Lessons from Billings, Montana
By Margaret MacDonald
Editor’s Note: In the early 1990s, white supremacists groups were growing bolder in their activities in Billings, MT. Hate literature began appearing around town and then members of the Native American and Jewish communities became the targets of a rash of hate crimes. Rather than resigning themselves to the growing climate of hate, a group of community members decided to organize and send a different message to their neighbors. Margaret MacDonald, a leader in the original Not In Our Town Movement in Billings, Montana, reflects on some of the guiding principles that helped shape the community’s creative and powerful responses, later captured by The Working Group in the documentary “Not In Our Town.”
The first principle was that we decided hate speech – graffiti, vandalism and flyers around town – should not be ignored simply because it came from “kids.” Of course, we did not know exactly where it came from, but many community leaders presumed it was, and also thought the best course would be to pretend it wasn’t happening. Fortunately, we had three things going in our favor – (1) a sophisticated statewide human rights organization that was on the cutting edge of countering this burgeoning movement, (2) strong faith community leaders who were willing to step up and play a leadership role in the community and articulate thoughtful, strong arguments for addressing these ideas proactively, and (3) a police chief who watched a similar situation unfold in his previous posting and learned the hard way that when communities tried to ignore this movement, they paid a price in escalating violence and ultimately tragedy.
The second principle we realized was that the targeted communities of hate groups were going to be watching very closely to see how the rest of the town was responding. If the town is saying, “It’s not a big deal, it’s just kids acting out, don’t pay attention to them, that’s all they are seeking,” the message to the families who are being bullied and intimidated is that, “Your safety is unimportant.” If the town, on the other hand, says that what happens to the smallest minority, happens to us all; and we will not stand by and permit that to continue, the whole community is strengthened and relationships are built up. All kinds of wonderful and surprising fruits will come from stepping up to this issue.
The third principle we worked by was to focus the energy of the community not so much on the perpetrators, but rather on their targets and find significant ways to publicly stand with them. So at every step of harassment and intimidation, more support is manifest for those who are being targeted. That is not to say that if the perpetrators can be identified and brought to justice, they certainly should be. But the creative nonviolent “jujitsu” of making every action elicit even stronger support for the targets of hate undermines the impetus and the energy of the hate groups and their insidious message. It also creates inestimably valuable teaching moments in thousands of homes, classrooms, work places, churches, and other venues across the community.


March 1 2006
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Improved estimation of
the degree of temperature rise due to global warming
- An improved estimate of climate sensitivity -
James Annan and Julia Hargreaves, and colleagues in the Global Warming
Research Program of Frontier Research Center for Global Change (FRCGC),
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) have
made an improved estimate of climate sensitivity (Note
1), showing for the first time that this value is less than
4.5C at the 95% confidence level (Note 2)
| Two recent papers have contributed to this work. The
first, using the MIROC3.2 GCM and the Earth Simulator, demonstrated
the use of past climate data in estimating climate sensitivity, and
limited climate sensitivity to less than 7C. Other recent research
by other researchers had proposed that climate sensitivity could be
as high as 10C.
In the second paper, the researchers used climate data from a number
of historical periods and showed that, by correctly combining information
from multiple sources using Bayesian methods (Note
3), climate sensitivity can be even more tightly constrained
to be very likely (95% confidence) less than 4.5C, with a lower limit
of 1.8C. A likely range of 2.2-3.9C was also established at the 70%
confidence level. In the future, increasingly confident and useful
climate forecasts are expected.
The first paper was published in Scientific Online Letters on the
Atmosphere in December 2005 and the second paper is shortly to be
published in Geophysical Research Letters.
In 1979 it was first stated that climate sensitivity was likely to
lie in the range 1.5-4.5C. This range was a very subjective estimate
based on the limited climate modelling performed at that time. Subsequent
IPCC Assessment Reports have supported this estimate without being
able to narrow its range, and the Third Assessment Report (TAR) quantified
"likely" to mean a confidence in those bounds only at the
66-90% level. Furthermore, recent research based on observational
data had indicated that much higher values for climate sensitivities
could not be reasonably ruled out, suggesting that this subjective
range might be too optimistic. Values for climate sensitivity of up
to 10C have been proposed, which would have disastrous consequences
for the future of the planet.
This failure to decrease the uncertainty on the estimate of climate
sensitivity, as well as the possibility of the true value being very
high, has caused considerable alarm in the global warming debate at
both the scientific and political level.
In this new research, it has been shown that by combining observational
evidence from a wide range of sources, a greatly improved observationally-based
estimate can be formed. For the first time, an upper bound of 4.5C
(at the 95% confidence level) has been established from an analysis
of observational data.
The greatest achievement of the experiment is to rule out the extremely
high estimates of climate sensitivity that have previously been proposed.
The work also describes the methods that can be used to combine information
so that the full benefit can be gained from available data and models.
The Earth Simulator enabled ensembles of models to be run, greatly
opening up the possibility for exploration of the problem using state
of the art climate models. The value of climate sensitivity has now
been demonstrated to lie within a reasonably narrow range, and this
range is highly consistent with the results achieved from the state
of the art climate models run at climate research centres throughout
the world. This results should increase confidence in the model results
and enable researchers to move forward in forecasting the impacts
of climate change in greater detail.
The result increases the confidence that we can have in climate models
and it is now hoped that researchers can use this information to start
making accurate prediction of climate change on regional scales and
over the time scales of interest to policy makers. It is also likely
that the methods described will lead to a more precise estimate of
climate sensitivity in the near future.
J. D. Annan, J. C. Hargreaves, R. Ohgaito, A. Abe-Ouchi, S. Emori.
Efficiently constraining climate sensitivity with paleoclimate simulations.
SOLA Vol 1 pages 181-184.
