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HOW TURKISH WOMEN DRESS: It’s All About The Right To Choose

8/9/2019

In 2012, I had the opportunity to travel in Turkey. I love traveling in countries with cultures other than my own. I love the rich diversity, and I believe it is something we should be celebrating, not criticizing.

Turkey proved a wonderful adventure for many reasons. It’s a beautiful country, the people are friendly and polite, and I felt safe and comfortable. But for me, one of the most fascinating aspects of traveling there was learning about Islam. In particular, observing how the Turkish women dress. After I got back I wrote a blog on the subject.

Recent events inspired me to take a look at the old article, and I found some things had changed.

THE HAT LAW OF 1925

According to statistic on the Internet, 99% of the people in Turkey are Muslim. Although Turkey was secularized at the official level under the first Turkish president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (in office 1923-1938), religion remains a strong force among the Turkish people.

Among other sweeping reforms, the founding father Ataturk made sure there was a separation of church and state. He adopted regulations for a dress code to keep religious symbolism out of civil service. The code was primarily for men, probably because there were not many women who worked in civil service, and a more western style became the norm. The Hat Law of 1925 banished the fez and imposed lengthy sentences of imprisonment at hard labor for those who continued to wear it. Women, however, were granted the freedom to decide whether or not they wanted to cover their heads.

“It was more or less assumed that they [women] would eventually give up the headscarf as the new, secular Turkish identity took hold. Many did … By the 1970s, discouraging headscarves had taken on the force of law. The headscarf was banned in government offices, hospitals, universities, and schools. By the 1980s, these lengths of cloth had taken on hot political connotations.” news.nationalgeographic.com/2013 by Roff Smith, National Geographic, October 12, 2013

In 2013 this law was rescinded, with mixed reaction among the Turkish. Veiling is optional and women can make the choice to wear Islamic dress because modern fashion allows women to express their Muslin identity and Islamic beliefs in fashionable form.

According to Elizabeth Bucar [www.theatlantic.com/uslim-women-fashion] Muslim women, “spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to counter the stereotype that modest dress is ugly by using the skills of beauty work. Beauty work thus helps to remove the stigma from modest dress by making this style of clothing more attractive to other Muslim women.”

As far as I can see, Muslim fashion in general, not just head coverings, has taken on the aspect of making a political statement which is about having a choice. Many Muslim women seek new ways to express themselves while remaining true to their religious and cultural values.

Also, what constitutes “modest” depends on the society. Not all Muslims are Arab, and there are differences in what is considered “modest” dressing in India, Indonesia, Africa, and other locations where Muslims live. Finally, in countries like Jordan, all Christians living there have, for hundreds of years, dressed in tribal clothing just like their neighbors, and many still do.

Bottom line: Muslin Fashion does not have to be dull, boring, shapeless, and dark.

Photo source: atdaa.com/turkish-women-s-love-fashion ▼ ▼Photo source: https://www.mindu.gq/en/info/32807549120

ISLAMIC DRESS
Without getting into a discussion of something about which I know very little, I will quote from the following article on Discoverislam.com/ regarding why Muslim women dress the way they do.
"Muslim women dress in a way that is modest and dignified. The purpose of clothing is not only to protect oneself from the physical elements, but also to protect from immorality and pride. The Islamic concept of dress applies to both women and men. It sets expectations of moral and respectful interactions between the genders. As a result, both men and women are liberated from their baser instincts and can focus on higher pursuits.”
http://fashionlinks4us.blogspot.com/2010/08/islamic-dresses-4-women.html

BASIC DRESS STYLES: Not Your Grandmother’s Kind of Style
Another site identified the various kinds of garments Muslim women wear. This article states that “This dress code applies to women and adolescent girls, but not to children.”

Abaya: It is a flowing outer garment worn over all other clothing. The traditional Abaya is black and may be either a large square of fabric draped from the shoulders or head or a long caftan. It covers the whole body except the face, feet and hands. Today they are more stylish than a large square of black fabric.

Basic Style ▼ PhotoSource: www.owame.com/arab-vestidos-2019 ▼ PhotoSource:www.owame.com/arab-vestidos-2019 ▼

▲Blazers and suits, popular corporate dress
PhotoSource:www.outfittrends.com/turkish-tutorial/

◄PhotoSource:https://www.shiddat.com/blue-colored-turkish-abaya

▲PhotoSource: www.shoppinghungama.com/2019 ▲PhotoSource: www.turkishfashion.net/nihan-textile

Jilbab: This is a garment that may be worn like a dress, usually with trousers or long skirt underneath. It also covers the body except the hands, face and head. The neck and head are then covered by a scarf.

Basic Style My Photo on the street▼ PhotoSource: https://www.neva-style.com/▼ PhotoSource:▼ www.turkishfashion.net/nihan ▼

   ▲Photo Source: aohuijie.en.made-in-china.com/Islamic-Coat

Salwar Kameez: A garment originating from the Indian subcontinent, which translates as “trouser suit” and is comprised of a long skirt, trousers, and dupatta. These garments are usually very colorful and bright, and are sometimes embroidered. In looking through the on-line shopping for Turkish Salwar Kameez, much of this style seemed to be wedding and party wear. I didn’t observe any on the streets in 2012 or in photos taken later by others. There were a lot of women in pants however.
Basic style    PhotoSource:▼www.indiamart.com    Source of 3 Photos: http://www.indiamart.com/salwar

▲ PhotoSource:eastessence.com/salwar-kameez
BASIC HEAD COVERINGS
The photo depicts the basic type of head coverings worn by Muslim women. Don’t forget, every country and culture has their own styles and standards.

Photo source:www.spiegel.de/international/germanydebatesban

Dupatta: The Dupatta is a long rectangular scarf usually worn over the shoulders in front of the neck or covering the woman’s head.

Hijab: This is a head covering worn by many women of faith in Islam. They come in all colors and have wonderful prints.

This is what I observed in Istanbul and Izmir, the only cities I visited in 2012. At that time, I would guess fifty percent of the women dressed in western styles and without covering their heads. Our tour guides, who were Muslin, dressed like any other tour guides I’ve had in other parts of the world. The other half of the women wore more traditional Muslin clothing, and about fifty percent of those dressed in western-looking clothing with a hijab. From the photographs I've seen, I would guess things haven't changed much.

Although some wear black or white scarves, most of them were colorful and beautiful, usually made of silk, and are worn over and pinned to a coordinating skull cap to keep them in place.

Many of the young women were very stylishly dressed, although blue jeans abounded among the younger women.
The Jilbab seemed very popular. Women wore them over pants or long skirts, usually in tan, dark blue or black, and, of course, with a head covering. Some are very high fashion, But I didn’t see many of those.
A smaller number were seen in black Abayas (generally older women), and I only saw one woman in a full Burga with her eyes totally covered. She was dressed in black, not a pretty colored Burga in the photo above.

Nearly all the women carried black purses and had wonderful leather shoes. But you would also see sports shoes and sandals.
□
Sources:
https://turkeytravelplanner.com/details/WomenTravelers/women_wear.html
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/10/131011-hijab-ban-turkey-islamic-headscarf-ataturk/
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/muslim-women-fashion-political-influence/550256/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2018/08/17/what-westerners-get-wrong-about-the-hijab/?utm_term=.ee54428178df
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-23/why-do-muslim-women-wear-a-burka-niqab-or-hijab/5761510
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/wait-i-thought-was-muslim-thing
https://www.middleeasteye.net/features/fashion-revolution-middle-east’
http://boingboing.net/2012/05/11/modernizing-modesty-the-hijab.html
http://www.hijabstyle.co.uk/
photos
https://www.slideshare.net/modestpath/fall-winter-2019-latest-abaya-jilbab-collection-by-modestpath
https://www.owame.com/products/arab-vestidos-2019-long-uae-abaya-dubai-kaftan-kimono-linen-maxi-muslim-shawl-bodycon-hijab-dress-women-turkish-islamic-clothing
https://www.owame.com/products/arab-vestidos-2019-long-uae-abaya-dubai-kaftan-kimono-linen-maxi-muslim-shawl-bodycon-hijab-dress-women-turkish-islamic-clothing
http://www.turkishfashion.net/nihan-textile-Collection-Spring-Summer-2017/11170
http://www.turkishfashion.net/nihan-textile-Collection-Spring-Summer-2016/10802
https://aohuijie.en.made-in-china.com/product/mCxQjwsOwoVN/China-Exclusive-Design-Ethnic-Embroidery-Style-Blue-Color-Long-Dress-Muslim-Abaya-Elegant-Islamic-Coat.html
https://atdaa.com/turkish-women-s-love-for-fashion-how-to-dress-in-istanbul
http://www.indiamart.com/turkish-salwar-kameez
: https://www.mindu.gq/en/info/32807549120
https://eastessence.com/products/white-hajj-umrah-shalwar-kameez-1?variant=22523712995376 ▲
https://www.outfittrends.com/14-latest-turkish-hijab-styles-simple-turkish-hijab-tutorial/

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ARE YOU READY FOR THE “SINGULARITY”?

8/2/2019

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WHAT IS THE SINGULARITY?
Nobody really knows, but we [human beings] need to be thinking about what our universal, biological, and technological history of accelerating change could mean for the future and larger purpose of humanity.

If you’re a science fiction or fantasy writer and/or reader, you’re no doubt familiar with the general idea of The Singularity, a future world where machines are as intelligent or more intelligent than humans, with various outcomes. If not, Wikipedia defines The Singularity as: “A hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization.”

Don’t hold your breath. You don’t need to worry about it personally. It won’t happen until many or all of you reading this are long gone. But it will happen.

Since it’s not only a theory, but a highly controversial one, there are numerous definitions put forth by extremely brilliant people who study the phenomenal rate of technological change in the world and think about the future it could mean for the world. But let’s start simple.

● Singular
We all know what plain old singular means: One.

● Singularity
The word Singularity comes from a mathematical term [which I won’t get into] and is defined in the dictionary as:“Something that is singular such as a separate unit or something unusual or distinctive.” If there is just one of something, it is unique and the word can apply to anything: looks, behavior, state of being, whatever.

● The Singularity
Unless you’re deep into heavy-duty mathematics or physics, The Singularity actually means The Technological Singularity, which is essentially a theory about the accelerating rate of technological growth … but one that will affect everyone in the world.

WHAT THE EXTREMELY BRILLIANT PEOPLE SAY
The Singularity isn’t a new concept, although this name is. It is a phenomenon noted by many of the extremely brilliant people and a few not so brilliant.

● R. Thorton, editor of the Primitive Expounder laid the groundwork for the theory in 1847 [170 years ago] when writing about the recently-invented four function mechanical calculator.
“Such machines when brought to greater perfection, may think of a plan to remedy all their own
      defects and then grind out ideas beyond the ken of mortal mind!”

● Samuel Butler (1835-1902), English poet, satirist, and author, wrote the following at about the same point mid-19th century:
   “There is no security against the ultimate development of mechanical consciousness, in the fact of machines
possessing little consciousness now. Reflect upon the extraordinary advance which machines have made during
    the last few hundred years, and note how slowly the animal and vegetable kingdoms are advancing.”

● John von Neumann (1903 – 1957), Hungarian-American mathematician, physicist, and computer scientist, was the first to put the idea forward, although he didn’t refer to The Singularity.
The point at which the accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, gives the
   appearance of approaching some essential point in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know
    them, could not continue"

● I.J. Good (1916 – 2009), British mathematician and cryptologist, calls the hypothesis the Intelligence Explosion and predicts a point in time where a computer or machine or something else made by man
   “...running software-based artificial general intelligence enters a "runaway reaction" of self-improvement cycles,
   with each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing an intelligence explosion
   and resulting in a powerful superintelligence that would, qualitatively, far surpass all human intelligence.”

● Alan Turing (1912 – 1954), English mathematician, computer scientist philosopher and theoretical biologist, wrote that machines will eventually surpass human intelligence:
   “Once the machine thinking method has started, it would not take long to outstrip our feeble powers. At some stage
   therefore we should have to expect the machines to take control…”

● Vernor Steffen Vinge (1944 - present), American science fiction author and retired professor of mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University) popularized the theory in his 1993 essay The Coming Technological Singularity, in which he wrote:
   “[The singularity] would signal the end of the human era, as the new superintelligence would continue to upgrade
   itself and would advance technologically at an incomprehensible rate.”

● Ray Kurzweil (1948 – present), computer scientist and inventor, is possibly the best known proponent of the singularity. He brought the theory into mainstream thinking with a slightly different twist.
   “A future period during which the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life
   will be irreversibly transformed. Although neither utopian nor dystopian, this epoch will transform the concepts that
   we rely on to give meaning to our lives, from our business models to the cycle of human life, including death itself.”

   “It's a merger between human intelligence and machine intelligence that is going to create something bigger than
   itself. It's the cutting edge of evolution on our planet. One can make a strong case that it's actually the cutting edge
   of the evolution of intelligence in general, because there's no indication that it's occurred anywhere else.”

Kurzweil is more than a futurist who sits around and thinks. He is a computer scientist and inventor who has been on the forefront of pushing technology into the artificial intelligence era. Among his many accomplishments, he developed the technology behind the first flatbed scanner, he is a leading expert in speech recognition, and was the inventor of the first print-to-speech synthesizer. When his “speech-to-reading machine for the blind” was launched in 1976, it was credited by scientists as being the first device to successfully use artificial intelligence. He has many other credits in the fields of music and medicine … and a thirty-year track record in accurate predictions regarding technology.

● Stephen Hawking (1942 - 2018), recognized as one of the most brilliant minds of the century, was a British theoretical physicist whose theory of exploding black holes drew upon both relativity theory and quantum mechanics. His groundbreaking work in physics and cosmology and his books helped to make science accessible to everyone.
   “It's clearly possible for a something to acquire higher intelligence than its ancestors: we evolved to be smarter than
   our ape-like ancestors, and Einstein was smarter than his parents.”

Hawking, among other top scientists, spoke out in 2014 about the possible dangers of artificial intelligence (including AGI), which he reiterated at a technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2017. Speaking on the topic of Artificial General Intelligence, he stated:
   "Success in creating AI (AGI) would be the biggest event in human history. Unfortunately, it might also be the last,
   unless we learn how to avoid the risks." He warned about a time in the future which this technology would be
   "Outsmarting financial markets, out-inventing human researchers, out-manipulating human leaders, and developing
   weapons we cannot even understand. We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI, or ignored by it and
   sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it."

● Kevin Kelly (1952 – present), Editor, publisher, writer, conservationist and co-founder of Wired Magazine, defines the singularity as:
   “The Singularity is the point at which “all the change in the last million years will be superseded by the change
   in the next five minutes.”

● John Smart (1960 - to present), technology foresight consultant, scholar, educator, and systems theorist in global processes of evolution, writes that in 20 to 140 years, depending on which expert you agree with:
   "The ever-increasing rate of technological change in our local environment is expected to undergo a permanent
   and irreversible developmental phase change, or technological “singularity,” becoming either: 1) fully autonomous
   in its self-development, 2) human-surpassing in its mental complexity, or 3) effectively instantaneous in
   self-improvement (from our perspective).

● Sean Arnott
“The technological singularity is when our creations surpass us in our understanding of them vs their understanding of us, rendering us obsolete in the process.”

