Reigning world champion and title favourite P V Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with a convincing straight-game win over former Olympic gold-medallist Li Xuerui at the China Open Super 1000 tournament at Changzhou, China on Wednesday.

India's top shuttler Sindhu beat China's Li Xuerui 21-18 21-12 in just 34 minutes to set up a clash with Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.

Replicating her world championship form, the Olympic silver-medallist produced another strong performance to get the better of the currently 20th-ranked Chinese, who entered the match with a 3-3 record against the Indian.

Men's singles players, Sai Praneeth and Parupalli Kashyap also progressed to the second round after notching up contrasting opening-round wins.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy too found a place in the pre-quarterfinals after crossing the opening hurdle.

However, Saina made an early exit after losing to Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women's singles.

The London Olympics bronze-medallist lost 10-21 17-21 at the hands of the World No.19 Ongbamrungphan in a match that lasted for 44 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.

It was the former world number one's second successive loss to the Thai player.

The 29-year-old Saina has struggled for form following her recovery from injuries.

The Indian started her season with a win at the Indonesia Masters but has failed to reach another final on the BWF circuit so far.

In men's singles, world championships bronze medallist Praneeth had to battle for an hour and 12 minutes to get past Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-19 21-23 21-14, while former top 10 player Kashyap beat France's Brice Leverdez 21-12 21-15 in 38 minutes.

Next world no 15 Praneeth will face China's Lu Guang Zu, while Kashyap locks horns with seventh-seeded Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting.

In women's doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy too crossed the opening hurdle after their opponents Chinese Taipei's Cheng Chi Ya and Lee Chih Chen retired mid way in the second game after lagging 13-21 8-11.

Men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, however, crashed out of the competition after losing 15-21 15-21 to Indonesian second seeds Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.

The duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki also lost to Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich 12-21 21-23 to bow out.

Continue reading here:

China Open: PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap Enter Second Round, Saina Nehwal Crashes Out - Outlook India

The island of Mauritius has long been a popular destination, and with good reason says Phoebe Bath after she paid a visit.

Home to a swathe of white beaches, unspoilt reefs and prehistoric-looking mountains, its not hard to imagine why the first humans to visit Mauritius decided to colonise the island. This enchanting dot on the map, some 1,200 miles off the coast of east Africa, is the epitome of the tropical island.

Once upon a time wed have called it picture postcard-perfect; today, of course, wed use the word Instagrammable, and few things on the island are more so than Le Morne Brabant,the mountain whose unforgettable silhouette dominates the south-west corner of Mauritius. Sitting almost in the shadow of the outcrop is the St Regis Mauritius Resort,a 5-star hotelcatering to everyone from honeymooners, adventurers and families to those merely seeking respite from busy urban life.

Upon arrival at the St Regis Mauritius Resort, a chilled pineapple juice and warm towel are handed to me as the ultimate tropical concoction to banish my post-flight fatigue as I walk across to my Manor House Suite, complete witha private butler who will be at my disposal for the duration of the stay. My smiling butlerhappily offers to start things off by unpacking for me, and looks after me throughout also bringing personal gifts such as macaroons and fresh strawberries, which are left each night in my bedroom.

And once youre settled in? There are all sorts of things to do (see below), but should you choose then this is a spot for a perfect slice of relaxation and mindfulness, where you can order a fresh cocktail via a buzzer on the beach umbrellas, dip in the pool, take part in yoga or tai chi on the beach. Mindfulness and wellness are part of the philosophy, and it shows.

If even leaving the room seems like hard work, the in-room massage service a 45-minute session, complete with peppermint and almond body oil is blissful, and is followed by tea on a tray with fresh hibiscus flowers, fruit and almonds on your private terrace. Is there a more idyllic way of adjusting back to reality? I think not.

The greatest challenge? Attempting not to drift into a tropically-induced sleep whilst stretching to the waves flickering at the reef. When the time comes to leave, I take one last stroll along the beach, drinking in the tranquility of this subtropical oasis. It may have been my first time to the island, but Ive already mentally pencilled in a return visit

A Manor Ocean Suite at St. Regis Mauritius Resort starts from $915 per night (approx 740 per night) for more information and to book: http://www.stregismauritius.com.British Airways flyfrom London to Mauritius from 529 return per person http://www.ba.com.

Bikes can be borrowed through the hotel, giving guests the opportunity to explore the Le Morne peninsula. For keener athletes, the hotels gym offers multiple classes every day and a whole range of sports equipment, so you can drink the hotels signature La Belle Crole cocktails guilt-free.

