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Two years after Hurricane Harvey left more than five feet of water sloshing through Kingwood High School, FEMA has approved $25 million in funding to construct flood gates and waterproof the buildings brick exterior to fend off future storms.

The flood gates will protect the schools doors and windows, offering what Humble ISD Superintendent Elizabeth Fagen hopes will be peace of mind for Kingwood High students who were displaced from the campus for months after Harvey.

Now, every time that the students experience a water event, they are wondering and worrying Will this mean well be displaced, well have to share facilities, all these things, Fagen said Wednesday. We believe in letting them know that we put measures in place so their school will not be inoperable.

The $25 million from FEMA will cover about 90 percent of the cost to build the flood control system. The school district will pay the remaining $3 million. The flood mitigation systems will not be ready until 2022, Fagen said.

While the 2,700-student Kingwood High may be the first K-12 school in Greater Houston to use flood gates, it is not the first to make itself more flood and storm resistant.

After Hurricane Ike crashed onto Galvestons shore and flattened schools across that district in 2008, architecture firm PBK worked with Galveston ISD to rebuild and reinforce its campuses from future storms.

Dan Boggio, CEO of PBK, said the process to rebuild the schools into more resilient facilities took years. Construction workers built a series of levies, or berms, around many. Others were raised off the ground. One, the Crenshaw School of Environmental Studies, now sits atop stilts on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Flood gates have proven a popular flood control technique at other Houston-area institutions. The Texas Medical Center and the University of Houstons main campus installed gates in and around their buildings after Tropical Storm Allison caused hundreds of millions of dollars damage at both in 2001.

At the University of Houston, 90 of the campus then 105 buildings were damaged by Allison, costing more than $100 million to repair. Flood waters gushed into the universitys tunnel system, drowning critical utilities, and water levels reached 10 to 12 feet high in six buildings, including the Law Center, the Fine Arts Building and the Student Center Satellite.

David Oliver, now UHs associate vice president for facility and construction management, said the damage from Allison led the university to invest in flooding infrastructure, especially for its lower lying buildings.

That proved fortuitous during Hurricane Harvey, when only a handful of buildings suffered damage mainly from seepage of flood water during the record-breaking storm that dumped as much as 60 inches of rain on parts of the Houston area. One building got six inches of water inside, but that mostly was due to a pump failure.

The schools tunnels, now sealed with submarine doors during floods, stayed dry. Overall, the university sustained about $20 million in damage from Harvey, most of it from a broken steam system at one of its buildings in the Texas Medical Center, which officials were unable to address due to the high water surrounding the area.

Harvey was a very similar event to Allison not a lot of wind but tons and tons of rain, Oliver said. The difference in how the buildings performed was huge. The damage was minimal compared to Allison.

The UH flood gates are almost unnoticeable, buried so they are flush with sidewalks and roads. When water begins to soak the ground around the gates, it flows into a gap that surround the metal barriers. The water causes the flood gates to float upward gradually, eventually topping out if the water gets that high.

Kingwood has been a repeat victim of flooding in recent years. After Harvey, Fagen and her administrative team at Humble ISD began thinking of ways to prevent flood damage to the high school from future storms.

They thought about demolishing the whole building and rebuilding it on raised land retrofitted with an underground water retention system, a proposal that could have cost more than $260 million. They also considered building walls or levies around the school to keep it dry

The district ended up working with FEMA to devise the series of flood gates and waterproofing plan for the building exterior.

Preliminary designs for the Kingwood High project include the same type of flood gates used at UH, although district CFO Mike Seale said that could change. The goal is to make the gates largely invisible during dry times, but rise as high as eight feet when needed.

When it comes to waterproofing the buildings exterior, Boggio at PBK said there are two options: remove the outside brick so waterproofing can be added between the exterior walls and interior insulation; or build another wall inches away from the existing brick exterior and inserting waterproofing material in the newly created gap.

Were basically going to design the building like an inverted bathtub, Boggio said. We want to keep the water out.

It cost $63 million to restore Kingwood High after Harvey. In the six months it took to fix the building, Humble ISD sent Kingwood students to Summer Creek High School, cutting class days in half to accommodate both schools: Summer Creek students took their classes in the mornings, and Kingwood students arrived on campus in the afternoon.

Successful implementation of the flood control measures could help eliminate anxiety for parents, students and staff at the high school.

Tracey Wright, a Kingwood alumna whose 16-year-old son now attends the school, said they were uneasy before his freshman year because of the amount of damage at the school from Harvey, but now is hopeful the gates and waterproofing will keep the building dry.

If it saves them from repeatedly having to replace flooring, replace things, displace the kids, they should do it, Wright said.

shelby.webb@chron.com

Link:
FEMA to pay $25M to help build flood gates and waterproof Kingwood High School - Houston Chronicle

Pep Guardiola insists he will not be adding to his Manchester City squad in January.

The champions' faltering start in the Premier League this season has led to speculation they may seek to address their defensive problems in next month's transfer window.

The departure of Vincent Kompany at the end of last term and a serious injury to Aymeric Laporte has left City boss Guardiola short of specialist centre-backs.

Midfielder Fernandinho has been operating in the back four as a result but, with City having fallen 11 points behind leaders Liverpool, may need to strengthen to meet their ambitions.

