News Round Up November, 2012

Wow, I haven't done a news round up - or blogged - in a wicked long time either!  Hi! 

Now that the election is out of the way, it's the time of year I start to get reflective.  First there's Remembrance Day (St Martin's Day). Then Thanksgiving, and then Advent.  I like thinking of it as Remembrance Day, and poppies, and working for no more war.  Here in the United States it's called Veterans' Day, and we remember them.  The focus is different, but important too.  A friend posted this list of 20 ways to reach out to veterans, which I like, especially after being reminded of the ongoing war in Afghanistan. 

I have been a big supporter of Pussy Riot since they were arrested for their "Punk Prayer."  I did not know what that prayer actually said, but now I do, thanks again to The Atlantic.   Very interesting and compelling.  I'm not sure how many Westerners really understand Russia's history.  I'm not going to say that I get it, but having the words translated and clarified for me, gives me a little bit more insight. I pray for those women in the labor camps, and for their country.   

And finally, Occupy.  I knew that the movement would re-invigorate itself and morph into something else that will help people.  I love this new idea of a Debt Jubilee.  I love that the idea is coming in time for Advent and Christmas.  I love that it is people helping people, and offering RELIEF from something as soul-crushing as debt.  Pure Genius.  I hope the idea takes off and magnifies and fundamentally changes the way that this country "works." 

Enjoy the autumn, and the calm, peaceful, dark season. 

Thanksgiving

I am thankful and grateful for so much in my life.

With the state of the world today, I am especially glad for images like this one. May Peace Prevail.

Happy Thanksgiving, All!

Religious Art in the News? Judith Butler

I always love it when I see spontaneous religious art! This piece was seen on the Bryn Mawr College campus where Judith Butler is scheduled to give three talks this month, full story here.

I vaguely remember reading her work when I studied Post-Modern theory during my Anthropology days, which honestly, I would rather forget (the theory part). However, now that I'm in another degree program, the idea of gender performance is coming up a lot.

She also spoke recently at the Occupy Wall Street site, and I was impressed:

In October 2011, Butler attended Occupy Wall Street and, in reference to calls for clarification of the protesters' demands, said, "People have asked, so what are the demands? What are the demands all of these people are making? Either they say there are no demands and that leaves your critics confused, or they say that the demands for social equality and economic justice are impossible demands. And the impossible demands, they say, are just not practical. If hope is an impossible demand, then we demand the impossible — that the right to shelter, food and employment are impossible demands, then we demand the impossible. If it is impossible to demand that those who profit from the recession redistribute their wealth and cease their greed, then yes, we demand the impossible."

A Fractal Escape

As a way to escape all my disbelief about the political spin and general ridiculousness that surrounds us in our pop culture, I have turned to Math.

Surprised? Me too. But, with the recent death of Benoît B. Mandelbrot, the man who "discovered" fractals (or at least was the most recent person in modern memory to be able to cogently describe the difficulty of measuring non-straight lines.)

HERE is a great way to make your own fractal images, and wow is it fun!

Enjoy! Thanks BoingBoing for the link.

Spirituality news!

So the friend of my friend, Rainn Wilson, has come out with a new book, SoulPancake. The website of the same name is where I got the idea to do my Lenten Spiritual Exercise. Boy was that life-changing! I found an interview with Rainn here. Great stuff!

Happy Halloween, Happy Samhain, Good Day of the Dead to you all!

Dead Sea Scrolls in the News

The Dead Sea Scrolls will be digitized in an agreement between the Israeli government and Google. This is great news!

The scrolls were found between 1946-1956 in caves just north of the Dead Sea in what is now Israel. It's a dramatic story, and the scrolls' discovery has added a whole new dimension to Biblical scholarship. They are like a message in a bottle across the ages.

The trouble has been getting access to the texts. My awesome cousin was able to see an exhibit of 15 of the scrolls in St Paul, MN recently, but that has been one of the few opportunities the public has had to see these scrolls at all. In a few months, we will all be able to see them, and scholars can go to work.

For a glimpse into some of the information from the scrolls, and what kinds of conclusions can be drawn about Biblical times, I recommend the PBS Frontline video "From Jesus to Christ".

New Religious Art Exhibition

I love it when Religious Art is in the news! I just saw this piece in the Huffington Post and had to share.

From the article:

"Embodying the Holy," a new exhibition at New York City's Rubin Museum of Art, brings to light striking similarities between Orthodox Christian icons and traditional Tibetan Buddhist painted scrolls.

