#Prosthetic Company Chicago

[nelpretechc]

3D Scanning in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Medical Imaging

Introduction

In the bustling healthcare sector of Chicago, where innovation meets precision, the integration of 3D scanning Chicago technology is reshaping medical imaging practices and advancing patient care. 3D scanning companies in Chicago have embraced this transformative technology, utilizing tools such as industrial CT scans and dimensional inspection to enhance diagnostic capabilities, surgical planning, and patient-specific treatments. Let's explore how 3D scanning is revolutionizing medical imaging across different applications.In Chicago's vibrant healthcare industry, the adoption of 3D scanning technology has ushered in a new era of diagnostic accuracy, personalized treatment, and enhanced patient outcomes. 3D scanning companies in Chicago are leveraging advanced tools such as industrial CT scans and dimensional inspection to innovate in medical imaging, offering unprecedented benefits across various healthcare applications. 

Precision Imaging with Industrial CT Scans

Industrial CT scanning has emerged as a cornerstone technology in medical imaging, particularly in Chicago's leading hospitals and research institutions. By employing X-ray technology to generate detailed cross-sectional images of anatomical structures and tissues, industrial CT scans provide healthcare professionals with unprecedented insights into patient conditions. In Chicago, 3D scanning companies leverage industrial CT scans to visualize complex internal anatomies, detect abnormalities, and guide precise interventions with minimal invasiveness.

Personalized Treatment Planning with Industrial CT Scans

Industrial CT scanning plays a pivotal role in personalized medicine by providing detailed, high-resolution images of internal anatomies. In Chicago, healthcare providers utilize industrial CT scans to visualize complex structures like bones, organs, and soft tissues with exceptional clarity. This imaging technology enables precise measurement and analysis, facilitating accurate diagnosis of conditions such as fractures, tumors, and vascular anomalies. By integrating dimensional inspection capabilities, medical professionals in Chicago can ensure the compatibility and functionality of implants and prosthetics, customizing treatment plans to meet the unique needs of each patient.

Improving Surgical Precision and Patient Safety

In surgical settings, 3D scanning enhances precision and safety by enabling surgeons to visualize patient-specific anatomical details in three dimensions. By creating virtual models from CT scan data, surgeons in Chicago can plan intricate procedures, simulate surgical scenarios, and navigate complex anatomical structures with confidence. This pre-operative planning not only reduces surgical risks but also optimizes outcomes, minimizing recovery times and enhancing patient satisfaction. With dimensional inspection, healthcare teams can verify the accuracy of surgical tools and implants, ensuring optimal performance and compatibility during procedures.

Enhancing Research and Education

Beyond clinical applications, 3D scanning technology facilitates research and education in healthcare institutions across Chicago. Researchers use 3D imaging data to study disease progression, conduct anatomical studies, and develop innovative medical treatments. Educational institutions leverage 3D scanning for teaching purposes, allowing students to explore virtual anatomies and learn surgical techniques in a simulated environment. This collaborative approach between healthcare providers, researchers, and 3D scanning companies fosters continuous innovation and knowledge exchange, driving advancements in medical science and patient care.

Facilitating Remote Consultations and Telemedicine

The integration of 3D scanning supports telemedicine initiatives in Chicago, enabling remote consultations and virtual patient assessments. Healthcare professionals can securely share 3D imaging data with colleagues and specialists, facilitating collaborative decision-making and expert opinions regardless of geographical location. This capability enhances access to specialized care, reduces healthcare disparities, and improves patient outcomes by ensuring timely diagnosis and treatment recommendations.

Enhancing Surgical Precision and Patient Outcomes

In surgical settings, 3D scanning plays a pivotal role in pre-operative planning and intra-operative navigation. By creating accurate 3D models of patient-specific anatomies, surgeons in Chicago can simulate procedures, anticipate challenges, and optimize surgical approaches. This personalized approach not only improves surgical precision but also enhances patient safety and recovery outcomes. With dimensional inspection capabilities, healthcare providers can verify the accuracy of medical implants and prosthetics, ensuring optimal fit and functionality for each patient.

Advancing Diagnostic Capabilities

Beyond surgical applications, 3D scanning enhances diagnostic capabilities across various medical specialties. In Chicago, healthcare professionals utilize 3D scanning to capture detailed surface textures and geometric complexities of anatomical structures. This comprehensive imaging data facilitates more accurate diagnosis of musculoskeletal disorders, cardiovascular conditions, and neurological abnormalities. By integrating dimensional inspection techniques, healthcare providers can assess the integrity of biological tissues, monitor disease progression, and tailor treatment plans to individual patient needs.

Collaborative Innovation in Healthcare

The integration of 3D scanning technology fosters collaborative innovation among multidisciplinary teams in Chicago's healthcare ecosystem. Radiologists, surgeons, biomedical engineers, and 3D scanning companies work synergistically to harness imaging data for research, education, and continuous improvement of clinical practices. This collaborative approach accelerates the translation of cutting-edge technologies into everyday patient care, driving advancements in precision medicine and personalized treatment strategies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, 3D scanning stands at the forefront of revolutionizing medical imaging in Chicago's healthcare landscape. Its ability to enhance precision, improve surgical outcomes, advance diagnostic capabilities, and foster collaborative innovation underscores its transformative impact on patient care. As 3D scanning companies continue to innovate and expand their capabilities in dimensional inspection and industrial CT scan, Chicago remains a hub of excellence in medical technology, driving the future of healthcare with groundbreaking advancements in imaging and patient-centric care.3D scanning technology represents a transformative force in healthcare, particularly in Chicago's dynamic medical landscape. Its ability to enhance diagnostic precision, improve surgical outcomes, support research and education, and facilitate telemedicine underscores its essential role in modern healthcare delivery. As 3D scanning companies continue to innovate and refine their capabilities in dimensional inspection and industrial CT scanning, Chicago remains at the forefront of advancing medical imaging technologies, driving the evolution of patient-centered care and medical innovation into the future.

[gbhbl]

Album Review: Blind Equation - Death Awaits (Prosthetic Records)

Part genius, part madness, all kinds of captivating. The more time spent in the company of Blind Equation, the more impressive their output becomes.

Chicago, Illinois emotional cybergrind mainstay Blind Equation will release their much-anticipated sophomore full-length album ‘Death Awaits’ on September 15th via Prosthetic Records. Here, Blind Equation plummets the depths of self-loathing, interpersonal betrayal, anxiety and death itself. The epitome of a ‘grower’, getting to know Blind Equation over this year with single releases has…

[dudiberkowitzchicago]

Dudi Berkowitz of Chicago on local nursing homes and hospitals

You will discover many official vacation guides, driving guides and fantastic dining guides, and now Dudi Berkowitz is sharing his prime nursing home and hospital improvements for those within the Chicagoland area. With some in the major art museums, places to eat and structures during the place, it is been a thriller as to why there is been these types of an absence of listings highlighting our great wellness treatment establishments, states Dudi Berkowitz, a nursing home and hospital advisor.

There are several best hospitals in Dudi Berkowitz Chicago which have been regarded for his or her excellence in professional medical treatment, investigate and innovation. In this article are a few of the technological innovations these establishments in Chicago might make in 2023 and 2024. Berkowitz believes that innovative technologies and practices that hospitals and nursing homes may undertake during the foreseeable future to boost affected individual treatment and all round functions will strengthen their bottom lines and even more propel Chicago as being a best health and fitness care city from the earth. Right here are some prospects:

Telemedicine: Telemedicine lets overall health treatment companies to attach with individuals remotely, which may be in particular practical for patients who dwell in distant places or have restricted mobility. This know-how may also assist reduce the spread of infectious health conditions by allowing for patients to receive care with no leaving their properties.

Artificial intelligence: Artificial intelligence (AI) can be employed to analyze large amounts of information to boost individual outcomes and operational performance. One example is, AI-powered predictive analytics can be utilized to discover individuals who're at large risk for readmission or difficulties, making it possible for overall health treatment suppliers to intervene prior to challenges crop up.

Wearable technological innovation: Wearable technological innovation for instance clever watches and health trackers can be employed to observe affected person overall health and supply early warning signs of prospective health troubles. This tends to enable health and fitness treatment companies intervene early and stop far more major wellbeing concerns from building.

Robotics: Robots can be employed to accomplish program responsibilities, for example cleansing and delivering materials, releasing up health care personnel to emphasis on affected individual care. They're able to also be employed to deliver social and emotional assistance to people, specifically in long-term treatment options.

Customized drugs: Personalised medication involves tailoring treatment plans to individual people based upon their genetics, lifestyle and various elements. This solution can enhance affected individual outcomes and reduce the risk of adverse events by taking into consideration each patient's unique desires and situations.

Remote checking: Distant checking allows health care providers to monitor patients' health situations from a distance, which may be particularly practical for sufferers with persistent conditions or those people who are recovering from surgical procedures. By tracking essential indicators as well as other health knowledge remotely, overall health care vendors can detect early warning signs of possible health troubles and intervene just before they grow to be much more major.

3D printing: 3D printing can be utilized to generate custom made professional medical gadgets, implants and prosthetics which can be tailor-made to person patients. This know-how can boost individual outcomes by ensuring an even better in good shape and reducing the danger of problems.

Augmented truth: Augmented fact may be used to boost surgical treatments by supplying surgeons with real-time suggestions and visualization resources. One example is, augmented fact eyeglasses can overlay 3D photographs of the patient's anatomy on to the surgical area, allowing surgeons to accomplish treatments with greater accuracy and precision.

Blockchain: Blockchain technology may be used to securely store and share individual well being data, rendering it a lot easier for well being treatment companies to accessibility and share information and facts. This will strengthen client results by guaranteeing that wellness care providers have use of most of the facts they need to make informed selections.

Human-centered style and design: Human-centered layout consists of designing wellbeing treatment services and processes together with the demands of sufferers and wellbeing treatment workers in your mind. This tactic can strengthen affected individual gratification, decrease problems, and strengthen over-all performance by generating spaces and procedures which can be personalized on the needs of the individuals that rely on them.

In general, hospitals and nursing homes may possibly continue to undertake new technologies and practices that improve affected person results, lessen charges, and improve effectiveness. As overall health treatment carries on to evolve, it's possible that new improvements will arise that assist wellbeing treatment vendors deliver far better treatment to their individuals.

Top-ranked hospitals jump out for their fantastic health care treatment, analysis and tutorial courses. In this article are some from the critical things that contribute to nursing homes and hospitals in Chicago staying highly rated:

Medical excellence: Recognised for its excellent individual treatment, scientific results and security record. The hospital has remarkably skilled and seasoned medical professionals, nurses along with other wellness care gurus who make use of the latest healthcare systems and approaches to diagnose and take care of people.

Specialised applications: In spots for example oncology, cardiology, neurology, orthopedics and transplantation. These packages are staffed by specialists within the industry who definitely have access to the most recent exploration and therapy alternatives.

Exploration and innovation: Chicago hospitals are leaders in medical study and innovation, by using a concentrate on translating investigate into scientific exercise.

Patient-centered care: Putting a solid emphasis on patient-centered treatment, which means that people are at the centre of every thing the clinic does. This consists of personalized remedy strategies, a focus on patient education and learning, and a determination to interaction and collaboration involving health care companies and patients.

Nationwide recognition: According to Berkowitz, Chicago nursing homes and hospitals proceed to get many countrywide and global recognitions and awards for their medical excellence, exploration and patient-centered care.

Delivered by Ascend Agency

Chicago hospitals are known for his or her excellent health-related care, research and innovation, and they are staffed by leading doctors, nurses and wellness treatment industry experts. They have got a keep track of record of good results in treating complex health-related conditions, supplying compassionate treatment and advancing medical awareness via exploration and schooling.

In regards to nursing homes, Berkowitz claims you will find several components which can add into a good nursing home, which includes the caliber of care, the services and features, plus the general environment and tradition with the residence.

Some means you can use to locate a wonderful nursing home in Chicago include things like:

The Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Nursing Home Compare website, which provides data about the standard of treatment at nursing homes across the United States. You are able to use this website to compare nursing homes in Chicago and read reviews from other residents and families.

The Illinois Department of Public Health provides a directory of nursing homes in Illinois, including details on their licensing and certification status.

Personal recommendations from friends, family members or health and fitness treatment companies is usually valuable in finding an awesome nursing home.

