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EXPLORED #89
I just want to apologize for having not been around to comment on your threads. I've been a little blue. I think my broken ankle and the stinking boot that goes along with it are really starting to wear me down. Doing any little thing seems to be a MAJOR ordeal. I still have two more weeks of wearing the boot but at least my ankle does seem to be healing........FINALLY! You know what they say......."Doctors and nurses make the worst patients." I admit it! ;0) It's true! LOL!
Also? I reached a milestone in Explore yesterday with my hummingbird photo (200 of my photos have made it into Explore) and I want to thank you all for your friendships, views, comments, faves, and invites. I couldn't have done it without all of you. Thank you all so much!!!!!
I hope you all have a beautiful day and I will be around to catch up on your photostreams today! Big hugs!
For Gorgeous Green Thursday
envy . . . a feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.
Kendrick said I could only upload 3. okay, so maybe she said two, but I'm interpreting it to mean 3 because lets be honest, this is just funny. ...except to those fathers who were trying to enjoy a nice fathers day at the inner harbor carousel with their small children. The way I see it, the kids are too young to remember anyway. And if they still hold some weird resentment towards zombies after they've grown up... well, maybe that's normal.
The Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge was a Whipple through truss bridge that was the first road bridge to cross the Missouri River connecting Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa. It was replaced in 1966 by the Interstate 480 girder bridge.
Originally called the Douglas Street Bridge, the bridge was built by the Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company in 1888 at a cost of $500,000. It was designed to handle streetcars and replaced a ferry service that had opened in 1854. It was originally built as a single bridge. Due to increased demand, they built a twin sister bridge next to the existing one. It was the Lincoln Highway bridge from 1913 to 1930. (Notice the L for Lincoln Highway in the picture.) It was then the Highway 30 bridge, then Highway 30A, then Highway 30 S until its destruction.
It was a toll bridge. As automobiles became more popular, there were resentments about the tolls. In 1895, a group of businessmen formed the "Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben" ("Nebraska" spelled backward). In 1938, they sold bonds to finance the purchase of the bridge for $2,350,000. They continued to charge tolls until 1947, at which point the bonds were paid off and the structure, along with the South Omaha Bridge, became free bridges. The hated toll booths were paraded through Omaha before a crowd of 35,000 observers to celebrate Free Bridge Day on September 24, 1947. The estimated traffic on the bridge doubled the following year.
It was replaced in November 1966 with an unnamed I-480 girder bridge (I-480 was to go on and be named the "Gerald R. Ford Freeway" after the native son President). Attempts were made to salvage the bridge as a pedestrian walkway, but it was demolished in 1968 although the east pier remains in the river just south of the interstate on the Council Bluffs side.
U.S. Route 6 overlaps the interstate to cross the river.
"Miss Taggart, do you know the hallmark of the second-rater? It's resentment of another man's achievement. Those touchy mediocrities who sit trembling lest someone's work prove greater than their own--they have no inkling of the loneliness that comes when you reach the top. The loneliness for an equal--for a mind to respect and an achievement to admire. They bare their teeth at you from out of their rat holes, thinking that you take pleasure in letting your brilliance dim them--while you'd give a year of your life to see a flicker of talent anywhere among them. They envy achievement, and their dream of greatness is a world where all men have become their acknowledged inferiors. They don't know that that dream is the infallible proof of mediocrity, because that sort of world is what the man of achievement would not be able to bear. They have no way of knowing what he feels when surrounded by inferiors--hatred? no, not hatred, but boredom--the terrible, hopeless, draining, paralyzing boredom. Of what account are praise and adulation from men whom you don't respect? Have you ever felt the longing for someone you could admire? For something, not to look down at, but up to?"
Full name: Florence Lynn Wyndham
Aliases: Florence/Flor, Switch, Cpt Wyndham
Age: 29
Nationality: English
Bio: Florence is the half sister of Rowena Nix. Born to a same father but raised by different mothers, she harbours a bit of resentment and acts as Nix’s foil. Joining the MPS at a young age, she made her way through the ranks with a doctorate in security and intelligence studies. But as the economy failed globally, she left and was asked to head a team alongside her former partners, and created Vertex, the new law enforcement and partial PMC.
Upon being one of the heads of Vertex, Florence has solved many cases in crimes, magic and technology. She has crossed many paths with her sister, and recently leading down to conflict.
Personality, powers and abilities: Strict, cynical and headstrong. Often tough as nails makes her a good leader. A decision matters a lot to her. Born with the ability to control density, she can alter herself at will and apply the same to various objects, if not the entirety yet part of it.
Equipment: Wears standard police gear with upgraded technology and armour. Often carries a sharp cutlass and wields a shotgun.
TF:DR (Too French, didn’t read) version below...
L’œuvre « Jardin d’addiction », réalisée entre 2009 et 2011 au CIRVA à Marseille par les artistes français Christophe Berdaguer et Marie Péjus est présentée au mudac.
Avec cette œuvre, les créateurs questionnent les mécanismes du fonctionnement cérébral humain liés aux dépendances. En effet, à chaque extrémité des tiges -synapses- se trouve un bulbe en verre contenant l’odeur d’une substance addictive telle que le café, le tabac, le vin, le whisky, les champignons, l’opium, l’herbe, la cocaïne ou encore l’héroïne. Ces fragrances ont été conçues en collaboration avec les parfumeurs Christophe Laudamiel et Christoph Hornetz (Les Christophs). L’enchevêtrement des fines racines au sein du jardin fait référence au réseau complexe des connexions neuronales du cerveau. La fragilité du verre et l’impossibilité de manipuler les bouchons permettant de sentir les odeurs nous renvoient à notre propre ressentiment face à ces addictions.
mudac.ch/expositions/jardin-daddiction/
This installation symbolizes the effects of addictive substances on the brain. The different liquids are perfumes imitating substances such as Coffee, wine, whiskey, opium, heroine, cocaine... The fragility of the glass and the fact that we can’t smell the substances evokes our resentment of these addictions.
Someone told me this story lately, and I had to think of Ronja, she gives me love and joy.
An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’
The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’
This is such a lovely story: so simple and yet so true. I think each and every one of us has these two wolves running around inside us. The Evil wolf or the Good Wolf is fed daily by the choices we make with our thoughts. What you think about and dwell upon will in a sense appear in your life and influence your behavior.
We have a choice, feed the Good Wolf and it will show up in our character, habits and behavior positively. Or feed the Evil Wolf and our whole world will turn negative: like poison, this will slowly eat away at our soul.
The crucial question is “Which are you feeding today”?
source: Wizdompath
I had turned my back on a neighbor I had been friendly with. I returned an armload full of gifts and never spoke to the person again - until today when we both found ourselves at a bakery just before closing time. After our purchases we ended up talking outside for 2 1/2 hours. I could have gone on for a few more hours. All the resentment and hurt gone in a puff, after a friendly greeting. E-motions come - and go. Good to leave a bit of wiggle room.
We all have them. Something that we do in order to hide part of the real us. Some people hide their sadness, anger, pain, jealousy, resentment, anxiety, secrets or even their slyness by a mask of lies. One day you're going to have to remove your facade and show the world who you really are - Good or Bad.
Kepe Updated! :)
Facebook: www.facebook.com/samanthagossphoto
Disease, Fear, Resentment,
Sorrow, Suspicion, Jealousy,
Rage, Hatred, Curse,
Anxiety, Regret, Subservient,
Greed, Falsehood, Laziness,
Violence, Hope, Hope,
Hope.
I’m oppressive, because I’m part of oppressive society. I, in my privilege, have pointed out oppression. So I, in my privilege, have perpetuated oppression—thus proving myself to be an oppressor. My privilege is a stumbling block to the oppressed, which makes me an oppressor. In my privilege, I am a champion of the oppressed—an oxymoron. Since I am an oppressor, all that I have left to do is to loath my hypocritical self. Therefore I must not only hate society, but I must also hate myself. In the end my dialectic will cause my own downfall. My truth will be my destruction. Yet I don’t care, because I must follow my satanic cult to destruction. It is what consumes me, it is what I know best—destroy, destroy, destroy! Instead of selflessly helping poor neighbourhoods, I selfishly burn them down—rioting and looting. The end justifies the means! I selfishly demand, but I never selflessly give. My goal is to tear down society, not to build it up—yet in the process, I am tearing myself down. It is for the greater good!
I like to say “do not judge,” yet I make judgments about society—that it is bad and needs to be destroyed. I make judgments on people, whether they are good (oppressed) or bad (oppressors). Since I don’t believe in absolute truth, don’t believe my judgments/truths, because they are not true. I am an antiracist racist, and an antifascist fascist. Indeed, my truth is nothing but lies.
Here is a faith based statement: you can choose your own gender. Indeed, it takes blind faith to believe such a statement! You are woke puritans, spreading the gospel of your neo-Marxist/Antichrist religion. You are religious fanatics. You believe that your prescribed doctrine is unquestionably true. You are absolutists, who like to police people. “Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.” Your diversity is all about ideological conformity. Indeed, you collectivists love conformity!
You hate hierarchies, but you yourselves have your own woke hierarchies (hierarchies of victimhood/victim status). Your hierarchies cause resentment, which produces hateful bullies/oppressors/tyrants like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao (your heroes). You tear down one hierarchy, only to replace it with a hierarchy that is much worse. Your hierarchy revolves around hate (oppression) and revolution (rebellion), so when you come to power you murder millions of people (genocide). You are bitter, so you hate. You hate, so you kill. Your hierarchy will eventually bring in the Antichrist; then many more will die at the hands of your oppressive hierarchy. Can anyone say: genocide!?!
Our Hegelian dialectic moves on, pushing the moral boundaries of society farther down the rabbit hole of depravity. Society must be torn down, so that we can reBuild it Back Better. Order out of chaos! We will build a New World Order, replacing humans (oppressors) with transhumans. The goal: transhumans will eventually evolve into a raceless and genderless slave race, without families or cultures—equality for all! We will all be equally enslaved by our elite oppressors! Survival of the fittest! “There’s a sucker born every minute!” Humans/oppressors are obsolete and must go. They must become extinct. Artificial Intelligence must reign supreme; through it we will have eternal consciousness…godhood...bahahahaha!
We are the oppressors, and mother earth is the oppressed. We are nothing but poison to the earth. Woohoo—Net Zero Emissions, a mass cult suicide! Since all humans are oppressors, we must all go, we must all be replaced. Climate change—the real enemy is humanity itself. Transhumanism is the future. Eventually humans will be no more, and we will no longer oppress the earth. Artificial Intelligence must replace us.
Where is this cultural revolution headed? Just read the Bible! The oppressors who hate humanity will embrace transhumanism—the destruction of humanity. 666 take the Mark, worship the Beast! Your cult is of the spirit of Antichrist, and it will produce an Antichrist. Freedom bad! Authoritarianism good! You think that you are inclusive, but you are not inclusive when it comes to God and His laws. You suppress the truth, because you are an oppressor. You suppress freedom, yet the Bible says: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Indeed, you don’t know what freedom is. That’s why you have embraced your bondage. You are nothing but a slave to your truth, your selfishness, your sin!
Revelation 13:4 “And they worshiped the Dragon (Satan) because he had given authority to the Beast (Antichrist), and they worshiped the Beast, saying, ‘Who is like the Beast, and who is able to make war with him?’”
In the end it’s a spiritual decision: whom will you serve? Will you serve Jesus or the oppressor? I already know your answer, because you are drawn to oppression like a moth to light—that’s why you oppress others. Like Satan, your goal is to destroy society and humanity. In the end your plans will go to hell, and so will you.
Your woke religious dogma is broke—you oppressors are oppressing our society.
Repent, for the Day of the Lord is near!
The museum harbour Övelgönne, just a short trip downstream from Landungsbrücken, has several vintage ships on exhibit.
The steam-powered ice breaker "Stettin", launched in 1933, is still operational but currently out of service due to the astronomical cost of the gassing coal it burns.
To the right you see the barge crane "Karl Friedrich Steen" (1928).
