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We Had a Little Real Estate Problem: The Unheralded Story of Native Americans & Comedy
by Kliph NesteroffFrom Kliph Nesteroff, &“the human encyclopedia of comedy&” (VICE), comes the important and underappreciated story of Native Americans and comedy.It was one of the most reliable jokes in Charlie Hill&’s stand-up routine: &“My people are from Wisconsin. We used to be from New York. We had a little real estate problem.&” In We Had a Little Real Estate Problem, acclaimed comedy historian Kliph Nesteroff focuses on one of comedy&’s most significant and little-known stories: how, despite having been denied representation in the entertainment industry, Native Americans have influenced and advanced the art form. The account begins in the late 1880s, when Native Americans were forced to tour in wild west shows as an alternative to prison. (One modern comedian said it was as &“if a Guantanamo detainee suddenly had to appear on X-Factor.&”) This is followed by a detailed look at the life and work of seminal figures such as Cherokee humorist Will Rogers and Hill, who in the 1970s was the first Native American comedian to appear The Tonight Show. Also profiled are several contemporary comedians, including Jonny Roberts, a social worker from the Red Lake Nation who drives five hours to the closest comedy club to pursue his stand-up dreams; Kiowa-Apache comic Adrianne Chalepah, who formed the touring group the Native Ladies of Comedy; and the 1491s, a sketch troupe whose satire is smashing stereotypes to critical acclaim. As Ryan Red Corn, the Osage member of the 1491s, says: &“The American narrative dictates that Indians are supposed to be sad. It&’s not really true and it&’s not indicative of the community experience itself…Laughter and joy is very much a part of Native culture.&” Featuring dozens of original interviews and the exhaustive research that is Nesteroff&’s trademark, We Had a Little Real Estate Problem is a powerful tribute to a neglected legacy.
A Restricted Country
by Joan NestleA proud working-class woman, an “out” lesbian long before the Rainbow revolution, Joan Nestle has stood at the forefront of American freedom struggles from the McCarthy era to the present day. Featuring photographs and a new introduction by the author, this classic collection which intimately accounts the lesbian, feminist and civil rights movements through personal essays is available again for the first time in years.
A Restricted Country
by Joan NestleA proud working class woman, an "out" lesbian long before the Rainbow revolution, Joan Nestle has stood at the forefront of American freedom struggles from the McCarthy era to the present day. Available for the first time in years, this revised classic collection of personal essays offers an intimate account of the lesbian, feminist, and civil rights movements.
Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics (California Studies in Food and Culture #78)
by Marion NestleMarion Nestle reflects on her late-in-life career as a world-renowned food politics expert, public health advocate, and a founder of the field of food studies after facing decades of low expectations. In this engrossing memoir, Marion Nestle reflects on how she achieved late-in-life success as a leading advocate for healthier and more sustainable diets. Slow Cooked recounts of how she built an unparalleled career at a time when few women worked in the sciences, and how she came to recognize and reveal the enormous influence of the food industry on our dietary choices. By the time Nestle obtained her doctorate in molecular biology, she had been married since the age of nineteen, dropped out of college, worked as a lab technician, divorced, and become a stay-at-home mom with two children. That's when she got started. Slow Cooked charts her astonishing rise from bench scientist to the pinnacles of academia, as she overcame the barriers and biases facing women of her generation and found her life's purpose after age fifty. Slow Cooked tells her personal story—one that is deeply relevant to everyone who eats, and anyone who thinks it's too late to follow a passion.
