“Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” ―Graham Greene, Ways of Escape

Photography class.

Being around people with similar interests as yours is one of my favorite things <3

Write to talk foxy.do.am/

K-12 Instructional Technology Specialists visit the Grand Valley Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons as well as the GVSU Tech Showcase

The new Halographic II watch from Xeric watches. I used a single strobe with a soft box placed and the side. Retouching was very basic using Adobe Lightroom

Read the Way He Writes: A Festschrift for bpNichol.

 

edited by Paul Dutton & Steven Smith.

 

Toronto, summer/fall [ie 14 october] 1986.

 

5-3/4 x 8-11/16, 136 sheets ivory zephyr antique laid perfectbound into cream mayfair card wrappers, all except inside covers printed offset, black interiors in blue covers.

 

cover photograph by Michael Ondaatje.

53 contributors ID'd:

Margaret Avison, David Aylward, Douglas Barbour, Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Earle Birney, Bill Bissett, George Bowering, Giordano Bruno, Barbara Caruso, Thomas A.Clark, Bob Cobing, Victor Coleman, Margaret Coole, jwcurry, Frank Davey, Brian Dedora, Christopher Dewdney, David Donnell, Charles Doria, Louis Dudek, Paul Dutton, Glenn Goluska, Rosalind Goss, Brian Henderson, Dick Higgins, Roy Kiyooka, Robert Kroetsch, G.Lind, Daphne Marlatt, John Bentley Mays, Steve McCaffery, David McFadden, Avis Nichol, bpNichol, D.J.Nichol, Barb O'Connelly, Sean O'Huigin, Michael Ondaatje, Andy Phillips, John Riddell, Raquel Rivera, Joe Rosenblatt, R.Murray Schafer, Stephen Scobie, Gerry Shikatani, Steven Smith, Paul Soucy, Sharon Thesen, Lola Lemire Tostevin, Richard Truhlar, Jiri Valoch, Fred Wah, Marilyn Westlake.

 

Nichol inclusions:

i) "just another just another" (quoted in full in (xix-5) below; poem)

ii) [Aleph Unit Opened], redrawn by Barbara Caruso (p.36; visual poem; reduced)

iii) [Aleph Unit Distance], redrawn by Barbara Caruso (p.36; visual poem; reduced; (i) & (ii) under the heading from Aleph Unit (Seripress, 1973))

iv) H: a collaboration (quoted in full in (xxiv) below, pp.44-45; prose in 2 numbered parts:

–1. "H - the eighth letter of the Roman alphabet, ancient and modern. h comes,"

–2. (in 7 numbered parts:

––a. "Mostly white. A line that completes itself. An inside. An outside too. An image at"

––b. "Blue then in the midst of white. The shape of a feeling. A felt shape and a mood"

––c. "Two tall ones and a small one. A small one who is lost between two tall ones. It is"

––d. "Little i. Little me. Three versus two and a kind of joining. Five. A hand that does"

––e. "Broad strokes. An embrace. Absolutely equal space with something in between."

––f. "Everyone's small. What happens. Surely things are lighter. There is a sequence and"

––g. "It has disappeared. It is all gone. Among them all there is something lighter as if"))

v) "what happened" (quoted in full in (xlii1) below, p.115; poem)

vi) "pile up the movement the fingers" (quoted in full in (xlii1) below, p.117; poem)

vii) "it is the minute haunts you" (quoted in full in (xlii1) below, pp.118-119; poem)

viii) "wond'ring to wed them" (quoted in full in (xlvii5) below, p.139; an aria, possibly in full, from Space Opera)

ix) [DOORS 2] (visible reduced in full in (lxv7) below, p.167; visual poem)

x) [TU 4 (IKONIK)] (visible reduced in full in (lxv7)below, p.167; visual poem, center section only as on the cover of Transformational Unit)

xi) ["photobooth, Vancouver, 1950s?"] (p.182; photostrip in 4 parts, all face-on selfportraits:

–1. [expressionless]

–2. [slight smile]

–3. [slight smile turned slightly more to left]

–4. [smiling, left side of face shadowed])

xii) ["photobooth, Toronto, 1960s?"] (p.182; photostrip in 4 parts, all selfportraits:

–1. [face on]

–2. [looking right]

–3. [looking left]

–4. [looking rear])

xiii) "layers", photographed by Marilyn Westlake (p.214; concrete poem)

xiv) "from Nichol's Sea and Sky Series, watercolour on paper, 1977", photographed by Marilyn Westlake (p.214; graphic)

xv) "blue" (quoted in full in (lxxix6) below, p.22o; poem)

 

also includes:

xvi) "bpNichol", by Michael Ondaatje (front cover; cropped photograph, portrait at Coach House Press; see also (xci) below)

xvii) "Note" Special thanks to Ellie Nichol for the collusion in the purloining of", by [Paul Dutton?] (p.4; prose acknowledgement for photographs)

xviii) Foreword, by Paul Dutton & Steven Smith (pp.5-6; prose, with quote by David McFadden on Nichol (from an interview?))

xix) bpNichol On The Train, by George Bowering (pp.7-2o; prose in 9 parts:

–1. "A FEW YEARS BACK, SOME CANADIAN WRITERS - PIERRE BERTON AND OTHERS" (pp.7-8; no Nichol references)

–2. "It comes as no surprise that the leading train poet is bpNichol. His first" (pp.8-9; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "prairie, lakes, trees" (line 7)

––b. "rolling into night" (lines 6-7)

––c. "sun overhead" (lines 5-7)

––d. "father i have so much to say" (lines 14-15))

–3. "'Trans-Continental' is made of forty-nine short sections, and a trip from" (p.9; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "a drainage ditch" (lines 1-2)

––b. "a d in a cloudbank" (lines 1-2)

––c. "a longing for flesh" (line 5)

––d. "hornpayne to armstrong" (lines 1-2))

–4. " The brain of a poet like bpNichol is as much animated toward composition" (pp.1o-11; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "a drainage ditch" (lines 8, 9)

––b. "this many miles from home" (lines 1-2, 7-9)

––c. "ness" (lines 1-2, 5-6, part of 8)

––d. "up & down" (lines 14-16))

–5. "The same reader or any other can read each each speck of the poem over and" (pp.11-13; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "empty eyes" (lines 8-14)

––b. "father i have much to say" (lines 14-15)

––c. "just another just another" (see (i) above)

––d. "a longing for flesh" (lines 12-13)

––e. A Letter to Mary Ellen Solt

––f. "a trance state" (lines 1-2)

––g. "mist again at dawn" (lines 12-14)

––h. "a new beginning" (lines 1-2)

––i. "final finale" (lines 1, 12))

–6. "The journeying of 'Trans-Continental' is followed a decade later by the" (pp.14-16; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "minus the ALL ABOARD" (lines 1-5)

––b. "the old guy who spoke to the porter just now said:" (lines 1-1o (with quote by Agnes Workman), part of 16)

––c. "vanishing" (lines 13-14)

––d. "insistent instances" (line 17)

––e. "beginnings & endings" (lines 4-5)

––f. "because i was raised on trains" (lines 16-21)

––g. "blueberry bushes, fruit shrunken, dried," (part of line, 3 part of 5, 9-11)

––h. "mile what?" (lines 1o-11)

––i. "final finale" (lines 1-2))

–7. "That is perhaps the neatest irony of the contemporry long poem - that we" (pp.16-18; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "beginnings & endings" (lines 2-3, 8, part of 15)

––b. "insistent instances" (lines 1, 18 misquoted with added "can")

––c. "because i was raised on trains" (part of line 16)

––d. "the conductor takes our luncheon reservations" (line 7)

––e. "so there it is" (lines 3, 5)

––f. "the old guy who spoke to the porter just now said:" (part of line 8)

––g. "vanishing" (part of line 8, 19-21)

––h. "where is this poem going?" (parts of lines 1, 7)

––i. "mile what?" (part of line 11)

––j. "too much like a rock song" (lines 4-1o)

––k. "minus the ALL ABOARD" (part of line 1)

––l. "i don't like the "symbol"" (part of line 1, part of 2-3, 5-6, part of 8-9)

––m. "later" (lines 16, 17))

–8. "The saints, familiar to readers of The Martyrology, visit after a routing" (pp.18-2o; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "okay saints" (part of line 6, 1o-13)

––b. "this next bit doesn't quite cohere" (lines 5-16)

––c. "as night falls" (lines 11-14)

––d. "in Hornpayne" (parts of lines 2, 3, 7, 8; 12-16)

––e. "is this the poem i wanted to write?" (lines 4-6)

––f. "that's that tone" (lines 3, part of 8, 12-15))

–9. "The first stanza of Continental Trance tells of giving up a plan for the nar-" (p.2o; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "mist against dawn" (lines 11, 12-14)

––b. "too much like a rock song" (line 9)))

xx) METAMORPHOSIS A TRIBUTE TO B P NICHOL, by Bob Cobbing (pp.21-29, visual poetry in 8 parts with title page:

–1. [METAMORPHOSIS 1] (p.22; derived from 3 visual poems by Nichol from ABC The Aleph Beth Book:

––a. "DEAD. HAVING ACCEPTED THIS" (the "B" in ABC)

––b. "BETWEEN OURSELVES & THE POEM" (the "P" in ABC)

––c. "BEYOND OURSELVES BY" (the "N" in ABC))

–2. [METAMORPHOSIS 2] (p.23; derived from:

––a. "TTTT", by bpNichol (visual poem)

––b. "(Rubber stamps and letraset (sheets of cellophane printed with trans-", by John Robert Colombo (prose on Nichol's "TTTT"))

–3. [METAMORPHOSIS 3] (p.24; derived from 2 concrete poems by Nichol:

––a. "arrow worra worra arrow"

––b. Blues)

–4. [METAMORPHOSIS 4] (p.25; derived from:

––a. Historical Implications of Turnips, by bpNichol (concrete poem)

––b. "("Turnips are" is a permutational sound poem -- permutational in that", by John Robert Colombo (prose on Nichol's Historical Implications of Turnips))

–5. [METAMORPHOSIS 5] (p.26; derived from Nichol's mind trap)

–6. [METAMORPHOSIS 6] (p.27; derived from 2 visual poems by Nichol:

––a. Allegory 6

––b. Allegory 7)

–7. [METAMORPHOSIS 7] (p.28; derived from Nichol's Allegory 32)

–8. [METAMORPHOSIS 8] (p.29; derived from visual poems by Nichol:

––a. eyes 4

––b. eyes 5

––c. eyes 2

––d. eyes 3))

xxi) Henri Chopin, Sten Hanson, Lilly Greenham, Bob Cobbing, bpNichol. Tenth International Poetry Festival, Glasgow 1978, by Sean O'Huigin (p.3o; photograph, group portrait (note that "Lilly" should be "Lily" & it was at the 1oth International Sound Poetry Festival))

xxii) A Visit, by Robert Kroetsch (pp.31-35; poem in 5 numbered parts with epigraph by Nichol, lines 158-16o of IN THE PLUNKETT HOTEL:

–1. "I was going to Plunkett Saskatchewan" (pp.31-32; quotes part of line 85 of Nichol's IN THE PLUNKETT HOTEL in line 14)

–2. "and when the kid came by on his bike" (p.32; Nichol referenced line 12)

–3. "the continent is contained" (pp.32-33; Nichol referenced line 6)

–4. "when a stoutish gal in a half-ton roared" (pp.33-34; Nichol referenced line 25)

–5. "writing / riding" (pp.34-35; quotes lines 17-18 of Nichol's IN THE PLUNKETT HOTEL))

xxiii) "PLUNKETT GENERAL STORE", probably by Avis Nichol (p.36; photograph on baby bp on Glenn Nichol's knee)

xxiv) The Seripress Collaborations: Nichol & Caruso, by Barbara Caruso (pp.37-46; prose with quotes from:

–1. bpNichol (from conversations with Caruso)

–2. Introduction, by Caruso & Nichol (to The Adventures Of Milt The Morph In Colour)

–3. "our next approach", by Caruso (from notes toward H An Excursion)

–4. a possibility for bp, by Caruso (from further notes toward H An Excursion)

–5. Barbara Caruso (from journal notes for april 1976)

–6. H: a collaboration, by Nichol (in full; see (iv) above))

xxv) From A Commonplace Book (for bpNichol), by Thomas A.Clark (p.47; a collection of quotes by William Blake, Maurice Denis, Gertrude Jeckyll, Hugh Macdiarmid, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Gertrude Stein, Ludwig Wittgenstein)

xxvi) Nichol in performance at Harbourfront, Toronto, 1984, by Marilyn Westlake (p.48; photograph)

xxvii) Surviving the Paraph-raise, by Stephen Scobie (pp.49-68; prose in 7 numbered parts & footnotes (no direct Nichol references in pts.1, 2, 4, 5:

–1. "FIRST THEN, BY WAY OF EXPLANATION, A NOTE ON THE TITLE. SURVIVING THE" (pp.49-5o)

–2. "Leonard Cohen's poem 'The Cuckold's Song,' included in his 1961 volume" (pp.5o-53)

–3. "The signature is one of those forms of utterance, much beloved by Derrida," (pp.53-58; with quote by Nichol (lines 93-95 of Hour 18, p.54) & reference to McCaffery/Nichol p.56)

–4. "The paraph was originally intended, you will recall, 'as a kind of precau-" (pp.58-62)