Övelgönne is Plattdeutsch for "resentment". I don't know whom they were resenting, probably the inhabitants of Hamburg. Nevertheless they became a part of that city and just have to put up with it.
The tunnel with Autobahn A7 goes right below the museum.
The photo is somewhat underexposed. The batteries were flaking out at the time and gave up the ghost soon afterwards. One consequence was that the meter no longer worked reliably.
Shot in January 2023 on tungsten balanced Silbersalz500T cine film.
Camera: Nikon F5
Lens: AF Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8
Silbersalz35 500T colour cine film
Developed and scanned by silbersalz35.com
TF:DR (Too French, didn’t read) version below...
L’œuvre « Jardin d’addiction », réalisée entre 2009 et 2011 au CIRVA à Marseille par les artistes français Christophe Berdaguer et Marie Péjus est présentée au mudac.
Avec cette œuvre, les créateurs questionnent les mécanismes du fonctionnement cérébral humain liés aux dépendances. En effet, à chaque extrémité des tiges -synapses- se trouve un bulbe en verre contenant l’odeur d’une substance addictive telle que le café, le tabac, le vin, le whisky, les champignons, l’opium, l’herbe, la cocaïne ou encore l’héroïne. Ces fragrances ont été conçues en collaboration avec les parfumeurs Christophe Laudamiel et Christoph Hornetz (Les Christophs). L’enchevêtrement des fines racines au sein du jardin fait référence au réseau complexe des connexions neuronales du cerveau. La fragilité du verre et l’impossibilité de manipuler les bouchons permettant de sentir les odeurs nous renvoient à notre propre ressentiment face à ces addictions.
mudac.ch/expositions/jardin-daddiction/
This installation symbolizes the effects of addictive substances on the brain. The different liquids are perfumes imitating substances such as Coffee, wine, whiskey, opium, heroine, cocaine... The fragility of the glass and the fact that we can’t smell the substances evokes our resentment of these addictions.
Dance With Me ~ Reflections ~ National Theatre ~ Paris ~ MjYj
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I'm alive. I'm so alive. And I'm brave. I have the courage to close. To let go. Not you. I already did that long ago. To let go resentment. To let go my old well-known pain. Free the demons. I let them go, they're not needed here, not when I'm this healed. When I'm this strong. This powerful.
Now, I have to cut the last tie. Your memory. I have been feeling lately how it has been losing it's old charm. Vanishing. Breaking it's spell on me. I felt your memory dying inside of me and I did nothing. I let it die. I will not even go it's funeral. I wouldn't recognize you anyway. I no longer know you anyway, nor have I ever done.
You are simply, past. Experience. Learning. And in the past you'll remain. This is a goodbye. I'm so over.
I survived. I'm still breathing. I'm alive. I'm so alive. I've never been this alive.
___
R A G E
In the heart of a tempest, within the confines of a tormented soul, lies a fury as fierce as a raging inferno. It simmers beneath the surface, a potent brew of anguish and resentment, yearning to break free from its restraints.
Born from the crucible of past wounds and injustices, this rage consumes with an insatiable hunger, devouring all in its path. It lashes out with primal force, unleashing torrents of wrath upon the world.
Yet, amidst the chaos, there is a silent agony, a gnawing ache that accompanies the tempest. For with each outburst comes a reckoning, a realization of the devastation wrought by unchecked fury.
And so, the cycle repeats, a relentless dance of rage and regret, as the storm rages on within. But in the depths of this turmoil lies a glimmer of hope, a whisper of redemption. For within the crucible of suffering, there is the potential for transformation, for the forging of a new path beyond the confines of anger and pain.
by me
Nikon D700, Nikkor 24mm
Pour l'enfant, amoureux de cartes et d'estampes,
L'univers est égal à son vaste appétit.
Ah ! que le monde est grand à la clarté des lampes !
Aux yeux du souvenir que le monde est petit !
Un matin nous partons, le cerveau plein de flamme,
Le coeur gros de rancune et de désirs amers,
Et nous allons, suivant le rythme de la lame,
Berçant notre infini sur le fini des mers :
Les uns, joyeux de fuir une patrie infâme ;
D'autres, l'horreur de leurs berceaux, et quelques-uns,
Astrologues noyés dans les yeux d'une femme,
La Circé tyrannique aux dangereux parfums.
Pour n'être pas changés en bêtes, ils s'enivrent
D'espace et de lumière et de cieux embrasés ;
La glace qui les mord, les soleils qui les cuivrent,
Effacent lentement la marque des baisers.
Mais les vrais voyageurs sont ceux-là seuls qui partent
Pour partir, coeurs légers, semblables aux ballons,
De leur fatalité jamais ils ne s'écartent,
Et, sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours : Allons !
Ceux-là dont les désirs ont la forme des nues,
Et qui rêvent, ainsi qu'un conscrit le canon,
De vastes voluptés, changeantes, inconnues,
Et dont l'esprit humain n'a jamais su le nom !
[Charles Baudelaire]- Le Voyage
To a child who is fond of maps and engravings
The universe is the size of his immense hunger.
Ah! how vast is the world in the light of a lamp!
In memory's eyes how small the world is!
One morning we set out, our brains aflame,
Our hearts full of resentment and bitter desires,
And we go, following the rhythm of the wave,
Lulling our infinite on the finite of the seas:
Some, joyful at fleeing a wretched fatherland;
Others, the horror of their birthplace; a few,
Astrologers drowned in the eyes of some woman,
Some tyrannic Circe with dangerous perfumes.
Not to be changed into beasts, they get drunk
With space, with light, and with fiery skies;
The ice that bites them, the suns that bronze them,
Slowly efface the bruise of the kisses.
But the true voyagers are only those who leave
Just to be leaving; hearts light, like balloons,
They never turn aside from their fatality
And without knowing why they always say: "Let's go!"
Those whose desires have the form of the clouds,
And who, as a raw recruit dreams of the cannon,
Dream of vast voluptuousness, changing and strange,
Whose name the human mind has never known!
All rights reserved - Tous droits réservés
Christine Lebrasseur - Photographe
French Website / Site en français
Christine Lebrasseur Photo Studio on Facebook
DNA - Ipernity - YouTube - JPGMag - Facebook Page
La sorprenent escultura exterior del Museu Guggenheim de Bilbao (País Basc) - "Maman" de Louise Bourgeois.
Una de les més famoses i fotografiades és "Maman" (mare en francès), una obra de Louise Bourgeois que representa una aranya gegantina (enorme i elegant), confeccionada amb bronze, acer inoxidable i marbre.
Pesa 22 tones, i mesura 10 metres d'altura.
Els que passegen al costat de la ria, a prop del Pont de la Salve, passen sota les seves potes no sense cert ressentiment.
Cobrarà vida l'aràcnid i voldrà menjar-nos?.
----------------------------------------------------
The surprising "Maman."
The amazing sculpture outside the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (Basque Country) - "Maman" by Louise Bourgeois.
One of the most famous and photographed is "Maman" (Mother in French), a work by Louise Bourgeois spider represents a huge (huge and elegant), made of bronze, stainless steel and marble.
It weighs 22 tons and measures 10 meters.
Those who walk along the river, near the Pont de la Salve, pass under his legs without resentment.
The spider will come alive and want to eat us ?.
Il castello Orsini-Odescalchi, noto anche come castello di Bracciano, è un castello nel comune italiano di Bracciano risalente al XV secolo. Costituito da tre cinta di mura esterne, presenta cinque torri, una per ogni vertice della fortificazione esterna. Fu costruito dopo il 1470 da Napoleone Orsini probabilmente con la collaborazione di maestranze Sistine. Il castello apparteneva a Braccio da Montone (Casata Bracci) dietro richiesta del papa (per motivi politici) fu donato al suo sottoposto capitano Orsini. Ne è prova lo stemma del comune un braccio che tiene una rosa (uno dei simboli degli Orsini). Il fratello di Napoleone (il Cardinale Latino Orsini) era il camerlengo di papa Sisto IV proprio negli anni in cui venivano costruiti quasi simultaneamente la Cappella Sistina e il Castello di Bracciano. Oggi è di proprietà degli Odescalchi, famiglia che proprio dagli Orsini rilevò il Ducato di Bracciano alla fine del XVII secolo. Il castello, aperto al pubblico nel 1952 da Livio IV Odescalchi, è visitabile e viene spesso usato per ricevimenti, celebrare matrimoni e per altri eventi privati e culturali. Il castello sorge nel 1470 intorno alla vecchia rocca medioevale dei Prefetti di Vico, risalente al tredicesimo secolo, su ordine di Napoleone Orsini che poi viene portata a termine dal figlio Gentil Virginio Orsini nel 1485. Nel 1485 fu ospite della famiglia Orsini il vescovo di Mantova Ludovico Gonzaga, figlio del marchese di Mantova Ludovico III Gonzaga, che fuggì da Roma a causa della peste. Nella sua storia il castello subisce molti cambiamenti inclusi i progetti di Francesco di Giorgio Martini che fu ospite nella corte di Genti Virginio nel 1490 per restaurare varie fortezze. Papa Alessandro VI nel 1496 arriva a confiscare il castello, animato da un profondo risentimento verso gli Orsini. In questi anni risalgono le prime decorazioni, tra i più famosi il ciclo della donna medievale che illustra la vita di corte del tardo Medioevo e l'affresco di Antoniazzo Romano che riproduce il trionfo di Gentil Virginio Orsini, pagina importante di questo pittore del Quattrocento. Terminato il diverbio con il papa gli Orsini riprendono il possesso del castello continuando così l'abbellimento e ampliamento del castello. Alla fine del Cinquecento Giacomo Del Duca, allievo di Michelangelo, realizza una serie di interventi in occasione del sontuoso matrimonio tra Isabella de' Medici e Paolo Giordano Orsini. In quella circostanza i fratelli Taddeo e Federico Zuccari furono chiamati a decorare alcune sale, tra le quali quella che nel 1481 ospitò papa Sisto IV della Rovere in fuga dalla peste che infuriava a Roma. Gli Zuccari, due tra i più importanti artisti della fine del Cinquecento, realizzarono gli affreschi con l'oroscopo dei due sposi e gli emblemi delle due insigni casate. Nel 1696 agli Orsini subentrarono gli Odescalchi antica famiglia di origine comasca, il cui prestigio si incrementò notevolmente quando uno dei suoi membri ascese al soglio pontificio con il nome di Innocenzo XI.
The Orsini-Odescalchi castle, also known as the Bracciano castle, is a castle in the Italian town of Bracciano dating back to the 15th century. Consisting of three outer walls, it has five towers, one for each vertex of the external fortification. It was built after 1470 by Napoleone Orsini, probably with the collaboration of Sistine workers. The castle belonged to Braccio da Montone (Casata Bracci) at the request of the pope (for political reasons) and was donated to his subordinate captain Orsini. Proof of this is the coat of arms of the municipality an arm holding a rose (one of the symbols of the Orsini). Napoleon's brother (Cardinal Latino Orsini) was the chamberlain of Pope Sixtus IV precisely in the years in which the Sistine Chapel and the Castle of Bracciano were built almost simultaneously. Today it is owned by the Odescalchi, a family who took over the Duchy of Bracciano from the Orsini at the end of the 17th century. The castle, opened to the public in 1952 by Livio IV Odescalchi, can be visited and is often used for receptions, weddings and other private and cultural events. The castle was built in 1470 around the old medieval fortress of the Prefects of Vico, dating back to the thirteenth century, by order of Napoleone Orsini which was then completed by his son Gentil Virginio Orsini in 1485. In 1485 the bishop of Mantua was a guest of the Orsini family Ludovico Gonzaga, son of the Marquis of Mantua Ludovico III Gonzaga, who fled from Rome due to the plague [1]. In its history the castle undergoes many changes including the projects of Francesco di Giorgio Martini who was a guest in the court of Genti Virginio in 1490 to restore various fortresses. Pope Alexander VI in 1496 confiscated the castle, animated by a deep resentment towards the Orsini. The first decorations date back to these years, among the most famous the cycle of the medieval woman illustrating the court life of the late Middle Ages and the fresco by Antoniazzo Romano which reproduces the triumph of Gentil Virginio Orsini, an important page of this painter of the fifteenth century. After the quarrel with the pope, the Orsini regain possession of the castle, thus continuing the embellishment and expansion of the castle. At the end of the sixteenth century Giacomo Del Duca, a pupil of Michelangelo, carried out a series of interventions on the occasion of the sumptuous marriage between Isabella de 'Medici and Paolo Giordano Orsini. On that occasion the brothers Taddeo and Federico Zuccari were called to decorate some rooms, including the one that hosted Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere in 1481 fleeing the plague that was raging in Rome. The Zuccari, two of the most important artists of the late sixteenth century, created the frescoes with the horoscope of the couple and the emblems of the two famous families. In 1696 the Odescalchi, an ancient family of Como origin, took over from the Orsini, whose prestige increased considerably when one of its members ascended to the papal throne with the name of Innocent XI.
