A few days ago, I interviewed University of Tennessee professor and poet Erin Smith about her long-running arts project, Sundress Publications.

She founded it in 1999 and has managed it out of Firefly Farms ever since. While such arts communities are not a strange formation to find in Knoxville or in other university towns, Erin Smith wants something more an upcoming installation focused on breaching the schism between Knoxville's gay community in the university and outside it.

We live in a cultural zeitgeist that is being shorn of its homophobia. The arts have always been the vanguard of such movements, and Smith is going to be at the forefront of it.

OUTSpoken performances, including poetry and film, focus on the intersection of art and sexuality that are going to be made part of the publication's oeuvre.

It is going to be an effort toward the unification of a divided subject.

Knoxville's gay population is scattered insofar as its segments do not interact in many formal manners. Town does not meet with gown.

The university's gay population and the town's population can bridge together through art; the arts will be as diverse as its producers and consumers. Don't forget Knoxville can boast of the second largest writer's guild in the South, so its impulse for creativity is already massive.

The arts, of course, are not known for being a source of much wealth creation, especially in depressed economic climates like our own.

Hopefully OUTSpoken will see an audience as large as its ambition and professor Smith and her staff's efforts will be rewarded by recognition.

The importance of the arts coincides with the sociology of its consuming demographic the gay community suffers from some of the highest rates of mental illness as well as creativity. The arts bridge the gulf between performance and life, between recognition and the quietude of solitary existence.

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Opinion: UT professor's artistic, cultural efforts deserve recognition | Column

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FORT IRWIN As 2014 begins, construction workers at Fort Irwin are still repairing major damage from last years flood season.

The Army base was battered by a series of thunderstorms in July and August of 2013, with the most damage coming in the aftermath of an Aug. 25 storm that flooded a significant part of the installation.

Leslie Ozawa, Public Affairs Specialist at Fort Irwin, spoke with Muhammad Bari, director of Fort Irwins public works department, about the damages in a December article on the Armys official website.

During this storm, over 160 buildings got minor to severe damage, Bari said. ... We had leaking roofs, flooded basements and mechanical rooms, carpet damage, wall damage.

The flurry of thunderstorms caused at least three major power outages last summer.

The Aug. 25 monsoon storm caused extensive damage to Lewis Elementary School, with the schools 651 students being forced to relocate to various temporary setups on the base.

Fort Irwin Director of Public Affairs Pamela Portland told the Desert Dispatch that according to several people in the installations public works department, the monsoon brought the most severe rain to the base in more than 30 years.

No injuries or deaths were caused as a result of the flood, according to Portland. Nearly five months later, the repair efforts on the base continue. The repair contracts, valued at more than $40 million, are managed by the Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District.

In the days following the flood, all commands on Fort Irwin, its soldiers, family members and civilians, pitched in to restore and resume normal operations, Ozawa said in his Army website article. (W)ork continues on more permanent repairs, as well as on fixes to the posts vulnerability to power outages and storm damage.

Other projects on the base include the 5th Street Project, which began in September. Construction continues at the intersection of 5th Street and South Loop Road, with the aim of installing fixtures that will make it easier for larger trucks to make turns at the intersection.

Continued here:
Rebuilding and going green in 2014

By Jessica Bartlett, Boston.com Staff

Milton resident Brian Kelley said hes never liked the blinking LED sign perched on top of the Kennedy Carpet building on Granite Street, the red and yellow lights flickering like a billboard in East Milton Square.

A lot of my neighbors dont like it, either, Kelley said in a phone interview. I just think it looks bad. I dont think it enhances the business or enhances the town.

The sign has been unpopular since its installation in 2008 and was even moved to another side of the building in 2011 to accommodate upset neighbors.

Amid discussions of the buildings future, Kelley is hopeful the sign will be taken down. Yet despite unpopular opinions, the message board isnt likely to be removed in the near future.

Milton selectmen have been reviewing the sign and a proposed lease agreement for the building since December.

At a December selectmens meeting, Jay Kennedy, building owner and owner of Kennedy Carpet Sales, said he was hoping to lease the building and move his 35-year-old business to another site.

Its a tough spot, he said to selectmen. I cant tell you how many times people have driven to my warehouse in Weymouth and say its easier to come here.

Despite Kennedy's investing over $1 million in the building, tenants have been hard to come by. Sleepys, The Mattress Professionals, has made the first legitimate offer for the lease in nearly two years, town officials said, and the company is mainly interested in the sign.

While it is not the Town or the Board of Selectmen's responsibility or obligation to be concerned with the financial well being of a private citizen, we are all caring human beings and certainly do not want to add to Mr. Kennedy's financial woes, said Selectman Tom Hurley in a group email to concerned residents. It is my feeling that at this point denying the LED sign would result in the deal with Sleepy's falling through. It comes down to what is worse, the LED sign or a vacant or foreclosed building?

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Controversial Milton sign could bear a new message

By Jessica Bartlett, Boston.com Staff

Hopes to open the Scituate Harbor Community Building to the public by December have fallen by the wayside, with ongoing construction work delaying the target over a month.

Problems have been a mix of contractor and product availability as well as bidding delays, according to Scitiate's facilities manager, Kevin Kelly.

