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Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872- 1950) went to England for education when he was seven. His political life began there in his teens. Although he qualified in the ICS examination, he was not selected as he chose to abstain from the horseriding test. He secured a First in Classics and a Tripos at Cambridge in 1892. Returning to India in 1893, he joined the Baroda College as professor of English, and later became its principal. In 1902, he came in touch with Thakur Saheb who was then the leader of a secret Maharastra revolutionary group, and was thus initiated into the revolutionary movement. Participating in the protest against the partition of Bengal in 1905, Sri Aurobindo left Baroda College.

The next year, in 1906, he settled in Bengal and joined the newly started National College as its principal. In 1907, he gave a revolutionary turn to the apolitical organization Anushilan Samiti which was founded in 1902 by its president, Pramathanath Mitra, of which he was a Vice-President. He reorganized it and made Sister Nivedita its member. Under his direction young men, including his brother Barindra Ghose, were making bombs and guns. Sri Aurobindo was a follower of Tilak when the latter left the Congress in Surat and took to extremism. Tilak was no longer prominent in Indian politics after 1908 when he was sentenced to transportation for six years and sent to Mandalaya jail on a charge of sedition.

Meanwhile, Sri Aurobindo was appointed Assistant Editor by another extremist, Bipin Chandra Pal, in his English paper, Bande Mataram,. He soon took charge of the paper as Pal was eased out of it in 1907. Swami Vivekanandas brother, Bhupendranath and Barindra, who were also connected with the work of Bande Mataram, found Pal half-hearted. Pals faith in revolutionary idealism did not last long. In 1913, he pleaded for the continuation of the British connection in view of the immense possibilities of federal internationalism. Sri Aurobindo was accused of seditious writings in Bande Mataram and was accused of involvement in the Alipore bomb case in 1908. While in jail, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das fought for him in court and proved that he was not guilty.

He was in Alipore jail for a year as an undertrial and was acquitted for want of evidence but Barindra was sentenced to transportation for life. After his release he brought out the English weekly Karmayogin and the Bengali weekly Dharma. Now his connection with revolutionary activity was open and clear. A warrant of arrest was therefore issued against him in February 1910 for writing an article titled To My Countrymen. Realising his impending incarceration, he secretly left for his home town, the French Chandannagar, from where he moved to Pondicherry and spent the rest of his life there in a spiritual quest. Deshbandhu described Sri Aurobindo as the prophet of nationalism.

But where did he get so much power and inspiration from? Prof. Subodh Chandra Sengupta has the correct answer: It was Swami Vivekananda who introduced the cult of Shaktiworship, which was taken up by a succession of brilliant men, the first two being Aurobindo Ghose and Barindra Ghose, who might be called the joint authors of Bhawani Mandir. It was a political tract the idea of which was Barindras and the writing of Sri Aurobindos. It was displayed in the Alipore Conspiracy case. Initially, Sri Aurobindo wasnt perhaps acquainted with Swamijis writings but felt their impact, which was the fountain of Swamijis pervasive influence.

Going through his works subsequently and by dint of his interactions with Sister Nivedita and others, he became knowledgeable about Swamiji. His knowledge about Sri Ramakrishna was also remarkable. Though he didnt meet them, their lives and spiritual ideas took deep roots in his mind. He however met Sarada Devi in 1910 on a Sunday and paid his respect to her at the Udbodhan House in Baghbazar. His wife Mrinalini Devi was an initiated disciple of Sarada Devi. Both were worshipers of Kali. Mrinalini Devi was a well-known spiritual personality by her own right and had a following. She stayed all her life at Chandannagar. Sri Aurobindo claimed that he received three messages on a mystical plane from Sri Ramakrishna between 1908 and 1912.

By his own admission, Sri Ramakrishnas influence on the development of his spiritual life was profound. He said to a disciple: Remember also that we derive from Ramakrishna. For myself it was Ramakrishna who personally came and first turned me to this Yoga. He also claimed that Swamiji mystically communicated to him various instructions in meditation during his imprisonment for a year. He said: Vivekananda in Alipore jail gave me the foundations of that knowledge which is the basis of our Sadhana. Considering these two statements alone, if one presumes that he held Ramakrishna- Vivekananda as his Guru one would not be wrong. Those two spiritual phenomena in his life are ample reason to believe that Ramakrishna and Vivekananda were pathfinders in his mystical journey.

That his mind was suffused with their thoughts is evident from many of his religious and philosophical writings which exude their ideas eloquently. In an editorial piece of Dharma (26 Poush 1316) with the heading Sri Ramakrishna O Bhabishyat Bharat, he said with an absolute faith to show that Sri Ramakrishna was the highest manifestation of the power of God. He wrote: The man appeared as Sri Ramakrishna is the Antaryami Bhagawan. He had also written unequivocally, Satya-yuga arrived on earth by the touch of Sri Ramakrishnas feet; the world is dipped in joy in his touch; with his Advent, the gloom accumulated over centuries disappeared. He established Yuga-dharma, and was the sum total of all the earlier Avataras. Sri Aurobindo was convinced that Sri Ramakrishna gave to India the final message of Hinduism to the world.

