?(Linda Joy Myers reviews Beamish Boy at Amazon?see end of post.)
??????How did you begin your writing life?
As a photographer, studying at the SF Art Institute, being enamored by titles and the use of language in visual art. Then I got invited to a poetry reading for the Norton Anthology of Post Modern American Poetry at the Cowell Theater in San Francisco, I had never been to a poetry reading?and I was just awe-struck. I began writing that very night and haven?t turned back.
????? What was the strongest force that prompted you to write a memoir?
1. The curiosity about if I could actually do it. And 2. The need to tell and release my story became to energized in my body and it needed out.
????? How did you choose the title of your book?
?I was working with a professional editor and writing coach at the time and we were going over titles and ideas and we were talking about this phrase in the manuscript, how my father called me ?Beamish Boy? and I had no idea where that was from and of course she did?from the poem Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll, and it just fit perfectly.
?????? In your memoir you write about some powerful negative emotions and behaviors. Was it difficult to write truthfully about these situations? What helped you to write honestly about yourself?
I felt like I had no choice. In order to be free from all this psychological baggage once and for all I had to be totally honest with my self and with the world. I had to confront the truth head on, accept it, and let it go!
??????? How different was it for you to write prose vs. poetry in your memoir?
?A real challenge. I wasn?t sure I could complete a sentence after writing poetry and poetic lines for 15 years. It also became a great gift for strengthening the prose.
??????? What advice do you have for other people who want to write about their lives?especially if they have abuse or addictions as part of their story.
Work on yourself first, be at a strong place in your life, out of crisis mode before writing the whole book?I mean write through it all if you can, but take time with it, go to therapy, take care of your body and mind, meditate, cultivate self love and compassion, seek out a writing coach and mentor?be prepared to slay the dragons of doubt and fear everyday?remain strong, ask for help, read a lot, and practice, practice, practice, your writing. You can and will do it, if you must, otherwise, if the sincere yearning and passion are not there, save yourself some trouble and do some gardening or go for a bike ride!
?Linda Joy?s review of DeSilver?s memoir Beamish Boy.? For more information about how to join NAMW member Teleseminars, go here.
Alison Entrekin, translator of a new edition of Lispector?s Near the Wild Heart, on the difficulties and pleasures of translating this particularly difficult and pleasing writer.
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Clarice Lispector and fans. Photo courtesy of Paulo Gurgel Valente.
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At the tender age of 23, Clarice Lispector shocked the world of Brazilian publishing with her first book, Near to the Wild Heart, and won the 1944 Gra?a Aranha Prize for best debut novel. This year, Alison Entrekin retranslated it for a New Directions series of Lispector?s work that included three other novels?The Passion According to G.H., A Breath of Life, and Agua Viva?each with a different translator, and edited by Lispector?s biographer and translator of The Hour of the Star, Benjamin Moser. Entrekin answered my questions by email from her home in Brazil.
Sarah Gerard It has often been said that Clarice Lispector?s Portuguese isn?t like the Portuguese anyone was writing in when she published Near to the Wild Heart, and remains unique. What does this mean? How is it different?
Alison Entrekin Clarice was a native speaker of Portuguese, but her writing style definitely isn?t run-of-the-mill. Her turns of phrase are often peculiar, her word choices unconventional, and her syntax can be rather odd at times. Not always, but a lot of the time. There are places in her books where she is entirely idiomatic and makes perfect sense and places where every reader understands something different, because her sentences are open-ended, with words that contain a range of nuances, allowing for several different readings.
SG Different challenges arise translating a work from any one language into another. What are some of the challenges you face translating a work from Portuguese into English?
AE The answer to this question varies with each book and author, but with Clarice the big challenge any translator faces is allowing her to be herself. This is easier said than done. With unconventional writers, there is always a little niggling voice in the back of your mind telling you that readers of the translation are going to attribute any difficulties they have to the translator, not to the original, and I think that this?consciously or unconsciously?leads some translators to over-interpret what the author actually said and serve up a more domesticated version of the writing. I think some past translations of Clarice have tried too hard to ?tidy her up? and have her make perfect sense where she was deliberately open-ended. I tried not to do this. There is almost always a more natural way to say the things she says, but it wouldn?t necessarily be a faithful translation.