As Le Morne is one of the worlds hallowed water-sports destinations and hosts the annual kite-surfing world cup, it would be remiss of you not to try a lesson with ION Club, located just around the corner from the hotel. An hours lesson with a member of their adventurous team will have you feeling like a pro in no time.Private kite surfing lessons at ION Club start at 130 for two hours, including all gear and insurance

Half an hour from the hotel is one of the islands most striking spots: the famed coloured earth of Chamarel, in the Rivire Noire District. This incredible geological formation consists of sand dunes that have divided naturally over time into seven distinct colours, unsurprisingly earning it a place as one of the top tourist attractions in the area.

Close by and doable in the same day trip via Solis 360 is the Black River National Park, which has never been deforested and is home to abundant wildlife and staggering waterfalls. If youre lucky, you might spot one of the parks monkeys, who are known to play up to an audience.

A dark chapter in Mauritian history is remembered in a memorial at the foot of Le Morne Brabant.A group of escaped slaves named the Maroons had used the mountain and its surrounding area as a hideout in the early 19th century, and feared recapture when they saw official boats arriving on February 1, 1835. Rather than re-submit to slavery, they chose to throw themselves off the mountain not realising that the officials on board were actually bringing news of abolition and freedom. The monument includes an inscription from the poem Le Morne Territoire Marronby Richard Sedley Assonne: There were hundreds of them, but my people the maroons chose the kiss of death over the chains of slavery.

The St Regis Mauritius has five restaurants, each providing a different type of cuisine. Set in the pavilion of the Iridium Spa, The Floating Market restaurant was the pick of the bunch, a Pan-Asian eaterie dishing up Thai, Vietnamese, Malay and Indonesian wonders, decorated with charming lanterns that make you feel completely detached from the rest of the world.

Theres also the Boathouse Bar anf Grill, the Atsuko Japanese restaurant, Le Manoir dishing up French-Mauritian dishes and an Indian restaurant, Simply India. The latter is superb but make sure you have a light lunch before feasting here in the evening; theres a vast array of traditional meat, fish and vegetarian dishes that are all sorely tempting.

The Boathouse Bar and Grill serves drinks and dinner

See the article here:

St Regis Mauritius: A tropical idyll where the biggest challenge is deciding how to relax next - Country Life

Pattaya Court on Wednesday passed down death sentences for Panya Yingdung (Sia Uan, pictured), a licensee and pub owner in Patong Beach, Phuket, and two of his associates for the murder of Paweena Namuangrak and Anantachai Jaritram. The sentences have been commuted to life in prison due to their confession and cooperation.

Pattaya Court on Wednesday passed sentence on the killers of Paweena Namuangrak, 20, and Anantachai Jaritram, 21, the young couple having been gunned down in cold blood in a parking lot in front of Buddha Mountain (Khao Chi Chan) in Sattahip on July 29, 2018.

In a murder case that captured the attention of the nation, the court heard how Panya Yingdung (Sia Uan), a licensee and pub owner in Patong Beach, Phuket, conscripted the help of five associates to carry out the brutal crime after learning of the deceased pairs intimate relationship.Panya had taken a shine to Paveena during her time working for him in Phuket, but despite lavishing her with gifts and financial support she rejected his advances and instead entered into a relationship with Anantachai.

When the pair fled Phuket and flew to U-Tapao airport, a jealous Panya plotted his revenge and followed the couple to Sattahip along with his cohorts. Having carried out the grisly shooting, Panya fled to Cambodia but was later arrested and returned to Thailand following cross-border cooperation between Thai and Cambodian police agencies.

After hearing the gathered evidence and witness testimonies, Pattaya Provincial Court stated its conviction that Panya and his partners in crime, Krissana Srisuk and Narong Warinthornwech, had been directly involved in firing the lethal gunshots and passed down the death sentence on all three. This was later commuted to life in prison as the trio had cooperated with investigators and admitted their guilt.

Three more defendants, Sayan Srisuk, Kiattisak Surangsawangsaengmeeboon and Jirasak Unaibun were also convicted as accomplices in the crime, with Sanya receiving a life sentence for tracking the deceased pair and pointing them out to the killers while Kiattisak and Jirasak received 24-year prison terms. The court also considered their testimonies to have been useful to the case and commuted their sentences to 50 years for Sayan and 12 each for other two.

In addition, all six were ordered to pay 7.31 million baht to Paweenas family and 7.32 million baht to Anantachais family by way of compensation.

