WHEN RACHEL HENDERSON STARTED KNITTING IN THE PUB SHE HAD NO IDEA

THERE are surely worse ways to spend a day. It's barely gone noon and while most people are stuck at their desks, Rachel Henderson is already in the pub, getting settled into her favourite corner. She's a regular at the hip Leith watering hole Joseph Pearce's and all the bar staff know her by name. Even the owner pops over to say hello. Yet, far from being a closet daytime tippler, Henderson is here to work. She's surrounded by a colourful mountain of wool, assorted sewing paraphernalia, a stack of knitting patterns and a little suitcase containing almost every size of needle imaginable.

Last Christmas she created a quirky offshoot bespoke label of Rachel Henderson Crafts, called Rachieroo, for which she designs jewellery, including flamboyant statement brooches. Henderson regularly teaches in schools, provides adult education classes and is in the process of writing her third book, which focuses more on felting and crochet. Most recently she has started selling her own starter packs (Yummy Wool Kits) which are packaged up to look like delicious cup cakes.Many big stores have seen a considerable rise in demand for craft materials. Tesco recently reported a 198-per cent increase in sales of sewing machines since this time last year, selling two every minute, with sales of Singer and Brother models up by 50-per cent. John Lewis, meanwhile, has seen an annual increase of 17-per cent in haberdashery sales, with fabrics having their strongest year in half a decade.Although she learned how to knit as a child, Edinburgh-based Henderson, who grew up in Dalgety Bay, Fife, only started doing it seriously six years ago after spotting an advert in the local newspaper for a knitting consultant for wool and pattern supplier Rowan Yarns.These days her preferred title is "craft professional" (which sounds quite formal for such a bubbly person) and she is also a dab hand with a crochet hook and a felting needle.Henderson may come over as being quite girly but her shrewd business acumen has seen her tap into the burgeoning trend for traditional crafts such as knitting, crochet, felting and S-I-Y (that's sew-it-yourself for anyone out of the loop). Earlier this month it was announced that staff at NHS Highland have been learning to knit as a way of staying healthy, with the fruits of their labour set to provide material for a Homecoming Scotland project, which plans to drape knitted items over the railings of the Skye Bridge."It was really itchy to wear."Teething difficulties aside, once I fi nd my rhythm, my needles clicking away between sips of tea, it's easy to see why Henderson is hooked. There's something amazingly satisfying about seeing the beginnings of a scarf grow out of the wool. I'm initially clumsy and drop a couple of stitches (okay, about eight), but once I get going an almost zen-like calm descends as I zone out .Currently, Henderson is obsessed with making tea cosies."Knitting is my hobby, but it is also my job, so the last couple of years I've taken a sabbatical from knitting for fun and tried to revisit other things I did when I was at art college, such as felting and crochet. When you do it as a hobby and a full-time job it can get a bit too much, especially when you're designing as well. Having taken a break from knitting, I have rediscovered what I love about it.""They were really intricate, so it was quite tricky to do, " she says. The most exotic location in which she has pursued her craft is the Nigerian capital Lagos ("my friend and I took our knitting with us and ended up teaching people how to knit"); and, never one to waste an opportunity, she has even swapped pub knitting for knitting on planes ("Obviously I can't take needles on board these days so I use my bamboo crochet hooks instead").While Henderson doesn't like making garments from scratch ("too time consuming") she has been branching out lately by customising charity shop finds in quirky ways. "I'm good at taking something old and reinventing it, " she says.Working from a studio in her spare bedroom proved lonely, though, and it was this which prompted Henderson to set up a pub knitting circle. "It can be uninspiring working alone in my studio all day so it's nice to be able to bounce ideas off people, " she says. The group was a hit and soon Henderson was approached to publish a book, Pub Knitting, containing a series of hip but easy to make designs. Her repertoire has since grown steadily, with knitting now just one part of what she does.For a start, she is cute and endearingly sweet (but thankfully not overbearingly so), her sunny nature like that of a children's television presenter. She's the right side of trendy, too, dressed in a pink woollen cardigan, button-down shirt, jeans and cowboy boots, her blonde hair pinned back from her face with kirby grips. In each ear sits a tiny red button earring, a cheery and kitsch nod to her creative vocation. On anyone else they might look twee, but Henderson manages to turn them into a natty style statement.Not only are they fun to knit, she says, but all her friends are clamouring for them as gifts. Other retro items in demand, says Henderson, include leg warmers and fingerless gloves, which are also fairly easy to make. "They are great because you can use chunky wool, so they don't take long to knit, " she says. "Some of my friends have just started knitting and I advise them to go for scarves as those are probably the best first project. Hats and handbags are also good to get started on ."We get off to a shaky start. Henderson has to cast on for me as I'm completely clueless, then the fluffy blue wool sheds over my black dress, affecting the air of Cookie Monster from Sesame Street. While she is off getting her photograph taken, I have a colossal sneezing fit after a piece of loose wool fl ies up and tickles my nose, making the people at the next table jump in alarm. Who knew knitting could be such a high octane activity?It's a logic I'm about to put to the test, although I'm a bit rusty with the knitting needles. The last time I turned my hand to anything under the umbrella of crafts, Russ Abbot was still considered the height of sophisticated Saturday night television. Fortunately Henderson, 28, is a patient teacher and gives me a set of thick knitting needles and chunky wool to make the task easier.For Henderson, knitting is a full-time job. Soon after graduating from Gray's School Of Art in Aberdeen seven years ago, she landed a job as a knitting consultant and hasn't looked back. These days she sells her designs to shops across Edinburgh, has published two books (including the aptly named Pub Knitting in 2005), runs regular workshops for schoolchildren and hosts a monthly evening where she and friends meet to knit, catch up on gossip and have a drink (albeit usually tea). If knitting were to have a poster girl, it would surely be Henderson."One of the reasons I really like doing my own books is because I can design things which are commercial and lots of people would love to wear, whereas if you are working for the catwalk, most of the stuff is very exclusive and not as accessible. " She admits to not always having been a style-setter when it comes to knitwear. "When I was eight I had a baby pink batwing jumper made from acrylic wool, " she says cringing.Despite her creative fl air, Henderson has no desire to see her designs on high-fashion catwalks.After a year in the job, whipping up examples of the knitwear fi rm's designs, teaching workshops and honing her techniques, she branched out, setting up Rachel Henderson Crafts to sell her self- designed accessories in shops around the capital.Henderson makes for good company. We sit companionably as she chats away about the strangest things she has ever knitted - two tiny Fair Isle sweaters small enough to fit a paper mache snake for a pilot episode of a children's TV show (which never aired).

Many big stores have seen a considerable rise in demand for craft materials. Tesco recently reported a 198-per cent increase in sales of sewing machines since this time last year, selling two every minute, with sales of Singer and Brother models up by 50-per cent. John Lewis, meanwhile, has seen an annual increase of 17-per cent in haberdashery sales, with fabrics having their strongest year in half a decade.

How Mr Spot turned the tide

I had already been listening to first-graders read for a couple of years when I was asked to tutor four fourth-graders tutoring first-graders.

