The Health of the Republic
Epidemics, Medicine, and Moralism as Challenges to Democracy
Publication: Sep 88
A link between the health of the American republic and the health of its citizens
"This book is about the link between equality and the health of the American republic, the health of its citizens as well as of its democratic institutions." In a timely and controversial discussion, Dan Beauchamp translates the public health viewpoint into the language of social justice and equality. Arguing that "public health" and not "health care" ought to be of prime importance, he puts community interests at the center of a theory of equality. He also demonstrates how protecting the public health is often a matter of strengthening civil liberties. Beauchamp confronts current debates on AIDS, equality in health care, restrictions on smoking, abortion, alcoholism, and drug abuse to discuss the role of government in protecting the public’s health.
Drawing on political philosophy and theories of democracy and equal citizenship, Beauchamp rejects the thesis that the republic’s health depends on choosing between the welfare of the community and the freedom of the individual. Seeing both values as necessary in an egalitarian health policy, he analyzes the dilemma of choosing whether freedom or community ought to dominate in the several spheres of a democratic society that are critical to the public’s health.
"(H)e is realistic enough to know that the inmates are too often in charge of our medical asylum. A knotty and illuminating exposition and a way out of our current problems."
"An original and highly important book.... (It) should be urgent reading for those responsible for America’s health."
—Daniel Callahan, Director, The Hastings Center, and author of Setting Limits
"In The Health of the Republic, Beauchamp sets forth the notion of ‘republican equity’ as the basis for providing medical cure and all will find it a thought-provoking challenge."
"Beauchamp’s volume...represents the forceful expression of a public vision that stands as a challenge to the now dominant forces in American society."
—Medical Humanities Review
"This is an important new perspective on a central social controversy. It is also compelling."
—William M. Sullivan, La Salle University, and co-author of Habits of the Heart
"A notable statement on health issues by a prominent leader in the campaign to reform American health policies."
—David F. Musto, M.D., Yale University School of Medicine, and author of The American Disease
Dan E. Beauchamp is Professor of Health Policy and Administration in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the author of Beyond Alcoholism: Alcohol and Public Health Policy (Temple) and Health Care Reform and the Battle for the Body Politic (Temple).
Health, Society, and Policy edited by Sheryl Ruzek and Irving Kenneth Zola
No longer active. Health, Society and Policy, edited by Sheryl Ruzek and Irving Kenneth Zola, takes a critical stance with regard to health policy and medical practice, ranging broadly in subject matter. Backlist titles include books on the legal and professional status of midwifery, the experience and regulation of kidney transplants, the evolution of federal law on architectural access, and a political/ethical argument for making the community responsible for universal access to health care.


Our Holyoke chapter was founded in 2003. Historically a city of working-class immigrants, Holyoke was once the world’s biggest paper manufacturer. Waves of Irish, French-Canadian, Germans, Poles, and Jews arrived and worked alongside each other in the paper mills, organizing together to fight for better working conditions. After World War II, many factory owners moved their operations to the South in search of low wages, weak unions, less taxes, and fewer workers’ rights, and Holyoke’s residents faced crippling unemployment.
Starting in the 1950s, Puerto Ricans and other Latinos began to migrate to Holyoke. Today, Holyoke is 50% Latino and has the largest percentage Puerto Rican population of any city in the US, outside Puerto Rico itself. We are proud to be a majority Black and Brown city today, rebuilding working-class power as we revitalize Holyoke and make it an epicenter of new green jobs.
Make Holyoke a city where all of us can thrive.
Contact an Organizer
Jacqueline Velez
jackie@n2nma.org
Jobs Not Jails
Jobs Not Jails is the largest campaign to end mass incarceration in Massachusetts history.
Fair Share Tax
With our partners in Raise Up MA, we are launching a campaign to raise $1 billion in state revenue through a constitutional amendment that will restore the commons by requiring millionaires to pay their fair share.
Voter Empowerment
Voter empowerment, for us, is not just about getting people out to vote— it is about using our power to transform government into a democracy.
In 2014, we closed the last coal plant in the state. Now, with 40,000 tons of toxic ash seeped into our water and our farmlands, we continue the fight to ensure a thorough clean-up of the site and new jobs for Holyoke.
Won Earned Sick Time
Earned sick time for all workers in Massachusetts, allowing 1 million more people to take time off when they’re sick or need to care for a family member.
Increased the Minimum Wage
We increased the state minimum wage in 1999, 2006, and 2014, making Massachusetts’ the highest state minimum wage in the U.S.
Shut Down the Mt. Tom Coal Plant
Shut down the state’s last coal plant, which had contributed for years to Holyoke’s poor air quality and high rates of asthma.
Restored Dental Benefits
Restored dental benefits to Mass Health, allowing everyone access to regular cleanings and fillings.
Expanded Public Transit
Expanded public transit in gateway cities, increasing the number of buses and trains to get our people to work and to school.
Banned the Box: CORI Reform
An historic civil rights victory that made Massachusetts the 2nd state in the U.S. to prohibit employers from asking about a person’s criminal history on an initial job application.
Closed Corporate Tax Loopholes
The most progressive tax reform in Massachusetts since World War II, eliminating the capital gains loophole as part of a fair tax package worth over $1 billion in new revenue.
Increased Voter Engagement by 400%
Since 1996, we have increased voter engagement by 50% in the lowest-income districts in our cities, and by 400% in neighborhoods with historically low voter turnout.


Practice of women being married down in social status and marriage exchange, practice of wife-givers as higher in status then wife-takers are called to be
Hypo gamy
Hyper gamy
Hydro gamy
Practice of women being married down in social status and ma
In a certain office
(1/3) of the workers are women,
(1/2) of
(1/2) of the women are married and
(1/3) of the married women havechildren.
(3/4) of the men are married and
(2/3) of the married men have children, what part of workers are without children
In a certain office, 1/3 of the workers are women, 1/2 of th
In a certain office, 1/3 of the workers are women, 1/2 of the women are married and 1/3 of the married women havechildren.
if 3/4 of the men are married and 2/3 of the married men have children, what part of workers are without children
Answer the questions on the basis of the information given b
Answer the questions on the basis of the information given below: A,B,C,D,E and F are a group offriends.
There are two house wives, one professor , one engineer, one accountant and one lawyer in thegroup.
There are only two married couples in thegroup.
The lawyer is married to D, who is ahousewife.
No women in the group is either an engineer or anaccountant.
C, the accountant, is married to F, who is aprofessor.
A is married tohousewife.
E is not ahousewife.
What is E's profession
Statements: In case of outstanding candidates, the condition
Statements: In case of outstanding candidates, the condition of previous experience of social work may be waived by the admission committee for M.A. (Social work).
Some of the students for M.A. (Social work) will have previous experience of socialwork.
Some of the students for M.A. (Social work) will not have previous experience of social work
The average of women and child workers in a factory was 15%y
The average of women and child workers in a factory was 15%yr. The average age of all the 16 children was 8yr and average age of women workers was 22 yrs if ten women workers were married then the number of unmarried women workers were
In the early nineteenth century, theories of social evolutio
In the early nineteenth century, theories of social evolution were inspired less by Biology than by the conviction of social scientists that there was a growing improvement in socialinstitutions.
Progress was taken for granted and social scientists attempted to discover its laws andphases.
Which one of the following inferences may be drawn with the greatest accuracy from the above passage Social scientists
Which one of the following inferences may be drawn with the greatest accuracy from the above passage? Social scientists
The average age of a couple and their son was 40 years, the
The average age of a couple and their son was 40 years, the son got married and a child was born just two years after theirmarriage.
When child turned to 10 years, then the average age of the family becomes 38years.
What was the age of the daughter in law at the time of marriage
Statements: Any young man, who makes dowry as a condition fo
Statements: Any young man, who makes dowry as a condition for marriage, discredits himself and dishonourswomanhood.
Those who take dowry in marriage should be condemned bysociety.
Those who do not take dowry in marriage respect womanhood
Social Anthropology Quiz


Printed Pages, Perfect Souls? Ideals and Instructions for the Devout Home in the First Books Printed in Dutch
‘Moderate Islam’ Made in the United Arab Emirates: Public Diplomacy and the Politics of Containment
Religion in Coalition: Balancing Moderate and Progressive Politics in the Sydney Alliance
10.3390/rel11010044
McPhillips, K.
