"This world is made out of sugar,

it can crumble so easily,

but don't be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it."

 

Sarah Kay started performing poetry at age 14.

 

Some poetry is meant to be heard, not read. Hear her here.

Agios Ilias (Greek: Άγιος Ηλίας "Saint Elias"; Turkish: Yarköy "village of a cliff", previously Ayiliya) is a village in the Famagusta District of Cyprus, located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-east of Trikomo. It is under the de facto control of Northern Cyprus.

 

Traditionally, Agios Ilias was primarily inhabited by Greek-speaking Orthodox Christians. In 1973, it had 355 inhabitants, all of whom were Greek Cypriot. In August 1974, they were forced to flee their village by the approaching Turkish army. Today, Agios Ilias is inhabited by settlers from the Denizli Province of Turkey.

 

The first school was established in the village during the Ottoman period, in 1865. Before then, the village priests (and perhaps monks) provided some teaching from religious books held in the church.

 

Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. It is recognised only by Turkey, and its territory is considered by all other states to be part of the Republic of Cyprus.

 

Northern Cyprus extends from the tip of the Karpass Peninsula in the northeast to Morphou Bay, Cape Kormakitis and its westernmost point, the Kokkina exclave in the west. Its southernmost point is the village of Louroujina. A buffer zone under the control of the United Nations stretches between Northern Cyprus and the rest of the island and divides Nicosia, the island's largest city and capital of both sides.

 

A coup d'état in 1974, performed as part of an attempt to annex the island to Greece, prompted the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This resulted in the eviction of much of the north's Greek Cypriot population, the flight of Turkish Cypriots from the south, and the partitioning of the island, leading to a unilateral declaration of independence by the north in 1983. Due to its lack of recognition, Northern Cyprus is heavily dependent on Turkey for economic, political and military support.

 

Attempts to reach a solution to the Cyprus dispute have been unsuccessful. The Turkish Army maintains a large force in Northern Cyprus with the support and approval of the TRNC government, while the Republic of Cyprus, the European Union as a whole, and the international community regard it as an occupation force. This military presence has been denounced in several United Nations Security Council resolutions.

 

Northern Cyprus is a semi-presidential, democratic republic with a cultural heritage incorporating various influences and an economy that is dominated by the services sector. The economy has seen growth through the 2000s and 2010s, with the GNP per capita more than tripling in the 2000s, but is held back by an international embargo due to the official closure of the ports in Northern Cyprus by the Republic of Cyprus. The official language is Turkish, with a distinct local dialect being spoken. The vast majority of the population consists of Sunni Muslims, while religious attitudes are mostly moderate and secular. Northern Cyprus is an observer state of ECO and OIC under the name "Turkish Cypriot State", PACE under the name "Turkish Cypriot Community", and Organization of Turkic States with its own name.

 

Several distinct periods of Cypriot intercommunal violence involving the two main ethnic communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, marked mid-20th century Cyprus. These included the Cyprus Emergency of 1955–59 during British rule, the post-independence Cyprus crisis of 1963–64, and the Cyprus crisis of 1967. Hostilities culminated in the 1974 de facto division of the island along the Green Line following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. The region has been relatively peaceful since then, but the Cyprus dispute has continued, with various attempts to solve it diplomatically having been generally unsuccessful.

 

Cyprus, an island lying in the eastern Mediterranean, hosted a population of Greeks and Turks (four-fifths and one-fifth, respectively), who lived under British rule in the late nineteenth-century and the first half of the twentieth-century. Christian Orthodox Church of Cyprus played a prominent political role among the Greek Cypriot community, a privilege that it acquired during the Ottoman Empire with the employment of the millet system, which gave the archbishop an unofficial ethnarch status.

 

The repeated rejections by the British of Greek Cypriot demands for enosis, union with Greece, led to armed resistance, organised by the National Organization of Cypriot Struggle, or EOKA. EOKA, led by the Greek-Cypriot commander George Grivas, systematically targeted British colonial authorities. One of the effects of EOKA's campaign was to alter the Turkish position from demanding full reincorporation into Turkey to a demand for taksim (partition). EOKA's mission and activities caused a "Cretan syndrome" (see Turkish Resistance Organisation) within the Turkish Cypriot community, as its members feared that they would be forced to leave the island in such a case as had been the case with Cretan Turks. As such, they preferred the continuation of British colonial rule and then taksim, the division of the island. Due to the Turkish Cypriots' support for the British, EOKA's leader, Georgios Grivas, declared them to be enemies. The fact that the Turks were a minority was, according to Nihat Erim, to be addressed by the transfer of thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey so that Greek Cypriots would cease to be the majority. When Erim visited Cyprus as the Turkish representative, he was advised by Field Marshal Sir John Harding, the then Governor of Cyprus, that Turkey should send educated Turks to settle in Cyprus.

 

Turkey actively promoted the idea that on the island of Cyprus two distinctive communities existed, and sidestepped its former claim that "the people of Cyprus were all Turkish subjects". In doing so, Turkey's aim to have self-determination of two to-be equal communities in effect led to de jure partition of the island.[citation needed] This could be justified to the international community against the will of the majority Greek population of the island. Dr. Fazil Küçük in 1954 had already proposed Cyprus be divided in two at the 35° parallel.

 

Lindley Dan, from Notre Dame University, spotted the roots of intercommunal violence to different visions among the two communities of Cyprus (enosis for Greek Cypriots, taksim for Turkish Cypriots). Also, Lindlay wrote that "the merging of church, schools/education, and politics in divisive and nationalistic ways" had played a crucial role in creation of havoc in Cyprus' history. Attalides Michael also pointed to the opposing nationalisms as the cause of the Cyprus problem.

 

By the mid-1950's, the "Cyprus is Turkish" party, movement, and slogan gained force in both Cyprus and Turkey. In a 1954 editorial, Turkish Cypriot leader Dr. Fazil Kuchuk expressed the sentiment that the Turkish youth had grown up with the idea that "as soon as Great Britain leaves the island, it will be taken over by the Turks", and that "Turkey cannot tolerate otherwise". This perspective contributed to the willingness of Turkish Cypriots to align themselves with the British, who started recruiting Turkish Cypriots into the police force that patrolled Cyprus to fight EOKA, a Greek Cypriot nationalist organisation that sought to rid the island of British rule.

 

EOKA targeted colonial authorities, including police, but Georgios Grivas, the leader of EOKA, did not initially wish to open up a new front by fighting Turkish Cypriots and reassured them that EOKA would not harm their people. In 1956, some Turkish Cypriot policemen were killed by EOKA members and this provoked some intercommunal violence in the spring and summer, but these attacks on policemen were not motivated by the fact that they were Turkish Cypriots.

 

However, in January 1957, Grivas changed his policy as his forces in the mountains became increasingly pressured by the British Crown forces. In order to divert the attention of the Crown forces, EOKA members started to target Turkish Cypriot policemen intentionally in the towns, so that Turkish Cypriots would riot against the Greek Cypriots and the security forces would have to be diverted to the towns to restore order. The killing of a Turkish Cypriot policeman on 19 January, when a power station was bombed, and the injury of three others, provoked three days of intercommunal violence in Nicosia. The two communities targeted each other in reprisals, at least one Greek Cypriot was killed and the British Army was deployed in the streets. Greek Cypriot stores were burned and their neighbourhoods attacked. Following the events, the Greek Cypriot leadership spread the propaganda that the riots had merely been an act of Turkish Cypriot aggression. Such events created chaos and drove the communities apart both in Cyprus and in Turkey.

 

On 22 October 1957 Sir Hugh Mackintosh Foot replaced Sir John Harding as the British Governor of Cyprus. Foot suggested five to seven years of self-government before any final decision. His plan rejected both enosis and taksim. The Turkish Cypriot response to this plan was a series of anti-British demonstrations in Nicosia on 27 and 28 January 1958 rejecting the proposed plan because the plan did not include partition. The British then withdrew the plan.

 

In 1957, Black Gang, a Turkish Cypriot pro-taksim paramilitary organisation, was formed to patrol a Turkish Cypriot enclave, the Tahtakale district of Nicosia, against activities of EOKA. The organisation later attempted to grow into a national scale, but failed to gain public support.

 

By 1958, signs of dissatisfaction with the British increased on both sides, with a group of Turkish Cypriots forming Volkan (later renamed to the Turkish Resistance Organisation) paramilitary group to promote partition and the annexation of Cyprus to Turkey as dictated by the Menderes plan. Volkan initially consisted of roughly 100 members, with the stated aim of raising awareness in Turkey of the Cyprus issue and courting military training and support for Turkish Cypriot fighters from the Turkish government.

 

In June 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, was expected to propose a plan to resolve the Cyprus issue. In light of the new development, the Turks rioted in Nicosia to promote the idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots could not live together and therefore any plan that did not include partition would not be viable. This violence was soon followed by bombing, Greek Cypriot deaths and looting of Greek Cypriot-owned shops and houses. Greek and Turkish Cypriots started to flee mixed population villages where they were a minority in search of safety. This was effectively the beginning of the segregation of the two communities. On 7 June 1958, a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Turkish Embassy in Cyprus. Following the bombing, Turkish Cypriots looted Greek Cypriot properties. On 26 June 1984, the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktaş, admitted on British channel ITV that the bomb was placed by the Turks themselves in order to create tension. On 9 January 1995, Rauf Denktaş repeated his claim to the famous Turkish newspaper Milliyet in Turkey.

 

The crisis reached a climax on 12 June 1958, when eight Greeks, out of an armed group of thirty five arrested by soldiers of the Royal Horse Guards on suspicion of preparing an attack on the Turkish quarter of Skylloura, were killed in a suspected attack by Turkish Cypriot locals, near the village of Geunyeli, having been ordered to walk back to their village of Kondemenos.

 

After the EOKA campaign had begun, the British government successfully began to turn the Cyprus issue from a British colonial problem into a Greek-Turkish issue. British diplomacy exerted backstage influence on the Adnan Menderes government, with the aim of making Turkey active in Cyprus. For the British, the attempt had a twofold objective. The EOKA campaign would be silenced as quickly as possible, and Turkish Cypriots would not side with Greek Cypriots against the British colonial claims over the island, which would thus remain under the British. The Turkish Cypriot leadership visited Menderes to discuss the Cyprus issue. When asked how the Turkish Cypriots should respond to the Greek Cypriot claim of enosis, Menderes replied: "You should go to the British foreign minister and request the status quo be prolonged, Cyprus to remain as a British colony". When the Turkish Cypriots visited the British Foreign Secretary and requested for Cyprus to remain a colony, he replied: "You should not be asking for colonialism at this day and age, you should be asking for Cyprus be returned to Turkey, its former owner".

 

As Turkish Cypriots began to look to Turkey for protection, Greek Cypriots soon understood that enosis was extremely unlikely. The Greek Cypriot leader, Archbishop Makarios III, now set independence for the island as his objective.