Its open [to town groups], but the upgrades werent completed and new rental policies arent in place or activated. But Id estimate that were a few weeks away from that, Kelly said.

In November, Kelly told Selectmen he hoped most building repairs could be completed by the end of the month. Other work was to be finished by Dec. 14.

Yet work has continued in mid-January in the buildings kitchen. Installation of a new rug was held off due to roof leaks. The New Year nor'easter added to the work.

Even though half the roof was replaced in mid-November, some leaks reappeared in the back half of the building. Water came in doors as well, damaging the carpet.

Kelly said he was disappointed, but not surprised to see that even some new sections of the roof were problematic, as the roof has equipment sitting on it that make it difficult to weatherize.

Though a new carpet will be installed in the next few weeks, problems are likely to reoccur, Kelly said. A more resilient flooring option would likely be too expensive and wasnt discussed, he said.

Its not a new building, its right on the ocean. I would anticipate that there is always the possibility of problems to happen to the building, Kelly said Weve done everything right to make repairs and do things. But its a building that does need and will continue to need attention.

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Public opening of Scituate Harbor Community Building delayed

For travellers, these are indeed Tales of the Unexpected, and over the coming weeks we will be turning the spotlight on further examples of this much-cherished genre including the extraordinary Prada store found in the village of Marfa in the middle of a Texan desert, the almost completely unexplored ruins in the old Roman settlement of Timgad in Algeria and the artistic haven that is Fogo Island off the coast of Newfoundland.

We will be looking for more such treasures, and hope that you, too, will share with us a few discoveries of your own.

A Qatar castle filled with a sheikhs curios

Surrounded by shiny skyscrapers, five-star hotels and artificial islands, it feels like there is little here in Qatar of any great age; after all, this is a country which has seen most of its development happen in the last 20 years. Yet one man here is trying to document and preserve an idea of history. Sheikh Faisal, a close relative of the ruling emir, is a successful businessman here although his hobby, as he calls it or his obsession, as others might is less well known.

Half way across the peninsula that is Qatar, resembling a thumbs-up in the Persian Gulf, is the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani Museum. When its namesake built this modern-day fort 15 years ago, it was the only interruption in an otherwise blank canvas of a landscape. Today it stands next to a recently completed superhighway on the outskirts of the hazy sprawling capital, Doha.

Turning off the main road, I approach the museum down a long avenue of dusty trees. At the end of the road is an imposing crenellated fortress.

It feels even bigger on the inside with a floor space of five football pitches and that is just as well because there are 15,000 objects on display from a half-century of amassing, labelling and hoarding.

Sheikh Faisal describes how he travels all over the world to add to his collection: visiting the auction houses of London and Paris; dealers offices in Istanbul and Miami, the markets of Sanaa and Tunis. Certainly there are treasures among the cluttered galleries, from Lydian coins to Umayyad pottery to an entire Syrian house brought brick-by-brick from Damascus old town and reconstructed here. The section on Qatari heritage which may be the greatest draw for tourists has a whole flotilla of traditional fishing boats displayed in giant indoor pits; there is a traditional Bedouin tent, and antique weighing scales used in the local pearling industry. There are also oddities such as the Sudanese dagger sheath made from a desiccated crocodile; a gold AK-47, a gift from Saddam Hussein; and the suit he wore for his ill-fated trial.

But the museum also houses the ordinary: there are cabinets of the sheikhs exercise books from his school days, as well as boarding cards from trips in his youth; in the gallery displaying currencies from around the world, there is a selection of modern British banknotes, which I could have pulled out of my wallet.

Ive been a collector since I was a little boy, Sheikh Faisal tells me. I want to keep everything. I still remember a toy car I had when I was small that a friend of my mothers picked up and gave to her son. I still think about not having that car in my collection.

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Tales of the Unexpected: Qatar and Japan

Carpet Installation Cost | Free Carpet Installation?

2011 Alan Fletcher - Carpet Expert and Consumer Advocate

Beware of Carpet Installation Specials!

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In different parts of the country, (The USA) the price of carpet installation may be higher or lower depending on the supply and demand. In our current down economy, there are a lot more hungry carpet installers out there looking for work. This is good news for those consumers who have money to spend on home renovations and are willing to do a little legwork to find a qualified carpet installer and negotiate a good deal. I bet you can negotiate as much as 30% off their normal carpet installation charge, especially if you are willing to pay them in cash at the end of the day.

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Carpet Installation Cost | Free Carpet Installation?

Review 1 for Carpet Installation

PostedOctober 30, 2013

Overall rating

1.0 out of 5.0

Customer service

1.0 out of 5.0

No, I do not recommend this product.

My carpet has been installed and now my door will not close. When the measurements were done prior to installation, they should have let me know that this could have been a potential problem and provided me with options. They are after all the experts. When the door was installed, opening and closing door became too difficult and i later had to remove door. I asked if they could give me options or alternatives on how to fix this problem or alter door, but none were provided.

Response from Home DepotByRobert G,Customer Care,October 31, 2013

We apologize for the inconvenience and lack of follow up. We will notify the stores leadership of your concerns and have someone follow up with you. Thank you for your patience.

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Home Depot - Carpet Installation customer reviews - product ...