Religion after the Royal Commission: Challenges to Religion–State Relations
by Kathleen McPhillips
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Religions 2020, 11(1), 44; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11010044
Received: 18 November 2019 / Revised: 18 December 2019 / Accepted: 19 December 2019 / Published: 15 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion in Australian Public Life: Resurgence, Insurgence, Cooption?)
The findings and recommendations emanating from the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse (2012–2017) have advised religious organisations that they need to undertake significant changes to legal, governance and cultural/theological practices. The reason for urgency in enacting these changes is that religious organisations were the least child safe institutions across all Australian organisations, with poor practices of transparency, accountability and responsibility coupled with a tendency to protect the reputation of the institution above the safety of children in their care. In Australia, new state laws have been enacted and are impacting on the internal governance systems of religious organisations, including removing the secrecy of the Catholic confessional, instituting mandatory reporting of child abuse by clerics and criminalising the failure to report child sexual abuse. Religious organisations have moved to adopt many of the recommendations regarding their troubled governance including the professionalisation of religious ministry; adoption of professional standards; and appropriate redress for survivors and changes to religious laws. However, these changes signal significant challenges to current church–state relations, which have been characterised by positioning religious organisations as special institutions that enjoy exemptions from certain human rights legislation, on the basis of protecting religious freedom. This article examines and evaluates the nexus between state and religion in Australian public life as it is emerging in a post-Royal Commission environment, and in particular contested claims around the meaning and value of religious freedom versus the necessity of institutional reform to ensure that religious organisations can demonstrate safety for children and other vulnerable groups. View Full-Text
Keywords: public inquiry recommendations; institutional child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; church–state relations; freedom of religion public inquiry recommendations; institutional child sexual abuse; clergy abuse; church–state relations; freedom of religion
McPhillips, K. Religion after the Royal Commission: Challenges to Religion–State Relations. Religions 2020, 11, 44.
McPhillips K. Religion after the Royal Commission: Challenges to Religion–State Relations. Religions. 2020; 11(1):44.
McPhillips, Kathleen. 2020. "Religion after the Royal Commission: Challenges to Religion–State Relations." Religions 11, no. 1: 44.
Religions, EISSN 2077-1444, Published by MDPI AG
RSS Content Alert Logo copyright Steve Bridenbaugh/UUA


World Daily News »
Thousands affected by floods in Mexico
« U.S.: Myanmar Expels U.N. Diplomat | Somali Pirates Hijack Japanese Tanker »
Author Topic: Thousands affected by floods in Mexico (Read 313 times)
Assoicated Press
VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico: Military trucks hauled bottled water, food and clothing to Mexico's flooded Gulf coast Friday as rescue workers in helicopters and boats worked furiously to retrieve thousands still stranded on rooftops of their homes.
With floodwaters stretching clear across the Gulf coast state of Tabasco and food and drinking water scarce, health officials warned against cholera and other waterborne diseases.
An estimated 900,000 people had their homes flooded, damaged or cut off from access. Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said 300,000 were awaiting rescue Thursday, and police, soldiers and military workers were still trying to reach them.
Soldiers evacuated the state capital of Villahermosa's historic center Thursday night as the waters of the Grijalva river burst through dikes of sandbags and toppled a retention wall, flooding the city's bus station and open-air market. Much of the city looked like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, with murky water reaching to rooftops.
Safe refuges were scarce and officials improvised, turning parking garages and any other dry structure into temporary shelters.
Dozens of hospitals and medical centers were flooded. Health officials warned that there could be epidemics of cholera, although none was reported.
Tabasco state floods every year around this time, and many poor, low-lying neighborhoods have grown accustomed to spending half a year with the first floor of their homes under water. But this year has taken even flood-weary residents by surprise, inundating Villahermosa and leaving the city's famous Olmec statues with water up to their enormous stone chins.
"The situation is extraordinarily grave: This is one of the worst natural disasters in the history of the country," President Felipe Calderon said in a televised address Thursday night.
Several Mexican banks established special accounts for donations to flood victims, many of whom lost everything, including their homes.
"Nobody can stand around with his arms crossed," Calderon said. "We can't and won't abandon our brothers and sisters in Tabasco."
A week of heavy rains caused area rivers to overflow, leaving at least 70 percent of the state â€” and 80 percent of the capital â€” under water. At least one death was reported. Nearly all services, including drinking water and public transportation, were shut down in Villahermosa.
Weather forecasters predicted more rain in the coming days. The flooding was not related to Tropical Storm Noel, which pounded the Caribbean.
The Grijalva River, one of two large waterways ringing Villahermosa, has risen 2 meters (6.5 feet) above its "critical" level and gushed into the city's center. Authorities said some of the rivers were continuing to rise.
In Villahermosa, dozens of survivors anxious about relatives and friends crowded outside government offices seeking assistance. Others waded despondently through waist-deep water or wandered along highways leading out of the capital.
"We lost everything," said Manuel Gonzalez, whose house was swallowed by the floodwaters. "I left without one peso in my pocket and I can't find my siblings."
The state of Chiapas, which borders Tabasco to the south, also reported severe flooding, with officials there estimating that more than 100,000 people have been affected.


Kidnapped Nigerian archbishop freed
Nigeria police say the country's second-highest ranking Anglican archbishop, seized more than a week ago close to the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, has been released. (AFP/File)
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AFP) – Nigeria's second-highest ranking Anglican archbishop, seized more than a week ago close to the southern oil city of Port Harcourt, has been released, police said on Sunday.
State police spokeswoman, Angela Agabe, confirmed to AFP that Archbishop Ignatius Kattey was set free at 20:00 (1900 GMT) on Saturday.
However, there were no details of where and how Kattey regained his freedom.
He was kidnapped along with his wife on the evening of September 6.
The wife was later abandoned in a bush by the pair's abductors, Agabe said.
A senior official of the church in the Niger Delta region, Israel Omosioni, told journalists that Kattey looked healthy after his release.
Kattey is the dean of archbishops of the Anglican communion in Nigeria, ranking him second to the primate of the Anglican Church in the country.
The cleric is archbishop of the Niger Delta province.
Agabe said police were not aware of any ransom fee being paid.
She also confirmed that Kattey was "in a stable condition".
Kidnapping for ransom occurs regularly in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region, though authorities rarely admit to making payments.
The victims are often released unharmed after the payment of a ransom.
In the north of the country however, Islamist extremists have killed a number of their hostages.


There Must Be More To Life
than having it all
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The Stare’s Nest
What’s wrong with poetry?
Posted on August 31, 2012 by Judi
It is a truth universally acknowledged that nobody makes money out of poetry. One excellent, established poet I know tells me she makes £3,000-£4,000 per year from her books and readings. All her other income comes from teaching poetry and judging competitions. Publishers can’t make a profit from poetry books. Sometimes they subsidise their poetry list from their literary fiction; sometimes they themselves are subsidised by the Arts Council. The excellent poet Sean O’Brien helped me understand why this is, when he suggested that the audience for poetry in this country is between 5,000 and 10,000 readers – and most of them also write it. Why is that? What’s wrong with poetry that it should be so unpopular? In this soundbyte generation, something short, pithy and memorable ought to be the art form of the day, but it is so not the case.
It’s actually worse than that. I studied life sciences at University, not English Literature, and spent 25 years of my life among scientists, medics, marketeers, accountants, managers. During that time I never heard a single one of them talk about a poem. They went to the theatre, they read literary fiction, they raved about movies, they took in the big art shows at the major galleries, but never ever had anything to do with poetry. I once asked a few friends which contemporary poets they might know of, hoping for names like Seamus Heaney, Andrew Motion, Carol Ann Duffy or even Roger McGough, most of them drew a blank. One or two ventured; “Pam Ayres?”.
When I said that after taking redundancy I was going to study poetry, it closed down the conversation immediately. Nobody ever asked me if they could see my poems; on the other hand if I mentioned my (still half-baked) novel it was all “Can I see it? Am I in it? What’s it about?” One friend of mine, who was an English Literature graduate, offered the view that going to study poetry was “What you do when you are having a nervous breakdown”. I countered that with assuring her that studying poetry was going to save me from having that nervous breakdown.
So what has gone wrong? Why is poetry such a minority sport? Is there something wrong with the way poetry is taught in schools that turns people off? Is it about the way it is marketed and sold? Or is it such an acquired taste that it simply does not speak to anyone who hasn’t studied it in depth?
Is there something wrong with the poetry?
This entry was posted in blog post and tagged poetry by Judi. Bookmark the permalink.
56 thoughts on “What’s wrong with poetry?”
