Strippers drugging their wealthy clients, maxing out those clients' credit cards, laundering the stolen cash, and then relying on the scandal of it all to keep anyone who got hurt from going to the police: It's an impressive scam, and an even better story.

Enter Lorene Scafaria, a writer-director with guts to spare. Hustlers, her cinematic telling of this true tale, earned $33 million and sparked Oscars speculation during its opening last weekend creating a cultural moment almost as explosive as the events that inspired it.

The source material is Jessica Pressler's 2015 article "The Hustlers at Scores," an early chapter in the internet's ongoing fascination with scam culture. The story practically begged for an adaptation, and shortly after it was published, Gloria Sanchez Productions optioned the dazzling account and began accepting pitches from filmmakers ready to take it to the big screen.

"It felt like a world that we had seen in every TV show and movie ever, but so few had been told from the dancers' point of view."

"As soon as I was sent the article, I read it and thought this was a story I had to tell," Scafaria recalls for Mashable. "It felt like a world that we had seen in every TV show and movie ever, but so few had been told from the dancers' point of view."

Scafaria saw strip club culture as one of friendship and business, stuck in a destructive system designed to test loyalties of all kinds.

The film spotlights the complex relationship of partners in crime Destiny (Constance Wu) and Ramona (Jennifer Lopez), and the devastation that hit them in 2008 when Wall Streeters fell hard and took big money from the club scene down with them.

It's a perceptive and nuanced narrative, the kind rarely applied to female relationships in Hollywood let alone a relationship between two strippers.

"I think writing is always an exercise in empathy," Scafaria says of her approach. "I thought that this group of people who are commonly misunderstood, strippers. I felt like I would love to tell a story that normalizes their jobs and shows what it's like to do that for a living. There's certainly pros and cons to it, but it's a job like anything else."

Pressler's article captures the same general themes, but with a greater sense of estrangement between the story's two main characters. Casting Wu and Lopez, both currently among Hollywood's most beloved performers, Scafaria invested serious time and energy into creating a friendship that she felt audiences could invest in.

"When you read between the lines [of Pressler's article], you realize that these women had this really profound friendship and built this quote 'business' together, but here they are being interviewed separately," Scafaria remarks.

"I couldn't help but think there was a deeper story there. It just touched upon so many things. I wanted to talk about control, our values, the American Dream, money. It felt like a really organic way to get into this world and see it from a different side of the story."

"I wanted to talk about control, our values, the American Dream, money."

That different side is a spectacular one, overflowing with genuine emotion that doesn't stop at the two leading characters, but goes on to encompass the story's victims and other players as well.

"I felt like I grew up with these guys and these girls," Scafaria says. "I'm from New Jersey and I worked in a boiler room when I was 16 and 17, just answering calls and doing secretarial work. I was around all these guys on Wall Street selling bad stocks to old people in the late '90s. It was scary. I felt a responsibility to the authenticity of that, to get something right about the feeling of that."

"I wasn't trying to change people's minds about what's right or wrong."

To maintain accuracy, Scafaria interviewed strip club employees of all kinds, former and current, and consulted with Pressler regularly even incorporating a character inspired by Pressler (Julia Stiles) into the script as a kind of weather vane for the story's complex events.

"Obviously, I took a lot from the article and took a lot from what Jessica had uncovered, but I think it was a surprise to her when I said, 'I've written you into this,'" Scafaria recalls.

"Of course, the character isn't based on her real life or any specific details, but she is a big part of it. Like you see in the film, when [Pressler] wrote the article, she interviewed the women and the men and the cops, and they were all part of it."

Empathizing with each character in Hustlers is essential to getting the point of Scafarias film. It's more than a female empowerment movie, more than a scam movie, and more than an excuse to give us that incredible Usher cameo though it is also those things.

Hustlers is, simply put, a lot to take in because the story that inspired it was just as overwhelming.

"I wasn't trying to change people's minds about what's right or wrong," Scafaria insists. "I just thought if I could stay truthful to what happened and possibly pull back the curtain on those things a little bit more and tell a story with empathy for everybody the women and the men who are up against this broken values system then I saw this really human, personal story."

