Graduation Transitions: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve spent my entire life living in Edmonton and Calgary. Also, having raised children in both cities, I believe I can offer you a “family” based response. Someone else may be able to offer a different perspective for singles or couples.I’ve found Edmonton to be a wonderful place to raise children. There are a multitude of unique areas to choose to live including suburban areas like Sherwood Park, St. Albert or Spruce Grove.The public/separate schools are, for the most part, excellent with a variety of specialized programs to choose from. Whether you’re considering a sports academy or are interested in your children learning Mandarin, you’ll be able to find them within the public/separate schools.Further, after children have graduated from public schooling, there are several highly regarded post secondary institutions available. Naming just a few, Grant MacEwan University is well known for their diploma and degree programs. Class sizes are, typically, smaller-giving students transitioning from high school the opportunity to know their Professors much better. It has come to be a first choice school over the past fifteen to twenty years for undergraduate studies. The University of Alberta, by comparison, has thousands of students frequently resulting in hundreds of students in lecture halls of the popular 100 and 200 classes. Where the U of A truly excels is in post graduate studies. There is high demand for spots in Master’s and Doctorate spaces with highly regarded graduates. Edmonton is also most fortunate to be the home of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). This is an amazing school for individuals interested in studying the trades and/or multitude of other technological careers. Employers frequently scoop up students following graduation.Another extremely positive aspect of metropolitan Edmonton is the recreation and arts opportunities. There is miles and miles of parkland and trails within the city river valley. One of the best known park is Hawrelak Park, just north of the University of Alberta. It is a super place for skating and cross country skiing in the winter. It has also been home to huge ice castles (that can be toured for a fee) the past few years. After the temperatures warm up it turns into an ideal place for picnics, etc. A few of Edmonton’s festivals are also located in this park-the largest being the Heritage Festival held the end of July/beginning of August. Of note is that there are festivals of different themes occurring nearly every weekend through all of the summer months.Aside from the river valley parks, there are recreation centres throughout the city, a variety of arts studios (drama, painting, music and dance to name a few), and other outdoor areas. Should there be interest in attending professional arts events or professional sports events, Edmonton has its NHL hockey team, the Edmonton Oilers, which play at Roger’s Place; its CFL football team, the Edmonton Eskimos, which plays at Commonwealth Stadium; the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; regular theatre productions and many (touring)high profile performing artist’s shows. Those with green thumbs would enjoy the Muttart Conservatory and/or the Devonian Gardens while families could have a ton of fun at Fort Edmonton or the Edmonton Valley Zoo. Another favourite for families is the Royal Alberta Museum and the Edmonton TELUS World of Science. Other venues not previously mentioned include the Citadel Theatre, the Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, and smaller theatres located throughout the metropolitan area.Being a woman, the other consideration for me would be shopping. We have the West Edmonton Mall located here which includes, among other things, an indoor amusement park and a huge wave pool with water slides. Southgate Mall is also a wonderful place to shop, particularly if you’re looking for more unique items. There is a discount mall located very close the the International Airport and numerous Costco stores throughout. There is definitely no scarcity of large grocery stores located all throughout the area either.One of the best parts of the city, based on my personal experience, is that generally speaking Edmontonians are quite grounded people. Of course there are always exceptions, but I have found a minimum of “keep up with the Jones’s” type individuals. I particularly appreciated this as my children grew to be teens. Raising teens can be challenging at the best of times without this additional pressure.All in all, I would suggest that Edmonton is a wonderful location to live-especially for families. As long as you have awareness and are prepared for the seasonal variations in weather, your family will love it here.

They got it backwards. “Lights. Camera. Action!” describes a take for a film. Long before that ever happens, however, there needs to be a whole lot preliminary actions first. Filmmaker Priscilla Goh shares many of the actions she took to prepare herself for a career in film. Her journey will both surprise and inspire you. She follows her passion and it takes her to new places and spaces.***********************************************************************QuestionsCan you tell us a little about your family and growing up. How did your family instill your interest in global views and education?My family is a relatively stereotypical local family that Singaporeans would call ‘heartlander’ – they still live in public housing, and my uncle carries on my grandmother’s intestine stew stall in one of Singapore’s famous hawker centres. Most of us feel more comfortable speaking a pidgin of Mandarin, Chinese dialects, and Singlish (the local English-based Creole).Despite being your typical Singaporean middle-aged man from Singapore’s now-defunct Chinese-medium education system, my father also had his eyes on the world, and looked for global things he could make local. He was part of the team that brought Starbucks to Singapore in the 90s, heralding the start of (western) coffee culture in Singapore. All the hipster cafes that are in vogue now might turn up their noses at anything mainstream, but there is no denying that café culture in Singapore started with Starbucks’ arrival. (Naturally, the first store was on Orchard Road, but more that later.)Like most middle-income Singaporean households in examination-crazed Singapore, education was a priority. Apparently, when I was a toddler, my mum would pretend to read so that I would follow her example! She would fall asleep behind the book, and I would continue flipping through the pages of my own tomes, none the wiser. Even when my dad left his well-established job to set up his own consultant company during what many consider to be the most crucial year of a Singaporean child’s life (the Primary 6 School Leaving Examinations), they made sure that I was not distracted by monetary concerns. They stoked my competitive spirit by racing to complete the same math paper and would even play ping-pong on a coffee table with me during study breaks. Eventually, I scored well enough to enter one of the more selective Secondary Schools in Singapore.Secondary school was a little harder, where I experienced (academic) failure for the first time. There is a saying that a big fish in a small pond is a small fish in a big pond, and coming from my little neighbourhood primary school, entering a brand-name school with its own traditions, history, and high standards was a little of a culture shock. My Math, Science, and Mandarin grades took a sharp turn downwards even though they were the only subjects I ever spent time studying.This stress was possibly part of the reason I jumped at the chance to apply for National Junior College’s new Integrated Programme, where students would be allowed to skip the Secondary 4 ‘O’ levels, which meant that I would not have to be examined so much for those subjects, since