Book events

Barnes & Noble: 313 Corte Madera Ave., Corte Madera; 415-927-9016; barnesandnoble.com. Dec. 10: Fetch-22 release party. 6:30 p.m.; Dec. 12: YA Book Club discusses Scythe by Neal Shusterman. 7 p.m.; Dec. 13: Lindy West discusses The Witches Are Coming. 6 p.m.

Bay Model Visitor Center: 2100 Bridgeway, Sausalito; 415-332-3871. Dec. 14: Marin City photographers Nita Winter and Rob Badger sign their book, Beauty and The Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change. 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Book Passage: 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera; 415-927-0960; bookpassage.com. Dec. 8: Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts discusses Fight Like a Mother. 1 p.m.; Dec. 8: Paula Arai discusses Painting Enlightenment. 4 p.m.; Dec. 9: Booker T. Jones discusses Time is Tight. 7 p.m.; Dec. 10: Rabbi Tirzah Firestone discusses Wounds Into Wisdom. 7 p.m.; Dec. 11: John J. Prendergast discusses The Deep Heart. 7 p.m.; Dec. 14: Sasha Paulsen discusses Dancing on the Spiders Web with Georgeanne Brennan. 1 p.m.; Dec. 14: RC Marlen discusses Pocket in the Waistcoat. 7 p.m.; Dec. 15: Toni Bird Jones discusses The Measure of Ella. 1 p.m.; Dec. 15: San Anselmo resident Jamie Kurtzig discusses Onederland: My Childhood with Type 1 Diabetes. 4 p.m.

Point Reyes Presbyterian Church: 11445 Highway 1, Point Reyes Station; 415-663-1542; ptreyesbooks.com. Dec. 14: Poets Ada Limn and Matthew Zapruder read from their recent work. 3 p.m.

San Rafael Public Library: 1100 E St., San Rafael; 415-485-3321. Dec. 9: Monday Night Reading Group discusses Excellent Women by Barbara Pym. 6:30 p.m.

Anne T. Kent California Room Map & Special Collections Annex: 1600 Los Gamos, suite 182, San Rafael; 415-473-7419. Dec. 9: Historian and It Happened in Marin author Jim Holden discusses Geography & Action in Marin: Featuring Rare Marin County Maps. 6:30 p.m.

Firehouse Coffee & Tea: 317 Johnson St., Sausalito. Dec. 8: Pen Men of Marins poetry reading. 3 p.m.

Marin Centers Showcase Theater: 10 Avenue of the Flags, San Rafael; tickets.marincenter.org. Dec. 10: Chris Taylor and Bryan Young discuss Star Wars: The Skywalker Journey Returns Home. 7 p.m. $8 to $25.

San Anselmo Council Chambers: 525 San Anselmo Ave., San Anselmo; townofsananselmo.org. Dec. 10: Asian Art Museum docent Yoshi Fukamiya discusses Demons, Creatures and Monsters in Asian Art. Noon.

Studio 333: 333 Caledonia St., Sausalito; wtawpress.org. Dec. 12: Novato poet Francesca Bell, Yu-Han Chao, Cai Emmons, Judy Grahn, Brittany Ackerman and Florencia Ramirez read their works at Why There Are Words. 7:15 p.m. $10.

Compiled by Colleen Bidwill The Literary Calendar appears Sundays. Email calendar@marinij.com or mail to Literary Calendar, Marin Independent Journal, 4000 Civic Center Drive, Suite 301, San Rafael 94903. Items should be sent two weeks in advance.

Link:
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Booker T. Jones discusses his book among this weeks author talks - Marin Independent Journal

Hi Neighbor,

Today were talking about women. If youre a guy, read on anyway because theres a good chance you know a woman wholl be interested.

The Advance/SILive will host a unique event in February for any Staten Island woman who wants business advice, or educational advice, or volunteering advice lets just say any advice whatsoever.

And we have the women to give it. Fifty-five of them.

On Feb. 24, a Monday morning, at 8:30 theyll be in the Vanderbilt on the boardwalk in South Beach waiting to talk to you. One-on-one.

We call it Mentoring Monday. Its all about women and all about helping their careers.

You might be a high school student wondering what to do after graduation. Everyone tells you, Go to college. But whats your goal?

You might be a college student. Grad school? Law school? An MBA program? Or should you get out there in the world and start working?

You might be a 30-or-40-something woman in a workplace looking to move up. Or a mom whose kids are grown and out of the house. You want to get back in the workforce. But how? Whats your first step?

Fifty-five businesswomen whove Been There, Done That want to talk with you.

The Advance/SILive is bringing those successful women together Feb. 24 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. to give you that opportunity. Therell be lawyers, doctors, educators, health-care administrators, cultural leaders, non-profit leaders, bankers, public relations experts, marketing and real estate professionals and more.