Similarly, his estimation about Swamiji was tremendous. He described him as a very lion among men. He said: The going forth of Vivekananda, marked out by the Master (Sri Ramakrishna) as the heroic soul destined to take the world between his two hands and change it, was the first visible sign to the world that India was awake not only to survive but to conquer. Sri Aurobindo was a prolific writer on the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. His interpretations of these important scriptures were in the non-sectarian spirit of Sri Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. In a treatise on Isha Upanishad he reflected on Sri Ramakrishnas precept of non-difference (abhedatwa) between Brahman and Shakti. Sri Ramakrishna is specially conspicuous in his book The Life Divine. He used in it in the parables and analogies used by Sri Ramakrishna. Developing Sri Ramakrishnas teaching that everything is possible for God, Sri Aurobindo claims that the infinite is illimitably free, free to determine itself infinitely, free from all of its restraining effect of its own creations.

Again, as Sri Ramakrishna said God is both with and without form, so also Sri Aurobindo said that the Divine Being is at once Form and the Formless. There are numerous such instances in his works which he believed deserve allusions for the benefit of the seekers of Truth and God. According to Sri Aurobindo, all religions express one Truth in various ways and move by various paths to one goal. In the final analysis Vedanta propounds that the Infinite Reality is at once personal and impersonal, static and dynamic, with and without form, immanent and transcendent.

He affirmed the harmony of all religions precisely on the basis of this non-sectarian Vedantic worldview, faithfully following Ramakrishna and Vivekananda. The actual revolutionary activity of Sri Aurobindo spanned hardly four years. But his spiritual pursuit spanned four decades. Within this period he raised himself by intense sadhana to be an extraordinary yogi of distinctive character and epitome. Cutting across classes, communities and countries, he is now globally acceptable as a spiritual pathfinder for peace and harmony.

(The writer is with Ramakrishna Mission, Narendrapur)

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Revolutionary to Yogi - The Statesman

Shortly after dawn in Kolkata, India, musky plumes of incense waft through the passageways of Das Gupta & Co. bookstore, diffusing among the decades-old volumes on its steep mahogany shelves. The smoke billows out of the shops peeling, pale-blue doors and onto Kolkatas College Street, the largest secondhand book market in the world.

Each morning, as part of a common Hindu tradition known as puja, a daily prayer ritual usually intended to praise a deity, the bespectacled Arabinda Das Gupta swings a brass censer around his old shop. He is a fourth-generation bookseller; the object of his worship is the written word. Puja concentrates your mind on the books, he says. Theres chaos and movement before, but then the words go still like grains of rice. I need that sense of calm to go about my days work in this place.

Das Guptas shop is the oldest in the entire market. When Arabindas great-grandfather, Girish Chandra Das Gupta, arrived in Kolkata in 1886, he had little competition. Very few books were available at the time, so he imported them to meet demand, he says. The shop opened that year with a noble mission: the spreading of knowledge. It had just 50 books.

Nowadays, the market can trade that many books in a few minutes. College Street, known by locals as Boi Para (which roughly translates to Book Town), spans more than a mile and covers a million square feet. Bigwigs of Bengali publishing coexist with makeshift stalls hammered together from wood, bamboo, tin, and canvas, in a chaotic matrix that runs from Mahatma Gandhi Road to Ganesh Chandra Avenue.

College Street has every imaginable type of text, available in Bengali, English, Mandarin, Sanskrit, Dutch, and every dialect in between. Precious first editions and literary classics sit cheek by jowl with medical encyclopedias, religious texts, and pulp fiction, often precariously stacked in uneven piles that resemble jagged cliff faces. Wily booksellers peer from raised wooden stalls; bearded collectors rifle through stock; mothers drag first-year university students through the aisles to collect their required reading.

The old-world charm of College Street may not last forever, however. Flyovers and shopping malls have sprung up across the city, courtesy of rapid modernization projects that are flattening unique histories. More than a century after the book market was founded, some booksellers are worried that change is coming to College Street.

Kolkatas rich literary heritage dates back to the 18th century, when the East India Company helped to make it a major printing center. Under Lord Wellesley, the British colonial governor who organized construction of the citys central roads, the Hindu College was built in 1817, later followed by the Calcutta Medical College, the first medical school in the country, in 1852 and the University of Calcutta in 1857. These colleges set up a syndicate with several shops in the 1870s, catering to Indias intelligentsia and British colonizers alike, and College Street market was born.

Decades ago, the British poet and translator Joe Winter described College Street as a planet littered with books, a crazed sales pitch wherever one looks. His description still rings true. Yellow and green tuk-tuks, or auto-rickshaws, fly by; men drag carts of books; bicyclists squeeze through narrow gaps with bags of books balanced on their handlebars. Even more books arrive on the citys technicolor buses and yellow taxis, which are shaped like turtle shells.

