Sappho kvennarad

I received a most wonderful comment on Sappho Pie from kvennarad from Scotland. (author/poet/editor/blogger) She apologized for her long reply. Frankly, I did not expect any reply at all so I was therefore twice happy with the long reply.
 

I agreed with her that the Sappho stanza was “a great vehicle for expression.” She said, “Apologies for ‘blogging on your blog’.” I then went on to say to her, ”Since you do treat expression and poetic form with much heart, you may blog on my blog all you wish. I may wish to reblog this discussion sometime in the future because I think this topic of Sappho can be blogged about at some length. It is worthy content.”

She agreed.

But before I present the wonderful comment/blogging of kvennarad, here is a bit of info on Sappho, the topic of our co-blogging.

The Poetry Dictionary, 2nd Edition, describes the Sapphic stanza as

“Quatrain in which the first three lines contain eleven syllables and the forth line contains five syllables…The fourth line is called an adonic…The adonic effectively punctuates the stanza.”

While I owe a gratitude debt to the writers of the dictionary for introducing me to Sappho, there is one extremely important issue- where the Poetry Dictionary was lax. They missed it completely. They left out that I absolutely love it. I really really do.  I even like the sound of the word “adonic.”

Wikipedia says that,

“Sappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life. The bulk of her poetry, which was well-known and greatly admired throughout antiquity, has been lost, but her immense reputation has endured through surviving.”

Now, without anymore rambling on and on from me, here is  kvennarad.

kvennarad

Interesting. Thank you for posting, and please forgive me for what will probably turn out to be a long reply.

In 2006 I wrote a series of poems in what I referred to at the time as ‘Loose Sapphic’ form. The ‘Sapphic’ form was, I believe, more 18c or 19c conjecture than anything else, but having come across the idea of writing verses in 11-11-11-5 I started to use it in what turned out to be a novel way. It became a good vehicle for expression.

I found that the structure lent itself to containing a discrete idea within a verse, allowing a theme to develop throughout the poem step by step. I also found that I could abandon punctuation if I wished, allowing each line to contain a discrete grammatical element and to dictate further the structure and development of the whole poem. Usually there is a grammatical link between the third line and the shorter fourth of each verse. I discovered I could do this and achieve a great deal of flow.

What I had stumbled onto lent itself very readily to love poetry – I wrote a whole series of poems, mainly in this form, using a cottage on the Island of Iona as a metaphor for the relationship between two women. Rather than explain any further I’ll give you an example. My poetry has moved on several times since 2006 and I have not used 11-11-11-5 for a long time, but the example below gives some idea of how I made use of it. When I explained this form to people I asked them to imagine the 11-syllable lines dictating their breathing, and the 5-syllable line as having a cadence, a falling-away.

One day you will come back and it will be spring
– the cold ground will crack and run with crocuses
brash yellow and shy purple drifting away
into the distance.

Your gift will be days of returning sunlight
new time of evening’s brave and blonde afterglow
a fresh savour in the wind of something green
and young and growing.

Oh sure there will be wind and rain to bother
and slanting sleet upon the high mountain side
but the promise will be there in leaf and bud
and shorter shadows.

It will be the day when the wish of your heart
comes true against all reasoned expectation
that deep knowledge that a time would come for us
to make right a wrong.

Until that day I’ll keep my thoughts of springtime
to myself and nurture that seed in my heart
for I’m afraid you do not want to listen
to the truth in words.

But the river runs beneath the icy crust
and winter is a hoary old fibber now
to hide the truth-flow of ever-warming love
that will conquer cold.

Oh yes you will come back and it will be spring –
I know this as I know the tides ebb and flow
and as the rush of warmth into the black earth
my spring will be you!
__________

I know the poem above is far from my best, but I enjoyed feeling my way around the form back then. They were very emotional times for me – obsessively so – and my poetry at the time reflected this.

Apologies for ‘blogging on your blog’.

