glasses, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco. — AP (File Photo)

SAN FRANCISCO, Sat May 18, 2013  - Google staged four discussions expounding on the finer points of its “Glass” wearable computer during this week’s developer conference.

Missing from the agenda, however, was a session on etiquette when using the recording-capable gadget, which some attendees faithfully wore everywhere – including to the crowded bathrooms.

Google Glass, a cross between a mobile computer and eyeglasses that can both record video and surf the Internet, is now available to a select few but is already among the year’s most buzz-worthy new gadgets. The device has geeks all aflutter but is unnerving everyone from lawmakers to casino operators worried about the potential for hitherto unimaginable privacy and policy violations.

“I had a friend and we’re sitting at dinner and about 30 minutes into it she said, ‘You know those things freak me out,’”said Allen Firstenberg, a technology consultant at the Google developers conference. He has been wearing Glass for about a week but offered to take them off for the comfort of his dinner companion.

On another occasion, Firstenberg admitted to walking into a bathroom wearing his Glass without realizing it.

“Most of the day I totally forget it’s there,” he said.

Many believe wearable computers represent the next big shift in technology, just as smartphones evolved from personal computers. Apple and Samsung are said to be working on other forms of wearable technology.

The test version of Glass looks like a clear pair of eyeglasses with a hefty slab along the right side. Since it began shipping to a couple thousand carefully selected early adopters who paid about $1,500 for the device, it has inspired a bit of ridicule – from a parody on “Saturday Night Live” to a popular blog poking fun at its users.

Other industry experts take a more serious tack, pointing out the potential for misuse because Glass can record video far less conspicuously than a handheld device.

Glass also has won many fans. Google and some early users maintain that privacy fears are overblown. As with traditional video cameras, a tiny light blinks on to let people know when it is recording.

Several Glass wearers at the developers conference said they whip the device off in inappropriate situations, such as in gym locker rooms or work meetings. Michael Evans, a Web developer from Washington, DC, attending the Google conference, said he removed his Glass when he went to the movies, even though the device would be ill-suited for recording a feature-length film.

“I just figured I don’t want to be the first guy kicked out of the movies,” he said.

NO GLASS ALLOWED

A stamp-sized electronic screen mounted on the left side of a pair of eyeglass frames, Glass can record video, access email, provide turn-by-turn driving directions and retrieve info from the Web by connecting wirelessly to a user’s cell phone.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt dismissed concerns about the brave new world of wearable computers during a talk at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in April.

“Criticisms are inevitably from people who are afraid of change or who have not figured out that there will be an adaptation of society to it,” he said.

Schmidt acknowledged that there are certain places where Glass will not be appropriate but that he believed new rules of social etiquette will coalesce over time. Firstenberg said it will take time for all sides to get comfortable with the new technology.

“I don’t think we should go into the conversation assuming that Glass is bad,” he said.

Indeed, previous technology innovations such as mobile phones and wireless headsets that initially raised concerns are now subject to tacit rules of etiquette, such as not talking loudly on the bus and turning a ringer off in a meeting.

Still, some have decided to leave nothing to chance.

Casino operator Caesar’s Entertainment recently announced that Glass is not permitted while gambling or when in showrooms, though guests can wear it in other areas. In March, Seattle’s Five Point Cafe made headlines for becoming the first bar to ban Glass. “Respect our customers privacy as we’d expect them to respect yours,” says a statement on the café’s website.

The California Highway Patrol says there is no law that explicitly forbids a driver from wearing Glass while driving in the state. But according to Officer Elon Steers, if a driver appears to be distracted as a result of the device, an officer can take enforcement action.

PRIVACY TRACK RECORD

Lawmakers are beginning to consider Glass.

On Thursday, eight members of the US Congress sent a letter to Google Chief Executive Larry Page, asking for details about how Glass handles various privacy issues, including whether it is capable of facial recognition.

According to Google, there are no facial recognition technologies built into the device and it has no plans to do so “unless we have strong privacy protections in place.”

During one of this week’s conference sessions – an open discussion about Glass – members of the Glass team answered a question about privacy by noting that social implications and etiquette have been a big area of focus during the development of the product, which is still a test version.

Some of the Glass-phobia may stem from Google’s own track record on privacy. In 2010, Google revealed that its fleet of Street View cars, which criss-cross the globe taking panoramic photos for the Google Maps product, also had captured personal information such as emails and web pages that were transmitted over unencrypted home wireless networks.

“The fact that it’s Google offering the service, as opposed to say Brookstone, raises privacy issues,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a non-profit privacy advocacy group, citing Google’s history and its scale in Internet advertising.

Rotenberg says his main concern centers on the stream of data collected by the devices – everything from audio and video to a user’s location data – going to Google’s data centers.

Ryan Calo, a University of Washington law professor who specializes in privacy and technology, said Glass is not very different from other technologies available today, whether it is a smartphone or “spy” pens that secretly record audio. But Glass is on people’s faces, so it feels different.