Martin Brauen, the museum's Chief Curator, said that the exhibition will "provide points of basic understanding of what connects the so-called East and West on a spiritual level." Elaborating on this spiritual connection, he said that Christian icons and Tibetan painted scrolls are "both representations of a reality that is beyond our human realm. They are depictions of a divine state of being."

I like the idea that the similarities in the art might show a connection between Jesus' "lost years" and the East. Did Jesus really spend time in India or Tibet before beginning his ministry in Palestine/Israel?

"Embodying the Holy" will run Oct. 6, 2010 to March 7, 2011.

Religious Art in the News

BREAKING:

Religious art in the news! I read about this first on the Huffington Post, which got the news from Mother Jones. The artist Jon McNaughton and his painting, "One Nation Under God" was "above the fold" on the Huffington Post this morning.

I finally got to the artist's website to take a look but wasn't able to use the roll-over feature to identify the people in the painting - I think it's overwhelmed by hits.

I don't agree with McNaughton's politics, and I'm always a little suspicious when artists try to conflate religion and politics - but it happens a lot. He's chosen a scene which he is hoping will visually spread his beliefs. That's what I like about religious art - the use of symbols to get ideas across.

He's heavy handed in this case, and McNaughton uses words to describe the message of the image, which also waters it down (imo). The painting feels pedantic to me. I don't think it's as successful as other political uses of the image of Jesus because of all his explication.

But, it's exciting to see religious art make news!

Weekly Blog Round-Up - Big Week for Religious Art

Sock Monkey Goddess, Vati - religious art in pop culture, via Boing Boing

Luxury brand Chanel to slash jobs this week, from AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth by Chris in Paris:

This was another group that somehow thought the credit crisis would avoid them courtesy of emerging market support. It's true that many of the luxury brands have profited enormously in recent years due to the emerging markets (Russia, especially) but that too is now collapsing. Overpriced luxury was so 2006.

Chanel is to cut 200 jobs as fears grow that the supposedly recession proof luxury market is falling victim to the global credit crisis. Citing a steep decline in this year's sales, the largest French union, the CGT, said the losses at the French fashion label
would concern all staff on fixed term and temporary contracts and come into effect on Wednesday. Sixteen posts would be cut from the brand's boutique on rue Cambon in the heart of Paris's fashion district, it added in a statement at the weekend.

The job losses, described by some commentators as the label's worst crisis since founder Coco Chanel fired all her staff at the outbreak of war in 1939, represent almost 10% of the company's production workforce. The redundancies come after a difficult year for the fashion, perfume, cosmetics and accessories businesses where
growth has almost ground to a halt.

More religious art in the news via Art Blog by Bob - the 3 Religions of the Book on display at the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar.


Fitwilliam Darcy's portrait is on the auction block to benefit Oxfam! Sigh, the face that launched a zillion forum posts!


TreeHugger on the need for improving Amtrak
- I love the comment that says

"Every time Amtrak falls apart -- which typically occurs on days ending in "y" -- it hurts us all. If Obama wants to make concrete change fast, he could do no better than to make rail revitalization a high priority."

Couldn't agree more!


Wow - Nollywood images from the Heading East blog - click thru for Michael Stevenson's photos. Some images probably NSFW. But WOW, impressive.


H.T. to Jay: "Vicar takes down "scary" crucifix" via the Guardian, UK. I have to say, this one isn't even that scary. I personally prefer the truly horrifying crucifixes (crucifixi?) with the blood and bruises all over - they feel much more powerful and disturbing - which I appreciate in religious art.


Lakshmi turned me on to this great PA-grown blog and here are my two favorite posts so far: When Children Worry - and When Adults Get Angry - great "in-the-trenches" advice.


On Matti Kaarts a yummy discussion of the British love affair with chutneys and pickles. PLUS a recipe for one homemade. His description of the ploughman's lunch made me so hungry!


There will be a Berlin monument to Roma (aka "gypsies") killed in WWII. This is good news.


Mona Lisa in US (w/ guards!). Art Blog by Bob reviews a new book about First Lady, Jackie O's intense negotiations to get the Mona Lisa on loan to the US for a brief time. Check out the soldiers guarding her!


Christian radio found to be on continuous loop for past 20 years Wow! via Emerging Pensees.