J. D. Annan and J. C. Hargreaves. Using multiple observationally-based
constraints to estimate climate sensitivity. In press, GRL
|Notes 1: Climate sensitivity
is defined as the globally-averaged surface temperature change that
would result in the long-term from a doubling of the atmospheric CO2
concentration. It describes the most fundamental response of the climate
system to anthropogenic forcing, and so determining its value is of
great importance in predicting future climate change.
Note 2: Confidence level is the probability
value associated with a confidence interval.
Note 3: Bayes' Theorem is a fundamental
result in probability theory which explains how multiple sources
of information can be combined to generate an improved estimate.
Observations of recent global warming, short-term cooling after
major volcanic eruptions, cooling at the Last Glacial Maximum and
other periods in the historical record, and the seasonal variation
in climate, all provide some information which helps to determine
the value of climate sensitivity.
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
Mr. Katsuhiko Masuda, Director
Frontier Research Promotion Department,
Frontier Research Center for Global Change
Mr. Kenichi Takahashi, Manager
Public Relations Division, Administration Department
Tel:046-867-9050 Fax: 046-867-9055


for the Baba Yaga fairy tale are below. Sources have been cited in parenthetical
references, but I have not linked them directly to their full citations
which appear on the Baba Yaga Bibliography page. I have provided links back to the Annotated
Baba Yaga to facilitate referencing between the notes and the tale.
These annotations are not completed yet, but will hopefully be finished in the near future.
1. Vasilissa the Beautiful: Vasilissa, also
known as Vasilisa, is a common and often generic name of heroines in Russian
fairy tales, similar to Gretel in German tales. Return to place in story.
2. Tsardom: From the American Heritage Dictionary
(available on TheFreeDictionary.com):
czardomn.Usage Note: The word
czar can also be spelled tsar. Czar is the most common form in American
usage and the one nearly always employed in the extended senses "any
tyrant" or informally, "one in authority." But tsar is preferred by
most scholars of Slavic studies as a more accurate transliteration of
the Russian and is often found in scholarly writing with reference to
one of the Russian emperors.
czar 1. also tsar or tzar (zär, tsär) A male
monarch or emperor, especially one of the emperors who ruled Russia
until the revolution of 1917.
3.A merchant: Note that Vasilissa is not a
peasant, but is of the middle to upper class as the daughter of a merchant.
This tale, like many Cinderella stories, is a riches to rags to riches
story. Beauty in Beauty and the Beast is the daughter of a merchant also. Return to place in story.
Whereas Cinderella and her folkloric cousins usually
receive assistance from nature (trees, fish, brooks) or from a fairy
godmother, Vasilisa is given a cultural artifact, a figure that can
be seen as a miniaturized version of herself or as a symbolic form of
her mother. While the doll protects and helps Vasilisa, it is also something
to be nurtured and cared for, thus strengthening the fact of her own
agency in escaping from villainy at home (Tatar 173).
6. Give it something to eat and
drink. It will eat and drink a little, and then thou mayest tell it thy
trouble and ask its advice, and it will tell thee how to act in thy time
of need: Return to place in story.
cup of kvass: Kvass is:
... a fermented mildly alcoholic beverage popular in
Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Kvass has been
a common drink in Russia since ancient times. It has been both a commercial
product and homemade. It is consumed widely in Ukraine, and in almost
every city there are kvass vendors on the street.
It is made by the natural fermentation of bread made
from wheat, rye, or barley, and sometimes flavoured with fruit, berries,
raisins or birch sap, collected in the early spring. For modern homemade
kvass, most often black or rye bread is used, usually dried or fried
beforehand, with the addition of sugar or fruit (e.g. apples or raisins),
and with a yeast culture, zakvasskova ("essence of kvass"), added for
fermentation. In strength kvass can be almost non-alcoholic and at its
strongest is only around 2.2%. It is often flavoured with fruits or
herbs such as strawberries or mint ("Kvass" Wikipedia 2006).
Then the doll's eyes began to shine like fireflies, and
suddenly it became alive. It ate a morsel of the bread and took a sip
of the kvass, and when it had eaten and drunk, it said:
"Don't weep, little Vasilissa. Grief is worst at
night. Lie down, shut thine eyes, comfort thyself and go to sleep. The
morning is wiser than the evening."
Now after the death of his wife, the merchant sorrowed
for many days as was right, but at the end of that time he began to desire
to marry again and to look about him for a suitable wife. This was not
difficult to find, for he had a fine house, with a stable of swift horses,
A good man who gave much to the poor
. Of all the women he saw, however, the one who, to his
mind, suited him best of all, was a widow of about his own age with two
daughters of her own, and she, he thought, besides being a good housekeeper,
would be a kind foster mother to his little Vasilissa.
She was a cold, cruel woman, who had desired the merchant
for the sake of his wealth, and had no love for his daughter. Vasilissa
was the greatest beauty in the whole village, while her own daughters
were as spare and homely as two crows, and because of this all three envied
and hated her. They gave her all sorts of errands to run and difficult
tasks to perform, in order that the toil might make her thin and worn
and that her face might grow brown from sun and wind, and they treated
her so cruelly as to leave few joys in life for her. But all this the
little Vasilissa endured without complaint, and while the stepmother's
two daughters grew always thinner and uglier, in spite of the fact that
they had no hard tasks to do, never went out in cold or rain, and sat
always with their arms folded like ladies of a Court, she herself had
cheeks like blood and milk and grew every day more and more beautiful.
Now the reason for this was the tiny doll, without whose
help little Vasilissa could never have managed to do all the work that
was laid upon her. Each night, when everyone else was sound asleep, she
would get up from her bed, take the doll into a closet, and locking the
door, give it something to eat and drink, and say: "There, my little
doll, take it. Eat a little, drink a little, and listen to my grief. I
live in my father's house, but my spiteful stepmother wishes to drive
me out of the white world. Tell me! How shall I act, and what shall I
Then the little doll's eyes would begin to shine like
glow- worms, and it would become alive. It would eat a little food, and
sip a little drink, and then it would comfort her and tell her how to
act. While Vasilissa slept, it would get ready all her work for the next
day, so that she had only to rest in the shade and gather flowers, for
the doll would have the kitchen garden weeded, and the beds of cabbage
watered, and plenty of fresh water brought from the well, and the stoves
heated exactly right.