● James Martin (1933 – 2013), world-renowned futurist, computer scientist, author, lecturer and, among many other things, the largest donor in the history of Oxford University – the Oxford Martin School, defines the singularity as follows:
   "The Singularity is a break in human evolution that will be caused by the staggering speed of
   technological evolution.”
Photo Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:World_population_growth_(lin-log_scale).png
Graph Credit: Waldir [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH
Most of us today realize that life is constantly changing due to the development of new technology … even the millennials, although they not only expect change, they demand it. It’s not cool to have last year’s Smart phone.

Unfortunately, many people, even very smart ones, don’t understand the pace … that change is not just happening but accelerating. I learned very quickly when I retired that being out of the profession of urban planning for four or five years rendered my thirty-five years of experience almost useless. WORLD POPULATION GROWTH

As Ray Kurzweil writes, “The last 20 years are not a good guide to the next 20 years. We're doubling the paradigm shift rate, the rate of progress, every decade. This will actually match the amount of progress we made in the whole 20th century, because we've been accelerating up to this point.

The 20th century was like 25 years of change at today's rate of change. In the next 25 years we'll make four times the progress you saw in the 20th century. And we'll make 20,000 years of progress in the 21st century, which is almost a thousand times more technical change than we saw in the 20th century.”
https://www.edge.org/conversation/ray_kurzweil-the-singularity

TECHNOLOGICAL GROWTH
Graph Credit: Bank of America, Merrill Lunch Global Investment Strategy, University of Chicago
Photo Source: https://hackernoon.com/are-you-ready-for-an-artificially-intelligent-future-b9df618d53b4

ARTIFICIAL GENERAL INTELLIGENCE (AGI)
The one thing that all of this requires is the development of Artificial General Intelligence. So far, the accelerating rate of technological advances has been limited by the human brain, which hasn’t changed much in recent millennia. However, human ability to imagine and reflect on different scenarios, human obsession with linking minds, and the ever-increasing power of computers portend a future with Artificial General Intelligence and machines that are more intelligent than human beings.

In other words, intelligent machines which have the capacity to understand and learn any intellectual task a human can. Some might refer to it as a machine capable of experiencing consciousness. Today we have what is called applied or weak Artificial Intelligence: machines which can do one or two highly contained tasks much faster and more accurately than humans, but is not able to perform the full range of cognitive abilities.

Don’t relax yet. According to Wikipedia, there are at least forty organizations actively researching in AGI. China has recently announced its intent to become the AI/AGI leader in the world. Some of the applications already using AI in China are scary enough without AGI.

LET’S RE-EXAMINE TODAY FOR HINTS OF TOMORROW
Whichever turns out to be the case – superintelligent machines, superintelligent humans, or a combination of machine and human superintelligence – something will happen to human society as a result of rapid technological growth.

Some of those changes are already occurring, and many of us don’t even realize the vast impact of those changes have made and will continue to make, on human affairs.

"The point at which the accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, gives the appearance of approaching some essential point in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue." Think about this definition as you read the following. Have human affairs continued in their previous modes or are they irrevocably changed?

● Industry Utilizes Artificial Intelligence In Machines For Manufacturing
In 1961,“Unimate", an industrial robot invented by George Devol in the 1950s, became the first to work on a General Motors assembly line in New Jersey. Its responsibilities included transporting die castings from the assembly line and welding the parts on to cars – a task deemed dangerous for humans.”
https://learn.g2.com/history-of-artificial-intelligence

Unimate on the Tonight Show Son of Unimate building automobiles
Source of Photos: https://www.robotics.org/joseph-engelberger/unimate.cfm

Since then, the use of machines in production of goods has increased at a rapid rate. This revolution in manufacturing has had severe impacts on jobs. Although there has been job growth, new jobs created are in different and more technical fields.

● The Internet Connects Everyone In The World
The history of the internet is long, not in time but in complexity. A lot happened leading up to the first communication with the Interface Message Processor [computer] going live in 1969. The use of the web grew slowly in the academic and research arenas until April 30, 1993, when the European Organization for Nuclear Research [CERN] put the web into the public domain. https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/web/a20104417/www-public-domain/

▼Photo Source: pursuitist.com/older-people-internet Photo Source: www.youthkiawaaz.com/rural-india ▼

▲Photo Source: www.cnn.com/2019/africa ▲Photo Source: avondhupress.ie/Ireland

● The first cell phone went on sale 35 years ago [1984] for $4,000
No one took it seriously. It was a toy or novelty for rich people. https://mashable.com/2014/03/13/first-cellphone-on-sale/

The Smart devices that didn’t exist or were hugely expensive twenty to thirty years ago have become essential to our life style. We can’t seem to survive without them. Out of the world’s estimated 7 billion people, 6 billion have access to mobile phones. Only 4.5 billion have access to working toilets.
▼Photo source: newsfeed.time.com/cellphone vs toliets

▲Photo source: https://findersfree.com/tech-internet/cell-phones-marketed-public ▲Photo source:www.phillymag.com/cellphones

● Today’s Hand Held Smart Phones Have More Computing Power Than ENIAC, The Computer That Sent Man To The Moon And Which Filled An 1,800 Sq. Ft. Room
▼ENIAC Computer that landed Apollo 11 - Photo Credit: US Army
Photo source: www.thevintagenews.com/computer-ENIAC

● People Around The World Already Allow Electronic Devices To Run Their Households.
These devices turn on and off lights and appliances, provide monitoring away from home, remind us of things to do and close garage doors, Some refrigerators do our grocery lists. Those devices are capable of learning to adapt to voices and accents, to determine the things we like and dislike, etc. None of these devices involve Artificial General Intelligence. Not yet, anyway. But consider what is happening in China.

By the way, Alexa can record what you are saying and has mistakenly misinterpreted conversation as commands.

Amazon Echo Image Credit: City of West Hollywood Samsung Family Hub Refrigerator
Photo source: beverlypress.com/west-hollywood

● China Is Positioning Itself To Be The World Leader In Artificial Intelligence And Artificial General Intelligence
“China is reversing the commonly held vision of technology as a great democratizer, bringing people more freedom and connecting them to the world. In China, it has brought control.” One of their current efforts is with face-recognition technology. Paul Mozur: 07-08-2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance-technology.html

In some cities, Chinese Police are using face-recognition eye glasses to identify perpetrators of traffic violations and posting their pictures publicly. Fortunately, the glasses limited capability and only work well if the target doesn’t move for a few seconds. But, no doubt, Chinese scientists will figure out how to fix that, and China wants to be the world leader in Artificial General Intelligence.

Chinese Police wearing Face-recognition glasses/ Smart Powered AI glasses
Photo credit: Reuters - https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance-technology.html

● Paintings By Robot Artist Ai-Di Brought In Over $1 Million At Her First Art Show
Ai-Di [named after the mathematician and computer pioneer Ada Lovelace] is the first realistic Artificial Intelligence humanoid robot artist. Created by British inventor and gallery owner Adian Meller, in collaboration with robotics company Engineered Arts, Ai-Da can draw from sight thanks to cameras in her eyeballs and AI algorithms created by scientists at the University of Oxford that help produce co-ordinates for her arm to create art. She uses a pencil or pen for sketches, but the plan is for Ai-Da to paint and create pottery.

Image Credits: Nicky Johnston ONE OF HER PAINTINGS ▲ Photo source: www.asiaone.com/china-robot-news-anchor ▲
Sources of Photos: news.artnet.com/robot-artist-ai-da

Another AI Humanoid Robot named Xin Xiaomeng served a TV anchorwoman on China’s Xinhua state news agency in March 2019, delivering a one minute news story with a presentation that mimicked human facial expressions and mannerisms. https://www.asiaone.com/china/chinas-xinhua-presents-news-using-robot-news-anchor

● Medical Miracles Include Merging Machines with Man
Sounds incredible, doesn’t it. I envision draining one’s mind and consciousness into a mechanical brain or robot, sort of like siphoning gasoline out of a car. Maybe that’s what certain proponents of the singularity mean, but for now human and mechanical merging is a little less science-fiction-like.

Artificial Limbs ▲ Artificial Cornea implant for eye▲ Knee replacement hardware▲ PhotoSour:en.wikipedia.org/Intraocular_lens ▲
Photo Source: Wikipedia Photo source: www.hopkinsmedicine.org/cornea Photo Source: orthoinfo.aaos.org/knee-replacement

Still, it's amazing when you think about how many artificial parts can be implanted in human being. In the sense of replacing human parts with artificial ones, we’ve been merging artificial parts into humans for a while. The next big step is mind-controlled artificial limbs, which is the experiment om the photo to the left.

It may take a long time, but medicine is moving in the predicted direction.

Learning to mind-control an artificial hand
Photo source: uchicagomedicine.orgneurosciencesbrain-controlledlimbs

CONCLUSION
If or when this superintelligence comes into being, through enhancement of human intelligence or through artificial general intelligence, the event will change, for better or worse, the world we live in and life as we know it today. I also believe that although significant changings will be happening faster than ever, most human beings won't even be aware of it at the time.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
https://www.edge.org/conversation/ray_kurzweil-the-singularity
https://www.kurzweilai.net/
https://www.kurzweilai.net/digest-art-intelligence-meet-ai-da-the-humanoid-robot
https://futurism.com/singularity-explain-it-to-me-like-im-5-years-old
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/06/10/how-far-are-we-from-achieving-artificial-general-intelligence/#2ad740a36dc4
https://www.edge.org/conversation/ray_kurzweil-the-intelligent-universe
https://searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com/definition/Singularity-the
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/science/artificial-intelligence-when-is-the-singularity.html
www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/science/artificial-intelligence
https://www.netopia.eu/the-singularity-is-delayed/
https://www.kurzweilai.net/digest-art-intelligence-meet-ai-da-the-humanoid-robot
https://futurism.com/singularity-explain-it-to-me-like-im-5-years-old
https://theorion.com/57796/opinion/artificial-intelligence-might-be-on-its-way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
https://searchenterpriseai.techtarget.com/definition/Singularity-the
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/singularity
https://www.singularityweblog.com/17-definitions-of-the-technological-singularity/
https://www.universetoday.com/84147/singularity/
http://www.singularitysymposium.com/about-us.html
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/singularity
https://reason.com/2013/03/27/college-of-the-future/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_Is_Near
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity
https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/06/10/how-far-are-we-from-achieving-artificial-general-intelligence/#2ad740a36dc4
http://agi-conf.org/2019/
https://singularityhub.com/2019/06/02/less-like-us-an-alternate-theory-of-artificial-general-intelligence/
https://thebulletin.org/2019/04/the-possibility-and-risks-of-artificial-general-intelligence/
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/business/china-surveillance-technology.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-ai-chinas-greatest-natural-resource-may-be-its-data-2019-07-14/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a25655/nasa-computer-iphone-comparison/
https://andrewchen.co/photos-of-the-women-who-programmed-the-eniac-wrote-the-code-for-apollo-11-and-designed-the-mac/
https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2018/01/04/singularity-skepticism-2-why-self-improvement-isnt-enough/
https://www.cio.com/article/3309058/5-ways-industrial-ai-is-revolutionizing-manufacturing.html
https://seekingalpha.com/article/453871-the-promise-of-accelerating-growth-in-technology
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/amazon-alexa-conversation-shared-echo.html
https://www.wired.com/2010/07/human-trials-ahead-for-darpas-mind-controlled-artificial-arm/
https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/neurosciences-articles/2018/october/neuroscience-researchers-receive-grant-to-develop-brain-controlled-prosthetic-limbs
https://singularityhub.com/2016/03/22/technology-feels-like-its-accelerating-because-it-actually-is/
https://www.famousinventors.org/ray-kurzweil
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet
https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/web/a20104417/www-public-domain/
https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/web/a20104417/www-public-domain/
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/artificial-intelligence-transforms-manufacturing
https://learn.g2.com/history-of-artificial-intelligence
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/25/more-people-have-cell-phones-than-toilets-u-n-study-shows/
https://www.phillymag.com/sponsor-content/kids-cellphones-young-young/
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/03/27/the-computer-which-landed-apollo-11-on-the-moon-was-about-as-powerful-as-a-contemporary-pocket-calculator/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/10/03/business/tech/new-entrants-flock-tokyos-cutting-edge-technology-trade-show/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tech-robot-artist/ai-da-the-humanoid-robot-artist-gears-up-for-first-solo-exhibition-idUSKCN1T6215
https://news.artnet.com/opinion/artificial-intelligence-robot-artist-ai-da-1566580
https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/singularity
https://www.biography.com/scientist/stephen-hawking

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CREEPY PLACES: Poveglia Island

7/26/2019

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WHY PEOPLE LIKE CREEPY PLACES AS SETTINGS FOR NOVELS?
Sometimes a setting can inspire a novel, particularly in the suspense, mystery, or paranormal genres. For any of these, creepy can set the stage for the action and story line and can crank up the reader’s emotions.

Granted, creepy places may not be appropriate for a romance novel, unless it involves saving the hero or heroine from danger. I like a heroine whose mental strength and ingenuity enables her either save herself, the hero, or both. Of
Images by: Caters New Agency course, we don’t want to set up out hero as a wimp, but that's another discussion.
Photo source:www.mirror.co.uk/mental-asylum

Unlike most settings people are familiar with, an unusual creepy venue – particularly a dangerous one or one associated with death – has a greater impact on the reader. Depending on the type of book you are writing, perhaps that’s not what you want.

But if you do want that sort of setting, Poveglia Island, Italy, is a background venue to look into. Reading about it brought to my mind, several stories which could take place there. Already, it has been the setting of many novels and movies, but Americans seem to know little about the location, and it’s still a fresh setting.

Mystical, creepy, or horror stories – whatever you want to call them – take advantage of our inner fears, usually ones left over from childhood. Today, children’s cartoons, books. and movies prey on the little kid inside who is afraid of the bogeyman under his bed. Under the bed, means it is right there within reach.

It’s all about the experience, the rush of adrenalin, in an unrisky, unthreatening reality. This kind of “scare” allows the reader to feel all the emotions of fear, without actually being in any danger.

PROVEGLIA ISLAND
Poveglia Island is one of 166 islets in the Venetian Lagoon, located off the eastern coast of Northern Italy. Although the entire island is less than 19 acres in size, a canal separates the inland into two parts. You can see on the map, this bit of land resides between the City of Venice and the Lido [today a tourist area with a wonderful beach].

But you wouldn’t want to go to Poveglia on vacation.

In fact, you could not go there. Although uninhabited, the island is closed -- off limits to tourists and Italians alike. There is a process for gaining permission to visit, which is the way photographers have obtained access, but it’s a long and paperwork-laden endeavor. It is possible to go around the island by boat and see the exterior, and every now and then adventure-seekers have managed to land.

The island is known for its macabre past and, supposedly, locals call it an “island of ghosts” and believe it is haunted by unhealthy spirits. Poveglia's a dark reputation evolved from a history of death and drama. Venetians tend to be superstitious about the island and call it as a purgatory for evil. One local saying goes: "When an evil man dies, he wakes up in Poveglia" Location map: The Islands of Poveglia and others
Photo source: www.dailymail.co.uk/travel
Let’s find out why.