Wanpen Namuangruk, the mother of Paweena, said she was satisfied with the decision of the court and commented that Panya had apologized to her personally during the trial.

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Khao Chi Chan killers given life sentence - Pattaya Mail

From 1118 October, the annual Night Noodle Markets will take over Sydneys Hyde Park for the last time before moving to a new, yet-to-be revealed location in 2020.

Gelato Messina,Hoy Pinoy, Lets Do Yum Cha, Chur Burger, POKLOL, Puffle, Twistto, Flying Noodle, Wonderbao and more will doll out signature dishes from Hawker-style stalls.

This year, Night Noodle Markets will also host the Night Poodle Markets on Saturday 12 October, with proceeds going to the NSW RSPCA.

The Night Noodle Markets are open seven days, from 5pm to 10pm on Monday and Tuesday, 5pm to 11pm on Wednesday and Thursday, and 4pm to 11pm on Friday. Extended hours are in place on the weekend, with the markets opening from 12pm to 11pm on Saturday and 12pm to 10pm on Sunday.

The Night Noodle Markets are part ofGood Food Month, Australias largest food festival, which takes place in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra,Perth and Brisbane across the year.

Cala Bang will dish up crispy calamari with seaweed, hot and spicy, and paprika seasonings on offer alongside their foot-long potato fries.

Bao Brothers will take Gua Baos to a whole new level with the peeking cluck, shroom shady, and loaded sweet potato fries.

Donut Papi will serve small-batch Asian-inspired doughnuts including Leche Flan Donut and Hotteok, Korean sweet pancakes.

Gelato Messina has opted for a Thai-inspired offering this year. The range of flavours include theEye of the Thai-ger with condensed milk pudding , condensed milk crumble, lychee and sala shaved ice, lychee gelato and rainbow jellies; the Bangkok Banana with Thai milk tea cheesecake sandwiched between tea sponge, dipped in Italian meringue and sprinkled with desiccated coconut; the Phuket Bucket with deep fried banana fritters, caramelised palm sugar banana gelato, coconut and lime Chantilly, peanut crumble; and Coco Phangan with Mango sorbet served on coconut sticky rice, salted coconut sauce and toasted coconut flakes.

Hoy Pinoy will serve up grilled pork belly Inihaw na Baboy, barbecued chicken skewers Inihaw na Manok and garlic-fried peanuts Pina-Usukang Adabong Mai.

Lets Do Yum Cha will feature Yum Cha favourites including dumplings, steamed buns and spring rolls, all handmade daily using local ingredients.

Chur Burger will host one last Sydney hurrah before moving to Brisbane,serving a range of Asian inspired burgers including crispy pork belly, Japanese panko crumbed chicken and grilled beef.

Poklol and Puffle are teaming up with Korean BBQ Tacos, Chi Chi Fries, KFC Puffle and Cheeseburger Puffle.

Raijin will offer chicken karaage noodles, tofu karaage noodles, chicken karaage and gyoza dumplings.

The Muglan will serve up steamed Momo, Nepalese Jhai Momo, Chili Momo and Curry Bowl with rice.

Twistto is back with their hand-cut twisted potatoes made with a secret recipe batter and carefully blended flavours, such as the Korean Twistto Potato.

Flying Noodle (pictured) will plate up visually stricking noodle bowls including The Big Boss, with chicken tenderloin, diced and marinated with soybean paste, roasted sesame, sauted mushrooms, and bok choy.

See the full program.

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Night Noodle Markets return to Sydney's Hyde Park - hospitality - Australian Hospitality Magazine

Reigning world champion and title favourite P V Sindhu sailed into the pre-quarterfinals with a convincing straight-game win over former Olympic gold-medallist Li Xuerui at the China Open Super 1000 tournament here on Wednesday.

India's top shuttler Sindhu beat China's Li Xuerui 21-18 21-12 in just 34 minutes to set up a clash with Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong.

Replicating her world championship form, the Olympic silver-medallist produced another strong performance to get the better of the currently 20th-ranked Chinese, who entered the match with a 3-3 record against the Indian.

Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy too found a place in the pre-quarterfinals after crossing the opening hurdle.

Early exitHowever, Saina made an early exit after losing to Thailand's Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women's singles.

The London Olympics bronze-medallist lost 10-21 17-21 at the hands of the World No.19 Ongbamrungphan in a match that lasted for 44 minutes at the Olympic Sports Center Xincheng Gymnasium.

It was the former world number one's second successive loss to the Thai player.

The 29-year-old Saina has struggled for form following her recovery from injuries.

