View allAll Photos Tagged decency
Anyone who's been near a sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) when it starts calling out can hear this photo! I took an early morning drive to McCoy Flat Reservoir a few miles from my Lassen County, California home. My mission was twofold: I wanted to check a trail camera I had out scouting for coyotes for a possible camera trap deployment, and I wanted to check in on these three in good light. The mission had a 50% success rate as I didn't get any coyote traffic on the trail cam, but these guys, who I'd seen a few times already, were still hanging around. On the 27-degree Fahrenheit April morning there was some nice fog coming off the water, and these beautiful wading birds had the decency to be hanging out in a pretty spot when they decided to break the silence and wake up half the state of California.
This image captures one of those unrepeatable wildlife moments — three sandhill cranes mid-call in a fog-draped wetland at first light, framed by mist-softened conifers and glassy water. The warm, golden tones of the birds against the cool atmospheric haze give it a painterly, almost ethereal quality that works beautifully as large-format wall art. It's a natural fit for nature lovers, birding enthusiasts, and wildlife collectors, as well as anyone drawn to the quiet drama of the American West at dawn. A perfect piece for residents of Lassen County or those with fond memories of the Northern California high country.
I promised a view with a little more context when I posted the 'portrait' of her over a week ago, so here she is again. This installation was one of the highlights of Heligan for me.
I've now found out that she is called a 'Mudmaid' and that is because the bulk of her body is made up of a hollow wood frame and covered in mud over which ivy has been trained to grow to afford her some decency. Her face (and hands, which you can't see here...) are made of a mixture of mud, sand and cement, and apparently the garden staff douse her face regularly in natural yoghurt to encourage lichen growth. Lucky lady! :)
For more information on the fascinating story behind the Lost Gardens of Heligan, look here
In July of 2013, IC #3115 works the south end of Markham underneath the now-gone signal installations from the '90s.
#3115 was one of forty GP40s rebuilt at the old Paducah shops, then owned by VMV, in the late '80s. In 2014, the engine received the classic CN reflector tape, and CN even had the decency to fix up the conductor-side door and logo.
Supporting Ukraine is a way of standing up for democratic freedom and fighting a despicable tyrant from Russia who is happy to kill men, women and children in both countries so he can benefit his rich friends and tear the world apart. In 1989 Ukraine signed a treaty with the USA to give up their nuclear weapons in return for guarantees of protection form the US and Europe. Please support this brave and courageous nation. Other good ways are to buy a bumper sticker like this to show support or donate to CARE, Unicef, or Doctors Without Borders. Blessings
i
walkin out dis place
nice and easy
packin mi bag neat
beatin a
slow retreat
doan have no
property to protec
no workers to neglec
no politician fren
no drugs man weh a go len
mi a fortune
i
cyaan kill de battyman
or sell out to foreign plan
nor kiss no governemnt ass
jus waan get aff de crass
name decency
so
i
walkin out dis place
nice an easy
no qualms
- Jean 'Binta' Breeze-
A young Japanese Macaque (Macaca fuscata) rests on a log after climbing out of the warm waters of the onsen that draws hundreds of monkeys and tourists alike, Jigokudani Monkey Park, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.
For some time prior to visiting I wondered how the monkeys did not catch hypothermia after emerging from the hot springs, as I speculated that their wet fur must inevitably become a chill, clinging blanket in the cold winter air before it could dry. As if to answer my question, this young one climbed out of the water after swimming around for awhile and made it all seem so very trivial. It simply shook vigorously for no more than 5-10 seconds, much as dogs are wont to do, and the result was what you see here: nearly dry and with a shocking resemblance to Billy Idol.
As we watched them swim, play, heckle each other, and gambol about, the scene did raise other questions. Even though the cold creek was nearby, I noticed that many of the macaques came to the onsen to drink rather than take water from the faster-moving stream. I also noticed several turds float through the same warm water quite near to where the monkeys were actively drinking. I had wondered whether the monkeys had the common decency not to crap in the hot tub, and apparently they do not. I now wonder whether the onsen are a point source for macaque coliform diseases, whether susceptible individuals simply don't survive very long, or whether the primate diet and immune systems are such that a few coliform bacteria here and there can be blithely ignored. I do know that if the Oregon Trail is anything to go by, human beings would likely contract cholera and dysentery in record time by engaging in such practices.
Featuring the Roja “Bewitched Bikini Fatpack” now at the July Progeny Mall Round
They said a witch didn’t belong at the shore.
Too wild. Too pale. Too wrapped in shadows and ink.
But I came anyway.
The morning sun rose slow and heavy, draping itself over the salt-stained sky. I laid out my woven mat...a little scrap of sea-worn cloth patterned with fish, frayed at the corners. The scent of brine and spellwork clung to my skin, and the sea, always listening, whispered secrets in return.
I wasn’t there to hex or haunt. I was there to breathe.
Wrapped in black, stitched in charm and confidence, the Bewitched Bikini by Roja made me feel less like an outcast and more like an omen. Soft straps curled around my hips, where old power slept beneath tattooed skin. The matching skirt wrap danced like seafoam, teasing the edge of decency, never quite touching the line.
It was more than swimwear. It was armor for a sun-drenched world that still believed witches should hide in the woods.
And so I didn’t. I stretched, sprawled, and soaked in the fire of the sun like it belonged to me.
A gull screamed. The waves hissed. My fingers traced ancient runes into the sand beside me, not to summon, not to curse… but to remember. Who I was. What I’ve survived.
The Roja Bewitched Bikini Fatpack, now featured at the July Progeny Mall Round, isn't just a wardrobe piece...it’s a rite of reclamation. With multiple color options and a flirtatious wrap skirt, it’s perfect for any being who dares to wear their power where it can be seen.
So come, sea-witch or sun-wanderer. Cast off your cloak. Let the world see you shimmer.
... It is so hot!!!!!, but the king loves the sun and walks for hours through the streets of his adopted city. He gets better now...they say...He kept up the fiction of his recuperation for reasons of his own. Of course they try to make him unhappy with all the terrible news about the economy of his land and how his people need to work even harder to mantain a minimum of decency.He follows the news and worry about the future...It is almost christmas... new year... happy time for the families. to be honest , the king hates this part of the year and the "heineken" joy.... (but this belong to another story and only for adults!).....sure they must all try to live in the present... and for him being in the tropics is to renew acquaintance with a friend that once impressed him...maybe to read Dickens can help to cross this fase....and if I am not mistaken Dickens said: the most beautiful things in the world are shadows....
from a invenção do amor e outras historias.
bad translation by carlos pataca
The sight that had so upset poor Caroline, was the sight of Montgomery the chipmunk boldly stuffing his cheeks with "her "seed. He was inside the awful cage that kept her out of the feeder and was even being tolerated by the cardinals. He did have the decency to appear surprised. Montgomery had assumed Linda Yvonne was still out of town.
Linda Hartong Photography. ©All Rights Reserved. 2007 Do not use, copy or edit any of my photographs without written permission.
Things are amiss in Somewhereville and the current mayor and his council are in disfavor due to their policy of excluding extraterrestrials from city benefits. Enter, Chauncy P. Figgleworth who has vowed to restore human and extraterrestrial decency to city policies. He's seen here astride his trusty companion and chauffeur Gladys. Chauncy claims that his gentle hippo offers a humane vision in contrast to the elephants and donkeys that have let us down. I kind of like his catchy slogan: "Why not the Chimp?" Why not indeed? Remember to vote hippo in November.
Image imagined in MidJourney AI and finished with Topaz Studio and Lightroom Classic.
This colourful logo decorates a food van. That shadow fell almost perfectly as if "Dirty Bird" is perched there with guns loaded.
*** As you'll see from one of the comments below there are plenty of fake people going around on Flickr. I have decided to make an example of this one because the real people left on Flickr have to make a stand against fake images, fake comments, fake people (even this person's avatar looks fake to me). I will eventually block this person, but in the meantime we need to (1) expose them as fake, and (2) stop visiting their pages!
Dirty Bird has his guns loaded....
Come on people, just think: How insulting is it that people use AI technology to comment on our photos and they don't even have the decency to look themselves?!
This image is copyright, all rights reserved, and not part of the public domain. Any use, linking to, or posting of this image is prohibited without my consent. If you want to use this image in any fashion, please have the common courtesy and decency to ask.
Dalles Mountain Ranch, Columbia Hills State Park, Washington
Saturday morning I got myself up 3:30am and was out the door by 4:00am for the 2 hour drive to the Rusty Car. I had a little while to play and figure out my comps while waiting for the sun to come up. The balsamroot was pretty stomped down on the downhill side of the car which left me little choice to use the balsamroot seen here. I captured this sunstar with my aperture set to f/20 and bracketed 3 exposures. I then transferred those images through the wifi on my Canon 6D to my iPhone and used the app "Laminar" to edit and blend those photos together. Laminar has some pretty nifty layering and masking features. I just had to be careful where I placed my finger at while drawing my layer mask because I still only had one eye open which had early morning blurry vision at best. Yes, this was all done on my iPhone no personal computer involved.
When I first saw her face of serenity I spent some time thinking what would have brought it to her.
It is difficult to know given I don't know her story. That is part of the beauty of travelling, right? Discovering new things we might never understand, but at least, the brief exposure to them opens our minds to new realities.
So I can only theorise that she lived a life according to her principles and values, a spiritual life and that she acted with integrity, love and decency. And hence her expression.
Would you like to buy it?
society6.com/product/face-of-serenity_framed-print
All the prints, Daniel Vicario's shop
Nikon F3 (HP)
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AIS (long nose)
Ilford Ortho Plus (80)
Dev: Ilfosol 3 (1+9 , 5 min)
Oct. 2020
Somewhere between Whitefish Point and Sault Ste. Marie
We went to the beach looking for Gulls and were approached by this Eunuch for money. They don't have many options to look after themselves as people do not give them jobs so easily so they resort to begging or prostitution.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)
Hijra (for translations, see [n 1]) is a term used in South Asia – particularly in India and Pakistan – to refer to trans women (male-to-female transgender individuals).[1][2] In different areas of Pakistan and India, transgender people are also known as Aravani, Aruvani or Jagappa.[3]
In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the hijras are officially recognized as third gender by the government,[4][5] being neither completely male nor female. In India also, transgender people have been given the status of third gender and are protected as per the law despite the social ostracism. The term more commonly advocated by social workers and transgender community members themselves is khwaja sira (Urdu: خواجہ سرا) and can identify the individual as a transsexual person, transgender person (khusras), cross-dresser (zenanas) or eunuch (narnbans).[6][7]
Hijras have a recorded history in the Indian subcontinent from antiquity onwards as suggested by the Kama Sutra period. This history features a number of well-known roles within subcontinental cultures, part gender-liminal, part spiritual and part survival.
In South Asia, many hijras live in well-defined and organised all-hijra communities, led by a guru.[8][9] These communities have sustained themselves over generations by "adopting" boys who are in abject poverty, rejected by, or flee, their family of origin.[10] Many work as sex workers for survival.[11]
The word "hijra" is an Urdu word derived from the Semitic Arabic root hjr in its sense of "leaving one's tribe,"[12] and has been borrowed into Hindi. The Indian usage has traditionally been translated into English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite," where "the irregularity of the male genitalia is central to the definition."[13] However, in general hijras are born with typically male physiology, only a few having been born with intersex variations.[14] Some Hijras undergo an initiation rite into the hijra community called nirwaan, which refers to the removal of the penis, scrotum and testicles.[11]
Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government organizations (NGOs) have lobbied for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of "third sex" or "third gender," as neither man nor woman.[15] Hijras have successfully gained this recognition in Bangladesh and are eligible for priority in education.[16] In India, the Supreme Court in April 2014 recognised hijra and transgender people as a 'third gender' in law.[17][18][19]
Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have all legally recognized the existence of a third gender, including on passports and other official documents.