THE HAUNTED ISLAND OF GHOSTS
Isola Poveglia is believed to have been inhabited even before a group of pre-Italians called Euganei, came there as early as 2,000 BCE. The location was first mentioned in print in the early fifth century [421 AD] as a safe location during invasions by Alaric the Goth and Attila the Hun during the decline of the Roman Empire. The islands in the Venetian Lagoon are numerous and easy to defend, so the invaders’ military forces left them alone.

Photo source: www.businessinsider.com/haunted-island

It doesn't look very haunted. It looks like a fairly well kept property in the photo.

One source indicates it was as far back as the 6th century, the Romans sent victims of the Justinian plague to Poveglia to die in isolation.

Despite the established fact that hygiene was very important to the Romans, and it is very possible the Romans did exile diseased people into quarantine, I didn’t find any corroboration for the Romans being the first to quarantine diseased people on Poveglia. Most historians prescribe to the belief that the Venetians, not the Romans, developed the concept of facilities designed for the quarantine of ill and potentially ill people. Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in the lagoon, was home to the first of these institutions, but Poveglia is the best known.

Back to the Haunted Island. In the 9th century the Doge of Venice [the provincial governor] was killed, and an estimated two hundred of his slaves fled to Poveglia and settled there. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the island population began to grow until the location became important enough to be governed by the equivalent of a chief magistrate of a city state -- In other words, a mayor or local administrator -- under the Doge. Up to that point, it was a normal Venetian city.

When war with Genoa broke out in 1379, the residents of the island were moved to a different islet so the Doge could build a fort at this a strategic location in the lagoon and establish a military outpost.

THE BLACK PLAGUE
At about the same time in history, the crest of the Bubonic Plague arrived in Europe, one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. The disease, which takes on several forms of plague, resulted in the deaths of an estimated one to two million people, as much as 60 percent of the European population. Traveling with traders, the illness moved from Asia, primarily along the Silk Road, and peaked in Europe from 1347 to 1351. (See note at end)
The octagon served as a fort when a naval post Photo Source: factinteres.

With no cure for the highly contagious Black Plague, bacterial Yersinia pestis, the dead body count rose quickly. In an attempt to isolate the ill, Poveglia became a place to quarantine them and dispose of dead bodies. Thousands were dumped into Plague Pits and burned. Speculation leads historians to believe many people who didn’t have the deadly disease were shipped off to the island of rotting corpses just in case
“The sick lay three or four in a bed … Workers collected the dead and threw them in the graves all day without
a break. Often the dying ones and the ones too sick to move or talk were taken for dead and thrown on the
piled corpses.” __ Rocco Benedetti, 16th-century Venetian chronicler

Eventually, the wave of black death diminished. There were periods of time when the island was uninhabited, probably between several widespread bouts of pestilence which peaked again in the 1570s and 1630s. Each time, Poveglia and other islands served as quarantines and mass burial grounds. Dead and almost dead bodies were shipped there in barges. Speculation claims that around 160,000 bodies were disposed on this island alone since 1379.

In 1777, the Magistrate of Health took control of the island and turned it into a checkpoint. Any boat or ship heading into Venice needed to pass inspection. In the 1790s, two ships failed and again the island became a temporary quarantine colony. The hospital was closed in 1800, but in 1805, under the rule of Napoleon Bonaparte, it became a permanent quarantine facility. Some resources contend that Napoleon for storing weapons there. The location was discovered, and many small battles took place as the island claimed even more lives.

Today, rumor has it that human bones still wash up on the beaches from time to time, and fifty percent of the soil is made up of human remains. The remains of thousands of bubonic plague victims have been discovered by archaeologists, and they believe as many as 160,000 people died on the island over the centuries between the 1379 and now … but not all of them died from the plague.

PhotoSource:www.ranker.com/list/creepy-facts-poveglia Photo posted by: Byran White (Pinterest)    Photosource:www.thegypsythread.org/poveglia
   Photo source: ksscensorthis.com/haunted-island-of-poveglia

THE MAD DOCTOR
By 1922, the location had been converted to a mental hospital where at least one doctor is known to have experimented with lobotomies on patients, looking for a cure for insanity. He is believed to have used crude tools like hand drills, chisels, and hammers. It is also rumored he tortured patients in the bell tower.

TheGypsyThread.org says that “Believers of the story say that after many years of performing these unspeakable acts of human depravity, the doctor also began to see the ghosts his patients had so long reported. It is also said that those spirits led him to the top of the bell tower where he jumped or was thrown by a supernatural force to the ground below. Yet, the fall did not kill him. Instead, he remained alive but immobile and in immense pain until a sickly mist poured forth from the land and slowly choked the life from his injured body.” www.thegypsythread.org/poveglia

THE FINAL DAYS
In the mid-twentieth century, the hospital was converted to homes for the elderly, but that was closed somewhere between 1968 and 1975. Convalescent homes for seniors are unpopular enough even when they are nice and new. Imagine how you would feel if your kids sent you off to live in a converted mental hospital surrounded by burial pits from the Black Plague?

The next endeavor was to use the island for agriculture, but apparently that didn’t succeed either.

Because of the island’s reputation, it is hard to tell if the bits of recent urban lore are true, exaggerated, or speculative. Here are a few tales of the haunted island.

   “In recent years, Italian construction crews attempted to restore the former hospital building, but abruptly stopped
   without explanation, leaving locals to speculate that they were driven away by the island’s dark forces.”
   https://ksscensorthis.com/2250/uncategorized/the-haunted-island-of-poveglia-warning-this-is-scary-stuff/

   “In 2016, five people from Colorado were rescued by Italian firefighters after they decided to spend the night on
   the famous haunted island of Poveglia, the location of the upcoming movie The Plague Doctor. They reached the
   island through a water taxi and decided to stay for the night, but as soon the darkness took over a presence
   started to haunt them, making them scream for help. A sailboat in the area overheard them and called the Italian
   authorities that came to their rescue.” https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/poveglia-plague-island

   “The Italian government has tried several times to generate interest in the island. A family recently sought to buy
      the island and build a holiday home on it but they left the first night there and refused to comment on what
      happened. The only fact that we do know is that their daughters face was ripped open and required fourteen
stitches.” https://ksscensorthis.com/2250/uncategorized/the-haunted-island-of-poveglia-warning-this-is-scary-stuff/

In May of 2014 businessman and president of basketball team Reyer Venezia Mestre, Luigi Brugnaro, acquired at auction a 99 year leasehold for the island, outbidding a Venetian conservation group which immediately petitioned the government to overturn the lease. By June of the same year, the government had annulled the sale as a result of public and governmental intervention, indicating it would be a “waste of public resources” to sell it for that small amount in the face of Italy’s financial crises.

In 2019, the conservation organization, Poveglia Per Tutti, is alive and well, and still fighting to turn the island into a public resource. Architect Lorenzo Pesola, one of the spokesmen for the organization, says
   “…there’s little basis to the lurid supernatural tales that have trivialized much of the reporting of the Poveglia
   auction in the foreign media – a handful of plague victims lie here … not the ‘hundreds of thousands’ of popular
   myth; and the mad doctor who supposedly carried out experiments on elderly patients is a fiction.”
   https://www.privateislandnews.com/italy-worlds-most-haunted-island-sold-at-auction-questions-over-future-remain/

However, the fate of the island is still undetermined.

WHAT IS STILL THERE
The surviving buildings on the island consist of a shelter for boats, a church, a hospital, an asylum, a bell-tower and housing and administrative buildings for the staff. The bell-tower is the most visible structure on the island, and dates back to the 12th century. It belonged to the church of San Vitale, which was demolished in 1806. At one point the tower was re-used as a lighthouse.

Image by: Chris 73/CC By-AS - Photo source: Photo Source: www.atlasobscura.com/poveglia Image by: Angelo Meneghini
https://www.historicmysteries.com/poveglia-island-venice-italy/ Photo Source: www.atlasobscura.com/poveglia

MY QUESTION IS WHY?
For a locale supposedly forbidden to everyone, there are a lot of photographs available. Just sayin’.

When looking into the topic of scary places, abandoned mental hospitals tend to be at the top of this list. Perhaps that’s because most people have no experience with them or have a bad experience. At minimum, they’ve seen a movie or TV program which caste such hospitals in a less-than-appealing light. We associate them with evil and sinister happenings. No doubt, in the past some pretty awful things happened in them.

Some of these abandoned hospitals [and old prisons] have such reputations they’ve become tourist attractions. In those cases, I understand why the locations have been left in such derelict condition … maybe even staged to give the tourists some bang for their buck. The following are examples of other locations.

Images by: Caters New Agency Images by: Freaktography/Flickr Photo credit: True British Metal
Photo source:www.mirror.co.uk/mental-asylum Photo source: allthatsinteresting.com/Willard Source: www.historicmysteries.com/poveglia

Elsewhere in the lagoon, the remains of the Insane Asylum on San Servolo Island are preserved as a museum dedicated to the history of Venice’s plague islands and asylums. However, in the case of Proveglia Island, which is off limits to everyone, why would the powers-that-be leave the facility full of obsolete, decayed equipment and furniture inside?

That, more than anything, is the creepy part. The photographs above show how the Poveglia facilities looks in the 21st century.

Note: In this blog I use the terms Black Death, Bubonic Plague (Yersinia pestis), and Black Plague interchangeably. It had been the theory since the 19th century that they are the same, but since the 1980s scientists have questioned this. If I turn out to be wrong, I apologize, but either way, it has no bearing on the article.

Sources:
https://factinteres.ru/povelya-odno-iz-samyh-zhutkih-mest-na-planete
https://www.livescience.com/29498-plague-helped-destroy-roman-empire.html https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Poveglia-Island-off-limits
https://www.unbelievable-facts.com/2014/01/there-is-island-near-venice-called.html
https://www.thegypsythread.org/poveglia-island-worlds-evil-places/
https://ksscensorthis.com/2250/uncategorized/the-haunted-island-of-poveglia-warning-this-is-scary-stuff/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poveglia
https://www.historicmysteries.com/poveglia-island-venice-italy/
https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-facts-about-poveglia-the-italian-black-plague-island/cheryl-adams-richkoff
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/poveglia-plague-island
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/poveglia-island-like-hell
https://www.interrail.eu/en/trip-ideas/recommended-routes/classic-routes/dark-tourism-places-europe
https://www.privateislandnews.com/italy-worlds-most-haunted-island-sold-at-auction-questions-over-future-remain/
https://planetsave.com/2013/11/11/poveglia-island-asylum-ghosts-plague-history/
http://www.ancientpages.com/2016/01/21/mystery-of-the-bloody-island-poveglia-a-place-of-hell-in-ancient-and-modern-times/
https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death
https://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/venice-poveglia/index.html
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/03/the-evil-island-of-italy/
https://www.scientificmystery.com/no-one-can-dare-to-visit-poveglia-island-it-is-really-haunted/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivI2kDu19Nc
Black Death / Bubonic Plague
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17223184-000-did-bubonic-plague-really-cause-the-black-death/ (2001)
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-04/ps-mbd041102.php (2002)
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/04/020415073417.htm (2002)
https://www.nature.com/scitable/blog/viruses101/could_the_black_death_actually (2013/Ebola-like virus)

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THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

7/19/2019

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A NATURAL WONDER OF THE WORLD
The Great Barrier Reef is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Located off the coast of Queensland, Australia, the reef is the largest living thing in the world. That's right. It's alive. It is the only living thing visible from space.

Image Credit: NASA - Photo Source: Image Credit: NASA/Gsfc/Larc/Jpl, Misr Team    Image Credit: NASA - Photo source:
www.pinterest.de/539235755362862894/ Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef www.impactlab.net/2009/Great Barrier Reef

This 1,800 mile long ecosystem was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981. It encompasses hundreds of tropical islands and three thousand reef systems and coral cays. It houses a multitude of species: 6oo types of soft and hard corals, 100 species of jelly fish, colorful fish, 20 types of reptiles, mollusks, crocodiles, turtles, 30 species of whales and dolphins, and sharks. Sizes range from microscopic to larger than you want to meet face to face, and the innumerable vivid colors boggle the mind.

Fish ▼ PhotoSource: Emperor angelfish ▼ PhotoSource: Irukandji ▼PhotoSource: ChristmasTreeWorm ▼ PhotoSource:
www.changesinlongitude.com/ www.australiantraveller.com/GBF www.thetimes.co.uk/killer-jellyfish    www.GBR.com.au/worms

Lion Fish ▲ PhotoSource:    Shark ▲ PhotoSource:    Green Sea Turtle ▲ ImageCredit:    Dugong ▲ PhotoSource:
news.co.cr/tournament/lion-fish    guardian.ng/shark-great-barrier-reef Photo by Poseidon Outer Reef Cruises    www.telegraph.co.uk/dugongs
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
   Sapsucking Sea Slug▼PhotoSource:    CrownOfThorns Starfish▼Image: SpottedEagleRay▼PhotoSource:
New species▼PhotoSource:    www.pinterest.com/30047522494940341    John Hanson/Wikimedia Commons    www.tripadvisor.com/barrierreef
PhotoSource: www.seychellesnewsagency.com/

The Great Barrier Reef is also unique as it extends over 14 degrees of latitude, from shallow estuarine areas to deep oceanic waters. The average depth is 35 meters in waters close to shore, but some areas extend down to 2,000 meters.

In 1975 The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act was passed, which extends into the airspace above to the earth beneath the seabed. In 1981 it was deemed a UNESCO heritage site.

HOW IS A CORAL REEF MADE?
Corals are marine invertebrates in the class Anthozoa of phylum Cnidaria [You really needed to know that, right? Sorry.] They live in compact colonies of many genetically identical individual polyps [nodules]. The polyps are small, only a few millimeters in diameter and a few centimeters in length. They are sac-like animals with a set to tentacles around a central mouth opening.
▼https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Coral_polyp_en.svg

The group that make up the colony includes reef builders that secrete calcium carbonate to form a hard skeleton. This exoskeleton [the bony structure is outside the animal, rather than on the inside, like mammals] is excreted near the base of the polyp. It requires many generations for the colony to create a large exoskeleton which we call a coral reef.

Individual heads grow by asexual reproduction of polyps, but corals also breed sexually by spawning. Polyps of the same species release a specialized reproduction cell [male or female] with half the number of chromosomes. The cells unite to produce a cell which may develop into coral. About 75% of all corals reproduce sexually.

Corals catch fish and plankton using the stinging cells in their tentacles which carry venom, but the largest part of their diet and nutrition is obtained through photosynthetic cells [Symbiodinium]. These corals live in clear, shallow water, at about 200 feet.

Typically, each polyp harbors one species of algae. Via photosynthesis, these provide energy for the coral, and aid in calcification. As much as 30% of the tissue of a polyp may be algal material. Other corals that don't have a symbiotic relationship can live in deeper and colder water, surviving as deep as 9,800 feet, although the Great Barrier Reef does not have that depth.

CORAL IN A WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT
Photos of coral living in the Great Barrier Reef. Coral are incredible. They come in many types and colors. asiNo wonder the Great Barrier Reef and others have become such tourist attractions, attracting divers from all parts of the world.
Although most coral polyps have transparent [clear] bodies and their exoskeletons are white, their vibrant colors are derived from the zooxanthellae [algae] living inside their tissues. There are several million of these organisims producing pigments in one square inch of coral, and these pigments are seen through the clear body of the polyp. The zooxanthellae use photosynthesis to survive. The coral reef itself provides, in addition to safety, the carbon dioxide needed by the organisms for photosynthesis.

