DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL
RELEASES
NOW IS THEN IS NOW
A Special Surprise Re-Imagination And Re-Recording Of
A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar,
Dusk And Summer and Alter The Ending
"I think my best records are behind me and right in front of me." - Chris Carrabba
AVAILABLE TO STREAM AT
https://linktr.ee/dashboardconfessional
June 21, 2019 - As punk rock proliferated radio airwaves, Dashboard Confessional cemented their role at the vanguard of an entire music scene. Facing familiar aches with tenderness and precision, singer / songwriter Chris Carrabba rocketed the band into mainstream focus, solidifying their place as one of the biggest alternative bands of the 2000s. Today, Carrabba surprises fans everywhere as he re-writes history with the 3 releases of his new project, Now Is Then Is Now. This collection of albums features re-imagined versions of A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar (originally released August 12, 2003), Dusk and Summer (originally released June 27, 2006) and Alter the Ending (originally released November 10, 2009).
Throughout the last year since the release of Crooked Shadows, Carrabba was reflecting back on his storied career. It is a well-known fact that Dashboard Confessional is the moniker that Chris Carrabba chose for his band almost twenty years ago. What's not so well known these days is that the project started as just Carrabba, alone, stripped down with an acoustic guitar.
But, in the two decades that have passed since those initial songs' inception, Dashboard Confessional became a larger than life four-piece (or more) rock band, and all of the records since the first have full instrumentation. And for Carrabba, to have songs fully realized is a dream, but it also left a tiny nagging question in the back of his mind that persistently asked, "But what if I had done these songs alone...?" He knew he not only wanted to re-record these monumental albums, but that it was something he needed to do. The changes implemented vary from song to album, some lyrically, some structurally, but the bottom line is that they are Dashboard Confessional at its most true form.
Carrabba shares that in the beginning stages of re-recording A Mark, he started looking through old boxes for personal memorabilia, things he bought on his first tour, old memories, etc. "I found the original handwritten lyrics to Dusk and Alter before there was any critiques leveled at them. I looked at them and those were some of my best lyrics I've written. I should have known that and trusted myself. I was able to correct a mistake..."
The end result is one of those things that you didn't know you needed in your life until you had it, and now that you have it you can't imagine your life without it. If at any point these albums were sacred to you, providing a soundtrack to your own life's unavoidable ups and down, you will find that same sacred feeling, made new and invaluable in a way that only Chris Carrabba could.
Now Is Then Is Now is available to stream today at https://linktr.ee/dashboardconfessional.
All tracks were produced by Shannon McArthur, with the exception of "Slow Decay" (Danny LaCouture) and "Carve Your Heart Out Yourself" (Jonathan Michael Clark with Shannon McArthur).
Dashboard Confessional will be performing at various festivals throughout the United States this Summer before embarking on a special acoustic tour across the UK this Fall. Stay tuned to https://www.dashboardconfessional.com/ for more information.
Upcoming Dashboard Confessional Tour Dates
June 22 - Firefly Music Festival - Dover, DE
June 23 - 92.3 Summer Open - Queens, NY
July 5 - Summerfest 2019 - Milwaukee, WI
July 7 - Calgary Stampede - Coca Cola Stage - Calgary, AB
September 13-15 - Riot Fest 2019 - Chicago, IL
November 10 - King Tuts Wah Wah Hut - Glasgow, UK
November 11 - The Deaf Institute - Manchester, UK
November 13 - St Pancras Old Church - London, UK
November 14 - St Pancras Old Church - London, UK
November 15 - St Pancras Old Church - London, UK
November 17 - La Boule Noire - Paris, France
November 18 - Ancienne Belgique - AB Club - Brussels, Belgium
November 19 - Feierwerk - Munich, Germany
November 20 - Privatclub - Berlin, Germany
November 22 - Luxor - Cologne, Germany
November 23 - Dynamo - Eindhoven, Netherlands
###
Follow Dashboard Confessional
https://www.dashboardconfessional.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DashboardConfessional/
https://twitter.com/dashboardmusic
https://www.instagram.com/dashboardconfessional/
Florida's education efforts show transformative power of student-centered policy: Jeb Bush
USA Today
By: Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush's A+ Plan for Education transformed the state's schools to students' benefit. Today, other states should look to Florida as a model.
See whether you can answer this basic math question: If a baseball game starts at noon and takes 3 ½ hours to play, what time will the game end?
Back in 1998, I traveled across our great state visiting 250 schools. One day I saw a high school senior struggle to answer that question as he was preparing to take the eighth-grade-level high school graduation test. And my heart broke. The easy answer — 3:30 p.m. — had eluded him.
