title: Western esotericism

text: Hanegraaff proposed an additional definition that "Western esotericism" is a category that represents "the academy's dustbin of rejected knowledge." In this respect, it contains all of the theories and world views rejected by the mainstream intellectual community because they do not accord with "normative conceptions of religion, rationality and science." His approach is rooted within the field of the history of ideas, and stresses the role of change and transformation over time.


title: Western esotericism

text: Goodrick-Clarke was critical of this approach, believing that it relegated Western esotericism to the position of "a casualty of positivist and materialist perspectives in the nineteenth-century" and thus reinforces the idea that Western esoteric traditions were of little historical importance. Bogdan similarly expressed concern regarding Hanegraaff's definition, believing that it made the category of Western esotericism "all inclusive" and thus analytically useless.


title: Western esotericism

text: The origins of Western esotericism are in the Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, then part of the Roman Empire, during Late Antiquity. This was a milieu that mixed religious and intellectual traditions from Greece, Egypt, the Levant, Babylon, and Persia—in which globalisation, urbanisation, and multiculturalism were bringing about socio-cultural change.


title: Western esotericism

text: One component of this was Hermeticism, an Egyptian Hellenistic school of thought that takes its name from the legendary Egyptian wise man, Hermes Trismegistus. In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a number of texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus appeared, including the "Corpus Hermeticum", "Asclepius", and "The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth". Some still debate whether Hermeticism was a purely literary phenomenon or had communities of practitioners who acted on these ideas, but it has been established that these texts discuss the true nature of God, emphasising that humans must transcend rational thought and worldly desires to find salvation and be reborn into a spiritual body of immaterial light, thereby achieving spiritual unity with divinity.


title: Western esotericism

text: Another tradition of esoteric thought in Late Antiquity was Gnosticism. Various Gnostic sects existed, and they broadly believed that the divine light had been imprisoned within the material world by a malevolent entity known as the Demiurge, who was served by demonic helpers, the Archons. It was the Gnostic belief that people, who were imbued with the divine light, should seek to attain gnosis and thus escape from the world of matter and rejoin the divine source.


title: Western esotericism

text: A third form of esotericism in Late Antiquity was Neoplatonism, a school of thought influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Plato. Advocated by such figures as Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus, Neoplatonism held that the human soul had fallen from its divine origins into the material world, but that it could progress, through a number of hierarchical spheres of being, to return to its divine origins once more. The later Neoplatonists performed theurgy, a ritual practice attested in such sources as the "Chaldean Oracles". Scholars are still unsure of precisely what theurgy involved, but know it involved a practice designed to make gods appear, who could then raise the theurgist's mind to the reality of the divine.


title: Western esotericism

text: After the fall of Rome, alchemy and philosophy and other aspects of the tradition were largely preserved in the Arab and Near Eastern world and reintroduced into Western Europe by Jews and by the cultural contact between Christians and Muslims in Sicily and southern Italy. The 12th century saw the development of the Kabbalah in southern Italy and medieval Spain.


title: Western esotericism

text: The medieval period also saw the publication of grimoires, which offered often elaborate formulas for theurgy and thaumaturgy. Many of the grimoires seem to have kabbalistic influence. Figures in alchemy from this period seem to also have authored or used grimoires.


title: Western esotericism

text: During the Renaissance, a number of European thinkers began to synthesize "pagan" (that is, not Christian) philosophies, which were then being made available through Arabic translations, with Christian thought and the Jewish kabbalah. The earliest of these individuals was the Byzantine philosopher Plethon (1355/60–1452?), who argued that the "Chaldean Oracles" represented an example of a superior religion of ancient humanity that had been passed down by the Platonists.


title: Western esotericism

text: Plethon's ideas interested the ruler of Florence, Cosimo de Medici, who employed Florentine thinker Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) to translate Plato's works into Latin. Ficino went on to translate and publish the works of various Platonic figures, arguing that their philosophies were compatible with Christianity, and allowing for the emergence of a wider movement in Renaissance Platonism, or Platonic Orientalism. Ficino also translated part of the "Corpus Hermeticum", though the rest was translated by his contemporary, Lodovico Lazzarelli (1447–1500).


title: Western esotericism

text: Another core figure in this intellectual milieu was Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), who achieved notability in 1486 by inviting scholars from across Europe to come and debate with him 900 theses that he had written. Pico della Mirandola argued that all of these philosophies reflected a grand universal wisdom. However, Pope Innocent VIII condemned these ideas, criticising him for attempting to mix pagan and Jewish ideas with Christianity.


title: Western esotericism

text: Pico della Mirandola's increased interest in Jewish kabbalah led to his development of a distinct form of Christian Kabbalah. His work was built on by the German Johannes Reuchlin (1455–1522) who authored an influential text on the subject, "De Arte Cabbalistica". Christian Kabbalah was expanded in the work of the German Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486–1535/36), who used it as a framework to explore the philosophical and scientific traditions of Antiquity in his work "De occulta philosophia libri tres". The work of Agrippa and other esoteric philosophers had been based in a pre-Copernican worldview, but following the arguments of Copernicus, a more accurate understanding of the cosmos was established. Copernicus' theories were adopted into esoteric strains of thought by Giordano Bruno (1548–1600), whose ideas were deemed heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, which eventually publicly executed him.


title: Western esotericism

text: A distinct strain of esoteric thought developed in Germany, where it became known as "Naturphilosophie". Though influenced by traditions from Late Antiquity and medieval Kabbalah, it only acknowledged two main sources of authority: Biblical scripture and the natural world. The primary exponent of this approach was Paracelsus (1493/94–1541), who took inspiration from alchemy and folk magic to argue against the mainstream medical establishment of his time—which, as in Antiquity, still based its approach on the ideas of the second-century physician and philosopher, Galen, a Greek in the Roman Empire. Instead, Paracelsus urged doctors to learn medicine through an observation of the natural world, though in later work he also began to focus on overtly religious questions. His work gained significant support in both areas over the following centuries.


title: Western esotericism

text: One of those influenced by Paracelsus was the German cobbler Jacob Böhme (1575–1624), who sparked the Christian theosophy movement through his attempts to solve the problem of evil. Böhme argued that God had been created out of an unfathomable mystery, the "Ungrund", and that God himself was composed of a wrathful core, surrounded by the forces of light and love. Though condemned by Germany's Lutheran authorities, Böhme's ideas spread and formed the basis for a number of small religious communities, such as Johann Georg Gichtel's Angelic Brethren in Amsterdam, and John Pordage and Jane Leade's Philadelphian Society in England.


title: Western esotericism

text: From 1614 to 1616, the three "Rosicrucian Manifestos" were published in Germany. These texts purported to represent a secret, initiatory brotherhood founded centuries before by a German adept named Christian Rosenkreutz. There is no evidence that Rosenkreutz was a genuine historical figure, nor that a Rosicrucian Order had ever existed before then. Instead, the manifestos are likely literary creations of Lutheran theologian Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654). However, they inspired much public interest, with various individuals coming to describe themselves as "Rosicrucian" and claiming that they had access to secret, esoteric knowledge as a result.


title: Western esotericism

text: A real initiatory brotherhood was established in late 16th-century Scotland through the transformation of Medieval stonemason guilds to include non-craftsman: Freemasonry. Soon spreading into other parts of Europe, in England it largely rejected its esoteric character and embraced humanism and rationalism, while in France it embraced new esoteric concepts, particularly those from Christian theosophy.


title: Western esotericism

text: The Age of Enlightenment witnessed a process of increasing secularisation of European governments and an embrace of modern science and rationality within intellectual circles. In turn, a "modernist occult" emerged that reflected varied ways esoteric thinkers came to terms with these developments. One of the esotericists of this period was the Swedish naturalist Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), who attempted to reconcile science and religion after experiencing a vision of Jesus Christ. His writings focused on his visionary travels to heaven and hell and his communications with angels, claiming that the visible, materialist world parallels an invisible spiritual world, with correspondences between the two that do not reflect causal relations. Following his death, followers founded the Swedenborgian New Church—though his writings influenced a wider array of esoteric philosophies. Another major figure within the esoteric movement of this period was the German physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1814), who developed the theory of "Animal Magnetism", which later became known more commonly as "Mesmerism". Mesmer claimed that a universal life force permeated everything, including the human body, and that illnesses were caused by a disturbance or block in this force's flow; he developed techniques he claimed cleansed such blockages and restored the patient to full health. One of Mesmer's followers, the Marquis de Puységur, discovered that mesmeric treatment could induce a state of somnumbulic trance in which they claimed to enter visionary states and communicate with spirit beings.


title: Western esotericism

text: These somnambulic trance-states heavily influenced the esoteric religion of Spiritualism, which emerged in the United States in the 1840s and spread throughout North America and Europe. Spiritualism was based on the concept that individuals could communicate with spirits of the deceased during séances. Most forms of Spiritualism had little theoretical depth, being largely practical affairs—but full theological worldviews based on the movement were articulated by Andrew Jackson Davis (1826–1910) and Allan Kardec (1804–1869). Scientific interest in the claims of Spiritualism resulted in the development of the field of psychical research. Somnambulism also exerted a strong influence on the early disciplines of psychology and psychiatry; esoteric ideas pervade the work of many early figures in this field, most notably Carl Gustav Jung—though with the rise of psychoanalysis and behaviourism in the 20th century, these disciplines distanced themselves from esotericism. Also influenced by artificial somnambulism was the religion of New Thought, founded by the American mesmerist Phineas P. Quimby (1802–1866). It revolved around the concept of "mind over matter"—believing that illness and other negative conditions could be cured through the power of belief.