The Indian started her season with a win at the Indonesia Masters but has failed to reach another final on the BWF circuit so far.

In men's singles, world championships bronze medallist Praneeth had to battle for an hour and 12 minutes to get past Thailand's Suppanyu Avihingsanon 21-19 21-23 21-14, while former top 10 player Kashyap beat France's Brice Leverdez 21-12 21-15 in 38 minutes.

In women's doubles, Commonwealth Games bronze medallists Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy too crossed the opening hurdle after their opponents Chinese Taipei's Cheng Chi Ya and Lee Chih Chen retired mid way in the second game after lagging 13-21 8-11.

The duo of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki also lost to Germany's Mark Lamsfuss and Isabel Herttrich 12-21 21-23 to bow out.

Read more:

PV Sindhu, Sai Praneeth, Parupalli Kashyap enter second round, Saina Nehwal crashes out - Mumbai Mirror

Gurdjieff Ensemble (Photo Andranik Sahakyan)

Man lives his life in sleep, and in sleep he dies.G.I. Gurdjieff

At first blush, it may seem like an odd pairing: Gurdjieff and Komitas. The father of modern Armenian music, Komitas Vartabed the itinerant priest who recorded thousands of Armenian ballads before the onslaught of the Catastrophe and G. I. Gurdjieffthe mystical guru of experimental notation, part fakir and yogi, Buddha and charlatan, the man with the famously thick moustache and shaved head, inventor of a supposed Fourth Way. The son of a Pontic Greek father and an Armenian mother, Gurdjieff was born in cosmopolitan Gyumri in 1866. His writings were esoteric like those of his contemporaries such as the anthroposophists Anna Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner, and they drew their inspiration from Christian, Hindi and Muslim traditions from the proverbial East and West. And while his music was itself minimalist and mystical, his personality was outsized: he was a great teacher but also prone to fits of rage. A description of his living quarters that I remember reading about in my late teens made a great impression on me, like some garish mixture of an opium den and a Middle Eastern bordello lined with oriental carpets. I remember looking around sheepishly at my freshman dorm room and thinking how sparse they seemed in comparison, how dreadfully boring!

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The Yerevan-based Gurdjieff Ensemble was founded in 2008 by music director Levon Eskenian in order to play Thomas de Hartmanns ethnographically authentic arrangements of the composers wonderfully esoteric music. In addition to Eskenian, other ensemble members include Davit Avagyan, Armen Ayvazyan, Norayr Gapoyan, Eduard Harutyunyan, Emmanuel Hovhannisyan, Mesrop Khalatyan, Avag Margaryan, Aramayis Nikoghosyan, Vladimir Papikyan and Meri Vardanyan. The group has won consistent praise in the music press; their first album Music of Georges I. Gurdjieff on ECM Records was awarded the prestigious Edison Award in the Netherlands. In the September 27 concert A Night to Honor Komitas at New Yorks Symphony Space, the Gurdjieff musicians, accompanied by Lusine Grigoryans gorgeously plangent piano soloswill perform a few of his works including The Spinners, Trinity, and Asian Songs and rhythms, Numbers 11 and 40, as well as Narekatsis lovely tenth century Havik and Tagh, both transcribed by Komitas.

150 Years of Komitas

As the program title indicates, the bulk of the evening will honor the lilting and beautifully sonorous works of Komitas Vartabed. Many of these pieces can be found on the Gurdjieff Ensembles second album Komitas (also on ECM Records), which explores the ties that bind Armenian sacred and secular music. Born Soghomon Soghomonian in 1869, Komitas was also an ethnomusicologist, choral conductor and teacher. He miraculously survived deportation, but he suffered greatly from the horrors that he witnessed during the Armenian Genocide. He was interned for the last 15 years of his life in a mental hospital in Paris. The songs that he collected in his youth describe simple lives of work, love and family life in Western Armenia before the dreadful events. It is no exaggeration to say that much of Armenian music history would have disappeared into the conflagration of the Medz Yeghern had it not been for Komitas painstaking work of transcription and interpretation.

