The World On My Fingers

The body of Meredith Kercher was discovered by Italian police at the cottage that she shared with other students in Perugia on November 2, 2007. The 21-year-old British student, who was part of a university exchange programme, was found lying partially clothed under a duvet in her bedroom. Her windpipe had been crushed and throat partially slashed.

Following a murder investigation, police initially arrested two suspects, Kercher's American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, then a third man, the owner of a local bar (who was later released without charge). A fourth suspect was later arrested after having fled to Germany, on the basis of DNA and fingerprint evidence found on the victim's body. The remaining three suspects were held in custody in Perugia charged with murder, sexual assault and theft. On 28 October 2008, one of the three accused, Rudy Hermann Guede, the only person whose fingerprints and DNA were found on the body, was convicted of conspiracy to murder Kercher in a "fast-track" trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison. The trial of the two remaining suspects, Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, began on January 16, 2009.

The case has received heavy media interest in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States

Background
Meredith Kercher
Born Southwark, London, England
Died Perugia, Italy
Nationality British

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher was born in February 1986 in Southwark, London, England, and lived in Coulsdon, South London. She attended the University of Leeds. She had been part of the ERASMUS student exchange programme, and had gone to Italy to complete her degree course. Kercher made a cameo appearance in a music video for singer and friend Kristian Leontiou's song, Some Say, in 2007 just weeks before moving to Italy to study.

Murder and investigation

Kercher was murdered on the evening of 1 November 2007, with pathologists putting her time of death between 20:30 and 23:00.

The following morning, the Postal and Communication Police came to investigate the discovery of two mobile phones in a nearby garden, one of which was registered to Ms. Kercher. When they breached the door to Kercher's room, which had been locked from the inside, they reportedly found Kercher lying beneath a duvet in her room "soaked in blood."Police have said Kercher's throat was slit with a shard of glass or a pen-knife, but have not yet located the murder weapon. Police initially believed that the killer or killers escaped through a broken window in Kercher's room, since the door was locked when they arrived, but now suspect the break-in was staged. The following morning, Amanda Knox was spotted by two men at a laundromat on Via Fabretti washing clothes and a pair of shoes with a "North African" man.

A judge assigned to the case read the pathology report at a bail hearing for the suspects and ruled that Kercher's carotid artery had not been ruptured in the attack, and that she likely died a "relatively slow and agonizing death." Italian prosecutors allege that the lethal wound was inflicted by Amanda Knox while Kercher was held down by Guede and Sollecito. The prosecution points to violent literature, such as comic books, that they found in Sollecito’s apartment.Prosecutors allege that manga comics found in Sollecito's apartment recounted tales of killing female vampires on Halloween night and that many of the details in the comics were similar to the scene police discovered. Kercher had attended a number of Halloween parties dressed as a vampire the night of 31 October. Defence lawyers for Amanda Knox have dismissed the allegations of the prosecution, claiming that they are a "huge fantasy".

Patrick Diya Lumumba, 37, the owner of a bar at which Amanda Knox occasionally worked, was arrested on 6 November, having been implicated by Knox's version of events, and detained for two weeks until the arrest of Rudy Hermann Guede. Sixteen months later a court awarded Lumumba €8,000 in damages for unjust imprisonment.

The funeral service for Meredith Kercher was held on 14 December 2007 at the Croydon Parish Church in Coulsdon with over 300 people in attendance.

Prosecutorial bias

The lead prosecutor in the case, Giuliano Mignini, was also involved in the case of the serial killer known as "the Monster of Florence". The authors of a book about the Monster, journalists Mario Spezi and Douglas Preston, argue that Mignini was heavily influenced by an Internet conspiracy theorist and was determined to attribute the murders to a Satanic cult whereas evidence pointed to a single killer in most of the cases . Mignini is now being investigated for abuse of power and conflict of interest in the Monster investigation.

Defendants

Three of the suspects in the case are currently being held in separate Italian jails. Amanda Knox, an American student, is being held in Capanne prison near Perugia; Raffaele Sollecito, an Italian student and Knox's former boyfriend, is being held in Terni; and Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivory Coast native found guilty of the murder in October 2008, is being held in Viterbo.

Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox, age 21, a student from Seattle, Washington, USA, was arrested on the morning of 6 November for her alleged involvement in Kercher's murder. Knox is a student at the University of Washington and had been living with Kercher in Perugia while she was studying abroad in Italy. Knox told the police that she had been in the house when the murder took place and had "heard the screams"; however, she has subsequently given several different versions of the events of the night of the murder, saying her memory was clouded by having smoked hashish, and now asserts that she spent the whole evening and night with her boyfriend at his flat.

