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First Unitarian Church of Rochester

The First Unitarian Church of Rochester is located at 220 Winton Road South in Rochester, New York, U.S. The congregation is one of the largest in its denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association. The non-creedal church conducts programs in the areas of spirituality, social concerns, music, and arts. This church is one of two Unitarian Universalist congregations in Monroe County, the other being First Universalist Church of Rochester.

The church was organized in 1829. Associated with social reform movements from its earliest days, it began attracting a group of reform activists from Quaker backgrounds in the 1840s, one of whom, Susan B. Anthony, became a national leader of the women's suffrage movement. After the first women's rights convention was held at Seneca Falls, New York in 1848, a follow-up convention, the Rochester Women's Rights Convention, was organized two weeks later at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Abigail Bush was elected to preside at this convention even though the idea of a woman chairing a public meeting was considered too daring even for some of the leaders of the emerging women's movement who were present.

Concern with social issues has been a recurring theme in the church's history. In the late 1800s the church provided evening classes and other activities for children in the church's low-income neighborhood. At the turn of the century, church members played leading roles in the campaign to open the University of Rochester to women and in the local, state, and national campaigns for women's suffrage. In the 1930s the church provided office space for Planned Parenthood when other accommodations were difficult to find. In 1988 the church began providing classroom support to Rochester city schools. In 2006 the church initiated a program to improve the quality of life in a small township in Honduras. In 2009 it established a talk line to offer non-judgmental support to women who have had abortions.

First Unitarian's building was designed by Louis Kahn and completed in 1962. It was described as one of "the most significant works of religious architecture of this century" in 1982 by Paul Goldberger, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning architectural critic.

Congregation, beliefs, and programs
The First Unitarian Church of Rochester in Rochester, New York, U.S., is one of the largest in its denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association. Its senior minister is Rev. Shari Halliday-Quan, and its assistant minister is Rev. AJ van Tine. The church conducts two weekly worship services on Sundays and an occasional Saturday service.

The church is non-creedal, having, in the words of its web site, "No single religious text. No ten commandments. No creed to which you must agree ... This respect for individual particularity and openness to diverse sources of wisdom means our community is packed with a wide array of perspectives and beliefs." The church's mission statement is: "Creating connection by listening to our deepest selves, opening to life's gifts and serving needs greater than our own - every day!" The church school has a stated goal of encouraging children "to seek their own truths, to clarify their values, and to live lives of meaning inspired by those values."

The church operates on a Policy Governance system by which the board of trustees focuses on the long-term goals of the church while the parish minister oversees its operation. The board specifies the results expected from the parish minister and sets limits for his or her activities. The board does not specify how those expectations should be achieved, but it does evaluate the results. Officers of the church are elected by annual congregational meetings.

In the 1970s the church developed a task force system to coordinate its activities in the area of social concerns. Members interested in a specific activity gather signatures to qualify as one of the church's task forces, which, if approved by the congregation, will be eligible to receive funds from the church budget. Oversight is provided by the Social Justice Council, which is composed largely of representatives from the task forces. Through this system, the church sponsors projects that provide classroom support for Rochester schools, temporary shelter within the church for homeless families, free Sunday suppers at a Catholic Worker program, improvements to the quality of life in a small township in Honduras, and other projects that focus on such issues as peace, reproductive rights, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender concerns. The Council also oversees grant programs that provide financial support to community organizations.

The church's music and arts programs include a choir, a house band, a handbell choir, a drama group, a chamber music series, a coffee house, and an art gallery. Interest groups sponsored by the church include Soul Matters groups that focus on monthly worship themes, several types of meditation groups, Wellspring groups with programs of daily spiritual practice, Buddhist groups, qi gong, tai chi, book discussion groups, and several types of support groups.

Early years
The First Unitarian Church of Rochester was organized in 1829.

The city of Rochester, located in western New York, was a young frontier boom town at the time, having been incorporated in 1817 and boosted by the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825. The American Unitarian Association, the Unitarian national body, was also young, having been formed in 1825 by Christians who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity.

Rochester Unitarians operated in the early years without a settled minister and, except for a brief period, without a church building. Informal leadership was provided by Myron Holley, a former Commissioner of the Erie Canal and one of the founders of the Liberty Party, which advocated the abolition of slavery. An early church history gave Holley primary credit for the church's establishment.

In 1842 Rufus Ellis, at the age of twenty-two, agreed to come to Rochester to be the congregation's minister for a one-year period. Ellis lodged at the home of Dr. Matthew Brown, president of the congregation. Brown, who earlier was a member of the First Presbyterian Church, was one of Rochester's founders. Along with his brother, he had developed Brown's Race, the canal that delivered water power to Rochester's factory district. He also served as the first chairman of the board of supervisors of Monroe County, in which Rochester is located. Brown was an opponent of slavery; on the day in 1827 when slaves in New York State were emancipated, a delegation of African Americans visited Brown to thank him for his work to secure that legislation.

Funds were raised under Ellis' leadership for a new church building that was dedicated in 1843. In a letter to his brother, Ellis noted that "Forty-five of the pews are already sold or rented, and are occupied by 'correct' people." During Ellis' ministry the church approved a seal that contained an image of the Bible and the words "our Creed". Membership grew partly as a result of the Finney revival movement, which generated a wave of religious enthusiasm so strong in western New York that the area was sometimes called the "burned-over district." Not all churchgoers were comfortable with the new atmosphere in their congregations, however, and some transferred to the less doctrinaire Unitarian Church.

Frederick Holland, who became minister of First Unitarian in 1843, helped to stabilize the new congregation and increase its membership. He resigned in 1848 to assume leadership of the American Unitarian Association.

Dissention within the Quaker community eventually led some of its members to First Unitarian. When objections were raised to abolitionist activities, about 200 people withdrew from the regional Hicksite Quaker body in 1848 and formed an organization called the Congregational Friends. This group soon changed its name to the Friends of Human Progress and ceased to operate as a religious body, focusing instead on organizing annual meetings in Waterloo, New York that welcomed anyone interested in social reform, including "Christians, Jews, Mahammedans, and Pagans". In July 1848, a month after the split, four women associated with the Quaker dissidents met in Waterloo with anti-slavery activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton and issued a call for a Women's Rights Convention to be held a short distance away in Seneca Falls, thereby launching the modern women's rights movement. Organized on short notice, it nonetheless drew about 300 people, largely from the immediate area.

Momentum from this event led to the organization of another women's rights convention two weeks later at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester, about 50 mi west. The Rochester Convention took the significant step of electing a woman to preside, an idea that seemed so radical at the time that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, two organizers of the Seneca Falls convention, opposed it and left the platform when Abigail Bush took the chair. She performed her duties without incident, and a precedent was established.

The convention at First Unitarian was organized mainly by a circle of activists in Rochester led by Amy and Isaac Post, who had resigned from their Hicksite Quaker congregation in the mid-1840s when opposition to the Post's abolitionist activities was raised in the Quaker congregation. Several members of this circle had participated in the Seneca Falls convention, including Mary Hallowell, Catherine Fish Stebbins, and Amy Post, who convened the meeting at First Unitarian. Some of the organizers of the Rochester convention were also associated with First Unitarian, including Hallowell, Stebbins and Post.

A church history written in 1929 said, "Our church was probably by strong majority abolitionist, an earnest group of Hicksite Quakers having attached themselves to the church as their own meeting grew inactive and faded out—the Anthonys, Hallowells, Willises, Posts, Fishes, etc."

Of these families, the Anthonys were particularly significant for First Unitarian. Daniel Anthony was born a Quaker but married Lucy Reid, a Baptist, a violation of Quaker rules for which he was required to apologize to his congregation in central New York. The congregation later disowned him for allowing a dance school to operate in his house. Despite this patchy relationship, the Anthony children were raised as Quakers. After the Anthonys moved to Rochester in 1845, their homestead became the Sunday afternoon gathering place for progressive Quakers and other social reformers in the area. Both Daniel and Lucy Anthony attended the Women's Rights Convention at First Unitarian along with Mary, one of their daughters. Sarah Anthony Burtis, a relative, served as its acting secretary.

Susan B. Anthony, another Anthony daughter, was teaching school in central New York at the time and had little involvement with any of these activities. When she returned to Rochester in 1849, she found her family attending worship services at First Unitarian. She joined her family there, making it her church home  and her most significant source of local connections until her death more than 50 years later. Susan B. Anthony was listed as a member of First Unitarian in a church history written in 1881. Although she no longer attended Quaker meetings in Rochester after the 1848 split, she never relinquished her membership there.

Susan B. Anthony is best known as an organizer and campaigner for women's rights, but she promoted other social reforms as well. In 1851 she helped sponsor an anti-slavery convention at First Unitarian. In 1852 she helped bring 500 women to Rochester to create the Women's State Temperance Society, of which she became the state agent. In 1853 she organized a Women's Rights Convention in Rochester with the assistance of the minister of First Unitarian. In 1857 she served as clerk of the Friends of Human Progress, the social reform group created by dissident Quakers and also became upstate New York agent for the American Anti-Slavery Society. She helped organize two more anti-slavery conventions in Rochester, one of which was so threatened by mob violence that she and her associates had to be escorted from the building by police for their own safety. Anthony's reform work, especially in the national campaign for women's right to vote, led her to spend most of her subsequent years on the road until advancing age required her to cut back on traveling and settle once again in Rochester.

After Rev. Holland's departure from First Unitarian in 1848, the congregation entered a period of discord and short-term ministries that lasted until after the Civil War. A history of the church written in 1881 notes that some of its members during that period "were persons of extreme and pronounced opinions, sharply opposed to each other on political and social questions," with slavery a key item of contention. There was also tension between the membership and some of the ministers of that period, not all of whom were as liberal as the congregation and one of whom went on to become a chaplain in the Confederate Army.