When researching nursing homes, it's important to visit the homes in person to get a sense with the ambiance and tradition. You are able to also talk to staff members and residents to learn extra about their experiences and obtain a sense on the quality of care presented. Ultimately, the best nursing home for you or your loved one will depend on your person requires and preferences, so it's important to do your research and make an knowledgeable decision.

[rinellaprostheticsorthotics]

If you in any kind of problem and searching Prosthetic leg then visit at Rinella Prosthetics & Orthotics. Below knee Prosthetic leg can help replace the function a person has lost due to an amputation. With new technology that is available, people can achieve outstanding results due to bionic componentry and new technologies. We also have a pricing tab that helps people understand the costs involved with the different types of below knee prostheses.

[aic-design]

Automarionette, Diller + Scofidio, 1982, Art Institute of Chicago: Architecture and Design

Founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, Diller + Scofidio (now Diller Scofidio + Renfro), is a practice known for exploring the experimental and performative aspects of architecture and technology. This early drawing documents their interest in manipulations of the human body, depicting their design for a suspended apparatus or prosthetic that controls the position of the body with a counterweight system. A modified version of Automarionette was produced as part of a set design for the performance piece The Rotary Notary and His Hot Plate (A Delay in Glass), inspired by artist Marcel Duchamp's work The Large Glass. This performance was created with an experimental theater company for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Duchamp Centennial in 1987. Although documenting a highly conceptual project, the lush sepia tones and fine rendering technique used in this drawing recalls the red chalk sketches created by early modern European artists as preparatory studies for paintings. Gift of Celia and David Hilliard in honor of Stanley Tigerman and Eva Maddox Size: 61 × 30.5 cm (24 × 12 in.) Medium: Ink on sepia Mylar

https://www.artic.edu/artworks/193266/

[aion-rsa]

Coming to America: The Secret Shared Cinematic Universe You Forgot About

https://ift.tt/3bcJ0Cq

When one thinks about 1988’s Coming to America, a few things stand out: James Earl Jones and Madge Sinclair as the King and Queen of Zamunda speaking to their son Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) at a breakfast table with intercom radios; the opulence of Zamunda’s palace, which represented an idealized African nation to 1980s audiences the way Wakanda does today; and of course Murphy and Arsenio Hall’s Semmi fresh off the plane in Queens, New York with no idea what “common” means—or also Murphy and Hall under pounds of makeup as the argumentative old-timers at the nearby barbershop.

The film has many great elements that make it a comedy classic. However, what’s often overlooked is that the picture is not-so-secretly part of a shared cinematic universe. Indeed, Coming to America is the film which confirmed several of director John Landis’ films all occur in the same world: One with another Eddie Murphy as Billy Ray Valentine, a small time hustler who gets one over on some rich old racists and winds up nouveau riche in Trading Places, and one with carnivorous lunar activities in An American Werewolf in London. Weird, right? 

The more overt and official of these is the callback to Murphy and Landis’ previous collaboration, Trading Places (1983). In that film, Murphy’s Billy Ray Valentine is an unimpressive grifter who’s trying to get by on a put-on about being a Vietnam vet without legs. Obviously Billy Ray has never had the opportunity to achieve more, and two corrupt blue bloods named Randolph and Mortimer Duke (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) think it would be funny to give Billy Ray that chance to succeed—if only temporarily, after all they don’t want a Black man actually flourishing at their company—while throwing their silver spoon lackey, Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) into poverty.

It’s a cynical racist game they’re playing, and it ends up blowing up in their faces, with Billy Ray and Louis eventually joining forces to get rich while bankrupting the Dukes. In other words, it’s a perfectly ‘80s comedy in tune with that decade’s values: humor based in a lot of stereotypes that ends with the good guys getting rich. Still, it’s a charmer which, alongside 48 Hrs. (1982), proved Murphy was a bona fide movie star outside of Saturday Night Live. Hence why Murphy and Landis are so keen to call back to it in Coming to America.

Late in the 1988 comedy about Prince Akeem traveling to New York City in order to meet a nice American girl, the prince and Lisa (Shari Headley) are taking a walk in the promenade near the Brooklyn Bridge when Akeem gives a handful of rolled up hundred dollar bills to two homeless men. Committed to embracing a life of poverty, Akeem tells Lisa he just gave away pocket change. However, when the camera returns to the two old-timers beneath blankets and cardboard, we learn that (gasp) it’s Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche! It seems Billy Ray and Louis really did thoroughly put these capitalist vultures out on the street. But the two grumpy old men are thrilled with this newfound investment.

“Mortimer, we’re back!” Bellamy announces with a Cheshire grin. The two then show up again to bang on Akeem and Lisa’s window as they have dinner, shouting, “Let’s have lunch.”

It’s an amusing and impossible-to-miss Easter egg for fans of Murphy’s films. Although given how rotten the Duke brothers are, we fear Akeem has done more harm than good. The moment also makes the two films a rare thing in 20th century Hollywood cinema: a shared cinematic universe. While the Universal Movie Monsters did this 40 years prior to Trading Places, we were still a long way from Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith’s independent world-building in their 1990s films, never mind the Marvel Cinematic Universe popularizing the idea a decade after that.

However, what many miss is that Trading Places isn’t the only Landis movie that Coming to America also calls back to. Later in the 1988 movie, Akeem is chasing Lisa, and the two run through an appropriately scuzzy New York City subway. There are real posters from that time period on the walls, such as one for August Wilson’s Broadway play Fences, which starred James Earl Jones and Frankie Faison (both players in Coming to America). But there’s also a poster for See You Next Wednesday.

This fictional title does not correspond with a real movie, however it does match a running joke throughout Landis’ filmography, including most famously in The Blues Brothers (1980) and An American Werewolf in London (1981). Consider a nondescript billboard for a movie called See You Next Wednesday also appears in The Blues Brothers, with Aykroyd and John Belushi driving right past it in Chicago while on a mission from God. In American Werewolf, meanwhile, there are posters scattered throughout the London tube system for a movie of sorts also titled See You Next Wednesday.

The title is a play on the dirty turn of phrase “See You Next Tuesday,” and actually originates from a line of dialogue spoken in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Landis, however, enjoys sprinkling it throughout his work, suggesting it’s the name of a fictional movie, one with a significant underground advertising budget between Werewolf and Coming to America.

The movie-within-a-movie is revealed in Werewolf’s third act to actually be a seedy porno film playing in London’s Piccadilly Circus. It’s there that the poor schmuck David Kessler (David Naughton) transforms into a werewolf one last time, and kills some perverts on his way out the door.

Admittedly, this is not an official connection between Coming to America and An American Werewolf in London, or The Blues Brothers. For starters, it legally has to be slightly different since Werewolf and Brothers are Universal Pictures releases while Coming to America (like Trading Places) was produced by Paramount. Additionally, the See You Next Wednesday poster in Coming to America is not for a porno film, but a glossy sci-fi cheesefest apparently starring Jamie Lee Curtis, who also happened to appear in Trading Places. But we suspect these superficial differences in the posters (that you have to squint to notice) are concessions to the legal need to differentiate the running joke.

Like the fan theory that Ridley Scott’s Alien and Blade Runner occur in the same universe—a theory Scott himself has publicly supported—despite the sci-fi films being produced by different studios, Landis seems to invite folks to imagine Coming to America and a number of his other films are also part of the same universe.

It’s a funny thing to imagine that there are two Eddie Murphys out there, one yachting with Aykroyd’s Louis and Curtis’ Ophelia around the world, and the other a kind hearted if overly naïve African prince. And while Zamunda is a kind of paradise (at least for the men in its highly patriarchal society), demons and cursed devils like David Kessler prowl the moors of England, picking off American tourists too dim to beware the moon and stick to the road.

Read more

Movies

Coming 2 America: How Wesley Snipes Got Into Rhythm with Eddie Murphy

By Tony Sokol

Movies

Coming to America: Ranking Every Eddie Murphy Character

By David Crow

Of course these are more winks and nods than concrete world-building, and they’re masterminded by one of the most controversial directors of their era. In fact, it is hard to consider these connections and not also recall the director’s complicated past. For a short time, Landis was on top of the world when he made Animal House, The Blues Brothers, and An American Werewolf in London back-to-back-to-back. But by the time of Coming to America’s release, fewer and fewer colleagues were working with him due to the tragic and entirely avoidable disaster on the Twilight Zone: The Movie set, an accident which led to the deaths of three people, two of them children. Murphy, however, was one person who continued to work with Landis.

And the two worked exceptionally well together, indeed. Landis’ specific brand of outlandish, sometimes fratty humor complemented Murphy’s big swings as a performer, including beginning to experiment with makeup comedy. He never more adeptly used prosthetics than in Coming to America; and much of this film’s iconography comes from Landis and his wife, costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, who imagined Akeem and Semmi’s now iconic Zamunda winter wear.

Whatever else, Landis helmed some of the most popular comedies of the 1980s, with four of them apparently existing in the same universe. Remembering that these days can still crack a smile. Or at least a howl.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

The post Coming to America: The Secret Shared Cinematic Universe You Forgot About appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3bbdPaF

[abundanceofsoph]

SkyFire 1: Chapter 17

The North American tour & YouTube Collabs

Word count: 3k

SkyFire 1 MASTERLIST

>Instagram posts

Aurora was nervous when she entered the recording studio in North Hollywood. Mark had sent her the address the previous week and told her that the four members of Our Last Night would be expecting her at 9am, so there she was walking through the front door, with Harry’s supportive hand on her lower back.

“Aurora?”

“Yes, Hi,” she replied, reaching her hand out to shake the one offered to her by the tall brunette standing in front of her. “It’s great to finally meet you, Matt. Thanks for having me.”

“Great to meet you too. We were all stoked when your manager reached out. Thanks again for flying out here.”

“Not at all,” Rori said. “This is my partner, Harry by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Harry. Everyone else is back this way.”

They followed Matt further into the building, finding the other members of his band sitting around the studio space. Introductions were made and the rest of the day was spent working on the arrangements for the 2 songs they had already decided on covering. They had been emailing back and forth for much of the last week and the band had already done much of the work, so it was simply a matter of putting the final touches to the instrumentals and by the end of the first day they were ready to start recording. The band invited Aurora and Harry back to Trevor’s house for dinner and they gladly accepted, already enjoying the company of the 4 men. Aurora spent most of the evening with Trevor’s 1 year old perched on her lap until the baby was put to bed. They didn’t stay too late and made plans to meet back in the studio earlier the next morning. Over the next few days they recorded the instrumental tracks for both covers, leaving only the vocal tracks left to lay down for their covers of the Chainsmokers All We Know, and Charlie Puth’s We Don’t Talk Anymore.

At the end of her first week in LA, Aurora, Trevor and Matthew all took their turn in the recording booth to lay down the vocals for each track and then they decided to take the weekend off before returning Monday morning to film the music videos.

Harry felt that Malibu was the perfect place to spend the weekend, renting a beach house for the pair and Aurora spent the days lounging beside the pool and soaking up as much sun as she could. Given their usually hectic schedules, the young couple revelled in the free time. The opportunity to waste away hours by the pool, without the constant demands to be somewhere or do something was intoxicating. Harry was happy to set himself up on a banana lounge with a book and a glass of red wine, enjoying the relaxing sounds of the nearby waves and the view of his beautiful girlfriend laying nearby in a bikini. Likewise, Aurora was also enjoying the calming sound of the waves, and would cheekily request that Harry refill her drink, if only to watch him walking around in a pair of boardshorts slung low on his hips and nothing else. Before long, their mini vacation was at an end and Aurora headed back into the studio, spending three days filming the 2 covers and then helping with the beginnings of the editing process. After what felt like no time at all, the pair said goodbye to their new friends with promises to catch up again in the future before heading to LAX to fly up to Toronto for Harry to start the next leg of the bands tour. By the time they returned to the States on Monday, the two covers were posted on both Aurora’s channel and Our Last Nights, much to their fan’s excitement and praise.

xXx

Despite being so close to her home across the river, Aurora didn’t visit while she was in New Jersey with the band and instead Tony came to see her. He was beyond excited when he pulled her into a tight embrace, lifting her feet off the ground as he swung her around.

“Missed you,” he murmured in her ear as he set her back on her feet.

“Missed you too,” Rori replied, “and Pops.”

“He wanted to come,” Tony said, “But things are a bit crazy back home.”

“How is Sergeant Barnes doing?” Aurora asked, leading her dad down the hallways towards the green room.