 

Britain resolved to solve the dispute by creating an independent Cyprus. In 1959, all involved parties signed the Zurich Agreements: Britain, Turkey, Greece, and the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Makarios and Dr. Fazil Kucuk, respectively. The new constitution drew heavily on the ethnic composition of the island. The President would be a Greek Cypriot, and the Vice-President a Turkish Cypriot with an equal veto. The contribution to the public service would be set at a ratio of 70:30, and the Supreme Court would consist of an equal number of judges from both communities as well as an independent judge who was not Greek, Turkish or British. The Zurich Agreements were supplemented by a number of treaties. The Treaty of Guarantee stated that secession or union with any state was forbidden, and that Greece, Turkey and Britain would be given guarantor status to intervene if that was violated. The Treaty of Alliance allowed for two small Greek and Turkish military contingents to be stationed on the island, and the Treaty of Establishment gave Britain sovereignty over two bases in Akrotiri and Dhekelia.

 

On 15 August 1960, the Colony of Cyprus became fully independent as the Republic of Cyprus. The new republic remained within the Commonwealth of Nations.

 

The new constitution brought dissatisfaction to Greek Cypriots, who felt it to be highly unjust for them for historical, demographic and contributional reasons. Although 80% of the island's population were Greek Cypriots and these indigenous people had lived on the island for thousands of years and paid 94% of taxes, the new constitution was giving the 17% of the population that was Turkish Cypriots, who paid 6% of taxes, around 30% of government jobs and 40% of national security jobs.

 

Within three years tensions between the two communities in administrative affairs began to show. In particular disputes over separate municipalities and taxation created a deadlock in government. A constitutional court ruled in 1963 Makarios had failed to uphold article 173 of the constitution which called for the establishment of separate municipalities for Turkish Cypriots. Makarios subsequently declared his intention to ignore the judgement, resulting in the West German judge resigning from his position. Makarios proposed thirteen amendments to the constitution, which would have had the effect of resolving most of the issues in the Greek Cypriot favour. Under the proposals, the President and Vice-President would lose their veto, the separate municipalities as sought after by the Turkish Cypriots would be abandoned, the need for separate majorities by both communities in passing legislation would be discarded and the civil service contribution would be set at actual population ratios (82:18) instead of the slightly higher figure for Turkish Cypriots.

 

The intention behind the amendments has long been called into question. The Akritas plan, written in the height of the constitutional dispute by the Greek Cypriot interior minister Polycarpos Georkadjis, called for the removal of undesirable elements of the constitution so as to allow power-sharing to work. The plan envisaged a swift retaliatory attack on Turkish Cypriot strongholds should Turkish Cypriots resort to violence to resist the measures, stating "In the event of a planned or staged Turkish attack, it is imperative to overcome it by force in the shortest possible time, because if we succeed in gaining command of the situation (in one or two days), no outside, intervention would be either justified or possible." Whether Makarios's proposals were part of the Akritas plan is unclear, however it remains that sentiment towards enosis had not completely disappeared with independence. Makarios described independence as "a step on the road to enosis".[31] Preparations for conflict were not entirely absent from Turkish Cypriots either, with right wing elements still believing taksim (partition) the best safeguard against enosis.

 

Greek Cypriots however believe the amendments were a necessity stemming from a perceived attempt by Turkish Cypriots to frustrate the working of government. Turkish Cypriots saw it as a means to reduce their status within the state from one of co-founder to that of minority, seeing it as a first step towards enosis. The security situation deteriorated rapidly.

 

Main articles: Bloody Christmas (1963) and Battle of Tillyria

An armed conflict was triggered after December 21, 1963, a period remembered by Turkish Cypriots as Bloody Christmas, when a Greek Cypriot policemen that had been called to help deal with a taxi driver refusing officers already on the scene access to check the identification documents of his customers, took out his gun upon arrival and shot and killed the taxi driver and his partner. Eric Solsten summarised the events as follows: "a Greek Cypriot police patrol, ostensibly checking identification documents, stopped a Turkish Cypriot couple on the edge of the Turkish quarter. A hostile crowd gathered, shots were fired, and two Turkish Cypriots were killed."

 

In the morning after the shooting, crowds gathered in protest in Northern Nicosia, likely encouraged by the TMT, without incident. On the evening of the 22nd, gunfire broke out, communication lines to the Turkish neighbourhoods were cut, and the Greek Cypriot police occupied the nearby airport. On the 23rd, a ceasefire was negotiated, but did not hold. Fighting, including automatic weapons fire, between Greek and Turkish Cypriots and militias increased in Nicosia and Larnaca. A force of Greek Cypriot irregulars led by Nikos Sampson entered the Nicosia suburb of Omorphita and engaged in heavy firing on armed, as well as by some accounts unarmed, Turkish Cypriots. The Omorphita clash has been described by Turkish Cypriots as a massacre, while this view has generally not been acknowledged by Greek Cypriots.

 

Further ceasefires were arranged between the two sides, but also failed. By Christmas Eve, the 24th, Britain, Greece, and Turkey had joined talks, with all sides calling for a truce. On Christmas day, Turkish fighter jets overflew Nicosia in a show of support. Finally it was agreed to allow a force of 2,700 British soldiers to help enforce a ceasefire. In the next days, a "buffer zone" was created in Nicosia, and a British officer marked a line on a map with green ink, separating the two sides of the city, which was the beginning of the "Green Line". Fighting continued across the island for the next several weeks.

 

In total 364 Turkish Cypriots and 174 Greek Cypriots were killed during the violence. 25,000 Turkish Cypriots from 103-109 villages fled and were displaced into enclaves and thousands of Turkish Cypriot houses were ransacked or completely destroyed.

 

Contemporary newspapers also reported on the forceful exodus of the Turkish Cypriots from their homes. According to The Times in 1964, threats, shootings and attempts of arson were committed against the Turkish Cypriots to force them out of their homes. The Daily Express wrote that "25,000 Turks have already been forced to leave their homes". The Guardian reported a massacre of Turks at Limassol on 16 February 1964.

 

Turkey had by now readied its fleet and its fighter jets appeared over Nicosia. Turkey was dissuaded from direct involvement by the creation of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) in 1964. Despite the negotiated ceasefire in Nicosia, attacks on the Turkish Cypriot persisted, particularly in Limassol. Concerned about the possibility of a Turkish invasion, Makarios undertook the creation of a Greek Cypriot conscript-based army called the "National Guard". A general from Greece took charge of the army, whilst a further 20,000 well-equipped officers and men were smuggled from Greece into Cyprus. Turkey threatened to intervene once more, but was prevented by a strongly worded letter from the American President Lyndon B. Johnson, anxious to avoid a conflict between NATO allies Greece and Turkey at the height of the Cold War.

 

Turkish Cypriots had by now established an important bridgehead at Kokkina, provided with arms, volunteers and materials from Turkey and abroad. Seeing this incursion of foreign weapons and troops as a major threat, the Cypriot government invited George Grivas to return from Greece as commander of the Greek troops on the island and launch a major attack on the bridgehead. Turkey retaliated by dispatching its fighter jets to bomb Greek positions, causing Makarios to threaten an attack on every Turkish Cypriot village on the island if the bombings did not cease. The conflict had now drawn in Greece and Turkey, with both countries amassing troops on their Thracian borders. Efforts at mediation by Dean Acheson, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and UN-appointed mediator Galo Plaza had failed, all the while the division of the two communities becoming more apparent. Greek Cypriot forces were estimated at some 30,000, including the National Guard and the large contingent from Greece. Defending the Turkish Cypriot enclaves was a force of approximately 5,000 irregulars, led by a Turkish colonel, but lacking the equipment and organisation of the Greek forces.

 

The Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1964, U Thant, reported the damage during the conflicts:

 

UNFICYP carried out a detailed survey of all damage to properties throughout the island during the disturbances; it shows that in 109 villages, most of them Turkish-Cypriot or mixed villages, 527 houses have been destroyed while 2,000 others have suffered damage from looting.

 

The situation worsened in 1967, when a military junta overthrew the democratically elected government of Greece, and began applying pressure on Makarios to achieve enosis. Makarios, not wishing to become part of a military dictatorship or trigger a Turkish invasion, began to distance himself from the goal of enosis. This caused tensions with the junta in Greece as well as George Grivas in Cyprus. Grivas's control over the National Guard and Greek contingent was seen as a threat to Makarios's position, who now feared a possible coup.[citation needed] The National Guard and Cyprus Police began patrolling the Turkish Cypriot enclaves of Ayios Theodoros and Kophinou, and on November 15 engaged in heavy fighting with the Turkish Cypriots.

 

By the time of his withdrawal 26 Turkish Cypriots had been killed. Turkey replied with an ultimatum demanding that Grivas be removed from the island, that the troops smuggled from Greece in excess of the limits of the Treaty of Alliance be removed, and that the economic blockades on the Turkish Cypriot enclaves be lifted. Grivas was recalled by the Athens Junta and the 12,000 Greek troops were withdrawn. Makarios now attempted to consolidate his position by reducing the number of National Guard troops, and by creating a paramilitary force loyal to Cypriot independence. In 1968, acknowledging that enosis was now all but impossible, Makarios stated, "A solution by necessity must be sought within the limits of what is feasible which does not always coincide with the limits of what is desirable."

 

After 1967 tensions between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots subsided. Instead, the main source of tension on the island came from factions within the Greek Cypriot community. Although Makarios had effectively abandoned enosis in favour of an 'attainable solution', many others continued to believe that the only legitimate political aspiration for Greek Cypriots was union with Greece.

 

On his arrival, Grivas began by establishing a nationalist paramilitary group known as the National Organization of Cypriot Fighters (Ethniki Organosis Kyprion Agoniston B or EOKA-B), drawing comparisons with the EOKA struggle for enosis under the British colonial administration of the 1950s.

 

The military junta in Athens saw Makarios as an obstacle. Makarios's failure to disband the National Guard, whose officer class was dominated by mainland Greeks, had meant the junta had practical control over the Cypriot military establishment, leaving Makarios isolated and a vulnerable target.

 

During the first Turkish invasion, Turkish troops invaded Cyprus territory on 20 July 1974, invoking its rights under the Treaty of Guarantee. This expansion of Turkish-occupied zone violated International Law as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Turkish troops managed to capture 3% of the island which was accompanied by the burning of the Turkish Cypriot quarter, as well as the raping and killing of women and children. A temporary cease-fire followed which was mitigated by the UN Security Council. Subsequently, the Greek military Junta collapsed on July 23, 1974, and peace talks commenced in which a democratic government was installed. The Resolution 353 was broken after Turkey attacked a second time and managed to get a hold of 37% of Cyprus territory. The Island of Cyprus was appointed a Buffer Zone by the United Nations, which divided the island into two zones through the 'Green Line' and put an end to the Turkish invasion. Although Turkey announced that the occupied areas of Cyprus to be called the Federated Turkish State in 1975, it is not legitimised on a worldwide political scale. The United Nations called for the international recognition of independence for the Republic of Cyprus in the Security Council Resolution 367.