A prominent minister of First Unitarian during this unsettled period was William Henry Channing, who served from 1853 to 1854. Nationally known as a supporter of social reform, he attended the first National Woman's Rights Convention in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1850 and served on the central committee that coordinated national conventions and other women's rights activities in the following years. In Rochester he worked closely with Susan B. Anthony, writing the call for the Women's Rights Convention she organized there in 1853 and playing a leading role in it. At the 1854 New York State Women's Rights Convention in Albany, which Anthony also organized, he, along with Ernestine Rose, presented petitions to the New York State Assembly that the movement had gathered. He wrote one of the two appeals that Anthony circulated as part of her women's suffrage work in New York state.

Channing wrote a brief inspirational text that has become known as "Channing's Symphony," which reads: "To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to listen to stars and birds, babes and sages, with open heart; to study hard; to think quietly, act frankly, talk gently, await occasions, hurry never; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common – this is my symphony."

Channing was important to the Anthony family. Mary Anthony said "The liberal preaching of William Henry Channing in 1852 proved so satisfactory that it was not long before this was our accepted church home." Susan B. Anthony's sense of spirituality was influenced by Channing. Her friend and co-worker Elizabeth Cady Stanton said in 1898, "She first found words to express her convictions in listening to Rev. William Henry Channing, whose teaching had a lasting spiritual influence upon her. To-day Miss Anthony is an agnostic. As to the nature of the Godhead and of the life beyond her horizon she does not profess to know anything. Every energy of her soul is centered upon the needs of this world. To her, work is worship ... Her belief is not orthodox, but it is religious." Anthony expressed the latter thought in these words: "Work and worship are one with me. I can not imagine a God of the universe made happy by my getting down on my knees and calling him 'great.'"

Channing had little success with his factionalized congregation. Finding that he could attract larger audiences when he spoke outside the church than within it, he even considered making a fresh start by forming a movement separate from the church. Instead he left the city for other posts, serving as chaplain of the U.S. House of Representatives during the Civil War.

The church declined afterwards, sometimes finding it difficult to pay its ministers, none of whom served for long. In 1859 the church's building was destroyed by fire. Rochester Unitarians were once again without either minister or building, a situation that was not resolved until after the Civil War."

After the Civil War
Frederick Holland, who had served as First Unitarian's minister in the 1840s, returned in 1865 as minister for an additional three years to help the congregation band together and construct a new church building, which was dedicated in 1866.

The ministry of Newton Mann, who served from 1870 to 1888, was a period of stability and growth. Mann was interested in science. He owned a telescope, served a term as president of the Rochester Academy of Science and was especially interested in evolution. Mann discussed the religious significance of Charles Darwin's recently published book on evolution in a sermon delivered in Cincinnati just before the Civil War which, according to the Rochester History journal, was the first such sermon in the U.S. In 1872 Mann initiated the first public controversy over evolution in Rochester by inviting a professor to give a series of lectures on that topic at First Unitarian, which were extensively reported. In a sermon in 1874 that was also reported in the press, Mann extended the concept of evolution into the realm of religion, asserting that evolution operates on the soul as people become increasingly aware of their spiritual environment and respond by developing their spiritual capabilities.

Mann supported the idea that the Bible has a human rather than a supernatural origin in A Rational View of the Bible, written in 1879, saying that a rational approach to the Bible makes it more appealing by giving it "a purely human quality which quite atones for all the mistakes it contains."

In 1870 Mann was invited to give an evening lecture at Temple B'rith Kodesh, Rochester's oldest and largest synagogue. This interfaith event, the first of its type in Rochester, contributed to a formal split between reformers and traditionalists within B'rith Kodesh and, according to The Jewish Community in Rochester by Stuart Rosenberg, "shook the Jewish community in America and even had reverberations abroad." First Unitarian and B'rith Kodesh held a joint Thanksgiving service in 1871, and Rabbi Landsberg and Rev. Mann began the practice of exchanging pulpits, with each delivering the sermon for the other's congregation. A history of B'rith Kodesh describes the relationship between the two congregations during this period as "extremely close". In 1874 First Unitarian, B'rith Kodesh, and the First Universalist Church of Rochester began their continuing tradition of holding annual Union Thanksgiving services. In 1883 Mann helped Landsberg with part of his project to translate a new prayer book from Hebrew to English. Their translation of the song "Yigdal" has been included in the Union Hymnal of Reform Judaism and in hymnals of other denominations, including the Presbyterian Hymnal (1990). In 1884 Landsberg occupied the pulpit at First Unitarian for seven weeks while Mann was ill, attracting visitors from other denominations and, according to an early Rochester history, leading to speculation about the development of a universal church. The congregation of B'rith Kodesh used First Unitarian as a temporary home in 1909 after their building was destroyed by fire.

In 1872 Susan B. Anthony convinced the election inspectors in her ward in Rochester that the recently enacted Fourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed equal protection to all citizens, implicitly gave women the right to vote. When the news spread that Anthony and her three sisters had succeeded in registering to vote, other women in Rochester also registered. Of the two dozen or so whose names are known, at least three worshiped with Anthony at First Unitarian. Mrs. Mann, the wife of First Unitarian's minister, attempted to register in her ward but was refused. On election day, only fifteen of those who had registered, including Anthony, were actually permitted to vote, and then only because the election inspector in that ward, a long-time abolitionist, defied orders and allowed them to do so. Susan B. Anthony was arrested for voting and found guilty in a widely publicized trial that generated protests across the country.

In 1878 the annual meeting of the National Woman Suffrage Association, which was founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, convened at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester on the thirtieth anniversary of the first Women's Suffrage Convention in Seneca Falls.

In 1883 First Unitarian vacated its building to make way for the construction of a new post office. To replace it, the congregation purchased an existing church building from the Third Presbyterian Church of Rochester, which had moved to another location.

Gannett ministry
William Channing Gannett served as minister from 1889 to 1908. He came from a prominent Unitarian family, his father, Ezra Stiles Gannett, having written the constitution for the American Unitarian Association and served as its first secretary. William Channing Gannett himself had gained prominence as a leader of the successful movement within the denomination to end the practice of binding it by a formal creed, thereby opening its membership to non-Christians and even to non-theists. While pastor of a Unitarian church in Wisconsin before coming to Rochester, he had served as vice president of that state's women's suffrage association.

Mary Thorn Lewis Gannett, Rev. Gannett's wife, was "very nearly his co-pastor," according to a church history. Coming from a Philadelphia Quaker background, she never relinquished her membership there, attending Quaker meetings whenever she visited Philadelphia. In Rochester, however, she was active in the First Unitarian Church and assisted in the formation of several community organizations.

The Gannetts focused their energy on social issues. Urging the congregation to be "a seven-day instead of a one-day church", Rev. Gannett encouraged it to become more involved with its downtown neighborhood of low-income immigrants.

The Gannetts accordingly initiated the Boys' Evening Home, which opened in 1890 in the church's parish house. Within three months its membership had grown to 95 even though some of its members had to leave because they had been sentenced to the State Industrial School. By 1893 the Home had a paid superintendent and was teaching classes in manual arts and drawing, and by 1898 its offerings had expanded to include such subjects as current events, zoology, literature and journalism. A small newspaper produced by the boys campaigned against penny slot machines, which were illegal gambling devices that could be found in candy stores. The neighborhood boys came largely from Polish and Russian Jewish immigrant families. When they reached their late teens, several members of the Boys' Evening Home formed the Judean Club in Rochester, which eventually became, according to Rosenberg's The Jewish Community in Rochester, "the most important cultural forum in the Jewish community of that time." At least four members of the Boys' Evening Home went on to become rabbis, one of whom credited Rev. Gannett with helping him choose that profession. Benjamin Goldstein, another member, became executive secretary of Temple B'rith Kodesh. Another former member, Meyer Jacobstein, was elected to the House of Representatives in Washington. Volunteers from B'rith Kodesh assisted the work of the Boys' Evening Home.

From 1889 to 1908 Mary Gannett led First Unitarian's Women's Alliance, through which "much of the church's activity was organized and executed". About 1902 the Women's Alliance opened the Neighborhood Friendly for Girls, which provided classes in housekeeping, cooking, and sewing for girls in the church neighborhood.

The Gannetts sponsored the formation of the Unity Club in 1889, which was initiated by the Women's Alliance but was open to anyone in Rochester. With as many as a hundred members, it was divided into small classes under the tutelage of the Gannetts for the intensive study of such thinkers as Thoreau, Hawthorne, George Eliot, and the Fabians. The secretary of the Social Topics class, which examined social problems of the day, was Emma Sweet, a member of First Unitarian who was Susan B. Anthony's secretary.

In 1889 Mary Gannett established the Woman's Ethical Club, an interfaith organization that discussed the ethical aspects of social topics and campaigned for the admission of women to the University of Rochester. By the middle of the 1890s, the Ethical Club was attracting several hundred women to its meetings.

Other members of First Unitarian engaged in social and political work during the Gannett years. Mary Anthony, sister of Susan B. Anthony, was active in many aspects of church life and was also deeply involved with the campaign for women's rights. In 1885 a group of women gathered at her home to establish the Women's Political Club, later known as the Political Equality Club. This group of about forty women achieved several breakthroughs, including the appointment of Rochester's first police matron, the placement of women doctors on the city's health staff, and the appointment of women to state institutional boards. Mary Anthony became president of the club in 1892 and served in that capacity for eleven years. Mary Gannett was a member of the club for over twenty years and held various offices.