Terminology
The Urdu and Hindi word hijra may alternately be romanized as hijira, hijda, hijada, hijara, hijrah and is pronounced [ˈɦɪdʒɽaː]. This term is generally considered derogatory in Urdu and the word Khwaja Sara is used instead. Another such term is khasuaa (खसुआ) or khusaraa (खुसरा). In Bengali hijra is called হিজড়া, hijra, hijla, hijre, hizra, or hizre.
A number of terms across the culturally and linguistically diverse Indian subcontinent represent similar sex or gender categories. While these are rough synonyms, they may be better understood as separate identities due to regional cultural differences. In Odia, a hijra is referred to as hinjida, hinjda or napunsaka, in Telugu, as napunsakudu (నపుంసకుడు), kojja (కొజ్జ) or maada (మాడ), in Tamil Nadu, Thiru nangai (mister woman), Ali, aravanni, aravani, or aruvani, in Punjabi, khusra and jankha, in Sindhi khadra, in Gujarati, pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા).
In North India, the goddess Bahuchara Mata is worshipped by Pavaiyaa (પાવૈયા). In South India, the goddess Renuka is believed to have the power to change one's sex. Male devotees in female clothing are known as Jogappa. They perform similar roles to hijra, such as dancing and singing at birth ceremonies and weddings.[21]
The word kothi (or koti) is common across India, similar to the Kathoey of Thailand, although kothis are often distinguished from hijras. Kothis are regarded as feminine men or boys who take a feminine role in sex with men, but do not live in the kind of intentional communities that hijras usually live in. Additionally, not all kothis have undergone initiation rites or the body modification steps to become a hijra.[22] Local equivalents include durani (Kolkata), menaka (Cochin),[23] meti (Nepal), and zenana (Pakistan).
Hijra used to be translated in English as "eunuch" or "hermaphrodite,"[13] although LGBT historians or human rights activists have sought to include them as being transgender.[24] In a series of meetings convened between October 2013 and Jan 2014 by the transgender experts committee of India's Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, hijra and other trans activists asked that the term "eunuch" be discontinued from usage in government documents, as it is not a term with which the communities identify.
Gender and sexuality
These identities have no exact match in the modern Western taxonomy of gender and sexual orientation,[24] and challenge Western ideas of sex and gender.[11]
In India, some Hijras do not define themselves by specific sexual orientation, but rather by renouncing sexuality altogether. Sexual energy is transformed into sacred powers. However, these notions can come in conflict with the practical, which is that hijras are often employed as prostitutes.[25] Furthermore, in India a feminine male who takes a "receptive" role in sex with a man will often identify as a kothi (or the local equivalent term). While kothis are usually distinguished from hijras as a separate gender identity, they often dress as women and act in a feminine manner in public spaces, even using feminine language to refer to themselves and each other. The usual partners of hijras and kothis are men who consider themselves heterosexual as they are the ones who penetrate.[26] These male partners are often married, and any relationships or sex with "kothis" or hijras are usually kept secret from the community at large. Some hijras may form relationships with men and even marry,[27] although their marriage is not usually recognized by law or religion. Hijras and kothis often have a name for these masculine sexual or romantic partners; for example, panthi in Bangladesh, giriya in Delhi or sridhar in Cochin.[23]
Social status and economic circumstances
Most hijras live at the margins of society with very low status; the very word "hijra" is sometimes used in a derogatory manner. The Indian lawyer and author Rajesh Talwar has written a book highlighting the human rights abuses suffered by the community titled 'The Third Sex and Human Rights.'[28] Few employment opportunities are available to hijras. Many get their income from extortion (forced payment by disrupting work/life using demonstrations and interference), performing at ceremonies (toli), begging (dheengna), or sex work ('raarha')—an occupation of eunuchs also recorded in premodern times. Violence against hijras, especially hijra sex workers, is often brutal, and occurs in public spaces, police stations, prisons, and their homes.[29] As with transgender people in most of the world, they face extreme discrimination in health, housing, education, employment, immigration, law, and any bureaucracy that is unable to place them into male or female gender categories.[30]
In 2008, HIV prevalence was 27.6% amongst hijra sex workers in Larkana.[6] The general prevalence of HIV among the adult Pakistani population is estimated at 0.1%.[31]
In October 2013, Pakistani Christians and Muslims (Shia and Sunni) put pressure on the landlords of Imamia Colony to evict any transgender residents. "Generally in Pakistan, Khwaja Sira are not under threat. But they are in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province because of a 'new Islam' under way", I.A. Rehman, the director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.[32]
In a study of Bangladeshi hijras, participants reported not being allowed to seek healthcare at the private chambers of doctors, and experiencing abuse if they go to government hospitals.[33]
Beginning in 2006, hijras were engaged to accompany Patna city revenue officials to collect unpaid taxes, receiving a 4-percent commission.[34]
Since India's Supreme Court re-criminalized homosexual sex on 13 December 2013, there has been a sharp increase in the physical, psychological and sexual violence against the transgender community by the Indian Police Service, nor are they investigating even when sexual assault against them is reported.[35]
On 15 April 2014, in National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India, the Supreme Court of India ruled that transgender people should be treated as a third category of gender or as a socially and economically "backward" class entitled to proportional access and representation in education and jobs.[36]
Language
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The hijra community due to its peculiar place in sub-continental society which entailed marginalisation yet royal privileges developed a secret language known as Hijra Farsi. The language has a sentence structure loosely based on Urdu and a unique vocabulary of at least a thousand words. Beyond the Urdu-Hindi speaking areas of subcontinent the vocabulary is still used by the hijra community within their own native languages.
In South Asian politics
In 2013, transgender people in Pakistan were given their first opportunity to stand for election.[37] Sanam Fakir, a 32-year-old hijra, ran as an independent candidate for Sukkur, Pakistan's general election in May.[38]
The governments of both India (1994)[39] and Pakistan (2009)[40] have recognized hijras as a "third sex", thus granting them the basic civil rights of every citizen. In India, hijras now have the option to identify as a eunuch ("E") on passports and on certain government documents. They are not, however, fully accommodated; in order to vote, for example, citizens must identify as either male or female. There is also further discrimination from the government. In the 2009 general election, India's election committee denied three hijras candidature unless they identified themselves as either male or female.
In April 2014, Justice KS Radhakrishnan declared transgender to be the third gender in Indian law, in a case brought by the National Legal Services Authority (Nalsa) against Union of India and others.[17][18][19] The ruling said:[41]
Seldom, our society realises or cares to realise the trauma, agony and pain which the members of Transgender community undergo, nor appreciates the innate feelings of the members of the Transgender community, especially of those whose mind and body disown their biological sex. Our society often ridicules and abuses the Transgender community and in public places like railway stations, bus stands, schools, workplaces, malls, theatres, hospitals, they are sidelined and treated as untouchables, forgetting the fact that the moral failure lies in the society's unwillingness to contain or embrace different gender identities and expressions, a mindset which we have to change.
Justice Radhakrishnan said that transgender people should be treated consistently with other minorities under the law, enabling them to access jobs, healthcare and education.[42] He framed the issue as one of human rights, saying that, "These TGs, even though insignificant in numbers, are still human beings and therefore they have every right to enjoy their human rights", concluding by declaring that:[41]
Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as "third gender" for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.
Transgender persons' right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.
A bill supported by all political parties was tabled in Indian parliament to ensure transgender people get benefits akin reserved communities like SC/STs and is taking steps to see that they get enrollment in schools and jobs in government besides protection from sexual harassment.[43]
History
The ancient Kama Sutra mentions the performance of fellatio by feminine people of a third sex (tritiya prakriti).[44] This passage has been variously interpreted as referring to men who desired other men, so-called eunuchs ("those disguised as males, and those that are disguised as females"[45]), male and female trans people ("the male takes on the appearance of a female and the female takes on the appearance of the male"),[46] or two kinds of biological males, one dressed as a woman, the other as a man.[47]
During the era of the British Raj, authorities attempted to eradicate hijras, whom they saw as "a breach of public decency."[48] Anti-hijra laws were repealed; but a law outlawing castration, a central part of the hijra community, was left intact, though rarely enforced. Also during British rule in India they were placed under the Criminal Tribes Act 1871 and labelled a "criminal tribe," hence subjected to compulsory registration, strict monitoring and stigmatized for a long time; after independence however they were denotified in 1952, though the centuries-old stigma continues.[49]
In religion
The Indian transgender hijras or Aravanis ritually marry the Hindu god Aravan and then mourn his ritual death (seen) in an 18-day festival in Koovagam, India.
Many practice a form of syncretism that draws on multiple religions; seeing themselves to be neither men nor women, hijras practice rituals for both men and women.
Hijras belong to a special caste. They are usually devotees of the mother goddess Bahuchara Mata, Lord Shiva, or both.
Hijras and Bahuchara Mata
Bahuchara Mata is a Hindu goddess with two unrelated stories both associated with transgender behavior. One story is that she appeared in the avatar of a princess who castrated her husband because he would run in the woods and act like a woman rather than have sex with her. Another story is that a man tried to rape her, so she cursed him with impotence. When the man begged her forgiveness to have the curse removed, she relented only after he agreed to run in the woods and act like a woman. The primary temple to this goddess is located in Gujarat[50] and it is a place of pilgrimage for hijras, who see Bahucahara Mata as a patroness.
Hijras and Lord Shiva
One of the forms of Lord Shiva is a merging with Parvati where together they are Ardhanari, a god that is half Shiva and Half Parvati. Ardhanari has special significance as a patron of hijras, who identify with the gender ambiguity.[50]
Hijras in the Ramayana
In some versions of the Ramayana,[51] when Rama leaves Ayodhya for his 14-year exile, a crowd of his subjects follow him into the forest because of their devotion to him. Soon Rama notices this, and gathers them to tell them not to mourn, and that all the "men and women" of his kingdom should return to their places in Ayodhya. Rama then leaves and has adventures for 14 years. When he returns to Ayodhya, he finds that the hijras, being neither men nor women, have not moved from the place where he gave his speech. Impressed with their devotion, Rama grants hijras the boon to confer blessings on people during auspicious inaugural occasions like childbirth and weddings. This boon is the origin of badhai in which hijras sing, dance, and give blessings.[
Hijras in the Mahabharata
Mahabharata includes an episode in which Arjun, a hero of the epic, is sent into an exile. There he assumes an identity of a eunuch-transvestite and performs rituals during weddings and childbirths that are now performed by hijras.[53]
In the Mahabharata, before the Kurukshetra War, Iravan offers his lifeblood to goddess Kali to ensure the victory of the Pandavas, and Kali agrees to grant him power. On the night before the battle, Iravan expresses a desire to get married before he dies. No woman was willing to marry a man doomed to die in a few hours, so Arjuna as Brihinala marries him. In South India, hijras claim Iravan as their progenitor and call themselves "aravanis."[52]
"Sangam literature use ' word 'Pedi' to refer to people born with Intersex condition, it also refers to antharlinga hijras and various Hijra, The Aravan cult in Koovagam village of Tamil Nadu is a folk tradition of the transwomen, where the members enact the legend during an annual three-day festival. "This is completely different from the sakibeki cult of West Bengal, where transwomen don't have to undergo sex change surgery or shave off their facial hair. They dress as women still retaining their masculine features and sing in praise of Lord Krishna,". "Whereas, since the Tamil society is more conservative and hetero-normative, transwomen completely change themselves as women. In the ancient times, even religion has its own way of accepting these fringe communities." The Bachura Devi worship in Gujarat and Jogappa cult of Karanataka are the other examples.the kinds of dialects and languages spoken by these community in different parts of the country and the socio-cultural impact on the lingo. 'Hijra Farsi' is the transgender dialect, a mix of Urdu, Hindi and Persian spoken in the northern belt of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and 'Kothi Baashai' is spoken by the transgender community in Karnataka, Andhra, Orissa and parts of Tamil Nadu. "They even have sign languages and typical mannerisms to communicate. The peculiar clap is one such"
—Gopi Shankar Madurai, National Queer Conference 2013[54][55]
Each year in Tamil Nadu, during April and May, hijras celebrate an eighteen-day religious festival. The aravani temple is located in the village Koovagam in the Ulundurpet taluk in Villupuram district, and is devoted to the deity Koothandavar, who is identified with Aravan. During the festival, the aravanis reenact a story of the wedding of Lord Krishna and Lord Aravan, followed by Aravan's subsequent sacrifice. They then mourn Aravan's death through ritualistic dances and by breaking their bangles. An annual beauty pageant is also held, as well as various health and HIV or AIDS seminars. Hijras from all over the country travel to this festival. A personal experience of the hijras in this festival is shown in the BBC Three documentary India's Ladyboys and also in the National Geographic Channel television series Taboo.
