The Battle of Bannockburn on 23 and 24 June 1314 was a victory of the army of King of Scots Robert the Bruce over the army of King Edward II of England in the First War of Scottish Independence. Though it did not bring overall victory in the war, which would go on for 14 more years, it was a landmark in Scottish history. King Edward invaded Scotland after Bruce demanded in 1313 that all supporters still loyal to ousted Scottish king John Balliol acknowledge Bruce as their king or lose their lands. Stirling Castle, a Scots royal fortress occupied by the English, was under siege by the Scottish army. King Edward assembled a formidable force of soldiers from England and Wales to relieve it — the largest army to invade Scotland; this attempt failed. The Scottish army was divided into three divisions of schiltrons commanded by Bruce, his brother Edward Bruce, his nephew, the Earl of Moray. After Robert Bruce killed Sir Henry de Bohun on the first day of the battle, the English were forced to withdraw for the night.

Sir Alexander Seton, a Scottish noble serving in Edward's army, defected to the Scottish side and informed them of the English camp's position and low morale. Robert Bruce decided to launch a full-scale attack on the English forces and to use his schiltrons again as offensive units, a strategy his predecessor William Wallace had not used; the English army was defeated in a pitched battle which resulted in the deaths of several prominent commanders, including the Earl of Gloucester and Sir Robert Clifford, capture of many others. The victory against the English at Bannockburn is the most celebrated in Scottish history, for centuries the battle has been commemorated in verse and art; the National Trust for Scotland operates the Bannockburn Visitor Centre. Though the exact location for the battle is uncertain, a modern monument was erected in a field above a possible site of the battlefield, where the warring parties are believed to have camped, alongside a statue of Robert Bruce designed by Pilkington Jackson.

The monument, along with the associated visitor centre, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the area. The Wars of Scottish Independence between England and Scotland began in 1296 and the English were successful under the command of Edward I, having won victories at the Battle of Dunbar and at the Capture of Berwick; the removal of John Balliol from the Scottish throne contributed to the English success. The Scots had been victorious in defeating the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297; this was countered, however, by Edward I's victory at the Battle of Falkirk. By 1304, Scotland had been conquered, but in 1306 Robert the Bruce seized the Scottish throne and the war was reopened. After the death of Edward I, his son Edward II of England came to the throne in 1307 but was incapable of providing the determined leadership his father had shown, the English position soon became more difficult. In 1313, Bruce demanded the allegiance of all remaining Balliol supporters, under threat of losing their lands, as well as the surrender of the English forces encircling Stirling Castle.

The castle was one of the most important castles held by the English, as it commanded the route north into the Scottish Highlands. It was besieged in 1314 by Robert the Bruce's younger brother, Edward Bruce, an agreement was made that if the castle was not relieved by mid-summer it would be surrendered to the Scots; the English could not prepared and equipped a substantial campaign. It is known that Edward II requested 2,000 armoured cavalry and 25,000 infantry, many of whom were armed with longbows, from England and Ireland; the Scottish army numbered around 6,000 men, including no more than 500 mounted forces. Unlike the English, the Scottish cavalry was unequipped for charging enemy lines and suitable only for skirmishing and reconnaissance; the Scottish infantry was armed with axes and pikes, included only a few bowmen. The precise numerical advantage of the English forces relative to the Scottish forces is unknown, but modern researchers estimate that the Scottish faced English forces one-and-a-half to two or three times their size.

Edward II and his advisors were aware of the places the Scots were to challenge them and sent orders for their troops to prepare for an enemy established in boggy ground near the River Forth, near Stirling. The English appear to have advanced in four divisions, whereas the Scots were in three divisions known as'schiltrons', which were strong defensive squares of men with pikes. Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, commanded the Scottish vanguard, stationed about a mile south of Stirling, near the church of St. Ninian, while the king commanded the rearguard at the entrance to the New Park, his brother Edward led the third division. According to Barbour, there was a fourth division nominally under the youthful Walter the Steward, but under the command of Sir James Douglas; the Scottish archers used yew-stave longbows and, though these were not weaker than or inferior to English longbows, there were fewer Scottish archers only 500. These archers played little part in the battle. There is first-hand evidence in a poem, written just after the battle by the captured Carmelite friar Robert Baston, that one or both sides employed slingers and crossbowmen.

The exact site of the Battle of Bannockburn has been debated for many years, but most modern historians

Nancy Valverde is a Chicana butch lesbian icon of Los Angeles, CA. Born on March 6, 1932 in Deming, New Mexico, to Mexican American parents, Nancy Valverde and her father moved to Lincoln Heights a predominantly Chicano neighborhood in Los Angeles when she was nine years old. Nancy started working at the age of eleven picking apricots and cotton in Santa Paula and Tulare County, California. At thirteen, she assisted the women who worked in the kitchen at a local neighborhood restaurant, where she continued to work when the restaurant switched owners and became a Mexican owned bakery. Though she did not have a driver's license, she worked driving pastry deliveries around Los Angeles. At the age of seventeen, she worked as a manager for an apartment complex, after first working for the apartment complex doing painting jobs, she became a barber. Since she had not completed her education beyond elementary school, she could not enter barber school, but upon passing an IQ test, she received her barbers license.

