How can we make the best of a bad situation in school?

When Bob Riefstahl founded2Win! Globalalmost 20 years ago, he was ahead of his time. His company provides winning pre-sales, client-success skills, and culture guidance for technology companies. Today, his clients include IBM, Adobe, CISCO, Siemens, and Microsoft.

However, in the beginning, things were quite different.

Riefstahl says, "When we started, software sales were stuck in the past. Big tech companies like IBM had a particular way of doing things, and most of the smaller companies emulated the big boys. Had that not changed, companies like Big Blue (IBM) may have fallen by the wayside. Technology is a two-step process that includes both development and sales.

He also states, The greatest technology in the world is meaningless if nobody buys it."

At the time, Riefstahl and crew began peddling what they knew. Technology companies listened, and the result has been a seismic shift in the economy of the world.

Riefstahl saw a need for technology companies to come out of the shadows and deliver what Riefstahl believed was a beneficial evolution in the way people were able to use and prosper from technology. Many believe that his company and way of doing business were an essential part of the technology revolution.

But now, Riefstahl sees a different need.

"Education has needed a technological wake-up call for some time. With the Coronavirus pandemic forcing learning online, that call is happening too quickly delivering punishing blows to our teachers because they don't have the correct knowledge and training to teach online successfully. Like anything else, teaching and delivering presentations online is a learned behavior," states Riefstahl.

Just like in 2001, when Riefstahl was motivated to help technology companies succeed, he now wants to help children learn in a new virtual world.

He states, "Plain and simple, children are the world's future, and I have two sons who were both products of the public school system, and both excelled in their careers. If we can help teachers that work with kids in very diverse school systems, we can create a better world."

Riefstahl believes his company's expertise and experience in the business sector can translate well in the education sector.

They train the largest and most successful technology companies in the world to use soft-skills to help them connect with prospective buyers of their products in a virtual environment.

Their most deep-rooted focus is on the product presentation and demonstration, and they base it on neuro-linguistic programming.

Riefstahl realized the same techniques that his company uses to teach to some of the most talented and highly paid workers in the world could be effective with the teacher and student experience.

They teach people how to be effective communicators during in-personandvirtual engagementsand have been doing so using virtual classrooms for over ten years.

Riefstahl's virtual training started in 2008, and he saw the immediate benefit and impact by leveraging a flip-the-classroom approach.

When the pandemic broke, rather than experiencing a loss in business, Riefstahl's business began to accelerate.

He says, "I have many friends who are teachers or know teachers, and many are struggling with virtual classrooms. At that point, I realized our methods, with some modifications, could be a lifeline to teachers and students."

Rather than testing the water, Riefstahl and 2Win! Global have jumped in the deep end, and he has big expectations in his company's ability to help educators.

He says, "Now and in the future, we want teachers to feel empowered, inspired, and enthused about teaching in the unfamiliar medium of virtual. We have found that our same classes taught virtually produce as good of a result as in-person classes. We want students to have that same experience."

Riefstahl hired Joan Jahelka, a lifelong educator and fellow Colorado resident, to lead the company's first offering, theClassroom 2.0series, set to debut in mid-August.

They will deliver the series into three parts:

Module One: To help teachers understand how to set up their home and teaching virtually.

Module Two: To help teachers understand the soft-skills necessary to transform their virtual instruction. This module will help to ensure the student learning experience and retention are the best.

Module Three: To help teachers and administrators understand the nuances of child privacy in virtual instruction. All the modules will be delivered in a crisp, micro-learning style using two to five-minute video segments.

Riefstahl's team at 2Win! Global believes that the education division could eventually become profitable, but that is not their primary concern.

"This goal is much more of a charitable offering on our part, and much less about profit. Our price points on this course are such that we believe it would take years to cover our costs. That's okay, because our motivation is about making a difference to kids and teachers," said Riefstahl.

See the article here:
How This Technology Sales Leader Is Guiding Teachers Toward Instructional Enlightenment - Forbes

The 'woke' will lead us to enlightenment

Won't it be swell when Sleepy Joe takes over. The rioters will lay down their weapons. The media will be giddy with hope and change. The Black Lives Matter movement will be ecstatic that an old, doddering, white man has weakly grasped the helm while cruising full speed toward the shoals.

The woke will choose the appropriate statuary and sports team names. All will cheerfully sing the proper gender pronouns. Marriage and gender will be transformed. All unrest will cease; the masked sociopaths will halt their destruction.

The systemic racism of the privileged white class will gloriously evaporate like a cloud of steam. All will hold woke opinions as all other opinions are blatantly false. White people will genuflect to all other races, cause, well, we got it coming. Everyone will achieve equally as the field is now level for all. Forget about ability and striving for achievement. That sounds awake, certainly not woke.

The sanctimonious, imperious, authoritarian, censorious woke will lead us to enlightenment. It appears the only police the left desires is the thought police.

Jim Howard

We must reaffirm American principles

We are being assaulted by the cancel culture movement and by the protests of Black Lives Matter. Opposing voices on college campuses have been shouted down; editors or reporters who question the movement are silenced; even corporate executives are bowing before the mandates to repudiate the America of the past 250 years.

Most Americans are shaking their heads at this effort to destroy our history and values. Yet we remain separated and silent. I am sure there are millions of Americans, liberal and conservative, who still believe the nation was founded on principles of individual liberty and the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

These Americans believe the family unit is fundamental. They have served together on boards and commissions and debated their differences while acknowledging their agreements. They are in business, think tanks, politics, church and our universities. We need them to step forward and find common ground. We need to reaffirm our fundamental American principles.

There are millions who have been called "the silent majority," but we need to remain silent no more. Future generations depend on us. Now is the time to act as proud Americans.

George Davenport, Signal Mountain

What did we learn from Dr. M.L. King?

We have witnessed burning, looting and destroying statues representing our history and culture. Our Constitution allows peaceful demonstrations, but it has turned out to be lawlessness beyond what any civilization should allow. So far, I've not been able to figure out what is wrong with these people and their cause.

Most religions theoretically prescribe noble teachings. But in reality these lofty standards are often far removed from those religions' actual thought and practice. Do Christians, for example, really live up to the teachings of Jesus?

Position in our society is believed to be fixed on the merits one has earned in a past life. Our society needs to be re-educated to a point of responsibility our forefathers have handed down to us. Martin Luther King, Jr. had to visit India to learn about a nonviolent society. Has his teaching made any difference in our society?

Amos Taj, Ooltewah

Forget Trump, Biden; vote Jo Jorgensen

Nothing has changed. We still have a horrible president and a horrible Democrat running against him. If you want to change people, you have to vote differently.

Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party's candidate for president. Look her up. Not only intelligent, but very well spoken and honest. Jo Jorgensen is everything Trump and Biden are not.

Once again, to effect change, vote differently.

Mark Tyson

Bennett cartoon was 'gallows humor'

I cannot believe the TFP allowed Clay Bennett to publish a "gallows humor" cartoon at the expense of our children last week.

It was an image of a funeral home with a sign that said, "Back to school sale." Isn't this supposed to be a family newspaper?

Bennett's cartoons are never encouraging, never positive and especially never funny.

