The History of Rome in Painting

There are many paths to reach Rome, immense field open to the eye through the centuries and days, where the presence of the story is haunting. All the artists came to Rome: Italians of various Italian and also French, Dutch, Flemish, Spanish, English and Americans. These painters whose works tell its long history for having lived in the glare of light forever are the Roman pantheon of arts: what are all the anonymous authors of the frescoes of ancient Rome and medieval, but Fabriano, Cimabue , Giotto, Botticelli, Raphael, Giulio Romano, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Guido Reni, Guercino, Titian, Vasari, Velasquez, Le Nain, Poussin, Zuccari, Van Wittel, Eckersberg, Giraudet, David, Panini, Hubert Robert, Reynolds, Fuseli, Ingres, Sargent, Caffi, Vernet, Turner, Corot, Caffi, De Chirico, etc..

Novel loci for adiponectin levels and their influence on type 2 diabetes and metabolic traits: a multi-ethnic meta-analysis of 45,891 individuals.

Circulating levels of adiponectin, a hormone produced predominantly by adipocytes, are highly heritable and are inversely associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and other metabolic traits. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies in 39,883 individuals of European ancestry to identify genes associated with metabolic disease. We identified 8 novel loci associated with adiponectin levels and confirmed 2 previously reported loci (P = 4.5×10(-8)-1.2×10(-43)). Using a novel method to combine data across ethnicities (N = 4,232 African Americans, N = 1,776 Asians, and N = 29,347 Europeans), we identified two additional novel loci. Expression analyses of 436 human adipocyte samples revealed that mRNA levels of 18 genes at candidate regions were associated with adiponectin concentrations after accounting for multiple testing (p<3×10(-4)). We next developed a multi-SNP genotypic risk score to test the association of adiponectin decreasing risk alleles on metabolic traits and diseases using consortia-level meta-analytic data. This risk score was associated with increased risk of T2D (p = 4.3×10(-3), n = 22,044), increased triglycerides (p = 2.6×10(-14), n = 93,440), increased waist-to-hip ratio (p = 1.8×10(-5), n = 77,167), increased glucose two hours post oral glucose tolerance testing (p = 4.4×10(-3), n = 15,234), increased fasting insulin (p = 0.015, n = 48,238), but with lower in HDL-cholesterol concentrations (p = 4.5×10(-13), n = 96,748) and decreased BMI (p = 1.4×10(-4), n = 121,335). These findings identify novel genetic determinants of adiponectin levels, which, taken together, influence risk of T2D and markers of insulin resistance.

CUBN is a gene locus for albuminuria.

Identification of genetic risk factors for albuminuria may alter strategies for early prevention of CKD progression, particularly among patients with diabetes. Little is known about the influence of common genetic variants on albuminuria in both general and diabetic populations. We performed a meta-analysis of data from 63,153 individuals of European ancestry with genotype information from genome-wide association studies (CKDGen Consortium) and from a large candidate gene study (CARe Consortium) to identify susceptibility loci for the quantitative trait urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (UACR) and the clinical diagnosis microalbuminuria. We identified an association between a missense variant (I2984V) in the CUBN gene, which encodes cubilin, and both UACR (P = 1.1 × 10(-11)) and microalbuminuria (P = 0.001). We observed similar associations among 6981 African Americans in the CARe Consortium. The associations between this variant and both UACR and microalbuminuria were significant in individuals of European ancestry regardless of diabetes status. Finally, this variant associated with a 41% increased risk for the development of persistent microalbuminuria during 20 years of follow-up among 1304 participants with type 1 diabetes in the prospective DCCT/EDIC Study. In summary, we identified a missense CUBN variant that associates with levels of albuminuria in both the general population and in individuals with diabetes.