How could we have so fundamentally failed this student? What was going on in his classroom, his school, his district that he was not the primary focus of our collective educational efforts?
Thus began my commitment to ending Florida’s failure in education.
It was exactly 20 years ago this week, on June 21, 1999, when I had the privilege of signing into law the A+ Plan for Education. That day saw a gathering of passionate, dedicated leaders and, more important, Florida parents and students, including Tracy James and her daughter, Khaliah, who urgently needed better education options to be successful.
In the two decades since, Florida has kept its focus on students by continually adopting bold and innovative education policies. Our state has embraced options and raised the bar with school accountability. We’ve placed a strong focus on early reading. We have rewarded, retained and recruited great teachers and schools. And we have leveraged technology to customize student learning.
Florida was ranked nearly at the bottom of almost every measure of student performance when we started this journey. And now, data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that Florida’s fourth-graders are fifth in the nation in reading achievement and seventh in math achievement. Our high school graduation rates and Advanced Placement exam scores are at unprecedented levels.
Florida’s families also enjoy access to the country’s broadest set of education options: virtual learning, public school choice, public charter schools and homeschooling as well as private school scholarships for low- and middle- income families, students with disabilities and bullied students. Any student in any community who needs help deserves what it takes to get a quality education and a chance for success in life.
Florida continues to deliver on that promise. Tracy James and her daughter, Khaliah, were one of the first families to use the Opportunity Scholarship in 1999. Looking back, Khaliah says that without the options school choice gave her, she would never have earned her associate degree nor be on track to earn her bachelor’s degree.
This is the transformative power of bold, student-centered policies.
Yet resting on these accomplishments is not the answer. Khaliah’s young son, Kyrian, is zoned for a D-rated school, but she currently can’t access the power of choice to get him the education he deserves. So the urgency to transform our education system remains. In fact, it’s even stronger, because the way we live and work has changed in ways that we could not have envisioned just two decades ago.
Artificial intelligence and automation are doing jobs once held by workers with a high school diploma. In another few years, jobs that today’s kindergartners will have probably don’t even exist yet! The future of work is changing fast, and Florida must be ready with policies and programs in place now to prepare students for their futures.
As a lifetime advocate for quality education, I am committed to working with today’s state and business leaders, teachers, parents and students to ensure that every family has the educational resources needed for their children.
Together, we are genuinely optimistic that in the next 20 years, education will be even more successful than the past 20 years. But like Khaliah and her family, we’re also impatient on behalf of the kids in classrooms today. Florida’s progress has been unprecedented, yet we have to keep pushing the envelope until each and every child gets the great education they deserve.
Jeb Bush served as the 43rd governor of Florida and is the founder and chairman of the Foundation for Florida’s Future.
=======================
LOST IN SOCIETY
Releases New Single
"I'm So Down"
Stream Now on Spotify and YouTube
PHOTO CREDIT: CHAMPION HEART MEDIA
June 21, 2019 ASBURY PARK, NJ - Lost in Society has released a brand new single today. "I'm So Down" is the Asbury Park 3-piece's first attempt at self-producing and delivers the gritty, punk-rock energy the band is known for. Bassist Nick Ruroede shares "When we were writing songs for 'Eager Heart' we ended up with about 25 demos. 'I'm So Down' is one of those songs. We wanted to release a B-Side from those sessions but also wanted to do something a little different. We recorded, mixed, and mastered the track ourselves and are really excited to finally share it."
"I'm So Down" is available to stream on Spotify and YouTube.
Lost in Society will be performing at The Bouncing Soul's Stoked for the Summer Pre-Party alongside Beachslang, The Ratchets and Worriers on July 12th at the House of Independents in Asbury Park, NJ. For more information on the show and how to purchase tickets, please visit http://www.lostinsociety.com.
"I'm So Down" is the first new music since the trio's 2018 release, Eager Heart, which has garnered strong praise from outlets like Substream Magazine and New Noise Magazine.The EP, which was recorded with Pete Steinkopf of The Bouncing Souls, is available for purchase on Vinyl, Bandcamp and streaming on Spotify.
New Jersey has a long history with punk music and Asbury Park's Lost In Society is proud to carry that banner. With incredibly strong tours supporting bands like Face to Face, Swingin' Utters, Unwritten Law and 88 Fingers Louie, the trio plan on taking that momentum with them throughout 2019. Having spent the last 5 years intensely on the road, this release on California's Wiretap Records sees the band in top form.
###
Lost In Society is Zach Moyle (guitars + lead vocals), Nick Ruroede (bass), and Hector Bonora (drums).
