Arieso226

Alright😭😒

These, for me, are the two most depressing paintings in western history. They were painted by post-impressionist Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec, a man who, due to inbreeding, was born with a genetic disorder that prevented his legs from growing after they were broken. After being so thoroughly mocked for is appearance, he became an alcoholic, which is what eventually caused his institutionalization and death. His only known romantic relations were with prostitutes. And then he paints something like this which is so beautiful and tender and sentimental. It seems like the couple in bed really loves each other—cares about each other. Wakes up happy to look at each other. And I see that love and passion and I wonder how lonely he must have been. I wonder how he could paint something like this without it breaking his heart.  Maybe they say artists should create what they know, not because its unbelievable when they extend themselves beyond their experiences, but because when they pull it off with such elegance, it’s so damn unbearable to look at. I hate thinking of Lautrec, wondering about the lovers he created and knowing it was beyond his experience. Creating something that he knows is beautiful and knows he’ll never really understand. 

The ancient world was full of textile masterpieces we can only imagine… but most of them have rotted away. So few of them have come down to us in these days that we think of metal and stone as the primary mediums for the oldest artworks. But there were tapestries and fabric work that would have rivaled the finest wrought gold and iron and the first cave paintings.

A 3,000-year-old canoe has been discovered in a Wisconsin lake: "Truly incredible"

A diver unexpectedly spotted the canoe in the lakebed and it was carefully excavated by hand.

“A 3,000-year-old canoe has been discovered in a Wisconsin lake, the Wisconsin Historical Society announced Thursday. The canoe dates back to 1000 B.C., making it the oldest ever discovered in the Great Lakes region by about 1,000 years.

The discovery in Madison’s Lake Mendota comes less than a year after a 1,200-year-old canoe was found, the historical society said in a press release. Both of the canoes are now being preserved with help from Wisconsin’s Native Nations.

The 3,000-year-old dugout canoe was found by a maritime archaeologist during a recreational dive in May. Tamara Thomsen found the canoe in the same area where the first was discovered. It was excavated by hand on Thursday and will now be cleaned and cared for by tribal members and the historical society.

The canoe will then be hand-lowered into a large preservation vat, which also contains the 1,200-year-old canoe. The preservation process will take two years, and the canoes will be freeze-dried to remove any remaining water.

The 3,000-year-old canoe is carved from a single piece of white oak and is about 14.5 feet long. The first canoe was fully intact when found. It dates back to 800 A.D. and is the oldest fully intact vessel ever to be extracted from Wisconsin waters. That boat also had net sinkers on board used for fishing. “

…

“Finding an additional historically significant canoe in Lake Mendota is truly incredible and unlocks invaluable research and educational opportunities to explore the technological, cultural, and stylistic changes that occurred in dugout canoe design over 3,000 years,” Skibo said.

The canoes will also help provide more details about how the Ho-Chunk and other Native Americans lived in the area thousands of years ago, the society said.

The Ho-Chunk Nation is a federally-recognized tribal nation based in Wisconsin, previously known as the Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe. The Ho-Chunk, which means “People of the Big Voice,” are not located on a single reservation but own land throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota.

“The recovery of this canoe built by our ancestors gives further physical proof that Native people have occupied Teejop (Four Lakes) for millennia, that our ancestral lands are here and we had a developed society of transportation, trade and commerce,” said Ho-Chunk President Marlon WhiteEagle. 

“Every person that harvested and constructed this caašgegu (white oak) into a canoe put a piece of themselves into it. By preserving this canoe, we are honoring those that came before us. We appreciate our partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, working together to preserve part of not only our ancestors’ history but our state’s history.”

Santa Muerte

NO. 1

A skeletal figure dressed in robes or dressed in the virgin’s shroud, Santa Muerte is both the Grim Reap-ress and the Angel of Mercy. She is the personification of death, and her full title, Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte as she is well known as, brings an ambiguous and malleable identity that is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees, as her following, especially in 21st century is being celebrated all over South America, but especially Mexico City to the United States and Canada.

NO. 2

Even though Christian missionaries and leaders condemned the religion, Santa Muerte ‘‘offers hope to a society threatened with hopelessness. In the colorful barrios of Mexican culture, the figure of Death is ubiquitous. With the lure and dangers of narco-culture, the violence among competing youth gangs, the haunting realities of an economy in collapse, and the gravel fight to survive in a Tepito marketplace; Mexicans face the reality of death on a daily basis. Santa Muerte, the image of death, protects them from uncertainties in their everyday lives. When Death is the only guarantee, it seems like Death is the only one to be trusted.’’ The worship of Santa Muerte began in the mid-20th century and was clandestine until the 1990s, were most prayers and other rites have been performed traditionally at home. Now in the 21st century, worship has become a more public thing. Santa Muerte has a male counterpart in the U.S, called the skeletal folk saints San La Muerte of Paraguay and Rey Pascual of Guatemala.