Although books arent a necessity like they once were, with so many alternative ways of getting information, somehow we keep going, says Pinaki Majumdar of APC Ray, arms tucked pensively behind him. He wears the unofficial College Street uniform: a striped, short-sleeve shirt and a round belly that belies the sedentary lifestyle of a reader and Kolkatas fried street food. Majumdar is one of the longest-serving of the cheeky, chattering booksellers. APC Ray bookstore was set up in 1910, boasting of rare editions from Bengali greats such as Rabindranath Tagore and Jibanananda Das. Books are everything to me, adds Majumdar. I started reading when I was just five years old and never stopped. I even love them more than my wife.

But a new development could cut deeply into the business of the hawkers who have thrived here. For years, the state government has been pushing ahead with an ambitious, centralized book mall that will stretch over a million square feet, as large a floorspace as all of the existing bookstores combined.

According to the projects architects, the Barnaparichay Mall is to launch next summer, and will offer sleek, modern boutiques, a library, an auction center, translation services, and cafs. The mall is to enrich the book culture and habits of Kolkata, says Sankalan Tatar, of the architecture firm Prakalpa Planning Solutions. It will be an integrated book mall. Literature, life, and leisure will be under one roof. This will be the most happening place in north Kolkata.

Traditional booksellers fear that the mall will threaten the traditions of College Street. The place will be soulless, says Das Gupta. But Im worried that people will prefer the cheap prices and comfort of the book mall, so Im considering taking a place there. For some of the less-established booksellers, the malls rental prices will be prohibitive. The book mall is too expensive for me to move, says Ranjit Biswas, owner of a cupboard-sized stall full of dusty books. I couldnt even if I wanted to.

According to Tatar, some concessions will be made. For example, on Sundays, the malls escalators will be switched off for two hours, allowing the makeshift booksellers to come into the mall and ply their trade in certain spaces.

Many booksellers remain unconvinced. At the markets famous Indian Coffee House on Bankim Chatterjee Street, a historic meeting spot for Kolkatas writers and thinkers, the mall is a constant subject of adda, the Bengali art of wide-ranging conversation, often practiced here among students.

Akashleena Bhaduri, a third-year engineering student at the University of Kolkata, sips on a sugary coffee and makes the case for the book mall. This place is outdated, the roads are dirty, the hygiene is poor, and in the summer its unbearably hot, Bhaduri says. Ohit Banerjee, a postgraduate researching comparative Indian language and literature, fires back. My elders told me that Mahatma Gandhi bought a rare book from here, and that he said it was a special place, he says. We must protect it.

Whatever awaits Kolkatas College Street in its next chapter, the community has already survived innumerable challenges. It has been through two world wars, has managed to remain a center of political and literary activism since the 1930s, and witnessed the beginning of the revolutionary Naxalite movement in the 1970s. According to Das Gupta, violent protests broke out against the stocking of controversial books, such as D.H. Lawrences Lady Chatterleys Lover. On May 30, 2004, his shop suffered a fire that caused enormous damage and destroyed maps of Bengal dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries.

Still, College Street has gone on to become the beating heart of Indias literary world, with intellectuals such as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, a Harvard economist and frequent visitor, making it a home away from home. Institutions such as the fifth-generation Bani Library, known for its science collection, and Sri Aurobindo Pathamandir, a religious center established in 1941, has made it a pillar in the citys identity. These achievements, the booksellers say, can never be taken away.

During a rare moment of afternoon calm, Das Gupta sits down for a chai masala, boiled in huge pots and served in tiny, ceramic cups. In the background, booksellers lean lazily over their stalls; others squat down low to gossip, or calmly leaf through thick tomes. There is a sense of togetherness. This is the way that I see it, he says, widening his silver eyebrows. Weve written this history and we wont be forgotten.

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The tribe finally completed a ceremony interrupted by a massacre in 1860.

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The Uncertain Future of the World's Largest Secondhand Book Market - Atlas Obscura

Posted: Nov. 23, 2019 5:54 pm Updated: Nov. 23, 2019 5:58 pm

HANNIBAL Head Coach Eric Hill and members of the Hannibal Pirates Varsity Boys Soccer team achieved success through a family atmosphere, looking back on a strong 2019 season with a 17-7 record.

Hill said many underclassmen stepped up for starting positions as the season began seniors Nathan DeStefane and Mason Tharp helped teammates lead by example, and players who secured starting positions during practice felt the need to perform their best in a competitive atmosphere with teammates who were also ready to take the lead. Several family members played together thisyear, like Parker Terrill, his brother, Tristen, and their cousin, Blayde; along with brothers Kolin Westhoff and Karson Westhoff and first-cousins Tharp and Kayne Whitley. From practice sessions to games, the players and their coach became a close-knit group.

They cared for each other and they wanted to win, Hill said. They talked each other up, tried to pump each other up, instead of getting onto somebody if they made a mistake. They tried get them to stay positive and keep it going for the next one.

The team members felt the same way about how Hill created a positive and challenging environment for each athlete, regardless of their skill level. He coaches boys and girls soccer teams from second grade through junior varsity and varsity levels, making himself available to athletes and parents on a daily basis.He also leads the athletes on a yearly Kickin' Cancer fundraiser to benefit the Patient Assistance Fund at the James E. Cary Cancer Center.