M
__________
Marie Marshall
author/poet/editor
Scotland
http://mairibheag.com
http://kvennarad.wordpress.com

See also:

Sappho Pie

Citizen’s United and Bolivia’s Mother Earth Laws

By Terry Gresham

Our mothers threw up their hands failing to get us to eat vegetables. Since then we, the American kids, have become excellent practitioners of the art of eventuality avoidance –we should print diplomas for ourselves– Non-pleasant, unavoidable digestible topics are not getting in easily so don’t even try feeding us climate change. Yuck, no, that’s not yummy. Climate change is not going down without a fight.

“The threat of climate change and global warming, fueled by relentless commercialization and excessive consumption, has turned into a fighting ground for both policymakers and concerned citizens. The coming decade is set to determine not only a collective response to reducing carbon emissions, but the entire future direction for international development and the global justice movement.” – http://www.stwr.org/climate-change-environment

Climate change is so hard for us; environment study equals sophisticated sci-fi contraption devises that few have access to.  How can we trust the internet or TV news to be of the truth?  At the moment, in North America it’s difficult to definitively see too much changing climate that can’t be attributed to a bad year.  We’re  just not feeling it yet or we’re feeling it as a temporary unpleasantness that will pass if we sit and wait awhile.  Our hope in sitting is that climate change talk, too, will pass with time.  The solution to climate change is easy, just don’t talk about it.  Instead, let us divert our attention to topics that do not require a lot of pie charts, measuring sticks, barometers, Geiger counters, statistics, or thermometers. So, let’s do that.

Today, we will NOT be talking about climate change.

Let’s talk about Law.  Specifically, the laws proposed by Bolivian citizens, (“Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra” as contrasted with the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

First, Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

“Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: In January, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a divided 5-4 vote, held that section 441b of the 2002 McCain-Feingold federal campaign finance law (Bipartisan Campaign Reform) was unconstitutional. The law prohibited corporations and unions from using their general treasury funds to make independent expenditures for “electioneering communication,” or for speech expressly advocating the election or defeat of a candidate… The ruling effectively protected corporate speech the same as individual speech.” http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_United

In North America, big business–fearing a future full of rules–has sought and attained Superhuman status from the Supreme court. The wealth of some of these organizations exceeds the bank accounts of  nations.

“The annual revenue of Motorola, Inc.,” according to Worldcentic.org, ”is almost equal to the annual income of Nigeria, Africa’s second largest economy.”–

The Kraken released now is the ability of corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to political candidates–the Citizen’s United decision.  Imagine a President Monsanto or a Senator Majority Leader, Koch Industries.

“The Citizens United campaign finance decision by Chief Justice John Roberts and a Supreme Court majority of conservative judicial activists is a dramatic assault on American democracy, overturning more than a century of precedent in order to give corporations the ultimate authority over elections and governing.” –  The Editors. The Nation

Bolivia’s Legal Rights for Mother Nature

Back-to-back events: Bolivia’s Earth laws and the Citizens United decision are occurring at relatively equal moments in our lifetime. While Bolivia hands much deserved legal rights to the Earth, the US Supreme Court has granted to corporations the right to buy US elections ( Jan. 2010)

“Known as the Law of Mother Earth (“Ley de Derechos de La Madre Tierra” in Spanish), the legislation will create 11 distinguished rights for the environment, as The Guardian outlines: They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.”  –  Huffington Post

In South America, fearing a future of no rules, Bolivia  has become the first Nation on the planet to grant legal rights to the earth.  At least in Bolivia, the Earth will have “the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration.” But will Bolivia’s little laws be sufficient kryptonite against mega-business Supermen backed by the US who by the way have a military bigger than big.  Remember Nixon and Chile’s Pinochet rule (Video Youtube) It’s not unheard of for a democratically elected Latin American government to be toppled with US support, even without Citizens United.  All it takes is a neo-liberal economic bomb or tank then out is that pesky rogue government along with their quaint little laws.