'Have you been seeing Spots?' he asked her instead.Did Mr Spot assist in any way Dot? No, not a lot. Not piddly squat.Things changed considerably after that. To this day I don't know whether it was because of my stern admonition or whether our Mr Spot project brought about the change, but each day they breezed through their reading more quickly (even eagerly) so that we could work a little on our Mr Spot story. And while I came up with the more difficult words like spats, kumquat, and cravat, and had to explain why I transposed some words in a way that was a little off beat (to keep a bouncy rhythm), Jeff, I think, came up with the name Spot for the dog, one of the girls mentioned the tots sitting on a pot and screaming a lot, and so on and so on.There once was a man, Mr Spot, who dearly and truly loved spots. He had spots on his hat and spots on his spats. His cravats were tied at his throat with large spotted knots.So a ticket Dot got and left Mr Spot and her tots and the dog she called Spot. She sailed on a yacht to a hot sunny spot. Under a tree--a kumquat--she rested a lot. Quite soon her Spots she nearly forgot.Barbara Weddle has been writing book reviews and essays for fifteen years. Her pieces have been published in more than 150 magazines, including The Missouri Review, Chelsea, Chicago Life, and The Southern Review. She recently completed a mainstream novel and a young adult book and is in the process of looking for publishers for both.But soon lonely Dot got. She could not blot from her mind all her Spots. She missed Mr Spot and her tots and the dog she called Spot. So home again she set sail on the yacht.So Spots there were lots: Mr Spot, Dot Spot, Spot tots, the dog too a Spot, all playing and staying in one little cot and perhaps without and not including Dot all behaving not quite a lot.Soon Dot began feeling dizzy from all the Spots and whatnot. In a fast trot she went to see Doctor Gott. Doctor Gott examined Dot on the spot. He gave her a shot, checked out her heart, but her eyes he did not.'Get away from your Spots,' said Dr Gott. 'Blot out the whole lot. Go to some hot island spot. It will do you more good than the shot.'The Spot StoryOne day things were especially bad. Jeff's pencil tapping had risen to unbelievable proportions, Wanda stubbornly refused to read, and Erik and Ashley were at one another's throats big time. When I tried to get control with a firm 'stop that' and ominous 'or else's'--whispering so as not to disturb the rest of the class--and got nowhere, I decided I'd had enough.'I don't have to take this,' I said. I grabbed up my car keys and started to walk out. As I did I gave the kids a last fleeting glance. What I saw surprised me. Instead of the smug expressions I had expected to see, I saw instead what can only best be described as bewilderment, disbelief, and even regret. I realised that underneath their defiant facades they actually liked me.Things had to change, however. The next day I brought to class a small rhyming story that I'd been playing around with. Well, these kids were already of the mind that reading was a drudge. I wanted them to enjoy reading. And I did not want our experience together to be a bad one. Since I'd always had fun reading with my then five-year-old granddaughter, I thought I could have a little fun with my students by not being so serious and being a little more playful instead. My granddaughter and I had always 'played around' when we read together. For example, we would wonder a little, asking ourselves What if this happened or what if that happened in the story. I had begun writing the Mr Spot story a couple of years before (with my granddaughter), then had shelved it for some reason. I thought perhaps the kids might have fun helping me finish it. With Mr Spot and my four students, we did a lot of 'what-iffing'. And they became involved. When they became involved they began to enjoy reading more. Actually, they became excited about it.A week later their bad attitudes had not disappeared. Nor had the knot of anxiety in my stomach each day I entered the classroom. I had already given up on the 'learning-was-fun' idea, but now I was wondering whether or not I could even last out the semester. When I made appeals for them to behave, they only stared back at me with pie-plate expressions that made me feel that any problems there might be were of my own making, not theirs.They did not want me to quit on them. Too many others had quit on them. I sat back down.Finally, though the story itself may have been a little too juvenile for fourth graders, at last we were having fun learning. I applied this 'involvement' with our regular reading lessons also. For example, I would ask, 'What kind of person do you suppose Kit Carson really was? It didn't go over quite as well as Mr Spot, but it did improve their willingness to read a little if I involved them directly, asked their opinions, involved them.But my charges did not appear too enthused by my little 'learning-was-fun' speech. Conversely, they appeared sullen, recalcitrant even, a far cry from the well-behaved and enthusiastic first graders I was used to. Jeff was tapping on his desktop loudly with his pencil, Wanda was staring into space, and Erik and Ashley were sniping with one another.These students are 17-18 now. When I recently attended my own step-grandson's high school graduation (he was in the same class as Erik, Wanda, Ashley, and Jeff) I did not see their names on the program. Wherever they are, I firmly believe I left them with something (especially Erik) even if that something was only a little more confidence in themselves and the fact that learning can be fun. They were making discoveries about how language works, how words can tickle their imagination ...Mrs Spot bought a dog, thinking the tots the dog they would play with a lot. The dog, who also had spots, she gave the name Spot. But Spot liked to bark and he did bark a lot. Quite often a nice dog Spot surely was not.No one said a word for a long while. I think they knew by the tone of my voice that I would not tolerate a minute more of their disruptive behaviours. It was now time for the second phase of my plan. I picked up the copies of my story. 'This is something fun I've been working on,' I told them as I passed copies around. 'I came up with the name of a character, Mr Spot, and I have been trying to think of all the words that rhyme with spot so that I can write a rhyming story. I want you to take your copies home and add to the list any words that you can think of that rhyme with spot. Once we finish that, we'll work on a story'.'Why yes I have,' exclaimed Dot. 'I nearly forgot. I've been dizzy a lot, before my eyes I see Spots. I worry and fret and my stomach's in knots. Often I fear a good mother I'm not.'To this day Dot has not left home any more for some hot island spot. To lay in the shade of a tree--a kumquat.The first order of the day, of course, was laying out what I expected of the kids from that day forward. My voice wobbly, but very firm, I said, 'Jeff, no more pencil tapping. Wanda, if you refuse to read, that's fine. Ashley, Erik, the sniping stops.'It had been a win/win situation so I jumped at the chance to spend an hour-and-a-half each day with Jeff, Erik, Wanda and Ashley, helping them with their reading among other areas. On the first day of the new school term as I settled myself behind a desk in a corner of the fourth-grade classroom where I was to conduct my tutorial duties, my newly assigned charges seated before me, I was aglow with anticipation. I smiled, introduced myself, told them how much fun learning was, and reached for the course outline that had been prepared for me by the teacher.

Barbara Weddle has been writing book reviews and essays for fifteen years. Her pieces have been published in more than 150 magazines, including The Missouri Review, Chelsea, Chicago Life, and The Southern Review. She recently completed a mainstream novel and a young adult book and is in the process of looking for publishers for both.

President's Desk

It was late afternoon in Chicago 31 years ago. I was riding in a car with some friends, and we stopped for a traffic light at the corner of Clark Street and Diversey Avenue. I was in the passenger seat, and I looked casually out the window. And there she was. She was brunette, in her mid-twenties, about 5' 5''. She was wearing older but not faded blue jeans and a sleeveless white blouse. She had on brown sandals with straps that crossed her feet twice, and no polish on her toes or fingers. She was clutching a laundry basket filled with dry, semi-folded clothes. She was waiting for a bus.

