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David Conlin McLeod will soon release his fourth book, the prequel to the Dragon’s Tear Chronicle that began with Dancing With The Moon. David has also published Two Past Twilight and The Audition. I’m a reviewer and fan of David’s books, Two Past Twilight, http://www.myshelf.com/horror/04/twopasttwilight.htm,
Dancing With The Moon, http://www.myshelf.com/horror/03/dancingwiththemoon.htm, and The Audition.

I was curious as to what makes this soulful horror writer, who focuses on vampires as people (much like Anne Rice and Brandon Massey as well as Laurell K. Hamilton), tick, and he kindly sent me his own dream interview:

Kristin: What makes your work in horror different than already established horror writers?

David Conlin McLeod: “I try to illustrate different shades of what is evil, what is horror, and what is terrifying. In the realm of fiction where anything is possible, I try to base much of what I do on shades or varying levels of reality, to not only give the fear or horror plausibility, but to give my readers points of reference. I also try to inject elements of common ground and twist them around to get fears we least expect. I want to try and take what you know and show you something about it that you wouldn’t want to know, twist it and make it somehow more frightening than what is on the obvious surface.”

Kristin: So pretty much the old saying, “Things are not as they seem”?

David Conlin McLeod: “Basically, but I apply it with heroes as well as villains and situations. That’s another difference I inject in my stories. Even the heroes of my stories have a little shade of evil, taint, or impurity. As in reality, nobody is perfect. I want to show dimension in my characters. I’m tired of cardboard, carbon copies of stereotyped heroes and villains. Even my villains have a lighter side to them or at least a cause or motivation behind their evils–as opposed to being evil for the sake of being evil.”

Kristin: It seems you like writing about underdogs, mostly young children or teenagers. It also seems as though these characters share some very common traits, is there a reason behind it?

David Conlin McLeod “Well, what happens to get published of my work is only a percentage of my total works, but generally I do tend to work with patterns, themes, and symbolism. I tend to identify most with children and teenagers, partly because it’s my own opinion that they have the most to be afraid of. They seem to face the most challenges when I think about it. They live in a big world where everything is sort of coming at them all at once, and seldom can they exert any kind of real control. I mean, they have parents telling them what to do, teachers dictate to them, bullies, childhood fears, their own development into adulthood, peer pressure, violence, and all that. I want to tap into that fear, because it makes no sense having heroes or protagonists facing death and not having felt fear. The full-grown macho, gun toting hero who fears no evil has been done too many times to count. I also like to write about kids and teens because there are so many ways to approach them. They are really at the Crossroads in their lives. They could be innocent, jaded, cynical, or whatever. I find adult characters to pretty much have set issues and personalities and motivations. They are what they are and seem too old to change much of who they are. They have too many experiences that have shaped them.
“Now about patterns, most of my main characters happen to symbolize innocence and people with struggles that are both ordinary and also extreme. It is their innocence that is generally in danger. The other common trait I inject in these characters is that they have dreams, wishes, or secrets. They have something worth fighting for and something intimate that they can draw inspiration or strength from. Unlike a hero with weapons or guns, these heroes rely on the strength that resides within them.”

Kristin: I have noticed that in the books, “Dancing with the Moon”, “Two Past Twilight”, and “The Audition,” there are main characters mostly drawn to ballet or gymnastics. Is there something behind that too?

David Conlin McLeod: “There’s a lot behind the characters’ interests and loves of ballet or gymnastics. In the case of the story “Wish” as featured in ‘Two Past Twilight’, I injected gymnastics for the character Alyssa based on a dare among some friends of mine. I normally write strictly vampire stuff, and they dared me to throw in the subject of gymnastics. So I did, but with a twist. I turned gymnastics into something innocent, but also the antagonist’s tool. It became the focal point of struggle. Also with gymnastics in that story, I sort of shed some light on the inherent fears some girls have when approaching that sport for the first time. With ballet, I find ballet beautiful and fascinating. I use ballet as a tool to bolster the imagery of innocence, grace, poise, and things that are fragile. This is very much the case with Amy in ‘Dancing with the Moon’. She’s innocence incarnate. Everything about her is extremely innocent, beautiful, playful, and fragile. She is the heroine of that book and that series that will develop who has the most to lose, but what she does have keeps her strong and persistent. Her life revolves ound ‘dancing’ around the evils she encounters. She tries to avoid pain suffering, and things that hurt. It is very much the same for Paige in ‘The Audition’.