How to make, from a certain herb, an ointment which
prevented her from ever being sunburnt: Maria Tatar writes:
Vasilisa's chief attribute is her "fairness,"
and the sun represents the greatest threat to her beauty. For this reason
the stepsisters try to force her to work outdoors, where the wind and
sun can spoil her perfect complexion" (Tatar 175).
Never shall the younger be wed before the older ones!: Historically, Vasilissa's stepmother is well within her rights and tradition
to expect the older daughters to marry before the younger one. Many cultures
Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Beating her stepdaughter:
It became necessary for the merchant to leave his
home and to travel to a distant Tsardom: Note that while the father
has been living with the family during the abuse already described, his
departure will allow even more to occur at a greater intensity to the
threat of death. Absent fathers--both emotionally and physically--are
common in tales of wicked stepmothers and their victimized stepdaughters,
such as Cinderella and Snow
His wife sold his house, packed all his goods and moved
with them to another dwelling:
Edge of a wild forest: "Baba Yaga's domain
is the forest, widely acknowledged as a traditional symbol of change and
a place of peril, where she acts as either a challenger or a helper to
those innocents who venture into her realm" (Pilinovsky, Baba
Yaga's Domain, 2004).
"The forest of Baba Yaga symbolizes more than the
forest; it is also the otherworld, the 'land of the living dead,' also
known as 'the thrice-nine kingdom'" (Pilinovsky, Baba
Yaga's Domain, 2004).
Green lawn: A green lawn is not as common deep
in a forest where little sunlight reaches the ground to nourish the grass.
The green lawn implies a magical clearing where Baba Yaga's hut is found.
A miserable little hut on hens' legs:
My favorite usage of Baba Yaga's hut in modern literature
appears in Orson Scott Card's Enchantment, a retelling of Sleeping
Beauty using Russian folklore, especially Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga travels
to the future, hijacks a 747, and returns to the past where the plane
is seen as a hut on chicken legs.
Baba Yaga, an old witch grandmother: Helen Pilinovsky
writes: "One of the most well known figures from Russian folklore,
Baba Yaga's name can be roughly translated as 'Granny Yaga.' In Russian
Myths, Elizabeth Warner notes that Baba Yaga brings many of the dominant
themes of Russian fairy tales together: she travels on the wind, occupies
the domain of the leshii, the forest spirits, is associated with death,
and is an acceptable surrogate for the generic ved'ma, or witch"
Yaga's Domain, 2004).
"...she acts as either a challenger or a helper to
those innocents who venture into her realm. In Western tales, these two
roles are typically polarized, split into different characters stereotyped
as either "witch" or "fairy godmother." Baba Yaga, however, is a complex
individual: depending on the circumstances of the specific story, she
may choose to use her powers for good or ill" (Baba
Yaga's Domain, 2004).
She ate people as one eats chickens: In this tale,
Baba Yaga is a cannibal, like the witch in Hansel
She might meet the old witch and be devoured: The
stepmother is a passive murderer, trying to bring about Vasilissa's death
without committing the physical act of murder herself.
A basket of flax to be spun: Spinning appears
in many folktales across Europe as a chore that causes deformities and
ugliness, most notably in the Grimms' The
Three Spinning Women. In that tale, the lazy heroine's husband forbids
her to ever spin again after their marriage when he sees the flat foot,
fallen lips and broad thumb of three spinners. Perhaps the stepmother
assigns the task to Vasilissa with the hopes of damaging her beauty before
sending her to Baba Yaga. It also requires neither the steel pins nor
steel needles used by the stepsisters for their tasks, hence setting up
the scenario in which Vasilissa will be sent out in search of fire.
"Thou, Vasilissa," they both said, "shalt
go and fetch the fire, for thou hast neither steel pins nor silver needles
and cannot see to spin thy flax!" They both rose up, pushed Vasilissa
out of the house and locked the door, crying:
"Thou shalt not come in till thou hast fetched the
Then the doll's eyes began to shine like two stars and
it became alive. It ate a little and said: "Do not fear, little Vasilissa.
Go where thou hast been sent. While I am with thee no harm shall come
to thee from the old witch." So Vasilissa put the doll back into
her pocket, crossed herself and started out into the dark, wild forest.
Whether she walked a short way or a long way the telling
is easy, but the journey was hard. The wood was very dark, and she could
not help trembling from fear. Suddenly she heard the sound of a horse's
hoofs and a man on horseback galloped past her.
He was dressed all in white, the horse under him was
milk-white and the harness was white, and just as he passed her it became
twilight: The second horseman in red represents day time. Later in
the tale, Baba Yaga explains: ""That was my white, bright day."
He was dressed all in red, and the horse under him
was blood-red and its harness was red, and just as he passed her the sun
rose: The second horseman in red represents the sun. Later in the
tale, Baba Yaga explains: "That was my servant, the round, red sun."
The wall around the hut was made of human bones and on
its top were skulls. There was a gate in the wall, whose hinges were the
bones of human feet and whose locks were jaw- bones set with sharp teeth.
A third man on horseback came galloping up. His face
was black, he was dressed all in black, and the horse he rode was coal-black: The third horseman in black represents night. Later in the tale,
Baba Yaga explains: "That was my servant, the black, dark night."
She was riding in a great iron mortar and driving it
with the pestle, and as she came she swept away her trail behind her with
a kitchen broom: "Like the witches of other cultures, her [Baba
Yaga's] preferred method of transportation is an implement commonly used
for household labor, though unlike the witches of the West, rather than
traveling upon a broom, she chooses to ride in a mortar, rowing with a
pestle, and using a broom to sweep away the tracks that she leaves"
Yaga's Domain, 2004).