SG You received several degrees in creative writing before studying translation. Do you consider yourself first of all a writer or a translator, or do you feel the two are inseparable?
AE For me, they are different things, though I believe my background in creative writing makes me a better translator. It certainly enables me to appreciate why a writer did something one way and not another, which in turn helps me decide what to do with it in the translation.
One of the most difficult things with any translation is finding a way to set aside your own voice, syntax, and word preferences in order to allow the writer?s voice to speak through you. In that sense, you are almost like a medium or an actor?you have to be flexible enough in your own use of language that you can ?channel? or ?impersonate? that writer in the target language. I think studies in creative writing are a wonderful foundation for literary translation, because they give you a lot of perspective and skills that aren?t always taught in translation courses.
SG How does your translation of Near to the Wild Heart differ from Giovanni Pontiero?s? Do you feel you approached it differently? Was his translation useful to you in making decisions about your own?
AE I deliberately avoided reading Pontiero?s translation until after I was done with my own. And even then, I didn?t read it all. I looked at the first few chapters and then just peeked at what he had done in some particularly difficult places to see his take on things, but I think we are completely different translators and tackled things in very different ways. I don?t want to run the man down, as he isn?t here to defend himself, but I feel that he took a few too many liberties with his translation, filling in a lot of Clarice?s little ellipses and making her sound more conventional than she was.
SG Pontiero?s translation ended famously with, ?I shall arise as strong and comely as a young colt,? whereas you?ve translated this as, ?I shall arise as strong and beautiful as a young horse.? Can you explain this subtle difference?
AE In her original text Clarice used bela, which is ?beautiful.? I don?t see any justification for using a synonym for ?beautiful? in this case, as it is a direct match for bela. ?Comely? is a less likely choice, with subtleties of its own that are not present in bela. Clarice could have used a synonym for bela, but didn?t. Likewise, she used cavalo novo in the original, which is literally ?young horse.? She could have used poldro or potro, the Portuguese for ?colt,? but didn?t. My translation is simpler and perhaps less elegant, but I feel it is closer to the original.
SG Lispector was heavily influenced by Spinoza and even included passages from his work in Near to the Wild Heart. To what extent do you need to be familiar with Lispector?s influences in order translate any of her work?
AE Clarice only quotes Spinoza verbatim once in Near to the Wild Heart, and then repeats the phrase slightly differently further on, though she explores some of his themes throughout the novel. Of course, it is useful to know these things, as it can influence the vocabulary you use, but at the end of the day you have to translate what?s on the page, not what?s behind it. In this case, I had to translate Clarice paraphrasing Spinoza, which is different than translating Spinoza himself.
SG Even more than most writers, themes stretch across and seem to morph through Lispector?s books. In translating her first novel, was it difficult not to let your familiarity with her later works inform your choices too much, or was it actually an advantage to have access to those later works?
AE I?m not a specialist in Clarice Lispector, nor have I read all of her books. But I do believe that a work of literature has to be approached as is; that is, as I said before, you have to translate the book that is in front of you. Of course, the better you know a writer, the better equipped you will be to identify their quirks, favorite words, themes, etc. but it probably won?t change the way you translate them.
Ultimately, I think one?s knowledge of the language and culture is still more important than expertise in a particular author (though obviously knowing the author?s oeuvre is better than not knowing it). For example, Clarice often said that so-and-so ?dilated? their eyes in Portuguese, meaning ?opened them wide.? I came across it a few times in Near to the Wild Heart, and have seen it in other stories of hers, too. As far as I have been able to ascertain, it is a quirk of Clarice?s. It?s nice to know, but it didn?t change my approach to it. It is just as odd a word choice in Portuguese as it is in English?pupils dilate, but we don?t usually say that eyes dilate?which is why I rendered it literally in my translation. On the other hand, I discovered quite by accident?while talking to a woman of Clarice?s generation in a doctor?s waiting room?that her use of another word, which I had found quite peculiar on first reading, was actually the current usage back when she was writing, though it isn?t so usual today. Needless to say, I rushed home and changed my translation of that word to something more conventional.