His personality is as good as his coaching, Kolin Westhoff said. DeStefane felt that Hill made a profound impact on his life.

Coach Hill has been a consistent role model for me these last four years. He pushes me to be successful on the soccer field and with my academics. Coach is someone that I look up to on the soccer field as well as in everyday life. His influence has had an impact on my actions how I carry myself (on or off the field) and how I treat others, DeStefane said. He develops a personal relationship with all students and players in an attempt to bring the best out of everyone. I would not be the athlete I am today or more importantly the person that I am today without the guidance, leadership and compassion that Coach Hill has used to greatly affect my life.

Tharp remembered how he came to Hill, who got him into soccer his freshman year with no prior experience. Hillkept pushing me all four years to get better and better. Looking back on his senior year and all the skills he developed, Tharp is now at a place where he can play for a college team.

He just never let me quit, Tharp said.

Hill said the season consisted of many close games consisting of one, two or three goals. Those games helped the players respond effectively to thetight level of competition and fight for every win. Hill said the hard work and willingness to step up from underclassmen along with the effective leadership from upperclassmen led to a successful result.

This team exceeded expectations for just about everybody, including myself, Hill said. I didn't think that we would have the record that we would have I thought that we would be OK I didn't think that we would finish 17-7.

Tristen Terrill said the team played together well based on trust between the teammates. He said it was pretty cool to have his brother, Parker, as goalie and his cousin, Blayde, playing defense as center back. And he was quick to commend all the other players who worked together.

Honestly, the whole team was kind of like brothers, and you could trust any of them always count on everyone, he said. Everyone's been like family.

tmcdonald@courierpost.com

Continued here:
Band of brothers - Hannibal.net

DeShena Woodard is happy.

Shes working full time in her dream job as an RN, running her own financial blog and living in a suburb outside of Houston.

From the outside looking in, youd never guess this got-it-all-together professional was recently struggling.

Just a few years ago, Woodard was anxious. Every dollar she made at her part-time job was earmarked for a bill to pay someone else. She had nothing in savings and was growing weary of living paycheck to paycheck.

In this series, NerdWallet interviews people who have triumphed over debt. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Woodard was spending more than she earned, something she refers to as living extravagantly broke. (Appropriately, Extravagantly Broke is now the name of her blog.)

Thats when things changed. With her children getting older and her own education complete, Woodard was in a position to begin working full time. She upped her salary to approximately $75,000 in 2017 (a sizable increase from about $50,000 in 2016) and undertook a financial journey.

While her husband paid down household debt, Woodard worked on paying her own. She shifted her focus from habits like buying new clothes and overspending on Christmas to holding on to things longer instead of replacing them. She bought only what she needed and rarely what she wanted. Her lifestyle went from extravagant to frugal.

And it worked.

Between January 2017 and August 2019, Woodard paid off $51,754 in debt a combination of credit cards, auto loans and a personal loan.

She paid off a Nissan auto loan, hefty credit card charges for her schooling that had been building up and expenses for her daughter.

Nowadays, shes living comfortably and is still getting used to small victories like seeing money building in her bank account. The best part? Woodard says shes doing better emotionally.

I feel much happier not having any debt and driving a Nissan than I would having a lot of debt driving a Mercedes.

Heres how she paid off debt and what she learned along the way, in her own words.

What triggered your decision to start getting out of debt?

I was not happy with the current state of my finances. I was stressed and anxious about money all the time. I knew that what I was doing wasnt working and decided to make a change. I changed my attitude toward money and that is what led to a change in my spending behavior. I made the choice to live a comfortable life instead of an extravagantly broke one.

How did you prioritize your debts?

I was paying all of them at the same time, but I was paying more on some than others. For one credit card, I was paying $500 a month and the other one $300. On my car, I was paying double. But once I got both credit cards paid off, then I was able to pay triple on my car.

For me, I needed to see that they were all moving in the right direction. Thats just what worked better for me. For some people, it may be better to just pay one thing off at a time if thats what you can do.

How has your life changed for the better since you got out of debt?

My life has definitely changed for the better since being out of debt. For one thing, I can sleep better at night. Im not always worried about being able to pay my bills. I am now at the point where I forget when payday is. And I often go for more than a week before even checking my bank account to make sure that I did get paid.

How do you remain debt-free today?

I have become much more money savvy and I dont make spur-of-the-moment purchases. Every spending decision has to be well thought out. I stick to using cash or debit. And I budget for everything.

What made you start your blog?

I know there are people out there like me. For me, it took a mindset shift. Until we can change our thinking, its hard to change our behavior. In my writing, I focus a lot on mindset, trying to dive a little deeper. I can just give you tips, but until something changes mentally, it all just washes over people.

It really takes this sort of self-discovery. You really need to think deep and figure out what is the reason that you need that? Why do you need this car versus that car? Or do you really need another car? Whats wrong with the car you have? Would it be more affordable to fix that up or put a little money into it versus pay a monthly car payment that youre going to be responsible for for the next 60 months or however many months of your life?

What is your next goal?