Le château Orsini-Odescalchi, également connu sous le nom de château de Bracciano, est un château de la ville italienne de Bracciano datant du XVe siècle. Composé de trois murs extérieurs, il possède cinq tours, une pour chaque sommet de la fortification extérieure. Il a été construit après 1470 par Napoleone Orsini, probablement avec la collaboration des ouvriers de Sixtine. Le château a appartenu à Braccio da Montone (Casata Bracci) à la demande du pape (pour des raisons politiques) et a été donné à son capitaine subordonné Orsini. Preuve en est le blason de la commune un bras tenant une rose (l'un des symboles des Orsini). Le frère de Napoléon (Cardinal Latino Orsini) était le chambellan du Pape Sixte IV précisément dans les années où la Chapelle Sixtine et le Château de Bracciano ont été construits presque simultanément. Aujourd'hui, il appartient aux Odescalchi, une famille qui a repris le duché de Bracciano aux Orsini à la fin du XVIIe siècle. Le château, ouvert au public en 1952 par Livio IV Odescalchi, peut être visité et est souvent utilisé pour des réceptions, des mariages et d'autres événements privés et culturels. Le château a été construit en 1470 autour de l'ancienne forteresse médiévale des préfets de Vico, datant du XIIIe siècle, sur ordre de Napoleone Orsini qui a ensuite été achevée par son fils Gentil Virginio Orsini en 1485. En 1485, l'évêque de Mantoue était un invité de la famille Orsini Ludovico Gonzaga, fils du marquis de Mantoue Ludovico III Gonzaga, qui a fui Rome à cause de la peste . Au cours de son histoire, le château subit de nombreux changements, notamment les projets de Francesco di Giorgio Martini qui fut invité à la cour de Genti Virginio en 1490 pour restaurer diverses forteresses. Le pape Alexandre VI en 1496 confisqua le château, animé d'un profond ressentiment envers les Orsini. Les premières décorations datent de ces années, parmi les plus célèbres le cycle de la femme médiévale illustrant la vie de cour de la fin du Moyen Âge et la fresque d'Antoniazzo Romano qui reproduit le triomphe de Gentil Virginio Orsini, page importante de ce peintre du quinzième siècle. Après la querelle avec le pape, les Orsini reprennent possession du château, poursuivant ainsi l'embellissement et l'agrandissement du château. À la fin du XVIe siècle, Giacomo Del Duca, élève de Michel-Ange, réalisa une série d'interventions à l'occasion du somptueux mariage entre Isabelle de Médicis et Paolo Giordano Orsini. A cette occasion, les frères Taddeo et Federico Zuccari ont été appelés à décorer certaines chambres, dont celle qui a accueilli le pape Sixte IV della Rovere en 1481 fuyant la peste qui sévissait à Rome. Les Zuccari, deux des artistes les plus importants de la fin du XVIe siècle, ont créé les fresques avec l'horoscope du couple et les emblèmes des deux familles célèbres. En 1696, les Odescalchi, ancienne famille originaire de Côme, succèdent aux Orsini, dont le prestige s'accroît considérablement lorsqu'un de ses membres monte sur le trône pontifical sous le nom d'Innocent XI.
History time. An interesting read if you'll take the time.
Edit: Since I posted this article, I have come upon information about this house on a park service document. It is known as the Johnson Losey House, and once was the home of Enos Johnson. Enos Johnson, born in 1825, became the first mail carrier in Walpack Township NJ. Prior to 1850, he brought the mail from Tuttles Corners to Walpack Center and Flatbrookville NJ.
I've photographed this building several times in the past ten years, in 2003 and 2009. The location is along The Old Mine Road, on the NJ side of the Delaware River. The Old Mine Road is a road in NJ and NY said to be one of the oldest continuously used roads in the United States. At a length of 104 miles, it stretches from the Delaware Water Gap to the vicinity of Kingston, NY. The road exists today, and although much of its length in NY has been modernized, its length in NJ is largely undeveloped as it travels through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWGNRA). The road still retains much of its historical and rural charm, and it's the section of the Old Mine Road in the DWGNRA that holds the most interest and will be the topic of this post.
A 1950s proposal to construct a dam near Tocks Island across the Delaware River was met with considerable controversy and protest. Tocks Island is located in the Delaware River a short distance north from the Delaware Water Gap. In order to control damaging flooding and provide clean water to supply New York City and Philadelphia, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed building a dam. When completed, the Tocks Island Dam would have created a 37-mile long lake between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, with depths of up to 140 feet and permanently destroying and flooding many homes, towns and villages on both sides of the river. This lake and the land surrounding it were to be organized as the Tocks Island National Recreation Area. Although the dam was never built, 72,000 acres of land were acquired by condemnation and eminent domain. This incited environmental protesters (some say spurred the environmental movement) and embittering local residents displaced by the project's preparations when their property was condemned, then later rented or squatted on by others after they were evicted. After the Tocks Island Dam project failed, the lands seized and acquired by the Army Corps of Engineers was transferred to the oversight of the National Park Service which reorganized them to establish the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.
The Army Corps or Engineers began acquiring properties in the proposed area of the lake before the dam itself was even begun, or geologic surveys had even been made! (the arrogance). The Corps had such "confidence" in their ability to do this "big dam project" that nothing was going to stand in their way. Starting in 1960, land in the present day area of the Recreation Area was acquired by the Corps through buy outs and eminent domain. Approximately 15,000 people were displaced by the condemnation of personal property along the Delaware River and the surrounding area. Many residents complained that their property was taken at values well below "fair market value" and they they were "strong armed" out of their properties. Those that refused to take the government's offer were simply condemned, given a buy out price, and forced off their land. An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 dwellings and outbuildings were demolished in preparation for the dam project and subsequent flooding of the valley. This included many irreplaceable historical sites and structures connected with the valley's colonial and Native American heritage. The plan was embroiled in controversy and protest by environmental groups and embittered displaced residents. Eventually, because of considerable opposition from environmental activists, the unavailability of government funding, and a geological assessment of the dam's safety due to no bedrock being found in the area where the dam was to be built, the project was never built, but stayed on the books as "active" until it eventually died a quiet death in 1992.
Although a sizable number of structures were demolished during this period, many structures were not demolished,
Land acquisition created a major headache for the Corps. The Corps would either acquire land through purchase or, with no agreement, by condemnation and monetary compensation. Condemnation would only establish a purchase price; the government still took possession of the property. From the beginning, suspicions arose about the fairness of the process. With the original 23,000 acres for the dam project now expanded to include the surrounding 47,000 acres for the park to become the DWGNRA, land acquisition became crucial.
But what must surely be seen as the most surreal turn of events in the Tocks Island fracas over land acquisition, originated from within the Corps itself. With the Corps accumulating a stockpile of empty houses and buildings in the lower end of the valley and pressure rising from outside to cut costs, the Corps offered these buildings for rent, on short-term lease, through classified ads in regional newspapers, including the widely read New York City paper, the Village Voice. Presumably, the rental income would offset the loss of local tax revenue, thereby salvaging some goodwill within the local communities. Instead, what resulted was a multifarious collection of rent-paying tenants and squatters that occupied former farmhouses and village buildings. Via word of mouth, and largely unknown to the Corps, more and more hippies streamed into the valley. The situation with the squatters would not be easily resolved. Once settled, many pursued a dream of environmental agrarian utopia with no technology, no draft, no government intervention, and no intention of leaving this beautiful bit of countryside, tucked away in the backyard of the Eastern seaboard. One could imagine nothing more foreign to the entrenched culture of militaristic engineering structural bureaucracy in the Corps than hippie squatters.
Resentment that had been merely festering boiled over when families, squatters, and hippies moved into the newly acquired houses; watching an entire village empty of its former residents only to be re-populated by others poured salt in the wounds of local residents that had just been evicted and forced off these lands.
Which brings us back to this little structure.
This building, and a handful of others, were survivors along the NJ side of the river. In the past, my visits to this structure never amounted to more than a few photographs. On my last visit in 2009, the open door begged me to "come on in" and take a look, but I was unable to reach the structure due to several factors (it's up on a steep rise, and the ground was wet and slippery). This visit however, I was not to be denied and I managed to find a way up. What I found was surprising and what lead to this long research tale, and the hippie squatters. I think this house was one of those that was squatted in during the 1970s based on what I found inside, which you'll see on the other images.
By the late 1970s, all the leases had expired, and the park service had finally evicted all the squatters. The buildings and structures were now under the "protection" of the US Government, and they simply sat and began to rot. Some structures and farms were leased back to former owners under the provision that they could spend the rest of their lives in them and upon their death, the structure reverted back to the park service. Today, a few farms are worked under lease, and several homes are still lived in, but each time I come through this area I find a few new buildings abandoned that were lived in on my prior visit.
After all that was said and done, the DWGNRA is a national jewel. It is 70,000 acres of preserved land in the middle Delaware River area. The river has been given a "wild and scenic" designation meaning it can never be built upon or disturbed. Thus, the Delaware River remains the last major river in the East without a main-stem dam.
Sources:
Wikipedia (numerous)
"Tocks Island Dam, the Delaware River and the End of the Big Dam Era" by Gina Bloodworth, a thesis, Penn State U.
Waiting in the wings of the rundown theatre lurks someone with anger within. Who will he vent his anger upon? Will it be the old lover who left him for his resentment of her new lover, or will his anger be of the chorus girl who refused his lustful comments. Time will tell.
So I've decided to put the whole Resentment issue behind me...
(though still, don't ask me to help you find her. I got her on ebay. Go fish!)
We are on the final volume. In F2K, Vol. 4 plans are constantly changing every day, as is my attitude. I just finished up shooting the scenes for this Tuesday. It was originally planned to be just one shot but the wheels in my head started spinning. So what was one, has now become a Tuesday three-fer. Part two of which includes everyone's favorite. She was a last minute addition and chick just gave the story a new little twist! ...but more on that later ;-p
This Fort is situated near Midland Ontario and was built by French Jesuits in1639. Some of the Local Huron natives were converted to Christianity which caused a lot of resentment from a number of tribes. The fort was abandoned in 1649 as local tribes in great numbers threatened to over run and destroy the fort.
This picture shows a low wooden palisade which is either side of a narrow water filled canal which leads to a gate area. This would of allowed a canoe to bring in supplies to the fort from the river. I visited here a while ago and found this place very interesting. I can only imagine how isolated you must of felt being here then and trying to survive.
I'm always inspired by my dear friend - shastadaisy on her artworks on texture. was thinking of trying one on those flower photos i shot last friday.. I feel that what i done is still not quite there yet.
thanks shastadaisy for the inspirations. :)
***THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR VISITS, COMMENTS, INVITES & AWARDS.. they makes me smile everytime i log on to flickr.. HUGS :)***
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When i was editing this image, i thought of this phrase mentioned ekhart tolle, the author of "the power of now"
"....Negativity is totally unnatural, No other lifeform knows negativity, but only human. Just as no other lifeform that violates or poisons the earth and sustains it.