SG Is there anything that you feel didn?t translate well from the Portuguese into the English in Near to the Wild Heart, and if so, what were the obstacles?
AE I don?t really remember anything specific that I was terribly distraught about, but I do feel that, despite my best efforts to preserve her idiosyncrasies, the translation suffered certain losses. To some extent, this is all in a translator?s day?s work, as no language is a mirror copy of another, but with Clarice it is exacerbated by the fact that she frequently used words that could be interpreted in a number of ways. That?s fine when you?re reading her?a discerning reader will register several of those nuances and move on. When you have to translate her, it?s a different story. Often there isn?t a corresponding word or phrase that offers all of the possibilities contained in the original. So you have to choose?which is a very subjective process in itself?and, in so doing, you automatically narrow her down, pin her to what you think is most important.
SG What is the editing process like for translation? Did you and Benjamin Moser work together closely on this, and was there anything about which you strongly disagreed?
AE Editors, in my experience, are very different animals. Some are hands-off, some are hands-on, but most of them don?t have access to the original, so anything they say or suggest is speculative. It was completely different with Ben, as he knows Clarice?s work back to front in the original. I found the process a lot simpler, because I didn?t have to explain the things that I would have had to if he didn?t speak Portuguese. He was a thorough reader and asked pertinent questions, but I didn?t feel that he was overly intrusive as an editor. I think we?re pretty much on the same page in terms of approach. I liked his translation of The Hour of the Star, incidentally, which I think is telling.
I did consult another colleague?Daniela Travaglini?heavily and feel badly because I forgot to include a translator?s note thanking her for her invaluable input. I have worked with Dani for years, and she is my go-to person whenever I am not sure about something in Portuguese. I have lived in Brazil for 16 years, but the very nature of my work means that I am forever stumbling across aspects of the language with which I am not familiar?new words or turns of phrase?and I always take my questions to Dani first. She is Brazilian and I am Australian, but we both know the other?s language very well, which sets up a nice tension between the two languages as we hash things out. With this translation, I found myself asking her over and over, ?Is this word/phrase/sentence as jarring to you as it is to me?? Whenever she was unsure about something, I would write off to another four people simultaneously, to get a range of opinions. On several occasions I got four completely different answers, which just goes to show how difficult Clarice is to pin down. In the end, the decision was mine, but I felt better knowing that I?d exhausted numerous possibilities and that my choices were well-informed.
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Sarah Gerard?s fiction and criticism have appeared in BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, New South, Slice, and Word Riot, among others. She has written journalism for The St. Petersburg Times and Creative Loafing, and edited a number of journals and street papers. She is a bookseller at McNally Jackson and a graduate of The New School with an MFA in Fiction.
Revisiting the Older Forms of Social Media: Forums and Message Boards
By SEO Inc + July 23rd, 2012
Before there was Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Quora, blogs, and del.icio.us, there was the message boards or online forums. Forums were one of the earliest forms of social media where people created an account and joined the discussion on just about anything. And by anything, we mean everything?from raising dogs to gardening to home improvement and [...]
Revisiting the Older Forms of Social Media: Forums and Message Boards is a post from: DreamGrow Social Media
Before there was Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Quora, blogs, and del.icio.us, there was the message boards or online forums. Forums were one of the earliest forms of social media where people created an account and joined the discussion on just about anything. And by anything, we mean everything?from raising dogs to gardening to home improvement and yes, even things such as My Little Pony and LARPing.
Depending on the forum involved, the numbers could be as high as thousands of conversations per day. Some forums have thousands of users interacting with one another.
For businesses, forums and message boards were more or less the pioneer way to engage customers.
Forums worked for businesses because:
It allows you to have conversations with customers in an informal manner.
It gives your customers a venue to air questions and complaints. It also gives you and other users a chance to address the concerns raised in the forums.
If used right, your forum posts could also paint you as an expert on the subject.
It has some search engine optimization benefits as it provides an endless source of links, both incoming and outgoing, for your website. What?s more, any activity on a forum could help you keep your content fresh and new.