“The face is a really intimate place and to have a piece of technology on it is unsettling,” Calo said. “Much as a drone is unsettling because we have some ideas of war.”

For all the hand-wringing, some early adopters are sold.

Ryan Warner, who recently graduated from college and who has developed a recipe app for Glass with Evans, said he was surprised by the reaction he got when he went to a bar.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know if I should have it on or not.’ I was kind of in that phase,” he said, “and the bouncer was like, ‘Oh, my god, is that Google Glass?’ He was excited.”

Each post to this blog can be categorised as ‘General’ or under one of the four topics we will be discussing during the conference sessions.

Here is a brief description of each session:

Opening the doors – theatres leading the way

This is the topic of our first session at Conference 13 and will address ways to harness community and social engagement through better use of theatre buildings.

We will hear from theatres whose capital projects are building their capacity to secure their future viability, community and social engagement – and are winning over hearts and minds.

Session Chair: Vikki Heywood

Deborah Aydon, Executive Director, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse
Ian Pratt, Vice Chairman and Technical Director, Kings Theatre Southsea
Jessica Hepburn, Executive Director and Joint Chief Executive, Lyric Hammersmith
Moira Swinbank OBE, Chief Executive, Legacy Trust UK

Going local – the opportunities

Our second session of Conference 13 will look at how theatres can act locally to develop partnerships and new opportunities, including relationships with local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships.

New Government policies to promote greater local and neighbourhood ownership of planning decisions and community assets have created new opportunities for theatres. How can these help theatres take the initiative and secure their assets and future?

Session Chair: Nigel Hugill, Chair, The Royal Shakespeare Company and Executive Chairman, Urban&Civic

Martin Sutherland, Chief Executive, Northamptonshire Arts Management Trust
Martin Halliday, Chief Executive, Lowestoft Marina
Flick Rea, Chair, Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, Local Government Association

Louder voices – speaking up for theatres as cultural and community assets

The third session of Conference 13 will be focused on how planning policy and practice affects theatres.

New planning initiatives also create new challenges to theatres future viability, operation and capital redevelopment plans. In this session we look at the impact of the Community Infrastructure Levy on theatres and arts centres, lessons learnt by theatres engaging with the planning system and how they need to be vigilant to the relaxation of planning regulations, and where they are taking the lead in developing new community based theatres and cultural facilities through being recognised as Assets of Community Value.

Session Chair: Dave Moutrey, Director & Chief Executive, Cornerhouse & Library Theatre Company

Alan Bishop, Chief Executive, Southbank Centre
Trudi Elliott CBE, Chief Executive, The Royal Town Planning Institute
Nica Burns, Chief Executive and co-proprietor, Nimax Theatres Ltd
Peter Steer, Director, Derby Hippodrome Restoration Trust

Survive or thrive?

The final session of Conference 13 will explore the economic opportunities and impact of theatres’ capital development.

What are the leadership qualities and capital strategies which can make the difference between surviving and thriving? In our final session we look at innovative schemes that have balanced risk and reward and created more financially, culturally and socially resilient theatres through implementing major capital and asset developments.

Session Chair: Anna Stapleton, Administrative Director, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow

Jim Beirne, Chief Executive, Live theatre – Newcastle
Colin Marr, Director, Eden Court, Inverness
Rob Harris, Director, Arup
Neil Constable, Chief Executive, Shakespeare’s Globe, London
Jack Mellor, Theatre Manager, Theatre Royal, Plymouth

For more information or to register for Conference 13 thriving theatres go to

http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/events/conference-13/registration

Speakers
Richard Bentall
Mick Cooper
Jacqui Dillon
Stephen Joseph
Joanna Moncrieff
Lisbeth Sommerbeck

For service users, carers, professionals, students and everyone interested in critical debate on mental health care. All profits to Soteria Network UK.

For more details of the conference and the speakers as well as information on how to book, please click here for the conference website.

Jane made particular reference to two of her favourites in the discussion about how literature can be used to describe and inform matters of health – one of the oldest poems and record of human thoughts, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and much of the work of 17th Century poet George Herbert. What may have then been considered religious can now be seen through different eyes, when considering many humanly identifiable conditions.

For this week’s Featured Poem, we’re featuring one of Herbert’s most moving works, which speaks profoundly about despair, mental and emotional trouble, being lost – and finding the courage to go on. An inspiring choice to continue to think about the deeply connected combination of literature and health.

Affliction (IV)

Broken in pieces all asunder,
Lord, hunt me not,
A thing forgot,
Once a poor creature, now a wonder,
A wonder tortured in the space
Betwixt this world and that of grace.

My thoughts are all a case of knives,
Wounding my heart
With scattered smart ;
As wat’ring-pots give flowers their lives.
Nothing their fury can control,
While they do wound and prick my soul.

All my attendants are at strife
Quitting their place
Unto my face :
Nothing performs the task of life :
The elements are let loose to fight,
And while I live, try out their right.

Oh help, my God !  let not their plot
Kill them and me,
And also Thee,
Who art my life : dissolve the knot,
As the sun scatters by his light
All the rebellions of the night.