I could specialize in the humanities for my high school ‘A’ levels.You attended NJC in Singapore. For those who are not familiar with NJC can you describe your experience there? Do you think NJC prepares students in ways to look beyond borders?National Junior College is the first 2-year high school in Singapore, which had our current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in its first intake. In 2004, they embarked on an experiment with a 4-year system. I was one of the first batch of a interesting collection of hundred and twenty-something lab rats that were probably chosen for interesting personalities and various specializations. I have two close ex-classmates in Geneva now – one as a violinist and the other in CERN.The ‘integrated’ approach saw us taking cross-subject modules, which was instrumental in shaping the way I look at things now. I feel that everything is connected in some way and no subject is an island. In a way, studying different subjects can only enhance an artists’ work – you need something to make the work about. Almost all of us also had a leadership position in organizations by our final year, as we had more than the two years most other students had to devote ourselves to our CCAs (CIOs).Picture of High School ClassWhy did you decide to pursue university in the US? Can you describe how you went about choosing schools to apply to and why you ended up at Uva?I applied to a grand total of 6 universities, 2 local and 4 in the US. I would not have applied to any overseas universities if not for my college counselor in NJC, who recommended that we cast our nets further. He recommended UVA due to its (relatively) lower costs, as well as three other liberal arts colleges. For some reason, I did not get into my safety schools (Oberlin and Lafayette), but got waitlisted at Middlebury.Locally, I was offered a scholarship to study English and History at the National University of Singapore, but I did feel a fear of being pigeonholed too early. The exploratory time given to undergraduates in the US system definitely appealed to me. As for the matter of cost, that year, my dad miraculously got a job that would pay for a couple of years of out of state tuition. I am grateful to my parents for investing in my education rather than putting it towards a housing upgrade. The 8-month gap that Singaporeans have between the end of high school and the start of college was also a great opportunity to get jobs and save up some cash– I waited on tables, sold watches, and taught the ‘General Paper’ subject as a relief teacher.Can you talk about your transition to the US and to your university? Was it easier or harder than you expected?As a first-generation college student, I embarked on a journey halfway across the world with no idea of what awaited me. For example, when I read that UVA was 30% Greek, I thought it meant that 30% of the student population was from the Greece. Luckily, I did get to have my UVA “Greek” experience eventually, by going on a Slow Food module in Thessaloniki during my Third Year Spring Break under the International Residential College Special Modules.Singaporeans are largely fluent in English and familiar with American Pop Culture, so I was more derailed with the details of setting up a new life, like opening a bank account and generally getting every thing together to start school. I definitely have to thank my friends’ parents who helped me get settled in! However, I still had a few funny instances of misunderstandings; someone told me that I had a ‘sick’ voice after an audition, and I spent the whole night dosing myself with herbal medicine.Can you talk a bit about what you decided to study? Did you find a mentor either among the faculty or among students?I ended up majoring in Foreign Affairs (East Asia) and was also in the Distinguished Major Programme for my other major of Studio Art (Painting and Cinematography). Though, in first year, I considered Pre-Comm like most other Singaporeans/Internationals (I had told my parents that I might try getting into McIntire when persuading them to let me come here, and that turned out to be true because our art department is called the McIntire Department of Art). Other majors that I considered taking were History, English (Writing), and Music.I chose those two as a balance between practicality and passion. Politics, was, of course, the more practical of the two. I loved studying it, but my mouth would probably cause a lot of sticky situations by running off. Also, modern/contemporary art is largely influenced by political movements, so that’s an example of an integrated view, I think.I had great Politics professors that I could talk to individually, like Professor Leonard Schoppa and Professor Herman Schwartz. Professor Schwartz was really approachable – a few of us had lunch with him on more than one occasion. He was also really knowledgeable about Singapore’s political scene.For art, I had Professor Megan Marlatt, who taught me my first drawing class, hooking me into art. I eventually had her again in Advanced Painting, and chased her around Ruffin with a face covered in lipstick threatening to kiss her after the making of this performance piece: RedI also had Professor Kevin Everson, who is still a great friend and mentor. (And to whom I still owe many DVDs of my recent work.) Among other instances of bringing us to watch interesting films or letting us exhibit in different places, he also brought us to New York when he was selected to be part of the Whitney Biennale, and it was amazing to see firsthand what the process of being an artist is really like.Professor Kevin Everson and some ‘film phucs’ at an exhibition they put up, Downtown CharlottesvilleCan you describe your study abroad experience? Looking back on your undergraduate experience do you have advice for students about how to get the most out of their time at university?I think college should be a time to leave your comfort zone and try out things you have not tried out before if you have the opportunity to do so.I jumped to join the Opera CIO in UVA (Opera Viva), because I did not have the resources to be in the scene when I was growing up, and there wasn’t much of one anyway. (Currently though, it has improved, with the establishment of a new arts school, and 2 other opera companies.) To catch up, I signed up for vocal lessons in year 2, and managed to get into the advanced class by year 3. In year 4, I was able to plan my own recital with two other voice students of Dr. Lil Hsieh.Priscilla at her recital, year 4, enacting a piece from Donizetti’s Daughter of the RegimentI also had not tried art as an examinable subject previously, or been scouted by Singapore’s talent scouts to be placed in the Art Elective Programme at an early age. A senior recommended that I sign up for a drawing class, and I ended up hooked. In second year, I showed a promotional video I did for the Singapore Students’ Association to Cinematography Professor Kevin Everson, and he let me into his class, and I eventually got a chance to be part of the Distinguished Art Major Programme and hold my final exhibition in Ruffin Gallery.Still, of course, this would not have been possible without the academic freedom of a US-style education. (The first video that Priscilla was ever involved with is here . It was made for the Singapore Students’ AssociationHow would you describe how well you integrated into the university community? What sorts of activities did you join? Who did you hang out with?I definitely went beyond my immediate cultural group of Singaporeans. Perhaps I took my own advice of leaving one’s comfort zone too far, and joined a great too many activities, and overloaded credits for every single semester since year 2. (laughs) I remember the crazy last month of school I had – each week was devoted to the final culmination of my college life – a final politics paper, my final Opera Viva performance as part of the Chorus