Bibi: My Story
by Benjamin NetanyahuIn Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu’s sweeping, moving autobiography, one of the most formidable and insightful leaders of our time tells the story of his family, his path to leadership, and his unceasing commitment to defending Israel and securing its future. <p><p>From their earliest days, Bibi and his close-knit brothers, Yoni and Iddo, were instilled with purpose. Born in the wake of the Holocaust at the dawn of Israel’s independence and raised in a family with a prominent Zionist history, they understood that the Jewish state was a hard-won and still precarious gift. All three studied in American high schools—where they learned to appreciate the United States—before returning to their cherished homeland. The brothers joined an elite special forces outfit of the Israeli Defense Forces known as “the Unit.” <p><p>At twenty-two, Bibi was wounded while leading his team in the rescue of hostages from a hijacked plane. Four years later, in 1976, Yoni was killed in Entebbe, Uganda, while leading his men in one of the most daring hostage-rescue missions in modern times. Yoni became a legend; Bibi felt he would never recover from his grief. Yet, inspired by Yoni’s legacy and guided by the wisdom of his visionary historian father, Bibi thrust himself into the international struggle against terrorism, ultimately becoming the longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history. <p><p>In this memoir Bibi weaves together his gripping personal story with the dramatic history of Israel and the Jewish people. Through a host of vivid anecdotes, he narrates his own evolution from soldier to statesman, while providing a unique perspective on leadership, the fraught geopolitics of the Middle East, and his successful efforts to liberate Israel’s economy, which helped turn it into a global powerhouse of technological innovation. Netanyahu gives colorful, detailed, and revealing accounts of his often turbulent relationships and negotiations with Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Trump. With eye-opening candor, he delves into the back channels of high diplomacy—including his struggle against the radical forces that threaten Israel and the world at large, and the decisive events that led to Israel’s groundbreaking 2020 peace agreements with four Arab states. <p><p>Offering an unflinching account of a life, a family, and a nation, Netanyahu writes from the heart and embraces controversy head-on. Steely and funny, high-tempo and full of verve, this autobiography will stand as a defining testament to the value of political conviction and personal courage. <p> <b>New York Times Bestseller</b>
A Time for Grace
by Dr Mark NethercoteMark and Susan have their future all planned out: a happy marriage, home and kids – but then they have a miscarriage. Suddenly their hopes and dreams come crashing down as it is revealed they might never have children. For Mark, a paediatrician who works with children every day, the concept that he might not have a family of his own is shattering. A Time for Grace is Dr Mark Nethercote’s deeply personal memoir, exploring the IVF journey to parenthood and the struggles that many couples face when life doesn’t go according to plan. When Susan’s ailing health leads to a seemingly endless run of hard luck, Mark struggles with his new role of patient and the vulnerability that comes with it. That is, until a chance encounter turns their luck around. Now the father of two beautiful girls, Mark offers his unique professional perspective on IVF, giving hopeful parents the chance to learn about the process, have the myths and mysteries explained, the medical terms made accessible and procedures more easily understood, through an uplifting story that provides countless laugh-out-loud moments.
Arrancados da Terra
by Lira NetoUma história dos judeus sefarditas. Expulsos de Portugal pela Inquisição, refugiaram-se na Holanda, ocuparam o Brasil e fizeram Nova Iorque Com prefácio de Esther Mucznick «É um grande livro, doloroso nalgumas coisas, mas um excelente livro que eu recomendo vivamente.» Paulo Portas Entre os séculos XVI e XVIII, ser judeu em Portugal e respetivas colónias significava viver sob um regime de terror permanente. A Inquisição, ou Tribunal do Santo Ofício, constituía um autêntico Estado dentro do Estado, com poderes absolutos na repressão a crimes religiosos, dos quais professar o judaísmo era um dos mais graves. Denunciados por inimigos, ou mesmo por parentes sob a coação dos inquisidores, os judeus que recusavam a conversão sumária eram submetidos a prolongadas prisões e torturas. Insistir no «danado erro» da apostasia levava à fogueira. Restava-lhes esconderem-se ou fugirem. Milhares de judeus sefarditas abandonaram Portugal e fixaram-se noutros países europeus, nomeadamente na Holanda, em cuja capital se desenvolveu uma próspera colónia israelita de origem lusitana nas primeiras décadas do século XVII. A salvo da censura e da repressão, floresceu uma brilhante geração de rabinos, intelectuais e pensadores revolucionários. Depois da invasão holandesa do Nordeste brasileiro, na década de 1630, muitos judeus cruzaram o oceano para aí tentar uma vida melhor. E aí prosperaram, até ao retorno do jugo português e da Inquisição, que os obrigou a recomeçar a sua jornada incessante em busca da Nova Canaã. Dos cárceres do Santo Ofício à esperança do Novo Mundo, o reputado jornalista e biógrafo Lira Neto mapeia as vidas errantes dos pioneiros que formaram a primeira comunidade judaica das Américas, no Recife, e que ajudaram a construir Nova Iorque.