title: Western esotericism

text: In Europe, a movement usually termed "occultism" emerged as various figures attempted to find a "third way" between Christianity and positivist science while building on the ancient, medieval, and Renaissance traditions of esoteric thought. In France, following the social upheaval of the 1789 Revolution, various figures emerged in this occultist milieu who were heavily influenced by traditional Catholicism, the most notable of whom were Eliphas Lévi (1810–1875) and Papus (1865–1916). Also significant was René Guénon (1886–1951), whose concern with tradition led him to develop an occult viewpoint termed Traditionalism; it espoused the idea of an original, universal tradition, and thus a rejection of modernity. His Traditionalist ideas strongly influenced later esotericists like Julius Evola (1898–1974) and Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998).


title: Western esotericism

text: In the Anglophone world, the burgeoning occult movement owed more to Enlightenment libertines, and thus was more often of an anti-Christian bent that saw wisdom as emanating from the pre-Christian pagan religions of Europe. Various Spiritualist mediums came to be disillusioned with the esoteric thought available, and sought inspiration in pre-Swedenborgian currents, including Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–1899) and Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891), the latter of whom called for the revival of the "occult science" of the ancients, which could be found in both the East and West. Authoring the influential "Isis Unveiled" (1877) and "The Secret Doctrine" (1888), she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. Subsequent leaders of the Society, namely Annie Besant (1847–1933) and Charles Webster Leadbeater (1854–1934) interpreted modern theosophy as a form of ecumenical esoteric Christianity, resulting in their proclamation of Indian Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895–1986) as world messiah. In rejection of this was the breakaway Anthroposophical Society founded by Rudolf Steiner (1861–1925). Another form of esoteric Christianity is the spiritual science of the Danish mystic Martinus who is popular in Scandinavia.


title: Western esotericism

text: New esoteric understandings of magic also developed in the latter part of the 19th century. One of the pioneers of this was American Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875), who argued that sexual energy and psychoactive drugs could be used for magical purposes. In England, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn—an initiatory order devoted to magic based on kabbalah—was founded in the latter years of the century. One of the members of that order was Aleister Crowley (1875–1947), who went on to proclaim the religion of Thelema and become a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Some of their contemporaries developed esoteric schools of thought that did not entail magic, namely the Greco-Armenian teacher George Gurdjieff (1866–1949) and his Russian pupil P.D. Ouspensky (1878–1947).


title: Western esotericism

text: Emergent occult and esoteric systems found increasing popularity in the early 20th century, especially in Western Europe. Occult lodges and secret societies flowered among European intellectuals of this era who had largely abandoned traditional forms of Christianity. The spreading of secret teachings and magical practices found enthusiastic adherents in the chaos of Germany during the interwar years. Notable writers such as Guido von List spread neo-pagan, nationalist ideas, based on Wotanism and the Kabbalah. Many influential and wealthy Germans were drawn to secret societies such as the Thule Society. Thule Society activist Karl Harrer was one of the founders of the German Workers' Party, which later became the Nazi Party; some Nazi Party members like Alfred Rosenberg and Rudolf Hess were listed as "guests" of the Thule Society, as was Adolf Hitler's mentor Dietrich Eckart. After their rise to power, the Nazis persecuted occultists. While many Nazi Party leaders like Hitler and Joseph Goebbels were hostile to occultism, Heinrich Himmler used Karl Maria Wiligut as a clairvoyant "and was regularly consulting for help in setting up the symbolic and ceremonial aspects of the SS" but not for important political decisions. By 1939, Wiligut was "forcibly retired from the SS" due to being institutionalised for insanity. On the other hand, the German hermetic magic order Fraternitas Saturni was founded on Easter 1928 and it is one of the oldest continuously running magical groups in Germany. In 1936, the Fraternitas Saturni was prohibited by the Nazi regime. The leaders of the lodge emigrated to avoid imprisonment, but in the course of the war Eugen Grosche, one of their main leaders, was arrested for a year by the Nazi government. After World War II they reformed the Fraternitas Saturni.


title: Western esotericism

text: Several religious scholars such as Hugh Urban and Donald Westbrook have classified Scientology as being a modern form of Western Esotericism.


title: Western esotericism

text: In the 1960s and 1970s, esotericism came to be increasingly associated with the growing counter-culture in the West, whose adherents understood themselves in participating in a spiritual revolution that marked the Age of Aquarius. By the 1980s, these currents of millenarian currents had come to be widely known as the New Age movement, and it became increasingly commercialised as business entrepreneurs exploited a growth in the spiritual market. Conversely, other forms of esoteric thought retained the anti-commercial and counter-cultural sentiment of the 1960s and 1970s, namely the techno-shamanic movement promoted by figures such as Terence McKenna and Daniel Pinchbeck, which built on the work of anthropologist Carlos Castaneda.


title: Western esotericism

text: This trend was accompanied by the increased growth of modern Paganism, a movement initially dominated by Wicca, the religion propagated by Gerald Gardner. Wicca was adopted by members of the second-wave feminist movement, most notably Starhawk, and developing into the Goddess movement. Wicca also greatly influenced the development of Pagan neo-druidry and other forms of Celtic revivalism. In response to Wicca there has also appeared literature and groups who label themselves followers of traditional witchcraft in opposition to the growing visibility of Wicca and these claim older roots than the system proposed by Gerald Gardner. Other trends that emerged in western occultism in the later 20th century included satanism, as exposed by groups such as the Church of Satan and Temple of Set, as well as chaos magick through the Illuminates of Thanateros group.


title: Western esotericism

text: Additionally, since the start of the 1990s, countries inside of the former Iron Curtain have undergone a radiative and varied religious revival, with a large number of occult and new religious movements gaining popularity. Gnostic revivalists, New Age organizations, and Scientology splinter groups have found their way into much of the former Soviet bloc since the cultural and political shift resulting from the dissolution of the USSR. In Hungary, a significant number of citizens (relative to the size of the country’s population and compared to its neighbors) practice and/or adhere to new currents of Western Esotericism. In April 1997, the Fifth Esoteric Spiritual Forum was held for two days in the country and was attended at-capacity; In August of the same year, the International Shaman Expo began, being broadcast on live TV and ultimately taking place for 2 months wherein various neo-Shamanist, Millenarian, mystic, neo-Pagan, and even UFO religionist congregations and figures were among the attendees.


title: Western esotericism

text: The academic study of Western esotericism was pioneered in the early 20th century by historians of the ancient world and the European Renaissance, who came to recognise that—even though previous scholarship had ignored it—the effect pre-Christian and non-rational schools of thought on European society and culture was worthy of academic attention. One of the key centres for this was the Warburg Institute in London, where scholars like Frances Yates, Edgar Wind, Ernst Cassirer, and D. P. Walker began arguing that esoteric thought had had a greater effect on Renaissance culture than had been previously accepted. The work of Yates in particular, most notably her 1964 book "Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition", has been cited as "an important starting-point for modern scholarship on esotericism", succeeding "at one fell swoop in bringing scholarship onto a new track" by bringing wider awareness of the effect that esoteric ideas had on modern science.


title: Western esotericism

text: In 1965, at the instigation of the scholar Henry Corbin, École pratique des hautes études in the Sorbonne established the world's first academic post in the study of esotericism, with a chair in the History of Christian Esotericism. Its first holder was François Secret, a specialist in the Christian Kabbalah, though he had little interest in developing the wider study of esotericism as a field of research. In 1979 Faivre assumed Secret's chair at the Sorbonne, which was renamed the "History of Esoteric and Mystical Currents in Modern and Contemporary Europe". Faivre has since been cited as being responsible for developing the study of Western esotericism into a formalised field, with his 1992 work "L'ésotérisme" having been cited as marking "the beginning of the study of Western esotericism as an academic field of research". He remained in the chair until 2002, when he was succeeded by Jean-Pierre Brach.


title: Western esotericism

text: Faivre noted that there were two significant obstacles to establishing the field. One was that there was an engrained prejudice towards esotericism within academia, resulting in the widespread perception that the history of esotericism was not worthy of academic research. The second was that esotericism is a trans-disciplinary field, the study of which did not fit clearly within any particular discipline. As Hanegraaff noted, Western esotericism had to be studied as a separate field to religion, philosophy, science, and the arts, because while it "participates in all these fields" it does not squarely fit into any of them. Elsewhere, he noted that there was "probably no other domain in the humanities that has been so seriously neglected" as Western esotericism.


title: Western esotericism

text: In 1980, the U.S.-based Hermetic Academy was founded by Robert A. McDermott as an outlet for American scholars interested in Western esotericism. From 1986 to 1990 members of the Hermetic Academy participated in panels at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion under the rubric of the "Esotericism and Perennialism Group". By 1994, Faivre could comment that the academic study of Western esotericism had taken off in France, Italy, England, and the United States, but he lamented that it had not done so in Germany.


title: Western esotericism

text: In 1999, the University of Amsterdam established a chair in the "History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents", which was occupied by Hanegraaff, while in 2005 the University of Exeter created a chair in "Western Esotericism", which was taken by Goodrick-Clarke, who headed the Exeter Center for the Study of Esotericism. Thus, by 2008 there were three dedicated university chairs in the subject, with Amsterdam and Exeter also offering master's degree programs in it. Several conferences on the subject were held at the quintennial meetings of the International Association for the History of Religions, while a peer-reviewed journal, "Aries: Journal for the Study of Western Esotericism" began publication in 2001. 2001 also saw the foundation of the North American Association for the Study of Esotericism (ASE), with the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) being established shortly after.