in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, my voice recital, and then my final art exhibition.The main organizations that I stuck with for most of the years were the International Residential College, Opera Viva, Chi Alpha, and of course the Singapore Students’ Association.I lived at the IRC for the entirety of my student life, and had great friends among the longer-term residents there. One of them brought me to her Thanksgiving/Christmas family gatherings for a couple of years! I was also Minister of Interior for my third and fourth year, overseeing events for the community, as well as running the weekly stall news in toilets in all four buildings. (Talk about an early start to potty humour.) I also institutionalized the Cooking Coalition, which aimed to foster community bonding through food. We introduced food from various cultures with cultural group tie-ups, (Singaporeans contributed kaya toast a couple of times) as well as ate local with cookouts that saw residents barbecuing things they had picked out that very morning at the Farmer’s Market. There were cooking classes taught by students – I taught one about how to make Asian-style soy milk from scratch. We even had a chocolate Valentine making session with delivery to residents’ doors. All of these were and still should be free for IRC residents. The IRC is a great place and community to be with – it’s not entirely ‘International’ like some people think, only about 50/50, and sometimes ‘International’ includes Americans who lived overseas previously.For Opera Viva, I was involved in every of their productions for 4 years, singing in 6 of them. If I wasn’t on stage, I did backstage stuff like lighting and designing the promotional shirts. I was also involved with the Executive Board, first as the secretary, then as a Member-At-Large, which is a position that takes care of the welfare of the members and relays their concerns to the Board. The only long-term international for my stint there, I had to learn how to enunciate better for an American audience.Priscilla, rightmost, in the all-female avant-garde interpretation of Gluck’s Orfeo ed EuridiceI also developed a close bond with students a.k.a “film phucs” in the film programme, a.k.a “The Gutter”, and close friendships with a few political science students despite the size of the cohort. Overall, I would say that I made great American and International friends – I went to visit one in Taiwan, and a few even came to Singapore for my wedding! One film phuc also Skyped in for the TV premiere of Man Vs Birds.Priscilla’s Wedding “UVA” photoPriscilla and Sebra Yen (CLAS ’12 Foreign Affairs) in Taiwan, with their respective flagsForgive me if I get some of this wrong but I will do my best. On a list you posted about your immediate plans after graduation you describe a number of things but the vast majority of them have to do with film. Can you talk about how you first became interested in film and then how you got experience in this field.Most of my Singaporean friends know me to be an ‘Opera Nerd’, and hence they were all very surprised when I showed up in the film industry when I came back. To clarify: part of the reason I fell in love with opera in the first place was because I thought it was the perfect mix of art forms: you have Literature in the libretto, Music in the score, Acting/Dancing on stage, and Art for the backdrop/scenery/costumes. Film is like a digital form of opera to me because it requires knowledge and skill in more than one area – from scriptwriting, to scoring, to filming, to editing, to lighting… Maybe I’ll do an opera film one day!With my practical-minded Singaporean background as a guide, I reasoned that I should look at the broadcast and film industry as something I could possibly find a job in. There was also a day when I was so engrossed in editing one of my films that I didn’t know it was midnight – I had started at noon. Hence, I thought: “Hey, this is a possible job where I won’t get bored too much while doing!”Even with that in mind, it was still hard to break into an industry where I knew no one locally, because I had not studied film in Singapore. My big break came when, a few months after graduation, Professor Kevin Everson connected me with an alumni in China, who was looking for bilingual editors for The Amazing Race: China Rush (Season 3). Seeing that my Mandarin proficiency was near native (at least, better than most Americans), I was offered a post to edit the fully-Mandarin Masterchef (Season 1) as well. It was like being dropped right into the deep end of a swimming pool with only theoretical swimming lessons to go by, but hopefully I didn’t cause anyone else to drown. It also turned out to be a good thing that I was there, because the Malaysian contestants of the Amazing Race sometimes spoke too quickly in their local creole (similar to Singlish) for anyone else outside of this area of the world to understand.Since that time you have been busy. Can you talk about what you have done with Oak3 films? And what this is.After returning from China, I joined a local company that mainly makes local TV programmes. I edited a variety of shows from preschool programmes to ministry-sponsored ‘docu-drama’ reenactments for MediaCorp, the biggest local broadcaster, which is public and free-to-air, something like PBS. I was also given the chance to edit an in-house feature film, Ms J Contemplates Her Choice, which premiered last year at the Singapore International Film Festival and was shown in cinemas 2 July this year.In June 2014, after a bout of carpel tunnel, I requested a switch to the content development department, where I wrote concepts and pitched them to broadcasters. Four of my concepts got shortlisted for a face-to-face pitch, and one was even put into production – a pre-school puppet/animated series called Super Rover and Friends that will be on TV in September this year. The writing and pitching experience gained from those three months turned out to be invaluable when we got news of the upcoming Discovery open call for first-time filmmakers.From concept to reality: Super Rover and Friends. Premiering September on MediaCorp’s okto channel.I do hope you can take time to describe the story of Man Vs. Birds.Man Vs. Birds starts on Orchard Road, a famous 2.2km tree-lined boulevard of shopping malls in Singapore, where 5000 to 7000 birds (largely Javan Mynahs, with significant populations of House Crows and Asian Glossy Starlings) roost each night. Of course, during the day, loads of Rock Pigeons come as well, but they roost in the air-conditioning compressor ledges of the nearby buildings instead. This has resulted in a deafening cacophony that drowns out all buskers and traffic, as well as a daily patter of bird droppings that requires 3000 litres of high-pressured water to clean daily.Or course, as Orchard Road is Singapore’s most visited free-entry tourist attraction, this throws a spanner into the works for the local authorities, who are ardent sticklers for cleanliness. (I’m sure Singapore’s relationship with chewing gum sticking to our streets is widely known.) It has to solve the problem before the biggest Christmas Light-Up yet, where everything has to be spick and span. A previous attempt with a hawk to scare the flocks resulted in failure, as the bird was traumatized by the sheer number of birds and the urban environment.Javan Mynahs fighting on Orchard Road, and Coming into Orchard RoadA team of “Avengers” is gathered, and it includes an Avian Genomics professor and his research assistant from the National University of Singapore, an arborist, a pest-bird-control specialist, and even the designer of the Christmas Lights.An arborist climbing a rain tree near the Orchard Area in our film.Through the documentary, we discover the bird situation island-wide. Non-pest birds are actually suffering, with shrinking habitats bisected by new highways causing less geneflow. Reflective glass in