Then shall those powers which work for grief,
Enter Thy pay,
And day by day
Labour Thy praise and my relief :
With care and courage building me,
Till I reach heav’n, and much more, Thee.

George Herbert

Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.–Pope John XXIII

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Or did she? Many did indeed see the figure of a woman atop the tree, but others actually saw a cloud, or a ball, or an airplane, or a disk, or something large descending from the sky, emitting sounds akin to prolonged thunder, or lightning and flames and fireworks. Some saw “a large cross emerging from the sun”, and others “an illuminated boulevard” in the sky. There was also multi-colored fog. Some of the witnesses – and, as mentioned above, there were thousands of them – testified that “the earth divided into squares, each in a different color.” Some felt the earth move. Some saw a white matter falling from heaven and accumulating on the ground.

So what happened at Fatima? For the Catholic Church, there was no question. It was divine revelation. The site was declared holy and today it is the location of the church of Our Lady of Fatima. Some thought the end of the world had come. Some tried to explain it as a novel natural phenomenon, and, as of the 1960s, many associated the matter with UFOs, seeing it as evidence for aliens visiting earth.

So what did happen at Fatima? According to Prof. Jeffrey Kripal, one of the foremost living scholars of religion, we really don’t know. All attempts to explain the apparition are nothing more than projections of our symbolic world outward onto the phenomenon. According to Prof. Kripal, the UFO narrative is also nothing more than a translation of the supernatural into the technological age in which we live. But that’s less important. What is significant is that something indeed did happen there which simply cannot be explained without turning to the realm of what Kripal terms “the impossible”; and Kripal wants us to understand that even if it is difficult – or actually impossible – to define, “the impossible” does exist. And it impacts us. And it’s a very essential part of us.

Kripal himself is hard to define as well. He is a professor specializing in the study of contemporary spirituality, but his readership is not limited to academics. Nearly every book he published has become a story in and of itself, and his research has ranged over the years from an analysis of the tantric-sexual motives of the great Indian saint Ramakrishna, through a summary of the history of one of the mainsprings of new-age and counterculture in the US, the Esalen Center, to the study of the paranormal – which is to say, “the impossible.”

“the impossible” is the name Kripal gives to various phenomena of the paranormal, supernatural, religious and sacred realms. These phenomena, he stresses, arise as a sort of dialog between one and the world, perhaps between one and existence itself, and will therefore always manifest as a reality one can relate to (for instance, the Holy Mother). Later on one will interpret them accordingly, and add description from one’s own imagination. This is the moment at which the impossible becomes a narrative, and in essence a myth. It is in this form that we receive it through the stories of all religions. But in its essential form the impossible is always inexplicable, always alien. Those arriving at Fatima today will hear about a revelation of the Madonna, although from testimonies gathered later it is clear that many did not understand it this. Did not, in fact, understand it at all.

In the modern, Western secular world the impossible is twice-removed from us. Firstly, because, as usual, we do not understand it. Secondly, because we deny its existence. We won’t even accept the religious myths about it. Both the impossible and the symbolic story it’s wrapped up in are rejected by modern secular society, so that we are left with no contact with the mysterious dimension of life. In his most recent book, Mutants and Mystics, Kripal points to the last place that allows us contact with the impossible: Fantasy and Science Fiction novels. According to Kripal, in modern Western society the impossible has been exiled and marginalized to the spheres of literature and cinema.

Kripal finds it in particular in the superhero stories of American comics. These develop super-powers due to exposure to radiation (Spiderman, Hulk), or sometimes they are creatures from another planet who actually lose their powers upon exposure to radiation (Superman); at times they are simply humans who have mutated (X-Men) and thus acquired powers which anywhere outside the confines of the comics universe would be considered spiritual and even holy. Adolescents today dream of becoming superheroes and not saints or spiritual guides. They immerse themselves in fantasy tales such as “Lord of the Rings” or “Star Wars” which talk of epic battles between absolute good and absolute evil, while religious myths of the exact same nature are left to collect dust.

The paranormal is something that occupies Kripal’s life. In fact, while writing his PhD dissertation, he himself underwent an out-of-body experience in which he felt “electrocuted by God” and began floating above the ground. He claims that this experience has influenced all of his research since, and the fact that he is willing to speak of it is exceedingly rare in the academic world. Most researchers maintain a strict separation between their personal lives and their studies, and discussing personal mystic experiences is almost taboo.

In late May Kripal will be coming to Israel, to speak at the opening of The Fifth Israeli Conference on the Study of Contemporary Religion and Spirituality, to be held at Tel Aviv University on May 28-29. The conference will feature over seventy lectures, which will touch upon a wide range of topics (spirituality and philosophy in India, spirituality in economy and business, spirituality in psychology and more), and will particularly examine the (paradoxical) process of the creation of new traditions. Kripal will give the opening keynote lecture. I used the opportunity to speak with him a little about his research and ideas.