In 1891 African American activist Hester C. Jeffrey moved to Rochester. She joined Rochester's AME Zion Church and helped organize women's clubs in the African American community. She also developed strong ties to First Unitarian, often attending services there and forming close friendships with Susan B. Anthony and Mary Gannett. She joined the Political Equality Club and created a suffrage club for African American women called the Susan B. Anthony Club. In 1895, while keeping her membership in AME Zion, she also became a member of First Unitarian.

In 1891, at the age of 71, Susan B. Anthony decided to limit her work that required travel and to settle into the house she shared with her sister Mary in Rochester. She resumed routine attendance at First Unitarian, formally signed its membership book, and deepened her friendships with Rev. William and Mary Gannett. Later that year she was invited to speak at the annual Union Thanksgiving service, which was held that year at First Unitarian. Its theme was "The Unrest of the Times a Cause for Thankfulness". Anthony spoke on the women's movement.

In 1893 Susan B. Anthony became the main force behind the formation of the Rochester branch of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, which worked for the educational and social advancement of women. Mary Gannett presided at the founding meeting and became the chair of its Legal Protection Committee, often becoming personally involved in protecting working women from dishonest employers. In 1911 she became president of the organization.

In 1893 Mary Anthony became corresponding secretary of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. During the statewide drive that year for the right of women to vote in New York elections, the Anthony home was converted into campaign headquarters, with public offices in the parlor and other activities throughout the rest of the house. The campaign for women's suffrage in New York state eventually succeeded, becoming law in 1918 and providing momentum for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment nationally in 1920.

In 1898 Susan B. Anthony called and chaired a meeting of 73 local women's societies to form the Rochester Council of Women, later known as the Rochester Federation of Women's Clubs. At its first meeting it renewed the campaign to elect a woman to the local school board even though women were still not allowed to vote. Mary Gannett, speaking for both the Council of Women and the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, played a major role in this campaign, which succeeded when both major parties were convinced to nominate the same woman. The Council of Women's consumer's committee, headed by Mrs. Max (Miriam) Landsberg of B'rith Kodesh and Mary Gannett, developed into the local chapter of the National Consumers League.

The long campaign to open the University of Rochester to women students involved several members of First Unitarian and organizations they had helped to create. The Democrat and Chronicle, a local newspaper, writing several years after the event, said that next to Susan B. Anthony, Mary Gannett was chiefly responsible for the success of this campaign.

Susan B. Anthony had formed a committee as early as 1879 to pressure the university to admit women, but without success. In 1889 the Women's Political Club renewed the campaign with a series of articles in local newspapers. During a meeting in 1891 at the Anthony home, university officials agreed to admit women if $200,000 could be raised to defray costs. The Women's Ethical Club initiated a fund-raising drive, and Susan B. Anthony and Rev. William Channing Gannett appealed for contributions at a public meeting at the Chamber of Commerce. This drive, however, was unsuccessful.

In 1898 the university once again agreed to admit women if enough money could be raised and in 1899 lowered the necessary amount to $50,000. Most of that amount had already been raised, with Mary Gannett playing a leading role in that effort. Just after Susan B. Anthony returned home from a trip to Wyoming, however, she was informed the evening before the deadline that the drive was still $8000 short. With seemingly no possibility of raising additional money, and with renewed opposition among the university trustees, this drive seemed to have failed also. Determined to succeed, Susan B. Anthony, at the age of 81, rode the next morning in a carriage in a last-minute push to close the funding gap, which she accomplished by raising the entire amount from members of First Unitarian, including herself and her sister Mary.

Although Susan B. Anthony worked on several local projects during this period, she remained deeply involved in national activities as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, working for an amendment to give women the right to vote. Generally known as the Anthony Amendment, it became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. When the Anthony sisters traveled to Berlin in 1904 for the founding of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, Susan B. Anthony was declared its first member and Mary Anthony its second.

Early to mid-1900s

Edwin A. Rumball, who served as minister from 1908 to 1915, continued the orientation toward social service that had been established in the Gannett years. In 1910 the church's parish house was expanded to provide better quarters for the Boys' Evening Home and was named Gannett House to honor Rev. Gannett, who had retired two years earlier.

From 1910 to 1914 Rumball edited The Common Good, which "emerged as Rochester's leading journal of progressive reform" according to Affirming the Covenant: A History of Temple B'rith Kodesh by Peter Eisenstadt. The magazine began in 1907 as the house bulletin of the Baden Street Settlement House, which was founded by the Temple B'rith Kodesh Sisterhood to serve a neighborhood of mostly Jewish immigrants. When Rumball became editor in 1910, it expanded into a monthly journal devoted to social betterment of the city. Campaigning for such things as cleaner milk supplies and better conditions for factory workers, the publication was fatally weakened when a strike in the local clothing industry created an atmosphere of bitterness that led to a sharp decline in advertising revenues, which in turn led to the magazine's demise in 1914.

Rumball became the secretary of the Rochester City Club when it was formally organized in 1910 to provide programs for weekly luncheons at a downtown hotel. Membership grew to be in the hundreds, and the programs, which included such speakers as Jane Addams and Felix Frankfurter, often made headline news. Women, who had their own Women's City Club, were expected to listen from the balcony. Mary Gannett created a stir by inviting two African American men to sit with her in the balcony who later joined the club as regular members. She was also invited to accompany two speakers to the platform: anarchist Emma Goldman and African American scholar and activist W. E. B. Du Bois. She joined the club herself when membership was opened to women in 1937.

Frank Doan became the minister of First Unitarian in 1922. Formerly a professor at the Meadville Unitarian seminary, he was one of the originators of the religious humanism movement within the denomination. He retired in 1925 at the age of 48 because of ill health and died two years later.

David Rhys Williams was minister from 1928 to 1958. He served as president of the Unitarian Fellowship for Social Justice, advocated Soviet-American cooperation, promoted the American Civil Liberties Union and supported several national legal defense campaigns. In 1933 Williams became one of the 34 signers of the Humanist Manifesto, which, among other things, declared the universe to be self-existing and not created, rejected the duality between mind and body, and called for religion to be reformed in light of the scientific spirit.

Williams was an advocate of family planning and served on the executive committee of the local Birth Control League. The federal Comstock laws made it difficult at that time to be closely associated with any aspect of birth control. When Margaret Sanger, a national leader of the family planning movement, spoke at Temple B'rith Kodesh in 1932, she was arrested for answering a question from the audience about where birth control devices could be obtained. Williams preached a sermon on "The Spiritual Significance of Voluntary Motherhood" and invited Sanger to speak from the pulpit at First Unitarian a few weeks after she was arrested. A group of eight women, including Wilma Lord Perkins from First Unitarian, subsequently formed an organization that eventually became Planned Parenthood of Rochester/Syracuse. When the organization found it difficult to obtain office space elsewhere, First Unitarian provided them space in Gannett House from 1934 to 1937.

In 1933 a group of Quakers began meeting in the home of Mary Gannett for the purpose of reestablishing a formal presence in Rochester, where the last Quaker organization had disbanded in 1915. The new Quaker group began holding worship services the following year in Gannett House, First Unitarian's parish house. Gannett encouraged the new organization while continuing to devote her support activities to the First Unitarian Church of Rochester.

In 1940 Time magazine gave the church national publicity with an article about its ordination of James Ziglar Hanner as a Unitarian minister in an unusual ceremony that included two rabbis. Rabbi Phillip S. Bernstein of B'rith Kodesh gave Hanner his pastoral charge, basing it on the Hebrew text The Ethics of the Fathers. The service closed with the singing of Yigdal, the hymn that had been translated from Hebrew to English in 1883 by Rabbi Landsberg of B'rith Kodesh and Rev. Mann of First Unitarian. Rev. Hanner began his ministry in Massachusetts.

In 1953, during the McCarthy period, Williams' brother, Albert Rhys Williams, was accused by the House Un-American Activities Committee of having supported the Communist Party from 1919 to 1929. Rev. Williams supported his brother and criticized his attackers. Thirteen members of the congregation accused Williams of being soft on Communism and attempted to have him dismissed from the pulpit. When the issue was put to a congregational vote, the only votes against Williams were the thirteen who had made the accusation, all of whom subsequently left the church. A prominent member of First Unitarian who supported Williams during this controversy was Frank Gannett, founder of the Gannett newspaper chain, who had campaigned for the Republican nomination to run against Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential elections.

In 1957 several members of the congregation formed the Rochester Memorial Society, later called the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Greater Rochester, to encourage simple rather than ostentatious funeral services. By 1975 its membership had grown to over a thousand families. As of 2011, its mailing address continued to be the same as that of First Unitarian.

New building by Louis Kahn

In 1958 Williams announced his intention to retire after 30 years of service. Three months later, while searching for his replacement, the church was informed that a project to build a downtown shopping mall would require the space occupied by their building, forcing the church to deal with two major issues at the same time.

The existing building had several deficiencies, and the church had been wrestling with problems of growth. Church committees had been investigating several alternatives including expanding the existing building, constructing a new church school, establishing daughter congregations, and purchasing the building that Temple B'rith Kodesh was vacating.

The church voted to sell their building to the Midtown Plaza developers in January 1959 with the understanding that they could continue to occupy it until July 1961. Construction activity nearby, however, soon weakened the building, forcing the congregation to move in September 1959. The church held Sunday services at the Dryden Theatre of the George Eastman House until a new building could be constructed.

First Unitarian's previous building was architecturally significant, having been designed by Richard Upjohn, the first president of the American Institute of Architects. The church decided to replace it with a building designed "by a leading 20th century architect, giving the community a notable example of contemporary architecture." The congregation voted to hire Louis Kahn in June 1959 to design their new building, which was completed in 1962.