In one of her earlier statements to the police, Knox implicated Patrick Diya Lumumba in the murder saying:
“ I don't remember if my friend Meredith was already there or whether she came later. What I can say is that the two of them (Meredith and Patrick) went off together... Patrick and Meredith went off together into Meredith's room while I think I stayed in the kitchen. I can't remember how long they were in the bedroom together, I can only say that at a certain point I heard Meredith screaming and I was so frightened I put my fingers in my ears. I don't remember anything after that, my head is really confused. I don’t remember if Meredith called out or if I heard thuds because I was upset, but I can imagine what was happening...I'm not sure whether Raffaele was there too that evening but I do remember waking up at his house in his bed and that in the morning I went back to where I lived, where I found the door open. ”

Knox appeared before a magistrate on the morning of 9 November and was ordered to be held, along with Sollecito and Lumumba, for up to one year while the police continued their investigation. In a leaked report published by The Times, Judge Claudia Matteini suggested that Knox and Sollecito had been seeking to "experience extreme sensations, intense sexual relations which break up the monotony of everyday life," and had attempted to persuade Kercher to participate in a sexual encounter. The report continued:
“ They went together to the apartment on Via della Pergola 7, to which only Amanda had the key. It was roughly at this time that both Sollecito and Knox switched off their mobile phones until the following morning. ”

After Knox's arrest, salacious aspects of the case caused international media attention. Knox's MySpace site was subject to adverse character analysis.

According to a report of January 2008, at least one of Knox's parents had visited her twice a week for the previous three months. In an interview with The Sunday Times, seven months after her arrest, they affirmed their belief in her innocence. Amanda Knox is being represented in Italy by attorneys Luciano Ghirga and Carlo Dalla Vedova, as well as accepting the advice of high profile Seattle attorney Anne Bremner, who represents a group called "Friends of Amanda".

Knox proclaimed her innocence at the closed-door hearing on 17 October 2008.

Raffaele Sollecito

Raffaele Sollecito, 25 years old, from Giovinazzo, Bari, and at the point of completing a degree at Perugia University at the time of the murder, was Knox's boyfriend. The son of a urologist from Bari, and from an affluent family, he had known Knox for two weeks.

Sollecito says that he returned to his flat and spent the evening surfing the internet on the night of the murder. Detectives have said that his alibi is not substantiated by records of his internet service provider, though a private detective working for Sollecito disputes this. Like Knox, he admits to having smoked marijuana on the day of the murder.

Forensic investigators say that a footprint found in blood in Kercher's room is compatible with the footwear worn by Sollecito, but his legal team assert that it is not his. On 10 January Italian police released a statement which says that Sollecito's DNA was found on a piece of Kercher's bra. Several newspapers, including La Repubblica in June 2008 and Tiscali Web News in March 2009, report that Sollecito's influential family tried to upset the investigations. Phone taps reveal that Sollecito's sister, a high official in the Carabinieri, told her father that she intended to contact high profile politicians to ask them to get rid of the "troublesome" investigators and contaminate the police samples. Several members of Sollecito's family are now under investigation for a variety of infractions connected to the case.

Rudy Hermann Guede

Police arrested Rudy Hermann Guede, 20, originally from the Ivory Coast, on November 20. The Italian police announced that Guede had been arrested on a train near Wiesbaden, Germany, where he was caught riding without a ticket. Guede came to Perugia at the age of five with his father. After his father left Italy when Guede was 16, he was informally adopted by the family of a wealthy local businessman, Paolo Caporali. Caporali stated that he had been disappointed by Guede's behaviour, describing him as a "tremendous liar", skipping school and being reluctant to do any work. Guede played basketball for the local team which Caporali sponsored.

DNA tests indicate that Guede had sex with Kercher before her murder and that feces found in the toilet are his.

Guede's account of the evening was that he and the victim had consensual sex, after which he left the room to use the toilet where he listened to music on his iPod and thus did not hear the killer enter the house. He did, however, hear Kercher scream, and emerged to see the murderer, an Italian man whom he didn't know, stabbing Kercher. As the man escaped, he said "You're in trouble, you black bastard" after which Guede claims to have been so frightened that he fled the scene and made his way to Germany. The Investigators stated that Guede's version of events was "a highly improbable fantasy."

Trials and convictions

Rudy Hermann Guede elected for a 'fast track' trial on 16 October 2008, and on 28 October 2008 was found guilty of murdering and sexually assaulting Meredith Kercher and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Guede's lawyers want to appeal the conviction.

The trial of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito began on 16 January 2009 with much attention from the media; both Knox's and Sollecito's lawyers used the occasion to proclaim their clients' innocence. Guede has declined to testify in the trial. During the first session, judge Giancarlo Massei rejected a request by the Kercher family to hold the trial behind closed doors. He ruled that the trial will be public, but closed sessions will be decided on a case-by-case basis.