modern buildings also cause them to crash into structures, because it reflects the image of the sky. Dead migratory and forest birds have been found in Orchard Road, as birds on flyways see its river of green in a patch of grey and unwittingly break their necks against windows when they fly close. We also discover that the pest species are actually invasive – House Crows and Javan Mynahs came from India and Java respectively in the early 1900s due to the booming entrepot trade when Singapore was a Crown Colony, riding on ships, or sold as pets.We also showcase another tourist attraction – Changi Airport, which has been frequently named the best airport in the world. They have their own bird problem too – birdstrikes, which can cost a lot of human lives and multi-million dollar damages when huge flocks are ingested into the engines. Through a efficient yet humane system of scare systems and the removal of attractants, the airfields are kept safe. However, this cannot be imported into Orchard Road because the motivations of the birds are different – the birds come to the airfields to feed, but they go to Orchard Road to roost, as the lush canopy of well-maintained heritage trees is extremely attractive to them. Due to their large numbers and high motivation, scare systems will not work, and barrier systems are unwieldy for trees.Further genetic studies show that the Javan Mynah population in Singapore is panmictic, which means that even if the flock on Orchard Road is removed, Javan mynahs from other parts of the island will simply take their place. The person who eventually ‘solves’ the problem is the Lighting Designer, who designs a way to work around the problem with a self-cleaning system utilizing the December monsoon rains.At the end, we question whether it is a real conflict, and advocate for further ways that man and wildlife can live together, with eco-bridges for them across highways, and rehabilitated wetlands. Singapore is actually a paradise for some wildlife, and we still have significant primary rainforest tracts with more species than the entirety of North America.How long have you been working on this film, and how did it all start?As for the process, we found out about the programme sometime in June, filmed a teaser reel in July, submitted the application in August, were invited for a 2-day workshop and pitch in October. The open call had defined a “First-Time Filmmaker” as someone who had not directed an international production, not necessarily someone who had not directed before. My partner and I had experience in the pre- and post- aspects of a production, but not the actual production itself, with a crew and everything. Hence, those two days were one of the most nervous times of my life, even more so than in the making of the actual film!There were around 50 proposals submitted, 14 shortlisted for a face-to-face pitch, and 5 chosen eventually. We were notified of Discovery’s decision early in November, and began shooting the Christmas light set-up and rehearsal on November 13 & 14. November 15 was the light-up ceremony, attended by the President of Singapore (gulp!) so we were thrown into the thick of things right from the start, right until we wrapped filming on April 26. Post production started late March, and ended late June, with the urban premiere on July 11 and the television premiere on July 16. All in all, it really took about a year!Filming of profiles on Orchard Road, 5th MarchHow did you decide on the topic?The idea struck me (literally) on the head one day outside Oak3’s office after lunch, and I ran screaming back into the office to wash it off. Colleagues alternatively mentioned humourously that it would make for good television, and repeated the local superstition that one would win the lottery if one got struck by bird droppings.At the same time, my partner and I had been talking about Singapore’s mall culture and history, with the country’s 50thyear of independence coming up. Orchard Road is unique because it is the longest street of malls in the world (as opposed to specialty stores in places like Fifth Avenue) and the streets are covered with a giant canopy of trees. Most brands enter Singapore through Orchard Road, where there now are 5000 stores, and there is a 30-year (and counting) tradition of Christmas lights.Orchard Road from above: Note the “river of treesIn a way, it is also a microcosm of ‘Singapore Stories’, which is the title of the documentary series. It is emblematic of a multicultural Singapore; you have malls with English names (e.g. Wheelock Place), Chinese names (e.g. 義安城 translated as ‘Ngee Ann City’), Bahasa (Wisma Atria and Plaza Singapura). Each of these malls also celebrate different cultures: Ngee Ann City follows the traditional Buddhist-Taoist-Ancestral religion that the majority of Chinese in Singapore adhere to, with celebrations of deities throughout the year, and a 7th month Hungry Ghost Festival with ‘Getai’ singers. Its design also follows the rules of Fengshui. On the other hand, there’s Tangs, which is an example of the early Singaporean Chinese Presbytarian community – they used to close on Sundays until the 1990s. There is also a historic mosque behind Abercrombie and Fitch!Orchard Road’s development was also the ‘ground-up’ approach of individual pioneers in Singapore, in contrast to the ‘top-down planting’ of the shiny new Marina Bay. In the 1930s, C.K. Tang chose Orchard Road, then a plantation, as the site for his departmental store, (now called Tangs) noticing its strategic position between the homes and workplaces of the colonials. This strategic position was also discovered by Singapore’s first supermarket (with Singapore’s first soft-serve ice-cream machine), and other current stalwarts in the retail and entertainment industry like Cathay and Shaw. Of course, the birds also see it as a convenient location, and they have for as long as the people today can remember.I know I must sound like some sort of tourism ambassador now…Can you describe your vision for the film and then describe the premiere and what kind of feedback you have received?We wanted it to shatter preconceptions of the ‘boring’ television documentary, and hence added plenty of dramatic elements, as well as lots of humour.Response has been great from both the audience and the profiles themselves, who did not get to see the finished product before the premiere. We were initially worried about the reaction from the scientists, but they loved it – it’s quite a balanced scientifically-accurate view that we presented, despite the title.The first public screening of ‘Singapore Stories’ was the ‘Urban Screening’ – I didn’t expect there to be so many people. Hearing people laugh at the film, even at things we didn’t find funny ourselves, was great. In a way, it was like performing on stage, where you engage the audience and immediately feel/hear their feedback.Panoramic shot of the event (photo by J. Ng)Do you have advice for others who would love to be able to do what you have done with this film?(Puts on a Sage Hat)Finding a subject is often the most crucial thing in documentaries. It’s amazing what you can find when you open your eyes to your immediate surroundings. Stories are hidden all around you in plain sight.Also, don’t feel constricted by what you may or may not have studied. In fact, my film partner studied History and Business, another ‘weird combination’, at least for Singaporeans. No knowledge is wasted knowledge!Not everyone can be a filmmaker, but anyone can be a filmmaker!(Takes off Sage Hat)What are currently working on now?We are currently looking for festivals to submit the documentary to, and perhaps doing a longer Director’s Cut.Anything else you want to add?Catch the encore telecast of Man Vs. Birds in Singapore on 17 August at 6pm!This means ‘Good Luck’ if it falls on your head….