 

In the years after the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus one can observe a history of failed talks between the two parties. The 1983 declaration of the independent Turkish Republic of Cyprus resulted in a rise of inter-communal tensions and made it increasingly hard to find mutual understanding. With Cyprus' interest of a possible EU membership and a new UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1997 new hopes arose for a fresh start. International involvement from sides of the US and UK, wanting a solution to the Cyprus dispute prior to the EU accession led to political pressures for new talks. The believe that an accession without a solution would threaten Greek-Turkish relations and acknowledge the partition of the island would direct the coming negotiations.

 

Over the course of two years a concrete plan, the Annan plan was formulated. In 2004 the fifth version agreed upon from both sides and with the endorsement of Turkey, US, UK and EU then was presented to the public and was given a referendum in both Cypriot communities to assure the legitimisation of the resolution. The Turkish Cypriots voted with 65% for the plan, however the Greek Cypriots voted with a 76% majority against. The Annan plan contained multiple important topics. Firstly it established a confederation of two separate states called the United Cyprus Republic. Both communities would have autonomous states combined under one unified government. The members of parliament would be chosen according to the percentage in population numbers to ensure a just involvement from both communities. The paper proposed a demilitarisation of the island over the next years. Furthermore it agreed upon a number of 45000 Turkish settlers that could remain on the island. These settlers became a very important issue concerning peace talks. Originally the Turkish government encouraged Turks to settle in Cyprus providing transfer and property, to establish a counterpart to the Greek Cypriot population due to their 1 to 5 minority. With the economic situation many Turkish-Cypriot decided to leave the island, however their departure is made up by incoming Turkish settlers leaving the population ratio between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots stable. However all these points where criticised and as seen in the vote rejected mainly by the Greek Cypriots. These name the dissolution of the „Republic of Cyprus", economic consequences of a reunion and the remaining Turkish settlers as reason. Many claim that the plan was indeed drawing more from Turkish-Cypriot demands then Greek-Cypriot interests. Taking in consideration that the US wanted to keep Turkey as a strategic partner in future Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

A week after the failed referendum the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU. In multiple instances the EU tried to promote trade with Northern Cyprus but without internationally recognised ports this spiked a grand debate. Both side endure their intention of negotiations, however without the prospect of any new compromises or agreements the UN is unwilling to start the process again. Since 2004 negotiations took place in numbers but without any results, both sides are strongly holding on to their position without an agreeable solution in sight that would suit both parties.

[R 406] Mezlafen Al Oued 18/09/2024 15h35

The route (R 406) is a beautiful route to the area of Akchour.

 

Morocco

Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to the east, and the disputed territory of Western Sahara to the south. Mauritania lies to the south of Western Sahara. Morocco also claims the Spanish exclaves of Ceuta, Melilla and Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera, and several small Spanish-controlled islands off its coast.

It spans an area of 446,300 km2. with a population of roughly 37 million. Its official and predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Berber; the Moroccan dialect of Arabic and French are also widely spoken. Moroccan identity and culture is a mix of Arab, Berber, and European cultures. Its capital is Rabat, while its largest city is Casablanca.

[ Wikipedia ]

Two more sites in the Gimme the Mic! Spoken Word Syndicate:

 

slicesoflifesl.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/gimme-the-mic-par...

 

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sensual%20Freedom/227/163/23

The word Allah

 

The Semitic language which is spoken in the celestial spheres, is the language in which the angels and God address each other. Adam Safi-Allah spoke the same language in paradise. Adam and eve then came into the world and settled in Arabia. Their children also spoke the same language. Then as a result of the descendants of Adam spreading in the world, this language passed from Arabic, Persian, Latin and into English and God was then known by different names in the different languages. As Adam lived in Arabia, there are many words of the Semitic language which are still found in the Arabic language. God addressed the Prophets, Adam as Adam Safi-Allah, Noah as Nuh Nabi-Allah, Abraham as Ibraheem Khalil-Allah, Moses as Musa Kalim-Allah, Jesus as I’sa Ruh-Allah and Mohammed Rasul-Allah. All these titles, in the Semitic language were written on the Tablet before the arrival of the Prophets. This is why the Prophet Mohammed said: “I was a Prophet even before I came in to this world.”

Many people believe that the word Allah is a name given by Muslims, this is not so.

The Prophet Mohammed’s fathers name was Abd-Allah, at a time when Islam did not exist. Prior to the advent of Islam the Name Allah was announced with the title of every Prophet. When the souls were created, the first Name on their tongue was Allah and when the soul entered the body of Adam, it said, Ya-Allah, and only then it entered the body. Many religions understand this enigma and chant the Name Allah and many others because of doubt are deprived of the Name.

Any name which is used to point towards God is worthy of respect.

 

In other words, which points towards God. The mystical effect of the Name of God has been diversified due to the different names. Every letter of the alphabet has a separate numeric value. This is also a celestial knowledge. All the numeric values are connected with all of the human race. Occasionally the numeric values do not agree with the astronomical calculations as a result of which people become afflicted. Many people go to astrologers and experts of this knowledge and have charts prepared based on the stars. They name their children on this basis.

 

Just as the letters (a, b, j, d,) (1, 2, 3, 4) when added have the numerical value of ten. Similarly every name has a separate numeric value. As God has been given so many different names, this has caused a conflict between the numeric value of the different names. If all the people called upon God by the same name, then despite the fact that they would all have separate religions, they would all be united inwardly. They too, like Nanak Sahib and Baba Farid would then say:

 

“All the souls have been created by the light of God, even though their environment and communities are separate.”

 

The angels that are assigned tasks in the world are also taught the languages of the people of the world.

 

It is important for the people of every Prophet that they recite, chant and affirm the Title of their Prophet which was granted by God to the Prophet at his time, for the recognition, spiritual grace and purification of his people. The recital and affirmation should be in the same method and in the language of their Prophet.

 

The entry of any individual into any religion is subject to the condition that the individual accepts and affirms the Title of the Prophet of that religion. Just as the affirmation and the verbal vows are a condition of any marriage.

 

Entry into the heavens has been made subject to the acceptance and affirmation of the Titles of the Prophets. In the western world many Muslims and Christians have no knowledge of their Prophet’s Title furthermore many do not even know their Prophets original name (in the original language of the Prophet.)

 

People who only verbalize the affirmation of their Prophet’s Title rely upon their good deeds. Those that reject and do not affirm their Prophet’s Title are refused entry to paradise. Those individuals in whose hearts the affirmation of their Prophet’s Title has descended (entered) they will enter paradise without any accountability.

 

The revealed celestial Scriptures, whichever language they are in so long as they are in the original form, are a means to finding God. Where the texts and the translations that have been adulterated, just as adulterated flour is harmful for the stomach, the adulterated books have become harmful and people of the same religion and the same of Prophet have divided into so many sects.

 

To be sure of the straight and guided path it is better that you are guided by the Light (of God) also.

  

The method of producing light.

 

In prehistoric times stones would be rubbed together to make fire. Whereas a spark can also be produced by rubbing two metals together. In a similar way electricity is made from water. Similarly by the friction of the blood inside the human body, in other words electric energy is produced by the vibrating heartbeat. In every human being there is present, approximately one and a half volts of electricity due to which the body is energetic. As the heartbeat slows in old age, this reduces the electricity in the body and this in turn also causes a reduction of the energy level in the body.

 

Firstly, the heartbeat has to be made vibrant and pronounced. Some do this by dancing, some by sports and exercise and some people try to do this by meditating and chanting the Name of God Allah.

 

When the heartbeat becomes vibrant and pronounced then by chanting the Name Allah try to synchronize it with every heartbeat. Alternatively try to synchronize Allah with one heartbeat and Hu with the other. Some time by placing your hand on the heart and when you feel your heartbeat, again try to synchronize the Name Allah by chanting it with the rythm of the heartbeat and imagine that the Name Allah is entering the heart.

 

The chanting of Allah Hu is better and more effective but if anyone has an objection, or a fear of chanting Hu, then instead of being deprived one should solely use the Name Allah, repetitively in the chanting. It is beneficial for people who chant and practice this discipline and who read mantras to physically remain as clean as possible as the:

 

“disrespectful are unfulfilled and the respectful are fulfilled.”

 

The first method for producing light.

Write Allah on a paper in black ink, and do this exercise for as long as you wish on a daily basis. Soon thereafter, the Word Allah will be transported from the paper and hover over the eyes. Then with one-pointed concentration, attempt to transport the word from the eyes to the heart.

 

The second method for producing light.

Write Allah on a zero watt bulb, in yellow. Whilst you are awake or just before sleep, concentrate and try to absorb it into the eyes. When it appears on the eyes then try to transport it to the heart.

 

The third method for producing light.

This method is for those people who have perfect spiritual guides and teachers and who due to their spiritual connection are spiritually assisted by them.

 

Sit alone and imagine that your index finger is a pen. Using your finger and with your concentration, attempt to write Allah on your heart. Call upon your spiritual teacher (spiritually), so that he too may, hold your finger, and write Allah on your heart. Continue to do this exercise everyday, until you see Allah written on your heart.

 

By the first and second method, the Name Allah becomes inscribed on the heart, just as it was written and seen by you but when it becomes synchronized with the heartbeat, then it slowly starts to shine. In the synchronized method, the assistance of the spiritual teacher is provided and for this reason it is seen shining and well written on the heart right from the beginning.

 

Many Prophets and Saints have come into the world, and just for the sake of testing this, if you feel it appropriate, concentrate or call upon all of them when you are practicing your meditation.

 

Whilst concentrating on any Prophet or Saint, during your meditating practice, if the rhythm of your heartbeat increases, in its vibration or you feel an improvement then this means that your destiny (spiritual fruits) lies with that Prophet or Saint.

 

Thereafter it is beneficial to concentrate on that same person whenever you practice your meditation as spiritual grace is transferred in this way, because every Saint is spiritually connected to a Prophet, even if that Prophet is not physically living.

 

The spiritual fruit (grace) of every illuminated person is in the hands of one Saint or another. It is essential that the Saint is living. Sometimes a very fortunate person is gifted with celestial spiritual grace by a perfect Saint who is not living, but this is very rare. However Saints not living in our human realm can provide worldly spiritual grace and assistance to people from their tombs. This is known as Owaisi spiritual grace.

 

The recipients of such spiritual grace often get entangled in their spiritual insights, visions and dreams because the spiritual guide providing the assistance is in the spiritual realm and so too is Satan and the recognition of the two becomes difficult.

 

Along with the spiritual grace it is important to have knowledge, for which a living Saint is more appropriate. If a person (Saint) possesses spiritual grace but is without knowledge, that person is known as a Majzoob (Godly but abstracted due to the complete absorption into the Essence of God and who is not in full control of his faculties).