Steve Moran on September 1, 2012 at 11:03 am said:
I would start by suggesting that it’s not so much unpopular as unknown. The process of finding good poetry is like mining from very poor ore. The mines used to be productive but now the amount of rubble that has to be processed to find a few grams of poetry is so huge that most have been abandoned. All that’s left is a few merry panhandlers down by the streams that flow from the old workings. There was a site with a catchy name, I think it was poetry dotcom – not sure now, which had, when I looked a long time ago, four million members. If each had uploaded say 10 poems, that would be forty million poems. If you read them at the rate of 100 per day, which quickly might prove fatal, it would take 400,000 days to read them all, i.e. over 1,000 years. Now that I think about it, the fact that there are so few publications is something of a miracle, and a very welcome miracle. That there are so few readers is something of a reflection on the four million and by projection, hundreds of millions of those who write poetry. Then again, I tack again and think that can’t be right, there must be more readers than buy books and magazines. There is so much good poetry online, classics and modern as well, one might almost say that nearly everything is online. Making a living is a problem for all writers, poets, short story writers and novelists alike.
Judi on September 5, 2012 at 8:25 am said:
Perhaps somebody should be sifting all that stuff for us. In fact, editors of anthologies are doing some of that. There is some great contemporary poetry out there, I am really just wondering why normal, educated people, who like art galleries, cinema, theatre, and literary fiction, would never pick up a book of poems. The Man Booker Prize gets them all excited, but the Forward Prize or the TS Eliot – what are they? Why is poetry a fringe activity? What turns people off?
The Willesden Herald (@willesdenherald) on September 9, 2012 at 2:05 pm said:
Poetry is a quasi-religious pursuit. It doesn’t sit well with glory and sponsorship. Too much publicity would be like a camera crew and jolly presenter walking backwards into a church and shining a 1000 watt light on a person kneeling in a pew and talking over them. Those who need it will find it.
Judi on September 9, 2012 at 3:58 pm said:
Steve, I agree that poetry is profound, but I think that is why people need it, even though most of them don’t know that. I’m not happy with the mystical thought that people are somehow led to it when they need it. I think we have to go out there and evangelise.
Steve on November 22, 2012 at 6:22 pm said:
I suppose I see it as a victimless crime, and something like wild ducks, best left alone. But you know what a misery I am.
William Thirsk-Gaskill on November 22, 2012 at 6:35 pm said:
II agree.
I am a writer and performer of poetry. I co-present a programme on community local radio called ‘Themes for Dreamers’ which is largely about poetry. I also happen to be a secularist. I could not live a civilised life without poetry. I have had to officiate at the funerals of 3 lifelong atheists. They were 89, 60 and 84 when they died and all lived jam-packed-full lives. There was no other way to do justice to their memory in 30 minutes than through the use of distilled, concentrated language which included phonic and rhythmic techniques and repetition to produce a more vivid impression on the listener – in other words: poetry.
When I was studying creative writing with the Open University, I was appalled by how many students, including some who harboured definite ambitions to write full-time, said they did not “do” poetry. Writing poetry requires having control of language. If you can’t control language then, in my opinion, you are not qualified to be a writer. Some of the best prose writers I know of (David Peace is an example) do not publish their poetry, but they do write it, and lend some of its techniques to their prose.
On a recent reading tour to promote an anthology called ‘A Complicated Way of Being Ignored’ (one definition of poetry) I noticed how poor the material was in the “read-round” (impromptu contributions from the audience after the main reading). The outstanding exception was at the Otley Poets, but at all the other locations, it was dire. The commonest failings were being too pretentious and abstract, or being too puerile and silly. I think it is in everybody’s interest for good poets to be impatient and vocal with bad poets. Poetry should inspire the imagination and move the emotions: it absolutely should not bore or alienate.
Judi on November 22, 2012 at 8:49 pm said:
True, the “open mic” can be a mess, although I’d like to put in a plug for Ashley Harrold’s Poets’ Cafe in Reading which is pretty good. Funny how a lot of people who never read poetry, think they can write it…
William Thirsk-Gaskill on November 22, 2012 at 10:09 pm said:
awaretenacious on January 5, 2016 at 3:14 pm said:
What would you (or anyone) define as “too abstract”? Art is subjective.
I blame the lack of interest in poetry on anti-intellectualism, which has become ubiquitous in western society, particularly in the United States.
Rachel J Lewis on November 22, 2012 at 6:49 pm said:
I would say that for me, it’s fear of not understanding – like Opera or Gilbert and Sullivan. I don’t go to the opera because I have a fear that I won’t understand it and will will be the only person sat there wanting the wikipedia synopsis of it.
My knowledge of poetry extends to yes, Pam Ayres, John Masefield’s Cargoes – which I had to learn and write from memory for school, and the poems of Robert Frost; which I did for O Level English Lit and loved – even if they are all about death in some way. I have a book of Robert Frost’s poems and I have an anthology that my husband bought me one Christmas, but I don’t know anything about poetry and I don’t know where to start. I’m afraid that I’ll say things such as ‘I like that because I see the picture of the glorious scenery in my head’ only to be stared at and laughed at by intelliegent people and discover it’s actually about early twentieth century Soviet Gulags and that I’ve missed the point entirely.
I don’t think I’m clever enough to read poetry. It’s in the same class as a broadsheet crossword, that’s ‘above’ me too.
Pam Ayres is not poetry. Before we can make any other progress, we need to explain to people, plainly and calmly, that Pam Ayres is not poetry. Calling Pam Ayres poetry is equivalent to calling a painting by numbers version of the Mona Lisa, “The Mona Lisa”.
What Pam Ayres writes is “verse”, i.e. it rhymes and has rhythm (just the painting by numbers has colours and brush strokes) but it is too narrow and incomplete to call it poetry. In verse, what you say, what words you choose, is often decided by requirements such as a rhyme scheme or verse form. Doing this very rigidly produces a comic effect, which Pam Ayres exploits. Poets do this more subtly, and nearly always try to avoid the comic effect.
If you want an example of something well-known and accessible which is out-and-out poetry, the one I would recommend is ‘The Jumblies’, by Edward Lear. That is a nursery-rhyme, but it is also an expertly-written and profound poem. My opinion of it is that it is a poem about risk-taking and teenage angst.
Poetry does not have to rhyme. John Milton, the author of ‘Paradise Lost’, believed that the tendency in his day for more and more poetry to rhyme was a bad thing, and too limiting.
I think Pam Ayres’s poetry IS poetry. Whether it is GOOD poetry is another question. But it’s the accessible end of the genre, and from there only a small step to Wendy Cope, John Hegley, Sophie Hannah, Ian McMillan, and from there… further and deeper into poetry. You’ve got to start somewhere, the trick is not to stop there.
I think Pam Ayres is too liable to send people in the wrong direction. An analogy might be starting to teach people about astronomy by talking about astrology. Edward Lear, Michael Rosen, Spike Milligan, Ian McMillan, Hilaire Belloc, and even T. S. Eliot all wrote/write at least some poetry which any average 8 year old could understand. They knock the spots off Pam Ayres.
I agree that, given a choice between Pam Ayres and nothing, I would choose Pam Ayres.
” Pam Ayres is not poetry. Before we can make any other progress, we need to explain to people, plainly and calmly, that Pam Ayres is not poetry.”
And right there you’ve explained to me why I don’t read poetry, because people like you come along and insult what little knowledge I have in engaging with the subject. Perhaps it may have been less insulting to start your reply by ignoring my stupidity and saying, “You liked Pam Ayres, great! Well as she writes verse you might like to try other people who write verse, such as….. Just a thought there…
Rach I would agree. To make a prose analogy: Before you get to James Joyce you have to start with Agatha Christie! Or 50 Shades…
Well I am delighted to see that we are reading each other clearly and nobody is being hyper-sensitive.
Judi on November 22, 2012 at 10:06 pm said:
William, thanks, you have helped to clarify at least one of the issues!
I’m going to send you a poetry book for Christmas!
Simon Travers on November 23, 2012 at 11:55 am said:
Fear of not understanding is something that I feel is a problem as well. And I think that it’s not helped by some modern poets. I did English Literature to degree level, but still sometimes feel like I haven’t read enough, don’t get enough.
But I love going to the opera, and I’m never scared that I won’t understand it, because even though it’s in another language, at our local theatre, there is a digital screen above the stage with surtitles, and you can buy a programme for £5 which gives you the synopsis and a couple of essays on how the work was made and what it’s all about. From there, it’s easy to follow the gist of what is happening and pick up on a lot of the deeper themes and ideas.
