Maria Isakova, Soviet speed skater died she was , 92.

Maria Grigoryevna Isakova, nicknamed Cinderella of Vyatka, was a World Champion speed skater. She was born in Vyatka (now Kirov), Russian SFSR, and competed for the Soviet Union died she was , 92.

(5 July 1918 – 25 March 2011)

Isakova started skating at a very young age, spending many hours every day on the ice because she liked skating very much. Seeing how fast she was, people in Vyatka told her to participate in the Soviet Allround Championships, but Isakova was reluctant at first. She finally gave in and when she participated in the 1936 Soviet Allround Championships, pretending to be aged 17 (she was not allowed to compete at her true age of 15), she finished fifth. However, it took until 1944 before she won an allround medal at the Soviet Championships. That 1944 allround medal was silver – gold ones would follow the next five years. She also won the prestigious Kirov prize five times, the first time as early as 1938, the last time in 1951.
Isakova participated in the World Allround Championships three times, winning gold every time. This made her the first female speed skater to become World Champion three times and, since her titles were consecutive, the first female speed skater to become World Champion in three consecutive years. For her achievements, Isakova was awarded the Order of Lenin.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Isakova at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each:

Championships	Gold medal	Silver medal	Bronze medal
World Allround	1948 1949 1950	–	–
Soviet Allround	1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1951	1944 1950	–

World records

Over the course of her career, Isakova skated one world record on the old Medeo natural icerink at Alma-Ata:

Event	Result	Date	Venue
1,500 m	2:29.5	12 February 1951	Alma Ata - Old Medeo

 Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the WR column lists the official world records on the dates that Isakova skated her personal records.

Event	Result	Date	Venue	WR
500 m	47.7	8 January 1952	Alma-Ata - Old Medeo	46.4
1,000 m	1:37.2	16 February 1951	Alma-Ata - Old Medeo	1:38.8
1,500 m	2:29.5	12 February 1951	Alma-Ata - Old Medeo	2:36.7
3,000 m	5:21.7	23 January 1953	Alma-Ata - Old Medeo	5:21.3
5,000 m	9:32.0	1 February 1949	Moscow - TsDKA Stadion	9:28.3

 

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Almena Lomax American journalist and civil rights activist, founder of the Los Angeles Tribune, died after a short illness she was , 95,

Hallie Almena Lomax  was an African American journalist and civil rights activist died after a short illness she was , 95,.

(née Davis) (July 23, 1915 – March 25, 2011)

Born in Galveston, Texas, her family moved to Chicago and later California, where Lomax studied journalism at the Los Angeles City College.^[1] In 1941 she started the Los Angeles Tribune, a weekly newspaper targeted at the African American community.^[2] During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960, she left California, with her children, to join the struggle in the South.^[3] Later she returned to California, where she worked at the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner.^[1] Here she covered such topics as the kidnapping of Patty Hearst.^[3] Lomax, a divorcee, had six children, four of whom survived her.^[2]

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M. Blane Michael American federal judge died he was , 68,.

 M. Blane Michael  was a Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton on August 6, 1993, to a seat vacated by James Marshall Sprouse died he was , 68,..

(February 17, 1943 – March 25, 2011)
 