 

A person (Saint) having spiritual grace and knowledge is known as a Mehboob (literally, loved one). Such people (Saints) as a result of their knowledge provide worldly spiritual assistance as well as spiritual grace and benefit. Whereas the Majzoobs are known to provide worldly spiritual assistance to people by their unusual but accepted practices of shouting obscenities and poking people with their wooden sticks.

 

If any (Prophet or Saint) appears but does not help or assist you then put Gohar Shahi to the test.

 

You may belong to any religion, there is no condition in this respect as long as the individual is not eternally ill-fated.

  

Many people have received the spiritual grace of Qalb meditation from the Moon. This is obtained when there is a full Moon from the East. Look at it with concentration and when you see the image of Gohar Shahi on it say Allah, Allah, Allah three times and you will be blessed with this spiritual grace. Thereafter without any fear or reservation practice the meditation as described.

 

Believe (the fact) that the image on the Moon has spoken to many people in many different languages. You can try looking and speaking to it also.

 

About Muraqba

(transcendental meditation)

 

(Literally. journey. Meditation in which the soul leaves the human body)

 

Many people without having acquired the illumination of the spiritual entities (‘Lata’if/Shaktian’) and without attaining spiritual strength and prowess try to engage in this meditation. They either fail to reach the meditative state or become the subject of Satanic interference. This type of meditation is for illuminated people, whose spiritual entity of the self has been purified and the Qalb has been cleansed. The practice or attempt at this type of meditation is foolish no matter what type of physical worship is used to achieve this. To collect and gather the strength of the soul and the spiritual entities and then to travel to a place is what is known as meditation.

 

Sainthood is the one fourtieth part of Prophecy.

 

Every dream, meditative journey, inspiration or revelation of a Prophet is accurate and authentic and does not need verification. Only fourty out of a hundred dreams, meditative journeys, inspirations and revelations of Saints are accurate the remaining sixty percent are inaccurate.

 

God cannot be understood without knowledge

 

The lowest type of meditative journey is started only after the illumination and awakening of the spiritual entity of the Qalb. This is impossible without first achieving the meditation of the Qalb (meditation with the vibrating heartbeat synchronized with the Name Allah). It takes one jerk or shake to bring the person out of this meditative state and back to consciousness. The faculty of the augury (foretelling the future by reading verses or looking into designated books) is also connected to the Qalb.

 

The next stage is the meditative journey of the soul. It takes three jerks or shakes to return a person back to normality from this meditative state.

 

The third stage of the meditative journey is done by the spiritual entity, Anna and the soul together. The soul travels along with the spiritual entity Anna, to the realm of souls just as the Archangel Gabriel accompanied the Prophet Mohammed to the realm of souls.

 

People who are in this meditative state are sometimes even taken to be buried in their graves and they are unaware of this happening to them. Such a meditative state and journey was taken by the “Companions of the Cave” as a result of which they remained asleep in the cave for more than three hundred years.

 

When this meditative state and journey was undertaken by the Sheikh, Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani, in the jungle, the occupants of the jungle would regard the Sheikh as dead and would take him to a grave for burial but the meditative journey would break just before the burial (the Sheikh would return to consciousness).

 

How to recognize a special inspiration and revelation from God.

 

When a person has awakened and illuminated the spiritual entities in the chest and is worthy of receiving the rays of the Grace of God, then at that point God communicates with that person. God is All-Powerful and can do as he pleases and thus communicate with the human being in any way fit, but he has made a special method for his recognition so that his friends can be saved from the deception of Satan.

 

Firstly, text in the Semitic language appears on the seekers heart and its translation is seen in the language of the seekers mother-tongue. The text is white and shiny and the eyes close automatically and look at the text (internally). The text then passes the Qalb and moves towards the spiritual entity Sirri as a result of which it shines even more. Then the text moves towards the spiritual entity, Akhfa and from here it shines more and then moves onto the tongue. The voice then spontaneously starts to repeat that text.

 

If this inspiration is from Satan then an illuminated heart will dull the text and if the text is strong and prominent then the spiritual entities Sirri or Akhfa destroy that text. Further if due to the weakness of the spiritual entities the text does arrive at the tongue, then the voice will prevent it from being spoken into words.

 

This type of inspiration is for special types of Saints, whereas in respect of ordinary Saints, God sends messages to them through the angels or other spiritual entities. When the Archangel Gabriel accompanies the special and inspired text, this is known as revelation which is confined to the Prophets.

 

For more detail visit www.goharshahi.org or visit asipk.com and for videos visit HH rags

 

i'm over at shutter sisters today with a few words of gratitude for the community and the photographic revolution women have created!

youtu.be/hOA-2hl1Vbc

 

Softly spoken, stealing quietly over us In time of troubles or joy

No need to dance and shout it is only life.

Ride the carousel of Today's emotions. Striding out or shuffling along recognize

The road you're on has softly woven threads.

Fold life gently into your plans.

Don't let bitterness invade your thoughts.

Remember always there are softly spoken people in your own backyard.

Listening quietly in your dreamtime

you shall hear the sound of silence as it steals over you.

Take each day as a bonus to be shared in love and joy.

Aviod hatred and racism.

Tread gently with softly spoken words.

Aggression finds only like minded people.

Steal away. We can walk the road of life peacefully.

Always there will be hiccups but deal quietly with life.

Let it wrap you up and hug you tightly on the road of life.

You can walk with softly spoken like minded people.

This is going to be hard to give away!

spoken

Soooooooooooo BIG it doesn't fill the frame. the big wheel in Liverpool

Assemblage of officers from Pittsburgh (PA) PD and surrounding communities saluting during the spoken roll call of names of fallen officers from Pennsylvania who died in the line of duty in 2009.

 

Washington, DC / May 15, 2010

GiGi , Ras, & TaTyana At the Open Mic

 

Visit this location at Blue Orchid District ~Home of Sigma Upsilon Nu Sorority in Second Life

The biggest building in the "Alter St. Mathäus Kirchhof" apart from the church is the gravesite of the Bankerfamily Hansemann. David Hansemann (1790–1864) ( see for further Information en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hansemann) created 1851 the Disconto-Gesellschaft - a bank that was merged in 1929 with Deutsche Bank (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank ) the by far bigest Bank of Germany and also one of the largest investment banks in the world..

 

Really unobtrusive are the graves of Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl and Wilhelm Carl with the byname Brothers Grimm , German Brüder Grimm German brothers famous for their classic collections of folk songs and folktales, especially for Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–22; generally known as Grimm's Fairy Tales), which led to the birth of the science of folklore. Jacob, especially, did important work in historical linguistics and Germanic philology.

 

Grimm, Jacob Ludwig Carl was born January 4, 1785, Hanau, Hesse-Kassel and died September 20, 1863, Berlin

 

Grimm, Wilhelm Carl was born February 24, 1786, Hanau and died December 16, 1859, Berlin

 

Beginnings and Kassel period.

 

Jacob Ludwig Carl Grimm and Wilhelm Carl Grimm were the oldest in a family of five brothers and one sister. Their father, Philipp Wilhelm, a lawyer, was town clerk in Hanau and later justiciary in Steinau, another small Hessian town, where his father and grandfather had been ministers of the Calvinistic Reformed Church. The father's death in 1796 brought social hardships to the family; the death of the mother in 1808 left 23-year-old Jacob with the responsibility of four brothers and one sister. Jacob, a scholarly type, was small and slender with sharply cut features, while Wilhelm was taller, had a softer face, and was sociable and fond of all the arts. After attending the high school in Kassel, the brothers followed their father's footsteps and studied law at the University of Marburg (1802-06) with the intention of entering civil service. At Marburg they came under the influence of Clemens Brentano, who awakened in both a love of folk poetry, and Friedrich Karl von Savigny, cofounder of the historical school of jurisprudence, who taught them a method of antiquarian investigation that formed the real basis of all their later work. Others, too, strongly influenced the Grimms, particularly the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), with his ideas on folk poetry. Essentially, they remained individuals, creating their work according to their own principles. In 1805 Jacob accompanied Savigny to Paris to do research on legal manuscripts of the Middle Ages; the following year he became secretary to the war office in Kassel. Because of his health, Wilhelm remained without regular employment until 1814. After the French entered in 1806, Jacob became private librarian to King Jérôme of Westphalia in 1808 and a year later auditeur of the Conseil d'État but returned to Hessian service in 1813 after Napoleon's defeat. As secretary to the legation, he went twice to Paris (1814–15), to recover precious books and paintings taken by the French from Hesse and Prussia. He also took part in the Congress of Vienna (September 1814–June 1815). Meantime, Wilhelm had become secretary at the Elector's library in Kassel (1814), and Jacob joined him there in 1816. By that time the brothers had definitely given up thoughts of a legal career in favour of purely literary research. In the years to follow they lived frugally and worked steadily, laying the foundations for their lifelong interests. Their whole thinking was rooted in the social and political changes of their time and the challenge these changes held. Jacob and Wilhelm had nothing in common with the fashionable “Gothic” Romanticism of the 18th and 19th centuries. Their state of mind made them more Realists than Romantics. They investigated the distant past and saw in antiquity the foundation of all social institutions of their days. But their efforts to preserve these foundations did not mean that they wanted to return to the past. From the beginning, the Grimms sought to include material from beyond their own frontiers—from the literary traditions of Scandinavia, Spain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, England, Serbia, and Finland.

 

They first collected folk songs and tales for their friends Achim von Arnim and Brentano, who had collaborated on an influential collection of folk lyrics in 1805, and the brothers examined in some critical essays the essential difference between folk literature and other writing. To them, folk poetry was the only true poetry, expressing the eternal joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears of mankind.

 

Encouraged by Arnim, they published their collected tales as the Kinder- und Hausmärchen, implying in the title that the stories were meant for adults and children alike. In contrast to the extravagant fantasy of the Romantic school's poetical fairy tales, the 200 stories of this collection (mostly taken from oral sources, though a few were from printed sources) aimed at conveying the soul, imagination, and beliefs of people through the centuries—or at a genuine reproduction of the teller's words and ways. The great merit of Wilhelm Grimm is that he gave the fairy tales a readable form without changing their folkloric character. The results were threefold: the collection enjoyed wide distribution in Germany and eventually in all parts of the globe (there are now translations in 70 languages); it became and remains a model for the collecting of folktales everywhere; and the Grimms' notes to the tales, along with other investigations, formed the basis for the science of the folk narrative and even of folklore. To this day the tales remain the earliest “scientific” collection of folktales. The Kinder- und Hausmärchen was followed by a collection of historical and local legends of Germany, Deutsche Sagen (1816–18), which never gained wide popular appeal, though it influenced both literature and the study of the folk narrative. The brothers then published (in 1826) a translation of Thomas Crofton Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, prefacing the edition with a lengthy introduction of their own on fairy lore. At the same time, the Grimms gave their attention to the written documents of early literature, bringing out new editions of ancient texts, from both the Germanic and other languages. Wilhelm's outstanding contribution was Die deutsche Heldensage (“The German Heroic Tale”), a collection of themes and names from heroic legends mentioned in literature and art from the 6th to the 16th centuries, together with essays on the art of the saga.