Likewise, if you ever want to read Shakespeare, get the Cambridge schools edition, on one page you get the full text, on the other you get a running synopsis, a mini glossary of the old words and suggestions for activities to think about the play. You get the full experience of the text, but you’re not on your own.
I never want poetry to dumb down, but if you’re going to fight for poetry not dumbing down, then you have to make sure that you give everyone possible a leg up so that they can access the poems, and too many poets don’t get close to this. Which is odd, when even TS Eliot provided a notes section to help at the back of The Waste Land.
John Bloomberg-Rissman on November 22, 2012 at 6:55 pm said:
Nothing’s wrong with poetry. These are great and wonderful days for poetry. The only thing that’s wrong is trying to measure everything by bourgeois values. It’s actually great that poetry is among the few things capitalism can’t turn into more capital.
Is it bourgeois to expect poetry presses to keep on publishing books when they might only sell 200 copies and make a loss? Is it bourgeois to want to introduce a wider audience to poetry, or is it only for a self-appointed elite? If we love poetry so much, shouldn’t we nurture it, or is there a La Boheme tragic beauty ethos going on?
No, itis not and, even if it were, I would not care. My colleagues and I go to a lot of trouble to get funding for projects. We can see from audience reactions that are efforts produce a great deal of enjoyment. Any-one, like the previous commenter, who suggests that a thing’s not breaking even is somehow good is talking nonsense.
Sorry for the spelling mistake in the last posting: I was agitated.
Searching for the Light on November 22, 2012 at 7:01 pm said:
I think half the problem is that people are put off poetry for life at early age. Even at primary level we ask students to pick apart and discuss poems, they are rarely allowed to read them purely for enjoyment, the way they are encouraged to read other literature.
Also a lot modern poetry is too “clever” for ordinary folks, the images are not easily understood and there seems to be a number of modern poets who appear to just be clever for cleverness sake, a case of look how intelligent/literate I am, and writing for the approval of other poets/literary folks.
I love poetry and both read and write it (though yet to be published). I like poems that speak to me on either an emotional level or tell a good story. I don’t want to be consulting a dictionary for every second word.
I have a poetry app (can’t remember which one) on my iPod touch and when I have to wait somewhere, e.g. doctors or when a friend is late for coffee, I like to read one or two poems. There is a lot of poetry available online, but for good modern poetry I think you do need to be prepared to buy either magazines or books. I try to buy as much as I can afford.
That said, I do also borrow what I can from libraries but find that the is a dearth of poetry books in my local libraries and what there is I usually have to wait for as they will only have one copy of each book between about six libraries. I am not sure if this reflects what people want to read or if people aren’t reading it because it is not available.
Good point about libraries. It is a bit of a vicious circle.
fitzjameshorse on November 22, 2012 at 7:36 pm said:
I think I would have to say that the SEEMINGLY elitist nature turns people off. Or put it another way, it turns me off…..like Ballet, Classical Music, Modern Art…..oops Im not very sophisticated. I think the sheer compulsory nature at school was a turn off……from hosts of golden daffodils when I was about 8 years old.
Poetry can be a bit emotional I remember the class of 55 boys laughing at me as I was 8 years old and read a poem about a rabbit caught in a snare and when I was about 12 another set of 35 boys laughed at me for blubbing my way thru “The Old Woman of the Roads” (Paraic Colm sp)
Certainly those compare and contrast essays……”this poem is 16 lines of iambic pentameter” were a killjoy…..although for O Level there were poems I actually “got”…..”An Irish Airman Forsees His Death” (Yeats), “When I Have Fears (JOhn Keats)……and I do “get” the one about Ozymandious (sp) that all things pass and “Dulce et Decorum Est”……and an odd one which began “Today we have naming of parts” (a semi comical war poem.)
The thing is maybe that the best poems (in my view) are ones we “get”. It seems like a word puzzle. They set out to be obscure and we are ot actually meant to get it. To over-simplify Prose is about making meanings clear….precise. A total over-simplification but could Treasure island be written as a poem.
Could we ask 12 year old to explain a poem called Treasure Island. “Well I thought it was about a ship and an island”. “Oh I thought it was a commentary on……feminism”….because when we interpret a poem just about any answer is acceptable.
But in prose…only one meaning is clear.
I suppose Language is about Communication. I just want to shout at poets…..”for Gods sake….tell me what you mean……dont make me read 16 lines of iambic pentameter 25 times before I dare suggest it might be about……whatever.
I guess I am just not sophisticated enough…and poets (too often) enjoy the high ground of sophistication.
You mention Pam Ayres who for many teaching poetry at the better (allegedly) universities ….cheapened the art form. Maybe it was Jealousy…..but “I wish Id looked after me teeth” actually has meaning.
The only poetry book I actually own is by Seamus Heaney. Largely because he is “one of us” ..not just Irish but a northern Catholic/nationalist like myself. And probably I “get” him because he “gets” us.
If you like Heaney, you’ll probably like Michael Longley, Colette Bryce, Derek Mahon, Sinead Morrisey, maybe Paul Muldoon. All fabulous Irish writers. There is an accessible end of poetry and there is an experimental free verse style that people tell me is good but you can’t approach it as a starting point, you have to get to it gradually. A few years ago I thought TS Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ was far too clever clever and unfathomable. Now I can see it, but I don’t always want to work that hard and Google every other line to understand it. I do prefer poetry to have some clarity. A lot of contemporary poetry is surprisingly accessible.
I just got this comment from Sarah McEvoy, via Facebook , which I am posting for completeness.
I *love* poetry. I write it. I even translate it (you give me a sonnet by Petrarch, I’ll give you a sonnet in English – it’s not a real translation if you don’t capture the rhyme and metre as well as the sense of the words).
But I do not get free verse, no matter how hard I try. I realise there must be some kind of rules behind it, or it would just be prose, but I don’t understand for the life of me what the rules are. So, because it is too hard for me, I leave it strictly alone.
Wendy Battin says: Poetry requires silence. Where do we find silence now?
thepeoplespoetry on November 22, 2012 at 9:49 pm said:
I think that poetry is, unfortunately, regarded as elitist or only for literary people. Like Maths it is something be loved or loathed, you either get it or you don’t and for most people it is something they feel is too difficult to engage with.
This is very sad in my view, we start children off with nursery ryhmes and many can recite them before they can read them, yet we somehow manage to switch them off poetry when they get to school.
There is a wealth of accessible poetry out there that everyone of whatever ability could enjoy. Maybe it is our job as writers/poets to bring the poetry to the people, to make it fun, engaging and enjoyable.
The parallel with mathematics is a very good one. If you cannot understand maths you can still live, but your life is impoverished and full of alienation and perplexity that would otherwise be avoided.
Sally Humphrys on November 22, 2012 at 10:18 pm said:
I just don’t ‘get’ it, I’m afraid, in the same way that I don’t ‘get’ most of modern art. Sometimes I can look at a modern painting and think, there’s something I like about that bit there: the shape or the colour or the texture. In the same way I will rarely encounter a poem in which a certain line or phrase grabs me – something about the rhythm or the alliteration perhaps. But almost never will I find a poem that enchants me as a whole.
I think I’m more about pictures than words. Even in terms of art, I need to be able to see what it ‘is’, to have it generate a story for me. Poetry for me is often just splashes of multi-coloured words. It doesn’t ‘mean’ anything to me. I’m more likely to be taken with the lyrics of a song, perhaps because songs are more often situational and directly emotional. I also admire comic poets like Les Barker, who can surprise you with a rhyme that you didn’t see coming.
I hated studing poetry at school (but then I hated studying English Literature full stop). It strikes me as something you can perhaps learn to enjoy, but it’s easier for me to find beauty in portraiture or sculpture or music (yes, including opera) or even algebra and calculus. I’m just not good with words, and don’t read novels either as a rule.
I evidently have no soul.
Which poems have you tried reading, Sally? Because I know you like Yeats’ “He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven”. The best poetry is full of what they call “sonics” – beautiful sounds – so if you can get song lyrics, then there are some poems that should come right for you.
Another way of saying that, no matter how contradictory it may sound, is that poetry needs the chance to be read out loud. One of the most basic mistakes made by people who are just starting to write poetry is that they don’t read out loud as they are composing and editing.
Agree. When I’m writing I read my stuff aloud, rather than count the feet, and sometimes I read aloud into my mobile phone’s record thingy and play it back. It’s the best way to feel the rhythm, and to scrub out the tongue-twisters. Do you think if more people heard it read, rather than tried to pick it up off the page, they might engage with poetry more easily?