Little House, little House, Stand the way thy mother
placed thee, Turn thy back to the forest and thy face to me!: This
refrain is not unique to the tale. Different characters in other tales
with Baba Yaga use a similar device to enter her hut or she uses it herself
as she does in this instance.
"Izboushka, Izboushka! turn thy back to the forest
and thy front to us!" (Izba, a hut. Izboushka, a tiny
hut.) is an example from: Blumenthal, Verra Xenophontovna Kalamatiano
de. "Baba Yaga." Folk
Tales from the Russian. New York: Rand McNally & Co., 1903.:
"Foo! Foo! I smell a smell that is Russian. Who
is here?": Reminiscent of the giant's smelling of Jack in Jack
and the Beanstalk.
Vasilissa, in great fright, came nearer to the old woman
and bowing very low, said: "It is only Vasilissa, grand mother. My
stepmother's daughters sent me to thee to borrow some fire."
"Well," said the old witch, "I know them.
But if I give thee the fire thou shalt stay with me some time and do some
work to pay for it.
Eaten for my supper:
." Then she turned to the gate and shouted: "Ho!
Ye, my solid locks, unlock! Thou, my stout gate, open!" Instantly
the locks unlocked, the gate opened of itself, and the Baba Yaga rode
in whistling. Vasilissa entered behind her and immediately the gate shut
again and the locks snapped tight.
When they had entered the hut the old witch threw her
self down on the stove, stretched out her bony legs and said:
"Come, fetch and put on the table at once everything
that is in the oven. I am hungry." So Vasilissa ran and lighted a
splinter of wood from one of the skulls on the wall and took the food
from the oven and set it before her. There was enough cooked meat for
three strong men. She brought also from the cellar kvass, honey, and red
wine, and the Baba Yaga
Ate and drank the whole: A healthy appetite implies
, leaving the girl only a little cabbage soup, a crust
of bread and a morsel of suckling pig.
When her hunger was satisfied, the old witch, growing
drowsy, lay down on the stove and said: "Listen to me well, and do
what I bid thee. Tomorrow when I drive away, do thou clean the yard, sweep
the floors and cook my supper. Then
Take a quarter of a measure of wheat from my store
house and pick out of it all the black grains and the wild peas: Marie-Louise
von Franz writes:
This is a theme to be found in many Cinderella fairy
tales and also comes in Amor and Psyche. It is a typical task
in mythology for the heroine. Separating the good from the bad grains
is a work of patience, which can neither be rushed into nor speeded
. Mind thou dost all that I have bade; if not, thou shalt
be eaten for my supper."
Then she went into the corner, took the tiny doll from
her pocket, put before it a bit of bread and a little cabbage soup that
she had saved, burst into tears and said:
A difficult task
and if I do not do all she has bade, she will eat me
tomorrow. Tell me: What shall I do?"
Then the eyes of the little doll began to shine like two
candles. It ate a little of the bread and drank a little of the soup and
said: "Do not be afraid, Vasilissa the Beautiful. Be comforted. Say
thy prayers, and go to sleep. The morning is wiser than the evening."
So Vasilissa trusted the little doll and was comforted. She said her prayers,
lay down on the floor and went fast asleep.
Then the Baba Yaga shouted: "Ho! Ye, my solid locks,
unlock! Thou, my stout gate, open!" And the locks unlocked and the
gate opened and she rode away in the mortar, driving with the pestle and
sweeping away her path behind her with the broom.
When Vasilissa found herself left alone, she examined
the hut, wondering to find it filled with such an abundance of everything.
Then she stood still, remembering all the work that she had been bidden
to do and wondering what to begin first. But as she looked she rubbed
her eyes, for the yard was already neatly cleaned and the floors were
nicely swept, and the little doll was sitting in the storehouse picking
the last black grains and wild peas out of the quarter- measure of wheat.
Vasilissa ran and took the little doll in her arms. "My
dearest little doll!" she cried. "Thou hast saved me from my
trouble! Now I have only to cook the Baba Yaga's sup per, since all the
rest of the tasks are done!"
"Cook it, with God's help," said the doll, "and
then rest, and may the cooking of it make thee healthy!" And so saying
it crept into her pocket and became again only a little wooden doll.
So Vasilissa rested all day and was refreshed; and when
it grew toward evening she laid the table for the old witch's supper,
and sat looking out of the window, waiting for her coming. After awhile
she heard the sound of a horse's hoofs and the man in black, on the coal-black
horse, galloped up to the wall gate and disappeared like a great dark
shadow, and instantly it became quite dark and the eyes of all the skulls
began to glitter and shine.
Then all at once the trees of the forest began to creak and groan and
the leaves and the bushes to moan and sigh, and the Baba Yaga came riding
out of the dark wood in the huge iron mortar, driving with the pestle
and sweeping out the trail behind her with the kitchen broom. Vasilissa
let her in; and the witch, smelling all around her, asked:
"Well, hast thou done perfectly all the tasks I gave
thee to do, or am I to eat thee for my supper?"
"Be so good as to look for thyself, grandmother,"
The Baba Yaga went all about the place, tapping with her
iron pestle, and carefully examining everything. But so well had the little
doll done its work that, try as hard as she might, she could not find
anything to complain of. There was not a weed left in the yard, nor a
speck of dust on the floors, nor a single black grain or wild pea in the
The old witch was greatly angered, but was obliged to
pretend to be pleased. "Well," she said, "thou hast done
all well." Then, clapping her hands, she shouted: "Ho! my faithful
servants! Friends of my heart! Haste and grind my wheat!" Immediately
three pairs of hands appeared
The Baba Yaga sat down to supper, and Vasilissa put before
her all the food from the oven, with kvass, honey, and red wine. The old
witch ate it, bones and all, almost to the last morsel, enough for four
strong men, and then, growing drowsy, stretched her bony legs on the stove
and said: "Tomorrow do as thou hast done today, and besides these
tasks take from my storehouse a half-measure of poppy seeds and clean
them one by one. Someone has mixed earth with them to do me a mischief
and to anger me, and I will have them made perfectly clean." So saying
she turned to the wall and soon began to snore.