It could be used for a dozen of content-related things including:
mini-blog
FAQ
Customer profiles
Update and announcement board
Event information and registrations
But basically, business-related forums provided a great place for business owners to get to know, talk to and engage their customers. This is why with the advent of Facebook and Twitter, message boards and forums somehow lost steam. For one, people took their conversations, rants and raves to social media where they are connected with people who matter, rather than strangers who become newfound friends.
Social networks are also less prone to censorship and have less rules to observe. In short, the customers lost interest in signing up for different forums and just focused their attention on social networking.
But are forums dead? Has it gone the way of MySpace and Friendster and other social media platforms that peaked and then disappeared forever?
No. This is because of three things:
1. Forums and Message Boards Have Found Their Use in Niche Markets
Even if you have 5,000 friends on Facebook, you will be hard-pressed to find another person with the same interest in, say, cross-stitching with the lights off. Now, if there is a forum for that, you will find that you are not unique with your interest at all and that a few hundreds scattered around the world also love cross-stitching in the dark.
While that may be an extreme example, think of how you would find people interested in your hobbies such as gardening, BB guns, off-road racing or airsoft.
2. Forums are a Great Way to Seek Answers from Experts Who are Not Vendor-specific or Tied to Any Company
Those who work in highly technical fields swear by the help they get from forums. Not only do they get answers to questions they pose, they can also get it immediately just by back reading on what has already been posted on forums.
For example, Internet marketers wanting to know more about local SEO could easily browse through the help forums hosted by Google.
3. Forums are Adapting
There are now forums that bring posts to their users on mobile apps. If they do not, you can download an app called TapaTalk so that you could read forum posts on your iPhone or Android device. Forum posts, replies and whole threads are being shared on Facebook and Twitter.
How to Take Advantage of Online Forums
1. If you have a consumer product, then you would do well if you focus on the lifestyle of your current and potential customers. For example, focus on kitchen stuff, cleaning tips or gardening knowledge. Encourage your users to share their experiences and advice on how to use your products or something similar like it.
2. Look for a niche market that you serve and create conversations that would interest them. For example, if you are an SEO professional, you might want to start threads on real user experiences that got them banned from Google, or what worked for their websites from a SEO standpoint.
3. Do not market too much on message boards and online forums. You do not want to turn off your Facebook fans by always selling your products and services. You simply follow the same principle on online forums. Join the conversation and suggest alternatives for issues raised.
If you think that your product is the best solution, then suggest it. But if you think that there are comparable or better products out there, say so. This will only boost your credibility and your customers would love you for your honesty.
4. Be active in the conversation. The best thing about putting up an online forum for your business is that you get to talk about something that you are an expert on and it is a subject that you are interested in. So it does not make sense that you should skip out on the conversation, especially when your customers are participating.
5. Post FAQs, how-tos and other resources on your online forums.
6. Use online forums as an informal focused group. If you are thinking of launching a new product and want to know what features would be appreciated or if you want to make sure that your new user license agreement is acceptable, then create a thread for it.
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This guest post is brought to you by SEO Inc; a Social Media Marketing Firm that understands the power of the original social media formats.? The point is to get involved wherever your target audience gravitates towards, whether it?s Facebook or old school message boards.
Image Credit: Freedigitalphotos
Revisiting the Older Forms of Social Media: Forums and Message Boards is a post from: DreamGrow Social Media
Nikhil Agarwal?s business premise is a toast to your tastebuds. It deals with All Things Nice
Taste Case: Nikhil Agarwal
Thirty three-year-old Nikhil Agarwal is a wine aficionado. So are many of us. But the suave and savvy entrepreneur has turned his passion into a successful business model, combining other similar preferences into a marketing model. Agarwal?s All Things Nice (ATN) helps different brands market their goods and services to prospective clients. The route is by introducing and educating the Indian consumer on items ranging from wines and single malts to cheese, chocolates, teas, coffees and cigars. ?ATN is a taste experience. Our tasting events are hosted at well-known restaurants, hotels and art galleries, attended by High Networth Individuals who are then possible converts to the brands they taste,? explains Agarwal, Director, ATN.