Mid-1900s to present
In 1961 the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged to form the Unitarian Universalist Association. The possibility of merging Rochester's First Unitarian and First Universalist churches, which had conducted a joint church school in the 1950s and whose buildings had been only a block apart before the old Unitarian church was demolished two years earlier, was considered but not acted upon.

William Jenkins was minister from 1959 to 1963 and also served as president of the newly merged Unitarian Universalist Ministers' Association. Robert West was minister from 1963 until 1969, when he resigned to become president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

In 1963 the church's Social Action Committee played the key role in creating Community Interests, Inc, an organization that provided minority families with housing loans. That organization was later absorbed by the Monroe County Housing Council.

In 1964 rapid growth in membership led the church to begin offering two Sunday worship services and church school sessions, with classes for older children relocated to the Harley School to ease crowding. Despite having originally informed Kahn that there would be no need to design the church to accommodate future enlargement, the church trustees decided in September 1964, less than two years after it was completed, to expand the building. Louis Kahn was hired once again as architect, and the addition was completed in May 1969.

Richard Gilbert served as minister from 1970 until his retirement in 2002. Gilbert became one of the signers of the Humanist Manifesto II in 1973. During the 1970s Gilbert was a member of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion, a group of ministers and rabbis who helped women find safe abortions at a time when it was still illegal.

In 1980 Gilbert wrote The Prophetic Imperative: Unitarian Universalist Foundations for a New Social Gospel, a book used in seminars given by the denomination's Social Justice Empowerment Program. In 1983 Gilbert published the first of three volumes of Building Your Own Theology, a guidebook for examining and clarifying personal values and beliefs in a group setting. It became the most widely used adult education curriculum within the denomination.

In 1982 church member Joyce Gilbert called a meeting that led to the formation of the Unitarian Universalist Musicians Network. She and Ed Schell, First Unitarian's Minister of Music, served first as members of the organizing committee and then as presidents of the new organization. With a membership of several hundred, the organization played a major role in producing the denomination's new hymnals.

In 1988 the church volunteers began providing classroom support to Rochester city schools in a program called the UU/Schools Partnership.

Kaaren Anderson and Scott Tayler arrived as Parish Co-Ministers in 2004. In 2006 the church began its Greater Good Project, which asks members to cut their usual Holiday spending in half and contribute the other half to community projects. In its first year the congregation contributed $79,000, part of which was used to initiate the church's Honduras Project, which works to improve the quality of life in a small Honduras township.

In 2007 the church originated Wellspring, a program of spiritual deepening that has since been adopted by other Unitarian Universalist congregations.

In 2009 the church's Reproductive Rights Task Force began the process of establishing a talk line to offer "support without judgment" to women who have had abortions. Staffed by church volunteers and others in the community, the talk line, which is called Connect and Breathe, began operating in 2011. It operates in the eastern part of the U.S. in conjunction with a similar talk line that was already serving the western time zones.

Because of growth in membership, in 2010 the church began offering a Saturday worship service in addition to the two Sunday services.

In 2019, Shari Halliday-Quan was called as senior minister.

title: First Unitarian Church of Rochester


text:
Novska

Novska is a town in the Sisak-Moslavina County of Croatia. It is located in western part of the historic region of Slavonia, between Kutina and Nova Gradiška, 94 km linear distance southeast of the capital, Zagreb.

Demographics
Novska has a total population of 13,518 in the following settlements:

 * Bair, population 6
 * Borovac, population 273
 * Brestača, population 913
 * Brezovac, population 9
 * Bročice, population 964
 * Jazavica, population 398
 * Kozarice, population 433
 * Kričke, population 23
 * Lovska, population 9
 * Nova Subocka, population 713
 * Novi Grabovac, population 14
 * Novska, population 7,028
 * Paklenica, population 279
 * Plesmo, population 87
 * Popovac, population 10
 * Rađenovci, population 2
 * Rajčići, population 4
 * Rajić, population 875
 * Roždanik, population 262
 * Sigetac, population 122
 * Stara Subocka, population 502
 * Stari Grabovac
 * Voćarica, population 199

In the 2011 census, 91.64% (12,388) of the population were Croats and 4.74% (641) were Serbs. In 1991 in the town lived 24,696 inhabitants, Croats 16,556 (67.03%), Serbs 5,402 (21.87%), Yugoslavs 675 (2.73%), others 2,063 (8.35%).

Minority councils and representatives
Directly elected minority councils and representatives are tasked with consulting tasks for the local or regional authorities in which they are advocating for minority rights and interests, integration into public life and participation in the management of local affairs. At the 2023 Croatian national minorities councils and representatives elections Serbs of Croatia fulfilled legal requirements to elect 15 members minority council of the Town of Novska.

History
Before 1881, Novska was part of the Austrian monarchy (Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia after the compromise of 1867), in the Slavonian Military Frontier, Gradiskaner Regiment N°VIII. Between 1881 and 1918, in the Požega County of the Kingdom.

During the Croatian War of Independence two separate mass murders of Serb civilians took place in the town. On 21 November 1991, four Serbs were tortured and killed. On 18 December 1991, four Serbs were shot with one managing to survive. In the first case, Croatian Army soldier Damir Vida Raguž was found guilty of war crimes in a first-instance verdict and sentenced to 20 years in prison, while the other accused, Željko Škledar was acquitted. The verdict was overturned however and following a re-trial, both were acquitted. In the second case, Željko Belina and Dejan Milić were sentenced by the Zagreb County Court to 10 and 9 years in prison, respectively, following a Supreme Court reversal of an earlier adjudication.

Transport and industry
The Croatian railway lines M103, M104 and M105 are connected with each other at the Novska railway station. All of them and the A3 motorway, which runs passes by south of the town, are part of Pan-European Corridor X. Novska is known for its steel elbow factory, Metaflex.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Novska


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Sham Mirrors

The Sham Mirrors
Some of these claims are incredible! this is NOT the latest album! 138.130.215.115 07:47, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep. Content and accuracy disputes belong on an article's talk page, not vfd. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:49, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Strong Keep ditto.--DNicholls 07:50, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:24, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep- mass Vfd troll. --Maru 16:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


text:
User:Fartbag

Thanks for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Thanks.

Please stop adding nonsense to Wikipedia. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you.

Please stop. If you continue to vandalize pages, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia.

You have been temporarily blocked from editing for vandalism of Wikipedia. Please note that page blanking, addition of random text or spam, deliberate misinformation, privacy violations, and repeated and blatant violation of WP:NPOV are considered vandalism. If you wish to make useful contributions, you may come back after the block expires. khaosworks 08:06, July 24, 2005 (UTC)

title: User:Fartbag


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Rise of Brutality

The Rise of Brutality
The facts are all wrong 138.130.215.115 07:48, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Strong Keep - Then fix them. --DNicholls 07:50, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep, for the same reasons I've given in the rest of the vfd's by 138.130.215.115. Content and accuracy disputes belong on an articles talk page, not vfd. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:51, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:25, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep- mass Vfd troll. --Maru 16:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


text:
Nnewi

Nnewi is a commercial and industrial city in Anambra State, southeastern Nigeria. It is the second largest city in Anambra state after Onitsha. Nnewi as a metropolitan area has two local government area, which are Nnewi North and Nnewi South, all centred around the Nnewi town. Even Ekwusigo local government area is now part of Nnewi urban area, as urbanization continues to spread from Nnewi to neighbouring communities. The Nnewi town which is the only town in Nnewi North, comprises four villages: Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim, and Nnewichi. Nnewi had been the centre of economics and commerce, being at a time the fastest growing industrial city east of the Niger, being the home of many industries such as The Ibeto Group, the Chicason Group, Cutix Cables, amongst others. The first indigenous car manufacturing plant in Nigeria is located in the city while the first wholly Made-in-Nigeria motorcycle, the 'NASENI M1' was manufactured in Nnewi.

In 2019, Nnewi population estimate was put at more than 900,000 people. , Nnewi has an estimated population of 1,301,000. The city spans over 200 sqmi in Anambra State. Nnewi Metropolitan Area and its satellite towns is home to nearly 2.5 million residents. Dimensionally, Nnewi has an edge over all other units, it was recognized by the 1953 census figures as the largest inland town of all others in the Eastern states of Nigeria.

Projected to be the twelfth fastest growing city on the African continent between 2020 and 2025, with a 5.18% growth.

History
In Nnewi oral history and mythology, the rabbit ('ewi') played a great role in saving the founders of Nnewi during wars. Throughout its history, Nnewi has used its military might to maintain its borders and because of this, the killing or eating of ewi in Nnewi is forbidden to the present day. Nnewi existed as an independent kingdom from the 15th century to 1904, when British colonial administration occupied the kingdom.

Nnewi kingdom was founded on four quarters (large villages), namely Otolo, Uruagu, Umudim, and Nnewichi. Villages are made up of communities which in turn are Each divided into family units called 'umunna'. Each umunna had a first family known as the 'obi'.

The origins of the four villages had been a source of controversy as no one could really tell the original history of Nnewi and the development of the villages. History was not written down in this part of the world then. According to Dr. Okonkwo Alutu in Nnewi History, the most probable progenitor of the Nnewi people was a man called Mmaku. He migrated from Ndoni and had a son whom he named Ikéngà. Ikéngà had four sons; Nnewi, Isu, Ifite and Ichi. Nnewi went on to father six sons namely Digbo, Uru, Eze, Eke, Ekweludikonwu and Nnagha. Digbo begat Otolo, progenitor of the only village named after a descendant of Nnewi. The other three villages were founded by the other sons of Nnewi and migrants.