When she was fast asleep Vasilissa went into the corner,
took the little doll from her pocket, set before it a part of the food
that was left and asked its advice. And the doll, when it had become alive,
and eaten a little food and sipped a little drink, said: "Don't worry,
beautiful Vasilissa! Be comforted. Do as thou didst last night: say thy
prayers and go to sleep." So Vasilissa was comforted. She said her
prayers and went to sleep and did not wake till next morning when she
heard the old witch in the yard whistling. She ran to the window just
in time to see her take her place in the big iron mortar, and as she did
so the man dressed all in red, riding on the blood red horse, leaped over
the wall and was gone, just as the sun rose over the wild forest.
As it had happened on the first morning, so it happened
now. When Vasilissa looked she found that the little doll had finished
all the tasks excepting the cooking of the sup per. The yard was swept
and in order, the floors were as clean as new wood, and there was not
a grain of earth left in the half-measure of poppy seeds. She rested and
refreshed herself till the afternoon, when she cooked the supper, and
when evening came she laid the table and sat down to wait for the old
Soon the man in black, on the coal-black horse, galloped
up to the gate, and the dark fell and the eyes of the skulls began to
shine like day; then the ground began to quake, and the trees of the forest
began to creak and the dry leaves to rustle, and the Baba Yaga came riding
in her iron mortar, driving with her pestle and sweeping away her path
with her broom.
When she came in she smelled around her and went all about
the hut, tapping with the pestle; but pry and examine as she might, again
she could see no reason to find fault and was angrier than ever. She clapped
her hands and shouted:
"Ho! my trusty servants! Friends of my soul! Haste
and press the oil out of my poppy seeds!" And instantly the three
pairs of hands appeared, seized the measure of poppy seeds and carried
Presently the old witch sat down to supper and Vasilissa
brought all she had cooked, enough for five grown men, and set it before
her, and brought beer and honey, and then she herself stood silently waiting.
The Baba Yaga ate and drank it all, every morsel, leaving not so much
as a crumb of bread; then she said snappishly: "Well, why dost thou
say nothing, but stand there as if thou wast dumb?"
"Well," said the old witch, "only remember
that every question does not lead to good. If thou knowest overmuch, thou
wilt grow old too soon. What wilt thou ask?": From Wikipedia:
According to some versions of the myths, Baba Yaga ages
a year every time someone asks her a question. This is why she is often
portrayed as a cranky old hag — she is frustrated and angry about having
been asked so many questions. The only way for her to de-age herself
is by drinking a special tea she brews from blue roses. Heroes who bring
her a gift of blue roses are often granted wishes as reward for their
aid ("Baba Yaga" Wikipedia 2006).
"That was my servant, the black, dark night,"
answered the old witch furiously; "but he also cannot harm thee.
Ask me more.": Marie-Louise von Franz writes:
The divine rank of this figure [Baba Yaga] is clearly
proved by the fact that she has three riders at her disposition--"My
Day," "My Night," and "My Sun." She is a cosmic
But Vasilissa, remembering what the Baba Yaga had said,
that not every question led to good, was silent.
"Ask me more!" cried the old witch. "Why
dost thou not ask me more? Ask me of the three pairs of hands that serve
"It is well for thee," said the Baba Yaga, "that
thou didst not ask of them, but only of what thou didst see outside of
this hut. Hadst thou asked of them, my servants, the three pairs of hands
would have seized thee also
"The blessing of my dead mother helps me."
"I want no one who bears a blessing to cross my
threshold!": Marie-Louise von Franz writes:
...Baba Yaga, who here is almost completely evil, though
when she hears that the girl is a "blessed daughter" she tells
her she does not want her in her house. So, in a hidden way, she [Baba
Yaga] is not thoroughly evil, and sometimes even helpful; she wonderfully
portrays the Great Mother in her double aspect.
Vasilissa ran to the yard, and behind her she heard the
old witch shouting to the locks and the gate. The locks opened, the gate
swung wide, and she ran out on to the lawn. The Baba Yaga seized from
the wall one of the skulls with burning eyes and flung it after her. "There,"
she howled, "is the fire for thy stepmother's daughters. Take it.
That is what they sent thee here for, and may they have joy of it!"
Vasilissa put the skull on the end of a stick and darted
away through the forest: Ivan Bilibin created a well-known illustration
of Vasilissa with the skull on the stick. You can see it here.
Whether she ran a long way or a short way, and whether
the road was smooth or rough, towards evening of the next day, when the
eyes in the skull were beginning to glimmer, she came out of the dark,
wild forest to her stepmother's house.
Now since Vasilissa had gone, the stepmother and her two
daughters had had neither fire nor light in all the house. When they struck
flint and steel the tinder would not catch. and the fire they brought
from the neighbors would go out immediately as soon as they carried it
over the threshold, so that they had been unable to light or warm themselves
or to cook food to eat. Therefore now, for the first time in her life,
Vasilissa found herself welcomed. They opened the door to her and the
merchant's wife was greatly rejoiced to find that the light in the skull
did not go out as soon as it was brought in. "Maybe the witch's fire
will stay," she said, and took the skull into the best room, set
it on a candlestick and called her two daughters to admire it.
The merchant's wife and her two wicked daughters took
fire and were burned to ashes:
dug a deep hole in the ground and buried the skull
Old woman who was poor and childless: Maria Tatar
The crone in this final episode represents another surrogate
mother, one who brings Vasilisa's skills as a spinner and seamstress
to the attention of the tsar. The host of maternal figures and maternal
substitutes strengthens the argument that 'Vasilisa the Fair' is about
the empowerment of the daughter through the mother" (Tatar 183).
My hands want work to do:
Flax: From Wikipedia:
Flax is grown both for seed and for fibre. Various parts
of the plant have been used to make fabric, dye, paper, medicines, fishing
nets and soap. In addition to the plant itself, flax may refer to the
unspun fibres of the flax plant.
