The Faculty Lounge: Self-Service Education (2)

??? In my last post, I described what seems to me a growing tendency among students to prefer to consume their legal educations in the same way they consume virtually everything else: with the least possible interaction with other human beings.? This tendency arises partly from habit (that?s just how we do things); partly from a consumerist approach to education (it?s my education, I?ll take it the way I like it); and partly from what seems to me to be a declining interest in cultivating the skills associated with face-to-face relations among human beings.? If I?m right about this trend, how ought legal educators and professionals think about it?

??? First, self-service simply is not an appropriate mode for acquiring higher learning.? On the contrary, even at its best it institutionalizes a form of standardization that can provide a really good education only by accident.? Good teaching is not algorithmic; each student needs something a little different; a few may need something very different.? Self-service education is acceptable only if you think that teaching is something that is done best by mass-produced communications aimed at no one in particular.?

??? Now, I don?t want to overstate the case; a good deal of ground can be covered with many students by feeding them a diet of pre-packaged material from which no deviation is possible.? But as a teacher and advisor, I have always felt that to know what my students need I must see their faces, while they are performing, in my presence.? By definition, students with trouble can?t fully articulate their own problems, so an affirmative diagnosis is often necessary, and that is a skill and an art that must be performed in person.? I need to palpate my students, metaphorically speaking, to teach and advise them effectively.? Every teacher starts in every circumstance with a predicted script, but the best teachers stand ready to throw away the script when they sense a problem in the classroom, just as the best athletes stand ready to scramble on a broken play.

??? The concept of self-service education denies what a real education fundamentally is: an improvised, often messy and meandering collaboration between a teacher and a student, an expert and a novice.? Instead, education is reconceived as a deliberate and unilateral act of acquisition by the student.? Teachers are merely props, means to their students? ends.? The teacher?s experience, expertise, and hard-acquired judgment are denied; they drop out of the equation.? That?s bad enough, but it also has consequences.? Teachers do not unilaterally construct themselves; they are constructed partially by their students.? Students who treat their teacher like a walking avatar whose only purpose is obediently to spit out information demanded by the student, in a form and at a time demanded by the student, will not elicit from the teacher his or her best performance.? You might say: A teacher must always give his or her best performance.? I respond: This merely denies the premise I wish to assert: that good teaching is not an imposition of will, from either side of the lectern, but a mutually constitutive, ongoing, relationship.? Both parties must participate fully and in good faith if the teaching and the learning are to approach their potential.

??? In the end, it is the decreasing attention to the relationship aspect of the educational enterprise that most troubles me about what I think I detect in a growing number of aspiring legal professionals.? Today at least, it is not possible in the legal profession to attain one?s objectives without the ability to engage and to inspire other human beings face to face.? Lawyers constantly must influence the behavior of others ? clients, witnesses, judges, other lawyers, court and law office staff ? and often that influence can be exercised best, or even only, in person.? Students who fail to cultivate the necessary skills of in-person engagement will later find themselves unable to obtain their professional goals ? not always, perhaps, but certainly sometimes.?

??? Still, the biggest question is whether this will at some point cease to be the case.? Eventually, the generation now in law school classrooms will run things.? If they behave no differently in positions of leadership than they now behave in positions of apprenticeship, will the art of in-person communication and influence become irrelevant?? Although I?d like to be able to rule this out, I?m not sure I can.? In the meantime, then, those of us in positions of trust are left with a difficult question of stewardship.? Do we insist our students achieve proficiency in a skill we know to be valuable at the moment?? Do we, in other words, double down on our current position, resisting present trends on the ground that they are maladaptive?? Or do we let it go, betting instead on the emergence of a world in which such skills have limited currency?