“ The law’s ripple effect is apparent in the words of Canadian activist Maude Barlow, who said, “It’s going to have a huge resonance around the world. It’s going to start first with these southern countries trying to protect their land and their people from exploitation, but I think it will be grabbed onto by communities in our countries, for example, fighting the tarsands in Alberta.”  –  BLAKE DEPPE 

We’re not talking about climate change here today.  We’re just saying that it’s interesting that these two events are happening now: corporations gaining unlimited political clout and Bolivia seeking laws protecting their environment. These two happenings are occurring while climate change is not being discussed much in this article or by politicians in North America.   This writer is not discussing whether these two laws are connected to climate change.  My apologies if Climate Change keeps being mentioned.

For those interested in the proposals for Rights of Mother Earth please check out

World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth Building the People’s World Movement for Mother Earth

“The proposals developed by the Plurinational State of Bolivia bring together and build upon the progress made in the World Charter for Nature  (1982), the Rio Declaration (1992), the Earth Charter (2000), and the World People’s Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth (2010):

I.  A DEEPER COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST   CENTURY

 II. THE NEW EMERGING CHALLENGE: RESTORING THE EQUILIBRIUM OF THE EARTH SYSTEM

III. TOOLS FOR FIXING THE PERSISTENT GAPS AND ACHIEVE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

IV. THE GREEN ECONOMY AND ITS DANGEROUS AND FALSE SOLUTIONS

V. INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT”

– Proposal of Bolivia to Rio +20

We, the American kids whose mothers threw up their hands failing to get us to eat vegetables, might need to eat them now.  I believe these two legal matters will shape the  next 100 years of human existence. Swallowing climate change is not easy so in this article I have  tried to ketchup it over, if you will, with hopefully a more palatable discussion of laws.  In doing so climate change has been mentioned several times. This was not intentional. Climate change just slipped in somehow. I wasn’t trying to mention climate change,  sorry if climate change was mentioned in a few of the links, sorry if I said climate change.

Henry Ford Roasted

When Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, wrote his publication, The International Jew, he did not know that I would one day be writing this commentary. Most likely he had other things on his mind.  I would not be born until 1960.  2012 would not come for a while so he could write all day and all night without a care, undisturbed by me. He was free to work industriously on his writing. And so he did. He wrote stuff. Ford was a man like his Ford Motor Company  building things that were like him– driven.  Oh, how he must have worked till he wrote expressions that explained to the world what it must have meant to be him, writings that would one day be looked at by me who would, in turn, realize a few things about him.

Ford on the Founding Fathers

Within his words, one almost feels an air of frenzied ecstasy. Henry Ford simply loved those  America’s founding fathers.  He’s almost giddy– snowed under with just the thought of those guys.  As well he should have been because they were the freaking founding fathers for Christ’s sake!  In his publications, we see Ford writing with so much glee that one might easily conceive of him stepping out of a Model-T with more honking and whistling and flag-waving than mere mortals can ascend to. Understand that Ford’s founding fathers were far from your average Joes.  According to him, they were superhuman even.  In the way he salutes these god-like ones one can almost draw him kneeling  perhaps shining his old nipples with his own words because it’s the O, my God, founding (I’m-about-to-crap-my-pants) fathers whom he, Henry Ford, is writing about.  They were not just guys who signed a piece of paper, you know. Ford writes:

“We often speak of the Fathers as if they were the few who happened to affix their signatures to a great document which marked a new era of liberty. The Fathers of our nation were the men of the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic race. The men who came from Europe with civilization in their blood and in their destiny.

I love it. I love it when men snatch destiny, which differs, in my opinion, to simply getting stuck with fate.   With fate, you have no choice—it’s going to happen to you.  But with destiny, you always have a choice whether to go with it or not. You gotta have money to have a destiny.  Ford’s Founding Fathers were not relegated to the confines of  meager, puny, not worth mentioning fate– which would have sucked– they were destined.