Kristin: Why female main characters? Is there some reason why all your heroes are female?

David Conlin McLeod: “For some bizarre reason beyond my own understanding, I find them challenging to write about, but also more enjoyable to create and build situations around. I guess as a guy, it seems strange and seemingly unnatural for my fascination with female characters, but if my work had mostly male heroes, I think I would get sort of bored with my efforts. I write challenging characters. Male heroes don’t generally challenge me enough. I mean I don’t want to fall into a rut where I inject some male stereotype into a hero role. With females, I don’t readily think of stereotypes I am familiar with. With writing male heroes, it seems like all I can think about are archetypes that have been done to death.”

Kristin: I have also noted that you seem to inject the theme of child abuse in much of your works. Is there something to that? Why do you choose to base much of your characters in abusive environments?

David Conlin McLeod: “Well it’s a tad complicated. Mostly it’s because I want to illustrate that whole ’shades of evil’ thing. Evil and hurt can come from many sources and not all of them are entirely fictional. I try to establish contrast. Here’s where the character comes from and why she has what she has and why she relies on the strength she manages to save. Then you see where she’s going and can see that there are greater evils or lesser evils or whatever have you. You see where she succeeds and what made her motivated to succeed. But I want to stress that it is all about character development, how my characters deal with the environments that shape them. How do they deal with extreme situations, or everyday life? How do they deal with cruelty? I suppose I also want to show or illustrate that child abuse is a real danger, not something to be taken lightly. It is the kind of danger that is not only found in fiction. The main characters who happen to be children are sending the message, ‘This is how we suffer, and this is how we deal with it. If parents don’t stop, this is how we rise up or fall.’ So I guess my stories have some moral lessons in them. I do find myself wanting to write stories that make the readers think, feel, and get something to carry with them for a while, why not some messages about taking care of the young kids among us?”

Kristin: Okay, simple question. Where do you get your ideas for your stories?

David Conlin McLeod: “Well they all spawn from ‘What if’ situations. What if a girl’s wishes were granted, but granted by someone possessing a dark, evil sense of humor? That was the basis for ‘Wish’. ‘What if a girl’s grandmother was a vampire?’ That was the basic, basic premise behind ‘Dancing with the Moon.’ ‘What if a ghost story was in fact told by the ghosts themselves?’ That is where ‘Ghost Story’ came from. Lots of these questions and scenarios get their start from ideas I conjure up from shows like ‘The Twilight Zone’ or ‘Night Gallery’. I also get some ideas from fiction I have read and generally find some way to bend situations and plot ideas around my own personal experiences and preferences.”

Kristin: Who are some of your literary influences and why?

David Conlin McLeod: “Stephen King, right off the bat. He, in my mind, taught me everything I know about honest stories and honest characters. He taught me through his many works what it takes to share a story with the reader and not just dictate it or tell it. I want to walk you through the story, be there by your side and let you explore and roam around a bit. I want to make horror stories that frighten you based on your human experiences and reach you at your level, eye-to-eye, and I think Stephen King has always done this the best. I can only hope to be a fraction as talented as him. Then there is Anne Rice. If Stephen King is my godfather, Anne Rice is the godmother, especially for someone who writes mostly about vampires. She helped me understand that there are no such things as stereotypical vampires. Vampires can be heroes, they can have redemptive values. They can be just as human and humane as us. They can feel. So often that is ignored. Of course I should really be giving credit to Bram Stoker! Without him, we wouldn’t have the vampire at all in contemporary literature, and with Bram Stoker as an influence, he gave history and vampires a direct link. He made me want to believe that vampires do exist. He gave the vampire a solid point of origin. Now as far as other influences are concerned, I have a deep jealousy and respect for J.K. Rowling. I wish I could have some of what she’s got. She has a gift for the imaginative and she is so prolific and makes wonderful worlds and stories. She came from nothing and has become an icon in children’s literature, and yet…she produced works that even adults can enjoy and become engrossed in. She has huge appeal and she deserves every accolade. It’s because of her though that I look down at my efforts in shame half the time. I long for her kind of talent.”