Source: http://www.thefacultylounge.org/2012/08/self-service-education-2.html

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Jiangmen low-income housing rent not buy ? Loans Information

Jiangmen City low-income housing project Fukuzawa park has 20 households in. Photo by Huang WenboRecently, ?Jiangmen city housing security system reform implementation plan? (hereinafter referred to as ?program?) began to implement the program, ?? put forward, the future will gradually, the urban low-cost housing, directly and publicLeaseHousing, affordable housing and management, unified classification for public rental housing, not only for sale.Reportedly, 2012 Jiangmen city housing projectsInvestment647000000 yuan, plans to start a new affordable housing 4832 sets, the completion of 3705 sets, has now completed an investment of 186000000 yuan, has started a new affordable housing 2900 sets, build 1000, start working rate over the same period last year increased 10%, affordable housing construction funds, the number of completed last year and also has rise substantially. Yesterday, the author from the building housing the Bureau?s website to understand Jiangmen, low-income housing projects, the two batch of Fukuzawa park is the first of 170 insured family have all signed a low-rent housing lease contract, 157 households have signed agreements with Property Management Company Wuguan, more than 20 families has been officially admitted.Multiple measures to protect publicRent a houseHousing resources?Proposal? made clear in low-income housing construction general goals: to?During the 12th Five-Year Plan?Period, Jiangmen city affordable housing coverage rate reached 20%, the basic solution to the urban middle income family housing difficulties. In addition to already approved project approving project, to suspend the application of new economic housing, the supply of objects into public rental housing supply range.It is reported, in addition to Jiangmen?s citizens, in line with the conditions of the foreign population may also apply for public rental housing. In addition, the original low rent housing, affordable housing safeguard crowd object will be fully integrated into public rental housing security system in. Security of population increases, the public rental housing may face shortages. Aiming at this problem, ?plan? put forward various measures to protect the public rental housing.?Proposal? in put forward, public rental housing construction are mainly government direct investment, with the construction of the government as a whole and mobilize social force investment in the construction of three ways. In terms of money, the government will be public rental housing construction into the annual budget, using the financial funds for construction. The government investment in the construction of public rental housing rental income and other operating income earmarked for public rental housing construction, repair maintenance and operation management. ?Plan? also stipulates theLand transferGold profit according to the proportion of not less than 10% into public rental housing construction. In solving the sources of funding, Jiangmen city has a new attempt. ?Program? is mentioned, Jiangmen will be the construction of Binjiang Investment Limited as the public rental housing investment and Finance Companies?s main body, financing the issuance of corporate bonds or medium-term notes, earmarked for public rental housing construction. Also explore the use of housing provident fund loans to support public rental housing construction, is currentlyDepartment of housing and urbanAnd other departments, become the Guangdong Province first two declaration ?use loan of housing accumulation fund to support affordable housing construction is pilot city? in the city of.Expert: leasing market is the real estate development directionMunicipal Committee of the policy research ofLi ChaoQi think, low-income housing rent not buy is correct. ?Property income changes, some of them are now low income may be a few years income will increase, which may appearBMWLive in the extreme phenomenon of low-income housing. In addition there are some applicants conceal false report, have an element of deceit, low-income housing property if the transfer is more difficult to deal with, will cause the new allocation is unjust. Relatively speaking, the lease easier to lift.?Li Chaoqi said, to solve the housing problem, in addition to the construction of low-income housing, the government should also guide the real estate market to develop in the direction of the lease. ?Now have their own property and a lot of people, ideas of people on the property too much from smallholder economy transition of social characteristics. The social economy but a disadvantage.? Li Chaoqi says. Li Chaoqi thinks, a reasonable real estate market should be the sale and rental market healthy development, at present our country?s real estate leasing market this one is short, the real estate market is lopsided development. ?People have the housing property for social and economic disadvantage, manifested mainly in the real property to the talent to manacle, fixed property to limit the flow of talents, especially the core talents of enterprises, easily house limit; at the same time, the property market overheating of squeezing out effect of consumption. We have most of the funds into the property market, funds were limited, there is no flow of funds to the input to the other consumption. Real estate development although to national economic benefits, but the overall shift, and how it is hard to say.? Quan Zechao

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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 2nd, 2012 at 3:57 pm and is filed under loans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://www.zloan.info/34854.html

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Insurance Claims for Personal Injury | Attorney David Kohm in ...