 

While collaborating on these subjects for two decades (1806–26), Jacob also turned to the study of philology with an extensive work on grammar, the Deutsche Grammatik (1819–37). The word deutsch in the title does not mean strictly “German,” but it rather refers to the etymological meaning of “common,” thus being used to apply to all of the Germanic languages, the historical development of which is traced for the first time. He represented the natural laws of sound change (both vowels and consonants) in various languages and thus created bases for a method of scientific etymology; i.e., research into relationships between languages and development of meaning. In what was to become known as Grimm's law, Jacob demonstrated the principle of the regularity of correspondence among consonants in genetically related languages, a principle previously observed by the Dane Rasmus Rask. Jacob's work on grammar exercised an enormous influence on the contemporary study of linguistics, Germanic, Romance, and Slavic, and it remains of value and in use even now. In 1824 Jacob Grimm translated a Serbian grammar by his friend Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, writing an erudite introduction on Slavic languages and literature.

 

He extended his investigations into the Germanic folk-culture with a study of ancient law practices and beliefs published as Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer (1828), providing systematic source material but excluding actual laws. The work stimulated other publications in France, The Netherlands, Russia, and the southern Slavic countries and has not yet been superseded.

  

The Göttingen years.

 

The quiet contentment of the years at Kassel ended in 1829, when the brothers suffered a snub—perhaps motivated politically—from the Elector of Hessen-Kassel: they were not given advancement following the death of a senior colleague. Consequently, they moved to the nearby University of Göttingen, where they were appointed librarians and professors. Jacob Grimm's Deutsche Mythologie, written during this period, was to be of far-reaching influence. From poetry, fairy tales, and folkloristic elements, he traced the pre-Christian faith and superstitions of the Germanic people, contrasting the beliefs to those of classical mythology and Christianity. The Mythologie had many successors all over Europe, but often disciples were not as careful in their judgments as Jacob had been. Wilhelm published here his outstanding edition of Freidank's epigrams. But again fate overtook them. When Ernest Augustus, duke of Cumberland, became king of Hanover, he high-handedly repealed the constitution of 1833, which he considered too liberal. Two weeks after the King's declaration, the Grimms, together with five other professors (the “Göttingen Seven”), sent a protest to the King, explaining that they felt themselves bound by oath to the old constitution. As a result they were dismissed, and three professors, including Jacob, were ordered to leave the kingdom of Hanover at once. Through their part in this protest directed against despotic authority, they clearly demonstrated the academic's sense of civil responsibilities, manifesting their own liberal convictions at the same time. During three years of exile in Kassel, institutions in Germany and beyond (Hamburg, Marburg, Rostock, Weimar, Belgium, France, The Netherlands, and Switzerland) tried to obtain the brothers' services.

  

The Berlin period.

 

In 1840 they accepted an invitation from the king of Prussia, Frederick William IV, to go to Berlin, where as members of the Royal Academy of Sciences they lectured at the university. There they began their most ambitious enterprise, the Deutsches Wörterbuch, a large German dictionary intended as a guide for the user of the written and spoken word as well as a scholarly reference work. In the dictionary, all German words found in the literature of the three centuries “from Luther to Goethe” were given with their historical variants, their etymology, and their semantic development; their usage in specialized and everyday language was illustrated by quoting idioms and proverbs. Begun as a source of income in 1838 for the brothers after their dismissal from Göttingen, the work required generations of successors to bring the gigantic task to an end in our day. Jacob lived to see the work proceed to the letter F, while Wilhelm only finished the letter D. The dictionary became an example for similar publications in other countries: Britain, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. Jacob's philological research later led to a history of the German language, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, in which he attempted to combine the historical study of language with the study of early history. Research into names and dialects was stimulated by Jacob Grimm's work, as were ways of writing and spelling—for example, he used roman type and advocated spelling German nouns without capital letters.

 

For some 20 years they worked in Prussia's capital, respected and free from financial worries. Much of importance can be found in the brothers' lectures and essays, the prefaces and reviews (Kleinere Schriften) they wrote in this period. In Berlin they witnessed the Revolution of 1848 and took an active part in the political strife of the succeeding years. In spite of close and even emotional ties to their homeland, the Grimms were not nationalists in the narrow sense. They maintained genuine—even political—friendships with colleagues at home and abroad, among them the jurists Savigny and Eichhorn; the historians F.C. Dahlmann, G.G. Gervinus, and Jules Michelet; and the philologists Karl Lachmann, John Mitchell Kemble, Jan Frans Willems, Vuk Karadžić, and Pavel Josef Šafařik. Nearly all academies in Europe were proud to count Jacob and Wilhelm among their members. The more robust Jacob undertook many journeys for scientific investigations, visiting France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Denmark, and Sweden. Jacob remained a bachelor; Wilhelm married Dorothea Wild from Kassel, with whom he had three children: Herman (literary and art historian, 1828–1901), Rudolf (jurist, 1830–89), and Auguste (1832–1919). The graves of the brothers are in the Matthäikirchhof in Berlin.

 

Major Works:

Joint works.

Kinder- und Hausmärchen (2 vol. 1812–15; 3 vol. 1819–22), of which there are many translations into English, generally as Grimm's Fairy Tales, complete edition based on trans. by Margaret Hunt (1944), by Joseph Campbell (1944), by Francis P. Magoun, Jr., and Alexander H. Krappe as The Grimms' German Folk Tales (1960), Altdeutsche Wälder, 3 vol. (1813–16); Deutsche Sagen, 2 vol. (1816–18); Deutsches Wörterbuch (1852–1960; new ed. 1965 ff.).

 

By Jacob.

Über den altdeutschen Meistergesang (1811); Deutsche Grammatik, 4 vol. (1819–37); Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer (1828); Reinhart Fuchs (1834); Deutsche Mythologie (1835); Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, 2 vol. (1848); Kleinere Schriften, 8 vol. (1864–90, reprinted 1965).

 

By Wilhelm.

Altdänische Heldenlieder, Balladen und Märchen (1811); Über deutsche Runen (1821); Grâve Ruodolf (1828); Die deutsche Heldensage (1829); Vrîdankes Bescheidenheit (1834); Kleinere Schriften, 4 vol. (1881–87).

 

Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica 2007 Ultimate Reference Suite . (2008).

   

spoken

Leica M

When ever I am in communication with the human race, and my my wife is near, she always feels it is necessary to cut me off and do my talking for me. So this is definitly a self portrait. More of my work can be seen at www3.sympatico.ca/jim.rowe2/

Gail Maurice, dir.; and Melanie Bray, act.; "Rosie" © Linda Dawn Hammond/ IndyFoto 2022. Photographed in Graffiti Alley, Toronto, Canada.

 

Portrait of Gail Maurice, by Artist Kent Monkman, "Shining Stars" series in "Being Legendary" exhibit, at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) © IndyFoto 2022

  

“Rosie”

 

Review and Interview

By Linda Dawn Hammond

 

“Rosie” is the first feature film of Metis director and writer, Gail Maurice, who is also known as an actor in the TV series, “Trickster”. She self identifies as a member of the LGBTQ+ community and is one of a small number of less than 2000 people who can still speak Michif, a now endangered language which was spoken by the Metis people of Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is a primarily a combination of French nouns and Cree verbs, and originated in the 1800s from contact between Francophone traders and Cree and Ojibwe First Nations people. The descendants of these French and First Nations unions became known as Metis.

 

“Rosie” appears on the surface to be a simple, joyous film about an engaging trio of social misfits who, with the help of an orphan child, find emotional support and resolution in a chosen family of their own creation. Its underlying messages are far more complex and will speak to those aware of the terrible legacy of Canada’s Residential Schools and the “Sixties Scoop,” which adversely affected the lives of thousands of indigenous people and their descendants.

 

It is set in 1980s Montreal, which in “Rosie” is a world categorized by poverty and insecurity for those who don’t conform to society’s standards and norms. The character of “Fred”, (Mélanie Bray) is lovingly portrayed as a somewhat irresponsible Francophone artist who lives a precarious existence on the constant edge of poverty, eviction and unemployment. Her best friends are Flo (Constant Bernard) and Mo (Alex Trahan), who are flamboyant and decidedly non-gender conforming. Their alternative lifestyles are suddenly disrupted by the initially unwelcome arrival of a homeless six year old girl, Rosie (Keris Hope Hill). Through her enthusiastic, sweet presence, she teaches the adults about responsibility but also to live their dreams. At the time of shooting Keris had never acted before, but she is charming and effective in the part. The Kanien'kehá:ka girl from the Six Nations of the Grand River plays the role of an indigenous child left orphaned after the death of her mother. (It is perplexing that she was not included in Tiff’s roster of 2022 Rising Stars, but she was mentioned in CBC’s recent list of young, talented stars.)

 

In the film, “Rosie”, social services search for a blood relative to take custody of Rosie, an orphaned English speaking girl in Montreal. All they can uncover is a “sister” of the deceased mother, a Francophone woman who had been once been placed in the same adoptive home. They have no records of the whereabouts of any genetic relatives due to the willful incompetence of officials during the “Sixties Scoop”, when tens of thousands of children, primarily indigenous, were forcibly removed from their families and placed in predominantly white foster homes. These stolen children were not encouraged to remain in contact with their families or know of their heritage. In many cases they were intentionally sent far away to achieve this separation.

 

It is a story close to the heart of the director on many levels. Maurice experienced a similar painful disruption in her own family. Whereas she as the eldest child was fortunate to be taken in and raised by her Metis grandmother, who taught her Michif and the ways of their people, a younger brother and sister were removed in the “Sixties Scoop” and disappeared. It is only recently that the whereabouts of Gail’s brother was discovered.

 

In Quebec, language is always part of the conversation, but in Montreal in particular, bilingualism has been an important factor in breaching any linguistic or cultural divides. The little orphaned girl in the story is indigenous and anglophone, and although she finds herself in a world which is French speaking and white, there are no divides as people choose to learn from each other, and even introduce a third language, Cree.

 

Interview

 

I sat down with Rosie’s director, Gail Maurice, and her partner, actor Mélanie Bray, to discuss the film.