title: Western esotericism

text: Within a few years, Michael Bergunder expressed the view that it had become an established field within religious studies, with Asprem and Granholm observing that scholars within other sub-disciplines of religious studies had begun to take an interest in the work of scholars of esotericism.


title: Western esotericism

text: Asprem and Granholm noted that the study of esotericism had been dominated by historians and thus lacked the perspective of social scientists examining contemporary forms of esotericism, a situation that they were attempting to correct through building links with scholars operating in Pagan studies and the study of new religious movements.


title: Western esotericism

text: On the basis that "English culture and literature have been traditional strongholds of Western esotericism", in 2011 Pia Brînzeu and György Szönyi urged that English studies also have a role in this interdisciplinary field.


title: Western esotericism

text: Emic and etic refer to two kinds of field research done and viewpoints obtained, emic, from within the social group (from the perspective of the subject) and etic, from outside (from the perspective of the observer). Wouter Hanegraaff follows a distinction between an emic and an etic approach to religious studies.


title: Western esotericism

text: The emic approach is that of the alchemist or theosopher. The etic approach is that of the scholar as an historian, a researcher, with a critical view. An empirical study of esotericism needs "emic material and etic interpretation":


title: Western esotericism

text: Many scholars of esotericism have come to be regarded as respected intellectual authorities by practitioners of various esoteric traditions. Many esotericism scholars have sought to emphasise that esotericism is not a single object, but practitioners who read this scholarship have begun to regard it and think of it as a singular object, with which they affiliate themselves. Thus, Asprem and Granholm noted that the use of the term "esotericism" among scholars "significantly contributes to the reification of the category for the general audience—"despite" the explicated contrary intentions of most scholars in the field."


title: Western esotericism

text: In 2013, Asprem and Granholm highlighted that "contemporary esotericism is intimately, and increasingly, connected with popular culture and new media."


title: Western esotericism

text: Granholm noted that esoteric ideas and images appear in many aspects of Western popular media, citing such examples as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Avatar", "Hellblazer", and "His Dark Materials". Granholm has argued that there are problems with the field in that it draws a distinction between esotericism and non-esoteric elements of culture that draw upon esotericism. He cites extreme metal as an example, noting that it is extremely difficult to differentiate between artists who were "properly occult" and those who superficially referenced occult themes and aesthetics.


title: Western esotericism

text: Writers interested in occult themes have adopted three different strategies for dealing with the subject: those who are knowledgeable on the subject including attractive images of the occult and occultists in their work, those who disguise occultism within "a web of intertextuality", and those who oppose it and seek to deconstruct it.


title: I Am Sam

text: I Am Sam (stylized i am sam) is a 2001 American drama film co-written and directed by Jessie Nelson, and starring Sean Penn as a father with an intellectual disability, Dakota Fanning as his bright and inquisitive daughter, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his lawyer. Dianne Wiest, Loretta Devine, Richard Schiff, and Laura Dern appear in supporting roles.


title: I Am Sam

text: Nelson and co-writer Kristine Johnson researched the issues facing adults with intellectual disabilities by visiting the non-profit organization L.A. GOAL (Greater Opportunities for the Advanced Living). They subsequently cast two actors with disabilities, Brad Silverman and Joe Rosenberg, in key roles. The film's title is derived from the lines "I am Sam / Sam I am" of the book "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss, which is included in the movie.


title: I Am Sam

text: The film received polarized reviews from critics and audiences. It grossed over $97 million at the box office, against a production budget of $22 million. For his role as Sam, Penn was highly acclaimed and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 74th Academy Awards in 2002. The film launched the career of child actress Dakota Fanning, who was then seven years old and had only acted in two small roles. She became the youngest actress to be nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.


title: I Am Sam

text: In 1993, Samuel Dawson, a Starbucks employee with an intellectual disability, becomes the single father of Lucy Diamond Dawson, named after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", following their abandonment by her mother, a homeless woman with whom Sam had a sexual encounter.


title: I Am Sam

text: Sam is well-adjusted and has a supportive group of friends with disabilities, as well as a kind, agoraphobic neighbor, Annie, who takes care of Lucy when Sam cannot. Nearly eight years later in 2001, Sam provides a loving place for precocious Lucy, though she soon surpasses his mental capacity and ability.


title: I Am Sam

text: Other children bully her for having an intellectually-disabled father, and she becomes too embarrassed to accept that she is more advanced than he is. In danger of losing child custody, Sam gets advice from his friends and also hires a lawyer, Rita Harrison, whose absorption in her work and neglect of her son reveals her to also struggle with her role as a parent. In an attempt to prove that she is not cold, Rita agrees to take on Sam's case "pro bono".


title: I Am Sam

text: As they work to secure Sam's rights, Sam helps Rita see her own life anew. This includes encouraging her to leave her philandering husband and repair her fractious relationship with her son.


title: I Am Sam

text: At the trial, due to pressure from the prosecutor, Sam breaks down after becoming convinced he is not capable of raising Lucy. Afterward, she resides in a foster home with Miranda “Randy” Carpenter but tries to convince Sam to help her run away. Sam moves so he is nearby Lucy, so she continually leaves in the middle of the night to go to his apartment, though he immediately returns her.


title: I Am Sam

text: However, the foster parents decide not to adopt her as they had planned and return her to Sam. Randy assures him that she will tell the judge he is the best parent for Lucy. In turn, Sam asks Randy if she will help him raise Lucy because he feels she needs a mother figure.


title: I Am Sam

text: The final scene depicts a soccer game, in which Sam referees and Lucy participate as a player. In attendance are Lucy's former foster family, Sam's friend group, and a newly single Rita with her son.


title: I Am Sam

text: The Grammy Award–nominated soundtrack, in addition to a John Powell score, also has cover versions of songs by the Beatles. The album contents are made up entirely of cover versions of songs by The Beatles, although it was originally intended to consist of the group's original recordings. When producers were unable to obtain the rights to the original tracks, they commissioned artists such as the Black Crowes, Nick Cave, Stereophonics, Eddie Vedder, Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Rufus Wainwright, the Wallflowers, Ben Harper, the Vines, and Ben Folds to record the versions released. Penn's brother, Michael Penn, is also featured on a duet with his wife Aimee Mann.


title: I Am Sam

text: As the movie had been shot and produced to the original Beatles music, the artists had to record their covers to the same musical timing (tempo) as that of the Beatles' original pieces.


title: I Am Sam

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 35% based on reviews from 145 critics, with an average rating of 4.77/10. The site's consensus reads: "Not only does the manipulative "I Am Sam" oversimplify a complex issue, it drowns it in treacle." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 28 of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.


title: I Am Sam

text: A. O. Scott of the "New York Times" wrote that ""I Am Sam" is not a bad movie, and its intentions are unimpeachable. But its sentimentality is so relentless and its narrative so predictable that the life is very nearly squeezed out of it." "Variety" wrote: "Undone by its best intentions, "I Am Sam" is an especially insipid example of the Hollywood message movie". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote that "every device of the movie's art is designed to convince us Lucy must stay with Sam, but common sense makes it impossible to go the distance with the premise." Ebert also criticized the morality tale character of the movie, saying that "you can't have heroes and villains when the wrong side is making the best sense."


title: I Am Sam

text: Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" reviewed it positively as a "most inviting and accessible film that turns upon a mental condition that most people would prefer not to think about." Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" commended Sean Penn for his performance: "Penn's accuracy, his lack of condescension or sentiment, and his willingness to inhabit his character without any implicit commentary take what might have been the equivalent of an inflated TV movie and elevate it to the level of art." David Denby of "The New Yorker", found Michelle Pfeiffer to be the standout: "Pfeiffer, enormously likable in the role, almost saves the movie."


title: I Am Sam

text: Sean Penn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor and the Satellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.


title: I Am Sam

text: Dakota Fanning won the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Young Performer, the Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Youth in Film, the Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Youth Actress, the Satellite Special Achievement Award for Outstanding New Talent, and the Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film – Young Actress Age Ten or Under. She was also nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.


title: I Am Sam

text: The soundtrack was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.


title: I Am Sam

text: The film won the inaugural Stanley Kramer Award from the Producers Guild of America, and was nominated for the Humanitas Prize and the Japan Academy Prize for Outstanding Foreign Language Film.


title: Jim Mattis

text: James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from January 2017 to January 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis was commissioned in the Marine Corps through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps after graduating from Central Washington University. A career Marine, he gained a reputation among his peers for intellectualism and eventually advanced to the rank of general. From 2007 to 2010, he commanded the United States Joint Forces Command and concurrently served as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation. He was commander of United States Central Command from 2010 to 2013, with Admiral Bob Harward serving as his deputy commander. After retiring from the military, he served in several private sector roles, including as a board member of Theranos.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis was nominated as secretary of defense by president-elect Donald Trump, and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2017. As secretary of defense, Mattis affirmed the United States' commitment to defending longtime ally South Korea in the wake of the 2017 North Korea crisis. An opponent of proposed collaboration with China and Russia, Mattis stressed what he saw as their "threat to the American-led world order". Mattis occasionally voiced his disagreement with certain Trump administration policies such as the withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, withdrawals of troops from Syria and Afghanistan, and budget cuts hampering the ability to monitor the impacts of climate change. According to "The Hill", Mattis also reportedly dissuaded Trump from attempting to assassinate Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria.