Quest/ion of Identities in African American Feminist Postmodern Drama: A Study of Selected Plays by Suzan-Lori Parks

Innovative and unconventional, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks belongs to the continuum of African American playwrights who have contributed to the quest/ion – the quest for and question – of identities for African Americans. Her plays are sites in which the quest/ion of identities for African Americans is pursued, raised and enacted. She makes use of both page and stage to emphasize the exigency of reshaping African Americans’ identities through questioning the dominant ideologies and metanarratives, delegitimizing some of the prevailing stereotypes imposed on them, drawing out the complicity of the media in perpetuating racism, evoking slavery, lynching and their aftereffects, rehistoricizing African American history, catalyzing reflections on the various intersections of sex, race, class and gender orientations, and proffering alternative perspectives to help readers think more critically about issues facing African Americans. In my dissertation, I approach three plays by Parks – The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1990), Venus (1996) and Fucking A (2000) – from the standpoints of postmodern drama and African American feminism with a focus on the terrains that reflect the quest/ion of identities for African Americans, especially African American women. I argue that postmodern drama and African American feminism provide the ground for Parks to promote the development of a political agenda in order to call into question a number of dominant ideologies and metanarratives with regard to African Americans and draw upon the roles of those metanarratives as a powerful apparatus of racial and sexual oppressions. I also explore how Parks engages with postmodern drama and African American feminism to incorporate her own mininarratives in the dominant discourses. I argue that Parks in these plays uses postmodern drama and African American feminism to encourage reflections on intersectionality in order to reveal the concerns of African Americans, particularly African American women. Her plays challenge the dominant order of hierarchy and patriarchy, while in some cases urging unity and solidarity between African American men and women by showing how unity and solidarity can help them confront race, class and gender oppressions. Furthermore, I discuss how the utilization of postmodern techniques and devices helps Parks to transform the conventional features of playwriting, to create incredulity toward the dominant systems of oppression and to incorporate her mininarratives within the context of dominant discourses.

Dr. Herb Schutz

Professor of Germanic and Slavic Studies.

Military Appointment

George Ridout (1791-1871) was a member of the York volunteers during the War of 1812. He served as 3rd lieutenant in the grenadier company of the York militia, fought in the Battle of Queenston Heights, and was taken prisoner of war in April, 1813 when the Americans occupied York. Ridout studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Janurary 1813. He was an active member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, becoming a bencher in 1820, serving as treasurer for several years, and assisting in the development of the library. In 1828 he was appointed judge of the Niagara District Court and reappointed in 1832. In 1836, Sir Francis Bond Head, Lieutenant-Governor, charged Ridout with insult to the person and office of the Lieutenant Governor and disloyalty to the policies of the crown, and dismissed him from his offices. Ridout denied the charges and was eventually ordered to be reinstated by Lord Glenelg, the colonial secretary. Sir Francis Bond Head refused to do so, and instead chose to resign.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1875

This is a quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by R. Miller, Minister, and dated November 28, 1875. It was in the possession of the Rick Bell Family of St. Catharines, Ontario. Relatives of the Bell family include former Black slaves from the United States who settled in Canada.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1874

A quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by Walter Hawkins, Minister, issued on August 16, 1874. This ticket was in the possession of the Richard Bell Family of St. Catharines.Minister Walter Hawkins was Superintendent of the Conference for the British Methodist Episcopal Church (Brant Co.) This excerpt from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online describes his role in reestablishing the BMEC in Canada following a period of reunion with the African Methodist Episcopal Church, an initiative spearheaded by Richard Randolph Disney, a free-born black American Methodist preacher. "By the end of the 1870s the BMEC had 56 congregations with about 3,100 members, the bulk of the latter being in the Danish West Indies and British Guiana. Because mission work outside Canada had overtaxed the church's financial resources, in 1880 Disney began negotiations towards reunion with the AMEC. The reunion was effected that year, and it was overwhelmingly ratified at a BMEC convention held at Hamilton in June 1881. A referendum showed that although a majority in Ontario was opposed, 86 per cent of the membership was in favour. Disney was accepted as an AMEC bishop and was assigned to its Tenth Episcopal District, a region embracing his former territory as well as some of the AMEC churches in Canada which had not joined the BMEC. Reunification appeared to have been a triumph for Disney, but trouble soon occurred. A majority of the Ontario churches and preachers, led by the Reverend Walter Hawkins of Chatham, sought to re-establish the BMEC, fearing the loss of their distinctive identity and perhaps feeling that the Caribbean groups had exercised too much influence on the reunification question. In 1886 this group held an ecclesiastical council at Chatham, at which it was claimed that Disney had defected to the AMEC. At a subsequent general conference that year the BMEC was reconstituted. The conference deposed Disney, agreeing to "erase his name and ignore his authority, and cancel his official relationship as bishop." The conference minutes also refer to a court case instigated by Disney which reached the High Court of Chancery in Britain, but records of this case have not been located. The reconstituted BMEC elected Hawkins as its general superintendent, avoiding the title of bishop for several years." Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Government of Canada.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1879