Injuries that you receive in an automobile accident can make a difference in the quality of your life for years to come. You may wonder about what rights you have to receive compensation for the losses you suffered. Questions about auto insurance claims regarding personal injury are best answered by a personal injury attorney in Arlington. The Law Offices of David Kohm are experts on personal injury law, and you can get a free consultation to find some answers to your questions.

Your friends can try to help you, but only a skilled and experienced attorney who knows how the system works can provide the advice you need. The law on personal injury is complicated, and David Kohm understands it completely. No amount of compensation can return you to the way you were before your accident, but the law does offer some ways to make amends for your injuries.

If you were not at fault in your accident, you may get your medical bills paid. Time that you lost at work may result in payment to you for lost wages. Physical injuries that resulted in your pain or disability are matters to discuss with the attorneys at the Law Offices of David Kohm.

The law is there to protect your rights, but you need to rely on an attorney to guide you through complicated legal terms and stipulations. David Kohm has successfully represented many other clients who have suffered the kind of consequences of an auto accident that you are dealing with now. Your future well-being depends on the quality of legal advice that you obtain.

To protect your rights under the law, you need to move promptly to secure your access to them. The amount of time that passes without action by you may limit your ability to achieve the best results from your claim. Take advantage of the opportunity to get a free consultation, and call the Law Offices of David Kohm at 817-204-0900.

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Source: http://www.attorneykohm.com/personal-injury-blog/making-a-personal-injury-claim-with-your-insurance/

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Surprises around every corner? part one of four parts ? Belle Grove ...

Special Note:

There was so much that happened this long weekend, it is going to take me four postings to get it all in.

I will tell you the last post will have the most exciting part!

After a very busy week at my current job, I decided it was time for a long weekend. So Brett and I took Monday off and set off on a grand weekend. The best part of the weekend was that we had nothing planned. We took it moment by moment. And I have to tell you, it was wonderful!

Belle Grove Plantation
Middletown, Virginia

When Friday rolled around, I knew that I wanted to head up to Middletown, Virginia. This is the location of the Belle Grove Plantation that was owned by James Madison?s sister, Nelly Madison Hite. It was in part the location that started us on our search for our bed and breakfast.

www.bellegrove.org

This plantation got its start with Jost Hite, a German immigrant who came to the Shenandoah Valley in 1732 with his partner Robert McKay to settle on 140,000 acres with sixteen other families. These acres were acquired through two land grants. In 1770, Isaac Hite Sr. purchased 483 acres that would become the Belle Grove Plantation.

Old Hall foundation
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

The grand manor house was not the first home on this plantation. There was a large limestone home that was built around 1750 for a tenant farmer. The foundation of this home, later called ?Old Hall? can still be seen next to the smokehouse. It was in this house that James Madison brought Dolley to for their honeymoon.

Belle Grove Plantation
Middletown, Virginia

Isaac Hite Sr.?s son, Isaac Hite Jr, who attended William and Mary College and served during the American Revolution, married Nelly Conway Madison, sister of James Madison in 1783. Major Hite?s father gave the couple the 483 acres as a wedding gift. The manor house was started in 1794 and took three years to complete. It was through his brother-in-law James Madison friendship with Thomas Jefferson that Major Hite was able to consult with Mr. Jefferson on the design of Belle Grove. Mr. Jefferson?s influence is seen in the final design.? The manor house is built of limestone that was quarried from the property. It is said that Nelly named the plantation ?Belle Grove? after our Belle Grove Plantation in Port Conway, Virginia.