Their experience is vast, ranging from the director of business strategy and engagement for data analytics for Bloomberg LP, to the executive directors of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden and the St. George Theatre, to a VP of Con Ed, to a Ph.D whos a cancer researcher, to a variety of fund-raisers of a host of non-profits, to an online book publisher, to the president of the Chamber of Commerce, to the women behind one of the most successful florist businesses on Staten Island. And thats just a sampling.

All you need do is sign up at https://events.silive.com/e/mentoring-monday. There is a $20 fee to register ($25 beginning January 1) to help cover some of the cost.

The day shapes up like this:

Get there early. The day really begins at 8 a.m. with registration, a continental breakfast and a chance to mingle. Youll get a booklet emailed to you after you register, and a copy that morning, that will detail each mentors expertise so you can scope out who you want to meet.

In fact, right now on that events page I just mentioned, theres a list of mentors and their businesses.

The mentees thats you -- will be divided into two groups. For the first 45 minutes of the morning, half the group will do speed mentoring. Thats spending 5 to 7 minutes with a mentor of your choice, before moving to the next.

Meanwhile, the second group will join round table discussions led by a mentor.

For the second 45 minutes, the groups will switch and the round table participants will speed mentor, while the speed mentees will do the round tables.

It might sound like organized chaos but it has been done for years across the country. In fact, we are using the model American City Business Journals has used for years. The newsweeklies are part of the Advance family, with 43 business journals across the country. The Staten Island Advance/SILive and all our sister sites across the country are joining the business journals this year to do Mentoring Monday on the same day Feb. 24.

Sign up and youll be part of the 10,000 women across America participating in the program at the same time.

How to sign up? Go to https://events.silive.com/e/mentoring-monday.

Well take it from there and be in touch.

And before you guys ask, Why just women? let me tell you. Even in this age of alleged enlightenment, when women supposedly have the same opportunity in the business world as men, they just dont.

The Pew Research Center found that although the gender gap in pay has narrowed since 1980, an analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers in the United States shows that in 2018 women earned 85% of what men earned.

Based on this estimate, it would take an extra 39 days of work for women to earn what men did in 2018, the researchers reported.

Another study shows that women are less likely to be hired into entry-level jobs than men, even though they currently earn more bachelor's degrees. As employees move up the corporate ladder, the disparity increases. Only 79 women are promoted to manager, compared to every 100 men, the report states.

So thats why we are urging 55 women who have moved up the ladder to tell those behind them how they did it.

Hope to see you Feb. 24 bright and early! Ill be serving the coffee.

Brian

Link:
From the editor: Mentoring Monday -- a day for women and about women - SILive.com

A Noh Christmas Carol

Based on Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol

Directed by Nick Ishimaru

Theatre of Yugen

In a Bay Area blessed with a multitude of traditional Christmas chestnuts, Theatre of Yugen's captivating and enchanting take on Dicken's A Christmas Carol is a must-see addition to the scene. Artistic Director Nick Ishimaru takes Yuriko Doi and Cienna Stewart's 1993 noh, kyogen, kabuki, and butoh reimagination to stunning heights demonstrating that Dicken's themes of isolation, altruism and good spirit is indeed universal and open to a variety of unique interpretations.

Every moment of this production is a thrill for the senses, from the slow, measured entrance of Ebezo Sukurooji [Ebenezer Scrooge] in his traditional Haorrihakama, to the ethereal physical and auditory landscapes by set designer Joshua McDermot and Sound Designer Ella Cooley, the haunting music of Zhoushu Ziporyn and the extraordinary costume designs by Liz Brent. Cassie Barnes lights the show with otherworldly shadows and subtlety.

Nick Ishimaru has the traditional noh role as 'koken', meaning "the one who watches from the back". Much more than a stagehand, Ishimaru is an essential element of the proceedings, playing multiple instruments, moving set pieces and providing ethereal sonic effects. A Noh Christmas Carol uses Ishimaru as a kurogo, a later kabuki tradition on the koken with the added duty of drum calls to simulate the characters footsteps.

The storyline follows Sukurooji as he receives a visit from his deceased business partner Jakube Mashima [Jacob Marley] with a warning to change his miserly ways or be doomed to linger forever as a ghost. The ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet-To-Come take Sukurooji on a mesmerizing voyage through his life and times to influence his values. Dickens' morality tale is ingrained in our minds, but Yugen's presentation with its almost ballet-like movements, attention to facial movements and hand gestures elevates the emotional content within the standard stage presentation.

The 6-member ensemble cast is outstanding, all playing multiple roles except for Ryan Marchand as Sukurooji. Marchand is commanding as the cheap, imperious boss. A day off for his clerk is "a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket" and he's quick to evict a poor woman from her land and home. Kate Patrick is absolutely frightening as Jakubei's ghost, clad is white tattered linen and the obligatory chains. It's her tortured, contorted agonizing movements with an echoed pre-recorded voice-over premonition that makes her a Jacob Marley you will never forget.