Im working toward becoming a certified life coach so that I can begin coaching people on their mindset and their money to help them bridge the gap and get over the hurdle of why theyre spending.

How to ditch your own debt

In addition to shifting her thinking, Woodard implemented several money-saving strategies. Used in combination, they were effective in reducing her spending and paying down her debt. Here are a few you can try, too:

There are also some universal strategies to keep debt at bay. Here are a few of NerdWallets top tips:

More From NerdWallet

Courtney Jespersen is a writer at NerdWallet. Email: courtney@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @CourtneyNerd.

The article How I Ditched Debt: From Extravagantly Broke to Comfortably Frugal originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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She ditched more than $50,000 in debt and you can too: Heres how - OregonLive.com

As a writer, it's not often that I find myself at a loss for words. Friday night around 11 p.m. was one of those times.

I had just received a text from a good friend of mine, informing me that longtime Freeland girls' basketball coach Tom Zolinski had passed away. Initially, I simply could not believe what I was reading. My immediate reaction was, "That can't be true."

Unfortunately, as I quickly learned, it was all too true.

Once the reality of that news set in, my next reaction was sadness just piercing, overwhelming sadness. It's always stunning when someone you know pretty well dies unexpectedly. It doesn't matter how often one experiences that news. It never gets any easier, and it's always gut-wrenching.

Choking back some hot tears, I inquired as to the cause of Tom's death and was told that the cause was yet to be determined. As of this writing Saturday afternoon, it's still a mystery. What is not a mystery, though, is why I have been hearing so much feedback from folks in the local sports community sharing their thoughts, prayers, and memories of Tom and praising him for a life well-lead.

From what I can gather, he was loved, respected, admired, and cherished ... and he will be missed dearly.

Freeland coach Tom Zolinski meets with his players during a timeout in a Division 2 quarterfinal game vs. Cadillac last March.

Freeland coach Tom Zolinski meets with his players during a timeout in a Division 2 quarterfinal game vs. Cadillac last March.

Photo: Daily News File Photo

Freeland coach Tom Zolinski meets with his players during a timeout in a Division 2 quarterfinal game vs. Cadillac last March.

Freeland coach Tom Zolinski meets with his players during a timeout in a Division 2 quarterfinal game vs. Cadillac last March.

Kelly: Zolinski left wonderful legacy of humility, success, and class

It does not surprise me one iota to hear all of the aforementioned comments about Tom Zolinski. It's been said many times already today, but I will definitely say it again he was a great coach and even better person.

I think it is easy to overlook how good a coach Tom was based on the fact that Freeland has produced a string of excellent female basketball players over the past many years. But, as more than one coach has pointed out to me today, simply having good players does not necessarily result in multiple conference, district, and regional championships. Someone still has to guide them, to promote team chemistry, and to assure that the parts function smoothly as a unit. And by all counts, Tom was masterful at getting the very best out of his players both superstars and role players alike.

Having covered Tom's teams for the past 12 years, I can say without reservation that his Falcons have always been some of my favorite teams to cover for three simple reasons: they always played uber hard, they always played smart basketball, and (here's my favorite thing) they always played together SO well.

A great example of that was Tom's 2017 team, which had no superstars like Tori Jankoska or Taryn Taugher but which still managed to win its first 26 games and reach the Class B state semifinals before finally losing for the first and only time. No, that team didn't have a superstar, but what it did have was a bunch of girls who bought into the team-first concept, who shared the ball beautifully and crisply, and who valued the importance of defense. A lot of credit goes to those players for embracing that model, but a lot of credit also goes to Tom for fostering a team atmosphere where everyone understood her role and flourished in it.

Let's face it, a coach doesn't string together the run of conference, district, and regional championships that Tom did in his 12 years at Freeland without knowing what he's doing and without having the trust of his players.

And that brings us to Tom Zolinski, the man.

All day today I've been hearing stories of how Tom cared deeply about his players (a fact which was always evident whenever he'd talk about them in postgame interviews), about how he excelled at building relationships with his players, and about how he would even go have lunch with Freeland's elementary schoolers in order to form a bond with his future players early in their young lives. That, to me, is going above and beyond the norm, and that probably goes a long way toward explaining why Tom's players seemed to love playing for him.

My personal experience with Tom was nothing but positive. Of course, it's tempting to paint an individual in glowing colors after he or she is gone. But when folks call Tom Zolinski a "great man," I can honestly say without hesitation that my experience with him supports that claim 100 percent.

During his 12 years at the Falcons' helm, I had the pleasure of covering his teams dozens of times, including many, many postseason games. Never not once did Tom EVER treat me with anything but graciousness, respect, and courtesy whenever I interviewed him, and that includes some tough interviews following heartbreaking postseason losses.

He was never surly, never defensive, never standoffish. When his teams won a big game, he was polite and humble. And when his teams lost a big game, he was even-keeled and reflective. But never grouchy. One of his more endearing qualities was that, for all of his on-court success and hard work, he invariably gave ALL the credit to his players. As I've said, he was nothing if not humble.