William Thirsk-Gaskill on November 23, 2012 at 10:31 am said:
Yes, I do. Poetry is much more convincing when it is recited out loud, and recited well.
Pseu on November 22, 2012 at 10:52 pm said:
Great debate!
I love reading: but my choice of books is quite specific… I prefer certain authors and am not expected to like all authors.
When it comes to poetry I love some of it, but I certainly don’t love all of it… yet it seems all ‘poetry’ is usually lumped together –
I agree that we ask children too young to dissect and analyse poetry – and in the early stages opening children’s eyes and ears to poetry is the most important thing. I clearly remember TS Eliot’s Railway Cat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLEEeHj6e_Y
being read in my second year at school… so I was about 6, and so enjoyed the sounds, the rhythms and the story. This was read aloud at story time by one inspired student teacher: she also read lots of AA Milne, story and poems.
Between that time and my ‘O’ levels I don’t remember any poetry exposure through school. How sad is that?
I believe that there should be more programmes such as ‘Poetry Please’ on the radio to help the listening public have a little more exposure to poetry. Maybe a daily poem at the end of the news every day?
The more familiar it becomes the more people will develop a liking. A little demystification would go along way.
Judi on November 27, 2012 at 8:25 am said:
I always think that a good poetry reading would make wonderful and cheap as chips TV. “Poetry Please” has a couple of problems, as far as I can see – 1) it is requested by a Radio 4 audience, whose average age is 56, and 2) it relies on them asking to hear poems they already know. How do we get the rest of the UK’s demographic to hear poetry that is new to them?
I read an article by Libby Purves about 10 years ago which commented on some poetry readings that had been shown by the BBC. One of the narrators was Leo McKern, who, she observed, had spurned auto-cue and learnt the poems by heart. She thought it was very engaging television and, like you, she noted that it was very cheap to make in comparison with most other productions.
Possibly the best living exponent of this kind of thing is Ian McMillan. He recently crossed the boundary between music and poetry with the Ian McMillan Orchestra (which split up a few days ago after some very successful performances). They used to do some poetry, some music, some work that was a combination of the two, and Ian McMillan’s signature extemporisation based on two or three themes from the audience. Ian also mingles with the audience during the interval. Sometimes it is difficult to avoid him. My 12 year-old son, who is definitely of the video game rather than book generation, found it fascinating and easy to interact with. Even the poems in which the vocabularly was too advanced for him to grasp all the meaning, he found the patterns of the words entertaining.
There are some very influential people who think poetry should never be read by actors, only by the poets themselves. All I can say is, in that case, some poets should take a few acting classes. I love McMillan’s work, it is hilarious. He was the visiting poet at an Arvon course I went on, and I had the privilege of making a cup of coffee for Ian McMillan.
Simon Travers on November 24, 2012 at 2:23 am said:
The problem is a lot about poetry being lumped together as an all or nothing proposition. Some arts present themselves like this, contemporary art is another form which does the same, but this isn’t really how we access art.
I don’t like classical music, I like bach, hildegard von bingen, sibelius. I’ve changed my mind about Mozart. Stravinsky and boulez leave me cold.
I don’t like pop music. I like records on the asthmatic kitty and bella union labels. I like the beatles but not the stones.
I don’t like movies. I like werner herzog and sylvain chomet. I thought the avengers movie was more fun than this years batman.
I don’t like novels. I like anne tyler, john lecarre, ali smith. I read 200 pages of martin amis aged 19 and was put off him for life.
I don’t like poetry. I like wendell berry. I just found out about kay ryan. I like george herbert and ee cummings. Theed a great selection of contemporary poetry in our local library, but most of it leaves me cold.
Nobody likes all poetry. which means that if poetry is presented as an all or nothing proposition, the logical answer has to be nothing, because who can like it all? And who would want to?
You are right, Simon, but a lot of people say “I don’t like poetry” as if it were all the same thing. Nobody would say “I don’t like music” or “I don’t like fiction”, would they?
Perhaps the reason that people lump all poetry together is that one thing poetry lacks is an impulse to be fashionable.
In my personal experience of life and other people, music, fiction, film, are easily transported into a conversation of what consistutes a fashionable lifestyle. That conversation operates on a number of levels, what is fashionable within ‘pop’ culture, what has a ‘cult’ following, what is fashionable if you listen to Radio 2… etc.
Poetry does not seem to exist within that wider cultural vocabulary of fashion. I’m not an expert on the world of poetry and I’m sure writers go in and out of style within the sub-culture, but I don’t think there is a poet that you can read and associate with contemporary fashion and thinking in the same way as Rhianna, Christopher Nolan, 50 shades etc.
If ‘poetry’ wanted to get into that conversation, then the simplistic answer is youth. Not just young readers, but a stronger culture of younger, rawer, more fashion conscious poets would need to be promoted and published. Even if that meant they got prioritised over other writers who had greater craft, deeper insight and better philosophy. There are not many media in which popularity and artistic achievement go hand in hand.
Perhaps a youth writing movement would be able to avoid the pressures of the canon too. Rule number 1 for any budding TS Eliots, don’t write like TS Eliot.
But it is not clear that either a) that is possible, or b) that is desirable. Perhaps poetry’s place is outside of fashion, providing a prophetic voice for those who will listen. Perhaps poetry’s place is to maintain purer standards of writing and thought that may trickledown into the cultural arena. But if it is, then that is a choice that needs to be embraced and lived and accepted that most people in western culture will therefore ignore poetry.
Then poets and readers live with the consolation of Ezekiel in the Bible ‘And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them.’
There are young poets on the scene. The Foyle Young Poets competition is for school age poets. There is also the Salt Younger Poets anthology available from Salt Publishing. Also the slam and spoken word scene is buzzing. Check out Apples and Snakes, and Kayo Chingonyi and Kate Tempest on You Tube. But I think of poetry as less like pop music and more like literary fiction; Hilary Mantel and Will Self might no longer be spring chickens, but people await their new literary effusions with interest, even excitement.
I have no thoughts of poetic purity and it being above other forms of writing.
stackhousejones on December 2, 2012 at 6:26 am said:
Hi again. Had the time to check out apples and snakes last night. Seems good, but at the same time, their promotional stuff had Michael Rosen front and centre. I like Michael Rosen, and my 5 year old adores Little Rabbit Foo Foo and Going on a Bear Hunt, but youth… he once was. =)
It’s the joy of poetry that it can be thought of as closer to pop music or literary fiction. Poetry can extend an idea, or go deeper with an idea than pop. But at the same time, pop and alternative music has a lot to teach poets if poets are serious about reaching an audience wider and more diverse than the ‘professional reading’ poetry audience.
Tried Will Self but haven’t read Hilary Mantel. But I would say they fit into that wider cultural discourse of fashion. Will Self has done things like Shooting Stars on TV. Wolf Hall will be on BBC 2 in late 2013.
What I was trying to say with the ‘poetry purity’ point is not that poetry is, or should be, more pure than other literary forms. It’s that if poetry wants to be reaching a wider readership than a ‘professional poetry’ readership, then it can achieve that, by entering a wider social discourse in which the value of ‘being fashionable’ is highly prized.
However, it is unclear that is a good direction for individual poets or poetry as a whole. It will be a choice which authors and publishers will need to make. Because there is lot of fashionable stuff and thinking that needs holding up and saying ‘really?’ Poetry has fulfilled that role in the past. It can do it again. But it needs to be recognised as a choice to be made to reject fashionability.
As opposed to “Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis”? I know which I would prefer.
Daffodil on June 2, 2013 at 2:57 pm said:
The reason why poetry is unpopular, is because poetry has been killed by the modernists. Since then, poetry has to be unrhymed, hermetic, not understandable. If you write poetry which rhymes (which is in fact more difficult than writing poetry that doesn’t rhyme) and makes sense, you are critisized by the self-proclaimed “modern” artists who think they are a genius because they write stuff that nobody understands. The truth is, contemporay poetry is as dead as contemporary art. Poets can no longer rhyme, painters can no longer paint, yet still they manage to convince some critics that this is “high art”. In the end, it’s all a great hoax and no sane person really buys it.
(Sorry for my bad English, I am not a native speaker.)