–5. "But she's not doing too badly herself. 'Phyllis' – 'a generic name in pastoral" (pp.63-64)

–6. "Writing about Nietzsche, Derrida sums up what is involved in an author's" (pp.64-66; with quotes by Nichol from:

––a. "orange" (lines 1-12)

––b. STATEMENT)

–7. "What remains to be said: the raising of the paraph into the text, as rare an" (pp.66-67; passing reference to Nichol)

–[8. footnotes, pp.67-68])

xxviii) bpNichol: Sonic Snapshots. Fragmentary Movements, by Steven Smith (pp.69-72; prose with quotes from:

–1. Mayakovsky, by Four Horsemen

–2. BEAST, by bpNichol

–3. "stear clear", by bpNichol)

xxix) bpNichol, Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Steve MCaffery, Paul Dutton – The Four Horsemen performing Mayakovsky, Erindale College, 1974, by Frank Davey (p.72; photograph)

xxx) Wizard Oil and Indian Sagwa, by R.Murray Schafer (pp.73-75; prose, preceded by Note, p.73, on collaborations with Nichol & his part in as Johnny Mailloux in Wizard Oil)

xxxi) Johnny Mailloux, selling, by Marilyn Westlake (p.75; photograph, portrait of Nichol)

xxxii) Nichol, around 1966, by Andy Phillips (p.76; photograph

xxxiii) Paternal Body as Outlaw, by Lola Lemire Tostevin (pp.77-8o; prose in 3 numbered parts & notes:

–1. "MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN, IS BEING WRITTEN, ON THE MATERIAL BODY," (p.77; with quote by Nichol, lines 1-4 of "so many bad beginnings")

–2. "Since many women are now rethinking the maternal at the level of" (pp.78-79; Nichol quotes from:

––a. "SAINT REAT" (line 4)

––b. "the girl approaced me when the reading ended" (lines 1o, 24-25)

––c. "sleepless night nothing takes shape" (line 17)

––d. "ah reason there is only feeling (part of line 1-3)

––e. EPILOGUE: (line 31)

––f. the quote "intellect or emotions" does not appear anywhere in the martyrology as a phrase

––g. the martyrology book 4 (lines 11o1, 11o5)

––h. Hour 11 (line 19)

––i. Hour 13 (lines 1-2))

–3. "The son's voice has come through loud and clear. There is no need for a" (pp.79-8o; quote by Nichol, lines 41-51 (without spaces) of Hour 26)

–[4]. NOTES(p.8o))

xxxiii) St. Rum (for bp), by Victor Coleman (p.81; poem, 22 lines)

xxxiv) Victor Coleman, Steve McCaffery, Ellen Tallman, Nichol, Roy Kiyooka, bill bissett, 'Writing In Our Time' panel discussion, Vancouver, 1979, by an uncredited photographer (p.82; group portrait)

xxxv) Nichol, McCaffery, Tenth International Sound Poetry Festival, Glasgow, 1978, by Douglas Barbour (p.82; photograph)

xxxvi) Book bells, slowly moving (for bpNichol), by Dick Higgins (pp.83-99; prose in 5 parts:

–1. Note (p.83)

–2. Book Three, Chapter Four The numerator of the third seal (pp.83-87)

–3. Book Head, Chapter Slide The slip of the third crown (pp87-91)

–4. Book Jordan, Chapter Tip The working of the heavenly splendor (pp.91-95)

–5. Book Tip, Song Barrie The waking up of the dragons (pp.95-99))

xxxvii) "Photo", by Andy Phillips (p.1oo; portrait of Nichol at lower right on a sand road walking away from beach, hat in right hand, teees at left, bush at right)

xxxviii) Random Walking The Martyrology's Book V, by Rafael Barreto-Rivera (pp.1o1-1o7; prose essay wth quotes by Nichol from

–1. The Martyrology Book V:Chain 3 (lines 4o5-411 (p.1o1), 12o9-121o, 471-473 (p.1o2), 492-493, 118o (p.1o3), 1182-1184 (pp.1o3-1o4), 534-548 (p.1o5), 8o7 (p.1o6), part of 8o9, 416-418 (p.1o6), 1192-1195, 1197-1212 (p.1o7), 125o-1252 (relineated as 4 lines, p.1o7))

–2. The Martyrology Book V:Chain 1 (lines 2o5-2o6 (p.1o1), 269-271 (pp.1o1-1o2), 118o (p.1o2), 643-644 (p.1o3), 768-771 (p.1o4), part of 161-164, 724-727 (p.1o6))

–3. A Note on Reading The Martyrology Book V (p.1o2)

–4. The Martyrology Book V:Chain 2 (lines 77-9o (misspaced pp.1o2-1o3))

–5. The Martyrology Book V:Chain 9 (part of line 179-181, 134-138 (p.1o4), 217 (misquoted p.1o7), 224-225 (p.1o7))

–6. The Martyrolgy Book V:Chain 5 (line 24 (p.1o4), 136 (misquoting "illusions" for "delusions", p.1o6))

–7. "blue" (ie "...bluer / bloor"; in full unlineated p.1o6)

–8. "blue" (ie "...bluer / blur"; in full unlineated p.1o6)

––note that the quotes "in a throw of the cosmic dice" (p.1o2) & "valley of the shadow" (p.1o6) are not in The Martyrology Book V)

ixl) Nichol in performance, 1972, by Paul Soucy (p.1o8; photograph)

xl) for bpn, by Margaret Avison (p.1o9; poem)

xli) Griffin Ondaatje, Ellie Hiebert, Quintin Ondaatje, bpNichol, Michael Ondaatje, 1971, by Roy Kiyooka (p.11o; photograph)

xlii) Soul Rising out of the Body of Language: Presence, Process and Faith in The Martyrology, by Brian Henderson (pp.111-128; prose in 2 numbered parts & notes with epigraph by Nichol, lines 1275-1276 from the martyrology book 4:

–1. "IN ITS CONCERN WITH THE 'ACTIVE PRESENT,' THE PROCESS WRITING OF" (pp.111-12o; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4 (part of line 1276 (p.111), 781-783 (pp.111-112), 915-92o (p.112), 892-9o3 (pp.112-113), 437-444, 1275-1276, 362-365, part of 136 misquoted (p.113), 622-624, 258-262 (p.114), 137-14o, 1o97-11oo (p.116), 23o-236 (p.117), 8o-82 (p.118), 1358-1368 (p.119), 1144-115o, 329-33o (p.12o))

––b. "there must be a beginning made" (lines 4-5, p.113)

––c. "we gather round to talk at night" (part of line 66 (p.114), 45, 8-9 (p.119))

––d. "make the setting here" (lines 1-7 misspaced, p.114)

––e. "saint orm" (ie "...i throw up"; lines 2-4, p.114)

––f. "opened & told them" (line 8-part of 9, 12, p.115)

––g. "saint of no-names" (line 1o, p.115)

––* [see (v) above]

––h. "ah reason there is only feeling" (lines 4-1o misquoting "absence" for "presence" (p.116), 18-19 (p.118)

––* [see (vi) above]

––i. "the window reverses itself" (parts of line 19, 5-6 misquoted (p.117)

––j. "a frog drops in the pond" (lines 58-59, p.118)

––k. "one woman who was all women to me" (lines 12-14, p.118)

––• [see (vi) above]

––l. "hot night" (part of line 9, p.119)

––m. "early morning victria's streets" (line 6, p.119)

––n. "looking out the window at the snow" (lines 29-3o, p.119)

––o. "sleepless night nothing takes shape" (lines 1o-16, p.119)

––p. "out of the side of the buddha's mother" (lines 43-45, p.12o)

––q. "a thing without eyes or lips" (part of line 9, p.12o))

–2. "It is not by accident that Nichol has alluded throughout much of his long" (pp.12o-127; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "i wanted an image or a metaphor" (lines 14-16, p.12o)

––b. "where is my place in this world father" (lines 61-62 (p.12o), 66-69 (p.121))

––c. the martyrology book 4 (part of line 1222-1226, part of 138, part of 9 (p.121), 244-245 misquoted (p.127))

––d. "ellie & me" (line 28, p.121)

––e. "'older than adam's' older than me i am old" (lines 1-5, p.121)

––f. "gazing into the sky" (lines 47-51 (p.122), 4-9 (p.123))

––g. "from the lake's edge" (part of line 29, p.122)

––h. "how it is done how it is said the head sheds the lies its lived by" (part of line 18, p.124)

––i. "moving down to where the farmhouse stood" (line 14, p.124)

––j. "bushes" (lines 1-13, p.126)

––k. "you walk thru the door into the room filling the mind with (quaint" (part of line 3, p.126)

––l. "there are many roads to that centre" (lines 17-18, p.127)

––m. ""in the midst of life we are in death" draco" (lines 13-16, p.127)

––n. "one woman who was all women to me" (lines 12-14, p.127)

––o. "the sky is as this word is" (lines 1o-12, p.127)

––p. "driving west thru albion's hills adjala climbing" (lines 49-51, p.127))

–3. NOTES (p.128))

xliii) Nichol and dsh (Dom Sylvester Houedard), Glasgow, 1978, by Sean O'Huigin (p.128; photograph)

xliv) bpNichol: The Movies, by Michael Ondaatje (pp.129-13o; prose with quotes by Ondaatje from

–1. sons of captain poetry)

xlv) [untitled photograph], by David McFadden (p.13o; group portrait of Nichol & Michael Ondaatje)

xlvi) "Here's an old snap of bp along with Michael Ondaatje. A couple of springtime", by David McFadden (p.13o; prose caption to (xlv) above)

xlvii) Confronting Conventions The Musical / Dramatic Works of bpNichol, by Paul Dutton (pp.131-14o; prose in 5 numbered parts:

–1. "WITH THE EXCEPTION OF 'THE BROWN BOOK: A PLAY,' WHICH APPEARED IN" (p.131)

–2. "In his early thirties, possessed of encyclopedic knowledge of the musical" (pp.131-133; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. I Can't Talk (line numbers unknown (not in revised Group), p.132)

––b. We're In The Group (lines 1-5 version 1, p.132)

––c. Ordinary Man (lines 1-2, 13-14, p.132)

––d. If It Wasn't For You (lines 2, 6-7, p.132)

––e. I Am Obsessed (line 2, p.132))

–3. "But first, let us treat briefly of Tracks, a two-act musical drama, co-written (pp.133-135)

–4. "While researching material for Tracks, Nichol came upon a bit of local lore" (pp.135-137; with quotes y Nichol from

––a. Cross-Purposes (excerpts of 13 lines, p.136)

––b. Dreams (4 lines, p.136)

––c. "What is this curse" (8 lines, p.137)

––d. Faces (6 lines, p.137))

–5. "While Space Opera is, in sequence of composition, the second of Nichol's" (pp.137-14o; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. Space Opera (dialogue, 4 quotes p.138, 2 p.14o)

––* [see (viii) above]))

xlviii) On Toronto Island, around 1966, by Andy Phillips (p.141; 2 photographs:

–1. [untitled, Nichol on beach with hat in right hand, tree top left, sky top right, beach bottom left, water bttom right]

–2. [untitled, Nichol looking to left close-up at left from below, no background])

il) On Toronto Island, around 1966, by Andy Phillips (p.142; 2 photographs:

–1. [untitled, Nichol at left from crotch up with hat on, tree & sky background]

–2. [untitled, Nichol at right full figure silhouette with hat on, on beach with water about to wash over his feet])

l) "around 1966", by --?-- (p.143; photograph, potrait of Nichol seated lower left in front of painting by --?--)

li) "with brothers Bob and Don (a.k.a. dj)", probably by [Avis Nichol] (p.143; group portrait of 3 Nichol brothers)

lii) With Steve McCaffery, somewhere over Manitoba, 1974, by Paul Dutton (p.145; photograph, portrait of Nichol & McCaffery in airplane)

liii) With Sten Hanson, Glasgow, 1978, by Sean O'Huigin (p.145; photograph, portrait of Nichol & Sten Hanson)

liv) Michel Dean receives a sprinkling of 'Plaster de Paris' (the user can look just like Alfred Jarry, come from his low-ceilinged garret) from the proprietor of The ''Pataphysical Hardware Co. at 'L'Affaire ''Pataphysique', Toronto, 1985, by Marilyn Westlake (p.146; photograph; also visible are copies of

–1. Plaster de Paris (object in Nichol's hand)

–2. '' (T-shirt designed by Nichol & jwcurry, pink on tan variant worn by Michel Dean)

–3. '' (T-shirt designed by Nichol & jwcurry, white on black variant worn by Nichol))

lv) With Steve McCaffery, Harbourfront, Toronto, 1985, by Marilyn Westlake (p.147; photograph of reading with text by McCaffery & Nichol visible,

–1. "DENTA")

lvi) bpNichol, Steve McCaffery, Paul Dutton, Rafael Barreto-Rivera. The Four Horsemen performing Mixed Metaphors, Toronto, 1981, by Marilyn Westlake (p.147; photograph)

lvii) Johnny Mailloux takes a shot of Wizard Oil and Indian Sagwa (see pp.73-75), Toronto, 1981, by Marilyn Westlake (p.148, photograph, portrait of Nichol performing work by R.Murray Schafer)

lviii) St. Riking (a pose, with arms outstretched), by Marilyn Westlake (p.149; photograph, portrait of Nichol)

lix) Nichol, around 1966, by Andy Phillips (p.15o; photograph)

lx) Project For An Opera Of The Twentieth Century G. S.: something tht happened once and it is very interesting, by John Bentley Mays (pp.151-153; script, act 2 scene 3 (2nd version) dedicated "for bpNichol, who introduced me to G.S.")