Michael's confirmation by the United States Senate on September 30, 1993, made him the first federal judge to be appointed by a Democratic president since Ronald Reagan became President in 1981. Michael received his commission on October 1, 1993 and began judicial service on October 12, 1993.
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Michael grew up in Grant County, West Virginia, and in 1965 he earned an A.B., magna cum laude, at West Virginia University,^[3] where he was student body president and elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He then attended New York University School of Law, where he earned a J.D. in 1968.^[3] He spent three years in private practice^[3] (at the New York law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell) before becoming an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 1971,^[3] handling criminal cases. Michael's contemporaries in the U.S. Attorney's Office included John M. Walker, Jr. and Richard Ben-Veniste. For family reasons Michael returned to his home state in 1972, becoming a special Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of West Virginia. From 1973 to 1975 he was in private practice in Petersburg, West Virginia, and he served for one year as a law clerk to United States District Judge Robert E. Maxwell of the Northern District of West Virginia from 1975 to 1976.^[3]
After John D. Rockefeller IV was elected Governor of West Virginia, Michael served from 1977 to 1980 as Counsel to the Governor.^[3] In 1981 he returned to private practice^[2] (at the state's oldest and largest law firm, Jackson & Kelly, in Charleston, West Virginia), where he worked as a commercial litigator until his appointment to the Court of Appeals in 1993. While in private practice Michael also served at one point as campaign manager for the re-election of United States Senator Robert C. Byrd.^[2]
Michael had often been in disagreement with his judicial colleagues on the Fourth Circuit, which has been called the "boldest" conservative appellate court in the United States. He also fostered collegiality on the court. As Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III noted in a 2005 speech published in the Northwestern University Law Review, Michael and Wilkinson jog together in their spare time when they are in Richmond, Virginia to hear oral arguments, even though they have very different judicial perspectives. According to newspaper accounts, when officials in the administration of President George W. Bush consulted Senator Byrd in the summer of 2005 about the United States Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, Byrd suggested Michael be nominated to fill the seat.

 

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William M. Greathouse, American Nazarene minister, died from heart failure he was , 91.

William Marvin Greathouse was a minister and emeritus general superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene. He was born in Van Buren, Arkansas died from  heart failure he was , 91..

(April 29, 1919 – March 24, 2011)


Greathouse served as a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene from 1938 until 1963 when he was elected president of Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, Tennessee; he served until 1968. At that time he was elected president of Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He served there until 1976, when he was elected General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene. He retired from this position in 1989.
He is the namesake of the William M. Greathouse Chair of Wesleyan-Holiness Theology at Nazarene Theological Seminary.^[3]
He attended Lambuth College, Trevecca Nazarene College, and Vanderbilt University for doctoral studies.

Partial list of books by William M. Greathouse

• The Fullness of the Spirit, 1958, Nazarene Publishing House
• From the Apostles to Wesley: Christian Perfection in Historical Perspective 1979 by Beacon Hill Press, reprinted 2002 by Schmul Publishing. (ISBN 0-88019-442-1)
• Wholeness in Christ: Toward a Biblical Theology of Holiness, 1998 by Beacon Hill Press. (ISBN 0-8341-1702-9)
• An Introduction to Wesleyan Theology with H. Ray Dunning, 1982 by Beacon Hill Press. (ISBN 0-8341-0762-7)
• Exploring Christian Holiness volume 2 The Historical Development with Paul M. Bassett, 1985 by Beacon Hill Press (ISBN 0-8341-0926-3) for the book and (ISBN 0-8341-0842-9) for the set.
• Contributor to the Beacon Bible Commentary for the Bible books of Zechariah and Malachi (volume 5), 1966 and the book of Romans (volume 8), 1968, published by Beacon Hill Books.
• New Beacon Bible Commentary: Romans 1-8 with George Lyons, 2008 by Beacon Hill Press. (ISBN 0-8341-2362-2)
• New Beacon Bible Commentary: Romans 9-16 with George Lyons, 2008 by Beacon Hill Press. (ISBN 0-8341-2363-0)

 

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Dudley Laws, Jamaican-born Canadian civil rights activist, died from kidney disease he was , 76.

 Dudley Laws was a Canadian civil rights activist and executive director of the Black Action Defence Committee died from kidney disease he was , 76..