Yet while Guardiola acknowledges a need to regenerate his squad, he is not intending to do it mid-season.

"I don't want any players in January," the former Barcelona boss said.

"If we cannot do it in summer, we cannot do it in January."

The chief reason for this is because Guardiola wants long-term solutions rather than short-term fixes, and January options are likely to be limited.

He said: "When they come in January for the next four, five, six years maybe we could think about it, but that is not possible.

"Normally the players we could think would be interesting and add something to our squad - they are not going to be sold."

A refresh is likely in the summer, however, with one departure confirmed already as veteran David Silva moves on. There is also uncertainty about the future of 34-year-old Fernandinho, who is out of contract at the end of the campaign.

Guardiola said: "Yes, David's confirmed he's leaving. Fernandinho doesn't know but it's normal for players that arrive at his age and this stage of their lives.

"Of course we have to replace them but we don't have to rebuild too much.

"Three players is not rebuilding the team. Rebuilding the team is seven or eight, as we did in the second season.

"I think at the end of the season we are going to decide on the situation - the players who finished their contracts, the players with full contracts, what we have to do, what we believe is the best for the club and organisation for next season."

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Guardiola rules out City spending in January window - RTE.ie

In a summarized historical explanation, the Tattoo Renaissance, began in the late 1950s with tattooers like Lyle Tuttle, Don Nolan, Zeke Owens, Ed Hardy, and others pioneering the way.

Between the hippie movement of the late 60s and the feminist campaigns and rights movements, the tattoo industry saw itself in the midst of a rebirth of sorts; resulting in an increase of customer base, visibility through tattooed celebrities (like Janis Joplin) and pop culture. During the 2000s, tattooing had yet another peak with the appearance of television shows such as Inked (2005) and Miami Ink (2008, starring Chris Garver, Ami James and friends), which gave us a look into the lives of tattooists and their studiosand improving social stigma.

With more legendary artists contributing to 21st-century history, Chris Garver is among them and one we are highlighting here, today. He became a professional tattooer in the late 1980s and has worked in New York City since the 1990s. Below, you can read our interview with Garver taking us back to that period of time when tattooing was banned by the Health Department.

Yeah, working at Adorned exposed me to more tattooers that were really pushing it artistically, and more people like that were my age. Before that, I was working with older guys and biker shops So, when I got to Adorned, it was great for me. I think my growth was pretty big there.

Definitely. Yeah, everybody that I worked with were people I felt were way more advanced than I was, so I had to play some catch up. But it was great. The artists that were always thereMike Ledger and Scott Harrisonthey were awesome to work with. And wed constantly have great guest artists.

Adorned owner Lori Leven was focused on the business side, which facilitated that you and colleagues concentrated on the creative side.

Yeah, she was really good at that. I think thats one of the greatest things she did, making tattooing really comfortable for the artist. She catered to the artist and she knew how to do business too. Normally, the guys I worked with [pauses] was like a working on a pirate ship, and then all of a sudden it was civilized, almost.

Before she did Adorned, I dont think that any shops had helpers, like assistants, people that cleaned after you and bused your table. Before, it was like you did everything yourself.

Now the tattooers are all spoiled. We all have people do things for us.

I think one of the things that kept New York back a little bit was that it was illegal. I think that a lot of people probably are scared to tattoo in an environment where youre doing something criminal. So guys that were more artsy, maybe they didnt want to deal with getting arrested for tattooing, or tattooing unsavory people.

Probably! Yeah, I think doing something illegal stops many people from doing it. [Laughs] I almost preferred it, it was more dangerous.

It kept timid people away.

No, I never got arrested. But once my boss Jonathan Shaw was like, You know what? Lets just do it openly. Put a tattoo sign in the window. And we were like, All right, lets see what happens. And then I remember one day a cop came in with his uniform on. I was like, Oh, here we go. I was like, Hey, how are you doing? Hes like, Yeah, I was wondering how much a Jesus head is? And I was like [Laughs]

You were lucky!

Yeah, he didnt care. It would have been the health department that we probably had to watch out for.

I think it was 95 or 96, then tattoo shops just started popping up everywhere. (It was kind of awful!)

I did. I actually like Ed Hardy, Eddie Deutsch, Dan Higgs, and Freddy Corbin. But I think a lot of people do, and the chrome toaster thing and everything was sacred (with a crown of thorns around it). I never got into it that much. I did a few chrome-y [effect] looking things, but I didnt really get into the weirdo stuff.

It has a universal acceptance and the quality of the art has definitely elevated quite a lot. I think its still underground art in a way. Theres a lot of tattoo exhibits and museums. Theres tattoo artists that have exhibited in all sorts of high-art places.

Like Ed Hardys recent art show at the de Young museum.

Yeah. Ed Hardy, Dr Lakra We had a show here at the Somerset Housea pretty prestigious place. So, [basically] tattooing went from the gutter to the top.

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Chris Garver Interview: Tattooing from the Gutter to the Top - Scene 360

For Karen Willis, it was like someone tapped her on the shoulder.

"We all fight a battle in some way," Panico-Willis said.

Three of her grandsons were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, so children's hospitals have long had a place in her heart.