"I was still rewriting it just to make sure that I was making the movie I wanted to make and the movie that should be made."

During production, Scafaria's job, to empathize with her characters to the point of knowing them, sent her through countless rewrites, even as she faced numerous other obstacles including a battle for the director's chair.

"There was such a long period of time in which I was working on the script and fighting to get the directing job and fighting to get the movie made and then it fell apart and then it came back together," she recalls. "Then, I was still rewriting it just to make sure that I was making the movie I wanted to make and the movie that should be made. That process was a long process for me."

It was a three-year-long experience that assuredly made Scafaria better appreciate the world she had crafted. Looking back, Scafaria says she wishes she had more time to speak with the people her film sought to understand.

"I felt a huge responsibility to them and I only wish I had the luxury of meeting them ahead of time," Scafaria comments, adding that she wasn't able to speak to Roselyn Keo and Samantha Barbash, the real women who inspired Wu and Lopez's characters, until about halfway through production.

Keo has used the film to promote her book The Sophisticated Hustler, while Barbash has said she felt "betrayed" by her depiction, per The Independent. Barbash isnt alone. Numerous others have spoken out against Hustlers since its release, saying Scafarias film propagates harmful stereotypes.

For her part, Scafaria has since pledged a portion of any royalties she receives from Hustlers to improve working conditions and erasing the stigma surrounding strippers.

"I tried to tell the story with empathy and to see all sides of it, so I can only hope that that resonates with them and that they see that," Scafaria says. "You know, I was just trying to tell this true story and not necessarily paint anyone as a hero or a villain."

Hustlers is now showing in theaters.

Read more:
Director Lorene Scafaria on the true story and empathy of 'Hustlers' - Mashable

BRUNSWICK When Carolyn Brady rules the world, you wont see her doing it in a baby blue, sequined dress. Nor is that what she will wear when she walks across the Miss America stage this December.

While the 22-year-old-Miss Maine does, in fact want to both rule the world and take home the Miss America crown, she says she wants to do it her way: Probably in a jewel tone, and something that will lend weight to her words and embody Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey polished, poised, powerful and relatable.

Because for Brady, the first African American Miss Maine in the competitions history, it is about more than her dress and her looks. And now more than ever, Miss America is about more than that, too.

Following a 2017 scandal after the Huffington Post revealed a slew of emails in which executives shamed contestants bodies and personal lives, Miss America rebranded as Miss America 2.0. In its new iteration, with all-female leadership, Miss America is a competition, not a pageant, and the contestants are considered candidates. They did away with the swimsuit competition and will no longer judge contestants on physical appearance. The talent portion is weighed more heavily.

Miss America will represent a new generation of female leaders focused on scholarship, social impact, talent and empowerment said Gretchen Carlson, chairwoman of the Board of Trustees in a press release. Were experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment movement.

In addition to earning scholarships to further her education, Miss America will advocate for social issues important to her.

We want more young women to see this program as a platform upon which they can advance their desire to make a real difference and to provide them with the necessary skills and resources for them to succeed in any career path they choose, said Regina Hopper, president and CEO.

When Brady first started in the pageant circle a few years ago, the perception of Miss America was very much that Miss America wears a pretty dress and walks in a swimsuit, she said, but now they are trying to change that. Thats not the primary thing people should say. The goal is to have people say that she advocated for her social impact initiative, has ambitions parallel to our world leaders and makes a difference in her community, she said, adding that she hopes Miss America 2.0 can influence the standard women are held to in society.

You may not have girls (on stage) that have the perfect swimsuit bodies going forward, she said, but youll have girls who have some of the highest GPAs and highest career aspirations.

Brady is no exception to this new rule. A Philadelphia native and graduate of Bowdoin College, she now serves as an AmeriCorps member through the LearningWorks Aim High Program in Portland and supports students who need additional help to reach grade-level expectations in math and literacy. In addition to her title as Miss Maine, she works at Nordstrom Rack and the J. Crew Factory while also teaching spin classes.

Im constantly on the go, she said. I dont like days off.