Kristin: What made you decide to choose vampire horror?

David Conlin McLeod: “I regard vampires as the best villains, best tragic heroes, and I find them so fascinating. There are so many stories I could write just based on vampires. I love them. I find so many possibilities in their existences. They deal with so many challenges. They have so much potential for good, as well as evil, and I want to explore more of that potential for good.”

Kristin: Are vampires all you write about? Aren’t you afraid of being typecast?

David Conlin McLeod: “It worked for Anne Rice for the most part. But no, I do plan on writing dark fantasy and maybe one or two erotic thrillers or some science fiction, but in between projects or on the side perhaps. I go where my muse takes me, and she hasn’t let me down yet.”

This article is also available at http://www.poemsforyou.com/davidmcleod.html

Movie reviewer/screenwriter Kristin Johnson composes personalized poems, speeches, toasts, vows, and family memories. Visit http://www.poemsforyou.com to order your personalized memories. She is also co-author of the Midwest Book Review “enthusiastically recommended” pick Christmas Cookies Are For Giving: Stories, Recipes and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts (ISBN: 0-9723473-9-9). A downloadablemedia kit is available at our Web site, http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com, or e-mail the publisher (info@tyrpublishing.com) to receive a printed media kit and sample copy of the book. More articles available at http://www.bakingchristmascookies.com

Florida State Auto Insurance Minimums

• Bodily Injury Liability: $10,000/$20,000 Limit
• Property Damage Liability: $10,000 Limit

Florida is a no-fault state. The details for a no-fault system deviate by state, but fundamentally, the way it works is that the auto insurance underwriter will cover costs disregardless of fault. Quarrels over who is accountable are lowered with this auto insurance system, but at the same time, Florida drivers give up some of their legal rights to sue the other parties involved.

Personal Injurty Protection in your insurance policy helps pay for “reasonable and necessary” medical/hospital liabilities for you and any passengers involved in the auto accident. In the state of Florida, it is required that all drivers to cover PIP insurance policy of $10,000 to compensate a single person caught up in the accident and $20,000 for everyone involved in the auto accident.

To protect yourself financially, in the event that you are in an auto accident with an individual who either does not currently maintain insurance coverage or doesn’t have the right amount of insurance to compensate for expenses, you should look into adding Underinsured Motorist coverage to your Florida auto insurance policy policy. You’re not demanded by Florida state law to have this specific type of auto insurance, but it is urged in order to be financially protected in the event that you are involved in an accident with an underinsured motorist.

People in Florida paid an usual of $1,104 for their insurance in 2003. That same year, the national average was about $200 less. Some people wrongly believe Florida and insurance underwriters determine the rates they pay, so they never look for better rates. Insurers section their rates differently so each person’s rate will vary with each company. You need to look to see if you are saving money or paying too much. One way of getting lower cost auto insurance is to use insurance comparison sites. These money saving websites will let you rapidly get and go over rates from many insurers.

Compared to 2006, the next year saw insurance drop by .5% to 1%. The first months of 2008 continued to display drops, but then the insurance started to climb once more through the first months of 2009. Unless you’re on a regular basis searching the lowest insurance rate quotes, you’re more times than not shelling out too much. auto insurance costs. Using the internet can help you check if you’re overpaying for insurance and if you can obtain discounts.

Working to read with Dyslexia essentially comes down to finding help for dyslexia. More precisely, dyslexia would indicate that an otherwise intelligent person and who is provided educational and training resources, over time continues to demonstrate labored reading. It certainly does not label an individual is debilitatingly disabled or mentally handicapped, just the opposite! Through accepted medical definition, Dyslexia shows exclusively in those with at least average intelligence or better and sometimes ingenious people. Despite how talented could be, they have a hard time reading as children and even adults. Several potential signs of reading difficulty or dyslexia include instances such as inability to read easy words on a page or a ongoing difficulty learning new words individually, or just faking reading in general.When a reading student isn’t developing reading skills at the same pace as other children, dyslexia may be a a cause. Dyslexia may also cause troubles and stress in other subjects So what is the prognosis with Dyslexia? Might a Dyslexic child ever read easily, and correctly interpret the encoded symbols he or she reads? Might a grown up who discovers he/she is dyslexic grow phonemic awareness and phonics to reading fluency? The answer is a positive yes. Sally Shaywitz, globally recognized Dyselxia researcher and founder for the Center for Dyslexia at Yale in her book Overcoming Dyslexia. But, there is a number of conditions that are overlapping in students with reading problems. They can be observed by a talented speech-language pathologist or educational reading assessment.