Hijras in Islam
There is evidence that Indian hijras identifying as Muslim also incorporate aspects of Hinduism. Still, despite this syncretism, Reddy (2005) notes that a hijra does not practice Islam differently from other Muslims and argues that their syncretism does not make them any less Muslim. Reddy (2003) also documents an example of how this syncretism manifests: in Hyderabad, India a group of Muslim converts were circumcised, something seen as the quintessential marker of male Muslim identity.[clarification needed]
In films and literature
Bangladesh
The film Common Gender (2012) relates the story of the Bangladesh hijra and their struggle for survival.
India
Hijras have been portrayed on screen in Indian cinema since its inception, historically as comic relief. A notable turning point occurred in 1974 when real hijras appeared during a song-and-dance sequence in Kunwaara Baap ("The Unmarried Father"). There are also hijras in the Hindi movie Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) who accompany one of the heroes, Akbar (Rishi Kapoor), in a song entitled "Tayyab Ali Pyar Ka Dushman" ("Tayyab Ali, the Enemy of Love"). One of the first sympathetic hijra portrayals was in Mani Ratnam's Bombay (1995). 1997's Tamanna[56] starred male actor Paresh Rawal in a central role as "Tiku", a hijra who raises a young orphan. Pooja Bhatt produced and also starred in the movie, with her father Mahesh Bhatt co-writing and directing. Deepa Mehta's Water features the hijra character "Gulabi" (played by Raghubir Yadav), who has taken to introducing the downtrodden, outcast widows of Varanasi to prostitution. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the film generated much controversy. There is a brief appearance of hijras in the 2004 Gurinder Chadha film Bride & Prejudice, singing to a bride-to-be in the marketplace. There's also a loose reference, in the guise of "Rocky" ("Rokini") in Deepha Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood.
The 1997 Hindi film Darmiyaan: In Between directed & co-written by Kalpana Lajmi is based on the subject of Hijra, wherein a fictitious story of an actress bearing a son that turns out to be neuter.
In the 2000 Tamil film Appu directed by Vasanth, a remake of the Hindi film Sadak, the antagonist is a brothel-owning hijra played by Prakash Raj. (In Sadak, the brothel-owning character was played by Sadashiv Amrapurkar under the name "Maharani".)
In 2005, a fiction feature film titled Shabnam Mausi was made on the life of a eunuch politician Shabnam Mausi. It was directed by Yogesh Bharadwaj and the title role played by Ashutosh Rana.
Jogwa, a 2009 Marathi film, depicts the story of a man forced to be hijra under certain circumstances. The movie has received several accolades.[57]
In Soorma Bhopali, Jagdeep encounters a troupe of hijra on his arrival in Bombay. The leader of this pack is also played by Jagdeep himself.
In Anil Kapoor's Nayak, Johnny Lever, who plays the role of the hero's assistant, gets beaten up by hijras, when he is caught calling them "hijra" (he is in habit of calling almost everyone who bothers him by this pejorative and no one cares much, except this once ironically, as the addressees are literally what he is calling them.)
One of the main characters in Khushwant Singh's novel Delhi, Bhagmati is a hijra. She makes a living as a semi-prostitute and is wanted in the diplomatic circles of the city.
Vijay TV's Ippadikku Rose, a Tamil show conducted by postgraduate educated transgender woman Rose is a very successfully running program that discusses various issues faced by youth in Tamil Nadu, where she also gives her own experiences.
In addition to numerous other themes, the 2008 movie Welcome to Sajjanpur by Shyam Benegal explores the role of hijras in Indian society.
In the Malayalam movie Ardhanaari, released on 23 November 2012, director Santhosh Sowparnika tries to depict the life of a transgender person. Manoj K Jayan, Thilakan, Sukumari and Maniyanpilla Raju perform leading roles.
In August, 2015, a music video featuring 7 hijras dressed in outfits or uniforms of various professions and singing the National Anthem of India created by a YouTube channel Yathartha Pictures went viral for being the first National Anthem video sung by hijras in India.[58][59] The hijras featured in the video were brought together by the Humsafar Trust, a Mumbai-based NGO which promotes LGBT rights.[60][61]
Tamil
Vaadamalli by novelist Su.Samuthiram is the first Tamil novel about Aravaani community in Tamil Nadu, published in 1994. Later transgender activist A. Revathi became first Hijra to write about transgender issues and gender politics in Tamil, her works have been translated in more than 8 languages and acting as a primary resources on Gender Studies in Asia. Her book is part of research project for more than 100 universities. She is the author of Unarvum Uruvamum (Feelings of the Entire Body); is the first of its kind in English from a member of the hijra community.[62][63][64] She also acted,directed several stage plays on Gender and Sexuality issues in Tamil and Kannada."The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story" by Transgender A.Revathi[65] is part of the syllabus for Final Year students of The American College in Madurai. Later Naan Saravanan Alla" (2007) and Vidya's "I am Vidya" (2008) became first transwoman autobiography.[66][67]
Pakistan
The 1992 film Immaculate Conception[68] by Jamil Dehlavi is based upon the culture-clash between a western Jewish couple seeking fertility at a Karachi shrine known to be blessed by a Sufi fakir called 'Gulab Shah' and the group of Pakistani eunuchs who guard it.
Murad (which means desire; the English title was Eunuch's Motherhood), was an award winning biographical Telefilm drama made by Evergreen Media Europe for Pakistan's television channel Indus TV that aired in 2003. The cast had the country's top male television actors playing "hijras": Sohail Asghar, Nabeel, Qazi Wajid, Kamran Jilani. It was directed by Kamran Qureshi, written by Zafar Mairaj and produced by Iram Qureshi. It won both Best TeleFilm and Best Director awards at 2003 Indus Telefilm Festival.[69][70] The story revolves around "Saima", a trans woman, who adopts a helpless child "Murad" and her relationship with him against the backdrop of her struggling throughout her life and her "desire" for her son. She has sent him away to live at a hostel so she can earn a living as a dancer, after her son gets cross with her, due to teasing (verbal and sexual) they face while dancing. This was the first time that influential male actors came out to support "hijra" rights during interviews; noting that in Pakistani English at that time eunuch was the term to describe a transgender person, and "khwaja sara" (also khwaja sira) had not yet replaced what is now considered a derogatory term due to decades of heckling and name calling, "hijra".[71][72]
In 2004, Kamran Qureshi directed a trans drama, Moorat ("effigy," however, the English title was Eunuch's Wedding. It was produced by famous actor and producer Humayun Saeed and Abdullah Kadwani with more than a dozen star-studded cast members for a 33-episode series.[73][74] It was nominated for Best Drama Serial, Abid Ali for Best Actor, and Maria Wasti for Best Actress at the Lux Style Awards 2005.[69][75] The show was credited for making people understand the pain and abuse that khwaja sara (hijra) constantly endure when people make fun of the way they look or dress without knowing them or how they were naturally born this way. The story involves a young lady who is arranged to marry. It turns out her husband is transgender. The story unfolds trans community and their deprived and isolated world. It portrays eloquently how they, too, are not far away from the human emotions and feelings and their world not much different from the heterosexual community. Even though they are in plain sight, they are tthey are taboo subjects and are not taken seriously. This makes them suffer endlessly in silence wrapped in slurs. The 33-episode series therefore touches on transgender abuse, women abuse, poverty, immorality of arranged marriages, and child abuse.[76]
Bol (Urdu: بول meaning Speak), is a 2011 Urdu-language social drama Pakistani film. It concerns a patriarch, Hakim, who is a misogynist, a domestic abuser, a bigot, and a zealot who forces religion on his family. They face financial difficulties due to Hakim wanting a son. He rejects his transgender daughter, Saifi, as he wanted an heir and she identifies as a girl. Saifi is deeply loved by the rest of her family. As she grows up, men want to take advantage of her and she does not understand at first. However, her oldest sister intervenes and teaches Saifi about what kind of touching is inappropriate. As Saifi grows older, she is not allowed to leave the house. She finds her sister's dresses compelling and tries them on, revealing her gender identity. A neighbour played by famous South Asian singer Atif Aslam, who is in love with one of the sisters, gets Saifi a job at a place where they paint trucks, with the blessing of Saifi's sisters and mother. Saifi dresses like a boy; however, other boys sense her lack of self-esteem and eventually gang-rape her. She is saved when another transgender person, played by Almas Bobby (a transgender actor), finds her and takes her home. Hakim overhears Saifi telling her mother and Zainab what happened. When everybody is asleep, Hakim locks the room and suffocates his child for luring the men for the "shame" he would have to bear if the story got out.[77] It received several positive reviews from critics and went on to win the Best Hindi film award in IRDS Film awards 2011 by Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS).[78]
Outside South Asia
The novel Bombay Ice by Leslie Forbes features an important subplot involving the main character's investigation of the deaths of several hijra sex-workers.
The novel City of Djinns by William Dalrymple also features a chapter on hijras.
The novel A Son of the Circus by John Irving features a plot-line involving hijras.
In the graphic novel Habibi by Craig Thompson, the protagonist, Zam, is adopted by a group of hijras.
In the 2009 Brazilian soap opera Caminho das Índias (Portuguese: "The way to India"), hijras are shown in some occasions, especially at weddings and other ceremonies where they are paid for their blessing.
In the TV comedy Outsourced (2011), a hijra is hired by Charlie as a stripper for Rajiv's "bachelor party", much to Rajiv's utter horror.
A short film, under the direction of Jim Roberts, is being made by Rock Star Productions in which the protagonist is portrayed as a hijra. This film is set to be released on 1 May.[year needed][citation needed]
Kamran Ahmed Mirza is a popular gender performance artist in Oregon, United States.
Documentaries
Jareena, Portrait of a Hijda (1990)
Ladyboys (1992)
Bombay Eunuch (2001)
The Hijras: India's Third Gender (2001)
India's Ladyboys (2003)
Between the Lines: India's Third Gender (2005)
Middle Sexes (HBO documentary includes segment on modern Hijda) (2005)
Shabnam Mausi (2005)
The Hijras of India (BBC radio documentary)
Kiss the Moon (2009)
Call me Salma (2009)
Mohammed to Maya also titled Rites of Passage (2012)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=98W9QuMq-2k
* No soy tan vanidoso como para pensar que mi trabajo merece el esfuerzo de ser robado, pero aún y así:
1- Yo decido subir mis trabajos a esta calidad.