"All children need to be able to live and survive and outlast their parents and grandparents," Panico-Willis said.

On top of that, her daughter recently moved into a St. Jude Dream House in Ohio. So when she heard about Coachella Valley's first St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, it was destiny. She knew she had to help.

"We're not, like we said, rich people but we can provide services and talents and so we were able to provide the installation of the pad that was generously donated by Shaw," Panico-Willis said.

Watch: Winners of the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway announced

Panico-Willis, co-owner of D & D Carpet in Rancho Mirage, tracked down the builders and offered to help put the carpet in the home, free of charge.

The kindness of people wanting to donate and give and contribute and it's what made all the difference in helping the Dream Home come together.

"We are donating the flooring for this house in the Coachella Valley and all the homes around the country that are being given away with all the proceeds from this going back to St. Jude to help the children," said Curtis Callaway of Shaw Floors.

"Thank you to everyone in the Coachella Valley who has come together to make this amazing home come to life and it's super exciting for us at St. Jude to see how the community has rallied around the cause and the mission of St. Jude which is finding cures and saving children," said Angela Northrup- ALSAC/ St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

A collection of efforts have built a big home and made an even bigger difference for those so small fighting such colossal battles.

Continued here:
Community rallies together to help support children of St. Jude's - KESQ

Back in the summer of 2013, while collectors were scouring the annual art fair in Basel, Switzerland, for hot trends and up-and-coming talents, Mickalene Thomas was holed up a few blocks away in a space stuck in the 1970s.

The walls were faux-wood-paneled, the floors a combination of linoleum, wood, and carpeting, the ceiling faux copper. There was a bar with hanging lights, and furniture covered in clashing vintage fabrics. On display were paintings and photographs by Thomas and some of her artist friends, including Wangechi Mutu, Xaviera Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Duron Jackson, and Derrick Adams. There was music playing, toohits of the period by black women such as Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, and Diana Ross. Thomas called the installation Better Days.

I was reimagining a time in my childhood, thinking of leisure, black families, and black life.

It was but one of the immersive environments Thomas has become known forworks that have earned her a place in museums around the world and steadily increasing prices at auction. Better Days was inspired by parties her mother Sandra Bush, a former fashion model, threw with friends to raise funds for sickle cell anemia research. I was reimagining a particular time in my childhood, Thomas says. I was thinking of leisure, black families, and black life.

The installation was the talk of Art BaselSolange Knowles performed there, Simon de Pury DJd, and it became a refuge for a crowd usually resigned to conventional dealer dinners. And since it came fresh on the heels of a much praised exhibition of Thomass work at the Brooklyn Museum, Better Days helped cement the artist as a presence on the international art world stage.

Dana Scruggs

Six years later the excitement about Thomas has not diminished. As demand for her work keeps escalating, so do the number of her exhibitions, with shows over the last few years everywhere from Paris and Brussels to Houston, Aspen, and Baltimore. Her work is in the permanent collections of such institutions as the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago, and it has been snapped up by such major collectors as Mera and Don Rubell. Thomas is part of a wave of black female artists, including Amy Sherald and Simone Leigh, who are, after years of being sidelined, having a moment and being recognized by curators, scholars, and gallerists.

In October a painting by Thomas of Naomi Campbell, Naomi Looking Forward (2013), sold at Sothebys for nearly four times its estimate, fetching $700,000. Ian Alteveer, a curator of modern and contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, notes that Mickalenes work may be steeped in the history of painting and portraiture, yet there is an accessibility to everything she doesthe colors, the compositions, the glitter.

2008

Thomas creates this portrait of first lady Michelle Obama. Today it's in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

2012

A blockbuster Brooklyn Museum exhibition established Thomas as one of the leading artists of her generation.

2013

Solange Knowles performs at Better Days, an installation in Switzerland that makes Thomas the toast of the art world's jetset.

2018

Thomas is tapped by Dior to design a version of the Lady Dior handbag. The collaboration is so successful she creates a second bag (shown here, $16,000).

2019

Thomas's painting Naomi Looking Forward sells at a London auction for $700,000, a career record.

This month she will once again be the toast of Art Basel, this time in Florida, thanks to Better Nights, a project that takes Better Days and transforms it into a larger installation, one that will occupy several rooms at the Bass Museum of Art beginning December 1, during Art Basel Miami Beach, and running for nearly 10 months. Its something that had been percolating, Thomas says, since she began cleaning out her mothers house after her death in 2012. Better Nights was inspired by a Polaroid she found of her mother taken in a mirrored room in their New Jersey house. She is such a big part of my practice.

For officials at the Bass Museum, Better Nights is one of a series of artist commissions. When we work with artists, the first thing we ask them is, What is the dream you havent made happen, says Silvia Karman Cubi, the museums executive director and chief curator. What attracted Cubi and Leilani Lynch, a curator there, to Thomass work was the way she is able to create a special world. Its as if she wants us to step inside a painting, Lynch says

Born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1971, Thomas and her brother were raised as Buddhist vegetarians by their single mother. Creativity was encouraged, but Thomas didnt always want to be an artist.