Brady has always wanted to have influence. By middle school, she wanted to rule the world, she said, whether it was as president or by marrying into the royal family. Now, she hopes to one day work in the state department to figure out how we can make decisions between countries based on whats best for the people of those countries and minimize focus on bureaucracy, maximize focus on humanity. And then, of course, take over the world, she joked. She hopes Miss Americas focus on scholarship and service can help her do that.

Bradys focus on humanitarian work extends to her social impact platform, Immigration builds our nation, which she began even before the recent influx of hundreds of asylum seekers into Portland this summer.

Her platform seeks to highlight the contributions of refugees, asylum seekers and immigrants to the country and make sure our new friends are accepted into the community, she said.

She was crowned Miss Maine June 22, just in time for her to start helping the migrants sheltering at the Portland Expo. She has not yet worked with the recent asylum seekers in Brunswick but plans to reach out once they have had more time to settle in.

She intentionally chose a platform that probably has not been targeted by Miss Maine before, she said, and one that she could serve with more diligence as the first African American woman to hold the role, she said.

Though diversity in the state is growing as the immigrant population increases, Maine is not the most diverse state in the union, Brady said.

The US Census Bureau estimates that in 2018 (and in 2010) only 1.6% of Maines 1.3 million residents were African American, and only 1.8% identified as two or more races. Cumberland County, which includes both Brunswick and Portland, is slightly more diverse, with African Americans making up 3.1% of the population, according to the Census Bureau. The national average is 13.4%.

In the pageant world, Vanessa Williams was the first woman of African American descent to be crowned Miss America, taking home the title in 1984.

Last year, Miss America, Miss Teen USA and Miss USA were all African American for the first time in history.

Brady said she thinks there will be more African American Miss Maines in the future, but that it may take some time, as Maines African American population is not yet American. She believe that as time goes on, many immigrants will likely eventually fall into that camp.

When Brady first started competing in pageants as a way to make new friends, she advocated for more arts education, since she started playing violin at 5 years old.

She has been playing for 17 years and will take her talent to the Miss America stage in December. Instead of playing classical tunes, like Miss California, Brady will play Broadway music, and said the performance aspect matters just as much, if not more to her than her playing.

It used to be that if you didnt sing and dance you were an anomaly, she said, but this year Bradys Broadway violin performance will fit right in among the other talents like clogging, speed painting and even a science experiment.Miss Maine has never walked away with the Miss America crown, so the bar is set exponentially low, Brady said, but it is also the first year the contestants will be competing under the new rules.

She hopes to conquer the Miss America stage in December then, the world.

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Brunswick's Carolyn Brady, first African American Miss Maine, will walk across a reinvented Miss America stage - Press Herald

Every day is a school day according to the popular saying, and thats certainly true when it comes to learning many crucial life skills not taught in classrooms.

As the nation prepares to tighten its belt, Budgeting and Personal Finance has been revealed as the most popular subject that Brits wish they had been taught in education. More than a third (35%) of respondents in a new study wished they had a better understanding of how to be savvy with their spending and manage their household income.

How to Manage Your Mental Health was the second most popular subject according to the research released today (17 Sept)* by High Speed Training, whoprovide online training courses that support lifelong learning.

The online training provider commissioned the study alongside the start of the new school term and involved more than 1,500 members of the public across the UK. It shines a spotlight on an insightful list of topics learnt in the school of life that many Brits feel they should be better equipped for.

More than one in 10 (12%) of Brits wish they had been taught the basics about How the Government Works at school. The findings follow months of political speculation regarding the outcome of Brexit, leaving many people concerned and confused.

Likewise, in the face of evolving technology and changing job landscape, 11% indicated they wish they had been taught coding and digital skills a subject that is now part of the core curriculum for those in school today.

The top 5 subjects Brits wish they had learnt in school:

Interestingly, the Greta Effect doesnt look to have taken a strong hold yet, as just 8% indicated that they wish they had been taught more about the environment. This figure drops to 4% of those aged 18 24. Similarly, younger respondents were also found to be the least entrepreneurially minded, with just one in 20 (5%) keen to learn more about how to start a business.