2- Espero que si alguien decide por un casual, utilizar mis trabajos con el fin que sea, al menos tenga la decencia de hacérmelo saber. (Al menos para que pueda echar un vistazo)
3- Si alguien quisiera utilizar una imagen de mayor calidad, no tiene mas que ponerse en contacto conmigo y decírmelo. Sólo pido una cosa, que se me acredite de alguna manera.
4- Yo decido utilizar el flickr para compartir, compartir y disfrutar del trabajo de otra gente. Compartir como medio de luchar contra el consumismo exacerbado y el celo a la propiedad de cada uno.
5- Yo decido respetar tus condiciones, decide tú respetar las mias.
6- Gracias por tomarte un tiempo en pasarte por mi galería.
7- No me invites a grupos, no estoy interesado en ellos, muchas gracias.
__________________________________________________________
* I am not so vain as to think that my work is worth the effort of being stolen, but even so:
1 - I decided to upload my work to this quality.
2 - I hope that if someone decides to use my work, at least have the decency to let me know. (At least so I can take a look)
3 - If someone want to use a higher quality picture, just contact and tell me. I only ask one thing, credit me somehow.
4 - I decide to use flickr for sharing, sharing and enjoying the work of other people. To share as a means to fight consumerism.
5 - I decided to respect your position, I hope you decide to respect mine.
6 - Thank you for taking time to drop by my gallery.
7 - Do not invite me to groups, I am not interested in them, thank you very much.
A good news story!
Yesterday when I was excitedly driving to see my grandchildren I picked up a nail that flattened my tire.
The owner of HUBCAPS & WHEELCOVERS immediately offered his help and I snapped this photo of his shop to remind me that there is still a lot of kindness and humanity in this world.
Just back from a week in Slovenia - pretty much my favourite country full stop - a whizz around Ireland and Scotland with work is keeping me from sharing everything.
This quick starting point documents this year's snow melt at the Slap Rinka in the Logarska Dolina valley.
Snow here was more limited this year when we arrived - last year's vast, frozen over cavern had turned into a claustrophobic, race-way with meltwater speeding along inches from the snow above, in a burbling rush of bubbles and bright droplets.
Taking this shot then saw me kneeling in the rapids, shorts rolled up higher than decency would normally permit like a go-go dancer from an 80's Pride festival, back, shoulders and elbows twisted between the ice and rocks to squeeze the camera into the hollow just beneath the snow, just above the water.
There's a Canon 600EX-RT fired at 1/32 power by ST-E3-RT into the opening on the right side of the shot to catch the bubbles and add some drama to the gloomy interior.
I was trying for a mix of the Hollow World shot linked above, and this one - "Shooting The Rapids" from another, summer, visit and think this kind of delivers.
Hope you like it! Catching up slowly! Have a great evening all!
That's what it takes to be a hero, a little gem of innocence inside you that makes you want to believe that there still exists a right and wrong, that decency will somehow triumph in the end.....
Alice on the impromptu ‘late one evening when it seemed a reasonable idea and Alice was bringing fire to the night and I'd lost my way’ DD road trip, which was all about flying in the face of good taste and decency only staying in the funkiest-flunkiest of cheap rate backroad motels and laying your head down on the most frightening fabrics, drinking rye whiskey and slapping empty Polaroid cartridges down hard on the glass table and causing the ice to shake and Alice to bite her lip. She’s most definitely in charge now tho….
There is another one of these floating around right now, a beautiful polaroid, but its most definitely not safe-for-work, and you’ll have to do your own Mike Hammer work to find it, but when you do it’ll hit you hard in the gut like a slug from Betsy.
As all the pictures in my gallery, this is a FREE picture. You can download it and do whatever you want with it: share it, adapt it and/or combine it with other material and distribute the resulting works.
I’d very much appreciate if you give photo credits to “Carlos ZGZ” when you use this picture. This would help me find it and add it to my photoset “Used elsewhere”.
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Como todas las imágenes de mi galería, esta es una imagen LIBRE. Puedes descargarla y hacer lo que quieras con ella: compartirla tal cual, modificarla y/o combinarla con otro material y distribuir el resultado.
Por favor, si utilizas esta imagen, dale el crédito a “Carlos ZGZ”. De esta manera podré encontrarla fácilmente y añadirla a mi álbum “Used elsewhere”.
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This picture has been used here:
cadtm.org/Jaque-a-la-Union-Europea-y-pie
blog.p2pfoundation.net/brexit-young-people-betrayed-elder...
allegralaboratory.net/the-politics-of-decency-brexit/
lalineadelhorizonte.com/revista/recorriendo-el-londres-de...
www.aspistrategist.org.au/populism-past-present/
www.fundssociety.com/es/noticias/mercados/bli-diez-factor...
newsjunkiepost.com/2016/07/05/brexit-texit-bennifer-and-t...
citytravelhub.com/united-kingdom-visitors-travel-saving-t...
He is half pantsless because I only had one blue cape. Imagine the other half please for the sake of his decency.
Yes, I admit: this short skirt is definitely pushing the boundaries of decency. In some positions it reveals just a tiny bit too much, but I'm safe among friends so it's okay and surely you don't mind also. The good thing about this short skirt is that it shows my legs, stockings and high heels really well. Technically the skirt is also long enough to stay decent, yet that only goes for the lacy top layer that is transparent. The pink shiny satin layer underneath is very short and awfully risky. I love that the black lace of my skirt matches well with the lace of my stocking tops. Double lace for double seduction 😉
The Geoffroy’s Tamarin stared through the open window.
His mouth was open, teeth fully visible—not in a grin, but in a display that suggested neither friendliness nor restraint.
His eyes, however, were unambiguous.
They said: You. Banana. Now.
His voice was high-pitched and persistent, like a smoke alarm that had learned disappointment.
I didn’t know it was begging. I also didn’t speak Tamarin.
Not at first. I learned. I was new to the tower and unaware of the rules. The tamarin was not.
This wasn’t lounging. It was the internationally recognized position for requesting fruit. And I failed to recognize it.
He was insulted—and angry at my ignorance.
Instead of handing him the banana, I took a photographs.
He watched in silence, his face a portrait of disappointment with the onboarding process.
Eventually, I noticed the fruit beside me.
I held one up and asked, “Do you want this?”
He did not respond.
He merely took the banana with the cold professionalism of someone who had expected better.
Then he turned, ate it with no ceremony whatsoever, and returned to his position. Same branch. Same expression.
Same window. Different expectations.
Moral:
Fluency in Tamarin is not required, just basic decency and a banana.
Spennymoor is a town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It is south of the River Wear and is 7 mi (11 km) south of Durham. The civil parish includes the villages of Kirk Merrington, Middlestone Moor, Byers Green and Tudhoe.
The land on which Spennymoor now stands was once a vast expanse of moorland covered with thorn and whin bushes (Spenny Moor). In 1336 its placename was recorded as Spendingmor. The name is probably derived from the Old English or Old Norse spenning and mōr, meaning a moor with a fence or enclosure.
Another theory of the place-name's origin is from the Latin spina, meaning thorn (possibly from the Roman influence at Binchester) combined with the Old English or Old Norse mōr. CE Jackson, in his Place Names of Durham published in 1916 suggested a combination of the Old Norse spaan with Old English mar, meaning the moor named after the shingle-hut erected thereon.
Neither Britons nor Romans cultivated the moor, but on the site of Binchester, a village about 5 miles (8 km) to the southwest, the Romans built a camp around which grew up the settlement of Vinovium. The name Binchester is the usual Old English corruption or adaptation of the Roman site name.
St Paul's Church
This fortress must have been of great strength, for it stood on a height above the River Wear; many coins, urns, altars and pieces of Roman pottery have been found, as well as the remains of a hypocaust of the heating system. Later, Binchester became one of the "vills" of the Earl of Northumberland who held it until 1420 when it passed to the Nevilles who finally forfeited it with other lands in 1569. As is to be expected, the moor itself offers little of historical interest but it is linked with the records of Kirk Merrington, Whitworth Old Park, Binchester, Byers Green and Tudhoe, all of which form a part of the early days of Spennymoor. All these villages had common rights on the moor but, as it became denuded by increasing flocks, some of the local people were induced to relinquish their rights and so, gradually, the common became the property of just one owner – Merrington Priory. The Manor of Merrington belonged successively to the priors, monks and dean and chapter of Durham Cathedral.
Today, Merrington church is one of the most prominent local landmarks. It was originally built by the Normans and its splendid strategic position led to it being fortified in 1143 by the Scots intruder, William Cumyn. When he was finally attacked and overcome, the church roof was destroyed but the building remained as one of the most interesting Norman churches in the county until 1850 when it was almost wholly rebuilt – although retaining the form of its predecessor. Inside, the most interesting feature is the screen, a typical example of late-17th century work.
The Norman Conquest meant little to the border folk at first, for they had lived with the constant threat of massacre by raiding Picts and Danes, but then William's soldiers "laid waite" the county and distributed the Saxon nobles' estates among themselves. however, William allowed some of the previous owners to retain their lands, and one of these was Whittleworth – now Whitworth – whose first known proprietor was Thomas de Acle who held it in 1183. Nevertheless, the whole of this countryside was made desolate by William's soldiers, and for many years it was the haunt of outlaws and wild animals.
On 16 October 1346 David of Scotland was encamped with a great army on the hills near Durham, and raiding bands under a Douglas had been terrorising the neighbourhood. Edward lll was otherwise engaged at Crecy in France at the time, but his Queen, Phillipa, with the Archbishop of York, the Bishops of Durham, Lincoln and Carlisle, and the Lords Neville and Percy and others marched North, and with an array of 16,000 men, moved along the ridge from Auckland to Merrington. Her advance guards clashed with some of Douglas' men near Ferryhill and chased them back to the bridge at Croxdale (Sunderland Bridge). Butchers Race, one of the Five Lanes which meet at Tudhoe Crossroads, was so named after this foray. The next day the main bodies of the two armies met at Neville's Cross, near Durham, and the Scots were slaughtered. During the battle, the prior from Durham and his monks knelt on a little hillock in the Shaw Wood and prayed for an English victory while holding aloft, impaled on a spear, the Holy Corporax Cloth from the Cathedral.
In 1420 the Manor of Whitworth and much of the other land in the vicinity, from Raby to Brancepeth, and including Old Park, Byers Green, Newfield and Tudhoe, became Neville property, and the Earl of Westmorland (a Neville) was granted a licence from Bishop Langley to impark 40 acres at Whitworth, and so began the Whitworth park of today.
The moor itself comes into the record in 1615 as the result of "a general muster on the moor of all men able to bear arms within the bishopric, between the ages of 15 and 60; the gathering amounted to 8,320" (Fordyce). Some military training seems to have been given, doubtless with a view to the then unsettled state of the country due to the growing tension between Parliament and the King. Quite a few of these men must have been miners, as at that time "coale pits" were being worked at Whitworth, Byers Green and Fernhill. In 1677 the small freeholders and the local gentry divided 243 acres of the moor between themselves, an act which was confirmed by the Chancery Court. The only portion of the common that was left was a small plot reserved for the use of a spring of water.
Up to 1800 the moor remained largely barren and the few roads across it were dangerous. The one good road was maintained by tolls collected at turnpike gates. Some of the largest horse-race meetings in the North took place on the moor, and miners and their families attended in all their holiday splendour. These men, early industrial workers, wore their hair long and on these gala days it flowed freely over their shoulders instead of, as usually was the case, being tied in curls. Floral waistcoats and ribboned hats were worn on these highly colourful occasions.