The scenes of Sukurooji's past are delicate and bittersweet. We witness his turn from man to businessman, pulled away from love by his obsession with wealth. His lover (Mika Oskarson-Kindstrand) leaves him when she feels he's broken his contract with her as he "weighs everything by gain". Christmas present has the Tiny Tom story, this time is little, coughing Tomo, a puppet who will eventually open Sukurooji's heart. Mika and Roy Eikleberry play his poor but grateful parents among their numerous roles. The three Ghosts are fascinating creations (Meryn MacDougall and Kate Patrick); one looks like a serene old elf, another an over-zealous sprite, the third a shrouded mute. I'm assuming all three are based on Meiji Japanese folk characters.

Director Ishimaru understands the connections between Dicken's themes and those incorporated in noh theatre in the alleviation of suffering through spiritual enlightenment. Connection to community and being our best selves is the simple aspiration presented beautifully here.

A Noh Christmas Carol continues through December 29, 2019 at Theatre of Yugen, 2840 Mariposa Street, San Francisco. Tickets available at http://www.theatreofyugen.org or by calling 415-621-0507.

Go here to see the original:
BWW Review: A NOH CHRISTMAS CAROL at Theatre Of Yugen is a stunning traditional Japanese theatre re-imagining of Dicken's famous tale. - Broadway...

MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Winners of the prestigious Zimin Foundation's Enlightenment and Enlightenment.Digital prizes will be announced on November 21st, 2019 in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 2008 by scientist, entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr Dmitry Zimin and his son Boris, the Enlightenment and Enlightenment.Digital Prizes facilitate greater access to scientific knowledge by promoting the publication of non-fiction literature and digital content in Russian.

The Enlightenment Prize (Premia Prosvetitel in Russian) has just entered its twelfth year. It has fundamentally transformed scientific literacy in post-Soviet Russia by encouraging academics to effectively articulate their work to the general public. The content and books entered into the competition can be devoted to ideas, theories, interesting facts, and new discoveries in the area of the natural and exact sciences, linguistics, economics and history. It is important that even the most complex scientific theories be accessible to laymen.

Book entries will be assessed in two categories: Natural and Exact Sciences and Humanities. Across the two categories, 25 longlisted books were shortlisted to 8 contenders. A broad spectrum of topics were submitted, which included the history of DNA, Tsarist Russia and the history of music.

This year, a new prize, Enlightenment.Digital, has been introduced to reflect the development of online learning and digital educational projects, in the continuity of the Zimin Foundations commitment to widen access to scientific knowledge across a variety of platforms. The special jury assessed 30 digital projects in Sound, Text and Video categories for the Enlightenment.Digital award.

Laureates of both book categories and the Enlightenment.Digital Prize will be announced at the ceremony in Moscow and each will receive a 700,000-ruble prize (approximately $11,000). The jury will also award special nominations in the Enlightenment.Digital category aside from the main prize.

The winners of the two awards will be chosen by two teams of judges. The jury of the Enlightenment Prize is comprised of experts in the sciences and the arts. These include the chairman of the jury Alexei Semikhatov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, leading researcher of the Lebedev Physical institute, scientific curator of the Polytechnic Museum; Maria Falikman, the Head of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Higher School of Economics (HSE), Lead Researcher in Cognitive Research at HSE; Evgeniy Bynimovich, a poet, publicist, Deputy of Moscow State Duma, Chairman of the Commission on Science and Education at the Moscow State Duma since 2009 and; Dilshat Harman, Member of the Association of Art Critics, and 2018 winner of the Enlightenment Prize in the Humanities category.

The jury of the Enlightenment.Digital award is headed by Anna Kachkayeva, Director at the HSE University Centre for Digital Cultures and Media Literacy, Professor at the HSE University Faculty of Communications, Media and Design, and journalist. Other members of the jury include: Anton Skulachev, philologist, chairperson of the Guild of Philologists, teacher of literature, and Karen Shainyan, co-founder of the Future History studio, journalist, and co-author of the projects 1968.Digital, Project 1917 Free History.

Dr Dmitry Zimin believes that popularising science and making it accessible to everybody, particularly empowering young people, can have a profound global impact changing lives.

About the Zimin Foundation

The Zimin Foundation is a philanthropic organisation established by Dr Dmitry Zimin and his son Boris, with the aim to support education and science. Building on its longstanding legacy in Russia, the Foundation now operates globally. The Zimin Foundation encourages scientific education, helps young talent and supports projects with high potential for real-world impact. More information on ziminfoundation.org.

Excerpt from:
Enlightenment Prizes: Zimin Foundation to Announce 2019 Recipients of Russia's Prestigious Non-fiction Literature and Digital Awards - Business Wire

Looking for answers? In need of advice from a Taurus-sun, Virgo-moon, Gemini-rising? Think you can stump me? Email Simone at simone.a.levy@lawrence.edu with your own questions and you just might be featured in next weeks column.

Dear Simone,

Have you ever had any really weird and long dreams that come out of nowhere? I have been having some super weird and extremely long dreams lately. The weird thing is that I have been remembering them in extreme detail, which is not usual for me. And the fact that they are so long is concerning. Can you share one of your long and detailed dreams so I do not feel so alone?