In the early 1990s she moved to Portland, Oregon, in part to get away from her family as she came to terms with her sexuality. (Today Thomas identifies as queer; her partner is Racquel Chevremont, an art adviser and former model who collaborates with Thomas on special projects.) At Portland State University, Thomas started out studying prelaw and theater arts, but after spending time with artists she got back into making things.

That was in 1994. The following year she came east and earned a bachelors degree in painting from the Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn. Two years later she received a masters in painting from the Yale School of Art and then moved to New York. It was definitely a different time, Thomas recalls. There wasnt the banter of social media; you didnt communicate through texting. There was a network of young artistsKehinde Wiley, Derrick Adams, Shinique Smithwho would hang out together, go to each others openings, and share resources and support.

Even before Yale, she says, she was experimenting with figurative work, particularly self-portraits, but it was a performance art class with professor Kellie Jones and a photography course in graduate school that were life-changing. That was when she started photographing her mother and herself and transforming the images into collages and paintings. Slowly she began getting noticed. In 2005 Klaus Biesenbach, then the director of MoMA PS1 in Queens, included Thomas in Greater New York, a high-profile survey of up-and-coming artists that takes place every five years.

Early on, even as an emerging artist, Mickalene was formally very accomplished, say Biesenbach, now the director of MOCA in L.A., who would go on to invite her to create work for the windows at MoMAs restaurant. She followed in a very determined, exploratory way her trajectory, establishing herself as one of the leading artists of her generation. Soon after the PS1 exhibition she had gallery shows that were back to back, she says.

These shows were largely filled with canvases of beautiful black womenfriends and lovers, women in images from once popular publications, sometimes even herselfthat combined painting, photography, collage, and drawing. They are saturated with color, and many have wildly patterned backgrounds or surfaces that glitter with rhinestones or crystals. Thomas makes videos, tooof her mother and other musesand she even designed a label for a wine bottle.

Back in 2008 she became the first artist to use Michelle Obama as a subject, creating a print of the first lady that is today in the collection of the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery, in Washington, DC. These shows were the beginning of the career I have today, she says. In fact, she adds unapologetically, I still feel like a rising star.

Increasingly, people beyond the art world seem to agree. Today, in addition to having Thomass work hanging on your walls, its possible to wear her creationsshe is one of an exclusive group of artists such as Alex Israel, Jenny Holzer, Richard Prince, and Yayoi Kusama who have lent their talents to commercial pursuits with fashion brands.

'Mickalene is one of the few artists able to walk into the commercial world without being commercial.'

There are now Mickalene Thomasdesigned handbags and a jacket, thanks to a recent collaboration with Dior. Last year, when the fashion house asked her to design a version of the Lady Dior handbag, Thomas crafted an arresting, colorful creation using a variety of materials and techniques, from sequins and beads to embroidery. I enjoyed thinking about collage in a three-dimensional way, she says.

Mark Guiducci, the editor of the art magazine Garage, which commissioned a recent collaboration between Thomas and Swarovski, notes that she has the ability to work across platforms without losing any of what makes her projects special. Mickalene is one of the few artists, he says, who is able to walk into the commercial world without being commercial.

Pascal Le SegretainGetty Images

In fact, her first Dior bag was such a success she was asked to create a second one, which was inspired by Monets gardens at Giverny. To go with the second bag, Thomas designed a shimmering metallic skirt and an updated edition of the classic Dior Bar Jacket that features embroidery, beading, and crocheted fabric on the sleeves and the back.

Mickalene managed to offer a new take on these forms with her unique artistic expression using bold colors, different textures, and daring decorations that speak of a tradition that is different from Diors, says Maria Grazia Chiuri, Diors creative director. Chiuri says that inviting Thomas to work with Dior broadens the horizon of what it means to be feminine in a global and international world.

When I paid a visit to her Brooklyn studio recently, Thomas, looking casual in skinny black pants, sneakers, and a baseball cap, showed off a group of collages stacked on a table that had been commissioned for Swarovski and used the companys crystals. There is a kind of duality evident in everything Thomas does.

While her paintings and collages are eye-popping and bold and seemingly effortless, on closer inspection they have an unexpected seriousness. At the same time that shes delivering a message about the beauty and the empowerment of black women, her compositions reveal an intimate knowledge of art history, inspired by such masters as Manet, Matisse, Ingres, Courbet, and Romare Bearden. Shes very rigorous about her work, says Ian Alteveer, the Met curator. Its seductive while at the same time it is meant to reference the street, the city, fashion, and memory.

Sometimes her references are subtle; sometimes theyre amusingly obvious. Thomas once recreated Manets famous painting Djeuner sur lHerbe, replacing the two white men and the naked white woman with three glamorous African-American women. It was meant as a statement about the impact and empowerment of all women, she says. Even her use of rhinestones and crystals has a historical precedent. She uses them not simply as bling but rather as a 21st-century version of older techniques, such as the neo-impressionist painter Georges Seurats use of pointillism or the Pop artist Roy Lichtensteins Ben-Day dots, to create a delicate, often mosaic-like texture.

Thomas has recently begun using subjects taken from old publications; on a table in her studio is a bunch of Jet magazines. When I was growing up it was either this or Ebony, she says, flipping through old issues. On a trip to New Orleans she happened on some old Jet calendars that featured stunning seminude photographs of black beauties-of-the-month. Im not sure, but I believe they were given out to their top subscribersor perhaps male subscribers, she says. Most women dont know they ever existed. She has scanned some of her favorites and created her own collages. Im recontextualizing them and making them my own, she says.