title: Jim Mattis

text: On December 20, 2018, after failing to convince Trump to reconsider his decision to withdraw all American troops from Syria, Mattis announced his resignation effective the end of February 2019; after Mattis's resignation generated significant media coverage, Trump abruptly accelerated Mattis' departure date to January 1, 2019, stating that he had essentially fired Mattis.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis was born on September 8, 1950, in Pullman, Washington. He is the son of Lucille (Proulx) Mattis (1922–2019) and John West Mattis (1915–1988), a merchant mariner. His mother immigrated to the United States from Canada as an infant and had worked in Army Intelligence in South Africa during the Second World War. Mattis's father moved to Richland, Washington, to work at a plant supplying fissile material to the Manhattan Project. Mattis was raised in a bookish household that did not own a television. He graduated from Richland High School in 1968. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Central Washington University in 1971 and a Master of Arts in international security affairs from the National War College of National Defense University in 1994.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1969. He was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Naval Reserve Officers' Training Corps on January 1, 1972. During his service years, Mattis was considered an "intellectual" among the upper ranks. Robert H. Scales, a retired United States Army major general, called him "one of the most urbane and polished men I have known." As a lieutenant, Mattis was assigned as a rifle and weapons platoon commander in the 3rd Marine Division. As a captain, he was assigned as the Naval Academy Preparatory School's Battalion Officer, commanded rifle and weapons companies in the 1st Marine Regiment, then served at Recruiting Station Portland, Oregon, as a major.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Upon promotion to the rank of lieutenant colonel, Mattis commanded 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, one of Task Force Ripper's assault battalions during the Gulf War. As a colonel, Mattis commanded the 7th Marine Regiment from June 28, 1994, to June 14, 1996.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis is a graduate of the US Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, US Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National War College. He is noted for his interest in the study of military history and world history, with a personal library that once included over 7,000 volumes, and a penchant for publishing required reading lists for Marines under his command. He required his Marines to be well-read in the culture and history of regions where they were deployed, and had his Marines deploying to Iraq undergo "cultural sensitivity training". According to an article published in 2004 by the "Los Angeles Times" it was his concern for the enlisted ranks along with his energy and enthusiasm that garnered him the nickname "Mad Dog". But in 2016, when President-elect Trump asked Mattis if his nickname was indeed "Mad Dog," Mattis replied, "No, sir," saying that his actual nickname was "Chaos."


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis led the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade as its commanding officer upon promotion to brigadier general. It was as a regimental commander that he earned his nickname and call sign, "CHAOS", an acronym for "Colonel Has Another Outstanding Solution", which was initially somewhat tongue-in-cheek.


title: Jim Mattis

text: During the initial planning for the War in Afghanistan, Mattis led Task Force 58 in operations in the southern part of the country beginning in November 2001, becoming the first Marine Corps officer to command a Naval Task Force in combat. According to Mattis, his objective upon arriving in Afghanistan was "make sure that the enemy didn't feel like they had any safe haven, to destroy their sense of security in southern Afghanistan, to isolate Kandahar from its lines of communication, and to move against Kandahar." In December 2001, an airstrike carried out by a B-52 bomber inadvertently targeted a position held by US special operations troops and Afghan militiamen in Uruzgan Province. Numerous men were wounded in the incident, but Mattis repeatedly refused to dispatch helicopters from the nearby Camp Rhino to recover them, citing operational safety concerns. Instead, an Air Force helicopter flew from Uzbekistan to ferry the men to the Marine Corps base where helicopters sat readily available but unauthorized to fly. Captain Jason Amerine blamed the delay caused by Mattis's refusal to order a rescue operation for the deaths of several men. Amerine wrote, "Every element in Afghanistan tried to help us except the closest friendly unit, commanded by Mattis," though he also wrote that "none of that was assessed properly because the [5th Special Forces Group] chose not to call for a formal investigation". This episode was used against Mattis when he was nominated for defense secretary in 2016.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis describes being presented with the location of Osama bin Laden in December 2001 and creating a plan to kill him that was never executed.


title: Jim Mattis

text: While serving in Afghanistan as a brigadier general, Mattis was known as an officer who engaged his men with "real leadership." A young Marine officer, Nathaniel Fick, said he witnessed Mattis in a fighting hole talking with a sergeant and lance corporal: "No one would have questioned Mattis if he'd slept eight hours each night in a private room, to be woken each morning by an aide who ironed his uniforms and heated his MREs. But there he was, in the middle of a freezing night, out on the lines with his Marines."


title: Jim Mattis

text: As a major general, Mattis commanded the 1st Marine Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Iraq War. Mattis played key roles in combat operations in Fallujah, including negotiation with the insurgent command inside the city during Operation Vigilant Resolve in April 2004, as well as participation in planning of the subsequent Operation Phantom Fury in November.


title: Jim Mattis

text: In May 2004, Mattis ordered the 3 a.m. bombing of what his intelligence section had reported was a suspected enemy safe house near the Syrian border, but was later reported to be a wedding party and allegedly resulted in the deaths of 42 civilians, including 11 women and 14 children. Mattis said it had taken him 30 seconds to decide whether to bomb the location. Describing the wedding as implausible, he said, "How many people go to the middle of the desert to hold a wedding from the nearest civilization? These were more than two dozen military-age males. Let's not be naive." The occurrence of a wedding was disputed by military officials, but the Associated Press obtained video footage showing a wedding party and a video the next day showed musical instruments and party decoration among the remains. When asked by the press about footage on Arabic television of a child's body being lowered into a grave, he replied: "I have not seen the pictures but bad things happen in wars. I don't have to apologize for the conduct of my men."


title: Jim Mattis

text: Following a Department of Defense survey that showed only 55% of US soldiers and 40% of Marines would report a colleague for abusing civilians, Mattis told Marines in May 2007 that "whenever you show anger or disgust toward civilians, it's a victory for al-Qaeda and other insurgents." Believing that a need for restraint in war as key to defeating an insurgency, he added: "every time you wave at an Iraqi civilian, al-Qaeda rolls over in its grave."


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis popularized the 1st Marine Division's motto "no better friend, no worse enemy", a paraphrase of the epitaph the Roman dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla wrote for himself, in his open letter to all men within the division for their return to Iraq. This phrase later became widely publicized during the investigation into the conduct of Lieutenant Ilario Pantano, a platoon commander serving under Mattis.


title: Jim Mattis

text: As his division prepared to ship out, Mattis called in "experts on the Middle East" for "cultural sensitivity training." He constantly toured the battlefield to tell stories of Marines who were able to show "discretion in moments of high pressure." As an apparent example, he encouraged his Marines to grow moustaches to look more like the people they were working with.


title: Jim Mattis

text: He was also noted for a willingness to remove senior leaders under his command when the US military seemed unable or unwilling to relieve underperforming or incompetent officers. During the division's push to Baghdad, Mattis relieved Colonel Joe D. Dowdy, commander of Regimental Combat Team-1. It was such a rare occurrence in the modern military that it made the front page of newspapers. Despite this, Mattis declined to comment on the matter publicly other than to say that the practice of officer relief remains alive, or at least "we are doing it in the Marines." Later interviews of Dowdy's officers and men revealed that "the colonel was doomed partly by an age-old wartime tension: Men versus mission—in which he favored his men," while Mattis insisted on execution of the mission to seize Baghdad swiftly.


title: Jim Mattis

text: After being promoted to lieutenant general, Mattis took command of Marine Corps Combat Development Command. In February 2005, speaking at a forum in San Diego, he said, "Actually it's quite fun to fight them, you know. It's a hell of a hoot. It's fun to shoot some people. I'll be right up there with you. I like brawling. You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for five years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them." Mattis's remarks sparked controversy; General Michael Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, issued a statement suggesting Mattis should have chosen his words more carefully, but he would not be disciplined.


title: Jim Mattis

text: The Pentagon announced on May 31, 2006, that Mattis had been chosen to take command of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. On September 11, 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced that President George W. Bush had nominated Mattis for appointment to the rank of general to command US Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) in Norfolk, Virginia. NATO agreed to appoint Mattis as Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT). On September 28, 2007, the United States Senate confirmed Mattis's nomination, and he relinquished command of the I MEF on November 5, 2007, to Lieutenant General Samuel Helland.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis was promoted to four-star general and took control of USJFCOM/SACT on November 9, 2007. On September 9, 2009, French Air Force General Stéphane Abrial Stéphane Abrial assumed the position of SACT. Mattis remained commander of JFCOM from November 2007 until September 2010.


title: Jim Mattis

text: In early 2010, Mattis was reported to be on the list of generals being considered to replace James T. Conway as the commandant of the US Marine Corps. In July, he was recommended by Defense Secretary Robert Gates for nomination to replace David Petraeus as commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), and formally nominated by President Obama on July 21.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis took command at a ceremony at MacDill Air Force Base on August 11. As head of Central Command, Mattis oversaw the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was responsible for a region that includes Syria, Iran, and Yemen. He lobbied the Obama administration for a more aggressive response to Iran, including more covert operations and disruption of Iranian arms shipments to Syria and Yemen. According to Leon Panetta, the Obama administration did not place much trust in Mattis because he was perceived as too eager for a military confrontation with Iran. Panetta later said, though, that some of the mistrust was unjustified, arising from the inexperience of some White House staff not understanding the need “to look at all of the options that a president should look at in order to make the right decisions.” Nevertheless, Mattis's hawkishness was out of step with the White House's perspective, and “ultimately, Mattis’s advocacy and aggressive style alienated the White House and the president he was serving.”