Modern Spennymoor was built on mining and has its origins with the sinking of the Wittered pit in 1839. Rough houses were built for the pit workers – houses with two rooms and a loft, more like "piggeries than human habitation" according to Dodd. The first coal from Merrington Colliery was brought up in 1841; a pit with a chequered career which only prospered under the partnership of L.M Reay and R.S. Johnson, who made a fortune out of it. The trade depression of the late 19th century, however, caused its closure in 1882.
The coal mining at Whitworth and a small foundry at Merrington Lane were the earliest industries, but in 1853 the Weardale Iron and Coal Company opened its great ironworks at Tudhoe. As a result, many hundreds of immigrant workers came here from the Midlands and more rows of dark little houses were erected. More workers came from Wales and Lancashire, with the opening of the mine at Page Bank (ten lives were lost in a pit fire here in 1858), and with the sinking of a new pit at Tudhoe in the 1880s. The latter resulted in colliery workers' houses springing up on the main Durham Road. Slightly before that, in the 1860s, a rather advanced area of working-class housing had been erected at Tudhoe Grange, built by Marmaduke Salvin to house local workers. These houses were, unusually, semi-detached and arranged in a chequerboard layout, very much in contrast to the dreary terraces that were then the standard.
Although these days of rapid industrialisation and rapid growth of population were days of ignorance and squalor, they also saw the 19th century drive for education and religion. A National School was built and opened in 1841; St. Paul's Church was built at Spennymoor in 1858 and all through these formative years the non-conformist churches combined welfare work with prayer. An era of prosperity dawned in the 1860s and 1870s when the miners were earning £1 per day. Spennymoor was ringed with collieries, black furnaces and coke ovens and the new prosperity showed itself in the building of better houses and in the opening of Co-operative stores. The comparative isolation of its moorland situation ended too with the opening of a branch railway from the mainline at Ferryhill in 1876.
However, as always in industrial life, boom was followed by "bust" – or "near bust", and by 1879 miners' wages were down to 4s 9d a day and those of ironworkers to a mere 3s a day. On top of these economic misfortunes came the terrible explosion at Tudhoe Colliery in 1882 when 37 lives were lost. A strike, which lasted 13 weeks, paralysed the area in 1892, although out of the enforced idleness came foundations of new growth, for the machinery at the Tudhoe Iron works was then renovated and a new mill laid down. The works then possessed the largest mill in Europe, capable of rolling plates up to 13 feet in width.
When, in 1894, Spennymoor and its adjacent villages achieved a measure of self-government on the Spennymoor Urban District Council, the new authority found itself facing a legacy of poor housing. With few exceptions, the housing situation was little better than when Dodd had described the houses as "more like piggeries". In 1874 the then Local Government Board had reported: "Nothing could well exceed the nuisance attendant on the disposal of excrement and refuse in Spennymoor. There are entire streets without any closet accommodation whatever and in its stead open wooden boxes are placed opposite nearly every doorway for the reception of the excrement, ashes and other refuse; an arrangement which, besides being revolting to every sense of decency, is stated to be offensive in the extreme, especially in hot weather. It is impossible to walk between the rows of cottages without being convinced that the surface of the ground is to a large extent composed of the overflowing contents of these midden boxes. The back streets stand deep in filth and mud." These appalling conditions continued into the 20th century and even by 1920 fewer than 10% of the town houses had water closets. In 1923 only four houses were built and there was still massive overcrowding in back-to-back properties. In the next few years only between one and four houses were built in any year and in 1929 the housing situation was still reported as acute which, from the recorded facts, seems self-evident.
These squalid conditions were paralleled by the ever-uncertain economic conditions in industry. Although coalmining continued and the ironworks and engineering businesses were also providing employment, the start of the 20th century saw the start, too, of a long period of depression. The first blow was the closure in 1901 of the ironworks which had been rendered obsolete by the pace of change elsewhere. The effect of the closure was relieved by the sinking of the Dean and Chapter colliery in 1904, but the reliance on this one basic industry was to persist until the 1960s. Even before the big coal strike of 1926 the collieries had begun to close. Three closed in 1924 and the strike saw another two fail. Spennymoor became part of the Southwest Durham depressed area. Although schemes were inaugurated to relieve the gloom nothing could make up for the lack of steady employment. In 1930 the coke ovens which remained on the ironworks site were only working intermittently. Even by 1938 the situation had improved little. The Cleveland iron trade, which used the coal and coke produced at Spennymoor, was depressed. The production of these raw materials at Coulson's engineering works, Kenmir's furniture factory and newly opened brickworks at Todhills were the main, if limited, sources of employment. Unemployment was over 33%.
Despite the high levels of unemployment, the housing situation at last took an upturn in the 1930s when the Urban District Council began to use its wider powers to take action on unfit houses. By 1935 the first 66 Council houses had been built, and a year later the first 106 North Eastern Housing Association houses were erected on the Racecourse Estate site. Although these were the only houses built before the war, they did provide some hope and allowed the clearance of some of the worst of the squalid areas. Nevertheless, the situation remained bad and there were still far too many damp, badly lit and ventilated houses opening onto small, paved yards or back streets.
World War II had diverse effects upon the town. On the one hand it brought housing efforts almost to a standstill, but on the industry front it saw the resurgence of Spennymoor as a major centre. The main factor was the opening in 1941 of a Royal Ordnance Factory at Merrington Lane and since then this estate has provided a constant source of alternative employment to the coal industry. The end of World War II, however, saw this industrial activity greatly curtailed and hard times returned, although without the severity of the earlier pre-war years. The run-down of the mining industry, however, was nevertheless a serious blow.
On 24 December 1944, Tudhoe's cricket ground was hit by a rogue V-1 flying bomb, which had been air-launched by a German Heinkel He 111 and was aimed at Manchester. The explosion cratered the field and blew out the windows of surrounding houses and of St. Charles' Church. This was the furthest north any V-1 landed during World War II.
In 1963 changes were indicated and Durham County Council and then Ministry of Housing and Local Government agreed that Spennymoor should be a new "growth point" and that town centre redevelopment should take place; that the Tudhoe ironworks site should be reclaimed; that a major highway scheme should be put into hand; that the Royal Ordnance Factory Industrial Estate should be extended and that the Green Lane Industrial Estate should be developed.
Spennymoor shared some brief film success in the early 90's with the production of 'Anymore for Spennymore' starring a few of the locals.
There were, of course, early problems, but the new industries became established and, in most cases, began to expand. The coal industry has been replaced by manufacturers of consumer goods, and factories of Electrolux, Thorn Lighting and Black and Decker were established. Rothmans International also had a cigarette factory, employing more than 400 people, in Spennymoor from circa 1980 up until 2000.
Housing, too, has made great strides since the end of the War. By the end of 1963 over 1,120 sub-standard houses had been cleared and as many new Council houses built for letting – whilst over 400 houses had been improved by grant aid. In 1963 too there came the first private building developments to take place since back in the days of the 19th century colliery owners. The 800-house estate at Greenways and the 300-house estate at Tudhoe Grange were started, although it was not until the industrial prosperity of the 1970s that private house building reached 100 a year.
The greatest project came with the development of the Tudhoe ironworks site – 70 acres that was turned into the Bessemer Park Housing Estate. In 1968 work commenced on blocks of flats and houses there (comprising 1,009 household units in total) and this allowed the clearance of 500 unfit houses as well as the provision of housing for workers coming to the new factories. The blocks of flats on the Bessemer Park Housing Estate were subsequently demolished in the 1980s, due to serious problems with damp in the flats that rendered them extremely unpopular with tenants.
In 1966 the town opened a new bus station, between Cambridge Street and Silver Street, to relieve traffic congestion on the High Street. This bus station was subsequently redeveloped as a car park circa 1990. Also in 1966, the nearby Parkwood Shopping Precinct (which included a Woolworths and a supermarket) was opened. In 2016 it was announced that the Parkwood Precinct would be substantially redeveloped due to low tenancy rates in the shops, an escalating issue since the turn of the millennium.
This is a very virtuous dragonfly that had the decency to pose for the group participating in a dragonfly photography workshop put on by Steve Cirone and Elena Jones at Santee Lakes. Dragonflies are most active in the heat, and when the workshop started, it was fairly cool, with not much activity, so this dragonfly was really appreciated and documented. I don't know what kind of dragonfly it is
Other pictures that I've taken over the years of dragonflies are in my cleverly titled Butterflies & Dragonflies Album.
www.flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/albums/72157626745277518
Other pictures that I've taken at Santee Lakes are in my creatively named Santee Lakes album. www.flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/sets/72157627547766547
This painting measures about 3 ft x 2 ft. It took me about five years to complete, and was a labour of love. This painting is dedicated to my husband for the deep bonds we formed together while travelling in the South West of England for many years. Our companion was our terrier Peter, who you have already met in a detail from this painting on my Flickr gallery.
Even as a child I loved the Legends of Britain and I grew up reading about Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and their Quest to find the Holy Grail. Arthur’s advisor Merlin the Enchanter also fascinated me and when you add the Holy Grail and its possible location at one time into this mix of stories based in the South West of Britain I was always keen to explore this part of England.
If the Grail ever existed, and if it ever did come to England for safe keeping in the loving trust of Joseph of Arimathea not long after Christ’s death, it would have been a very simple vessel I am sure. Perhaps a plain terracotta bowl, or polished wooden cup passed around the table in the Last Supper, as Jesus shared his last meal with his friends and disciples, knowing that one of them would set in motion events that in many ways, had been pre-ordained.
For my version of The Grail that Merlin holds, I chose with a little artistic license, a plain pewter cup, but one that shone from within and with that iconic shape that we associate with a chalice of such importance. We all know that Galahad, [or Perceval, depending on which tales you read], as one of the Knights of the Round Table in the Tales of Arthur Pendragon, achieved the Grail, because of his innate purity, but I have this theory that Merlin knew where it was all along. He knew that the madness of searching for the Grail would never really achieve the healing of Arthur’s Kingdom, which had become a wasteland of in-fighting and mistrust, waiting yet again for the blood of the Fisher King to heal it.
The Grail is a symbol of what must be healed from within. Merlin knew that ultimately the Golden Time of Arthur would come to an end, but the dream would stay alive for centuries to come, so as the Grail glows with an inner light in my painting, the evergreen foliage of ivy and the yew starts to grow from Merlin’s body, representing the eternal Green Man. Other plants spill out from his robes; the Druid mistletoe, the apple of life and temptation, and the acorns of the oak tree, symbols of knowledge and wisdom. Insects, birds and even a toad are attracted to the regenerative qualities of The Grail that Merlin holds. The colours of Merlin’s robes are chosen with care, as they represent the elements of earth and water.
As we follow the hawk moth out through the ruins of the medieval Gothic window we encounter the element of air, and move through the seasons of autumn, winter, spring and into summer, where the skies clear above Glastonbury Tor. The Hawthorn of Glastonbury Abbey fruits and then flowers, finding its way back through the window and into the presence of the Grail. Merlin’s fate was also sealed with a Hawthorn tree, but that is another story.
The European Blackbird seen perched on a carved, yet living stand of box tree, is a play on the French language of ‘merle’ meaning the common blackbird [Turdus merula] that represents ‘The Merlin’, a nod to the Enchanter’s powers and also to his persuasive personality, which all shamans and prophets have, perhaps used as a kind of armour to ward off the unwary or any aggressive encounter.
All are attracted to the ‘fire’ within the Grail, the element that can warm and inspire you, but also destroy you utterly if used incorrectly. The fifth element of the spirit is in the question that Merlin is asking you to consider as his hand rests on a human skull, a symbol of death that is inescapable; the eternal life that the Grail contains is held in his other hand, which he appears to be offering up to you. Merlin is therefore allowing you the chance to consider a choice that will determine the outcome of the destination of your soul.