Montastrea cavemosa Brain Coral Soft Coral Goniopora Coral–PhotoSource: Mushroom Coral
https://kids.kiddle.co/Coral marinebio.org/coral-reefs/

THE ENDANGERED GREAT BARRIER REEF
There are a number of factors that threaten the continuation of a healthy Great Barrier Reef. Not only tourism, although essentially under control now, but also runoff from the mainland, climate changes, mass coral bleaching, and cyclical population outbreaks of the Crown-of-Thorns starfish. The combination has resulted in a loss of more than half the coral of the reef between 1985 and 2012.

● Tourism
Because The Great Barrier Reef is so beautiful and offers so many activity options, over two million visitors come to see the reef every year. As tourism grows, the concern over protecting the reef grows. The reef suffers from tourists walking on the reef, anchors dragged and dropped on the reef, pollution from boats and humans and, of course, the human propensity for breaking off parts of the reef to take home as a souvenirs.
PhotoSource: www.thetourspecialists.com.au/great-barrier-reef Photo Source: lostinaustralia.org/gallery

Nonetheless, a large part of the reef is protected by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, which controls on much of the reef. Because the activities are spread over a huge area, and are not concentrated, tourism is not the biggest threat so far. Local operators understand the potential problems and are sensitive to protecting the reef, since it is their livelihood.

A great deal of attention goes to managing the visitors and local activities in a way that doesn't threaten the long-term health of the reefs and the ecosystem. After all, tourism is an important economic activity for the region, generating over 3 billion Australian dollars per year.

● Coral Bleaching
Another major threat to the reef is coral bleaching. When corals are stressed from such things as heat, carbon pollution, or severe cold, they expel the zooxanthellae, their major source of food, leaving a transparent skeleton. Some coral are able to feed themselves, but most starve without the algae.
PhotoSource: www.pbs.org/newshour/global-warming
▼Normal ▼Bleached

The bleached coral is not necessarily dead, and if the abnormal conditions cease and stability is maintained, the coral may regain the algae and eventually recover, but it takes a long time. For example, the ocean temperature rising one degree Celsius for a period of four week will trigger coral bleaching. If the temperature remains for over eight weeks, the coral begins to die and will not recover.
PhotoSource: https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/ ▼

ccording to biologist Dave Vaughn of the Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration in Florida, according to studies, “even the fastest growing corals need 10 to 15 years to fully recover.” https://www.livescience.com/64647-coral-bleaching.html
Then it will look like the photo to the right.

Unfortunately, the biggest threats to coral are global warming and carbon pollution in the air caused by the mining and use of coal. Recent reports indicate that coral bleaching is more widespread than believed previously. This is a serious situation, since at least 25% of all marine life depends on coral reefs at one point or another.
Crown Of Thorns Starfish ▼ ImageCredit: . John Hanson/Wikimedia Commons
PhotoSource: www.seychellesnewsagency.com/crown-of-thorns+starfish

● Crown-of-Thorns Starfish Infestations
Coral has natural enemies as well as its man-made adversaries. Crown-of-thorns starfish are marine invertebrates that feed on coral. Although they are natural inhabitants of the reef, certain conditions cause the population to expand, and they can wipe out the hard coral communities. Healthy reefs can recover in ten to twenty years, but those reefs already under stress take much longer.
Cyclone damage to GBR ▼ April 2014 - Image: Catlin Seaview Survey
PhotoSource: https://mashable.com/2014/06/19/great-barrier-reef-cyclone/

● Tropical Cyclones
The coral reef’s natural resistance to the effects of weather events has not been able to adapt to the shifting weather patterns resulting from climate change. Harmful weather events [tropical cyclones, wind, and rain] are more intense and more frequent in the last twenty to thirty years and they affect different locations. Such storms do extensive physical damage to the reefs [as seen in the photo] and are considered a major threat.

Cyclones are low-pressure systems that derive their energy from warm tropical oceans — they form when sea-surface temperature is above 26.5°C.

PUT THIS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST TO VISIT

Sources:
http://www.oceanwideimages.com/Large-Image.asp?pID=14154&cID=635&rp=search%252Easp%253Fs%253DFish%2BGreat%2BBarrier%2BRee
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8753630/Mass-starvation-of-dugongs-and-turtles-on-Great-Barrier-Reef.html
https://earthnworld.com/climate-change-turning-green-sea-turtles-female-great-barrier-reef/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/australia-s-great-barrier-reef-under-threat
http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/world/australia/newsletter-issue5-great-barrier-reef.html?_r=0
https://www.barrierreef.org/latest/news/coral-bleaching-update
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef/facts-about-the-great-barrier-reef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Barrier_Reef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall11/clark_j/whatshappening.html
http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/03/amazing-close-up-video-of-great-barrier-reef-animals/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/09/photogalleries/marine-new-species-photos/photo6.html
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html
https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/
https://www.livescience.com/64647-coral-bleaching.html
https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/07/mysterious-hole-found-in-great-barrier-reef-leads-to-incredible-discovery-7059490/
https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/killer-starfish-eating-up-great-barrier-reef.html
https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-polyps/
https://sciencing.com/coral-reefs-come-many-colors-5434662.html
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-global-warming-is-permanently-reshaping-the-great-barrier-reef
https://www.marineconservation.org.au/coral-bleaching/
https://www.aims.gov.au/docs/research/biodiversity-ecology/threats/cots.html
http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/our-work/threats-to-the-reef/climate-change/storms-and-cyclones

Photo Sources only:
https://www.changesinlongitude.com/free-things-to-do-in-cairns-australia/
https://www.thetourspecialists.com.au/travel-tips/great-barrier-reef/travel-tips-great-barrier-reef-faqs.313.html
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/killer-irukandji-jellyfish-threaten-tourists-at-great-barrier-reef-s0q6ws8x5
https://guardian.ng/news/boy-bitten-by-shark-in-australias-great-barrier-reef/
https://tropicdays.com.au/great-barrier-reef-trip-coral-types/
https://www.tripadvisor.com/VacationRentalReview-g297910-d8831222-Great_Barrier_Reef_Taiwan_Snorkel_tour_at_reef-Taichung.html
https://news.co.cr/fishing-tournament-costa-ricas-south-caribbean-capture-lionfish/66233/lion-fish-2/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/8753630/Mass-starvation-of-dugongs-and-turtles-on-Great-Barrier-Reef.html
https://www.australia.com/en/places/cairns-and-surrounds/guide-to-the-great-barrier-reef.html
https://coral.org/coral-reefs-101/coral-reef-ecology/coral-polyps/
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/secret-coral-reefs-tiny-fish-excel-dying/590092/
http://www.impactlab.net/2009/07/25/legramazing-satellite-images-of-earths-natural-wonders-from-space/

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THE POWER OF THE FIRST LINE

7/12/2019

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Matthew 19:30 – “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

THE FIRST WILL BE LAST
The first line of your book may be the last you write to finalize your novel. The first line you write will be the place holder until something better comes to mind, but at the very end, after the book is finished, you’ll most likely end up writing a new first line.

My message here is “Don’t spend a lot of time writing the first line or first chapter over and over.” Move on. Finish the novel. Then rewrite the first line and paragraph.

'RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES
Common Wisdom in the writing world claims the opening line sells your book and the closing line sells your next book. Whether that wisdom is accurate or not, most writers seem to agree the first line of a novel is oh, so very important. Some believe it can make or break your novel.

Think of the first line as a headline in a newspaper. This is what attracts the reader’s attention. It has to be intriguing enough to make the reader want to read the second line, and then the one after that.
Think about it. A reader wanders through the bookstore (or in this electronically oriented world, wanders through a website), spots a catchy cover, and picks up the book. Or, perhaps, this reader goes directly to the shelves holding the desired genre and studies the titles and author’s names. Next, read the cover blurb. “Hmm. That sounds interesting.” And then the reader opens the book and skims the first paragraph.

That’s when you have to hit ’em between the eyes. Knock ’em dead. It’s the first thing they read of the story itself, the first impression. You’ve only got a few seconds to sink in your teeth. It better be good.

If an author doesn’t make the effort to sculpt the words of the first line into a masterpiece, what level of attention has he/she taken with the key moments in the novel when interpretative pressure is at its peak, when capturing a complete fictional world is at its most pressing? As one writer put it, “Screw up the opening, screw up the book.”

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT NOT TO DO
So, how does a writer come up with the perfect first line? I wish I knew. If there was a failsafe formula, someone would be out there selling it and making a bundle. Instead, there are a plethora of opinions and guidelines—things an author should and should not do—and those vary to some extent. They all agree it should be intriguing and capture the reader’s interest. It’s the how of it they disagree on. Well, maybe not even the how, but more what is interesting and compels the reader to go on.

The Opening Line Should:
● Be intriguing,
● Hint of things to come,
● Be compelling,
● Establish an intriguing question
Make the reader want to find out more,
● Set the tone and flavor of the book
Show what kind of book it is,
● Incorporate the mood or theme of the story.

Suzannah Windsor Freeman adds the following to the list:
(writeitsideways.com/6-ways-to-hook-your-readers)

“● Make your readers wonder.
Put a question in your readers’ minds. What do those first lines mean? What’s going to happen? Intrigue with unanswered questions and they’ll keep reading.
● Begin at a pivotal moment.
By starting at an important moment in the story, the reader is more likely to want to continue so he or she can discover what will happen next.
● Create an interesting picture.
Description is good when it encourages people to paint a picture in their minds. Often, simple is best so it’s the reader who imagines a scene, instead of simply being told by the author.
● Introduce an intriguing character.
   The promise of reading more about a character you find intriguing will, no doubt, draw you into a story’s narrative. Most often, this is one of the main characters in the book.
● Start with an unusual situation.
   Show us characters in unusual circumstances, and we’ll definitely be sticking around to see what it’s all about.
● Begin with a compelling narrative voice.
   Open your story with the voice of a narrator we can instantly identify with, or one that relates things in a fresh way.”

In her book Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction author Patricia Highsmith suggest putting motion or a moving element (like a train or car) into the first line.

● Include something which moves and gives action
Highsmith encourages action rather than a sentence like, ‘The moonlight lay still and liquid on the pale beach’.” Showing rather than telling. “The movement needn’t be as noticeable as the examples I listed earlier. It can be more subtle like a door that closes and the character leans against the wall…”

The Opening Line Should Not Be:
● Bland or trite … or just plain boring.
● An overused references to the weather or time of the year.
If you choose to write about the weather, be careful. You run the risk of inviting comparisons to “It was a dark and stormy night,” (Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s classic first line from his 1830 novel, Paul Clifford) and your book won’t stand a chance.
● Overwritten
   Too often the writing sounds like the author is trying to impress someone (an agent or editor) with the prose, rather giving a sense of the story or drama.
● Cliché
   Watch out for both choice of words and/or the concept.
● Prologue
   Jeff Vasishta, writing for the Institute of Writers, includes prologues in the do-not category. “Take this one with a grain of salt. Many agents hate them but I’ve read a few books recently that have great prologues. Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s The Nest springs to mind. The author received $1,000,000 advance for the novel, which went on to be a best seller. So, agents don’t always know what they’re talking about.” www.instituteforwriters.com/opening-lines
The pro and cons of prologues is another topic which should be addresses separately.

With the exception of the prologue issue, I’d venture to say that most authors, editors, and agents agree on the above don’ts. Beyond these, references include advice not everyone may agree with.
● Dialogue
   Suzannah feels dialogue is all right somewhere on the first or second page, but not in the first
   line. She feels the reader won’t know who’s speaking or care.
● Excessive description
   Some description is good, but not when it’s long winded. Skip the purple prose and opt for something more powerful.
● Irrelevant information
   The first few lines of your story are crucial, so give your reader only important information.
● Introduction of too many characters
   I’m not sure how you introduce too many characters in one line, but I suppose it is possible. Suzannah doesn’t like to be bombarded with the names of too many characters at once. How is the reader supposed to keep them straight?

WHAT FORM SHOULD IT TAKE?
The form of the first sentence is not the same as the opening should do or not do. Feel free to disagree with me, but I believe they are not the same thing … well, not exactly, anyway.

Jacob M. Appel, a Writer’s Digest contributor, provides the following direction by listing the seven things he believes are different approaches to writing the “Killer Opening Line.” (https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-create-a-killer-opening-line-for-your-novel)

● A statement of eternal principle
   ▪ “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of
   a wife." (Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice)
   ▪ “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” (Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina ).”

● A statement of simple fact
   Of course, these have to be telling facts. The examples listed do the job.
   ▪ “I had a farm in Africa.” (Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa)
   ▪ “It was a pleasure to burn.” (Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451)
   ▪ “I am an invisible man.” (Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man).

● A statement of paired facts
One fact may not be particularly interesting or compelling. Paired with another fact that makes the reader think, “That’s odd,” raises a question and makes the reader want to find out more. The example Appel uses is from Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter:
   ▪ “In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.”
Two mutes always together is unusual. So, what’s up?

● A statement of simple fact laced with significance
   The key to understanding the story, or solving the mystery, or discovering a character’s secret, etc. can be hidden in the first line. The reader usually forgets until the mystery is revealed.

● A statement to introduce voice
   A first line can be used primarily to introduce a distinctive voice, rather than character or plot. Appel writes, “Stories that begin with a highly unusual voice often withhold other craft elements for a few sentences—a reasonable choice, as the reader may need to adjust to a new form of language before being able to absorb much in the way of content.”

“● A statement to establish mood
   Contextual information not directly related to the story can often color our understanding of the coming narrative. Take Sylvia Plath’s opening to The Bell Jar: “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” While the Rosenberg execution has nothing to do with the content of the narrative, it sets an ominous tone for what follows.” Jacob M. Appel,

“● A statement that serves as a frame.
Sometimes, the best way to begin a story is to announce that you’re about to tell a story. English storytellers have been doing this since at least the first recorded use of the phrase Once upon a time.” Jacob M. Appel,

ASK YOURSELF “WHY?”
We all have our favorite first lines, .and it’s always interesting to compare advice with published books to assess whether or not the words of wisdom hold true. When you do that, however, don’t look at the same old first lines. Look at the contemporary best sellers.

Trends change. What editors and agents are looking for today may not be the same as ten years ago. At one point, advice was to begin with conflict but, in fact, it depends on the kind of novel. The field of fiction writing accommodates many approaches to writing, and they can all be good. If it works, it works!

Ask yourself why a particular opening or first line works for you? Literary agent, Rachelle Gardner, writes that when she considered her favorite first lines, and asked herself why she like them, “I found each one appealed to me for a different reason. It might have:
● been clever
● been thought-provoking
● brought an immediate smile (or stab) of recognition
● struck me as poignant
● painted a really cool word picture
● set up an intriguing mystery
● introduced a character I want to know better
● made me laugh
● drawn me into an unfamiliar world
● used words in a beautiful way

The one thing they all have in common is they make me want to read more. They immediately draw me into the universe of the novel by the unique voice that first line begins to establish.” (https://rachellegardner.com/that-all-important-first-line/)

A SHORT PARAGRAPH ABOUT PARAGRAPHS
The fiction writing industry usually talks about the impact of The killer First Line. It’s great to be able to hook a reader with a single line – they are very handy as tag lines -- but I believe what we should be talking about is first paragraphs.