The Place of Nnewi in Igbo History
Originally when the Igbos settled in the present day Eastern Nigeria, they arrived with three leaders, two were spiritual leaders and the youngest of the three a hereditary King known as Obi a King by birthright. The first was the Eze Nri of Awka a Priest King, the second the Eze Aro of Arochukwu a King and the third the Obi of Nnewi a political and war ruler. The Onitsha people are visitors and later settlers in Igbo land. The Aros know this history (Nnewi being a relation and a leader among the Igbos) and this is part of the reason why there are no Aro settlements in Nnewi. The Obi of Nnewi Obi Okoli in1780s lost his throne when inside palace politics that hinged on tradition edged him out. Traditional royal law had it that the Crown Prince must perform the funeral rights of the late Obi before he can be crowned, Obi Okoli was absent and arrived home only after the late Obi Okoli 1st was buried. His Uncle (The late Obi Okoli the 1st younger brother) performed the funeral rights in his stead and took over as Igwe Nnewi he could not be enthroned as an Obi (which means the first son). The Obi Okoli royal lineage was forced into exile, they got refuge at Umune-Alam in Umudim, Nnewi where they still are to this day. The Obi Okoli family still bears the Ofor Nnewi till this day.

Edo is the supreme deity of all the Alusi (Igbo: deity) in the Anaedo country. The central shrine of this unifying Alusi is at Nkwo Nnewi, the central Market. There are four other deities in Nnewi: Ana, Ezemewi, Eze and Ele. Christianity was introduced by the Europeans in 1885 and many Nnewi people now practice Christianity.

Nnewi, Ichi and Oraifite made up the Anaedo state. Anaedo communities have common ancestries, beliefs and traditional value systems. Nnewi is a major trading and manufacturing center in Nigeria. Due to its high commercial activities, the city has attracted millions of migrants from other states and countries.

The Ofala Nnewi is a cultural festival held every year to celebrate the coronation of the Igwe of Nnewi. Afiaolu (New yam festival) and Ikwuaru are also among traditional festivals held annually in Nnewi. Nnewi Kingdom is also known as Anaedo meaning the Land of Gold (The supreme deity and goddess of Nnewi).

Geography
Geographically, Nnewi falls within the tropical rain forest region of Nigeria. Though it suffers from soil leaching and erosion which has reduced the soil in some areas to a porous sandy terrain, it remains an area of rich agricultural produce and the epicenter of business trade. The city is located east of the Niger River, and about 22 kilometers south east of Onitsha in Anambra State, Nigeria.

Government
The traditional monarch of Nnewi is called the Igwe. The Igweship in Nnewi kingdom predates the arrival of Europeans, making it a unique monarchy in Igbo land. The Igbos are known for not having kings, hence the popular Igbo saying 'Igbo é nwě Eze', meaning 'the Igbos have no king'. In other Igbo clans, the British colonial administrators created warrant chiefs who then assumed the office and title of Igwe and are elected to this day. In Nnewi, the Igwe is the isi obi (head of the Obis) and hence the Igwe, which literally translates as the heavenly one or highness as he is the holder of the Ofo, the religious and political symbol. He is born and not made or elected, and the institution of inheritance is the traditional right and privilege. The position is neither transferable nor negotiable. He is also an Obi. Obi is the title held by ruling chiefs; it is the equivalent of a duke in the nobility. The present reigning monarch is His Royal Highness Igwe Kenneth Onyeneke Orizu III; he is the longest serving monarch in Nigeria and he is currently the 20th monarch in the Nnofo Royal lineage. Igwe Kenneth Orizu III is the first class chief in Anambra state from Nnewi as well as the vice Chairman of the Anambra State House of Chiefs.

There are Obis in the four clans that make up Nnewi. The highest and the most senior obi is the Obi of Otolo, who is also the Igwe of Nnewi. Chief Afamefuna Obi, Obi Bennett Okafor and Obi George Onyekaba are the current obis of Uruagu, Umudim, and Nnewichi, respectively. These three obis with Igwe Orizu, III as chairman constitute the Igwe-in-Council and they deliberate on the spiritual, traditional, and communal matters, in Nnewi.

There is also an active town union called the Nzuko-Ora Nnewi. It is a forum through which adult Nnewi indigenes (18 years or older) can contribute to the development of Nnewi. This union was set up to encourage and promote the establishment of structures and facilities that will promote and improve the quality of life of the residents of Nnewi.

Legal system
The ancient legal system of Nnewi was not based upon a written law. It was purely a natural law, involving custom, tradition, and civil and criminal cases. The legal process in Nnewi passed through the labyrinth of extended family system. A report against an offender or a criminal in the first instance, had to be made to the head of his family at his ancestral home known as obi. The head of the family would invite elders and minor obis from his extended family unit to sit in judgment, while the complainant would also invite the elders and minor obis from his extended family side, if both of them were not from the same family. These obis' would serve as the court of the first instance, depending, of course, on the nature of the offense or crime allegedly committed. The trial might end here, if both the complainant and the accused were satisfied with the judgment given, or they might take the case to the next senior obi of the same extended' family, in ascending order, until, probably, the matter got to the highest obi in the lineage. If the complainant was not satisfied at this point, he would appeal to the obi of the quarter and the leaders of his family could be summoned to defend their judgment.

Through this legal procedure, guilt or innocence could easily be established, as the decision was based purely on natural justice. Punishments for offenses and criminal acts were given in relation to their gravity. A man who was found guilty of a serious crime might have no option than to be sold into slavery or expelled from the community for life. He would not be killed because the killing of human beings was against the injunction of Edo Goddess. The judicial system in Nnewi seems to have recognized three classes of cases, the minor offenses, the true criminal case, and the civil suits of debt, bride price and land. The breaking of by-laws was really an offence against some particular juju and as such was to be expiated by a sacrifice. For example, it is forbidden to kill "eke" snake, a type of python, or to eat "ewi," rodent of rabbit family. It is probable these laws were never broken willingly and if broken by accident, the offender would automatically perform a sacrifice without any form of judicial trial being held. The criminal code, with regard to serious crimes, appears to have been more developed in Nnewi than elsewhere in Igboland. There were seven main classes of offences, which were known as "ori-obi," offenses against the obi, as their investigation was always carried out in the obi of the quarter.

Politics
Nnewi has contributed its fair share of key players in Nigerian politics. A. A. Nwafor Orizu; president of the Nigerian Senate in the First Republic and later, the Acting President before the first coup d'état of 1966, M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu; a nationalist, anti-colonialist and first republic law-maker, Chief Z.C. Obi (Onunekwuluigbo Igbo); First republic politician, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, OBE, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ikemba Nnewi); former military Governor of defunct Eastern Nigeria and President of defunct Republic of Biafra, Comrade Dr. Edward Ikem Okeke; Deputy President of the PRP and Special Adviser to the President (Second Republic), Mr. F. C. Nwokedi; the first Nigerian Permanent Secretary, Dr. Dozie Ikedife (Ikenga Nnewi); former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Professor A. B. C. Nwosu; Former Health Commissioner in East Central state and Anambra state, respectively, Dr. Chu Okongwu; Former Minister of Finance; Dr David Bennet Anagwu Ofomata;The first Indigenous Medical Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, First CEO/Chairman Anambra Health Management Board & Chairman old Nnewi LGA;

Nnewi is also the ancestral home of prominent Nigerians including the esteemed individuals listed below. See (People).

Economy
Nnewi's journey to becoming an economic hub started in 1970,After the Nigerian Civil War.

Ndị Nnewi(Nnewi People) living in different cities across the country suffered great losses during the war, so they decided to take back all their investments and businesses home.

Agbo Edo, a forest land which belonged to Edo Nnewi deity, was cleared to make way for a new market called Nkwo Nnewi market. The development of this market propelled the fast development of the local economy.

As a fast developing city and a major industrial and commercial hub in Africa, Nnewi experiences voluminous financial activities, therefore hosts major banks, and other financial institutions. Industries are dotted around the city and adjoining towns. Palm oil, cosmetics, motor, and motorcycle spare parts, books, and stationery, textiles, electric cables, and so on are produced in commercial quantity in the area. Its main trading centers include Nkwo Nnewi markets which are New motorcycle spare parts market (the largest spare parts market in Africa), Agbọ-Edo motor spare parts market, Nwagbala market, Generator parts market, Electrical parts market, Nkwọ Nnewi general market (Ime Afia),Nnewi Timber dealers market (Ọgbọ osisi), Nwafor market, Eke Amaobi market, Eke Ochie, Eke Ichi Market, Orie otube Market, Okpunoegbu market etc.

Agriculture and forestry
The main occupation of Nnewi people is trading, production and farming, therefore they depend mainly on commerce, entrepreneurship and agriculture for their daily livelihood. Most Ndị Nnewi (Nnewi people) have mbụbọ (home gardens) and ubi (out-station gardens) where they usually cultivate their farm products. These crops when they are harvested are usually taken to the market for sale. Most of the prime cash crops include oil palm, raffia palm, groundnut, melon, cotton, cocoa, rubber, maize, et cetera. Food crops such as yam, cassava, cocoyam, breadfruit, and three-leaf yam are also produced in large quantities. The location of Nnewi within the tropical rainforest gives it the ecological basis for production of a wide range of tropical agriculture crops with widespread potential for industrial convention.