So you are a beginner in poetry and need some easy tips to get over “the block”? First and foremost, remember that you are not alone! Any aspiring poet needs to work hard to produce a good poem. Do not be scared. If you write a lot, strive for the best expression, trust your instincts as you go and remember the following points, you may find that you have written a memorable poem!

Before I pass on to my tips though, perhaps I should warn you against building your expectations too high! Naturally, this mini article cannot turn you into the best poet that you know. This article can only be a guide. Writing is, after all, a little bit like skiing. If you’re not experienced, you will need a ski instructor to accompany you and ease your fears; yet, you are the one who must eventually complete each manoeuvre. You can learn tips from your instructor but he cannot ski for you — you have to do it yourself. I know it looks scary but only so at the beginning! If you ski a lot, you can become a good skier. If you write a lot, you may or may not become a good poet, but at least you will learn to listen to your inner voice, face the “contents of your heart” and enjoy this special and fulfilling activity! Here are my tips. Ready? Steady? Go!

1. Dare it!

Although there are many sources that claim they can teach you how to write poetry (such as this very article!), keep in mind that there is no perfect recipe that anybody can give you for a good poem. This is excellent news because it means you will be free to experiment on your own (mostly in a sink-or-swim fashion) and produce your own unique poems. This is crucial as each poem will be both a process and a product of exploration and discovery – not only of your “self” but also of the world around you. Exploration is a difficult thing but as author Octavia Butler points out: “Poetry forces you to say what you have to say”. Indeed! So a good tip to start with is: Dare to say what you have to say and do not be shy or intimidated. Your poem is unique, it is an exploration of yourself and the way you see the world. Nobody but YOU can produce this particular poem! Dare it!

2. Write it!

Remember that content comes first! The rhythm and rhyme and other stylistic features will arise later if you write from your heart. Choose a topic that provokes your thoughts and emotions because otherwise you may find it difficult to be sincere.

So, you have a good topic now, what next? Are you going to sit around and wait for the muse to appear and give you the magic formula for your poem? By all means, NO! Start writing this very minute! Write systematically. Write freely. Write even though you run out of ideas. Close your eyes and try to visualize your topic. Then play around with it in your head. Look at it from different angles. Write freely any thought and any feeling it inspires in you. You do not have to use all of these ideas in your poem later but remember that you need ideas and free-writing is a good way to generate them. Also, ideas are sneaky. They can (and mostly do!) come to you when you least expect them and then they go away quickly before you even know it. So when an idea comes to you, note it down. Do NOT rely on remembering it later because you may not. Go around with a notebook that you can fill with ideas and NEVER discard an idea because it is not good enough. All ideas are important -some of them will just need more time to grow. So treat your ideas with respect, write them down, play with them often, and let them grow.

When you feel you have enough ideas, draft your poem. (Yes! A poem needs multiple drafts too!) And go on doing that until you feel comfortable with your content, word choice and language. Once you have a draft that you are happy with, the next step will be styling your poem.

3. Style it!

When you have a draft, read your poem out loud and remember that a good poem sounds at least as good as it looks on paper. So read it out loud and listen to your words. David Mc Cord, the poet, says “a poem, like rain, should fall with elemental music”. Decide if your poem does that. No? Then the best thing to do is keep your content but play with the words and their order to achieve rain-like music. But do not get caught up too much in this. The only true concern here should be your own feelings about the poem. Does it sound right to you? Yes? Voila! You have finished your poem.

