EXP 3: Articles

Miranda Kerr

(Source: http://www.celebrity-haircut.info/2009/01/miranda-kerr-haircut-styles/ )

Miranda Kerr secures coveted modelling deal with Prada and Jil Sander

VICTORIA'S Secret angel Miranda Kerr has secured two of the most coveted advertising campaigns in the modelling world.

Kerr will feature in the high-end fashion advertising campaigns for Prada's and Jil Sander's autumn/winter 2010/11 collections. It places her on equal footing with fellow Aussie supermodel Abbey Lee Kershaw, who has landed the advertising campaign for Chanel's autumn/winter 2010 collection. Kerr has had a rapid ascent from lingerie model to celebrity supermodel and is now among the fashion world's elite. Barely a year ago, Kerr got her first major assignment when she posed for influential photographer Terry Richardson alongside fellow Aussie beauties Kershaw and Catherine McNeil for the 2010 Pirelli calendar. Then in February, she rejoined McNeil on Prada's runway for the autumn/winter 2010/11 show before appearing for a second time at Balenciaga's Paris Week show, this time modelling in its autumn/winter 2010/11 show. The latest advertising coups for the luxury brands cement Kerr's new fashion status. She is only the second Australian model to have been shot for Prada, following in the footsteps of Gemma Ward. "I think she's a very good little businesswoman," said Edwina McCann, Australian Harper's Bazaar editor. "That in itself is incredible because she was the classic kind of Victoria's Secret girl, more into the lingerie/swimwear category than the high-end runway category." Kerr, 27, found international celebrity through her relationship with Hollywood hunk Orlando Bloom, her multi-million-dollar contract as a Victoria's Secret angel, and as a regular GQ cover girl. "I think people like Miranda are very good for fashion overall and I like the fact that models can become brands, because in a lot of ways it's more appropriate I think than celebrities," Ms McCann said.

Article Source: AAP. "Miranda Kerr secures coveted modelling deal with Prada and Jil Sander". News.com.au, June 3, 2010.

Helen Keller

(Source: http://ed101.bu.edu/StudentDoc/current/ED101sp09/ebelinsk/)

Helen Keller, 87, Dies

Blind and Deaf Since Infancy, She Became Symbol of Courage

Westport, Conn., June 1--Helen Keller, who overcame blindness and deafness to become a symbol of the indomitable human spirit, died this afternoon in her home here. She was 87 years old. "She drifted off in her sleep," said Mrs. Winifred Corbally, Miss Keller's companion for the last 11 years, who was at her bedside. "She died gently." Death came at 3:35 P.M. She is survived by a brother, Phillips B. Keller of Dallas, and a sister, Mrs. Mildred Tyson of Montgomery, Ala. After private cremation, a funeral service will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington. No date has yet been set.

Triumph Out of Tragedy

For the first 18 months of her life Helen Keller was a normal infant who cooed and cried, learned to recognize the voices of her father and mother and took joy in looking at their faces and at objects about her home. "Then," as she recalled later, "came the illness which closed my eyes and ears and plunged me into the unconsciousness of a newborn baby." The illness, perhaps scarlet fever, vanished as quickly as it struck, but it erased not only the child's vision and hearing but also, as a result, her powers of articulate speech. Her life thereafter, as a girl and as a woman, became a triumph over crushing adversity and shattering affliction. In time, Miss Keller learned to circumvent her blindness, deafness and muteness; she could "see" and "hear" with exceptional acuity; she even learned to talk passably and to dance in time to a fox trot or a waltz. Her remarkable mind unfolded, and she was in and of the world, a full and happy participant in life. What set Miss Keller apart was that no similarly afflicted person before had done more than acquire the simplest skills. But she was graduated from Radcliffe; she became an artful and subtle writer; she led a vigorous life; she developed into a crusading humanitarian who espoused Socialism; and she energized movements that revolutionized help for the blind and the deaf.

Article Source: Whitman, Alden. “Helen Keller, 87, Dies.” New York Times, June 1, 1968.

Angela Merkel

(Source: http://www.bundesregierung.de/Content/FR/Reden/2006/03/__Bilder/angela-merkel971265,layoutVariant=Poster.html)

The Rise of Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel first came into prominence during the darkest days of the party-slush scandal. She strongly denied allegations that bribes were paid for the supply of tanks to Saudi Arabia, describing them as "totally absurd". But, as the crisis deepened and the full scale of former chancellor Helmut Kohl's role in it became apparent, she was the first to turn on the man who had plucked her from obscurity and brought her into the cabinet. The gamble paid off. For Vera Lengsfeld, an East German Green who switched to the CDU, the choice of Merkel to lead the party represents a mini revolution: "Its a breakthrough for women" she said. "She is very competent person - she has leadership qualities and we expect her to be a good leader."

Eastern influence

Angela Merkel's success has been meteoric. Only months ago it seemed unthinkable that the CDU - a traditional party with its roots in Catholicism - could chose an East German, female, Protestant as leader. Now members of the party elite, like the former General Secretary Peter Hintze, are queuing up to show allegiance: "She is a really intelligent and bright woman" he says. "That she comes from the East is a sign that the reunified Germany is coming back together".

New Thatcher?

Her rapid rise on the back of the scandal has been noted by the satirists. But jibes about her casual appearance have failed to dent her new-found popularity with the party. CDU people-power effectively turned a series of mood-testing conferences into US-style primary elections...and she swept the board. But commentators and politicians alike are at a loss to define what she stands for. Ulrich Klinkert, her deputy when she headed the Environment Ministry in the mid-1990s, says she is a highly competent professional, but says comparisons to Britain's Margaret Thatcher are wide of the mark: "Its too easy to say she is Germany's Margaret Thatcher - she is a little bit Margaret Thatcher and a little bit Tony Blair."

Star quality

She remains something of an enigma - a circus ringmaster capable of holding various party acts together, but not as yet the star of the show in her own right. Karl Feldmeier, senior correspondent with the Frankfurter Allgemainer Zeitung newspaper, says party members have rallied to her cause - not because of what she stands for, but because she is "convincing" as a person. "She doesn't have a group of close allies in the party, as has been typical in the decades before," he explains. "She is supported by the sympathy of a growing part of the membership of the party - and that's all."

New liberalism

Some members of the CDU see Angela Merkel as something of a role model. Katerina Reiche, the youngest CDU MP in the Bundestag, says Mrs Merkel stands for family values, but not as the party has known it before. "In former times, being married was important - now we talk of families being important, but not necessarily the marriage as an institution. Even in a gay relationship people take care of each other - that's a switch for a conservative party" The party right-wing is troubled by such liberalism but has failed to block her progress. Becoming leader does not necessarily mean Angela Merkel will become the CDU candidate for chancellor in 2002, but a female head of government is at least a real possibility.

Article Source: Broomby, Rob. “The Rise of Angela Merkel.” BBC News, March 20, 2000.