Dana Scruggs

While it could be argued that Thomas is constantly juggling high and low culture, she is also grappling with how to make her work, and art in general, as accessible as possible to audiences that may never have visited a museum before. Her immersive environments are one way she is trying to accomplish this.

Better Nights, for instance, will be made up of a series of rooms, some faux-wood-paneled and others mirrored so viewers can see themselves and become part of the installation. This will be the first time when it is a complete immersive experience, with mirrors throughout the main performative space, Thomas says. She has been collecting vintage fabrics to upholster the furniture, which will be in classic shapes from the 1970s. And, as with Better Days, there will be a bar and plenty of space to participate in one of the programs or simply lounge around.

'It's about inclusivitymaking everyday people feel comfortable coming through the door.'

Thomas hopes it will also be a place of contemplation, with books for visitors to read and artworks to take in, some by her and some by other artists. She is also working diligently with museum officials on the programming for the space; the performances will feature live music, poetry readings, and dance, along with educational offerings and local talentall conceived to attract Miamis diverse community.

Art is still very much about this elitist way of thinking and being, Thomas says, perched on a couch in her studio. As she brings up plans for Better Nights on a computer screen, she goes on: Im interested in breaking some of those barriers down to allow the opportunity for different demographics to engage with my work. Im asking the museum to step out of its comfort zone. Its about building bridges and stepping onto the other side.

Thomas says she plans to make periodic visits to Miami during the run of the show; while shes there she hopes to tap into the citys various communities. Its about connecting with people, she says. Weve gotten so far away from our roots, from the idea of museums being our cultural leaders, havens for the community, that its our mission to bring that back. Its about inclusivitymaking everyday people feel comfortable coming through the door.

In this story, hair by Nai'vasha at the Wall Group. Makeup by Amily Amick.

This story appears in the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Town & Country.SUBSCRIBE NOW

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The Rise and Rise of Mickalene Thomas - TownandCountrymag.com

Erin Papakostas 23Staff Writer Illustration by Richard Farell 22

On move-in day this past August, Cathleen Krabak 23 experienced the first repair to her dorm room. We noticed the black mold right when I moved in, so we told my hall counselor, and within ten minutes maintenance was there to fix it. They sterilized it, and cleaned the vent quickly so I could finish moving in.

Throughout the year, students accrue many damages, and Davidsons Physical Plant staff works around the clock to fix these damages and keep the campus running smoothly. Sharon Shipp, Superintendent of Building Services and Residence Halls, stated that the most frequent damages reported to her team are jammed toilet paper dispensers, holes in walls, or broken showerheads.

Kevin Anderson, Associate Director of Operations and Maintenance, stated, A lot of [our problems] are heat problems or air conditioner problems. We have two guys full time who go around and repair door locks. Anderson said his team often fixes broken blinds and glass or beer caps in garbage disposals. We have somebody on call 24/7, Anderson explained.

Sometimes, though, the damages are done on purpose. Anderson reported that two frequent acts of vandalism include exit signs ripped off and thermostats knocked off the walls of Patterson Court houses.

A few years back, some students were trying to tackle light posts. Each one of those is close to about $2,000 to be replaced, Anderson commented.

Shipp shared, This year, weve been having to do a lot of carpet cleaning, from either throwing up or urinating.

Laney Turnbull 23 was one of the unlucky few whose room in Cannon was victim to a stranger entering and urinating. The school handled it very well and was very helpful. Initially, I reported the issue to my RA and then to Campus Police. Following that, I was able to get a new chair from RLO without having to pay for it.

Anderson recounted some of the worst damages his team encountered over the years. A couple of years ago, in Little, [students] were throwing something down the hallway and broke a sprinkler head in the hallway. It activated and flooded the whole third floor. We had to move everyone out that night, Anderson shared.

He explained that after hour calls for repairs average about seven or eight calls a week. Shipp explained that calls after four p.m. are considered after hours, but a second shift with two employees work until 11:30 pm. Any call after that time goes to on-call personnel. On the weekends, Physical Plant gets four or five after hour calls.

Once, Shipp said, The [employee] on call lived in Concord, and he got a call that there was a spill in the stairwell. Somebody had spilled sugar. He had to come 45 minutes, sweep up the sugar, and go back 45 minutes. So some of the calls, we try to ask them if it can wait till the next day.

Walter Snipes, Director of Residence Life, explained that the normal wear and tear of a living space is not the responsibility of students to pay, but acts of vandalism are. For example, if a student puts a hole in the wall, for materials and labor, it might cost $200. The student then gets charged $200.

Leslie Urban, Director of Facilities Business and Property Management, commented, We have an existing contract with Residence Life that they pay us monthly that covers general upkeep and regular maintenance.

Snipes added, Depending on how egregious the damage may be, we may eat some of the costs. So in the past, there have been damages that have been $1,200, but a student came up and said, It was an accident. We will only charge $800 because we appreciated the student coming forward. The thing is we want you to learn, we want you to grow, and we want to work with you.