Amanda Knox testified for the first time on 12 June 2009, again affirming her innocence. She told the court that she had been with Sollecito in his apartment on the night of the murder. She also stated that the police had intimidated and beaten her, causing her to give false testimony and to falsely accuse Patrick Lumumba.

Iran directly accused the United States of meddling in the deepening crisis over a disputed presidential election and broadened its media clampdown Wednesday to include blogs and news Web sites. But protesters took to the streets in growing defiance of the country's Islamic rulers.

The sweep of events — including more arrests and a call for another mass opposition march through Tehran — displayed the sharpening attacks by authorities but also the unprecedented challenges directed at the very heart of Iran's Islamic regime: its supreme leader and the cleric-run system.

Any serious shift of the protest anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the core premise of Iran's system of rule — the almost unlimited authority of the clerics at the top.

For the moment, however, both sides appear to be using the same tactics since the disputed results showed hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the landslide winner.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called for another mass rally Thursday in defiance of Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state.

Authorities rounded up perceived dissidents and tried to further muzzle Web sites and other networks used by Mousavi's backers to share information and send out details of Iran's crisis after foreign journalists were banned from reporting in the streets.

Officials also stepped up claims that foreign hands have been behind the unrest.

An Iranian statement blamed Washington for "intolerable" interference in the showdown over allegations of vote-rigging and fraud. The report, on state-run Press TV, cited no evidence.

It said the government summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to complain about American interference. The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The State Department this week asked Twitter to postpone a scheduled maintenance shutdown of its service to keep information flowing from inside Iran, three U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

A State Department spokesman said Washington was withholding judgment about the election and was not interfering in Iran's internal affairs. President Barack Obama has offered to open talks with Iranian leaders to end a nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze.

For nearly that entire time, Iran's ruling clerics held uncontested power over nearly every critical decision, including possible talks with Washington. But the upheavals have pushed them into unfamiliar territory.

Khamenei and his inner circle have been drawn into a messy and public crisis — with the election dispute even bringing possible splits within the theocracy.

Chances for a full-scale collapse are considered very remote. The ruling clerics still have deep public support and are defended by Iran's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — and a vast network of militias.

But Mousavi's opposition movement has broken significant ground. It has forced Khamenei into the center of the escalating crisis and broken taboos about questioning his role as the final word on all critical matters.

"It's changing the way Iranians see the supreme leader and the system in general," said Meir Javedanfar, an Iranian affairs analyst. "That opens up the system up in ways it's never faced before."

Javedanfar believes two key factors should be watched: whether the opposition movement can keep its show of strength on the streets for several more weeks and, more importantly, if it can bring in influential voices from the Islamic clergy.

Shortly after the election, Mousavi appealed for the backing of clerics in the holy city of Qom, Iran's seat of Islamic learning and a critical political base for the theocracy. But received shows of support from several prominent liberal and dissident religious figures, including Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who said that "no sound mind" would accept the election results.

But Mousavi, who was prime minister in the 1980s, has not captured widespread support among the Qom clerics. That doesn't mean, however, that they support Ahmadinejad, either.

The wild card for Mousavi's movement is former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, who heads the Assembly of Experts — a cleric-run body that is empowered to choose or dismiss Iran's supreme leader. Khamenei is Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's successor, and the assembly has never used its power to remove Iran's highest authority.

Rafsanjani was a fierce critic of Ahmadinejad during the election, but has not publicly backed Mousavi. It is not known whether Mousavi has actively courted Rafsanjani or if they have held talks.

But Iranian TV showed pictures of Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani's daughter, speaking to hundreds of Mousavi supporters, carrying pictures of Khomeini.

Robin Niblett, director of the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, said he does not believe Mousavi wants to topple Iran's theocracy, but his allegations of vote fraud could undermine the authority and respect of Khamenei.

"It is a split itself over this election and the broader grand strategy of the country," Niblett said. "I don't believe the protesters want to overthrow the system at this time — although their ire at Khamenei may yet increase."

Mousavi urged followers to wear black Thursday to the planned rally in mourning for the alleged election fraud and the lives lost in the protests. Seven demonstrators were shot Monday by pro-regime militia in the first confirmed deaths since the unrest began.

His call followed a rare public appeal by Khamenei to unite behind the Islamic state. Khamenei usually remains aloof from direct involvement in political disputes, but the scope of crisis has pushed him into an unfamiliar role as mediator.

Mousavi's backers have now staged three straight days of major marches in Tehran, including hundreds of thousands of people Monday in a huge procession that recalled the protests of the Islamic Revolution.

An amateur video showed thousands marching Wednesday on an overpass in support of Mousavi's campaign.

A crackdown on dissent continued, with more arrests of opposition figures reported, and the Revolutionary Guard saying that Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove materials that "create tension" or face legal action.

In one high-profile display of apparent support for the opposition, several Iranian soccer players wrapped their wrists with green tape — the color of Mousavi's campaign — during a World Cup qualifying match in South Korea that was televised in Iran.