The company also offers consultancy to restaurants and hotels to compile special wine lists, how to best pair wine with the food on offer, staff training etc. ATN also provides global F&B players with their marketing and distribution solutions, especially aiding them in dealing with India?s complex import and export systems. It works with wineries and importers of wine, beer, other spirits and gourmet food companies in their marketing efforts.
The spin-off Starting off in the sales department of Sula Vineyards at the age of 22, Agarwal was quickly promoted to the import division of the Indian wine giant. Just one and a half years later, he joined the export/sales division of the company. As he gained experience and was exposed to all the major wine brands across the world, Agarwal?s passion for his subject grew in leaps and bounds. ?I am a Punjabi, so I love my food and drink. I have been a sommelier for 11 years. I realized a few years back that loving all things nice myself, I would be in a good position to market products that brands in this space offer,? explains Agarwal over a simple cup of steaming cappuccino at a Mumbai caf?.
All Things Nice was launched in 2010, with the then 30-year-old entrepreneur putting in `20 lakh of his own savings (some of this was savings he made from stock market forays). With its revenue coming from the consultancy services it offers to hotels, restaurants, retail chains and airlines, the ATN portfolio also includes brand launches, events and other programs, which are sources of income for the company.
With a team of seven personnel, ATN today has a community of 7,500 members. Starting up was not a tough ask for Agarwal as he knew most of the people in the industry since his Sula days and even later as a sommelier. ?My clients are High Networth Individuals who have the means to afford the luxuries of life. They are well-traveled, understand the different qualities of wine and liquors they consume and prefer gourmet food to regular fare. It helped that hailing from a business family, I knew many of these people at a personal level. They have implicit trust in my judgment and know that if I am offering them a product, it is not just because I have to sell and earn a living. I am as passionate about the good things as they are,? explains Agarwal.
Rise ?n? Shine ATN organizes Shine Nights, where prospective clients are introduced to a particular product/brand. If they like it, there are various ways in which sales can be later made. Till date, ATN has organized hundreds of such Shine Nights, both private ones and those that are thrown open to the public. He has also organized 55 private tastings till date. ?My USP is that I am not selling anything to anybody. I am just introducing you to a particular product which I feel you would prefer to purchase. People trust my judgment because of my past experience in this field. Of course, there are tangible benefits for the brands whose products are tasted at our sessions, because it results directly in more sales for them,? claims Agarwal, whose portfolio includes hands-on experience with industry giants like Moet Hennessy, Diageo and, of course, Sula. The entrepreneur acquired his sommelier degree in wine and spirits from UK?s Wine & Spirits Education Trust.
Almost as a natural offshoot of his present business, Agarwal hopes to open his own restaurant some day soon. ?The logistics and funding options have to be carefully sorted before I can think of selecting the menu and the venue. It?s all in my head, of course, but once everything falls into place, I will open my own restaurant,? he says.
Of course, he also pays for his extreme love of all things nice. ?Every time I go to a restaurant for a quiet drink & dinner with my wife, I check if the wine has been served in the correct glass, if the pairing has been suggested correctly and sometimes spend more time staring at the menu than at my wife. But these situations are most welcome. When my business is all about dealing with the good things in life, how can I not feel good about life too?? he says.
A man stands in front of the scene of a bomb attack in Madain, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation?s deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
A man stands in front of the scene of a bomb attack in Madain, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation?s deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
People inspect the aftermath of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation's deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
People inspect the aftermath of a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings has killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation's deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
A municipality bulldozer removes debris as onlookers gather to view the scene of a car bombing in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings has killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation's deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Mohammed Jassim is treated at a hospital after a car bomb attack in Baghdad's Shiite enclave of Sadr City, Iraq, Monday, July 23, 2012. An onslaught of bombings and shootings killed scores of people across Iraq on Monday, in the nation's deadliest day so far this year. The attacks come days after the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared a new offensive seeking to re-assert its might in the security vacuum left by the departing Americans. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Bombings and shootings ripped across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 106 people in the deadliest day in more than two years. The coordinated attacks in 15 cities sent a chilling warning that al-Qaida is slowly resurging in the security vacuum created by a weak government in Baghdad and the departure of the U.S. military seven months ago.