The Body Where I was Born
by Guadalupe Nettel J. T. LichtensteinThe first novel to appear in English by one of the most talked-about and critically acclaimed writers of new Mexican fiction. From a psychoanalyst's couch, the narrator looks back on her bizarre childhood--in which she was born with an abnormality in her eye into a family intent on fixing it. In a world without the time and space for innocence, the narrator intimately recalls her younger self--a fierce and discerning girl open to life's pleasures and keen to its ruthless cycle of tragedy.With raw language and a brilliant sense of humor, both delicate and unafraid, Nettel strings together hard-won, unwieldy memories--taking us from Mexico City to Aix-en-Provence, France, then back home again--to create a portrait of the artist as a young girl. In these pages, Nettel's art of storytelling transforms experience into inspiration and a new startling perception of reality."Nettel's eye...gives rise to a tension, subtle but persistent, that immerses us in an uncomfortable reality, disquieting, even disturbing--a gaze that illuminates her prose like an alien sun shining down on our world." --Valeria Luiselli, author of Sidewalks and Faces in the Crowd "It has been a long time since I've found in the literature of my generation a world as personal and untransferable as that of Guadalupe Nettel." --Juan Gabriel Vásquez, author of The Sound of Things Falling "Nettel reveals the subliminal beauty within beings...and painstakingly examines the intimacies of her soul." --Magazine Littéraire "Guadalupe Nettel's storytelling power is majestic."--Typographical Era In Praise of Natural Histories "Five flawless stories..." --The New York Times "Nettel's stories are as atmospheric and emotionally battering as Checkhov's."--AsymptoteFrom the Hardcover edition.
Rosa Luxemburg
by J.P. NettlA classic book on the legacy of Rosa Luxemburg's work with essays of political analysis by leading scholarsAs an advocate of social democracy and individual responsibility, Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) remains the most eminent representative of the revolutionary socialist tradition. She was a radical activist who was willing to go to prison for her beliefs, including her protest of the First World War. This volume provides a representative sampling of Luxemburg's essential writings, many of which have been rarely anthologized. Her examination of capitalist "globalization" in her era, the destructive dynamics of nationalism, and other topics are joined with hard-hitting political analyses, discussions of labor movement strategy, intimate prison letters, and passionate revolutionary appeals. Among the selections are "Rebuilding the International," "What Are the Leaders Doing?" and excerpts from "The Accumulation of Capital--An Anti-Critique."Luxemburg's powerful impact on the twentieth century is documented in the accompanying essays, which draw readers into the "discussions" that leading intellectuals and activists have had with this vibrant thinker. Included are essays by Luise Kautsky, Lelio Basso, Raya Dunayevskaya, Paul Le Blanc, Andrew Nye, and Claire Cohen. These writers engage Luxemburg's life and work in ways that enrich our understanding of her ideas and advance our thinking on issues that concerned her. This volume will benefit readers with its rich and continuing collective evaluation of this passionate revolutionary's life and thought.
The Beethoven Encyclopedia
by Paul NettlThis comprehensive A-to-Z reference is comprised of detailed and authoritative entries on every aspect of the great composer&’s life. Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the most famous and revered composers in classical music. His instantly recognizable concertos and symphonies continue to be among the most performed by symphonies across the globe. In this definitive reference volume, eminent musicologist Paul Nettl provides students and researchers with an in-depth biographical resource organized in alphabetical entries. The Beethoven Encyclopedia covers the German composer&’s music, personal life, and patrons, among other topics, such as the forces that inspired his genius.
George Washington: Farmer, Soldier, President (Biographies Series)
by Pamela Nettleton Jeff YeshGive readers a fresh look into the fascinating lives of six famous Americans. This Series is aligned with the Standard, "The History of the United States' Democratic Principles and Values, and the Peoples from Many Cultures Who Contributed to Its Cultural, Economic, and Political Heritage," as required by the National Council for History.