Thomas Baker 23 received help promptly after reporting an electrical problem in his dorm. Our automatic light switch started malfunctioning on a Saturday night and would not turn off. It was not a very fun night. We sent in an email Sundaymorning, and by Monday around ten, someone came and installed an old-fashioned light switch.

Students have a responsibility to report damages in a timely manner. We would prefer it, stated Shipp.

Before school lets out, Building Services and RLO does a walkthrough in the dorms.

There is some stuff that doesnt get seen until we find it at the end of the semester, Shipp commented. When you run across the issues that havent been reported, it just causes more work. A notification if somethings wrong is the best way to be.

Anderson described the work in the summer to prepare the living spaces for the students. In the summertime we do what we call our turnarounds. We go through making repairs: shower valves, shower heads, faucets on sinks. Every year well pick a building that its been ten years since we repainted and then well go in and do a full paint job. But every room is looked at and touched up, from normal wear and tear.

Barbara Benson, Director of Building Services, explained that her department often deals with reports of biohazard incidents such as vomit and urination. Her team is called when someone gets sick in a common space. The policy is, Benson said, if you do it in your own room, thats your problem.

Benson shared a difficult problem her department sometimes encounters: doors pulled off their hinges. This issue is hard to fix because doing so also damages the frame.

Occasionally, we get some weird things, Benson commented. When students get stressed out, they start doing some things like stuffing the toilets with toilet paper. Benson said these reports only happen during exams and have tapered off the last few years.

Benson described another strange incident when Somebody decided to take a syrup bottle and pour the whole thing in the lounge carpet, and sugary things are really hard to get out.

First semester freshmen are great. Then they go home and see their old friends and share war stories. They come back and then we see rise in their behavior. You just have your good group and your bad group. I would say two thirds are good. But you have that one third in each class where trouble finds them.

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A Hole in the Wall; A Flooded Floor; A Toppled Lamppost - The Davidsonian

The fallout from Prince Andrews disastrous BBC Newsnight interview included several organizations cutting ties with him, the duke having to step down from his royal duties and being forced to vacate his office in Buckingham Palace.

Now, many are wondering if Andrew will need to leave his residence at Windsor Park since he is no longer representing the royal family. Heres the answer to that, plus how lavish the princes home really is and who else lives there with him.

Queen Elizabeth IIs son lives at Royal Lodge, which is located in Windsor Great Park. The residence the prince calls home belonged to the Queen Mother until her death in 2002. Two years later, Andrew moved in and had a number of renovations done to the property including the installation of a large indoor swimming pool.

Royal Lodge Windsor has 30-rooms and was where Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, hosted the wedding reception following their daughter Princess Eugenies wedding to Jack Brooksbank in October 2018.

A few days later, the duchess posted a photo on Twitter which gave her followers a sneak peek into what the inside of Royal Lodge looks like. In the snap, Fergie can be seen standing in a hallway and behind her are framed photos hanging up above a small wooden dresser with cream carpets and green walls.

Prince Andrew does not live alone in the spacious royal residence. Ferguson reportedly lives there as well.

Despite divorcing more than two decades ago, the Duke and Duchess of York have maintained a close relationship and live together under the same roof. For this reason, many royal watchers thought that Fergie may have been the person who convinced the prince to do the BBC interview. However, Fergusons advisor, James Henderson, said that is not the case and Fergie had nothing to do with it. He pointed out that she wasnt even in the U.K. when the interview took place.

The Duchess was out of the country last week and the week before in Hong Kong, China, Saudi Arabia, and Venice and was not involved in this program which took place and was finalized last week whilst she was overseas, Henderson explained.

So the big question remains, will Andrew be forced to move out of Royal Lodge now that he is longer a working member of the royal family?

The answer is no.

The publication Hello! noted that the duke will retain the private home despite no longer carrying out public duties for the foreseeable future. Thats because it is not uncommon for non-working royals, which Andrew currently is, to live in an official royal residence.

Read more: Will Princess Beatrice Postpone Her Wedding Following Prince Andrews Disastrous TV Interview?

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Is Prince Andrew Being Forced To Move Out of His Royal Residence in Windsor Following His Latest Scandal? - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

MIAMI When Alan Ket was a teenager growing up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn in the 1980s, he fell hard for the graffiti that still decorated New York City trains. Sometimes he was the one painting, but more often, he was a detective, figuring out the best locations to snap pictures of the art. On weekends, hed meet up with friends at a one-hour photo shop on Canal St. to trade negatives and prints of the graffiti photos theyd taken that week.

Preservation was the key. So many beautiful works of art were being destroyed every week, he said recently. It was horrifying.

At the time, he would cut school to spend afternoons at the studio of Henry Chalfant, who had been the crucial documentarian of 1970s train graffiti. Mr. Chalfant had largely stopped photographing trains, and he implored Mr. Ket and his friends to pick up the baton: He told us it was up to us to document our own movement.

Mr. Ket (born Alain Mariduea) took that mandate seriously, and built a life on it, culminating in the opening Thursday of the Museum of Graffiti, in the Wynwood section of Miami, the first institution devoted to telling the art forms history, as well as documenting its stylistic developments with a curators eye for detail.