Judi on June 5, 2013 at 11:28 am said:
Thanks, Daffodil. I agree with you that I like to see some craft and beauty in a poem, but I don’t agree that it always has to rhyme. When Milton wrote “Paradise Lost” in 1674, he bemoaned the modern tyranny of rhyme, and explained why he, like classical Latin poets, was not going to rhyme his work.
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/237824
The language we use should be beautiful and powerful, but it has not always been the fashion to have end rhymes, and there’s no need to always do it now. In fact it often has an unintended comic effect unless it is very subtle.
William Thirsk-Gaskill on June 5, 2013 at 12:04 pm said:
I’m glad you made the point about Milton. I don’t agree that poetry has been killed by modernism. Modernism is not something you can dispense with. We had an industrial revolution. We have had WW1, WW2 and countless others. People have to react to that. One of the easiest ways to write bad poetry is to write rhyming couplets about birds on trees.
I recommend ‘Afternoons’ by Philip Larkin. You can find it on the internet if you search for it. It doesn’t rhyme. It is about contemporary subject matter. It needs some thinking about, but it is easily understandable and powerful.
Shahaboddin on December 1, 2013 at 12:04 am said:
I think this is far more complex an issue:
1). The general society is against intellectualism unless it directly produces money or power and poetry is considered an intellectual pursuit that does neither. Therefore, the society, in general, rejects it.
2). Poetry is a form of edutainment, meaning it really is supposed to not only educate, but be entertaining as well. In that, poetry is competing with a lot of entertainment that is far more “easy fun”.
3). Poetry is difficult to understand partly because the educated public is far less educated in the classical way. However, more to the point, poetry’s chief power is in metaphor and not only is metaphor not taught well anymore, but I believe the vast majority of the population is incapable of thinking metaphorically.
wthirskgaskill on December 3, 2013 at 4:23 pm said:
Everything you said is true under certain circumstances, but I think you have over-generalised. Not all poetry is difficult to understand. Contemporary poetry certainly does not require a “classical” education (in fact, having a classical education can make contemporary poetry more difficult to understand). Poetry deals – or should deal – with universal themes: birth, death, love, hate, possession, loss, and so forth. People expect to get their commentary on these things for nothing. The best analogy I can think of is that people think of poetry in the same way they think of oxygen: it should be free, and they don’t give a damn how or where or why it is produced, as long as it goes on forever.
Judi on December 3, 2013 at 4:31 pm said:
I’d like to know which contemporary poetry people think is hard to understand. There’s such a lot that is very accessible – and relatively little obscure stuff. Anyone starting with Sean O’Brien’s “The Firebox” or any of the Bloodaxe anthologies would probably get on fine.
It depends how you define “contemporary”. If it means, simply, “written recently”, then there is any amount of contemporary poetry that nobody understands – not even the person who wrote it. The worst offenders (***generalisation klaxon***) tend to be the vocabulary freaks, who have to get words like “tourmaline” or “opalescent” into every stanza. Poetry, in my opinion, is a form of communication, and communication is mostly about meaning. What something sounds like, while still important, is, in my opinion, secondary to its meaning.
I think you should name names, William!
wthirskgaskill on February 12, 2016 at 9:34 am said:
I won’t say a word until I’ve seen my solicitor.
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Trump pitches, then backtracks, on border tax
Trump could "easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone," spokesman says.
Trump pitches, then backtracks, on border tax Trump could "easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone," spokesman says. Check out this story on IndyStar.com: http://usat.ly/2jC9mAQ
Gregory Korte and David Jackson, USA TODAY Published 3:58 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2017 | Updated 6:33 a.m. ET Jan. 27, 2017
President Trump points to members of the media while sitting at his desk on Air Force One upon his arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. on Jan. 26, 2017.(Photo: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP)
WASHINGTON — President Trump's plan for a wall along the Mexican border could be financed through a 20% border tax on all imports from the United States' third largest trading partner, the White House said Thursday.
“It clearly provides the funding and does so in a way that the American taxpayer is wholly respected," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. “We are probably the only major country that doesn’t treat imports this way.”
But shortly after he announced the proposal in an unscheduled "gaggle" with reporters on Air Force One, Spicer clarified to a separate group of reporters in the West Wing that it was just one proposal. "There are clearly a bunch of ways it can be done," he said. "The point is American taxpayers are not going to fund it."
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus added that it was part of a "buffet of options."
The unexpected proposal and subsequent backtracking underscored just how quickly the Trump White House is churning out policy proposals in a hectic first week in office, with a crowded calendar of meetings, speeches and executive actions.
The border tax plan would need congressional approval, and Spicer described it as the beginning of a process that would be part of overall tax reform. The tax proposal would have the benefit of dovetailing two of his signature policies: Curtailing illegal immigration and enacting more protectionist trade regulations.
But the proposal could face resistance even among Republicans.
"Border security yes, tariffs no," Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., wrote on Twitter. "Simply put, any policy proposal which drives up costs of Corona, tequila, or margaritas is a big-time bad idea. Mucho Sad."
The U.S. trade deficit with Mexico is was $49.2 billion in 2015, according to the U.S. Trade Representative. Though Spicer didn't explain how the tax would work, the principle is similar to a border adjustment tax currently being discussed in Congress, which would heavily tax imports but give a tax credit on exports.
“Right now our country’s policy is to tax exports and let imports flow freely in, which is ridiculous," Spicer said.
Spicer ran through the math by applying 20% to the difference, coming up with nearly $10 billion a year.
The United States could "easily pay for the wall just through that mechanism alone. That’s really going to provide the funding,” he said.
Actual imports from Mexico totaled $316.4 billion in 2015.
In speech to GOP lawmakers, Trump continues to insist Mexico will pay for wall
Trump proposes 20% border tax on Mexico as its president cancels meeting
Outraged Mexicans back Peña Nieto's decision to scrap visit with 'bully' Trump
The Trump presidency: A new era in Washington
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Trump announces his decision for the United States to pull out of the Paris climate agreement in the Rose Garden at the White House on June 1, 2017. Win McNamee, Getty Images
Trump joins G7 leaders for a photo at the Ancient Greek Theater of Taormina on May 26, 2017, in Taormina, Italy. Sean Kilpatrick, AP
Pope Francis greets Trump at the Vatican on May 24, 2017. Osservatore Romano/Handout/European Pressphoto Agency
The president and first lady step off Air Force One upon arrival at Rome's Fiumicino Airport on May 23, 2017. Filippo Monteforte, AFP/Getty Images
Trump touches the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on May 22, 2017. Ronen Zvulun, Pool/European Pressphoto Agency
Trump speaks during the Arabic Islamic American Summit at the King Abdulaziz Conference Center in Riyadh on May 21, 2017. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images
Trump meets with Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on May 10, 2017. Evan Vucci, AP
President Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan and other congressional Republicans celebrate in the Rose Garden of the White House following the House vote to repeal Obamacare on May 4, 2017. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images
Trump pauses as he speaks at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in Harrisburg, Pa., on April, 29, 2017. Carolyn Kaster, AP
President Trump speaks during the National Rifle Association-ILA Leadership Forum on April 28, 2017, in Atlanta. Mike Stewart, AP
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke listens while Trump speaks before signing an executive order to review the Antiquities Act at the Department of the Interior on April 26, 2017. Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images
Trump prepares to award a Purple Heart to U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Alvaro Barrientos, with first lady Melania Trump, right, and Tammy Barrientos, second from right, at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on April 22, 2017, in Bethesda, Md. Alex Brandon, AP
Trump waves as he and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin walk from the White House to the U.S. Treasury Department on April 21, 2017. Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, President Trump, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and Patriots President Jonathan Kraft stand with Patriots players as Trump holds a team helmet at a ceremony honoring the Patriots as Super Bowl champions on the South Lawn at the White House on April 19, 2017. Geoff Burke, USA TODAY Sports
Trump joins attendees at the Easter Egg Roll to write notes to servicemembers on the South Lawn of the White House on April 17, 2017. Brendan Smialowski, AFP/Getty Images
Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 10, 2017, at the swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. Evan Vucci, AP
Trump pumps his fist as he and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together at the Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Fla., on April 7, 2017. Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images
President Trump walks to the podium to speak about the missile strike on Syria on April 6, 2017, at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. Alex Brandon, AP
President Trump and Jordan's King Abdullah II hold a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House on April 5, 2017. Andrew Harnik, AP