Before I close, a few final words by Ruth Gordon from her anthology of poems Peeling the Onion:

“Like the onion, poetry is a constant discovery. Peel the onion, layer after layer, until its very heart is reached . . . it adds taste, zest, and a sharp but sweet quality that enriches our lives”.

So are you ready to add your life that extra zest? If so, ready, steady, go…

Aylin Graves is a teacher trainer and writing instructor. She owns MaviZebra Communications, an online writing and editing center. Visit MaviZebra at: http://www.mavizebra.com.tr.

Men too can give birth!

I read somewhere that writing a book is like conceiving a child. You start out with and idea of what you want to create but that idea soon takes on a life of its own and the product that emerges several months later will likely bear little resemblance to what you originally had in mind. It may even lead to a “multiple birth” if the work becomes a series as so often happens with fiction.

I have discovered that writing articles can also take on its own identity and may lead to the birth of something much larger. Like a book!

I began writing articles for www.tlc-leadership.com my own website and later submitted several articles to e-
zines in an effort to boost traffic to my site. My field is Executive and Corporate Coaching for Leadership Development, Team Building and Change Management and as the number of articles grew it occurred to me that I might be able to assemble them into a book for that niche market.

In the process of searching for information about writing and publishing a book I discovered an old book, “Acres of Diamonds” by Russell H. Conwell together with a series of articles entitled “Russell H. Conwell, His Life and Accomplishments” written by Conwell’s friend Robert Shackleton. Both of these had been published in the 1920’s and are now in the public domain, i.e. copyright expired.

I had read this book many years ago, likely in the 1950’s when it was on every bookshelf and recognized it now as a still valuable contribution to the field of inspirational and motivational literature. I realized however that the style and grammar were much out of date and many of the historic persons, organizations and events would mean nothing to a modern reader and might even cause confusion.

An idea was conceived – re-incarnation! I would bring the grammar up to date, research people, organizations and events that I didn’t recognize or knew little about – on the theory that if I didn’t know, a lot of other people wouldn’t know either.

My original intent was to publish this as an ebook — but then I came across AuthorHouse — America’s leading self publishing house – and wham, I gave birth to “Acres of Diamonds Revisited”. The cover reads, Acres of Diamonds Revisited – Including “Acres of Diamonds by Russell H. Conwell” and “Russell H. Conwell, His Life and Accomplishments by Robert Shackleton” – Modernized, Edited and Annotated by Len McNally. The book is available through all major online bookstores as well as from AuthorHouse.

While all of this was happening, I continued putting together information for a book on Motivation and Leadership Development and again the project assumed its own identity. While that book is still in the works, another book on making a major career change began to develop.

Prior to becoming an Executive and Corporate Coach, I worked as a Career Consultant and over the years, in both capacities, I have met many, many people whose lack of productivity is rooted in having made the wrong career choice. I see a lot of evidence that most people have chosen a career by abdication rather than by conscious choice. A person leaves school, finds a job and becomes locked into a career path dictated by promotions, transfers and successes in that field. Few people have ever sat down and earnestly asked, “What do I really, really, really want to do with my life?” The result is that a lot of people are working in a field where, although they may have achieved a certain amount of success, they have never had the chance to develop and utilize their dominant, innate skills and abilities.

The result is, all too often, a life with little or no challenge or excitement, a life of boredom, frustration and lethargy – a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Re-Careering will soon be ready for publication and I must soon decide whether to publish as an ebook or to once again avail myself of the considerable help and expertise of the people at AuthorHouse.

Then I will re-turn my efforts to the Coaching and Motivational book – although I am now prepared for it to once more take on its own personality and direction.

So – if you are writing an occasional article for publication – don’t be surprised if one day you realize you have 180 or 200 pages about something very different from what you started to write!

Len McNally

Len McNally is President of The Leadership Centre http://www.tlc-leadership.com through which he offers Executive and Corporate Coaching via telephone, webcast or, geography permitting, in person. For more information about Len’s re-incarnated book visit; http://www.acresofdiamondsrevisited.com

In what seems to be a trend in the poker online industry, more and more casinos are reporting losses, while online poker and gambling sites are doing well in this economy.