***********************************************************************Priscilla’s story would, in itself, make a great film. She embodies traits that make for a strong leading character: intelligence, wit, grit and talent. How many of us are willing to leave home and country, turn down a scholarship and travel half a world away to study subjects that are not often thought of as leading to a job and career?How many of us, in other words, are brave enough to follow our passion? Priscilla’s decision to develop her Opera skills should be something that will encourage students to think about finding and then developing a passion. I hope too that her story will encourage parents to think about encouraging their sons and daughters to pursue a passion even if it does not initially marketable. But what I have just written is not the same as an open ended invitation to “follow your bliss”. Cal Newport, a smart guy who has written a lot of good things about learning has a video about what it really means to develop a passion:American culture is obsessed with the idea that we need to "find our passion" in order to be happy and successful. But there's a problem: "It's astonishingly bad piece of advice," says best-selling author Cal Newport. We have no pre-existing passion. Instead, passion is found by first building a rare and valuable talent and using it to take control of your career path. In other words, be so good and work so hard that no one can ignore you.Newport is not against passion but he is for building a talent as a part of the passion. Priscilla did this first by building her desire to learn in secondary school. I have visited untold thousands of schools during my career and met untold thousands of students. Most of these visits have disappeared in into the fog of memory. I can say, however, I can remember meeting Priscilla at her school in Singapore even though this was many years ago. Back then she had a spark that came across in ways that do not get assessed on the SAT or an A Level predicted grade. My interactions with students during visits and interviews convince me that schools that depend too much on numeric rubrics often miss out of personal traits that predict both the fit of the student for a particular school and the likelihood for continued success after graduation. The interview that Priscilla and Kylie Tan did for their film helps capture the passion for the subject but also underscores the amount of work and effort that went into this project.What I also found useful about Priscilla’s interview with me is that she demonstrates that the path one takes in life is hard to map out. What she found from learning the intricacies of opera actually helped her with her approach to film. More and more leaders in business and education are encouraging students to learn across disciplines in addition to developing just one or two deep skills. So while Newport is right about building a rare talent he leaves out how people need to learn that this talent may end up morphing and changing direction. The cliché of the moment in business these days is that they must learn to “pivot”. Students need to learn this too. Priscilla is a perfect example of someone who learned a lot about one thing and then learned to pivot. She is also an example of how liberal arts prepares people to success in ways that some are not aware of.I would like to thank Priscilla for sharing her story here. I wish that everyone could see her film. For the moment at least we can see the trailer by going hereI know we will be seeing and hearing a lot more from Priscilla in the coming years.

CairoNATIONAL CAPITAL, EGYPTWRITTEN BY:Janet L. Abu-LughodNezar AlSayyadLAST UPDATED:Oct 18, 2019See Article HistoryAlternative Titles: Al-Manṣūriyyah, Al-QāhirahCairo, Arabic Al-Qāhirah (“The Victorious”), city, capital of Egypt, and one of the largest cities in Africa. Cairo has stood for more than 1,000 years on the same site on the banks of theNile, primarily on the eastern shore, some 500 miles (800 km) downstream from the Aswān High Dam. Located in the northeast of the country, Cairo is the gateway to the Nile delta, where the lower Nile separates into the Rosetta and Damietta branches. Metropolitan Cairo is made up of the Cairo muḥāfazah (governorate), as well as other districts, some of which belong to neighbouring governorates such as Al-Jīzah and Qalūbiyyah. Area governorate, 83 square miles (214 square km). Pop. (2006) governorate, 7,786,640; (2005 est.) urban agglom., 11,128,000.CairoAn introduction to Cairo, including discussion of its population and views of its Nile riverbank, its major thoroughfares, and its souks (bazaars) in the central walled city.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Character Of The CityCairo is a place of physical contrast. Along the well-irrigated shoreline, lush vegetation shares the landscape with tall skyscrapers. In the older inland quarters to the east, however, beneath the foothills of the Eastern Desert and the rocky promontories of the Muqaṭṭam Hills and the Al-Jabal al-Aḥmar (Arabic: Red Mountain), browns and ochres are the dominant hues of land and buildings.The city juxtaposes ancient and new, East and West. The Pyramids of Giza, near Memphis, stand at the southwestern edge of the metropolis, and an obelisk in the northeast marks the site of Heliopolis, where Plato once studied; modern landmarks of Western-style high-rise hotels and apartment buildings overlook the Nile River. Between these extremes are other architectural monuments, dating from Roman, Arab, and Turkish times. In addition to department stores, cinemas, hotels, and town houses, Cairo contains a large functioning bazaar and an extensive, semi-walled medieval city endowed with more than 400 registered historic monuments—including mosques, mausoleums, and massive stone gates—dating to 130 CE.Pyramids of Giza, southwest of Cairo, Egypt.© Digital Vision/Getty ImagesCity siteCairo is fan-shaped, narrowest in the south, where the river valley is wedged between desert escarpments, and widest in the north, where the valley blends into the delta. Over the centuries the city expanded westward, as a receding river channel left land flood-free. In response to heightened demand, however, the city also has been elongated to the north and south and has developed an expanding annex on the Nile’s western shore.Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner)ClimateCairo has only two seasons: approximately eight months of summer and four months of winter. In the hottest of the summer months—June, July, and August—the average daily maximum temperature is 95 °F (35 °C), and the average daily minimum is 70 °F (21 °C). The summer temperature has reached as high as 117 °F (47 °C). During winter the strong Tropic of Cancer sun makes for warm, dry days, but nights are cool and humid, often freshened by breezes from the Nile. The average daily maximum temperature in January–February is 67 °F (19 °C), and the average daily minimum is 47 °F (8.5 °C).City layoutThe organization of the metropolitan complex is understandable only in the context of the city’s history. The three oldest areas constitute densely populated poorer neighbourhoods that virtually surround a relatively Westernized downtown core. The largest of these is the medieval city built under the Fāṭimid dynasty (909–1171), with its pre-19th century extensions (Al-Jamāliyyah, Al-Darb al-Aḥmar, Bāb al-Shaʿriyyah, and Al-Sayyidah Zaynab toward the east and Al-Khalīfah toward the north). Situated within this densely settled zone are most of Cairo’s historic monuments, including the Mosque of Baybars I at its northernmost edge and Saladin’s Citadel in the south. Among the major bazaars within the central walled city is the Khān al-Khalīli, an expansive assortment of shops near al-Azhar Mosque, as well as various markets offering gold, copper ware, textiles, rugs, amber, spices, and leather goods. The major north-south thoroughfare is Shāriʿ al-Muʿizz li-Dīn Allāh, which bisects the old city and along which stand the major mosques and markets. Running perpendicular to this street is Shāriʿ al-Azhar; created in the 1920s to link the mosque of that name with Al-ʿAtabah al-Khaḍrā Square streetcar terminal, Shāriʿ al-Azhar now connects the old city with the central business district. Most other streets are narrow, twisting, and often dead-ended. The city’s historic core was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.Cairo: Khān al-Khalīli bazaarKhān al-Khalīli bazaar, Cairo, Egypt.Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Two other old quarters,Būlāq (northwest of the medieval city) andMiṣr al-Qadīmah (“Old Cairo”; to the south), served as port suburbs of Cairo before the city expanded to encompass them. Būlāq, an island until 1340 and the city’s main port by 1560, eventually became an industrial district in the early 19th century. In addition to its poorer neighbourhoods, the district is a centre for workshops, light industry, and trade schools. The mosques of Abū al-ʿAlāʾ and Sīnān Pasha are among the few historic buildings in Būlāq to survive a rapid gentrification process accompanied by the demolition of many of the older structures in order to make room for high-rise residential and commercial buildings. The origins of Miṣr al-Qadīmah lie with Al-Fusṭāṭ, originally founded as a military encampment in 641 by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ. At the heart of Miṣr al-Qadīmah stands the reconstructed Mosque of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, as well as the many Coptic churches.AdvertisementThe central business district, referred to as theWasṭ al-Balad (“city centre,” or downtown), is flanked by these older quarters. The Wasṭ al-Balad includes the older Al-Azbakiyyah district, Garden City, and, more recently,Jazīrah, the island offshore. The major thoroughfare connecting the city along its north-south axis is the Kūrnīsh al-Nīl (the Corniche), a highway paralleling the Nile River, built in the 1950s. Along the Corniche lie the Television Building, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and a number of hotels; in addition, the Egyptian Museum is nearby. Jazīrah, across the Nile from the Corniche, is the site of the Cairo Tower, public gardens, a racetrack, two major sporting clubs, several major hotels, and some of the city’s most valuable real estate. Between the imposing Nile riverfront and the ancient inland quarters is a transitional working-class zone, chiefly developed in the 19th century; the National Library, the Museum of Islamic Art, and the presidential palace and archives later came to populate this region.Along the eastern edge of the metropolis stands the district of Al-Qarāfah (City of the Dead), a unique zone made up of an extensive series of cemeteries. In this vast, dusty, ochre-coloured district stand the exquisite shrine-mosques and mausoleums of early religious leaders such as Imam al-Shāfiʿī, the founder of Egypt’s major legal tradition. The major monuments of these eastern cemeteries are Mamlūk in design, each topped by a plain or fluted dome; lesser tombs are simpler, rectangular constructions. Owing to the rapid population growth that occurred following Egypt’s independence in 1922, however, housing and shops have sprung up in the City of the Dead, where it is estimated that more than one million Cairenes live, many without municipal utilities or an official address.Cairo: City of the Dead quarterThe City of the Dead quarter of Cairo, Egypt.Fuse/ThinkstockThe northern and western peripheries of the city grew dramatically in the last two decades of the 20th century. In Al-Jīzah (Giza) and on the island of Al-Rawḍah, on the Nile’s western bank, are located residential quarters, the zoological and botanical gardens, an agricultural museum, and the campus of Cairo University. Workers’ City (Madīnat al-ʿUmmāl) is a large-scale housing project in Imbābah, opposite Būlāq across the Nile, while Engineers’ City (Madīnat al-Muhandisīn) has largely become the domain of Cairo’s middle classes. Beginning in the mid-19th century, expansion toward the north led to development of the districts of Rawḍ al-Faraj, Shubrā, Sharābiyyah, Al-Qubbah, Al-ʿAbbāsiyyah, Al-Maṭariyyah, and Al-Zaytūn. Heliopolis, orMiṣr al-Jadīdah (“New Cairo”), became a major site of development in the 1970s and ’80s, witnessing significant population growth and commercial expansion. Since that time, urban developments have increasingly encroached upon agricultural land, extending into the desert periphery; Heliopolis and Naṣr City (a suburb begun in 1958) are examples of such desert-based developments. A rural population still inhabits the northernmost fringe. Informal housing generally constitutes a considerable part of Cairo’s residential districts.Newer zones of Cairo’s metropolitan area include a series of small satellite towns built in desert areas, including Madīnat al-ʿĀshir min Ramaḍān (10th of Ramadan City) to the east and Madīnat Sittah Uktūbar (6th of October City) to the southwest. Expensive gated communities have sprung up around the major highway leading to these developments. A number of sites-and-services housing projects, in which the government designs the subdivision and provides for streets, sewers, electricity, and water lines, also occupy a few satellite towns to the west and the south.Building styles in Cairo are related to the historical period during which each quarter developed. In the oldest sections, two- to four-storied structures prevail, most built of fired brick covered with plaster and sometimes shored with half-timbering. A number of these have windows covered with delicately turned wooden lattices (mashrabiyyah; see moucharaby) and massive wooden doors elegantly decorated with inlay, brass, or iron nailheads. The traditional dwellings (of which only a few remain intact) open onto fountained courtyards and have separate quarters for men and women; the traditional workshops and warehouse inns (khans) have galleries overlooking their interior courtyards.A window with moucharaby latticework, Cairo, Egypt.A.A.A./FPGParts of Cairo built in the 19th century reveal exaggerated European influences—highly ornate stone exteriors, cupolas, and Romanesque doorways. While this ungainly and incongruous style, darkened with time, predominates in the transitional zone, perhaps the most outlandish examples are the later Palace of Sakākīnī and the palace of Baron Empain, founder of Heliopolis. In the early modern quarters, built in the 20th century, the architectural style is partly Parisian, with most of the moderately tall buildings constructed of concrete slabs. Architecture closer to the Nile is marked by a mixture of styles, though concrete structures with balconies and glass curtain walls predominate there.In the quarters on the west and north the more elegant districts have both handsome high-rise apartments and one- or two-storied “villas,” with high walls enclosing colourful gardens. Lower middle- and working-class housing consists exclusively of concrete multi-flat walk-up structures, gray or yellow-beige in colour, often with shops occupying the ground floor. The poorest zones contain similar structures, informal housing that is often left unfinished on the exterior.In most quarters, commercial and industrial workshops are scattered among the dwellings; this is particularly the case in the poorer neighbourhoods. Houses on the rural fringe areas of Cairo are typically built of mud or fired brick, resembling traditional village housing in the hinterland.PeopleCairo’s population, once both ethnically and religiously diverse, is now predominantly Muslim. A significant number of Egyptian Christians, the majority of whom observe the Coptic Orthodox faith, continue to dominate certain districts in the city. Remnants of the old Italian, Greek, Syrian, and Sudanese communities are still found in some locations. Differences of status within the Egyptian population depend largely on one’s place of origin (many