Though there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq declared last week a new offensive aimed at sowing instability across the country.
Iraqi militants have kept up a steady drumbeat of deadly attacks since the U.S. pulled out in December, ending nearly a decade of war. They have sought to increase the chaos created by the deepening sectarian political crisis that pits Sunni and Kurdish leaders against Shiite political powers.
"Al-Qaida is trying to send a message that it is still strong and can choose the time and places to attack," said Shiite lawmaker Hakim al-Zamili, a member of parliament's security and defense committee. He said weaknesses in Iraq's ability to gather intelligence about terror plots, or stop them despite security checkpoints has shown how toothless the government is in protecting its people.
Al-Zamili also raised the specter of al-Qaida infiltrating security forces. If these gaps are not closed quickly, he said, "the attacks and explosions will continue and al-Qaida will be stronger."
In one brazen assault on Monday, three carloads of gunmen pulled up at an Iraqi army base early Monday near the northeastern town of Udaim and opened fire, killing 13 soldiers before escaping, two senior police officials said.
The deadliest attack, however, took place just north of Baghdad in the town of Taji, where a double bombing killed at least 41 people. The blasts were timed to hit as police rushed to help victims from a series of five explosions minutes earlier.
Monday's violence bore most of the hallmarks of al-Qaida: the bombings and shootings all took place within a few hours of each other and struck mostly at security forces and government offices ? favorite targets of the predominantly Sunni militants. And most of it happened in the capital and in northern areas the terror group used to control and where they now stand the best chance of regaining a foothold.
More than 200 people also were wounded in the onslaught Monday, Iraq's bloodiest day since a string of nationwide attacks on May 10, 2010, killed at least 119 people. Spokesmen for Iraq's government and Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki could not be immediately reached for comment.
Iraq's Interior Ministry, which oversees the country's security, condemned the attacks, calling them a "flagrant violation" of the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan. It said security officials now planned to devise a new strategy to protect the public, but said complaints about the security gaps were "not useful."
For years, al-Qaida in Iraq has been seeking to re-assert its might, although U.S. and Iraqi officials insist it is nowhere as strong as it was when the nation came to the brink of civil war between 2006 and 2008.
The militant group made a series of missteps shortly afterward ? targeting civilians, imposing overly strict Islamic discipline, alienating tribal leaders ? that undercut its support in Iraq's Sunni communities and helped lead to the widespread defection of fighters to groups allied with the U.S. The flow of funding, arms and fighters slowed to a trickle, and al-Qaida in Iraq since has struggled, but failed, to command much power.
But the militant group's local wing ? known as the Islamic State of Iraq ? is now seizing on the vacuum left by the Americans and Baghdad's fragmented government.
Baghdad political analyst Hadi Jalo said al-Qaida in Iraq, as a Sunni group, feels emboldened by the success of the Sunni-dominated uprising in neighboring Syria against Damascus' Alawite rulers. The Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
"It is leading a sectarian war and Iraq is part of its war and ideology in this region," Jalo said.
In a statement issued Saturday, the leader of al-Qaida's affiliate in Iraq warned that the militant network is returning to strongholds from which it was driven from while the American military was here.
"The majority of the Sunnis in Iraq support al-Qaida and are waiting for its return," Islamic State of Iraq leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said in the statement that was posted on a militant website.
The local wing of al-Qaida, known as the Islamic State of Iraq, has long been at odds with al-Qaida's central leadership. The global network's current leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, has in the past criticized Iraq's movement for targeting civilians. But earlier this year, al-Zawahri softened his stance, and included ISI militants in a network plea for fighters to join the Syrian uprising.
Previous al-Qaida offensives have failed to push the country into civil war, largely because Shiite militias in recent years have refused to be lured into the kind of tit-for-tat killings that marked Iraq's descent six years ago. Additionally, for all its weaknesses, the Iraqi government now holds more authority than it did during those dark years, and, by and large, citizens have no desire to return down that path.