“Yeah, he’s getting there,” Tony answered. “He was still a bit confused when we finally tracked him down but he’s already getting better. I mean don’t get me wrong, he’s got a long way to go but he’s been doing really well in therapy so it’s just a matter of time really.”

“I was talking to Pops on the phone the other night and he seems really excited to be getting his friend back.”

“He is, I just don’t want him to get his hopes up too much. Barnes has been through so much that I’m not sure he’ll ever be his old self again.”

“I can’t imagine what he’s gone through,” Aurora agreed. “But at least he’s out of it now.”

“You’re right,” her father agreed. “I’ve been working on fixing his prosthetic lately. The one Hydra made for him was a mess. They clearly didn’t care whether it was causing him any pain, so hopefully I can ease that for him with some modifications.”

“Well there’s no one better to work on it than you, dad,” Aurora smirked. “You got Peter helping you on it?”

“I couldn’t stop him if I tried,” Tony laughed. “The kid is having the time of his life.”

The pair spent the rest of the afternoon catching each other up on the last month and simply revelling in being together after weeks apart.

Following the New Jersey shows, Aurora and the band travelled down to Massachusetts, and then on to Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, Missouri and finally Illinois. Along the way Aurora continued heading out exploring whatever city they found themselves in while the boys worked, and she would often find herself sitting in on writing sessions for the next album. Harry would often run lyrics by her, asking for her input and she found that Liam and Louis’ writing style was similar to her own which led to her often joining the two as they threw around ideas. By the time they reached Chicago at the end of August, most of the album had been written, if not recorded in full ready for its November release.

Following the last show in Chicago, the band had a week and a half break before continuing the tour in California, so Harry joined Aurora on her flight back to New York on the Sunday afternoon of the last day of August.

xXx

Aurora wasn’t at all surprised by the surprise party that she walked into when she stepped out of the lift and into the penthouse with Harry by her side. The scene that greeted her was so perfectly Tony, that she felt herself grinning widely. There was a banner strung across the living room that read; ‘WELCOME HOME RORI’ with a small crowd of her friends and family assembled underneath it. The crowd included the Avengers, Pepper and Happy, Peter and May, her parents and two new faces; one of which she recognised from photos to be Bucky Barnes, while the other she assumed to be the newest recruit to the team, Sam Wilson. Rori quickly found herself sandwiched between both of her fathers as they threw their arms around her, crushing her in a warm group hug. She laughed as they finally let her go. “I missed you too,” she chuckled, allowing them to lead her further into the room to be passed from one hug to the next as everyone took their turn to welcome her home.

A few hours later, full to bursting from the Chinese takeout Tony had ordered from her favourite place, Aurora was curled up against Harry’s side on the large sofa. Steve brought Bucky over to sit on the sofa opposite the young couple, introducing his daughter to his oldest friend. She smiled softly at him, unsure what to say. She could see the excitement on her Pop’s face to be introducing his best friend from the 1940s but the person she saw before her was also a Hydra assassin who had killed more people than she could comprehend.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Bucky murmured. “Stevie hasn’t really shut up about you.”

“He’s told me a lot about you too,” Rori replied, a soft smile lifting the corners of her lips as she glanced over at her step-father. “That was before he knew you were still alive though.”

“It’s crazy that either of us here now,” Bucky admitted. They continued to talk idly until Steve walked over to the kitchen to refill his and Rori’s drinks. The moment he was out of earshot, Bucky looked between Rori and Harry with a nervous glance. “I understand that you’re both concerned,” he said. “I am too, but I promise you that I’m not a threat.”

“We don’t think you’re a threat,” Harry replied.

“Don’t we?” Rori asked him. “I’m not going to say anything in front of Pops because he deserves this, but I don’t trust you Bucky. Maybe I will someday but not yet.”

“Steve said you were smart,” Bucky replied, seemingly unaffected by Auroras blunt words. “Glad to see he was right. I don’t trust myself completely either but we’re working on it. I’m doing therapy to help with the brainwashing and your dad is fixing my arm. I’ll earn your trust.”

“Yes, you will,” Rori agreed with a genuine smile, dropping the conversation as Steve returned with Sam in tow. “Welcome to the madhouse, Sam.”

“Thanks Aurora,” the newest Avenger replied. “Not sure what I’ve gotten myself into with this one,” he gestured towards Steve, who rolled his eyes. “Should be good fun though.”

“It’s certainly never boring,” Harry joked.

Shortly before midnight, when almost everyone had left for the night, only Nat, Clint and Bruce remained in the living room of the penthouse with the Stark-Rogers family and Harry. After refilling his drink in the kitchen, Tony walked past where Rori was sitting, lifting her wine glass to her lips to take a sip. “What is that on your wrist?” he asked, pulling his daughters attention away from a conversation she was having with Bruce. She paused for a brief moment before following Tony’s eyes to the inside of her left wrist.

“It’s a tattoo,” she replied, holding her arm out so that he could see the fresh ink clearer. “Pretty cool, right? I got it about 2 weeks ago.” The image on the inside of her wrist was of half of Steve’s shield and the right half of the Iron Man helmet, joined together in the middle. “Harry, Louis and I went to this great little tattoo parlour in Philly.”

“It’s nice,” Tony said. “Did you draw it up yourself?” Aurora nodded that she had, tracing her index finger over the ink, smiling at the memory of sitting in the tattoo studio with the two boys, Louis laughing at her as she winced when some of the heavy shading was done.

“I’m already planning the next one,” she told her father. “It really is addictive.”

Tony shot a joking glare towards Harry where he sat with Nat and Clint nearby. “You’ve got a lot to answer for,” he told the younger man.

“I had nothing to do with it,” Harry laughed, raising his hands in mock defence. “She cooked up the idea with Lou and they’d decided they were going long before I invited myself. I was just tagging along and figured I’d get something done while we were there.”

“A likely story,” Tony laughed. “So, what’s the next one?” he asked, turning his attention away from Harry and back to his daughter.

“I wanna get a yellow cab on my ribs,” Aurora explained. “Big Yellow Taxi was mum’s favourite song, so I want to be a walking cliché and put it near my heart.”

“You’re not going to start building a sleeve like Harry’s next, are you?” Steve asked, joining the conversation and sitting down next to Aurora on the sofa.

“No,” Rori promised. “But I think I’ll definitely get a couple more. I really love the idea of having my art permanently a part of me.”

xXx

Harrys stayed for the rest of the week, enjoying spending time with Rori without the pressure and constant scheduling of being on tour. He also enjoyed spending time with her family. He would sit with Rori while she sketched on the sofa in Tony’s workshop, watching her father and Peter working away on whatever project had their attention at any given moment. He’d chat with Rori while she drew, her feet perched in his lap and one of his hands resting softly on her thigh. Sometimes she’d be sketching Tony and Peter, sometimes it was Harry and sometimes it was a landscape she could see only in her mind. They reminisced about the tour, recounting the funnier stories for Peter who lapped it all up eagerly. Every morning the couple would head downstairs to the gym, where Rori would run on the treadmill and Harry would use the weights. Steve would join them most mornings and there were always other members of the team floating in and out of the space. On the Wednesday, Rori started back at Columbia and Harry caught the subway with her, wandering the campus and grabbing a coffee at one of the small cafes while she attended her two classes for the day. When she was finished, the pair walked back to the tower through Central Park, taking their time in the autumn sunshine. Eventually Harry had to leave for California, and while Aurora tried to pretend she wasn’t upset to see him go, she lasted only until he was standing in front of the lift with his bag slung over his shoulder. Happy was waiting with the car downstairs and they had agreed to say their goodbyes in private, both knowing that if Aurora went to the airport with Harry, they would be on every gossip blog by morning.

“I’ll see you at Christmas,” Harry promised. Aurora nodded, swallowing thickly against the emotion building in her throat. “Come here,” he said, pulling her against him as the tears welled up and flowed down her cheeks.

“I got so used to see you every day,” she admitted, her face pressed into his neck. “I don’t want to say goodbye.”

“I don’t want to go either,” Harry said, “but you’ve got school and I’ve got the tour to finish. It’ll be December before we know it.”

“I love you,” she told him, pulling her face back from his neck to look into his eyes.

“I love you too,” he promised, leaning forward to lock their lips together.

“Sorry to interrupt,” JARVIS said, “But Mr Styles will need to leave now if he does not wish to miss his flight.”

“I’ll call you when I land,” Harry said, pecking her lips one last time before stepping into the waiting elevator car. As the doors slid closed, she stared at them for a few long minutes before turning towards the living room and throwing herself onto the sofa, her face buried into the cushions. Tony found her there half an hour later and sat down next to her hip, rubbing a handing down her back.

“Harry get away alright?” he asked to which Rori nodded, her face still pressed into the fabric below her. “You wanna watch a shitty movie and eat crap food that will make Steve disappointed in both of us?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled, finally sitting up and allowing her father to crush her in a tight embrace.

xXx

Two weeks after Harry returned to the tour, Aurora was sitting at the large dining table with every member of the Avengers team present. They were halfway through the meal before Clint finally snapped, asking the question on everyone’s mind. “Rori are you gonna tell us why you made such a big deal about everyone having dinner tonight?”

Aurora looked up from her plate, glancing around the table to see everyone’s eyes on her, expectant. “Uhhhh,” she mumbled. “I just wanted to talk to you all at the same time, so I didn’t have to repeat myself.”

“You’re not pregnant, are you?” Clint asked, causing both Tony and Steve’s heads to snap towards their daughter.

“No!” Rori gasped, both men visibly relaxing in response to her answer. “Christ, Clint. I just wanted to talk to you about the fact that we’re having visitors for the next few days and I would appreciate if you could all stay on your own floors and stay out of here, so you don’t embarrass me.”

“What kind of visitors?” Bruce asked.

“I’m collaborating with a band called Boyce Avenue, so the three members are going to be here until Monday to record in the studio,” Aurora explained, growing more nervous with every second as Nat and Clint shared a look that could only spell trouble for her.

The three Manzano brothers arrived the following morning and within the hour, the four of them were already set up in Aurora’s studio downstairs. As with her collaboration with Our Last Night, much of the work had been done via email over the previous weeks, so they got straight in to running through the arrangements for their covers of Zedd’s The Middle and Khalid’s Love Lies. The process was effortless and over the next 4 days they recorded the instrumental and vocal tracks as well as filming the two videos for their separate channels. Aurora and Alejandro’s voices blended together beautifully, and they all had so much fun working together. Thankfully the Avengers took pity on her and stayed out of the way for the duration of the Manzano’s visit and before long the men returned to Florida while Aurora through herself into her college classes, hoping that the months of separation from Harry really would fly by as he’d promised.

NEXT CHAPTER

OR CONTINUE READING ON AO3

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Irene Dunne DHS (born Irene Marie Dunn; December 20, 1898 – September 4, 1990) was an American actress and singer who appeared in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She is best known for her comedic roles, despite being in films of varied genres.

After her father died when she was fourteen, Dunne's family relocated from Kentucky to Indiana and she became determined to become an opera singer, but when she was rejected by The Met, she performed in musicals on Broadway until she was scouted by RKO and made her Hollywood film debut in the 1930 musical Leathernecking. She starred in 42 movies and made guest appearances on radio and in popular anthology television until 1962; she was nominated five times for the Academy Award for Best Actress – for her performances in Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939), and I Remember Mama (1948) – and was one of the top 25 highest-paid actors of her time.

In the present, Dunne is considered one of the greatest actresses who never won an Academy Award. Some critics theorize that her performances have been underappreciated and largely forgotten, overshadowed by movie remakes and her better-known co-stars. Dunne once fled across the Atlantic Ocean to avoid starring in a comedy, but she has been praised by many during her career, and after her death, as one of the best comedic actresses in the screwball genre. She was nicknamed "The First Lady of Hollywood" for her regal manner despite being proud of her Irish-American, country girl roots.

Dunne devoted her retirement to philanthropy and was chosen by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a delegate for the United States to the United Nations, in which she advocated for world peace and highlighted refugee-relief programs. She also used the time to be with her family – her husband, dentist Dr. Francis Griffin, and their daughter Mary Frances, whom they adopted in 1938. She received numerous awards for her philanthropy, including honorary doctorates, a Laetare Medal and a Sepulchre damehood, and was given a Kennedy Center Honor for her services to the arts.

