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The Flop: Oscillation, Disruption, Misdirection, and Transgression Philippe Gaulier's approach to training performers and stand up comedy training in the Second City industry embrace a pedagogy of failure where "surfing the flop"— and meta-commentary about the flop—is pleasurable for audience and performer. Both teach physical presence, vulnerability, and an immediate, mischievous relationship with their audience through rhythm as first priorities in generating what Stromberg would call 'audience entrainment' (2012). Gaulier's and Second City students both seek situational empathy (Keen, 2014). They start in familiar realms and then seek high stakes catastrophe or hyperbole, stretching plausibility while racing towards breakdown. Performers misdirect the audience by promising, and then distorting, cultural tropes near and dear to them. Performers suffer as they expose, or encounter competing logics that undermine their ability to present a smooth dramatic world. When deviant imagination defeats willed control, and the deterministic physics of the constructed dramatic universe exacerbates the gap between will and control, the audience empathizes with, dreams with, and loves the vulnerable performer. The performers thrive by using tropes that set up and explode an audience's "circle of expectation" (Johnston, 2002) in a dramaturgy similar to live role play, where the audience member is player, the stage performance text is the game world, and the techniques of entrainment are Oscillation, Disruption, Misdirection, and Transgression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban marketing has recently been adopting the concept, and the label, of “second city”. However, this concept requires sharper theoretical definition in order to turn heuristic. Thus far, it has been conceived in relation to an “ideology of ranking”, strictly related to the worldview of post-modern globalization. A more fruitful definition of “second cities” results from Charles S. Peirce’s idea of secondness: a city is second to another not in quantitative, but in qualitative and relational terms. The semiotic model of Jurij M. Lotman offers a suitable methodology to analyse this relational definition, as it is exemplified by the case-study of the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. A historical survey of their relation shows that the latter progressively embraced an identity of “secondness” so as to successfully market an alternative vision of urban life. Melbourne therefore provides a model for non-quantitative construction of urban distinctiveness.

Introduction: This study examined the association between California school nutrition policies and population-level trends in childhood overweight/obesity by levels of urbanicity. Methods: We used interrupted time series with Fitnessgram data on overweight/obesity from the period 2002 to 2010 pertaining to African American, Latino, Asian, and White students in seventh grades who attended California public schools. We used multilevel logistic regression models to examine the impact of the introduction of successive California school nutrition policies on overweight/obesity prevalence, stratified by gender and adjusted for school district-, school-, and student-level characteristics. Results: At the start of the study period, rural areas and second cities ( i.e., population centers with lower population densities than urban areas) had relatively low prevalence, but experienced sharp increases in 2002-2004, leading to higher prevalence of overweight/obesity than suburban areas. There was evidence of beneficial policy influences on overweight/obesity in most areas, except for girls in urban areas and boys in second cities. The evidence of beneficial changes was strongest among children attending schools located in rural areas, and boys in suburban and urban areas. These results persisted even after we accounted for differences in racial/ethnic compositions, socioeconomic characteristics of the schools and school neighborhoods, and school sizes, as well as child-level race/ethnicity, age, and student fitness levels. Conclusion: Despite evidence of beneficial policy impact, childhood obesity prevalence remains high, especially in urban areas in California. Additional policies and environmental interventions are recommended to address obesogenic risk factors unique to each area.