More than Just Kanonikal

The Gurdjieff Ensemble will perform a full program of Komitas classics, including the popular Kele, Kele and Antsrevn egav (The Rain Arrived). Several dances from the Shushi region are also included (Shushi Unabli and Shushi Marali) as are Karouna and the lovely Msho shoror from the Mush region. Like Komitas before him, Eskenian is especially committed to keeping the original character and sound of these compositions alive, so the Gurdjieff Ensemble renditions are in a very real way a voyage back through time: I would like to emphasize that the program we are playing besides being musically pleasant to the ear is also historically informative, Eskenian explains. Take Msho Shoror, for example, a series of pieces that used to be played at pilgrimages to St. Karapet Monastery, one of the main Armenian pilgrimage sites before the Genocidethis is something that every Armenian should have the chance to hear at least once in their lives. To achieve this unique sound, the Gurdjieff ensemble plays over 16 instruments: some like the duduk, the oud and the dohl will be familiar to listeners knowledgeable in Armenian and Middle Eastern music. Then there are others still, which carry such wonderfully resonant names as the tmbuk and the pku. The least that can be said when listening to these delicately-rendered compositions is that whatever these Armenian-trained musicians are doing, it works!

Have a listen to the Gurdjieff Ensembles heavenly duduks, delectable kanons and a sound that is as rich as it is heartfeltthen rush to Symphony Space to experience it live. Komitas and Gurdjieff: music to be honored, music to be savored.

Christopher Atamian is a noted writer and creative producer of ItalianArmenian background and the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors. He is an alumnus of Harvard University, Columbia Business School and USC FIlm School, a former Fulbright Scholar. Apart from creative endeavors and professional activities as a senior executive in leading media companies and consultancies (ABC, Ogilvy & Mather, J.P. Morgan), Atamian has concentrated on community activism. He is the former President and a current board member of AGLA New York and in 2004 founded Nor Alik, a non-profit cultural organization responsible for producing the First Armenian International Film Festival. Atamian also co-produced the OBIE Award-winning play Trouble in Paradise in 2006, directed by Elyse Singer, as well as several music videos and short films. Atamian was selected for the 2009 Venice Biennale on the basis of his video Sarafians Desire and received a 2015 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. He continues to contribute critical pieces to leading publications such as The New York Times Book Review and The Huffington Post, Scenes Media and The Weekly Standard, while working on other creative endeavors in film and theater.

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The Mystic and the Priest: The Gurdjieff Ensemble Performs Komitas - Armenian Weekly

The French windows onto the balcony have been left open. But since it is August in Paris, in a quiet neighborhood, there are none of the usual, urgent noises of urban street life, and when I look out the window from where Im sitting, all I can see is sky.

You know, Mr. Brook says, since Ive been living here I have this uncanny feeling, although what I normally think of as Paris is just a 15-minute drive from here, that Im in another country.

In a way, another country is always where Mr. Brook has aspired to be.

The London-born son of Russian-Jewish scientists from Latvia (his father patented a popular medicine called Brooklax), the young Peter dreamed of becoming foreign correspondent, to have the joy of being sent all over the world, month after month, to dangerous struggle spots anywhere just to say this world is not the little world of middle-class London.

As a student at Oxford University, he also thought he might become a painter, a composer, a pianist and, most particularly, a filmmaker. (He did indeed go on to make movies that include Lord of the Flies and Meetings with Remarkable Men, adapted from a book by Gurdjieff.)

And all the while, he says, he was tasting a bit of everything on offer in culture, in sex, in drugs (though he was blessed, he says, with a natural resistance to addiction) and in religion.

He had been confirmed as a member of the Church of England when he was 16. But this at once led me to think why why is this better than Islam? So I read that, and I read Buddhism. And that led me to India. But all of this was, again: Taste, test, question, and never reach a conclusion.

His supreme affinity, always, was for storytelling, he says. And in the theater, he found its most congenial, and universal, application. At 21, he directed an effervescent production of Shakespeares Loves Labours Lost at Stratford; at 23, he was named the producing director of the Royal Opera House; both his interpretations of Shakespeare and of sleek comedies (The Little Hut), costume dramas (Ring Round the Moon) and even musicals made him the toast of the West End.

Read more:
For Peter Brook, the Experimental Showman, Nothing Is Ever Finished - The New York Times

The first time I listened to the Call Her Daddy podcast, I was utterly appalled by both the profanity and absurdity of the ideas that the show was overtly promoting. And yet, every Wednesday, I find myself eagerly refreshing the app anticipating the source of weekly entertainment.

The blunt and provocative nature of vloggers Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn has given the Barstool podcast a five-star rating with more than 65,000 reviews. Although the audience includes both male and female listeners, the podcast is supposed to be revolutionary for women because it delves into the nitty gritty details of the modern dating scene from a heterosexual female perspective.

Through sharing their own personal experiences with men, Cooper and Franklyn provide all the necessary tips and tricks on how to master the daddy game a game of manipulation and winning the power dynamic. While it seems like an inspiring and empowering way to include women in the conversation of casual sex, Cooper and Franklyn seem to do so through a dominantly male perspective.