PONTIAC — Listeners of Christian talk radio were surprised and dismayed to learn that the same slate of programs has been playing on Christian radio stations since 1988, and that the entire façade of Christian radio has been run out of a basement complex in Michigan. "I always found the programs very comforting and familiar," says Kathy Reynolds, a regular listener in Columbia, Mo. "Now I know why."
The 365-day-long loop, which has been running continuously since January 1, 1988, includes programs by ministers such as James Dobson and Chuck Colson who dispense parenting and marital advice, Bible answers and non-specific calls to political action. The loop followed the calendar's rhythms, with programs about creating lasting family traditions at Thanksgiving, back-to-school prayer programs in August
and cloyingly sweet programs about home, hearth and "the reason for the season" at Christmas. A layer of conservative concern over the direction of the country was included throughout the year. Read more...

And I leave you with the probably inappropes "Holy Hotties" calendar, Jezebel. One of these seems to come out each year, and I really believe that these are models. not actual priests. But still.... They are some of God's beautiful creatures, it's true. BIG WEEK for religious art news! WOW Holy Hotties!

Religious Images and Sex

Big News this week: Playboy Mexico's cover featured María Florencia Onori with a Mary-esque veil over her head, and little else. There has been an uproar over the symbolism. [Read about it here and here and here.] It's always interesting to me when religious imagery shows up in mainstream media. But this is sort of "the mother lode" [I do love a good pun.] I am sure that Playboy (tm) expected an outcry, but they must have also expected a boost in sales. Look, I am giving them some free publicity! [yikes]

But while people are upset about this, using sex to sell magazines is certainly not new - of course not for Playboy specifically - but nor is it new for artists portraying religious themes, especially scenes depicting religious ecstasy, to use sexual imagery. We humans really know a limited range of truly ecstatic feelings, and so, in order to depict what "ecstatics" experienced, I'm not sure we can blame the artist for using the closest available metaphor for the feeling - the orgasm.

UPDATE: I realize that Playboy does not intend this cover to be religious art. The cover is titillating. Mixing two ideas that "shouldn't be mixed" - Sex and Religion. Artists who create religious art, on the other hand, are working to express religious ideas, or retell stories, using images or sounds to describe holy ideas or events. They may be in it for the money, but in my view, there is a HUGE difference between the work of artists, and porno mags. /UPDATE

Bob has a great discussion of sexuality in art on his (fantastic!) blog "Art Blog by Bob." He does an excellent job with religious art, and his discussion of Bernini's St Theresa sculpture is superb. Go and check it out. St Theresa is receiving God's love, like an arrow from Cupid's bow. See more about St Theresa de Avila and her ideas about feeling God's love. Even more provocative in both Bob's and my opinion, is Bernini’s monument to Blessed Ludovica Albertoni (see below). Not only can you see the rapture on her face, but she's reclining in her (death)bed, ready for God's embrace.

I'm not saying Playboy is art, and I don't know what to say about lines being crossed when using sensual or sensuous themes when depicting religious scenes. The artist tries to use images to express ideas, and the images need to be accessible to the viewers to make sense. If the viewers (us) understand the emotion, or physical state being represented in a sensual way, maybe that makes the most sense. I don't want to vulgarize religious art. But I do think that religious art can be accessible in a number of ways.

Food for thought. What do you think?

'Nuff Said

[disclaimer: I h@te Tom Friedman]

But this is a good article. Maybe someone else will notice.

News and Weird News

This news reminds me of one of my favorite movies: Map of the Human Heart with Jason Scott Lee (no relation to Bruce Lee). [He's so hot!] Anyway, great news. Great movie.

Other great news from the BBC is that Burundi, the world's poorest country, is clearing away ALL the gazillions of mines in their country. A mammoth undertaking, apparently. This way, at least, the people will be able to farm again. And maybe the sweepers (sappers?) will be able to go to other countries to help them rid themselves of mines.

Which brings me to what I'd call, "news of the weird" from my home state. Boing Boing reports on an chicken bomb in Simsbury, CT. Simsbury?? Whatevs. Living on the the other side of Talcott Mountain may not be so bad after all.

Newsy Round-up

Not great news these days, folks, but maybe this DIY fairy house will cheer you up. It helped me a bit.

I guess the cat's out of the bag, or the cat's on the run, or something. Because Pew released its report on the dismal state of factory farming in this country. As I've said before, gross.

The caves that British soldiers rested in before going back into some of the bloodiest fighting of WWI are open to the public as a museum now.

Reports are also coming out about the terrible situation in Myanmar after the cyclone. I guess satellites have to tell the story.

And a good real person's take on how messed up our system is that corporations get welfare, and real people don't. Oy.