“The men who crossed the Atlantic and set up civilization on a bleak and rock-bound coast; the men who drove north to Alaska and west to California; the men who opened up the tropics and subdued the arctics; the men who mastered the African veldt; the men who peopled Australia and seized the gates of the world at Suez, Gibraltar and Panama; men who have given form to every government and a livelihood to every people and an ideal to every century.”

The Henry Ford and Ford Motor Company.

Everyone reading Ford’s words should be bulging with intense national pride about right now and bellowing out  America the Beautiful with tears in their eyes. (Stop the salivating, Mr. Ford)   The Founding Fathers according to Ford gave “form to every government and livelihood to every person and ideal to every century.”  Wow! Henry, is that America in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

“They got neither their God nor their religion from Judah, nor yet their speech nor their creative genius – they are the Ruling People. Chosen throughout the centuries to Master the world, by building it ever better and better, and not by breaking it down.” – Henry Ford

Uh-oh, (Gong) in this last bit Ford seems to have dropped the US flag he was waving.  For you see. Ford was a historical figure himself, a  man of the industrial age, a hero, an assembly lineman; yet above all else, he believed strongly in the master race.  Along with making great cars, he was a member of that BS.  Goebbels loved Ford’s writings as Ford was pouring in a good bit of his fortune toward the Nazi war.  Ford had convinced himself that the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic race was chosen or were destined to be “Masters of the World.”

Ford’s relation to the KKK  is written about by Jonathan R. Logsdon  in “Power, Ignorance, and Anti-Semitism:”

” An emerging factor in the country at the this time, whose anti-Semitism seemed to mirror Ford’s own, was the Ku Klux Klan. The Grand Lodge Order of Birth Abraham announced their belief that Ford was behind the organization and was their sponsor. It is certainly true that Ford had the Klan’s support. Klansmen used his publications in speeches and distributed them at rallies. An official Klan announcement in 1923 proclaimed that the Klan knew of no better fitted man in America for the office of president than Henry Ford. Ford”s position on the Klan was more ambiguous. I think the Ku Klux Klan is un-American, he was quoted as saying, and if I were to join any organization it would be one that wouldn’t require me to wear a mask. However, when a reader wrote to the Independent inquiring whether Ford favored the Klan, he was referred to a November 5, 1921 article. The article presented the Klan in a sympathetic light as a misunderstood organization. The Independent had received a personal thank you note from the Imperial Emperor King Kleagle for that particular article. Another issue of the Independent pointed out that it was not without reason that the Klan was undergoing a revival in Georgia and that Jews were excluded from membership.”

If this is not troubling, well, it should be.  How we pick American Heroes is important because we are still mass-producing heroes, and hopefully not heroes like Ford.  Listen closely to the 2016 presidential candidates. Listen to what they say and to whom they attack. Some are sounding a lot like Ford did. The language today is different, coded differently, our Mussolini’s are a bit diffident as well,  but the words still say the same thing as Ford wrote of in his day.   Jonathan R. Logsdon puts it this way:

For much of this century, Henry Ford was among the most influential men in the world. He was the very embodiment of success and prosperity to countless millions. However; he left an ugly legacy of hatred and bigotry that is still felt today. Henry Ford, more than anyone, is responsible for the widespread influence of anti-Semitism in the United States. –  Logsdon

How about important men of today? Unlike Ford who was straight out and without embarrassment. Guys can’t just come out and say shit without their slips of the tongue being heard by millions of disapproving people.    Granted, maybe there is not so much the language of anti-Semitism today but other groups are demonized and blamed for whatever.  I guess some people feel because of their political party, economic system, and Church membership that they have signed up for the inheritance of the Earth.

Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company

That is all that will be necessary. It is against this that the Jews protest. “You must not identify us,” they say, “You must not use the term ‘Jew’.” Why? Because unless the Jewish idea can creep in under the assumption of other than Jewish origin, it is doomed. Anglo-Saxon ideas dare proclaim themselves and their origin. A proper proclamation is all that is necessary today. Compel every invading idea to run up its flag! – Ford

Here’s the kicker.  A person or a race’s destiny can, has, and will lead to millions of other peoples’ fates.  Fascism is not pretty. The future of it will be even more ugly.  But we continue lusting for it for some reason. I don’t think we should.  Also, I don’t think I would have liked Ford. I don’t think I like the sound of his Founding Fathers either.  Likewise, I also think that Ford would not like me if he were alive today.  And that thought makes me glad.
Terry Gresham

Also see:

Fate and Destiny

1930′s Coup

American supporters of the European Fascists

Suddenly Running From the Past

When Bankers Plotted to Overthrow the President

Related articles

• What do you know about Henry Ford and his family? (achievingtheamericandream.wordpress.com)

A Book You Might Love from Jeanetta Calhoun Mish

Jeanetta Calhoun Mish is a poet, writer and literary scholar; in 2009, she earned her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Oklahoma. Her first book, Tongue Tied Woman, won the Edda Poetry Chapbook Competition for Women in 2002. Her second poetry collection, Work Is Love Made Visible (West End Press, 2009), won the 2010 Oklahoma Book Award for Poetry, the 2010 Western Heritage Award for Poetry from the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum and the 2010 WILLA Award for Poetry from Women Writing the West. She has been awarded a 2010 residency at the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Arts and a scholarship for a 2012 Vermont Studio Center residency. Dr. Mish was previously Poet-Scholar in Residence with World Literature Today and is currently a member of the faculty of the Red Earth Creative Writing MFA program at Oklahoma City University.

Mish has published poetry in LABOR: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas, Oklahoma Today, Poetry Bay, Sugar Mule, Blast Furnace, and in “Walt’s Corner” of the The Long-Islander. Mish’s creative non-fiction essay, “This Oklahoma We Call Home,” appeared in Crosstimbers. Anthology publications include poems in Returning the Gift and The Colour of Resistance, and the introductory essay for Ain’t Nobody That Can Sing Like Me: New Oklahoma Writing. She is also the editor of Mongrel Empire Press (www.mongrelempire.org), and web administrator for the Oklahoma Poetry Portal and the PoetryArtsOK email list.

For more information, visit www.tonguetiedwoman.com.

Fate or Destiny

by Terry Gresham

A barista person, whom I did not know, asked another barista person, again someone I did not know, to describe the difference between fate and destiny. These two coffee experts were at the same time whipping up coffee for me at what can only be described as the best coffee shop in Oklahoma City, the Red Cup. I did tip well for the superb service, so I felt all right about being a coffee shop conversation interloper.
The question was raised, “What is the difference between Fate and Destiny?
While butting in, I said this, “With fate you have no choice—it’s going to happen, but with destiny you always have a choice whether to go with it or not.” One of the barista persons said she would now have to use, that line if any future fate and destiny discussions ever popped up.

They thanked me. Handed me coffee. Looked at me oddly. Did the cash register thing. Then both went back to their contemplation where I saw one of them crack open a dictionary—standard equipment in a shop of this sort. Still, that book only defined the two words as synonymous leaving the two baristas even more perplexed. I sat down to get my morning buzz on with a cafe’ latte, muffin, and my book by Kafka asking myself their question—what is the difference between fate and destiny? I set myself to Googling.

Wow,

“Fate is the cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events (thanks Wikipedia) “Destiny may be seen either as a fixed sequence of events that is inevitable and unchangeable, or that individuals choose their own destiny by choosing different paths throughout their life.”

(thanks again, Wikipedia) Let me get this straight, fate gets forced upon you, but destiny can be ignored or embraced (Hey, I said that)

Folks I talk to make real distinctions between fate and destiny although the difference may be extremely closely related. Fate and destiny seem to be connected like at the hip. Like fate, you can’t get out of it like death and breathing—might be genetic or something. On the other hand, with Destiny you can have a revelation, or not, and then that is your destiny. With destiny, one becomes destined for things like: fame, love, land, poverty, greatness, or not. This said, and here’s the kicker, one persons’ destiny can lead to millions of other peoples’ fate. Or, it can be global. Those with Destiny bring doom for those with mere fate.