A first quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by W. Grayson, Minister, and dated August 1, 1879. This ticket was in the possession of the Rick Bell Family of St. Catharines, Ontario. Relatives of the Bell family include former Black slaves from the United States who settled in Canada.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1884

A third quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by the Minister, and dated February 17, 1884. This ticket was in the possession of the Rick Bell family of St. Catharines, Ontario. Relatives of the Bell family include former Black slaves from the United States who settled in Canada.

British Methodist Episcopal Church Tithing Ticket, 1889

A second quarterly tithing ticket from the British Methodist Episcopal Church, signed by Rev. P. Brooks, Minister, issued on November 24, 1889. This ticket was in the possession of the Richard Bell family of St. Catharines, Ontario. The Bell family ancestry includes former Black American slaves who settled in Canada.

William Still's Boarding House advertisement [n.d.]

Original advertisement for William Still's Boarding House, No. 832 South Street, below 9th, south side Philad'a [sic]. Not dated. The advertisement includes handwritten marginalia, possibly by William Still, on the left-hand side referring to St. Catharines. There is a small embossed stamp on the upper left-hand corner of the advertisement. This item was in the possession of the Rick Bell Family of St. Catharines.Handwritten marginalia (original spelling and punctuation): "Do remember me very kindly to all my enquiring friends _ I but seldom hear of late from St. Catherines" The street number printed in the original advertisement (374) has been crossed out in black ink and a handwritten "832" has been inserted. William Still was an African-American abolitionist from Philadelphia and clerk of the Anti-Slavery Society who by his own account assisted 649 slaves receive freedom. He kept records on fugitive slaves so their relatives could find them later. In 1872, he published his records in a book entitled, The Underground Railroad. Source: William Still Underground Railroad Foundation: http://www.undergroundrr.com/foundation/about.htm

St. Catharines Public Schools Honor Pupils certificate to Bessie Bell, December 1910.

A St. Catharines Public Schools Honor Pupils certificate presented to Bessie Bell, dated December 8, 1910 and signed by G. E. Lounsbury, Teacher. This certificate was in the possession of the Richard Bell Family of St. Catharines, Ontario.The certificate reads: "Bessie Bell is this day entitled to receive this public expression of approbation for Industry, Good Conduct and Regular Attendance, for the week ending December 8th 1910. Parents are particularly requested to enquire for a card of this kind at the close of each week."

W.W. Tyrrill receipt, June 1888

A receipt from W.W. Tyrrill, of St. Catharines, Ontario dated June 2, 1888, for a ladies Swiss watch priced at $11.00. The receipt is a rental agreement which specifies the terms of a fee payment schedule. Information on the receipt indicates Mr. Tyrrill sold watches, jewelry, silver plated goods, albums and Bibles. He is also listed as an agent for pianos, organs and Singer sewing machines. This receipt was in the possession of Iris Sloman Bell, of St. Catharines. Relatives of the Sloman Bell families include former Black slaves from the United States who settled in southern Ontario.There are various spellings of the Tyrrill name within the Bell family archive. Other forms of the name include Tyrell, Tyrrell, and Terrell.

Bell Family Bible, Deaths, 1862-1916

A single page from the Deaths section of the Bell Family Bible listing the names and dates of death for various members of the family.The handwritten entries appear to read as follows: "John William Taylor, died April 30th Anne Domini 1862; aged 52 years. Jess J Bell died April 11th 1872 O Mary Franices Bell died August 20th 1872. Mrs. Susan Hall. Died May, 24th, 1898 Born January 1st 1829 age. 69 William B Bell died March 19th 1897 Richard Jones died June 6th 1912 Mastam Jone died Charles H. Hall died November 11th 1916."