I recall driving down to the Breslin Center or, rather, attempting to drive down to the Breslin Center for Freeland's state semifinal game in March 2017. Along the way, around St. Johns, my car broke down, and I was forced to sit in a cold car in a cold parking lot, watching the snow fall while awaiting assistance and knowing that I was going to have to miss the game. I was so disappointed. I felt that I was letting Tom down, I was letting his team down, and I was letting our readers down by not being there.

The very next morning, I called Tom and personally apologized for having missed the game. Rather than upbraid me for not being there (or rather than even hint at being disappointed by my absence), Tom's immediate reaction was to make sure I was OK and to give me some terrific advice. "Go see my brother at McDonald Ford in Freeland," he said. "He'll get you a good deal on a nice car. I guarantee it."

Well, I took Tom's advice, and sure enough: his brother Steve and the staff at McDonald bent over backward to get me financed for a low-mileage Chrysler 200 the same car I'm driving today and the best car I've ever owned. Suffice it to say that I was and still am very grateful to Tom and to his brother for that gesture.

More than a couple of people, such as local coaches and players and acquaintances of Tom's, have told me today that they will miss Tom greatly and that the basketball community will not be the same without him. All I can say to that is, "Amen." I, too, will miss Tom fiercely.

I will miss his smiling face. I will miss his easygoing demeanor. I will miss hisfirmhandshake and warm chuckle. I will miss watching him mold young girls into an incredible basketball-playing machine. I will miss his self-effacing praise for the players under his tutelage. But most of all, I will miss his friendship.

How will Freeland girls' basketball go on without Tom? Who will coach the team in his stead? Will future generations of Freeland basketball players enjoy similar success? I have no idea yet. But I do know that Tom's legacy will live on in the lives of the players he loved so dearly. And, hopefully, that dedication to molding young people into winners both in sports and in life will trickle down from his former players to many future generations to come.

In short, Tom may be gone, but I have a feeling that his positive influence will continue to be felt in more ways than he could've possibly imagined.

I think Tom would be so incredibly pleased to hear what Tori Jankoska had to say about him Saturday morning. I think she summed up Tom's impact on his players' lives beautifully.

"Coach Z ... coached all of us from the beginning (of our basketball careers), but it was never about the wins. He made us all laugh and fall in love with going to practice and playing the game we love with our best friends," said Jankoska, who is now coaching young women at Missouri State University. "He brought light to anyone around him. He guided us in life. He created memories that will last a lifetime on and off the court. I can only hope to touch players' lives the way he did mine."

Who can ask for a better legacy than that?

Fred Kelly is a sportswriter for the Daily News.

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Kelly: Zolinski left wonderful legacy of humility, success, and class - Midland Daily News

Mary Beth Ray, then the Van Ness Main Street president, addressing a 2016 VNMS fundraiser.

Mary Beth Ray has never shied away from a challenge. She served as an ANC 3F commissioner and she co-founded the predecessor to Van Ness Main Street, ANC 3Fs Van Ness Vision Committee. Ray went on to chair the VNMS board. Now she is helping people take on their own challenges as a leadership, career and life coach.

The brings to mind visions of one-on-one personal coaching and career development, but Ray also engages groups with her coaching. We were curious about that so we asked her to explain what is involved.

by Mary Beth Ray

You leave yet another meeting exhausted and frustrated. Did anyone even hear what you said? Everyone seemed to be talking past each other, one person hogged the floor, and next steps are clear as mud. Whats the point of a team if everyone refuses to collaborate?

Sound familiar? Whether a law firm, company, nonprofit, board, government agency, or another organization, how you and your colleagues understand or misunderstand each other affects every aspect of your organizations performance.

Workplace conflict is unavoidable, and it most commonly occurs when team members are fundamentally different. But differences are good and provide balance to the organization, which is crucial to top performance. The key is to identify and manage those differences, understanding yourself and others on the team, and the values each person brings.

Mary Beth Ray

What small but significant differences can you make to understand each other better? With a team assessment and debrief, employees understand the reasoning behind their colleagues actions, and they can begin to communicate their frustrations with each other with safer, less-confrontational language, and in turn, improve overall team awareness.

Differences can feel like each team member is speaking a different language. What if you had an instant translator to understand each of those languages? Team assessments are like instant translators.

Whats the difference between individual and team assessments? Many people are familiar with Myers Briggs, but not so familiar with a team assessment. While an individual assessment such as Myers Briggs can tell you about yourself, a team assessment will pull together data on the whole team, highlighting strengths, potential areas where members might get stuck, and identify adaptations that can lead to better collaboration. It can also identify potential gaps on your team, which can be taken into consideration in hiring to diversify your team and build strengths where they are currently lacking.

How does it work? Each member of the team takes an individual assessment measuring behavior, motivators and emotional quotient. The questions are online and take about 20 minutes. The assessment yields a 50-page report, followed up with an individual debrief with a certified coach, which takes about an hour and a half. Individual assessments identify individual strengths, ask if your strengths align well to your job role, and ask whether you are being managed to your strengths. Following individual debriefs, the team gets together for a group debrief with the coach, which takes less than 2 hours.

An example of TTIs Success Insights Wheel.

