The world also heard, later, that Louganis had tested positive for HIV and there was something of a hullabaloo, not dramatized here, about whether blood from his head wound could have endangered other swimmers.Īnyway, writer Alan Hines drops that subject quickly and we're off down the inevitable yellow-brick flashback road. Wags may well dub it "Scratching the Surface."Ī couple of good performances, however, work valiantly in its favor and make it almost worth seeing.īased on the autobiography co-authored by the Olympic diving champion, "Surface" opens with a reenactment (which includes, apparently, some actual news footage) of Louganis conking his head on a diving board at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, a conk heard round the world. It comes off as mealy-mouthed and tentative, the film equivalent of the sissy-boy its hero is sometimes accused of being. Unfortunately the film, which premieres tonight at 9 on the USA cable network, isn't very good. You may feel inclined to root for a movie like "Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story," partly because it deals with subject matter that is still considered touchy but really shouldn't be: Its central character is homosexual and trying to come to grips with that.
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As could probably be predicted from his extensive writing history, he's a first-rate observer, well able to portray pathos without sentimentality. Swift goes to Tangier Island and talks with its inhabitants, lives there, gets inside their lives and struggles of the place. “Sixty years later it was the size of a small bedroom. “Settlers quit Sharps Island, not far to the south, which had stretched across 449 acres before the Civil War and was still big enough to merit a three- story hotel and a steamship pier in the 1890s,” he writes. Quickly and steadily in the modern era, as Swift makes clear, all that has changed. The island itself was once part of a much larger chain of land, a booming string of fishing communities with thriving hotels, busy streets, crowded schools, working post offices, and hard-working families who'd spent over two centuries plying the waters of the bay. Thanks to a savage combination of subduction and sea-level rise, Tangier Island is rapidly disappearing beneath the water. The reason Tangier Island's crabbing industry is dying couldn't be simpler or more stark: it's because Tangier Island itself is dying. His subject is very specific: the dying crab-fishing industry of Tangier Island, which sits in the middle of the mighty Chesapeake Bay. Journalist Earl Swift spent two years researching his new book, Chesapeake Requiem: A Year with the Watermen of Vanishing Tangier Island, and the result is a protracted autopsy of a world that's still technically alive. Staff from appropriate state agencies are working with local officials to quantify the impacts and damages so we can determine whether to request federal assistance.” “The impacts have been significant, from snow removal and damage to public facilities to transportation interruptions and the opening of shelters to assist those whose power was out or their homes damaged. “The colder, wetter and stormier weather this winter has heavily impacted many communities throughout the state,” Inslee said. The proclamation covers Adams, Asotin, Benton, Chelan, Clallam, Clark, Columbia, Cowlitz, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Jefferson, King, Kitsap, Klickitat, Lewis, Lincoln, Mason, Pend Oreille, Pierce, Skamania, Snohomish, Spokane, Stevens, Wahkiakum, Walla Walla, Whatcom and Whitman counties. Jay Inslee late yesterday proclaimed a state of emergency for 28 counties recovering from the impacts of recent severe winter weather. Request a ceremonial proclamation, greeting or letter.WorkFirst Poverty Reduction Oversight Task Force.Apply to Serve on a Board or Commission.Governor's Distinguished Managers Association. He leaves Baldini as a journeyman perfumer, and he goes to live in a mountain cave alone for seven years. While with Baldini, Grenouille proves to be a genius at scent-making. Grenouille becomes so obsessed with smells that he finds a young teenage girl and kills her-just so that he may smell her scent. This leads him to become an apprentice for Baldini, a perfumer. During this time, Grenouille gets his first taste of freedom, and he comes to learn that he is more attuned to scents than others are. When the parish stopped paying for his room and board, Madame Gaillard, an emotionally cold woman because of a head injury, gave him to Grimal the tanner as an apprentice.Īs a tanner's apprentice, Grenouille has back-breaking and dangerous work to perform every day, and he is treated no better than a domestic animal. He was taken in by the church, which paid for him to be raised by a woman, Madame Gaillard, among two dozen other orphans. As a newborn left to die by his unmarried fishmonger mother, Grenouille cried and was heard by bystanders and rescued. Delivery with Standard Australia Post usually happens within 2-10 business days from time of dispatch.You can track your delivery by going to AusPost tracking and entering your tracking number - your Order Shipped email will contain this information for each parcel. Tracking delivery Saver Delivery: Australia postĪustralia Post deliveries can be tracked on route with eParcel. NB All our estimates are based on business days and assume that shipping and delivery don't occur on holidays and weekends. Order may come in multiple shipments, however you will only be charged a flat fee.ġ-2 days after each item has arrived in the warehouseġ The expected delivery period after the order has been dispatched via your chosen delivery method.