Pearl

A pearl is a hard object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusc. Just like the shell of a clam, a pearl is composed of calcium carbonate in minute crystalline form, which has been deposited in concentric layers. The ideal pearl is perfectly round and smooth, but many other shapes (baroque pearls) occur. The finest quality natural pearls have been highly valued as gemstones and objects of beauty for many centuries. Because of this, pearl has become a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable.

The most valuable pearls occur spontaneously in the wild, but are extremely rare. These wild pearls are referred to as natural pearls. Cultured or farmed pearls from pearl oysters and freshwater mussels make up the majority of those currently sold. Imitation pearls are also widely sold in inexpensive jewelry, but the quality of their iridescence is usually very poor and is easily distinguished from that of genuine pearls. Pearls have been harvested and cultivated primarily for use in jewelry, but in the past were also used to adorn clothing. They have also been crushed and used in cosmetics, medicines and paint formulations.

Pearl (literary magazine)

Pearl was an American literary journal published between 1974 and 2014 in Long Beach, California.

History and profile

Pearl was founded by Joan Jobe Smith in 1974. The first issue appeared in May 1974. It was edited by Joan Jobe Smith, Marilyn Johnson, and Barbara Hauk. Pearl was based in Long Beach. It released an annual fiction issue and an annual poetry issue as well as hosting an annual poetry prize.

After several issues published Pearl went defunct until 1986 when Joan Jobe Smith and Marilyn Johnson relaunched it.

The magazine ceased publication in 2014.

Contributors

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External links

Pearl (disambiguation)

A pearl is a hard object produced by mollusks.

Pearl may also refer to:

People

Nicknamed Pearl

Places

Literature

Music

Girl

A girl is a female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood when she becomes a woman. The term girl may also be used to mean a young woman, and is often used as a synonym for daughter.

Etymology

The English word girl first appeared during the Middle Ages between 1250 and 1300 CE and came from the Anglo-Saxon words gerle (also spelled girle or gurle). The Anglo-Saxon word gerela meaning dress or clothing item also seems to have been used as a metonym in some sense.

Girl has meant any young unmarried woman since about 1530. Its first noted meaning for sweetheart is 1648. The earliest known appearance of girl-friend is in 1892 and girl next door, meant as a teenaged female or young woman with a kind of wholesome appeal, dates only to 1961.

Usage for adults

The word girl is sometimes used to refer to an adult female, usually a younger one. This usage may be considered derogatory or disrespectful in professional or other formal contexts, just as the term boy can be considered disparaging when applied to an adult man. Hence, this usage is often deprecative. It can also be used deprecatively when used to discriminate against children ("you're just a girl").

Girls (Beastie Boys song)

"Girls" is a song by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys, released in 1987 as well as the music video as the seventh and final single from their debut album Licensed to Ill. Like "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)", this song was never performed live and it is one of the few songs on the album that are not in the vein of their standard rap songs.

Song structure and lyrics

The song is the shortest on the album, lasting just over 2 minutes long. The song's instrumental is relatively simple, consisting of a drum beat being played over a vibraphone loop, with occasional pauses. The song contains many similarities to the song "Shout" by The Isley Brothers.

Lyrically, the song talks about the narrator (Ad-Rock)'s desire for women. He recalls a experience from two years before with a woman who had an interest in the narrator's band mate MCA. MCA did not share her feelings and permitted the narrator to pursue her romantically. Ad-Rock takes the woman for a walk near a body of water and asks for her hand. The woman rejects his proposal. She moves to a far away location but in the present day the narrator sees her back in town showing interest in his other band mate, Mike D.

Girls (N-Dubz song)

"Girls" is a song by British hip hop group N-Dubz. It is the third overall single taken from their third studio album, Love.Live.Life. The single was released as a digital download on 12 December 2010. The song was produced by Jim Jonsin and written by Tulisa, Dappy and Fazer, Jim Jonsin, Danny Morris, and Zachary Steiner Anderson. The single debuted on the UK Singles Chart on 5 December 2010, peaking at #23, based entirely on downloads from the album.

Music video

The music video premiered on T4 on 5 December 2010. The video begins with Dappy sitting on a throne, girls queue up two by two to kiss him. We see the group singing in front of lights throughout the video. The screen cuts to Dappy with a girl with snow falling on them. After the first chorus, Tulisa is seen playing poker with a group of men, she wins the game and kisses the female dealer, who is in fact Lady Ny, a fellow singer and one of Tulisa's best friends. Fazer is then seen in front of the same backdrop as the single cover, four screens with women dancing behind them. Skepta makes a cameo in the video wearing a Boy Better Know chain. The clean version has alternate shots for when the profanity words are edited out.

Sandy (novel)

Sandy is the third book written by Alice Hegan Rice, and was the second best-selling novel in the United States in 1905. It was originally published in serial form in The Century Magazine from December 1904 through May 1905, and first appeared in novel form in April 1905.

The novel is based on the boyhood stories of S. S. McClure, publisher of McClure's magazine, and his upbringing in Ireland and early struggles in the United States.

Plot

A contemporary synopsis of the novel's plot describes it as follows:

This is the story of a young Irish boy named Sandy Kilday, who at the age of sixteen, being without home or relatives, decides to try his luck in the new country across the sea. Accordingly, he slips aboard one of the big ocean liners as a stowaway, but is discovered before the voyage is half over and in spite of his entreaties is told he must be returned by the next steamer. Sandy, however, who has a winning way and sunny smile, arouses the interest of the ship's doctor, who pays his passage and gives him some money with which to start his new life. On the voyage Sandy has made friends with a lad in steerage named Ricks Wilson, who earns his living by peddling, and he decides to join him in this career. Sandy has also been deeply impressed by the face of a lovely young girl who is one of the cabin passengers and when he discovers that she is Miss Ruth Nelson of Kentucky he decides to make that state his destination. He and Ricks remain companions for sometime although Sandy's strong sense of honor causes disagreements as to the methods of their dealings. Sandy finally becomes disgusted with this life and after catching a glimpse of Ruth at a circus, where he is dispensing his wares in a humorous manner, he decides to abandon it altogether.