Irene Marie Dunn was born on December 20, 1898, at 507 East Gray Street in Louisville, Kentucky,

Following her father's death, Dunne's family moved to her mother's hometown of Madison, Indiana, living at 916 W. Second St., in the same neighborhood as Dunne's grandparents' home. Dunne's mother taught her to play the piano as a very small girl — according to Dunne, "Music was as natural as breathing in our house," — but unfortunately for her, music lessons frequently prevented her from playing with the neighborhood kids. Her first school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream began her interest in drama, so she took singing lessons as well, and sang in local churches and high school plays before her graduation in 1916. Her first ambition was to become a music teacher and studied at the Indianapolis Conservatory of Music and Webster College, earning a diploma in 1918, but saw an audition advertizement for the Chicago Musical College when she visited friends during a journey to Gary, and won the College scholarship, officially graduating in 1926. She hoped to become a soprano opera singer, relocating to New York after finishing her second year in 1920, but did not pass the audition with the Metropolitan Opera Company due to her inexperience and her "slight" voice.

Dunne took more singing lessons and then dancing lessons to prepare for a possible career in musical theater. On a New York vacation to visit family friends, she was recommended to audition for a stage musical, eventually starring as the leading role in the popular play Irene, which toured major cities as a roadshow throughout 1921. "Back in New York," Dunne reflected, "I thought that with my experience on the road and musical education it would be easy to win a role. It wasn't." Her Broadway debut was December 25, the following year as Tessie in Zelda Sears's The Clinging Vine, and she took leading role when the original actress took a leave of absence in 1924. Supporting roles in musical theater productions followed in the shows The City Chap (1925), Yours Truly (1927) and She's My Baby (1928). Her first top-billing, leading role Luckee Girl (1928) was not as successful as her previous projects. She would later call her career beginnings "not great furor." At this time, Dunne added the extra "e" to her surname, which had ironically been misspelled as "Dunne" at times throughout her life until this point; until her death, "Dunne" would then occasionally be misspelled as "Dunn." Starring as Magnolia Hawks in a road company adaptation of Show Boat was the result of a chance meeting with its director Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. in an elevator the day she returned from her honeymoon, when he mistook her for his next potential client, eventually sending his secretary to chase after her. A talent scout for RKO Pictures attended a performance, and Dunne signed the studio's contract, appearing in her first movie, Leathernecking (1930), a film version of the musical Present Arms. Already in her 30s when she made her first film, she would be in competition with younger actresses for roles, and found it advantageous to evade questions that would reveal her age, so publicists encouraged the belief that she was born in 1901 or 1904; the former is the date engraved on her tombstone.

The "Hollywood musical" era had fizzled out so Dunne moved to dramatic roles during the Pre-Code era, leading a successful campaign for the role of Sabra in Cimarron (1931) with her soon-to-be co-star Richard Dix, receiving her first Best Actress nomination. Her role as the determined but ladylike mother figure of Sabra reflected her later persona and the films she starred in afterwards, such as the melodramas Back Street (1932) and Magnificent Obsession (1935). The latter had the best critical acclaim and the melodrama she reportedly did the most preparation for, studying Braille and working on posture with blind consultant Ruby Fruth. This was after she and Dix reunited for Stingaree (1934), where overall consensus was that Dunne had usurped Dix's star power. The 1934 Sweet Adeline remake and Roberta (1935) were Dunne's first two musicals since Leathernecking; Roberta also starred dancing partners Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and she sang the musical's breakaway pop hit "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes." In 1936, she starred as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat (1936), directed by James Whale. Dunne had concerns about Whale's directing decisions, but she later admitted that her favorite scene to film was "Make Believe" with Allan Jones because it reminded her of Romeo and Juliet. It was during this year that Dunne's RKO contract had expired and she had decided to become a freelance actor, with the power to choose studios and directors. Dunne was apprehensive about attempting her first comedy role as the title character in Theodora Goes Wild (1936), but discovered that she enjoyed it, and received her second Best Actress Oscar nomination for the performance.

Later years of Dunne's film career became diverse. She starred in three films each with Charles Boyer and Cary Grant in screwball comedies (The Awful Truth (1937), My Favorite Wife (1940)), romantic dramas (Love Affair (1939), When Tomorrow Comes (1939)), drama (Penny Serenade (1941)) and comedy (Together Again (1944)). She starred in fictionalized dramas Anna and the King of Siam (1946) and later The Mudlark (1950) as Anna Leonowens and Queen Victoria, respectively, was in the comedies Unfinished Business (1941), Lady in a Jam (1942) and Over 21 (1945), and the war movies A Guy Named Joe (1943) and The White Cliffs of Dover (1944). She also starred as mothers Lavinia Day in Life with Father (1947), and Marta Hanson in I Remember Mama (1948). Marta required her to wear aging makeup and body padding, and she wore prosthetics to portray Queen Victoria.

Dunne's last three films were box-office failures. The Mudlark was a success in the UK, despite initial critical concern over the only foreigner in a British film starring as a well-known British monarch, but her American fans disapproved of the prosthetic decisions. The comedy It Grows on Trees (1952) became Dunne's last movie performance, although she remained on the lookout for suitable film scripts for years afterwards. On the radio, she and Fred MacMurray respectively played a feuding editor and reporter of a struggling newspaper in the 52-episode comedy-drama Bright Star, which aired in syndication between 1952 and 1953 by the Ziv Company. She also starred in and hosted episodes of television anthologies, such as Ford Theatre, General Electric Theater, and the Schlitz Playhouse of Stars. Faye Emerson wrote in 1954 that "I hope we see much more of Miss Dunne on TV," and Nick Adams called Dunne's performance in Saints and Sinners worthy of an Emmy nomination. Dunne's last acting credit was in 1962, but she was once rumored to star in a movie named Heaven Train, and rejected an offer to cameo in Airport '77.

Dunne appeared at 1953's March of Dimes showcase in New York City to introduce two little girls nicknamed the Poster Children, who performed a dramatization about polio research. She was later present at Disneyland's "Dedication Day" in 1955 to christen the Mark Twain Riverboat with a bottle containing water from several major rivers across the United States. Years before, Dunne had also christened the SS Carole Lombard.

In her retirement, she devoted herself primarily to humanitarianism. Some of the organizations she worked with include the American Cancer Society, the Los Angeles Orphanage, and the American Red Cross. She was also president of St. John's Hospital Clinic and became a board member of Technicolor in 1965, the first woman ever elected to the board of directors. She established an African American school for Los Angeles, negotiated donations to St. John's through box office results, and served as chairwoman in 1949 for the American Heart Association's women's committee, and Hebrew University Rebuilding Fun's sponsors committee. She appeared in 1955's celebrity-rostered television special Benefit Show for Retarded Children with Jack Benny as host. Dunne also donated to refurbishments in Madison, Indiana, funding the manufacture of Camp Louis Ernst Boy Scout's gate in 1939 and the Broadway Fountain's 1976 restoration.

Dunne reflected: "If I began living in Hollywood today I would certainly one thing that I did when I arrived, and that is to be active in charity. If one is going to take something out of a community — any community — one must put something in, too." She also hoped that charity would encourage submissive women to find independence: "I wish women would be more direct. ...I was amazed when some quiet little mouse of a woman was given a job which seemed to be out of all proportion to her capabilities. Then I saw the drive with which she undertook that job and put it through to a great finish. It was both inspiring and surprising. I want women to be individuals. They should not lean on their husbands' opinions and be merely echoes of the men of the family.

In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Dunne one of five alternative U.S. delegates to the United Nations in recognition of her interest in international affairs and Roman Catholic and Republican causes. Dunne admired the U.N.'s dedication to creating world peace, and was inspired by colleagues' beliefs that Hollywood influenced the world. She held delegacy for two years and addressed the General Assembly twice. She gave her delegacy its own anthem: "Getting to Know You" because "it's so simple, and yet so fundamental in international relations today." Dunne later described her Assembly request for $21 million to help Palestinian refugees as her "biggest thrill," and called her delegacy career the "highlight of my life." She also concluded, "I came away greatly impressed with the work the U.N. does in its limited field — and it does have certain limits. I think we averted a serious situation in Syria, which might have been much more worse without a forum to hear it... And I'm much impressed with the work the U.N. agencies do. I'm especially interested in UNICEF's work with children[,] and the health organization[.]"

Dunne was a lifelong Republican and participated in 1948's Republican convention. She accepted the U.N. delegacy offer because she viewed the U.N. as apolitical. She later explained: "I'm a Nixon Republican, not a Goldwater one. I don't like extremism in any case. The extreme rights do as much harm as the extreme lefts." Her large input in politics created an assumption that she was a member of the "Hollywood right-wing fringe," which Dunne denied, calling herself "foolish" for being involved years before other celebrities did.

Dunne's father frequently told Dunne about his memories of traveling on bayous and lazy rivers. Dunne's favorite family vacations were riverboat rides and parades, later recalling a voyage from St. Louis to New Orleans, and watching boats on the Ohio River from the hillside. She admitted, "No triumph of either my stage or screen career has ever rivaled the excitement of trips down the Mississippi on the riverboats with my father."

Dunne was an avid golf player and had played since high school graduation; she and her husband often played against each other and she made a hole in one in two different games. She was good friends with Loretta Young, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Ronald Reagan, Carole Lombard, and George Stevens Jr., and became godmother to Young's son, Peter. Dunne also bonded with Leo McCarey over numerous similar interests, such as their Irish ancestry, music, religious backgrounds, and humor. School friends nicknamed her "Dunnie" and she was referred to as this in Madison High School's 1916 yearbook, along with the description "divinely tall and most divinely fair."

One of Dunne's later public appearances was in April 1985, when she attended the dedication of a bronze bust in her honor at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, for which her foundation, The Irene Dunne Guild, had raised more than $20 million. The Irene Dunne Guild remains "instrumental in raising funds to support programs and services at St. John's" hospital in Santa Monica. The artwork, commissioned by the hospital from artist Artis Lane, has a plaque reading "IRENE DUNNE First Lady Of Saint John's Hospital and Health Center Foundation."

Between 1919 and 1922, Dunne was close to Fritz Ernst, a businessman based in Chicago who was 20 years older than her and a member of one of the richest families in Madison, Indiana. They frequently corresponded over letters while Dunne was training for musical theater but when Fritz proposed, Dunne rejected, due to pressure from her mother and wanting to focus on acting. They remained friends and continued writing letters until Ernst died in 1959.

At a New York, Biltmore Hotel supper party in 1924, Dunne met Northampton-born dentist Francis Griffin. According to Dunne, he preferred being a bachelor, yet tried everything he could to meet her. To her frustration, he did not telephone her until over a month later, but the relationship had strengthened and they married in Manhattan on July 13, 1927. They had constantly argued about the state of their careers if they ever got married, with Dunne agreeing to consider theater retirement sometime in the future and Griffin agreeing to support Dunne's acting. Griffin later explained: "I didn't like the moral tone of show business. [...] Then Ziegfeld signed her for 'Show Boat' and it looked like she was due for big things. Next came Hollywood and [she] was catapulted to the top. Then I didn't feel I could ask her to drop her career. [I] really didn't think marriage and the stage were compatible but we loved each other and we were both determined to make our marriage work."

When Dunne decided to star in Leathernecking, it was meant to be her only Hollywood project, but when it was a box-office bomb, she took an interest in Cimarron. Soon after, she and her mother moved to Hollywood and maintained a long-distance relationship with her husband and brother in New York until they joined her in California in 1936. They remained married until Griffin's death on October 14, 1965, and lived in the Holmby Hills in a "kind of French Chateau" they designed. They had one daughter, Mary Frances (née Anna Mary Bush; born 1932), who was adopted by the couple in 1936 (finalized in 1938) from the New York Foundling Hospital, run by the Sisters of Charity of New York. Due to Dunne's privacy, Hollywood columnists struggled to find scandals to write about her — an eventual interview with Photoplay included the disclaimer, "I can guarantee no juicy bits of intimate gossip. Unless, perhaps she lies awake nights heartsick about the kitchen sink in her new home. She's afraid it's too near to the door. Or would you call that juicy? No? No, I thought not." When the magazines alleged that Dunne and Griffin would divorce, Griffin released a statement denying any marital issues. When Griffin was asked about how the marriage had lasted, he replied, "When she had to go on location for a film I arranged my schedule so I could go with her. When I had to go out of town she arranged her schedule so she could be with me. We co-operate in everything. [...] I think a man married to a career woman in show business has to be convinced that his wife's talent is too strong to be dimmed or put out. Then, he can be just as proud of her success as she is and, inside he can take a bow himself for whatever help he's been."