Despite the entertaining and sometimes helpful advice, female listeners should refrain from using the podcast as a golden standard of rules in the dating game. The podcast exposes the manipulative tactics of men and explains to women how to play their game and ultimately win it.

One of their recent episodes, Milf Hunter, contained the most provocative dialogue yet. This episode featured a guest on the show whose identity remains a secret, but who goes by the moniker Milf Hunter. Cooper and Franklyn consistently make references to him as the ultimate player who vivaciously dates, has had more than a hundred sexual partners and has supposedly mastered the daddy game a term used to describe the stereotype of male players who attain emotional control of women and juggle several partners at a time.

In his guest appearance, he consistently referred to women as holes as he educated listeners about his successful strategy of lies and manipulation. Through recounting various sexual experiences, he revealed that he has yet to take a woman on a date and rarely even opens the door for them. He also gloated about the fact that although he has never been in love, he tells women he loves them so he can continue hooking up with them.

For a female listener, this behavior sounds degrading and for most people in general these assertions sound uncommon and irrational. Yet Cooper and Franklyn not only expressed full support of his general apathy and treatment towards his partners, but encouraged the same behavior from women. In fact, Cooper even expressed gratitude to Milf Hunter for teaching her how to manipulate men the way he does with women.

Girls, most men are like this so I hope your ears are perking up and I hope youre feeling like shit about yourself, Franklyn said.

This kind of advice wrongfully shoves all men into a negative category and simultaneously conditions women to normalize and accept this kind of treatment. Cooper and Franklyn routinely remind women that adopting this mindset will make them better off. Yet learning to treat the opposite sex in a worthless manner does not equate to female empowerment.

In support of these outlandish notions, Cooper and Franklyn put an emphasis on performance in the bedroom and encourage women to drop everything else that might be included in the realm of a normal relationship. They advise women to remove any expectations from men, and to brainwash themselves into believing that they are merely a hole.

The conversation about casual dating and open relationships isnt the problem with the podcast. But constantly re-enforcing that casual sex is all men want and women should cater their own desires and expectations to fit this rigid and extreme standard is worrisome.

You dont want him calling you babe, you want him calling you a whore, Franklyn said.

Furthermore, the idea that women need to downgrade their status to the level of a sex object is even more dangerous to the conversation of casual dating. Rather than empower women to pursue the relationships they desire, Call Her Daddy teaches self-deprecation and limits their options.

Cooper and Franklyn put an emphasis on keeping up exceptional performance in the bedroom, remaining low maintenance, refraining from conversations about the relationship status, abstaining from any expression of emotion and staying noncommittal to anyone.

If your behavior changes, especially if youre starting to act more needy, hes going to be terrified of you, Cooper said.

The podcast routinely stresses that any demonstration of emotion or attachment is a turn off and that any progression towards a relationship must derive from the males end. For some women, this dynamic works. But for the women who may desire something other than sex, this kind of advice can be toxic and minimizing.

Cooper and Franklyn overgeneralize the dating world and normalize an abnormal pattern of treatment to a varied audience of listeners and subscribers.

By teaching women to replicate the strategies of certain men and blatantly ignore their own feelings and others, they contribute to a never-ending cycle of this power game. According to Cooper and Franklyn, the game never ends, not even in marriage.

They still hate you and theyre still cheating on you, until they prove otherwise, Cooper said.

This mentality is not only harmful to women, but it places men in an unfair category as well. To assume that all men or even the majority of men solely share an interest in sex, is unfair and inaccurate. It morphs the expectations of both genders and creates an endless power dynamic game that results in a toxic cycle for both parties.

So while Cooper and Franklyn may have cracked the code of the so-called daddy game, women should take this advice with a grain of salt. Not all men solely want sex, and women who want more should not neglect their own desires. Women might benefit more from a game that they create and write their own rules to one that doesnt abide by the aloof standards that certain men of the 21st century have regimented into the modern dating culture.

Read more here:
Opinion | Call Her Daddy podcast entertains and degrades - University of Pittsburgh The Pitt News

A few weeks ago I wrote about Presbyterians. Today I want to talk about Methodists. Both of these groups possess good biblical church order and governance. Presbyterians are governed by elders (Greek, presbuteros). Methodists first developed out of a method - small house groups. This was an alternative place for converts to gather, to pray, to study the Bible, and to confess their sins. These home meetings were needed because the historical churches were resisting the revival. In fact, some Methodist pioneers (my ancestors) were tarred and feathered and driven out of town, simply for believing you could know you were saved. They were pioneers in the faith.