 

GM (Gail Maurice):

I was asked about the 80s, how there was so much violence against gay culture, queer culture. So they asked my perspective, because Rosie is not really (violent), I mean, there's a couple moments in the film that showed or insinuated it. But it's not about that, even though a couple of broadcasters told me they wanted me to add that element, the violence towards the gay people, towards Flo and Mo, and I tried to do that, and it just went to a dark place. And I thought to myself, that's not the story I want to tell. That's not my experience in the ‘80s, of being gay. What my experience was, basically, was what “Rosie” is, and it was a time of where I was finding out about being gay and gay culture, and it was also new and wild and beautiful. And, just extravagant, you know. And so, that's why I wrote a story from Rosie's perspective, because she is able to see the world with that wide eyed wonder. And that's exactly how I was when I came out, and that's the story I wanted to tell. I wanted to tell a story of chosen family, of love, belonging, being it wasn't a story about, gay culture, per se. What I’d like to say is, it's an indigenous story with an indigenous perspective, told through the eyes of a little indigenous girl who happens to be part of this scene, and during a period of time (the 80s) that is really important to me, that was, coming out. So that's the story I wanted to tell. I came out I was 18. My first year university. It was a magical time, in Saskatoon, in a little bar called Numbers.

 

LDH (Linda Dawn Hammond)

Can you talk about how the “60s scoop” affected you personally?

 

GM:

I was able to find my brother. Part of the effect of the “60s scoop” is loss of culture and identity. So when I found him, I did a little short (film) called, “Little Indians. “ We're not close. I've seen him maybe three times, and in a very different environment. He grew up in the white home, with a white family and on a farm. He said he played baseball with the little Indians. You know, so he took himself out and didn't see himself as an Indian. I know he knows he's Metis. It's hard. It's a loss, and I have a sister out there somewhere…

 

LDH:

You were able to live with your grandma, and there you learned a language that's so rare. Michif.

 

GM:

Michif. And yeah, I wrote a trilingual film, because I wanted to be able to talk about my language as well. Not a lot of people know about that language, which is a mixture of Cree and French. I was teasing Melanie, I said, “My French is the original French. Because, you know, it's part of the Couriers de Bois and the French fur traders. So my French is actually from that era. So we still have all that French in my language, whereas Melanie’s, it's now modern, right?

 

LDH:

French people in France say that yours (Melanie’s) is actually the original French. Quebec French is considered to be what the language was like before it transformed over in France and became modern.

You mentioned “Rosie” is a trilingual film.

Is it Michif you’re teaching them, the (indigenous) language in the class scene. Is that where it came in?

 

GM:

Yeah, so my language is pretty (much) French. So sometimes there's three. Our numbers are crazy, and household things are French- dirt and colds are French. So the numbers were all created. I wanted to tell a story about chosen family, to monitor those children that were taken away- it's part of the 60s Scoop, and the effects of that. Some of them will never know who they are, or where their family's from, or who their blood relatives are. I wanted to tell a story, to honour them, because they're doing the best that they can in the world. And just to say, that they're strong, and they're survivors, and I admire and honour them. So that's why I wanted to tell “Rosie” as well, but also, it's a story about beauty in trash. So metaphoric faith, there's a lot of people that think that others are less than them, for example, Jigger (the character of a homeless Cree man, played by actor Brandon Oakes), who's my favourite character, but he's the one that's most grounded to me. He's the one that has his culture, and his language, and he's the one that tells Rosie, and shares the culture with Rosie. So he is, actually, the strongest character.

That's the whole tragedy of it, always. There's people in Europe that don't even realize where they're from. There's a film out there which (Dr.) Tasha Hubbard did. She's Cree from the prairies. She did a documentary on family, the family that found each other. For years and years apart, and they were all over the world. (“Birth of a Family”, 2017, NFB)

 

LDH:

What acting role did you play in “Bones of Crows” ?

 

GM:

It's about residential school, and it takes place over 100 years, following a woman and matriarch. I played the Matriarch’s daughter.

 

There's so many people in Canada that don't know about my culture or the atrocities that happened. Two years ago, social workers went into a hospital and took a baby right out of a woman's arms… it was based on lies, but the power the government has, the power that the social workers and doctors have, is unbelievable… I can't imagine them doing that to a person that's non Indigenous. It's unfathomable that doctors and the government could get away with that, but they do get away with it with indigenous people. “Rosie” is a story with a lot of heavy topics, but in the next moment, you can be laughing, because the way I grew up, if we just soaked in all the hurt and all the pain and all the atrocities, how life is so difficult, if we did that, it would be bleak, and there would be no tomorrow, but the way I grew up, we actually can laugh even though the hardship of life, even though our world is breaking and falling apart. We can still laugh because laughter is, like they say, medicine, and it is medicine because it allows you to be able to lift up your head and carry on. And when you laugh, you're telling the world, you know, I can carry on, I can do this, and I'm going to do it. I'm going to triumph and that's why there's like moments where, you know, characters are crying, and then the next moment they're laughing. Yeah.

 

End

 

The World Premiere of the Canadian Indie film, “Rosie”, was featured in the Discovery program at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) on September 9, 2022. It was also selected as the closing film at Toronto’s ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts festival in October, 2022.

 

The ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto is presently hosting, until March 19, 2022, an important exhibition entitled, “Being Legendary.”It features original paintings by the brilliant Cree artist, Kent Monkman, aka “Miss Chief”, who curated the exhibit. It includes cultural artifacts from the ROM’s collections, but from an indigenous perspective. The exhibit illustrates indigenous knowledge and challenges the past, colonial interpretation of history. As one enters the final room, there is a room of 11 portraits entitled, “Shining Stars”, illustrating indigenous women and men, who in their present state of being are beacons of the future. Among them, a portrait of Gail Maurice, where she is honoured by Monkman as a, “Filmmaker. Writer. Actor. Michif and nehiyawewin first languages speaker! “

 

A fitting tribute, which coincides with the years 2022 until 2032 being designated the UN’s * “International Decade of Indigenous Languages“

 

*The United Nations General Assembly (Resolution A/RES/74/135) proclaimed the period between 2022 and 2032 as the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022-2032), to draw global attention on the critical situation of many indigenous languages and to mobilize stakeholders and resources for their preservation, revitalization and promotion.

 

The International Decade aims at ensuring indigenous peoples’ right to preserve, revitalize and promote their languages, and mainstreaming linguistic diversity and multilingualism aspects into the sustainable development efforts. It offers a unique opportunity to collaborate in the areas of policy development and stimulate a global dialogue in a true spirit of multi-stakeholder engagement, and to take necessary for the usage, preservation, revitalization and promotion of indigenous languages around the world.

 

www.un.org/development/desa/indigenouspeoples/indigenous-...

"Every night I dream of the sea, they say home is where you find it"..

 

About the location:

Fuvammulah or Fua Mulaku (Dhivehi: ފުވައްމުލައް) is a large single island in the Maldives. It is one of the administrative divisions of the Maldives under the name Gnaviyani Atoll or Nyaviyani Atoll. The inhabitants speak a distinctive form of the Dhivehi language, known as Mulaki baha which is somehow in between the forms of Dhivehi spoken in Huvadu and Addu.

 

The name of this island means "Island of the Areca nut palms", Fuvah (or "Fua") in the local language. Other places in the world like Penang in Malaysia and Guwahati in Assam, India, are also named after this nut. The original name of the island could have simply been Mulah, but was called Fuvammulah (the Mulah with the arecanut palms) to distinguish it from Boli Mulah- another important island in ancient Maldives

 

Location: Fuvahmulah / Maldives

Parris Island. Long, long ago, and the beginning of many assignments and a trip halfway around the world. Many changes occurred during those years, most of which, I hope were for the best.

 

All of our drill instructors were hard-core Viet Nam combat veterans, and showed us absolutely no mercy in training. It proved to save many lives later on. They made it very clear that we could suffer some here, or die in Viet Nam. SSgt Vissers, on the left, was Airborne and tough as nails, and could chew up the devil himself, for breakfast. Yes, they showed you that you could not only do things you did not think you could do, but you could do things that were thought impossible. Although not in this photo, our 1st Bn Cmdr was Lt. John J. McGinty, who was a Viet Nam Veteran and a Medal of Honor Winner. He further inspired us with his courage and demanding desire for perfection in everything we did.

 

John J. McGinty Funeral

 

Lt. McGinty's Medal of Honor Citation reads:

 

CITATION:

 

"Rank and organization: Second Lieutenant (then S/Sgt.), U.S. Marine Corps, Company K, 3d Battalion, 4th Marines, 3d Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 18 July 1966. Entered service at: Laurel Bay, S.C. Born: 21 January 1940, Boston, Mass. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 2d Lt. McGinty's platoon, which was providing rear security to protect the withdrawal of the battalion from a position which had been under attack for 3 days, came under heavy small arms, automatic weapons and mortar fire from an estimated enemy regiment. With each successive human wave which assaulted his 32-man platoon during the 4-hour battle, 2d Lt. McGinty rallied his men to beat off the enemy. In 1 bitter assault, 2 of the squads became separated from the remainder of the platoon. With complete disregard for his safety, 2d Lt. McGinty charged through intense automatic weapons and mortar fire to their position. Finding 20 men wounded and the medical corpsman killed, he quickly reloaded ammunition magazines and weapons for the wounded men and directed their fire upon the enemy. Although he was painfully wounded as he moved to care for the disabled men, he continued to shout encouragement to his troops and to direct their fire so effectively that the attacking hordes were beaten off. When the enemy tried to out-flank his position, he killed 5 of them at point-blank range with his pistol. When they again seemed on the verge of overrunning the small force, he skillfully adjusted artillery and air strikes within 50 yards of his position. This destructive firepower routed the enemy, who left an estimated 500 bodies on the battlefield. 2d Lt. McGinty's personal heroism, indomitable leadership, selfless devotion to duty, and bold fighting spirit inspired his men to resist the repeated attacks by a fanatical enemy, reflected great credit upon himself, and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Naval Service."

 

This was where it all began. I arrived late on the evening of December 11, 1967, quickly exited the bus while the drill instructor was screaming at us, and tried to stand tall on those yellow footprints on the ground. Fear was the name of the DI's method, and they were in complete control.

 

From unloading to the barber shop. Their barbers with sheep shears would race to see who could 'shear' a recruit the fastest. Within seconds, your hair was on the ground. They would ask you if you had any moles on your head, and if you didn't tell them, you were bleeding profusely in seconds. After that, we were herded to the barracks, where we tried to get some sleep before 0430 reveille.

 

Such was the beginning of a very intense 60-day training, which had been greatly compressed, due the Viet Nam War raging, necessitating the quickest possible training of Marines. I learned fast and kept my ass wired tight. Two years to the day from standing on those yellow footprints, I was promoted to Sergeant in Viet Nam, only three months after I arrived. My abilities as a fire team leader led to a platoon leader. I turned fear to anger, and by the Grace of God, we prevailed. And one thing I've said before.....if you want to see EXACTLY what Parris Island Boot Camp was like when I was there........watch the first hour of the movie "Full Metal Jacket." The star of the movie was a hardened Viet Nam Marine vet, and actually was a drill instructor. He told the movie producer that "if I can't do it exactly the way it was, then I won't do it." Thanks, F. Lee Ermy. No one could have done it better.