Many of the great “first lines” are more than one sentence. My advice: as long as the reader will read the whole paragraph (or as many lines in the paragraph for the hook) don’t sweat it. Some books will require more than one or two lines to create the hook. Read the list of first lines below.

COMPARISONS
When I first wrote this article, I listed a sampling of the first lines I’ve collected over the years; some good, some not-so-good. There was quite a variety, and several were first paragraphs rather than first lines. Quite a few were penned by mystery writer Dick Francis who, in my opinion, is one of the Masters of the First Line.

For this edition, I took Jeff Vasishta’s advice and looked at books that have been on the best seller list in 2019. Some of them clearly need more than the first and second lines to create the impact the author wants. These are in no particular order.

● WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by Delia Owens
“Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water grows into the sky.”

● CRUCIBLE by James Rollins
June 23, 1611 AD
Zugarramurdi, Spain
“Behind the iron bars, the witch knelt on a filthy bed of straw and prayed to God.”

● LIAR LIAR by James Patterson and Candice Fox
“SOMETHING WAS NOT RIGHT.
Dr. Samantha Parish noticed an odor as she pulled the door of her Prius closed.”

● AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
“You’re Invited: Seek women aged 18 to 32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality conducted by a preeminent psychiatrist. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. Call for Details.”

It’s easy to judge other people’s choices.”

● THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris
Prologue
Lale tries not to look up. H reaches out to take the paper being handed to him. He must transfer the five digits onto the girl that held it.

● THE RECKONING by John Grisham
Part I – The Killing
On a cold morning in early October of 1946, Peter Banning awoke before sunrise and had no thoughts of going back to sleep. For a long time he lay in the center of his bed, stared at the dark ceiling, and asked himself for the thousandth time if he had the courage. Finally as the first trace of dawn peeked through a window, he accepted the solemn reality it was time for the killing.

● PLAYING FOR KEEPS by Jill Shalvis
“Sadie Lane walked through the day spa, closing up for the night, alone as usual. Her coworkers had left, but even if they hadn’t, they’d just be milling around with their expensive teas, complaining about how hard this job was.”

● ANATOMY OF A DISAPPEARANCE by Hisham Matar
“There are times when my father’s absence is as heavy as a child sitting on my chest. Other times I can barely recall the exact features of his face and must bring out the photographs I keep in an old envelope in the drawer of my bedside table. There has not been a day since his sudden and mysterious vanishing that I have not been searching for him, looking in the most unlikely places.”

● BEHOLD THE DREAMERS by Imbolo Mbue’s
“He’d never been asked to wear a suit to a job interview. Never been told to bring along a copy of his resumé. He hadn’t even owned a resumé until the previous week when he’d gone to the library on Thirty-fourth and Madison and a volunteer career counselor had written one for him…”

● HARRY POTTER & THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling
“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the l ast people you’d expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they didn’t hold with such nonsense.”

If you want to pursue this further, this is the link to the American Book Review List of the One Hundred Best First Lines in American literature (novels) http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp.

I can’t say that a lot of those 100 Best resonate with me. Quite a few break one or two of suggestions about what not to do when writing a first line. Others, while they are first lines from great works of literature, aren’t exactly catchy as stand-alone opening lines.

I believe the first lines considered good and great may vary depending both time and location. For example, in my opinion, British readers are generally much more tolerant of lengthy sentences and difficult words than American readers. Although I haven’t really studied this topic in detail or done extensive research, it seems there are differences in “best first lines” in books written in earlier centuries (such as Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe written in 1719) and more recent works, as well as difference between literary fiction and popular fiction.
□
FIRST LINES BY DICK FRANCIS (my personal King of the First Line)

Flying Finish by Dick Francis
“You’re a spoiled, bad-tempered bastard,” my sister said, and jolted me into a course I nearly died of.

For Kicks by Dick Francis
“The Earl of October drove into my life in a pale-blue Holden which had seen better days.”

Risk by Dick Francis
“Thursday, March 17, I spent the morning in anxiety, the afternoon in ecstasy, and the evening unconscious.”

Hot Money by Dick Francis
“I intensely disliked my father’s fifth wife, but not to the point of murder.”

Straight by Dick Francis
“I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited by brother’s life, and it nearly killed me.”

Twice Shy by Dick Francis
“I told the boys to stay quiet while I went to fetch my gun.”

Dead Heat by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (2008)
“I wondered if I was dying. I wasn’t afraid to die, but such was the pain in my gut, I wished it would happen soon.”

Wild Horses by Dick Francis
“Dying slowly of bone cancer, the old man, shriveled now, sat as ever in his great armchair, tears of lonely pain sliding down crepuscular cheeks.”

Banker by Dick Francis
“Gordon Michaels stood in the fountain with all his clothes on.”

FIRST LINES BY JANET EVANOVICH

Four To Score by Janet Evanovich
”Living in Trenton in July is like living inside a big pizza oven. Hot, airless, aromatic.”

High Five by Janet Evanovich
“When I was a little girl I used to dress Barbie up without underpants. On the outside, she’d look like the perfect lady. Tasteful plastic heels, tailored suit. But underneath, she was naked.”

Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich
“The way I see it, life is a jelly doughnut. You don’t really know what it’s about until you bit into it. And then, just when you decide it’s good, you drop a big glob of jelly on your best T-shirt.”

FIRST LINES FROM OLDER MYSTERIES

The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie
“I have often recalled the morning when the first of the aonymous letters came.”

Unnatural Causes by P. D. James (1967)
“The corpse without hands lay in the bottom of a small sailing dinghy just within sight of the Suffolk coast.”

A Certain Justice by P. D. James (1997)
“Murderers do not usually give their victim notice.”

Devices and Desires by P. D. James (1989)
“The Whistler’s fourth victim was his youngest, Valerie Mitchell, aged fifteen years, eight months and four days, and she died because she missed the 9:40 from Easthaven to Cobb’s Marsh.”

“L” Is For Lawless by Sue Grafton (1995)
“I don’t mean to bitch, but in the future I intend to hesitate before I do a favor for a friend of a friend. Never have I taken on such a load of grief.”

“R” Is For Ricochet by Sue Grafton (2004)
“The basic question is this: given human nature, are any of us really capable of change? The mistakes other people make are usually patently obvious. Our own are tougher to recognize.”

The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman (1998)
“The body of Anderson Nez lay under a sheet on the gurney, waiting.“

Fear No Evil by Allison Brennan (2007)
“The sick and depraved had voted: Death by stabbing.
‘No.’
Kate Donovan’s whisper became a cry as she pocketed her cell phone, unable to respond to the text message her only remaining friend in the FBI had sent.”

Loves Music, Loves To Dance by Mary Higgins Clark (1991)
“The room was dark. He sat in the chair, his arms hugging his legs. It was happening again. Charley wouldn’t stay locked in the secret place. Charley insisted on thinking about Erin. Only two more, Charley whispered. Then I’ll stop.”

Visions In Death by J. D. Robb (Nora Roberts) (2004)
“She’d gotten through the entire evening without killing anyone. Lieutenant Eve Dallas, cop to the bone, figured the restraint showed enormous strength of character.”

FIRST LINES FROM OLDER NOVELS

Gone For Good by Harlan Coben
“Three days before her death, my mother told me—they weren’t her last words but they were pretty close—that my brother was still alive.”

Berg by Ann Quin
“A man called Berg, who changed his name to Greb, came to a seaside town intending to kill his father.”

Back When We Were Grownups by Anne Tyler (2001)
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”

A Frolic Of His Own by William Gaddis (1994)
“You get justice in the next world, in this world you have the law.”

Death In A Sunny Climate by Diane Shalet (1994)
“I sat at Michael’s desk, buried under a mountain of third-class mail. October 7, 1983. The second plea from Newsweek: YOU HAVE NOT RENEWED. PLEASE TELL US WHY. I answered for him: Because I died. Then I signed his name.”

Her Secret Agent Man by Cindy Dees (2005)
“Huge snowflakes drifted down around him in a winter-wonderland scene, and the boughs of the pine trees passing beneath his feet sagged under a heavy blanket of white. Neon-garbed skiers whooshed past, laughing, but up here on the ski lift, all was silent. Peaceful. Bucolic. And his palms positively arched with a need to kill the woman he was here to meet.”

The Medusa Game by Cindy Dees (2006)
“The bus the terrorists had demanded was just pulling up in front of the Olympic village apartment building. The casual observer wouldn’t see the dozen German army snipers lying in wait around the street, but Isabella Torres was no casual observer.”

The Reef by Nora Robers (1998)
“James Lassiter was forty years old, a well-built, ruggedly handsome man in the prime of his life, in the best of health. In an hour he’d be dead.”

Agnes And The Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer (2007)
“One fine August evening in South Carolina, Agnes Crandall stirred raspberries and sugar in her heavy nonstick frying pan and defended her fiancé to the only man she’s ever trusted. It wasn’t easy.”

The Spiral Path by Mary Jo Putney (2002)
“The trouble with reality was that it was so dammed real.”

A Time To Kill by John Grisham (1996)
“Billy Ray Cobb was the younger and smaller of the two rednecks. At twenty-three he was already a three-year veteran of the state penitentiary at Parchman. Possession, with intent to sell. He was a lean, tough little punk who had survived prison by somehow maintaining a ready supply of drugs that he sold and sometimes gave to the blacks and guards for protection.”

All The King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren
“The last time I saw Mason City I went up there in that big black Cadillac with the Boss and the gang, and we burned up that new concrete slab, and it was a long time ago—nearly three years ago, for is it now into 1939. But it seems like forever."

Evening In Byzantium by Irwin Shaw (1973)
“The plane bucked as it climbed through black pillars of cloud. To the west there were streaks of lightning. The seat-belt sign, in English and French, remained lit. The stewardesses served no drinks. The pitch of the engines changed. The passengers did not speak.”

I’ll Remember You by Barbara Ankrum (1999)
“Dusk seemed to hold its breath as the gunshot’s echo reverberated against the canyon’s rocky walls. Birds fell silent. Even the steady coastal breeze, which had only moments earlier relieved the thick summer evening, stilled as the two men stood at the top of the precipice, staring down into the well of darkness below.”

The Man From St. Petersburg by Ken Follet
“It was a slow Sunday afternoon, the kind Walden loved. He stood at an open window and looked across the park. The broad, level lawn was dotted with mature trees: a Scotch pine, a pair of mighty oaks, several chestnuts and a willow like a head of girlish curls.”

The Parasites by Daphne DuMaurier (1949)
“It was Charles who called us the parasites. The way he said it was surprising, and sudden. He was one of those quiet, reserved sort of men, not given to talking much or stating his opinions, unless upon the most ordinary facts of day by day, so that his outburst, coming as it did towards the end of the long wet Sunday afternoon, when we had none of us done anything but read the papers and yawn and stretch before the fire, had the force of an explosion.”

My Cousin Rachael by Daphne DuMaurier (1952)
“They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days. Not anymore, though.” [The novel also ends with this line.]

Baited by Crystal Green (2006)
“As another scream tore through the island forest, Katsu Espinoza stopped in her tracks, trying to get a lock on where the sound was coming from.”

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (2008)
“Since Maria had decided to die, her cat would have to fend for itself. She’d already cared for it far beyond the point where keeping a pet made any sense. Rats and mice had long since been trapped and eaten by the villagers.”

Key Witness by J. F. Freedman (1997)
“Early dark, time suspended between sunset and true night, the barest sliver of dying sunlight fading on the western horizon, flickering dull yellow-vermilion patches visible through the thick clusters of trees that bracket the narrow two-land road.”

Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan (1991)
“It seems there should have been some warning, but I felt none. Events were already in motion.”

A Western, unnamed (I think this may be from a movie, but I like it.)
“Quiet Town wasn’t.”

1984 by George Orwell
“It was a bright cold day and the clocks were striking thirteen.”□

Sources:
http://www.blog.ljboldyrev.com/2010/06/importance-of-first-line.html|http://crofsblogs.typepad.com/fiction/2006/04/that_allimporta.html
http://kaitnolan.com/2007/08/30/the-importance-of-opening-lines/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2007/may/10/openingsentencesblog
http://alternativereel.com/includes/top-ten/display_review.php?id=00117
http://www.bluecubiclepress.com/store.htm|
http://www.thefirstline.com/
https://www.thefirstline.com/https://www.thefirstline.com/
http://www.ehow.com/how_4679283_write-first-chapter-novel.html
http://murderby4.blogspot.com/2009/11/your-first-line-hook-that-gets-your.html
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art48800.asp
http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0934311.html
http://www.pantagraph.com/news/article_a125216a-649f-5414-88b5-76a688ea3b6a.html
2019 Sources
https://www.instituteforwriters.com/opening-lines-the-most-important-part-of-your-story.aspx
https://rachellegardner.com/that-all-important-first-line/
https://www.liternauts.com/how-to-write-the-first-paragraphs-of-your-novel/
https://writeitsideways.com/6-ways-to-hook-your-readers-from-the-very-first-line/
https://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/7-ways-to-create-a-killer-opening-line-for-your-novel
Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith
doc/writing/blogs/RochelleWeber-First Lines
07/25/2011 – updated May 29, 2019

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It Took More Than A Village To Put a man on The Moon: Margaret Hamilton, Software Engineer

7/5/2019

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APOLLO 11 – A CAST OF THOUSANDS
This month is the fiftieth anniversary of mankind’s first landing on the moon. July 1969! The BIG 5-0! The Apollo 11 mission was a “big deal” at that time in our history, and it is still a “big deal.”
Apollo 11 crew - Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin Photo y NASA - NASA Human Space Flight Gallery
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102412

No doubt celebrations will be held, and we’ll be hearing a lot about the historical event in the media. I’m sure the movie will be on TV every night for longer than many of us would like. Possibly we’ll even hear from some of those who denied the event ever happened and believe the moon landing to be the biggest hoax of all times.

During this momentous anniversary, we focus primarily on the men who made the nearly 500,000 mile journey … as we should … but let’s not forget the other 400,000 people who made the flight possible. All those others scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff necessary to deal with a vast number of system and subsystems necessary to put these men on the moon. That's a fair-sized city, not a village; one and a quarter person per mile.

I’m hoping, instead, that the American people in general will be exposed to one or all of the several American women who made the moon landing possible, in particular Margaret Hamilton, even though the US has yet to send a woman to the moon. Shame on us!

PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR MARGARET HAMILTON
Without her, there would have been no moon landing.
Official photo for NASA, 1989 - Photo source
scientificwomen.net/hamilton-margaret

Margaret Hamilton (née Heafield) was born in Indiana in 1936. After studying at the University of Michigan for a while, she transferred to Earlham College and graduated in 1958 with a B.A. in mathematics and a minor in philosophy. There she met James Hamilton and they subsequently married. After graduation she taught high school math.

Hamilton and her husband moved to Boston, where James planned to attend Harvard Law School. Her plan was to attend Brandeis University to study abstract math after her husband graduated, but she accepted an interim position as a programmer at MIT, working on programs to predict weather. While she was at MIT she also did postgraduate work in meteorology. In the early 1960s she transferred to MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory where she worked on military air defense systems and wrote programs to identify enemy aircraft.
Hamilton at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 1962
Credit: Margaret Hamilton; photo source:
Photo source: futurism.com/margaret-hamilton

FLY ME TO THE MOON
Hamilton moved on to a position at MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory (which later became the independent Charles Stark Draper laboratory) and was there when NASA contracted with the Lab to develop the guidance systems for the Apollo Program.