The Methodist denomination came about from the preaching of John Wesley and his genius for organizing small groups. Like most revivals, it was a movement before it was a denomination. Movements begin with individuals encountering God. They morph into movements as more people get on board, then organizations develop. Other revival movements had amazing leaders like Jonathan Edwards (Presbyterians) and William Seymour (Assemblies of God).

Personally, I have a love-hate relationship with denominationalism. I love the church, but I dislike what religion has done to Christianity. Sadly, many parts of the body of Christ (believers everywhere who are born again) have mostly been boxed into sectarian groups who rarely interact with each other, pray together, or witness together.

Denominations started off to protect the orthodoxy of the faith, to prevent heresy. Upholding faith in Christ Jesus or teaching historic doctrine is good, of course. It isn't that denominations are wrong, it's just that when you add an ism to it, that it becomes sectarian. "We are right! You are wrong!" Maybe so, but we still need to love one another in the Lord, right?

The fervor of a revival movement, the freshness of rediscovered biblical truth, the presence of the Holy Spirit: these things characterize a move of God in its beginning stages. In the movement stage, there is very little organization, just key men and women used by God to proclaim the message. Denominations started off with an aspect of neglected truth the church had forgotten. It could be justification by faith, the reliability of Scripture, experiencing the new birth, receiving the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, or our personal obligation to evangelism. Today, I'm watching charismatic renewal movements reveal genuine prophets and apostles. I'd love to see evangelists emerge again. Where is Billy Graham when you need him?

My late sister Carol and her husband Fred were wonderful Methodist pastors in Florida. We had many theological and practical discussions. I admired their work. I vividly recall being invited to come forward and pray in one of Fred's churches. It was a very old historic church in Jacksonville, Fla. As I stepped behind the ancient wooden pulpit - surprise! I was suddenly enveloped in the presence of the Holy Spirit. I knew instantly that members of the church had for generations prayed for whoever stood in that church pulpit, that they would be anointed by the Spirit to declare God's word. What a wonderful heritage!

Denominations today are institutions that hold assets and property and uphold fundamental doctrines. In some cases, they are still anointed by the Lord. We owe it to those pioneers of Christianity to be true to the Lord as they were, and if necessary, to claim new territory for God and His world.

If you want to learn more about Methodists, a new book will soon be out- Marks of a Movement: What the Church Today Can Learn from the Wesleyan Revival, by Winfield Bevins.

--RON WOOD IS A WRITER AND MINISTER. CONTACT HIM AT WOOD.STONE.RON@GMAIL.COM OR VISIT http://WWW.TOUCHEDBYGRACE.ORG. THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR.

Religion on 09/18/2019

Print Headline: Methodist Movement Came From The Preaching Of John Wesley

Originally posted here:
RELIGION: Methodist Movement Came From The Preaching Of John Wesley - NWAOnline

When Courtney Hill, a doctoral candidate in the University of Virginias School of Engineering, was invited last year to speak at her high school in eastern Arkansas on girls empowerment day, she eagerly agreed.

In the farming community where she grew up, not many of the students had met someone let alone a woman with an academic career in research, said Hill, who was the first woman in her family to go to college.

Now, Hill is one of two UVA scholars to win a Ford Foundation Fellowship. Hers will help her finish her dissertation on testing the effectiveness of water-purifying devices in Limpopo, South Africa.

Anthropologist Roberto Armengol also won a Ford Foundation Fellowship in the postdoctoral category, to research how Cuban workers in small urban businesses and sustainable farms are managing during a time of social transition.

The Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs, which also include the category of predoctoral work, seek to increase the diversity of the nations college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students, its website says. The national academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine administer the programs, which awarded fellowships to 130 outstanding scholars from across the country this year.

Hill and Armengol are among 19 UVA scholars who have secured one of the fellowships over the past 34 years. Last year, Isola Brown, a research scientist in the School of Medicine, was awarded a 2018 postdoctoral fellowship.

Armengol, who earned his Ph.D. in anthropology from UVA in 2013, was pleasantly surprised when he got the news about the fellowship. At first I thought it was a mistake, he said. Only 24 scholars received postdoctoral fellowships this year.

With the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, hell be contributing groundbreaking scholarship about how Cuba is changing right now.

Previously, he served as a College Fellow in the inaugural group that developed the cross-disciplinary courses for the College of Arts &Sciences new general curriculum, an appointment that concluded after the spring semester.

