#tom stoddard

[1428elmstrt]

Josh Hartnett as Tom Stoddard in Town & Country (2001)

[currentinspiration]

Sarajevo, 1995.

[outweek30]

Koch Grants Partnership Benefits to Les/Gay Couples

Paid Bereavement Leave for City Employees Established

NEW YORK [August 21, 1989] — Mayor Edward Koch issued his 123rd executive order on Monday, August 7th [1989], granting paid bereavement leave to gay, lesbian and unmarried heterosexual city employees when their domestic partners or their partners' close family members die. The move made good a promise made by Koch several weeks ago.

According to the Mayor's Office, the order will apply to "domestic partnerships which have been established between two people, both of whom are 18 or older, who have lived together for at least one year," Those employees qualifying must register with the city's Department of Personnel. Applications are expected to be available by the middle of August. Qualified registrants will be eligible for four-day leaves if their partners' parents or children, or their partners themselves, die.

"Over time society changes. So must the government which serves it," Koch stated. "Practices or policies that might have seemed unacceptable to our grandparents or unusual to our parents seem equitable, indeed necessary to our generation," he continued in his announcement of the order, which will take effect immediately.

[...]

Koch has said previously that health insurance benefits are the domain of the city's unions and the collective bargaining process, not the mayor's office. And according to [Tom] Stoddard [of Lambda Legal], the possibility of including health benefits in domestic partnership packages will depend greatly on the outcome of a current court case, Gay Teachers' Associations vs. New York City Board of Education, in which gay teachers are suing the Board for health insurance benefits for their lovers.

[...]

Madison, Wisconsin and Takoma Park, Maryland already recognize domestic partners for some city benefits, as do five California cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, West Hollywood and Santa Cruz. Berkeley, West Hollywood and Santa Cruz are the only three which extend health care benefits to domestic partners. In addition, a domestic partnership benefits program is currently before Seattle's city council.

— Mark Chesnut, OutWeek Magazine No. 9, August 21, 1989, p. 14.

[assassinscreedconfessions]

Tom Stoddard is an interesting character. A pity, that you can only read his adventure by buying the AC Comics (Titan Comics).

But still. For someone, who is fascinated by the AC universe, I recommend to buy these comics. And the modern storyline is interesting as well.

[image provided by submitter]

[americansongwriter]

Tom Stoppard: Darkside

Tom Stoppard and Pink Floyd Darkside (Capitol/EMI) Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon opus, an album that has been reissued countless times including most recently, 2011’s 6 disc “immersion” set, the band and its label did something different.  They allowed Academy/Tony Award winning UK playwright Tom Stoppard to write dialog around the original music, something that was suggested to him as far back as the album’s initial 1973 release.  By emphasizing but not directly quoting from the themes of madness, war, greed and time/space travel the disc alludes to, Stoppard had a wide creative pallet to feed from. It was originally unveiled on BBC Radio 2 in August of this year and is now available as a “luxury” CD edition. Both Nick Mason and David Gilmour from the band who recorded it have weighed in with high praise of the final result.

It’s easy to hear why. This is a complex, occasionally humorous, often intricate and always interesting interpretation featuring nine voices playing parts Stoppard created and titled Emily, the Boy, Fat Man, Banker and others. Similar to the music, the new libretto references deeper meanings that can be construed in a variety of ways in quirky, feisty interchanges between the newly formed characters. It’s all very dryly British so, depending on your proclivities to UK plays, you may love it or hate it, but you will not likely be bored. Stoppard clearly took the assignment seriously, writing a fascinating audio play over the instrumental pieces that underscores but never steals from the disc’s multifaceted philosophical threads.

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[artismeanttodisturb]

Tom Stoddard - Ballet (1993)

[artismeanttodisturb]

Tom Stoddard - Sarajevo (1992)