President Trump, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and Vice President Pence, speaks about the health care overhaul bill on March 24, 2017, in the Oval Office. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Trump gets in the driver's seat of an 18-wheeler while meeting with truck drivers and trucking CEOs on the South Portico prior to their meeting to discuss health care at the White House on March 23, 2017. Jim Lo Scalzo, European Pressphoto Agency
President Trump speaks during a meeting with Congressional Black Caucus members in the Cabinet Room at the White House on March 22, 2017. Chip Somodevilla, Pool/European Pressphoto Agency
Trump holds a NASA flight jacket presented to him by NASA Astronaut Office Chief Chris Cassidy after signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 in the Oval Office on March 21, 2017. Bill Ingalls, NASA/Getty Images
Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price arrive on Capitol Hill on March 21, 2017, to meet with GOP lawmakers on the Republican health care overhaul. J. Scott Applewhite, AP
Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel walk down the Cross Hall to enter the East Room for a joint press conference at the White House on March 17, 2017. Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency
Trump talks with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Capitol Hill on March 16, 2017, during a "Friends of Ireland" luncheon. Evan Vucci, AP
Trump speaks to auto workers at the American Center for Mobility on March 15, 2017, in Ypsilanti, Mich. Bill Pugliano, Getty Images
Trump holds up a note and drawing depicting him that was created by the child of Greg Knox of Ohio during a meeting on health care in the Roosevelt Room on March 13, 2017. MIchael Reynolds, Pool, Getty Images
Trump gestures as he surprises visitors during the official reopening of public tours at the White House on March 7, 2017. Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images
Trump walks with grandchildren Arabella Kushner and Joseph Kushner, holding a model of Marine One, across the South Lawn of the White House on March 3, 2017, before boarding Marine One helicopter for the short flight to nearby Andrews Air Force Base. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Trump tours the Combat Direction Center on the pre-commissioned USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in Newport News, Va., on March 2, 2017. Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images
President Trump speaks before a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28, 2017. Jack Gruber, USA TODAY
Trump holds up an executive order to bolster historically black colleges and universities after signing it in the Oval Office on Feb. 28, 2017. Jim Watson, AFP/Getty Images
Trump reaches out to shake hands with Army Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 20, 2017, where Trump announced that McMaster will be the new national security adviser. Susan Walsh, AP
The Trumps attend a campaign-style rally on Feb. 18, 2017, in Melbourne, Fla. Chris O'Meara, AP
President Trump walks with his grandchildren Arabella Kushner and Joseph Kushner to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Feb. 17, 2017. Evan Vucci, AP
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House on Feb. 15, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos attend a meeting with parents and teachers on Feb. 14, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Evan Vucci, AP
Trump looks on as Steven Mnuchin is sworn in as Treasury secretary on Feb. 13, 2017. Alex Wong, Getty Images
Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office on Feb. 13, 2017. Evan Vucci, AP
Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe listen to the translator after they both made statements about North Korea at Mar-a-Lago on Feb. 11, 2017. Susan Walsh, AP
President Trump speaks to Democratic and Republican senators about Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch in the Roosevelt Room on Feb. 9, 2017. Pool, Getty Images
Intel CEO Brian Krzanich speaks during a meeting with Trump on Feb. 8, 2017, where Intel announced an investment of $7 billion to build a factory in Chandler, Ariz., to create advanced semi-conductor chips. Chris Kleponis, Pool/European Pressphoto Agency
Trump holds up a gift given to him by county sheriffs following a meeting as they pose for photos in the Oval Office on Feb. 7, 2017. Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images
President Trump has lunch with troops during a visit to the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base on Feb. 6, 2017, in Tampa, Fla. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images
The Trumps watch the Super Bowl at a party at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Feb. 5, 2017. Susan Walsh, AP
The Trumps arrive for the 60th Annual Red Cross Gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on on Feb. 4, 2017. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Vice President Pence look on as Trump speaks briefly to reporters after greeting Harley Davidson executives on the South Lawn of the White House on Feb. 2, 2017. Drew Angerer, Getty Images
Trump shakes hands with Neil Gorsuch, his Supreme Court nominee, in the East Room of the White House on Jan. 31, 2017. Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency
President Trump speaks on the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Oval Office on Jan. 28, 2017. Michael Reynolds, European Pressphoto Agency
Trump shakes hands with Defense Secretary James Mattis during an event at the Pentagon on Jan. 27, 2017. Vice President Pence is at right. Susan Walsh, AP
Trump greets British Prime Minister Theresa May as she arrives at the White House on Jan. 27, 2017. Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell watch as President Trump arrives to speak to House and Senate GOP lawmakers at the annual policy retreat in Philadelphia on Jan. 26, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Trump boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Jan. 26, 2017, as he departed to attend a Republican congressional retreat in Philadelphia. Nicholas Kamm, AFP/Getty Images
Trump, accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, gives a thumbs-up on Jan. 25, 2017, at the White House. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
Trump reads from one of the executive orders he signed during a visit to the Department of Homeland Security with Vice President Mike Pence, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly and other officials in Washington on Jan. 25, 2017. Chip Somodevilla, Pool/European Pressphoto Agency
Trump displays one of five executive actions he signed in the Oval Office on Jan. 24, 2017. Shawn Thew, European Pressphoto Agency
Trump speaks during a reception for House and Senate leaders in the the State Dining Room of the White House on Jan. 23, 2017. Susan Walsh, AP
Trump signs executive actions in the Oval Office on Jan. 23, 2017. Saul Loeb, AFP/Getty Images
Trump meets with business leaders on Jan. 23, 2017, in the Roosevelt Room. Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP
President Trump holds a letter left for him by former president Barack Obama as Vice President Pence looks on before the swearing-in of the White House senior staff on Jan. 22, 2017. Mandel Ngan, AFP/Getty Images
Trump speaks at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., on Jan. 21, 2017. Andrew Harnik, AP
The Trumps and Pences attend the Freedom Ball on Jan. 20, 2017. Kevin Dietsch, Pool/European Pressphoto Agency
Trump is joined by the congressional leadership and his family as he formally signs his cabinet nominations into law in the Presidents Room of the Senate on Jan. 20, 2017. J. Scott Applewhite, Pool Photo-USA TODAY Sports
Trump and Obama arrive for Trump's inauguration luncheon at the Capitol. J. Scott Applewhite, Pool
The Trumps and Obamas stand on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017. Rob Carr, Getty Images
Trump delivers his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2017, on the west front of the U.S. Capitol Porter Binks, USA TODAY
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Pakistan’s Asad Memon set to climb highest mountain in South America
AgenciesUpdated January 04, 2020
The 22-year-old is set to climb highest mountain in South America as part of “Seven Summit Challenge”. — Photo courtesy of Asad Memon's Twitter
KARACHI: It’s the beginning of an era of young Pakistani athletes making their mark. While 2019 saw the phenomenal rise of Arslan Ash becoming the undisputed Tekken champion of the world, the new decade has started with 22-year-old Asad Ali Memon set to climb highest mountain in South America as part of “Seven Summit Challenge”.
Located in the Andes mountain range in Argentina, Aconcagua is the highest mountain peak not only in South America but in the world outside Asia. Asad, an undergraduate student in Karachi, is originally from Larkana. During his high school studies, he became interested in climbing.
“There was no way of training because we don’t have any such facilities or trainings in Larkana. So, after moving to Karachi, I came to know of a two-week training camp in Islamabad and that was how my journey as a mountain climber began.”
Since then, Asad hasn’t looked back. Now after climbing mountains across Pakistan, Nepal and Russia, he is set to conquer Aconcagua. This is the second mountain as part of the ‘Seven Summit Challenge’ in which Asad will climb seven of the highest peaks in all seven continents of the world. Earlier in August 2019, the young athlete took on the Mount Elbrus, located in Southern Russia, near the border of Georgia.
Mount Elbrus is the highest mountain in Europe as well as the tenth most prominent peak in the world. In the last few years, Asad has gone through intensive training and climbed seven to twelve times, including an expedition to the base camp at Mount Everest, which is going to be his final adversary in this Seven Summit Challenge.
After four months of intensive preparation, Asad is ready to set off on the dangerous 25-day expedition on January 4, 2020 to Argentina where the nearly 23 thousand feet high Mount Aconcagua awaits him and his group. After that, his next summit is Denali, which is the highest mountain in North America. The young climber was full of passion as he sets off to write his name in the history books. “They say if you come from a place with hot weather, you can’t climb mountains because you can’t survive the cold and the lack of oxygen at high altitudes,” said Asad. “In Larkana, we have temperatures running over 40 degrees, while at the mountain peaks, you have temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees. I wanted to prove it wrong and push myself and my body to do it. It’s a great feeling of accomplishment.”