 

One thing people must remember: "The Marine Corps does not 'give away' the Eagle, Globe and Anchor.......you must EARN IT."

Truer words have never been spoken before.

 

My training from 1967-68 serves me to this day in most aspects of my life.

Thank you, Parris Island Marine Corps Recruit Depot. And especially to SSgt. Vissers, SSgt Anderson, Sgt Bongiorno. And most especially, Lt. John J. McGinty, our company CO.

 

Please continue the journey, and my experiences, and take a few minutes to view my photos that I took in Viet Nam. My Tour of Duty was September 1969 - 1970.:

 

Viet Nam

  

The King of Selene, a city in Libya, had one daughter, named Cleodolinda.

 

Cleodolinda was a sweet maid, moving gently, and thinking gentle thoughts. Her form was fair, her eyes were clear and lustrous, and her heart was pure. She was as sweet as a summer morning, and as brave as a winter sun. Wherever she went she was welcome, for she carried joy with her. It seemed as if the earth were fairer where her shadow fell.

 

The King loved this Princess with a love that filled his whole heart with gladness. He knew her thoughts, felt her emotions, and shared her griefs. She was dearer to him than aught else in the world.

 

When Cleodolinda was fourteen years of age, the King thought he had never seen anything more beautiful than she. On that day he said to one of his courtiers: "Of all men on earth I am most happy. My country is at peace, the Queen my consort is amiable, and my daughter is as fair as she is good. I have nothing left to desire."

 

The courtier replied: "Sire, so gracious a monarch deserves only happiness."

 

But as the words were spoken a shadow fell, none knew whence, and encircled the King. And looking upon it, he replied, though fearing nothing: "There is none so gracious that grief may not fall upon him, and I know not why I have been more blest than other men."

 

That night, as the watchman went round the walls of Selene, he felt upon the air a most poisonous vapour that came from without the walls. And even as he wondered, the fumes of the poison became too much for him, and he fell over, and in a little time expired.

 

Now he had not long been lying there when a knight passed that way, and he had gone but a short distance beyond the spot where the body of the watchman lay, when he felt upon the air an odour most subtle and unpleasant. And it seemed to him that it came from without the city walls, where lay bogs and marshes and damp grounds. But even as the thought passed through his brain, the poisonous fumes became too much for him, and he, too, fell to the ground.

 

And in the morning another watchman, making his round, found his fellow dead beside the city wall, and, a little distance from him, the dead knight. And upon the air was a faint odour that was unpleasant to the nostrils.

 

Then the watchman scaled the wall, and, having glanced over, he perceived a huge beast which crawled away from the city and toward the marshes. As it crawled it flapped two great black wings, and from its nostrils belched out a black flame which contained those poisonous fumes of which the watchman felt the trace. Its body was covered with scales, so strong and smooth that they were like a knight's armour; and in shape it was half crawling beast, half loathsome bird. As the watchman observed it, the dragon crawled into the farther part of the marshes, and lay still.

 

Then the watchman hurried him to those in authority to report this affair; and when the matter came to the King's ears, he was greatly disturbed, for he remembered the shadow that had fallen upon him, and, despite himself, he was filled with fears. Yet the fears were not for his own safety.

 

And he roused himself to give orders that none should go outside the city walls till the dragon had gone back whence it came.

 

So the long day through no man went outside the city walls, but many adventurous persons, having gained a perch upon the walls, observed the dragon, which had come into the sunlight, and could be seen lying there.

 

These saw when, in the evening, the dragon roused itself, and rolling over its loathsome body, started to crawl toward the city. It crawled on four twisted feet, and pushed itself with its wings; and its eyes shone like red flames. As this vile creature approached, the people were afraid, and retreated into the city, for they knew not for what purpose the dragon came.

 

When it had reached the gates of the city, it took up a position close to them; and from its nostrils it poured terrible fumes, so that the people were like to die.

 

Then the King called together his knights, and one, who was braver than any other, declared that he would discover from the dragon its purpose in so haunting the city. And having entreated the dragon to cease casting out its poison while he spake with it, he approached and asked for what purpose it had come to the gates of Selene.

 

The dragon replied, by signs and hoarse noises, that it would only depart from the city gates and cease troubling the people of Selene with its poison, if it were granted a meal of two sheep a day.

 

When the King heard of this reply, he ordered that two sheep should be set aside every day for the dragon, and put without the city walls.

 

And when the dragon had on that day received two sheep, it devoured them, and crawled back to its lair.

 

But it remained in the marshes, and not far from the city, so that none might enter the city or come out of it for fear of the dragon. And every day it roused itself, and crawled to the gates to receive its meal of two sheep.

 

But after a time the sheep became few in number, so that there would not long be enough to feed the dragon; and the people were possessed with fear.

 

Then came to the King the bravest knights of Selene, praying him that he would allow them to go out and do battle with the dragon.

 

"For the sheep are few in number," said they; "and what is to be the fate of the people of Selene when they have nothing with which to feed the dragon?"

 

The King replied: "My brave knights, I fear me that ye go to your deaths. Yet can I neither forbid nor dissuade ye, for the fate of my people lies heavy on my heart."

 

Having so spoken he became silent, for the foreboding was upon him that darker trouble was to come upon the people of Selene.

 

Then went out the knights to do battle with the dragon. And when it perceived them issue from the city gates, it forsook its lair and ran toward them with a most incredible speed, resting partly upon its body, and partly upon its wings. And, having come near, it fell upon them, breathing out its terrible poison, and lashing them with its wings. And, since the knights could neither pierce the scales with which its body was covered, nor stun the creature with the hardest blow, they were speedily overcome by the fumes that emanated from it. And they perished, one and all.

 

Then there was weeping in Selene for the fate of the bravest of her knights. And while the people wept, they trembled, for the sheep that remained were few.

 

When there was no longer one left to offer to the dragon, it lay again by the city gates, and threw its poison into the city.

 

And the King, moving as one moves in an evil dream, facing a horror only half understood, went to the gates of the city, and called upon the dragon to cease its poison for a time since he would talk with it.

 

And he asked of it why it had come to torment the people of Selene. But to that the dragon would answer nothing.

 

Then said the King: "Our sheep are all finished, and indeed there is little food of any kind in Selene. Since this be so, wilt not thou leave our gates, and return to thine own place?"

 

But the dragon, lifting its loathly head, made answer, by signs and noises: "I will not return to it. Let me be granted one child a day for my meal, and I will not molest the people of Selene." And it would say no more.

 

Then the King went back the way he had come, and he walked heavily, for in his breast his heart was turned to stone. And he was filled with one great fear.

 

Cried the people of Selene: "We care no longer to live, since our children are to be taken from us!"

 

Nevertheless, because the poison from the dragon was reaching everywhere, so that none could escape, they promised, with bitter weeping, to offer up one child a day, hoping that the dragon would return to its home ere all the children were devoured.

 

And every day lots were cast. And upon whom fell the lot, a child of his was delivered to the dragon. And any child was sacrificed who was not yet fifteen years of age.

 

The Princess Cleodolinda was aged fourteen. Every day her eyes were dim with tears for the child who was that day sacrificed. But her father, the King, never wept. His eyes were dry, and his face pale. For his heart contained but one fear.

 

Then came a day when the lot fell upon the Princess Cleodolinda, and she must be delivered to the dragon.

 

The King's fear was fulfilled, yet he could not weep. And flinging out his hands he cried: "The Princess shall not be sacrificed! I will yield to ye everything, my wealth, my possessions, myself – but not my daughter."

 

But the people replied, yet without anger: "Have not we yielded our children, whom we loved; and shalt thou do less than we, O King?"And the King could not answer.

 

But after a while he said: "Ye will grant to me eight days to mourn for her, and to learn by heart her beauty, for I have loved her passing well."

 

The people replied: "We will sacrifice our own children for eight days."

 

Thus for eight days the King mourned his daughter Cleodolinda, whom he loved beyond aught else in the world; and the people mourned with him, for she was well beloved. But the Princess would not weep. For she said: "I am ashamed to weep for myself, I who am a King's daughter; and I die gladly for the people of Selene."

 

When the eight days were over, women clad the Princess in white garments, and she was placed outside the city wall to await the coming of the dragon.

 

Then, to still her heart's loud beating, she crossed her hands upon her breast; and to keep her eyes from wavering, she bent them upon the ground; and she thought of the people of Selene, for whom she was to die.

 

Now she had been standing thus but a short time, when she heard upon the ground the noise of a horse's hoofs, and looked up to see who it was that approached so near to the city of Selene.

 

And, having looked, her heart was filled with fear, for she beheld a knight of a fairer presence than any she had seen, and of a wondrous gentleness; and she perceived that he knew not of the dragon.

 

This knight was a soldier of the Emperor Diocletian, one who had risen to high honour in the army, and who was passing through Libya to join his men. When he perceived the Princess, standing pale and trembling outside the walls of the city, he paused on his way, to ask what was her distress.

 

But the Princess, in a great agitation, replied: "Ah, sir, do not wait to question me, but press on thy way! For know, in yon marshes lurks a fearful dragon who has been the death of many a noble knight. Press on, I beseech thee, ere it issue from its lair."

 

But the knight replied: "I cannot press on and leave thee unprotected against the dragon."

 

And at that moment the dragon bestirred itself, and began to crawl from its hiding-place.

 

"Alas," cried Cleodolinda, "the dragon is upon us! I beseech thee, Sir Knight, leave me before it be too late!"

 

But the knight, turning him about, bade her remain where she was, and went out to meet the dragon.

 

When it observed him approach, the beast was struck with amazement, and, having paused for but a moment, it ran toward the knight with a great swiftness, and beating its dark wings upon the ground as it ran.

 

When it drew near to him, it puffed out from its nostrils a smoke so dense that the knight was enveloped in it as in a cloud; and darted hot flames from its eyes. Rearing its horrid body, it beat against the knight, dealing him fearful blows; but he, bending, thrust his spear against it, and caught the blows upon his shield.

 

And having cast all his strength into it, he dealt the dragon a deadly thrust; but the spear glanced aside, for the scales of the beast were like steel plates, and withstood the blow. Then the dragon, infuriated by the thrust, lashed itself against the knight and his horse, and threw out a vapour deadlier than before, and cast lightnings upon him from its eyes. And it writhed, an evil thing, about him, so that one would have said he must have been crushed; and wherever he thrust at it, that part was as if it had been clad in mail.

 

The fight lasted a long time, and the knight grew weary, though he fought with as great an ardour as at first. Through the deadly fumes that issued from the dragon the Princess could see his face shine out, and she saw that it was pale, yet lighted up by some radiance that shone from within. As he thrust at the dragon, this radiance grew greater, so that at last it was like the light of the sun.

 

But the dragon looped itself about the knight, and its poison was heavy upon him, so that to breathe was almost more pain than he could bear. Then he perceived that, no matter how the dragon writhed, it sought always to protect one place in its body – that place which lay beneath its left wing. And, nerving himself for a great blow, the knight bent himself downward, and thrust his spear with a turn into that place.