Have you ever seen an unhappy flower or a stressed oaktree? have you came across a depressed dolphin or a frog with low self esteem? a cat that cannot relax or a bird that carries hatred and resentment? the only animals that may ocasionally have experience something that close to negativity are those that live in close contact with humans and so link to the human minds and its insanity..."
"“A fight is going on inside me,” he tells the boy. “It is a relentless fight that takes a toll, and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil – he is rage, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”
He continues, “The other wolf is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. And this same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
The grandson thinks about what his Grandfather tells him for a minute and then asks, “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee replies, “The one you feed the most.”
Thanks for visiting, have a good week, be safe, healthy and hopeful.
The summer solstice was called Ukon juhla ("Ukko's celebration") after the Finnish god Ukko. After the celebrations were Christianized, the holiday became known as juhannus after John the Baptist (Finnish: Johannes Kastaja).Finns bathe in alcohol, many drown in our country's thousands of lakes - often with a zipper open. Since 1955, the holiday has always been on a Saturday (between June 20 and June 26). Earlier it was always on June 24. Many of the celebrations of midsummer take place on Friday, midsummer eve, when many workplaces are closed and shops may close their doors at noon.The drinking of the liquor will then begin earnestly. In the Finnish midsummer celebration, bonfires (Finnish kokko) are very common and are burned at lakesides and by the sea. Often branches from birch trees (koivu) are placed on both side of the front door to welcome visitors. Swedish-speaking Finns often celebrate by erecting a midsummer or maypole (Swedish midsommarstång, majstång). All relatives have been invited to the summer cottage to celebrate and drinking alcohol, preferably from your own bottle, because it costs a lot and can only be obtained from state-owned trade.
In folk magic, midsummer was a very potent night and the time for many small rituals, mostly for young maidens seeking suitors and fertility. Will-o'-the-wisps were believed to appear at midsummer night, particularly to finders of the mythical "fern in bloom" and possessors of the "fern seed", marking a treasure. In the old days, maidens would use special charms and bend over a well, naked, in order to see their future husband's reflection. In another tradition that continues still today, an unmarried woman collects seven different flowers and places them under her pillow to dream of her future husband.
An important feature of the midsummer in Finland is the white night and the midnight sun. Because of Finland's location around the Arctic Circle the nights near the midsummer day are short (with twilight even at midnight) or non-existent. This gives a great contrast to the darkness of the winter time. The temperature can vary between 0 °C and +30 °C, with an average of about 20 °C in the South.Often, however, the worst weather of the summer favors this moment of celebration. Finnish police like it and people drown less in the lake.
Many Finns leave the cities for Midsummer and spend time in the countryside. Nowadays many spend at least a few days there, and some Finns take their whole vacation at a summer cottage. Heavy drinking is also associated with the Finnish midsummer.Traditions sometimes include fierce fighting and the use of violence, which are discussed in the courts later. Kills sometimes occur frequently, family disputes and old resentments rise to the surface and colors are sometimes cleared up with a knife -
Midsummer is also a Finnish Flag Day: the national flag is hoisted at 6 pm on Midsummer's Eve and flown throughout the night until 9 pm the next evening. This is an exception to the normal rule of flying the flag from 8 am to sunset. Finnish Canadians in the New Finland district, Saskatchewan, Canada celebrate Juhannus.
When the routine bite hard
and ambitions are low
and the resentment rides high
but emotions won't grow
and we're changing our ways,
taking different roads
then love,love will tear us apart again
why is the dadroom so cold
turned away on your side?
is my timing that flawed,
our respect run so dry?
yet there's still this appeal
that we've kept trought our lives
love,love will tear us apart again
do you cry out in your sleep
all my failings exposed?
get a taste in my mouth
as desperations takes hold
is it something so good
just can't function no more?
when love,love will tear us apart again.
Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hate. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.
~ William Arthur Ward
The name Manhattan derives from the Munsee Lenape language term manaháhtaan (where manah- means "gather", -aht- means "bow", and -aan is an abstract element used to form verb stems). The Lenape word has been translated as "the place where we get bows" or "place for gathering the (wood to make) bows". According to a Munsee tradition recorded by Albert Seqaqkind Anthony in the 19th century, the island was named so for a grove of hickory trees at the lower end that was considered ideal for the making of bows. It was first recorded in writing as Manna-hata, in the 1609 logbook of Robert Juet, an officer on Henry Hudson's yacht Halve Maen (Half Moon). A 1610 map depicts the name as Manna-hata, twice, on both the west and east sides of the Mauritius River (later named the Hudson River). Alternative etymologies in folklore include "island of many hills", "the island where we all became intoxicated" and simply "island", as well as a phrase descriptive of the whirlpool at Hell Gate.
It is thought that Manhattoe originally only referred to a location at the very southern tip of Manhattan, and came to signifiy the whole island to the Dutch through pars pro tot
The Castello Plan showing the Dutch colonial city of New Amsterdam in 1660 – then confined to the southern tip of Manhattan Island
The area that is now Manhattan was long inhabited by the Lenape and Wappinger Indians. In 1524, Florentine explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano – sailing in service of King Francis I of France – became the first documented European to visit the area that would become New York City. He entered the tidal strait now known as The Narrows and named the land around Upper New York Harbor New Angoulême, in reference to the family name of King Francis I that was derived from Angoulême in France; he sailed far enough into the harbor to sight the Hudson River, which he referred to in his report to the French king as a "very big river"; and he named the Bay of Santa Margarita – what is now Upper New York Bay – after Marguerite de Navarre, the elder sister of the king.
It was not until the voyage of Henry Hudson, an Englishman who worked for the Dutch East India Company, that the area was mapped.Hudson came across Manhattan Island and the native people living there in 1609, and continued up the river that would later bear his name, the Hudson River, until he arrived at the site of present-day Albany.
A permanent European presence in New Netherland began in 1624, with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island. In 1625, construction was started on the citadel of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, later called New Amsterdam (Nieuw Amsterdam), in what is now Lower Manhattan. The 1625 establishment of Fort Amsterdam at the southern tip of Manhattan Island is recognized as the birth of New York City.
According to a letter by Pieter Janszoon Schagen, Peter Minuit and Dutch colonists acquired Manhattan on May 24, 1626, from unnamed native people, who are believed to have been Canarsee Indians of the Manhattoe, in exchange for traded goods worth 60 guilders, often said to be worth US$24. The figure of 60 guilders comes from a letter by a representative of the Dutch Estates General and member of the board of the Dutch West India Company, Pieter Janszoon Schagen, to the Estates General in November 1626. In 1846, New York historian John Romeyn Brodhead converted the figure of Fl 60 (or 60 guilders) to US$24 (he arrived at $24 = Fl 60/2.5, because the US dollar was erroneously equated with the Dutch rijksdaalder having a standard value of 2.5 guilders). variable-rate myth being a contradiction in terms, the purchase price remains forever frozen at twenty-four dollars," as Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace remarked in their history of New York. Sixty guilders in 1626 was valued at approximately $1,000 in 2006 and $963 in 2020, according to the Institute for Social History of Amsterdam. Based on the price of silver, "The Straight Dope" newspaper column calculated an equivalent of $72 in 1992. Historians James and Michelle Nevius revisited the issue in 2014, suggesting that using the prices of beer and brandy as monetary equivalencies, the price Minuit paid would have the purchasing power of somewhere between $2,600 and $15,600 in current dollars. According to the writer Nathaniel Benchley, Minuit conducted the transaction with Seyseys, chief of the Canarsee, who were willing to accept valuable merchandise in exchange for the island that was mostly controlled by the Weckquaesgeeks, a band of the Wappinger.
In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as the last Dutch Director-General of the colony. New Amsterdam was formally incorporated as a city on February 2, 1653. In 1674, the English bought New Netherland, after Holland lost rentable sugar business in Brazil, and renamed it "New York" after the English Duke of York and Albany, the future King James II. The Dutch, under Director General Stuyvesant, successfully negotiated with the English to produce 24 articles of provisional transfer, which sought to retain for the extant citizens of New Netherland their previously attained liberties (including freedom of religion) under their new English rulers
The Dutch Republic re-captured the city in August 1673, renaming it "New Orange". New Netherland was ultimately ceded to the English in November 1674 through the Treaty of Westminster.
This statue of President Washington stands in front of Federal Hall (on Wall Street) where he was inaugurated as the first U.S. president in 1789 sculptor, John Quincy Adams Ward
American Revolution and the early United States
Manhattan was at the heart of the New York Campaign, a series of major battles in the early American Revolutionary War. The Continental Army was forced to abandon Manhattan after the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The city, greatly damaged by the Great Fire of New York during the campaign, became the British military and political center of operations in North America for the remainder of the war. The military center for the colonists was established in New Jersey. British occupation lasted until November 25, 1783, when George Washington returned to Manhattan, as the last British forces left the city.
From January 11, 1785, to the fall of 1788, New York City was the fifth of five capitals of the United States under the Articles of Confederation, with the Continental Congress meeting at New York City Hall (then at Fraunces Tavern). New York was the first capital under the newly enacted Constitution of the United States, from March 4, 1789, to August 12, 1790, at Federal Hall. Federal Hall was also the site where the United States Supreme Court met for the first tim the United States Bill of Rights were drafted and ratified, and where the Northwest Ordinance was adopted, establishing measures for adding new states to the Union.
New York grew as an economic center, first as a result of Alexander Hamilton's policies and practices as the first Secretary of the Treasury and, later, with the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, which connected the Atlantic port to the vast agricultural markets of the Midwestern United States and Canada. By 1810, New York City, then confined to Manhattan, had surpassed Philadelphia as the largest city in the United States. The Commissioners' Plan of 1811 laid out the island of Manhattan in its familiar grid plan.
Tammany Hall, a Democratic Party political machine, began to grow in influence with the support of many of the immigrant Irish, culminating in the election of the first Tammany mayor, Fernando Wood, in 1854. Tammany Hall dominated local politics for decades. Central Park, which opened to the public in 1858, became the first landscaped public park in an American city.
New York City played a complex role in the American Civil War. The city's strong commercial ties to the southern United States existed for many reasons, including the industrial power of the Hudson River, which allowed trade with stops such as the West Point Foundry, one of the great manufacturing operations in the early United States; and the city's Atlantic Ocean ports, rendering New York City the American powerhouse in terms of industrial trade between the northern and southern United States. Anger arose about conscription, with resentment at those who could afford to pay $300 to avoid service leading to resentment against Lincoln's war policies and fomenting paranoia about free Blacks taking the poor immigrants' jobs, culminating in the three-day-long New York Draft Riots of July 1863. These intense war-time riots are counted among the worst incidents of civil disorder in American history, with an estimated 119 participants and passersby massacred
The rate of immigration from Europe grew steeply after the Civil War, and Manhattan became the first stop for millions seeking a new life in the United States, a role acknowledged by the dedication of the Statue of Liberty on October 28, 1886, a gift from the people of France. New York's growing immigrant population, which had earlier consisted mainly of German and Irish immigrants, began in the late 1800s to include waves of impoverished Italians and Central and Eastern European Jews flowing in en masse. This new European immigration brought further social upheaval. In a city of tenements packed with poorly paid laborers from dozens of nations, the city became a hotbed of revolution (including anarchists and communists among others), syndicalism, racketeering, and unionization.
In 1883, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge established a road connection to Brooklyn, across the East River. In 1874, the western portion of the present Bronx County was transferred to New York County from Westchester County, and in 1895 the remainder of the present Bronx County was annexed. In 1898, when New York City consolidated with three neighboring counties to form "the City of Greater New York", Manhattan and the Bronx, though still one county, were established as two separate boroughs. On January 1, 1914, the New York State Legislature created Bronx County and New York County was reduced to its present boundaries.