Though she was paid less than her male colleagues, it was her work at a local barbershop in East Los Angeles that made her famous. Nancy experienced discrimination as a lesbian; as a masculine presenting woman, with short hair and masculine clothing, she was harassed by the LAPD, who charged her with violating masquerading laws, which prohibited men and women from wearing gender nonconforming clothes. Nancy, who identifies as a woman, chose to wear men's clothing for comfort, was targeted because of her masculine presentation, she was harassed and detained multiple times in a section of the Lincoln Heights Jail known as the Daddy Tank, where masculine presenting women and lesbians were held. After doing research at the Los Angeles County Law Library in 1951, she found legal proof that it was not in fact a crime for a women to wear men's clothing, her lawyer used this to end the ongoing arrests. Despite being known and well liked by community members, she was nonetheless discriminated against for being a lesbian.

After the police ceased the arrests, they would knock on the window of her barber shop on Brooklyn Avenue with their nightsticks. Nancy raised four boys. Nancy Valverde has become the subject of historians of LGBT histories, she has been featured in a number of documentaries, book chapters and performances. Lillian Faderman & Stuart Timmon, Gay L. A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, Lipstick Lesbians. New York: Basic Books, 2006 Tom De Simone, Teresa Wang, Melissa Lopez, Diem Tran, Andy Sacher, Kersu Dalal, Justin Emerick, Lavender Los Angeles: Roots of Equality, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2011. Karen Tongson, Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries, New York: New York University Press, 2011. Marie Carter, You are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars, Theology Before Stonewall, London & New York: Taylor & Francis Group Routledge, 2014. "A Gender Variance Who's Who: Essays on trans, intersex and other persons and topics from a trans perspective," Zagria blog post 30 Jan 2013, https://zagria.blogspot.com/2013/01/nancy-valverde-1932-barber.html#.

W_AzAehKhnI "Nancy From Eastside Clover, Lincoln Heights," Barrio Boychik blog entry June 30, 2017, https://barrioboychik.com/2017/06/30/nancy-from-eastside-clover-lincoln-heights-queer-history-ela/ Daniel Reynolds, "9 Tales of Young Love and Old Memories: Nine residents of Gay and Lesbian Elder Housing share stories of love from the past and present," Advocate, Aug. 29, 2013, https://www.advocate.com/society/people/2013/08/29/lgbt-seniors-share-9-tales-young-love "The Barber of East L. A." written by Raquel Gutiérrez. Performed by Butchalis de Panochtitlan, 2009. Glenne McElhinney, On These Shoulders We Stand, with 10 others. US 75 mins 2009. Kimberly Esslinger, The HomoFiles, wr. Marie Cartier, episode 2, 2017. Gregorio Davila, LA Queer History, NANCY from East Side CLOVER, 2015

Barn Light Electric Company L. L. C. is an American-owned manufacturer, lighting designer and direct marketer of light fixtures, ceiling fans and hardware. The company manufacturers 90% of their light fixtures in the United States with the remaining 10% manufactured in Canada and overseas. In addition to their website and mail-order catalog, Barn Light Electric Company owns and operates an office and showroom in Titusville, Florida. Barn Light Electric Company was born from a passion for vintage lighting in February 2008 as a direct internet retailer of period-authentic, American-made lighting. Bryan and Donna Scott started with a small stock of vintage lights refurbished in their backyard barn as they opened for business in a small storefront in Titusville, Florida; the Scott's were convinced that their love of high-quality, vintage-style lighting was not only shared by others, but that it represented an untapped niche market. While the economy floundered and news of the Great Recession loomed, the company began to grow.

The couple forged ahead, buying equipment, training new employees, planning for the day when they could revive the lost art of manufacturing porcelain enamel lighting – a process, once a staple of the industry but faded away when cheaper techniques came onto the market. The couple invested in the renovation of additional buildings where they could house the growing sales and marketing teams along with spaces for metal spinning and shipping. In the fall of 2014, most of the company’s operations came under one roof when the couple purchased and renovated an empty home improvement warehouse which offered 60,000+ square feet of space; the owners flew to Italy where they invested in a special porcelain enamel oven to make their dream of manufacturing porcelain enamel lighting a reality. Barn Light Electric is now the industry leader as the only company in the United States manufacturing porcelain enamel lighting; as the company grew, the Scott's were advised to take their manufacturing overseas where products could be made more cheaply.

They refused, preferring to oversee the manufacturing themselves to ensure a high-quality product, to support the local economy, to hire local people to fill jobs. Barn Light USA was created to manage the commercial division while Barn Light Australia was launched as a subsidy of Barn Light Electric Co to cover the Australian and New Zealand markets. In March 2015, Barn Light Electric won the "Large Business of the Year Award" via Bright House Networks Regional Business Awards in Central Florida. Barn Light Electric has received numerous industry awards including Best in Service for four years running from Houzz; the Barn Light Electric blog was named one of the top 20 Lighting Blogs in 2017. In March 2019, the Scotts were honored for their vision and support of the Titusville economy as they were inducted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame. To be considered for the Business Hall of Fame Laureate honor, an individual’s record of achievement must demonstrate business excellence, courageous thinking and actions and innovation, inspirational leadership and community-mindedness.

Barn Light Electric Company Official Website Barn Light Australia Official Website