lxi) Outside 27 Rue-de-Fleurus, Gertrude Stein's Paris home, 1985: Steve McCaffery, Paul Dutton, Stephen Scobie, bpNichol, Margo Barreto-Rivera, Gerry Shikatani, by Raquel Rivera (p.154; photograph, group portrait)

lxii) Addition to the Great Canadian Dictionary, by Earle Birney (p.155; poem, 23 lines)

lxiii) "Photos", by Marilyn Westlake (p.156; 4 untitled portraits of Nichol:

–1. [looking down to left holding microphone] (top left)

–2. [looking to left eyes closed holding microphone & stand] (top right)

–3. [straight on looking down at microphone & beating chest] (bottom left)

–4. [leaning into frame top left looking down with hands over mouth] (bottom right))

lxiv) bpNichol: A Sonography, by Richard Truhlar (pp.157-16o; list in 5 parts:

–1. RECORDS (p.157)

–2. CASSETTES (pp.157-158)

–3. ANTHOLOGIES (p.158)

–4. COLLABORATIONS (pp.158-159)

–5. NOTES (pp.159-16o; prose with quote by Nichol from

––a. Ear Rational • Sound Poems 1970-80))

lxv) letters for NICHOL, by John Riddell (pp.161-167; concrete poetry in 7 parts:

–1. "book book book book book book book" (ie "N", p.161)

–2. "writing a reading of a writing being written/having been read reading that" (ie "I", p.162)

–3. "of a reader to feel pleasure" (ie "C", p.163)

–4. "location" (ie "H", p.164)

–5. "poem sound poem sound poem" (ie "O", p.165)

–6. "L" (p.166)

–7. "UR" (p.167; collage of covers to Nichol's

––a. A Draft Of Book IV Of The Martyrology (top half of David Aylward's graphic St. Reat?)

––b. Familiar (much reduced anonymous cover photograph, "DRINK CocoCola", group portrait with Nichol 5th from left)

––c. Journal (Glenn Goluska's cover typography)

––*. Doors: To Oz & Other Landscapes (see (ix) above)

––d. The Captain Poetry Poems (part of D.J.Nichols rear cover graphic)

––e. Ballads Of The Restless Are (Barb O'Connelly's cover lettering)

––*. Transformational Unit (see (x) above)

––f. The Teaching Of Aress Kinken (most of Gareth Lind's cover graphic Tales Of The Myth Collector By Rawl Castz)

––g. Konfessions Of An Elizabethan Fan Dancer (Barbara Caruso's cover typography for the 3rd edition))

lxvi) humble people, by Rosalind Goss (p.168; graphic dedicated "for bp")

lxvii) Exegesis / Eggs à Jesus The Martyrology as a Text in Crisis, by Frank Davey (pp.169-181; prose essay in 13 parts:

–1. "ANYONE WHO HAS ATTEMPTED TO HELP STUDENTS IN A READING OF ALL OR PART" (pp.169-17o, with quotes from

––a. Douglas Barbour, This courageous poet stalks the trails of saints

––b. Frank Davey, bpNichol

––c. bpNichol, the martyrology book 4, lines 348-357)

–2. "Such praise reflects one of the difficult problems The Martyrology raises:" (pp.17o-171, with Nichol quotes from

––a. "i wished i has a ship", lines 36-41

––b. the martyrology book 4, lins 124-136)

–3. "Another serious probem that a reader encounters in The Martyrology is" (pp.171-172, with quote by Nichol from

––a. "i wished i has a ship", lines 13-2o)

–4. "A third problem created by The Martyrology lies in the distinction" (pp.172-173, with quote by Nichol from

––a. "orange", lines 2-13)

–5. "The structure of this essay appears to promise some answers to these ques-" (pp.173-174)

–6. "Another awkward feature of The Martyrology that impedes this essay from" (pp.174-175, wit quote by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4, lines 1233-1239)

–7. "A third element that complicates this essay is the increasingly exegetical" (pp.175-177, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4, lines 81-82, 265-285, 497-515, 521-534, 576-589, 1246-13o1)

–8. "Yet Nichol might well in response to this essay point to various other passages in" (pp.177-178, with quote by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4, lines 1o43-1o5o)

–9. "Further complicating any attempt to deal with these various puzzles is the" (p.178, with quote from

––a. Frank Davey, bpNichol)

–1o. "The most recent of the published volumes of The Martyrology, Book 5," (pp.178-18o, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 1, lines 424-435

––b. the martyrology book 5:chain 2, line 22o

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 3, lines 397-412, part of 775, 777, 778-78o)

–11. "Book 5 also contains didactic passages which appear, much ike those in" (p.18o, with quotes from

––a. bpNichol, the martyrology book5:chain 5, lines 93-1o1

––b. Stephen Scobie, "The Martyrology is the culmination...")

–12. "By Book 5, The Martyrology can be read as a writing looking for language," (p.181, with Nichol quotes from

––a. "nights that run together on the bed", lines 1-3 misquoting "myths" in place of "nights"

––b. "open your heart", lines 5-9)

–13. NOTES)

lxviii) 2 (for bp Nichol), by Jiri Valoch (p.183; poem, 2 lines)

lxix) three exercises (for bp Nichol), by Jiri Valoch (p.183; poem, 3 lines)

lxx) Around a pillar, around 1970, by Andy Phillips (p.184; photograph, portrait of Nichol)

lxxi) B. P. Specific Writing, by Christopher Dewdney (pp.185-187; prose in 2 parts:

–1. B. P. Specific Writing (pp.185-186)

–2. Abstract (pp.186-187))

lxxii) Nichol with sister Deanna, brothers Don and Bob, parents Avis and Glenn, 1966, [possibly by Avis Workman?] (p.19o; photograph, group portrait)

lxxiii) With his niece, Avis, 1966, [possibly by Avis Nichol?] (p.19o; photograph, group portrait)

lxxiv) The Martyrology as Paragram, by Steve McCaffery (pp.191-2o6; prose essay in introduction, 5 numbered parts & notes:

–o. "WE WILL FOCUS ON THE LUDIC FEATURES OF 'THE MARTYROLOGY,' THOSE" (pp.191-192)

–1. The Scene of Witz (pp.192-195, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 1 (lines 566-567 as epigraph)

––b. the martyrology book 5:chain 3 (lines 35-37, 44-45, 49-5o, 51-52, 2o4-2o7))

–2. The Paragram (pp.195-197; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4 (lines 273-282)

––b. "last note" (lines 5-12))

–3. The Unconscious as a Lettered Production (pp.197-199; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 4 (ines 72-77, 348-365, 1155-1157)

––b. the martyrology book 5:chain 1 (lines 787-788)

––c. the martyrology book 5:chain 3 (lines 1o61-1o66, 1o79-1o81))

–4. Cratylean Linguistics Through Ramus (pp.199-2o2; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 1 (lines 46-61)

––b. the martyrology book 4 (lines 124-125, 1217-1221, 1228-1236)

––c. "bushes" (lines 6-1o)

––d. "within the difference" (lines 7-9)

––e. "'dogma i am god'" (part of line 6-28)

––f. the martyrology book 5:chain 3 (lines 778-78o, 962-965))

–5. Mikhail Bakhtin: the Dialogic Utterance (p.2o3)

–6. NOTES (pp.2o3-2o6))

lxxv) UR L: on the autobiography of you, by Daphne Marlatt (pp.2o7-2o9; prose with quotes by Nichol from sections of Journal:

–1. "how can i write with nothing in my head no pressure" (x4)

–2. "as these things are they are only dreams as i have told" (x3)

–3. "maybe there are stories make sense maybe theres a"

–4. "i have said everything i can say having started ot so" (x2))

lxxvi) Sixteenth (?) birthday,\, [likely by Avis Nichol] (p.2o9; photograph)

lxxvii) bp (front) with brother Don, Sister Deanna, about 1946, [likely by Avis Nichol] (p.21o; photograph, group portrait)

lxxviii) The Child in Him, by Sean O'Huigin (pp.211-213; prose essay with quote by Nichol from

–a. The Child in Me)

lxxix) Some Notes in Progress about a Work in Process: bpNichol's The Martyrology, by Douglas Barbour (pp.215-224; prose essay in 8 parts:

–1. "NOW I CAN NEVER FLY WITHOUT IT HAPPENING. SUDDENLY I'M UP THERE" (p.215)

–2. "Cloudtown" (p.215)

–3. "Part of what I seek to do in these notes is to register, through a reference to" (pp.215-216, with quote by Robert Kroetsch on Nichol from

––a. The Continuing Poem)

–4. "Although neither T.S. Eliot's poetry nor his criticism springs immediately" (pp.216-217; with quote by Al Purdy on Nichol from

––b. A.W.Purdy: An Interview, by Gary Geddes & Al Purdy)

–5. "In Poetry as Discourse, Anthony Easthope argues a lengthy and interesting" (pp.217-22o; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 2 (lines 69-71 (69 including quote from

–––1. the martyrology book 4, line 9))

––b. A Note on Reading The Martyrology book V)

–6. "Book 5 opens with a map of one part of downtown Toronto – a closed" (p22o; with quotes by Nichol from

––* [see (xv) above)

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 1, line 12o1)

–7. "Much of what I have written so far takes its bearings from recent post-" (pp.22o-223; with quotes by Nichol from

––a. Statement

––b. the martyrology book 4 (lines 1o97-1o99))

–8. NOTES (pp.223-224))

lxxx) now they found th wagon cat in human body, by Bill Bissett (p.225; poem, with dedication "for bp")

lxxxi) "as always ths pome first apeerd in we sleep inside each othr all wch", by Bill Bissett (pp.225-226; prose with quotes by Nichol from

–1. Cycle No. 22 ("drum and a wheel")

–2. Lament ("for dalevy"))

lxxxii) Briefly, To Martyr and Suffer, by Gerry Shikatani (pp.227-236; prose with quotes by Nichol from

–1. "hot night" lines 27-28 (p.227)

–2. the martyrolgy book 4 lines 82o-836 (pp.227-228), 1o49-1o5o (p.228), 1358-1364 (pp.228-229), 348-365 (pp.229-23o), 1-12 (pp.234-235), 1322-1331 (pp.235-236)

–3. "horrendous degree of personl reference" (from an unID'd interview, p.228)

–4. "this morning there are no clouds anywhere", part of line 3 (p.23o)

–5. Hour 11, part of line 3, 5-8 (p.23o), 2o, 21-23, 82 misquoted, 83, 112-115, 38-39 (all p.231)

–6. Hour 13 lines 3-9, 38-41, 38-39 misspaced (all p.232)

–7. Hour 14 parts of line 1o, 11-12 misquoted (p.232), 42, 57 misquoted, 64 misquoted, 65-67 misquoted (all p.233)

–8. the martyrology book 5:chain 1 lines 1o-31 (p.233)

–9. "there are many rods to that centre" lines 1-5 (p.234)

–1o. the martyrology book 5:chain 9 lines 184, 217-223, 256 misquoted (all p.235))

lxxxii) Receiving the Governor General's Award from Governor General Roland Michener, 1971, by --?-- (p.236; photograph, group portrait of Nichol, Michener & othrs unID'd)

lxxxiii) The Mutual Friend, by Brian Dedora (pp.237-238; prose)

lxxxiv) Music at the Heart of Thinking Journeying & the Returns, by Fred Wah (pp.239-242; prose in 11 parts:

–1. "This series of MHT is written in the development of a critical poetic that sees" (p.239)

–2. music at the heart of thinking, no. 21 (p.239)

–3. music at the heart of thinking, no. 22 (p.239, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "the woods", lines 1o-11

––b. .End, lines 11-13

––c. "nothing will have taken place but the place", source unID'd)

–4. music at the heart of thinking, no. 23 (p.24o, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "the woods", line 5

––b. "(putting a match to paper", lines 1o-11)

–5. music at the heart of thinking, no. 24 (p.24o, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "prairie, lkes, trees,", part of line 9

––b. "rolling into night", line 8

––c. "always, lines 1-2 misquoted)

–6. music at the heart of thinking, no. 25 (p.24o, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "always", lines 16-17

––b. "looking out", line 9)

–7. music at the heart of thinking, no. 26 (pp.24o-241, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "eyes close, line 14

––b. Prologue: 1335 Comox Avenue, line 14)

–8. music at the heart of thinking, no. 27 (p.241, with quote by Nichol from

––a. Prologue: 1335 Comox Avenue, line 41)

–9. music at the heart of thinking, no. 28 (p.241, with quotes from

––a. Margaret Avison, A Letter from Margaret Avison (to Nichol)

––b. bpNichol, "the circle", line 12

––c. ____ "always", lines 18-2o)

–1o. music at the heart of thinking, no. 29 (pp.241-242, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "such", lines 37-38

––b. "the sun", line 2o)

–11. music at the heart of thinking, no. 30 (p.242, with quotes by Nichol from

––a. "if to explain", lines 4-5

––b. . And ., lines 13-14, 32-33, 38-42

––c. "covered with patches cut from its own cloth", source unID'd)

lxxxv) bpNichol: Some Notes on Myth, by David Donnell (pp.242-245; prose in 12 numbered parts:

–1. "I THOUGHT OF BARRIE AS A SOUND POET AT FIRST. I HEARD HIM READ AT A" (p.243; with quote by Nichol from

––a. the martyrology book 5:chain 1, lines 1-9)

–2. "But it was only some time later that I started reading a number of the" (p.243)

–3. "Maybe it's tempting to think of the longer text poems or The Martyrology" (p.244)

–4. "Barrie has a very compelling voice. Physically, sort of country, but with a" (p.244)

–5. "The completeness of a complex transition slowly becomes a frame" (p.244)

–6. "This concern with consciousness is a concern with how we become what" (p.244)

–7. "Barrie talks about the world constantly by putting himself at the centre of" (p.244)

–8. "The body (Organ Music), which is the body of us all, is always his first" (p.244)

–9. "Barrie has a remarkable ability for utilizing small-town histories as exam-" (p.244)

–1o. (p.245; in 3 lettered parts:

––a. "Barrie's myth isn't anecdotal, but it subsumes anecdote."