Here’s what people are saying about it on Facebook:

• Teri McGrath: “Destiny hasn’t had a chance to disappoint us yet.”

• Karen Jones :  “Fate is a four letter word while Destiny ends with the word tiny.”

• Teri McGrath:  “Aw! Tiny!!!”

• Jason Poudier: “Destiny is the great thing that we think is planned for us and fate is what fks it up.”

The Greeks

The Greeks described it like this: @ God Checker.com and greekmythology.com

To the Greeks the fates are 3 nearly naked ladies,

“they are: CLOTHO who spins the Thread of Life, LACHESIS who allots the length of the yarn, and ATROPOS who does the snip (the final one).”

The Chinese

The Chinese symbol for fate (ming yun)
is—I’m no expert, but what I have read—that this stands for “what life throws at you” or “your lot in life.”

The Spider as a Symbol of Fate @ tribes.tribe.net On Spider Symbolism.

“Spider: The spider has symbolized the controller or “weaver” of Fate for a variety of spiritual traditions. Athena was associated with the spider in early writings as her totem animal, “spinning the web of Fate,” and later as the maiden Arachne whose weaving inspired such jealousy in Athena that she turned Arachne into a spider. Hindu mythology states that Maya, the virgin face of the Triple Goddess, was represented by a spider, “spinner of magic, fate, and earthly appearances” similar to the Wheel of Fate (Walker, 1983). Clotho and the Virgin Moera were also associated with the spider. Due to the spider’s habit of devouring her consort, she was depicted as the death goddess Kalu-Uma. Similarly, Aztec mythology held that spiders were the souls of dead warrior women of the pre-Aztec matriarchate, who would descend from heaven on silken threads at the end of the world to devour all the men on earth. The Amazonians also had Fate-spinners. Medieval Europe associated spiders with witches. The Ashanti (West Africa) spider God, Anansi, is pictured here.” from www.ucmeta.org

Wow. Fate and destiny, the question of whether they are three Greek ladies or a web spinning spider, heck, I do not know the answer to that. But one thing is for sure, I do enjoy coffee and especially coffee with Kafka at the Red Cup. Perhaps I have found my destiny, or maybe this is my fate, or not.

Related articles

• video love :: Arachne versus Athena (loops.typepad.com)
• Quote for a Day, July 8th (themirrorobscura.com)
• Shaping Your Own Destiny (lynsayinthecity.wordpress.com)
• Destiny vs. Choice: The Scientific and Spiritual Evidence Behind Fate and Free Will downloads (ekdayalu.wordpress.com)

Femen

By Terry Gresham

FEMEN is a Ukrainian protest group based in Kiev. They organize topless protests in response to sex tourism–sex tours– and international marriage agencies in the Ukraine.  Since 2008, Femen has been working against sex exploitation of women.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, citizens have worked against forces creating conditions that have left the Ukraine labeled, the Bangkok of Europe.

UKRAINE (TIER 2 Watch List)   [Extracted from U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2009]

Ukraine is a source, transit and, to a lesser extent, destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Forty-eight percent of the trafficking victims assisted by IOM and its local NGO partners in Ukraine in 2008 suffered sexual exploitation; three percent had been forced to beg; and 49 percent suffered other forms of forced labor. Ukrainian victims are trafficked to Russia, Poland, Turkey, Italy, Austria, Spain, Germany, Portugal, the Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Israel, Greece, Lebanon, Benin, Tunisia, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovakia, Syria, Switzerland, the United States, Canada and Belarus. Women were forced into the sex industry, or forced to work as housekeepers, in service industries, or in textile or light manufacturing.

The economic downturn has taken toll on poorer countries where employment opportunities force women onto the streets where rich westerners can exploit them.  This being so, as of 2012 politicians still seem oblivious or in league.  Despite efforts of citizens, the country’s booming sex industry still expects to total up to $1.5 billion.