PresidentThe orange tone of the low sun reflected off the glass windows of a building across the street, throwing softly speckled patterns of light on everything around her, but she remained in a calm space, a spot on the sidewalk where the light only glowed as if coming from a source undefined. The warm summer breeze wafted her hair lightly, and she stepped toward the curb and craned her neck to look down the street for the bus. She reached up with her right hand to brush her long hair out of her eyes. She wore one ring, a simple silver one.We keep a mental catalogue of these experiences to draw on as needed. They inspire our art and speak to the depth of our ability to understand how our circumstances affect our state of mind, how we find substance in our physical surroundings. And they create memories as vivid as something happening right now, moments we have deemed important in our lives, sometimes not knowing why.The traffic light changed about 1 5 seconds after we stopped, and my friends and I went on our way. She never saw me, and I don't believe my friends saw her. She wasn't especially remarkable; she wasn't a drop-dead beauty or a traffic-stopping bombshell. Yet not a month has gone by in 31 years when I haven't thought of that girl. Mostly it's a passing thought, an image that crosses my mind in the midst of dealing with daily duties. Sometimes it's more than that, a curiosity about who she is and where she is now. It wasn't sexual, the way you would imagine a teenaged boy would think of a slightly older woman. It was sensual, an appreciation for that particular moment in time and the sweet melancholy of knowing that this was all there would be of the encounter.But the inspiration will be mine. That's what makes me a cinematographer.I have no doubt that someday I will have to film a scene that has the same ethereal quality of the encounter with that woman 31 years ago, and I will break down the technical components necessary to make it achievable and understandable to all the other craftspeople involved in creating motion pictures: the camera assistants who must order the proper lenses, the electricians who need to get the right lights, the grips who will need to rig the cranes, the assistant director who must schedule it at the right time of day, and the art department who must have props in the proper color palette.While shooting the film The Fixer, I was looking for a way to depict the humble surroundings of a poor priest who is hearing the confession of a man in search of redemption. I remembered an early Christmas morning when I was a child. The sun had not yet risen, and everyone was asleep. The living room was suffused with the dark blue ambience of pre-dawn, and the Christmas-tree lights sparkled gently in the somber atmosphere, an oasis of hope. I proceeded to light the scene at hand with that feeling - not the exact colors, but the feeling of that room. When the director saw the dailies, he said it reminded him of the sound of steam radiators heating up in winter. The editor remarked that the room had the smell of old wood and crisp air.Cinematographers frequently reference other works while developing the unique style for the project we're shooting. Often it'll be another film. Many times it'll be a painting, a still photograph, clips from a magazine or even a piece of music. Anything that stirs an emotion and leaves an impression carries with it the seed that can be adapted to another expression of art. But your own life experiences frequently inspire the most sublime transpositions into cinematographic form.

President

Four Windows

Four Windows i. A man turns the matte paper to an angle on the desk. His thumb presses chicken wing grease to the page. He rubs it and it streaks. He reaches for the soda can and pulls his hand away. The man's lips tighten and he stands to water the plants. ii. A woman closes a briefcase on the table. She latches one side of the window. She turns off the radio. The woman sits on the edge of a crimson divan and squints at a corner of the rug. A door slams below her and her head darts left, to the window, like a bird. iii. A woman's brittle hair fills the pocket mirror. She presses up her dentures. Lint or a feather falls from her sleeve. Her hand brings coral lipstick to the corner of her mouth. The mirror or her hand shakes. The woman's head leans toward the green banker's lamp. iv. A woman bows her head to the back of the shower. Her right leg balances on the soap ledge. She holds a cotton washcloth to her thigh. She opens her eyes. Her skin is the color of steam. She lowers her leg and touches the washcloth to her face.
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COPYRIGHT 2010 Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education, on behalf of UNLV, College of Liberal Arts, English Dept. COPYRIGHT 2011 Gale, Cengage Learning

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Corner Computer Desks

With the high price of office space today, getting maximum usage of all your space is essential. Placing your workstations on corner computer desks can efficiently use an overlooked are of that space, the corners. These desks are designed to fit into that underused space compactly while still allowing more than adequate room to perform the tasks needed on your computer. There are many attractive designs available that will add shelf space for storage of supplies for your computer as well. You can find corner computer desks at most office furniture stores and many web sites on the Internet.

Corner computer desks are available at prices to fit any sized budget. A quick search on the Internet will locate corner computer desks starting well below a hundred dollars with some of those prices including shipping. They may have to be assembled upon delivery. Start using that under utilized space in your office today by placing your workstations on corner computer desks. You will be happy that you did.Corner computer desks are available in a wide variety of styles and finishes. With a little searching, you can find them in select hardwoods and even in faux finishes to appear as select hardwoods. One model I noticed appeared to be a corner hutch until you opened the cabinet to see the monitor and pulled out the keyboard tray to type. Others have a minimalist style that just utilizes that underused area of your office in an efficient manner. The choices are endless.Payment methods brings us to the second important thing to stay aware of. When you place that order for those corner computer desks you want for your office, never put your payment information on any page that is not a secure page. You can tell a secure page from a regular page by looking at the page address on your browser. A secure page will start with https://. Regular pages start with http://. That extra letter is only used on secure pages and is a sign that you are dealing with a reputable dealer. If the site that offers the corner computer desks you desire does not have a secure page for your ordering information, it is risky to do business with them. You will be better off to seek your corner computer desks elsewhere.

Corner computer desks are available at prices to fit any sized budget. A quick search on the Internet will locate corner computer desks starting well below a hundred dollars with some of those prices including shipping. They may have to be assembled upon delivery. Start using that under utilized space in your office today by placing your workstations on corner computer desks. You will be happy that you did.

Changing spaces: get out of the cube and into the workplaces of the future

Offices haven't changed so much over the years. True, few contain roll-top desks and feather quill pens anymore, but so what?

Marketing?Ryan Cross, Web developer and curator of the recently opened Enclave Cooperative in Colorado Springs explains that, "The purpose behind coworking is about the thought of mindshare. It's the idea that I as a Web developer might not be awesome in (Adobe) Photoshop, and if I need to learn a certain technique I might just lean over to the guy next to me and say, 'Hey, do you have a second?'"Another coworking category is "coworking spaces by theme." A second is "co-working facilities, potentially profitable." A third is "Denver coworking facilities based on a green theme with a branch in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood, an eye on another one in L.A. and a big marketing push upcoming.""We call it the New Workplace," Zeppelin says.Asked about making a real marketing splash in the Springs, Cross takes a long pause and says, "It can't be that way. If you do it that way, it turns corporate. It's the same as top-down. It's grass-roots for us."So what is the New Workplace? What is "coworking?" Is it really catching on in Colorado?Co-owner Jennie Nevin also says she and her partner plan to run Green Spaces as a business as well as a coworking environment. New York has broken even on a cashflow basis, she says, and now it's time to pay more attention to Denver. Here, she plans building a rooftop garden/gathering place, but first is installing solar tubes atop the building.But something new in workspaces is taking hold around the Front Range, such as new workplace pioneer Mickey Zeppelin's TAXI development in River North, RiNO, that is; or Andrew Luter's brainchild the Hive Cooperative; or Jennie Nevin's Green Spaces, coworking at the other end of RiNO by the Ballpark neighborhood, award winner for its Green Route map and producer of the glitzy Green Route Festival in late August."It would be cool to have a little more of an alternative energy mix," she muses one late summer day, "and the other thing is the financial part: I'd like to have someone like a VC (venture capitalist) here. Those are the two things we have in New York that we don't have here. But there are here some other kinds of companies that we have that are really cool, really unique, that we don't have in New York.Coworking can mean lots of things, but it has something to do with entrepreneurs working together in a common space, often in the absence of authority figures, to boot.One good thing about the term "coworking" is that it is flexible. Coworking entrepreneurs can be profit-driven or nonprofit driven; they can insist or not on points that emphasize the concept's cooperative aspects, such as no-door, no-landlord, no-publicity policies.The Enclave's Cross is one such purist. By way of example, he has written enclavecoop.com in newfangled HTML5 and CSS3, crippling it in Internet Explorer, which does not support those standards.How about Boulder's The Candy Shop, home of the Boulder Green Building Guild, Sustainably Built, Origin Graphic Design, Caught in Her Dress, Keira Ritter Design, Zen Ohm, Daedalus Studio, the Automatic Company and more?Here, it could be the whole trend kicked off with TAXI 1, the 30,000-square-foot former Yellow Cab headquarters that in 2001 Zeppelin turned into an architecturally friendly, casually avant-garde space with a walkway meandering down the middle and a spacious spot called the Fuel Cafe."That's why we combine these communities," Nevin says. "Because you bring in that mix and you bring in this mix and then suddenly you get more of a full mix, and maybe something surprising, maybe something wonderful."The 5,000-square-foot Green Spaces Colorado falls into all three of those categories. The space opened in late 2009 (as did its New York City site) and today has more than 40 total member/entrepreneurs/businesses.Nevin plans to expand in other ways--through the Green Route Festival, for one--and to add members.TAXI represents a New Workspace, all right, but it is not coworking per se. Or is it?"When we opened TAXI, the opening ceremony was, we blew up a cubicle. We did that because we saw the end of that era--the Era of the Cubicle."Coworking spaces essentially fall into a few simple categories. One is "coworking spaces with doors." Enclave, for example, doesn't have doors; Green Spaces has one, for the conference room; yet the Vault does have doors, some to suites and one to an actual vault as befits a coworking space in a former bank building.Breathless yet?Or Fort Collins' Cohere, Colorado Springs' Enclave, or ID345 in Denver, or YesPleaseMore Denver Pavilions where entrepreneurs Brian Corrigan and Samuel Schimek promise coworking for artists, or the Vault in Louisville, born from the expanding circle of the DaVinci Institute?Most all of us still work at desks with our recording implements and communications devices at hand and one eye over our shoulders. Office space remains arranged hierarchically: Ownership and upper-tier employees get privacy, the corner office and the mountain views.Taxi 2 comprises 105,000 square feet inspired by Dutch architecture and built out in 2007. Today, TAXI hosts more than 40 tenants in a space, and in a mix, designed to get them to mingle personally and professionally.Numerous coworking places claim green credentials, but Green Spaces takes the idea and runs with it. "Our vision is to forward the sustainability movement globally through widespread local hubs that incubate environmental entrepreneurs," its credo reads."Word-of-mouth," Cross says, which in 2010 means in March posting a Web page at meetup.com (meetup.enclavecoop.com) holding online get-togethers, then opening a non-virtual site in August."The whole TAXI concept was about creativity. In order to get to that creativity you need an environment that spoke of freedom that didn't have the boundaries on it, where you walk around, talk to people, share ideas and talk about individuality within those spaces," Zeppelin says.