––b. "One difference between The Martyrology and Olson's The Maximus"

––c. "A lot of he individual concentrations in the longer text poems or the")

–11. "A lot of the Toronto or New York writers I've been reading lately seem to" (p.245)

–12. "The most important single thing about a text is the frame. The frame is" (p.245))

lxxxvi) bpNichol as John of Patmos, Paul Duton as Michael the Archangel, in R.Murray Schafer's Apocalypsis, London, Ontario, 1980, by Margaret Coole (p.246; photograph, group portrait)

lxxxvii) Could've Been, by Sharon Thesen (pp.247-248; poetry)

lxxxviii) Nichol (second from right) with friends in the mid-60s, when he administered psychological tests and 'felt people weren't getting their money's worth unless I wore a jacket and tie.', by --?-- (p.248; photograph with quote by Nichol in caption (source unID'd))

ixc) Notes toward a beepliography, by jwcurry (pp.249-27o; in 2 parts:

–1. Notes toward a beepliography (pp.249-27o; list with quote by Nichol:

––a. "love (ie "...dove / above", in full unlineated in text))

–2. NOTE (p.27o; prose))

xc) "H", by --?-- (p.271; photograph, portrait of Nichol)

xci) [untitled photograph], by Michael Ondaatje (rear cover; photograph, reduced larger crop of front cover portrait with graphic (by --?--) of Milt The Morph superimposed)

___________________________

 

• also includes:

– 2 peripherally-related photographs of Plunkett, Saskatchewan (p.144)

– Joe Rosenblatt's Poems – Nocturnes, with no discernible Nichol-specificity (p.188)

– Louis Dudek's Poetry, likewise with no discernible Nichol-specificity (p.189)

Write This Down.

May 7, 2010

@ The Garage.

Write me corneey.com/q6Qsdg?Stephanie28492

I am in no way affiliated with To Write Love on Her Arms, but I did want to share a little doodle inspired by them and in support of the work they do.

Write This Down.

May 7, 2010

@ The Garage.

So a short story that I wrote for a contest... won! Now it's up on the website and will soon be published in an upcoming book! I'm pretty excited.

Here's a link to the story on the site.

 

Also, I've been studying Icelandic on my own on Thursdays to make up for dropping a class. It's pretty fun! It came with some CDs and I love the way the language sounds pronounced!

 

Finally, i'm trying to do a novel writing frenzy for the month of November. Craziness!

LEAH GARCHIK writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I am informed by ADDA DADA , who never misses a party, that the winner of the Hunky Jesus Contest was TWERKING JESUS. And "Why carry your cross when you can ride it?" is what REBECCA ZITO when she spotted a cyclist so accessorized.'

 

In Wednesday's Leah Garchik column in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Dancing-in-t... ............................................................................................SISTER's of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE's 35th Annual HUNKY JESUS & FOXY MARY fun....The best thing about the Sister's show were the Marijuana 4/20 folks who incorrectly wandered into the Sister's party space...They were like "OMG, This is like , OZ, man."

  

Yes, it was.

 

Probably because it was the Sister's 35th Anniversary and it was an homage to the Wizard of Oz. The lawn in front of the stage was filled with red-paper poppies. There were several 'Cowardly Lions", many "Glenda the Good Witch", a couple of 'Bad Witches" including one on a bike...a very young 6-year old Judy Garland passing out Giradelli Chocolate, an awesome Scarecrow of indeterminate sex, a few Tin Men (and one obviously Tin Woman), and even a couple of 'munchkins'...yes, real little people. Though, ADDA DADA is happy to report that there were no Flying Monkeys.

 

THANK YOU to all the beautiful adults who let ADDA take their photos! (Everyone was properly asked & everyone consented.)

  

(These photos carry copyright protection. Do NOT post them elsewhere! )

============================

THE 'NUDES' ARE PROPERLY MARKED EITHER RESTRICTED OR MODERATE ON ADDA'S SITE! (EVERYONE PHOTOGRAPHED IS OVER 18-YEARS-ONLY!) There is NO stolen PORN on my site!

============================

NOTE: MY photos are NOT to be used or reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Understand clearly these are my photographs and use of them by anyone is an infringement of my copyrights and personal artistic property!

 

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal

*************************************** ***********

NOTE:

 

Viewers should be aware that these photos are viewed by a wide variety of folks and inappropriate X & R rated & RUDE comments shall be removed forthwith

 

Rutledge Lane, Melbourne, just off the famed Hosier Lane which attracts many visitors with its street art and formerly adorned a Banksy work titled Parachuting Rat.

A fanzine made by Ricardo Cavolo & Ferran Esteve.

20 pages about the Devil in the music... 3€ + 1€ for shippment

If you want it, just write to me to ricardocavolo@ricardocavolo.com

www.ricardocavolo.com/2011/10/devils-trill-fanzine.html

 

bans

Turning four on Jan 8th and so anxious to start to read and write. A new world opening for her.

Thursday is lunch at Vovos´ day. So I grabbed the opportunity and gave her a piece of paper and a pencil. Barely had time to grab my IPhone.

It's now become part of our travelling calendar - we go on a city break for Jayne’s birthday in January - no presents for birthday's and Christmas, we travel instead. This year it was Seville. We had to drive 180 miles south to Stansted to fly there though, Friday afternoon on the A1, such fun... It was a really good drive down in actual fact, the best day for months, glorious blue sky and a fantastic sunset- and I was in a car. We got stung for tea and drinks in the Radison Blu but we were overnighting and leaving the car so we didn't have much choice. Ryanair aagh! Again no choice. To be fair to the abrasive Irish man O Leary things are better than they used to be and it was an acceptable flight.

 

We were hoping for better weather than we got- don't you always? It was. cold, windy and after some initial beautiful sun on our first afternoon, it was mostly grey. The wind died but so did the sun. The other little problem was that it was my turn for the awful cold that Jayne had been trying to get over. I was under the weather in more ways than one all week, it was only a cold but it was the worst I've had for ages and it didn't help my mood, particularly when the sun was absent. We had a few hours of really nice light here and there and I made the most of it - I think!

 

Seville has miles and miles of narrow cobbled streets, they seem to go on for ever. They are almost random in layout and it is extremely difficult to find your way around, it's easier to just keep walking and see what you find. So we did! The architecture is stunning and the history is fascinating. Aside from the ancient history the two events that seem to have had a massive recent influence are the Expo's of 1929 and 1992. The incredible buildings or 'Pavilions' that were built for a one off event are now part of the reason that people visit the city. The 1929 pavilions are fantastic, each one is a story in itself and a destination in its own right but there are a lot of them in Parque Maria Luisa. Plaza Espana, built by the hosts of course, is the biggest and I would imagine that you could make a project out of photographing the individual ceramic tile displays around it on their own. These incredible buildings really need the light to be right to get images that people want to see, flat bright light from bright grey skies is good for certain things but dramatic architecture deserves better - or maybe I'm looking for the easy way option. The other discovery that we made, we found just down the road from the hotel, about an hour into the trip – The Metropol Parasol. A giant lattice work parasol, apparently called ‘The Mushrooms’ locally and apparently the world’s largest wooden structure. You have to look twice, having discovered that it is wood. Only later did we discover that we could get to the top and there is an extensive walkway around the top of it. It is built on top of ancient ruins, ( still intact and viewable) a food market and bars etc. and has a plaza around it and on it, that is buzzing on weekend evenings. Walking around the top, the first people up it one day and being back to watch the sunset later was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

 

The 1992 Expo also covered a massive area but left behind lots of modern - and some very strange - buildings and arenas. Some are of a temporary nature and get dismantled others find a new use. The land used was on an island between two branches of the River Guadalquivir – Isla de la Cartuja. The branch that goes through the city is now a canal, blocked at its northern end by a barrier with a motorway on it, and is used extensively for water sports, mainly rowing. Many of the buildings are now used by private companies as headquarters , others have a very derelict look. The whole area- even though it is home to the theme park- which was shut for the winter, has a neglected air about it. There are weeds growing everywhere but fountains are switched on, which seemed odd. Unlike the city a short distance away, there are no cafes or bars or other people around for that matter, just us meandering through. The car park that was created for the event is massive, it stretches for miles, and I really mean miles. Totally derelict, just the odd person or dog walker around. There is even a railway line terminating here, in the middle of nowhere a modern and apparently unmanned station, like a ghost station. At this point, across the river proper is open countryside, much flatter than I expected and very easy for local walkers and cyclists to get to - also very calm and quiet, a place to linger and enjoy the peace.

 

As usual I researched and discovered as we walked, we averaged around 13 miles a day and tried to get off the beaten track. We were out around 8.15, before sunrise, and had orange juice, coffee and Tostada with the locals for breakfast. The trouble is that there are many miles of walking in a relatively small area, some streets are only a few feet wide so there are a lot of them to explore. Incredible ancient churches and squares are around every corner- it's a very religious place - Catholicism rules in Spain. Unfortunately many are only a few feet away from the building next to it and it is difficult to get a decent shot of them. Seville is also famous, historically, as a producer of ceramic tiles. A building isn’t complete without a tile display of some sort and it would be very easy to make a project out of tiles alone. It may be a little boring for any companions though!

 

We walked the length of the embankment a couple of times, it has graffiti from end to end, several miles of massive concrete walls covered in everything imaginable, from marker pen scribbling to works of art. It was suggested to me that allowing people to paint here might prevent them from daubing property and monuments in the city- it hasn't! Most alleyways and shutters have been attacked to a greater or lesser degree. Spain has very high youth unemployment and maybe this plays a role. To be truthful though we haven't seen a city that's free of graffiti. The other problem is dogs- or what they produce, it's everywhere, absolutely everywhere, in a week we saw only one person remove his dogs mess. Fortunately the city streets are cleaned exceptionally well, some of the cleanest we have come across, men (and a lot of women) and machines are washing and sweeping endlessly.

 

Having had the wettest winter on record at home - almost three months of rain - we didn't want more rain but we got it. The upside was the water and the reflections that it created made photography on the cobbled streets more interesting, particularly at night. I usually find that it takes me a while to get into the groove on a trip and this one was no different, I didn't start shooting with total disregard - street shots- for a couple of days. Whilst the locals wore quilted jackets and scarves we got down to tee shirts at times, the warmer afternoons would be welcome in summer, never mind January, in Huddersfield. I envied the cyclists, being able to train in temperatures like this in winter - I wish! You need a lot less willpower to get out there and train hard in pleasant weather.

 

From a photography point of view I had a frustrating time, I never felt to get to grips with the place- other than on the streets at night. Writing this on my phone on the flight home, I haven't a clue what I've got to work with when I get back. I usually edit first and write later. Generally I have a first look, I'm disillusioned, I then revisit and see things differently- thankfully! Architectural shots with a grey sky could be destined for the monochrome treatment, we'll soon see. I'm still editing stuff from our London trip before Christmas, it's getting decent views in black and white and I quite enjoy looking at them myself.

We visited most of the notable tourist destinations, and went up anything that we could. Seville doesn't have a high point-it's flat! Nothing really stands head and shoulders above the city. The Cathedral tower is over 300 feet but the Cathedral itself fills a lot of the view on some aspects. Being square and having to look through bars in recesses you don't really get a completely open aspect. A new 600 foot tower is close to being finished, it's an office block and I couldn't find any mention of it being a viewing point in the future.

 

Oranges were the last thing on my mind when I suggested going to Seville. There are 25000 orange trees in Seville and now is the time that they are laden with big-and sour- Seville oranges, they are everywhere, apparently they are the property of the city authorities and will be harvested and sent to the UK to be made in to marmalade at some point in the near future. These trees will soon be covered in fragrant blossom, the city will smell beautiful for a couple of months. Studying the surrounding area it would be good to tour in March or April I would think, the scents, longer days and better weather would make for a fantastic trip. One for the future. The sunrise on our final morning was the best of the week, this was what we had looked forward to, we had to leave for the airport at 9.00...... Needless to say it was raining hard as we drove the last twenty miles home. Nothing new there then.