Sadly Nelly Madison Hite would not live very long in this beautiful manor. She passed away in 1803, just six years after its competitions. From my research Major Hite and Nelly had three children:

James Hite Jr ? Born January 29, 1793 ? Died January 11, 1860

James Hite ? Born April 10, 1788 ? Died December 8, 1791

Nelly Conway Hite ? Born December 1, 1789 ? Died 1836

Nelly Madison Hite would be laid to rest in the family cemetery in Warren County. Major Hite would marry Ann Tustall Maury. With his three children with Nelly and another ten with Ann, Major Hite expanded his manor house to include a 100 foot fa?ade to the west side of the house. He would also expand his land holdings to a total of 7,500 acres and would have 103 slaves. He would open and operate a general store, grist mill, saw mill and distillery. The house remained in the Hite family until Ann?s death in 1851.

View from the front stairs
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

After the Hite family, there were several owners. In 1907, the Brumback family purchased the plantation. In the 1920?s they would operate an inn. It was sold to Francis Welles Hunnewell of Wellesley, Massachusetts in 1929. He would carefully restore this manor house in the 1930s and 1940s and later bequeath the house and 100 acres along with a $100,000.00 endowment to the National Trust for Historic Preservation at his death in 1964. The plantation would open as a museum in 1967 and is still operating as a museum and working farm to this day.

Site of the Cedar Creek Battle (also known as the Battle of Belle Grove)
Front field of Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

According to Wikipedi, during the Civil War, this plantation was center stage for the Battle of Cedar Creek, also known as the Battle of Belle Grove. This battle was part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864. During this campaign, this area would exchange hands 70 times! In one day it would exchange hands 13 times! This area of the Shenandoah Valley was important to both sides as it would have given a backdoor to either Washington D.C. or Richmond. During this time, General Philip Sheridan had burned his way through the Shenandoah Valley, destroying crops, livestock and homes, much like that of General Sherman?s march through the South.

Lieutenant General Jubal Early

On October 19, 1864 Lieutenant General Jubal Early launched a surprise attack against the encamped army of Major General Philip Sheridan, just across the Cedar Creek, just northeast of Strasburg, Virginia. During this fight, seven Union infantry divisions were forced to fall back and lost numerous prisoners and cannons. Lieutenant General Early failed to continue his attach north of Middletown and Major General Sheridan, dramatically ridding to the battlefield from Winchester, Virginia was able to rally his troops to hold a new defensive line. A Union counterattack that afternoon route LieutenantGeneral Early?s army.

Major General Philip Sheridan

The Final Confederate invasion of the North was effectively ended. The Confederacy was never again able to threaten Washington D.C. through the Shenandoah Valley, nor protect one of its key economic bases in Virginia.

Our visit to this plantation was even more special as the plantation was also hosting a Family Reunion for the Hite Family. I had hoped to meet someone from the Hite-Madison side of the family, but I kept just missing them. Brett and I were able to meet several of the wonderful museum docents that we shared our Belle Grove with and compared notes on the families.

Since Brett and I had been there, they had added several new exhibits as well as carpeting in the halls. Believe it or not, but Major Hite had full rooms of carpet in the dining room and main parlor! Major Hite was great at keeping records and had saved the receipt for these purchases. The museum was able to trace the purchase back to the company in England, who?are still in business. This company reproduced these carpets and they were installed as they would have been during Major Hite?s time at Belle Grove.

Some other points of interest at Belle Grove are outside. In the mortar on the back door wall, you can see the signatures of Civil War soldiers that were encamped on Belle Grove. There is also a beautiful kitchen garden just behind the house. Down past the barn, you can also see a field of stones. This is the slave cemetery of Belle Grove. Each grave is marked by a single stone with no names or dates.

Cannon Ball hit to the front wall
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

View of the back of house from kitchen garden
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

Slave Cemetery
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

Stone marking the grave of a slave
Belle Grove Plantation, Middletown, Virginia

One last story of Belle Grove that is worth telling is the story of the death of Confederate Major General Stephen Dodson Ramseur. After being mortally wounded during the Battle of Cedar Creek, Major General Ramseur was carried from the field to Belle Grove. There his Union friends Major General George Armstrong Custer, Colonel Wesley Merritt and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. Pennington, all whom he had met at West Point sat with him through the night comforting him as he lay dying.