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis retired in March 2013, and the Defense Department nominated General Lloyd Austin to succeed him.


title: Jim Mattis

text: After retiring from the military, Mattis worked for FWA Consultants and served as a member of the General Dynamics Board of Directors. Between 2013 and 2017, while on the board of General Dynamics, Mattis made more than $900,000 in compensation, including company stock. In August 2013, he was appointed an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution and in 2016 he was named the Davies Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow.


title: Jim Mattis

text: In December 2015, Mattis joined the advisory board of Spirit of America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides assistance to support the safety and success of American service personnel and the local people they seek to help.


title: Jim Mattis

text: He is co-editor of the book "Warriors & Citizens: American Views of Our Military", published in August 2016.


title: Jim Mattis

text: From 2013 to January 2017, Mattis was a board member of Theranos, a health technology company that claimed to have devised revolutionary blood tests using very small amounts of blood, which was later determined to be a fraudulent claim by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Previously, in mid-2012, a Department of Defense official evaluating Theranos's blood-testing technology for the military initiated a formal inquiry with the Food and Drug Administration about the company's intent to distribute its tests without FDA clearance. In August 2012, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes asked Mattis, who had expressed interest in testing Theranos's technology in combat areas, to help. Within hours, Mattis forwarded his email exchange with Holmes to military officials, asking "how do we overcome this new obstacle". In July 2013, the Department of Defense gave Mattis permission to join Theranos's board provided he did not represent Theranos with regard to the blood-testing device and its potential acquisition by the Departments of the Navy or Defense.


title: Jim Mattis

text: In 2019, Mattis's book "Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead" was published. It is an autobiography as well as an argument in favor of an internationalist foreign policy. On August 7, 2019, Mattis was re-elected to the board of General Dynamics.


title: Jim Mattis

text: President-elect Donald Trump met with Mattis for a little over one hour in Bedminster, New Jersey, on November 20, 2016. He later wrote on Twitter, "General James 'Mad Dog' Mattis, who is being considered for secretary of defense, was very impressive yesterday. A true General's General!" On December 1, 2016, Trump announced at a rally in Cincinnati that he would nominate Mattis for secretary of defense.


title: Jim Mattis

text: The nomination broke with U.S. military history since 1950, the only time a secretary of defense, George Marshall, received a waiver of the National Security Act of 1947 which requires a seven-year waiting period before retired military personnel can assume the role of secretary of defense. The waiver for Mattis passed 81–17 in the Senate and 268–151 in the House. Mattis was subsequently confirmed as secretary of defense by a vote of 98–1 in the United States Senate on January 20, 2017. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was the sole "no" vote, stating that she was opposed to the waiver on principle.


title: Jim Mattis

text: In a January 2017 phone call with Saudi Arabia's deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mattis "reaffirmed the importance of the US–Saudi Arabia strategic relationship".


title: Jim Mattis

text: For his first official trip abroad, Mattis began a two-day visit with longtime US ally South Korea on February 2, 2017. He warned North Korea that "any attack on the United States, or our allies, will be defeated", and any use of nuclear weapons would be met with an "effective and overwhelming" response from the United States. During a press conference in London on March 31, 2017, with the British secretary of state for defence, Michael Fallon, Mattis said North Korea was behaving "in a very reckless manner" and must be stopped. During a Pentagon news conference on May 26, Mattis reported the US was working with the UN, China, Japan, and South Korea to avoid "a military solution" with North Korea. On June 3, Mattis said the United States regarded North Korea as "clear and present danger" during a speech at the international security conference in Singapore. In a June 12 written statement to the House Armed Services Committee Mattis said North Korea was the "most urgent and dangerous threat to peace and security". On June 15, Mattis said the US would win a war against North Korea, but "at great cost".


title: Jim Mattis

text: On March 22, 2017, during questioning from the US Senate, Mattis affirmed his support for US troops remaining in Iraq after the Battle of Mosul was concluded. Mattis responded to critics who suggested the Trump administration had loosened the rules of engagement for the US military in Iraq after US-led coalition airstrikes in Mosul killed civilians, saying, "We go out of our way to always do everything humanly possible to reduce the loss of life or injury among innocent people." According to "Airwars", the US-led coalition killed as many as 6,000 civilians in Iraq and Syria in 2017.


title: Jim Mattis

text: On April 5, 2017, Mattis called the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack "a heinous act," and said it would be treated accordingly. On April 10, Mattis warned the Syrian government against using chemical weapons again. The following day, Mattis gave his first Pentagon news conference since becoming secretary of defense, saying ISIL's defeat remained "our priority," and the Syrian government would pay a "very, very stiff price" for further usage of chemical weapons. On April 21 Mattis said Syria still had chemical weapons and was in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. According to investigative journalist Bob Woodward, Trump ordered Mattis to assassinate Assad, but Mattis refused. On May 8 Mattis told reporters details of the proposed Syrian safe zones were "all in process right now" and the United States was involved with configuring them.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis voiced support for a Saudi Arabian-led military campaign against Yemen's Shiite rebels. He asked Trump to remove restrictions on US military support for Saudi Arabia.


title: Jim Mattis

text: On April 20, 2017, one week after the Nangarhar airstrike, Mattis told reporters that the US would not conduct a damage assessment "in terms of the number of people killed" in Afghanistan. Mattis traveled to Afghanistan days later and met with government officials, explaining that the purpose of the trip was to allow him to state his recommendations for US strategy in the country. On June 13, Mattis said US forces were "not winning" in Afghanistan and the administration would develop a new strategy by "mid-July" while speaking to the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. On June 29, Mattis said the Obama administration "may have pulled our troops out too rapidly" and that he intended to submit a new Afghanistan strategy to Trump upon his return to Washington, D.C.


title: Jim Mattis

text: The United States has been openly arming the Syrian Kurdish fighters in the war against ISIL since May 2017. Following the start of the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting US-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin, Mattis said in January 2018: "Turkey is a NATO ally. It's the only NATO country with an active insurgency inside its borders. And Turkey has legitimate security concerns." Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdağ urged the United States to halt its support for Kurdish YPG fighters, saying: "Those who support the terrorist organization will become a target in this battle."


title: Jim Mattis

text: On April 13, 2018, Mattis briefed reporters in a press conference at the Pentagon on the 2018 missile strikes against Syria being carried out against the Assad regime's chemical weapon compounds, saying, "Tonight, France, the United Kingdom and the United States took decisive action to strike the Syrian chemical weapons infrastructure. Clearly the Assad regime did not get the message last year. This time our allies and we have struck harder. Together we have sent a clear message to Assad and his murderous lieutenants that they should not perpetrate another chemical weapons attack for which they will be held accountable".


title: Jim Mattis

text: In November 2018, the CIA assessed with "high confidence" that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the assassination of "Washington Post" columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Under mounting pressure from lawmakers who wanted action against Saudi Arabia, Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in a rare closed briefing of the Senate, disputed the CIA's conclusion and declared there was no direct evidence linking the crown prince to Khashoggi's assassination.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Wherever Mattis traveled overseas, he brought the Defense Security Cooperation Agency director (the official in charge of weapon sales to foreign governments), according to Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, speaking at the Brookings Institution in June 2019.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis had recommended General David L. Goldfein, Air Force Chief of Staff, to succeed retiring General Joseph Dunford as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September 2018. Instead, Trump chose General Mark Milley, Army Chief of Staff, whom Mattis had recommended for the position of Supreme Allied Commander Europe.


title: Jim Mattis

text: On December 19, 2018, Trump announced immediate US withdrawal from Syria, over his national security advisers' objections. Mattis had recently said that the US would remain in Syria after ISIL's defeat to ensure it did not regroup. The next day, he submitted his resignation after failing to persuade Trump to reconsider. His resignation letter contained language that appeared to criticize Trump's worldview—praising NATO, which Trump has often derided, and the 79-nation Defeat-ISIS coalition that Trump had decided to abandon. Mattis also affirmed the need for "treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors" and remaining "resolute and unambiguous" against authoritarian states such as China and Russia. He wrote that Trump has "the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with [his] on these and other subjects." His resignation triggered alarm among historical allies. In his 2018 resignation letter, Mattis called both Russia and China "authoritarian models" rivaling US interests. Mattis's letter said his resignation would be effective February 28, 2019. Three days later Trump moved Mattis's departure date up to January 1, after becoming angered by the implicit criticism of Trump's worldview in Mattis's letter. On January 2, 2019, Trump criticized Mattis's performance as secretary of defense and said he had "essentially fired him."


title: Jim Mattis

text: John F. Kelly, Trump's chief of staff when Mattis left his position, denied that Trump fired Mattis or asked for his resignation. He said Trump must be confused or mistaken, and that "Jim Mattis is an honorable man."


title: Jim Mattis

text: After leaving the White House, Mattis initially declined to offer his opinion of the Trump administration, saying, "If you leave an administration, you owe some silence," and was guarded when asked to reflect on Trump or military matters, saying he didn't want to detract from the troops. He changed his position after becoming "angry and appalled" about the events leading up to the violent treatment of noncombative protesters near the White House on June 1, 2020, for the purpose of a photo op for Trump at the church across Lafayette Square. Trump responded by Twitter that evening that he "felt great" he had previously asked Mattis to resign, and he didn't like much about Mattis or his "leadership style" and was "Glad he is gone!"


title: Jim Mattis

text: At the October 17, 2019, Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Mattis, the keynote speaker, responded to comments Trump had made about him, saying,


title: Jim Mattis

text: I'm not just an overrated general, I am the greatest, the world's most overrated... I'm honored to be considered that by Donald Trump, because he also called Meryl Streep an overrated actress. So I guess I'm the Meryl Streep of generals, and frankly, that sounds pretty good to me. And you do have to admit that between me and Meryl, at least we've had some victories.


title: Jim Mattis

text: He continued, "I've earned my spurs on the battlefield... Donald Trump earned his spurs in a letter from a doctor."