residents of Cairo were born in rural Egypt), class, and degree of modernity. About half of the city’s population live in the city proper, while half live in the suburbs.EconomyManufacturingFrom its inception, Cairo’s economy has been based on governmental functions, commerce, trade, and industrial production. The modern productive sector has expanded dramatically since the middle of the 20th century. Since the 1952 revolution, large-scale industrialization has built upon previous developments in textiles (utilizing the long-staple cotton for which Egypt is famous) and food processing (which consists of canning and freezing the wide variety of fruits and vegetables grown in the fertile delta), as well as the processing of sugarcane grown in Upper Egypt. In addition to the production of iron and steel, consumer goods, particularly appliances, are manufactured in nearby factories.Finance and other servicesCairo is the country’s primary centre for economic production and financial control. It still contains many of Egypt’s important banks, hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, and cafés.About half of Cairo’s predominantly male labour force works on the assembly lines and in the auxiliary commercial and financial institutions in the expanding formal sector of Cairo’s modern economy. Nevertheless, substantial informal and traditional sectors still survive in which craftsmanship and personal relationships play an important role.By the 1990s, with an improving infrastructure and a growing tourist industry, Cairo had begun promoting itself as a premier conference and convention centre. Numerous international events are held in the city.TransportationEgypt’s extensive transportation network, laid out by the British, connects most of the country’s urban centres with the capital. Within metropolitan Cairo, the transportation network is made up of both formal and informal sectors. The Public Transport Authority runs a bus network, which was introduced in the 1950s. In addition, a far-reaching system of authorized, licensed cabs operates in the city. Informal transportation services include minibuses and taxis, which sprang up in the late 1970s and ’80s; these continue to predominate, particularly in areas that serve the expanding informal neighbourhoods. The Cairo Metro, a citywide subway system, began service in 1987 and has since been significantly expanded.Traffic congestion is a serious problem in Cairo, particularly as both imports and local assembly plants have provided greater access to automobiles. To combat congestion and pollution, the Egyptian government built a substantial number of bypass highways and overpasses. Donkey-drawn carts, though technically outlawed, are also a common sight on Cairo’s streets, operating among the city’s automobiles, minibuses, buses, streetcars, and trolleys.Administration And SocietyGovernmentThroughout its history, Cairo was administered by a combination of national policy makers and local administrators. In 1949 the municipality (baladiyyah) of Cairo was created; it was inaugurated, together with a town council, in 1950. In the following decade, Cairo was designated a governorate, with which the municipality was merged.The boundaries of the Cairo governorate encompass only half of the urbanized metropolitan area; Ḥulwān, an industrial satellite in the extreme south, is included, but industrial satellites in the far north, such as Shubrā al-Khaymah, and the heavily developed quarters on the west bank form parts of other governorates.At the head of the governorate of Cairo is the governor, who is appointed by the president. The governor is assisted by an executive committee, which includes undersecretaries from the major national ministries, such as the ministries of education, housing, health, social affairs, finance, and the interior. The Municipal Council of Cairo (Majlis Muḥāfaẓat al-Qāhirah), consisting of both elected representatives and ex officio members, was dissolved in 1971 and replaced by the Popular Assembly (al-Majlis al-Shaʿbī). The national government still maintains financial control over local programs and budgets, but the governorate’s policies are directed by an Assembly (al-Majlis al-Shaʿbī al-Maḥalī [Majlis Maḥalī]) consisting of a number of elected representatives.Municipal servicesGas and water systems have existed since the 1860s and electrical and sewerage systems since the early 20th century. Most of the city’s formal housing is connected to the electrical grid and the water and sewage networks. Cairo has a significant informal housing sector, however, and many of these structures are not served by utilities. Drinking water in the city is generally Nile water that has been filtered and purified. The telephone network was introduced in the 1920s, and a new telephone grid was integrated in the mid-1980s.HealthMany of Egypt’s health and medical facilities are concentrated in Cairo. During the 1950s and ’60s, public hospitals were introduced under Pres. Gamal Abdel Nasser’s socialist regime. Private hospitals proliferated in the 1980s and ’90s, though much of Cairo’s urban poor continue to have limited access to public health care services.EducationPrimary education is compulsory. In addition to primary and secondary schools, the city’s educational facilities also include technical institutes. Foreign schools, common in the 1940s and ’50s, were largely taken over by the government in the ’60s. In the 1990s private schools proliferated, largely responding to the failures of state-run education.Cairo is a major centre of higher education. The various faculties of Cairo University (1908) produce the country’s largest number of college graduates and specialized professionals, including doctors, lawyers, and engineers. ʿAyn Shams University (1950) is also a notable institution, andal-Azhar University, founded in the 10th century and previously specializing chiefly in language, literature, and religious subjects, has begun offering a number of additional courses of study, including engineering, commerce, and the social sciences. The American University in Cairo (1919) offers instruction in English in many disciplines. Miṣr University for Science and Technology (1996) was one of several private universities that opened during the late 20th and early 21st ceCultural LifeCairo has long been a cultural capital of the Middle East, as well as the region’s chief mass media centre. For many centuries it was also the site of the region’s major religious and cultural institutions. During the 19th century a number of European cultural institutions, such as theatres, were introduced. The original BaroqueOpera House, situated on Opera Square in downtown Cairo, was destroyed by fire in 1971; it was replaced by a modern structure on the southern tip of Jazīrah, completed in 1988.Egypt has long been known for its musical and dramatic talent and as the site of a renaissance in Arab theatre. The majority of Arabic films are produced by Egyptian companies in Cairo, and leading cinema stars and many popular musical entertainers of the Arab world make Cairo their headquarters. Egyptian radio and television series are broadcast throughout the Arab world, and a number of important newspapers are published in Cairo. Among the oldest and most widely circulated of these is Al-Ahrām, established in 1875, although other dailies headquartered in the city—including Al-Jumhūriyyah, Al-Akhbār, and Al-Masāʾ—enjoy large readerships as well.Cairene and Egyptian heritage are represented in the collections of the city’s rich series of museums. Located on Al-Taḥrīr Square, the Egyptian Museum displays a vast collection of antiquities, among them the treasures of Tutankhamen; the Coptic Museum in Miṣr al-Qadīmah specializes in pre-Islamic icons, textiles, and stones, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Bāb al-Khalq displays Mamlūk Qurʾāns and objects of wood, brass, inlay, and glass. The War Museum, located at