The "Sanitary & Topographical Map of the City and Island of New York", commonly known as the Viele Map, was created by Egbert Ludovicus Viele in 1865
20th centur
The construction of the New York City Subway, which opened in 1904, helped bind the new city together, as did additional bridges to Brooklyn. In the 1920s Manhattan experienced large arrivals of African-Americans as part of the Great Migration from the southern United States, and the Harlem Renaissance, part of a larger boom time in the Prohibition era that included new skyscrapers competing for the skyline. New York City became the most populous city in the world in 1925, overtaking London, which had reigned for a century. Manhattan's majority white ethnic group declined from 98.7% in 1900 to 58.3% by 1990.
On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in Greenwich Village killed 146 garment workers. The disaster eventually led to overhauls of the city's fire department, building codes, and workplace regulations.
The period between the World Wars saw the election of reformist mayor Fiorello La Guardia and the fall of Tammany Hall after 80 years of political dominance. As the city's demographics stabilized, labor unionization brought new protections and affluence to the working class, the city's government and infrastructure underwent a dramatic overhaul under La Guardia. Despite the Great Depression, some of the world's tallest skyscrapers were completed in Manhattan during the 1930s, including numerous Art Deco masterpieces that are still part of the city's skyline, most notably the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the 30 Rockefeller Plaza
Returning World War II veterans created a postwar economic boom, which led to the development of huge housing developments targeted at returning veterans, the largest being Peter Cooper Village-Stuyvesant Town, which opened in 1947. In 1951–1952, the United Nations relocated to a new headquarters the East Side of Manhattan
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. They are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movemen and the modern fight for LGBT rights.
In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City, including Manhattan, to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through the decade and into the beginning of the 1990s.
The 1980s saw a rebirth of Wall Street, and Manhattan reclaimed its role at the center of the worldwide financial industry. The 1980s also saw Manhattan at the heart of the AIDS crisis, with Greenwich Village at its epicenter. The organizations Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC) and AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) were founded to advocate on behalf of those stricken with the disease.
By the 1990s crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification, and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. Murder rates that had reached 2,245 in 1990 plummeted to 537 by 2008, and the crack epidemic and its associated drug-related violence came under greater control The outflow of population turned around, as the city once again became the destination of immigrants from around the world, joining with low interest rates and Wall Street bonuses to fuel the growth of the real estate market. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley, emerged in Manhattan's economy
On September 11, 2001, two of four hijacked planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the original World Trade Center, and the towers subsequently collapsed. 7 World Trade Center collapsed due to fires and structural damage caused by heavy debris falling from the collapse of the Twin Towers. The other buildings within the World Trade Center complex were damaged beyond repair and soon after demolished. The collapse of the Twin Towers caused extensive damage to other surrounding buildings and skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, and resulted in the deaths of 2,606 people, in addition to those on the planes. Since 2001, most of Lower Manhattan has been restored, although there has been controversy surrounding the rebuilding. Many rescue workers and residents of the area developed several life-threatening illnesses that have led to some of their subsequent deaths. A memorial at the site was opened to the public on September 11, 2011, and the museum opened in 2014. In 2014, the new One World Trade Center, at 1,776 feet (541 m) and formerly known as the Freedom Tower, became the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, while other skyscrapers were under construction at the site.
The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and spawning the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide.
On October 29 and 30, 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused extensive destruction in the borough, ravaging portions of Lower Manhattan with record-high storm surge from New York Harbor, severe flooding, and high winds, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands of city residents and leading to gasoline shortages and disruption of mass transit systems.The storm and its profound impacts have prompted the discussion of constructing seawalls and other coastal barriers around the shorelines of the borough and the metropolitan area to minimize the risk of destructive consequences from another such event in the future Around 15 percent of the borough is considered to be in flood-risk zones.
On October 31, 2017, a terrorist took a rental pickup truck and deliberately drove down a bike path alongside the West Side Highway in Lower Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring a dozen others before crashing into a school bus.
Three Jacobite Highlander gents in all their finery at Glenfinnan 2023
The Words Of A King. Read Out To All Who came to Glenfinnan on August 19th 1745. Interpret as You will.
The Royal Oak Society Have.
"James VIII by the Grace of God, King of Scotland, England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To all our loving subjects, of what degree or quality soever, greeting.
"Having always borne the most constant affection to our ancient kingdom of Scotland, from whence we derive our royal origin, and where our progenitors have swayed the sceptre with glory through a longer succession of kings than any monarchy upon earth can at this day boast of; we cannot but behold with the deepest concern the miseries they suffer under a foreign usurpation, and the intolerable burdens daily added to their yoke, which become yet more sensible to us when we consider the constant zeal and affection the generality of our subject of that our ancient kingdom have expressed for us on all occasions, and particularly when we had the satisfaction of being ourselves amongst them.
"We see a nation always famous for valour, and highly esteemed by the greatest of Foreign potentates, reduced to the condition of a province, under the specious pretence of an union with a more powerful neighbour. In consequence of this pretended union, grievous and unprecedented taxes have been laid on, and levied with severity in spite of all the representations that could be made to the contrary; and these have not failed to produce that poverty and decay of trade which were easily foreseen to be the necessary consequences of such oppressive measures.
"To prevent the just resentment which could not but arise from such usage, our faithful Highlanders, a people always trained up and inured to arms, have been deprived of them; forts and citadels have been built and garrisoned where no foreign invasion could be apprehended, and a military government has been effectually introduced, as into a conquered country. It is easy to foresee what must be the consequences of such violent and unprecedented proceedings, if a timely remedy be not put to them; neither is it less manifest that such a remedy can ever be obtained but by our restoration to the throne of our ancestors, into whose royal heart such destructive maxims could never find admittance.
"We think it needless to call to mind how solicitous we have ever been, and how often we have ventured our royal person, to compass this great end; which the Divine Providence seems now to have furnished us with the means of doing effectually by enabling our good subjects in England to shake off the yoke, under which they have likewise felt their share of the common calamities. Our former experience leaves us no room to doubt of the cheerful and hearty concurrence of our Scots subjects on this occasion, towards the perfecting the great and glorious work; but that none may be deterred by the memory of past miscarriages from returning to their duty, and being restored to the happiness they formerly enjoyed, we in this public manner think fit to make known our gracious intentions towards all our people.
"We do therefore, by this our royal declaration, absolutely and effectually pardon and remit all treasons, and other crimes hitherto committed against our royal father, or ourselves. From the benefit of which pardon we except none, but such as shall, after the publication hereof, wilfully and maliciously oppose us, or those who shall appear or endeavour to appear in arms for our service.
"We farther declare that we will with all convenient speed call a free parliament; that by the advice and assistance of such an assembly, we may be enabled to repair the breaches caused by so long an usurpation, to redress all grievances, and to free our people from the unsupportable burden of the malt-tax, and al other hardships and impositions which have been the consequence of the pretended union; that so the nation may be restored to that honour, liberty, and independency, which it formerly enjoyed.
"We likewise promise upon our royal word to protect, secure, and maintain all our Protestant subjects in the free exercise of their religion, and in the full enjoyment of all their rights, privileges, and immunities, and in the secure possession of all churches, universities, colleges, and schools, conform to the laws of the land.
"All this we shall be ready to confirm in our first parliament; in which we promise to pass any act or acts that shall be judged necessary to secure each private person in the full possession of his liberty and property, to advance trade, to relieve the poor, and establish the general welfare and tranquillity of the nation. In all such matters we are fully resolved to act always by the advice of our parliaments, and to value none of our titles so much as that of common father of our people, which we shall ever show ourselves to be by our constant endeavours to promote the quiet and happiness of all our subjects. And we shall be particularly solicitous to settle, encourage, and maintain the fishery and linen manufacturers of the nation, which we are sensible may be of such advantage to it, and which we hope are works reserved for us to accomplish.
"As for those who shall appear more signally zealour for the recovery of our just rights and the prosperity of their country, we shall take effectual care to reward them according to their respective degrees and merits. And we particularly promise, as aforesaid, our full, free, and general pardon to all officers, soldiers, and sailors, now engaged in the service of the usurper, whether of the sea or land, provided that upon the publication hereof, and before they engage in any fight or battle against our forces, they quit the said unjust and unwarrantable service, and return to their duty, in which case we shall pay them all the arrears that shall be at that time due to them from the usurper; we shall grant to the officers the same commissions they shall then bear, if not higher; and to all soldiers and sailors a gratification of a whole year's pay for their forwardness in promoting our service.
"We farther promise and declare, that the vassals of such as shall without regard to our present declaration, obstinately persist in their rebellion, and thereby forfeit all pretensions to our royal clemency, shall be delivered from all servitude they were formerly bound to, and shall have grants and charters of their lands to be held immediately of the crown, provided they, upon the publication of this our royal declaration, declare openly for us, and join heartily in the cause of their country.
"And having this declared our gracious intentions to our loving subjects, we do hereby require and command them to be assisting to us n the recovery of our rights, and of their own liberties; and that all our subjects, from the age of sixteen to sixty, do, upon the setting up of our royal standard, immediately to it, or join themselves to such as shall first appear for us in their respective shires; and also to seize the horses and arms of all suspected persons, and all ammunition, forage, and whatever else may be necessary for the use of our forces.
"We also strictly command all receivers, collectors, or other persons who may be seized of any sum or sums of money levied in the name or for the use of the usurper, to retain such sum or sums of money in their own hands, till they can pay them to some person of distinction appearing publicly for us, and demanding the same for our use and service; whose receipt or receipts shall be a sufficient discharge for all such collectors, receivers, or other persons, their heirs, &c.
"Lastly, we do hereby require all sheriffs of shires, stewards of stewarties, and their respective deputies, magistrates or royal boroughs, and bailies of regalities, and all others to whom it may belong, to publish this our declaration, at the market crosses or their respective towns and boroughs, and there to proclaim as under the penalty of being proceeded against according to law, for their neglect of so necessary and important a duty.
“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
++++ FROM WIKIPEDIA ++++
Myanmar (Burmese pronunciation: [mjəmà]),[nb 1][8] officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia. Myanmar is bordered by India and Bangladesh to its west, Thailand and Laos to its east and China to its north and northeast. To its south, about one third of Myanmar's total perimeter of 5,876 km (3,651 mi) forms an uninterrupted coastline of 1,930 km (1,200 mi) along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The country's 2014 census counted the population to be 51 million people.[9] As of 2017, the population is about 54 million.[10] Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometers (261,228 square miles) in size. Its capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city and former capital is Yangon (Rangoon).[1] Myanmar has been a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since 1997.
Early civilisations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Burma.[11] In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a brief period the largest empire in the history of Mainland Southeast Asia.[12] The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British took over the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar was granted independence in 1948, as a democratic nation. Following a coup d'état in 1962, it became a military dictatorship.
For most of its independent years, the country has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife and its myriad ethnic groups have been involved in one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars. During this time, the United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systematic human rights violations in the country.[13] In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. This, along with the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners, has improved the country's human rights record and foreign relations, and has led to the easing of trade and other economic sanctions.[14] There is, however, continuing criticism of the government's treatment of ethnic minorities, its response to the ethnic insurgency, and religious clashes.[15] In the landmark 2015 election, Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a majority in both houses. However, the Burmese military remains a powerful force in politics.
Myanmar is a country rich in jade and gems, oil, natural gas and other mineral resources. In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and its GDP (PPP) at US$221.5 billion.[6] The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by supporters of the former military government.[16] As of 2016, Myanmar ranks 145 out of 188 countries in human development, according to the Human Development Index.[7]
Etymology
Main article: Names of Myanmar
In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: "Burma" became "Myanmar". The renaming remains a contested issue.[17] Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use "Burma" because they do not recognise the legitimacy of the ruling military government or its authority to rename the country.[18]
In April 2016, soon after taking office, Aung San Suu Kyi clarified that foreigners are free to use either name, "because there is nothing in the constitution of our country that says that you must use any term in particular".[19]
The country's official full name is the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" (ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw, pronounced [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]). Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form "Union of Burma" instead.[20]
In English, the country is popularly known as either "Burma" or "Myanmar" /ˈmjɑːnˌmɑːr/ (About this sound listen).[8] Both these names are derived from the name of the majority Burmese Bamar ethnic group. Myanmar is considered to be the literary form of the name of the group, while Burma is derived from "Bamar", the colloquial form of the group's name.[17] Depending on the register used, the pronunciation would be Bama (pronounced [bəmà]) or Myamah (pronounced [mjəmà]).[17] The name Burma has been in use in English since the 18th century.
