First lady to high school grads: Live your dreams

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? First lady Michelle Obama has some advice for some Tennessee high school graduates: Strike your own path in college and life and work to overcome inevitable failures with determination and grit.

Mrs. Obama spoke for 22 minutes to the Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School on Saturday in her only high school graduation speech this year.

The first lady told the 170 graduates that she spent too much of her own time in college focusing on academic achievements. While her success in college and law school led to a high-profile job, she said, she ended up leaving to focus on public service.

"My message to all of you today is this: Do not waste a minute living someone else's dream," she said. "It takes a lot of real work to discover what brings you joy ... and you won't find what you love simply by checking boxes or padding your GPA."

Mrs. Obama lauded the school ? it's on the site of one of the city's first to educate African-Americans ? for its graduation rate, spirit of volunteerism and healthy food programs. She noted that each graduate was going on to either higher education or the military.

She said MLK reminded her of her own high school experience in Chicago.

"My No. 1 goal was to go to a high school that would push me and challenge me," she said. "I wanted to go somewhere that would celebrate achievement. A place where academic success wouldn't make me a target of teasing or bullying, but instead would be a badge of honor."

But Mrs. Obama lamented that not all students have the same opportunities.

"Unfortunately, schools like this don't exist for every kid," she said. "You are blessed."

The first lady told graduates that failure may be a part of their college lives and careers, and that how they respond to any pitfalls will define them.

"That's when you find out what you're really made of in those hard times," she said. "But you can only do that if you're willing to put yourself in a position where you might fail."

Overcoming adversity has been the hallmark of many great people, she said.

"Oprah was demoted from her first job as a news anchor, and now she doesn't even need a last name," she said of media giant Oprah Winfrey. "And then there's this guy Barack Obama ... he lost his first race for Congress, and now he gets to call himself my husband."

Mrs. Obama later presented graduate diplomas on stage and posed for photos with graduates.

"We didn't know we would get to hug her," said graduate Natey Kinzounza, 18. "She's got a great sense of humor. She's like my mom, she's just a very real person."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-lady-high-school-grads-live-dreams-192454000.html

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95% Stories We Tell

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (21) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (2)

Don't be fooled by its deceptively simple title or the hesitant, unassuming way it begins. Writer-director Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" ends up an invigorating powerhouse of a personal documentary, adventurous and absolutely fascinating.

A brilliant, thought-provoking documentary.

A fascinating variant on the documentary form that examines what we see, and how we see it.

Even calling ''Stories We Tell'' a documentary seems rather limiting and not entirely accurate; it's also a deadpan comedy, a juicy melodrama and a gripping mystery, all cleverly blended together with great focus.

An exercise in family navel-gazing becomes something more meta - less about the stories themselves than about the often uproarious ways in which people tell stories.

Polley is a good filmmaker but in the end, "Stories We Tell" feels less like a film than a family album - and one best appreciated, not by us, but by the Polleys still to come.

Where Polley's work goes from mere family movie to something much greater is in how she uses her own quest for answers to illuminate why & how we tell stories in the first place, especially in the form of film.

Polley's compassion and curiosity again mark her as both a heartfelt and unforgiving filmmaker.

Suspenseful, unpredictable, mature, tender and funny. A triumph.

The movie is convincingly built around the essential truth that we are ultimately defined by our loved ones' memories and perceptions.

A genre-twisting documentary with a fictional vibe that playfully bares the elusive truths about a family of storytellers.

Sarah Polley has blossomed as an actress and, more recently, as a daring and original filmmaker with an Oscar nomination to her credit.

Sarah Polley has quietly and steadily proved that she is a filmmaker to watch.

I want to start a campaign right now to get Sarah Polley the first screenwriting nomination for a documentary.

[an] engrossing documentary exploration of how the bricks of memory are untidily piled together to create messy and incomplete personal stories, and out of those stories comes a life.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stories_we_tell/

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Audubon's Birds Live On Long after His Death [Slide Show]

John James Audubon was both mocked and praised for his paintings of birds, but his work remains a significant contribution to science and art

By Marissa Fessenden

John James Audubon Image: by John Syme (public domain)

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A portrait of John James Audubon shows the artist and naturalist in a dark wolf-skin cloak, cradling a gun and sporting curly dark hair that was likely smoothed back with bear grease. The picture was painted during Audubon's 1826 trip to England and Scotland, when he was playing up his role as the American woodsman to raise money for his opus, The Birds of America. Once completed, the collection included 435 prints of birds flying, eating, perching and fighting. Audubon is still lauded for his contributions to the fields of ornithology and art.