Dr Richard Anderson, Head of Learning & Development at High Speed Training, said:

Its clear to see that the British public think they would have benefited from learning about lifes great lessons in school. Traditional subjects such as algebra do have an important place in education, however many people feel intimidated when it comes to applying learnings to real life scenarios. As a result, many people are seeking out ways to better learn a subject and investing in personal development later in life.

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*Google survey involving 1,580 members of the public on 13th September 2019.

More:
The Essential Life Skills Brits Wish They Had Been Taught in School - FE News

Teacherly, a London-headquartered edtech startup with presence in the United Arab Emirates, has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Abu Dhabi-based Shorooq Partners (previously Shorooq Investments), the startup told MENAbytes today.

Founded in 2016 by Atif Mahmood, an educator himself, Teacherly is a collaborative lesson planning and peer-to-peer coaching platform designed for teachers. The platform enables teachers to plan lessons, communicate and collaborate digitally and claims that it helps them save 67 percent of their time while planning lessons and managing communications. The lessons planned and created on Teacherly could be assigned to students by inviting them to the platform.

The platform that can be used by any educator or learning provider (even if theyre not associated with an institution) comes with instant access to thousands of exemplar lesson templates, making it easy for a teacher to plan a lesson in different leaning episodes and phases. The content, it currently offers,includes the English, American and UAE Curriculum coveringInternational Baccalaureate (IB).

The teachers also have the options to select other subjects, create their own content, and evenincorporate other personal development or workplace skills into the curriculum.

After establishing itself in the United Kingdom, Teacherly expanded to MENA with its launch in UAE last year.

Atif Mahmood, the co-founder and CEO of Teacherly, in a conversation with MENAbytes said that theyre currently focusing on UAE in the Middle East but have plans to expand Teacherly to Saudi, and then North Africa within the next two years.

We are aggressively going after the 10 biggest countries in Middle East and have a team and execution plan ready. We have built a team that already has experience of building an edtech brand in MENA, he said.

The startup according to a statement already serves over 70,000 Monthly Active Users (the teachers this number does not include the students) and is set to grow+4x this year.

Despite our low marketing effort, these impressive growth metrics are a testimony to the positive reception and validation of the service by the teaching community, said the startup in a statement.

Atif Mahmood, commenting on the investment, said, Despite the recent growth in edtech, the teaching population in the Middle East is still heavily overlooked and underserved by the latest technology. We are confident that with Shorooqs expertise and support we can create value and solve important problems for the education space here.

Shane Shin, Founding Partner at Shorooq Partners, said, Education is still one of the more conventional spaces that is underserved by the latest technology, and we are delighted to enter the space through a truly disruptive venture. We are excited to join the journey of Teacherly at such an early stage and are committed to building it together supporting it to grow its strong presence in the Middle East and further penetrate the European market. We believe that Teacherly solves a unique problem that few businesses have identified, let alone solve effectively, and is poised for exponential growth.

Kunal Savjani, Partner at Shorooq, said, I have known Atif for a long time and he is one of the most sincere, dedicated and knowledgeable Founders. With him spearheading the business and our strategic support, Teacherly is positioned in a fantastic spot to become a leading player in the edtech space.

Teacherly plans to use the investment to further grow the team and execute its expansion plans.

Founder at MENAbytes

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Teacherly raises $1.5 million seed to reinvent teacher collaboration and communication - MENAbytes

A HIGH school has been ordered to improve after its latest inspection.

Lowton CE High School on Newton Road was given an overall score of "requires improvement" after a visit by education regulator Ofsted.

Inspectors found the school needs to improve its leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment along with its outcomes for pupils.

The report said: "Despite improvements across the school, leaders have been unable to secure a consistently good quality of education for pupils.

"Weaknesses in some aspects of leadership have hampered the pace of improvement.

"Leaders have made several changes to improve teaching since the previous inspection.

"These actions have raised the quality of teaching in many subjects.

"However, the quality of teaching is not consistently good across subjects and year groups."

There were some positive aspects noted in the inspection, which was carried out on June 25 and 26 and published on September 10.

The school's personal development, behaviour and welfare was ranked as "good".