 

As usual I have aimed to present a pretty extensive collection of photographs of our chosen destination, some, at first glance will be pretty mundane shots of everyday life on the streets, often though, close inspection will reveal something humorous, something that needs a bit of thought. Others are definitely just people going about their holiday or work. Travelling with someone else it wouldn’t be fair to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to nail the perfect long exposure or HDR image of a cathedral or similar in perfect light – the one stunning shot to add to the portfolio- it’s not really my thing, I go for an overview of the place in the time available. Looking at the postcards locally it becomes obvious that stunning shots of some of these buildings are hard to come by. Heavily corrected converging verticals were quite obvious – and most likely will be in my own shots. As the owner of tilt and shift lenses I never travel with one – ever! My knees are already creaking from the weight of the bag.

 

From the time I learned to write, I have been creating short stories and essays. There were no writers in the family, so I don't know where I got the idea I could write or should write.

 

Most articles are too long and lose the readers' interest. So, there is a place for the short essay in America today. And in my opinion, there is a shortage of essays. I will try and fill that shortage as time goes by.

to write love on her arms..

elogan-photography.deviantart.com

Here is an amazing write up by Govinda:

 

Venus passed between the Earth and our Sun on June 8th, 2004, and initiated an eight-year cycle known as the “Venus Transits”. The Venus Transits cycle is a rare celestial event that occurs every 113 – 130 years, when Venus eclipses the Sun two times – at the beginning and at the end of an eight-year period. The second Venus eclipse will occur on June 6th, 2012. Astrologically, Venus represents our relationships with others. Communication is a major factor in all of our relationships. Whenever Venus eclipsed the Sun in past recorded history, there was a major breakthrough in communications. For example, at the time of the last Venus eclipse in 1874, the Transatlantic Telegraph Cable was completed that created the first intercontinental communications by wire between the East and the West. In 1761, another year of a Venus eclipse, there was a collaboration of astronomers at 77 observation points from all over the world to determine the distance from Earth to the Sun.

 

Today, we have expanded global communications for the masses through the Internet and satellite systems. Our ability to communicate with each other worldwide is continually expanding. The questions now become: What are we communicating to our world – love or fear? and, How is our media (the Internet, computer games, the movie industry, cell phones, etc.), affecting society as a whole?

 

A successful relationship is created through good communication, mutual respect and consideration for one another. This happens best when we recognize and honor the Oneness in all of us. When we are able to do this, we will create peace between each other, our organizations, our governments and countries. A good way to resolve conflicts with others is to recognize how we are the same, not how we are different. This creates a foundation from which we can build a positive, peaceful relationship. For example, when a mother loses a child in war, regardless of her color or faith, the pain is the same. When someone is shown respect and love, the joy is the same. If you realize that you and your perceived enemy both want peace so that suffering may end, then you can begin to talk from a place of mutual understanding, rather than from aggravation.

 

The Divine Feminine Awakens

 

Venus eclipsing the Sun represents an awakening of the Divine Feminine energies in our world. For thousands of years, the world has been ruled by patriarchal societies. These masculine rulers have created wars, power struggles, destruction, pollution, fear, pain, separation and famine. They have shown little or no respect for feminine wisdom or our Mother Earth.

 

The patriarchal organizations of the world have repressed most knowledge of women’s roles in world history. Recently, information has begun to be revealed that recognizes the truth of how women have affected our history. The books, The DiVinci Code, by Dan Brown and The Expected One, by Kathleen McGowan, both reveal the truth about Mary Magdalene and her relationship to Jesus, are good examples of such information. It is time for the pendulum to swing back towards the Divine Feminine and rest comfortably in the middle. To become whole, we need both the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine energies, equally in our lives.

 

As the Divine Feminine energy interfaces with human consciousness, it awakens and expands compassion within our hearts, and emotional healing can occur for all of Humanity. Compassion awakens the ability to feel and express unconditional love. To be able to love without attachments or expectations is the highest form of love that a human being can express. This kind of love supports the healing of others and our personal evolution/ascension.

 

One of the keys to accessing Divine Feminine healing energy is through forgiveness. Only when all is forgiven will total love be available to us. We must forgive others and ourselves for all of the perceived wrongs that have ever been done. We can heal ourselves if we are willing to feel and express all of our emotions, and then to forgive ourselves and others for all that we have perceived as wrong. This process will liberate us from the bondage of our emotional pain. Forgiveness is the key to releasing ourselves from our past. When we are liberated from our past and live fully in the “now” our true happiness may be realized and our power to create is maximized.

 

A Question Of Balance

 

Venus is the planet of love. The world needs creative solutions, feminine guidance and love in order to heal. These energies will continue to increase during this period, in spite of the attempts of the fear tactics of male dominance.

 

Venus represents the heart and the feminine side of our being. The Sun represents our individuality and the masculine side of our being. Venus aligning with the Sun is symbolic of our Feminine (Anima) and Masculine (Animus) energies coming into unity and balance. Venus eclipsing (in front of) the Sun symbolizes our need to consider the feminine expression first, before the masculine, and to allow the feminine energies to guide and balance masculine expression.

 

Creativity Awakens!

 

Venus also represents the creative and artistic sides of our natures. The Venus Transit will catalyze previously hidden, latent, artistic talent and creative abilities. People who have never expressed an art form before will awaken their hidden talents. Artists will discover new modalities through which they can express themselves more deeply. For example, many people who have never played a musical instrument will suddenly feel a desire to learn and express themselves through music. Some will want to join the local acting clubs, and so on.

 

Uncovering Secrets In Relationships

 

Again, communication is a key factor in all of our personal, business and international relationships. This Venus Transit is calling for a deeper honesty in relationships. Since the Venus transit from 2004 - 2012 coincides with the Uranus in Pisces cycle, communications between humans will develop on intuitive levels. The combined energies of these two cycles will catalyze heightened intuitive awareness of our hidden emotions and desires, as well as awareness of our partners’ hidden emotions and desires. Eventually, we will no longer be able to, or need to, hide our true feelings from each other. In time, we will develop total trust and love for each other.

 

Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

The world needs a higher, altruistic, spiritual love to manifest and prevail over the lower, more selfish emotions. A world where unconditional, spiritual love prevails is our potential as human beings. Conscious and unconscious fear-based emotions are obstacles to this higher love. To discover and express this kind of love, Humanity must first expose and purge the fear-based emotions in our collective consciousness.

 

From an astrological perspective, Venus represents the emotional energies in our relationships with others. When Venus eclipsed the Sun, it blocked some of the Sun’s light and exposed the dark side of Venus, which represents the shadow side of our emotional natures. This began an eight-year process of uncovering the shadows in our emotional relationships. These shadows are the unresolved, repressed, fear-based psychological energies that unconsciously cause dysfunctionality and unhappiness in our relationships. They cause us to behave in ways that undermine our relationships, block intimacy, and cause breakdowns in communications. Essentially, these shadows block our ability to truly love another person. These repressed emotions usually begin during our early childhoods and/or may be carried over from past lives.

 

We must take responsibility for how we show up in our relationships with others. It is important to observe our feelings and our behavior with the important people in our lives, and to come to terms with our dysfunctional emotional patterns. It may be helpful and revealing for each of us to ask these questions: “Where am I not able to be truly open, honest and real in my relationships with others?”, “At what point do I shut down emotionally?”, “Where are my boundaries?” and “Are these boundaries healthy or are they blocking my intimacy?”

 

It is up to each of us to allow intimacy into our heart to expand our relationship with others. Intimacy can only happen when we allow others to “Into me see.” This develops when we let down our barriers and allow others to see into our hearts. To the best of our abilities, we must be honest with ourselves. We must allow ourselves to be vulnerable and expose our true feelings (even if they are negative emotions) to those whom we are in relationships with. This will endear ourselves to others and deepen our intimacy with them.

 

Expanding Love

 

Another result of the Venus Transit is an increase of our capacity to love others more completely, deeply and intensely. This will include heightened feelings of love and appreciation for our partners and other people in our lives. Our emotional natures are melding with our spiritual natures, which is expanding our capacity for unconditional love.

 

The opposite will also be true. We will become more clear and sensitive to the truth about all of our relationships. If a person is not in alignment with our higher good, we will become increasingly disillusioned with this person. Our dysfunctional relationships will become increasingly apparent, and we may feel a need to change the structure or boundaries of these relationships. We may need to end some of our relationships that are no longer serving our personal evolution.

 

What you Appreciate, Appreciates

 

In our relationships with others, it is good to let them know how much we appreciate their being in our lives. Let’s be thankful for all of the qualities that we enjoy in others and let them know how much we appreciate them. Remember that what we appreciate, appreciates.

 

The most effective way to accomplish self-understanding and personal mastery is through our relationships. We can monitor our process of personal mastery of our egos by observing our interrelations with others – are we experiencing conditional or unconditional love?

 

Compassion opens the door to unconditional love. Unconditional love is supported by seeing the Divine in others and acting in integrity with love. Our relationships with others are our greatest gifts, and integrity is vital for each relationship to work. Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. It helps to ask, “What is the highest good for all concerned?” The higher good for all can be perceived in your heart from a feeling of love.

 

No Man is an Island

 

We should never underestimate our power to influence the evolution of the world. Each of us is an integral part of the Collective Consciousness of Humanity. When one person evolves spiritually, the Collective Consciousness evolves as well. Whenever even one person increases compassion and opens their heart to unconditional love, he/she raises the vibrational frequency of the World. As the Collective Consciousness evolves, so too shall each individual. A quote from Bette Reese says it all: “If you think you’re too small to be effective, you have never been in bed with a mosquito.”

 

Integrating Sacred Love

 

By the time of the second eclipse of the Sun by Venus, on June 6, 2012, Humanity will have evolved to a place of greater readiness for a higher love. Hopefully, after eight years of processing the shadows of our emotions, awakening intuition and developing compassion, we will have cleared the psychological obstacles to unconditional love. Then, Peace on Earth, and Goodwill towards all people will be possible. Sacred love expands when the Divine in one person appreciates and honors the Divine in another. Thus, the sacred wheel of love is created and Heaven on Earth will manifest for those individuals. As this happens for everyone, Peace on Earth will become a reality.

 

Namaste,

Govinda

 

Spinchat Healing - The Gifted Revolution.

 

www.SpinChat.com/Group/Healing_-_Meditation_-_Karma_-_Spi...

[image: cid:image001.jpg@01CEC01A.0222F090][image:

cid:image002.jpg@01CEC01A.0222F090]

 

Dear MAG members and friends,

 

We are pleased to provide you with the details for the upcoming badminton

event. Please come and join us to have fun at all levels.

 

*Timing*

Sunday, *1st May, 2016* from *10.00am to 2.30pm (**10.30am start playing **so

please come 30 mins earlier for registration & briefing)*

Where : *Cen**tre de La Veyre*

*, St-Légier*

 

*How to get **ther**e*

*Cen**tre de La Veyre*

 

*Chemin La Veyre 6, 1806 St-Légier *

Tél. 021 921 49 79

www.cvtennis.ch/club/

 

By car:

Autoroute A1 (1 hour), exit:

– *Vevey* from Geneva,

For map and directions to get there, click here

  

*How to find us*

MAG has reserved FOUR badminton courts. At the entrance to the badminton

courts, you will need to register and make payment depending on the

category you choose.

 

[image: cid:image010.png@01D0194C.84067910]

 

*Where to park*

Parking is available near the building

 

*Categories*

a) For “Fun” – *CHF5/person*

b) For “Tournament” – *CHF10/person*

 

*What to bring*

For “Fun” and “Tournament” - Your badminton racket

[image: cid:image004.png@01CEC01A.0222F090]

For those who is coming to watch and support, you can dress up like a Pom

Pom girl/boy to support your favorite player(s). Of course you can use your

voice and applause too.

[image: cid:image005.png@01CEC01A.0222F090]

 

*What will MAG provide*

Drinks and shuttlecocks

 

1) Nylon Shuttlecock - for “Fun”

[image: cid:image009.png@01CEBA0A.04E997E0]

 

2) Feather Shuttlecock - for “tournament”

[image: cid:image007.jpg@01CEC01A.0222F090]

 

*Rules (only for tournament)*

1) This category would be mixing Malaysians and Non-Malaysians (males and

females) for doubles matches. Different couples will be formed via a draw

before each game. The *winners* of the game will be mixed with the * losers*

via another draw to form new couples for the next doubles match. The

players who accumulate more victories will go to semifinals and then final.

2) Please note that in order to ensure all players play the matches

*equally* following the rule, it has been decided to have only *MAX

36* subscriptions;

so please enroll yourself as soon as possible *to guarantee a place*!

 

*Prize*

Only for winners (Tournament)

 

Please *RSVP by Mon 25th Apr *using the doodle link below. Please use the

same link for voting for the food.

doodle.com/poll/mvr4z26mf7x2s3dk

 

An example :

[image: cid:image010.png@01D17957.24244F10]

 

*Food After match*

For those who would like to enjoy sushi after the match are welcomed to

join us for the price of *CHF35/person (menu is fixed)*. Sakura Sushi

restaurant is situated right in front of Vevey train station (beside Hotel

Astra). Please use the above doodle link for subscribing it.

*Take Note : Restaurant’s capacity is limited !!! Only MAX 25 places on a

first come first serve basis!*

 

[image: cid:image003.png@01D019D9.C1FE98F0]

 

If you encounter any issues filling up doodle, please let us know at

mag.komunikasi@gmail.com and we will see to it.