The latest news, this time from Jamaica, as reported by the Jamaica Observer: The local gaming industry is bracing for the worst in the ongoing economic meltdown that has cost some industry players up to a third of gambling revenues over the past six months. At the root of the problem, executives say, is the erosion of disposable income due to inflation, the collapse of the alternative investment schemes, and other financial pressures in the weakening economy, the newspaper reported. The fallout has seen a dramatic slowdown in sales in an industry where consumer spending is largely discretionary. According to provisional statistics provided by the Betting, Gaming & Lotteries Commission (BGLC), the industry posted flat performance last year in Jamaica, the Observer reports.

The betting sector, which mostly deals with the wagering of money on horse racing, appears to be the most adversely affected so far Online poker sites will continue, in my opinion, continue to do better and better financially despite the economic clime. The ease of use and convenience of online poker will continue to make it king.

Let’s say you’re the editor of a magazine called “Sex Under the Fir Trees” and you receive an unsolicited manuscript titled “How to Get Barnacles off Your Boat,” what are you going to do?

Whether you laugh, cry, or use industrial-strength profanity, the result’s the same for the writer: a form rejection slip.

The writing guidelines for most publications advise prospective contributors to read the publication first and learn about its style, focus, viewpoint, and previously covered topics before sending in an unsolicited article.

Many writers skip this step. It takes time. Copies of the publication cost money or require an online registration. It delays completion of the article the writer wants to write.

Haste makes waste.

If it looks like you don’t even know what kinds of articles a magazine (or Ezine) uses, then the editor is not only going to reject your work out of hand, but he’ll also wonder if you know what you’re talking about.

Generally speaking, most novice writers don’t sell many articles without demonstrating that they: (a) know the publication, (b) know the subject, and (c) are willing to pitch an article idea to the editor rather than sending it in blindly.

Knowing a Publication

Volumes can be written about this. What does a typical issue include? What have they already covered? Do they have theme issues each year that dictate what some or all of the articles are going to be about? Do they have an editorial calendar that maps out plans for the upcoming 6-12 months? Do they use long, serious articles or do they use light, how-to articles, or both? Do they use freelancers?

Knowing the Subject

Let’s suppose you’ve read every issue of Sex Under the Fir Trees and know their style, focus and requirements pretty well. You decide to submit an article called “Subalpine Firs and Grand Firs in Glacier National Park.”

Assuming that the editor doesn’t think this is too narrow (or too obscure) a focus for his magazine, he’s still going to ask: WHAT ARE YOUR QUALIFICATIONS FOR WRITING THIS ARTICLE?

Do you have a degree in forestry? Do you work for the National Park Service at Glacier as a ranger, forest management specialist or in a related field? Have you developed an expertise in the subject through years or research and personal experience?

If not, why should the editor publish your article? Why would the readers want to read it, much less trust it?
Whether you send an article in blind or whether you pitch the idea first, demonstrating your credentials is always priority number one.

Asking for an Assignment

Most editors depend on a trusted, dependable group of staff writers, guest experts, and often-used freelancers for most of their material. They don’t sit around waiting for somebody they’ve never heard of to send in exactly the thing they are looking for at the exact moment they need it.

If you are psychic or if you have planted a bug in the magazine’s office, you might know months in advance that the editor of Sex Under the Fir Trees wants to publish an article later this year about the identification of flat needle conifers.

If you’re not psychic, not adept at wiretapping, and have no credentials in the world of needles and cones, you’re either not going to know what the editor wants, or knowing it isn’t going to help you.

Once you know a publication that fits into your areas of expertise and experience, pitch your article idea to the editor rather than writing something up and sending it in.

First, when you pitch (propose) an article idea to an editor, s/he immediately sees that: (a) you’re approaching the magazine as a professional, (b) you aren’t wasting your valuable time researching and writing something the s/he may not use, (c) you’re asking the editor “what do YOU want in your magazine” rather than assuming s/he will like something randomly sent in.

Next, let’s say you’ve sent the editor a well-written cover letter that demonstrates why your proposed article is vital or interesting, how you will approach the topic, and why the magazine’s readers might use or enjoy such an article. And let’s say that you’ve included a writing sample and some great information about your expertise and experience, now what?