Rev. Betty Latham

Read more from the original source:
The 'woke' will lead us to enlightenment and more letters to the editors - Chattanooga Times Free Press

Freemasonry, known popularly for its white aprons and arcane symbols, is the world's oldest fraternal organization. Despite its longevity, Freemasons have long been shrouded in mystery. To outside observers, the organization's rites and practices may seem cult-like, clannish and secretive even sinister. Some of this stems from Freemasons' often deliberate reluctance to speak about the organization's rituals to outsiders. But it is also partly the result of many popular movies and books, such as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" (Doubleday, 2003), that have fostered misconceptions or depicted the order in an unflattering light.

In reality, however, Freemasonry is a worldwide organization with a long and complex history. Its members have included politicians, engineers, scientists, writers, inventors and philosophers. Many of these members have played prominent roles in world events, such as revolutions, wars and intellectual movements.

Related: Belief in 'Da Vinci Code' conspiracy may ease fear of death

In addition to being the world's oldest fraternal organization, Freemasonry is also the world's largest such organization, boasting an estimated worldwide membership of some 6 million people, according to a report by the BBC. As the name implies, a fraternal organization is one that's composed almost solely of men who gather together for mutual benefit, frequently for professional or business reasons. However, nowadays women can be Freemasons, too (more on this later).

But Freemasons, or Masons as they are sometimes called, are dedicated to loftier goals as well. Bound together by secret rites of initiation and ritual, its members ostensibly promote the "brotherhood of man," and in the past, have often been associated with 18th century Enlightenment principles such as anti-monarchism, republicanism, meritocracy and constitutional government, said Margaret Jacob, professor emeritus of European history at the University of California, Los Angeles and author of the book "The Origins of Freemasonry: Facts and Fictions" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005).

This is not to say that Freemasonry is wholly secular and devoid of religious aspects. Its members are encouraged to believe in a supreme being, which in the parlance of Masonry, is known as the "Grand Architect of the Universe," Jacob added.

Related: What drives religious belief? It's not intuition

This Grand Architect, Jacob further explained, is akin to a Deistic creator rather than a personal God as envisioned by Christianity. The concept of Deism, which has its origins in the 17th century Enlightenment, promotes the idea that the supreme being is like the ultimate "watchmaker;" a deity that created the universe but does not play an active role in the lives of its creations.

A code of ethics also guides the behavior of members. This code is derived from several documents, the most famous of which is a series of documents known as the "Old Charges" or "Constitutions." One of these documents, known as the "Regius Poem" or the "Halliwell Manuscript," is dated to sometime around the latter 14th or early 15th century, and is reportedly the oldest document to mention Masonry, according to the Pietre-Stones Review of Freemasonry, an online magazine written by Freemasons. The Halliwell Manuscript is written in verse, and in addition to purportedly tracing the history of Masonry, it also prescribes correct moral behavior for Masons. For example, it urges members to be "steadfast, trusty, and true," and "not to take bribes" or "harbor thieves."

While many Freemasons are Christians, Freemasonry and Christianity have had a complex, often divisive, relationship. Some orthodox Christians have taken issue with Freemasonry's Deism and its frequently perceived ties to paganism and the occult. But the Catholic Church has been among its harshest critics. In 1738, a Papal decree prohibited Catholics from becoming Freemasons, Jacob wrote. Even today, the Papal ban on Freemasonry remains in place, with the Church declaring Freemasonry "irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church," according to the Vatican.

The origins of Freemasonry are obscure, and the subject is rife with myth and speculation. One of the more fanciful claims is that the Freemasons are descended from the builders of Solomon's Temple (also known as the First Temple) in Jerusalem, according to Jacob. Others have argued that the Freemasons began as an offshoot of the Knights Templars, a Catholic military order dating to medieval times. And the famous American revolutionary Thomas Paine attempted to trace the origins of the order to the ancient Egyptians and Celtic Druids. There has also been a longstanding rumor that Freemasons are the same as the Illuminati, an 18th-century secret society that began in Germany, Jacob wrote. Most of these theories have been debunked, though some people continue to believe them.

"Freemasonry has its origins in the stonemason guilds of medieval Europe," Jacob told Live Science. These guilds, especially active during the 14th century, were responsible for constructing some of the finest architecture in Europe, such as the ornate Gothic cathedrals of Notre Dame in Paris and Westminster Abbey in London.

Like many artisan craft guilds of that time, its members jealously guarded their secrets and were selective about who they chose as apprentices. Initiation for new members required a long period of training, during which they learned the craft and were often taught advanced mathematics and architecture. Their skills were in such high demand that experienced Freemasons were frequently sought out by monarchs or high-ranking church officials, Jacob said.

The guilds provided members not only with wage protection and quality control over the work performed but also important social connections, she added. Members gathered in lodges, which served as the headquarters and focal points where the Masons socialized, partook in meals and gathered to discuss the events and issues of the day.

However, with the rise of capitalism and the market economy during the 16th and 17th centuries, the old guild system broke down, Jacob wrote. But the Masonic lodges survived. In order to bolster membership and raise funds, the stonemason guilds began to recruit non-masons. At first, the new recruits were often relatives of existing members, but they increasingly included wealthy individuals and men of high social status.

Many of these new members were "learned gentlemen" who were interested in the philosophical and intellectual trends that were transforming the European intellectual landscape at the time, such as rationalism, the scientific method and Newtonian physics. The men were equally interested in questions of morality especially how to build moral character. Out of this new focus grew "speculative Freemasonry," which began in the 17th century. This modernized form of Masonry deemphasized stone working and the lodges became meeting places for men dedicated to and associated with liberal Western values, Jacob said.

"Freemasonry as we know it today grew out of the early 18th century in England and Scotland," she said. A major turning point in Freemason history occurred in 1717, when the members of four separate London lodges gathered together to form what became known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England. This Grand Lodge became the focal point of British Masonry and helped to spread and popularize the organization. Freemasonry spread rapidly across the continent; soon there were Masonic lodges scattered throughout Europe, from Spain and Portugal in the west to Russia in the east. It was also established in the North American colonies during the first half of the 18th century.

By the late 18th century, at the height of the Enlightenment, Freemasonry carried considerable social cachet. "Being a Mason signaled that you were at the forefront of knowledge," Jacob said.

Freemasonry wasn't always welcomed, however. In the United States in the 1830s, for example, a political party known as the Anti-Masonic Party formed, the Washington Post reported. It was the nation's original third political party and its members were dedicated to countering what they believed was Freemasonry's undue political influence. William Seward, who went on to become President Abraham Lincoln's secretary of state, began his political career as an Anti-Masonic candidate.

The early Masonic lodges were exclusively male, meaning that women were prohibited from membership, a point made clear in the "Old Charges" ("no bondmen, no women, no immoral or scandalous men..."). This tradition, a principle that reflected the predominant social arrangements of the time, continued for many decades, especially in Great Britain.

But over the years, women increasingly began to play active roles in the organization, especially on the European mainland. In France during the 1740s, for example, so-called "lodges of adoption" began to appear, Jacob said. These were lodges that admitted a mixture of men and women, the latter mostly the wives, daughters and female relatives of the male Masons. They were not fully independent but were sanctioned by and attached to the traditional male lodges. Soon, similar lodges of adoption sprang up in the Netherlands and eventually in the United States.