READ > Slimmers complete 50-mile challenge across the world

The report stated: "Leaders assessment information and work in pupils books show that the progress made by current pupils is improving. This is especially the case in mathematics.

"The schools work to promote pupils personal development and welfare is good.

"All pupils, but particularly disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), receive help and support to prepare them for further education, employment or training.

Head teacher Julian Pollard expressed his "frustration" with the findings in the report.

He said: "We are frustrated with the report.

"We have made quite a significant improvement in our GCSE results this summer - which we were delighted with.

"We got the best possible results of what we told Ofsted we were going to get.

"We have done a lot of really strong work and we are dealing with the issues raised."

Read more from the original source:
Lowton CE High School ordered to improve after inspection - Leigh Journal

Those within the arts discipline dont always have a straightforward path to employment. The competitive worlds of music and dance require students to continuously improve their talents and develop themselves professionally.

Music students who aspire to work abroad and are not fluent in English will need to work on their language skills alongside their music learning.

For a bright future in music, these types of students must seek a study path that allows them to focus on their music studies while giving them the right opportunities to improve their English communication skills.

Before undertaking your degree, theres the option to pursue a certificate or course that offers a solid foundation in music.

A unique course offering from the esteemed Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, UK, is the International Foundation Certificate: Music and English.

This programme prepares students for further study and significantly enhances their English language skills so they can embark on a future in music without language barriers, also giving them valuable professional development in the field.

Musical skill development and English language acquisition is equally balanced throughout the programme, and students are given opportunities wherever possible to intermix learning across these two areas of study.

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

This programme has been designed for students to reach their career potential and ensure they become employable musicians.

It does so by enabling them to build on their musical interests, skills and experience, discover more in the world of music and explore possibilities for their personal, artistic and professional development.

The programme is rooted in practice-based activity so students get to continuously work on their music skills.

Students will have weekly one-to-one lessons with Trinity Labans experienced instrumental teachers, who help them develop their skills in their principal study, be it an instrument, voice or composition.

On top of their principal study lessons and departmental classes, students will improve their performance skills through engagement with Alexander Technique, Dalcroze and weekly performance workshops.

There is a focus on developing audition techniques to help students be successful when applying for further studies

Learning occurs through a mix of formal tuition, experiential learning and personal study. All students are also required to complete aPersonal Development Plan (PDP)which consists of a learning journal, regular recordings and performance reflections.

They also develop their learning by participating in a broad range of solo, small group, chamber and large ensemble activities, including chances to perform their work in public.

Enhancing their study is the chance to learn from visiting artists, ensemble directors and lecturers who expose students to a variety of views and industry-relevant approaches current within the music profession.

They also get to develop soft skills such as collaboration and innovation through CoLab an integral element of performance studies where students from across the institution work together to create and develop creative projects, and where artistic risks and innovation are encouraged.

Alongside world-class music tuition international students will also have the chance to improve their English skills, preparing them for undergraduate study or further learning.

Students will take the Integrated Skills in English module as part of their programme and be entered for the Trinity ISE II (undergraduate) or Trinity ISE III (postgraduate) examination.

The ISE qualification can be used to demonstrate the level of English required for entry to an undergraduate or postgraduate programme at Trinity Laban.

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance

Upon completion of the certificate programme, students will be able to communicate in English effectively so they can go on to study a Bachelor of Music (BMus) degree at a UK Conservatoire or University.

Students learn English in small tutorial groups, where they also get to practice the language by communicating with others.

All aspects of English are covered through the programme, which aims to further the development of vocabulary and grammar knowledge in students, as well as developing fluency and the ability to consistently apply learning in practice.

The classes are both practical and fun, helping students learn by using English in a range of situations.

For example, in one project, students were asked to learn about a famous London landmark and take their classmates on a guided tour where they presented what they had learnt.

Students are also taught music-specific vocabulary and terms to help them in their chosen career.

Those who have successfully completed the programme in the past have been successful in gaining places at Trinity Laban and other top conservatoires in the UK

Every element of the International Foundation Certificate: Music and English is designed to help students not only become more prepared for a future in music, but also to thrive and become confident, capable musicians with adept fluency in English.