After retiring from dentistry, Griffin became Dunne's business manager, and helped negotiate her first contract. The couple became interested in real estate, later investing in the Beverly Wilshire and partnering with Griffin's family's businesses (Griffin Equipment Company and The Griffin Wellpoint Company.) Griffin sat as a board member of numerous banks, but his offices were relocated from Century City to their home after his death, when Dunne took over as president.

Dunne was a devout Roman Catholic, who became a daily communicant. She was a member of the Church of the Good Shepherd and the Catholic Motion Picture Guild in Beverly Hills, California. Both Dunne and her husband were members of the Knights of Malta.

Dunne died at the age of 91 in her Holmby Hills home on September 4, 1990, and is entombed in the Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles. She had been unwell for a year and became bedridden about a month before. Her personal papers are housed at the University of Southern California. She was survived by her daughter, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Dunne is considered one of the best actresses of The Golden Age of Hollywood never to win an Academy Award. Roger Fristoe pointed out that "a generation of filmgoers is mostly unfamiliar with her work" because some of her movies had been remade, including Love Affair (remade as An Affair to Remember), Show Boat (remade in 1951), My Favourite Wife (remade as Move Over, Darling), and Cimarron (remade in 1960). Dunne once noted that she had lacked the "terrifying ambition" of some other actresses, explaining in 1977, "I drifted into acting and drifted out. Acting is not everything. Living is." The Awful Truth was voted the 68th best comedy of American cinema.

Although known for her comedic roles, Dunne admitted that she never saw comedy as a worthy genre, even leaving the country to the London premiere of Show Boat with her husband and James Whale to get away from being confronted with a script for Theodora Goes Wild. "I never admired a comedienne," she said retrospectively, "yet it was very easy for me, very natural. It was no effort for me to do comedy at all. Maybe that's why I wasn't so appreciative of it." She ascribed her sense of humor to her late father, as well as her "Irish stubbornness." Her screwball comedy characters have been praised for their subversions to the traditional characterisation of female leads in the genre, particularly Susan (Katharine Hepburn) in Bringing Up Baby and Irene (Carole Lombard) in My Man Godfrey. "Unlike the genre's stereotypical leading lady, who exhibits bonkers behaviour continuously," writes Wes D. Gehring, "Dunne's screwball heroine [in Theodora Goes Wild] chooses when she goes wild." Biographers and critics argue that Dunne's groundedness made her screwball characters more attractive than her contemporaries; Maria DiBattista points out that Dunne is the "only comic actress working under the strictures of the Production Code" who ends both of her screwball movies alongside Cary Grant with a heavy implication of sharing a bed with him, "under the guise of keeping him at bay." Meanwhile, outside of comedy, Andrew Sarris theorized that Dunne's sex appeal is due to the common narrative in her movies about a good girl "going bad."

Dunne was popular with co-workers off-camera, earning a reputation as warm, approachable and having a "poised, gracious manner" like royalty, which spilled into her persona in movies. She earned the nickname "The First Lady of Hollywood" because "she was the first real lady Hollywood has ever seen," said Leo McCarey, with Gregory La Cava adding, "If Irene Dunne isn't the first lady of Hollywood, then she's the last one." Ironically, this title had been bestowed on her when she was a little girl when an aunt cooed "What a little lady!"[159] This ladylike attitude furthered Sarris' sex appeal claims, admitting that the scene when she shares a carriage with Preston Foster on the train in Unfinished Business was practically his "rite of passage" to a sex scene in a film, theorizing that the sex appeal of Dunne came from "a good girl deciding thoughtfully to be bad." On the blatant eroticism of the same train scene, Megan McGurk wrote, "The only thing that allowed this film to pass the censors was that good-girl Irene Dunne can have a one-night stand with a random because she loves him, rather than just a once-off fling. For most other women of her star magnitude, you could not imagine a heroine without a moral compass trained on true north. Irene Dunne elevates a tawdry encounter to something justifiably pure or blameless. She's just not the casual sex type, so she gets away with it." When approached about the nickname in 1936, Dunne admitted that it had grown tiresome but approved if it was meant as "the feminine counterpart of 'gentleman'"; a later interview she did have with the Los Angeles Times would ironically be titled "Irene Dunne, Gentlewoman." She would also be made a Dame (or Lady) of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. The Los Angeles Times referred to Dunne's publicity in their obituary as trailblazing, noting her as one of the first actors to become a freelancer in Hollywood during its rigid studio system through her "non-exclusive contract that gave her the right to make films at other studios and to decide who should direct them," and her involvement with the United Nations as a decision that allowed entertainers from movies and television to branch out into philanthropy and politics, such as Ronald Reagan and George Murphy.

Dunne later said, "Cary Grant always said that I had the best timing of anybody he ever worked with." Lucille Ball admitted at an American Film Institute seminar that she based her comedic skills on Dunne's performance in Joy of Living. When asked about life after retiring from baseball, Lou Gehrig stated that he would want Dunne as a screen partner if he ever became a movie actor. Charles Boyer described her as "a gracious house," adding, "the best room would be the music room [...] Great music, and the best of good swing, and things by Gershwin would sound there always. The acoustics would be perfect. Guests in this house would be relaxed and happy but they would have to mind their manners." A two-sided marker was erected in Dunne's childhood hometown of Madison in 2006.

Dunne received five Best Actress nominations during her career: for Cimarron (1931), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Awful Truth (1937), Love Affair (1939) and I Remember Mama (1948); she was the first actor to lose against the same actor in the same category twice, losing to Best Actress winner Luise Rainer in 1936 and 1937. When asked if she ever resented never winning, Dunne pointed out that the nominees she was up against had strong support, believing that she would never have had a chance, especially when Love Affair was against Gone with the Wind.

However, Dunne was honored numerous times for her philanthropy from Catholic organizations and schools, receiving the University of Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, and the Bellarmine Medal from Bellarmine College. She received numerous honorary doctorates, including from Chicago Musical College (for music), Loyola University and Mount St. Mary's College (both for Law). In 1953, she and her husband were made Lady and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre, respectively. For her film career, she was honored by the Kennedy Center, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6440 Hollywood Blvd, and displays in the Warner Bros. Museum and Center for Motion Picture Study.

[kjs-s]

There’s beauty in imperfection.

Pairing Bucky Barnes x reader

Prompt “One day, you’ll believe me. One day, you’ll see that I’m right.”

Summary You try to make Bucky see that he is beautiful despite what he thinks about his disability.

Words 2120

Warnings: talk about war, prosthetics and diasbility

Modern AU

A/N: This is entry for @propertyofpoeandbucky mystery writing challenge. Hope you like it and sorry it took me so long to write it.

@outside-the-government @yallneedtrek @musikat18 @star-trekkin-across-theuniverse  @writing-journeyx   @sprinkleofhappinessuniverse @ohyesmarvel​ @agentpeggicarter  @buckyofthemyscira @romantichen @once-upon-an-imagine@locke-writes @marveliskindacool @captainrogerss   @soldatbarnes@jurassicbarnes@uncomfortable-writers @theassetseyeliner​ @sgtbxckybxrnes​ @thetherianthropydaily @dresupi  @captainrogerss@imamotherfuckingstar-lord @mattaretto @imagine-marvel @dinnafashsoldat@bookgirlunicorn

When your sister suggested the two of you go into business together, the idea sounded crazy. She had just finished her residency in one of the best hospitals in New York and instead of staying there, as you advised her to, she chose to quit. Her dream was to build her own private prosthetics clinic that would help everyone in need.  You admired her kindness and dedication to helping people. She always hoped to help everyone regardless of their financial abilities. The reason you were surprised by her suggestion, was that you knew next to nothing about her job. Your degree and passion was art. You wanted to create beautiful paintings that would make any space welcoming.

Despite your initial hesitation, you accepted her offer to help in the clinic by designing the prosthetics. You soon realized how good you are at this and how rewarding your job is. You have made some unique creations and all your customers were astonished by your work. All your worries about what to do with your art degree had been evaporated.

‘’I have a unique job for you.’’ Your sister announced you one day during breakfast. ‘’Billy came up with an idea that I loved. However, I want to hear your thoughts on it before we proceed.’’ Billy Russo had been your sister’s boyfriend since high school. They were always together and everyone was thrilled to hear they were thinking about moving in together after Billy came back from the army.

‘’ I am sure it will be a success like his last one, he is a business genius. He managed to create one of the most profitable private military companies within a few months. Besides, convincing Frank and Curtis to go on business with him was his greatest achievement.’’ The three of them were best friends for years. You and your sister loved them as if they were members of your family.

‘’Speaking of Curtis, that job I have for you is about him too.  You will require his assistance. You remember the Veteran center he volunteers at, don’t you?’’ You nodded and picture the time you helped Curtis set up one of his meetings. It was so inspiring seeing him be so invested in making sure the people in his groups had someone to talk to.

‘’He talked to his boss about our clinic. Billy thought it would a good idea to advertise there. In addition, I believe we should offer our services to everyone there. Some of the people are either poor or homeless and I would like to help them if they need us.’’

‘’I agree with you. Your vision has always been to help others and we make enough money from our wealthiest clients to afford something like that.  Do you want me to advertise our initiative at the center?’’ You already started brainstorming ideas for a name for your cause and that you might need more business cards.

‘’Yes, it would be great if you designed a poster. However, Curtis’ boss asked us to meet with a friend of his who will need an arm prosthetic. So, could you meet with him for a consultation? I was informed he would be there tomorrow.’’ You agreed while being a little skeptical about whether your new client knew about this meeting or not.

Meeting Sam went better than you could have ever expected it to. He was as charming as Curtis described him on the way there. You immediately figured out why your friend was so eager to volunteer there.

‘’So, we agree that your proposal will be beneficial for us. We get a lot of people who could use your company’s help. And of course, I didn’t have to hear about you just from Curtis. Your reputation speaks for itself. I always wanted to meet one of the founders of the best prosthetics clinics in the country.’’

‘’You flatter me, Mr. Wilson. Likewise, I have heard some heartwarming stories about your work here. Curtis could consider himself your biggest fan.’’ You smile at him while he was trying to hide his embarrassment.

‘’I admire him just as much. And please call me Sam. I have a meeting to get to right now so my fan will lead you to the break room. My friend is waiting for you there.’’ He gave you a huge smile and looked at Curtis to make sure his teasing didn’t offend him in any way.

Curtis tried to inform you about your client but you stopped him since you always preferred to learn everything first-handed from them.

As soon as you entered the room, you saw a beautiful man sitting there just staring at his cup. He seemed in deep thoughts and your first impression of him was that he must feel sad over something.  Therefore, you announced and introduced yourself before sitting across from him.

‘’I bet you already know everything about me. I don’t know exactly how much Sam told you, so just ask whatever it is you need to. I will answer everything to get you to quit staring and make sure I won’t make you uncomfortable for any longer.’’ His tone revealed that you were true about his emotions. He wanted to sound cold and unfazed except his voice for full of sadness.

‘’I actually don’t know anything about you. I prefer to get to know the people I work with before I read any files about them. So, do you mind telling me your name and why did Sam arrange this meeting for you?’’

‘’Name’s Bucky even though the files say Sergeant Barnes.  As you can see, I lost my arm. It happened a couple of months ago.’’

‘’And did something make you want a prosthetic now?’’

‘’Well, I am used to the stares and the comments behind my back. I know how I look like to most people. However, most people don’t include my best friend who is coming to visit me and he plans to bring his daughter along. I don’t want the girl to be scared of me because of how I look. I wanted to remind myself how I was like the last time she saw me.’’

‘’First of all, even though I just met you allow me to disagree with you. You describe yourself as a monster in a fairy tale and that’s not the person in front of me. I’m not a therapist or anything but hearing you talk about how others see you, makes me believe that you see yourself like that.’’ His face fell listening to your words then again you knew that it would be good for him to hear it.

‘’The person I am looking at right now is a stunning man who is willing to go through a difficult procedure for someone who would love him no matter what. Don’t roll your eyes at me Bucky. One day, you’ll believe me. One day, you’ll see that I’m right about you. Scary people don’t do all that for others. And they don’t have friends like Sam who are willing to ask people for favors.’’