Signed, Big Dreams

Dear Big,

I had a long dream recently that I would be happy to recount to you.

I decided I wanted to ski at Alpental for the day by myself. So I drove my metallic orange Subaru I do not own a metallic orange Subaru, just to clarify up to Alpental and hid a bottle of vodka under my jacket, because apparently it is okay to get drunk driving up to Alpental and while you are skiing too. I got to the parking lot there and it was super foggy, so I did not park very well, but I parked right next to the highway and there was a sidewalk in between the car and the highway. So, I got all my ski stuff ready and it took me a little while but then the bus came so I got my gear together to get on the bus. The bus up to the mountain was a school bus but it was empty on the inside no seats or anything except for a group of young people standing in the middle. I realized they were doing cocaine and drinking alcohol. They were being really nice to me and even offered me some, but I declined. Then they were like, Hey, you should come with us to Ettas! and I said, Im not 21, Im sorry! which is weird because Ettas is just a restaurant and I definitely went there when I lived in Seattle and was not 21. They were sad I could not go to Ettas with them, and they kept being super nice to me. One of them had this new way of doing cocaine where she put the powder directly onto her tongue and put a lighter under her cupped tongue, as if her tongue were the spoon of heroin that you hold over the candle flame. She said it hurt a little but not too badly because she did not keep it there long. Everyone was amazed by that. They were drinking beers too. I told the one woman I had vodka and would be fine and she was glad that I was drinking. The drive up to the mountain was all switchbacks and there was a car in front of us that was a truck. Somehow, I got an aerial view at this point. The truck had a Green Bay Packers license plate and the driver of our bus was like, This idiot doesnt know how to drive! Because of the truck, our bus was really slowed down, but finally we passed the truck and got to the base of Alpental, which was Everest-tall. I was still with the people who were doing cocaine and drinking because they were really nice.

The base of the mountain was kind of like the base of Grouse Mountain at Beaver Creek where there is the Birds of Prey and Larkspur lifts converging. There were also some tree trails that were super bumpy. At this point, I left the cocaine people and got on a lift by myself. I set all my stuff down on the lift and was kind of chilly. The lift ended abruptly and my flip flops fell off as I was getting off, which is especially weird because you do not wear flip flops to ski. So I was standing in the snow without any shoes, and I asked the lift operator for my shoes back. Then my dad showed up and said that if I skied down this run, I would make it to Winter Park, but I decided against doing that. Then we went on a lift together and my grandma and grandpa were with us, which is especially weird since they are deceased. I was trying to sit down in between my grandpa and my dad, but I did not quite get on the lift and was hanging precariously off the lift. My dad was trying to help me up on the lift, but could not. He told my grandpa to help, but he did not, and instead went off on this rant about how horrible of a granddaughter I was and how I lied to him and how I was never good to him and never told him the truth. My dad was getting angry at him and meanwhile, my grandma was comatose. Finally, I managed to get myself on the lift fully. So then we skied down the run and made it to the bottom. We took the bus to the car and Dad told me I did a bad job parking and I told him it was because it was foggy and dark out when I got there. So then I gave him the keys, but he freaked out. He yelled at me, saying, Simone you lost the bear because apparently there was a bear keychain on his keys that I had lost somehow. He made me go up on the bus with him again. And Juliet, my sister, and my Mom stayed by the car to wait for us, which was weird because they were not there to begin with. But, I really did not lose the bear because there never was one. But I went back up with dad anyways. I do not remember what happened on that bus ride. So, I was essentially drunk driving and drunk skiing all day and my whole family was there.

So, that was one of my longer dreams, and it really freaked me out at the beginning. But I suggest writing it all down. After I wrote this whole dream down, I felt a lot less freaked out by it all. Everyone has crazy and long dreams, and sometimes you wonder how these crazy thoughts even manifest in your head. But this happens to everyone, and the crazy things that your brain comes up with are not a reflection of your character.

Signed, Simone

Go here to see the original:
On the Cusp of Enlightenment: An Advice Column - Lawrentian

A new Destiny 2 challenge for the Garden of Salvation raid has officially launched and its tied to the second encounter. Called A Link to the Chain, this challenge is a little tougher than last weeks, which only asked players not to kill any of the Cyclops around the Harpy. This guide will be breaking down the challenge and is written under the assumption that the reader knows the base encounter.

This weeks challenge requires all players to tether to the box(es) at the same time, regardless of where they are. You can lose the Enlightenment buff, but fireteam members must all tether to the tower(s) within a second or two of one another. If one of your teammates doesnt get the buff upon refresh then you will fail the challenge. We strongly recommend running Mobility mods to increase your speed.

(Credit to SayNoToRage and his team for figuring out this challenge.)

When the encounter starts, break up into three teams of two. Have the team on the right and left push down their respective hallways, while the third team defends the spawn tower. The spawn team should not kill their Angelic until both the right and left team have slain theirs. Once this happens, kill the spawn Angelic, and then all three teams of two should tether at the same time.