Out of this tradition, Masonic organizations were eventually formed that admitted both men and women as full members. Some of these organizations included the Order of the Amaranth, the Order of the White Shrine of Jerusalem and the Order of the Eastern Star. In these organizations, both men and women partake in Masonic rites and women can hold positions of authority and leadership. The highest ranking woman in the Order of the Eastern Star, for example, is known as the "Worthy Matron" and is the presiding officer of the organization. There are also several Masonic-related girls' and young women's organizations, such as the Order of Job's Daughters and the International Order of Rainbow for Girls, both of which are active today. The Rainbow Girls are an offshoot of the Order of the Eastern Star and is largely dedicated to service and charity.

A California native, who asked to remain anonymous, and who was a member of the Rainbow Girls in the 1970s, remembers the organization fondly. As a young woman, she said, she was never made to feel lesser because she was a member of one of the female organizations. "We were autonomous," she told Live Science. "We always decided our own agenda."

"If anything," she continued, "looking back, the organization gave me a glimpse of a slightly utopian society because we were very democratic. The organization was well run and well organized."

Today, traditional Masons are still exclusively men but the related organizations of female Masons are still active, many involved in charity, education and character-building.

Similar to its relationship with women, Freemasonry in the United States has had a complicated history with ethnic minorities, especially Black Americans. After Freemasonry was established in the American colonies, but prior to the Revolutionary War, a few free Black colonists, including a man named Prince Hall, petitioned for membership in the Boston, Massachusetts Lodge, according to Ccile Rvauger's book "Black Freemasonry," (Simon and Schuster, 2016). Hall was denied but he persevered, eventually receiving a charter in 1784 from the Grand Lodge in England. The Masonic lodge he established was the first African American lodge in the United States, and became the basis for the many other Black lodges that subsequently sprang up. These Black lodges were named "Prince Hall Lodges" in the founder's honor, and were established exclusively for African Americans.

Although the Masonic codes do not strictly prohibit the membership of non-white ethnic minorities, integrating the mainstream lodges has been an on-going struggle. Attempts to integrate the mainstream lodges have been met with varying success. "There are liberal lodges that make the extra effort, but most just go with whoever turns up," Jacob said.

However, even as late as the first decade of this century, attempts to integrate some lodges in the southeastern United States have met with opposition from some white members, the New York Times reported.

Several prominent historical figures have reportedly been Freemasons, including Simn Bolvar, known as the "liberator of South America"; the French philosopher Voltaire, known for his voluminous philosophical and political writings; and the famous German poet and writer Goethe. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the famous composer, became a Mason in 1784. His renowned opera, "The Magic Flute," contains elements of Freemasonry, and is a paean to his Masonic beliefs, NPR reported.

In his book "Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840" (University of North Carolina Press, 1998), historian Steven Bullock noted that several of the Founding Fathers and notable American revolutionaries and presidents were Freemasons, including George Washington, Paul Revere, Benjamin Franklin and Andrew Jackson. Franklin was one of the first Freemasons in what was then Colonial America, and in 1734 he became the Grand Master of the Philadelphia Lodge, according to a 1906 article published in The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.

The world of Freemasonry is composed of esoteric signs and symbols that are baffling to most non-Masons. Perhaps the most common are the compass and square, which are the universally recognizable symbols of the organization. They typically emblazon the lintels above lodge entrances and can be found on the aprons worn by Masons during rituals.

Although there is not a single, universally agreed upon meaning, most Masons would probably contend that these two objects in conjunction are meant to represent how a Mason should conduct himself, according to an online dictionary of Masonic symbols. The square signifies that a man should act "square" with his fellow man that is, he should be honest and forthright in all his dealings. The compass is a reminder to engage in moderation, and not to get carried away by life's vices.

In general, Masonic symbols such as the beehive, the acacia tree and the all-seeing eye, to name a few are meant to invoke ideals, remind members of correct modes of conduct and behavior, and impart important lessons.

"The symbols of freemasonry largely have to do with ethics how one should live their life," said the former-Rainbow Girl.

Related: Cracking codices: 10 of the most mysterious ancient manuscripts

Today, Freemasonry is undergoing a decline.

"The lodges are having a terrible time recruiting men," Jacob said. "Most young men today don't accept these kinds of distinctions such as places exclusively for men and places exclusively for women."

Consequently, membership in lodges has dropped and the pull to join an exclusive, privileged enclave of men does not carry the attraction it once had. Although there are Masonic lodges in every U.S. state, many of these now stand vacant.

One of the reasons for this decline has been competition from similar fraternal and service organizations, such as the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Columbus, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and E Clampus Vitus. But it's also possible that this decline can be explained by the different values espoused by the newer generations, value systems that are often at odds with the previous generations.

The problem of decline, Jacob said, is rooted in the current composition of the lodges. Most members, she noted, are between the ages of 50 and 60, are predominantly white and hold very conservative politics. "This has no appeal to the younger generation," she said. "Even the armed services are integrated now by race and gender, but not the lodges."

Additional resources:

Read the rest here:
Freemasons: Behind the veil of secrecy - Livescience.com

Kurt Vonneguts short story 2 B R 0 2 B talks of a utopia that has turned out to be a dystopia where everything is controlled by the government and the political system serves only the elite. Sheikh Tasmima Mrenmoi argues that we are living in similar times

KURT Vonneguts short story 2 B R 0 2 B is a Juvenal satire. The Federal Bureau of Termination in 2 B R 0 2 B is promoting selective immortalities in several places for example, Death, barring accidents, was an adventure for volunteers. In these lines, it shows that killing people seemed like an enjoyment for the volunteers who are supposedly the doctors and people liked them. Vonnegut is not afraid of his chosen words either, hes constantly offending people as well, like Swift.

Restoration has some qualities of Renaissance which means the zeitgeist is more or less the same. Restoration is the age of isms and the era was all about what was challenged before. In other words, an era of light, hence the enlightenment. The light of enlightenment is knowledge, if we remember how we lost the paradise we lost the fruit of knowledge so knowledge can be sometimes forbidden and if we pursue it, it can be destructive we may lose our paradise.

Therefore, the restoration era was all about challenging what was conceived before, the restoration is an era that begins to challenge the innocence of the renaissance. The Renaissance era embraced humanity with all its faults and restoration did not. In other words, the renaissance argued humanity and the restoration era developed the notion of humanity. A sort of critical analysis of human behaviour.

Now if the restoration era is compared with the current time, connect it with the present context, in case a COVID-19 vaccine is finally prepared and ready to be in use, a selected few community will enjoy the privilege first as opposed to the entire world. In that case, are ideas like equality, fraternity, and liberty an illusion that humans had been chasing since the dawn of civilisation or do they really exist and are waiting for us to be found?

The readers of the satire could surely connect with the current COVID-19 situation as it can be assumed that if corona vaccine is finally prepared only a selected few community will enjoy the privilege first as opposed to the entire world. The terms equality, fraternity, and liberty are illusions that humans had been chasing since the dawn of civilisation.