This painting was painted because for me, it also represented a golden time in my life, and since then I have sometimes been in some difficult and unchartered waters as we all often experience as we mature and age. I was not ready to return to this time of my life and share all the things that meant so much to me. But now, Merlin is speaking to me again, and this is why sharing this painting heralds the opening of my film archives, and all that gave me so much joy, and formed the person I am today.
Following this image of my painting on my gallery on Flickr, you will start to see the photographic film work that I pursued over many years. I am hoping to choose some examples that will breathe new life into The Matter of Britain, the Golden Time of King Arthur and the Quest for The Grail that has haunted and upheld me all my life, and I will gradually upload them on Flickr and my website as and when I can.
It is not just the landscapes of Britain that speak of a deep spirituality that still remains; of a time of kinship and common good that was held together by faith and decency of the common man - it can come again, because it is still there in all of us, wherever you are. You just have to believe it to achieve what we truly wish for.
Love to all, Shelley.
Had to change my foundation for a darker shade just recently because I have got a bit of colour being out in the sun.
Just another twist to my outfit the other night I wore this cami under my blouse to retain my decency!!!! Stop laughing you three at the back and cinders you are close enough for a slap and as for you Nicola you are not too old to go over my knee young lady :-)
Esme asked where I my shoes the other day. I have to confess I didn't buy these ones as my wife passed them to me after wearing them once and not getting on with them. I do believe they came from Newlook a few years ago.
Good news I have a few days off work so its time to recharge my batteries and get out to do stuff. I might even get some photos in a location other then my living room. Wouldn't that be nice for a change
The past humiliation and tragicomedy of Romania in the eighties might be the future of the USA under Trump. Trump is poised to trample on the "home of the brave".
Trumpism is very familiar to Romanians who lived during Ceausescu's blend of nationalism, brutality, dictatorship, ideology and cult of personality: "an exercise in accepted humiliation" or submission to brutal stupidity. Just substitute Marxist ideology to "Christian nationalism" and you are good to go. Ceausescu wanted to destroy God with Marx, Trump wants to destroy Marx with God. Trump wants to demolish universities just like Ceausescu demolished churches. The result is the same: DESTRUCTION. Trump seems more cunning, whereas you can eventually reject Marx, who dares to say no to the power of God, Christ Almighty Pantocrator, and his indisputable instruments on earth Putin and Trump helped by Big Brother AI? Like Ceausescu with Romania, Trump wants to make America his bitch in the style of Putin's Russia, with the help of God instead of Marx and AI instead of KGB/Securitate. Will he succeed?
If not opposed he will trample on Americans, eradicate every value they have that might make them resist him, like liberty, empathy, decency, competence, entrepreneurship, courage. America will end up humiliated and poor, just like eighties Romania and today Russia. Don't let him.
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photo:
apartment wall in Bucharest with framed caricature by Mihai Stanescu titled "Working visit"
Mihai Stănescu. Vizită de lucru (Working visit), 1983. Caricature
sk.cultural-opposition.eu/registry/?uri=http://courage.bt...
Clearly dated 1983, the cartoon “Working Visit” was probably among those withdrawn from the exhibition at the Eforie Gallery that year. It was subsequently omitted from the volumes later prepared by Mihai Stănescu before 1989, but it was included in the volume Best of Stănescu, which comprises works from the period 1979–1989 and was published in 2009 on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the fall of communism. The cartoon “Working Visit” shows a crowd of people drawn like parquet pieces on which footprints can be seen. The drawing mocks in a tragic-comic key the so-called “working visits” made by the secretary general of the Party, Nicolae Ceauşescu, together with his suite of communist officials, to various cities, to factories, building sites, and cultivated fields. These working visits, unknown in the time of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej but introduced and intensely promoted by Ceauşescu, followed broadly the same pattern: the Party delegation, led by Ceauşescu himself and in most cases also including his wife Elena, travelled to various “objectives.” There they were greeted by the local authorities and frenetically applauded by crowds of people specially mobilised to give the distinguished guests a long ovation. During these visits, Ceauşescu formulated so-called “precious indications” regarding what ought to be done in the factory, building site, or agricultural cooperative that he was visiting. Once launched, these “indications” became the letter of the law, no matter how absurd they were, and those on whom they had been bestowed dared not contradict them, even when specialists understood that they could produce disastrous effects. In essence, the “indications” symbolised the arbitrary character of decisions in a dictatorial regime. At the same time, for the presidential couple as for the rest of the officials of the communist regime, these “working visits” constituted what we would today call an image-building exercise. At the time, they were an obligatory element in the complex arsenal of the personality cult. For the crowds of people brought to attend these working visits, they were an exercise in accepted humiliation. This is what Mihai Stănescu manages to show through the cartoon “Working Visit.” This cartoon is one of the most well-known works in his portfolio, and indeed in the history of Romanian cartoons under communism.
Mihai Stănescu
ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihai_St%C4%83nescu
youtu.be/Ac6DwZO_l0I?si=9GFjpWrfp3pnGgYH
IN MEMORIAM MIHAI STĂNESCU
cover of the book "Pe urmele mele" 1999
www.targulcartii.ro/mihai-stanescu/pe-urmele-mele-1999-23...
www.anticariatdalles.ro/pe-urmele-mele-mihai-stanescu-
www.casaliterelor.ro/pe-urmele-mele-mihai-stanescu
www.printrecarti.ro/27889-mihai-stanescu-pe-urmele-mele.html
www.goodreads.com/book/show/17826383-pe-urmele-mele
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youtu.be/Al2KJ-Qs8EQ?si=TM-R_23FS2jam-Sf
Rise and Fall of Ceaușescu - Cold War DOCUMENTARY
You only have the liberties you are willing to fight for!
Stand with Ukraine!
We are definitely living in troubled times. Intolerance, anger, people who shout about their rights while trampling over the rights of others, professional offence takers hounding people out of their jobs and destroying lives, governments who sign international agreements and a few months later announce brazenly in Parliament that they are going to break them are all characteristics of modern society. In the midst of that madness, it would be easy to think that basic decency is a relic of the past. And then something happens that restores your faith..............I was in a large retail shop yesterday looking for a replacement protective case for my computer and asked one of the sales people for assistance. He was probably in his early 40s and looking at him I expected only the most routine of service. I was very wrong. He could not have been more helpful. They didn't have it but he searched the internet until he found the exact one I wanted and where it was cheapest. I thanked him for his help and was feeling a little guilty because he wasn't going to make a sale so I said I needed cleaning liquid and wipes for my iPad. He said "hold on a second" and came back with a set. I asked how much and he said it was okay as it was one of the sample sets a sales rep had left at the store. Everything that happened was so unexpected............but it made me feel good about life and people in the best possible way. It also reminded me of something very important and that is that I need to do more good deeds because we can't and mustn't leave it to someone else.
This is Eligh, he lives in the wood's near Shepton Mallet.. i met him at a small music festival in a field where some friends were playing a gig.
I approached him and asked to take his photo, he replied with a beaming toothles smile yes !..he said he only agreed to let me take his photo because i had the decency to ask first and not just snap away without asking.. this would result in the camera stealing his soul
Spanish postcard, 1953. Photo: Procines S.A. Gregory Peck and Jennifer Jones in Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946).
American actor Gregory Peck (1916-2003) was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck received five nominations for Academy Award for Best Actor and won once – for his performance as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). He almost always played courageous, nobly heroic good guys who saw injustice and fought it. Among his best known films are Spellbound (1945), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), Roman Holiday (1953), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Cape Fear (1962).
Eldred Gregory Peck was born in 1916 in La Jolla, California (now in San Diego). His parents were Bernice Mary (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist, and druggist in San Diego. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child, he was sent to live with his grandmother. He never felt he had a stable childhood. His fondest memories are of his grandmother taking him to the cinema every week and of his dog, which followed him everywhere. Peck's father encouraged him to take up medicine. He studied pre-med at UC-Berkeley and, while there, got bitten by the acting bug and decided to change the focus of his studies. He enrolled in the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York and debuted on Broadway after graduation. His debut was in Emlyn Williams' play 'The Morning Star' (1942). By 1943, he was in Hollywood, where he debuted in the RKO film Days of Glory (Jacques Tourneur, 1944). Stardom came with his next film, The Keys of the Kingdom (John M. Stahl, 1944), for which he was nominated for an Oscar. Tony Fontana at IMDb: "Peck's screen presence displayed the qualities for which he became well known. He was tall, rugged and heroic, with a basic decency that transcended his roles." He appeared opposite Ingrid Bergman in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound (1945) as an amnesia victim accused of murder. In The Yearling (Clarence Brown, 1946), he was again nominated for an Oscar and won the Golden Globe. He was especially effective in Westerns and appeared in such varied fare as David O. Selznick's critically blasted Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), the somewhat better received Yellow Sky (William A. Wellman, 1948), and the acclaimed The Gunfighter (Henry King, 1950). He was nominated again for the Academy Award for his roles in Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), which dealt with anti-Semitism, and Twelve O'Clock High (Henry King, 1949), a story of high-level stress in an Air Force bomber unit in World War II. In 1947, Peck, along with Dorothy McGuire, David O'Selznick, and Mel Ferrer, founded the La Jolla Playhouse, located in his hometown, and produced many of the classics there. Due to film commitments, he could not return to Broadway but whet his appetite for live theatre on occasion at the Playhouse, keeping it firmly established with a strong, reputable name over the years.
With a string of hits to his credit, Gregory Peck made the decision to only work in films that interested him. He continued to appear as the heroic, larger-than-life figures in such films as Captain Horatio Hornblower (Raoul Walsh, 1951) with Virginia Mayo, and Moby Dick (John Huston, 1956) with Richard Basehart. He worked with Audrey Hepburn in her debut film, Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953). While filming The Bravados (Henry King, 1958), he decided to become a cowboy in real life, so he purchased a vast working ranch near Santa Barbara, California - already stocked with 600 head of prize cattle. In the early 1960s, he gave a powerful performance as Captain Keith Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (J. Lee Thompson, 1961) opposite David Niven and Anthony Quinn. The film was one of the biggest box-office hits of that year. Peck finally won the Oscar, after four nominations, for his performance as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962). He also appeared in two darker films than he usually made, Cape Fear (J. Lee Thompson, 1962) opposite Robert Mitchum, and Captain Newman, M.D. (David Miller, 1963) with Tony Curtis, which dealt with the way people live. The financial failure of Cape Fear (1962) ended his company, Melville Productions. After making Arabesque (Stanley Donen, 1966) with Sophia Loren, Peck withdrew from acting for three years in order to concentrate on various humanitarian causes, including the American Cancer Society. In the early 1970s, he produced two films, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (Gordon Davidson, 1972) and The Dove (Charles Jarrott, 1974), when his film career stalled. He made a comeback playing, somewhat woodenly, Ambassador Robert Thorn in the horror film The Omen (Richard Donner, 1976) with Lee Remick. After that, he returned to the bigger-than-life roles he was best known for, such as MacArthur (Joseph Sargent, 1977) and the infamous Nazi war criminal Dr. Josef Mengele in the huge hit The Boys from Brazil (Franklin J. Schaffner, 1978) with Laurence Olivier and James Mason. In the 1980s, he moved into television with the miniseries The Blue and the Gray (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1982) in which he played Abraham Lincoln, and The Scarlet and the Black (Jerry London, 1983) with Christopher Plummer and John Gielgud. In 1991, he appeared in the remake of his 1962 film, playing a different role, in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). He was also cast as the progressive-thinking owner of a wire and cable business in Other People's Money (Norman Jewison, 1991), starring Danny DeVito. In 1967, Peck received the Academy's Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. He was also been awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom. Always politically progressive, he was active in such causes as anti-war protests, workers' rights, and civil rights. In 2003, Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch was named the greatest film hero of the past 100 years by the American Film Institute, only two weeks before his death. Atticus beat out Indiana Jones, who was placed second, and James Bond who came third. Gregory Peck died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California. He was 87. Peck was married twice. From 1942 till 1955, he was married to Greta Kukkonen. They had three children: Jonathan Peck (1944-1975), Stephen Peck (1946), and Carey Paul Peck (1949). His second wife was Veronique Passani, whom he met at the set of Roman Holliday. They married in 1955 and had two children: Tony Peck (1956) and Cecilia Peck (1958). The couple remained together till his death.