What happens in the team debrief? Each individual is plotted on the Success Insights Wheel, showing their natural and adapted behavior. Natural behavior is the real you and adapted behavior is how you change your behavior to adapt to your work environment. During a team debrief, the coach facilitates a discussion that gets everyone involved in sharing their strengths and identifying challenges. Starting with a volunteer, each member of the team shares their key insights from their reports. What are 1-2 things youd like your team to know about you? For example, do you like to lead or be in the background? Do you want to research every possible answer, or do you have a strong sense of urgency to get the work done. What value do they each bring to an organization, how do they want to be communicated with? We review perceptions, how each team member perceives his own value, and how others might perceive them under moderate or extreme stress. What do the natural and adapted graphs show with regard to how people approach problems and challenges, how people influence people, whether they process verbally or internally? Whats the potential for conflict when a boss is an extrovert and others on the team are introverts?

Whats up with the wheel? Where do team members fall within the wheel, are they task oriented or people oriented? Fast or slow? What value does each member bring to the team, and where might the team struggle? What are the learnings, and next steps to cultivate adaptations? If everyone in the group is a Supporter, it might feel like a calm, steady, friendly place to work. But would hiring a Persuader help drive new challenges, results and PR? What challenges could be anticipated with the addition of a Persuader?

Is this judgment? No. Its all about self-awareness and empathy. The self-awareness and empathy we learn through assessments teach us to understand where people are coming from, why they do what they do, and what motivates them. Assessments reveal the filters through which we process information and make decisions. Every decision has emotion attached to it, and as we discover our own emotion, and that of others, were able to reflect, make space for others, and ultimately make better decisions.

In short, there is no judgment, no right or wrong answer, and each person brings unique strengths and value to the team. Insights gained through team assessments provide the foundation for more effective communication, and mission success.

How accurate is the data?

TTI is the worlds leading developer of research-based, validated assessment and coaching tools, used in more than 90 countries and in 40 languages. TTI regularly uses statistical analysis and brain imaging to update and validate their questionnaires. Between January 2014 and May 2017, TTI collected data from 1,735,323 people. Here are the study results.

The DISC and Driving Forces assessments are pegged to the norm unique for each population it surveys. So for example, Argentines taking the DISC are benchmarked against other Argentines, not against Americans or French.

The Takeaway

Individual assessments give you an accurate perception of yourself, and how you interact with people. You will understand the causes of conflict. Results will guide your personal and professional development and a higher level of satisfaction. Team assessments will quickly show where conflict can occur, and identify where communication, understanding and appreciation can be increased.

Coaching can be a great next step following individual and team assessments. Coaching is a partnership between coach and client, with the coach using active listening and powerful questions to challenge and inspire the client toward self-awareness, growth, and action. It is different from therapy, mentoring, and performance review.

Leadership requires growth, and growth requires self-awareness. Assessments and coaching are great tools to dig deeply to understand who we are, what motivates us, and whether our lives are aligned with our values. What are our strengths, and how do we lean into them? What are our opportunities to be better leaders? Moving from good to great leadership moves a team or organization closer to mission success.

If you have any questions or would like more information, please check out mbrcoach.com or contact Mary Beth Ray at mbr@mbrcoach.com.

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Meet Your Neighbors: She helps people learn more about themselves and each other - Forest Hills Connection

CHECKPOINT/RNZ

There are 26 in the race, all Kiwis, and four among the favourites - no it's not the Melbourne Cup, but the race to become the next All Blacks coach.

OPINION:I'm at the kids' athletics day.

There's big pressure for them to perform and I know all eyes are on me. There is a lot on the line here.

I've done all I can. I can't run the race for them butI've taught them all my secrets.

I've trained them for hours and hours in the back yard but now this is the big stage. The big time. All I can do is watch and cheer. That's it. It's all up to them.

READ MORE: *How-to Dad: My British roots are haunting me *My name is Jordan and I'm a closethoarder * 25 coaches NZ Rugby likely approached for the top job

HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES

Pity the new All Blacks coach, they have a tough job ahead, writes Jordan Watson. (Steve Hansen pictured with assistant coach Ian Foster.)

Three third places.They're not happy, the crowd is furious and all fingers point at me.Before I can even catch my breath the kids have found a new dad.

That's how it would be if being a dad was like being a rugby coach.Holy crap, do they have it hard.

Some would say that the more difficult challenge lies before the new All Blacks' coach selection committee.Pffft,that's easy. Whoever they choose won't affect them. Instead, cameras will point at and dissect this new coach straight away.

As soon as their name is read out they'll feel the full force of a New Zealand rugby mad front row.They'll be fighting for the next four years, trying not to crumble under the immense pressure.

Us dads have it easy.Your job is easy.Compared to these international coaches life is easy.

Imagine if your end of year performance review at your accounting/building/bank/farming job put you in third place.You'd be pretty darn proud and your job would be safe. Only you and your employer would know the results and that would be that.

Now tear down the four walls of your working environment and replace them with pointingfingers, couch commentators, headline-hunting reporters and 4.5 million opinions on your terrible third place performance.That's the world of an international rugby coach.