 

We are looking forward to seeing you on the badminton courts for another

great get together of the Malaysian community and friends.

What are you waiting for ? Come and show us your talent…..

 

Yours truly,

MAG

 

*Email : **mag.komunikasi@gmail.com*

*Website : **www.mag-geneva.org*

*Facebook: **MAG Facebook Page*

  

"Please write to us if you want to be removed from the mailing list"

October 9, 2009

  

I sat and sharpened my pencils on a white piece of paper and start to play around with it and eventually I got this out of it. <3 It was actually really fun, but I got really black finger xD

LEAH GARCHIK writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I am informed by ADDA DADA , who never misses a party, that the winner of the Hunky Jesus Contest was TWERKING JESUS. And "Why carry your cross when you can ride it?" is what REBECCA ZITO when she spotted a cyclist so accessorized.'

 

In Wednesday's Leah Garchik column in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Dancing-in-t... ............................................................................................SISTER's of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE's 35th Annual HUNKY JESUS & FOXY MARY fun....The best thing about the Sister's show were the Marijuana 4/20 folks who incorrectly wandered into the Sister's party space...They were like "OMG, This is like , OZ, man."

  

Yes, it was.

 

Probably because it was the Sister's 35th Anniversary and it was an homage to the Wizard of Oz. The lawn in front of the stage was filled with red-paper poppies. There were several 'Cowardly Lions", many "Glenda the Good Witch", a couple of 'Bad Witches" including one on a bike...a very young 6-year old Judy Garland passing out Giradelli Chocolate, an awesome Scarecrow of indeterminate sex, a few Tin Men (and one obviously Tin Woman), and even a couple of 'munchkins'...yes, real little people. Though, ADDA DADA is happy to report that there were no Flying Monkeys.

 

THANK YOU to all the beautiful adults who let ADDA take their photos! (Everyone was properly asked & everyone consented.)

  

(These photos carry copyright protection. Do NOT post them elsewhere! )

============================

THE 'NUDES' ARE PROPERLY MARKED EITHER RESTRICTED OR MODERATE ON ADDA'S SITE! (EVERYONE PHOTOGRAPHED IS OVER 18-YEARS-ONLY!) There is NO stolen PORN on my site!

============================

NOTE: MY photos are NOT to be used or reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Understand clearly these are my photographs and use of them by anyone is an infringement of my copyrights and personal artistic property!

 

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal

*************************************** ***********

NOTE:

 

Viewers should be aware that these photos are viewed by a wide variety of folks and inappropriate X & R rated & RUDE comments shall be removed forthwith

 

13.11.09 is twloha day..http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=feed&story_fbid=180801490669&id=557005625#/event.php?eid=180283055427&index=1

 

spread the love..

  

elogan-photography.deviantart.com

LEAH GARCHIK writes in the San Francisco Chronicle: 'I am informed by ADDA DADA , who never misses a party, that the winner of the Hunky Jesus Contest was TWERKING JESUS. And "Why carry your cross when you can ride it?" is what REBECCA ZITO when she spotted a cyclist so accessorized.'

 

In Wednesday's Leah Garchik column in the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

www.sfgate.com/entertainment/garchik/article/Dancing-in-t... ............................................................................................SISTER's of PERPETUAL INDULGENCE's 35th Annual HUNKY JESUS & FOXY MARY fun....The best thing about the Sister's show were the Marijuana 4/20 folks who incorrectly wandered into the Sister's party space...They were like "OMG, This is like , OZ, man."

  

Yes, it was.

 

Probably because it was the Sister's 35th Anniversary and it was an homage to the Wizard of Oz. The lawn in front of the stage was filled with red-paper poppies. There were several 'Cowardly Lions", many "Glenda the Good Witch", a couple of 'Bad Witches" including one on a bike...a very young 6-year old Judy Garland passing out Giradelli Chocolate, an awesome Scarecrow of indeterminate sex, a few Tin Men (and one obviously Tin Woman), and even a couple of 'munchkins'...yes, real little people. Though, ADDA DADA is happy to report that there were no Flying Monkeys.

 

THANK YOU to all the beautiful adults who let ADDA take their photos! (Everyone was properly asked & everyone consented.)

  

(These photos carry copyright protection. Do NOT post them elsewhere! )

============================

THE 'NUDES' ARE PROPERLY MARKED EITHER RESTRICTED OR MODERATE ON ADDA'S SITE! (EVERYONE PHOTOGRAPHED IS OVER 18-YEARS-ONLY!) There is NO stolen PORN on my site!

============================

NOTE: MY photos are NOT to be used or reproduced, COPIED, BLOGGED, USED in any way shape or form. Understand clearly these are my photographs and use of them by anyone is an infringement of my copyrights and personal artistic property!

 

© All rights reserved. Use without permission is illegal

*************************************** ***********

NOTE:

 

Viewers should be aware that these photos are viewed by a wide variety of folks and inappropriate X & R rated & RUDE comments shall be removed forthwith

 

A Joint Terminal Attack Controller from the Canadian Armed Forces writes notes during training at the Cincu Range during Operation REASSURANCE Air Task Force - Romania on October 14, 2021.

 

Photo: Aviator Avery Philpott, Canadian Armed Forces photo

~

Un contrôleur interarmées de la finale de l’attaque des Forces armées canadiennes affecté à la Force opérationnelle aérienne – Roumanie de l’opération REASSURANCE prend des notes lors d’un entraînement au champ de tir de Cincu, le 14 octobre 2021.

 

Photo : Aviateur Avery Philpott, Forces armées canadiennes

Graffiti (plural; singular graffiti or graffito, the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, and has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and the Roman Empire (see also mural).

 

Graffiti is a controversial subject. In most countries, marking or painting property without permission is considered by property owners and civic authorities as defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime, citing the use of graffiti by street gangs to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Graffiti has become visualized as a growing urban "problem" for many cities in industrialized nations, spreading from the New York City subway system and Philadelphia in the early 1970s to the rest of the United States and Europe and other world regions

 

"Graffiti" (usually both singular and plural) and the rare singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato ("scratched"). The term "graffiti" is used in art history for works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface. A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was primarily used by potters who would glaze their wares and then scratch a design into them. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used. The word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write".

 

The term graffiti originally referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, and such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Historically, these writings were not considered vanadlism, which today is considered part of the definition of graffiti.

 

The only known source of the Safaitic language, an ancient form of Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD.

 

Some of the oldest cave paintings in the world are 40,000 year old ones found in Australia. The oldest written graffiti was found in ancient Rome around 2500 years ago. Most graffiti from the time was boasts about sexual experiences Graffiti in Ancient Rome was a form of communication, and was not considered vandalism.

 

Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka write their names and commentary over the "mirror wall", adding up to over 1800 individual graffiti produced there between the 6th and 18th centuries. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads:

 

Wet with cool dew drops

fragrant with perfume from the flowers

came the gentle breeze

jasmine and water lily

dance in the spring sunshine

side-long glances

of the golden-hued ladies

stab into my thoughts

heaven itself cannot take my mind

as it has been captivated by one lass

among the five hundred I have seen here.

 

Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, and people used to read and circulate them very widely.

 

Graffiti, known as Tacherons, were frequently scratched on Romanesque Scandinavian church walls. When Renaissance artists such as Pinturicchio, Raphael, Michelangelo, Ghirlandaio, or Filippino Lippi descended into the ruins of Nero's Domus Aurea, they carved or painted their names and returned to initiate the grottesche style of decoration.

 

There are also examples of graffiti occurring in American history, such as Independence Rock, a national landmark along the Oregon Trail.

 

Later, French soldiers carved their names on monuments during the Napoleonic campaign of Egypt in the 1790s. Lord Byron's survives on one of the columns of the Temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion in Attica, Greece.

 

The oldest known example of graffiti "monikers" found on traincars created by hobos and railworkers since the late 1800s. The Bozo Texino monikers were documented by filmmaker Bill Daniel in his 2005 film, Who is Bozo Texino?.

 

In World War II, an inscription on a wall at the fortress of Verdun was seen as an illustration of the US response twice in a generation to the wrongs of the Old World:

 

During World War II and for decades after, the phrase "Kilroy was here" with an accompanying illustration was widespread throughout the world, due to its use by American troops and ultimately filtering into American popular culture. Shortly after the death of Charlie Parker (nicknamed "Yardbird" or "Bird"), graffiti began appearing around New York with the words "Bird Lives".

 

Modern graffiti art has its origins with young people in 1960s and 70s in New York City and Philadelphia. Tags were the first form of stylised contemporary graffiti. Eventually, throw-ups and pieces evolved with the desire to create larger art. Writers used spray paint and other kind of materials to leave tags or to create images on the sides subway trains. and eventually moved into the city after the NYC metro began to buy new trains and paint over graffiti.

 

While the art had many advocates and appreciators—including the cultural critic Norman Mailer—others, including New York City mayor Ed Koch, considered it to be defacement of public property, and saw it as a form of public blight. The ‘taggers’ called what they did ‘writing’—though an important 1974 essay by Mailer referred to it using the term ‘graffiti.’

 

Contemporary graffiti style has been heavily influenced by hip hop culture and the myriad international styles derived from Philadelphia and New York City Subway graffiti; however, there are many other traditions of notable graffiti in the twentieth century. Graffiti have long appeared on building walls, in latrines, railroad boxcars, subways, and bridges.

 

An early graffito outside of New York or Philadelphia was the inscription in London reading "Clapton is God" in reference to the guitarist Eric Clapton. Creating the cult of the guitar hero, the phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington, north London in the autumn of 1967. The graffito was captured in a photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall.

 

Films like Style Wars in the 80s depicting famous writers such as Skeme, Dondi, MinOne, and ZEPHYR reinforced graffiti's role within New York's emerging hip-hop culture. Although many officers of the New York City Police Department found this film to be controversial, Style Wars is still recognized as the most prolific film representation of what was going on within the young hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983

 

Commercialization and entrance into mainstream pop culture

Main article: Commercial graffiti

With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign in Chicago and San Francisco which involved people spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." IBM paid Chicago and San Francisco collectively US$120,000 for punitive damages and clean-up costs.

 

In 2005, a similar ad campaign was launched by Sony and executed by its advertising agency in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Miami, to market its handheld PSP gaming system. In this campaign, taking notice of the legal problems of the IBM campaign, Sony paid building owners for the rights to paint on their buildings "a collection of dizzy-eyed urban kids playing with the PSP as if it were a skateboard, a paddle, or a rocking horse".

 

Tristan Manco wrote that Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich, graffiti scene ... [earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration". Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities". Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of São Paulo today and 1970s New York". The "sprawling metropolis", of São Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti"; Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment ... [and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples", and to "Brazil's chronic poverty", as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture". In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently". Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised", that is South American graffiti art.

 

Prominent Brazilian writers include Os Gêmeos, Boleta, Nunca, Nina, Speto, Tikka, and T.Freak. Their artistic success and involvement in commercial design ventures has highlighted divisions within the Brazilian graffiti community between adherents of the cruder transgressive form of pichação and the more conventionally artistic values of the practitioners of grafite.

 

Graffiti in the Middle East has emerged slowly, with taggers operating in Egypt, Lebanon, the Gulf countries like Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and in Iran. The major Iranian newspaper Hamshahri has published two articles on illegal writers in the city with photographic coverage of Iranian artist A1one's works on Tehran walls. Tokyo-based design magazine, PingMag, has interviewed A1one and featured photographs of his work. The Israeli West Bank barrier has become a site for graffiti, reminiscent in this sense of the Berlin Wall. Many writers in Israel come from other places around the globe, such as JUIF from Los Angeles and DEVIONE from London. The religious reference "נ נח נחמ נחמן מאומן" ("Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman") is commonly seen in graffiti around Israel.

 

Graffiti has played an important role within the street art scene in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), especially following the events of the Arab Spring of 2011 or the Sudanese Revolution of 2018/19. Graffiti is a tool of expression in the context of conflict in the region, allowing people to raise their voices politically and socially. Famous street artist Banksy has had an important effect in the street art scene in the MENA area, especially in Palestine where some of his works are located in the West Bank barrier and Bethlehem.

 

There are also a large number of graffiti influences in Southeast Asian countries that mostly come from modern Western culture, such as Malaysia, where graffiti have long been a common sight in Malaysia's capital city, Kuala Lumpur. Since 2010, the country has begun hosting a street festival to encourage all generations and people from all walks of life to enjoy and encourage Malaysian street culture.

 

The modern-day graffitists can be found with an arsenal of various materials that allow for a successful production of a piece. This includes such techniques as scribing. However, spray paint in aerosol cans is the number one medium for graffiti. From this commodity comes different styles, technique, and abilities to form master works of graffiti. Spray paint can be found at hardware and art stores and comes in virtually every color.

 

Stencil graffiti is created by cutting out shapes and designs in a stiff material (such as cardboard or subject folders) to form an overall design or image. The stencil is then placed on the "canvas" gently and with quick, easy strokes of the aerosol can, the image begins to appear on the intended surface.

 

Some of the first examples were created in 1981 by artists Blek le Rat in Paris, in 1982 by Jef Aerosol in Tours (France); by 1985 stencils had appeared in other cities including New York City, Sydney, and Melbourne, where they were documented by American photographer Charles Gatewood and Australian photographer Rennie Ellis

 

Tagging is the practice of someone spray-painting "their name, initial or logo onto a public surface" in a handstyle unique to the writer. Tags were the first form of modern graffiti.