"That's why we combine these communities," Nevin says. "Because you bring in that mix and you bring in this mix and then suddenly you get more of a full mix, and maybe something surprising, maybe something wonderful."

Corner Computer System Desk - Providing Space And Also Usefulness

Individuals who work from home, or perhaps possess a great deal of papers including bills, bank or investment company statements combined with comparable stuff will want a place in order to stow as much as possible Definitely one good idea may be a personal computer cabinet which is a good furniture piece that will fix all of your storage space desires as well as aiding to maintain your home or office good as well as tidy. Following you will discover a number of particular good reasons that you might contemplate why a desktop computer cabinet is often a wonderful supplement to your house.

Reduced profile and furthermore out of the wayWhile it is difficult for you to assume that you can't locate what you need in the several area outlets, there are options to get any desk delivered when you have to resort to online or perhaps a catalog. The negative effects to this fact, obviously, is the fact that you have got to wait for a desk, however it opens you up to a huge selection of more options and solutions.Bobbie Humphrey is a new author and also website designer plus he has published a good deal of articles regarding a number of subject areas. His most current task is related to acquiring ahttp://www.cornercomputerarmoiresite.com/ where anyone will be able to get tips regarding things like obtaining a http://www.cornercomputerarmoiresite.com/Wood-Computer-Desk.htmlComputer systems have actually come to be mainstays inside our work environment, and thus with this type of home furniture you're able to keep the Personal computer in a very well put together spot with all the files and materials you have to work with. Quite a few should have a useful pullout tray for the keyboard and computer mouse in addition to several drawers and also spaces for you to hold materials, documents and also paperwork.Handy Distribution MethodsOnce the work day is finished, you can actually simply close-up the pc cabinet whereas the only thing that would be noticed is a typical-looking cabinet. The great thing about that is you will get the perception of a nice clean home for the benefit of guests, and you also get to help keep small hands far from your desktops as well as other devices young children don't really need to be near.There are several companies producing this particular computer armoire home furniture, including Martin, Sauder and also DMI, therefore you've got a lot of different designs plus variations to choose from, so that you can locate anything to match your room or even workplace perfectly.Attractive overall look for the room

Bobbie Humphrey is a new author and also website designer plus he has published a good deal of articles regarding a number of subject areas. His most current task is related to acquiring ahttp://www.cornercomputerarmoiresite.com/ where anyone will be able to get tips regarding things like obtaining a http://www.cornercomputerarmoiresite.com/Wood-Computer-Desk.html

Hero's Return, The

In 'hall' he stood, on high, beside the Head,

PETER AUSTIN,And leaking thence, a stink-bomb's fecal gas...To serve his alma mater he's returned.As if upon Parnassus he had gazedDespite his double first, from Merton College,A bogus dog-turd, squatting at his desk,And offers, from all corners of the earth,That accolades, at Oxford, he had earnedTORONTO, CANADABut moues and missiles welcomed him in class,and heard the muses singing. It was saidHands cupped, lips lightly parted, eyes upraised,Graffitied nudes, salaciously grotesque,Yet, apprehending well the latter's worth,

TORONTO, CANADA

Lawyer in Canton marketing through video

Storyfarm New Media's small headquarters in Canton's Emerging Technology Center consists of two desks and video recording equipment stashed in a corner. But the space is downright palatial for founders John Sherman and Beau Kershaw.

Locally, lawyers are a bit behind their counterparts across the country in using online video marketing, according to those in the business. Mark Glova, the local client development consultant for Findlaw, estimated that one-fifth of his clients have online video, compared to more than 30 percent of Findlaw client's nationwide.The spots are designed to supplement a website's text, not supplant it. This allows lawyers to make a pitch to viewers with their bona fides visible elsewhere, Kershaw said as he edited a video for a client."Too long we've erred on the side of caution that too much information is a dangerous thing, he said. "There's a tremendous need for information.""I liked the idea they were guys who cut their teeth in the real world," he said.The van belonged to WBAL-TV, where Sherman and Kershaw's reporting won the Peabody Award and a handful of Emmys that sit on an office shelf. Now the duo are using their combined 28 years of news experience to help lawyers and other professionals market themselves through online video.In Stecco's case, filming took less than an hour. Sherman and Kershaw rearranged the furniture in his office to create the interview space. Stecco reviewed the video two days after it was shot, and the final product was ready in less than a week."People are not looking for TV commercials," said Zimbalist, whose company has a handful of clients in Maryland and hundreds across the country. "It's not what one guy does versus another. It's who they are."In fact, Sherman conceived the idea for Storyfarm two years ago after searching online for a doctor. The sea of text and photos he encountered lacked a personal connection he was looking for, which Sherman felt he could create using his reporting background."Do you want to know all of the specific areas of law they practice or why they became a lawyer?" he said."You need to want to do it and need to come across as relatively comfortable doing it," she said."Baltimore is still on the cusp of leaving the Yellow Pages and fully committing to an online marketing campaign, but we are trending in that direction," he said.David Zimbalist, director of marketing and sales for FacesMedia in Boston, said the videos reflect the proactive nature of Web advertising, where prospective clients seek out lawyers, not vice versa."If we can spend seven years in a van together, a 382-square- foot office won't be a problem," Sherman said with a laugh.Carlos G. Stecco, a Pikesville solo practitioner, met Kershaw during a Maryland Association for Justice event. He had been thinking about adding a video component to his marketing and knew Sherman from television.UnscriptedShe added, though, that Storyfarm made it easy for her to feel comfortable.Storyfarm client Linda M. Schuett agreed.Videos also keep viewers on a website for minutes at a time, an eternity compared to the 30 seconds or so most people will spend on a site without a video, said Irwin R. Kramer. A partner in Kramer & Connolly in Owings Mills, he is also executive producer of the Legal Television Network, which provides more than 100 informational videos that users across the country have posted on their websites through the CLIENTELEVISION brand."The future of video is the Internet, not antenna," Sherman said. "Every website is like a TV station."Schuett, a partner with Linowes and Blocher LLP in Annapolis, acknowledged that the advertising strategy is not for everyone.Not surprisingly, the duo's videos have a news quality to them. The lawyers never look directly at the camera, for example, because looking off-camera makes someone look more like an expert than a salesman, Sherman said. The conversations are also entirely unscripted for a more natural sound."It didn't feel canned, and I don't think it looks canned," he said."So much is feel, so much is comfort," Sherman said. "This is the person you're paying to represent you. We're empowering people to make informed decisions."Storyfarm hopes to capitalize on a growing trend of video marketing. The idea, the company and several of its competitors say, is to allow prospective clients to see lawyers as people, not just as resumes and verdict lists common to many law firm websites.A website with video, Kramer said, becomes "more than a marketing tool. It becomes a practice tool as well."While nervous about becoming small-business owners, they were buoyed by what they believe is optimal timing: Almost everyone has access to a computer that can play high-quality video, and, more important, people now expect to see interactive elements on websites, Sherman said."It's a style and format we think is effective," Sherman said. "It's amazing how good people are at being themselves."Sherman and Kershaw kept Storyfarm as a side business until they left WBAL, amicably, at the end of April.