Urchin at War: The Tale of a Leipzig Rascal and his Lutheran Granny under Bombs in Nazi Germany
by Uwe Netto Barbara Taylor BradfordWhat was it like to grow up as an urban urchin under bombs in Nazi Germany? Did he have a real childhood? Did he play pranks on grownups, as young rascals do in normal times? Could he be shielded against Nationalist ideology? In Urchin at War, Uwe Siemon-Netto answers these questions in the affirmative with humour and drama. The son of a lawyer blinded in World War I, he describes the parallel universe in which his bourgeois family lived in Leipzig. He vividly writes about the night when his home was bombed out. He had to guide his father over puddles of green flames caused by phosphor to his grandmother's apartment where he discovered hours later that — of all people — Frenchmen had rescued his mother from the flames. He tells the story of how he stole a tram after an air raid, and how his family buried his grand-aunt's right hand because that was the only body part rescuers found under the rubble after her house was hit by a blockbuster bomb. Dr. Siemon-Netto, a journalist and academic, relates how in a country parsonage he was evacuated to, the pro-Nazi pastor beat him up for using French loan words and how he preached on Sundays that Hitler was Germany's saviour, prompting the courageous organist to whisper into the author's ears: "He's lying! He is betraying our Lord!" When the Americans occupied Leipzig on Hitler's birthday in 1945, the author's family feasted on half an egg in mustard sauce each.Urchin at War is an Ode to Omi, his funny and intrepid grandmother Clara Netto, a grande dame who in the air raid shelter taught him basic Lutheran doctrine so well that it led him to interrupt his stellar career as a reporter at age 50 to study theology in Chicago and earn a doctorate in Boston.Urchin at War is the first volume in the 1517 Publishing's Urchin Series about the extraordinary life story of a kid and high school dropout who became a sought-after newsman, who covered the Kennedy assassination and the Vietnam War, and ended up being a Lutheran lay theologian.
The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist
by Reviel NetzPart archaeological detective story, part science, and part history, The Archimedes Codex tells the astonishing story of a lost manuscript, from its tenth-century creation in ancient Constantinople to the auction block at Christie’s in New York, and how a team of scholars used the latest imaging technology to reveal and decipher the original text. What they found was the earliest surviving manuscript by Archimedes (287 BC#150;212 BC), the greatest mathematician of antiquity#151;a manuscript that established, for the first time, the extent of his mathematical genius, which was two thousand years ahead of modern science.
Subbota: My Twenty Years in Soviet Prison
by Avraham NetzachAvraham Netzach survived twenty years of captivity in the prisons and slave-labor camps of the Soviet Union. Throughout two decades of tremendous human suffering, he remained faithful to his religious principles. In every prison in Russia, he was known as Subbota (Sabbath), for despite all efforts by his oppressors to break him, he never worked on Shabbat. The cry of thousands who went through the same terrible experience, but did not have the good fortune to come out alive, is echoed in Avraham Netzach's work.
The Wilson Circle: President Woodrow Wilson and His Advisers
by Charles E. NeuAn in-depth look at the key advisers to Woodrow Wilson during the course of his tumultuous presidency.Nearly 100 years after Woodrow Wilson's death, historians continue to be divided over the impact of his presidency and his political leadership. The collapse of Wilson's health in 1919 and his failure to win Senate approval of the Versailles Treaty have tainted his legacy, as have the racism of his administration and its disregard for civil liberties after American entry into World War I. In The Wilson Circle, Charles E. Neu takes a new look at the Wilson presidency through the lens of his inner circle, a group of ten advisers. Some of these advisers, like his wife Ellen, were by his side at the start of his term, while others joined him as the challenges facing Wilson's presidency mounted. All of these advisers believed that, whatever Wilson's flaws as a leader, they had served a great man whose legacy would endure. Struck by his magnetism, his oratorical gifts, and the power and precision of his mind, they each became, to one extent or another, friends of the president. Looking back, they acknowledged that their relationship with Woodrow Wilson had transformed their lives.Challenging the publicly held assumption that Wilson was a remote, harsh president by exploring the intense emotional connection he developed with this tight-knit group, Neu argues that we can partially credit Wilson's remarkable journey in American politics to his ability to bring together such an impressive group of advisers. Wilson realized that, given his limited energy and experience, he had to rely on advisers to help him maintain his physical and emotional equilibrium and to achieve his far-reaching political goals. And as the demands on his presidency changed, changes also occurred in his group of presidential confidants. Informing vivid biographical sketches with a wide range of recent scholarship, The Wilson Circle shines a light on the exceptional people whose advice impacted the course of a presidency.