Human behaviour and their minds have been constructed in such a way that the ideas of equality, fraternity, and libertymight not be chased ever, no matter how many eras come after the restoration era. Massacres like COVID-19 shall presume and the words like equality, fraternity, and liberty shall remain an illusion.

The short story, if compared with the situation currently, would be our situation if we survive COVID-19. Few years from now, the world would be much more concerned about controlling the population. Killing off old people and making a father choose, which child he wants to save would be considered to be a wise verdict. The painter draws a world which is fallacious and can only be imagined.

He knew that he would never paint again. He let his paintbrush fall to the drop-cloths below. And then he decided he had had about enough of life in the Happy Garden of Life, too, and he came slowly down from the ladder.

As he slowly came down the ladder, he gave up. His beautiful world inside the painting shall remain a happy dream. Just like the Rape of the Lock, Gullivers Travel and satires like these remain in our bookshelves after we are done with the course, we analyse the messages, the words and what not.

But the question lies, are the changes really being made? When a situation arrives, writers and free thinkers do their role in the best possible manners to make us all aware of the situation, it is up to us how we respond. Just like the muralist got down the ladder, they all do so at some point.

In the final lines, as the hostess thanks the mural, it proves how the advanced society is imposing and trying hard, barring the population of the society. Whereas, an individual in a democratic country has every right to live. Similar situations arrived in Swifts Gulliver's Travels when Gulliver was compared to an animal. The mural is no less than an animal when he was thanked. The harsh political system questions his identity, whether to be or not be?

Therefore, the responsibility of a free thinker in a time crisis is to convey the message to the whole humanity including the political world using satires and allegories. He has delivered the message, now rest depends on people and the countrys political system.

In Vonneguts 2 B R 0 2 B, the desire to create autopian world has reached a level, where its almost like a dystopian world. Where the world has collapsed into a sad depressing place. Government is controlling everyone and no one can be a human anymore. Vonnegut in the first few lines of the story showed us how perfect the postmodern world is. Whereas, at the end he enlightened us with the reality.

The whole play talks about the shallow government system, of not only the England or American but of the entire world. In a search to create a utopian world, we have created this dystopian, shallow world where, the term equality has become vague.

Even in crisis like corona virus, the entire world has proven to be disgusting. Corruption has been going on since the beginning of the perfect world and question lies for how long? No matter how many eras pass by the world will be among the fallen ones, we have lost the paradise and everyone in this world is in search of their own perfect paradise. Is the paradise going to be or not to be? Or are we all stuck in this maze, each with a story of its own, many bleak, scary stories.

Sheikh Tasmima Mrenmoi is a student of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh.

Read more here:
2 BR 0 2 B and the current situation of the world - newagebd.net

Row after Jaishankar describes the founder of Buddhism as one of the greatest Indians ever

Nepal is the land of origin of Lord Buddha, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu asserted on Sunday after Indias External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar described the founder of Buddhism as one of the greatest Indians ever. The comment from the Indian Minister also drew a series of reactions from leading Nepalese figures, including former Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who said Mr. Jaishankars comments about Lord Buddha were objectionable.

It is a well-established and undeniable fact proven by historical and archaeological evidence that Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and the fountain of Buddhism, is one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, said the official spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal in an official statement.

The controversy erupted after Mr. Jaishankar, during an interaction with the Confederation of Indian Industries on Saturday, referred to Buddha while discussing Indias soft power. Who are the greatest Indians ever that you can remember? I would say one is Gautama Buddha and the other is Mahatma Gandhi, said Mr. Jaishankar.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, however, responded saying that the Minister was referring to the shared Buddhist heritage. The Indian statement supported the Nepalese assertion and said, There is no doubt that Gautama Buddha was born in Lumbini, which is in Nepal. Indias statement, however, did not clarify how Mr. Jaishankar regarded the Lumbini-born Sakyamuni or the Buddha as an Indian.

It is understood that the Nepalese side believes Lumbini is of paramount importance in Buddhism, and the Indian side highlights the importance of Bodhgaya, the place of enlightenment of the Buddha and Sarnath, where the first Buddhist sermon was delivered.

Earlier Mr. Jaishankar drew an angry retort from Mr. Nepal who described the remarks as insensitive and wrong. The Indian Foreign Minister has described Nepals Lumbini-born Gautama Buddha as a great Indian. This amounts to misinformation and is objectionable, said Mr. Nepal.

The war of words about the Buddha has highlighted the Buddha diplomacy that both India and Nepal have been practising for the last few years. While Prime Minister Narendra Modis government has been highlighting Indias Buddhist heritage since 2014, Nepal, with the help of international partners, including China, has invested in developing Lumbini as a major tourism destination. During the Kathmandu visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2019, both countries agreed to collaborate on building a road connecting Kathmandu and Pokhara with Lumbini. Notably, Mr. Modi visited Bodhgaya, the place where prince Sidhartha Gautama became the enlightened Buddha. He, however, could not visit Lumbini during his visits to Nepal due to scheduling problems.

Apart from Lumbini, Bodhgaya and Sarnath, classical Buddhism also attaches high significance to Kushinagar, the place where the Buddha breathed his last.

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Nepal, India in war of words over Buddhas origins - The Hindu

If you have not read Francis Wheens wonderful book How mumbo-jumbo conquered the world, you have missed out on a lot of fun. It is a hilarious account of how people love to add words and activities that seem fairly complicated or pretty simple but which have no real meaning.

Before we discuss what mumbo-jumbo means and how it has creeped into nearly all walks of life, something about Francis Wheen and his book is in order. Wheen is a British broadcaster and journalist who has worked for some of the top newspapers in Britain. He is also author of several books including a biography of Karl Marx and a notional biography of Das Kapital dealing with the creation and publication of the first volume of Marxs most important work, as well as other incomplete volumes. Wheen is a keen observer of history and writes about it with passion.

How mumbo-jumbo conquered the world is subtitled as a short history of modern delusions. He contends that in the last quarter of the 20th century when the likes of Khamenei, Reagan, and Thatcher used mumbo-jumbo to conquer their countries, a period began in the worlds history when most things began to stop making sense. With changes in the Soviet Union and emerging crises in the socialist world, notions of history, progress, and reason vacated space for colonization by literary loons, management gurus, and spiritual cults. Irrational ideas presented by quackery brought about a New Age of confused mumbo-jumbo. He uses voodoo for such quackery.

Wheen exposes the march of unreason that threatens to clog our minds. He is an intelligent sceptic who raises pertinent questions about new hocus-pocus disguised as academic excellence, management marvels, mastery learning, post-whatever, and spiritual guidance. To Wheen, it shows an absence of common sense in most people who welcome every new jargon as impressive and self-evident. Wheens mission is to debunk such jargon as mumbo-jumbo. He attacks both complicated pomposity and simplistic explanations. The book was published in 2004 and my English friend Alan Hamilton who died last year at the age of 90 presented it to me.