It's enough to make me want to go live in fairy land.

Life Paths

I guess today I'm thinking about paths...

It started w/the bldgblog post about ancient roads. I used to love looking for and finding Roman Roads when my family lived in Britain. We would be out driving and my dad the Classics professor would point them out. That and the square field divisions on the Welsh hillsides. Those Romans sure were organized. Brutal, and organized.

And then the "free range kids" idea has been bumping around for a little while now. But I guess the New York Sun columnist decided to start a blog based on all the response she's received on her piece. I say she's definitely on to something!

And finally, leesee at Hasta Los Gatos Quieren Zapatos was blown away by "Meeting David Wilson" - and she wasn't alone. It sounds like this show is similar to the PBS documentary on African American genealogy called, African American Lives (Parts 1 and 2). I caught Part 1 last year, and missed Part 2 when it was on in February. I'm hoping it comes out on Netflix soon!

Inspiring Torch Story

I just read this inspiring Olympic Torch story at and had to share. Have a great weekend, all.

Mmmmm Butterscotch Krimpets!

Check it out! Barack Obama likes Butterscotch Krimpets too!!!

It's funny, those Cupcake gals up in NYC call them cupcakes. Close....

Green News

So, here's a brief round-up of Green News. Or at least, news to me!

I'm definitely going to plant some fiddlehead ferns this year so I can eat them next year. My garden an always use more ferns!

Apparently, "Virgin Atlantic thinks it can green commercial aviation with biofuels:"

When a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 took off for a 40-minute flight from London to Amsterdam Feb. 24, it represented an aviation breakthrough. For the first time a commercial airliner took aloft on other than fossil fuels. One of the plane's four engines was fired on a 20 percent biojet fuel blend. The aim of the test flight was to explore how a biofuel performs in high altitude cold temperatures...

The next test aims to validate sustainability. When the Air New Zealand test takes place, it will be with a second generation feedstock. Of the possibilities, two are worth noting: algae and jatropha. Both grow on non-agricultural land. Algae can employ saline water, and jatropha grows in dry conditions on degraded lands, in fact helping accumulate carbon in the soil. There are solid indications that biojet from jatropha or algae could provide massive amounts of fuel, and at costs lower than petroleum-based jet fuel.

Boeing's own presentation on alternative fuels shows that land use issues are part of the sustainable biojet program's DNA. "If the world airline fleet used 100% biojet fuel from soybeans, it would require 322 billion litres," the presentation says. At 560 liters of oil per hectare that would require 5,750 million square kilometers, about the size of Europe. But algae could produce up to 94,000 liters per acre, shrinking land requirements to 35,000 square kilometers, about a Belgium's worth of land.

From: BoingBoing. Great news, right!?

Know I find out that it's not just Aquaman who can talk to the whales! Yes, thanks to the Massachusetts Bay buoy network. It's a system of listening buoys that hear highly endangered right whales and tell big ships when to slow down. It's a real-time "whale zone" sign, designed to work like school crossing signs that get people to slow down when kids are bursting out of schools. I found this out on Blogfish.

And then this article, also from BoingBoing, about a new documentary about the world's water crisis. I'll have to check it out!

I've just watched Irena Salina's incredible, infuriating documentary FLOW: For Love of Water, a film about the often-invisible and underreported global water crisis. Ranging from widespread US contamination to the tragedy of developing nations who are forced by the World Bank to sell their water companies like Vivendi, Suez and Thames, who get sweetheart deals to offer substandard, overpriced monopoly water service, at terrible cost to human life.

Global water profiteering is at the center of a global healthcare crisis that kills more people than AIDS or malaria. The film shows the grim reality of water in Asia, Africa, South and Central America, and the USA. The mortality is awful, and not just from bad water or no water -- also from police forces in states like Bolivia who go to war against people whose water supply has been sold to foreign multinationals who are reaping windfall profits while they die.

In the US and Europe, the bottled water industry pulls in billions to sell products that are more contaminated and toxic than what comes out of the tap. The result is a gigantic mountain of empty plastic bottles that toxify the environment -- and three times more money spent on bottled water than it would take to solve the world's real water crisis. The companies like Nestle that pump out our aquifers use private investigators to harass people who sign petitions to stop them from pumping.

But it's not all doom and gloom -- low-cost, sustainable purification technologies like ultraviolet water-health run by village cooperatives can make dramatic development differences for the poorest, most vulnerable people in the world, who are able to maintain their own systems without foreign involvement. Local activists all over the world and fighting back and winning public, non-profit ownership of their waterworks.