"It's a style and format we think is effective," Sherman said. "It's amazing how good people are at being themselves."

Iowa's Javier Campos, Award-Winning Academic and Physician

The cozy corner office and scenic view of the University of Iowa campus faded into the background for a moment, and Javier Campos was suddenly back in his childhood home in Nogales, M�xico.

"It's a unique design," Campos said at the time. "Rather than taking patients from room to room, it all can be done in one operation room."In the late 1990s, Campos became chief of cardiac anesthesiology at Iowa. He is also vice chair of clinical affairs and was named executive medical director of operating rooms last year."I saw her suffering, and I said, 'Grandma, I believe I can made a difference. I'm going to be a doctor, to treat you and other people who are suffering.' She always said, 'My grandson is going to treat me as soon as he finishes medical school.' Unfortunately, she passed too soon."I don't think because of politics, all patients, including in Cuba, should have limited access to technology or scientific information. I think Cuba is one of the countries that need it most. I have Hispanic roots. I've worked in M�xico and the U.S. I can understand the problem better in Cuba.""I wanted to be a doctor, even then," he said.After earning undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Guadalajara, Campos accepted a fellowship from Mexico's prestigious National Heart Institute."It was a state-of-the-art facility with topnotch cardiologists from all over the world. That was my formation there," he said. "I looked at how the leaders worked and carried on their operations and carried on their departments.""When I started moving to clinica research, I said, 'Look, there are too many unanswered questions,' and I believe I can answer those questions. I started answering questions based on my hypotheses. After multiple publications in national and international journals, I started getting invited to state, national and international meetings. I started seeing there was a really good connection from Latino countries."Campos was born in Nogales, but his family, including eight brothers and sisters, moved to Arizona when he was in junior high. Campos continued to attend a public school in Nogales and at 14 told his family he wanted to become a cardiac anesthesiologist. His dream was to practice in Nogales. "There was only one cardiologist in Nogales and only two anesthesiologists. Nogales needed people," he said. "I never wanted to be anything but a doctor."As congenial as he is driven, Campos is a five-time recipient of the Teacher of the Year award at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) and Iowa and has been included on the list of Best Doctors in America five times. He's active in prestigious scientific societies, addresses international conventions frequently and is routinely published in elite international journals. In 2009, he was named executive director of the University of Iowa's operating rooms, another turn in his unusual journey from a Mexican border town to the American heartland."The first five years were basically devoted to teaching. Basically, I teach residents in the operating room. I like to teach people what I'm doing and exactly how we do it.In 1987, Campos visited Iowa, which was recruiting promising young minority talent. Only after receiving his airline tickets did he realize Iowa was located in the Midwest. "I had it confused with Idaho," he said. "In the beginning, it was a cultural shock. I started driving around and saw farms," he said. "But I came here because of the values placed on family. The heartland is where the values of the family and the food come from. And I like the patients - the best patients I've ever dealt with. If there's a surgery, there are 10-12 family members there.""I always focused on the scientific part," he added. "Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be an executive. This is a state-of-the art facility. This is the jewel of the Midwest."Campos has attended medical meetings in Europe, the Mideast and South America and developed a sophisticated understanding of health care systems in Latin American countries. In 1999, he was part of a delegation that traveled to Cuba for an international conference. The following year, he sent more than 150 volumes of mintcondition journals to Cuban anesthesiologists.In 1982, Campos accepted a position at UCLA. Though he planned to return to M�xico in two years, he stayed five years and never went home. His first months, however, were anything but easy. "I didn't speak English," he said. "I was sent to a course at UCLA for 10 weeks. It was the hardest course of my life. Every day, 7 a.m. until midnight, Saturday and Sunday included. I got frustrated. Didn't realize how hard it would be. But I persevered, and it paid off.""One thing that caught my attention right away at Iowa was the diversity program," he said. "Right away, I connected with many people from minority backgrounds. I saw they were doing very well as far as leadership positions."I'm a boy who came from Nogales who learned the hard way. I had dreams, but I never dreamed it would end up like this. I just wanted to make a difference."In April 2009, he oversaw the introduction of rooms that allow surgeons to conduct major and minimally invasive procedures. The process allows patients undergoing neurosurgery to return to their daily routines within days instead of weeks and even months.It was another one of those dreaded moments when his grandmother was doubled over in pain, her bones and joints swollen with crippling arthritis. Just 10 years old at the urne, Javier pulled out a plastic stethoscope that day to "treat" her.That wasn't an idle dream. Sitting at his desk in Iowa City, Campos, a professor of anesthesiology, is surrounded by photos, awards and mementos from a remarkable career."There is no way I'm going to stop what I'm doing," he said.Campos has come a long way from his boyhood days in M�xico when he hoped to heal his ailing grandmother.

"I'm a boy who came from Nogales who learned the hard way. I had dreams, but I never dreamed it would end up like this. I just wanted to make a difference."

Happier days; MAILBAG MAILBAG

ITWAS both sad and nostalgic to see the picture of the now redundant Stile Common School.

It was a perfect example of brilliant Victorian architecture, repeated all around the old Huddersfield Borough at places like Hillhouse, Mount Pleasant and Moldgreen, and showed the foresight of our old city fathers in building such wonderful centres of education over such a short period of time.* SAD SIGHT: But many will have vivid memories of better days at Stile Common SchoolAFH AlmondburyFine if you wrote all the correct answers down, but if you and your immediate neighbour got the same answer but both wrong you were accused of copying and had in turn to go out, be stood on his desk, and got a crack of the cane. Pupils who had to travel could bring their own sandwiches and these were eaten at lunchtime in the respective classrooms. A "brew" of either tea or cocoa could be left, usually in an OXO tin bearing the pupil's name on Caretaker Hoyle's doorstep on arrival in a morning, and dozens of pots of whatever beverage were laid out for collection at lunchtime.Let''s hope that some old student is writing of his fond memories of the new school in 80 years time.The school went on to become quite famous, and turned out some wonderful scholars and sportsmen, particularly during Mr Wally Heap's headship.Makes you wonder where all the money came from, because no corners were cut. All were built from hand dressed stone and quality timber, with sturdy desks and blackboards.CAPTION(S):

* SAD SIGHT: But many will have vivid memories of better days at Stile Common School

FIFTY top money saving tips for summer

AS the economy struggles and it seems there are cuts around every corner it's only natural for everybody to tighten their belts and think how they can make savings. But rather than harming the environment in many cases it really helps the green cause. Over-consumption and excess waste hurt the planet as much as our pockets.