Marching from Defeat: Surviving the Collapse of the German Army in the Soviet Union 1944
by Claus NeuberIn this WWII memoir, a Nazi soldier recounts his desperate retreat from Russia, offering rare insight into the collapse of Hitler’s Army Group Central.In June of 1944, the Red Army launched a massive offensive that crushed Hitler’s forces in Belarus. German soldiers who weren’t captured had to fight their way back towards their own lines across hundreds of miles of enemy territory. This is the story of one of them, Claus Neuber, a young artillery officer who describes in graphic detail his experiences during that great retreat.Neuber’s account carries the reader through the desperate defensive battles and rearguard actions fought to stem the relentless Soviet advance and breakout from the cauldrons between Minsk and the Beresina river. After almost seventy days as a fugitive, depending on the kindness of villagers, enduring extremes of cold, wet and hunger, Neuber found his way back to the German lines. This personal narrative, translated for the first time from the original German, gives a dramatic insight into the impact of the Soviet offensive and the disintegration of an entire German army. It vividly records in day-to-day detail the experience of such a bitter defeat.
Two Days and One Suitcase: The True Story of One Family’s Choice of Friendship and Goodwill during World War II
by Anne E. Neuberger Helen Hannan ParraImagine you learn that there are kids your age living in a prison with their families. None of them have done anything wrong. It is racial prejudice and fear that has put these people there. Then imagine that your family volunteers to live in one of these places to help the people who are imprisoned. That is what twelve-year-old Helen Hannan experiences in 1945. She hears about these prisons before most other Americans do. Traveling to a place called Camp Amache with her brother, sister and parents, she quickly discovers this is no summer camp. The families at Amache are living in crowded, cold barracks, behind barbed wire fences, with armed guards watching them from towers. Helen learns to cope with this. She experiences the cost of racial prejudice. She struggles to understand how some people can hurt others so badly. But she also makes many friends, and learns that everyone loves French fries! Most importantly, Helen sees first-hand how vital it is to act on your beliefs. It is quite a year for Helen. Based on a true story.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
by Richard L. NeubergerThis book gives an account of the quintessentially American adventure of discovery and hardship as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led their men on an exploration of the interior parts of North America.
Lois Marshall: A Biography
by James NeufeldAlthough she called herself "just a singer," soprano Lois Marshall (1925-97) became a household name across Canada during her thirty-four year career and remains one of the foremost figures in the history of Canadian music. She rubbed shoulders with Canada’s musical aristocracy – Glenn Gould, Sir Ernest MacMillan, Jon Vickers, Maureen Forrester – but Marshall always held first place in the hearts of her adoring fans. At the height of the Cold War, Moscow and St. Petersburg embraced her as warmly as Canada had. Yet Marshall remained true to her Canadian roots and to Toronto, her lifelong home. This first-ever biography recounts her dazzling career and paints an intimate portrait of the woman, her childhood encounter with polio, and her complex relationship with her teacher and mentor, Weldon Kilburn. Hers is a tale of a warm, courageous woman; it is also the story of classical music in Canada.
Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War
by Michael NeufeldCurator and space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum delivers a brilliantly nuanced biography of controversial space pioneer Wernher von Braun. Chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich and one of the fathers of the U.S. space program, Wernher von Braun is a source of consistent fascination. Glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, he was a man of profound moral complexities, whose intelligence and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. Based on new sources, Neufeld's biography delivers a meticulously researched and authoritative portrait of the creator of the V-2 rocket and his times, detailing how he was a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.