Now have one person from the right and left team push to the back tower and clear out the enemies. After the last Angelic falls, have the person defending the right tower go refresh with the two at the back tower. At the same time, the player defending the left tower should refresh with the team back at spawn.

This means there will be two teams of three refreshing at the same time. These will be the teams that refresh together throughout the entire encounter. Once the refresh is done, the right and left tower defenders should go back to their respective towers and defend.

When Angelics begin to arrive, both the person responsible for that base and the floater for that side need to quickly kill them. As soon as the Angelics are killed, both teams should refresh their buff at the same time.

If you need to refresh when Angelics arrive, that team of three should quickly move to another box. Ideally, youll want to refresh before the phrase Undergrowth Defenses Deployed appears in the bottom left corner of the screen. This indicates when the Angelics and shielded enemies will arrive. Staying ahead of the Angelics is critical, but make sure to have an emergency plan if you do need to obtain the buff and that box is locked.

Repeat this four times until the walls drop and you can move into the center.

From here, just form a six-man chain from the box to the tower in the center between each wave. Make sure to designate someone as the box shooter so there isnt a ton of chaos when your entire team is getting the buff. Blast through both waves of enemies and you will finish this challenge.

Keep in mind, this is not the Repulsion Theory challenge, which asks players to only tether when they arent Enlightened. That challenge can be completed at any time, unlike A Link to the Chain. Youll have to wait another three weeks for this to appear if you miss it. Because of this, we suggest completing this challenge this week if you are going for the Enlightened title.

Make sure to follow me onTwitterfor the latest Destiny 2 news, guides, and more.

Read more:
How to Beat the A Link to the Chain Challenge in Destiny 2 - Heavy.com

President Buhari awards Ass Comptroller General for refusing bribe in his duty.

Nigerias President, Muhammadu Buhari has presented Integrity awards to two public servants, Bashir Abubakar and Mrs. Josephine Ugwu of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, for exhibiting Integrity in the performance of their official duties.

Buhari presented the awards to the recipients at the opening of the two-day National Summit on Diminishing Corruption in Public Sector held at the State House old Banquet Hall, Abuja.

The event is being organized by the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation in collaboration with Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).

The Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Bashir Abubakar rejected 412,000 dollars (N150 million) bribe offered to him by drug traffickers to import 40 containers laden with Tramadol, a controlled and highly addictive drug.

Ugwu, a former cleaner at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos had on different occasions returned millions of naira found in the course of her duty, including the sum of N12 million dollars forgotten in the toilet by an airport user.

Ugwu, a former cleaner at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos had on different occasions returned millions of naira found in the course of her duty, including the sum of N12 million dollars forgotten in the toilet by an airport user.

Speaking at the event, Buhari stressed the need for Nigerians to uphold the traditionally cherished values of honesty and integrity.

Let me again note with concern the need to uphold the values of loyalty, honesty, trust, and integrity that was once cherished in our public service. Ethics and integrity are the foundation of an enduring society.

Nigerian culture does not tolerate dishonesty. Therefore, we must reclaim our traditional values of honesty, integrity and hard work. In spite of the few bad eggs, I am delighted that many Nigerians still hold on to our traditionally cherished values of honesty and integrity, he said.

Buhari called on the National Assembly to fast-track the passage of the Special Crimes Court Bill.

He also urged the judiciary to embrace and support the creation of the Special Crimes Court.

He said: The fight against corruption is of course not only for government and anti-corruption agencies alone. All arms and tiers of government must develop and implement anti-corruption measures.

I invite the legislative and judicial arms of government to embrace and support the creation of Special Crimes Court that Nigerians have been agitating for to handle corruption cases.

Buhari noted that the passage of the Bill was a specific priority of this administrations Economic Recovery & Growth Plan 2017-2020.

The President also used the occasion, which marked the launch of the Constituency Projects Transparency Group (CPTG) Report Phase One, to reiterate his appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to join in the fight against corruption.

The war against corruption cannot be won without prevention, enforcement, public education, and enlightenment.

I encourage the ICPC and other law enforcement agencies to intensify their efforts in public education, enlightenment, and engagement with citizens.

I also urge our development partners, civil society organizations, and the media to continue to support our efforts to strengthen ethical values and integrity in Nigeria, he said.

.

Read this article:
Buhari honours Customs officer who rejected N150m bribe - P.M. News

Marriott's Autograph Collection is set to open a new hotel in summer 2020 in Lucca, Italy, a medieval walled city in the Tuscany region. Called the Grand Universe Lucca, Autograph Collection, the new property will be in a renovated 16th-century palazzo in the heart of the city's old town, overlooking the Piazza del Giglio and Piazza Napoleone. The official opening date is scheduled for June 1, 2020.

