United States Of Love

The landscape of relationships in America has shifted dramatically in recent decades. From cohabitation to same-sex marriage to interracial and interethnic marriage, here are eight facts about love and marriage in the United States.

United States of Love

Now out in paperback with a new afterword, Duncan brings us his deeply personal story about growing up Black and queer in the US. In his characteristically powerful voice, he recounts hitchhiking across the country, spending time in solitary confinement, battling for sobriety, and discovering a deep faith, examining pressing issues like poverty, mass incarceration, white supremacy, and LGBTQ inclusion through an intimate portrayal of his life's struggles and joys. United States of Grace is a love story about America, revealing the joy and resilience of places in this country that many call "the margins" but that Lenny Duncan has called home. Fierce and incisive, Duncan challenges us and America to seek life out of death. "I was born starving for the good," he writes, "and this country can be a feast of good if we open ourselves up to it."

"United States of Grace traces a remarkable and completely relatable life. From the throes of addiction to the joy of a Grateful Dead show, in this honest, unflinching look at his own life Lenny Duncan tells his personal story of love, triumph, failure, and pain while ultimately leaving the reader with an immense sense of hope."

"A next iteration of church in America is blooming. It is Black and queer, and it shows us all how to love as Jesus loved. The really good news here is that this church knows how to embrace us all, without exception. Lenny Duncan privileges his readers with up-close glimpses of what this radically hospitable community feels like, and how it holds potential to reshape the civic life that continues to be broken by our nation's foundational sin of enslavement. Allow Lenny Duncan to be your gentle guide. He may take you someplace you did not plan to go."

"In this passionate memoir, Lutheran pastor and social justice advocate, Duncan shares his unconventional life journey in order to illustrate the beauty and horror of life in the United States...He is fierce in both his criticism of America's institutions and his love for its people. This lyrical testament to life as 'a blind date with mercy' will challenge and inspire."

Whether you're celebrating this Valentine's Day solo, or with the company of a friend or significant other, don't forgo the usual gifts (flowers, chocolates, and cards), but I would also recommend that you also consider the following acts of love can be thoughtful complements to your Valentine's Day celebrations.

Heretofore, by Order dated August 2, 1978, ROBERT P. WHALEN, M.D., my predecessor as Commissioner of Health of the State of New York, declared the existence of an emergency, pursuant to Public Health Law 1388, because of a great and imminent peril to the health of the general public residing at or near the Love Canal Chemical Landfill site in the "La Salle" section of the City of Niagara Falls, New York, resulting from exposure to toxic substances emanating from such site and by said Order directed that certain corrective action be taken including, among other things, that the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara County Board of Health take all appropriate steps to (1) implement the Conestoga-Rovers Report, entitled "Phase I - Pollution Abatement Plan - Upper Groundwater Regime," subject, however, to an approval of a detailed safety plan for workers and personsliving near the site, including monitoring and evacuation contingencies, which was required to be in place before the beginning of any corrective construction work; and to (2) undertake additional studies in cooperation with staff of the State Department of Health and the State Department of Environmental Conservation to (a) delineate chronic diseases afflicting all residents who live adjacent to the Love Canal site with special emphasis on the frequency of spontaneous abortions, birth defects and other pathologies, including cancer; (b) delineate the full limits or boundaries of the Love Canal with respect to possible toxic effects; (c) determine by continued air, water and ground sampling the extent of lateral migration of toxic chemicals from the site to the surrounding neighborhood; and (d) identify which groundwater aquifers, if any, have been contaminated by leachate; suchmeasures directed to be taken were, of course, only a part of the massive total effort undertaken by both State and Federal officials to assist affected families and residents of the area in dealing with their evolving health, environmental and social problems, as more particularly exemplified by a proposed grant of disaster assistance monies by the Federal Disaster Assistance Administration upon the application of Governor Carey on August 2, 1978, with the support of President Carter, Senators Javits and Moynihan and Congressman La Falce following the issuance of the aforesaid Order; by the appointment on August 2, 1978, by Governor Carey of an interagency Love Canal Task Force headed by State Transportation Commissioner Hennessy; by the several public and group meetings held by State officials with residents of the Love Canal area, including several visitsby both Governor Carey and variously, by Commissioner Whalen and by me during the months of August, September and December; by the appropriation of more than $18,000,000 in the Supplemental Budget by the New York State Legislature to deal with the problems arising from the Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill site, including relocation where deemed necessary; by additional grants for similar purposes forthcoming from the Environmental Protection Agency; and it appearing, further, that the State Department of Health has obtained invaluable additional epidemiological and environmental information through its institution of a comprehensive medical survey and testing program to evaluate the health of residents of the Love Canal area by the establishment of blood clinics and house-to-house surveys, where necessary, resulting in the taking, completion andreview of more than 4,000 medical questionnaires and blood samples; through the creation of a nationwide hotline to search out former residents of the Love Canal area to determine what, if any, illnesses or conditions they might have developed in connection with their exposure to toxic chemicals emanating from the Love Canal Chemical Waste Landfill site, with the result that more than 400 phone calls from former residents living in 31 states were received within a few short weeks of the hotline's creation; through the taking of air, sump water and soil samples to determine the presence of chemicals in the homes and soils of the Love Canal area; and through a request made of staff of the Cornell University NASA-sponsored Remote Sensing Program to interpret extensive aerial and infra-red photographs of the area to obtain information on the hydrogeology of the Love Canal Landfill sitelocating any existing or formerly existing ponds, swamps, drainageway or stream bed sites; and further, upon a review and due consideration of discussions had and reports submitted at those certain meetings convened, respectively, on November 10, 1978, at La Guardia Field, New York, on January 16, 1979, at the Empire State Plaza Tower Building, Albany, New York, and on February 7, 1979, at La Guardia Field, New York, separately and variously attended by several of the nation's leading experts in pediatrics, epidemiology, toxicology and various other scientific and medical fields, including clinical experts involved in the treatment and pathology of liver disease, which said meetings were convened for the purpose of obtaining expert advice relating to the health hazards associated with the Love Canal Chemical Landfill site and surrounding areas;