(May 7, 1934 – March 24, 2011)

Laws was born in Saint Thomas Parish, Jamaica to parents Ezekiel and Agatha Laws, and was a brother to three other siblings.^[1]
A welder and mechanic by trade, he worked at Standard Engineering Works until he emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1955 and became involved in defending the West Indian community. He formed the Brixton Neighbourhood Association and also joined the Standing Conference of the West Indies.^[2] In 1965, he relocated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he worked as a welder and taxi driver. He joined the Universal African Improvement Association, a Garveyite organization.
Laws became prominent in the 1970s and 1980s as a critic of the then Metropolitan Toronto Police Force, due to a number of young black men being shot by police constables, as well as leveling other allegations of racist practices against the police. He has also been prominent as an advocate for immigrants and refugees and worked as an immigration consultant in the 1990s.
In 1988, he founded the Black Action Defence Committee following the police shooting of Lester Donaldson.
In later years, Laws maintained a better relationship with Toronto Police and was friends with two former Deputy Chiefs (Keith D. Forde and Peter Sloly).^[3]
Laws died in Toronto of kidney disease on March 24, 2011 ^[4] and interred at Glenview Memorial Gardens.^[5]

 

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Lanford Wilson, American playwright died he was , 73.

Lanford Wilson  was an American playwright,^[1] considered one of the founders of the Off-Off-Broadway theater movement  died he was , 73.. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1980, was elected in 2001 to the Theater Hall of Fame, and in 2004 was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

(April 13, 1937 – March 24, 2011)

Biography

Early years

Wilson was born to Ralph Eugene and Violetta Tate Wilson in Lebanon, Missouri. After his parents' divorce, he moved with his mother to Springfield, where they lived until she remarried; when he was 11, they moved again to Ozark. There he attended high school, and after graduation, he moved to San Diego, California, where he briefly attended San Diego State University, and lived with his father. Thereafter, he relocated for six years to Chicago, where he began to explore playwriting at the University of Chicago.^[2]

Career

Wilson began his active career as a playwright in the early 1960s at the Caffe Cino in Greenwich Village,^[3] writing one-act plays such as Ludlow Fair, Home Free!, and The Madness of Lady Bright. The Madness of Lady Bright premiered at the Caffe Cino in May 1964 and was the venue's first significant success. The play featured actor Neil Flanagan in the title role as Leslie Bright, a neurotic aging queen. The Madness of Lady Bright is considered a landmark play in the representation of homosexuality. It lasted for over 200 performances, making it the longest running play ever seen at the Caffe Cino. Wilson was subsequently invited to present his work Off-Broadway, including his plays Balm in Gilead and The Rimers of Eldritch produced at Cafe La MaMa.

Joanna (Lee Taylor-Allan) and Lawrence (Kenneth Boys) in a scene from the 1986 New York revival of Lanford Wilson's Home Free!

Wilson was a co-founder of the Circle Repertory Company in 1969 and many of his plays were first presented there, directed by his long-standing collaborator, Marshall W. Mason.^[4] The Circle Rep's production of Wilson's The Hot l Baltimore won the 1973 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, and the Obie Award, and in 1980 he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Talley's Folly.
Wilson's first full-length play, Balm in Gilead, depicts a doomed romance in a greasy spoon diner inhabited by junkies, prostitutes and thieves. It premiered at LaMaMa in 1965 directed by Marshall W. Mason, and had a memorable Off-Broadway revival in the 1984, directed by John Malkovich. The latter production was a co-production of Circle Repertory Company and the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
As the above description of The Madness of Lady Bright indicates, gay identity is a major theme in Wilson's work,^[5] although some of his plays, such as Talley's Folly (1979), which won him the Pulitzer Prize, don't explore it at all. Lemon Sky (1970), Fifth of July (1978), and Burn This (1986) also deal with gay issues. Lemon Sky, his most autobiographical play, tells the story of a young man's struggle with his crude, uneducated father, when he tries to come out of the closet. In Fifth of July, a hit on Broadway in 1980-82, two of the central characters are a gay couple living in a Midwestern town, one of whom is a disabled Vietnam veteran. In Burn This a central character is a gay man who writes advertising for a living and is involved with both gay identity and straight friends, one of whom has died in a boating accident before the play begins. The entire group struggles together to deal with their collective grief.
Wilson's plays which have run nine months or more on Broadway include Fifth of July, Pulitzer Prize-winning Talley's Folly, and Burn This. Hot l Baltimore, one of his most successful plays, ran for 1,166 performances in a venue seating 299 people. It was also adapted into a short-lived television comedy by TV producer Norman Lear.Wilson was also a founding member of the New York State Summer School of the Arts, of which Circle Rep was the theater contingent.
Wilson and his directing collaborator Marshall W. Mason encouraged so-called "method" acting and often hark back to the classic techniques of Anton Chekhov, updated with some distinctly modernist and post-modernist touches.^{[citation needed]} They have also been close to and have been fervent admirers of Tennessee Williams and Edward Albee. Many of Wilson's plays feature strong, sympathetic central characters, truly repulsive villains, agonizing plot twists, and tragic or semi-tragic endings.
In addition to writing plays, Wilson wrote the texts for several 20th-century operas, including at least two collaborations with composer Lee Hoiby: Summer and Smoke (1971) and This is the Rill Speaking (1992) (based on his own play). With composer Kenneth Fuchs, he created three chamber musicals, The Great Nebula in Orion, A Betrothal, and Brontosaurus, which were originally presented by Circle Repertory Company in New York City.
In 2010, Debra Monk presented Wilson with the Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. This honor was bestowed on Wilson on behalf of his peers and fellow artists of the Off-Off-Broadway community "in recognition of his brave and unique works that helped established the Off-Off-Broadway community, and propel the independent theatre voice as an important contributor to the American stage."^[6][7]