9. Don''t fancy finishing a bottle of wine but reluctant to waste it (or worse, force yourself to drink it!)? Pour the leftover wine into an ice cube tray and put in the freezer. Then add a cube or two when you''re next cooking to add a bit of flavour to sauces, gravy, soups - and anything else you can think of.26. An empty freezer wastes money. When shopping buy up the bread products that are reduced to clear. This is an economic way of filling space in your freezer, cutting down on shopping bills and wasting less food.2. If you lose a button off an item of clothing keep hold of it and stitch it back on straight away - keep the John Lewis Value Sewing Kit (pounds 2) in your handbag or desk drawer. If the button is lost then head for a haberdashery - they may be able to match it.28. Soya mince is a lot cheaper than meat minces, a good source of protein and free of any disease or antibiotics. Health food shops and co-operatives typically have very reasonable bags of dried soya mince and chunks.19. Don''t forget you can insulate yourself too - wearing warm clothes and layers can reduce heating bills. 20. Trawl second-hand shops. You will soon work out where the better clothes are and can sometimes pick up new or nearly new items for a fraction of the normal price.30. A soon as dusk comes draw the curtains - your windows (even if they're double-glazed) are an energy leak point. This can save you around pounds 15 per year 31. When you're cooking use a lid on your pan - it dramatically cuts the energy used.18. You can buy special insulation sheets to put behind radiators to reflect the heat back into them. Cardboard wrapped in aluminium foil does this too.17. Tumble drying is very expensive - line drying is free. When outside drying is not possible consider whether you have radiators that could be used if on anyway - but this will increase the humidity in your house and may lead to damp if it''s not well ventilated.15. Switch off all your appliances at the wall before going to bed at night. Many electrical items continue to use electricity even while off if connected to an outlet. Do you really need to use the oven or microwave as a clock? A battery powered wall clock uses much less power. 16. Cut down your water usage by reducing the amount you use when you flush your loo. Some people suggest putting a brick in the cistern. But the new superloos from B&Q, including the Eco Loo To Go (pounds 89.99), cut water use by 35%. Plus the toilet seat is made from recycled plastic too.Here we list 50 thrifty tips that will help the environment as well as your wallet this summer...3. Plan your journey. There''s no surer way to waste fuel than to get lost. Use the internet to check the distances and time it should take. And think about the time you travel - don''t travel in the rush hour if you can avoid it.35. If you like the fabric in a garment, but not the shape, unpick the seams and make it into something else. A quick unpick (sold in pound shops or haberdashers) makes this really easy. 36. Switch off electric ovens, hotplates and irons a few minutes before you need to stop using them - they will stay hot for a long time. Heating devices use more power that anything else.33. Reuse old carrier bags as liners for small bins.29. Next time you get the vacuum cleaner out run the cleaner gently over the coils on the back of the fridge to remove the dust. The motor will run for shorter periods and save you cash.6. Don''t hire a skip for old furniture. The Furniture Re-use Network co-ordinates 400 organisations in the UK which collect a wide range of furniture and appliances to donate to people in need. Find out where you can donate your unwanted items at www.frn.org.uk 7. Drive slower. It can save lives and will also save you money. You use 30% more fuel driving at 70mph than 50mph 8. To help candles last longer pop them into the freezer for a few hours before you use them. Look out for locally-produced candles made from renewable sources such as vegetable or beeswax, rather than paraffin wax ones from the supermarket. Then relax and enjoy the romantic glow.tip 23 21. Water is the cheapest and healthiest thing you can drink. Don't bother with fancy bottled varieties, the tap will do, plus it's not been freighted around the world. Drinking lots of water does amazing things for your skin, lessening the need for expensive skincare products.4. If wool jumpers have lost their shape or gone bobbly beyond repair try making them into felt by machine washing them on a hot wash and use the felt to make cosy cushion covers, tea cosies or a nice hat, come winter.1. Check your tyre pressure. If your tyres are at the right pressure you''ll drive more smoothly and save fuel.* MOTH HAVE: See 12. Make your own preserves from any seasonal gluts of fruit and vegetables. Sterilise old jars or get some reusable Kilner Jars and jam jars from Lakeland (pounds 24.99 ref 13219 and pounds 5.99 ref 3818). Lift home-made jam, pickles and chutney out of the ordinary with preserving presentation packs (pounds 5.99, ref 12185). Once you've sealed in the goodness crown your jar with a pretty cover, then finish it off with the coordinating string and pretty tag-style label. They make lovely presents. 13. Farm shops or markets can be very economical - a sack of potatoes for a few pounds can be the basis for many meals for a couple of months.14. Find out just how much energy you waste with an electricity monitor. The OWL CM119 (pounds 34.95 from John Lewis) is wireless and easy to read, use and install. It also has an alarm which can sound when your electricity consumption exceeds a pre-set limit. The unit can also display the amount of greenhouse gases your power usage is generating, as well as ambient temperature and humidity in your home.Unlike plastic cartons milk bottles can be re-used. And you can now buy a whole range of grocery products from most delivery services - not just milk. 11. Roll citrus fruits back and forth on the kitchen table before squeezing it and you will get more juice. You also warm the lemon and yourself with the exercise.24. Cut down old, foil-lined juice and milk cartons to be used as seed planters in the greenhouse or garden 25. The plastic lids from a Pringles tub make good covers for cat/dog food tins.32. Always put a full load in your washing machine - small loads waste large amounts of energy.34. Aluminium can be recycled over and over again without any loss of quality, or wrap your sandwiches or picnic food with greaseproof paper, which you can compost afterwards. Store your packed lunch in a reusable Tupperware container or empty ice-cream tub. Reusable containers * See are also great for storing leftovers in the fridge or simply cover your food with a plate.23. Don't let moths destroy perfectly good clothes. If you don't like the smell of moth balls use cedar wood instead - it repels moths and smells great. To reinvigorate the aroma, lightly sand the wooden pieces. 30-Piece Cedar Wood Set (pounds 6.49, Ref 22267 Lakeland).22. Instead of using cream cleaners use a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth - it works just as well.5. Make a draft excluder snake out of one leg of an old clean woolly pair of tights stuffed with old clean clothes. To give it a lovely scent add some dried lavender or dried herbs from the garden. It''ll stop drafts under doors and you can have lots of fun decorating it.27. Pass on children''s clothes which they have outgrown to other family members or friends whose children are younger.

35. If you like the fabric in a garment, but not the shape, unpick the seams and make it into something else. A quick unpick (sold in pound shops or haberdashers) makes this really easy. 36. Switch off electric ovens, hotplates and irons a few minutes before you need to stop using them - they will stay hot for a long time. Heating devices use more power that anything else.

Computer Desks

With computer usage so high in this age, we are seeing a need for appropriately designed modern furniture that best suits the needs and style of your home or office. But which computer desks are right you? With so many options to choose from, it could be a difficult question to answer. This article details the different types of computer desks, and factors to consider when purchasing one. After reading this article, making your decision as to which desk to purchase should be a simple and fun experience.