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis claims he has "never registered for any political party". He also claims when he was 18 that he was "proudly apolitical".


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis supports a two-state solution model for Israeli–Palestinian peace. He has said the situation in Israel is "unsustainable" and that Israeli settlements harm prospects for peace and could lead to an apartheid-like situation in the West Bank. In particular, he has said that the perception of biased American support for Israel has made it difficult for moderate Arabs to show support for the United States. Mattis strongly supported Secretary of State John Kerry on the Middle East peace process, praising Kerry for being "wisely focused like a laser beam" on a two-state solution.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis believes Iran is the principal threat to the stability of the Middle East, ahead of Al-Qaeda and ISIL. Mattis says: "I consider ISIS nothing more than an excuse for Iran to continue its mischief. Iran is not an enemy of ISIS. They have a lot to gain from the turmoil in the region that ISIS creates." Mattis sees the Iran nuclear deal as a poor agreement, but believes there is now no way to tear it up, saying: "We are just going to have to recognize that we have an imperfect arms control agreement. Second, that what we achieved is a nuclear pause, not a nuclear halt". Mattis argues that inspections may fail to prevent Iran from seeking to develop nuclear weapons, but that "[i]f nothing else at least we will have better-targeting data if it comes to a fight in the future." Additionally, he criticized Obama for being "naive" about Iranian intentions and Congress for being "pretty much absent" on the nuclear deal.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis praises the friendship of regional US allies such as Jordan, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates. He also criticized Obama for seeing allies as "free-loading", saying: "For a sitting US President to see our allies as freeloaders is nuts." He has cited the importance of the United Arab Emirates and Jordan as countries that wanted to help, for example, in filling in the gaps in Afghanistan. He criticized Obama's defense strategy as giving "the perception we're pulling back" from US allies. He stresses the need for the US to bolster its ties with allied intelligence agencies, particularly those of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In 2012, Mattis argued for providing weapons to Syrian rebels as a way to fight back against Iranian proxies in Syria.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis visited Japan one week after being sworn in as secretary of defense. During a meeting with Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Mattis emphasized that the US remains committed to the mutual defense of Japan and stated, "I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100 percent, shoulder to shoulder with you and the Japanese people." He also reassured Japan that the US would defend the disputed Senkaku Islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Speaking at a 2015 conference sponsored by The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Mattis said he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin's intent is "to break NATO apart." Mattis has also spoken out against what he perceives as Russia's expansionist or bellicose policies in Syria, Ukraine and the Baltic states. In 2017, Mattis said that the world order is "under the biggest attack since World War II, ... and that is from Russia, from terrorist groups, and with what China is doing in the South China Sea.


title: Jim Mattis

text: On February 16, 2017, Mattis said the United States was not currently prepared to collaborate with Russia on military matters, including future anti-ISIL US operations. In August 2017, he said: "Despite Russia's denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe".


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis called for freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and criticized China's island-building activities, saying: "The bottom line is... the international waters are international waters."


title: Jim Mattis

text: In 2017, Mattis said that budget cuts would hamper the ability to monitor the effects of global warming, and noted, "climate change is a challenge that requires a broader, whole-of-government response." He also told senators "climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today."


title: Jim Mattis

text: On June 3, 2020, Mattis issued a statement to "The Atlantic" in which he criticized President Donald Trump and his policies during the George Floyd protests. He berated Trump for deliberately trying to cause division among the American people and advocating military action to "dominate" the country's protests. "Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society, and diminishes the trust and constitutional relationship between the armed services and the civilian population they support", he wrote. Mattis called for reunification among the people, regardless of the president, to preserve the welfare of society, and its future.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis wrote that Trump was "the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us". He added that America is "witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership". He called for accountability for "those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution." He concluded, "Only by adopting a new path—which means, in truth, returning to the original path of our founding ideals—will we again be a country admired and respected at home and abroad."<ref name="Starr/LeBlank"></ref>


title: Jim Mattis

text: A bachelor for his entire professional career, Mattis married physicist and business executive Christina Lomasney in June 2022. He has no children. He previously proposed to a woman, but she called off the wedding three days before it was to occur, after colleagues talked him out of leaving the Marine Corps for her. He was nicknamed "The Warrior Monk" because of his bachelorhood and lifelong devotion to the study of war. An avid reader, he has 7,000 books in his private library, and has recommended Marcus Aurelius's "Meditations" as the one book every American should read.


title: Jim Mattis

text: Mattis is a Catholic, and has been described as "devout" and "committed." During the 2003 Iraq invasion, he often prayed with general John F. Kelly on Sundays. The Trump transition team's formal biography of Mattis described him as "the living embodiment of the Marine Corps motto, "Semper Fidelis"." He has declined when asked by reporters to discuss his faith in public. In a 2003 PBS interview, Mattis recalled how his Marines followed advice from his chaplain on gaining the support of Iraqi citizens:


title: Jim Mattis

text: On the suggestion of my Catholic chaplain the Marines would take chilled drinking water in bottles and walk out amongst the protesters and hand it out. It is just hard to throw a rock at somebody who has given you a cold drink of water and it's 120 degrees outside.


title: Jim Mattis

text: His citation for the Canadian Meritorious Service Cross reads as follows: "While occupying key leadership positions within the United States Armed Forces and NATO between 2001 and 2012, General Mattis directly and repeatedly contributed to the Canadian Forces’ operational success in Afghanistan. Providing unprecedented access and championing Canadian participation in critical policy and training events, he helped shape Canadian counter-insurgency doctrine. Demonstrating unequivocal support and unwavering commitment to Canada, General Mattis has significantly strengthened Canadian-American relations and has been a critical enabler in both countries’ shared achievements in Afghanistan."


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Yo-Yo Ma ("Chinese": 馬友友 "Ma Yo Yo"; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from the Juilliard School and Harvard University and attended Columbia University and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 90 albums and received 19 Grammy Awards.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has collaborated with artists in diverse genres, including the singer Bobby McFerrin, the guitarist Carlos Santana, Sérgio Assad and his brother, Odair, and the singer-songwriter-guitarist James Taylor. Ma's primary performance instrument is a 1733 Montagnana cello valued at US$2.5 million.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma has been a United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2006. He was awarded The Glenn Gould Prize in 1999, the National Medal of Arts in 2001, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, and the Polar Music Prize in 2012. Ma was named one of "Time"s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma's mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a violinist, composer and professor of music at Nanjing National Central University (now relocated in Taoyuan, Taiwan; predecessor of the present-day Nanjing University and Southeast University). They both migrated from the Republic of China to France during the Chinese Civil War. Ma's sister, Yeou-Cheng Ma, played the violin and piano before obtaining a medical degree and becoming a pediatrician. The family moved to New York City when Ma was seven.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: From the age of three, Ma played the violin, piano, and later viola, but settled on cello in 1960 at age four. When three-year-old Yo-Yo said he wanted a big instrument, his father went to see Etienne Vatelot, a foremost violin maker in Paris who, after a chat, lent him a 1/16th cello. He jokes that his first choice was the double bass due to its large size, but he compromised and took up cello instead. When Dr Ma realised that Yo-Yo was ready for a better teacher, a well-known cello instructor, Mme Michelle Lepinte, was selected. He began performing before audiences at age five and played for presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy when he was seven. At age eight, he appeared on American television with his sister in an event introduced by Leonard Bernstein. In 1964, Isaac Stern introduced them on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson", and they performed the Sonata of Sammartini. He attended Trinity School in New York but transferred to the Professional Children's School, where he graduated at age 15. He appeared as a soloist with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky's "Rococo Variations".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma studied at The Juilliard School at age 19 with Leonard Rose and attended Columbia University, but dropped out. He later enrolled at Harvard College. Prior to entering Harvard, Ma played in the Marlboro Festival Orchestra under the direction of cellist and conductor Pablo Casals. He spent four summers at the Marlboro Music Festival after meeting and falling in love with Mount Holyoke College sophomore and festival administrator Jill Hornor during his first summer there in 1972.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Even before that time, Ma gained fame and performed with many of the world's major orchestras. He has also played chamber music, often with pianist Emanuel Ax, with whom he has a close friendship from their days at Juilliard. Ma received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1976, and in 1991 received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In 1997, Ma was featured on John Williams' soundtrack to the Hollywood film "Seven Years in Tibet". In 2000, he was heard on the soundtrack of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", and of "" in 2003. He collaborated with Williams again on the score for the 2005 film "Memoirs of a Geisha". He has also worked with Italian composer Ennio Morricone and has recorded Morricone's compositions of the Dollars Trilogy, including "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", as well as "Once Upon a Time in America", "The Mission", and "The Untouchables". He has recorded over 90 albums, 19 of which are Grammy Award winners. He received the Award of Excellence from New York's International Center.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In addition to his prolific musical career, Ma collaborated in 1999 with landscape architects to design a Bach-inspired garden. Known as the Music Garden, it interprets Bach's Suite No. 1 in G Major for unaccompanied cello (BWV 1007), where the garden's sections were designed to correspond with the suite's dance movements. Toronto enthusiastically embraced the design, originally planned for Boston, and it was subsequently built in the Harbourfront (Toronto) neighborhood.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma was named Peace Ambassador by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in January 2006. He is a founding member of the influential Chinese-American Committee of 100, which addresses the concerns of Americans of Chinese heritage.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On November 3, 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Ma to serve on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. His music was featured in the 2010 documentary "", narrated by Academy Award winner Dustin Hoffman. In 2010, President Obama announced that he would recognize Ma with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which Ma received in February 2011.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In 2010, Ma was named Judson and Joyce Green Creative Consultant of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He launched the Citizen Musician initiative partnership in partnership with the orchestra's music director, Riccardo Muti. Also in 2010, he appeared on a solo album by guitarist Carlos Santana, "Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time", playing alongside Santana and singer India Arie on a Beatles classic, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In 2015, Ma performed with singer-songwriter and guitarist James Taylor on three tracks of Taylor's chart-topping album Before This World: "You And I Again". In 2019, Ma directed the orchestra at the annual Youth Music Culture Guangdong. Ma is represented by the independent artist management firm Opus 3 Artists. Ma contributed to the charity tribute album "The Metallica Blacklist", released in September 2021, by backing Miley Cyrus on a cover of the Metallica song "Nothing Else Matters".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma formed his own collective, the Silk Road Ensemble, named after the route across Asia which for more than 2,000 years was used for trade between Europe and China. His goal was to bring together musicians from diverse countries that were historically linked via the Silk Road. The ensemble's recordings are issued on the Sony Classical label. He also founded the Silk Road Connect, an educational pilot program for children from middle schools in the United States, including New York City.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma has been referred to by critics as "omnivorous" and possesses an eclectic repertoire. In addition to numerous recordings of the standard classical repertoire, he has recorded Baroque pieces using period instruments; American bluegrass music; traditional Chinese melodies, including the soundtrack to the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"; the tangos of Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla; Brazilian music, recording traditional and contemporary songs composed by Antônio Carlos Jobim and Pixinguinha; a collaboration with Bobby McFerrin (where Ma admitted to being terrified by McFerrin's improvisation); and the music of modern minimalist Philip Glass, in such works as the 2002 "Naqoyqatsi".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma is known for his smooth, rich tone, soulful lyricism and virtuosity. He released a cello recording of Niccolò Paganini's Caprice No. 24 for solo violin and Zoltán Kodály's Solo Sonata.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma's primary performance instrument is "Petunia", a 1733 Domenico Montagnana cello valued at US$2.5 million. A student approached Ma after one of his classes in Salt Lake City and asked if the cello had a nickname. Ma replied, "No, but if I play for you, will you name it?" The student chose Petunia, and it stuck. In 1999, Ma inadvertently left the cello in a taxicab in New York City, but it was quickly returned undamaged. That year, when its neck was damaged during X-ray baggage inspection, he borrowed the "Pawle Stradivarius" cello from the Chimei Museum for a concert in Taiwan. The damage was repaired in time, but Ma played both "Petunia" and "Pawle" in the concert nonetheless.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Another of Ma's cellos, the "Davidov Stradivarius", was previously owned by Jacqueline du Pré, who bequeathed it to him. Du Pré voiced her frustration with the cello's "unpredictability", but Ma attributed du Pré's sentiment to her impassioned style of playing, adding that the Stradivarius cello must be "coaxed" by the player. It was until recently set up in a Baroque manner, since Ma exclusively played Baroque music on it.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma also owns a modern cello made by Peter and Wendela Moes of Peißenberg, Germany, and one of carbon fiber by the Luis and Clark company of Boston. Ma also plays on a Zygmuntowicz cello, which he takes on long tours and uses in major concert venues. According to Zygmuntowicz, he "wants to give [Ma] a reason to leave his Montagnana at home."