For updates on Lost In Society, please visit:
Website: http://www.lostinsociety.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lostinsociety
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lostinsociety
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostinsociety
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lost-in-society
EPA and HUD announce new lead dust standards to protect children’s health
DENVER (June 21, 2019) — Today, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler, along with Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, announced new, tighter standards for lead in dust on floors and window sills to protect children from the harmful effects of lead exposure. EPA Region 8 Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin participated in an event today alongside Evelyn Lim, HUD Region 8 Regional Administrator and Robin Hickey, Deputy Director of the Denver Urban Renewal Authority at EPA’s Regional Office in downtown Denver.
“EPA is delivering on our commitment in the Trump Administration’s Federal Lead Action Plan to take important steps to reduce childhood lead exposure,” said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. “Today’s final rule is the first time in nearly two decades EPA is issuing a stronger, more protective standard for lead dust in homes and child care facilities across the country.”
“EPA’s updating its standards for lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 homes and child-occupied facilities is an important advance,” said Secretary Carson. “We will use this new rule in updating the lead safety requirements for the pre-1978 housing we assist.”
“These new standards will strengthen our efforts to protect young children by reducing lead dust exposure in homes, schools and child care facilities throughout the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains states,” said EPA Regional Administrator Gregory Sopkin. “EPA, HUD, and our federal partners are committed to securing safer and healthier communities through the Federal Lead Action Plan.”
“We know that eliminating lead in housing improves health and education outcomes for children in our communities,” said Rocky Mountain Regional Administrator Evelyn Lim. “The new lead standards announced today continue our progress in helping more families live in lead-free homes by warranting earlier intervention which in turn saves health care costs.”
“Every family in our city deserves to live in a home that is safe and healthy. No one should have to worry about their children breathing lead-contaminated dust or soil,” says Robert McDonald, Executive Director and the Public Health Administrator of the Denver Department of Public Health and the Environment.
Since the 1970s, the United States has made tremendous progress in lowering children’s blood lead levels. In 2001, EPA set standards for lead in dust for floors and window sills in housing, however since that time, the best available science has evolved to indicate human health effects at lower blood lead levels than previously analyzed.
To protect children’s health and to continue making progress on this important issue, EPA is lowering the dust-lead hazard standards from 40 micrograms of lead per square foot (µg/ft2) to 10 µg/ft2 on floors and from 250 µg/ft2 to 100 µg/ft2 on window sills. The more protective dust-lead hazard standards will apply to inspections, risk assessments, and abatement activities in pre-1978 housing and certain schools, child care facilities and hospitals across the country.
Lead-contaminated dust from chipped or peeling lead-based paint is one of the most common causes of elevated blood lead levels in children. Infants and children are especially vulnerable to lead paint exposure because they their growing bodies absorb more lead than adults do, and their brains and nervous systems are more sensitive to the damaging effects of lead. They can be exposed from multiple sources and may experience irreversible and life-long health effects. Lead dust can be generated when lead-based paint deteriorates or is disturbed.
The rule will become effective on 180 days after date of publication in the Federal Register.
A link to this final rule and to learn more: https://www.epa.gov/lead/hazard-standards-lead-paint-dust-and-soil-tsca-section-403
Reducing childhood lead exposure and addressing associated health impacts is a top priority for EPA. In December 2018 EPA Administrator Wheeler and other Federal Officials produced the Lead Action Plan, a blueprint for reducing lead exposure and associated harms by working with a range of stakeholders, including states, tribes and local communities, along with businesses, property owners and parents.
EPA continues to work with its federal partners to improve coordinated activities and implement objectives of the Lead Action Plan.
You can find out more about identifying and addressing housing health and safety hazards on HUD’s Healthy Homes website: hud.gov/healthyhomes
More about the HUD-funded program in Denver to assist 130 households through January of 2021: https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/environmental-health/public-health-inspections/lead-poisoning-prevention-program.html
The Denver Department of Public Health & Environment’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control Program works to protect children from exposure to lead-based paint covers 100-percent of costs to identify and remove lead-based paint from homes. To apply for a grant, visit http://renewdenver.org/housing-rehabilitation/lead-based-paint-hazard-control-program/
Learn more about EPA’s lead-based paint program: https://www.epa.gov/lead
# # #
=================================
Dear Editor:
Please consider this thoughtful analysis by emeritus professor Andrew Moss of policy discussions, presidential politics, voting rights, immigration, and upcoming debates. For PeaceVoice, thank you,
Tom Hastings
~~~~~~~~~~
Listening for immigration at the Democratic Presidential debates
by Andrew Moss
767 words
If you've been repelled by the family separations and other immigration-related cruelties perpetrated by the Trump administration, and if you plan to watch either or both of the upcoming Democratic presidential debates, please listen carefully – not just to what the candidates are saying, but how they're saying it: how they frame the issues. Will they present immigration as a discrete set of concerns ("fixing our broken immigration system"), or will they describe it in relation to broader historical struggles, distinctly American struggles, for human rights? It's possible that if any candidates are willing to articulate a broader story, they may find themselves in a stronger position against Trump – and, possibly, on a stronger footing for leading the nation.