Let’s begin at the end: Looking at the books you’ve written, one gets the odd feeling you are not interested in simply producing academic knowledge. What, if I may ask, is the hope you hold concerning your research? What might be added to the lives of your readers from it – or to our cultural life in general?

It has certainly felt to me like the books were orbiting around a something, a kind of “black hole,” if you will. As the dark metaphor suggests, I do not claim to be entirely clear or even conscious of what that work might mean. If I had to say, I would suggest that my books are, first, about challenging false religious and cognitive dualisms (sex/spirit, mind/matter, human/divine), and, second and more speculatively, about the cosmic dimensions of human nature as that supernature is glimpsed in extreme religious experiences.

Now about the sex/spirit dualism… In your writings one can note a leitmotif that connects the sacred with the sexual. What do you think is the connection there? Why do you think sex especially prominent in encountering the sacred (and not food, property/money, social status etc’)?

This is an immense and complicated subject, but, very generally, I think it comes down to “energy” and the ways that erotic energies can mediate and morph between the material and spiritual dimensions of our experience, from the most carnal to the highest flights of religious ecstasy. I do not think we actually know what these energies are. They have something to do with the secret of life, with biological evolution, and with cultural, artistic, and religious creativity. They are certainly more, way more, than we imagine.

I think you might have heard the word “controversial” attached once or twice to descriptions of your work. Why do you think such work is at this time “controversial”?

Yes, I’ve heard that. Part of this, I think, is a function of the fact that much of our religions depend on the dualisms that I seek to challenge and move beyond. My early work was “controversial” because it denies any ultimate difference between the mystical and the erotic (sex/spirit). My later work is “controversial” because it denies any ultimate difference between consciousness and the material world (mind/matter). It’s really the same project in two different forms. In any case, to the extent that any intellectual project in the study of religion gets at important matters, it is bound to be “controversial.”

I want to understand better: you say that you oppose false cognitive dualisms – now what’s so irritating about that? What does our (Western? Modern? human?) culture have invested in these dualisms as to make them so dear to it, and make any change of them “controversial”?

It’s not that I oppose them. All human cultures work out of cognitive dualisms. They appear to be necessary for social life. As a member of society, I live them by them, too. It is simply that I do not think they are finally true. Whether something is necessary is one thing. Whether it is true is quite another. I am after truth, not functional necessity.

Following that, you talk a lot about “the human as two” (from your first answer it can be understood you mean that us humans have both a nature and a supernature) – why isn’t that a false cognitive dualism?

By this phrase, I do not mean that there are two things in a human being, say, a body and a soul. Not at all. I mean that the human being is far, far more than the social ego or conscious self. We tend to think of ourselves as one thing, as a stable singular body-self. But this is not what extreme religious experiences reveal at all. They reveal that this singular body-self is fundamentally an illusion, and that there are other dimensions, other states of consciousness, matter, and energy just “below the surface” or “beyond the physical ego.” I do not claim to know what these other forms of self and body are; only that, if we are to take comparative mystical literature seriously, that they exist and are us, too. Hence my little four-word poem: “the Human as Two.”

In your book Authors of the Impossible you described the paranormal as semiotic dialogical events, collapsing the subject-object structure. Now that certainly sounds good, but I wonder if you could explain it in a way understandable by a teenager. Is there any simple way to “get” what you mean, short of experiencing it?

I do think real understanding requires actual experience, but I would guess that about a half to two-thirds of the people I lecture to have known just such an event, so this is hardly a minor “knowing” audience. In any case, the basics are quite simple to explain, even to someone who has never had such an experience. A paranormal event is one in which the world “out there” and the world “in here” manifest themselves as the same world. It is as if the mental and material dimensions of our experience have “split off” the same deeper Ground or One World. The physical world now begins to behave like a story or a series of signs. Hence the common descriptors of these experiences: “It was as if I were a character in a novel” or “It was as if I were caught in a movie.” These sensibilities, I suggest, are very accurate perceptions, because, of course, we all are caught in novels and movies, which we call culture and religion. A paranormal moment is one in which we realize that this is so. What we then do with this realization is up to us.

As such, I think you would agree that any question about the actuality of paranormal events is very difficult to phrase, since the paranormal is not – it’s a dialectical hermeneutical occurrence, not a thing. Yet, you claim it holds something real. Pray tell, what???

If by “real,” you mean “that which can be measured and controlled as an inert object,” then, no, these events are not “real.” But what if that is not what reality really is? What if there is some deeper dimension of the world that is fiercely alive, super-conscious, neither an “object” nor a “subject,” but something Other and More? This, it seems to me, is precisely what paranormal events suggest or point to.

And why should we care about it?

Because thinking that your “subjective” experiences “in here” are separate from an inert and dead “objective” world “out there” is (a) likely false and (b) depressing; while realizing that you are an intimate part of a living conscious universe is (a) likely true and (b) really, really cool.

It definitely is cool, though what people have done with the intuition of this is about as uncool as it gets, beginning with religious hierarchies and wars, and ending with low-brow New-Age mambo-jambo. It is almost as if this deeper dimension has a real knack for making us act like total asses. Dear God, why???