For the past 15 years I have read it multiple times with new enjoyment as more and more mumbo-jumbo from education to politics emerges across the world and in Pakistan too. Wheen begins with Khomeini, Reagan and Thatcher, describing them as masters of mumbo-jumbo who had nothing concrete to offer but people liked their grandiloquent style and optimism. They cajoled their people into acquiescence by the promise of change that ultimately proved illusory. He enumerates the cost people paid for the political chicanery of these leaders. Why do people accept and welcome such mumbo-jumbo? Wheens answer is self-incurred immaturity.

Wheen suggests that we demand autonomy and clarity with intellectual and rational vigour from anyone who offers checklists and straitjackets to confine our thinking. For example, he says the word enlightenment itself has been misappropriated by the purveyors of mumbo-jumbo who dish out hundreds of books every year on enlightenment which tends to be more spiritual than intellectual. In its original meaning, enlightenment referred to rational enquiry rather than purifying your soul with meditation. Enlightenment gives you confidence in rational argument, and anything that moves you away from it we may consider as mumbo-jumbo that promotes obscurantist bunkum.

In most cases, mumbo-jumbo uses elegant phraseology to promise complex or simple solutions. It works both ways: complicated and simplistic. Some mumbo-jumbo uses complex discourse to sound academic and authentic, whereas at the bottom it is shallow. Some others use oversimplified language for ideas that need profound thinking. In both, they target and satisfy their own audiences which regale in, at times scientific approach and at others, in presumably down-to-earth simplicity. So, the mumbo-jumbo can work as a double-edged sword with its own sharp ends that appear to be cutting-edge but in fact blunt the minds.

Catchphrases turn into mantras which every other street-corner orator may use. In countries such as Pakistan, ideological and sectarian mumbo-jumbo is a favourite staple in all seasons. Most of this is intellectually unsound and self-defeating, but it sells. Even if such mumbo-jumbo is incredible, most people from academics and the clergy to the laity find it impressive and useful. Mumbo-jumbo has its own spell that prevents independent thinking be it in development and economics or in education and management. The mumbo-jumbo of the development sector presents agents of change, benchmarks, capacity development, community empowerment, decentralized planning, enabling environment, logical frameworks, theory of change, and many others.

Market economy presents a selective picture of society using its own mumbo-jumbo such as bottom-lines, choices, consumer satisfaction, derivatives, economic determinism, futures, game theory and trickle-down effect. Education has developed its own mumbo-jumbo that talks about academic achievement, behaviour-change communication, competency-based education, complementarity, curriculum delivery, classroom management, formative assessment, goal-oriented education, and higher-order learning. Management has its own alchemical formulas that have a veneer of scientific method to make them universally popular. All the above may have some utility but in most cases they become voodoo; meaning as if by the magic of this you will get the desired results.

In most cases, the mumbo-jumbo by itself does nothing to induce genuine change. Academics to celebrities who become influenced by such mumbo-jumbo end up as incorrigible fantasists. In every field there appears to be some old ham who makes you believe in fantasies. Do this or that, and the future is yours. Draft a single national curriculum and you get a uniform education system. Add more religion in the syllabus, and you get admirable believers. Develop good benchmarks and you have top scorers. Conduct training in community empowerment and you harvest empowered people. The trick is to cut through this mumbo-jumbo.

Most documents and speeches using mumbo-jumbo are vainglorious monuments waiting for followers. When academies, departments, institutions, ministries, or organizations adopt such mumbo jumbo, the people working there and expected beneficiaries are blithely left to the tender mercies of gurus who claim to be experienced and qualified. A good guru is sharp in using jargon with unsuspecting followers, but a better guru is able to develop a whole new set of jargon; and lo and behold, you are in with some brand-new mumbo-jumbo. But those who can challenge the jargon become a tiny and ever-shrinking group.

The rhetorical ammunition at the command of gurus is formidable, and that ammunition is used to wage a war against the enemy within. If you are working in a department that has decided to embrace such mumbo-jumbo, and you decide to challenge, the gurus are likely to declare you the enemy within. The mumbo-jumbo itself becomes a kind of theology that you cant question. Be it academic theology about categories and rankings or simple educational mumbo-jumbo about pacing guides, outcomes, topic sentences, and topic paragraphs, we should not consider them scriptural.

Ultimately, mumbo-jumbo is all about neologism in which you use a new word or expression, or simply give a new meaning to an existing one; and make people believe in it, no matter how irrational this exercise is. Then you lionize the gurus who use euphemisms such as downsizing, right-sizing, or rationalizing the number of employees rather than saying you are depriving them of their employment.

As Wheen says: legerdemain depends on its success on fooling all the audience all the time: any member of the crowd who points out that the entire operation is a con must be silenced at once

The writer holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham, UK and works in Islamabad.

Email: [emailprotected]

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Following and learning mumbo-jumbo - The News International

Not for the oiks British Gentlemen in Rome by Katharine Read, c.1750. Photograph: incamerastock/Alamy

The Grand Tour was one of the defining educational experiences of the 18th century, a kind of travelling finishing school, comprising aristocratic visits to ancient cultural sites, princely art galleries, and exclusive Enlightenment soirees. Typically, British tourists (the word dates from 1772) visited France, Germany and Italy. Some, like Byron, even went on to Greece and Turkey for headier pursuits. It was a year of sightseeing, hobnobbing and sex before returning home with good memories and possibly syphilis. But this was strictly an elite experience. It was very much not for the oiks.

My new novel tells the story of two brothers dispatched on to the Grand Tour in the 1760s to make fashionable new friends. Instead they meet the magnificently savage Lavelle, who destroys their plans. There is plenty of sex and culture in the book, but as a writer, I am more interested in the other side of history, the history of outsiders.

The Grand Tour is the ultimate story of insiders: rich, white Europeans go on an exclusive jolly before commencing a life of power and privilege. We can all imagine a certain blond-haired chap having done it as a youth. Writing my novel, I was asking: is there an outsider history of the Grand Tour? Does the other even exist in the Enlightenment, which spoke of freedom, but from the most elite vantage point?

1. The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century by Jeremy Black (1992)If you want a readable introduction to the subject, this is it. It covers everything from the harsh realities of life on the road, the still-perilous journeys, that discovery of sex and suddenly running out of money 1,000 miles from home. It also shows how unforeseen events (the French Revolution) could suddenly change everything. Should you too be living through a time where unforeseen events have suddenly changed everything, I recommend it.

2. Of Travel by Sir Francis Bacon (1625)Gleaned from his own journeys around France, Italy and Spain, polymath genius Bacon recommends travellers should keep a journal, meet locals, get them to show you around, visit many famous sights, and regard travel as an illuminating experience. It is amazing to think these were new ideas then, but as with so much of modern life, Bacon had to show us first.

3. The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle by Tobias Smollett (1751)Frankly, Peregrine Pickle is a pain in the arse. The Grand Tour is only part of this story the hero only gets as far as France before turning back but he is cantankerous, offensive and hilarious right across his travels, not least in poisonous pen portraits of literary enemies such as Henry Fielding. George Orwell hated the book, deriding its snobbish, elitist impulses. But then again, Orwell was proudly, openly homophobic.