NO. 3

So, what caused the worship of Santa Muerte to become a massive, worldwide following? Drug violence, for one, and loss of faith in Christianity. ‘‘Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon’s declaration of war on the cartels in 2006 was received with praise by North American politicians, as in their view, it seemed that the Mexican government was finally taking a strong stand against the cartels and that there would be a swift resolution to the social problems associated with drug trafficking. This open war declared on the cartels resulted in an escalation of drug violence and forced several dramatic changes in the safety of Mexico and its already chaotic social scene. Military personnel, paramilitary groups, and the cartels have been fighting for control of the country and have created a state of panic in the border towns and beyond. The panic and violence in the north have begun to gradually make it’s way south and reach areas that were once ‘safe’. According to the BBC from 2006 to 2012, more than 50,000 individuals have died from drug-related violence. Amidst the drug-related instability, the once strong and influential Mexican Catholic Church has been losing credibility, support, and members. The loss of faith in the Catholic Church could be caused by many factors: general pessimism, individuals searching for other forms of faith, and the result of the church’s support for governing political parties.’’

NO. 4

Who is Santa Muerte? Anthropologists and historians J. Katia Perdigon Castaneda and R. Andrew Chestnut agree that the veneration of Santa Muerte is a combination of Catholic imagery and rituals from Meso-American pre-Hispanic gods and rituals. There is a common list of names for the goddess, such as Mi Nina, (My little girl), La Nina Bonita (the Pretty Girl), La Madrina (the Godmother), and Mi Amor (My Love)—adoring names that tighten the relationship between devotee and saint. There are darker allegations like Senora de la Sombras (Lady of the Shadows) or La Negra (the Black Lady). There is also La Hermana Blanca (The White Sister) and Hermana de la Luz (Sister of the Light). She is celebrated on the Day of the Dead, November 1st and 2nd. better known as Dia De los Muertos.

A hero can go anywhere, do anything, as long as he/she has the nerve!

The World vs. Palestine

You’ve probably heard or have already known about what is currently happening in Palestine. For those that don’t, the simple answer is the ongoing difficult questions about the ownwersip of land. Most people in the U.S call it a conflict or a ‘war’. But the genuine problem is that Palestine is in constant suffering, foregoing settler colonialism, military occupation, land theft, and ethnic cleansing from their neighbor, Isreal. It makes us ask ourselves why it is important to take a stand against oppression and injustice everywhere, and the scary nature of ‘othering’.

So, what are the arguments that started the deaths of so many Palestinians? From Israel, their argument is that Jerusalem is their homeland, and seeks the return of Jewish authority after 2000 years of being an ineffective exile. They have retained their culture and kept their holy land, Jerusalem, in all that time. Because Jews have kept a presence there for most of history, even if they were the minority, they say they represent the oldest definable group of people/culture still in existence that claim the land, and that all previous occupations and expulsions of their people were unjust, and it is rightfully theirs to return to, even if it means displacing the Palestinians. ‘‘The interactions between the Israeli authorities and the Palestinian [Hammas] including negotiations have always been based on respective political dynamics rather than on a sincere desire to establish peace. Most importantly, these events frustrated the peace negotiations between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government. ’’

The Palestinian argument is that the Jews cannot suddenly ‘reclaim’ land when someone else is already living in it. Having relatives living somewhere 2000 years ago doesn't give you the right to take someone else’s home. The Palestinians as they exist today have been living there, close to 1300 years. Before the creation of ‘Isreal’ only 73 years ago, Palestinian Christians, Jews, and Muslims, peacefully co-existed in Palestine. The plight of the Jews, who have suffered in Europe, is not the Palestinians fault, as they have never tried to genocide them. There have been tensions, but for the most part, they have lived peacefully side by side, until those same Jews decided that they wanted control over their land. The Palestinian Christian community is the oldest Christian community in the world. According to the Congressional Research Service, ‘‘Israeli military occupation has been supported by U.S aid with 3.8 billion a year paid for by U.S tax dollars since 2016 for the next ten years. It is also supported by other countries who strike to oppress other small groups and countries like Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium. For FY2021, the Trump Administration requested $3.3 billion in FMF for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid to mark the second year of the MOU. The Administration also requested $5 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance humanitarian funding for migrants to Israel.’’

Because Isreal has the support of these dominating countries like the United States and other colonial powers like the U.K that this will go on. For them to call out ‘Isreal’, they would have to start to answer questions about their origins and existence for the people they have colonized. So for those who believe it is just a ‘religious conflict’? It is not. A conflict means there is equal footing, the same way war would have two groups fighting equally. The Israeli government is spreading misinformation about its own settler-colonial existence, in order to conceal the fact that they ethnically cleansed and massacred over 540 Palestinian towns and villages in 1948, when they were previously called Zionist terrorists, and their village names replaced with new Hebrew placed names. Isreal is responsible for over 7.2 million Palestinian refugees and denies them their legal right of return. Saying that it’s a simple ‘religious conflict’ denies Palestine their right to liberation, justice, and freedom.

Free Palestine

I love this movie. The book was great too #perksofbeingawallflower

He's so handsome

Oh, I mixed it up! Thank you for educating me.

isn't it insane though how schizophrenic people are viewed as violent and dangerous by the majority of society when in reality schizophrenic people are nearly 14 times more likely to be on the receiving end of violence than to be the perpetrators...