 

Modern graffiti art often incorporates additional arts and technologies. For example, Graffiti Research Lab has encouraged the use of projected images and magnetic light-emitting diodes (throwies) as new media for graffitists. yarnbombing is another recent form of graffiti. Yarnbombers occasionally target previous graffiti for modification, which had been avoided among the majority of graffitists.

 

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Asger Jorn, who in 1962 painting declared in a graffiti-like gesture "the avant-garde won't give up"

 

Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art. According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or, in the achievement of a political goal

 

In times of conflict, such murals have offered a means of communication and self-expression for members of these socially, ethnically, or racially divided communities, and have proven themselves as effective tools in establishing dialog and thus, of addressing cleavages in the long run. The Berlin Wall was also extensively covered by graffiti reflecting social pressures relating to the oppressive Soviet rule over the GDR.

 

Many artists involved with graffiti are also concerned with the similar activity of stenciling. Essentially, this entails stenciling a print of one or more colors using spray-paint. Recognized while exhibiting and publishing several of her coloured stencils and paintings portraying the Sri Lankan Civil War and urban Britain in the early 2000s, graffitists Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., has also become known for integrating her imagery of political violence into her music videos for singles "Galang" and "Bucky Done Gun", and her cover art. Stickers of her artwork also often appear around places such as London in Brick Lane, stuck to lamp posts and street signs, she having become a muse for other graffitists and painters worldwide in cities including Seville.

 

Graffitist believes that art should be on display for everyone in the public eye or in plain sight, not hidden away in a museum or a gallery. Art should color the streets, not the inside of some building. Graffiti is a form of art that cannot be owned or bought. It does not last forever, it is temporary, yet one of a kind. It is a form of self promotion for the artist that can be displayed anywhere form sidewalks, roofs, subways, building wall, etc. Art to them is for everyone and should be showed to everyone for free.

 

Graffiti is a way of communicating and a way of expressing what one feels in the moment. It is both art and a functional thing that can warn people of something or inform people of something. However, graffiti is to some people a form of art, but to some a form of vandalism. And many graffitists choose to protect their identities and remain anonymous or to hinder prosecution.

 

With the commercialization of graffiti (and hip hop in general), in most cases, even with legally painted "graffiti" art, graffitists tend to choose anonymity. This may be attributed to various reasons or a combination of reasons. Graffiti still remains the one of four hip hop elements that is not considered "performance art" despite the image of the "singing and dancing star" that sells hip hop culture to the mainstream. Being a graphic form of art, it might also be said that many graffitists still fall in the category of the introverted archetypal artist.

 

Banksy is one of the world's most notorious and popular street artists who continues to remain faceless in today's society. He is known for his political, anti-war stencil art mainly in Bristol, England, but his work may be seen anywhere from Los Angeles to Palestine. In the UK, Banksy is the most recognizable icon for this cultural artistic movement and keeps his identity a secret to avoid arrest. Much of Banksy's artwork may be seen around the streets of London and surrounding suburbs, although he has painted pictures throughout the world, including the Middle East, where he has painted on Israel's controversial West Bank barrier with satirical images of life on the other side. One depicted a hole in the wall with an idyllic beach, while another shows a mountain landscape on the other side. A number of exhibitions also have taken place since 2000, and recent works of art have fetched vast sums of money. Banksy's art is a prime example of the classic controversy: vandalism vs. art. Art supporters endorse his work distributed in urban areas as pieces of art and some councils, such as Bristol and Islington, have officially protected them, while officials of other areas have deemed his work to be vandalism and have removed it.

 

Pixnit is another artist who chooses to keep her identity from the general public. Her work focuses on beauty and design aspects of graffiti as opposed to Banksy's anti-government shock value. Her paintings are often of flower designs above shops and stores in her local urban area of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Some store owners endorse her work and encourage others to do similar work as well. "One of the pieces was left up above Steve's Kitchen, because it looks pretty awesome"- Erin Scott, the manager of New England Comics in Allston, Massachusetts.

 

Graffiti artists may become offended if photographs of their art are published in a commercial context without their permission. In March 2020, the Finnish graffiti artist Psyke expressed his displeasure at the newspaper Ilta-Sanomat publishing a photograph of a Peugeot 208 in an article about new cars, with his graffiti prominently shown on the background. The artist claims he does not want his art being used in commercial context, not even if he were to receive compensation.

 

Territorial graffiti marks urban neighborhoods with tags and logos to differentiate certain groups from others. These images are meant to show outsiders a stern look at whose turf is whose. The subject matter of gang-related graffiti consists of cryptic symbols and initials strictly fashioned with unique calligraphies. Gang members use graffiti to designate membership throughout the gang, to differentiate rivals and associates and, most commonly, to mark borders which are both territorial and ideological.

 

Graffiti has been used as a means of advertising both legally and illegally. Bronx-based TATS CRU has made a name for themselves doing legal advertising campaigns for companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Toyota, and MTV. In the UK, Covent Garden's Boxfresh used stencil images of a Zapatista revolutionary in the hopes that cross referencing would promote their store.

 

Smirnoff hired artists to use reverse graffiti (the use of high pressure hoses to clean dirty surfaces to leave a clean image in the surrounding dirt) to increase awareness of their product.

 

Graffiti often has a reputation as part of a subculture that rebels against authority, although the considerations of the practitioners often diverge and can relate to a wide range of attitudes. It can express a political practice and can form just one tool in an array of resistance techniques. One early example includes the anarcho-punk band Crass, who conducted a campaign of stenciling anti-war, anarchist, feminist, and anti-consumerist messages throughout the London Underground system during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In Amsterdam graffiti was a major part of the punk scene. The city was covered with names such as "De Zoot", "Vendex", and "Dr Rat". To document the graffiti a punk magazine was started that was called Gallery Anus. So when hip hop came to Europe in the early 1980s there was already a vibrant graffiti culture.

 

The student protests and general strike of May 1968 saw Paris bedecked in revolutionary, anarchistic, and situationist slogans such as L'ennui est contre-révolutionnaire ("Boredom is counterrevolutionary") and Lisez moins, vivez plus ("Read less, live more"). While not exhaustive, the graffiti gave a sense of the 'millenarian' and rebellious spirit, tempered with a good deal of verbal wit, of the strikers.

 

I think graffiti writing is a way of defining what our generation is like. Excuse the French, we're not a bunch of p---- artists. Traditionally artists have been considered soft and mellow people, a little bit kooky. Maybe we're a little bit more like pirates that way. We defend our territory, whatever space we steal to paint on, we defend it fiercely.

 

The developments of graffiti art which took place in art galleries and colleges as well as "on the street" or "underground", contributed to the resurfacing in the 1990s of a far more overtly politicized art form in the subvertising, culture jamming, or tactical media movements. These movements or styles tend to classify the artists by their relationship to their social and economic contexts, since, in most countries, graffiti art remains illegal in many forms except when using non-permanent paint. Since the 1990s with the rise of Street Art, a growing number of artists are switching to non-permanent paints and non-traditional forms of painting.

 

Contemporary practitioners, accordingly, have varied and often conflicting practices. Some individuals, such as Alexander Brener, have used the medium to politicize other art forms, and have used the prison sentences enforced on them as a means of further protest. The practices of anonymous groups and individuals also vary widely, and practitioners by no means always agree with each other's practices. For example, the anti-capitalist art group the Space Hijackers did a piece in 2004 about the contradiction between the capitalistic elements of Banksy and his use of political imagery.

 

Berlin human rights activist Irmela Mensah-Schramm has received global media attention and numerous awards for her 35-year campaign of effacing neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist graffiti throughout Germany, often by altering hate speech in humorous ways.

 

In Serbian capital, Belgrade, the graffiti depicting a uniformed former general of Serb army and war criminal, convicted at ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and ethnic cleansing in Bosnian War, Ratko Mladić, appeared in a military salute alongside the words "General, thank to your mother". Aleks Eror, Berlin-based journalist, explains how "veneration of historical and wartime figures" through street art is not a new phenomenon in the region of former Yugoslavia, and that "in most cases is firmly focused on the future, rather than retelling the past". Eror is not only analyst pointing to danger of such an expressions for the region's future. In a long expose on the subject of Bosnian genocide denial, at Balkan Diskurs magazine and multimedia platform website, Kristina Gadže and Taylor Whitsell referred to these experiences as a young generations' "cultural heritage", in which young are being exposed to celebration and affirmation of war-criminals as part of their "formal education" and "inheritance".

 

There are numerous examples of genocide denial through celebration and affirmation of war criminals throughout the region of Western Balkans inhabited by Serbs using this form of artistic expression. Several more of these graffiti are found in Serbian capital, and many more across Serbia and Bosnian and Herzegovinian administrative entity, Republika Srpska, which is the ethnic Serbian majority enclave. Critics point that Serbia as a state, is willing to defend the mural of convicted war criminal, and have no intention to react on cases of genocide denial, noting that Interior Minister of Serbia, Aleksandar Vulin decision to ban any gathering with an intent to remove the mural, with the deployment of riot police, sends the message of "tacit endorsement". Consequently, on 9 November 2021, Serbian heavy police in riot gear, with graffiti creators and their supporters, blocked the access to the mural to prevent human rights groups and other activists to paint over it and mark the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism in that way, and even arrested two civic activist for throwing eggs at the graffiti.

 

Graffiti may also be used as an offensive expression. This form of graffiti may be difficult to identify, as it is mostly removed by the local authority (as councils which have adopted strategies of criminalization also strive to remove graffiti quickly). Therefore, existing racist graffiti is mostly more subtle and at first sight, not easily recognized as "racist". It can then be understood only if one knows the relevant "local code" (social, historical, political, temporal, and spatial), which is seen as heteroglot and thus a 'unique set of conditions' in a cultural context.

 

A spatial code for example, could be that there is a certain youth group in an area that is engaging heavily in racist activities. So, for residents (knowing the local code), a graffiti containing only the name or abbreviation of this gang already is a racist expression, reminding the offended people of their gang activities. Also a graffiti is in most cases, the herald of more serious criminal activity to come. A person who does not know these gang activities would not be able to recognize the meaning of this graffiti. Also if a tag of this youth group or gang is placed on a building occupied by asylum seekers, for example, its racist character is even stronger.

By making the graffiti less explicit (as adapted to social and legal constraints), these drawings are less likely to be removed, but do not lose their threatening and offensive character.

 

Elsewhere, activists in Russia have used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffitists painted obscene images around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

 

In the early 1980s, the first art galleries to show graffitists to the public were Fashion Moda in the Bronx, Now Gallery and Fun Gallery, both in the East Village, Manhattan.

 

A 2006 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum displayed graffiti as an art form that began in New York's outer boroughs and reached great heights in the early 1980s with the work of Crash, Lee, Daze, Keith Haring, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. It displayed 22 works by New York graffitists, including Crash, Daze, and Lady Pink. In an article about the exhibition in the magazine Time Out, curator Charlotta Kotik said that she hoped the exhibition would cause viewers to rethink their assumptions about graffiti.

 

From the 1970s onwards, Burhan Doğançay photographed urban walls all over the world; these he then archived for use as sources of inspiration for his painterly works. The project today known as "Walls of the World" grew beyond even his own expectations and comprises about 30,000 individual images. It spans a period of 40 years across five continents and 114 countries. In 1982, photographs from this project comprised a one-man exhibition titled "Les murs murmurent, ils crient, ils chantent ..." (The walls whisper, shout and sing ...) at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

 

In Australia, art historians have judged some local graffiti of sufficient creative merit to rank them firmly within the arts. Oxford University Press's art history text Australian Painting 1788–2000 concludes with a long discussion of graffiti's key place within contemporary visual culture, including the work of several Australian practitioners.

 

Between March and April 2009, 150 artists exhibited 300 pieces of graffiti at the Grand Palais in Paris.

 

Spray paint has many negative environmental effects. The paint contains toxic chemicals, and the can uses volatile hydrocarbon gases to spray the paint onto a surface.

 

Volatile organic compound (VOC) leads to ground level ozone formation and most of graffiti related emissions are VOCs. A 2010 paper estimates 4,862 tons of VOCs were released in the United States in activities related to graffiti.

  

In China, Mao Zedong in the 1920s used revolutionary slogans and paintings in public places to galvanize the country's communist movement.

 

Based on different national conditions, many people believe that China's attitude towards Graffiti is fierce, but in fact, according to Lance Crayon in his film Spray Paint Beijing: Graffiti in the Capital of China, Graffiti is generally accepted in Beijing, with artists not seeing much police interference. Political and religiously sensitive graffiti, however, is not allowed.

 

In Hong Kong, Tsang Tsou Choi was known as the King of Kowloon for his calligraphy graffiti over many years, in which he claimed ownership of the area. Now some of his work is preserved officially.

 

In Taiwan, the government has made some concessions to graffitists. Since 2005 they have been allowed to freely display their work along some sections of riverside retaining walls in designated "Graffiti Zones". From 2007, Taipei's department of cultural affairs also began permitting graffiti on fences around major public construction sites. Department head Yong-ping Lee (李永萍) stated, "We will promote graffiti starting with the public sector, and then later in the private sector too. It's our goal to beautify the city with graffiti". The government later helped organize a graffiti contest in Ximending, a popular shopping district. graffitists caught working outside of these designated areas still face fines up to NT$6,000 under a department of environmental protection regulation. However, Taiwanese authorities can be relatively lenient, one veteran police officer stating anonymously, "Unless someone complains about vandalism, we won't get involved. We don't go after it proactively."