the Citadel, is also in Cairo, and the Turkish-style Manyāl Palace Museum stands on the island of Al-Rawḍah. The mosques of Cairo themselves often offer as rich a historical store as the city’s museums.The Cairo Zoological Gardens, in Al-Jīzah, contain extensive collections of rare tropical animals in a garden setting. In addition to the sporting facilities on Jazīrah, including racetracks, swimming clubs, and gardens, there is a racetrack at Heliopolis. Naṣr City is the site of the Cairo Stadium and has numerous playing fields. Other recreation and entertainment options include sailboat trips up the Nile, as well as numerous riverfront cafés, restaurant boats, and nightclubs.HistoryThe early periodSome 5,000 years ago Memphis—today lying mainly in ruins approximately 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Cairo—was a thriving metropolis; about 2,000 years ago the Romans occupied a town on the site of present-day Cairo called Babylon (later the Miṣr al-Qadīmah quarter). The seed from which contemporary Cairo later sprang was the town ofAl-Fusṭāṭ, founded as a military encampment in 641 CE by ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ, an Arab general and administrator who brought Islam to Egypt. Successive dynasties added royal suburbs (including Al-ʿAskar, founded in 750 by the Umayyads, and Al-Qaṭāʾiʿ, founded in 870 by Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn) to the increasingly prosperous commercial and industrial port city of Al-Fusṭāṭ. Little remains of these early developments in the southern part of the city, except the tower of Trajan (dating to 130 CE), the mosques of ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (founded in 641–642) and Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn (completed in 878), and the partially excavated mounds covering the site of Al-Fusṭāṭ.Mosque of Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn, Cairo, Egypt.Bright/M. GrimoldiIn 969 theFāṭimids, adherents of a Shīʿite sect (see Ismāʿīliyyah) and opponents of Sunni ʿAbbāsid rule, invaded Egypt. The conquering general, Jawhar, established a new, rectangular, walled city to the northeast of the existing settlements. Initially named Al-Manṣūriyyah, the city was given its present name, Al-Qāhirah (“The Victorious”), in 973/974 in celebration of the arrival of the Fāṭimid caliph al-Muʿizz, who made the city the capital centre of a dynasty that lasted for two centuries. Al-Qāhirah and Al-Fusṭāṭ coexisted until 1168, when the unfortified city of Al-Fusṭāṭ was set on fire to protect Cairo from the Crusaders. The Crusaders were driven off by a Sunni army from Syria, after which the victorious commander,Saladin, founded the Ayyūbid dynasty, subsequently controlling a vast empire from Cairo.Although Al-Fusṭāṭ was partially rebuilt, it was Cairo that was transformed from a royal enclave into an imperial metropolis. Saladin further extended the city’s 11th-century walls, of which the northern and southern walls and three main gates—Bāb al-Futūḥ, Bāb al-Naṣr, and Bāb Zuwaylah—are still extant; he also constructed a citadel on the Muqaṭṭam spur (now dominated by the Muḥammad ʿAlī Mosque). After Baybars I became the first Mamlūk sultan of undisputed legitimacy in 1260, Cairo served as the capital of the Mamlūk empire, which governed Egypt, much of the Levant, and parts of the Fertile Crescent until 1517.Citadel of Saladin, Cairo, Egypt.Katherine Young/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Cairo: Bāb ZuwaylahBāb Zuwaylah, Cairo.pius99—iStock/ThinkstockCairo: Muḥammad ʿAlī MosqueMuḥammad ʿAlī Mosque, also called the Alabaster Mosque, Cairo, Egypt.Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0) (A Britannica Publishing Partner)Medieval Cairo reached its apogee during the Mamlūk era. By about 1340 Cairo had become the largest city in Africa, Europe, and Asia Minor, with almost half a million people living in an area five times greater than the original Fāṭimid walled city. As a key link in the profitable east-west spice trade and the recipient of tribute from a wealthy empire, the city thrived both intellectually and culturally: the venerable al-Azhar University—a principal seat of Islamic learning—as well as most of the city’s greatest architectural masterpieces were built during this period.In the mid-14th century, decline set in—sporadically at first and then more precipitously. The city’s population was decimated by plagues, including the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348. In addition, the spice trade monopoly was broken following Vasco da Gama’s voyage from Portugal to India (1497–99), undermining Cairo’s economic preeminence. Finally, political autonomy was lost to the Turks, who after 1517 reduced Cairo to a provincial capital in the Ottoman Empire. In 1798, when Napoleon and his troops arrived in Cairo, fewer than 300,000 people were living in the city and its two port suburbs, Miṣr al-Qadīmah and Būlāq.Muḥammad ʿAlī Mosque, at the Citadel in Cairo, Egypt.Katherine Young/Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Development of the cityMuḥammad ʿAlī, sent to Egypt in command of an Ottoman expeditionary contingent to oppose the French, had by 1805 succeeded in receiving the appointments of viceroy and pasha of Egypt from the Ottoman government. During a rule of more than 40 years, Muḥammad ʿAlī executed a series of sweeping programs, including the reorganization of the administrative structure, the improvement of irrigation systems, and the introduction of cotton, a commodity which Egypt would soon produce and trade on a large scale.Modern urban growth in Cairo began in the 1830s, but it was only duringIsmāʿīl’s reign (1863–79) that the city was fundamentally transformed. Influenced by Baron Haussmann’s renovation of Paris, Ismāʿīl ordered the construction of a European-style city to the west of the medieval core. French city-planning methods dominated the design of the districts ofAl-Azbakiyyah (with its large park),ʿAbdīn, andIsmāʿīliyyah—all now central zones of contemporary Cairo. By the end of the 19th century these districts were well-developed, but with the beginning of British rule of Egypt in 1882 they were transformed into a colonial enclave.Awarded the right to hereditary rule of Egypt and the Sudan in 1841, Muḥammad ʿAlī founded the dynasty that governed Egypt without interruption until 1952, when Egypt’s last king, Farouk I, was forced to abdicate by a military revolt led by Gamal Abdel Nasser. With the abolition of the monarchy, Egypt became a republic headed by a president.After the 1950s, Cairo and its metropolitan area witnessed a significant period of growth. Improvements in transportation fostered the growth of suburban Heliopolis and Al-Maʿādī; flood control permitted riverfront development; and bridges encouraged settlement of islands (Al-Rawḍah and Al-Zamālik) and of the west bank. By 1970, however, the city was suffering from overcrowding, severe traffic congestion, and acute pollution. Further, fueled by industrialization, the city had been growing northward since the 1950s into the fertile delta, resulting in the consumption of valuable farmland. To combat this uneven sprawl, in the 1970s the government began developing new towns and planned suburbs in the desert, such as Madīnat al-ʿĀshir min Ramaḍān, Madīnat Sittah Uktūbar, and Madīnat al-Sādāt.By the beginning of the 21st century, Cairo had become an increasingly stratified city, with large areas of informal housing occupied by the lower and middle classes and gated communities serving the upper classes. Although Cairo continues to be faced with many of the same problems afflicting other large metropolises in the developing world—particularly the problem of providing transportation and other infrastructural services to its greatly expanded population—it nevertheless remains among the world’s most vibrant cities.This is the case for all Egyptian cities except for some minor differences