Flax fibre is extracted from the bast or skin of the
stem of flax plant. Flax fibre is soft, lustrous and flexible. It is
stronger than cotton fibre but less elastic. The best grades are used
for linen fabrics such as damasks, lace and sheeting. Coarser grades
are used for the manufacturing of twine and rope. Flax fibre is also
a raw material for the high-quality paper industry for the use of printed
banknotes and rolling paper for cigarettes ("Flax" Wikipedia 2006).
Vasilissa sat down to work: Note that while the
doll performed most of the tasks for her in the earlier part of the story,
Vasilissa performs her own work in making the linen and subsequent clothing
for the tsar. The doll provides aid in building the frame upon which to
weave the linen, but Vasilissa does the rest of the work herself. Her
impeccable work, suited only for a tsar, demonstrates her domestic qualities
and worthiness to be a wife.
. So well did she spin that the thread came out as even
and fine as a hair, and presently there was enough to begin to weave.
But so fine was the thread that no frame could be found to weave it upon,
nor would any weaver undertake to make one.
Then Vasilissa went into her closet, took the little doll
from her pocket, set food and drink before it and asked its help. And
after it had eaten a little and drunk a little, the doll became alive
and said: "Bring me an old frame and an old basket and some hairs
from a horse's mane, and I will arrange everything for thee." Vasilissa
hastened to fetch all the doll had asked for and when evening came, said
her prayers, went to sleep, and in the morning she found ready a frame,
perfectly made, to weave her fine thread upon.
Linen: From Wikipedia:
Linen fabrics have a high natural luster and their natural
color ranges between shades of ivory, tan, or grey. Pure white linen
is created by heavy bleaching which is not good for the fabric. Linen
typically has a thick and thin character with a crisp and textured feel
to it, but can range from stiff and rough to soft and smooth. When adequately
prepared, linen has the ability to absorb and lose water rapidly. It
can gain up to 20% moisture without feeling damp. When freed from impurities
it is highly absorbent and will quickly remove perspiration from the
skin. Linen is a stiff fabric and is less likely to cling to the skin
and when it billows away it tends to dry out and become cool so that
the skin is being continually touched by a cool surface. It is a very
durable, strong fabric and one of the few ones that are stronger wet
than dry. It does not stretch and is resistant to damage from abrasion.
However, because it has very low elasticity it can break if it is folded
at the same place repeatedly. Mildew, perspiration, and bleach can also
damage the fabric, but it is resistant to moths and carpet beetles.
Linen is relatively easy to take care of since it resists dirt and stains,
has no lint or pilling tendencies and can be dry cleaned, machine washed
or steamed. It can withstand high temperatures and only has some moderate
initial shrinkage. A characteristic often associated with linen yarn
is the presence of "slubs", or small knots that occur randomly
along its length. However, these are actually defects associated with
low quality. The finest linen has a very consistent diameter with no
slubs ("Linen" Wikipedia 2006).
of a texture so fine that it could be passed, like thread,
through the eye of a needle. When the spring came she bleached it, so
white that no snow could be compared with it. Then she said to the old
woman: "Take thou the linen to the market, grandmothers and sell
it, and the money shall suffice to pay for my food and lodging."
When the old woman examined the linen, however, she said:
"Never will I sell such cloth in the market place;
no one should wear it except it be the Tsar himself, and tomorrow I shall
carry it to the Palace."
Next day, accordingly, the old woman went to the Tsar's
splendid Palace and fell to walking up and down before the windows. The
servants came to ask her her errand but she answered them nothing, and
kept walking up and down. At length the Tsar opened his window, and asked:
"What dost thou want, old woman, that thou walkest here?"
"O Tsar's Majesty" the old woman answered, "I
have with me a marvelous piece of linen stuff, so wondrously woven that
I will show it to none but thee."
The Tsar bade them bring her before him and when he saw
the linen he was struck with astonishment at its fineness and beauty.
"What wilt thou take for it, old woman?" he asked.
Seamstresses were called to make shirts for him out of
the cloth; but when it had been cut up, so fine was it that no one of
them was deft and skillful enough to sew it. The best seamstresses in
all the Tsardom were summoned but none dared undertake it. So at last
the Tsar sent for the old woman and said: "If thou didst know how
to spin such thread and weave such linen, thou must also know how to sew
me shirts from it."
And the old woman answered: "O Tsar's Majesty, it
was not I who wove the linen; it is the work of my adopted daughter."
"Take it, then," the Tsar said, "and bid
her do it for me." The old woman brought the linen home and told
Vasilissa the Tsar's command: "Well I knew that the work would needs
be done by my own hands," said Vasilissa, and, locking herself in
her own room, began to make the shirts. So fast and well did she work
that soon a dozen were ready. Then the old woman carried them to the Tsar,
while Vasilissa washed her face, dressed her hair, put on her best gown
and sat down at the window to see what would happen. And presently a servant
in the livery of the Palace came to the house and entering, said: "The
Tsar, our lord, desires himself to see the clever needlewoman who has
made his shirts and to reward her with his own hands."
Vasilissa rose and went at once to the Palace, and as
soon as the Tsar saw her, he fell in love with her with all his soul.
He took her by her white hand and made her sit beside him. "Beautiful
maiden," he said, "never will I part from thee and thou shalt
be my wife."
So the Tsar and Vasilissa the Beautiful were married,
and her father returned from the far-distant Tsardom, and he and the old
woman lived always with her in the splendid Palace, in all joy and contentment.
And as for the little wooden doll, she carried it about with her in her
pocket all her life long.


- Of or relating to an activity performed in space outside a spacecraft.More example sentences
- Besides logging more than 259 hours in space, he has more than 14 hours of extravehicular activity, or spacewalking.
- That's where astronauts practice extravehicular activities, more commonly known as spacewalks.