Yep. I couldn’t agree more, Tomer. And this is why we so desperately need a way of addressing these states that is free of any traditional religious authority or tradition. We need a new way of talking and thinking about them that is at once deeply sympathetic and radically critical. My own answer here is simple: we need to think and speak of them comparatively. Once, after all, we realize that these special states are in no way unique to any particular religion or culture, that they are globally distributed and appear to be universal human potentials, we are well down the road of addressing their most problematic, and frankly dangerous, characteristics.

What about experiencing the paranormal, or the mystical for that matter? Should we try to? Why? Have you noticed that some people are better at it than others, and do you think that may be part of the reason for experiences being a taboo in academic circles?

Although some people appear to be more gifted when it comes to such states, I do not think these events are reliably replicable, not at least in their most robust forms. They tend to occur in moments of life-crisis, trauma, or physical danger. Individuals who are more “open” to such gifts are often more open because they have themselves been “opened” by some previous trauma, injury, or near-death experience. This is one reason that rational people rationally reject them. Reason and science depend upon publically verifiable and replicable truths. But the paranormal simply does not play by these rational rules. Studying paranormal events in the light of pure reason is like studying the stars in the middle of the afternoon, and then claiming that they don’t exist. As long as one can only know things in the afternoon, that is a perfectly reasonable conclusion. It is also perfectly false.

Let’s ask the opposite as well: if experiencing IT is revelatory in terms of the awakening to truth is can bring to our lives, what is the value of academic research? Why bother spreading and spending your intellectual and spiritual strength and capacities all over, and not just enter into an esoteric tradition, delving with all of your dedication into its depths? Surely with this intensity you will enhance your chances at “getting” the paranormal (I know a number of Kabbalah schools here in Jerusalem if you want a quick conversion and career change).

I tried this. I began my youth in a monastic seminary. It was wonderful, but I ultimately decided that my vocation was an intellectual one. I understand that vocation to involve engaging matters of great importance in a more or less public fashion and free of any religious or political control. I see my own specific task to be about carving out “safe spaces” within public discourse—in this case, my books—into which thoughtful people can enter to engage in discussions that are otherwise impossible. As for esoteric communities, I deeply admire them, but there are two problems here. One is that such traditions are, by definition, esoteric and so generally against open, public discussions of these matters. They thus tend to shut down, deny, or censor conversations that I want to begin and help develop.

The other problem is that these communities too often conflate their own histories and symbolic mediations of the real with reality itself. That is, they fail to see that their specific experiences of revelation, salvation, or enlightenment are conditioned and shaped by their place and time and can never be universally true for all human beings.  The basic paradox of the history of religions is that every manifestation of the sacred reveals and conceals, illumines and distorts, at the same time.  It is as if the real can only show itself to us in forms that are limited and finite, and so fallible.  Any religious tradition that does not understand this basic truth and communicate it to their faithful in honest and open ways I find both unhelpful and unconvincing, if not actually dangerous, at this historical moment.

In your book Mutants & Mystics you write about the paranormal’s (and parts of the sacred, and the religious) exile to the fantasy worlds of pop-culture. Let’s return to the above mentioned teen. She has a fascination with vampires. What can you tell her about her love for blood-sucking misfits? What is lurking in its dark depth?

Well, I don’t do vampires. Or zombies. But I suspect what is lurking here is a spiritual eroticism (the vampire) and a critique of a materialist worldview that understands the human being as a walking corpse without real life or true consciousness (the zombie).

Would you then say that what attracts us to these myths is our own inability to put up with the materialistic-secular worldview forced upon us by hegemonic scientific (and, I might add, bourgeois-protestantish-religious) discourse?

Yes. That is what I am trying to say. This is basically my thesis in Mutants and Mystics. The paranormal migrates into popular culture because it has been exiled from both the religions (which want to demonize it) and elite science (which wants to demonize it). It goes where it can get away with being something of itself—fiction, fantasy, and film. And it makes billions of dollars there, since these genres speaks so directly and beautifully to that part of us that has been denied by orthodox religion and orthodox science.

Where does contemporary spiritual culture come into all this? What do you think is the New Age’s business vis-à-vis the paranormal, the mystical and the religious? Certainly, aside from the more superficial masses, there are some very devoted and serious spiritual seekers out there. What is their place according to the way you understand current western culture?

I understand paranormal phenomena (telepathy, precognition, apparitions, out-of-body experiences) as proto-religious, that is, as “building blocks” of future religious systems, to invoke the language of my colleague Ann Taves. So too with the New Age movements. Many of these are quite profound and very sophisticated, but they have not had enough time to take stable forms and become recognized “religions.” Most interesting to me is the fact that they tend to locate divinity in the human being, and so they are much more comfortable with psychical and paranormal phenomena, which point in the same direction.