She headed the team responsible for developing the software for the guidance and control systems of the in-flight command and lunar modules. In later interviews (years after the fact) Hamilton said that computer science and software engineering were not yet disciplines at the time. The scientists and programmers simply learned by doing -- apparently over and over -- until it worked.

She and her colleagues developed the paradigm ideas in programming writing the code for the world’s first portable computer. “When I first got into it, nobody knew what it was that we were doing. It was like the Wild West. There was no course in it. They didn’t teach it,” Hamilton said.

In his article for Wired.com, Robert McMillian quote Hamilton’s response to an interview question about what it was like being a female in that environment.
“Then, as now, “the guys” dominated tech and engineering. Like female coders in today’s diversity-challenged
   tech industry, Hamilton was an outlier. It might surprise today’s software makers that one of the founding fathers
of their boys’ club was, in fact, a mother—and that should give them pause as they consider why the
gender inequality of the Mad Men era persists to this day … The world didn’t think much at all about software
    back in the early Apollo days.”

As the project progressed, it soon became apparent how crucial the software was to the success of the mission. By 1965, Margaret was responsible for all the onboard flight software.
   Margaret Hamilton inside mock-up of the command module.
Credit: MIT Photo Source: en.wikipedia.org//Margaret_Hamilton\

ASTRONAUTS DO NOT MAKE MISTAKES There are many significant achievements in Hamilton’s career; I won’t bother with the details. If you’re interested, I have a good list of sources.

In my opinion, there’s a significant reason why Hamilton stands out among the many thousands of engineers, programmers, scientists, and all the people who contributed to the success of Apollo 11. Her foresight saved the mission.

In addition to being the Mother of the field of Software Engineering, Hamilton was also a real mother with a daughter, Lauren, who, at this time, was about four years old. She would bring Lauren with her to work in the evenings and
on weekends, and the child would sleep or play while her mother Margaret and her daughter, Lauren
other wrote programs for the Apollo’s command module computer. Photo source: hackaday.com/margaret-hamilton

As the story goes, Lauren was playing with the MIT command module simulator’s display and keyboard unit when an error message appeared. The child had “crashed” the simulator by accidently activating a prelaunch program called P01 while the simulator was in flight.

As a result, Hamilton wanted to add error-checking code to prevent a crash under these circumstances, but was overruled by her NASA superiors. This was not something that could happen in space because, Hamilton was told, “Astronauts do not make mistakes.” Instead she programmed a “program note” available to NASA engineers and astronauts that said “Do not select P01 during flight.” And as it turned out, the event that “could never happen,” happened.

On the fifth day of the Apollo 8 mission, Jim Lovell inadvertently selected P01 during the flight, which deleted all the navigation data the mission had collected. Without it, the computer wouldn’t be able to plot the course back to earth. Hamilton and her team spent nine hours figuring out a way to save the day, and brought Apollo 8 home to earth. After that Hamilton had no trouble convincing NASA to let her design error and recovery software for future missions.

And sure enough, there was a critical moment in the Apollo 11 mission where Hamilton’s foresight saved that mission as well. Just minutes before the Lunar lander neared the Moon’s surface, alarms went off indicating a computer overload “with interrupts caused by incorrectly phased power supplied to the lander’s rendezvous radar.” The alarms meant the computer couldn’t handle all the tasks at once. Because of the alarms built into the flight software’s error detection and recovery techniques, the mission, which came close to being scrubbed, managed to land on the moon. Dr. Paul Curto, senior technologist who nominated Hamilton for a NASA Space Art Award, called Hamilton’s work “the foundation for ultra-reliable software design.”

WHERE NO WOMAN HAS GONE BEFORE
Hamilton remained with MIT until the mid-1970s, then left to work in private industry. She cofounded several software companies, and in March 1986, she became the founder and CEO of Hamilton Technologies, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The company was developed around the Universal Systems Language (USL) and its associated automated environment, the 001 Tool Suite, based on her paradigm of Development Before The Fact for systems design and software development. Her contributions to the field have continued throughout her career.

Based on what I read, one of the things that impressed me most about Margaret Hamilton was her constant focus on the human-computer connection, particularly in relation to the Apollo Missions. In 2009 she describer for MIT News her contributions to the Apollo software.
   “From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching
   it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission.
   Not only did it (the software) have to work, it had to work the first time. Not only did it have to be ultra-reliable,
   it needed to be able to perform error detection and recovery in real time. … We took our work seriously, many of
   us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure.
   Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a
mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. We had to find a way and we did.
    Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers.”

The world can thank Hamilton for expanding the notion of just what humanity could do on earth and beyond.

AWARDS
● 1986 - Hamilton received the Augusta Ada Lovelace Award, an honor bestowed by The Association for Women in Computing on individuals, men and women, who have excelled in two areas of endeavor: 1) Outstanding scientific and technical achievement, and 2) Extraordinary service to the computing community through their accomplishments and contributions on behalf of women in computing. (P.S. If you don't know who Ada Lovelace was, that will be coming.)

● 2003 - NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for scientific and technical contributions. The award of $37,200 was the largest awarded to any individual in NASA's history.

● 2009 - Outstanding Alumni Award from Earlham College.

● 2016 - Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama, the highest
civilian award in the United States. PhotoSource: hackaday.com/2018/margaret-hamilton

● 2017 - Computer History Museum Fellow Award, recognizing exceptional men and women whose computing ideas have changed the world.

● 2017 - A "Women of NASA" LEGO set went on sale featuring (among other things) mini-figurines of Hamilton, Mae Jemison, Sally Ride, and Nancy Grace Roman.

● 2018 – Hamilton was invested honoris causa by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

It saddens me (and angers me, a little) to point out that this is the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, to which Margaret Hamilton made such a large contribution, and almost twenty years passed before she was honored for her work. The rest of the honors have been awarded after the year 2000. Better Late Than Never.
□
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/
https://publications.computer.org/software-magazine/2018/06/08/margaret-hamilton-software-engineering-pioneer-apollo-11/
https://futurism.com/margaret-hamilton-the-untold-story-of-the-woman-who-took-us-to-the-moon
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(scientist)
https://sservi.nasa.gov/?question=first-woman-on-the-moon
http://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-code-developer-margaret-hamilton-receives-presidential-medal-of-freedom-1117
https://www.wired.com/2015/10/margaret-hamilton-nasa-apollo/
https://hackaday.com/2018/04/10/margaret-hamilton-takes-software-engineering-to-the-moon-and-beyond/
https://www.makers.com/profiles/596e0f42bea17725160a95c1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_landing_conspiracy_theories
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo11.cfm
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/jul/02/apollo-11-back-up-team
https://www.space.com/18145-how-far-is-the-moon.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Margaret-Hamilton-American-computer-scientist
http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817

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THE PHILOSOPHER’S CHICKEN: Which came First, the chicken or the egg?

6/28/2019

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AsapSCIENCE YouTube - Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown

DEATH OF A CLICHÉ
For lo those many years, perhaps for millennia, mankind has been plagued with the paradox of which came first, the chicken or the egg. The philosophical conundrum of the ages. How many zillion nights of sleep have been lost pondering this mind-bending, earth-shaking dilemma since Plutarch first posed the question in his essay “The Symposiacs” written in the first century?

We shall never know, but at last we can sleep soundly with the knowledge that modern science has settled the question once and for all. We can now retire this old cliché and relegate it to medieval lore.

Or can we?

YOU STILL HAVE TO TAKE SIDES
Wait a minute before you start! You still have to take sides, but the matter is now a rhetorical question; an intellectual disagreement about semantics. Think about it.

This cliché – Wikipedia calls it a metaphoric adjective – is used in situations where it is difficult or impossible to discern which of two events is the cause and which is the effect. All chickens hatch from eggs, but first a chicken needs to lay the eggs. Catch 22 (an alternate cliché for the same dilemma, albeit one of more recent origin).

In terms of the phrase or metaphoric adjective – not the situation to which it refers in real life -- the dilemma only occurs because we’ve been asking the wrong question, or at least being too vague. What kind of egg are we talking about?

THE ORIGINAL EARTH DWELLER
An Egg IS An Egg Is An Egg
Eggs came first. There is no question about that. Dinosaurs laid eggs millions of years before there was anything like a chicken. Fish laid eggs, primordial thingies that swam in the sea 500 million years ago laid eggs. None of them laid chicken eggs. An egg is merely a vessel completely surrounded by a membrane inside which an embryo can grow and develop until it is able to survive on its own. Comparison on hummingbird egg, Ostrich egg, and Elephant Bird egg
(extinct) at Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology, Los Angeles, CA

Going back millions of years, give or take, eggs needed water to survive. They were laid in the ocean, ponds and moist environments so the eggs didn’t dry up before they could produce offspring. Sometime between about 370 and 312 million years ago, amniotic eggs evolved which had three membranes and provided an all-in-one life support system, including nutrients, extra fluids, and a tough shell for protection.

This important event opened a world of opportunities for laying eggs on land rather than in water and for larger eggs. Evolution was and running. Today’s mammals, reptiles and birds are all descendants of the first amniotes. Photo by Rabarberian Jan, 8, 2018
https://imgur.com/gallery/jh6mY
The Question Redefined
Which came first: the chicken or the chicken egg?

Ah, ha!. Now that’s a question worthy of the Greek philosophers like Plutarch and Aristotle. When the question is about any old egg, science can produce a lineal time line showing that eggs preceded any kind of bird including a chicken. However, when the question defines what kind of egg, the cause and effect becomes a circular no-win argument.

Hats Off To Darwin
Using the redefined question about chicken eggs specifically, the answer is still the egg. How we get to that answer is less straightforward than the “random egg” conundrum.

The first species of anything on earth would take place as the result of genetic mutations over a long period of time. Some sources claim modern birds, including our philosopher’s chicken, evolved from small, carnivorous dinosaurs. The first intermediate species between birds and therapods, such as Archaeopteryx, lived during the late Jurassic, and the true ancestor of birds probably arrived during the late Cretaceous.
https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/which-came-first-chicken-egg

Fast forwarding from the first hard-shelled egg to 370-312 million years ago, to 58,000 years ago, we find the ancestors – the proto-chickens – cavorting around somewhere between India, Indonesia, and China. The male proto-chicken does whatever a proto-chicken does to attract a female and the result produces genetic mutation in the DNA of the zygot (a fertilized ovum). Two proto-chickens mated and produced the very first chicken with genetic mutations that replicated themselves in cell of the now-chicken growing in the egg.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson put it, "Which came first: the chicken or the egg? The egg—laid by a bird that was not a chicken."

Red Junglefowl Common Rooster
By Francesco Veronesi, Italy, IMG_5008, CC BY-SA 2.0 Photo source and photographer Cath Andrews
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47310294 https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/why-have-rooster.html

ARE WE DONE YET?
No, not quite. It’s complicated. Who knew there was so much to write about chickens. Well, after all, humans have been putting together arguments on both sides of the bed for 3,000 years.

Pro-Chicken Arguments
The Pro-Egg supporters tout the scientific explanations above, but you haven’t heard the Pro-Chicken side.

A 2010 research study conducted by two British universities (Sheffield and Warwick) has identified a protein (OC-17) found in modern chickens which is produced in the hen in utero and causes formation of thickened calcium carbonate around the eggs.

The Daily Mail (UK) quotes Dr. Colin Freeman, from Sheffield’s Department of Engineering Materials as saying, “It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first … The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process. … It's very interesting to find that different types of avian species seem to have a variation of the protein that does the same job.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294341/Chicken-really-DID-come-egg-say-scientists.html

The conclusion of the British study is that chicken eggs can only form with the help of the OC-17 protein found solely in the ovaries of a chicken. Because chickens lay more eggs more quickly than other animals, chicken eggs need the protein to accelerate the normal process. “Therefore, it would be impossible for a chicken egg to form unless it has emerged from within a hen’s body.”

This argues that the first hen hatched from a non-reinforced egg and then produced this protein for the first time, would be the first chicken.

ISN’T THAT THE SAME AS EVOLUTION?
It’s clear the little (inconsequential) question of which came first has been answered by science. Evolution. But that really isn’t what the question is all about.

It’s also clear in the realm of quantum mechanics. According to Dr Jacqui Romero (a quantum physicist at the University of Queensland, Australia) that, in fact, both came first because “In quantum mechanics, cause-and-effect is not so straightforward as being one event leading to another.” Who knew?

The big question Plutarch (46 CE – 119 CE) was posing dealt with whether or not the world had a beginning or whether it had existed forever and the implications that accompany the idea. I’m not going there.
□
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_or_the_egg
https://www.thestructuralmadness.com/2014/02/chicken-or-egg-causality-dilemma.html
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/finally-answered-which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg
https://youtu.be/1a8pI65emDE
https://www.science.org.au/curious/everything-else/which-came-first-chicken-or-egg
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/01/31/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg-heres-the-official-scientific-answer/#4bde9f6e8ab8
https://bigthink.com/mind-brain/which-came-first-chicken-egg
https://futurism.com/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg
http://time.com/4475048/which-came-first-chicken-egg/
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1013880/chicken-or-egg-what-came-first-quantum-mechanics-physics-philosophy
https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/genetic/question85.htm
https://www.valuewalk.com/2018/09/chicken-or-egg-scientists-answer/
https://www.theperspective.com/debates/which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-egg/
https://www.livescience.com/3072-eggs-chickens-scientists.html
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2562098
https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2013/02/11/171706769/the-egg-makes-its-move-in-a-new-version-of-which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-e
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1294341/Chicken-really-DID-come-egg-say-scientists.html

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Rhetorical And Literary Devices And Their Unfriendly Neighbors, The Clichés

6/21/2019

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Photo source: Clipart Library.com

MEET THE DIVICES, RHETORICAL and LITERARY
Rhetorical and literary devices have been around since the time of ancient Greece, and they haven’t changed much since the Greeks identified and named them. Neither has human nature.

These “devices” are the way human beings use language to express ideas and meaning in spoken and written words. Literary devices help us communicate thoughts with imagination and artistic flair; rhetoric appeals to logic (logos), emotion (pathos), ethics (ethos) and finally to time (kairos).

A person doesn’t need to be an academic scholar to understand and use them. We all employ them in everyday life.
As writers, it is our job to know and use these powerful tools to communicate our stories, to capture readers’ attention and hold them in thrall, to make them cry or laugh. We do a good job at it, but sometimes “terminology” gets in the way. Authors may know how to use devices, but aren’t always sure what to call them … or maybe I’m the only one who gets confused.

Let’s meet part of the Device Family. These are only a few, but the most important of hundreds.

● Figure of Speech
A Figure of Speech is a distinctive spoken or written expression; a word or phrase that departs from straight-forward, literal language. Richard Norquist writes “A figure of speech is a rhetorical device that achieves a special effect by using words in a distinctive way.” https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818

They are also referred to as figures of rhetoric, figures of style, rhetorical figures, figurative language, and schemes. Too many names may be part of the confusion.