Major General Stephen Dodson Ramseur

Major General George Armstrong Custer

Colonel Wesley Merritt

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander C. Pennington

Once Brett and I finished walking around the house and remembering our first time at Belle Grove, we drove over to the Hite Family cemetery. I have to tell you this is not an easy find. It is located down a dirt road that runs along the river. If you didn?t know where to look, you would miss it. It is a small cemetery that has a flag pole in it center. Just as you walk in to cemetery through a modern chain link fence, you see a small grouping of tombstones to the back left. There towards the middle we found Nelly C. Hite. It first, I wondered why they had not placed her maiden name on the tombstone, but then I remembered that she had passed in 1803. Her brother would not rise to fame as the fourth president until 1809.

Story Continues Tomorrow

A Night in Winchester, Virginia

Source: http://virginiaplantation.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/surprises-around-every-corner-part-one-of-four-parts/

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Why the pursuit of perfection can be the road to hell - Alberta Venture

On October 8, 2009, after a 36-hour ?vision quest? through an Arizona desert, a nationally known self-help guru named James Arthur Ray led approximately 50 of his students, most of whom were dangerously dehydrated and all of whom had paid as much as $10,000 to participate in the so-called Spirit Warrior event, into a six-metre-by-six-metre makeshift sweat lodge. Two hours later, after an intense session in which Ray alternated between pouring water on the rocks to intensify the heat and encouraging his suffering students to push past their ?self-imposed and conditioned borders,? three of them were dead and more than a dozen were seriously injured. As journalist Christine Whelan recounted weeks later in the Atlanta Journal-Chronicle, ?at the conclusion, seemingly unaware of the bodies of the unconscious lying around him, Ray emerged triumphantly, witnesses said, because he had passed his own endurance test.?

Not every encounter with the self-help industry ends quite so tragically, of course. If they did, the self-help industry in North America and its collection of neo-spiritual gurus, five-minute workout programs and fad diet plans wouldn?t pull in over $11 billion each year. And, to be fair, the bulk of those revenues come from books that advise contemplative reflection rather than the fatal combination of forced starvation and bogus spirituality.

But then again, maybe disasters like James Arthur Ray?s idiotic trip into the desert don?t matter that much when it comes to the momentum of the self-help movement. Demand for self-help products appears to be as inelastic (that is, disconnected from broader trends in the economy) as cigarettes and alcohol, and the industry actually grew during the recent recession. It seems that no matter how bad things get or how paltry the return on their investment might be, people are still willing to shell out $24.95 for the latest serving of Chicken Soup for the Soul. The self-help movement is so popular, in fact, that in a deliciously ironic twist, it has spawned a subcategory specifically dedicated to helping people overcome their addiction to self-help literature.

The biggest problem with this growing industry for its critics is that it doesn?t actually seem to, you know, help anyone. Those billions of dollars spent each year don?t seem to be having much effect on the lives of the people doing the spending, if the volume and frequency of repeat customers is any indication. As American journalist Steve Salerno wrote in his 2005 book Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, ?Never have I covered a phenomenon where consumers invested so much capital in every sense of the word ? financial, intellectual, spiritual, temporal ? based on so little proof of efficacy. And where they got such spotty, if not nonexistent, returns.?

Why, then, do people continue to spend billions of dollars a year on books, videos, seminars and other self-help products? Perhaps it?s because critics like Salerno misunderstand the role they play in people?s lives. Maybe self-help enthusiasts don?t see self-help as a product that?s supposed to deliver a solution but instead as an ongoing conversation, a secularized version of organized religion that offers the same potent blend of judgment and salvation. In a world where religion is increasingly being marshalled into the shadows, self-help represents an altar at which everyone is welcome to worship.