Concerning the paranormal, Modern-Orthodox Judaism must be one of the most schizophrenic religions on earth. It tries to uphold a distinguished, (divine-)law-abiding and “moral” front, while at back, and down under, and really all over, it carries the symbols and effects of the Kabbalah, the esoteric, magical-mystical tradition. Why, the major Halakhic lawyer, on whose books most of contemporary halakhic law is based, Rabbi Joseph Karo, held a diary in which he recorded his daily talks with a female angel – talks which are of course never discussed by contemporary rabbis. What do you make of this? What is your assessment of Judaism as one looking from outside?

Well, on one level, I doubt that modern Orthodox Judaism is any different than other established religious systems. Similar public/esoteric splits could easily be found in any of the other established religions. On another level, however, Orthodox Judaism probably shares the same “mystical challenge” that any theistic tradition does: as a public religion, it wants to locate the divine outside the human being, in an external or transcendent “God,” but as a tradition of countless human beings extending over centuries and millennia, it is always stumbling over cases in which the divine manifests in and as the human being. One way to handle this disjunction is by creating what amounts to a dual tradition, with both a public and an esoteric face. Christianity, of course, handled the problem differently: it embraced the divine human, but restricted it to a single historical case. I don’t find that particularly helpful either.

What will you be talking about in your keynote address in the 5^th Israeli conference for the study of contemporary spirituality and religion?

I will be giving my lecture “Authors of the Impossible: Telepathy and the Study of Religion.” I’ve honed this at various universities in the States and Europe. I hope it finds an appreciative audience here. In any case, I am honored and grateful to be invited to this event.

My lecture Is about how paranormal events so often manifest in narrative or textual forms (hence we still speak in English of “psychical readings” and “automatic writing”), that is, how they work like stories that appear to be written (by whom, it is not at all clear).  Basically, I will focus on how the paranormal is a kind of writing and reading and, to flip this, how writing and reading are potential paranormal powers.

This year’s Ozwater conference was held last week at Perth’s river-front Convention Centre, between 7-9th May.  Ozwater is Australia’s leading international water conference and trade exhibition hosted annually by the Australian Water Association. Essential Environmental took advantage of its home turf location with the team attending presentations held over the three days, as well as the Gala Dinner and National Water Awards ceremony on the Wednesday night!

The conference was opened with a traditional Welcome to Country by a representative of the Wajuk language group and Nyoongar elder, Ozwater ’13 committee Chair Sue Murphy, AWA President Lucia Cade and Minister for Water Terry Redman. If you were fortunate enough to attend the Opening Ceremony, you would also have had the privilege to hear from keynote speakers Chris Loughlin (Chief Executive, South West Water UK and Board Member of Water Aid) and Hon Karlene Maywald (Chair of the Nationa Water Commission, Australia).

Multi-streamed presentations and interactive workshops were held on current ‘hot topics’ including, but not limited to:

• Desalination
• Water reuse & stormwater
• Mining & resources industry water management
• Asset management
• Water planning in remote & indigenous communities

The exhibition hall was filled with stands show-casing the latest water industry science, technology, products and services.  The hall was set up as a great place to wander around and check out exhibits or electronic posters (a novelty!), bump into and chat with colleagues , or have a break from it all while relaxing at the aptly named Oz-watering hole.

Ozwater, hosted by the Australian Water Association

The exhibition hall was a great place to bump into other water-y colleagues!

Posters enter the digital age

You had to be quick if you wanted to change themes and move from one conference room to another to catch a new presentation!  However, it was well worth it due to the high standard and variety of presentations that attendees were able to attend, making it hard to choose in many instances. Some of the themes were particularly relevant to Western Australians given recent high profile issues concerning how we will manage water in the future in Perth, mining areas, and in remote and indigenous communities across the state.

Unfortunately there were no sandgropers (West Australians for those who aren’t in the know) amongst the 2013 National Water Awards winners announced during the Ozwater gala dinner on 8th May.

Excellence in the water sector was recognised for the following award recipients:

• AWA Young Water Professional of the Year: Kate Simmonds, Victoria
• AWA Water Professional of the Year: Jurg Keller, Queensland
• Water Industry Safety Excellence Award: Water Resources Alliance, Victoria
• National Undergraduate Water Prize: Caroline Auricht, Lisa Blinco, Nina Hurr and Stefanie Tiggemann, University of Adelaide
• AWA Program Innovation Award 1: Bulk Water Alliance for their Enlarged Cotter Dam Fish Management Program, ACT
• AWA Project Innovation Award 2: State Water Corporation and Water for Rivers for the Computer Aided River Management Project (CARM), NSW

The next Ozwater conference will be held in Brisbane 2014. And who knows? You might just see Essential Environmental presenting if you go!

Swivel-eyed loon: And Jeremy Hunt is a member of the government, not a grassroots Conservative association.

The Conservative Party is eating itself from within. It is therefore an odd time for members to go into Labour marginal constituencies, trying to undermine support with a loaded questionnaire.

That, however, is exactly what we have seen this weekend. But then, what did you expect from the Party of Doubletalk? The Nasty Party? The Party that sows Divisive-ness wherever it can, while mouthing platitudes like “We’re all in it together”? The Party that claims it is responsible with the nation’s finances, while threatening to run up greater debts than any of its rivals ever did?