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Trinity Laban: A world-class performing arts education in London

Trinity Laban: Audition for Londons Musical and Creative Conservatoire

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Preparing students for a bright future in music - Study International News

A FORMER Bromsgrove firefighter proved she was the perfect role model after helping young people who were victims of crime and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Sophie Newnes was recognised at a special ceremony at Worcesters Guildhall last week, receiving a Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS) award.

As part of the services Positive Role Model (PRIME) scheme in North Worcestershire, Sophie was successful in helping vulnerable young people with a diverse range of issues with their personal development.

The youths had been referred to the service for one-to-one support.

As part of the project the young people confided in Sophie about the ongoing criminality they were falling victim to and she was able to bring the matter to the attention of the police, providing details on those committing the crime.

She also liaised between the police and the young people to make the process of giving evidence statements easier for them and she helped the victims communicate what had happened to their parents and guardians.

HWFRS Group Commander Rob Allen who introduced the award said it was thanks to Sophie the criminals faced justice for what they had done.

The perpetrators were brought to trial at Crown Court and received significant custodial sentences.

Sophies contribution was integral to this process and also brought great comfort to the victims and their families, he added.

Sophie now works for Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Firefighter Sophie finally gets to rescue cat in her last run of Bromsgrove shifts

Continued here:
Award for former Bromsgrove firefighter Sophie for being 'perfect role model' for young people - Bromsgrove Standard

The Reserve Bank of Indias decision to reduce risk weight on consumer loans is credit negative as it will encourage banks to increase their exposure to this loan segment at a time when credit risks are already increasing amid a slowdown in the economy, Moodys Investors Service said on Wednesday.

To reduce the cost of loans and boost demand, the banking regulator last week reduced risk weight on consumer loans such as personal loans to 100% from 125%. However, credit card receivables were excluded from the relaxation.

Personal loans have been reporting strong growth in India over the last few years. The segment's compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 22% over fiscal 2013-2019 far exceeded that of 11% in overall banking system loans over this period. Personal loan growth has been particularly strong among large private sector banks, Moodys said.

The ratings agency said the strong growth of personal loans in recent years was supported by the yields offered by these unsecured loans, which were among the highest within retail lending. A benign credit environment, characterized by relatively low credit costs across all key retail loan segments, was a key driver of this growth as it prompted banks to focus on personal loans for their higher yields," it said.

The banking regulators latest decision will lower banks capital requirements and thus the loss absorbing buffer on these loans. It will also encourage banks to further increase their exposure to this cyclical segment at a time when the macroeconomy is slowing, Moodys said.

Indian economy grew at its slowest pace in six years at 5% during the quarter ended June, amid sluggish demand, slowdown in private investment, stress in the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), downturn in the automobile, and job losses.

This raises the risk that asset risk on unseasoned personal loans will rise as a result of potential deterioration in household financial conditions," Moodys said.

Within rated banks, HDFC Bank Limited (Baa2 stable, baa2) has a higher exposure to the personal loans segment and are thus more vulnerable to the potential rise in asset risk as a result of this development," it said.

Continued here:
Moodys says RBIs decision to cut risk weight on consumer loans credit negative - Livemint

Culture Night

Theres a fantastic line-up of events at a number of its locations throughout Ireland for Culture Night, September 20.

In Dublin, the GPO Witness History Museum located in the heart of OConnell Street will be opening its doors free of charge.

Evening tour guides at Newbridge House and Farm, Donabate will take you through three centuries of Irish history as you enjoy some of the finest examples of Georgian period Irish architecture.

At Malahide Castle & Gardens a unique taster tour experience has been created especially for Culture Night. This is not just a tour of the castle: this is a trip through time that will give visitors an extraordinary glimpse into life and times during the 800 years that the Talbot family resided there - right up until 1975.