In Paris, demonstrators held banners saying "Freedom of Expression in Iran," and "Where is my vote?" near the Eiffel Tower. In Rome, about 300 people gathered to show solidarity with Mousavi.

The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Many other sites, including Gmail and Yahoo, were unusually slow and rarely connect.

Mousavi condemned the blocking of Web sites, saying the government did not tolerate the voice of the opposition.

The Revolutionary Guard, an elite force answering to Khamenei, said through the state news service that its investigators have taken action against "deviant news sites" that encouraged public disturbances. The Guard is a separate military with enormous domestic influence and control of Iran's most important defense programs. It is one of the establishment's key sources of power.

The statement alleged that dissident Web sites were backed by Canadian, U.S. and British interests, a frequent charge by hard-liners against the opposition.

"Legal action will be very strong and call on them to remove such materials," it said.

The U.S.-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said several dozen noted figures associated with the reform movement have been arrested, among them politicians, intellectuals, activists and journalists.

Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz, who is often quoted by Western media, was arrested Wednesday by plainclothes security officers at his home, said his wife, Sepehrnaz Panahi.

At least 10 Iranian journalists have been arrested since the election, Reporters Without Borders said.

The main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The recount would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Khamenei.

Mousavi alleges the Guardian Council is not neutral and has already indicated it supports Ahmadinejad. He wants an independent investigation.

David Letterman apologized on Monday for making a sexually charged joke about one of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughters, as a group of Palin supporters planned a rally demanding the late-night TV show host be fired.

Father's Day is a day honoring fathers, celebrated on the third Sunday of June in 52 of the world's countries and on other days elsewhere. It complements Mother's Day, the celebration honoring mothers.

History

Father's Day is a celebration inaugurated in the early twentieth century to complement Mother's Day in celebrating fatherhood and male parenting, and to honor and commemorate fathers and forefathers. Father's Day is celebrated on a variety of dates worldwide and typically involves gift-giving, special dinners to fathers, and family-oriented activities.

The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on July 5, 1908 in a church located in Fairmont, West Virginia, by Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South of Fairmont. The church still exists under the name of Central United Methodist Church.

Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington thought independently of the holiday one Sunday in 1909 while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church at Spokane, and she arranged a tribute for her father on June 19, 1910. She was the first to solicit the idea of having an official Father's Day observance to honor all fathers.

It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YWCA, the YMCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar. Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter. The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire, parody and derision, including jokes from the local newspaper Spokesman-Review. Many people saw it as just the first step in filling the calendar with mindless promotions like "Grandparents' Day", "Professional Secretaries' Day", etc., all the way down to "National Clean Your Desk Day."

A bill was introduced in 1913, US President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea in 1924, and a national committee was formed in the 1930s by trade groups in order to legitimize the holiday. It was made a federal holiday when President Lyndon Johnson issued a proclamation in 1966.

In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries, most often on November 19.

Commercialization

The Associated Men's Wear Retailers formed a National Father's Day Committee in New York City in the 1930s, which was renamed in 1938 to National Council for the Promotion of Father's Day and incorporated several other trade groups. This council had the goals of legitimizing the holiday in the mind of the people and managing the holiday as a commercial event in a more systematic way, in order to boost the sales during the holiday. This council always had the support of Dodd, who had no problem with the commercialization of the holiday and endorsed several promotions to increase the amount of gifts. In this aspect she can be considered the opposite of Anna Jarvis, who actively opposed all commercialization of Mother's Day.

The merchants recognized the tendency to parody and satirize the holiday, and used it to their benefit by mocking the holiday on the same advertisements where they promoted the gifts for fathers. People felt compelled to buy gifts even though they saw through the commercial façade, and the custom of giving gifts on that day became progressively more accepted. By 1937 the Father's Day Council calculated that only one father in six had received a present on that day.[8] However, by the 1980s, the Council proclaimed that they had achieved their goal: the one-day event had become a three-week commercial event, a "second Christmas". Its executive director explained back in 1949 that, without the coordinated efforts of the Council and of the groups supporting it, the holiday would have disappeared.

Spelling

Although the name of the event is usually understood as a plural possessive (i.e. "day belonging to fathers"), which would under normal English punctuation guidelines be spelled "Fathers' Day", the most common spelling is "Father's Day", as if it were a singular possessive (i.e. "day belonging to Father"). Dodd used the "Fathers' Day" spelling on her original petition for the holiday, but the spelling "Father's Day" was already used in 1913 when a bill was introduced to the US Congress as the first attempt to establish the holiday, and it was still spelled the same way when its creator was commended in 2008 by the U.S. Congress.

International history and traditions

In a few Catholic countries, it is celebrated on the Feast of St. Joseph.

