Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for college students group] 

The destructions are part of a campaign by the IS extremists who have destroyed a number of shrines — including Muslim holy sites — in order to eliminate what they view as heresy. They are also believed to have sold ancient artifacts on the black market in order to finance their bloody campaign across the region.

The five-minute video shows a group of bearded men inside the Mosul Museum using hammers and drills to destroy several large statues, which are then shown chipped and in pieces. The video then shows a black-clad man at a nearby archaeological site inside Mosul, drilling through and destroying a winged-bull Assyrian protective deity that dates back to the 7th century B.C.

The video was posted on social media accounts affiliated with the Islamic State group and though it could not be independently verified it appeared authentic, based on AP's knowledge of the Mosul Museum.

Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city and the surrounding Nineveh province fell to the militants during their blitz last June after Iraqi security forces melted away.

In their push, the extremists captured large swaths of land in both Iraq and neighboring Syria, declared a self-styled caliphate on territories that are under their control, killing members of religious minorities, driving others from their homes, enslaving women and destroying houses of worship.

The region under IS control in Iraq has nearly 1,800 of Iraq's 12,000 registered archaeological sites and the militants appear to be out to cleanse it of any non-Islamic ideas, including library books, archaeological relics, and even Islamic sites considered idolatrous.

"Oh Muslims, these artifacts that are behind me were idols and gods worshipped by people who lived centuries ago instead of Allah," a bearded man tells the camera as he stands in front of the partially demolished winged-bull.

"The so-called Assyrians and Akkadians and others looked to gods for war, agriculture and rain to whom they offered sacrifices," he added, referring to groups that that left their mark on Mesopotamia for more than 5,000 years in what is now Iraq, eastern Syria and southern Turkey.

"Our prophet ordered us to remove all these statues as his followers did when they conquered nations," the man in the video adds. The video bore the logo of the IS group's media arm and was posted on a Twitter account used by the group.

A professor at the Archaeology College in Mosul confirmed to the Associated Press that the two sites depicted in the video are the city museum and a site known as Nirgal Gate, one of several gates to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, Ninevah.

"I'm totally shocked," Amir al-Jumaili told the AP over the phone from outside of Mosul. "It's a catastrophe. With the destruction of these artifacts, we can no longer be proud of Mosul's civilization."

He said that very few of the museum pieces are not genuine.

Among the most important sites under the militants' control are four ancient cities — Ninevah, Kalhu, Dur Sharrukin and Ashur — which were at different times the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire.

The Assyrians first arose around 2500 B.C. and at one point ruled over a realm stretching from the Mediterranean coast to what is present-day Iran. Also in danger is the UNESCO World Heritage Site Hatra, which is thought to have been built in the 3rd or 2nd century B.C. by the Seleucid Empire. It flourished during the 1st and 2nd centuries as a religious and trading center.

The damage to Iraqi artifacts in Mosul is the latest episode in that has targeted the nation's heritage.

In January, Islamic State militants ransacked the Central Library of Mosul, smashing the locks and taking around 2,000 books — leaving only Islamic texts. Days later, militants broke into University of Mosul's library. They made a bonfire out of hundreds of books on science and culture, destroying them in front of students.

The day after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops in April 2003, looters burst into the Iraqi National Museum in the Iraqi capital, making off with scores of priceless artifacts and leaving the floor littered with shattered pottery. The U.S. was widely criticized at the time for failing to protect the site.

Author: Sinan Salaheddin | Source: The Associated Press [February 26, 2015]

Middlesex. I put off reading this book for so long because I thought it would be hard. It just sounds hard. And looks hard. But since the College Students group on Goodreads was reading it and Michael Kindness at Books on the Nightstand was reading it this seemed like my chance. I put it off until the last month in July and with gritted teeth I opened up the book. I read the first few pages and I was immediately captivated by Calliope's story. Calliope, a girl, becomes Cal, a boy, in these pages and somehow the character stays somewhat the same throughout the book. The book starts with Calliope's grandparents in a tiny Greek village. I must say here that the book starts with incest, and I gather from the forum on Goodreads that this really freaks some people out. It didn't bother me, although it is weird, and I think the book is worth reading even if you're weirded out in the beginning. The book moves from Greece to Detroit, which is where Calliope grows up as a girl.