 A Personal Note

After Wilson moved to New York City in the early 1960's, he settled in a small apartment in West Greenwich Village on Sheridan Square, where he lived for many years. Later, after Hot L Baltimore became a hit, he was able to buy a house in Sag Harbor, Long Island. He then began living in both places, using the West Village apartment mainly when he had a play in production in New York. He also became active in a community theatre company in Sag Harbor and produced some of his shorter plays there. Around 1998 he finally gave up his apartment and lived full-time in Sag Harbor, where he was living when he died.

 Bibliography

The following list is not complete and includes only some major works. Wilson has written dozens of short plays, they are collected in a volume entitled "Twenty-one short plays of Lanford Wilson."

Home Free! (1964) The Madness of Lady Bright (1964) Balm in Gilead (1965) Ludlow Fair (1965) Wandering (1966) The Rimers of Eldritch (1967) The Gingham Dog (1968) Lemon Sky (1970) Serenading Louie (1970) The Hot l Baltimore (1973)

The Mound Builders (1975) Fifth of July (1978) Talley's Folly (1979) A Tale Told (1981, later revised and renamed Talley & Son) Angels Fall (1983) Burn This (1986) Redwood Curtain (1992) A Sense of Place (1996) Sympathetic Magic (1998) Book of Days (2000) Rain Dance (2002)

 

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José Argüelles, American New Age author died he was , 72.

Joseph Anthony Arguelles  better known as José Argüelles, was a world-renowned author, artist, visionary and educator died he was , 72.. He was the founder of Planet Art Network and the Foundation for the Law of Time. He held a Ph.D. in Art History and Aesthetics from the University of Chicago and taught at numerous colleges, including Princeton University and the San Francisco Art Institute. He was the twin brother of poet Ivan Argüelles. As one of the originators of the Earth Day concept, Argüelles founded the first Whole Earth Festival in 1970, at Davis, California.


(January 24, 1939 – March 23, 2011),

Artist

As a painter and visual artist, he provided illustrations for numerous books, as well as mural paintings at different universities. However, his scope as an artist included his education as an Art History Professor, and his views on art as a "psychophysical aesthetic" can be found in his doctoral dissertation Charles Henry and the Formation of a Psychophysical Aesthetic (Chicago University Press, 1972). When teaching as a professor in the University of California, Davis - one of his final exams to his students was to create "something they believed in" ^[3] - this became a living art event which eventually became the basis for the annual Whole Earth Festival, still held today at the University of California, Davis. After experimenting with LSD in the mid-1960s, Argüelles produced a series of psychedelic art paintings ^[4] that Humphrey Osmond—who originally coined the work "psychedelic"—named "The Doors of Perception" (after Aldous Huxley's 1954 book of the same name, itself a title drawn from William Blake's 18th-century poem). In a 2002 interview Argüelles says of his artwork, "as fantastic as painting was, it was a limited medium in terms of audience."^[5]