The companies that control our water control our lives. Without us even noticing it, we've handed the planet's destiny to a few companies with a plan to line their pockets by holding our survival hostage.

Flow is seeking signatures for a petition to the UN: "Article 31: Everyone has the right to clean and accessible water, adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and family, and no one shall be deprived of such access or quality of water due to individual economic circumstance."

FLOW is on the festival circuit -- if you get the chance, see this film.

Creepy news from BlogHer about abortion stop word on USG funded article database. It's not surprising or unexpected that Bush's administration would try to block the free flow of information. But it is chilling news. Next time you see a librarian, thank them for their service on the information front lines. It's too bad it's come to this, but there it is. They're fighting the good fight for us day and day out. Thank you!

And more on the ignorance front, our friends and allies are uneasy about it too! Read on at Justin Webb's blog on the BBC.

I won't exactly call Numerology ignorance, but check it out on Zooillogix:

Well, according to Biblestudy.org, "If ten is the number which marks the perfection of Divine order, then eleven is an addition to it, subversive of and undoing that order. If twelve is the number which marks the perfection of Divine government, then eleven falls short of it. So that whether we regard it as being 10 + 1, or 12 - 1, it is the number which marks, disorder, disorganization, imperfection, and disintegration." We hope to live up to the prophecy.

AND the BBC! Apparently numerology's not just for séances anymore! It's just reminds me of "This is Spinal Tap" with the whole "It goes up to 11!" thing.

What are We Doing?

This is how I feel today. It's not snowing here in Philly, but it is cold again - though good to get some rain again finally. I have been fantasizing my spring planting over and over again. I have catalogs spread out just like this! At least, I think this blog is describing how I feel. My Finnish is way too rusty but - Kiitos!

Which makes me think of travel... but then, oddly enough, I got this in my mailbox this morning.

So, let me get this straight, the organization that makes a pretty map of all my travels throughout the world, is encouraging me to stay home with the lights out? What is this? A blackout shade a la the Blitz? [Or is it to make up for my humongous carbon footprint I've left from all my traveling??? hmmmm]

Not to be overly alarmist or anything, but what is going on in this great country of ours?!? I realize we are at war and all. But, I've been getting more and more concerned about the restrictions on Americans (and our allied friends) traveling for years now. The limits to Canada were probably the last straw for me - but I made sure we, in our little fam, all had passports. What about all those Americans who won't go through the hassle and never visit another country?

Or worse, what if we give up more freedoms, with idea that we're more secure, but really, end up broke (as a country) and no better off? These two blog posts brought it home for me:

First, from BlogHer:

"In Washington State, our gov was keen to fast track the program because we Washingtonians are always zipping up to Canada. With only 33% of Americans holding passports, border crossings dropped when the new passport regulations went in. Maybe the Canadians enjoyed having fewer Yanks swanning about Vancouver, but Washingtonians were pissed. Our local Department of Licensing site had bad news for us. If you've got a Euro-spouse (or any other non-US citizen type sidekick) they won't be granted a REAL ID, even if they're a green card holder. Pack your passport, sweetie, we're going to...Tucson? Thinking travelers devoted to freedom of movement are none too happy about the REAL ID initiative."

" The demand for ID does nothing for security while making honest Americans less free.

Every government that has imposed totalitarian rules told its populace that it was doing so to "uphold freedom" or "improve the security of the homeland" or "root out terrorists and subversives." These ends do not justify unconstitutional means. We uphold freedom by exercising it – not by restricting it. "

What she said!!!!

And second, from Boing Boing, a while back, reporting on a segment on NPR:

"We're putting up with the federal government on so many fronts, and nearly every month they come out with another hare-brained scheme ... to tell us that our life is going to be better if we just buckle under on some other kind of rule or regulation. And we usually just play along for a while. We ignore 'em for as long as we can. We try not to bring it to a head but if it comes to a head we found that it's best to tell 'em to go to Hell and run the state you wanna run your state.

Unfortunately this time around they've really got a hare-brained scheme... almost all those hijackers on 9/11 would have qualified for a Real ID."

Oy.

The Speech in Philadelphia

It was amazing. I watched all 37 minutes of Barack Obama's speech (you can see it here). I have to say it is the best speech I've heard. Pretty much ever. I am voting for him in April anyways. But he blew me away yesterday. And it all happened in Philadelphia. :)

BTW: There's some nice commentary on this issue, and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, at A Church for Starving Artists.