The Grand Universe Lucca will have 55 rooms and suites, a fine dining restaurant, a lounge area with a classical piano anchoring thee space, a rooftop bar with city views and a wine tasting cellar set among the remnants of an ancient fountain. The hotel's interiors will incorporate colorful silk textiles in earthy shades of grape red, pine green and Tuscan sun yellow to reflect the city's silk production heritage, while delicate wall tapestries will pay homage to the region's vineyard patterns. In the accommodations, suspended glass pendant lights will be a nod to the property's glassblowing history and, to reference the area's musical past, the name of each from type - from the Adagio room to the Maestro suite - will be music-themed.

Food and beverage outlets will include the Symphony Lounge at the ground hall, which will host live piano music, and the first-floor Legacy Restaurant, serving local cuisine accompanied by fine wines. The Sommit Rooftop Bar will offer craft cocktails and light bites against a backdrop of city views, with cocktail names inspired by the great personalities of the city, such as Elisa, Giacomo and Vittorio. Wine-tasting sessions will be held in the Eterno Wine Cellar alongside the remnants of an ancient fountain.

Recent findings show that the actual foundation of the hotel dates back to the roman period, circa 200 BC. A palazzo of the Paoli family during the Renaissance in the mid-18th century, the site was turned into a hotel - Hotel Universo e Tosca, opened in 1857 - that became a destination for artists, poets, philosophers and royalty from around the world. Opera composer Giacomo Puccini was said to be a frequent guest in between performances at Teatro del Giglio. The property closed in 2015 and has since undergone a restoration.

Lucca is in a valley northwest of Florence, at the foot of the Apuan Alps and less than half an hour from the coast of Versilia. Its heritage ranges from antiquity through to the Middle Ages, Renaissance and Enlightenment, and today it is known for the well-preserved Renaissance-era walls encircling its city center. (The broad, tree-lined wall-tops are popular for strolling and cycling.) Named "the City of 100 Churches," Lucca has many uniquely preserved churches of great historic importance, including its landmark, the Duomo San Martino. The city also has a unique wine and olive oil road named "Strada del Vino e dell."

Read more:
New Autograph Collection Hotel To Open In Tuscany - Hospitality Net

Each Friday, we share three topical longreads in our Weekend Reader newsletter. This week, Lions Roardeputy editor Andrea Miller tells the story of Siddhartha Gautama. Sign up hereto receive the Weekend Reader in your inbox.

For thirteen years, Ive worked as a journalist, interviewing writers, actors, activists, dharma teachers, and more. Recently, someone asked me whom Id interview if there were no limits and I could interview anyone I wanted.

This was not a question I had to think twice about. Beyond a doubt, I would zip back in time some 2,600 years and hoof it all over northern India until I found the Buddha. Then I would turn on my recorder and dive into my million and one questions.

Tradition has it that the Buddha was born a prince named Siddhartha Gautama. There was a prophecy that Siddhartha would either become a great king or a great spiritual master. Siddharthas father carefully sheltered his son from anything unpleasant so his son would choose the path of royalty.

Prince Siddhartha got married and had a son of his own. Then, at the age of twenty-nine, he saw suffering for the very first time: an old person, a sick person, and a corpse. He also encountered a spiritual seeker who was attempting to find freedom from suffering. Siddhartha was profoundly affected and, in the middle of the night, he slipped away from his worldly life in the palace.

For six years, Siddhartha lived as an acetic, eating almost nothing. Eventually he realized that if he continued to mistreat his body, he would die. If he wanted to reach enlightenment, he needed a middle way neither harsh asceticism nor indulgence. Siddhartha ate a bowl of milky rice, which gave him enough strength to sit under a tree until he understood the true nature of things, becoming the Buddha.

For the next forty-five years, the Buddha taught others how they too could reach enlightenment. Then at the age of eighty, he apparently died of food poisoning.

Get even more Buddhist wisdom delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for Lions Roar free email newsletters.

So that is quite a lot of information about the Buddha and, trust me, there is a mountain more but is it true? Nothing, apparently, was written down about him neither his teachings nor his life story until the end of the first century BCE. Passed down orally for hundreds of years, parts of his biography were surely misremembered and maybe even fabricated.

Since I cant actually get that interview with the Buddha, each of us will just have to decide for ourselves what we believe is factual and what we believe is myth. But in the end Im not convinced it matters so much. Whats important is whether or not we feel the basic tenets of the teachings attributed to the Buddha, such as the four noble truths and the practice of mindfulness, are deeply true and helpful to our lives, however they originated.

Here are three articles from theLions RoarandBuddhadharmaarchivesabout Siddhartha Gautama.

Andrea Miller, deputy editor,Lions Roar

The Buddha was a real historical person who ate, slept, sweated, and got tired. Yet he was also an extraordinary person who developed inspiring qualities that we are all capable of developing. If you find some of the details of the developed hagiography of the Buddha an off-putting burden, look to him as a great human teacher of the path beyond human limitation.

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I approached him, the twenty-fifth buddha, knowing that something new and marvelous had happened in the forest that night. Instead of going where the path might lead, he had gone instead where there was no path and left a trail for all of us. I asked him:

Are you a god now?

Quietly, he made answer. No.

Well, are you an angel?

No.