Figures of speech are figurative language. Literal language explains exactly what it meant. Figures of speech are imaginative and indirect, using a comparison of concepts to more familiar objects or ideas. Usually, figures of speech are classified in five categories, although Norquist indicates there are hundreds and lists twenty of the most common. I’ll stick to a smaller number.
Photo Source: https://penlighten.com/hyperbole-examples

▪Hyperbole
Hyperbole overstates, emphasizes, or exaggerates a concept to emphasize or make a point and are descriptions are not intended to be taken literally.
Photo source: Clipart Library.com

▪Symbol
Symbols are images with non-literal meanings; they stand for something other than what they seem to be on the surface, such as a heart as a symbol for love.

Poetry and creative writing make extensive use of symbolism. Yourdictionary.com uses an example from William Blake’s Ah Sunflower where the author refers to life cycle and uses sunflowers to represent humankind and how they desire everlasting life. “Ah Sunflower, weary of time, Who countest the steps of the sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime Where the traveler's journey is done.”

Photo Source: K5learning.com ▪Simile

A simile compares two concepts or objects that are not alike. They demonstrate how even items that are unlike have some similarities. They also can be used to make a description particularly vivid and arresting, with the purpose of sparking an interesting connection in a reader's or listener's mind.

If the phrase includes the words “like,” “as,” “than,” or “resembles” for comparison purposes, then the phrase is a simile. Example: Happy as a clam.

▪Personification
Personification treats animals and inanimate objects as if they were human with human characteristics. The use of personification allows readers to relate to animals and objects as they imagine them reacting or feeling the way a human would; transfers a human emotion to something that is non-living. Yourdictionary.com uses the following examples of personification.
“The stars danced playfully in the moonlit sky.”
“The first rays of morning tiptoed through the meadow.” Photo source: Clipart Library.com

▪Metaphor
A Metaphor states that one thing is another thing. In metaphors the meaning is not literal, but the first thing mentioned shares common characteristics with the second. With metaphors, words or phrases that are ordinarily applied to one thing are applied to something you wouldn't necessarily pair it with.

Two metaphors in the same sentence (mixed metaphors) can create confusion. A metaphor does not contain the words “like” or “as.” Examples from Yourdictionary.com include:
“He broke my heart. - Your heart isn't literally broken; you're just feeling hurt and sad.”
"You light up my life. - Of course, no one can provide physical light. This expression is simply saying that someone brings them joy.”

▪Alliteration
The repetition of the beginning consonant sounds of neighboring words.
Example: "She sells seashells by the sea-shore."

▪Euphemism
A mild, indirect, or vague term that often substitutes a harsh, blunt, unpleasant, or offensive term. Examples: “Passed away - instead of died; Put to sleep - instead of euthanized; Whacked - instead of murdered.”

▼Photo source: commongunsense.me/the-irony-gun-lobby-logic

▪Irony
Irony occurs when there's a marked contrast between what is said and what is meant, or between appearance and reality. Sarcasm is an extreme form of irony, but in addition implies a little bit of a mean twist or a derogatory statement. In their purest form, that's a good way to distinguish the two whenever you're uncertain. Examples of verbal irony:

Saying, "Oh, fantastic!" when the situation is actually very poor
Saying something confusing is “...as clear as mud.”
A food critic telling the chef, "Your steak was as tender as a leather boot."

▪Onomatopoeia
The term for a word that sounds like what it is describing.

▪Oxymoron
Two contradictory terms used together. In fact, the word itself is an “oxymoron.” “Oxy” is Greek for "sharp" and "moron" means "dull".

▪Synecdoche
Occurs when a part is represented by the whole or, conversely, the whole is represented by the part. Example: “Do you like my new wheels?” = “Do you like my new car?”

Here endeth the Figures of Speech. Let's go on to other Rhetorical and Literary Devices.

● Analogy
An Analogy is a comparison of two things to show their similarities. Sometimes the things being compared are quite similar, but other times they could be very different. Nevertheless, an analogy explains one thing in terms of another to highlight the ways in which they are alike. A comparison of two otherwise unlike things based on resemblance of a particular aspect(s) or similarity, typically used for the purpose of explanation or clarification.

An analogy is also an inference that if two or more things agree with one another in some respects they will probably agree in others. The implication of likeness is in relationships, rather than appearance or qualities, such as an analogy of seasons of the year as compared to the stages of life.

We all make comparisons in speech and writing, and as you have seen similes and metaphors, both figures of speech, also make comparison, but in a specific manner. Analogies are not figures of speech because they are more like a logical argument. Examples given by Your Dictionary: https://examples.yourdictionary.com/analogy-ex.html

“▪Finding a good man is like finding a needle in a haystack: Finding a small needle in a pile of hay takes a long time, so the task at hand is likely to be hard and tedious.

▪That's as useful as rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic: It looks like you're doing
something helpful but really it will make no difference in the end.

● Turn Of Phrase
A Turn of Phrase is an expression worded in a distinctive way, especially one which is particularly memorable or artful; a manner of expression; spoken or written expression; a way of saying something. The following examples are from Wikipedia.

A Turn of Phrase may be a Figure of Speech, but not necessarily.

▼ Photo source: www.cdouloff.com/hosting

● Idiom
A group of words established by common usage as having a meaning not logically deducible from those of the individual words (e.g., raining cats and dogs, see the light). It doesn’t mean what the words say.

It can also be the grammatical or structural usage of a language that is peculiar to itself either grammatically (such as no, it wasn't me) or in having a meaning that cannot be derived from the conjoined meanings of its elements (such as ride herd on for "supervise")

Examples: http://www.scholastic.com/printables/promosite/pdfs/0439237785_e039.pdf
“▪ We’re in hot water. – We’re in trouble.
▪ We don’t see eye to eye. – We don’t agree.
▪ It’s no skin off my nose. – I don’t care, because it doesn’t affect me.
▪ The cat has your tongue. – You can’t say anything"

● Expression
An expression is the process of making known one's thoughts or feelings; the act, process, or instance of representing those thoughts and feelings in a medium, such as words. Symbolism.

● Adage
A well known and wise saying or short statement expressing a general truth that has become widely accepted as a general truth and reflection of life. They are pithy and philosophical. Examples: ▪The early bird catches the worm.
▪ A penny saved is a penny earned. ▪ Eat to live, and not live to eat."

● Aphorisms
An opinion-based, concise statement accepted for truth, short and often witty. Aphorisms are considered to be definitions or concise statements of a principle, a matter-of-fact sentiment, and generally accepted as truth. Examples: ▪ A bad penny always turns up.
▪ A barking dog never bites. ▪ A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Photo source: twitter.com/idiomland/status

●Proverb
A phrase or short sentence that expresses ideas well-known by many people, words of wisdom, truth, or morality based on common sense and practical experience; a basic truth or rule of conduct which should be followed by all. Examples:
▪ Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.
▪ Money doesn’t grow on trees. ▪ Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

WAIT JUST A DARN MINUTE!
Every example here qualifies as being a cliché. Now you’re telling me these are all perfectly acceptable literary devices? I can use a metaphor but I should avoid clichés like the plague? No wonder I’m confused.

MEET YOUR UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBORS, THE CLICHÉS

Ever since I began writing with the intent of becoming published, I’ve battled with the cliché. I know what a cliché is -- personally, I like cliché; it’s my best language -- but I know they are a writing weaknesses most disliked by editors and possibly by readers.
So, in my pursuit of excellence, I’ve tried to pin down the pure essence of the cliché with the intention of avoiding them as ordered. There are plenty of definitions available.

●Oxford English Dictionary
“▪ A phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought.
▪ A very predictable or unoriginal thing or person
▪ A stereotype or electrotype”
●Merriam Webster
“▪ A trite phrase or expression also: the idea expressed by it.
▪ A hackneyed theme, characterization, or situation.
▪ Something (such as a menu item) that has become overly familiar or commonplace.”
●Stephen Wilbers
“▪ A phrase or expression used so frequently that it has become trite and tedious.”
●Grammar Monster
“▪ An overused and worn-out expression used to convey a popular thought or idea.”

Okay, okay! I get it. A cliché is an action, opinion, thought, story plot, phrase, event, fashion statement, name – pretty much anything -- that has been overused to the extent that it loses both the original/ true meaning and its novelty, becoming very predictable and boring.

However, frequent use of a word in writing and speaking is one of the major requirements for a word or phrase to be included in the dictionary. We can thank modern communication technology and the rate of change in our society for speeding up the process to the point that by the time a word or phrase is used commonly enough to put in the dictionary, it has become a cliché. Just sayin’.

Because these phrases are used often, everyone understands what they mean in the current context. The original meaning may not be the same, but they say something true about the world we live in. Something about the human experience, something enduring. That is, perhaps, why they may outlive the original meaning. They are clichés for a reason. In fact, some words have been saved from extinction primarily because they were imbedded in a lasting adage, proverb, or idiom. In the 21st century, we probably wouldn’t say we wend our way to through the park. We would say “We went through the park.”

Here’s another problem: A phrase that is familiar and boring to one person may be different for someone else.

YA GOTTA KNOW WHEN TO CHOOSE’EM; KNOW WHEN TO LOSE’EM
Relax! Hopefully, humanity won’t be facing any more plagues, and the Cliché Police won’t arrest you if you use one. All of us use them, particularly in speech.

Is Nothing Simple?
There are two types of clichés: figurative and literal.
● Literal cliché = A common overused phrase which can be translated literally.
“All’s well that ends well,” means exactly what it says.
● Figurative cliché = A common overused phrase which, if translated in any other language, they will not make any sense at all. “It’s raining cats and dogs,” if translated, wouldn’t make any sense. P.S. It doesn’t mean anything in English, either.

Really! These need separate names? Oh, come on.

When To Use Them
Leslie Jamison writes that “Clichés lend structure and ritual and glue: They are the subterranean passageways connecting one life to another … They allow us to look outward, to recognize the ordinariness of our experience, to understand the resonances between our own lives and the lives of others. They privilege commonality over singular self-expression. They humble us toward one another.” https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/books/review/why-do-we-hate-clich.html

That’s a big job for a little cliché. I’m not sure I agree with all of it, but I do understand how clichés can connect our lives. In my opinion, the use of clichés in our writing is all right if it is thoughtful and there for a purpose:
● When they make sense and aren’t easily misunderstood.
● When you want to be in sync with readers who use the same language style.
● In dialogue, when that is the way your character(s) speak.
● When their use can make a complex topic easier to understand.
● When you want to befuddle a foreign listener who doesn’t speak much English.
● When you can give it a little twist to make it more imaginative.

Leah McClellan say, “Seriously, people. Don’t worry about them too much. The cliché naysayers are clichés themselves and fit right in with the grammar Nazis.”

When To Lose Them
Clichés are general and lacking in specificity and complexity; thus their appeal and acceptance to a wide range of people. For the same reason, they do not make memorable or profound contributions to your writing. They are thought of as “bad” because they imply no thought was given to them. They don’t represent any original thinking or imagination.

Readers skip over them. So, if you are writing about something you feel is important, you don’t want the reader to be blind to your words. If they don‘t see your clichés, they won’t see the rest of the text. Lose the clichés because they:

● Make you seem boring. By using a cliché, you’re telling your reader that you lack originality, making them want to yawn and stop reading your book.
● Make your writing interchangeable with anybody else’s.
● Are vague. Specific details and explanations make better evidence than generalizations and trite phrases.
● Give the appearance of laziness and avoiding creative work.
● Make the author lose credibility. Your reader will not trust you as an authoritative source if you can’t come up with a better description than a cliché.
● Are poor substitutes for actual evidence, and are not strong commentary for making a point.
Clichés work against an author when they replace the writer’s own voice and message and supplant our thoughts.

THE REVELATION
The big news is that a cliché is not a part of speech or a literary device. Any words, concept, idea, etc. used too often becomes cliché. Any of the figures of speech or literary and rhetorical devices can be a cliché; anything can. Fashion, ideas, words, actions, colors … you name it.

Just as you look for inappropriate clichés in your writing, you should look for them in your characters and plot as well.□

Sources:
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818
https://penandthepad.com/list-five-types-figures-speech-8443530.html
http://www.idionconnection.com/proverbs.html
https://literarydevices.net/figure-of-speech/
http://www.literarydevices.com/symbolism/
http://learnersdictionary.com/qa/Idioms-metaphors-similes-and-hyperbole
https://www.britannica.com/art/figure-of-speech
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cliches.html
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/28878/when-should-i-use-archaic-and-obsolete-words
https://www.merriam-webster.com
http://www.wilbers.com/FigurativeLanguage.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/c/g/clicheterm.htm
http://grammar.about.com/od/qaaboutrhetoric/f/whatarecliches.htm
http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/12-cliches-all-writers-should-avoid
http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/cliches.htm
http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-tips-to-bypass-cliche-and-melodrama
https://tobiasmastgrave.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/what-is-a-cliche/
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clich%C3%A9#Alternative_forms
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/books/review/why-do-we-hate-clich.html
http://writing2.richmond.edu/writing/wweb/cliche.html
http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/cliches.html
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/cliches/
http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-cliches.html
http://www.clichelist.net/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/help/faq-words-into-dictionary
https://literaryterms.net/cliche/
https://literaryterms.net/figures-of-speech/
https://literaryterms.net/how-to-write-an-aposiopesis/
https://literaryterms.net/trope/
https://literaryterms.net/figures-of-speech/
https://literaryterms.net/zeugma/
https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-lay-scientist/2015/mar/03/why-the-oed-are-right-to-purge-nature-from-the-dictionary
https://www.thoughtco.com/top-figures-of-speech-1691818
https://www.britannica.com/art/figure-of-speech
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device
https://www.virtualsalt.com/rhetoric.htm
http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_ld.html
https://knowyourphrase.com/raining-cats-and-dogs
http://simplewriting.org/why-cliches-can-be-good-for-your-writing/
http://www.be-a-better-writer.com/cliches.html
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/cliches/
https://unravellingmag.com/articles/euphemisms/
http://www.oogazone.com/2018/top-singing-clip-art-library/top-girl-singer-clipart-library/
https://www.topsimages.com/images/silly-cartoon-laughing-7e.html https://twitter.com/idiomland/status/1025013895692513281
http://www.cdouloff.com/hosting/99_kyunghwa/idiom3.html
https://lifebeyondthekitchen.com/creatively-crafty-link-party-153/
https://commongunsense.me/2015/04/28/the-irony-of-the-gun-lobby-logic/

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ACHITECT MARION MAHONY GRIFFIN

6/7/2019

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My formal training is in architecture and, although that part of my life has been relegated to a box in my closet, along with other faded souvenirs of past existences, architecture still remains a passion. Sometimes I really miss it.

I spent most of my career in urban planning, a related field of endeavor, at times requiring many of the same skills as architecture, but not architecture. When I’m feeling nostalgic, I wonder why I took that path. Then I remember how difficult it was for a woman to get a job in the field, even in my generation, and I recall some of the pioneers in my field who did “make it” and made a lasting impression on the world.

MARION MAHONY GRIFFIN
Marion Mahony Griffin, a woman you’ve probably never heard of, was one of the first licensed female architects in the world, but she was also the first employee of Frank Lloyd Wright, a name you are likely to be familiar with know. One of the twentieth century’s most renowned architectural critics, Reyner Banham, once described Marion Mahony Griffin (1871–1961) as “America’s (and perhaps the world’s) first woman architect who needed no apology in a world of men.”
Marion Mahony the same year she went to work for Frank Lloyd Wright
Photo source: historyrat.wordpress.com/marion-mahony-griffin

Their pleasant existence there tragically ended when Marion was eleven. Her father died and later, after their house burned down, her mother Clara and the five children moved to Chicago. An aunt, Myra Perkins, moved in with them to take care of the children while Clara Mahony studied for and passed the examinations to become an elementary school principal.