This relationship between faith and self-improvement is actually a longstanding one. Its importance was first expressed by the New Thought movement of the early 20th century, whose proponents argued that ?positive thinking,? a kind of alliance between the power of God and the skills of man, could actually improve one?s outcomes in life. Those ideas were the foundation of Norman Vincent Peale?s 1952 book, The Power of Positive Thinking, a first-generation self-improvement treatise that sold more than five million copies. Its ideas echo prominently in The Secret, the most popular self-help book of the 21st century.

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Whether religion is a positive or negative influence on its practitioners is a topic of discussion as old as religion itself, but the impact of the self-help movement ought to be less controversial. After all, as Salerno documents at length in his book ? and as many others have done in books of their own ? the self-help movement has almost nothing in the way of objective evidence to support its many and varied claims.
At best, they say, it?s a waste of time and money.

But there are those who argue that self-help?s influence is, in fact, much more dangerous than that. British author and academic Neel Burton argues in The Art of Failure: An Anti Self-Help Guide that these well-meaning efforts at self-improvement might actually amount to the psychological equivalent of self-inflicted wounds. ?These books prevent us from knowing ourselves, and what we get in the end is basically a nervous breakdown,? Burton says. ?We know that in the United States, for example, 10 per cent of the population is on anti-depressants and a significantly higher proportion of the population is on other psychotropic medication. Why is that??

The answer, Burton believes, lies in the fact that the average self-improvement treatise encourages the belief that personal happiness is the product of sculpted abs, nicer clothes, or more personal wealth. Those are dangerous distractions, he argues, from the true source of human happiness: our relationships with others. ?We don?t pay enough attention to our human relationships, and we don?t treat our human relationships with the respect and consideration they deserve. We?d be much happier if we focused more on them, on our relationships with our friends, our family, and our partners.?

Ultimately, Burton says, the true path to happiness doesn?t lie in thinking positively or mimicking the seven habits of highly effective people but instead in cultivating a greater self-awareness. He believes our estrangement from self-awareness and our increasingly manic obsession with all things ?us? represent a departure from our natural instincts as human beings. ?In traditional cultures, people lived in very close-knit communities. They knew each other, and they didn?t really focus on themselves so much. The focus on life was on the survival of the community and not on their own individuality. Modern society is very different from that. There?s a huge emphasis on me: my goals, my life, my death. That puts a lot of pressure on people, and it?s not the kind of pressure that we?re evolved to cope with. That?s the source of many of our problems.?

This is a critical point, and it?s one that is almost never mentioned by any of the self-styled gurus and advice peddlers whose numbers have exploded on the Internet at a rate exceeded only by pornographic websites and disarmingly generous Nigerian bankers. We are advised to do everything from improve our table manners to shave our nether regions in the circular quest for self-improvement, but we are rarely encouraged to embrace our flaws or to indulge our imperfections.

This cultural mania for self-improvement, as though we?re perpetual projects on the way to becoming perfectible beings, is most graphically ? and hideously ? represented by reality starlet Heidi Montag?s transformation into the human equivalent of a blow-up doll. The truth, of course, is that Montag is the furthest thing from human, and the more she chases supposed perfection, the further away she takes herself from it. In the end, it is our imperfections that make us human. Perhaps we?d all be best served by learning to embrace them rather than trying to bench-press them out of existence.

Source: http://albertaventure.com/2012/08/why-the-pursuit-of-perfection-can-be-the-road-to-hell/

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OUYA brings 'Final Fantasy III' to TVs for the first time

1 hr.

Todd Kenreck

The Android-based gaming console OUYA?made another step towards?legitimacy?today,? announcing a partnership with Square Enix to bring "Final Fantasy III" to the new gaming machine.?

OUYA is a Kickstarter-funded project?which has more than 45,000 backers, and nearly $6 million pledged towards its $950K goal.?