As a Ford Fellow, Armengol will return to Cuba in the spring, where he has been doing fieldwork on self-employed workers since the early 2000s. Now his focus is shifting toward worker-owned and organic farming cooperatives that have grown in number in recent years. As part of his research, he plans to work at a farm outside Havana. Since the economic crisis of the 1990s, Cuban farmers have almost by necessity, rather than choice, turned more and more to traditional and more sustainable principles of growing crops, he said.

This fall, hes wrapping up a book manuscript based on his dissertation, the everyday life of small business entrepreneurs and economic practices that draw on an ethic of cooperation that is unusual as compared to the mainstream market logic based mostly on self-interest, he said.

During the economic crisis, working-class people became so enterprising in creative ways, he said. Theres so much red tape, however, that a lot of practices are illegal.

Take bicycle vendors, for example. These individuals sell and fix bicycles, which are in high demand because not that many people can afford to own cars. The vendors help and support each other through reciprocal exchanges so their businesses can survive.

The small business phenomenon has been misread as capitalism breaking through socialism, but its really a socialism of their own, distinct from the socialism imposed by the state, he said.

More recently, fledgling business schools, workshops and entrepreneurial support networks are being established by both private and public actors. Armengol wants to look at what effect the conventionalization of economic activities that previously took place under the table is having on small business owners and operators. He suspects theyre learning more about being profit-motivated, but also might be continuing their ethics of cooperation and support, changing the conventions imposed in formal business education.

I think theres a larger message for rethinking how we understand working-class people all over the world, Armengol said.

His adviser, Latin American history professor Tico Braun, agrees.

Roberto Armengols research suggests that what may well be emerging in Cuba has elements of both socialism and capitalism, and in the combination, both are altered. Roberto has detected market-like relationships that are imbued with a sense for the moral, for the collective, Braun said.

If, in the early 21st century, we are coming to a consensus that with neo-liberalism we have gone too far toward the privatization of the market, Braun wrote in an email, Cuba may well point us toward a more balanced relationship between the private and the public. If so, as appears to be the case, this needs to be known and known everywhere. Robertos research is vitally significant as we think about the good society, or at least about better ones.

Hill is excited to join the nationwide community of Ford Fellows, she said, with whom shell continue to learn about inclusion in higher education.

This fellowship is an invaluable opportunity to connect with like-minded academics who are dedicated to using diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students, Hill wrote in an email. The network provides professional, academic and even personal support for members of the community as we wrestle with what it means to create an inclusive environment at every level of higher education.

Hill said she knows what it feels like to be the only one in the room as a woman and someone from a working-class community, she said. She wants to continue to help students feel accepted and welcome no matter where youre from.

She knows how meaningful mentorship can be to students, Hill said, especially if theyre first-generation college students from a low socio-economic background or from an underrepresented group. She said its important to share information with students and peers about opportunities such as Fulbright scholarships or National Science Foundation grants, for example.

Hill currently holds an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and a Jefferson Fellowship from the Jefferson Scholars Foundation, given to graduate students who demonstrate outstanding achievement and the highest promise as scholars, teachers, public servants, and business leaders in the United States and beyond, as the website describes them.

Working with James Smith, Henry L. Kinnier Professor of Civil Engineering and the lead developer of the MadiDrop water purification tablet, Hill is focusing on low-cost ways to treat water in rural South Africa. She has worked in South Africa during several summers for two months at a time, mentoring students in the program from all over the U.S., as well as students from South Africa. She learns from them, too, she said.

Last spring, she served as a Mirzayan Science and Technology Fellow at the National Academy of Science through the InterAcademy Partnership, an organization that makes scientific recommendations to international bodies like theUN. Before graduate school, she taught high school English in South Korea as a Fulbright Scholar.

Last year, Hill was awarded UVAs first Global Water Initiative Graduate Prize for the most outstanding presentation.

Smith praised Hills ability to balance her research with other academic projects.

Her dissertation research is strong, but that is only a part of her professional activities, he wrote in an email.She mentors many undergraduates and less-senior graduate students.She participates in conferences and has been very active in promoting diversity in engineering. It is rare to find a Ph.D. student who can excel in their research while participating in so many other service activities.

On Grounds this year, Hill is working with students on developing another device for delivering the ionized silver that disinfects water.

I chose this topic, she said, because water is essential to life, and I believe that everyone should have access to a reliable, clean water source.

See the rest here:
Ford Foundation Fellowships Boost Two Rising UVA Scholars - University of Virginia