Argentina

Father's Day in Argentina is celebrated on the third Sunday of June, but there have been several attempts to change the date to August 24, to commemorate day in which the "Father of the Nation" José de San Martín became a father.

In 1953 the proposal to celebrate Father's Day in all educational establishments on August 24, in honor of José de San Martín, was raised to the General Direction of Schools of Mendoza Province. The day was celebrated for the first time in 1958, on the third Sunday of June, but it was not included in the school calendars due to pressure from several groups.

Schools in the Mendoza Province continued to celebrate Father's Day on August 24, and, in 1982, the Provincial Governor passed a law declaring Father's Day in the province to be celebrated on that day.

In 2004, several proposals to change the date to August 24 were presented to the Argentine Camara de Diputados as a single, unified project. After being approved, the project was passed to the Senate of Argentina for final review and approval. The Senate changed the proposed new date to the third Sunday of August, and scheduled the project for approval. However, the project was never addressed during the Senate's planned session, which caused its ultimate failure.

Costa Rica

In Costa Rica the Unidad Social Cristiana party presented a bill to change the celebration of the day from the third Sunday of June to 19 March, the day of Saint Joseph. That was in order to give tribute to this saint, who gave name to the capital of the country San José, Costa Rica, and so family heads will be able to celebrate the Father's Day at the same time as the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. The official date is still third Sunday of June.

Germany

In Germany Father's Day is celebrated differently from other parts of the world. There are two terms and/or events of an older origin that while similar in name, have entirely different meanings. Vatertag, is always celebrated on Ascension Day (the Thursday forty days after Easter), which is a federal holiday. Regionally, it is also called men's day, Männertag, or gentlemen's day, Herrentag. It is tradition to do a males-only hiking tour with one or more smaller wagons, Bollerwagen, pulled by manpower. In the wagons are wine or beer (according to region) and traditional regional food, Hausmannskost, which could be Saumagen, Leberwurst (Liverwurst), Blutwurst (Blood Sausage), vegetables, eggs, etc. Many men will use this holiday to get very drunk, to the point of having gangs of drunk people roaming the streets, causing much embarrassment to more conservative German people who don't participate. Police and emergency services are in high alert during the day, and some left-wing and feminist groups have asked for the banning of the holiday.

Some parts of Germany (such as Bavaria and the northern part of Germany) call this particular day "Vatertag", which is the literal equivalent to Father's Day.

Roman Catholic tradition

In the Roman Catholic tradition, Fathers are celebrated on Saint Joseph's Day, commonly called Feast of Saint Joseph, March 19, though in certain countries Father's Day has become a secular celebration.

Singapore

In Singapore, Father's Day is celebrated every third Sunday of June but is not a public holiday.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, Father's Day is not an official holiday, but is widely observed on August 8, the eighth day of the eighth month of the year. In Mandarin Chinese, the pronunciation of the number 8 is bā. This pronunciation is very similar to the character "爸" "bà", which means "Papa" or "father". The Taiwanese, therefore, usually call August 8 by its nickname, "Bābā Day" (爸爸節).

Thailand

In Thailand, Father's Day is set as the birthday of the king. December 5 is the birthday of current king, Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX). Thais celebrate by giving their father or grandfather a Canna flower (Dok put ta ruk sa) which is considered to be a masculine flower. Thai people will wear yellow on this day to show respect for the king. This is because yellow is the Color of the day for Monday, the day on which king Bhumibol Adulyadej was born.

United States of America

In the US, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June. The first modern Father's Day celebration was held on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia or on June 19 of the same year, in the state of Washington. Since then, Father's Day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June.

In West Virginia, it was first celebrated as a church service at Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South, now known as Central United Methodist Church. Grace Golden Clayton, who is believed to have suggested the service to the pastor, is believed to have been inspired to celebrate fathers after the deadly mine explosion in nearby Monongah the prior December. This explosion killed 361 men, many of them fathers and recent immigrants to the United States from Italy. Another possible inspiration for the service was Mothers' Day, which had been celebrated for the first time two months prior in Grafton, West Virginia, a town about 15 miles (24 km) away.

Another driving force behind the establishment of the integration of Father's Day was Mrs. Sonora Smart Dodd, born in Creston, Washington. Her father, the Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart, was a single parent who reared his six children in Spokane, Washington. She was inspired by Anna Jarvis's efforts to establish Mother's Day. Although she initially suggested June 5, her father's birthday, she did not provide the organizers with enough time to make arrangements, and the celebration was deferred to the third Sunday of June. The first June Father's Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910, in Spokane, WA, at the Spokane YMCA.

Unofficial support from such figures as William Jennings Bryan was immediate and widespread. President Woodrow Wilson was personally feted by his family in 1916. President Calvin Coolidge recommended it as a national holiday in 1924. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson made Father's Day a holiday to be celebrated on the third Sunday of June. The holiday was not officially recognized until 1972, during the presidency of Richard Nixon.