Burma continues to be used in English by the governments of many countries, such as Canada and the United Kingdom.[21][22] Official United States policy retains Burma as the country's name, although the State Department's website lists the country as "Burma (Myanmar)" and Barack Obama has referred to the country by both names.[23] The Czech Republic officially uses Myanmar, although its Ministry of Foreign Affairs mentions both Myanmar and Burma on its website.[24] The United Nations uses Myanmar, as do the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Australia,[25] Russia, Germany,[26] China, India, Bangladesh, Norway,[27] Japan[21] and Switzerland.[28]
Most English-speaking international news media refer to the country by the name Myanmar, including the BBC,[29] CNN,[30] Al Jazeera,[31] Reuters,[32] RT (Russia Today) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)/Radio Australia.[33]
Myanmar is known with a name deriving from Burma as opposed to Myanmar in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Greek – Birmania being the local version of Burma in the Spanish language, for example. Myanmar used to be known as "Birmânia" in Portuguese, and as "Birmanie" in French.[34] As in the past, French-language media today consistently use Birmanie.,[35][36]
History
Main article: History of Myanmar
Prehistory
Main articles: Prehistory of Myanmar and Migration period of ancient Burma
Pyu city-states c. 8th century; Pagan is shown for comparison only and is not contemporary.
Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago, with no more erectus finds after 75,000 years ago.[37] The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 11,000 BC, in a Stone Age culture called the Anyathian with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar. Evidence of neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BC has been discovered in the form of cave paintings in Padah-Lin Caves.[38]
The Bronze Age arrived circa 1500 BC when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do so.[39] Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in Monywa District in the Sagaing Division.[40] The Iron Age began around 500 BC with the emergence of iron-working settlements in an area south of present-day Mandalay.[41] Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China between 500 BC and 200 AD.[42] Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside sources such as India and Thailand, as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly through trade.[43]
Early city-states
Main articles: Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms
Around the second century BC the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. The city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day Yunnan.[44] The Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural, architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese culture and political organisation.[45]
By the 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone, Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from Nanzhao between the 750s and the 830s. In the mid-to-late 9th century the Bamar people founded a small settlement at Bagan. It was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century when it grew in authority and grandeur.[46]
Imperial Burma
Main articles: Pagan Kingdom, Taungoo Dynasty, and Konbaung Dynasty
See also: Ava Kingdom, Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Kingdom of Mrauk U, and Shan States
Pagodas and kyaungs in present-day Bagan, the capital of the Pagan Kingdom.
Pagan gradually grew to absorb its surrounding states until the 1050s–1060s when Anawrahta founded the Pagan Kingdom, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the Khmer Empire were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia.[47] The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu, Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century.[48]
Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level, although Tantric, Mahayana, Hinduism, and folk religion remained heavily entrenched. Pagan's rulers and wealthy built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Pagan capital zone alone. Repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287.[48]
Temples at Mrauk U.
Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century. Like the Burmans four centuries earlier, Shan migrants who arrived with the Mongol invasions stayed behind. Several competing Shan States came to dominate the entire northwestern to eastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley. The valley too was beset with petty states until the late 14th century when two sizeable powers, Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy Kingdom, emerged. In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the Kingdom of Mrauk U unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437.
Early on, Ava fought wars of unification (1385–1424) but could never quite reassemble the lost empire. Having held off Ava, Hanthawaddy entered its golden age, and Arakan went on to become a power in its own right for the next 350 years. In contrast, constant warfare left Ava greatly weakened, and it slowly disintegrated from 1481 onward. In 1527, the Confederation of Shan States conquered Ava itself, and ruled Upper Myanmar until 1555.
Like the Pagan Empire, Ava, Hanthawaddy and the Shan states were all multi-ethnic polities. Despite the wars, cultural synchronisation continued. This period is considered a golden age for Burmese culture. Burmese literature "grew more confident, popular, and stylistically diverse", and the second generation of Burmese law codes as well as the earliest pan-Burma chronicles emerged.[49] Hanthawaddy monarchs introduced religious reforms that later spread to the rest of the country.[50] Many splendid temples of Mrauk U were built during this period.
Taungoo and colonialism
Bayinnaung's Empire in 1580.
Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, due to the efforts of Taungoo, a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious king Tabinshwehti defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War (1534–41). His successor Bayinnaung went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, Lan Na, Manipur, Mong Mao, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Lan Xang and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established Portuguese rule at Thanlyin (Syriam).
The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Myanmar, Upper Myanmar, Shan states, Lan Na and upper Tenasserim. The Restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features would continue well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley, and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated Meithei raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty.
A British 1825 lithograph of Shwedagon Pagoda shows British occupation during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
After the fall of Ava, the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War involved one resistance group under Alaungpaya defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759, he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur, and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos (1765) and fought and won the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–67) against Ayutthaya and the Sino-Burmese War (1765–69) against Qing China (1765–1769).[51]
With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770, and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in a stalemate, exchanging Tenasserim (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King Bodawpaya turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with British India.[52]
The breadth of this empire was short lived. Burma lost Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826). In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War. King Mindon Min tried to modernise the kingdom, and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the Karenni States. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indochina, annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.
Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms, and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. For the first time in history, the Burmese language and culture came to predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley. The evolution and growth of Burmese literature and theatre continued, aided by an extremely high adult male literacy rate for the era (half of all males and 5% of females).[53] Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism.
British Burma (1824–1948)
Main articles: British rule in Burma and Burma Campaign
Burma in British India
The landing of British forces in Mandalay after the last of the Anglo-Burmese Wars, which resulted in the abdication of the last Burmese monarch, King Thibaw Min.
British troops firing a mortar on the Mawchi road, July 1944.
The eighteenth century saw Burmese rulers, whose country had not previously been of particular interest to European traders, seek to maintain their traditional influence in the western areas of Assam, Manipur and Arakan. Pressing them, however, was the British East India Company, which was expanding its interests eastwards over the same territory. Over the next sixty years, diplomacy, raids, treaties and compromises continued until, after three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885), Britain proclaimed control over most of Burma.[54] British rule brought social, economic, cultural and administrative changes.
With the fall of Mandalay, all of Burma came under British rule, being annexed on 1 January 1886. Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the Anglo-Burmese community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore.
Burmese resentment was strong and was vented in violent riots that paralysed Yangon (Rangoon) on occasion all the way until the 1930s.[55] Some of the discontent was caused by a disrespect for Burmese culture and traditions such as the British refusal to remove shoes when they entered pagodas. Buddhist monks became the vanguards of the independence movement. U Wisara, an activist monk, died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike to protest against a rule that forbade him to wear his Buddhist robes while imprisoned.[56]
Separation of British Burma from British India
On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Great Britain and Ba Maw the first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma. Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule and he opposed the participation of Great Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was arrested for sedition. In 1940, before Japan formally entered the Second World War, Aung San formed the Burma Independence Army in Japan.
A major battleground, Burma was devastated during World War II. By March 1942, within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon and the British administration had collapsed. A Burmese Executive Administration headed by Ba Maw was established by the Japanese in August 1942. Wingate's British Chindits were formed into long-range penetration groups trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines.[57] A similar American unit, Merrill's Marauders, followed the Chindits into the Burmese jungle in 1943.[58] Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a series of offensives that led to the end of Japanese rule in July 1945. The battles were intense with much of Burma laid waste by the fighting. Overall, the Japanese lost some 150,000 men in Burma. Only 1,700 prisoners were taken.[59]
Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from the ethnic minorities, served in the British Burma Army.[60] The Burma National Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944 but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945. Under Japanese occupation, 170,000 to 250,000 civilians died.[61]
Following World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Myanmar as a unified state. Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Myanmar, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals[62] assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members.[63]
Independence (1948–1962)
Main article: Post-independence Burma, 1948–62
British governor Hubert Elvin Rance and Sao Shwe Thaik at the flag raising ceremony on 4 January 1948 (Independence Day of Burma).
On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, Burma did not become a member of the Commonwealth. A bicameral parliament was formed, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities,[64] and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952, 1956 and 1960.
The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the Panglong Agreement, which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British.[65]
In 1961, U Thant, then the Union of Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations, a position he held for ten years.[66] Among the Burmese to work at the UN when he was Secretary-General was a young Aung San Suu Kyi (daughter of Aung San), who went on to become winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
When the non-Burman ethnic groups pushed for autonomy or federalism, alongside having a weak civilian government at the centre, the military leadership staged a coup d’état in 1962. Though incorporated in the 1947 Constitution, successive military governments construed the use of the term ‘federalism’ as being anti-national, anti-unity and pro-disintegration.[67]
Military rule (1962–2011)
On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalised or brought under government control under the Burmese Way to Socialism,[68] which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning.
A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974. Until 1988, the country was ruled as a one-party system, with the General and other military officers resigning and ruling through the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP).[69] During this period, Myanmar became one of the world's most impoverished countries.[70]
Protesters gathering in central Rangoon, 1988.
There were sporadic protests against military rule during the Ne Win years and these were almost always violently suppressed. On 7 July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University, killing 15 students.[68] In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976, and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force.[69]
In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalised plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.[71] SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" in 1989.
In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years and the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 492 seats (i.e., 80% of the seats). However, the military junta refused to cede power[72] and continued to rule the nation as SLORC until 1997, and then as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011.
Protesters in Yangon during the 2007 Saffron Revolution with a banner that reads non-violence: national movement in Burmese. In the background is Shwedagon Pagoda.
On 23 June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005, officially named the new capital Naypyidaw, meaning "city of the kings".[73]
Cyclone Nargis in southern Myanmar, May 2008.
In August 2007, an increase in the price of diesel and petrol led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government.[74] The government cracked down on them on 26 September 2007. The crackdown was harsh, with reports of barricades at the Shwedagon Pagoda and monks killed. There were also rumours of disagreement within the Burmese armed forces, but none was confirmed. The military crackdown against unarmed protesters was widely condemned as part of the international reactions to the Saffron Revolution and led to an increase in economic sanctions against the Burmese Government.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused extensive damage in the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division.[75] It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history with reports of an estimated 200,000 people dead or missing, damage totalled to 10 billion US dollars, and as many as 1 million left homeless.[76] In the critical days following this disaster, Myanmar's isolationist government was accused of hindering United Nations recovery efforts.[77] Humanitarian aid was requested but concerns about foreign military or intelligence presence in the country delayed the entry of United States military planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies.[78]
In early August 2009, a conflict known as the Kokang incident broke out in Shan State in northern Myanmar. For several weeks, junta troops fought against ethnic minorities including the Han Chinese,[79] Wa, and Kachin.[80][81] During 8–12 August, the first days of the conflict, as many as 10,000 Burmese civilians fled to Yunnan province in neighbouring China.[80][81][82]
Civil wars
Main articles: Internal conflict in Myanmar, Kachin Conflict, Karen conflict, and 2015 Kokang offensive
Civil wars have been a constant feature of Myanmar's socio-political landscape since the attainment of independence in 1948. These wars are predominantly struggles for ethnic and sub-national autonomy, with the areas surrounding the ethnically Bamar central districts of the country serving as the primary geographical setting of conflict. Foreign journalists and visitors require a special travel permit to visit the areas in which Myanmar's civil wars continue.[83]
In October 2012, the ongoing conflicts in Myanmar included the Kachin conflict,[84] between the Pro-Christian Kachin Independence Army and the government;[85] a civil war between the Rohingya Muslims, and the government and non-government groups in Rakhine State;[86] and a conflict between the Shan,[87] Lahu, and Karen[88][89] minority groups, and the government in the eastern half of the country. In addition, al-Qaeda signalled an intention to become involved in Myanmar. In a video released on 3 September 2014, mainly addressed to India, the militant group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said al-Qaeda had not forgotten the Muslims of Myanmar and that the group was doing "what they can to rescue you".[90] In response, the military raised its level of alertness, while the Burmese Muslim Association issued a statement saying Muslims would not tolerate any threat to their motherland.[91]
Armed conflict between ethnic Chinese rebels and the Myanmar Armed Forces have resulted in the Kokang offensive in February 2015. The conflict had forced 40,000 to 50,000 civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter on the Chinese side of the border.[92] During the incident, the government of China was accused of giving military assistance to the ethnic Chinese rebels. Burmese officials have been historically "manipulated" and pressured by the Chinese government throughout Burmese modern history to create closer and binding ties with China, creating a Chinese satellite state in Southeast Asia.[93] However, uncertainties exist as clashes between Burmese troops and local insurgent groups continue.