“We understand that the root causes for many of the problems in the Ukraine run very deep, says Victor, one of Femen’s male members.

Since their existence, FEMEN has broadened their protest from domestic battles, such as  taking action for tougher legislation on the persistence and advancement of exploitation– the clientele of prostitutes, to international issues such as Saudi women and cars, human rights, and opposition of Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.  According to the Russia Times, FEMEN’ is also targeting Russia’s “gas terror” against Ukraine during the country’s freezing winter.

This is a women’s revolution with 300 activists in Kyiv of which 20 take part in “topless” protests.  Another 50 activists come from Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk.  Internet support base counts somewhere around 25,000.

Some of the goals of the organization are:

“To develop leadership, intellectual and moral qualities of the young women in Ukraine” and “To build up the image of Ukraine, the country with great opportunities for women.”

The goals of the organization are “to shake women in Ukraine, making them socially active; to organize in 2017 a women’s revolution.”
FEMEN justifies its provocative methods stating, “This is the only way to be heard in this country. If we staged simple protests with banners, then our claims would not have been noticed”. The organization plans to become the biggest and the most influential feminist movement in Europe.  Femen facebook info

The unconventional protest methods are easy to criticize and dismiss in the West but taking tops off to grow earned media has worked where gaining a voice and say in matters is far from a straightforward task.  (Bloggers who condemn FEMEN activists are most likely seated near a thermostat wrapped in a warm blanket)  Let us emphasize the term earned media. In bitter freezing temperatures, earned media is far different from simple attracting attention. In their efforts, FEMEN has picked up thousands of supporters throughout Europe and the world.  Their demands are heard.

If you are not a fan, that’s your problem.

http://femen.livejournal.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/FEMEN_Movement
https://plus.google.com/1092127415902981…

.
http://rt.com/s/swf/player5.4.swf?file=http://rt.com/files/news/femen-indian-embassy-protest-085/ib4f613312960d0c28a7bc1869432d26f_00a42901.dv.flv&image=http://rt.com/files/news/femen-indian-embassy-protest-085/httpfemenlivejournalcom-image.n.jpg&skin=http://rt.com/s/css/player_skin.zip&provider=http&abouttext=Russia%20Today&aboutlink=http://rt.com&autostart=false

Comments on Lawton/Ft Sill Progressives:

• Dawn Bona, Karl Howeth and 2 others like this.
• • Claudia Samuels Interesting way to get a couple of points across.
    Yesterday at 1:23am · Like ·  1
  • Karen Jones Our God is woman, our mission is protest, our weapons are bare breasts
    Yesterday at 2:39am · Like ·  1
  • Terry Gresham It’s not cold enough in Lawton yet for me to go topless.
    22 hours ago · Like ·  1
  • Claudia Samuels LOL
    22 hours ago · Like
  • Karen Jones I wrote this comment topless.
    20 hours ago · Unlike ·  3
  • Joan Roberts I’m shocked! I never! Shame shame! Such behavior is unbecoming of a Lady! What is the world coming to! Your Mother would never aprove! Get thee to a nunery! I, myself, am commenting …Oh…shoot… dang it, I dropped my towel.
    10 hours ago · Like ·  2
  • Brenda Weber Boobies!
    10 hours ago via mobile · Like ·  2
  • Steve Shaw Yes, Brenda, but they are green! Looks like Marilyn Chambers got together with Dr. Suess! “I would not, could not….”
    7 hours ago · Like ·  1
  • Terry Gresham
    Exactly Steve. I think that is much of a lot of what this is about. (I think) Thousands of supporters. No corporate sponsorship. No tour bus. Well organized. There are only 20 women protesters supported by organizers and thousands of fans. I like the non-violence aspect of this protest. If one thinks about the problems they are attacking. the creativity inherent is a well panned out and thought out non-violent protest… reminds me of the Clara Luper’s cafe sit-ins here in Oklahoma when I think of the civil disobedience tactic.