4. Travels through France and Italy by Tobias Smollett (1766)Despite Peregrine Pickles awfulness, you still want to like Smollett because of the circumstances in which he wrote his hugely influential Grand Tour travelogue: grief-stricken, fleeing the death of his only child. But the same wonderfully awful Smollett who insulted and berated through that book now picks stupid, pointless real-life fights all the way across France. He hates his travel companions and is dubiously withering about Catholic southern Europe. But his wicked in the real sense humour and perceptive eye make this glorious, shameless, appalling fun.

5. A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy by Laurence Sterne (1768)Written in response to Smolletts travelogue, it was allegedly inspired when the two writers met. Sterne so disliked Smollett that he created the odious, fabulously named Smelfungus, whom his own alter ego, Yorick, meets en route. Wandering aimlessly around France, Yorick is more interested in sex than culture. In so doing, Sterne cleverly reminds us of a big part of the Tours appeal for young British people: sex.

6. Sultry Climates: Travel and Sex Since the Grand Tour by Ian Littlewood (2001)Speaking of which, this very entertaining book explores the Grand Tour more fully as an opportunity for sex of every variety, frowned upon back home. It also considers the influence of the Tour on how weve holidayed ever since. Are you a Connoisseur, a Pilgrim or a Rebel? This book shows you how the Grand Tour shaped how you travel.

7. Italian Journey by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1816)Where the British snigger and satirise, the Germans bring poetry. Italian Journey is a lovely work suffused with Goethes sincere, lush Romanticism genuinely new after the hard-eyed satires of the 18th century. Ruminations on art, culture, history, climate, even geology hover beautifully, while Goethe shows how Italy seemed to the Grand Tourist a great civilisation simultaneously alive and in ruins. Which is all great: but still white, male, elite business as usual.

8. Ladies of the Grand Tour by Brian Dolan (1992)Women rarely feature much in writing about the Tour but Dolans survey captures its liberating sometimes revolutionary impact on British women, celebrating them as writers, thinkers and observers. It finds interesting links between travel and radicalism for that first generation of women we now see as feminists, for example, Mary Wollstonecraft.

9. Mary Shelleys History of a Six Weeks Tour (1817)Speaking of whom, you could probably make a good argument for the influence of the Tour on Shelleys Frankenstein, but Mary Wollstonecrafts daughter also wrote an account of her own experience of the Grand Tour. Today, its a fascinating document of a politically radical young woman venturing off on her own adventures, claiming a female voice in an otherwise male space. And what a voice insightful, polemical, literary and all written when she was just 20. Marvellous.

10. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)But while the upper classes had such fun on the Tour, many people in the 18th century were on far darker journeys. Equianos autobiographical masterpiece travels from his childhood in (what is now) Nigeria to slavery in the Caribbean and freedom and fame in Britain as a leading black activist. His book thus becomes a horrifically clever inversion of the classic Grand Tour narrative, boldly smashing open the vanity of so much of the Enlightenment.

In my book, Lavelle casts a withering eye over the self-regard of the Enlightenment. He retains his ire most of all for the adored Voltaire, who was also an antisemite who sucked up to autocrats. The world is rotten, Lavelle says. Lovers of books, do you think they do not rape their maids? And philosophers, do they not whip their slaves? Equiano teaches us the truth of 18th-century Europe as much as Voltaire, Sterne and Smollett. It is he, the outsider, who tells the truth of history, every bit as much as or more than its privileged heroes.

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle by Neil Blackmore is published by Cornerstone. To order a copy, go to guardianbookshop.com.

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Top 10 books about the Grand Tour - The Guardian

Culture and the Death of God By Terry Eagleton | Yale University Press 240 pages Langans Book Mark: 4/4 stars

Terry Eagleton, Distinguished Professor of Literature at the University of Lancaster and author of forty books, investigates in Culture and the Death of God how our supposedly faithless age threatened by religious fundamentalism after 9/11 searches for a replacement for God.

The abstruseness of this search was brought home to me by a comment made by one of my daughters. When she saw that I reviewed an earlier Eagleton book, After Theory, in 2004, she said, Dad, who cares about that stuff?

Who cares indeed? This is the basic question. See if you care enough by reading this. Its longer and more complex than a usual review, because Eagleton is more intricate in his writing.

After Theory sustained a tightly woven argument asserting that cultural theory had become largely irrelevant. Cultural theory used to be an enterprise or a patch, as the author calls it, where intellectuals could raise basic questions about what is now quaintly called the human condition.

Despite my daughters remark, I think she cares, and others may as well about that stuff. Her impatience could be a trigger for a bigger issue agitating what passes for the collective conscience of the world. It is dissatisfaction with surrogates put in place of the Almighty. My daughter might say I was reviewing a book that nobody would buy because of the topic.

But thats Eagletons point: while many have jettisoned the idea of God, no good candidates have shown up to take his place. In his new book, Eagleton gives us a list of substitutes and reasons that they havent passed muster, and looks to a future it doesnt seem anywhere on the horizon to me where just and compassionate communities thrive.

So what are the loser replacements for God, our author asks? Good bye to culture, he says, as well as Enlightenment ideas, the philosophy of idealists, romantics, Reason, modernism and more. They all have their charms but come up short. The ache for permanence in humans wants more.

Here is how Eagleton states his case:

Those who find religion boring, irrelevant or offensive need not feel too deterred by my title. This book is less about God than about the crisis occasioned by his apparent disappearance. In pursuit of this subject, it begins with the Enlightenment and ends up with the rise of radical Islam and the so-called war on terror.Among other things, the narrative I have to deliver concerns the fact that atheism is by no means as easy as it looks.

Lets look at the usual suspects to replace God, and see why, according to Eagleton, none of these viceroys for God turned out to be very plausible

First of all, culture: Our author thinks this has always been the most credible candidate. After all, it involves, he says, foundational values, transcendent truths, authoritative traditions, ritual practices, sensuous symbolism, and much more.

So why did culture fail to take religions place? It couldnt, despite some Enlightenment scholars hopes, bridge the gap between the values of a minority and the life of the common people. Culture was unable to be a guarantor of social order and moral conduct because, as our man puts it, No symbolic form in history has matched religions ability to link the most exalted of truths to the daily existence of countless men and women.it was clear that there could be no salvation in aesthetic culture alone.

Not only that, Eagleton remarks, but when politically charged social divisions infiltrate the concept of culture itself, elements like language, symbol, kinship, heritage, identity and community are exploited, culture becomes part of the problem, shifting from a bogus transcendence to militant particularism. Read the front page of any newspaper describing various countries internecine warfare for verification of this remark.

What about idealist philosophy? German idealist philosophers, retaining some impetus from the Enlightenment, put Spirit in place of Reason as the mainspring of human history. This synoptic vision of science, art, Nature, history and politics represents one of the most astonishing intellectual syntheses of the modern era

In a sense, idealistic philosophy was a predictable candidate. It co-opted old religious ideas and put them into sectarian clothing. Idealistic thought was mid-way between traditional Christian doctrine and the creeping secularization of the modern era, according to Andrew Bowie, another historian. Still another historian, M.H.J. Abrams, called the Idealists and Romantics quest a pursuit of natural supernaturalism. Eagleton considers this a false transcendence there was no there, there and it ultimately failed.