Fame

José Argüelles was known for his role in organizing the Harmonic Convergence event of 1987^{[citation needed]}, and his book The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology, published the same year. In The Mayan Factor Argüelles devises a complicated numerological system by combining elements taken from the pre-Columbian Maya calendar with the I Ching and other esoteric influences, interspersed with concepts drawn from modern sciences such as "genetic codes" and "galactic convergences".^[6] The book first popularized the Hunab Ku design as a symbol within New Age discourse, after altering its appearance from that originally presented by Mexican anthropologist Domingo Martínez Parédez ( 1904–1984 ) in his 1953 publication Hunab Kú: Síntesis del pensamiento filosófico maya.

Argüelles produced "Dreamspell: The Journey of Timeship Earth 2013" and a game/tool "Telektonon: The Talking Stone of Prophesy". The former is the source of Arguelles' 13 Moon/28 Day Calendar. This calendar begins on July 26 (heliacal rising of the star Sirius) and runs for 364 days. The remaining date, July 25, is celebrated in some quarters as the "Day out of Time/Peace through Culture Festival".^[7] - celebrated in over 90 countries around the world.

The Law of Time

In his 2002 book Time and the Technosphere, Argüelles devises and promotes a notion that he calls the "Law of Time", in part framed by his interpretations of how Maya calendrical mathematics functioned. In this notional framework Argüelles claims to have identified a "fundamental law" involving two timing frequencies: one he calls "mechanised time" with a "12:60 frequency", and the other "natural [time] codified by the Maya [that is] understood to be the frequency 13:20".^[8] To Argüelles, "the irregular 12-month [Gregorian] calendar and artificial, mechanised 60-minute hour" is a construct that artificially regulates human affairs, and is out-of-step with the natural "synchronic order". He proposes the universal abandonment of the Gregorian calendar and its replacement with athirteen moon, 28 day calendar, in order to "get the human race back on course" by the adoption of this calendar of perfect harmony so the human race could straighten its mind out again."^[9]

Criticism

Argüelles stated that his tools and calendar were not the Mayan Calendar, yet criticism has focused on the lack of support for his work by any professional Mayanist scholar^{[citation needed]}. Critics claim^[who?] that his new interpretation merely co-opts an ancient tradition by recasting it in New Age terms, although his approach could be defined as a Synthesis. Many religious and spiritual concepts throughout history have involved the eclectic syncretism of one or more previously existing worldviews. Many of Dreamspell's influences come from non-Maya sources, such as the 13-moon/28-day calendar, the I Ching, numerology, and assorted mystical and pseudohistorical works like Erich von Däniken's earlier Chariots of the Gods?.^[10] Argüelles' calendar is based on a different day-count than the traditional Maya calendar. For example, in the traditional count January 1, 2005 is 5 Muluk, while in the Dreamspell it is 2 Etznab. As mathematician Michael Finley notes:

"Since the 365 day Maya haab makes no provision for leap years, its starting date in the Gregorian Calendar advances by one day every four years. The beginning of Argüelles' year is fixed to July 26. Thus his count of days departs from the haab as it was known to Maya scribes before the Spanish conquest. Argüelles claims that the Thirteen Moon Calendar is synchronized with the calendar round. Clearly, it is not."^[11]

In defence Argüelles has stated that his calendar is "correct and biologically accurate...for the whole planet", and that he is the "heir of the legacy of Pacal Votan and the instrument of his prophecy, Telektonon". [2] Argüelles is one of several individuals who have contributed to the spread of Mayanism, a collection of beliefs based on speculation about the ancient Maya.

Planet Art Network

Argüelles co-founded the Planet Art Network (PAN) with Lloydine in 1983 as an autonomous, meta-political, worldwide peace organization engaging in art and spirituality. Active in over 90 countries, PAN upholds the Nicholas Roerich Peace Pact and Banner of Peace, symbolizing "Peace Through Culture".