    2 hours ago · Like ·  1
  • Terry Gresham Cara Luper http://youtu.be/s5kT0khIUVs

    

    Taking a Stand by Sitting-in with Clara Luper

    http://www.youtube.com

    Clara Luper, a revolutionary civil rights leader in Oklahoma, led the first sit-…See More

    about an hour ago · Like ·
  • Terry Gresham I ike the term Earned Media.
    38 minutes ago · Like
  • Dawn Bona When you consider what they are protesting, baring their breasts is a brilliant move. Also, it has garnered them attention for their cause. How many people would never think about human trafficking in that area (and it is really bad over there) if the media hadn’t picked up the story because they flashed their breasts? These women are on my heroes list.
    38 minutes ago · Like
  • Karen Jones <http://femen.org/>
    3 minutes ago · Like

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On the Hipness of Monsters

By Terry M Gresham

Frankenstein’s monster is the only notable monster. Vampires are lazy blood-suckers. Werewolves, aside from being coprophagous, are nudists who have no idea where their clothes went.

In contrast, the Frankenstein—monster loves flowers— attempts to make the best of monster life but to no avail. He is hunted down and hated—why? Perhaps it is his inability to transform himself into a hipster.

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      Mary Shelley’s Monster says,

“There was none among the myriads of men that existed who would pity or assist me; and should I feel kindness towards my enemies? No: from that moment I declared everlasting war against the species, and, more than all, against him who had formed me and sent me forth to this insupportable misery.”

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Sorry Frankenstein Monster but that’s not exactly a statement one would expect from a scary member of the “in-crowd,” now is it?

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Now, let’s take a look at the Peter Boyle Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein. Here is one case where the monster overcomes some of the obstacles of the genre. Unlike a vampire in the same role, he never has to show teeth to be cool. Take teeth away from werewolves and vampires and there’s not much there. Take teeth away from the Frankenstein monster and you still have a pretty darn good monster who delights in classical music, the ol’ soft shoe, and Bernadette Peters.

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Here’s what people are saying about Monsters on Facebook:

• Teri McGrath: “Frankenstein just wanted love.”
• Stephen Schwake: “The creature from the black lagoon is pretty cool.”
• Sharon Cheatwood: “You forgot the MUMMY! All it took was a little pot with 9 tanna leaves. Always the one that scared me. Take their pot and leaves, they stay asleep.”
• Gena Kish: “Frankie was also a pining lover of classical music and did quite a soft-shoe…(R.I.P. Peter Boyle)
• Teri McGrath: “Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet mystery of life at last I’ve found yooooou….”
• Stephen Schwake: “Frank always got the best parts…”
• Eric Myers: ” Harryhausen’s monsters never say a word. And yet we feel such sadness when each one is killed via some god-like intervention.”
• Weyodi Squid:  “Indeed, Frankenstein’s Monster it is.
• Gary Shindler: “I read a new Munsters will be on TV soon. *Groan*”

 Frankenstein a hipster?  No way. Werewolves and vampires definitely but never Franky.

The Urban Dictionary gives this definition of a hipster:

“I define “hipsters” as poseurs who are imitating people who are actually hip, or at least who they perceive to be hip,” and,”Hipsters can be easily identified by their excessively portrayed personalities and attitudes of being “too cool for life, as well as their belief that they are “cooler” than others…”

Well, there you have it. This definitely sums up werewolves and vampires.
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TV can’t do monster though it can try. Then again there was a failed attempt to manufacture a hip lame sit-com, The Munsters (1964) It was bad except for Yvonne De Carlo. Still, TV can’t make monsters. Never once does Herman Munster utter anything as revealing and genuine as:

“But I am a blasted tree; the bolt has entered my soul; and I felt then that I should survive to exhibit what I shall soon cease to be–a miserable spectacle of wrecked humanity, pitiable to others and intolerable to myself.”