Let’s start on financial responsibility: Sir Mervyn King, who retires as Governor of the Bank of England next month, has warned that the ‘Help to Buy’ scheme for new mortgages must not be allowed to run indefinitely. The scheme has the state guaranteeing up to 15 per cent of a mortgage on homes worth up to £600,000, and is intended to run until 2017. Sir Mervyn’s fear is that the government will expose the taxpayer – that’s you and me – to billions of pounds of private mortgage debt. He said the UK must avoid what happened in the USA, where state-backed mortgage schemes had to be bailed out.

This particular scheme has already run into flak from those who claimed it was a “second-home subsidy” for the very rich. The new criticism raises fears that the Conservatives are actively engineering a situation that will create more unsustainable debt – and we all know what they do to resolve that kind of problem, don’t we?

They cut. Most particularly, they cut parts of the public services that help anyone who doesn’t earn at least £100,000 per year.

And no – before anyone pipes up with it – nobody receives that much on benefits.

For doubletalk, let’s look at Michael Gove. The Education Secretary was heckled and jeered when he appeared before the National Association of Head Teachers’ conference, where members passed a motion of no confidence in his policies.

The BBC quoted Russell Hobby, general secretary of the NAHT: “What I think he’s failed to pick up on is the short termism of the targets and the constant change, [which] means that people no longer feel that they’re doing the job that they came to do, which is to teach children.”

Mr Gove said he had been “delighted with the warmth and enthusiasm” that had greeted some of the government’s education policies.

But he went on to say there would be no change of course: “What I have heard is repeated statements that the profession faces stress, and insufficient evidence about what can be done about it. What I haven’t heard over the last hour is a determination to be constructive. Critical yes, but not constructive.”

Doubletalk. At first he was saying one thing when we know he means something else entirely; then he went on to ignore what he had been told – by the experts – because it did not support his policy.

Meanwhile, of course, the Conservative Party is eating itself alive over Europe. There are so many angles to this, it’s hard to know where to begin!

We know that Conservative backbenchers tried to amend their own government’s Queen’s speech with a motion regretting the lack of intention to legislate for an in/out referendum on membership of the European Union, and we know that 116 of them voted in favour of that motion. That wasn’t anything like enough for it to pass, so David Cameron didn’t have to worry about resigning (as suggested in previous articles on this blog).

Next thing we knew, the Telegraph‘s political editor, James Kirkup, told us a government figure close to the Prime Minister had said the backbenchers had to vote the way they did because they had been ordered to do so by grassroots Conservative association members, and they were all “mad, swivel-eyed loons”.

Downing Street has denied that anybody said such a thing, but Kirkup has tweeted “I stand by my story” – and anyway, the damage has been done. Conservative association members were already at loggerheads with the Parliamentary party and the government, we’re told, because they believe their views are being ignored.

(One wonders what those views might, in fact, be. This could be one case in which ignoring the will of the people is actually the more sensible thing to do!)

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has said the Conservatives are “united” in their view of Europe – but then, Jeremy Hunt – as Health Secretary – told Parliament that spending on the NHS has risen in real terms since the Coalition came into office, and we know from Andrew Dilnot, head of the independent UK Statistics Authority, that this is not true.

Lord Howe, on the other hand, has accused Crime – sorry, Prime – Minister David Cameron of “running scared” of Eurosceptics and losing control of the party. This is the man whose resignation speech, which memorably included a comment that being sent to deal with the EU was like being in a cricket team whose captain had broken his bat, signalled the end of Margaret – later Baroness – Thatcher’s career as Prime Minister.

Who do we believe, the silly youngster or the boring old guy? That’s right – we believe the old guy who already brought down one Prime Minister. Perhaps he can do the same to another.

Meanwhile, we were told on Sunday that members of Parliament are all set to receive a pay rise of up to £20,000, starting in 2015, the year of the next general election. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has been considering an increase of between £10,000 and £20,000, with the lower figure most likely – despite a consultation revealing that some MPs (all Conservative) thought they were worth more than £100,000 per year.

Backbencher pay is around £65,000 per year at the moment. This means the pay rise they are likely to get is 15 per cent, while those Conservatives who wanted £100 grand expected a rise of 54 per cent.

Average pay rises for working people over the last year were less than one per cent.

Do you think this is appropriate remuneration for the political organisation that said “We’re all in it together?” Because I don’t.

And this is the time the Conservative Party decides to float a proposal for a two-tier benefit system, in a survey sent to residents of marginal seats held by Labour.

One question asked whether benefit payments should be the same, regardless of how many years a person has paid National Insurance or income tax. If people answered ‘no’, the next question asked what proportion of benefits should be dependent on a record of contribution.