What about Romanticism? Eagleton observes that Romanticism is a darker, more troubled affair than Idealism, even if, in some of its moods, it shares its zest and buoyancy. Like Goethes Faust, it must content itself with this endless process of becoming, not with any assured end product.

As Novalis, a pseudonym of George Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772 1801), poet and philosopher of German Romanticism wrote, We seek everywhere the unconditional, and find only the conditional.

These rejections of God-substitutes give one a sense of Eagletons philosophic direction.

Then, how did religion capture the flag? Eagleton writes, The Church had sealed the rift between them (minorities and common people) in its own fashion enfolding clergy and laity in a single institution; and though the simple faithful may not be exactly on all fours with cardinals and theologians, this matters less than the faith they share.

A recurrent facet of the authors argument is that religion has not endured by assuming a series of cunning disguises, any more than it has been secularized away. Instead, religion, he says, has the capacity to unite theory and practice, elite and populace, spirit and senses, a capacity which culture was never quite able to emulate. Religion has all the qualities of culture, and more, a most tenacious and universal form of popular culture: according to Eagleton.

(As the author ironically puts it, The word religion crops up in university cultural studies prospectuses as often as the sentence We must protect the values of a civilized elite from the grubby paws of the populace.)

Why the omission? Eagleton writes that Almost every cultural theorist today passes over in silence some of the most vital beliefs and activities of billions of ordinary and women, simply because they happen not to be to their personal taste. Most them are also ardent opponents of prejudice.

Eagleton defends a highly unpopular concept in postmodern quarters: objective truth. He says that in fact it is a modest notion that many shy away from. The author chides those in the United States for slipping in to our speech the word like after every few words, as a postmodern reflex of not knowing what one thinks about anything. It would be dogmatic to suggest that something actually is what it is. Instead, you must introduce a ritual tentativeness into your speech, in a kind of perpetual semantic slurring.

About religion: If it were released from the burden of furnishing social orders with sets of rationales for their existence, he writes, it might be free to rediscover its true purpose as a critique of all politics. He notes that the New Testament has little or nothing to say of responsible citizenship. It is not a civilized document at all.

I question this last analysis of Eagletons. After all, the New Testament, echoing Exodus, set up rules for living that outline harmonious living among women and men.

In any case, the Almighty appears not to be safely nailed down in his coffin, Eagleton comments. He had simply changed address, migrating to the US Bible Belt, the Evangelical churches of Latin America and the slums of the Arab world. And his fan club is steadily swelling.

Michael D. Langan, the NBC-2.com Culture Critic, met Eagleton in the early 1990s when he spoke at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

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Review: "Culture and the Death of God" - NBC2 News

An historic Napa Valley Victorian gets a new life, welcoming guests to experience Fausts modern approach to classic Cabernet Sauvignon

St. Helena, CA (August 14, 2020) After three years of restoration,Faustis thrilled to welcome guests and visitors to its daring and bold winery and tasting room, the Faust Haus. Opening its doors to the public on September 4, 2020, the Faust Haus (2867 St. Helena Highway) will feature experiences where guests can enjoy Fausts modern portrait of classic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon in an equally fitting setting. With its distinct design and unexpected features, the Faust Haus breathes new energy into the traditional Napa Valley luxury wine scene.

Faust produces carefully crafted Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from its organically-farmed estate vineyard in Coombsville. From meticulously detailed harvesting to innovative methods of fermentation, the winemaking process is overseen by winemaker David Jelinek and estate director Jen Beloz.

We didnt want this to be like any other Napa Valley tasting room, says estate director, Jen Beloz. We wanted to push the boundaries of what was possible. The Faust folklore is all about the passion for the craft and were thrilled to have a home to share that story with guests, also diving deep into what makes our Coombsville estate such an amazing place to grow Cabernet Sauvignon.

Located in St. Helena just off Highway 29, the former farmhouse and prohibition-era cellar provides a creative escape from the typical trappings of Napa Valley. Each room within the historic Victorian home was intentionally designed to offer guests a unique experience, created to feel more like a luxurious living room than a traditional tasting room. Faust enlisted the architectural design firm Aidlin Darling Design to reimagine and restore the home, which was originally built in 1878.

We connected with this notion of moving up from darkness to light as one ascends through the housefrom a place of rich opulence to one of bright simplicity, as analogous to pursuing a state of enlightenment, says David Darling, Principal of Aidlin Darling Design. We hoped to build a new kind of wine tasting experience while honoring and amplifying the historic beauty of the home.

Ona LeSassier of Maca Huneeus Design created the interiors, selecting brightly colored, unique pieces and vintage findssuch as a Jean Lurcat mid-century tapestry and custom photography from conceptual, fine art photographer, Lindsey Rossto fully envelop guests in the Faust experience. A freehand wall mural by Italian artist Roberto Ruspoli lines the stairway up to the bright, white second floor, evoking the story and myth of Faust.

San Francisco-based landscape architecture and design firm, Surfacedesign, was brought in to envision the property grounds by designing distinct, memorable garden rooms linked together by shifting color gradients. Faust expanded Surfacedesigns palette by integrating literary allusions and color theory into the projects narrative, says lead landscape designer Roderick Wyllie, ASLA. We poured our souls into this project.

Faust will be taking all appropriate measures to ensure that staff and guests are safe and adhere to the latest guidelines from the state and county. For the foreseeable future, the Faust Haus will be hosting guests outdoors on the restored Victorian veranda and stunning outdoor gardens, overlooking sweeping views of Napa Valley on a reservation basis. Visitors can reserve an experience atfaustwines.com. Faust will welcome guests for indoor experiences in the renovated house once it is safe for customers and staff to do so. Tasting experiences include limited production wines from the Faust estate in Coombsville and start at $55 per person. Children and pets are not permitted.

About Faust

Faust produces limited-production Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley, crafted from their organically-farmed estate vineyard in Coombsville. Faust purchased a property in Coombsville in 1997 and planted Cabernet Sauvignon on what would later become Napas newest, up and coming AVA. The Faust Haus opens September 2020, welcoming visitors inside the reimagined, historic Victorian home in St. Helena. For more information, follow Faust onInstagram,Facebookand visitwww.faustwines.com.

About Aidlin Darling Design

Principals Joshua Aidlin and David Darling founded Aidlin Darling Design around a woodshop in 1998 with a shared interest in exploring design across a wide range of scales, programs, and disciplines. Maintaining a closely held conviction that design can enlighten the human spirit by engaging all of the senses, they have cultivated a diverse and collaborative studio that acts as a creative hub for an extended network of builders, fabricators, engineers, chefs, and artists. Projects have included Scribe, Brecon Estate Winery, Bar Agricole and more. The firm has garnered over 180 regional, national, and international awards including the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitts National Design Award, two James Beard Awards, two International Civic Trust Awards, seven American Architecture Awards from the Chicago Athenaeum, and several local, state and national awards from the AIA, IIDA, and ASLA. For more information, please visitwww.aidlindarlingdesign.com

About Surfacedesign

San Francisco-based Surfacedesign, Inc., is an award-winning landscape architecture and urban design firm that creates dynamic parks, plazas, waterfronts, civic landscapes, and private gardens. Partners James A. Lord, FASLA, Roderick Wyllie, ASLA, and Geoff di Girolamo, ASLA, Assoc. AIA, in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of landscape architects, urban designers, and architects, provide innovative design solutions for a wide range of projects, working directly with institutions, architects, community groups, and city agencies. Local winery projects have included Odette, Proper Hotel, Kistler Vineyards, Buena Vista and more. Winner of the 2017 National Design Award for Landscape Architecture (given by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), Surfacedesign focuses on cultivating a sense of connection to the built and natural worlds, pushing people to engage with the landscape in new ways. The firms work is the subject of Material Landscapes, a monograph published by The Monacelli Press (2019). For more information, visitwww.sdisf.com.