Still, the militant group appears to be banking on Iraq's fragility in its campaign to throw it into permanent chaos. Sectarian tensions have risen due to a political crisis stemming from terror charges the Shiite-led government has filed against one of the country's vice presidents, who is one of Iraq's top Sunni officials. He says they are politically inspired.
Mohammed Munim, 35, was working at an Interior Ministry office that issues government ID cards to residents in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr City neighborhood when a car exploded outside, killing 16 people.
"It was a thunderous explosion," Munim said from his bed in the emergency room at Sadr City hospital. He was hit by shrapnel in his neck and back. "The only thing I remember was the smoke and fire, which was everywhere."
Most of the cities and towns pounded by bombs Monday are located in Sunni-dominated areas that nonetheless include sizable pockets of ethnically- and religiously-mixed populations.
Attacks struck the Baghdad suburb of Hussainiya, northeastern Diyala province, five towns around Kirkuk and in the oil-rich city itself as well as the northern city of Mosul ? a former al-Qaida stronghold, police said.
Only one of Monday's attacks occurred in undisputed Shiite territory: a bomb in the southern town of Diwaniyah that police said killed three people and wounded 25.
All of the casualties were confirmed by police and health officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
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Associated Press Writer Lara Jakes in Baghdad and Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq, contributed to this report.
Tripp Palin, Bristol's son and the youngest member of the Palin family, is at the center of the latest family controversy. As seen in an episode of Lifetime's "Life's a Tripp,"? the 3-year-old, in the midst of an argument with his mom and aunt Willow Palin yells to Willow "Go away you f-----." The word itself is bleeped out, and based on Willow and Bristol's mostly amused reactions, it's difficult to know what exactly he said.
"What did you just say?" Bristol asked, while giggling, after Tripp's outburst. In a voice over, Bristol addressed the situation saying, "I'm doing a terrible job disciplining Tripp. I know he's going to continue to push the boundaries and push the limits."
The video, which you can watch here, prompted many to speculate that Tripp used an anti-gay slur, but "Life's a Tripp" showrunner Matt Lutz told Gawker it was not, just the use of another F word (the one that rhymes with "luck," so to speak).
Ultimately, we're reminded that this isn't the first time the Palin family has come under fire for using the anti-gay slur. During the premiere of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" in 2010, Willow? addressed a critic of the show by writing on her Facebook page, "Haha your so gay. I have no idea who you are, But what I've seen pictures of, your disgusting ... My sister has a kid and is still hot." She followed that up with another comment that read, "Tre stfu. Your such a f----."
Bristol, speaking for herself and Willow, later apologized.
As for the current incident, Bristol has made no mention of it on her Facebook page, or her Twitter account.
It is frighteningly easy to dupe the public with statistics, since most journalists and readers aren't trained in all the sophisticated ways pollsters can make subtle changes to research that make a gigantic difference in the outcome. Recently, a near-paranoid picture of the American public made its way around the media cycle, thanks to a "study" by TrustE, a web security company, on privacy. Since we know you want to be intelligent readers, and you can't always depend on journalists to recognize a bad statistic, we thought we'd show you how to spot a misleading study using the report's glaringly bad methodology.
Before there was Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Quora, blogs, and del.icio.us, there was the message boards or online forums. Forums were one of the earliest forms of social media where people created an account and joined the discussion on just about anything. And by anything, we mean everything?from raising dogs to gardening to home improvement and yes, even things such as My Little Pony and LARPing.
Even if you have 5,000 friends on Facebook, you will be hard-pressed to find another person with the same interest in, say, cross-stitching with the lights off. Now, if there is a forum for that, you will find that you are not unique with your interest at all and that a few hundreds scattered around the world also love cross-stitching in the dark.
There are now forums that bring posts to their users on mobile apps. If they do not, you can download an app called TapaTalk so that you could read forum posts on your iPhone or Android device. Forum posts, replies and whole threads are being shared on Facebook and Twitter.
It is frighteningly easy to dupe the public with statistics, since most journalists and readers aren't trained in all the sophisticated ways pollsters can make subtle changes to research that make a gigantic difference in the outcome. Recently, a near-paranoid picture of the American public