Then what are you?

Awake.

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Like the Stoics, Epicureans, and Platonists in ancient Greece and Rome, Gautama instructed in the manner of a philosopher, a lover of wisdom. He taught and modeled a viable way to human flourishing, and did so rooted firmly in everyday life. With precision, care, and intelligence, Gautama articulated for us the categories and practices through which we may clearly understand our lives and, doing so, know for ourselves the simple happiness of existing, in difficult as well as trouble-free times. And all of his advice onthesematters stands in full view conspicuous, open to scrutiny, testable.

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Who Was the Buddha? - Lion's Roar

Viv Lynch: Mother Earth: The Legend of Aataentsic / flickr

When not dealing with dogmatic issues, the Christian faith allows for a great diversity of thought. This is why there are a variety of theological schools of thought, each which promote the basics of the faith, but otherwise differ radically from each other in various different ways.[1]

Christians can differ with each other on many of the characteristics which they predicate to creation as a whole, as well as to each particular object within creation. What might seem to be absolutely absurd to one Christian can seem to be perfectly true to another. Thus, for example, Christians can believe in the existence of alien life, but they are also free to deny it[2]. Each person will have their reasons for their beliefs, and each can be a perfectly orthodox Christian thinker despite the differences of their beliefs. Indeed, they can be wrong about such secondary things and still be perfectly sound in their Christian faith.

We find some medieval Christians believed that God has given intellectual life not only to humanity, but to the planets and stars in the heavens. Likewise, no one less than St. Augustine himself considered it possible that the Earth itself was alive, that is, that it had a soul of its own, allowing it to be treated as another sentient being of God. To be sure, Augustine was not certain, and left the question open, as to whether or not the Earth should be seen as having such life, but in his early works, there are indications that he accepted the notion of the world-soul, granting the Earth life. Thus, in his Immortality of the Soul, he said Hence, the body subsists through the soul and exists by the very fact that it is animated, whether universally, as is the world, or individually, as is each and everything that has life within the world.[3] When he reflected upon the matter further, he did not deny the possibility, but only came out agnostic about it:

But if this same beauty be understood as applying to all bodies, this opinion compels one to believe that this world itself is an animate being so that what in it imitates constancy is also transmitted to it through the soul by the supreme God. But that this world is an animate being, as Plato and numerous other philosophers thought, I have not been able to investigate by solid reasoning, nor have I found that I accept this idea on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures. Hence, something said by me, too, in the book, On the Immortality of the Soul, which can be interpreted in this way, I have noted was said rashly not because I maintain that this is false, but because I do not understand that it is true that the world is an animate being. For, assuredly, I do not doubt that it must be firmly maintained that this world is not God for us, whether it has any soul or no soul, because if it has a soul, He who created it is Our God; if it is not animated, it cannot be the God of anyone much less ours. [4]

What Augustine makes clear is that if someone were to believe the world is alive, that it has a soul, and so designed by a title like Mother Earth, this did not mean the Christian saw in it a replacement for God. They understood it to be a creature of God, though one worthy of respect because of the greatness God gave to it in its creation. Indeed, like Origen, they said we could consider the Earth itself to be an animal with some level of self-government:

Although the whole world is arranged into offices of different kinds, its condition, nevertheless, is not to be supposed as one of internal discrepancies and discordances; but as our one body is provided with many members, and is held together by one soul, so I am of opinion that the whole world also ought to be regarded as some huge and immense animal, which is kept together by the power and reason of God as by one soul.[5]

Later generations would take up similar ideas with the notion of a personified form of Nature, Natura, which could be (but does not have to be) seen as something separate from Mother Earth. Indeed, it is often through the notion of some world-soul, or Natura, that many Christians used to explain away any and all sense of rational activity from animals, for it would be said that such rational behavior came from the world-soul directing the actions of animals in the world.[6]

Looking beyond the Earth, St. Thomas Aquinas, looking upon the stars, suggested some intelligence existed behind the stars and their movement in the sky

Nor does it make any difference, as far as our present purpose is concerned, whether a heavenly body is moved by a conjoined intellectual substance which is its soul, or by a separate substance; nor whether each celestial body is moved immediately by God, or whether none is so moved, because all are moved through intermediary, created, intellectual substances; nor whether the first body alone is immediately moved by God, and the others through the mediation of created substancesprovided it is granted that celestial motion comes from intellectual substance. [7]

We might think it strange to consider the stars (and planets) to be living things, with wills and intellects of their own, but to the medieval mind, as well as to the ancient Christian mind, as well as to many of the philosophers, it seemed to be the most natural explanation for their movement. They were more connected with their natural good, being in the heavens, so their actions were more stable, more predictable. They loved God, and circled around in the heavens just as a holy soul will circle around God in eternity. Christians, then, could accept a cosmology which allowed for a great diversity of beings, indeed, of a great variety of intellectual beings, in the universe, some of which were far more stable in their relationship with God than humanity. But, as C.S. Lewis pointed out, this did not turn such creatures into gods to be worshiped in place of God. Indeed, they rarely were looked upon and invoked by the ordinary Christian, while the saints were:

We might expect that a universe so filled with shining superhuman creatures would be a danger to monotheism. Yet the danger to monotheism in the Middle Ages clearly came not from a cult of angels but from the cult of the Saints. Men when they prayed were not usually thinking of the Hierarchies and Intelligences. There was, not (I think) an opposition, but a dissociation between their religious life and all that. [8]

Now, it might seem strange to some Christians today to hear that many Christians believed in the existence of a spiritual substance lying behind the stars, or the Earth itself. This is because of the change of perspective which happened as a result of the Enlightenment. Many principles and beliefs which came after the Enlightenment have been so normative that many Christians today assume not only that they are true, but they are normative for the Christian faith. For with the Enlightenment has come the notion that animals do not have souls, a notion which many think is a Christian teaching, despite the fact it has been normative in the Christian tradition to teach they do. If animals do not have souls, then it is not hard to understand how and why the rest of the universe became dead, treated as if it were not alive. Anyone says contrary to this are treated as insane, if they come from the developed world, are as people holding non-Christian pagan beliefs, if they do not.

Nonetheless, as tradition shows, it is not Christianity which says we must reject the notion of Mother Earth. And though the Enlightenment might have at one time led to the ridicule of that notion, scientists are now considering the possibility that the interdependent relationship of all that exists on the Earth itself demonstrates some sort of life which can be attributed to it (via the Gaia hypothesis). Obviously what the scientists consider is not exactly the same thing as Christian metaphysicians, as science in general knows nothing of the notion of soul, and so what a scientist looks for to determine whether or not something is alive will differ from the metaphysical standard. But if science can determine something is alive, then, by that fact, it should be said to have a soul, for the most elementary notion of the soul (metaphysically) is that it is the life-force which makes something alive. So, what once was believed, then became ridiculed, now can be believed again, with greater reason than before. The radical metaphysical notion which was normalized by the Enlightenment has been brought into question, and so Christians, taking seriously the new insights of science can take seriously once again the question of Mother Earth and accept that there is some truth to the notion. In doing so, then, they can find themselves bridging the gap between themselves and indigenous societies which never lost sight of Mother Earth. Inculturation allows for Christianity thought to grow beyond the dead-ends of the past because it allows Christians to come in contact with those who did not follow those dead-ends, and so who were not corrupted by the implications they gave. Non-Western societies which did not fall for the worst parts of the Enlightenment, far from being primitive and worthy of ridicule, actually can help give back to Christianity a spirituality it lost due to modernity.

The Western tradition has dishonored, indeed, defiled the Earth. Those who have continued to hold the Earth in honor are spiritually more astute than those who have dishonored it. Now, it is time to recognize that we are called to honor the Earth, perhaps even to recognize Mother Earth (either as a symbol, or if we want, as a reality) and do so in a way which does not dishonor the creator, but instead, as a way to honor him as well. Those who would dismiss such a response to the Earth and call it idolatrous are only trying to justify their own sins against creation, and through creation, against God. Would they call it idolatrous if people honored them, showed them respect instead of abused them? Obviously not. Therefore, they know full well honoring something in creation, respecting it, does not go against God. It is clear that their argument is pure sophistry, the kind used to justify the unjustifiable.

The Christian faith allows for diverse opinions. We might not come to it with the same world view. We do not have to. Even if what someone else believes is odd and silly, so long as it does not contradict the faith itself, it is permissible. And if history has shown us anything, what some at one time think is silly and indefensible, ends up being the truth. Common sense more often than not is a cultural construct which often impedes the discernment of the truth. We do not have to agree with others, if we think they are wrong, but likewise, we must be careful and not condemn them for their beliefs if there is nothing in them which runs contrary to Christian teaching on faith or morals. For we must try to ascertain the view of others in the best light possible.

[1] Obvious examples include, but are not limited to, Augustinians, Thomists, Bonaventurians, and Scotists.

[2] So long as such life has not been encountered, obviously. Once it has, then it will be silly to deny its existence, just as it is now silly to accept a flat Earth.

[3] St. Augustine, The Immortality of the Soul in Writings of St. Augustine. Volume 2. Trans. Ludwig Schopp (New York: CIMA Publishing Company, 1947), 43-44.

[4] Saint Augustine, The Retractions. Trans, Mary Inez Bogan, RSM (Washington, DC: CUA Press, 1968), 47-48.

[5] Origen, De Principii in ANF(4):269.

[6] Nonetheless, belief in Mother Earth, or Natura, or the world-soul does not require this interpretation, that is, it does not necessitate we deny reason to animals, just as we do not deny it for ourselves.

[7] Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles. Book Three: Providence. Part I. trans. Vernon J. Bourke (Garden City, NY: Hanover House, 1956), 93 [chapter 23].

[8] C.S. Lewis, The Discarded Image (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1964; repr. 1988), 120.

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The World-Soul, Natura and Mother Earth - Patheos