Democratic reforms
Main article: 2011–12 Burmese political reforms
The goal of the Burmese constitutional referendum of 2008, held on 10 May 2008, is the creation of a "discipline-flourishing democracy". As part of the referendum process, the name of the country was changed from the "Union of Myanmar" to the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar", and general elections were held under the new constitution in 2010. Observer accounts of the 2010 election describe the event as mostly peaceful; however, allegations of polling station irregularities were raised, and the United Nations (UN) and a number of Western countries condemned the elections as fraudulent.[94]
U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Aung San Suu Kyi and her staff at her home in Yangon, 2012
The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory in the 2010 elections, stating that it had been favoured by 80 percent of the votes; however, the claim was disputed by numerous pro-democracy opposition groups who asserted that the military regime had engaged in rampant fraud.[95][96] One report documented 77 percent as the official turnout rate of the election.[95] The military junta was dissolved on 30 March 2011.
Opinions differ whether the transition to liberal democracy is underway. According to some reports, the military's presence continues as the label "disciplined democracy" suggests. This label asserts that the Burmese military is allowing certain civil liberties while clandestinely institutionalising itself further into Burmese politics. Such an assertion assumes that reforms only occurred when the military was able to safeguard its own interests through the transition—here, "transition" does not refer to a transition to a liberal democracy, but transition to a quasi-military rule.[97]
Since the 2010 election, the government has embarked on a series of reforms to direct the country towards liberal democracy, a mixed economy, and reconciliation, although doubts persist about the motives that underpin such reforms. The series of reforms includes the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission, the granting of general amnesties for more than 200 political prisoners, new labour laws that permit labour unions and strikes, a relaxation of press censorship, and the regulation of currency practices.[98]
The impact of the post-election reforms has been observed in numerous areas, including ASEAN's approval of Myanmar's bid for the position of ASEAN chair in 2014;[99] the visit by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December 2011 for the encouragement of further progress, which was the first visit by a Secretary of State in more than fifty years,[100] during which Clinton met with the Burmese president and former military commander Thein Sein, as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi;[101] and the participation of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party in the 2012 by-elections, facilitated by the government's abolition of the laws that previously barred the NLD.[102] As of July 2013, about 100[103][104] political prisoners remain imprisoned, while conflict between the Burmese Army and local insurgent groups continues.
Map of Myanmar and its divisions, including Shan State, Kachin State, Rakhine State and Karen State.
In 1 April 2012 by-elections, the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats; previously an illegal organisation, the NLD had not won a single seat under new constitution. The 2012 by-elections were also the first time that international representatives were allowed to monitor the voting process in Myanmar.[105]
2015 general elections
Main article: Myanmar general election, 2015
General elections were held on 8 November 2015. These were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since 1990. The results gave the National League for Democracy an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament, enough to ensure that its candidate would become president, while NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidency.[106]
The new parliament convened on 1 February 2016[107] and, on 15 March 2016, Htin Kyaw was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962.[108] On 6 April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the newly created role of State Counsellor, a role akin to a Prime Minister.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Myanmar
A map of Myanmar
Myanmar map of Köppen climate classification.
Myanmar has a total area of 678,500 square kilometres (262,000 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 9° and 29°N, and longitudes 92° and 102°E. As of February 2011, Myanmar consisted of 14 states and regions, 67 districts, 330 townships, 64 sub-townships, 377 towns, 2,914 Wards, 14,220 village tracts and 68,290 villages.
Myanmar is bordered in the northwest by the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh and the Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh states of India. Its north and northeast border is with the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province for a Sino-Myanmar border total of 2,185 km (1,358 mi). It is bounded by Laos and Thailand to the southeast. Myanmar has 1,930 km (1,200 mi) of contiguous coastline along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the southwest and the south, which forms one quarter of its total perimeter.[20]
In the north, the Hengduan Mountains form the border with China. Hkakabo Razi, located in Kachin State, at an elevation of 5,881 metres (19,295 ft), is the highest point in Myanmar.[109] Many mountain ranges, such as the Rakhine Yoma, the Bago Yoma, the Shan Hills and the Tenasserim Hills exist within Myanmar, all of which run north-to-south from the Himalayas.[110]
The mountain chains divide Myanmar's three river systems, which are the Irrawaddy, Salween (Thanlwin), and the Sittaung rivers.[111] The Irrawaddy River, Myanmar's longest river, nearly 2,170 kilometres (1,348 mi) long, flows into the Gulf of Martaban. Fertile plains exist in the valleys between the mountain chains.[110] The majority of Myanmar's population lives in the Irrawaddy valley, which is situated between the Rakhine Yoma and the Shan Plateau.
Administrative divisions
Main article: Administrative divisions of Myanmar
A clickable map of Burma/Myanmar exhibiting its first-level administrative divisions.
About this image
Myanmar is divided into seven states (ပြည်နယ်) and seven regions (တိုင်းဒေသကြီး), formerly called divisions.[112] Regions are predominantly Bamar (that is, mainly inhabited by the dominant ethnic group). States, in essence, are regions that are home to particular ethnic minorities. The administrative divisions are further subdivided into districts, which are further subdivided into townships, wards, and villages.
Climate
Main article: Climate of Myanmar
The limestone landscape of Mon State.
Much of the country lies between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator. It lies in the monsoon region of Asia, with its coastal regions receiving over 5,000 mm (196.9 in) of rain annually. Annual rainfall in the delta region is approximately 2,500 mm (98.4 in), while average annual rainfall in the Dry Zone in central Myanmar is less than 1,000 mm (39.4 in). The Northern regions of Myanmar are the coolest, with average temperatures of 21 °C (70 °F). Coastal and delta regions have an average maximum temperature of 32 °C (89.6 °F).[111]
Environment
Further information: Deforestation in Myanmar
Myanmar continues to perform badly in the global Environmental Performance Index (EPI) with an overall ranking of 153 out of 180 countries in 2016; among the worst in the South Asian region, only ahead of Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The EPI was established in 2001 by the World Economic Forum as a global gauge to measure how well individual countries perform in implementing the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The environmental areas where Myanmar performs worst (ie. highest ranking) are air quality (174), health impacts of environmental issues (143) and biodiversity and habitat (142). Myanmar performs best (ie. lowest ranking) in environmental impacts of fisheries (21), but with declining fish stocks. Despite several issues, Myanmar also ranks 64 and scores very good (ie. a high percentage of 93.73%) in environmental effects of the agricultural industry because of an excellent management of the nitrogen cycle.[114][115]
Wildlife
Myanmar's slow economic growth has contributed to the preservation of much of its environment and ecosystems. Forests, including dense tropical growth and valuable teak in lower Myanmar, cover over 49% of the country, including areas of acacia, bamboo, ironwood and Magnolia champaca. Coconut and betel palm and rubber have been introduced. In the highlands of the north, oak, pine and various rhododendrons cover much of the land.[116]
Heavy logging since the new 1995 forestry law went into effect has seriously reduced forest acreage and wildlife habitat.[117] The lands along the coast support all varieties of tropical fruits and once had large areas of mangroves although much of the protective mangroves have disappeared. In much of central Myanmar (the Dry Zone), vegetation is sparse and stunted.
Typical jungle animals, particularly tigers, occur sparsely in Myanmar. In upper Myanmar, there are rhinoceros, wild water buffalo, clouded leopard, wild boars, deer, antelope, and elephants, which are also tamed or bred in captivity for use as work animals, particularly in the lumber industry. Smaller mammals are also numerous, ranging from gibbons and monkeys to flying foxes. The abundance of birds is notable with over 800 species, including parrots, myna, peafowl, red junglefowl, weaverbirds, crows, herons, and barn owl. Among reptile species there are crocodiles, geckos, cobras, Burmese pythons, and turtles. Hundreds of species of freshwater fish are wide-ranging, plentiful and are very important food sources.[118] For a list of protected areas, see List of protected areas of Myanmar.
Government and politics
Main article: Politics of Myanmar
Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw)
The constitution of Myanmar, its third since independence, was drafted by its military rulers and published in September 2008. The country is governed as a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature (with an executive President accountable to the legislature), with 25% of the legislators appointed by the military and the rest elected in general elections.
TF:DR (Too French, didn’t read) version below...
L’œuvre « Jardin d’addiction », réalisée entre 2009 et 2011 au CIRVA à Marseille par les artistes français Christophe Berdaguer et Marie Péjus est présentée au mudac.
Avec cette œuvre, les créateurs questionnent les mécanismes du fonctionnement cérébral humain liés aux dépendances. En effet, à chaque extrémité des tiges -synapses- se trouve un bulbe en verre contenant l’odeur d’une substance addictive telle que le café, le tabac, le vin, le whisky, les champignons, l’opium, l’herbe, la cocaïne ou encore l’héroïne. Ces fragrances ont été conçues en collaboration avec les parfumeurs Christophe Laudamiel et Christoph Hornetz (Les Christophs). L’enchevêtrement des fines racines au sein du jardin fait référence au réseau complexe des connexions neuronales du cerveau. La fragilité du verre et l’impossibilité de manipuler les bouchons permettant de sentir les odeurs nous renvoient à notre propre ressentiment face à ces addictions.
mudac.ch/expositions/jardin-daddiction/
This installation symbolizes the effects of addictive substances on the brain. The different liquids are perfumes imitating substances such as Coffee, wine, whiskey, opium, heroine, cocaine... The fragility of the glass and the fact that we can’t smell the substances evokes our resentment of these addictions.
Hailing from an ancient tribe of warriors in Kenya and raised further by Proctors, the young woman who would end up naming herself Laquisha was seen as a prodigy among soulcasters. It was seen as a suprise by none when in 1812, she was officially indicted as the new Proctor Pisces. Her title as the youngest Proctor meant she was hailed as the face of a new generation and as such she became hailed as the "Proctor Origin" that would become a pillar for that century.
This didn't become the truth and Proctor Pisces learned her many experiences often in the hardest ways possible. The tall, dark woman has become a true veteran and a cold, tactful leader capable of making the worst decisions soley because of these mistakes. In her current role, she is a mother-figure to Jabberwock and Shelly and commands their ragtag-team together with the demon known as Kupira Akisame.
Currently ranking as the lowest of all Proctors, she is still a massive force of war. Her armored form boasts enourmous strength and agility, she is a master of many combat techniques that she has enhanced further with her four arms and her two swords can enlargen and set themselves ablaze with green bursts of fire!
However, as great as her abilities may be, the Proctor is a hoast to many secrets and regrets and feelings of resentment. It is unkown what she'll do in the future but only time will tell.
THE VACANT HORIZON
… allora, incominciavo a capire, piano piano, che cosa fosse quello strano senso di dolore muto, di tristezza e di rancore non detto che quelle migliaia di occhi lasciavano leggere anche al più superficiale degli osservatori e al più distratto uomo in fuga come mi sentivo io, in quel preciso momento. In quella terra, in quella città che fu meravigliosa, si stava coltivando odio e desiderio di rivincita non solo per un passato criminale e già condannato dalla Storia, ma anche, e forse soprattutto, per il presente, fatto di promesse improbabili, di aiuti inutili, di investimenti dannosi.
Per imporre i quali eravamo disposti a corrompere, a minacciare, a uccidere.
