Word: placid
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...frightening a natural cataclysm as had befallen the young nation. Buildings tumbled and forests were destroyed. Giant fissures opened in the ground, accompanied by a thunderous roar and a spreading sulfurous odor. Wrote one eyewitness: "The whole land was moved and waved like waves of the sea." The usually placid Mississippi became an angry torrent of whirlpools and rapids, overflowing its banks and possibly even briefly reversing course...
...secret to Da lies deeper, however, than his bumpkin mannerisms or even his placid gentility. His ignorance serves as a shield against the violent onslaught of painful knowledge. In Da's world, where rosebush cuttings and fresh peaches take first priority, knowledge can only oppress. By reinforcing the suffering of the lower class, teaching them about a better way of life they can never have, this knowledge ultimately spurs Charlie to leave Ireland for London and middle class success as a writer. But Da remains blissful in his ignorance...
...self-centered basis" in order to purge the country of "decadent colonial influences." With unspeakable brutality, this deceptively bland program was imposed on "Democratic Kampuchea" (as that country was renamed) by the government of Premier Pol Pot after the Khmer Rouge took power. Phnom-Penh, once a placid, luxury-loving city of broad avenues and towering hibiscus trees, became a ghost town as the Khmer Rouge force marched the city's refugee-swollen population to resettlement on rural communes that were no better than slave-labor camps. Even the wounded were prodded at gunpoint from hospital beds ?and left...
...with a slight Southern softening, and though she tries to shrill, her slummy "Garn..." resonates with upper-class tonality. You can't make a sow's ear out of a silk purse. Only in scenes when Eliza is supposed to be furious with Higgins does Tompsett cast of her placid demeanor, and then she sizzles: her eyes splash cyanide when she seethes, "Just You Wait, 'enry 'iggins." She cannot sustain her fury, however; when Higgins dishes strawberry tarts to the bird and not to her, she looks only mildly miffed. Not even Tompsett's physical ploys, such as stalking...
After nearly a half-century of solid government, the placid, proudly enlightened Swedes are about as eager for political instability as they are for, well, chaperoned dating. Last week, however, the country was preparing for a long winter of insecure government, following an election that reconfirmed the nonsocialist parliamentary majority by a single seat and that may have ended the career of Sweden's most dynamic politician, former Social Democratic Premier Olof Palme...