A family friend funded Marion’s higher education. Influenced by her cousin Dwight Perkins, she attended MIT and studied architecture. She graduated in 1894, the second woman to receive a degree in architecture from that university (Sophia Hayden was first and an associate of Marion’s), and went to work for her cousin Dwight in Chicago. Below, the three female graduates from MIT 1894: Marion Mahony, Harriet Gallup, Sara Hall, the first women to receive degrees in Architecture. Photo Source: chicagopatterns.com/marion-mahony-griffin

Wright’s “Capable Assistant”
Cousin Dwight happened to share a building (Steinway Hall) with several other young and progressive-minded architects, including Frank Lloyd Wright. After working for her cousin for two years, Mahony was hired as Frank Lloyd Wright’s first and, at the time, only employee. Mahony worked for Wright off-and-on for over fourteen years and became good friends with Wright and his wife, Catherine Tobin Wright (Kitty) and the rest of Frank’s family.

She passed her state licensing exams in 1898 and was probably the first women licensed as an architect in the United States. During this time she designed her own buildings but also heavily influenced Wright’s designs and did the drawings of Wright’s projects. Her renderings became identified with his work and were key in establishing his reputation.

The only credit she got was being called by Wright “His capable assistant.”

David Amberg House, Grand Rapids 1909 Mahony Irving House, Decatur, Ill., 1909 Mahony with von Holst Mahony House, Elkhart, Ind., 1907 by Mahoney
PhotoSource:www.historygrandrapids.org/amberg PhotoSource:www.mcnees.org/decatur_Mahony PhotoSource: commons.wikimedia.org/mahony

Mahony rendered drawings in a fluid style derived from Japanese woodblock prints and, with it, she blended the natural environment surrounding the elevations as integral to the design. Her artwork was defined by her innovative representations of nature in which the land and architectural forms were inseparable.

This was a new technique which people identified as Wright’s hallmark (and attributed to Wright himself) and soon her style of rendering became the standard for architectural presentations throughout the profession.

PRAIRIE STYLE ARCHITECTURE
Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the father of the Prairie Style of Architecture, although the movement involved others, a reaction of young American architects in the Midwest to the then-currently dominant Revivalist style.

The group of architects working at Steinway Hall were dedicated to creating a new American architecture suitable to the American Midwest that was independent of historical styles. They didn’t call their new style the “Prairie school”; it was coined later by architectural historian H. Allen Brooks. Marion Mahony flourished working side-by-side with these architects in a vigorous intellectual and artistic debate.

Wright relocated his office to Oak Park outside Chicago, and it became the Mecca of the new style of architecture. In addition to Frank Lloyd Wright, inspired by Louis Sullivan and the Arts and Crafts movement, the architects associated with the New School of the Middle West “included George Elmslie, Myron Hunt, George Washington Maher, Dwight Perkins, William Gray Purcell, Thomas Talmadge, and Vernon Watson, as well as Wright’s later associates Marion Mahony, Walter Burley Griffin, William Drummond and Francis Byrne.” https://flwright.org/researchexplore/prairiestyle

Even today, Mahony is identified as a “later associate” even though she was his first employee. What’s with that?

A major characteristic of this style is its integration and unity with surrounding landscape and horizontal lines intended to reflect and amalgamate the structure with the native prairie landscape of the Midwest. The style is earmarked not only by the horizontal emphasis, but flat or hipped roofs with broad eaves, windows marching across the façade in horizontal bands and restrained decoration with natural motifs.
Adolph Mueller House 1911 Designed by Marion Mahony
Photo source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/527906387542891944/?lp=true

THE WASMUTH PORTFOLIO
In 1909, when Wright left for Europe to publish a book on his designs (The Wasmuth Portfolio), he offered to leave the studio’s commissions to Mahony, who wisely declined. Hermann von Holst wasn’t as smart and took over only to find that Wright had been paid most of the money in advance.

Wright, the money, and Wright’s married client and neighbor, Mamah Borthwick Cheney, were in Europe together, and it soon became apparent that none of them were coming back soon.

Mahony was incensed that Wright had abandoned his family and marriage. There were no kind words for Frank Lloyd Wright from Marion Mahony, and there were hard feelings between them. She was hired back into the firm by Von Holst on the condition that she had full control of the designs. In that position she designed several of Wright’s commissions for which Wright reaped the credit.

In 1910 the Wasmuth Portfolio, the book of Wright’s designs, was published in Germany, and the project made Frank Lloyd Wright world famous. It is now believed Marion Mahony created over fifty percent of the drawings (possibly more) in the Wasmuth Portfolio. She wasn’t even mentioned as draftsman or illustrator, much less as an architect or collaborator on the designs.

Unity Temple 1905 Wasmuth Library
PhotoSource: www.curbed.com/mahony Photo source: www.timeout.com/chicago

Bock Ateliers 1910 Wasmuth Portfolio Plate LXII Photo source: Pinterest
PhotoSource: www.steinerag.com/Bock_Ateliers 2.bp.blogspot.com/_ILuyCbeYKOc Photo Source: hoydenabouttown.com/macdonald-and-mahony

Lance Tawzer, curator of exhibits for the Elmhurst History Museum where an exhibit of Mahony’s work was shown, says, "She was a woman doing a man's job at the turn of the century, which was of course very unusual. It's only recently that we're starting to see her legacy and her importance be recognized."

PhotoSource: https://www.classicist.org/articles/marion-mahony-griffin/

LIFE GOES ON
In 1911, Mahony married architect Walter Burley Griffin, who also worked in Wright’s Oak Park office. They opened their own business together and ultimately designed and built hundreds of projects throughout the world. When they won the commission to design the new Australian capital Canberra, they moved to Australia. There they developed a construction method called knitlock construction.

Although Mahony and Wright had a permanent falling-out when he left his family, Wright didn’t hesitate to emulate, inexactly, the Knitlock method in his block houses in California in the 1920s. According to placesjournal.org, he also never lost an opportunity “to reject and publicly renounce his former association with Mahony and her husband, both of whom had worked closely with him at Oak Park, one might easily wonder whether Wright’s very public expressions of disdain and disrespect for his former assistants were fueled by insecurities and disappointments exacerbated by their earlier closeness.”

The Saltar House in Castlecraig, Australia, is one of the few houses designed by Mahony that is still standing and has been restored. PhotoSource: http://www.7dayadventurer.com/2014/09/15/the-wizard-of-castlecrag-ii-keeping-faith-with-the-landscape/

Marion Mahony retired from the firm while in her sixties and spent time documenting Australia’s natural beauty and cataloging indigenous plant life, using the principles of her anthroposophical beliefs to guide her work of running a kindergarten, and supporting the arts and the community’s shared intellectual and religious pursuits.

In early 1936, Mahony’s husband was offered the design for the United Provinces Industrial and Agricultural exhibition in India. Marion came out of retirement to help him, for there were many buildings to be constructed in a period of eight months. In 1937, Walter died suddenly of peritonitis following surgery for a burst gallbladder. He was buried there. Marion was needed to settle the affairs of the Griffin architectural business, and the project was completed by another architect on the project.Mahony returned to the Chicago in 1938 and eventually wrote a memoir which was never published -- and which did not have any kind words for Frank Lloyd Wright -- and continued to lecture, design, and write, but refused to do any more architectural work until her death in 1961.
Marion Mahony Griffin in later years
Photo source: www.handeyesupply.com/marion-mahony

CONCLUSION
Marion Mahony was a brilliant, gifted and versatile architect, draftsperson, designer and artist. She broke plenty of “glass ceilings” long before the term existed. I doubt anyone could say Marion Mahony Griffin had a bad life or was unsuccessful. Quite the opposite. She was a pioneer for women in architecture but also in the women’s rights movement.

● Marion Mahony was the second woman to get a degree in architecture from MIT, and one of the first women licensed to practice architecture (perhaps in the world).

● She revolutionized the way architecture was presented within the whole profession worldwide.

● She played a strong role in helping to create a distinctly American style of architectural design.

● Her design work spanned continents, from envisioning whole cities, designing architectural projects large and small, to painting and designing decorative housing elements, and

●Last but not least, her designs and illustrations made many of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous projects possible… some completely without him!

However, because she was a women, she never received the acclaim she deserved. Even in publications today, her husband Walter Burley Griffin is given the credit for the work of their firm, even when Marion was the sole designer.

At the time she was writing her memoir, she admits that her memory was not what it had been. Claire Zulkey writes in curved.com “Something that did not escape Marion’s memory, however, was her hatred of Wright, whose reputation enjoyed a revival at the time, as he worked on the Guggenheim, enjoyed a brisk private practice, and was the subject of an exhibit at the MOMA. Marion never names him directly, but it’s accepted that he’s who she had in mind in writing, “The Chicago School died not only because of the cancer sore in it—one who originated very little but spent most of his time claiming everything and swiping everything.” https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/8/15755858/marion-mahony-walter-burley-griffin-wright-drawings

At the age of 90, Marion Mahony Griffin died, financially poor, in Cook County Hospital. Her ashes were interred with no marker. There is now a small plaque in memory of her at Chicago’s Graceland Cemetery, which is also the final resting place of Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and her cousin Dwight Perkins.

Sources:
https://historyrat.wordpress.com/2011/07/28/marion-mahony-griffin-breaking-through/
http://www.prairieschoolarchitecture.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Mahony_Griffin
https://pioneeringwomen.bwaf.org/marion-mahony-griffin/
https://www.revolvy.com/page/Marion-Mahony-Griffin
https://www.handeyesupply.com/blogs/hes/35145729-marion-mahony-griffin-the-artist-architect-behind-the-prairie-school
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/arts/design/01maho.html
https://www.classicist.org/articles/marion-mahony-griffin/
https://www.pbs.org/wbgriffin/marion.htm
https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/8/15755858/marion-mahony-walter-burley-griffin-wright-drawings
https://placesjournal.org/article/marion-mahony-griffin/?cn-reloaded=1
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marion_mahony_griffin,_vetrata_dalla_gerald_mahony_residence,_1907.jpg
https://flwright.org/researchexplore/prairiestyle
http://myfranklloydwright.com/2018/08/19/original-wasmuth-portfolio-frank-lloyd-wright-1910-1-of-only-30-remaining/
http://www.historygrandrapids.org/photo/4517/amberg-house
http://www.mcnees.org/architecture/prairie_arch_images/illinois/decatur/flw_irving_hse_decatur_west_3_remc.jpg
http://www.7dayadventurer.com/2014/09/15/the-wizard-of-castlecrag-ii-keeping-faith-with-the-landscape/
https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/01/01/arts/20080101_MORG_SLIDESHOW_index/s/morg5.html
https://www.handeyesupply.com/blogs/hes/35145729-marion-mahony-griffin-the-artist-architect-behind-the-prairie-school

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BACK TO THE SALT MINE

5/31/2019

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BACK TO THE SALT MINES
We all know the expression "back to the salt mines" means it's time to return to school, work or some activity that is hard and unpleasant (like finishing that last scene in a chapter that's been so hard to write), by implying the speaker is a slave to the salt mine.

Yet every year between 1.7 and 2 million people go back to the salt mine, at least one mine in particular, and they go because they want to – not because of forced labor. Not only that, the Wieliczka Salt Mine in southern Poland was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and proclaimed by Poland as a national monument in 1994.

A salt mine?

Table salt is a commodity we take for granted these days. You can purchase it everywhere for a reasonable price, but that wasn't always true. In ancient times, it was quite precious, and until the industrial revolution, it was hard to come by. Roman soldiers were paid in salt, and as early as Roman times, being sent to work in the salt mines was tantamount to being sent into slavery with a very limited life expectancy.

So why would a salt mine end up on the list of World Heritage sites?

THE WIELICZKA SALT MINE
Four hundred and forty-three feet beneath the City of Wieliczka (population 20,000, in the metropolitan area of Karków, Poland), the Wieliczka Salt Mine has continuously extracted table salt from the time it was constructed by a local duke in the 12th century. The salt mine was first mentioned in 1044 and didn't cease operations until 1992 (some sources say 1996 and 2007), due to heaving flooding. Regardless, it's one of the oldest and longest operating salt mines in existence and still produces brine.

That's impressive … but I'm really not all that interested in mines.

From the outside, the mine appears exceptionally well kept but ordinary, and on the interior, you will find the expected look and equipment of a salt mine.

Source Of Photos: https://experiencecracow.com/offer/Tours/discover-wieliczka-salt-mine/

This mine reaches depths of 1,075 feet and is over 178 miles long. The salt deposits formed here in the Miocene Epoch, some 13.6 million years ago. The rock is varying shades of gray in color resembling granite instead of the tiny white crystals we know and love. Interesting, yes. But World Heritage Site quality? I don't know.
Morton Salt underneath Lake Erie
Photo Source: www.businessinsider.com/photos-salt-mine

NOT YOUR GRANDMA'S ORDINARY SALT MINE
The salt mine itself, while interesting and now housing a museum of the history of the salt mining industry, isn't what attracts over a million visitors a year. Over the centuries, tens of generations of miners not only extracted salt, but they also left behind them a record of their time there in awesome sculptures and architecture, all made of salt.

The tourists who visit have to descend 378 wooden steps to enter an unexpected and amazing world where they can take a 2 kilometer tour (some sources say 2 miles and 3.5 kilometers) of the mine corridors, sixteen lakes, twenty chapels (including the Cathedral), and incredible art works. (There is an elevator to go up to the surface which rises at twelve feet per second.)

Interior of Cathedral Highest space Stairs from entrance, Photo Source: Walkways through the mine
Photo source: www.tiqets.com/en/krakow www.seekrakow.com/wieliczka Photo source: parenthoodandpassports.com/wieliczka

These works of art and architecture weren't created by great artists under commission to some King, but by the workers themselves, from the middle ages to the present, by hacking rock from the walls and sculpting statues and reliefs in the salt rock which resembles unpolished granite. These chapels were places where the miners could capture a few moments of retreat to worship during their labors. There are twenty chapels, the largest and most magnificent, the Cathedral.

The Cathedral is astounding in terms of sheer size and the way in which the miners breathed their Catholic spirit into the cathedral and art works. It took 68 years to complete.
Main Cathedral Floor of Cathedral - Photo Source: St. John Chapel The Salt Chandeliers: Photo by
Photo by Michal Osmenda https://krakville.com/wieliczka-salt-mine Photo by steve_w on Flickr Matthew.kowal on Wikimedia Commons

Closeup of Chandeliers - Photo Source: The St. Kinga Chapel - Photo source: Joseph & Mary Carving - Photo source:    Photo source: added by Zanar1
perceptivetravel.com/wieliczka-salt-mine/    sumfinity.com/wieliczka/kinga www.tinggly.com/tour-wieliczka    www.fanpop.com/wieliczka

Many of scenes represent well-known stories from the Bible. Others represent other historical events and also the imagination of the miners. One wall is dedicated to the 14th century warrior Casimir the Great.

The legend of St. Kinga.    The Last Supper Carving Elves - not all carvings religious Bas-relief of salt in Staszic Chamber
www.simplysaratravel.com/wieliczka    www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/ www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/