You want the editor to say, “yes, write the article.” But you also hope the editor will offer valuable guidance that helps ensure the article really will meet the magazine’s needs.

Perhaps you’ve proposed an article about pine needles AND pine cones: the editor might say, leave out the pine cones, we’re already working on that one. The editor also might suggest a slightly different focus or a longer article than you initially planned. Show your openness to the editor’s ideas in your cover letter.

The first time an editor says, “yes, send me your article,” s/he will probably stipulate that you are sending it in on speculation, that is, without a guarantee that it will be used. Once an article or two is published, the editor will see that you can deliver what s/he wants. Then, the next pitched article may result in a more formal assignment.

In time, the editor might start pitching ideas to you: “Bob, we need an article about the Douglas-fir. How would you like to send us about 2,000 words on the largest examples of this tree in Oregon and Washington?”

Now you’re where you want to be.

Malcolm R. Campbell, a former college journalism instructor and corporate communications director, is the author of the mountain adventure novel “The Sun Singer.” His writing tips are posted regularly on Writing, Montana & More.

We get a lot of questions about what happened to the Russian Church after the revolution of 1917 and what religious life was like during the Communist regime in Russia.

As we know, in 1914 Russia had 55 173 Russian Orthodox churches and 29 593 chapels, 112 629 priests and deacons, 550 monasteries and 475 nunneries with a total of 95 259 inhabitants.

As the twentieth century approached, Russia could boast the largest single national Church in the world.

Although freedom of religious expression was formally declared by one of the first decrees of the revolutionary government in January 1918, both the Church and its followers were heavily persecuted and deeply disadvantaged. Prior to the Russian Revolution, there were some 54 000 functioning parishes and over 150 bishops. There were soon bloody and cruel killings of bishops and priests, and massacres of believers during the Red Terror and the following years of repressions were shocking. These persecutions were even greater than the persecutions of the Ancient Christian Church both in the number of holy martyrs and the cruelty and ingenuity of the persecutors.

Many religious hierarchs fled Russia during the revolution and the civil war that followed. They contributed to the spread of the Orthodox Church in many countries. However, some hierarchs even formed their own organization that became known as the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. They split away from the Russian Church. During the 1920-30s, most church buildings were blown up, burned or converted into secular buildings; over 50 thousand priests were either executed or sent to labor camps.
By 1939, there were less than 100 functioning parishes and only four bishops.

During World War II, the religious persecution in Soviet Union became less pronounced, in part due to cooperation of the Church with the state on national defense issues. Years 1944-45 saw the reopening of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary that had been closed since 1918. After the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, relations between the Church and the state started to deteriorate again. Until Perestroika, public expression of religious beliefs – Christian or otherwise – was frowned upon; known churchgoers were deprived of some social rights, they could not become members of the Communist Party, which in turn, severely limited their career opportunities and many lost their jobs and any privileges. All Soviet university students were required to take courses in so-called “Scientific Atheism”.

Cathedral of Christ the Savior was blown up in 1931 and turned into a heated open-air pool. Restoration was started in 1995.

Some priests of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as other churches in the Soviet Union were secretly employed by the KGB for the government to discover who was a Church member. Despite the dangers, large numbers of people remained openly or secretly religious. In 1987 in the Russian Federation between 40% and 50% of newborn babies were baptized, and over 60% of all the deceased received Christian funeral services.

A pivotal moment in the history of the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1988 – the millennium of the Baptism of Russia. It appears now that the government had realized the fruitlessness of its efforts in its war against religion and instead tried to use religion to gain the support of the people.

Throughout the summer of 1988, major government-supported celebrations took place in Moscow and other cities and many churches and some monasteries were reopened. An implicit ban against religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted. For the first time in the history of the Soviet Union, people could use their TVs to see live transmissions of services from central churches.

Today, the Russian Orthodox Church is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world. Over 90% of ethnic Russians identify themselves as Russian Orthodox. The number of people regularly attending church services is considerably lower, but growing every year. The Church has over 23,000 parishes, 154 bishops, 635 monasteries, and 102 clerical schools.