LAWRENCE SMITH/STUFF

I have 2.2 million followers but they're generally kind if I skip a video, writes Jordan Watson.

No thanks, not for me.

Imagine if I didn't push the swing high enough?Or if Iforgot to pack the school book bag. What if I burn the kids dinner!?I'd be out.

Some of you will argue, 'oh yeah, but they get a good pay packet.'

Yeah they probably do, but that big bag of dosh doesn't make that 24/7 scrutiny go away.

It's funny that here in little old New Zealand our rugby coaches are more famous than our 'celebs'. They get more air time, more interviews, more heat and more trolls than our best celebrities combined.

I have 2.2 million followers around the world and am expected to deliver a comedic video every week.

If I dare skip a week ..people are generally kind. The people watching my sport of 'Dad videos' don't have the same rage bubbling in their veins. They are not so quick to judge.

The All Blacks coaching boots are bloody massive boots to fill.

And whether it be the surfy looking blonde guy or Foster the older bloke let's give them a fair go, yeah? Restrain your Facebook typing fingers, bite your cursing tongue and just be grateful the whole nation isn't watching your every move.

Sunday Star Times

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How-to Dad: Being a parent is easy compared to being an All Blacks coach - Stuff.co.nz

The Croydon North constituency was created in 1997 and since then has been represented by the Labour Party.

The constituencycovers the Croydon Council wards ofBensham Manor, Broad Green, Norbury, South Norwood, Thornton Heath, Upper Norwood, West Thornton, and Selhurst.

Labour and Co-operative member Steve Reed became the MP for the area in a 2012 by-election.

In 2017 he retained the seat with 44,213 votes, with the Conservative candidate coming in second with 11,848 votes.

In the EU Referendum in 2016 the constituency voted 58.83 per cent for remain.

Claire Bonham Liberal Democrats

Claire has been a Crystal Palace resident since 2013 and has worked for more than 15 years in the voluntary sector.

She stood for the Upper Norwood and Crystal Palace seat in the 2018 local elections.

If elected, I will be a voice for the residents of Croydon North, she said. I will work hard, collaboratively and with imagination to ensure thatdecisions are takenwithreal local input,deliveringreal local improvementin our services and environment.

Rachel Chance The Green Party

Rachel has campaigned with Extinction Rebellion and volunteered

for Crystal Palace Transition Town.

She has lived in Crystal Palace for the past seven years and works in the charity sector.

She wants to see cleaner air through cleaner public transport and said she will fight to preserve Croydons 39 green spaces.

Donald Ekekhomen Conservative

Donald moved to the UK from Nigeria to study and has worked as a pharmacist across Croydon.

He has lived in the borough for more than 11 years and is a supporterof Crystal Palace.

He added: I volunteer in local charities and am a trustee in one that helps disadvantaged young people.

Candace Mitchell Christian Peoples Alliance

Candace is a former teacher and youth worker.

She now runs RevolutionChange, a life coaching service.

She said: Since 2015 I have been interested in and standing up for things that are important to our community. I am a definition of diversity which is one of the striking characteristics of our constituency.

I am approachable and a strong advocate for things I believe in. I want to continue fighting for our families and community.

Chidi Ngwaba Brexit Party

Back in August it was announced that Chidi would be standing in the Beckenham Constituencybut now is standing in Croydon North.

In a video from the party, the doctor says he honours the will of the people

He has worked in the NHS for most of his career and says the NHS needs some work and he wants to get power back to the people in terms of democracy so we can take back control of our health.

Steve Reed Labour and Co-operative party

Before becoming an MP Steve, who is standing for re-election, was the leader of Lambeth Council.

He served as the shadow minister for children and families.

He said: I gotflammable Grenfell-style cladding stripped from a local housing block, I helped get a new school built after theConservatives left children in containers for six years, and Ive dealt with over 50,000 issues for local people who came to me for help.

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Here are your Croydon North election candidates | Your Local Guardian - Your Local Guardian

Nov. 18, 2019, 5:38 PM UTC

Kanye West has followed the Johnny Cash route and performed for inmates at a Houston jail.

In secret from the public, the star rapper-turned-gospel singer performed songs Friday from his new gospel album Jesus is King. He and his choir performed for more than 200 male inmates at one jail facility before crossing the street to another jail facility and performing for a smaller crowd of female inmates.

Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said Wests representatives asked jail officials about doing secret shows.

The events were reminiscent of prison concerts given by country singer Johnny Cash in California, and were performed two days before West is to speak at Joel Osteens vast Lakewood Church in Houston.

West discussed his musical and personal turn to Christianity, as well as the inspiration behind his latest album, in an interview with DJ Zane Lowe on Apple Music in October.

"Now that Im in service to Christ, my job is to spread the gospel, to let people know what Jesus has done for me," West said during a nearly two-hour conversation.

West's gospel-inspired album is his ninth in a row to open at the top of the Billboard 200, putting him in a tie with Eminem for the most consecutive No. 1s, Billboard says.

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Kanye West gives emotional performance of 'Jesus is King' for inmates at a Houston jail - NBC News