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Faust Announces September 4th Grand Opening of the Faust Haus - wineindustryadvisor.com

Award-winning producer, songwriter and musician Fraser T Smith renowned for producing hit records and critically acclaimed albums by the likes of Adele, Stormzy and Dave has made excellent use of his packed contacts book in assembling 12 Questions, the ambitious, expansive and challenging debut album under his Future Utopia moniker.

Set for release on October 23 via Platoon and Smiths own label 70Hz, 12 Questions was built around a series of thought-provoking and universal topics, ranging from the environmental crisis to the relentless march of technology, that Smith posed to his packed cast list of collaborators which includes Idris Elba, Arlo Parks, Bastille, Easy Life, Kano, poet laureate Simon Armitage and Kojey Radical.

NME caught up with Smith to delve into 12 Questions while also getting his take on the mammoth task of producing the recent Radio 1 charity cover of Foo Fighters Times Like These and explaining why he is so immensely proud of Stormzy and Dave.

Fraser T Smith (Picture: Press)

Smith: Ive worked for so long with so many incredible artists across the board musically, and more recently Ive become so close with Kano, Stormzy and Dave through making Made In The Manor, Gangs Signs & Prayer and Psychodrama. I really felt that those records talked about their personal struggles and big topics such as inequality. I started then to think about my own anxieties in terms of what was going on in the world, like a lack of acceptance of diversity, the environment, A.I., the wealth gap. This record was really a quest for enlightenment from some of the best people that I could think of to answer these questions. I think its really important to say that this isnt about me standing on a soapbox: Im literally in the middle, like a student of life and music, just seeking enlightenment from this amazing, diverse and rich group of collaborators that Ive been very fortunate enough to have worked with on the record.

Some of it is was driven by the music. For example, Id been a big fan of Kojey Radical for a while but Id never worked with him before. I had the music for Million$Bill I wanted a UK version of a Rick Ross-type of beat and I felt that Kojey could really flow on the beat so, so well and he did! I love what he talks about. But it was always the idea to flip the beat at the end to go to something that felt way more aggressive, and thats what Murray from Easy Life did both Kojey and Murray made that song incredible.

Sometimes the questions led my decisions, while sometimes my own personal relationships with the artists did. But there was nothing cynical about the decisions, which I think was important. If there was anything cynical about it, Id have tried to get Dave and Stormzy on a track going back-to-back over 32 fire bars which mightve been the obvious choice! But Im quite proud of the fact that Stormzy is only on eight bars [on How Do We Find Our Truth?] and those bars really resonate. Collaborating with Beatrice Mushiya, who is so poignantly talking about her son who was tragically killed in a knife attack, maybe shows that theres nothing cynical about this record. Theres a real breadth [of collaborators], and I love looking down at the tracklisting and seeing all these incredible names.

Shes just incredible. When we worked for the first time, it was quite daunting for both of us because I didnt know how shed take this question [What Matters Most?]. I think at the start Arlo felt that she had to come up with something that was super-profound. But I said that the thing about this and all the questions is that they can be as big or as small as you want them to be: they can be about, maybe, splitting up with your girlfriend two nights ago, or they can be about the meaning of life. The fact that she wrote the poem at the very beginning of the song and then we wrote Stranger In The Night gives a really great perspective on the question What Matters Most?. Ive grown to love her as a person as well as an artist, her voice is so impactful and emotional. Weve worked together on her upcoming debut album, too its super-exciting.

I think so. The record was pretty much written before lockdown, but its amazing how many of the lyrics pop out in terms of whats happening today: this was pre-lockdown, pre-George Floyd. I think this is a perfect time for people to be able to reflect, so I really hope that the questions and the answers give people a sense of ownership.

It was quite a daunting project because the original Times Like These is so good! I think the thing that people were surprised about, and that I anticipated, was that most artists dont have recording studios [at home], so they recorded their vocals on a phone. We had to sort of downplay the fact that it would feel pretty awkward and weird for artists to record Voice Notes or use whatever recording techniques that they could, but I really wanted to use the campfire-type approach so that it felt very warm, had a lot of integrity and was all about the sentiment of the song.

We found out that Dave Grohl was gonna appear on the song at the last minute. He wanted to hear how it was going, and we started getting into email conversations with Dave Grohl which was one of the best things Ive ever done in my life! He was feeling what wed done. It all came together, people seemed to respond to it and it went to number one. It more importantly raised a seven figure-sum for charity, which I thought was amazing.

With Stormzy, his trajectory since I first met him has been absolutely incredible. He described what he envisaged for GS&P and I spent a year getting to know him, his friends and his family. To [now] know so much about his influences and see how hes handled the fame and the success, to have released an incredible second record [Heavy Is The Head] and then to have performed that iconic headline performance at Glastonbury one of the best performances, if not the best performance ever is mind-blowing for me.

Its every producer and collaborators dream to see an artist realise their raw talent and momentum. To see all the good that [Stormzys] done in the world, too: his charitable donations, putting students into Cambridge and Oxford, the publishing company hes built to give a voice to young writers. People are using the expression national treasure, but I think its because he has so much to give to the world not only musically, but spiritually as an amazing human that really is changing the world. Im very, very, very proud of him.

Its one of those performances that was so big, it takes you out of yourself in a way. I think on a practical level, the terror that I felt about doing my first-ever piano performance in public was so huge that I just had to really condition myself and focus in on just playing as well as I could while being there for Dave so I could be the rock for him, rather than a quivering mess. We inspired each other on stage, I think. When Dave performed his last verse, coming off the piano and talking about Jack Merritt and all those subjects, I felt this surge of energy come from the crowd. It was really hard to keep my concentration because the power of Daves words just resonated through everybody. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever.

Absolutely. The thing that Im so proud about both Dave and Stormzy is that not only are they superstars, the social conscience that they both possess is so rare, globally. Theres some amazing emerging artists in Africa that have that similar level of consciousness and that mission, like Mr Eazi and Burna Boy. But I think Stormzy and Dave are leading the way in terms of what they can do socially as well as musically, and I think that thats where the sweet spot really is. Weve been bestowed with the gift of music, but theres also something else that music can do that can really help people in a variety of ways and I think theyre both doing that. Im now hoping that 12 Questions can do the same as well.

Fraser T Smiths 12 Questions is out on October 23.

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Fraser T Smith on his ambitious debut 12 Questions, producing a Foo Fighters mega-cover and helping launch Stormzy and Dave into stardom - NME