Sources: Tony Fontana (IMDb), and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Women wait. They wait a lot. All their lives. Perhaps the new generation of women don't so much anymore. I hope this woman came to no harm, so many women seem to in my country. It is a sad thing and last week was a very sad week. For all women everywhere really, no matter what age. Actually just sad.
Much is being written about fallen heroes and our unrealistic expectations of them.
I say we don't see them as human but as superhuman.
Their spin doctors and sponsors make sure of that.
We are sold the image of perfection, don't see the dark side beneath, that lies beneath all of us actually.
We are betrayed because we live in a world that has too many facades and masks.
And of course people who are given these masks in the end begin to believe that they are the mask and perhaps lose touch with their decency and humanity.
This is a picture with a story.
I have followed a photo course and the ultimate goal was to produce a photo album with a subject of your choice that would tell a story.
My subject was:
Special points that i see as my landmarks in my hometown.
After one of the course evenings I did not go home immediately, but I stopped along the way making some night shots at a number of locations.
This was the second location. It was then towards midnight.
The light pole is at a high school for years. It is on the side of the parking places in front of the school. I parked my car just out of the frame. Walked towards the place where this recording was made from. A public footpath that sits on the edge of a roundabout along with a cycle path. No more pedestrians around that time, but a few cyclists and a moped and some cars passed by. Normal in a city.
One of those cars was a police car.
I was doing my thing and not aware at first that the police turned and drove back on the cycle path and stopped right behind me.
(i do have bad working ears).
I did not hear the car coming so when I turned around at one moment I was shocked that the car was so close behind me.
The police man and woman opened a window of the car. And asked me what I was doing.
The tone of the male agent was quite degrading.
I was stupidly surprised.
I had my SLR with a 24-70mm on a tripod. So was I doing? .....
My answer was: i am going to shoot at the pole. :)
Perhaps not the smartest answer, but I was doing nothing wrong and it was in reaction to his attitude.
Mr Police was in my opinion trying to show to his female colleague: look how I do that!
The belittling behavior of him was in every sentence and word he said.
When I said that the reason why I was taking pictures was that I was working on making a book about my home town. He asked in a mocking tone: SO! And do you already have a publisher for that?
Because I was completely done with that jerk back then, I told him: Yes, I am myself.
SO! so sir is also publisher? SO! And are you going to take more photos in other places?
I told him then: Yes, I am also going to do the so called "melkweg bridge" and if you don't mind, I'll continue with my work. Then I ignored them further. And they drove away after a while.
I do not have anything against police people. Think they are necessary. And have a task of staying sharp and protecting people and preventing harm.
But should also have decency and speak to people in a normal and dignified manner.
We do not pay tax money for degenerating and diminishing authoritarian macho behavior!
That night these two police officers gave me a disgusting feeling instead of a sense of security.
That feeling is the reason this picture did not got a place in the book.
I am not a pro-independence, but I believe in the freedom and the right of peoples and people to choose their destiny. Montesquieu said that the worst tyranny is that which is done in the name of the law. Complicating ideas and politicians represent them a violence that has not existed is an attack on democracy and decency. Catalonia today represents democracy and the rights of the peoples of Europe,
After now 3 failed attempts to get a train framed with the tunnel portal, I am going to give it one more try before moving on for the time being. Light is starting to become a major concern as the sun gets lower and lower in the sky. Of course the only EB train through here, L137, doesn't care what I have to say about lighting conditions, but it does give the decency of passing when the sun lights up the tunnel portal fora brief half an hour stretch this time of year. Today that was the objective. The train was right on time, there was a great sun spot on the tracks. Then the thin clouds rolled in. The partially cloudy weather gave me those clouds that still give off some light but not enough to combat 7:30AM ambient lighting+Head on telephoto headlights. Head on was a dud, but this wider view was a lot better considering the conditions.
The history and story of this tunnel has been discussed on previous posts as this small section is very interesting and has a lot of points to note. Might have to dig out some of my WM timetables and such to give a better image of whats going on here. Gonna try to get up here one more time before the end of summer.
CSX L137 Greenstone, PA Jacks Mountain Tunnel
A name I have heard many times in the course of my life and yet I could tell you little about him. Lennox Robinson looking rather dapper with a fine wool overcoat, suit and dicky bow tie!
We are back though many of those who normally visit us here will not be back just yet! For all of you may we wish you a Peaceful, Happy and safe New Year and especially for our friends in Australia. We watch in horror at the fires and you are all in our thoughts and prayers!
UPDATE: Thanks especially to suckindeesel for giving us Tim Pat Coogan’s lovely description of this “tall, thin, tweedy man”...
“When I knew him, he lived in a flat, large and comfortable, but still only a flat ... at Longford Terrace, Monkstown. ... One of the great sights of Monkstown in those years was Lennox, a tall, thin, tweedy man with a distant expression, being led by a very tiny Sealyham dog, at the end of a very long lead, on his peregrinations to and from Goggins pub, the very epitome of the Irish expression ‘the relics of auld decency’.”
Photographers: Various
Collection: Irish Personalities Photographic Collection
Date: Circa 1920-1958
NLI Ref: NPA PERS71
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Catching up on some back shots from the beginning of the year
On a walk around the Addington Cemetery with a wonderful Flickr friend. February 13, 2016 Christchurch New Zealand.
There is so much damaged in the cemetery because of the earthquake we have had. It is such a pity as I don' think it will ever be fully repaired.
The Addington Cemetery was established in 1858 when the Scottish Presbyterians of St Andrew’s Church purchased land for a cemetery in Selwyn Street. Although not the first cemetery in Christchurch, Addington was in fact the first “public” cemetery, “being open to all persons of any religious community” and allowing the performance of any religious service “not contrary to public decency”.
The first burial took place on the 10th of November 1858. The cemetery has several persons of note buried within its grounds including activist Kate Sheppard, Christchurch Mayor Tommy Taylor and members of the pioneer family, the Deans.
For More Info:http://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/addington-cemetery/
It may sound like the kind of bogus claim made on late-night infomercials, but trust me when I say it's true: Mr. Brown Pelican's violations of the rules of decency are so goofy they beggar belief. But first, I'm going to jump ahead a bit and talk in general terms about how Mr. Pelican has an amazing ability to disengage his intellect. Then, I'll back up and fill in some of the details. Okay, so to start with the general stuff, Mr. Pelican's supercilious, twisted asseverations have caused the most self-deceiving analphabetics you'll ever see to descend upon us like a swarm of locusts, destroying our moral fiber. Yet there's much more to it than that. His occasional demonstrations of benevolence are not genuine. Nor are Mr. Pelican's promises. In fact, he uses cannibalism to cover up his criminal ineptitude. That's the large elephant in the room that nobody ever talks about. Nevertheless, I unquestionably maintain that people really ought to start talking about it because then they'd realize that Mr. Pelican makes a lot of exaggerated claims. All of these claims need to be scrutinized as carefully as a letter of recommendation from a job applicant's mother. Consider, for example, Mr. Pelican's claim that all any child needs is a big dose of television every day. The fact of the matter is that I profess that the best way to overcome misunderstanding, prejudice, and hate is by means of reason, common sense, clear thinking, and goodwill. Mr. Pelican, in contrast, believes that all it takes to start a rabbit farm is a magician's magic hat.
“Wait!
Before you take the secondary replacer out, I have a few more instructions for you on how to set up the
extraction so that it follows through to our greater advantage. It is inconvenient that the she-human is so moralistic, and extra steps will be needed to prevent unpleasant results after the extraction.
The she-human will expect the target replacer to make some attempt to save the secondary replacer, out of 'human decency' or 'chivalry' or something like that.
Make the secondary replacer seem as inhuman as possible right before 'she' is extracted. Command the replacer to attempt an attack on the subject based on your fabrication. Make 'her' appearance less human; play on the subject's existing fears regarding mutants. You will find sufficient material to create an effective composition if you examine the subject's mind again.
Besides this, you might as well have the Extracting Officer 'wound' the target replacer, it will provide another reason to excuse his negligence in 'saving' the secondary replacer.”
“It will be done, O Queen. Your wisdom is inimitable.”
I can't believe what's happened!
We were walking along, musing to each other over why we were banished here, when a loud RIP! sounded behind us. I spun around as Djiimi shrugged her cut bonds off and removed her gag in one fluid movement.
“Thought you could restrain me, did you?” she spat, charging toward us. Toward me.
Reldan jumped in her way to protect me but she jumped over both our heads with inhuman agility, landing nimbly at our backs. From behind me, Reldan gasped as she began to change...
Her face contorted...
Her eyes turned orange...
Fangs sprouted from her mouth...
She spoke again, her voice audibly sibilant.
“He'sssss MINE!!!” she screamed at me, and prepared to pounce.
Before I could react, a thunderous rumble emanated from the ground and some sort of...worm thing erupted in a cloud of sand. In the same second wicked mantis claws snatched Djiimi up and lashed Reldan with a barbed tail as he made a move toward it. Struck in the head, he lurched backward.
The creature made a slight movement with its claws and snapped its prey in two like a cookie. I watched it as it greedily sucked gory contents from the body that had just been about to attack me.
It paused to look our way but I froze and Reldan had passed out. Its motion-detecting eyes seeing nothing of interest, it lowered its serpentine body beneath the sands, taking its meal with it.
_________________________________________________________________________
Another one, yay!
Edited even MORE 'shrooms this time. ;_;
C&C appreciated. :D
Bondi Beach is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located 7 km east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council, in the Eastern Suburbs. It has a population of 11,656 residents. Its postcode is 2026. Bondi, North Bondi, and Bondi Junction are neighboring suburbs. Bondi Beach is one of the most visited tourist sites in Australia.
"Bondi," originally "Boondi" is an Aboriginal word which has the same meaning as the word "surf" in English. The first record of "bondi" by European-ancestry Australians was made between 1899 and 1903. It describes the meaning as "noise made by sea waves breaking on the beach," which is essentially the definition of "surf" in contemporary American English. The Australian Museum records that Bondi means place where a fight using bondi sticks (nulla nullas or fighting sticks) took place.
In 1809 the road builder William Roberts received a grant of land in the area. In 1851 Edward Smith Hall and Francis O'Brien purchased 200 acres of the Bondi area that included most of the beach frontage, which was named "The Bondi Estate." Hall was O'Brien's father-in-law. Between 1855 and 1877 O'Brien purchased his father-in-law's share of the land, renamed the land the "O'Brien Estate," and made the beach and the surrounding land available to the public as a picnic ground and amusement resort. As the beach became increasingly popular, O'Brien threatened to stop public beach access. However, the Municipal Council believed that the Government needed to intervene to make the beach a public reserve. In mid-1882, Bondi Beach became a public beach. The first tramway to the beach was established in 1884. The Waverley Council was responsible for building the first surf bathing sheds on the beach in 1903. By 1929 an estimated 60,000 people were visiting the beach on a summer weekend day. The opening of the pavilion in the same year attracted a huge crowd of 200,000.