For more information on these and other events, visit http://www.culturenight.ie

Hardy Annuals Charity Walk

The Hardy Annuals Charity Challenge Walk takes place in Glendalough on Thursday, September 26. The walk is being held to raise money for a fantastic charity, Partnership America Latina, (PAL) and at the same time to provide a challenge for those who have reached retirement age or thereabouts. There are four great hikes to choose from ranging in length from 10km to 22km. Registration for the hikes starts in the Brocagh Centre in Laragh at 9.30am with the actual walks starting at 10am. To register, email Tom Milligan at hardyannuals@gmail.com or phone Fergus Roche on 085-1402480.

World Wellness Weekend

On Saturday, September 21 and Sunday 22, spas and fitness centres around the world are celebrating World Wellness Weekend by offering fitness, health and wellness services to the wider community. Gym Plus Ballsbridge will hold a special Yoga class on Saturday at 10am as well as a Pilates class on Sunday at 10am for 30 minutes.

Gym Plus Rathfarnham will be running additional classes including a Pilates class on the Saturday from 1pm.

It will be a mixed level class and will be available free to members. In addition, they are delighted to be including a free Tai-Chi class on Sunday at 1.30pm.

For more information visit http://www.gymplus.ie

Educating Rita

This well-loved comedy by Willy Russell was made famous by the popular 1983 film starring Michael Caine and Julie Walters. It explores universal themes of social class, education, personal development and authenticity.

It runs until Saturday, September 21 at 8pm in dlr Mill Theatre Dundrum, Dundrum Town Centre. Tickets: 18 / 16. Box Office: http://www.milltheatre.ie / Tel: 01 2969340

The First Pegeen

She was a stage-struck 19-year-old, he was a director of the Abbey Theatre approaching middle age. She was a caution, he was just cautious. She was a city girl, he liked country roads best. Theirs was an unlikely love from the start.

And yet this cockeyed Romeo and Juliet were so enraptured by each other that the affair between JM Synge and Molly Allgood remains one of the Irish theatres most endearing and enduring stories.

It opens at Bewleys Caf Theatre on September 24 and runs until October 12. Booking: 086-8784001, http://www.bewleyscafetheatre.com

Joxer Daly Esq

Joxer Daly Esq will be staged at the Sean OCasey Theatre, East Wall on Saturday, September 21 at 8pm.

Sean O'Casey's playful scrounger from the classic, Juno and the Paycock, takes centre stage in this intriguing play from the pen of Eddie Naughton.

Brilliantly portrayed by veteran comic actor, Phelim Drew, Joxer's love of language, humour, literature and song, together with a drinker's purple recollection, make this a performance like no other.

Tickets, which cost 10, are available at http://www.eventbrite.ie

European Games Festival

The European Games Festival will bring together over 15,000 guests to Croke Park on September 21 & 22. The festival celebrates everything gaming from across the world, whether youre new to gaming or a veteran. One of the main highlights will be Irelands Largest esports event consisting of four of the top games in the world being played over the two days.

Happy Days Beer & Food Festival

Theres a cracking festival taking place at Rascals HQ taproom & pizza restaurant Inchicore, on Saturday, September 21 from midday until 10pm. Irish and international breweries will be pouring their finest beers for visitors to enjoy and therell be food trucks serving up a variety of dishes on the day. Theres also free brewery tours, food and beer pairing sessions and a blindfold beer tasting challenge.

Excerpt from:
HAPPENINGS: - Dublin People

Advice to Her Younger Self features female leaders who are harnessing the power of technology to drive changeand want to help the next generation do the same. These experts are using tech to build better communities and a better world as active members of the new field called Public Interest Technology, and theyre opening up to us about what theyve learned along the way. This series is produced in partnership with the Ford Foundation.

What unites the educational and career stops on Mitchell Bakers oddball path, as she puts it, to becoming the head of Mozilla may not be completely obvious to outsiders.

To the California native, though, the theme is crystalline: A very deep interest in organizational dynamics and social dynamics, she declares. How do communities form? How do people work together, why do they work together, what motivates people?

Such questions have propelled Baker since her undergraduate days at the University of California in Berkeley, where she focused on Asian Studies. One of a tiny group of students then interested in China, she wanted to understand exactly how a culture so unlike her own operated. What rules and conventions did people abide by to make sure that their society was functional, intact and enduring?