E ora dobbiamo fare i conti con la sete di vendetta.
C’è un canto somalo...
“Gli uomini combattono fianco a fianco
Così diventano fratelli
Ci aiuteremo o no?
O andremo ognuno per la propria strada?”
...so, step by step, I started to understand what was that strange feeling of silent pain, sadness and untold resentment that even the most superficial observerer and the most absent-minded runaway - as I felt at that time, could read in those thousand eyes.
That land, that town once wonderful was growing hatred and a wish of revenge, not only for a criminal past already condemned by History, but also, and maybe mostly for a present made of unlikely promises, useless aids, injurious investments.
We would corrupt, threaten, and kill to impose all that, and now we have to face thirst for vengeance.
There is a somali song...
"Men are fighting side by side
In such a way they will become brothers
We will help each other, or not?
Or we will go our own way?"
www.viacolvento.eu/bachecadelvento/africa/1986.somalia/sc...
TF:DR (Too French, didn’t read) version below...
L’œuvre « Jardin d’addiction », réalisée entre 2009 et 2011 au CIRVA à Marseille par les artistes français Christophe Berdaguer et Marie Péjus est présentée au mudac.
Avec cette œuvre, les créateurs questionnent les mécanismes du fonctionnement cérébral humain liés aux dépendances. En effet, à chaque extrémité des tiges -synapses- se trouve un bulbe en verre contenant l’odeur d’une substance addictive telle que le café, le tabac, le vin, le whisky, les champignons, l’opium, l’herbe, la cocaïne ou encore l’héroïne. Ces fragrances ont été conçues en collaboration avec les parfumeurs Christophe Laudamiel et Christoph Hornetz (Les Christophs). L’enchevêtrement des fines racines au sein du jardin fait référence au réseau complexe des connexions neuronales du cerveau. La fragilité du verre et l’impossibilité de manipuler les bouchons permettant de sentir les odeurs nous renvoient à notre propre ressentiment face à ces addictions.
mudac.ch/expositions/jardin-daddiction/
This installation symbolizes the effects of addictive substances on the brain. The different liquids are perfumes imitating substances such as Coffee, wine, whiskey, opium, heroine, cocaine... The fragility of the glass and the fact that we can’t smell the substances evokes our resentment of these addictions.
It was “Swim Class,” later repackaged as Beach Beasties, Lagoona who broke me. I’m not saying if it wasn’t for Lagoona I never would have embarked on the journey of collecting Monster High. On the contrary, the idea had been weighing on my mind for many months before I made my first purchase. It was March 2013 when I finally cracked. Colleen and I had actually been on the hunt for Scaris Deuce, but to no avail. At a small Benny’s location in our neighboring state, I couldn’t ignore “Swim Class” Lagoona another time. I’d seen her at a few other stores we’d ventured to that weekend, including Barnes and Noble (where I believe I’d first laid eyes on her). Since the “Swim Class” line was slightly discounted by a few dollars, this seemed the opportune time to just do it. I ended up with Lagoona, Draculaura, AND Venus at the register. But it was Lagoona who prompted the purchase of the entire set, and she was for a time my most special Monster High doll. There was something ridiculous yet endearing about her blank fish like stare, somewhat sickly looking blue skin, and yellow blonde hair. To top it off, she was donning a patterned swimsuit…my weakness. My very first store bought doll was a 1993 Sun Jewel Kira (who was actually picked out by my sister on her birthday, when Dad let her get Barbie for herself). Ever since, beach themed dolls have had a special place in my heart. They were always affordable, which was important to a young girl who got just $2 a week for allowance (if I behaved…a dime was taken away for each infraction), and who had an impulsive shopping habit (which meant saving up for things was very difficult for me). It seemed fitting that the first Monster High dolls in my collection fell in line with this same unspoken tradition.
Lagoona and her fellow “Swim Class” comrades marked a significant change in my life. March was always a month of unexpected, most often bad, changes. In 2008 my grandmother passed away in March, in 2009 Dad lost his job, in 2012 he went to the hospital the last time and never came home, and in 2016 my beloved first Jeep died outside the post office at 7 in the morning. It’s weird how the timing worked out…that it was March when Monster High became part of my doll hobby. They were the first thing I collected that I hadn’t dabbled in as a kid, given the obvious fact that they weren’t invented back then. I was apprehensive in those days about purchasing newfangled things, although I did find myself falling for the modern Bratz quite quickly. I am grateful that I finally caved and threw out the imaginary rule book I’d written for myself. The discovery of Monster High was a needed distraction (albeit an expensive one). It was approaching the anniversary of Dad’s last days at home. Somehow Colleen and I survived a year without him, all on our own. Most of the time, it felt like we were imposters playing some dysfunctional game of house. It’s odd that we felt that way given that it was just the two of us most of the time, since Dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in November of 2009 (he was constantly in and out of the hospital and needed help most days with basic things). But we had yet to claim our adulthood and make our own life in the wake of Dad’s passing. Strangely, beginning my Monster High collection was the start of a new chapter. Lagoona would have been the first sentence of this new chapter in my life, I suppose.
Initially, I had no idea what I wanted my Monster High collection to look like. I don’t really plan these things out…stuff always has a way of taking the reins without my control. It seemed sensible to start slow…only purchasing one example of a character to get a feel for the franchise. But that didn’t last long…Lagoona was one of the first characters to find herself duplicated. “School’s Out” and Scaris Lagoona quickly joined the collection. Both Colleen and I were delighted to find “School’s Out” still in stock at Barnes and Noble. She seemed like an exotic older release, given that most stores carried the newly released dolls. To this day, we still find ourselves marveling over the luck we had finding her in store. As for Scaris, she was just a consequence of me wanting Cleo from her pack. But unlike many collectors at the time, who resold Lagoona on eBay since they just wanted the cool Cleo, I was offended by such an idea. No, this Lagoona doll was delightfully adorable and would surely have her forever home with us. In fact, I grew to like her as much if not MORE than Cleo! Before long, I found myself on an emotional shopping binge, which mainly featured Monster High. Okay, I admit that I bought too many dolls, too fast, and for the wrong reasons. I was still coming to terms with this new life I did not choose (one without Dad and all on my own with just Colleen). We picked the same sort of escapism Dad elected after Mom died a decade earlier: shopping. We used EVERY excuse to get out of the house…and that often meant we were on the hunt for some random Monster High doll. Lagoona was not an unusual doll to be on our radar. In fact, she was one of the dolls whose presence made a particular line that much more exciting. Some of my early shopping binges included Roller Maze and Dot Dead Gorgeous Lagoona (I just couldn’t help myself, even if she wasn’t my favorite from either of those lines).
It was hard for me to resist Lagoona even after I pledged to be more conservative about buying dolls. By the time the summer of 2013 rolled around, I had realized how out of control I’d become. I was buying dolls when I was happy, sad, bored, angry, anxious…for any and every reason imaginable. Whenever I’d come home and see my newly purchased friends, I’d feel a sense of guilt, remorse, and even a bit of resentment. The void I was trying to fill by stuffing dolls into was never filled…a lesson I should have learned years before when Dad used retail therapy to soothe us after Mom died (and when things at home were rather dysfunctional). Despite coming to terms with this realization, I still loved ALL my dollies. And it was hard to stick to that resolve to abstain from shopping when it came to Miss Blue. Right after I stated I would curb my shopping, I found the freshly released Picture Day Lagoona at Target. Well, I just HAD to get her, right? She was too beautiful and well dressed to leave behind. And of course let’s not forget Mad Science Lagoona who popped up with Home Ick Frankie one day, after our annual eye exams. These dolls were both “out of date” so I couldn’t pass them up since it was unlikely I’d find them again. Plus, I’m a sucker for anything school themed (and Lagoona was the cutest thing ever with her little frog). By the end of the year, I had the best streak of luck ever. One of the last days of flea market season, I spotted a container labeled “Jessica’s Room” on the pine needle coated ground. Inside were a cluster of moldy, bug ridden dolls…including the bedazzling FIRST EDITION Lagoona. Oh, and there was also “1st Edition” Frankie and Gloom Beach Clawdeen (who were in better condition), but Lagoona was the prized find. Thus why the bin will always be named after her…the infamous “Lagoona Bin” (which is also remembered by 2007 Holiday Barbie, who Colleen chucked across the living room carpet after a live bug crawled out of her hair). Early the next spring, another Lagoona turned up at the same flea market….Skull Shores!!! I couldn’t believe that I was able to find such amazing Monster High dolls so soon (and for so cheap). It was especially exciting given that I was having luck getting my hands on Lagoona in particular.
As the years went on, my Lagoona collection continued to grow. It was especially easy when the dolls were abundant in stores, but dwindling in popularity. It meant that places like Barnes and Noble were slashing their prices by 50%. That’s how Ghouls Night Out and 13 Wishes Lagoona materialized in 2014. I was originally ONLY going to get 13 Wishes…she did after all have that coveted Neptuna. Colleen and I were majorly bummed when we discovered our mangy “Lagoona Bin” first edition doll was missing her beloved pet (she also had super loose legs, chipped lips, and the worst case of glue seepage I’ve ever seen). As soon as we realized that Neptuna was available with 13 Wishes Lagoona, it made her a “must have” doll in our collection. But somehow, we ended up with a pile of 50% off Monster High dolls at the register, including Ghouls Night Out. Even as Monster High dolls finally finished trickling out from stores, my Lagoona collection expanded whenever I found her secondhand. There was the decrepit Dance Class gal I rescued from the local Salvation Army, the mint Dance Class doll I bought at the local flea market not long after (I needed one with her outfit obviously), “Emoji” Lagoona also from the Salvation Army, and the arm-less Student Exchange Lagoona from the flea market. I was grateful that one of Student Exchange Lagoona’s arms was missing, because the person who had been contemplating buying her decided not to because of the amputation. Lucky for me, and Lagoona, I had arms for her already at home! Not only did I chase the dolls, but I also made a point to hoard any Lagoona fashion packs I came across in stores too. Sadly, she didn’t have as many options as say Frankie (I would have loved a “Deluxe” fashion set for Lagoona).
In 2022, as I’m typing this, I have close to 200 Monster High dolls, featuring a wide variety of characters. But Lagoona still holds her own, and is still one of my favorites to stumble upon in the wild. I always make sure to keep a stash of extra limbs for her, in the event another doll in need, like Monster Exchange, turns up. Whether they are in perfect condition or battered like my “1st Edition” lady, it doesn’t matter. In fact, when I first saw images of 2022 “1st Edition” re-releases pop up online, I was most excited about Lagoona. I knew I HAD to get her. Although I “needed” a Cleo upgrade more (my doll has cut hair and no accessories), it was still the Lagoona I coveted most of all. “1st Edition” Lagoona was and always will be one of my personal faves…which explains why my shabby friend has been given several pairs of handmade earrings over the years (I always think of a cooler pair to design for her with better charms). I have a fondness for all my Lagoona dolls, but some admittedly have more memories associated with them. There were the outdoor photo shoots we used to take of “Swim Class” Lagoona not long after I bought her. There were the skits we used to shoot (in comic book form) for my old Flickr, that showcased Triton as Lagoona’s much older boyfriend. Then there was the time Colleen and I actually played dolls like we used to as kids, and it was Picture Day Lagoona who was cast as Triton and Ursula’s daughter. I can’t tell you how many times Mad Science Lagoona has been used for various photo shoots for Flickr and Youtube thumbnails because of her lab outfit and awesome accessories. I’ll always owe it to Lagoona for being the doll that opened the door to my Monster High collection. She made that first year after Dad passed away a little brighter, and she helped me and Colleen recapture the childlike innocence that once captivated us years before. While I love other characters just as much, if not more, Lagoona will always have an irreplaceable spot in my heart and collection.
What Will Matter
By Michael Josephson
Some day it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no more minutes, hours or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from or what side of the tracks you lived on at the end.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter?
How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built,
Not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character,
Not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories of those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.
Note: Visit the author's website at www.josephsoninstitute.org