We have to be our own authorities, Mr. Ket, who is the museums co-founder, said.

Some graffiti artists of the early era made the transition to galleries, others into commercial design. But for a vernacular art that has seeped widely into popular culture, graffiti especially as represented by the early pioneers has made few permanent inroads into established museums. Perhaps that owes to its oppositional nature, and perhaps to its evanescence.

Mr. Ket known simply as Ket has no patience for that argument. Is it key to the essence or is it a response to circumstance? he asked. I dont know. I think all the guys that painted wanted everything to last forever.

Forever is what he hopes to give them, by way of codifying and organizing the arts history, with a special emphasis on technique. Too often, graffiti is explained primarily through a sociopolitical lens, so the Museum of Graffitis inaugural exhibition, Style Masters: The Birth of the Graffiti Art Movement, focuses on first principles letters as artistic building blocks.

The very first wall is a history lesson on the development of letter-writing styles, accompanied by a photo array of train art from 1972-6 to demonstrate how rapidly the form was changing. (Since there was little documentation within the community, many of the photographs come from journalists who were assigned to capture the emerging art form.)

The rest of the 3,200-square-foot space offers a deeply condensed history of the form, from the early moments in which graffiti writers were applying their talents to canvases on display is the first painting Lady Pink ever did, from her personal collection up through the ways graffiti has been used on clothing, skateboards, album covers and more.

The graffiti aesthetic may be widespread now, but Mr. Kets read is that of a purist. He has a ferocious zeal to protect the legacy of the underrecognized pioneers, especially as street art which borrows some of graffitis immediacy with little of its charm or technique becomes more widely known and collected, destabilizing the marketplace and public perception.

That intense historical fanaticism a desire to regulate, to keep some kind of stability among the chaos, also to keep a standard of quality, he said is, in essence, no different from a formal curatorial approach. For this exhibition, there are no nods to Keith Haring or Jean-Michel Basquiat, widely known graffiti-adjacent artists who Mr. Ket believes are not part of the forms true history. He has even received pushback from PHASE 2, a 1970s pioneer, who believes graffiti is a derogatory word, Mr. Ket said.

Ket respects the disagreement, but moved forward anyhow. Im sorry that Im going to write about you and tell your story and talk about your historical relevancy and your value, he explained. I have a responsibility bigger than the individual artist.

Before moving to Miami two years ago, to manage a gallery connected to the Wynwood Walls, a mural park around the corner from the Museum of Graffiti, Mr. Ket had been a graffiti archivist and advocate in various forms. In the 1990s, he published and edited Stress, a hip-hop and graffiti magazine; he consulted for art exhibitions, and he wrote monographs on important artists.

For decades hed maintained a personal graffiti archive, and had begun to wonder whether it might be better served at an established institution. But what good is it if you give it to the Smithsonian and it sits in their warehouse for the next 40 years? Mr. Ket said. More people see it at my house. (Graffiti has appeared at the Smithsonian, but sparingly.)

Bringing the museum to fruition became a full-time preoccupation about a year and a half ago. He met his business partner, Allison Freidin, formerly a prosecutor with the state attorneys office, as she was doing legal advocacy for graffiti writers. She is his sole outside investor he holds the majority stake and quit her job to focus on the birth of the museum.

Ket is really being called on to tell the story properly. Im also being called on to make sure that were treated properly by everybody, Ms. Freidin said. Mr. Ket is well-connected among graffiti writers, and Ms. Freidin has extensive relationships in Miamis art and civic communities. The marriage of those two Rolodexes is what made this possible, she said.

One afternoon last month, the exhibition was about halfway installed, and Ms. Freidin had just returned from a meeting with the local review board, looking to address concerns about the museums sign. Wynwood comes with built-in tourist traffic, thanks to the Wynwood Walls, but it is not especially known for graffiti, at least not anymore.

In the mid-1980s, graffiti writers flocked to the area. Eventually, the more established art scene followed. They saved this part of town, Ms. Freidin said. But now, their work, sanctioned or otherwise, competes with corporate-commission murals, and the industrial spaces that gave way to art galleries are now ceding to clothing stores and luxury dessert spots.

Many local graffiti artists view Wynwood with skepticism, Mr. Ket said. They may also view his project as a kind of carpetbagging. To mitigate those concerns, there is a section of the museum given over to Miamis graffiti history. Weve invited everybody back, he said.

But Mr. Ket is also counting on the way the graffiti community looks after its own, something he experienced firsthand when in 2007, he was arrested and charged with 14 criminal counts, including trespass, criminal mischief and making graffiti. He eventually pleaded guilty to three counts of criminal mischief and paid $15,000 in fines and restitution. Shepard Fairey, Jose Parla, Futura and others donated art to sell to pay for his defense.

At the museum, he looked around at the people bringing the space to life and noted that the electrician and various maintenance workers are all graffiti writers. He likened it to El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, founded in 1969 by Puerto Rican educators, artists, and community activists: I think of those guys and think, were doing that, we have to do it for ourselves. Hes also brought in a full-time curator, Carlos (Mare 139) Rodriguez, to focus on future exhibitions.

We want to try to keep adding value not just to history, but to living history, Mr. Rodriguez said. That part of this is the advocacy part, right? How do you create value for the art and the byproducts of this art, and also for the artists?