Desks for computers come in a variety of sizes and styles these days. There is a computer desks for every application, from large desks to decorate dedicated offices, to small corner computer desks, perfect for accessing recipes online in the kitchen, or paying bills in the corner of the bedroom. Whatever you need, there is a desk to fit. Because our lives change so often, with redecorating, repurposing, and even moving, it no longer makes sense to invest hundreds, even thousands of dollars in heavy, unmovable desks. Lightweight, assemble-it-yourself computer desks can fit any application, be easily moved to a new room for redecorating, and are inexpensive to replace if your needs or decor change.The style of your computer desks will have a lot to do with its price, particularly if the desk is made of wood, metal or a combination of materials. Solid wood computer desks will obviously be more expensive than those made from pressed wood or metal. Most home computer desks are purchased with the intent of placing them in a bedroom, family room, or a home office. Take into consideration the existing furniture in the room where the desk will be placed when making your purchase.Each of these styles of computer desks come in an array of sizes, finishes, designs and styles so it�s important to think of your personal preferences and tastes prior to desk shopping. Of course, you will also need to consider how the computer desks will coordinate with the room's decor.

Each of these styles of computer desks come in an array of sizes, finishes, designs and styles so it�s important to think of your personal preferences and tastes prior to desk shopping. Of course, you will also need to consider how the computer desks will coordinate with the room's decor.

Catholics lead in Vietnam AIDS ministries

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM * It takes 30 minutes from downtown by taxi through the motorbike-packed streets of this sprawling megacity to reach the Tieng Vong (Echo) Center. One eventually arrives at a Catholic church, walks to the rear, turns a corner, and there finds an opening to a parish center. Two rooms actually--one a waiting area where two dozen visibly ill men and women sit listlessly; the other, a patient care area with old filing cabinets along the wall, some desks, chairs, and on one side of the room, Nguyen Thi Vinh, a middle-aged, broad-faced woman with a direct manner and a remarkable capacity to live the corporal works of mercy.

This is grace on a shoestring.That makes the Echo Center--and Vinh's work--all the more necessary and remarkable. The center gets the name from an idea: echo, or give back. Vinh says the idea is to echo the gifts people have been given.The children at Mai Tam range in age from only weeks old to 18 years. Classes are offered to children after they reach their sixth birthday.Vinh was early to be working with HTV/AIDS patients. Six years after she began, the archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man, was approached by a government official who requested he designate a number of religious to work with HIV/AIDS patients. The government had found it difficult to find willing people. Also, having the Catholic church involved would add credibility to the government's efforts and even open doors a bit for international aid.It costs about $5,000 monthly to run the center, Tuyet Mai said with a grant coming from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, donations from private benefactors, and assistance from the Ho Chi Minh archdiocese.There are an estimated 300,000 people living in Vietnam today with the virus, according to those working with the patients. Official estimates are not quite as high. In truth, no one knows exactly. What those who work with these patients seem to agree on is that the virus is being spread mostly through drug use and needle-sharing, and, secondarily through human trafficking.Vinh cannot do much more. The needs are gargantuan and her resources modest. Day after day, six days a week, from eight to noon, she and her volunteer staff of fewer than a dozen see HTV/AIDS patients, most of them in the last months of their lives. The patients come from throughout the city and beyond, as far away as northern Vietnam.Vinh said she keeps careful records. Each month she compiles a list of the 100 poorest people who come to the center for medicine. These are the ones, she says, who get what amounts to pocket change, small amounts of assistance by most measures--except when you have almost nothing. Then a little help makes a big difference.Vinh and the rest of the staff work entirely without pay.It was in 1998, Vinh recalls, sitting at her desk during a break between seeing patients, that she heard a Redemp-torist priest in a sermon talk about the growing needs of those stricken by the HTV/AIDS virus. Many had been abandoned by their families and were living in the streets.Vinh says that her two biggest problems are keeping staff and maintaining funding. Her staff is young and there continues to be a turnover. Vinh and her daughter seem to be the mainstays. They operate through the donations of the pharmaceuticals, the assistance of some benefactors, and help from the parish, including rent-free rooms.The budget for running the center is roughly $18,000 annually--with all the money given out to neediest of the needy who receive food, transportation, and sometimes small holiday presents for the children.Man complied. He sent out word, asking the religious orders for help. In May 2004, the archdiocese formed Our Lady of Pentecost Community, composed of 15 religious from different male and female congregations. The center has cared for patients in the last stages of AIDS.The numbers continue to rise, but the rate of increase is slowing, offering a glimmer, of hope that this perilous epidemic is not completely out of control. There is an ongoing HIV/AIDS government education program, but misunderstanding and prejudice are still rampant.On this morning Vinh is attending to another woman. Vinh listens, comforts, counsels and eventually hands over a few pills aimed at easing pain, perhaps extending life. Maybe it's also to show someone cares.[Thomas C. Fox is NCR editor. His e-mail address is tfox@ncronline.org.]She and some friends went on a retreat where they put together some plans: They would contact hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and then search out people with the virus. Many of them were hiding, ashamed and abandoned, she explained. It was not easy at first.Across town, meanwhile, about the same time, another Catholic HIV/AIDS ministry was being formed. St. Paul de Chartres Sr. Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai has been counting pills at the Mai Tarn House of Hope since its beginning some six years ago. The Mai Tam House of Hope cares for women living with the HIV virus along with their children and others, all, some 65 children, mostly carrying the virus, fill up the very active Mai Tam center, which occupies a nondescript, four-story, narrow concrete building and has no sign to identify its purpose.She and her staff receive some three dozen HIV/AIDS patients each morning at the center. In the afternoon, the staff goes out to attend to those too weak--or too fearful--to come to the center. They have been doing this for 13 years. Pharmaceutical companies have donated most of the medicines. The local parish priest, meanwhile, is also a physician who can prescribe medicine.Staff can tell who are "the poorest 100," Vinh said. "You can see by the clothes they wear, the transportation they use, and if they have, say, a mobile phone."On one of the desks in the patient room is a ledger in which the staff keeps careful notes about each person they see, the medicines they take, the needs they have, and assistance offered. Every cent is detailed, in handwritten script."Everything really is in God's hands," Vinh said. "God provides. God will continue to provide."The group spent months, years, at first, seeking out the needy In time, the parish gave them space for the center and eventually, as attitudes in society began to change, people began to come to the center. On the average day, some two- to three-dozen people show up seeking assistance.

[Thomas C. Fox is NCR editor. His e-mail address is tfox@ncronline.org.]

More and more catch classes with the Net

SALT LAKE CITY -- Trevor Hansen plops down in front of his small oak desk, flips open his silver laptop and starts emailing his classmate about a project due Monday.