Consider, for example, the issue of voting rights and the current conflict over the 2020 census. For some time, the Trump administration has been trying to add a citizenship question to the census, and recently it was revealedthat a Republican strategist, Thomas B. Hofeller, played a significant role in urging this change as a way of giving a "structural electoral advantage" to Republicans and "non-Hispanic whites." The Census Bureau's own experts estimatedthat up to 6.5 million people, representing households that included noncitizens, would not respond to a census questionnaire that included a question about citizenship. The result would be significant shifts in electoral representation.
This attempt to skew representation, based on the precarious status of millions of undocumented people in the U.S., is not unconnected to a larger effort to suppress votes, particularly of people of color. One can look, for example, to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that states with histories of discriminatory practices would no longer need federal clearance to make changes in voting policies. Six years later, legal battles continue over Georgia's 2018 gubernatorial election, battles in which allies of defeated Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams cite many practices (voter purges, precinct closures, absentee ballot cancellations) that they claim blocked many African-Americans from voting. The battle over the census is certainly an immigration battle, but as an electorally related issue, it is not a stand-alone concern.
Or consider the issues of racism and xenophobia. Though many opponents of Trump's immigration policies portray the U.S. as "a nation of immigrants," such portrayals often don't go very far in accounting for the racism and prejudice that have riven American immigration history since the nation's founding. Nor do they acknowledge the work of countless activists who struggled in courts, in print, and in other venues to resist, for example, the racism of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, or the racially based immigration quotas of the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, quotas not overturned until the mid-1960's. If candidates are unwilling to acknowledge this history, they'll be less able to describe the broader pattern of Trump's statements and actions. This is a president who, in 2017, described white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia as including "some very fine people." This is the same individual who declared his candidacy in 2015 by railing against Mexico for sending us "rapists," drugs, and crime. The cruel effects of the administration's policies (deaths in detention, family separation, children in cages) flow from an inexorable, dehumanizing logic of white supremacy.
This is why a bigger picture is needed, and this is why candidates who seek to take on Trump must bear witness both to the dark sides of American immigration history and to ongoing struggles for justice and human dignity. They must be willing to speak out about the false, invidious binary separating "documented" from "undocumented" human beings – and share stories reminding us that yesterday's stranger is today's neighbor and friend. The young Eritrean woman whom I first met last year in California's Adelanto ICE Detention Facility, dressed in prison fatigues and incarcerated for no other reason than her quest for asylum, is now out and a family friend – and a recent guest at my daughter's wedding.
At the debates, the candidates will present their proposals, and I hope that at least some will make the case for abolishing the barbaric system of detention and shifting resources to the humanitarian support of people seeking safety and livelihood. But as long as any candidate clings to a fragmented perspective and to the worn-out mantra of "fixing our broken immigration system," he or she will miss a critical opportunity. It is the opportunity to educate: to inspire voters to rise to a new understanding of how the American experiment can involve a continuous reinvention and redefinition of human rights and democracy. And it is an opportunity that the coming election season will present to us all.
–end–
Andrew Moss, syndicated by PeaceVoice,is an emeritus professor (English, Nonviolence Studies) at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Deadline Approaches for Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship
‘Who Wrote Shakespeare?’ Video Contest
NATIONAL – The deadline for the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship third annual “Who Wrote Shakespeare?” Video Contest is fast approaching. Entries will be accepted from contestants across the US, and five different countries, including United Kingdom, Canada (excluding Quebec), Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. First place prize money is $1,000. Second place receives $500, and third place receives $250 in prize money. Deadline for submissions is July 31, 2019.
Contestants are encouraged to create a three-minute video promoting discussion of the question "Who Wrote Shakespeare?" in a format that is “entertaining, engaging, and witty,” said contest coordinator Tom Regnier.
"The Video Contest always arouses special interest in the Shakespeare Authorship Question. We get enthusiastic responses from all over the world," Regnier said.