‘’I am not sure if I can believe you right now but I’m willing to try. For Sara, that’s the girl I mentioned earlier, that is coming to see me. She deserves an ‘’uncle’’ that doesn’t loathe himself.’’ He couldn’t bring himself to smile although his eyes lit up thinking of all the stories Steve had told him about the girl.

‘’How old is she?’’

‘’She is four now. I used to live next door to them for years before going to war. Steve sent me a letter while I was away telling me that his wife got a job in Chicago so they moved. This is their first time back in New York.’’

‘’You must have missed them terribly. I can understand that and I am here to hopefully help you feel better about yourself before they arrive. Is there something you want to ask me before we start talking about designs?’’ Not knowing exactly what your sister’s job was you could always comfort her patents about the procedures.

‘’I was wondering about how much the arm will weight, but I don’t know if you would be the one to answer that.’’

‘’Well I don’t deal with that; it’s my sister’s area of expertise. However, she taught me that usually, they are lighter than 10 percent of your body weight to be easier to move. Also, let me tell you that we use carbon fibers covered in flesh-colored plastic. And of course, we can design anything you want. That’s when I come in.’’

‘’Thanks for telling me these. Have you designed many prosthetics before?’’ You gave him a portfolio with some of your works. He was impressed by your talent looking closely on a transparent leg you had created for someone last year.

‘’I can make anything you want. If I’m not biased, I am a little keener of the tattooed ones myself. You can even have a black one with only the outlines. That way once Sara sees it she will be able to color it with washable markers.’’

‘’That would be amazing. She loves drawing and we would spend more time together to make sure she accepts me again.’’

‘’You are being harsh on yourself and on her again. I have seen many kids being nice and accepting of disabilities and others being different. I am sure she will be like that too.’’

‘’You are probably right. Oh, you don’t need to make the sketched today right? I just thought about having something Sara draw on top of my tattoo.’’ You loved the idea and you proceeded to brainstorm ideas of that would look good on him.

During your appointments, he became closer to you and opened up about his insecurities. He narrated stories from the army and he even found the courage to tell you about the incident that cost him his arm. The scar that was on his shoulder was a reminder of his bravery and sacrifice so you were pleased to hear your sister didn’t erase it. Most people hated battle scars yet she knew how important they are. You even heard her talking about this to Billy one night when he felt like he wasn’t enough for her.

The tattoo at his arm turned out beautiful. It featured a castle with a princess and a dragon that Sara had drawn for him right before he got send away. You also made him a futuristic abstract one on his upper arm so the girl can have fun when he was around. Bucky loved it because he loved space and you had added stars around it. Seeing the change in his demeanor and how comfortable and talkative he was around you by the end or your appointments made you thrilled. You were almost sad to finish working with him. You rarely get to meet the patients that were there for training so as soon as the fitting stage ended you never saw them again.

One day, two weeks after his last visit, as you were training the new receptionist on how to book an appointment Bucky entered the clinic. He looked even more gorgeous that you remembered him. He had a cute little girl with him.

‘’Hi (Y/N), are you busy?’’ You greeted Bucky and asked someone else to take over.

‘’Are you Sara? I heard many things about you.’’

‘’I have too. Uncle Bucky said you draw the thing on his arm. It’s very good. I drew you something to thank you.’’ She gave you a picture of a castle portraying you as a queen and her as a princess.

‘’It’s perfect Sara. I love the dress you put me in. Thank you so much.’’ She gave you a hug pleased that you liked her gift.

‘’Come on Sara. We have to get our ice creams.’’

‘’Do you want to come with us? We will get you ice cream with sprinkles too.’’ You looked at both of them and agreed since you couldn’t say no to the girl. When you walk towards your sister’s office to let her know you were leaving, you heard their conversation.  Sara was telling Bucky that you were pretty and he should date you. He agreed about your beauty and he was flustered during your date thinking about it. Your instant connection with Sara helped him see that she was right. He would definitely ask you out when they would take you back to the clinic.

[ecfandom]

I don’t have a good name for this headcannon or pairing yet. Maybe you all can come up with something clever...

So it imagine it this way. Lexa is the shiny, new chief operating officer (COO) of the Gustav St. Helen Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, the medical industry’s cutting edge leader in biomechanics. In dire financial straights, the hospital sought out two years prior to find the uniquely talented individual to save their hospital from financial doom. They had the incredible minds and innovation, but the prior C-level executives had managed investor money so poorly, the hospital was in major debt before any of their new pipeline products could make it off the ground. They began their year-long search and landed on biomechanics’ genius, prodigy extraordinaire, Lexa Woods. 

Lexa had grown up inventing almost as early as she learned to walk. She had a brilliant mathematical, engineering mind that was constantly meddlin and tinkering, making new things and improving upon old ones. By high school, after being inspired by a dear family friend, Lexa had been accepted to nearby MIT to supplement her high school engineering curriculum. By 17, she was enrolled at Northwestern Univeristy in their accelerated dual degree program in biomedical engineering and medical school. By 22 she’d graduated with honors and had her own start-up engineering firm fully funded by venture capitalists, and was in her medical internship at one of Chicago’s top hospitals. By 25, after completing her residency in orthopedic surgery, she’d left th surgical world to focus on engineering, and by 27, she had three of the most successful patents for cutting-edge prosthetics, and her electronic wheelchair was being mass-produced in 15 different countries. 

She loved what she did, and she was damn good at it, but by 30, Lexa was ready to get out of the lab and try a new way to help people. She wanted to teach, she wanted to guide and create protocols, to streamline processes and create efficiencies. She wanted to continue to make an impact, but she wanted to slow down. The fast, high-life of her multi-million dollar generating inventions had helped keep her mind focused when all it really wanted to do was lament the loss of her child-hood sweetheart to budding career paths and long distance strain. But by 30, she was ready to face the fact that she would never truly be over the girl next door that’d made her world go round, and no amount of focusing on her inventions would solve that. They texted and emailed on the very rare occasion, to keep each other updated—they were friends after all and had ended amicably...as amicably as one could when losing the love of their life—but it would never be enough. She had to face it, and she had to live her life anyways. Cue, her entry into the world of administration. From 30-35, Lexa kept an associate professorship at NYU while working in and out of various executive administrative positions at labs and hospitals, gaining knowledge and experience in how to run an organization. It wasn’t until Gustav St. Helen Metropolitan Hospital approached her with their COO position though that things really began to click. 

One year into that position, and Lexa had finally found a sense of peace and contentment; the purpose, she had been longing for. Her colleagues were amazing, despite the overly aggressive flirtations of some of the residence and physicians, and the annoyingly obvious gold-digging intentions of others. Though Lexa was not much of a socialite, she enjoyed their company. There was only one thing that could have made it better, and she never could have imagined it would show up in her email 13 months after beginning her new positions at the hospital. 

Clarke Griffin is an incredibly trauma surgeon in need of a new attending position after her hospital in Portland merges with another and her position is claimed by an older man with seniority and a brother on the board. Always keeping an occasional eye on Gustav St. Helen’s open positions, she nearly falls out of her chair the morning she sees the posted opening for a trauma attending. 

She could hardly believe her eyes. There was no way the hospital the love of her life now worked at had the exact position she needed. There was no way. This was it, she had finally gone delirious from sleep deprivation and caffeine poisoning. And yet, when she refreshed the page, there the posting was, just waiting for her resume. 

Rather sheepishly, the first thing she did, was email Lexa. 

Two weeks later, Clarke walks through the doors of the beautiful, state of the art  GSH Metropolitan Hospital for her first round of interviews, so giddy she can hardly contain herself. It’s not the interview that has her trembling with excited nerves, it’s who she hopes to see. The one person that had been on her mind every day for the past 4, 375 days. But who was counting? Certainly not her. And certainly not for the past 12 years. The occasional chats over coffee when their schedules lined up or they landed in the same city for more than a few hours had been nice over the years, but this? The prospect of being in the same city for days, hell months or even years? Clarke could hard keep still as she sat in one of the waiting rooms for someone from HR to collect her. 

When a senior white coat came out to greet her with a warm smile and firm handshake, Clarke knew she was going to like it here. Fingers crossed that she’d make it to the next round of interviewing.

She was was walking down the hall with Taryn, her first meeting host, when her name came echoing down the hallway. She should chide herself for how disgustingly predictable and cheesy her reaction is to turning around to find Lexa jogging down the glass stairs from the atrium walkway, a beaming smile on her face. Clarke can’t help it when her walk turns into a jog and her jog turns into her body slamming into Lexa’s in a desperate hug laced with delighted laughter and a smile so wide it genuinely ached. 

“Hi,” Lexa says to her and it’s so familiar, Clarke wants to cry. But she’s too happy to cry, so instead, she laughs and throws her arms around Lexa’s neck once again until the taller, always quieter, always subtler woman is laughing again and squeezing her tight. 

“I missed you so much,” Clarke sighs into Lexa’s shoulder, smiling again when she feels Lexa’s squeeze in response. 

Clarke can feel Taryn watching them, knows she should hurry back to her and not keep their meeting waiting, but Clarke finds herself glued to the floor when Lexa holds her at arms length, hands resting lazy yet possessive and familiar on her hips for a moment before slipping away to disappear into perfectly tailored business slacks. 

“It’s so good to see you,” Lexa says, a smile on her face to rival Clarke’s. 

“It’s good to see you too.” 

“I don’t want to hold you up. Do you have plans after?” 

Clarke can only shake her head, all her energy directed at attempting to keep her smile from growing any wider. 

“Will you come find me after?” 

“Yes, of course,” Clarke says too quickly to be casual or cool, but she doesn’t care. The greatest love of her life, her soulmate, was standing in front of her again, and it wasn’t a dream this time. She had no idea how Lexa felt about them, if she was with someone—that thought alone was enough to momentarily cause her smile to falter—or if had long since stopped loving her. But for Clarke, the feelings had never gone away, and simply having Lexa back in her life would be enough for now. 

Lexa’s smile is adorable and shy and sexy all at once as she nods at Clarke’s enthusiastic response. “Good. My office is upstairs. Kind of a maze, but just ask someone. They’ll get you there.” 

“I’ll see you then, then,” Clarke says, laughing at herself when she hears how insane she sounds. 

Lexa laughs too and Clarke knows she’s in danger of floating away on cloud nine any minute now. 

“See you then. Break a leg in there, I know they’ll love you,” Lexa days with the calm, understated charm of her voice Clarke had fallen in love with over and over again throughout the years.

“You think so?” 

“I know so.” Lexa gives her a wink and Clarke melts like the 16 year old that had melted the first time Lexa had pressed her up against the rusty door of her ‘67 chevy pick-up and kissed her breathless. “You’re gonna do great. Come find me after.” 

Clarke hugs her again, taking in the first full breath she’d managed in the last 4,375 days. But who was counting? 

Stay tuned for part 2! 

[theatredirectors]

Derek Spencer

Hometown?

Southwest suburbs of Chicago.

Where are you now? 

Los Angeles. 

What's your current project?

Everyone Agrees it's About to Explode -- a devised, immersive, site-specific piece about a group of leftist revolutionaries. The audience is cast as new recruits in the collective, and witness the dissolution of the group firsthand. The show is devised along with a model that I've been developing with my company, Ceaseless Fun, for the last 4 years or so. 

Why and how did you get into theatre?

I auditioned to act in a Shakespeare play on a whim in my 3rd year of college, having no prior theater experience. I had fun but otherwise didn't think much of it. Then, the following year, I was asked to audition for a devised production of HamletMachine. It was on that production that I fell in love with the collaborative devising process. I didn't love acting, but I never felt so artistically capable as I did when I was working in a collaborative rehearsal room. I directed a small devised workshop production right before graduating, and knew that I had to keep directing, no matter what.

What is your directing dream project? 

I feel lucky to be in a position in which I am able to pursue whatever passion projects I have with my company. I often feel like my next project is always my dream project. I think the only limiting factor for us is money, so my dream project is probably something huge and spectacle-y. I've thought about a big, sandbox immersive production that adapts the Bosch painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, but makes it 1970's LA. So it's just this surreal, decadent, horrifying experience of celebrity and class-division. Maybe there are two floors, heaven, and hell, and mostly the audience is in hell, but they all get 15 minutes of fame to spend indulging the hedonism of heaven. The floors could be porous so you're always aware of what's happening on the other side. I want red carpets as bridges over pits of eternal torment, 1970’s cars as Burning Man-style monster vehicles, prosthetic-heavy demon-celebs, just truly insane shit. Maybe a pool with a swim-up bar like on cruise ships? I'd likely pull a lot of the text from the King James Bible. This probably makes me sound really tacky but I don't care, someone give me ten million dollars to make this happen.