He continued, “Coming from a rural area and making it this far, I would like to inspire my fellows all over Pakistan to follow their passion and go for what they like to do, what gives them the adrenaline rush, be it mountain climbing or any other field. I would wish that I can motivate my people in Sindh and all over Pakistan not just to live their lives working a full-time job or only havee the option to aspire to play cricket, but explore their passions whatever they may be.”
Discarded veterans Hafeez, Malik recalled for T20 series against Bangladesh
CrisDan
zahid raza
Good luck Asad...Buck up
AZAM AKBAR
Wish you to success.
Third victim of rabies reported at JPMC in Karachi this month


A Trailblazer of a Mother, Duckworth Wants To Extend Help to Other Moms
Janet Ybarra 0 February 27, 2019 4:22 pm
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) has broken so many barriers and notched so many firsts in her career: the first Asian-American elected to Congress from Illinois, first woman with a disability to be elected to Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand.
So perhaps it was fitting that last year Duckworth became the first senator to give birth while in office, to a daughter, Maile.
Soon after little Maile’s birth, Senate rules were changed so as to allow infants under one year of age to be allowed on the Senate floor so as to be breastfed.
The day after the rule change, young Maile became the first baby brought onto the Senate floor.
Duckworth wants to bring that sort of added assistance to all new mothers with a piece of new legislation she is co-sponsoring.
Duckworth joined Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in introducing the Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act, which would help ensure new parents have access to clean and private lactation rooms when visiting federal buildings around the nation.
Duckworth says that the new bill would build on the success of her FAM Act, which was signed into law last year and ensures all large- and medium-sized airports have lactation rooms for new mothers.
“Breastfeeding has long-lasting health benefits that protect mothers and children from illnesses, which is why we should continue to build on the progress made by the FAM Act in making it easier for moms and children to find clean and accessible spaces to express breastmilk,” says Duckworth. “I’m pleased to join Senator Daines in introducing this bipartisan legislation requiring these spaces in all public federal buildings.”
The Fairness for Breastfeeding Mothers Act would require that federal buildings that are open to the public and contain a public restroom provide a lactation room, other than a bathroom, that is hygienic and is available for use by members of the public who are breastfeeding.
According to the legislation, the lactation room must be shielded from view, be free from intrusion, and contain a chair, a working surface, and–if the building is supplied with electricity–an electrical outlet.
“Mothers who are breastfeeding should have a private, clean, and safe place to go in federal buildings,” Daines says. “This bill provides this important resource to new moms.”
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B: Tell me about your position.
S: My position, I work at Ivy Tech Community College here in Richmond and the title I have is called Vice Chancellor for Student Enrollment and Student Success. So, I work with all the people who help people get ready to get started in college. That’s what I do!
B: That’d be fun
S: Yes, it is fun.
B: Second one, how are you a leader?
S: How am I a leader? Well, I can say I’m a leader by my position but probably kind of like you. You know how they say you just a natural leader, even now, I was kind of like you. I was kind of like you. Made up my own mind about things, and I always liked to help other people to do the best they can do.
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S: The contribution? I guess if I were to disappear, it would be really nice if people said that I was always helping people to get where I am. I want people to be able to do what I did, or even more, and it’s real exciting to see that happen.
B: What difficulties have you encountered being a woman leader?
S: The most difficult thing about being a woman leader is that sometimes people don’t listen to you, and unfortunately, even now, you have to figure out if there’s something really really important that you would like to see done and nobody will listen because, you know it’s not because you’re stupid or you don’t know, but just because whatever reason they think the woman doesn’t know, you gotta find someone that’ll listen to. Swallow your own pride and let them help you, and if you choose the right person, they help other people realize that women are just as smart and just as strong and just as good as anybody else, and then people will start listening to you. But that’s what’s been the most difficult.
B: How do you influence others?
S: How do I influence others? I don’t know, I guess just by being kind and nice to people it’s the best that I can.
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S: My advice would be to be yourself, think your own mind, make your own decisions, set goals, and then work real hard to achieve those goals.
B: Who has been an important leader in your life?
S: My mother. You would think that I would say “oh my bosses and all” they’ve been great, they’re wonderful. But if it wasn’t for my mother who knew that girls, and I was the only girl, baby girl out of 5 boys, who knew that girls could so whatever they wanted to do and she helped me and with anything I said I wanted to try to do she helped me get that done.
B: Is it fun to work at Ivy Tech?
S: Yes! Lots of fun to work at Ivy Tech.
B: What do you do?
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David Camm jurors ask to examine T-shirt, other exhibits in murder trial
LEBANON, Ind. Jurors in David Camm’s third murder trial spent about 7 1/2 hours weighing the former state trooper’s f...
David Camm jurors ask to examine T-shirt, other exhibits in murder trial LEBANON, Ind. Jurors in David Camm’s third murder trial spent about 7 1/2 hours weighing the former state trooper’s f... Check out this story on courier-journal.com: http://cjky.it/1gGp366
The Courier-Journal Published 11:42 a.m. ET Oct. 23, 2013 | Updated 7:27 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2013
A passer-by is reflected along with the Boone County Courthouse in the Merle Norman cosmetic store in downtown Lebanon, Ind. as the jury deliberated in the David Camm trial Wednesday.(Photo: By Matt Stone/The Courier-Journal)Buy Photo
LEBANON, Ind. Jurors in David Camm’s third murder trial spent about 7 1/2 hours weighing the former state trooper’s fate Wednesday during the first full day of deliberations.
The eight women and four men on the jury broke for dinner about 5 p.m. before leaving for the night. They were expected to continue deliberating Thursday morning.
During the afternoon, the panel sent written notes to the judge asking for several exhibits, including the gray T-shirt Camm wore the night of the murders. They also asked for video and audio recordings of Camm’s first interviews with police after the slayings of his wife and two children.
During a brief hearing, Special Judge Jonathan Dartt read the requests, and the parties agreed to allow the jury to move all the exhibits entered into evidence during the eight-week trial into the jury room.
Dartt agreed with the lawyers when they said it wouldn’t be prudent to send the T-shirt into the jury room with a batch of latex gloves. Instead, the parties agreed to have the garment — which has had several peices removed for testing — displayed on a mannequin in the courtroom to allow jurors to inspect the shirt without touching it.
Dartt also denied a juror request to see a timeline that Special Prosecutor Todd Meyer had shown during closing arguments. Defense lawyer Stacy Uliana had objected to providing the poster-sized display because that it had not been entered into evidence.
Dartt said he intended to allow the jury to set its own hours. “They can work as late or as little as they want,” he said, adding that if they decide to meet until late at night “there will come a time when I run them out of the courthouse.”
Camm is accused of killing his wife, Kim Camm, 35, and their children — Brad, 7, and Jill, 5 — in the garage of their Georgetown home on Sept. 28, 2000. He has maintained that he was playing basketball at a local church at the time his family was slain.
He has twice been convicted in his family’s slayings, but both convictions were overturned on appeal. He is being tried this time in Lebanon, 35 miles northwest of Indianapolis, because of extensive media coverage of the case in the Louisville area.
Charles Boney is serving a 225-year sentence in prison for the slayings. He testified in the trial that he was outside the garage when Camm shot his children. The defense contends that Boney acted alone and has accused investigators of shoddy work in initially charging Camm and keeping the focus on him even after Boney was linked to the crime scene in early 2005.
Trial boosts Lebanon business
As the trial enters its final stage, merchants in Lebanon say they’ve appreciated the boost in business and have become interested in the trial.
“We’re eager to learn about the trial and what’s going on,” Sara Gallimore, a waitress at Brenda’s Cubbard, said. The restaurant tucked in the rear of Cowan’s Drugs across Ind. 39 from the courthouse has served lunch to the Camm jury two days a week since the trial started “so that’s helped our business out,” she said.
The Cubbard’s Butterfinger chocolate sheet cake gained a big following with jurors, Dartt and reporters.
Another popular lunch spot, the Fig Tree Café, has seen a steady stream of reporters and photographers each day of the proceedings, owner Bethany Deaton said.
The staff learned that when one reporter showed up at lunch, the place would fill up in minutes with people grabbing a quick lunch. “It’s been a little bit of chaos,” she said.
Deaton also said she’d rather business had remained the way it was — if it meant not having a trial for the murders of a mother and two children.
“I’d rather not have the business and have them still be alive than have this all happen,” she said.
Reporter Grace Schneider can be reached at 812-949-4040. Reporter Harold J Adams contributed to this story.
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