Industries
Nnewi is home to many major indigenous manufacturing industries including Ibeto Group of Companies, Cutix and ADswitch, Uru Industries Ltd, Omata Holdings Ltd, Cento Group of Companies, Coscharis of Companies Group, Innoson Group of Companies, Ebunso Nig. Ltd, John White Industries, Ejiamatu Group of Companies, Chicason Group, Louis Carter Group. The great majority of industrialists in the cluster of spare parts factories in Nnewi are also traders, and most of these traders are producing one or more of the products they specialize in marketing as traders (usually motor vehicle parts), and most began by distributing their products through their preexisting distribution networks. Nnewi is part of Eastern Nigeria's industrial axis. The town has through culturally grounded institutions that act as sophisticated networks expanded to include an international dimension through trading relations with exporters from Asia. Over the last decade, the town of Nnewi has experienced relatively rapid industrialization. In excess of 20 medium-to-large-scale industries have been established across a variety of sectors. Since 1970, Nnewi residents have controlled approximately 80 to 90 percent of the motor-parts trade in Nigeria. Nkwo Nnewi Market is the major import and wholesale point for motor spare parts in Nigeria. The industrialists of Nnewi are adapting foreign technology to local needs, providing employment to thousands, and making available goods and services which are relevant actual needs of the Nigerian citizens. The first indigenous car manufacturing plant is located in the city, while the first wholly Made-in-Nigeria motorcycle was manufactured in Nnewi by the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI).

Auto parts
Nnewi is known for the vibrant auto industry in the city, the first Igbo man to own and drive a car was Sir Louis Ojukuwu, the father of Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukuwu in 1912. By 1940, Nnewi residents were at the center of an international trading network that dominated the supply of motor spare parts in Nigeria. The town subsequently became a center for commerce and industry, and has one of the largest automotive parts markets in Africa. Nnewi Township is an authentic "manufacturing miracle." Small and medium-sized industries have set up in the town and are producing not only for the Nigeria markets but albeit still to a limited extent for markets abroad.

Industrialization of the town began around 1970 when Nnewi motor parts traders began marketing their own brand name products instead of the reproductions of "original" parts. There are several auto and motorcycle spare parts dealers in Nnewi; the Nnewi Motorcycle spare parts market is well known throughout West Africa. There is also an auto plant, the first of its kind in Nigeria, owned by an Nnewi businessman, Innocent Chukwuma, Ono and a Chinese auto Company.

Markets
As Nnewi is the automobile hub of Africa, the city has so many markets where automobiles are sold both in wholesale and retail. There are also other markets where general goods, food stuff, body care products, building materials etc are sold.

Below is a list of some of the markets in Nnewi:

1.New motorcycle spare parts. This market is said to be the third largest automobile market in the world by volume of goods. Brand new motorcycle parts of different brands are sold in this market.

2.Agbo-Edo motor spare parts market. In this market,different makes of brand new motor spare parts are sold.

3.Nwagbara Market. This is a market where you buy all sorts of fairly used motorcycle spare parts. Complete motorcycle both brand new and fairly used are also sold in this market

4.Generator Parts Market. This is a small market where you buy different types of power generators and their parts

5.Nkwo Nnewi general market(Ime Afia). This is the biggest market in Nnewi by landmass. In this market, you can get virtually everything starting from clothing materials, shoes, pharmaceutical products, food stuffs, provisions, cosmetics etc

6.Electrical/Electronics parts Market. This is a market where you buy different types of electronics and electrical products, both in wholesale and in retail.

7.Building materials Market. This market spans across a street known as Muodile street. It is where different types of building materials are sold in wholesale and retail

8.Timber dealers Market. This is a market where wood and timbers are being processed and sold.

Modern Shopping
Even as Nnewi has so many traditional open air markets, modern shopping culture is not missing out.

Some modern shopping complexes in Nnewi are;

-Roban Stores

-G-MART Stores Etc

Culture
Nnewi, as a historical city, has many cultural events and places adorned with festivities and cultural monuments, including Edo Na Ezemewi shrine, Udoogwugwu shrine (Ichi), Kamanu shrine (Ichi), and many other shrines dotted across all sections of Nnewi city. Nnewi hosts many festivals, notably amongst them is the New yam (Afiolu, also known as Ifejioku festival) which all parts of the city participates and masquerades from all federating towns participates in. The festival attracts all sorts of activities and celebrations which Nnewi residents hold in the highest esteem.

In the average home of any Nnewi citizen, they usually keep kola nuts, garden egg and peanut butter in their refrigerator in case any stranger or visitor should visit their home. Every visitation to their home begins with the offering of the kola nuts to the visitor, the kola nut is indicating that the visitor is very much welcomed. The ritual of the offering of kola nut is inspired with the giving in prayers and blessing or lobby to the supreme God and other deities, for the protection of the visitor and the host. It seems to be a custom to the people of Nnewi in any of their traditional ceremonies.

Arts and crafts
Local artists thrive in this municipal rural communities. Works of art produced in the area comprises, carved doors, walking sticks of different designs, sculptures, flutes, wooden mortars and pestles, gongs, and the famous talking drums. Metal works and various types of productions are locally fashioned.

Music
The Nnewi people, just like every other Igbo group, have a musical style into which they incorporate various percussion instruments: the udu, which is essentially designed from a clay jug; an ekwe, which is formed from a hollowed log; and the ogene, a hand bell designed from forged iron. Other instruments include opi, a wind instrument similar to the flute, ịgbà, and ịchàkà.

Traditional marriage

There are three types of marriages in Nnewi as also practiced across the Nigerian society: the traditional marriage held in the house of the woman; the official wedding, held in a registry office and which allows only one wife; and the religious marriage.

The official marriage ceremony is called "Igbankwu", which is the Igbo word for the traditional marriage ceremony. Nnewi do not have an "engagement" ceremony. Rather, the Igbankwu is preceded by a series of events during which the potential bride's and groom's families engage each other to discuss the terms of the marriage. Perhaps this can be characterized as an engagement. Please note that Nigeria has 250 ethnic groups and each varies on marriage traditions. Further, within groups there can be even greater differentiation.

Cultural attire

The traditional attire for the men is an overflowing jumper or a long-sleeved shirt worn over the gooji wrapper, which is tied around the waist, curving down to the ankles. This dress is matched with a cap and a walking stick, which aids as an instrument of support and defense. The traditional wear for the women is a blouse, worn over a loin cloth. This female attire goes with a head-tie ear rings and necklaces or traditional necklaces.

New Yam Festival
In Nnewi, the occasion of Iri-ji ọhụrụ (new-yam eating) is a cultural festival because of its significance. Nnewi people celebrate their new yam festival usually at the end of August during which assortment of festivities mark the eating of new yam. These festivities normally include a lot of variety entertainment including performance of ceremonial rites by the Igwe (King), cultural dances by Igbo men, women and their children as well as a display of Igbo cultural activities in the form of contemporary shows, masquerade dance, and feasting at a grand scale on a wide variety of food making up the menu of the Igbos.

The first day of the festival the Igwe of Nnewi will officiate the Harvest thanksgiving ceremony at his palace where the yams are offered to gods and ancestors first before distributing them to the villagers. After the prayer of thanksgiving to god, The Igwe eats the first yam because it is believed that his position gives him the privilege of being intermediaries between Nnewi communities and the gods of the land. The rituals involved in the new yam eating are meant to express the community's appreciation to the gods for making the harvest of their yams possible. This therefore explains the three aspect of Igbo worldview, that they are pragmatic, religious and appreciative. This ceremony has been celebrated for centuries and as has always presented the right conditions for all and sundry, family and friends to come together to demonstrate their commitment and solidarity to their local community. Due to this fact, the Igbos every where in the world do celebrate this event in a highly captivating manner in order to protect and celebrate the enriched cultural heritage of her people.

Religion
Religion occupies a central place in the heart of Nnewi people. This counts for the huge churches and religious practices in the city. The people of Nnewi are 96% Christian, with small fractions of other faiths: 2% traditionalist, 0.2% Jews, 0.3% Muslims and 1.5% others. Among the Christian community, the catholic and Anglican Communion shares a greater number of followers followed by other Pentecostal Christian groups. Christianity first came on the Southeastern part of Nigeria with the arrival of the Holy Ghost missionaries from Gabon to Onitsha under the leadership of Fr. Joseph Lutz late on Saturday December 5, 1885. Fr. Joseph Shanahan (The Apostle of Igboland) joined them in 1902 and when the mantle of leadership fell on him in 1905, history was set to record the evangelization of Roman Catholic Diocese of Nnewi. The stream of this evangelization was to flow through two main courses almost concurrently: one having Nnewi as its source and the other Ozubulu/Ihiala.

Though individuals from various communities have come in contact with the faith as they traveled to Onitsha and other places for trade and in quest of western education, the actual planting of the seed of the gospel in Nnewi Diocese from the Catholic perspective sprang from the treks of Fr. Victor Duhaze to Ozubulu through Oguta (1906) and to Nnewi through Umuoji, Ojoto Mili Agu down to Odida Nnewichi in 1906.

However, the Anglican Church was established in Nnewi from Obosi in 1893. But the seed of what is today Nnewi Diocese was sown in 1809. Requests were made by Odida. Community in Nnewichi inviting Fr. J. Shanahan. In the same year, some Ozubulu indigenes had registered the same requests for establishing a Church station at Ozubulu. Nnewi people are proud of there traditional Odinani as well as the new religion of Christianity. @(Note:The Church Missionary Society CMS under the leadership of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther and Reverend Henry Townsend arrived Onitsha on July 27, 1857)

Health
Nnewi hosts a number of institutions and places of learning and healing, which include Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) and a number of international agencies. The Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, is in the forefront of providing excellent health services to the nation. The hospital and its annexes since inception has provided specialized and comprehensive medical care to the immediate community and beyond. Its mandate also includes undergraduate and postgraduate medical and paramedical training as well as research. These services have grown from strength to strength through the years fueled by comprehensive annual plans approved by the Federal Government. There are also other several countless standard private hospitals across the city

Education
The ancient city of Nnewi hosts a number of traditional and formal learning institutions and places of learning, which include a Medical University: Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Government secondary schools: Okongwu Memorial Grammar School, Maria Regina Secondary School, Nnewi High School, National Secondary School Nnewi, Ichi Technical School (Ichi Community), Ichi Girls, Akoboezemu Community Secondary School, Anglican Girls Secondary School, Nnewi-Ichi Community Secondary School etc. Private schools: Summit International School, The Good Shepherd School, New Era School, Dr. Alutu's College of Excellence School, christ the king, etc.