In the U.K. Audubon drummed up enough subscribers to support his project and found an engraver skilled enough to translate his original watercolors to hand-colored prints. As Audubon worked, The Birds of America was mailed to subscribers in sets of five prints. Each installment included one large, one medium and three small birds. Bound together, the original collection of prints is called the "double elephant folio" because the handmade paper pages are one meter tall by 72.4 centimeters wide. The size allowed Audubon to depict even large birds life-size. Less than 200 copies of the elephant folio were ever made. At the time, each subscriber paid approximately $1,050 over 13 years?from 1827 through 1838. That was then?in 2010 a copy sold for $11.5 million in auction.

Yet far more valuable are the original watercolors on which the prints are based. Those paintings are currently being shown as a three-part series by the New-York Historical Society. The first part is on view at the society's museum in Manhattan until May 19. It showcases more than 200 Audubon watercolors, including the first 175 that were engraved in The Birds of America. Parts II and III will follow in other exhibitions during the next two years. Also on view are some of Audubon's early drawings and paintings along with other objects from the society's Audubon collection, such as letters and a beaded coin purse made by the artist's wife, Lucy Bakewell Audubon. .

View a video slideshow featuring Audubon's paintings.

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Audio recordings of each bird's chirp, screech or song accompany the paintings. Visitors to the exhibition can carry a small portable audio device and punch in the corresponding number for each watercolor to hear a tweet or caw. "[Audubon] made birds live on the page, so to speak," says show curator Roberta J. M. Olson, who is also the curator of drawings at the Society. "If you blink, you expect them to fly out at you or you expect them to be in a different place. The sound is part of that."

The birds featured in the exhibition also come alive in a short video at the entrance to the first gallery?the moving images and recorded calls are all courtesy of The Macaulay Library at Cornell University?s Lab of Ornithology and Birdman Productions. Often the video frames match Audubon?s depictions: the artist's Mississippi Kite holds a large beetle in its talons; in the video, the large gray bird feasts on a beetle while perched on a telephone wire.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=74e637fb6d89bbf692e4f3714f79f22b

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Turkey's Erdogan says U.N. must decide on any Syria no-fly zone

By Nick Tattersall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday it would be up to the U.N. Security Council to decide whether to establish a no-fly zone inside Syria and said he backed the involvement of Russia and China in planned peace talks.

Speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington a day after discussing Syria with President Barack Obama, Erdogan said a no-fly zone could be discussed at a planned international conference on Syria backed by Washington and Moscow.

Turkey, a U.S. NATO ally, has been one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's fiercest critics, throwing its weight behind the uprising against him, allowing the rebels to organize on its soil and sheltering 400,000 refugees.

But Erdogan has grown frustrated by a lack of international consensus on how to respond to the violence. Car bombs, which tore through a Turkish border town last weekend in the deadliest spillover of violence yet, have added to the sense of urgency.

"With respect to a no-fly zone ... it is not a decision that could be taken between the United States and Turkey. It is something that would have to come through the U.N. Security Council," Erdogan said.

"We are in the process of putting together a conference in Geneva ... If that process decides on such a zone, as Turkey, we would also do whatever is necessary," he said.

During his visit to Washington this week, Erdogan had been expected to push Obama, at least in private, for more assertive action on Syria.

Obama - who has been reluctant to arm Syrian rebels or become enmeshed militarily in the conflict - made no mention of deeper engagement during a joint news conference with Erdogan on Thursday, where the leaders sought to project a united front.

Western leaders have been cautious about the prospects of the planned talks in Geneva achieving any breakthrough, and Russia's desire that Iran should attend could complicate matters because of potential opposition from the West.

Iran is a U.S. foe and the main regional ally of Assad's government, which has also received support from Russia. Tehran's desire to participate in a June 2012 meeting on Syria hosted by the United Nations in Geneva was a bone of contention between Washington and Moscow.

The main Syrian opposition, expected to decide its stance next week on the planned conference, has previously demanded Assad's exit before any talks, something Erdogan reinforced.

"President Obama talked yesterday about a process without Assad ... Having a transition with Assad in place cannot be a solution and the opposition wouldn't accept it in any case," Erdogan said.

SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY

Last year's Geneva talks brought together the foreign ministers of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members - Russia, the United States, China, France and Britain - along with Turkey, Kuwait, Qatar, the Arab League and EU.

The new meeting will aim to include the same global powers, but this time would also have representatives of the Syrian government and opposition.

"A second Geneva process with Russia and China included has our support," Erdogan said.

He said he planned to travel to Moscow and to Gulf states to discuss the Syrian crisis after his visit to Washington.

Turkey has been among the strongest opponents of Assad but its enthusiasm for action against Syria has waned recently, partly in frustration at the fractured Syrian opposition and the growing brutality by both sides.