What kind of theatre excites you? 

I like:

plays where philosophy is made emotional 

plays that play with space, acknowledge their surroundings and make suspension of disbelief unnecessary

plays that fit the container to the contents

plays that shock me out of passivity

plays that present something so abject or upsetting that I can't get it out of my head for days

plays where everyone thinks they know what the creators intended but all the interpretations are different

plays that show me myself, or help me understand how to be human, or make me feel more like a human

What do you want to change about theatre today?

I think theatre will only thrive as an art form if theatermakers aren't afraid to explore the medium and how it can be made relevant to young, contemporary audiences. 

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA? 

I think I'd love the actual experience of being in grad school, but the cost worries me. Even "fully funded" programs still don't fully cover living expenses. It feels hard to know whether grad school will pay off professionally or if I'll graduate with similar career prospects and more debt. I've debate applying every year, but haven't yet pulled the trigger. 

Who are your theatrical heroes? 

Anne Bogart, Richard Schechner, Shunt, Third Rail Projects, Punchdrunk, Dimitris Papaioannou, Carolee Schneemann, Karen Finley, Artaud, Heiner Muller, Pete Brooks, anyone making free theater. 

Any advice for directors just starting out? 

See a lot, read a lot. Remember that you'll always be A Dumb Idiot Baby but also A Towering Egomaniac and that somehow you have to figure out when it's appropriate to be which. You don't have to accept every offer you get, sometimes offers are bad. Anyone can make theater you just need a room and 1 or more audience members and sometimes all that extra stuff gets in the way. Work with people that you would trust to raise your hypothetical children if you hypothetically die. Being an artist is an unreasonable and irresponsible decision to make under neo-liberalism unless you have a trust fund (then it's irresponsible for other reasons) and you'll have to grapple with that at some point so you might as well do it right now.

Plugs!

ceaselessfun.com

The run Everyone Agrees It's About to Explode has been cancelled due to the pandemic. We hope to remount as soon when everything is over! 

Follow Ceaseless Fun on IG for updates.

derekaspencer.com

IG: @ceaseless_fun or @abstract_sentimentalism 

Editor Note- updated in November 2020

[sciencenewsforstudents]

Trina Chiasson was raised in a log cabin, learned to spin plates in Chicago’s circus arts community, dreamed up a software company and three years later sold it to a bigger company. Her next challenge: building a business, called Ovipost, that brings better technology to cricket farming.

“I didn’t know any cricket farmers growing up, I know you’ll be shocked to learn,” she says. Yet she’s jumped into this new frontier of insect agriculture and, she hopes, a more sustainable food system. It’s all about reinventing ranching, but with six legs.

Humans have had thousands of years, including at least 50 years of industrial R&D, to figure out how to raise chickens, pigs and cattle. Today’s insect farmers in North America and Europe are racing to catch up, mixing ancient herder–style insights about domesticating wild animals with computer-vision algorithms and robot design.

How to grow enough critters often gets overlooked in the buzz about insects as cuisine. There’s far more fuss about whether Westerners will join the rest of the world and swallow a bug. Yet it’s the behind-the-scenes inventions and decisions that will determine how environmentally gentle insect farming can be and whether insects become a weekly staple that a lot of people can afford or just a foodie indulgence.

Power protein:  Protein content ranges

Insects compete well with chicken and beef as a protein source, although details depend on what the animals are fed, among other things. Grasshoppers fed bran, high in essential fatty acids, had almost double the protein content of those fed maize. CREDITL T. TIBBITTS; Sources: FAO 2013; H. Kim et al/Korean J. Food Sci. Anim. Resour. 2017

Start-ups and incubators

Chiasson’s cricket leap into farming will at least use her skills with data. Her first start-up company, Infoactive, developed software to turn raw data into easy-to-grasp charts and graphs. After she and a business partner sold the company in 2015 to the data visualization company Tableau Software for an undisclosed sum, Chiasson spent two years researching and strategizing about her next venture. Raised by back-to-the-land parents in Maine, she became a vegetarian around age 11, but now, she says, “I regularly chow down on insects.”

Chiasson met her next business partner, entomologist James Ricci, in San Francisco at the world’s largest nacho festival. “To see if we could execute on program without killing each other,” she says, the two spent a month building a booth promoting edible insects. Their creation debuted at the 2017 Oregon Eclipse festival. The two pulled it off without fatalities, and went on to set up Ovipost in San Francisco.

Chief technology officer Tequila Ray Snorkel describes herself as “200 percent a city kid.” Homeschooled in Cincinnati with an interest in physics, she (her preferred pronoun) worked on automated prosthetics in college and then took her mechanical engineering degree to the biotech company Synthego in Menlo Park, Calif. She’s been known to engineer provocations as well, such as strolling the streets in glitter to interview passersby on sensitive subjects. One outfit Snorkel devised was two pairs of bright yellow pants, the top one re-engineered so pant legs became sleeves. Chiasson saw Snorkel wearing it in a drag show and complimented her creativity — one of the more unusual ways to land a tech job.

Ovipost got an early boost from the iconic Silicon Valley start-up incubator Y Combinator, which nurtured Dropbox and Airbnb. Working out of two shipping containers, one piled on top of the other to make the most of a small footprint at San Francisco rents, the company started by automating the tedious, time-sucking management of cricket egg laying and egg counting.

Normally, farmers provide romantically moist peat moss for cricket mating, and count the offspring by coaxing them into measuring containers. Snorkel described it as “like convincing a few thousand tiny toddlers to take a bath.” Ovipost developed shortcuts, and for its Y Combinator finale pitch session, the company revealed a million cricket eggs swirling in a snow globe.

[rinellaprostheticsorthotics]

We will be talking about the cost of a prosthetic leg in Naperville, IL and the surrounding areas such as Winfield or Wheaton. More specifically we will be discussing the cost for a below the knee prosthesis, giving you both the high end and the low end of the cost spectrum while telling you what can influence the cost. If you would like to learn what influences the cost of a below the knee prosthesis and what some textbook prices are around the area then keep on reading. If you are looking for more in depth info on below the knee prosthesis then check out the rest of the website. There is a lot more detail and breakdown as to the cost of these prosthesis’ available on there. This would be a great way to learn what exactly goes into the cost and would prepare you for where you may fall on the price spectrum.

[epacer]

Classmates

Comic-Con 2022: Scott Shaw says there’s no place like SDCC and he should know. He helped start it.

Scott Shaw sat at his booth at San Diego Comic-Con sketching the head of Fred Flintstone for a fan. Casual passersby were likely unaware that the cartoonist in the Hawaiian shirt is one of the reasons why Comic-Con exists at all.

Shaw was 18 when the first Comic-Con was held in 1970, and one of a group of seven comics fans who created and nurtured Comic-Con from its modest beginnings to the hugely influential pop culture celebration it is today.

Just don’t call him a founder.

“I don’t like that word,” he said, smiling behind his face mask. “I say, co-originator.”

Shaw has been at all but one Comic-Con since that first one in the dingy basement of a San Diego hotel.

“I had to miss one because of this,” Shaw said, exposing his prosthetic right leg, which is covered in a truly spectacular rendering of Rat Fink, the depraved-looking character created by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth in the ’60s.

“This was the first comic I used to rebel with,” he said.

But Shaw was back after that health issue was resolved and happy that the Con could resume this year after three years with virtual versions and a special scaled-down edition in November.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be here,” Shaw said. “The one in November was quite good too because there was an absence of Hollywood, which quite a few people seemed to enjoy.

“I’d say, ‘Having a good time?’ They’d say, ‘It’s the best one since 1990,’” he said. “I didn’t understand that, but I looked it up and it was the last one before Warner Brothers came in.”

Shaw says it has been a challenge remembering how to talk to the public after a few years without the usual Con crowds.

“I’m having to train myself to speak to more than one person at a time,” he says. “I don’t know whether to talk to somebody who’s buying something, the friend that I’ve known for 50 years, or someone from Comic-Con who’s here to get me to a panel or somewhere I need to be.”

Shaw has mixed feelings about what the Con has become over its 50-plus years.

“We weren’t planning to go Hollywood,” he said of the originators’ original idea. “We were more about, ‘Oh, so and so has a 16-millimeter copy of this great film.’ It was more about nostalgia.”

More than most of the other early Con creators, Shaw has worked in the field that the event set out to celebrate.

He wrote, inked and penciled for Hanna-Barbera comic books, including The Flintstones in the ’70s before going to work with that company on “The New Fred and Barney Show.”

He and Roy Thomas co-created the comic book “Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew!” for DC Comics, and Shaw later served as the original artist for Archie Comics’ “Sonic the Hedgehog” series.

At 70, Shaw’s still as busy as ever, joking that every time his son asks him if he’s watched this or that TV show he has to tell him he doesn’t have time.

“I’m too busy getting my own stories down,” he said. “I don’t have time to watch other things.”

Shaw pulls out an illustration of one recent project, a T-shirt he designed for “Svengoolie,” the long-running Chicago horror and sci-fi movie show, which now also airs on the MeTV classic television network.

“I’m still working on my ‘oddball comics’ book, which is about the weirdest comics ever published,” he said.

Shaw said he’s also working on a few children’s graphic novels and a comic called “Kilgore Home Nursing” for Aces Weekly, a digital comics magazine founded by David Lloyd, the illustrator of Alan Moore’s “V Is For Vendetta.” That story was inspired by his experiences with home nursing care before and after he lost his right leg.

And as long as he’s able, he’ll be right here at his booth at Comic-Con, a place that has no peer, he said.

“I’ve been invited to shows all over the country,” Shaw said. “And there’s nothing that matches this show.” *Reposted article from The Orange County Register by Peter Larsen, July 24, 2022

[solarpunkstoryexchange]

A New Year Dawning

Written by Hicku @pangurbanthewhite, for the prompts “What will be here when the sun and wind breaks through the smog that we created?” and “We buried grandmother with the willow seed.” Prompts from @solarpoweredwordsandthoughts. 

Content warnings:  Death, mentions of natural disasters and implied apocalypse, mild parental ableism.

It was a common refrain in the olden days that the earth could not be destroyed, only humanity. It was a justification dressed up in optimism, the idea that nothing they did could really do any harm and so why change? It was apathy, plain and simple. So many people surrendered to the idea that death was inevitable and the world would turn on.

But some were determined to be there to see it keep turning.

When the sun broke through the smog for the last time, there were people there to see it. It was a day for celebration, in fact – in the ruins of the city, there was a tower, and that tower had been working for as long as anyone could remember – pulling smog from the air and compacting it into glass jewelry and building material. It was powered by wind turbines and an underground reservoir, just like all the rest of the surviving architecture was. The sun had been held back but the wind still turned and the water still flowed and that was enough to keep the smaller city humming along nicely for everyone.

One day the mechanics had realized that the day was coming when the tower wouldn’t work anymore because there was simply no more smog to pull out of the air, and so the people of the town that had once been Chicago, Illinois started counting down to a celebration, started preparing for a festival to properly welcome the sun back into their lives.

The earth had reclaimed the big cities and the factories long ago, and they stood as titanic, verdant monuments to the persistence of life. Humanity lived among them, now, walking on grass that had conquered concrete, dwelling in spaces that had once been offices and now grew blackberries from the vines that twined all along the walls. Apple trees had eaten through cars and birds nested in sewage drains that hadn’t pumped any wastes into the water for a long time. It was a quiet, peaceful place now, and far more compact, with a great deal more space converted to farmland and office spaces converted to housing.

Some people were alive who could still remember when every building face hadn’t been coated in some kind of green, but none of them really liked to talk about it. The truth was that they hadn’t even really had to do anything to make it happen, they’d just…stopped trying to stop it. But that hadn’t meant stopping trying to ensure their own survival, either, it had just meant trying something new. Humanity had always been good at adapting. They’d just focused that skill in a new direction.

The first new day the city had seen in decades dawned. Already, there were crowds outside to greet it, people hanging out their windows and gathered in the mossy streets and waiting with bated breath to see the sun rise in a clear sky, some of them for the first time.

When it did, a great cheer rose up to rival the din of the old days.

Mathilda Logans was not there, however, and her friend Zinnia Grace was worried.