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On July 5, 1986, Ma performed in the New York Philharmonic's tribute to the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty, which was televised live on ABC Television. The orchestra, with conductor Zubin Mehta, performed in Central Park.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma performed a duet with Condoleezza Rice at the presentation of the 2001 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medal Awards. He was the first performer on September 11, 2002 at the site of the World Trade Center, while the first of the names of the dead were read on the first anniversary of the attack on the WTC; he played the Sarabande from Bach's "Cello Suite #5 in C Minor". He performed a special arrangement of Sting's "Fragile" with Sting and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also appeared as a "Pennington Great Performers" series artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra in 2005.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: He performed John Williams' "Air and Simple Gifts" at the inauguration ceremony for Barack Obama on January 20, 2009, along with Itzhak Perlman (violin), Gabriela Montero (piano), and Anthony McGill (clarinet). While the quartet played live, the music, played simultaneously over speakers and on television, was a recording made two days prior due to concerns over the cold weather damaging the instruments. Ma said, "A broken string was not an option. It was wicked cold."


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On May 3, 2009, Ma performed the world premiere of Bruce Adolphe's "Self Comes to Mind" for solo cello and two percussionists with John Ferrari and Ayano Kataoka at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The work is based on a poetic description written for the composer of the evolution of brain into mind by neuroscientist Antonio Damasio. A film of brain scans provided by Hanna Damasio, and other images, were coordinated with the performance.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On August 29, 2009, Ma performed at the funeral mass for Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Pieces he performed included the Sarabande movement from Bach's "Cello Suite No. 6" and Franck's "Panis angelicus" with Plácido Domingo.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On October 3, 2009, Ma appeared with Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper at the National Arts Centre gala in Ottawa. Harper, a fan of The Beatles, played the piano and sang a rendition of "With a Little Help from My Friends" while Ma accompanied him on cello. On October 16, 2011, Ma performed at the memorial of Steve Jobs at Stanford University's Memorial Church.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: In 2011, Ma performed with American dancer Charles "Lil Buck" Riley in the United States and in China at the U.S.-China Forum on the Arts and Culture.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On April 18, 2013, he performed at an interfaith service to honor the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, held at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, where he played the Sarabande from Bach's "Cello Suite No. 5 in C Minor". He and other musicians also accompanied members of the Boston Children's Chorus in a hymn.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On September 9, 2015, Ma performed all six of Bach's cello suites at the Royal Albert Hall (London) as part of the BBC Proms Season.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On September 12, 2017, Ma performed all six of Bach's cello suites at the Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles). After the first three suites, there was a "ten-minute pause" (as the Bowl video screen described it). The audience of around 17,000 also heard him play an encore, a tribute to "cellist Pablo Casals, who as a 13-year-old in 1890 discovered an old copy of the Bach suites in a secondhand music store, bringing them to modern attention. Ma's memorable last words were, "If there are any 13-year-here—don't throw anything away."


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On November 11, 2018, Ma performed at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, with violinist Renaud Capuçon, in front of a crowd of world leaders during a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On May 1, 2019, he performed at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama desert. He said that his interest in astronomy motivated him to visit and perform there.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On June 20, 2019, Ma performed the Bach "Complete Cello Suites" in plein air at Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The free performance attracted what might have been his largest audience, with a pavilion capacity of 11,000, and many thousands more listening from surrounding Millennium Park.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On January 20, 2021, Ma's performance of "Amazing Grace"—pre-recorded due to the COVID-19 pandemic—was played during the inauguration of Joe Biden. In March 2021, Ma played "Ave Maria" in an impromptu waiting room concert, after receiving his second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine at Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On September 14, 2021, Ma again performed Bach's six cello suites at the Hollywood Bowl, this time without intermission, pausing only briefly for applause between suites, and to announce his dedications for two of them.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma appeared as himself in an episode ("My Music Rules") of the animated children's television series "Arthur", and on "The West Wing" (the episode "Noël"), where he played the prelude to Bach's "Cello Suite No.1" at a Congressional Christmas party. He made five appearances on "Sesame Street", all of which first aired during the show's 17th season in 1986. He appeared in "The Simpsons" episode "Puffless", where he played a serenade and theme music. Ma's likeness appeared in another "Simpsons" episode, "Missionary: Impossible", but he was played by regular "Simpsons" cast member Hank Azaria rather than Ma himself. Ma appeared twice on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood", developed a friendship with creator and host Fred Rogers, and later received the inaugural Fred Rogers Legacy Award.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: He also starred in the visual accompaniment to his recordings of Bach's "Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma was often invited to press events by Apple Inc. and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs, performed during the company's major events, and appeared in a commercial for the Macintosh computer. Ma's Bach recordings were used in a memorial video released by Apple on the first anniversary of Jobs's death.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma was a guest on the "Not My Job" segment of "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" on April 7, 2007, where he won for listener Thad Moore.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On October 27, 2008, Ma appeared as a guest and performer on "The Colbert Report". He was also one of the show's guests on November 1, 2011, where he performed songs from the album "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" with musicians Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. He also performed several of Bach's cello suites for the 2012 film "Bill W." On October 5, 2015, he appeared on Colbert's new program, "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert", in support of ballerina Misty Copeland, and prematurely celebrating his 60th birthday.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On June 19, 2020, the same group of musicians who recorded "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" released a second album, "Not Our First Goat Rodeo".