Erdogan has said Turkey, which has been testing blood samples from Syrian casualties for chemical weapons use, had shared its evidence with the United States, Britain and others and said Assad's forces had also fired several hundred missiles.

"According to NATO they have used 283 missiles, and according to other information they are using the chemical sarin," Erdogan said on Friday.

"These are issues that should be discussed in the U.N. Security Council and also perhaps in the U.N. General Assembly."

(Reporting by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Eric Beech and Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-erdogan-says-u-n-must-decide-syria-161504718.html

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Goair First Class Passenger Has More Elbow Room Between Seats

Domestic airlines in India provide good connectivity across several states and cities and also international destinations across Europe, Asia and America, the airlines in India broadly classified in two categories , one the full service carriers like the Air India, Jet Airways etc and the other low cost carriers (LCC) like Indigo, GoAir, JetLite, SpiceJetetc the second category of airlines operating cheapest flights, with relatively very low airfare, although usual frills of inflight catering services are withdrawn, which part the passenger does not mind because of the affordability of air travel.
GoAir India began its operations as an Airline company in India when low-cost carrier category entered the Indian airways scenario, after the Government revised its Economic policy permitting Private airlines to operate air services, with domestic services rendered by 131 flights daily connecting 18 destinations.
Being a low cost carrier Go Air also does not provide any complimentary inflight catering, while food services are made available on payment, however, GoAir also runs a premium service branding it as GoBusiness , in which the passenger seats of first few rows of the plane are so arranged that one seat in between two seats is left vacant giving more elbow room to the passenger, besides and offering inflight free meals services, which feature introduced only in a few flights.GoAir is one of the airline services providing connection between Jaipur and Goa.
Jaipur, popularly known as the Pink City, the capital of City of Rajasthan State, is rich with Palaces and monumental structures, ancient gardens and museums,with a palace complex which is connected to Goa through Jaipur Goa flights, which normally have one stop at Mumbai.
Goa is one of the Indian States acquiring the status of a State in 1987, earlier a Union territory, and before Independence of India in 1947, this destination was not easily approachable from any direction, however tourism flourished after 1947. Goa now being a famous tourism destination with its Anjuna Beach and flee market, is frequented by leisure time travellers availing Jaipur Goa flight connections.
There are a number for flights between these two destinations, at least 242 flight choices for one to travel in Jaipur Goa flights, and these are mostly one stop flights operated by Air India, Indigo, JetKonnect, GoAir, Jet Air, SpiceJet, with the stop at Mumbai. Each lap taking about 1 hr 30 minutes, it takes about 3 hours for anyone to travel from Jaipur to Goa, sometimes exceeding this depending upon the connecting flight at the intermediary destination.

About the Author:
To get more GoAir,Flight Ticket Booking,online ticket booking,flights,cheapest flight tickets,book flight tickets,ticket booking,cheapest airfare,flight ticket,air tickets booking,book air tickets,Jaipur Goa,Indigo Airlines,Spicejet,Air India,Chennai to tuticorin flights,Indian Airlines,Domestic Flights at Lowest Airfares Online: MakeMyTrip India

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Goair-First-Class-Passenger-Has-More-Elbow-Room-Between-Seats/4690262

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Grant Encourages Students to Enter ... - Education Update

In 2011 and 2013, the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women (JFEW) awarded SUNY grants to establish the JFEW-SUNY International Relations and Global Affairs Scholarship Program for students at SUNY Binghamton and SUNY Stony Brook. The program helps students to become leaders in international relations and global affairs through mentoring opportunities and peer networks. During the course of the program, from 2011 to 2016, 100 SUNY students receive over $1,000,000 in scholarship money and extensive professional support through a two-year program which includes a summer internship.In 2011, the program began with a summer internship for students entering their senior year; 12 Binghamton students were selected. Following a four-day orientation at the SUNY Levin Institute in Manhattan where they learned about international relations and how to succeed in a professional environment, the interns were placed with a variety of international organizations. Along with the experience they gained at their host organizations, they took part in topical weekly seminars, participated in networking events, kept a daily journal and completed several assignments. Students received $5,000 for the internship.

Deanna D'Onofrio '12, a psychology major from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who interned with charity:water, says, ?The JFEW internship taught me essential skills regarding business etiquette, international relations and how to carry myself as a professional, all of which I will remember for the remainder of my career.?

The second element of the scholarship program is the two-year academic program. Completed during students? junior and senior years, it includes an academic-year seminar series, a paid summer internship with international organizations, professional development activities, and opportunities to create mentor and peer networks.