Director Tomasz Wasilewski's third feature is set in Poland in 1990 and explores the effect of the collapse of Communism on four women living in a soulless high-rise estate. Consumerist goods may be trickling in from the West, but little else seems different for siblings Iza (Magdalena Cielecka), a respectable headmistress, and dance teacher Marzena (Marta Nieradkiewicz), with the former struggling to sustain her affair with a widowed doctor and the latter receiving the unwonted attentions of a reclusive neighbour (Dorota Kolak). Offering sobering insights into the illusory promise of change that follows a seismic political upheaval, the stories also shed light on a young mother (Julia Kijowska) and her passion for the parish priest. Meanwhile, Wasilewski draws on memories from his own youth while adroitly melding styles from the Polish Cinema of Moral Anxiety (1976-81) and the Romanian New Wave (courtesy of Oleg Mutu's arrestingly bleached imagery). Intimate, oppressive and persuasively played, it's a film that nimbly shifts perspective to capture the impact of transition on ordinary lives. But it is primarily a treatise on the painful reality of unrequited love.

The State claims that OCC is liable for punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages under New York State common law for the public nuisance created by the chemical residues which surfaced and the leachate which flowed out of the Love Canal landfill. The State argues that punitive damages are appropriate in this case to punish OCC and serve as a warning to others. Home Insurance Co. v. American Home *1002 Products Corp., 75 N.Y.2d 196, 203, 551 N.Y.S.2d 481, 550 N.E.2d 930 (1990). Environmental actions are "a fair field for punitive damages." Doralee Estates v. Cities Service Oil Co., 569 F.2d 716, 722 (2d Cir. 1977). "[T]hose who have been given authority to avert environmental damage should be given some incentive to do so. `Smart money' is the traditional way...." Id.

The State further asserts that there is no requirement that serious injury or damage occur in order to warrant punitive damages. "Although a defendant has inflicted no harm, punitive damages may be awarded because of, and measured by, his wrongful purpose or intent...." 4 Restatement of Torts 2d. 908 (1979). This court agreed prior to the Phase I trial that "evidence of actual adverse health effects is ... unnecessary to the question of proof of a health threat." Supp.Order 16, Item 573 at 6. However, in all the cases involving environmental polluters submitted by the State in support of an award of punitive damages, the defendant corporations had prior knowledge that serious harm had occurred or had been cited for violations of health codes or regulations and had failed to respond. See, e.g., Doralee Estates, 569 F.2d at 716; Sterling v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., 855 F.2d 1188 (6th Cir.1988); Exxon v. Yarema, 69 Md.App. 124, 516 A.2d 990 (1986), cert. denied, 309 Md. 47, 522 A.2d 392 (1987). In fact, the State did not present a single case in which punitive damages were awarded absent actual serious injury. 041b061a72