Did the man, Shakspere of Stratford, England, really write the plays and poems published under the name William Shakespeare? Or is Shakespeare a pseudonym used to conceal the true identity of the author? This question has lingered for centuries, and has intrigued brilliant minds such as Mark Twain, Sigmund Freud, Walt Whitman, Charlie Chaplin, and Sir Derek Jacobi, just to name a few. There is no evidence that the Stratford man ever went to school, wrote a letter, or owned a book. Yet the works of Shakespeare show evidence that the author (whoever he was) was deeply familiar with law, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, mythology, gardening, precious stones, music, Italy, and many other subjects. Considering that the Elizabethan Age was a "golden age of pseudonyms," could Shakespeare have been the pen name of a reclusive genius who felt the need to hide his identity?
This question has also fascinated members of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, a nonprofit organization forged more than 60 years ago, dedicated to sponsoring research of the Shakespeare Authorship Question, and favoring Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, as the most likely candidate for the authorship laurels.
“Though our members predominantly favor Edward de Vere, we are always open to discussion of other candidates in order to get to the truth,” said Regnier.
SOF publishes quarterly newsletters and two annual journals on research and developments of the Shakespeare Authorship Question. The organization also sponsors a $20,000 annual Research Grant Project, regional events dedicated to the SAQ, and an annual conference in a different major US city each year. This year’s conference will be held Oct. 17-20, at the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT, where winners of the annual “Who Wrote Shakespeare?” Video Contest will also be announced.
"After our judges select the best 3-minute videos to be finalists, the public gets to pick the top three winners by voting online,” said Regnier.
Finalists and winning video entries from the previous two years, as well as complete rules and details on how to enter the contest are available at the SOF website: https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/sof-video-contest/.
###
Hi Jim,
The below article is free for your use. If you would like an interview or comments from Jennifer Lynch on this or related topics please reach out and I will be happy to coordinate.
Ashley
3 Tips For Helping Children
Embrace Their Unique Selves
Some small children don’t care what anyone thinks about them.
If they want to sing at the top of their lungs, they sing at the top of their lungs. If they want to wear a silly hat, mix-matched socks or gloves on a hot day, they do it – with no regard for how others might judge their eccentricities.
Somewhere along the line, though, most children long to fit in and begin to worry that their differences make them stand out – and not in a good way. So, they try to conform to what they perceive their peers or society expect from them.
“Unfortunately, in the process they begin to hide what makes them unique instead of embracing it,” says Jennifer Lynch, an educator, child advocate and author of the children’s book Livi and Grace (www.jenniferlynchbooks.com).
“They become embarrassed or sad about their differences, maybe feel that people think they are strange, and that other kids won’t like them or won’t play with them. And in truth, other children sometimes will bully a child who is seen as different.”
Lynch has served as an advocate for children in the court system, foster care and treatment facilities. In working with those children, many of whom are abused or neglected, she says, you often have to help them overcome their insecurities about their differences.
“It’s important for them and all children to believe in themselves,” she says. “They need to understand that different is okay. It’s our differences that make us special.”
This message is so universally important, Lynch says, that it became the theme of her children’s book, which is based on her daughters and their distinct personalities.
“My two girls are so unlike one another that it’s almost shocking,” she says. “It made me think back to the children I encounter in the court system who say they dislike or even hate themselves because they feel different from their peers or their siblings.”
Lynch says some of the ways parents or other adults can help children include:
Remind them that differences make people special. While it’s natural for children to long to fit in with their peers, Lynch says, it’s also important for them to understand that their individuality is what makes them unique. “Differences are interesting and life enriching,” she says. “Part of the message is that you should appreciate the diverse traits in everyone you know, and also appreciate what makes you special.”
Talk to them about the ways in which they shine. “Kids like talking about themselves,” Lynch says. “So get them involved in a conversation about what they are good at. Maybe that is sports. Maybe it is writing. Maybe they make good grades or they are a good big brother or friend. Whatever their special talent is, explore it with them so they know that there is something they do well.”
Encourage them to help other kids feel good about themselves. Young people can feel empowered not only by embracing their differences, but also by providing support and being a friend to others who are different.
“When you help a child pick out positive things about themselves,” Lynch says, “they begin to focus on that, not the hurtful things that weigh so heavy on their hearts and minds.”
About Jennifer Lynch
Jennifer Lynch, author of the children’s book Livi and Grace(www.jenniferlynchbooks.com), is an educator and child advocate who serves as a guardian ad litem, a person appointed to represent a child’s interests in a court case. She has worked as a special education teacher for an elementary school and as a preschool teacher. In addition, Lynch created the You Are Good brand of T-shirts and other products for sale and for donations. Thousands of the shirts have been donated to children and teenagers in the system. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas A&M University.