Each year, ten Binghamton students are selected. The next deadline to apply is early May 2014. During the previous years, students participated in monthly seminars that give them an overview of key themes, vocabulary and resources in international relations and global affairs. They attended networking, professional development and mentoring sessions. They also complete assignments such as writing a detailed reflection piece following each seminar, authoring briefs of Foreign Affairs magazine articles and summarizing editorials authored by New York Times columnists. Students must also maintain a list of women leaders in the news and write a reflection piece about female leadership.

"Working with the JFEW-SUNY program has been an amazing experience," explains philosophy, politics and law major Kristiana Zuccarini '13 from Huntington, N.Y. "Through our monthly seminars and regular assignments, I have had the opportunity to combine knowledge learned inside the classroom and apply it to current, international affairs."

Scholarship recipients receive up to $5,000 each academic year, plus $5,000 for their internship. In all, the JFEW-SUNY grant will provide more than $600,000 in scholarship funding at each campus over three years.

"SUNY is extremely grateful to the Jewish Foundation for Education of Women for their generosity and vision in making the program possible," says Maryalice Mazzara, director of academic affairs, SUNY Levin Institute. "The JFEW-SUNY International Relations and Global Affairs program is world-class in the quality of its internships and programming. The students have excelled and represent SUNY with pride."

Meg Mitzel, experiential educational coordinator for the Career Development Center, serves as Binghamton University's liaison for the program, and Seden Akcinaroglu, assistant professor of political science, serves as an advisor.?

Interested candidates must have a minimum GPA of 3.2, be a US citizen or be eligible for citizenship, must have permanent residendency within a 50-mile radius of New York City, entering their junior year, and have a FAFSA on file with their university?s office of financial aid. Candidates will need two letters of reference, a personal statement, a resume, and have on file an application form and authorization to check financial records. #

For additional information, contact Meg Mitzel, the JFEW SUNY Campus Liaison at mmitzel@binghamton.edu.

Source: http://www.educationupdate.com/homeroom/2013/05/grant-encourages-students-to-enter-international-careers.html

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Britain's Cameron: Don't let planning for Syria talks get bogged down

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday warned against allowing planning for a peace conference on Syria's 2-year-old civil war to get bogged down, saying a transitional government must be agreed as soon as possible by the warring parties.

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations, Cameron said he fully supports a U.S.-Russian initiative to organize a conference in early June that would include both the Syrian government and rebels as participants.

"What is important here is to make sure we really put pressure on the participants to bring forward the necessary names for a transitional government and that we start proper detailed negotiations," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday they believed they could pull off peace talks on Syria, where their nations back opposing sides in a war that the United Nations says has cost more than 80,000 lives.

Differences between Russia, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad and one of his main arms suppliers, and the United States, which supports the rebels trying to topple him, have long paralyzed the U.N. Security Council and prevented it from acting on the war in Syria.

Cameron suggested he was worried that planning for a peace conference in Geneva could take too long, adding that swift action was necessary to end the bloodshed in Syria.

"My concern is that we'll get into too long a process," he said. "Urgent action needs to be taken right now, and to put pressure on the participants to get together, to agree a transitional government that everyone in Syria can get behind."

Cameron, who also attended a meeting of a high-level panel on development goals he co-chairs, met U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ban's press office said in a statement they discussed ways of "getting the warring parties in Syria to come to the proposed international conference with serious delegations and a real willingness to make compromises, especially on the issue of a transition."

The conference is intended to find a way to revive an agreement reached in Geneva in June 2012 that called for the creation of a transitional government "with full executive authority by mutual consent" - ambiguous wording which deliberately left Assad's future role unclear.

The United States, Britain, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have insisted that Assad and his family cannot participate in any transitional government. Russia, which along with China has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning Assad's forces and rejected sanctions, has opposed that idea.

Some U.N. diplomats warn that any peace conference may be doomed because the gap between Russia's views and those of the United States and Europe remains massive.

IMPORTANT TO ENGAGE WITH OPPOSITION

Cameron was also asked about a French idea that the European Union ease an arms embargo for Syrian rebels but delay acting on the decision to intensify pressure on Damascus to negotiate an end to the civil war.

He did not respond directly to the idea but said it was important to engage with the opposition.

"If we don't engage with the opposition, then we shouldn't be surprised if extremist elements in that opposition grow," Cameron said. "That's not what we want and so we should be engaging. That's the debate that will take place in Europe."

Britain and France have delayed a Syrian request for Islamist al-Nusra Front to be designated by the United Nations as a terrorist group because they want the militant group to instead be listed as an alias of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Nusra, one of the most effective forces fighting Assad, last month pledged allegiance to al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri. The U.S. State Department designated it as a terrorist organization in December.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/britains-cameron-dont-let-planning-syria-talks-bogged-204746489.html

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