Given the museums focus on the founding generations, youre gonna learn about artists that have no fine art career, like zero, Mr. Ket said, noting that there might be a ripple effect. Its not my intention to affect the marketplace, but if thats the result, I welcome it.

The Museum of Graffiti just took on its first corporate sponsors: Levi's and Charlottes Web, a CBD company. Stein Paint Company, a local firm, has offered donations of materials for murals.

The museum will generate three revenue streams ticket fees, the gift shop, and a gallery that will feature new work from a rotating cast of artists who straddle graffiti and fine art. (The first one is Shoe Neils Meulman from Amsterdam, whos developed a style he calls calligraffiti.) There are also 13 new murals, on the museum exterior as well as on nearby walls.

Last month, the graffiti writer turned fine artist JonOne was painting one across the street from the museum, applying layers of pastel blobs to create a festive abstraction. Mr. Ket first encountered his work in 1986, when JonOne was painting train cars with brushes (in addition to aerosol) he was the king of the trains, Mr. Ket said.

JonOne John Perello still uses graffiti lettering as the foundation for his work, even as he pushes it toward increasingly abstract ends.

The museum, he said, had a personal meaning as great as its historical meaning: Were trying to make sense of all this madness, everything that went on. Were doing our own little therapy within ourselves.

Its like were repossessing our history and our culture, JonOne added. Finally giving it its just value.

The Museum of Graffiti opens Dec. 5 at 299 NW 25th Street, Miami; (786) 580-4678; museumofgraffiti.com.

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A Graffiti Museum Where the Writers Are in Charge - The New York Times

Technology group Wrtsil, and Silverstream Technologies announced the signing of a Licence and Co-operation Agreement for future sales and servicing of the Silverstream System.

As an authorized sales and service partner, Wrtsil intends to fully integrate Silverstreams air lubrication system within its propulsion solutions.

By offering the Silverstream System as an integral part of Wrtsils propulsion solution for newbuild vessels, compliance with the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) will be further improved. Under the agreement, the Silverstream System will also be available through Wrtsils sales channels for retrofit installations on existing vessels where Wrtsil is a primary solution provider. The integrated Silverstream System is expected to realize synergies in capital and operational savings across the propulsion chain by increasing fuel efficiency, and optimizing engine loading.

The collaboration agreement will enable current and future Silverstream customers to access Wrtsils global service network for the maintenance of their Silverstream System installations. Wrtsils network of service centers, workshops, and service professionals is the most extensive in the maritime industry, with 4500 field service professionals located in 70 countries around the world.

The agreement means that more ship owners will have easy access to Silverstreams proven air lubrication technology. The system has been proven to reduce fuel burn and associated emissions by 5 to 10%, depending on vessel type.

Noah Silberschmidt, CEO, Silverstream Technologies, said: With the global sulphur cap almost upon us and decarbonization targets on the horizon, the commercial case for proven clean technology has never been stronger. Now is the time for ship owners to take action to reduce their operational costs and their impact on the environment, and todays agreement will help unlock the power of air lubrication technology for more vessels across our sector.

The Silverstream System creates a carpet of microbubbles that coat the entire flat bottom of the vessel. This carpet reduces frictional resistance between the hull and the water, dramatically reducing fuel consumption and related emissions. The technology works in all maritime conditions, is not weather dependent, and does not constrain or negatively impact the normal operational profile of the vessel.

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Wrtsil and Silverstream to Collaborate - MarineLink

Diamond Princess is one of the vessels to have been fitted with Silverstreams air lubrication system (Image: Princess Cruises)

Technology group Wrtsil is to fully integrate Silverstream Technologies air lubrication system into its propulsion solutions for passenger ships and other vessels.

The partnership will accelerate the deployment of the system, which creates savings across the propulsion chain by increasing fuel efficiency and optimising engine loading. The system operates by creating a carpet of microbubbles that coats the entire flat bottom of the vessel. This carpet reduces frictional resistance between the hull and the water, reducing fuel burn by 5-10%, depending on vessel type.

Cruise ships that have already made use of the technology include Princess Cruises Diamond Princess and Norwegian Cruise Lines Norwegian Joy.

At Wrtsil, we are committed to fully supporting our customers as they strive to reduce operating costs and improve the environmental sustainability impact of their operations, said Lars Anderson, director of propulsion at Wrtsil Marine. Todays agreement enables us to facilitate the building of better vessels that meet tomorrows challenges today, and Silverstream are the ideal partners to help us realise this goal.

The agreement will give Silverstream customers access to Wrtsils global service network for the maintenance of their installations. The network employs 4,500 service professionals located in 70 countries around the world.

Todays agreement with Wrtsil reinforces our position as the shipping industrys leading clean technology manufacturer, said Noah Silberschmidt, CEO of Silverstream Technologies. With the global sulphur cap almost upon us and decarbonisation targets on the horizon, the commercial case for proven clean technology has never been stronger. Now is the time for shipowners to take action to reduce their operational costs and their impact on the environment, and todays agreement will help unlock the power of air lubrication technology for more vessels across our sector.

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Wrtsil to use lubrication system from Silverstream Technologies - Cruise and Ferry