It is an inquiry that can be applied to a seemingly endless number of contextsand, in fact, fueled Baker through the rigors of law school and beyond.

At Berkeleys Boalt Hall she examined those questions by way of contracts, which she says fascinated her because they create a unique partnership in which private citizens make private agreements that are enforceable by the state rule of law.

That is the thing that caused me to become a lawyer, she says. I wasnt actually sure I would ever work as a lawyer, but I certainly wanted to understand that. This kind of private-public collaboration allows a huge variety of activities, she explains. It allows a kind of confidence and trust, and allows both risk taking and new ideas, and it allows us to describe beforehand how were going to share risk and share benefit.

After graduation, Baker sought work that would take her back to China, and found it with a law firm that represented Palo Alto tech companies. Her brief was software licensing, but it was the early days, still, of the tech era, and she wanted and needed a granular understanding of her subject matter in order to perform her job well.

She started, then, by asking more questions: What is this piece of technology, where does it fit with others, how exactly does it connect, how are you going to sell it? From there, she hopscotched her way up the tech laddermoving first to the now defunct and for-profit Sun Microsystems to Netscape and then, finally, to Mozilla. In that path, she moved from the private world to the public, and to the revolutionary act of creating and supporting now ubiquitous and global free internet softwarethe very foundation of public interest technology.

Baker realized early on that open source software offered yet another apparatus through which to answer the question that had long guided her: Why do people voluntarily contribute to a shared workflow and a shared asset at the end of it, which is what open source is?

Creating open source software required meeting the same challenges put before any nascent society or communal system.How do we organize ourselves and open source communities? she asks. There are a few core open source licenses, and when they were written and debated, people really thought of them as what is the constitution of the community that I am joining, and how does this software development work, and what are my rights, and what are my obligations?

Forged in part by her desire to examine these questions, Bakers path was, as she says, sui generis because of its unpredictability. But it was also unique because of her comfort with making her own way, and because she was a woman working in an industry dominated by men.

Baker didnt really understand the importance of mentors when she was coming up, and simply barreled ahead professionallybut she urges younger people, particularly women, to cultivate beneficial relationships with more experienced colleagues. If youre lucky, some set of people actually go out of their way to really help you, she says. I think thats harder for women. Research shows that people go out of their way to draw in people who are like them.

Gender disparities also played themselves out in more insidious ways in Bakers experience. One colleague from AOL, for example, disliked her self-confidence. The words he usedI was too aggressive, blah blah blah, she recounts. Ten years later we start to see research about how sometimes its a no win setting for women; if youre not aggressive youre passed over, but if you actually are as assertive as the mostly men around you, youre too aggressive and youre unpleasant and all that stuff. All of that language, almost verbatim, is what he said about me.

Baker didnt lose her nerve, her job or the support of her other colleagues. And that proved powerful.The fact that Mozilla exists as an independent organization, a non-profit organization, is because there were other people, she says, and they had to be men, around who were willing to bridge that gap between me as the leader of Mozilla and this man who refused to talk to a woman who knew what her organization needed and was determined to get.

The persistence of sexism aside, Baker is now preoccupied by two pressing concerns. One is the shifting balance between the state and the individual in traditional democracies, such that rights of content makers are being privileged over the rights of the individual. The other is a subsequent question: How can people retain free will in an age when every platform seems to mine and exploit personal data?

What really causes you to buy something? What really causes you to be angry? Or what causes you enough to be angry to get up and do something? These are things that data will tell you, she says. The predictive power of machine learning is very strong. And will increasingly be so.how do individual human beings, you and I, continue to have, Ill call it agency, but understanding and influence/control over how were acting?

Baker does not know the answer, but wants very much for people studying tech and STEM to do so with an eye toward ethics and the humanities, disciplines that will undoubtedly help us engage this question. She wants university curricula to weave these issues into their pedagogy so that the learning process includes its impact on humanity.

Theres a range of things about how technology impacts people, she says, like neuroscience, right? And research into manipulation.What the curriculum looks likewe need to develop it. And it needs to start very young, because technology starts very young.

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Mozilla Co-Founder Mitchell Baker's Advice to Her Younger Self - Ms. Magazine