This passage took my breath away and it's on page 20 of the book. My hope is that you will read this passage and it will make up for all the stumbling I'm going to do about this book. I hope you will read this passage, leave your house and get this book immediately, all because of this passage.

And so now, having been born, I'm going to rewind the film, so that my pink blanket flies off, my crib scoots across the floor as my umbilical cord reattaches, and I cry out as I'm sucked back between my mother's legs. She gets really fat again. Then back some more as a spoon stops swinging and a thermometer goes back into its velvet case. Sputnik chases its rocket trail back to the launching pad and polio stalks the land. There's a quick shot of my father as a twenty-year-old clarinetist, playing an Artie Shaw number into the phone, and then he's in church, age eight, being scandalized by the price of candles; and next my grandfather is untaping his first U.S. dollar bill over a cash register in 1931. Then we're out of American completely; we're in the middle of the ocean, the sound track sounding funny in reverse. A steamship appears, and up on a deck a lifeboat is curiously rocking; but then the boat docks, stern first, and we're up on dry land again, where the film unspoolls, back at the beginning...

Yes my friends, Eugenides just successfully described time backwards. Be amazed. This is one of the few books I've ever read that I wanted to read slowly just because it cut such a huge hole out of me I had to experience every little bit completely. This book covers the experience of three generations of Greek-Americans just to explain the experience of one person. One person who didn't fit the mold, but as we read about her we realize that no one really does. And that gender is just one part of a person and that we're all actually kind of messed up and don't fit.

I just don't know what to say to make you read this book. Just know that when I was finished I couldn't breathe, and when I was finished I wanted to read it again, and before I was even done with the book I knew it was in my top ten favorite books of all time. Just know that, and experience it for yourself.

I give this book an outstanding A.

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Last year I had to read a section of In Cold Blood

for my nonfiction writing class and was astounded by how well Capote made this horrible nonfiction story sound like a novel. I wanted to read the book, but put it off until the College Students group on Goodreads read it for the month of August. The book is the true story of a murdered family, the Clutters, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas. Mr. Clutter, his invalid wife, teenage son, and teenage daughter were brutally murdered by two men who appeared to have no motivation for killing them. I knew a little bit about this story before going in, but the book reads almost like a mystery novel so I found myself wanting to find out what would happen next- something that doesn't often happen for me in nonfiction books.

Capote is a great writer. He manages to make you feel just the slightest twinge of sympathy for the murderers, and he goes to great lengths to explain why something like this might happen. I don't think anyone can ever explain it, but the psychological reasons were really interesting to me and scarier than the actual murders. Basically, you can be crazy and not even know it, and to me that is really terrifying. The trial moved rather quickly, which is something I always like in a book because sometimes I think trials go on forever and you really aren't learning that much about what is happening.

I did have just one teeny, tiny problem with this book that totally wouldn't have bothered me if it wasn't for To Kill a Mockingbird's 50th Anniversary in July. When I read Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee I learned how much she contributed to this book and all Truman Capote gave her was a lousy dedication. No one in Holcomb liked Truman Capote, but they did like Harper Lee and so they gave her a great deal of the information. Basically, without Harper Lee this book probably wouldn't exist. And I know I shouldn't let that dictate how I feel about this book and I do think this book a great read, truly reads like a mystery novel and is the perfect blend of fact and storytelling, but it still just bothered me. I'm sure things like that happen all the time, authors not giving credit, but the fact that I knew made this experience different for me.

I give In Cold Blood a B.

I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you make a purchase using one of my links I will earn a small percentage which will then go back into this blog.