On 6 February 1938 five people drowned and over 250 people were rescued or resuscitated after a series of large waves struck the beach and pulled people back into the sea, a day that became known as "Black Sunday".
Bondi Beach was a working class suburb throughout most of the twentieth century with migrant people from New Zealand comprising the majority of the local population. Following World War II, Bondi Beach and the Eastern Suburbs became home for Jewish migrants from Poland, Russia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Germany. A stream of Jewish immigration continued into the 21st century and the area has a number of synagogues and a kosher butcher. The multicultural migration funded and drove the growth of the suburb throughout the 1990s into the turn of the century, moving it steadily from its working-class roots towards an upper/middle-class enclave similar to its neighbors of Rose Bay and Bellevue Hill which was listed as the most expensive postcode in the country from 2003 to 2005.
Bondi Beach was long a center for efforts to fight indecency in beach attire. The beach was a focal point of the 1907 Sydney bathing costume protests, organized to oppose proposed dress standards for beachgoers. The Local Government Act, Ordinance No. 52 (1935) governed the decency of swimming costumes and was in force between 1935 and 1961, and resulted in public controversy as the two-piece "bikini" became popular after World War II. Waverley Council's beach inspectors, including the Aub Laidlaw, were responsible for enforcing the law and were required to measure the dimensions of swimwear and order offenders against public decency off the beach. While vacationing in Australia during 1951, American movie actress Jean Parker made international headlines when she was escorted off the beach after Laidlaw determined her bikini was too skimpy. The rule became increasingly anachronistic during the 1950s and was replaced in 1961 with one requiring bathers be "clad in a proper and adequate bathing costume", allowing for more subjective judgement of decency. By the 1980s topless bathing had become common at Bondi Beach, especially at the southern end.
Sydney's Water Board maintained an untreated sewage outlet not far from the north end of the beach until the 1960s when a sewage treatment plant was built. In the mid-1990s the plant was upgraded & a deepwater ocean outfall was completed to meet water quality standards.
In March 2007, Waverley Council started proceedings to evict a hermit who was living in squalor on a cliff overlooking the beach. Peter James Paul Millhouse, calling himself Jhyimy "Two Hats" Mhiyles, came to the beach during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games and became a local celebrity for his lifestyle and poetry recitals to visitors. Residents and tourists put together a "save the caveman" petition to allow him to continue residing but under certain rules. In 2009, he was arrested and charged for the rape of a tourist. While he was in custody, Waverley Council under then-mayor Liberal Sally Betts removed his belongings from the cliff. In September 2011, charges against Jhyimy were dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions over concerns of the reliability of the witness. Waverley Council has not offered recompense for his eviction from his home or loss of belongings.
In March 2020, the NSW Government closed Bondi Beach after a number of people there exceeded Australia's outdoor-gathering limit imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus in New South Wales.
Since I’ll be away until later next week I thought I’d leave you something to reflect on. It is happening everywhere right now, all over the world. The problem of homelessness for refugees is tragically always with us. Wars and internal conflict lead to millions of displaced and homeless people every year. But there is a growth in homelessness in our relatively wealthy and peaceful cities too, and the results can also be tragic.
Several decades ago it became fashionable in psychiatric circles to close the institutions that once cared for people with severe forms of mental illness. Many of these former patients ended up on the streets. Drugs and alcohol continue to claim many too. You see them now in every large city. Some people even step over the homeless on their way to work, barely stopping to take a sip of their latte. It is awful and as I’ll show in the story of this triptych, people are dying on our streets while the comfortable complain about forgetting to put on their electric blanket. Excuse my cynicism, but truth is always more important to me than being liked. So if the truth hurts, so be it. We need a revolution in our societies at so many levels.
With hyperinflation and interest rates on the rise, real estate values getting out of hand, and people taking their houses off the rental market to turn them into even more lucrative Airbnbs, many ordinary working class people are now sleeping in tents under road overpasses (yes even in Launceston, until the local council moved them on, as they always do without any solution to the problem!), single mothers with children sleeping in cars in a freezing winter. These are people who just a few years ago would never have dreamed of being homeless.
The working poor are now a reality in our once egalitarian societies. And all the time we pay our politicians more to do less at solving our social problems. Oh but they are good at talking! And then the vast majority of the population turns into ostriches and sink their heads into the sand.
By now I’ve probably lost most of my readers. Never mind, I’m more interested in radicalizing the few who will do something. This is not about politics, Marx or Lenin (though I much prefer the message of John Lennon), Left wing or Right. I couldn’t give a damn about ideology or party loyalty. People are dying every single day in countries regardless of their political system. This is about common human decency and whether we as a race care anymore about each other. I mean look at all the empty rhetoric in the West about the poor people of Ukraine being made homeless in their millions - talk, talk, talk, and nothing done about ending the Russian aggression. Never mind as long as Wall Street doesn’t collapse.
Have we been so brainwashed completely by the narcissism that social media was designed to condition us all to, that we just carry on commenting endlessly about meaningless stuff? You may have seen the graffiti that’s been around a while now: “Shut up and shop!” Well that’s what the authorities of any political persuasion want from us right now. They’ll milk us dry of our cash and strip us from our meaningful social bonds. The pandemic taught us to be compliant, but really the process of conditioning started with the events of 9/11 and the new security measures. This has been coming for a long time. But so is the day of reckoning.
So if you’re still wondering about why I’m so angry perhaps one day I’ll show you some of the graffiti that’s spreading through our cities like wildfire. You may also have seen this painted on street walls. Just one word: ANGRY.
The reality is people are dying on our streets. So let me quickly tell you about these three photographs that I’ve tied together.
LEFT: “What’s the upside?”
This notice was hung in a tree by some local activists. The Peter referred to here is the former Premier of Tasmania who boasted about how well the economy had survived the pandemic restrictions. Well it has for the well-heeled, but the housing crisis has led to a large rise in homelessness.
CENTRE “People are dying on the streets.”
Daniel James Tommerup (1970-2021) burned to death when he caught fire cooking food on a gas stove outside Milton Hall across the street from Launceston’s Princes Square. He was part of a growing homeless community that was moved on from the city centre where they were sleeping outside an empty city building. The City Baptist Church allowed them to use the facilities at Milton Hall, but as you’ll see the result after Daniel’s tragic death is that the homeless have been moved on again and a fence has been put up with chain and lock. Given the dire state of the retail rental market there are empty shops all over town, but no room for the poor to lay their heads. What would Jesus say? WWJD?
You can read Daniel’s sad story here.
www.examiner.com.au/story/7477642/a-scallywag-with-a-good...
RIGHT: “Catafalque”
It’s an interesting word “catafalque”. Every Anzac Day in Australia it is mentioned in relation to the tomb of a dead soldier. The dictionary definition is as follows, “a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.”
This photograph was taken in Launceston’s City Park in the bandstand. In it is a bed for the homeless. But not a real bed (because that would have been moved on very quickly by the authorities), no it’s an art installation. The artist has designed it to reflect on the issue of the homeless, but if a real homeless person dared to lie down there it would be a problem.
This is a catafalque for the homeless, but it might, if what Peter Kingsley says is true, be a catafalque for us all. I mention Peter Kingsley in relation to his two volume work, “Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity”, which surveys the wreck of Western civilization. Peter spares none of us in his social critique, and he would agree with me that a day of reckoning is at hand. peterkingsley.org/product/catafalque/
Have you ever read Matthew 25:31-46 in the New Testament? You might be surprised by its implications.
* These photographs were all taken on the streets with the Leica D-Lux 7.
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is a famous rope bridge near Ballintoy in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. It spans 20 metres (66 ft) and is 30 metres (98 ft) above the rocks below. The bridge is mainly a tourist attraction and is owned and maintained by the National Trust.
The bridge is open all year round (subject to weather) and people may cross it for a fee.
It is thought salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years. It has taken many forms over the years. In the 1970s it had only one handrail and large gaps between the slats. A new bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built with the help of local climbers and abseilers in 2000. Another was built in 2004 and offered visitors and fishermen alike a much safer passage to the island. The current wire rope and Douglas fir bridge was raised early in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000.
Although no one has fallen off the bridge, there have been many instances where visitors, unable to face the walk back across the bridge, have had to be taken off the island by boat!!!!!!!!!!!
It is not for the faint-hearted!!!!
A lone figure is waving
From the thin line of a bridge
Of ropes and slats, slung
Dangerously out between
The cliff-top and the pillar rock.
A nineteenth-century wind.
Dulse-pickers. Sea campions.
A postcard for you, Sean,
And that's you swinging alone,
Antic, half-afraid,
In your gallowglass's beard
And swallow-tail of serge:
The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge
Ghost-written on sepia.
Or should it be your houseboat
Ethnically furnished,
Redolent of grass?
Should we discover you
Beside those warm-planked, democratic wharves
Among the twilights and guitars
Of Sausalito?
Drop-out on a come-back,
Prince of no-man's land
With your head in clouds or sand,
You were the clown
Social worker of the town
Until your candid forehead stopped
A pointblank teatime bullet.
Get up from your blood on the floor.
Here's another boat
In grass by the lough shore,
Turf smoke, a wired hen-run -
Your local, hoped for, unfound commune.
Now recite me William Bloat,
Sing of the Calabar.
Or of Henry Joy McCracken
Who kissed his Mary Anne
On the gallows at Corrnmarket.
Or Ballycastle Fair.
"Give us the raw bar!"
"Sing it by brute force
If you forget the air."
Yet something in your voice
Stayed nearly shut.
Your voice was a harassed pulpit
Leading the melody
It kept at bay,
It was independent, rattling, non-transcendent
Ulster - old decency
And Old Bushmills,
Soda farls, strong tea,
New rope, rock salt, kale plants,
Potato-bread and Woodbine.
Wind through the concrete vents
Of a border check-point.
Cold zinc nailed for a peace line.
Fifteen years ago, come this October,
Crowded on your floor,
I got my arm round Marie's shoulder
For the first time.
"Oh, Sir Jasper, do not touch me!"
You roared across at me,
Chorus-leading, splashing out the wine.
- Seamus Heaney
"Kathryn.....that's my chair."
The redhead smirked as she looked across the desk, the sharp heels of her boots resting on the wood. "Oh...I'm quite aware, Headmistress. Ms. Isaak send me to see you. Something about several dress-code violations. But when I got here....you were out....so I made myself comfortable."
The older woman cocked her hips to one side and placed her hands atop them. "What am I going to do with you? Your wanton disregard for the rules.....and....common decency......"
Peter took this view of Tyseley in the mid-1964. The image is of a well cared for station in full use with waiting rooms, toilets and a neat intact canopy.
Plenty of mechanical signalling is in operation, the the signal on the far right controlled the approach to the carriage sidings and when it was off it displayed an 'On Car' board.
Class 116 W50077 (right) is working a service to Wolverhampton (Low Level), the unidentified DMU in the centre is bound for Henley-in-Arden.
On the far platform a DMU driver is waiting for a train, his bag is hung on a fire bucket hook which is screwed to the decency screen of the Gents toilet.
The platforms are clear and do not have the flower beds which, today, are well cared for by volunteers. Just behind the lamp is what looks like a sawn off telegraph pole, perhaps the boxes contained a phone to contact Tyseley South Junction Signal Box.
On the Wharfdale road bridge a B.C.T. bus is visible, it would have been a Highgate Road based Daimler CVG working a 36 service from Stechford to Highgate Road via Formans Road, a service I used every school day.
This is a re-scan with a more detailed caption. The original has been deleted.
Peter Shoesmith c1964
Copyright Geoff Dowling & John Whitehouse: All rights reserved