Anastasia Dukhnina
M&M Art Travel
Find more about Russian history and culture at http://www.mmarttravel.com

Umpteen risk takers have come across the caption “offshore sports betting” in recent times, though may not be completely savvy what that symbolizes. An overseas gaming website in effect works out of the jurisdiction of any distinct country or alternatively it can be a live betting site that locates its central computers inside a country in which internet based sports gaming isn’t currently unlawful. In summary therefore, it can be represented as a sports gambling web site doing business extraneous of the power of the area of the player. Machine-accessible sports gambling web pages are regulated through the agency of 3 governing bodies. These are known as the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and finally the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association (the FTGA).

The OSGA is a self-governing “watchdog” authority which keeps checks on the current overseas sports gaming business, their purpose is to also provide betting devotees access to quickly locate respectable websites to play gambling games with. It strives to watch over gambling lover’s rights, and in addition they do not demand any annual dues.

The agency are a proficient and unbiased third party association which pronounces neutral conclusions, established on your responses, unbiased inquiry, telephone conversations, inside prompts also offers inside news.

The Interactive Gaming Council are a non-profit-making council. The administration has been established to furnish a forum for involved participants to address issues and in addition to move forward shared matters in the world-wide interactive gambling profession, in an effort to establish reasonable and also dependable trade instructions and forms that enhance customer certainty in net based gaming merchandise and benefits, and to aid as the trade’s universal procedure interpreter and it also offers an information base.

The Interactive Gaming Council has built up a reputation for safety, fairness also credibility by reason of the criteria it exhibits, also its appeal for credible websites. The Interactive Gaming Council regulates overseas sports betting via implementing a particular ten step code of behavior and in addition bills sports gambling businesses license fees to show the council’s logo. Unsatisfied customers may also report any of their disputes to the IGC.

The Fidelity Trust Gaming Association was set up in order to compose a benchmark to upgrade the policies of on-line gambling operations. The IGC proposerealize that doing business with companies of honorable standing, they are able to shape a federation of the most sportsmanlike and professional offshore gaming operations internationally.

So, these are bodies who review the transactions of web based sports betting and which should with time assist to assuage any fears due to the insecurity held by gamblers. Machine-accessible gambling web sites are entirely safe, in as much as private data shouldn’t be required and the recompense and the gaming odds should be as equal and reasonable as in your familiar Vegas-type stake. They reduce travel expenditure, but retain the original ethos, only now you can wager in your home.

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One of the items usually found at the bottom of the list when planning an education is medical insurance for students. More Often Than Not, health insurance is the last thing on a student’s mind. Younger people tend to imagine that they are immortal and that they will never get sick.

Regrettably, this is rarely a sound position however fit an individual might seem. An appropriate student medical insurance plan isn’t just a great idea, it is an essential.

For students who are lucky enough included in a parent’s insurance policy, broadly speaking most of them should extend to a college student up to their twenty-third birthday. For the student who does not currently have insurance cover via their parent’s plan, obtaining an appropriate student health insurance plan should be apart of budgeting for a college education.

What must you look for in a health insurance plan directed at students? Deductibles: This is a minimal yearly amount you must pay before any medical benefits start, like a car insurance policy. An example might be, should the deductible be five hundred dollars, 500 dollars has to be paid before getting any payment from your insurance policy.

What’s your co-pay? Once you meet the deductible, commonly for every physician’s visit, medication, or operation you’ll be required to pay a pre-determined part of the bill. That, succinctly, is co-pay. Precisely what should your insurance policy pay for? Many plans are HMO and Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA). This may mean certain doctors may possibly be excluded from your list of health professionals and might not be covered by your insurance policy. In general all programs will include a directory of approved providers, prior to making a decision ensure you look into the choices carefully. What does the phrase catastrophic insurance coverage imply? Restrictions are commonplace in student health insurance policies in particular with reference to terminal illness, and for most medical insurance for college students, the cover is usually lower than any regular medical insurance policy. Limitations: Restrictions are standard in student health insurance. It is really important to read over your policy thoroughly to find out what is and isn’t included in any plan. Have all your health insurance documentation with you no matter where you travel. Illnesses are not just not possible to plan for, but they are unfortunately likely to hit when least anticipated. Familiarise yourself with the parameters of your college health insurance plan even if you are included in your parent’s policy.