In recent years, retailers have adapted to the holiday by promoting greeting cards and male-oriented gifts such as electronics and tools. Schools and other children's programs commonly have activities to make Father's Day gifts.

True Blood is an American television drama series created and produced by Alan Ball. It is based on the Sookie Stackhouse book series (known as The Southern Vampire Mysteries) by Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It is produced by HBO in association with Ball's production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. It premiered on 7 September 2008.

The show's second 12-episode season premiered on 14 June 2009. Alan Ball has said that he plans to start shooting the third season before Christmas 2009.

True Blood details the co-existence of vampires and humans in Bon Temps, a fictional small northern Louisiana town. The series centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress at a bar, who falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).

The first season received critical acclaim and won several awards, including one Golden Globe

Plot

Following the creation of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) is a telepath and waitress at Merlotte's in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, owned by Sam Merlotte, a shapeshifter--though this secret is kept hidden. One night, Sookie meets Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old vampire who has returned to Bon Temps following the death of his last remaining relative. As she cannot hear his thoughts, she finds it easy to be in his company and over the first season, the two become romantically involved.

The main mystery of the first season concerns the murders of women connected to Sookie's brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). First Maudette Pickens, then Dawn Green, and Amy Burley, are all strangled shortly after having intercourse with Jason. Though the town sheriff suspects Jason is the killer, Jason and Sookie's grandmother is murdered shortly afterwards. At the end of the season it is revealed that Drew Marshall, posing as Rene Lenier, boyfriend of Arlene Fowler, is the killer.

In addition to the murders, the first season concentrates on Sookie's relationship with Bill, and Sam's relationship with Sookie's friend, Tara. Bill explains the rules of being a vampire to Sookie and, after he finds himself killing a vampire to defend Sookie, he is forced to sire a young girl as punishment. In the last episode of the season, the new vampire is left with Bill. After Maudette and Dawn's murders, Jason becomes addicted to vampire blood, "v-juice", and has a short relationship with another addict, Amy, which ends when she is murdered. At the end of season one, Jason joins the anti-vampire movement and seems to be clean.

The final episode ends with Detective Andy Bellefleur discovering a body in his car.

Cast and characters

Main characters

* Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic waitress in a small-town restaurant.

* Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a vampire with whom Sookie falls in love.

* Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), the owner of Merlotte's, where Sookie works. He is a shapeshifter, often watching over Sookie in the form of a dog.

* Jason Stackhouse (Ryan Kwanten), Sookie's brother, road crew supervisor for Bon Temps.

* Tara Thornton (Rutina Wesley), Sookie's best friend, bartender at Merlotte's (played by Brook Kerr in the unaired pilot).

* Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård), Sheriff of one of the five vampire districts, he is very powerful in the vampire community.

* Detective Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer), the detective investigating Jason Stackhouse.

* Lafayette Reynolds (Nelsan Ellis), Tara's cousin, short order cook at Merlotte's, drug dealer and prostitute.

* Benedict "Eggs" Talley (Mehcad Brooks) (Season 2— )

* Daphne (Ashley Jones), a new waitress at Merlotte's and love interest for Sam (Season 2— )

* Dr. Ludwig (Marcia DeRousse) (Season 2— )

* Eden Hamby (Annalise Basso) Jessica's little sister (Season 2— )

* Godric (Allan Hyde), a 2,000 year old vampire who looks like a teenager (Season 2— )

* Hadley Hale, Sookie's cousin (Season 2— )

* Isabel Beaumont (Valerie Cruz), an elegant, Hispanic vampire (Season 2— )

* Rev. Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian), head of the Fellowship of the Sun, an anti-vampire church that Jason joins (Season 2— )

* Sarah Newlin (Anna Camp), wife of Rev. Steve Newlin (Season 2— )

* Sophie-Anne Leclerq (Evan Rachel Wood), the vampiric Queen of Louisiana, even more powerful than Eric (Season 2— )

* Stan (Ed Quinn), Godric's lieutenant in Texas (Season 2— )

Supporting characters

* Arlene Fowler (Carrie Preston), a waitress working with Sookie.

* Hoyt Fortenberry (Jim Parrack), a friend of Jason and Rene who works on the road crew.

* Sheriff Bud Dearborne (William Sanderson), the town sheriff.

* Pam (Kristin Bauer), assistant to Eric and bouncer in his bar; "made" (turned into a vampire) by Eric.

* Maryann Forrester (Michelle Forbes), a wealthy, mysterious "social worker."

* Lettie Mae Thornton (Adina Porter), Tara's abusive, alcoholic mother.

* Terry Bellefleur (Todd Lowe), cousin of Detective Andy Bellefleur, Iraq war veteran, and bartender at Merlotte's.

* Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll), a young vampire "made" by Bill as a part of his punishment for murdering a fellow vampire.