Mathilda had trouble breathing, plagued with asthma and weak lungs and chronic fatigue. She was often in and out of the hospital, often forced to stay inside where the houseplants could do the job of clearing the air for her so that her oxygen pump didn’t have to work quite as hard. They’d met when Zinnia was in getting the fit on her prosthetic leg readjusted and in the end they’d gotten to talking about romance novels, even swapping their respective books once they’d finish reading them in the waiting room. Mathilda and her family had only been in town for the past month or so, but Zinnia liked to think they were friends, and she’d even hung out at Mathilda’s house a couple of times so they could birdwatch the trees that grew from the windows across the street.

This meant Zinnia had also known for a while that Mathilda might not be feeling well enough to make it. So she’d gone to the Logans’ apartment that morning to see if there was anything she could do to help.

“It’s so nice of you to drop by, Zinnia,” Mathilda’s mother had said. “But I thought she was already going off to meet with you.”

“No,” said Zinnia. “Haven’t seen her all day.” And she was worried, despite herself. She hoped her friend hadn’t felt forced to overexert herself for the sake of joining in the festivities.

She thought for a long moment, staring down at her cup of green tea, and finally ventured, hesitantly: “But I think I know where she might be.” She hoped she was right – anything to stop Mathilda’s mother looking so worried.

With that, Zinnia gulped down the rest of her tea, said a hasty goodbye, retrieved her bike from outside, and started hastily peddling off towards the river, her braids flying along behind her. Every so often she had to duck and weave her way around people heading in the opposite direction, heading towards the festival at Tower Park.

She was just peddling over the bridge, rusted over beneath a cloak of moss and vines, when she saw movement on the grassy slope a little down the shore. Zinnia hastily braked and changed course, and called out as she got closer and passed by an empty parked wheelchair. “Mathilda! Mathilda, is that you!”

Mathilda Logans was kneeling in the grass and staring fixedly at something in front of her. But she looked over her shoulder as she saw Zinnia approaching at speed, and then she took Zinnia by surprise by damn near throwing herself between her friend and the little spot of grass. “W-Wait, hold on!”

Zinnia braked, hard, throwing up a small spray of dirt as she did so and nearly falling off. “Been looking everywhere for you! Why’d you go and lie to your mom?”

Her best friend blushed. “It’s stupid. Didn’t wanna worry her about it.”

Zinnia let out a huff and got off the bike, going to kneel beside her friend in the cool, damp grass. “It’s not stupid! Obviously! Whatcha doin’?” She caught sight of some dirt caking Mathilda’s palms and took a safe guess. “Bit of gardening?”

“Y-Yeah.” Mathilda looked at Zinnia warily, as if gauging whether or not she could trust her with a secret. Until, finally, she lifted her other hand from where it had been carefully cradling the earth, and Zinnia saw that through the grass a tiny sprout was growing.

“Woah!” she said, leaning closer. “What’s that? Did you grow that?”

“Yeah.” Now Mathilda was still blushing, but she was smiling as well. “I didn’t know willow trees grew this fast. I only got out here a few days ago to plant it. I’m…” She took a deep, shuddering breath, closed her eyes, and let it out – and, as she did so, it was like she was letting the tension of years out with her. “I carried this all the way here from Bloomington, it would have bee awful to…lose it or break it or something.”

“Is it a special seed?”

“It’s my grandma.”

Zinnia tilted her head curiously, trying to keep her confusion off her face until Mathilda found the words to explain. And she was gratified when the other girl tried to do so, though she stumbled and stammered over her words all the while. Her gaze remained fixed on the little sapling like it was the most beautiful thing in the world – which it sort of was, in the way that all new life was.

“When grandma died, we buried her with a willow seed. She wanted it that way, you know? This was…back when things were still kind of bad, I think. Everywhere. I don’t really remember it, but that’s what mom said. She and dad didn’t really know what she was getting on about, but they did it, and…and I don’t really remember her face anymore, but I remember that tree. Even with all the smog, it grew pretty quick.” The memories were clearly making her a little emotional – Zinnia watched as Mathilda looked away from her entirely to try and hide the way she wiped at her eyes. “I think that’s when mom and dad decided to move us here. It’s like…when they saw that tree grow, they realized I could still grow. Y’know? So I think they thought this place would be better for me, with the tower and the water.”

“Has it been?”

“I think so.” She mustered up a watery smile and managed to look Zinnia in the eye for a moment. “The company’s pretty good, too.”

Now it was Zinnia’s turn to blush and look away, down at the little willow sapling. “So you took a seed…” she ventured. “And you brought it here?”

“Yeah. We live a couple floors up, now, so I couldn’t really plant it in the yard like back home. But…I thought she might like it here, by the water. And, and it’s not too far, so. um, I can come visit. I know it’s not the same tree, but…it’s kind of the same, right?”

“Definitely!” Zinnia answered emphatically, pumping her fist. “It’s not the same tree, but it came from that tree, and your grandma made that tree! So you carried her all this way! That’s pretty cool.”

Mathilda giggled, obviously a little overwhelmed with the praise, and reached out to squeeze Zinnia’s hand where it rested in the grass. “Th-Thanks.”

“I’d kinda like to be a tree when I die, too. How about you?”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“Then someone could take a seed from us and carry it somewhere else. It’s like there’d be more of us when we died instead of less.”

“More life from death instead of less,” Mathilda mused, and she smiled dreamily and stared out over the water. “Yeah. That would be pretty cool. Maybe the whole world really could be just green and blue someday. I’m just…I’m really glad this little seed sprouted in time. I think the whole day would have been ruined for me if she couldn’t be here to see it.”

“I get ya.” Zinnia was so happy for her friend in that moment that she reached out and wrapped an arm around Mathilda’s shoulders, squeezing in a sideways hug. “And hey, I can come out and water it sometimes, if you’re ever having a bad day.”

“Thanks.” And Mathilda was apparently so grateful for the offer that she leaned over and shyly kissed Zinnia’s cheek. And the look on Zinnia’s face as she did so was apparently so funny that Mathilda laughed instead of giving into embarrassment.

“Shut up!” Zinnia whined, hiding her face as Mathilda laughed harder than she’d ever heard her do so. “You’re awful, catching me off guard like that!”

“Sorry.” She didn’t look it, though. In fact, she looked so adorably pleased with herself that Zinnia kissed her full on the mouth, there in the grass by the river as the sounds of the First Annual Sun Celebration grew louder and more enthusiastic in the distance.

Mathilda didn’t seem to mind at all.

In the end, Zinnia helped Mathilda back into her wheelchair and guided her bike alongside her and they made their slow, contented way to the festival. Pigeons took flight at their approach, their wings gleaming in the light of the sun, and squirrels darted and danced from branch to windowsill more enthusiastically than Zinnia had ever seen. They even spotted a doe and her fawn nibbling at some clover in the shadow of an empty skyscraper, and Zinnia was able to snap a quick picture with her camera before they wandered away. “Another one for the wall!”

She had a dream to snap a picture of every animal in the world. She knew she’d never get that far, but that was part of the fun.

The festival was only just getting into full swing by the time they got to Tower Park. There were booths handing out fresh produce from the first harvest of the year, and others offered bags seeds for the pigeons. There were games and an enthusiastic community gardening effort already underway. After all, when the tower finally powered down for the last time, they didn’t want to leave the space unused. This park had done so much to keep the city going through so many bad times, and they wanted it to continue being a part of their community through the good times to come.

Mathilda won a stuffed toy at the ring toss and Zinnia got the closest picture of a dove she’d ever managed. Mathilda gave herself a strawberry milkshake mustache and Zinnia stuffed herself full of poppyseed bread and apple preserves.

But all the while as they had their fun and went about their day and took pictures and got their hands dirty, the two friends couldn’t help but spare increasingly periodic glances towards the smog clearing tower in the center of the park. They weren’t the only ones, though. Soon, it felt like everyone was holding their breath, until at last Mayor Lorelei got up on a box and called through a megaphone. “Everyone! May I have your attention, please? The technicians have informed me that the moment is upon us! Let the countdown begin!”

“Ten,” whispered Zinnia.

“Nine,” murmured Mathilda.

“Eight!” chanted the crowd. “Seven!”

“Seven.” Zinnia reached out and took Mathilda’s hand.

“Six.” Mathilda squeezed her fingers.

“Five! Four!”

“Three.” Zinnia looked at Mathilda and smiled.

“Two.” Mathilda pulled her closer.

“One!” cried the people of the green and sunlit town, as the tower powered down from lack of smog in the air and Mathilda kissed Zinnia there in the thrum of joyous people. “Happy New Year!”

“Think it’s gonna be a pretty great one,” Zinnia whispered as they pulled away.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty good life,” Mathilda agreed.

“We’ll make it happen.”

Then they went and got more milkshakes, and sat and watched the birds in the shadow of the silent tower.

[anightinkarnaca-blog]

The Importance of Dental Cleanings

Having a fantastic set of teeth starts at home and getting a healthy set of teeth begins at the dental office. You may not know. However, your dental health routines might be poorly assisted in. And what about dental insurance coverage? Strategy holders are covered for a minimum of $1,000 a year. Why not utilise the unspent amount on a visit with the dental practitioner that might take a few hours of your time?

Regular oral cleanings are not a high-end; in fact, getting them is an underrated necessity that a lot of people discovers as a wild-goose chase. But the advantages of getting expert cleaning company from dentists may conserve you from more oral conditions than you might think of.

Paired with excellent oral hygiene, oral cleansings will get you started on stress-free work life.

What other particular benefits do dental cleansings give?

1.) A Hands-down "Thorough" Clean - While many people would believe that the dental professional carries out basic cleansing throughout the treatment, there's a lot more to it than that. When identified for any tartar or plaque accumulation, the dentist's outright duty is to perform "scaling" (the removal of dental tartar from the surface of the teeth) and "planing" (the smoothening of the surface area of the root of the teeth). These two procedures along can conserve you from gingivitis and mild forms of periodontitis.

Deep oral cleaning makes sure that the teeth, in addition to the alveolar bone and the gums, are healthy and if needed, ended up being dealt with for gingival issues. On some events, the dental cleaning process may take a while longer.

Thorough clean methods are having:

White and healthy teeth Healthy Gums A better bite after going to the dentist Extensive tidy ways are NOT having or being FREE from:

Bad breath (foul breath) - undoubtedly one of the significant turn-offs and perhaps a connect to gingivitis and other tooth illness Tooth abscess - accumulated pus in the gums Leukoplakia - is a white or grey spot on the tongue, which can be an early sign of oral cancer/HIV Canker sores - are small mouth ulcers that cause interruption to both eating and talking routines.

Thrush - a mouth infection brought on by the fungus 2.) To assist you to get going on PROPER oral health - people usually believe that brushing suffices. But all of us have different sets of teeth, and they require different levels and kinds of upkeep.

For people with braces, the dentist can suggest other cleansing approaches to clean the teeth and gums. People with oral infections are likewise subject to various modes of oral health. For individuals with oral cancer, getting regular oral cleansings and checkups are essential to avoid any potential worsening of the infection.

Proper oral hygiene likewise doesn't limit itself to brushing and flossing the teeth and using mouthwash. Often it's the food and liquids that we ingest that cause undiagnosed oral conditions. When at the office, consult your dental practitioner on the correct types of food and drinks that you need to drink and eat and the stuff that you should prevent.

Asking concerns is free and might save a couple of hundred dollars in oral bills by getting early treatment for your damaging routines which might result in a dental problem.

Please subscribe to our articles to obtain frequent updates on dentistry news.

Trying to find a leading orthodontist, endodontist, periodontist, prosthodontist, pedodontist, cosmetic dental practitioner, or general dental professional in the United States? Then look no further. The new dentist network ensures its blog readers only the very best dental professionals in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York City, and Seattle. Head on to our oral blogs listed below for more accurate dentistry info:

Boston Dental Expert Blog Site New York Dental Practitioner Blog

You can also head on to our Seattle Dental Practitioner Blog Site, Miami Dentist Blog, and Chicago Dental Expert Blog for more relevant dentistry information.

The new dentist network specialises in subjects that consist of:

Cosmetic Dentistry - enhancing smiles via veneer technology and teeth bleaching Orthodontics - tooth alignment and bite correction Periodontics - periodontal disease treatment and avoidance Prosthodontics - prosthetic devices such as dentures bring back comfort to your mouth Pedodontics - child-friendly dentistry for your precious kids. Get to know more about click here  dental cleaning leads