Crime
Crime rates are low but civil disputes such as land ownership and family inheritance exist. In more recent times, the market square and banks have experienced well publicized and organized criminal attacks that have been allegedly linked to the local police. There are now open debates on reinstating a local vigilante crime fighting group called the Bakkassi Boys, who had a multi-year stint in Nnewi in the late 1990s when crime was on the increase. This group had a modus operandi that many considered barbaric but necessary – convicted thieves were killed in public by dismembering their body parts with a sharp machete and burning them alive. The activities of this group of men which had permission of the Governor of the state was seen by the Human rights activists and civil right movement as a violation of human rights and campaigned against their practices. Recently, Nnewi is relatively peaceful except for isolated occurrences of kidnapping of prominent local citizens for large ransoms.

Transportation
The primary means of transportation in Nnewi are motorcycles. Almost every household owns at least one motorcycle and the commercial motorcycles exist too. There are also shuttles and tricycles complementing the motorcycles as the means of transportation available across the city.

Nnewi is also well known as the home of several transport and logistics businesses since the end of the second world war.

Sport
The people of Nnewi also have a great sporting culture, especially in football. Local football leagues are typically organized in August during the Afiaolu festival (Afiaolu league) and in December during the Christmas period (December league). These leagues, often sponsored by wealth people of Nnewi, are organized by the four main quarters of Nnewi for the different communities within the quarters.
 * Gabros International F.C. is based in the city, Presently known as Ifeanyi Ubah FC (2016 Nigeria Federation Cup Champions)
 * Also in 2017 football season Nnewi United football club was formed to participate in the Nigeria National league.
 * Nnewi sports club (lawn tennis and badminton.)
 * Beverly Hills Resort Recreational Club

Notable people

 * General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu (Ikemba Nnewi); former military governor of the Eastern region of Nigeria and first president of defunct Republic of Biafra
 * Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, KBE; One time richest man in Africa, founder and first president of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and father of General Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu
 * Prince Nwafor Orizu; writer, politician and educationist, 2nd Senate President of Nigeria (16, 1960 to January 15, 1966) and acting president of Nigeria (1965–1966)
 * Dr. Edward Ikem Okeke; former deputy president of the PRP Political Party
 * Dr. Chu Okongwu; former Minister of Finance, Federal Republic of Nigeria
 * M. C. K. Ajuluchukwu; founder and the first secretary of the defunct Zikist Movement, assistant Editor, The African, New York, USA; 1948-49, Editor, West African Pilot, Lagos, 1951 – 53, Editor, Nigerian Outlook, Enugu, 1954-60 and later became its general manager and Editor-in-chief, 1961-70, General Manager, defunct Eastern Nigeria Information Service, Enugu, 1960-70, Director, Federal Government’s Post Group of Newspapers (Publishers of Morning and Sunday Post), Lagos 1961 – 64, General Manager, Concord Press of Nigeria Limited, 1984-86, Chairman, Chad Basin Development Authority, 1991.
 * Igwe Orizu I (Eze Ugbonyamba); 18th Igwe Nnewi and the first Igbo person to own and drive a car
 * Joseph N. C. Egemonye (Abianomume); founder and editor-in-chief of the now defunct “The Voice of Youth”, and The Nigeria Monitor newspaper, the first weekly newspaper in Nnewi and also co-founder of The Winston-Salem Chronicle newspaper, the oldest community newspaper in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.A.
 * Felix Ezejiofor Okonkwo (Okonkwo-Kano); Prominent Igbo leader in Northern Nigeria (1960s).
 * Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, OON, former deputy governor, Central Bank of Nigeria
 * Chief Cletus Ibeto (Omekannia), CON; industrialist and philanthropist
 * Senator Onyeabo Obi (Oso-Oji Nnewi); Second Republic senator
 * Senator Ikechukwu Obiorah; Nigerian politician
 * Senator Z. C. Obi (Eze-Onunekwulu-Igbo Na Okemili Nnewi); First indigenous east Niger produce Manager of UAC Nigeria, president of the Igbo State Union and appointed senator in the First Republic.
 * Late Chief Onuzulike Daniel Okonkwo (Ozuome-Nnewi); diplomat, educator, and writer. Chief Okonkwo was the first indigenous Principal of Okongwu Memorial Grammar School, Nnewi, Nigeria, and the former chairman of Onitsha Southern County Council
 * Engr (Chief) Francis Christian Nnodumene Agbasi (Omenka Nnewi); first Nigerian rector/principal, Yaba College of Technology, Lagos and engineer and founding partner, Frank Agbasi & Partners.
 * Mr. Benson Egemonye; Nigerian professional basketball player.
 * Hon. Nonso Smart Okafor; Nnewi North representative, Anambra State House of Assembly.
 * Evangelist. Cosmas Maduka; founder of Coscharis Group
 * Dame. Virginia Etiaba; first Nigerian female governor; former governor and deputy governor of Anambra state.
 * Chief Olisa Metuh; former PDP national publicity secretary.
 * Mr. Cornel Osigwe; Publisher, Anaedoonline.ng
 * Adaeze Atuegwu; author
 * Senator Ifeanyi Ubah (Ebubechukwuzo Nnewi); Current Senator, Anambra South Federal Constituency
 * Mazi Afam Osigwe; Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN
 * Chief Innocent Chukwuma (Ifediaso Nnewi); A Nigerian business magnate and investor. He is the founder and CEO of Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing, Nigeria's first indigenous automobile manufacturing company.
 * Engr. Obiajulu Gilbert Uzodike (OON); founder of Cutix Plc, Nnewi. As well as the defunct Adtec Limited and Adswitch Plc.
 * Dr. Dozie Ikedife (Ikenga Nnewi); Former President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo
 * Chief Augustine Ejikeme Ilodibe (Onwa na-etiri ora Nnewi); founder Ekene Dili Chukwu Transport Services.

title: Nnewi


text:
Malia O Ka Malu

Malia O Ka Malu or Our Lady of Peace is an appellation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Hawaiian language. It is shortened from "Malia o ka Malu Hale Pule Nui", a title of the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace.

Background
Other Hawaiian churches honoring the Virgin include
 * Maria Lanakila, Our Lady of Victory, in Lahaina
 * Malia Hoku O Ke Kai, Mary the Star of the Sea, in Kahala
 * Malia Puka O Ka Lani, Mary the Gate of Heaven, in Hilo

title: Malia O Ka Malu


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Kir Kanos (0th nomination)

Kir Kanos
A lot of this stuff is newbie fanfiction. Less than half of this is backed by the expanded universe. 138.130.215.115 07:50, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep, unless evidence of this article being "newbie fanfiction" or not "backed bt the expanded universe" is presented. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:59, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Strong Keep as Blu Aardvark will probably come along and explain better than I. If the entry's info is wrong, discuss it. --DNicholls 07:56, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong and Speedy Keep.--Kross 15:16, July 24, 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:25, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Keep. OMG- is anyone else getting really tired of anons starting vfds? Heck, are they even allowed to, cause it certainly seems to me that an anon who knows enough about Wikipedia to nominate stuff for deletion either has an account or is a vandal.  And I checked all of the article against the Dark Horse comics- its all backed up in the EU, anon. So there. --Maru 16:00, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


text:
Talk:First Unitarian Church of Rochester

Untitled
Suggestion: the better title would be First Unitarian Church, Rochester, New York. The reader expects to find here an article about the first Unitarian Church. --Wetman 07:51, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Agreed. Moved article to First Unitarian Church of Rochester, which is the name the church uses on its website. No First Unitarian Church in Rochester, Minnesota, so state name isn't necessary in title.
 * -- J. Van Meter 20:07, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

Major expansion in the works
Just to let everyone know, I am planning a major expansion and rewrite for this article in the near future. It will include sections for both history and architecture. The draft verson of the revised article is at User:Bilpen/sandbox. Bilpen (talk) 03:28, 8 December 2011 (UTC)

 * The expanded version of this article has been posted. Its a long article, its length approaching the limit for Wikipedia articles.  At first glance it would appear to be easy to split it into two articles, one about the congregation and one about the building.  I attempted to do that but found it surprisingly difficult.

 * One problem is that "church" refers both to a congregation and a building, so the very best name for both articles would be "First Unitarian Church of Rochester". I had intended to handle that by calling the article about the congregation "First Unitarian Church of Rochester" and the article about the building "First Unitarian Church of Rochester (architecture)".

 * A more difficult problem is with the section currently named "New building by Louis Kahn," which would appear in the article about the congregation, and also the sections named "Choosing an architect" and "Design process," which would appear in the article about the architecture. The problem is that each of those sections would contain some information that would be relevant to both articles after the split.  The interaction of architect and congregation, for example, is relevant to both the building and the congregation, so it would probably need to appear in both articles via summary or duplication.

 * In addition, parts of the "Choosing an architect" and "Design process" sections in the article about the architecture would need the context provided by the article about the congregation. For example, "Choosing an architect" contains the sentence, "Kahn's social and political outlook also was compatible with that of the Rochester congregation and its history of concern with social issues."  That's fine in the article as it stands today because the context can be just found above in the history section.  But if that sentence appears in a stand-alone article on architecture, its context would have to be provided.