This is insidious. If benefits become dependent on contribution, that means young people without a job will not qualify for benefits – they won’t have paid anything in, so won’t be able to take anything out. Also, what about the long-term sick and disabled (don’t start about fraud – eliminating the 0.4 per cent of fraudulent claims does not justify what the Conservative-led Coalition is already doing to 87/88 per cent of ESA claimants, or what it has started doing to PIP claimants)? Their claims are likely to continue long after their contributions run out.

This is, I think, a trick to allow rich people to get out of paying higher tax rates. Think about it – rich people pay more, therefore they subsidise public services, including social security benefits, for the poor. Get people to support benefit payments based on the amount of money people pay in and the rich get a nice fat tax cut while the poor get their benefits cut off.

Fair? All in it together?

There’s a lot of doubletalk, so sections are headed “helping with the cost of living” (they tend to make it impossible for people to meet that cost) or “making our welfare and benefits system fair” – Tories have never tried to do this in the entire history of that political party.

And respondents were asked to agree with one of two statements, which were: “If you work hard, it is possible to be very successful in Britain no matter what your background” and “In Britain today, people from some backgrounds will never have a real chance to be successful no matter how hard they work”. The correct answer is to agree with the second statement, of course. And this government of public schoolboys have every intention of pushing that situation to its utmost extreme, so if you are a middle-class social climber and you think there are opportunities for you under a Tory government, forget it.

The whole nightmarish rag is prefaced by a letter from David Cameron. It’s very funny if you accept that it’s full of doubletalk and nonsense. Let’s go through it together:

“I’d like to know what you think about some of the steps we’ve taken so far – and I’d like to know your ideas about what more the Government can do to help families like yours,” he begins. He means: I’d like to know what we can say in order to get you to vote for us in 2015. We’ll have no intention of carrying out any promise that does not advantage ourselves and our extremely rich friends. The correct response is: Your policies are ideologically-motivated twaddle that are causing critical damage to this country and its institutions. Your best action in the future will be to resign.

“I think helping people through tough economic times means making sure our welfare and benefits is [sic] fair. That means ensuring the system helps those who do the right thing and want to get on. That’s helping rich people through tough economic times. We’ll make welfare and benefits as unfair to the poor as we can. That means ensuring the system helps those who support us and are rich enough for us to want to help them. Your changes to welfare and benefits have led to thousands of deaths. That is not fair. You are breaking the system.

“That’s why we’ve capped the amount an out-of-work household can receive in benefits, so this can’t be more than an average working family earns. Again I’d like to know what you think about the actions we’ve taken so far, and your ideas to the future.” It’s nothing near what an average working family earns, because they would be on benefits that top up their earnings to more than £31,000 – but you couldn’t cap at that level because almost nobody would have been knocked off the benefit books (all your talk about people taking more than £100,000 in benefits was nonsense). Resign, join a monastery and vow never to enter public life again.

There is no doubt about it – the cracks are beginning to show. Last summer, the Olympic Games gave us spectacular firework displays. As public unrest mounts, it seems likely that we’ll see even more spectacular fireworks this year – unplanned.

But then, that is why the Conservatives bought the water cannons that are being tested at Petersfield. When they go into use, we’ll all know what they really think of the general public.

I have some very exciting news to share! I will be attending my first fashion conference organized by Fashionista! The key note speaker will be the famous American designer Zac Posen!! The conference will have three panels with panelists such as Rebecca Minkoff, Leandra Medine, designers Chris Benz, Rachel Antonoff, Katie Ermilio, and Kaelen, and industry professionals including Tumblr’s Valentine Uhovski, KCD’s Danielle McGrory, Pose’s Alisa Gould-Simon, Lucky Mag’s John Jannuzzi. And more!

This conference will allow me to network with these professionals and learn more about the Fashion world. I have to make sure to look my best and stand out. I’ve also just made new business cards which I hope to be able to give out along with my resume Tell me what you guys think of them!

I can’t wait to share with you all the fascinating things I’ll learn and hopefully of any opportunities I come across If any of you want to attend by the way, you can buy your ticket here: http://fashionista.com/howtomakeit/. Let me know and we can go together! 

Best,

Sandra

There is something wonderful about coming together with a group of like-minded people. Writers, agents and editors live for the joy of a book. That is a wonderful reason to create, to explore and to work in the publishing industry.

I have never had trouble walking into a room of ‘strangers’ who are writers. Maybe because we speak the same language and within minutes we are strangers no more? By simply uttering four simple words, “what do you write?” the floodgates open and new friends are made. That was the case with this weekend as well. I was excited to meet a fellow Golden Heart ® finalist who drove to our conference to specifically meet me and the other writer in our chapter who finaled this year in the contest. How awesome and supportive is that!

The other positive note from attending writers’ conferences is that I realize that I am not ‘crazy’ for hearing voices of characters in my head, or for my compulsion in setting my stories to paper. Every writer I meet has this same drive and it is much better to feel part of a community than a loony woman alone on an island (no comments on this, please).

So as I wrap up my weekend and prepare for the week ahead and my day job, I remember the advice, camaraderie and positive vibes I absorbed at the conference. Then I smile at the computer screen in front of me as I type the first words to bring a new story to life.