Open Heart
by Jay NeugeborenThe shared qualities of friendship and the healing arts are the subject of this riveting memoir of one man's battle with heart disease. When, in February 1999, Jay Neugeboren discovered he needed emergency quintuple-bypass surgery, he embarked on a journey that just began on the operating table. At sixty, he was the picture of health, swimming a mile a day and playing tennis and basketball regularly -- often with teenagers. How could he possibly have heart disease? But as he soon came to know, the difference between being healthy and being sick, and between receiving good care and receiving misdiagnoses, can be alarmingly narrow. Fortunately, on his side were four lifelong friends, all prominent physicians -- a cardiologist, a psychologist, a neurologist, and one of the world's pioneers in AIDS medicine -- who helped him sift through the contradictory advice and the uneasiness one feels when life lies in the hands of strangers who are doctors. Guiding him through the system and relying on the strength of their childhood bonds, born from their Brooklyn upbringing, his friends in effect saved his life and opened his eyes to the ways -- good, bad, miraculous, and at times chilling -- in which medicine is practiced in the United States today. In this book, Jay sets out to understand how and why he nearly died, and to find out what we know -- and don't know -- about disease and illness in general. Joined by his friends, each of whom reflects on his own life as a physician, Jay examines the faith many of us place in the advanced technologies of modern medicine and how that often distracts us from the most fundamental health care tool -- an engaged physician who listens and cares. What he discovers, in part, is that the qualities that lie at the heart of friendship also define what we hope for, and are losing, in our doctors. At a time when our health care system continues to disappoint, Open Heart will resonate with every patient who has been shuttled between specialists, with every physician who has faced impossible time constraints and technologies, and with everyone who has helped a loved one through the maze of health care choices. Clear, compelling, comic, and inspiring, Open Heart is a story that will open eyes and hearts -- a memoir every patient, doctor, and care provider will want to read.
I, Pierre Seel, Deported Homosexual: A Memoir of Nazi Terror
by Joachim Neugroschel Pierre SeelOn a fateful day in May 1941, in Nazi-occupied Strasbourg, seventeen-year- old Pierre Seel was summoned by the Gestapo. This was the beginning of his journey through the horrors of a concentration camp.<P> For nearly forty years, Seel kept this secret in order to hide his homosexuality. Eventually he decided to speak out, bearing witness to an aspect of the Holocaust rarely seen. This edition, with a new foreword from gay-literature historian Gregory Woods, is an extraordinary firsthand account of the Nazi roundup and the deportation of homosexuals.
Confessions of an S. O. B.
by Al NeuharthThe millionaire publisher tells how he stopped at nothing to rise from a newspaper delivery boy making twelve cents a week to the nation's most successful media mogul
The Crazy Wisdom of Ganesh Baba: Psychedelic Sadhana, Kriya Yoga, Kundalini, and the Cosmic Energy in Man
by Eve Baumohl NeuhausThe core teachings and riotous life of the psychedelic yogi Ganesh Baba • Presents the teachings of Ganesh Baba’s “Crea” Yoga, which he derived from the tantric practices of traditional Kriya Yoga • Explains the basic exercises for following the Crea (creative) Yoga practice • Includes many anecdotes from the colorful life of this “psychedelic” baba Shri Mahant Swami Ganeshanand Saraswati Giri (ca. 1895-1987) was known to all who loved and studied with him simply as Ganesh Baba. At the age of four, he was brought back from death through an initiation by Lahiri Mahasaya and through this initiation descends from the same Kriya Yoga lineage as Paramahansa Yogananda. He became a swami under his guru Sivananda and later went on to run the Anandamayi Ma ashram. Drawn to the life of the Naga Babas, he became the head of the Ananda Akhara, Naga followers of Lord Shiva who consider cannabis and other entheogens to be the gift of the gods. The unique set of principles and exercises Ganesh Baba developed from the tantric practices of traditional Kriya Yoga and Shivaism became the core of his personal teachings of Crea (for creative) Yoga. Ganesh Baba’s message of systematic synthesis of the spiritual and secular was carefully developed for and embraced by contemporary students in the 1960s, especially those whose path included the use of entheogens. This book contains the core of Ganesh Baba’s Crea Yoga teachings, from the beginning stages of conscious control of one’s posture, breath, and attention to finally extending one’s awareness to the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Eve Baumohl Neuhaus shows that the life of this scholar and crazy saint was as instructive as his teachings. She includes many personal reminiscences of this inspirational and challenging teacher from her own life and those of fellow students, which demonstrate that Ganesh Baba’s extraordinary life was in keeping with his own role as the embodiment of Lord Ganesh, the remover of obstacles.