The Planet Art Network operates as a network of self-organized collectives, centralized by a shared focus of promoting the worldwide adoption of Argüelles' Dreamspell 13-Moon/28 day Calendar. The network upholds the slogan "Time is Art", suggesting that time is a vehicle for our creative experience, instead of the familiar saying "Time is Money".

The British anthropologist and journalist Will Black has investigated the Planet Art Network, 2012 prophecies and other millenarian movements and cults. The experience of attending PAN events is documented in his 2010 book Beyond the End of the World – 2012 and Apocalypse. The book covers the history of millenarian thought and cults from their ancient roots to present day, examining everything from Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Hopi and the Maya.

Having spent years at PAN events and immersed himself in the thinking of Jose Arguelles and other PAN leaders, Will Black strongly satirises the organisation and the leadership. Drawing on the writing of Arguelles, Black points out that prophecies Jose made about the years leading up to 2012 have failed. For example, Argüelles had predicted that the 13 moon calendar would be widely used long before 2012 but it has not been. Having also studied with shamans and the Maya, Will Black contrasts New Age movements, such as PAN, with ancient shamanic cultures, such as the Maya. In that analysis Arguelles is portrayed as someone appropriating and misrepresenting the Maya in an exploitative manner.

Black is rather more sympathetic towards the Maya than to Arguelles and PAN and consequently his book includes a chapter called ‘Returning the Mayan calendar to the Maya’ and sections in which gritty realities of modern Central American life are outlined, including the impact of drug wars and poverty.

First Noosphere World Forum

At the time of his death, he was the director of the Noosphere II project of the Foundation's Galactic Research Institute, inclusive of the First Noosphere World Forum, a project that involves creating a dialogue that unifies a network of organizations working to promote a positive shift of consciousness by 2012 with the vision of the whole earth as a work of art.

Bibliography

• Argüelles, José (1972). Mandala. Shambhala Publications.
• Argüelles, José (1975). The Transformative Vision: Reflections on the Nature and History of Human Expression. Shambhala Publications.
• Argüelles, José (1987). The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology. Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. ISBN 0939680386.
• Argüelles, José (1988). Earth Ascending: An Illustrated Treatise on Law Governing Whole Systems. Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. ISBN 0939680459. (note - the 1st edition of this book was published in 1984, prior to The Mayan Factor, by Shambhala Publications)
• Argüelles, José (1989). Surfers of the Zuvuya: Tales of Interdimensional Travel. Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. ISBN 0939680556.
• Argüelles, José; Miriam Arguelles, Chogyam Trungpa (Foreword) (1995). Mandala. Shambhala. ISBN 1570621209.
• Argüelles, José (1996). The Arcturus Probe: Tales and Reports of an Ongoing Investigation. Light Technology Publishing. ISBN 0929385756.
• Argüelles, José (1996). The Call of Pacal Votan: Time is the Fourth Dimension. Altea Publishing. ISBN 0952455560.
• Argüelles, Jose (2002). Time and the Technosphere: The Law of Time in Human Affairs. Inner Traditions/Bear & Company. ISBN 1879181991.

Notes

1.      ^ [1]

2.      ^ "Valum Votan/José Arguelles Has Ascended". http://www.lawoftime.org/. Retrieved 26 March 2011.

3.      ^ South, Stephanie 2012 Biography of a Time Traveler - the Journey of Jose Arguelles

4.      ^ Arguelles, Jose Mandala 1972 (The psychedelic mandala-like paintings of Jose Arguelles are reproduced on color plates in the back of the book)

5.      ^ Moynihan 2002

6.      ^ Hess 1993: 72

7.      ^ Mutch, Stella. "A Day Out of Time". Going Coastal Magazine. Retrieved 2009-04-30.

8.      ^ Terminology and statements in quotation marks taken from 2002 interview with Argüelles, as transcribed in Moynihan (2002)

9.      ^ Moynihan (2002)

10.  ^ Feder 1990: 189; Hess 1993: 72–73

11.  ^ Quotation is from Finley (2002)

 

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