 

So great was the strength required for the thrust that the knight left the spear in the wound for weariness; and as he raised himself he felt the dragon's clasp upon him loosen. Then the smoke ceased to belch from its nostrils, and the great beast fell to the ground.

 

Perceiving that the dragon was now helpless, though not dead, the knight called joyfully to the Princess; and he bade her that she should loosen her girdle, and give it to him. When this was done, the knight bound it about the neck of the dragon, and gave the girdle-ends into the hand of the Princess that she might lead the dragon toward the city.

 

Thereafter, when they had reached the city gates, these were opened to them with great joy by the people of Selene, who had watched from the city this great fight; and all were astonished to behold the loathsome dragon so guided by the Princess.

 

With his sword, and in the presence of all people, the knight despatched the dragon; and when this was done, he would have gone on his way.

 

But the King said: "What shall be given to this brave knight, who hath so rid us of our enemy, and hath restored to us the Princess Cleodolinda, and saved our children?"

 

And the people cried of honours, and wealth, that should be given to the knight.

 

But he, when all had finished, thus replied: "I desire only that ye believe in the God who strengthened my hand to gain this victory, and be baptised."

 

And when he had baptised the city into the Christian faith, he went on his way.

AMZAF Young Talent Festival: een uniek festival met jong talent

 

Hartje zomer vindt er in het Nederlands Openluchtmuseum in Arnhem een prachtig festival plaats: AMZAF Young Talent Festival!

 

Kijk voor meer informatie op www.amzaf.nl

On the 180th birthday anniversary for the City of Chicago founded on March

4, 1837, I remember why Chicago was the choice I made for a destination.

When my parents decided to live in the United States of America, I was

living in the Cuban city of Santiago de Cuba and attending elementary

school in Spanish. One day, my Mother told me that both my parents decided

to leave Santiago de Cuba and settle in another city of the United States

of America. She asked me in which city we should live? There were many

choices of cities based on the family relatives who were already in the

USA. Since Catholic Charities sponsored the Freedom Flights, "Vuelos de

Libertad", the Catholic Church offered help in Connecticut and Chicago to

relocate Cuban families there. My Mother and Father thought that

Connecticut was very, very cold and farther north in the East Coast. While

Chicago was in the Midwest, a city by Lake Michigan, one of the Great

Lakes--Erie, Huron, and Superior. My parents had Cuban friends in

Connecticut and Chicago, as well as in other American cities. However, the

City of Chicago was unanimously our choice for a destination in the United

States of America. My Grandmother had Cuban friends in Chicago and

business connections to the mail-order stores like Montgomery Ward, Sears,

etc. My parents had Cuban-Chinese friends in Rogers Park, on Howard

Street, near Evanston, Illinois. Even now, the far north communities of

Edgewater by Lake Michigan, Rogers Park, Andersonville, and Evanston still

appeal to my family in general. Military friends from the Great Lakes and

visitors from the USA encouraged my Mother and Father to leave Santiago de

Cuba.

 

Chicago Catholic Charities welcomed my family with open arms, kindness,

generosity, and goodwill when we arrived in July 1971. My Father, Mr.

Roberto Hung Juris Doctor and my Mother, Mrs. Gardenia Fong Ramos, myself,

and my youngest brother, Roberto Santiago Hung were referred for relocation

to the Montfield Hotel at the corner of Sheffield and Belmont Avenue in the

Lake View neighborhood, near the Illinois Masonic Medical Center on

Wellington Street. Later, my Father was referred to a Baptist Church

Pastor, Fabio Abreu of Dominican descent and his Canadian-American wife for

relocation to the first floor of a Chicago home owned by Mrs. Marie Palmer,

a Protestant Lutheran American widow, his neighbor across the alley who

needed a responsible and reliable tenant with a family to help her maintain

here Chicago real estate property at 2930 North Albany between Wellington

and George, near Kedzie Avenue where Avondale Elementary School was

located, across from the Grace Lutheran Church.

 

The Baptist Pastor Fabio Abreu from the Dominican Republic and his Lutheran

American-German neighbor Mrs. Marie Palmer were heaven sent during our

relocation from the Montfield Hotel in Lakeview to the Avondale community

near Logan Square, not far from our Cuban-

Chinese friends, Fernando Wong and Yolanda Fen with two children, a

retarded daughter with spinal bifida, Zuling, and a male Fernandito Wong

Fen who wanted to be an architect engineer later in life. Afterwards,

Fernando and Yoli Wong had a daughter named Meiling who lived in the Rogers

Park community, near Evanston and Skokie in Illinois.

 

While I was attending Avondale Grammar School, on Kedzie Avenue, aka

Loganddale Elementary School, I used to participate in an abridged 6th

grade program, instead of the corresponding 8th grade program which I would

later trafer. Since my Mother had my Cuban grammar school transcripts, she

told the Principal in Santiago de Cuba that I had alread passed 6th, 7th,

and 8th grade programs in Santiago de Cubqa in Spanish.

 

The obvious problem for all of us was how to speak English, write in

English, and attend school of course, obviously, my family and I had to

make a transition from spoken Spanish to American English, fluently. There

were Free English courses and classes at the Casa Central in Logan Square,

Chicago, Illinois 60618, USA. My parents and I, used to practice speaking

English in Santiago de Cuba, later on, we, as a family began to speak

English at home in Chicago with the television programs of Sesame Street

and the Electric Company featuring Rita Moreno, among other television

personalities and talent,as well as other TV programs like Perry Mason,

classic western movies with John Wayne, and the musical songs of Doris Day,

Glen Miller's American Jazz band, Lawrence Welk, which we used to watch

before.

 

Soon, we made friends with the neighbors like Ludivinia "Ludi" Villareal,

whose family was Hispanic from Méjico and invited us to her birthday party

for "tostadas", tacos, etc. There were also Cuban-Americans like Armando

and his youngest brother who went to Avondale Elementary School also with

myself and my youngest brother Robert S. Hung. My 6th grade teacher was

Miss Honeywood and my English As A Second Language Teacher was Miss Pantos

who later married and changed her name. Later, I was double transferred to

8th grade with Mr. Herbert Hebel where I graduated with High Honors from

Avondale Elementary School.

 

In Chicago, my Father, Roberto Hung was able to find employment at the

warehouse in Montgomery Ward and Sears, Roebuck and Company. Later he

worked for Marshall Field's and the Theatrical Dance Supply Company.

Fernando and Yoli Wong Fen recomeded my Father to work for Felt-Products,

on McCormick Boulevard in Skokie, also known today as Federal Mogul, a

corporation in the automotive industry manufacturing "oil gaskets" with a

patented adhesive created and designed by Albert Mecklenburger, a

German-American from Berlin, Germany.

 

My Mother also had to get a job with Goldblatt's on Milwaukee Avenue, right

in the midst of the Polish American neighborhood. Then, she found another

part-time job at Tic-Toc with Mrs. Sherman. Later, my Father recommended

her to work for Felt-Products with him in Skokie, also.

 

I started working at the Offices of Edelstein & Edelstein on Irivng Park

Road who needed to make collection calls on the telephone and paid a

minimum wage of $4 per hour. Afterrwards, I found a job at McDonald's at

the corner of Irving Park Road and Elston Avenue, not far from the Irving

Park Shopping Center, the Y.M.C.A. and Madonna High School.

 

In order to *"Make Ends Meet"*, both my Father and Mother went to work, and

during my 3rd year as a junior at Madonna High School, age 16-years-old,

Sister Rosemarie from Counselling referred me to get a job and follow the

American Dream working hard to make a living. Mrs. Palmer used to say

before she left for work as an Administrator and Office Manager at the

Civic Opera, *"I owe, I owe, so off to work I go."*

 

*Chicago* is also known as the Windy City because of the cross-winds across

Lake Michigan cause whirlwinds and all-changing weather due to the Lake

Effect and the Great Lakes. It is still a beautiful city by the Lake

Michigan, *"the city with the broad shoulders"* as a client and friend from

Helsinki, Finland, calls the City of Chicago. Mrs. Marie Palmer used to

tell me, *"if you don't like the weather in Chicago, wait a minute, it will

change."*

 

I have grown up in Chicago for the last 46 years on the Northwest side of

the Windy City and attended and graduated from Northeastern Illinois

University after graduating from Madonna High School on May 27, 1977 with

High Honors, as a member of the National Honor Society and the French Honor

Society. Later, I pursued Graduate Studies at the University of Illinois

at Chicago with the *Abraham Lincoln Fellowship for Rhetorical Criticism,

Speech Writing, Communications, and Theatre* granted by the UIC Department

of Communications and Theatre managed by Dr. Anthony Graham-White. I have

written my Master's Thesis as an ethnography about *"The Chinese in Cuba:

Assimilation and Acculturation*" presented by Dr. Thomas Kochman, Ph.D.

 

The City of Chicago celebrates today 180 years since its founding fathers

established the settlement by the Chicago River and used the name

familiarly with the *"wild onions"* growing by the river banks. *"Happy

180th Birthday Anniversary, Chicago!"*

 

I have rented and lived in a studio apartment on the Northwest side of

Chicago near my Father, Mr. Roberto Hung Juris Doctor, on Sacramento and

Belle Plaine, near Irving Park Road, in a building owned by Mrs. A.C.

Nylen, a German-American realtor in Chicago and the Midwest.

 

My Mother, Mrs. Gardenia Fong Ramos began to work at Felt-Products Inc. and

attended Loyola University Lewis Towers Campus pursuing a Master's in

Spanish Literature with Dr. Martinez, Dr. Carol Holdsworth, and Dr. Luján.

 

Chicago has always represented the spirit of its community people to

prevail and overcome adversity in the challenges that life brings over

time, place, and physical presence. The people of Chicago have a fighting

spirit to survive and fight for justice, equity, and fairness. Chicago is

today a cosmopolitan metropolis and a credit to its sprawling communities

by Lake Michigan in the state of Illinois, USA. Happy 180th Anniversary,

Chicago!

 

The Chicago River

 

Gardenia C. Hung, M.A., B.A.

Consulting Social Media Arts Communications

 

en.gravatar.com/gardeniahung

www.intranslations.blogspot.com

www.coroflot.com/gardeniahung

www.linkedin.com/in/gardeniahung

www.vimeo.com/consultingmedia

www.vimeo.com/communicatemedia

www.vimeo.com/languagesculture

 

Guess...

Here's a close up of the quilting I've done so far - it's half done. A bit wild, but the overall effect is really pretty.

spoken

Spoken

collage

 

be.net/newart

be.net/newart/frame

Beer 'N Bike Ride

Grand Rapids, Michigan

www.kisscross.com

www.sarojamamsinstitute.com

 

Spoken

www.dontcallmebecky.com

 

quilting up close