"Final Fantasy III," available on OUYA,?would mark the first time the role-playing game is available on a?console outside of Japan. Gamers in the United States?didn't get a chance to play the 22-year-old?game until it came to the Nintendo DS in 2006, but this is the first time we get to see the game on a TV, instead of a handheld device. The game will have a?graphical?update to support HD televisions, along with some other minor tweaks.?

Excitement for OUYA seems to be growing. With OnLive and major players like?Square?Enix providing content, this Android-based gaming machine may just have a shot.

Want more?awesome?video game news, see awesome video game videos, or just want to talk about games with your fellow gamers??Follow Todd Kenreck?on Facebook?and?Twitter.

Source: http://www.ingame.msnbc.msn.com/technology/ingame/ouya-brings-final-fantasy-iii-tvs-first-time-917501

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Writer Maeve Binchy was truly a one in a million Irish treasure ...

When you hear the term national treasure used to refer to someone who has just passed, it is usually exaggeration of the worst kind.

In the case of Maeve Binchy however, it is correct. Maeve passed away on Monday at age 72.

She was a national treasure of Ireland and much more; hilarious, profane, an incredible friend, and a hugely talented writer.

I knew her but not very well. Years ago I hosted a dinner for her and her beloved husband, Gordon Snell.

They were just embarking on the literary career that brought her huge fame and fortune and I did what I could to make sure Irish Americans knew all about her.

It was not much, but she never forgot that small act I did for her. Every year without fail would come a Christmas card with a letter, not just any letter but a warm personal one full of details of her year, questions about how I was doing and always, an invitation to come see them when in Ireland.

I never thought to bother them but perhaps I should have, she made you feel good just being around her.

I met her on subsequent visits to America and she was incredibly funny company.

She told one of the most hilarious stories I have ever heard. Maeve was a large woman and she described being invited to the White House to meet Barbara Bush who was a huge fan.

Barbara had two tiny corgis at the time and they were wild, galloping round the First Lady and Maeve as they sat and talked.

As I remember it, when Maeve got up, she accidentally stepped on one of them, leading to a scene of mass confusion and mayhem as the barely injured pooch was attended to.

Maeve left me in tears of laughter at her description of the scene. Like in her books, she was a marvelous storyteller.

She loved cats and called one Prionsias (Gaelic for Frank) after the then Workers Party leader Prionsias De Rossa -- she showed me a picture of her tabby and there was clearly a massive resemblance. It would make a cat laugh. She had a way of telling a story.

Here is how she described her early life to the The Irish Times, ??My mother hoped I would meet a nice doctor or barrister or accountant who would marry me and take me to live in what is now called Fashionable Dublin Four. But she felt that this was a vain hope. I was a bit loud to make a nice professional wife, and anyway, I was too keen on spending my holidays in far flung places to meet any of these people.? She spent time in those years ?on the decks of cheap boats, or working in kibbutzim in Israel, or minding children as camp counsellors in the United States?.

Indeed, her breakthrough in journalism was when an Irish Times editor got hold of letters she had written home to her family describing people and places during her time abroad in France.

Her books were huge hits and did much to shape the image of a New Ireland.

?Circle of Friends? was enormously influential, especially on young American women, I found, who often quoted it to me as the reason they went to Ireland in the same way that many young women today cite ?PS I Love You? by Cecilia Ahern as their inspiration to come to Ireland.

I know from other mutual friends too that Maeve was enormously generous in private to people in need. She would never have spoken about it publicly, she was never that kind of person.

She will be deeply missed by no one more than her devoted husband Gordon who was a true gentleman and perfect foil for Maeve?s banterings.

May she rest in peace.

See more: Irish News, Irish entertainment, Maeve Binchy, Entertainment blog, Irish arts

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Source: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/news/periscope/writer-maeve-binchy-was-truly-a-one-in-a-million-irish-treasure----remembering-her-kindness-and-humor-even-more-than-her-writing-164551876.html

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