ģ Please note this service does not override the status timeframe "Dispatches in", and that the "Usually Dispatches In" timeframe still applies to all orders. Items in order will be sent via Express post as soon as they arrive in the warehouse. Order may come in multiple shipments, however you will only be charged a flat fee.Ģ-10 days after all items have arrived in the warehouse Items in order will be sent as soon as they arrive in the warehouse. I also loved looking at maps with my grandfather, as he told me about his travels and voyages to the Soviet Union, China, Japan, and New Zealand. I grew up imagining Hitler directing submarine Wolf Pack attacks on North Atlantic convoys. My paternal grandfather was a Norwegian sea captain and served in the US Merchant Marine during World War II he had amazing and riveting stories about the war from the high seas. They had fascinating lives and talked in detail about difficulties they experienced during the Depression and war. I first developed an interest in history during my childhood from listening to stories from my grandparents. When did you first develop an interest in history? She lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, and has been a member since 1997.Ĭurrent school or alma mater/s : BA, Mary Washington College (now University), 1985 PhD, University of Illinois, 1997įields of interest: modern European history, especially German history, war and society, urban and gender history, public sphere and history of the press, political culture and narratives of nation-building, northern European transnational history, and the Revolutionary-Napoleonic era Katherine Aaslestad is a professor of history at West Virginia University. To recognize our talented and eclectic membership, AHA Today features a regular AHA Member Spotlight series. AHA members are involved in all fields of history, with wide-ranging specializations, interests, and areas of employment. I was 35 when I was diagnosed and was told ‘you’re so young!’ and yet when I travel around the country and speak about breast cancer, at every event I always meet at least one or two young women in their 20’s who are fighting it! And I wanted to give a voice to those women, and in particular, to show what it might be like for a young, single woman to go through the experience. It’s not just women over forty who get this disease and I wanted to draw awareness to that. Why a story about a 27yr old getting breast cancer?īecause, unfortunately, women in their 20’s are also getting breast cancer. Laura graciously gave of her time to do this interview with my Book Club after we had discussed Reconstructing Natalie. Laura Jensen Walker is a national speaker and the author of several books including Thanks For The Mammogram, Dreaming in Black and White and Reconstructing Natalie, Women of Faith’s Novel of the Year for 2006. What was your first experience in running? Thanks John and to his publicist, Katie Monaghan. I had always wanted to interview John, who, I believe, I met on a couple of occasions. Parker’s writing is elegant when needed, and stark when necessary…truth can be painful. They were geeks, but they were our geeks. These guys, who could put in 120-140 miles a week, work a full day, or go to school, drink a few beers after the weekend race and go home and mow the lawn. This was American distance running in the early seventies. Fast distance running was a dream of many, but only a few could do it very, very fast. A pack of guys would start out, and as those 100 meter jogs started dropping to 75 meters, then 50 meter runs, and Shorter and Galloway would be pounding by, as exhausted runners, actually running carcasses, lined the side of the track, dreams shattered, if not altered. The anxiety speaks with its own voice and becomes a main character throughout the story. Unlike most works of fantasy in which the action takes place in an external world, Ronoah’s greatest battles are in his own mind. Like other readers, I found author Sienne Tristen‘s depiction of Ronoah’s crippling anxiety and panic attacks to be one of the most insightful and sensitive pieces of writing I’ve ever had the privilege to read. Inertia had him by the throat, and its consequence was a keen pain squatting ugly at the bottom of his soul, rotting it from the roots up.” pg 9 Photo by Mariana Montrazi on “… Ronoah was not one tenth the rebel she needed him to be. It is not a simple adventure because Ronoah, with all of his hang ups, is a very unlikely hero. The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming is a fantasy journey in which Ronoah, an introverted and anxious main character, discovers a strength inside himself that he didn’t know he had and, along the way, learns about the world outside of the regimented and ill-fitting expectations of his hometown. After Len admits wanting to pursue a relationship with Henry, the two begin dating, but when Len unexpectedly pulls away, Henry struggles to cope with potentially losing both his best friend and their budding relationship. That is, until his best friend, Lennon Cane-sports star, serial heartbreaker, and aspiring photographer-kisses him during a game of truth or dare, which sparks confusing emotions in Henry. As graduation looms, he finds it difficult to juggle tumultuous relationships with an uncertain future: his grandmother pressures him to pursue his art, while his parents believe success lies in his academic prowess, and his friends have begun fixating on romance, something that Henry wants nothing to do with. Henry Hamlet, the unpopular, introverted school captain at Brisbane Northolm Grammar School for Boys, is worried about not having a clear life plan. An 18-year-old grapples with sudden feelings for his best friend in Australian author Wilde’s upbeat, 2008-set debut rom-com. |