- Two projects focus on advanced technologies for extravehicular activity.
More definitions of extravehicularDefinition of extravehicular in:
- The British & World English dictionary


As the nation responds to the devastating effects of bullying, it is important to highlight the crucial role of an upstander. An upstander is a person who speaks up or stands up to bullying and intolerance, either to prevent or intervene when someone is being harmed. By Becki Cohn-Vargas, Not In Our School Director I, for one, would not be here if it were not for an upstander. My father’s family barely escaped the Holocaust after Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass” in Berlin on Nov. 9, 1938. He and his family found refuge in Shanghai, China.
national bullying prevention month
What's happening across the country for Bullying Prevention Month—and this is just the first week! StopBullying.gov is sponsoring the Stop Bullying Challenge, a PSA campaign for youth to make videos to show how they’re more than a bystanderThis contest gives young people another way to create a more positive and healthy environment in their schools and communities. Youth between 13 and 18 years old are invited to submit original PSAs, 30-60 seconds long by Oct. 14 at 11 p.m. EST. Watch this invitation from Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education Pacer, the national organization that initiated Bullying Prevention Month is promoting Unite Against Bullying Wednesday, Oct. 10 is Unity Day, a special event during National Bullying Prevention Month. The key message is, “Make it Orange, Make it End!”
“It’s not just, oh, you get bullied and the next year it gradually tapers off and you’re a normal person. It sticks with you your entire life. I still get these occasional feelings, like I’m not good enough. I never felt anything like that before the ninth grade.” Mike Nelson, now a successful ad agency producer, knows how devastating bullying can be. He brought his own experience to a video PSA, "Break Bullying," that shows how shockingly degrading and harmful bullying can look if seen it from the perspective of an adult. (See Nelson’s bullying story below.) “Kids aren’t going to accept something that’s watered down,” said Nelson, head of production at MAKE. “Let’s get real about this.” MAKE is based in Minneapolis, Minn. and does commercial work for companies such as McDonalds, Target, Burger King and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Two years ago, the team began creating PSAs pro bono around issues they were passionate about and donating the PSAs to organizations they supported, including the Salvation Army, Animal Humane Society, Second Harvest Food Bank and the National Fatherhood Initiative.
October is National Bullying Prevention Month. NIOS is joining organizations across the country that are taking a stand against bullying. Not In Our School is kicking off National Bullying Prevention Month with a powerful anti-bullying public service announcement, “Break Bullying” (above) donated to Not In Our Town by MAKE, a professional ad agency. The PSA depicts adults in an office environment re-enacting the director’s personal bullying experience from middle school. His point: If we would not stand for this in the office, why do we stand for it happening to kids in schools? It is a call to action for everyone to take bullying seriously. Students and teachers alike are reporting visceral responses to the PSA. You will hear a few bleeps—but those bleeps, unedited, are what kids experience daily in their schools. Join the thousands who are taking action during bullying prevention month. Post this video on your Facebook page, share the link with your friends, speak up and stand up to bullying in your community.


This new video from UNICEF starts with the story of an Indian woman who safely delivered a healthy baby in a clinic, under medical supervision, thanks to a partnership between UNICEF and her local government. Prior to their intervention, the majority of women in her district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh were delivering babies at home because health facilities were few and far away, and there was no transportation available.
Over five years, UNICEF worked with the Madhya Pradesh government to make major changes, including:
- Upgrading health centers
- Providing new equipment
- Hiring new nurses
- Improving hospitals with a newborn care units
- Funding an ambulance service
- Creating a call center to coordinate ambulance trips
Now, five years after UNICEF began their work, the woman’s district reports the lowest maternal mortality rate in the entire state. Every year, half a million women use the ambulance service to ensure safer deliveries, and 50,000 newborns are saved in the newborn care units. UNICEF’s work has been so successful that the Madhya Pradesh government is scaling up and replicating it elsewhere in the state and other Indian states are also interested in implementing the programs.
One of the newborns in the video had a lung problem and was also underweight because his mother had not been eating properly. The narrator mentioned that many babies in the unit were underweight. While the video focused on the help the new care unit was able to provide to these newborns, my thoughts went elsewhere. UNICEF’s work has made a big difference, but the small fact about the prevalence of underweight newborns reinforced the fact that there are many larger underlying factors and social determinants at play that will continue to challenge progress and positive changes in developing countries. UNICEF’s innovative programs were definitely successful in tackling the delivery and newborn care issues in the region, but the video also (unintentionally) illustrated the general complexity of global health and development challenges.
“Don’t let complexity stop you. Be activists. Take on the big inequities. It will be one of the great experiences of your lives.”
– Bill Gates


- 1Shield-shaped.More example sentences
- Druses were common throughout the mesophyll tissues, and peltate, glandular trichomes were present on both epidermises.
- Reports indicate that, within the family, different species can have both peltate and capitate trichomes, peltate or capitate only or, more rarely, neither.
- The density of peltate glandular trichomes on the abaxial surface of a fully developed leaf is typically about 1600 per cm.
- 1.1(Of a leaf) more or less circular, with the stalk attached at a point on the underside.More example sentences
- The glandular trichomes of birch leaves belong to the peltate type and consisted of cortical and medullar cells, tightly covered by cuticle, which had no ruptures in young trichomes.
More definitions of peltateDefinition of peltate in:
- The US English dictionary


Assessment for Azerbaijanis in Iran
Azerbaijanis have two risk factors for rebellion: they are geographically concentrated and have suffered recent government repression. However, they do no suffer explicit economic or political discrimination and are well integrated into Iranian society. By most accounts, it appears that Azeris in Iran are content to be a part of the Iranian state.
Nevertheless cultural restrictions on Azeri language use places the group at risk for further protest. There is sentiment for greater Azeri-language rights and limited sentiment for autonomy or independence. Although Azeris are generally well integrated with the Persian majority, discrimination against their language remains a looming risk factor.