 * I tried summarizing information from each of the proposed split articles to the other whenever it was relevant to both articles or was needed as context. The result, however, was repetitive and unfriendly to anyone interested in reading about both the congregation and the building. I therefore gave up the attempt and decided to post this as a single article.  It is long but not unmanageable, and it can always be split later if really necessary. Bilpen (talk) 17:30, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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I have just modified 5 external links on First Unitarian Church of Rochester. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20111126063227/http://rochesterunitarian.org/SJC_Guidebook.pdf to http://www.rochesterunitarian.org/SJC_Guidebook.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20120312161319/http://www.farmingtonmeetinghouse.org/pdf/national_registry/nrhp_application.pdf to http://www.farmingtonmeetinghouse.org/pdf/national_registry/nrhp_application.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20160706181530/http://rochesterunitarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Hester_Jeffrey.pdf to http://rochesterunitarian.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Hester_Jeffrey.pdf
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150216151548/http://rochesterunitarian.org/ministries/social-justice/uuschools-partnership/ to http://rochesterunitarian.org/ministries/social-justice/uuschools-partnership/
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20150216151529/http://rochesterunitarian.org/ministries/social-justice/honduras-partnership/ to http://rochesterunitarian.org/ministries/social-justice/honduras-partnership/

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Moving architectural details to a new article
Unfortunately, this article is too long. I plan to move the architectural parts of it to a newly created article called "First Unitarian Church of Rochester (building)". Afterwards, as time allows, I will do some cleanup, but for now I will simply separate the two parts, create an appropriate lead section for the new article and copy a small amount of information that is relevant to both articles. Here is a draft of what this article will look like with the architectural parts removed: User:Bilpen/sandbox, and here is a draft of the newly created article containing the architectural parts: User:Bilpen/sandbox2. Comments? Bilpen (talk) 19:11, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

 * I just now split off the architectural part of this article and used it to create a new article called First Unitarian Church of Rochester (building). Bilpen (talk) 21:08, 7 May 2020 (UTC)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dry Kill Logic

Dry Kill Logic
This stuff is very questionable 138.130.215.115 07:51, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep, for the same reason's I've given on the rest of the vfd's by this user. Content and accuracy disputes belong on an article's talk page, not on vfd. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Strong Keep as above. --DNicholls 07:56, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:26, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep- mass Vfd troll. --Maru 16:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


text:
Tara Subkoff

Tara Lyn Subkoff (born December 10, 1972) is an American actress, conceptual artist, director, and fashion designer. Subkoff made her film debut in the thriller When the Bough Breaks (1994) opposite Martin Sheen, and has had supporting roles in As Good as It Gets (1997), The Last Days of Disco (1998), The Cell (2000), and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005).

In 2001, she co-founded an art collective-turned-fashion line, Imitation of Christ, which featured pieces hand-sewn solely from recycled vintage and thrift store clothing, and has since worked primarily as a conceptual artist. In 2015, she made her feature film directorial debut with the horror film #Horror (2015), which was picked up for distribution by IFC Midnight.

Early life
Subkoff was born in Westport, Connecticut. Her father was an antiques dealer who owned an antique store on 13th Street in Manhattan, and her mother was a schoolteacher in East Harlem. She grew up in what she described as a "bohemian" family, and attended boarding school at the Williston Northampton School in Massachusetts. After graduation, she attended the Parsons School of Design, but dropped out within a year of enrolling. She relocated to Los Angeles, California in 1991 to study acting, and took classes alongside Angelina Jolie and Keanu Reeves.

Early acting: 1994–2000
Subkoff made her debut as an actress on television, appearing in Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman in 1994, followed by her feature film debut, a lead role in the 1994 crime thriller When the Bough Breaks, opposite Martin Sheen and Ron Perlman. In 1996, she had a minor supporting part in the film Freeway, and in the horror film Black Circle Boys (1997).

This was followed with lead roles in the drama All Over Me (1997), and the comedy Lover Girl (1997), co-starring Kristy Swanson. She had minor parts in As Good as It Gets (1997), Whit Stillman's The Last Days of Disco (1998), and an uncredited appearance in the 1999 teen sex comedy American Pie. She also appeared in a supporting role in the sci-fi-horror film The Cell (2000) with Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D'Onofrio.

In 2017, Subkoff joined the group of women making the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, saying that the producer had sexually harassed her in the 1990s when she applied for a role in one of his films, and then had her blacklisted when she resisted. "It became impossible for me to get work as an actress after this, so I then had to start a new career path and started Imitation of Christ", she said.

Imitation of Christ: 2001–2011
In 2000, Subkoff began working on a project called Imitation of Christ with designer Matt Damhave, enlisting Chloë Sevigny as the project's creative director. Originally conceived as an art project, it has been described as "DIY art collective misconstrued as a luxury fashion label." Every piece of clothing in the line was sewn by hand and recycled from vintage, thrift and Goodwill shops. Subkoff created pieces of wearable art with her fashion shows which garnered her a cult following. Models who wore the pieces for runway shows included actress Scarlett Johansson.

Reflecting on the line, Subkoff said: “We were talking about waste, throwing things away, and taking something that’s old and making it new again, putting the human hand back into a world that reeks of manufacturing. It felt very appropriate to do that in 2000."

Subkoff and Damhave created four collections together, and the shows were described as "guerilla-style, at least as much performance art as they were about [Subkoff's] refashioned, hand-sewn vintage clothes," with the project's earliest exhibitions taking place in a funeral parlor in the Manhattan's East Village. In 2003, she also collaborated with Bernhard Willhelm on a fashion collection inspired and authorized by Roberto Capucci.

After Subkoff and Damhave parted ways, she continued to design pieces for the line through 2006. In 2007, Subkoff sold the label to Josh Sparks, the former chief executive of the Australian label Sass & Bide, for a reported $2 million. The following year, in 2008, the label went out of business. In 2012, Subkoff revived the label and began working on more pieces, shortening the brand name to simply "Imitation."

Directing, other projects: 2012–present
In 2012, Subkoff created a ten-day art installation and continuous performance piece at the Carlton Festival of the Arts in São Paulo, Brazil. She also conceptualized a performance piece in a group show curated by Dimitri Antonitsis in Hydra, Greece.

She exhibited a three hour long installation at the Bortolami Gallery in New York City during the 2012 New York Fashion Week titled "This is Not a Fashion Show," which featured a girl's choir in leotards performing “Carol of the Bells” (intimated as a "slight to Yuletide consumerism") and "performers aging from 8 to 70 pruned and posing in front of antique mirrors lining the gallery walls." In explaining the idea behind the show, Subkoff said: "We are a society that only sells commodities. We do not create anything unless it's to be bought and sold, so the idea of doing something where there isn't a commodity to sell, or what the commodity is to sell is very confusing, is extremely interesting to me."

In 2013, she collaborated with Milla Jovovich on a filmed installation in Venice, Italy titled "Future/Perfect," which had Jovovich enclosed in a glass house, surrounded by boxes with consumer logos, artwork, and clothing.

Though working predominantly in art, Subkoff also had a minor appearance in the film, including Tanner Hall (2009) and Abandoned (2010), with Brittany Murphy. Subkoff made her directorial debut in 2014 with the horror film #Horror (2015), which details a group of wealthy adolescent girls who experience a night of violence and terror after a social media game is tinged with cyberbullying. The film was screened out of competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, and was picked up for distribution by IFC Midnight, slated for a limited release in November 2015. According to Subkoff, she conceived the film after a conversation she'd had with her friend's daughter: "[The idea] started because I asked my friend's daughter, "What is horror, to you?" This girl was cyberbullied very badly... Now, I was bullied badly as a kid, but I could always change schools. I could always go home. Now you can't…when bullying follows you home, and there's no escape and no end, to me, that's horror. And to so many girls, that's just life."

Personal life
Subkoff has been formerly romantically linked to Wes Anderson, and was formerly engaged to director Tom Hooper. In the fall of 2014, Subkoff married artist Urs Fischer. Subkoff resides in Los Angeles, California, where she bought a three-story house designed by architect Saul Harris Brown in the Silver Lake neighbourhood for $2.25 million in 2021.

In 2009, Subkoff was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a benign brain tumor that required her to undergo a craniotomy in September 2009. Her symptoms had originally been diagnosed as TMJ by her doctor in 2003.

title: Tara Subkoff


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dead and Dreaming

Dead and Dreaming
The band info is pretty disputable 138.130.215.115 07:52, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep, for the same reason's I've given on the rest of the vfd's by this user. Content and accuracy disputes belong on an article's talk page, not on vfd. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Strong Keep as above. And will somebody discipline 138.130.215.115 already? --DNicholls 07:55, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:26, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep- mass Vfd troll. --Maru 16:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)


text:
Talk:Familiar animal

disscuss other familiars here!!!!!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Heygirls   (talk • contribs)  07:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

Maybe this article should be merged with Familiar. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.230.231.104   (talk • contribs)  04:13, 26 June 2009  (UTC)

title: Talk:Familiar animal


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Darker Side of Nonsense

The Darker Side of Nonsense
This stuff is quite incorrect, and countless other sides prove this 138.130.215.115 07:53, 24 July 2005 (UTC)

 * Speedy Keep, for the same reason's I've given on the rest of the vfd's by this user. Content and accuracy disputes belong on an article's talk page, not on vfd. --Blu Aardvark | (talk) 07:54, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Speedy Keep. Same reason as the vfds on every article I've started. Nufy8 15:26, 24 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Strong Keep- mass Vfd troll. --Maru 16:07, 24 July 2005 (UTC)