Hansen is afraid that a number of employers may not view an online education the same as they do a traditional college experience. Other students like Jarom Moore of Orem say they don't like the format of online classes. And there are professors nationally and in Utah who refuse to teach classes online, calling them "inferior."Clift, who has taught college writing courses since the late 1980s in schools like Yale, Emerson and Payap University in Thailand, said online courses are part of the "dumming-down" of academia and that she saw more plagiarism happen when she taught her online class."I would just be starting my degree in the fall if it weren't an option," Hoyt said. "I am just glad this is available to people like me."Over the last several years, more and more students are taking the same route. More than 100,000 college students in Minnesota are now taking classes online. From 2005 to 2010, the number of Utah public college students taking classes online jumped by about 15,000, according to Utah System of Higher Education Data. And innovators like Henry J. Eyring, BYU-Idaho administrator, and Clayton M. Christensen, Harvard Business professor, authors of the new book, "The Innovative University: Changing the DNA of Higher Education from the Inside Out," say that to be competitive in the future, colleges need to embrace high-quality online courses.Salt Lake Community Colleges said the demand has been such that a few years ago the college decided that 25 percent of the classes would be online. As of 2010, they were No. 2 in the state in the number of students taking online classes.Continued online growth in Utah's public higher ed seems inevitable, though. Even Utah's 2020 Higher Ed plan -- to have 66 percent of 25- to 64-year-old Utahns with a post-secondary degree or certificate -- names online programs as one of a few ways to accomplish this. "Online learning is going to remain part of the future of education at all levels and will remain an important way higher education is delivered," said Gary Wixom, Assistant Commissioner for Academic Affairs for the Utah System of Higher Education."It's really convenient," Hansen says of finishing his bachelor's in finance degree online. "I don't really like going to class, and I wanted to work more."Yet schools across the country are finding ways to make online classes more interactive and are finding that many students prefer it.UVU's vice president of academic affairs, Ian Wilson, said he originally thought students were registering for online classes as a fall back, but over the years, he said, the online courses have often been the first sections to fill up. Students lives have gotten busier, he said, and about three-fourths of UVU students now work at least part-time so having more flexibility when it comes to taking classes has become more important. In the fall of 2010, nearly a third of all UVU students took at least one class online, said Mike Rigert, spokesman for the school.Yet universities like Southern Utah and Weber State say they are planning on meeting as a college soon to discuss what kind of growth they really want online courses to have.Yet Fowler believes online education will continue to grow because it allows anyone, anywhere to take college courses."All the joy of teaching and the deep importance of learning cannot happen very readily in an online environment," Clift said. "I think it is part of the demise of the academy, part of the crisis of higher education."This much growth in classes is quite extraordinary, said Bill Byrnes, associate provost for Southern Utah University. Normally a new class takes months to create and be considered and goes through lots of committees, he said. Next year, SUU will offer 117 classes online.Weber State University, which had the most public college students taking online courses in the state as of 2010 with over 7,150 enrolled, now offers two-hour professional development courses twice a month to help professors develop better online courses, said Gail Niklason, associate of continuing education at the university. They learn about incorporating video and other interactive tools. She said 90 full-time faculty members out of about 480 have been through the training over the last five years.Many organizations warn students to research their classes before taking them, especially if the university is online only. Several lawsuits have been filed over the last several months against for- profit colleges, which often have a big online base, over best practices and validity.There's a motocross poster on the wall, a snowboard in the corner and a framed picture of him pushing his niece on a swing on the top of his desk.BYU-Idaho launched a new online learning program late last month called Pathway, which is geared toward 18- to 30-year-olds who have not earned an associate's or bachelor's degree but are interested in doing so. Students are eased into the college experience with a light load of online classes the first year and a weekly study group with the other 15 to 20 students at their location, said Andy Cargal, spokesman for the university. There are currently about 22 sites around the nation where the Pathway Program is offered and two international locations. The university plans to expand the program by about 10 sites each year.Even though she said she would rather take classes in the classroom to get the interaction with professors and peers, she said it would have taken her twice as long to take in-class courses.In fact, colleges say the rapid online growth is fueled mostly by students.Elayne Clift, a writer, journalist and adjunct professor currently living in Vermont, said she taught an online class a couple years ago and vowed never to do it again.Lauren Fowler, professor at Weber State, has been teaching at least one online class a semester for the last several years. She said she usually chooses to teach a lower-level class online because she believes she interacts better with upper-level students face-to- face. But Fowler also would not recommend first-semester freshmen to take online courses because "they are already overwhelmed with how difficult college is," she said.Raj Nisankarao, president of the National Business Association, suggests that students look at the curriculum of the class and the type of class to make sure an online version would be an appropriate one. He said different businesses will look at online classes in different ways but many want students who have had extensive online experience and may look at online classes as a plus.Weber State said at least right now, it takes as much time, if not more time, out of the professor's day to teach an online course. Not only are the teachers often in constant contact with students, answering their questions and concerns, but they are also vigilantly adding more interactive tools to their classes.The 25-year-old Salt Lake City resident just got home from an eight-hour workday and will be leaving for a softball tournament in about an hour, but he has a little bit of time to work on his online class.April Hoyt, 31 and mother of four, is grateful for the opportunity she has had to get her education online. Hoyt is currently finishing up an online degree in communicative and deaf disorder at Utah State.EMAIL: slenz@desnews.comFowler suggests that there be an online preparedness quiz before signing up for an online class because she's had some students email her up to four weeks into the semester who haven't ordered the book yet and are just starting the class.

EMAIL: slenz@desnews.com

Tribute to a Titan

During many of the years that she edited this magazine, Betty Lou Amster wrote a monthly column signed "Bla." But blah could not have been further from the truth about Betty Lou. She was a Tennessee Williams character. Though not a natural beauty, she nevertheless made a significant physical impact. She wore hats long after doing so was fashionable, not only on the street, but at her desk, frequently stopping while out of the office to buy another. She smoked cigarettes - sometimes cigarillos - through a long silver cigarette holder. Her big corner office was always dark; she preferred to keep the lights off except for one dim lamp, and presided over editorial meetings in that office at an antique steamboat captain's table. Smoke swirled. So did the conversation.

Betty Lou left the C-J to work in advertising, and from advertising joined Louisville, then published by the Chamber of Commerce. She was the magazine's second editor, a classic of the genre, imperiously rejecting stories or designs from the art department with little more than a wave of her hand. She had good taste in writing and graphics, knew what she wanted, and usually got it. She also knew talent and how to woo it - freelancers like historian George Yater and former Courier writer Bill Woolsey (whom she ingeniously commissioned to write a monthly cooking column), along with photographers Bill Strode (who for most of her years as editor shot the covers) and John Nation (the backbone of the magazine for the last 30-plus years). It's also worth noting that since she retired, two of her proteges have served as editor, most recently Bruce Allar, and that the current senior editor, Jack Welch, began his work at the magazine during her reign. Not a bad recruiting record.When hired as editorial associate in 1980, I was told by my predecessor, Stewart Trisler, that I wouldn't be coddled. I was in so over my head, professionally, that I quaked over everything. A sideways glance from the boss was the worst. When I fessed up to that, Betty Lou purred, "Why I'm just a little pussycat." This was in the Landmark Building at Third and Liberty, which had once housed the Courier-Journal and Louisville Times. Earlier in her career she'd worked the crime beat for that paper, the first woman ever to do so.As if all of that weren't enough, one of her eyes didn't track (there were rumors that it was glass), and this otherwise fearless woman had a magnificent fear of thunderstorms. She knew when one was coming long before it arrived and, fast as a flash of lightning, was on her way home - in a taxi; Betty Lou never drove. She never had a license.In the '70s the now-defunct Old House restaurant was her luncheon habitat, where she dined and drank with the city's businessmen. (By the late '80s it had been replaced by the Galt House.) None of those guys likely downed more martinis than she did.In the years since her retirement we wrote one another from time to time, had lunch occasionally, and then lost touch almost entirely (in part because an ocean separated us). This past New Year's Day I called to let her know I was thinking of her. She broke the news that Junie had died a few weeks previously. Conversation was stilted. There were things I would have liked to have told her, thanks I would have liked to have given. But she was not a sentimentalist.Her husband Junie taught psychology at the University of Louisville. He also was straight out of a Tennessee Williams play - a beatnik with a goatee who wore sandals and was as laid-back as Betty Lou was intense. They were married for 60 years. When I knew them best, they lived in a huge apartment in the Mayflower on Ormsby Avenue, where dinner parties were as colorful as the hosts were. Betty Lou loved to entertain, and the guest list was always diverse - her French dressmaker, Junie's university colleagues, East End grandees, Old Louisville bohemians.

Betty Lou died at 86 on April 24 of this year. This magazine is her legacy.