* Lorena (Mariana Klaveno), a cruel vampire, who "made" Bill at the end of the Civil War.

* Nan Flanagan (Jessica Tuck), the spokeswoman and 'face' of the America Vampire League.

* The Magister (Željko Ivanek), a vampire who sentenced Bill for murdering a fellow vampire.

Deceased characters

* Maudette Pickens (Danielle Sapia), a local woman who videotapes sexual encounters with vampire Liam and with Jason Stackhouse. Killed by Drew Marshall.

* Mack Rattray (James Jean Parks) and Denise Rattray (Karina Logue), a lowlife couple who attempt to drain Bill Compton of his blood. Killed by Bill.

* Dawn Green (Lynn Collins), Sookie's co-worker and friend, Jason's girlfriend. Killed by Drew Marshall.

* Adele Hale Stackhouse (Lois Smith), Sookie and Jason's grandmother, nicknamed "Gran". Killed by Drew Marshall.

* Uncle Bartlett (Cheyenne Wilbur), Sookie's pedophile great-uncle. Killed by Bill.

* Malcolm (Andrew Rothenberg), Liam (Graham Shiels) and Diane (Aunjanue Ellis), vampire acquaintances of Bill Compton who live together in a "nest" and don't wish to mainstream. Burnt alive with Neil Jones.

* Neil Jones (Kevin Michael McHale), coroner's assistant and closet fangbanger. Burnt alive with Malcolm, Liam and Diane.

* Longshadow (Raoul Trujillo), first bartender of Fangtasia. Staked by Bill.

* Eddie Gautier (Stephen Root), a vampire supplying V for Lafayette. Staked by Amy.

* Amy Burley (Lizzy Caplan), Jason Stackhouse's bohemian, drug-addicted love interest. Killed by Drew Marshall.

* Drew Marshall/Rene Lenier (Michael Raymond-James), Arlene's "Cajun" fiancee who works on the road crew with Jason Stackhouse. Beheaded by Sookie.

* Miss Jeanette (Aisha Hinds), a drugstore clerk who performs phony exorcisms on the side. Had her heart cut out.

Production

Development history

Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with premium cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, which ran for five seasons. In October 2005, after Six Feet Under's finale, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mystery books. One day, while early for a dentist appointment, Ball was browsing through Barnes and Noble and came across Dead Until Dark, the first installment in Harris' series. Enjoying it, he read the following entries and became interested in "bringing Harris' vision to television." However, Harris had two other adaptation options for the books when Ball approached her. She said she chose to work with him, though, because "[Ball] really ‘got’ me. That’s how he convinced me to go with him. I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books.”

The project's hour-long pilot was ordered concurrently with the finalization of the aforementioned development deal and was written, directed and produced by Ball. Cast members Paquin, Kwanten and Trammell were announced in February 2007 and Moyer later on in April. The pilot was shot in the early summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in August, at which point Ball had already written several more episodes. Production on the series began later that fall, with Brook Kerr, who portrayed Tara Thornton in the original pilot, being replaced by Rutina Wesley. Two more episodes of the series had been filmed before the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike shut production of the 12-episode first season down until 2008. That September, after only the first two episodes of the series aired, HBO placed a second season order of twelve episodes on the show and scheduled for production to commence in January 2009 for a summer premiere.

Opening title sequence

True Blood's title sequence was created by Digital Kitchen, a production studio that was also responsible for creating the title sequence of Six Feet Under. The sequence, which is primarily composed of portrayals of the show's deep South setting, is played to "Bad Things" by Jace Everett

onceptually, Digital Kitchen elected to construct the sequence around the idea of "the whore in the house of prayer" by intermingling contradictory images of sex, violence and religion and displaying them from the point of view of "a supernatural, predatory creature observing human beings from the shadows ..." Digital Kitchen also wished to explore ideas of redemption and forgiveness, and thus arranged for the sequence to progress from morning to night and to culminate in a baptism.

Most of the footage used in the sequence was filmed on location by Digital Kitchen. Crew members took a four-day trip to Louisiana to film and also shot at a Chicago church and on a stage and in a bar in Seattle. Additionally, several Digital Kitchen crew members made cameo appearances in the sequence: Executive Producer Mark Bashore portrays a bar patron who dances with a woman and later gets into a confrontation; Bashore's sons appear as young boys messily consuming red berries; a Digital Kitchen office assistant and an assistant editor appear as weeping religious women and two producers, in one of the sequence's final shots, portray men baptising a Cajun woman.

In editing the opening, Digital Kitchen wanted to express how "religious fanaticism" and "sexual energy" could corrupt humans and make them animalistic. Accordingly, several frames of some shots were cut to give movements a jittery feel, while other shots were simply played back very slowly. Individual frames were also splattered with drops of blood. The sequence's transitions were constructed differently, though; they were made with a Polaroid transfer technique. The last frame of one shot and the first frame of another were taken as a single Polaroid photo, which was then divided between emulsion and backing. The emulsion was then filmed being further separated by chemicals and those shots of this separation were placed back into the final edit.