 

In 1993, after several expensive cars in Singapore were spray-painted, the police arrested a student from the Singapore American School, Michael P. Fay, questioned him, and subsequently charged him with vandalism. Fay pleaded guilty to vandalizing a car in addition to stealing road signs. Under the 1966 Vandalism Act of Singapore, originally passed to curb the spread of communist graffiti in Singapore, the court sentenced him to four months in jail, a fine of S$3,500 (US$2,233), and a caning. The New York Times ran several editorials and op-eds that condemned the punishment and called on the American public to flood the Singaporean embassy with protests. Although the Singapore government received many calls for clemency, Fay's caning took place in Singapore on 5 May 1994. Fay had originally received a sentence of six strokes of the cane, but the presiding president of Singapore, Ong Teng Cheong, agreed to reduce his caning sentence to four lashes.

 

In South Korea, Park Jung-soo was fined two million South Korean won by the Seoul Central District Court for spray-painting a rat on posters of the G-20 Summit a few days before the event in November 2011. Park alleged that the initial in "G-20" sounds like the Korean word for "rat", but Korean government prosecutors alleged that Park was making a derogatory statement about the president of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, the host of the summit. This case led to public outcry and debate on the lack of government tolerance and in support of freedom of expression. The court ruled that the painting, "an ominous creature like a rat" amounts to "an organized criminal activity" and upheld the fine while denying the prosecution's request for imprisonment for Park.

 

In Europe, community cleaning squads have responded to graffiti, in some cases with reckless abandon, as when in 1992 in France a local Scout group, attempting to remove modern graffiti, damaged two prehistoric paintings of bison in the Cave of Mayrière supérieure near the French village of Bruniquel in Tarn-et-Garonne, earning them the 1992 Ig Nobel Prize in archeology.

 

In September 2006, the European Parliament directed the European Commission to create urban environment policies to prevent and eliminate dirt, litter, graffiti, animal excrement, and excessive noise from domestic and vehicular music systems in European cities, along with other concerns over urban life.

 

In Budapest, Hungary, both a city-backed movement called I Love Budapest and a special police division tackle the problem, including the provision of approved areas.

 

The Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 became Britain's latest anti-graffiti legislation. In August 2004, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign issued a press release calling for zero tolerance of graffiti and supporting proposals such as issuing "on the spot" fines to graffiti offenders and banning the sale of aerosol paint to anyone under the age of 16. The press release also condemned the use of graffiti images in advertising and in music videos, arguing that real-world experience of graffiti stood far removed from its often-portrayed "cool" or "edgy'" image.

 

To back the campaign, 123 Members of Parliament (MPs) (including then Prime Minister Tony Blair), signed a charter which stated: "Graffiti is not art, it's crime. On behalf of my constituents, I will do all I can to rid our community of this problem."

 

In the UK, city councils have the power to take action against the owner of any property that has been defaced under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (as amended by the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005) or, in certain cases, the Highways Act. This is often used against owners of property that are complacent in allowing protective boards to be defaced so long as the property is not damaged.

 

In July 2008, a conspiracy charge was used to convict graffitists for the first time. After a three-month police surveillance operation, nine members of the DPM crew were convicted of conspiracy to commit criminal damage costing at least £1 million. Five of them received prison sentences, ranging from eighteen months to two years. The unprecedented scale of the investigation and the severity of the sentences rekindled public debate over whether graffiti should be considered art or crime.

 

Some councils, like those of Stroud and Loerrach, provide approved areas in the town where graffitists can showcase their talents, including underpasses, car parks, and walls that might otherwise prove a target for the "spray and run".

 

Graffiti Tunnel, University of Sydney at Camperdown (2009)

In an effort to reduce vandalism, many cities in Australia have designated walls or areas exclusively for use by graffitists. One early example is the "Graffiti Tunnel" located at the Camperdown Campus of the University of Sydney, which is available for use by any student at the university to tag, advertise, poster, and paint. Advocates of this idea suggest that this discourages petty vandalism yet encourages artists to take their time and produce great art, without worry of being caught or arrested for vandalism or trespassing.[108][109] Others disagree with this approach, arguing that the presence of legal graffiti walls does not demonstrably reduce illegal graffiti elsewhere. Some local government areas throughout Australia have introduced "anti-graffiti squads", who clean graffiti in the area, and such crews as BCW (Buffers Can't Win) have taken steps to keep one step ahead of local graffiti cleaners.

 

Many state governments have banned the sale or possession of spray paint to those under the age of 18 (age of majority). However, a number of local governments in Victoria have taken steps to recognize the cultural heritage value of some examples of graffiti, such as prominent political graffiti. Tough new graffiti laws have been introduced in Australia with fines of up to A$26,000 and two years in prison.

 

Melbourne is a prominent graffiti city of Australia with many of its lanes being tourist attractions, such as Hosier Lane in particular, a popular destination for photographers, wedding photography, and backdrops for corporate print advertising. The Lonely Planet travel guide cites Melbourne's street as a major attraction. All forms of graffiti, including sticker art, poster, stencil art, and wheatpasting, can be found in many places throughout the city. Prominent street art precincts include; Fitzroy, Collingwood, Northcote, Brunswick, St. Kilda, and the CBD, where stencil and sticker art is prominent. As one moves farther away from the city, mostly along suburban train lines, graffiti tags become more prominent. Many international artists such as Banksy have left their work in Melbourne and in early 2008 a perspex screen was installed to prevent a Banksy stencil art piece from being destroyed, it has survived since 2003 through the respect of local street artists avoiding posting over it, although it has recently had paint tipped over it.

 

In February 2008 Helen Clark, the New Zealand prime minister at that time, announced a government crackdown on tagging and other forms of graffiti vandalism, describing it as a destructive crime representing an invasion of public and private property. New legislation subsequently adopted included a ban on the sale of paint spray cans to persons under 18 and increases in maximum fines for the offence from NZ$200 to NZ$2,000 or extended community service. The issue of tagging become a widely debated one following an incident in Auckland during January 2008 in which a middle-aged property owner stabbed one of two teenage taggers to death and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter.

 

Graffiti databases have increased in the past decade because they allow vandalism incidents to be fully documented against an offender and help the police and prosecution charge and prosecute offenders for multiple counts of vandalism. They also provide law enforcement the ability to rapidly search for an offender's moniker or tag in a simple, effective, and comprehensive way. These systems can also help track costs of damage to a city to help allocate an anti-graffiti budget. The theory is that when an offender is caught putting up graffiti, they are not just charged with one count of vandalism; they can be held accountable for all the other damage for which they are responsible. This has two main benefits for law enforcement. One, it sends a signal to the offenders that their vandalism is being tracked. Two, a city can seek restitution from offenders for all the damage that they have committed, not merely a single incident. These systems give law enforcement personnel real-time, street-level intelligence that allows them not only to focus on the worst graffiti offenders and their damage, but also to monitor potential gang violence that is associated with the graffiti.

 

Many restrictions of civil gang injunctions are designed to help address and protect the physical environment and limit graffiti. Provisions of gang injunctions include things such as restricting the possession of marker pens, spray paint cans, or other sharp objects capable of defacing private or public property; spray painting, or marking with marker pens, scratching, applying stickers, or otherwise applying graffiti on any public or private property, including, but not limited to the street, alley, residences, block walls, and fences, vehicles or any other real or personal property. Some injunctions contain wording that restricts damaging or vandalizing both public and private property, including but not limited to any vehicle, light fixture, door, fence, wall, gate, window, building, street sign, utility box, telephone box, tree, or power pole.

 

To help address many of these issues, many local jurisdictions have set up graffiti abatement hotlines, where citizens can call in and report vandalism and have it removed. San Diego's hotline receives more than 5,000 calls per year, in addition to reporting the graffiti, callers can learn more about prevention. One of the complaints about these hotlines is the response time; there is often a lag time between a property owner calling about the graffiti and its removal. The length of delay should be a consideration for any jurisdiction planning on operating a hotline. Local jurisdictions must convince the callers that their complaint of vandalism will be a priority and cleaned off right away. If the jurisdiction does not have the resources to respond to complaints in a timely manner, the value of the hotline diminishes. Crews must be able to respond to individual service calls made to the graffiti hotline as well as focus on cleanup near schools, parks, and major intersections and transit routes to have the biggest impact. Some cities offer a reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of suspects for tagging or graffiti related vandalism. The amount of the reward is based on the information provided, and the action taken.

 

When police obtain search warrants in connection with a vandalism investigation, they are often seeking judicial approval to look for items such as cans of spray paint and nozzles from other kinds of aerosol sprays; etching tools, or other sharp or pointed objects, which could be used to etch or scratch glass and other hard surfaces; permanent marking pens, markers, or paint sticks; evidence of membership or affiliation with any gang or tagging crew; paraphernalia including any reference to "(tagger's name)"; any drawings, writing, objects, or graffiti depicting taggers' names, initials, logos, monikers, slogans, or any mention of tagging crew membership; and any newspaper clippings relating to graffiti crime.

"A curious plant", writes Groningen's professor of botany, Abraham Munting (1626-1683) in his widely circulated manual of plants, his Naauwkeurige Beschryving der Aardgewassen. "It does not grow like other plants on water or in earth; but in the air, on the branches of Oaks, Apple and Pear Trees ... . It has no roots and yet is so securely anchored that it is seldom dislodged by any strong wind." According to him Mistletoe doesn't occur "in our Cold Regions". And so our determined experimenter attemped to grow it from seed in his university garden. He was sorely disappointed. "Many times I have put its seed in either pots or directly in earth as the moon waxed in March, April, May and June, and also when it waned in September, October and November. I planted shallowly as well as deeply, but the plant never appeared." Poor disappointed Munting; little did he know that the viscous seed of Mistletoe, sticking to the branches of its hosts, germinates parasitically there and not in the ground.

Apparently Munting was interested in growing it because he considered Mistletoe to be 'highly medicinal', an All-Heal (one of its names in English).

Mistletoe, in particular that growing on oaks, writes Naturalist Pliny in Classical Antiquity, was known by the Druids to be an aphrodisiac and a strong antidote to poisons. Considered a holy plant, it has been identified as 'The Golden Bough' of myth and legend.

This late-winter photo of a Golden Male Flower (about 6 mm across) of Viscum album was taken in the Hortus Haren, a descendant of the botanical garden - often called "Groningen's Paradise" - established by Munting and his father for the university. A worthy place for such a mystic plant. But here it grows on an Apple Tree and not an Oak. I wonder if that detracts from its efficacy.

NORTH RONAY AND NORTH BARRAY OR SULASGEIR

[Written in 1886]

 

Of the former accounts which have appeared of these Islands, we cannot do better than reproduce here the chronological record as supplied by our friend Mr. John Swinburne, the year before Harvie- Brown visited them for the first time. Mr. Swinburne, writes as follows, and by permission we quote very fully from his account.

“On Monday, June 18th [1886] , I left Stornoway, in the yacht for Ness Harbour, near the Butt of Lewis, where I wished to get a pilot, and at 2 a.m. on Tuesday morning I was awakened and told we were off Ness.

Going on deck, I found we were off the Butt of Lewis, in a dead calm, with a ground-swell rolling in from the North West, such as I have seldom seen. The boat was lowered with great difficulty, and I proceeded ashore.

Ness is a very strange place, being a large bay open to the south-east, the top of which is formed by a stretch of beautiful white sand, on which a heavy surf breaks continuously. The sides are formed by broken cliffs, and on the north side of the bay is the so-called harbour, which is merely a slip where the fishermen haul up their boats.

I had considerable difficulty at first in getting anyone to volunteer to act as pilot, as all the men were just going out to haul their lines, but at last a man of the name of Norman MacLeod came forward. I give the name in case anyone intending to visit Sula Sgeir or Rona should want a good pilot who knows the ground thoroughly. I should strongly advise any future visitor to get a pilot from Ness, AS THE STORNOWAY PILOTS ARE A TERRIBLE SET OF LAND-SHARKS.

Leaving Ness about 5 a.m. on the 19th, we steered north-north-east for Sula Sgeir.

On the way out, I got all the information I could from the pilot. He said that some years ago he had lived for some time on Rona, tending the few sheep that are on the Island, and that a great many birds bred there, and among them a bird which answered to the description of a petrel of some sort.

About 5 a.m. we sighted Sula Sgeir from aloft, a little on the weather bow and shortly after Rona appeared further to windward. About 7 p.m. we were close to Sula Sgeir, so I ordered the boat to be lowered, at the same time telling MacLeod that we did not want him ashore. He smiled rather grimly without answering, but as we shoved off he suddenly fell into the boat with a mighty crash, very nearly capsizing her.

Evidently he had not the slightest intention of letting me loose among the gannets by myself. He seemed to look upon them as his own private property.

The landing-place we made for is on the east or south-east side of the Island. I believe there is another and better one on the north west side, but there was a very heavy swell rolling in from that quarter.

The landing had to be effected on a very steep rock by watching for an opportunity and then making a wild leap...........

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