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On September 1, 2020, the same group performed a virtual concert of some songs from "Not Our First Goat Rodeo" on NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: On June 13, 2021, Ma was the guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs". His musical choices included "Tin Tin Deo" by the Oscar Peterson Trio and "Podmoskovnye Vechera - Moscow Nights" by Vasily Solovyov-Sedoi. He selected as his book the 24 volumes of the "Encyclopædia Britannica", and as his luxury item a Swiss Army knife. He revealed that his career in music felt like a "gift" after scoliosis threatened his ability to play in his 20s.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Since 1978, Ma has been married to Jill Hornor, an arts consultant. They have two children, Nicholas and Emily. Although he personally considers it the "worst epithet he's ever faced", he was "tagged" in 2001 as "Sexiest Classical Musician" by "People". He has continued to receive such accolades over the years, including from AARP in 2012. He has also been praised as a person of unquestionable character, and singled out for his humble spirit, self-effacing manner, and humanitarianism.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: According to research presented by Henry Louis Gates Jr. for the PBS series "Faces of America", a relative hid the Ma family genealogy in his home in China to save it from destruction during the Cultural Revolution. Ma's paternal ancestry can be traced back 18 generations to the year 1217. The genealogy was compiled in the 18th century by an ancestor, tracing everyone with the surname Ma, through the paternal line, back to one common ancestor in the 3rd century BC. Ma's generation name, Yo, was decided by his fourth great grand-uncle, Ma Ji Cang, in 1755. DNA research revealed that Ma is distantly related to actress Eva Longoria.


title: Yo-Yo Ma

text: Ma's albums include recordings of cello concertos (including, among others, Shostakovich, Brahms, Elgar, and Haydn), sonatas for cello and piano, Bach's cello suites, and a variety of chamber music. He has also recorded in non-classical styles, notably in collaboration with Bobby McFerrin, Chris Botti, Carlos Santana, James Taylor, and Chris Thile.


title: Irrumatio

text: Irrumatio is a form of oral sex in which someone thrusts their penis into another person's mouth, often with the intention of inducing a pharyngeal reflex and forced vomiting, in contrast to fellatio where the penis is being actively orally excited by a fellator. The difference lies mainly in which party takes the active part. By extension, "irrumation" can also refer to the sexual technique of thrusting the penis between the thighs of a partner (intercrural sex).


title: Irrumatio

text: In the ancient Roman sexual vocabulary, "irrumatio" is strictly a form of oral rape ("os impurum"), in which a man forces his penis into someone else's mouth, inducing vomiting for sexual gratification.


title: Irrumatio

text: The act of irrumatio with forced vomiting is present in some online pornography, partly because of its shock effect and as a form of humiliation and degradation.


title: Irrumatio

text: The English nouns "irrumatio" and "irrumation", and the verb "irrumate", come from the Latin "", meaning "to force receptive male oral sex". J. L. Butrica, in his review of R. W. Hooper's edition of "The Priapus Poems", a corpus of poems known as "Priapeia" in Latin, states that "some Roman sexual practices, like "irrumatio", lack simple English equivalents".


title: Irrumatio

text: There is some conjecture among linguists, as yet unresolved, that "irrŭmātio" may be connected with the Latin word "rūmen, rūminis", the throat and gullet, whence 'ruminate', to chew the cud, therefore meaning 'insertion into the throat'. Others connect it with "rūma" or "rūmis", an obsolete word for a teat, hence it would mean "giving milk", "giving to suck". (Compare the word "fellō", which literally meant "suck (milk)" before it acquired its sexual sense.)


title: Irrumatio

text: As the quotation from Butrica suggests and an article by W. A. Krenkel shows, "irrumatio" was a distinct sexual practice in ancient Rome. J. N. Adams states that "it was a standard joke to speak of "irrumatio" as a means of silencing someone". Oral sex was considered to be an act of defilement: the mouth had a particularly defined role as the organ of oratory, as in Greece, to participate in the central public sphere, where discursive powers were of great importance. Thus, to penetrate the mouth could be taken to be a sign of massive power differential within a relationship. Erotic art from Pompeii depicts "irrumatio" along with "fututio", fellatio and cunnilingus, and "pedicatio" or anal sex. The extant wall paintings depicting explicit sex often appear to be in bathhouses and brothels, and oral sex was something usually practiced with prostitutes because of their lowly status.


title: Irrumatio

text: Craig A. Williams argues that "irrumatio" was regarded as a degrading act, even more so than anal rape. S. Tarkovsky states that, despite being popular, it was thought to be a hostile act, "taken directly from the Greek, whereby the Greek men would have to force the fellatio by violence". Furthermore, as A. Richlin has shown in an article in the "Journal of the History of Sexuality", it was also accepted as "oral rape", a punitive act against homosexuality. Catullus threatens two friends who have insulted him with both "irrumatio" and "pedicatio" in his "Carmen" 16, although the use could also mean "go to hell," rather than being a literal threat.


title: Irrumatio

text: In modern English, the term "fellatio" has expanded to incorporate "irrumatio", and the latter has fallen out of widespread use. Likewise, "irrumatio" might today be called "forced fellatio" or "oral rape".


title: Irrumatio

text: Another synonym for "irrumatio" is "Egyptian rape" or simply "Egyptian"; this goes back to the time of the Crusades when Mamluks were alleged to force their Christian captives to do this.


title: Irrumatio

text: "Peruvian erotic pottery of the Mochica cultures represent a form of fellatio in the vases showing oragenital acts. See the vases illustrated in color in Dr. Rafael Larco-Hoyle’s "Checan" (Love!), published in both French and English versions by Éditions Nagel in Geneva, 1965, plates 30–33 and 133–135. The action should really be considered "irrumation"".


title: Knight and Day

text: Knight and Day is a 2010 American satirical action comedy film directed by James Mangold and starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The film was the second on-screen collaboration of Cruise and Diaz, following the 2001 film "Vanilla Sky". Diaz plays June Havens, a classic car restorer who unwittingly gets caught up with the eccentric secret agent Roy Miller, played by Cruise, who is on the run from the CIA.


title: Knight and Day

text: The film's investors offset funding costs by paying Cruise a lower advance fee and providing him a share of revenue only after the financiers were repaid their investment in the production. Filming took place in several locations, mainly in several cities located in Massachusetts, while other scenes were filmed in Spain and parts of Austria and Jamaica.


title: Knight and Day

text: "Knight and Day" was released in the United States on June 23, 2010. The film received mixed reviews from film critics, with praise for the performances of Cruise and Diaz but criticism of its script. It grossed over $261 million worldwide.


title: Knight and Day

text: The film was remade in Bollywood as "Bang Bang!", released October 2, 2014, with Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif in the lead roles.


title: Knight and Day

text: Returning home to Boston from buying car parts in Wichita, June Havens collides with Roy Miller at the airport, twice, and is bumped to a later flight. CIA Agent John Fitzgerald, believing she works with Roy, puts her back on the plane. While she is in the plane restroom, Roy subdues the passengers and flight crew, agents sent by Fitzgerald, and crash-lands the plane in a cornfield. Drugging the shocked June, he warns that agents will come after her.


title: Knight and Day

text: Waking at home, June prepares for her sister April's wedding, and learns she wants to sell their father's 1966 Pontiac GTO tri-power, which June had planned to restore as a wedding gift. She is picked up by Fitzgerald and his agents. Roy appears, killing numerous agents in a highway chase and rescuing her. She flees to her ex-boyfriend Rodney, a firefighter, before Roy arrives and pretends to take June hostage, shooting Rodney in the process.


title: Knight and Day

text: Roy convinces June she is safer with him, and reveals that he has the Zephyr, a perpetual energy battery; he had been assigned to guard its inventor, Simon Feck, until Fitzgerald tried to steal the battery, framing Roy. In Brooklyn, June and Roy discover Feck has gone into hiding but left Roy a clue that he is in the Alps. They are attacked by henchmen sent by Spanish arms dealer Antonio Quintana. Drugged again, June drifts in and out of consciousness as they are captured and then escape to Roy's off-the-grid island. Accepting a call from her sister, June accidentally leads Quintana's men to the hideaway. Escaping Quintana's unmanned aerial assault vehicle in a helicopter, Roy knocks June out to circumvent her fear of flying.


title: Knight and Day

text: June wakes up aboard a train in Austria, where Roy has reunited with Simon, and they manage to kill Bernard, an assassin hired by Quintana. After checking into a hotel in Salzburg, June follows Roy to a meeting with Naomi, Quintana's henchwoman, where he offers to sell the Zephyr.


title: Knight and Day

text: Fitzgerald and CIA Director Isabel George find June and reveal Roy used her at the airport to smuggle the Zephyr past security. Heartbroken, June leads them to the hotel. Fleeing across the rooftops, Roy is shot and falls into the river with the Zephyr. Simon is kidnapped from CIA custody by Fitzgerald, the real traitor, to be delivered to Quintana in Spain.


title: Knight and Day

text: Returning home, June attends her sister's wedding, and visits an address Roy had been monitoring, where she meets his parents and learns his real name is Matthew Knight. They believe their son, an Army sergeant and Eagle Scout, was killed in action, and have won various lotteries and sweepstakes they do not remember entering. Leaving a message on her own answering machine declaring she has the Zephyr, June is taken by Quintana's men to Seville.


title: Knight and Day

text: Drugged with a prototype truth serum, June explains that Roy's deal with Quintana was meant to alert the CIA so June would be returned home safely in time for the wedding. Roy tracks Fitzgerald, rescues June, and leads Quintana and his men on a car chase. Quintana is killed by a bull stampede, and Roy trades Fitzgerald the Zephyr for Simon. Fitzgerald shoots at Simon anyway, but Roy takes the bullet. Simon reveals that the battery is unstable, and it explodes, killing Fitzgerald.


title: Knight and Day

text: Roy is hospitalized in Washington, D.C., where George tells him June has moved on, and welcomes him back to the CIA; however, George's coded language reveals that he will be killed. June, disguised as a nurse, drugs Roy and breaks him out of the hospital. Waking up in the rebuilt GTO, Roy and June drive toward Cape Horn, and his parents unexpectedly receive their own tickets there.