Eight different typefaces, inspired by Southern road signage, were also created manually by Camm Rowland for cast and crew credits, as well as the show's title card.

Music

Gary Calamar, the music supervisor for the series, said his goal for the soundtrack to the show that is to create something "swampy, bluesy and spooky" and to feature local Louisiana musicians.

The main theme song is "Bad Things" by country music artist Jace Everett, from his 2005 self-titled debut.

Composer Nathan Barr writes the original score for the series which features cello, guitar, prepared piano and glass harmonica among other instruments, all of which he performs himself. Nathan Barr's original score for True Blood will be released on CD in August 2009.

Elektra/Atlantic Records released a True Blood soundtrack on May 19, 2009, the same day as the release of the DVD and Blu-Ray of the first season.

Both Nathan Barr and Jace Everett won 2009 awards from Broadcast Music Incorporated in the BMI Cable Awards category for, respectively, True Blood's original score and theme song.

Viral marketing campaign

he premiere of True Blood was prefaced with a viral marketing/alternate reality game (ARG) campaign, based at BloodCopy.com. This included setting up multiple websites, encoding web address into unmarked envelopes mailed to high profile blog writers and others, and even performances by a "vampire" who attempted to reach out to others of their kind, to discuss the recent creation of "TruBlood", a fictional beverage which is featured in the show.

A MySpace account with the username "Blood" had, as of June 19, uploaded two videos; one entitled "Vampire Taste Test - Tru Blood vs Human", and one called "BloodCopy Exclusive INTERVIEW WITH SAMSON THE VAMPIRE".

A prequel comic was handed out to attendees of the 2008 Comic-Con. The comic centers around an old vampire named Lamar, who tells the reader about how TruBlood surfaced and was discussed between many vampires before going public. At one point, Lamar wonders if TruBlood is making the world safe for vampires or from them.

Several commercials featured on HBO and Facebook.com aired prior to the series premiere, placing vampires in ads similar to those of beer and wine. Some beverage vending machines across the US were also fitted with cards indicating that they were "sold out" of TruBlood.

Thousands of DVDs of the first episode were handed out to attendees of Midnight Madness, a special screenings event of the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival.

Blockbuster Video provided free rental of the first episode of True Blood several days before it was broadcast on HBO. The video had a faint promotional watermark throughout the episode.

On April 16, 2009, HBO released the first teaser poster for Season 2. The image uses a perspective technique that shows observers one of two images.

A minute-long promotional video advertising season two, which featured Bob Dylan's "Beyond Here Lies Nothin'," was released via Entertainment Tonight in early May.

Reception

The overall critical reception of True Blood has generally been favorable, despite the fact that initial impressions were mixed. The New York Post critic wrote of the opening episodes: "If HBO's new vampire show is any indication, there would still be countless deaths - especially among vampire hunters and the viewers who love them - because everyone would be dying of boredom. And so it is with HBO's new series from death-obsessed Alan Ball, creator of the legendary Six Feet Under, whose new show True Blood, won't so much make your blood run cold as it will leave you cold."

Whereas USA Today concluded: "Sexy, witty and unabashedly peculiar, True Blood is a blood-drenched Southern Gothic romantic parable set in a world where vampires are out and about and campaigning for equal rights. Part mystery, part fantasy, part comedy, and all wildly imaginative exaggeration, Blood proves that there's still vibrant life — or death — left in the "star-crossed lovers" paradigm. You just have to know where to stake your romantic claim."

By the end of the first series, True Blood had a score of 64. indicating generally favorable reviews, on Metacritic, the aggregator of critical responses.

Ratings

The first season of True Blood debuted at a very modest 1.44 million viewers compared to the network's past drama premiers such as Big Love which premiered at 4.56 million, and John from Cincinnati which debuted at 3.4 million.However, by late November 2008, 6.8 million a week were watching: this figure included repeat and on-demand viewings. The season finale's viewership was 2.4 million. True Blood has reportedly become HBO's most popular series since The Sopranos and Sex and the City.

The second season premiere of the series on June 14, 2009 was watched by 3.7 million viewers, making it the most watched program on HBO since the series finale of The Sopranos. The total number of viewers for the season premiere, including the late night replay, was 5.1 million.

Offbeat awards

True Blood won two 2009 awards at "Mr Skin's 10th Annual Anatomy Awards," which celebrate sex and nudity in motion pictures and television. True Blood won Best TV Show, and Lizzy Caplan won for "Best First-Time Nude Scene."

DVD release

The DVD and Blu-ray of Season One were released on May 19, 2009.