A potential pitfall to the relatively stable condition of Azeris in Iran may indeed come from the ideological support they receive from non-governmental organizations and the government of Azerbaijan. Thus, the direction that Iranian-Azerbajaini relations take at the state level will likely have a great impact on the future condition of Iran’s Azeris.
The Azerbaijanis (also known as Azeris) compose about a quarter of Iran’s population, and are the largest minority in Iran. They are Shi’i Muslims by faith (RELIGS1 = 6), and in many respects are similar to the rest of the Iranian population (CUSTOM = 0, BELIEF = 0). Many prominent Iranian Shi’i clerics have been and are Azeris (the Supreme Ayatollah is of Azeri decent). The main factors that differentiate them from the rest of the Iranian population are their Azerbaijani ethnicity, and their native language of Azeri Turkish (LANG = 1). The Azeris live principally in the northwestern Iranian provinces of East Azerbaijan, West Azerbaijan and Ardebil, as well as in urban centers such as Tehran (GROUPCON = 2).
The Azeris of Iran have not been historically autonomous, although in 1945-1946, the Democratic Party of Azerbaijan declared the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, which only lasted for a year and collapsed following a withdrawal of Soviet support. Following a brief revival of Azeri nationalism after the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the central authorities severely restricted the publishing of Azeri material, the instruction of Azeri Turkish, and the open organization of Azeri cultural groups—these restrictions remain in place to date (CULPO204-06 = 3). The Azeris participate in the Iranian government at the highest national levels as much as any other group, including ethnic Iranians (LEGISREP=1, EXECREP=1).
Azeri grievances primarily revolve around a desire for greater cultural freedoms, such as teaching and publishing in their own language (CULGR04-06= 1). While the dominant political grievance seems to be a wish for some decentralization of decision-making or limited autonomy, there are demands for independence or incorporation into Azerbaijan (POLGR04-06 = 4). .
Political parties demanding the advancement of Azeri cultural or political claims are banned in Iran, and it is therefore difficult to assess Azeri organizational activities and strength. However, two new organizations were founded in 2002 and 2003, both by the aforementioned dissident Mahmoud Ali Chehregani, who now resides in the U.S. The first organization is the Azerbaijani United Islamic Front, which demands “autonomous zone for Azerbaijanis in Iran”; the other is the Supreme Council of People’s of Iran, which claims to represent all minorities in Iran.
There have been reports of increased protests demanding greater cultural rights for Azeris (PROT00 = 3; PROT01, PROT02 = 1; PROT03 = 2; PROT04 = 5; PROT06 = 3; REB03-05 = 0, REB06 = 1). During summer 2004, hundreds of thousands of Azerbaijanis reportedly protested in Tabriz the continued marginalization of Azeri culture and language. In May 2006, thousands reportedly protested the publication in a state-run newspaper a cartoon depicting Azerbaijanis as cockroaches. Multiple protesters were arrested in both incidents, and several protesters were killed by security forces in 2006 (REPNVIOL04 = 4; REPNVIOL06 = 5).
Amnesty International. 6/29/2006. “Iran: Authorities should exercise restraint in policing Babek Castle gathering and address human rights violations against Iranian Azeri Turks..” MDE 13/074/2006.
Atabaki, Touraj. 1993. Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and Autonomy in Twentieth Century Iran, London: British Academic Press.
Cornell,Svante. 11/22/2004. “Iranian Azerbaijan: A Brewing Hotspot.” Presentation to Symposium on “Human Rights and Ethnicity in Iran.”
Eurasianet.org, various articles 2001-2003.
Helfgott, Leonard M. “The Structural Foundations of the National Minority Problem in Revolutionary Iran” Middle East Studies, XIII (1-4), pp.195-213.
BBC Monitoring Reports. 2/10/2005. “Iran’s ethnic Azeri leader urges USA to take ‘specific actions.’”
BBC Monitoring Reports. 9/15/2005. “Iranian authorities close down Azeri magazine ‘for promoting separatism.’”
Meron, Theodor . 1989. “Iran’s Challenge to the International Law of Human Rights.” Human Rights Internet Reporter 13:1. 8-13.
Metz, Helen Chapin. 1987. Iran: a Country Study (4th ed.), Federal Research Duvision, Library of Congress.
Nissman, David B. 1987. The Soviet Union and Iranian Azerbaijan, Boulder: Westview.
Richard, Yann. 1989. “The Relevance of ‘Nationalism’ in Contemporary Iran.” Middle East Review. Summer. 27-36.
The Christian Science Monitor, 1990-1994.
Tohidi, Nayereh. 6/28/2006. Open Democracy, Iran: regionalism, ethnicity and democracy.
Keesing’s Contemporary Archive, Keesing’s Record of World Events, 1990-1994.
LexisNexis. Various news reports. 1990-2006.
UN Commission on Human Rights. 2/12/1990. Report on the Islamic Republic of Iran
US Department of State. Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Iran. 1991, 1993, 2001-2006.
The Washington Post, 1990-1994.


Cataracts are caused to due change in lens microstructure due to age.As you grow older there is coagulation of protein crystallin or vacuole formation on the lens which makes it opaque. Also sometimes lens color changes to yellowish brown. This leads to blurred vision.
Non- age related cataracts are caused due to various factors.
It leads to development of secondary cataract. Person with diabetes are at higher risk of cataract.
Certain drugs are associated with cataract development.Corticosteroids, Chlorpromazine and other phenothiazine related medications.
This increases the chance of cataract 2-3 folds higher, if compared with non-smoker.
Damage to lens may be caused due to some internal injury. This can lead to formation of clumps in eyes and decrease the vision.
Harmful UVB rays coming from sun may lead to cataract formation. Excessive heat may affect the heat sensitive enzymes which protect lens proteins.
Low level of anti-oxidants in body due to improper diet may lead to cataract. Including vitamin C and E in your diet will reduce the risk.
Cataract from childhood is due to chromosomal abnormalities. It is inherited.