Frida Kahlo | The Thorned Princess

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Frida Kahlo | The Thorned Princess

MEXICO - Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo are two painters who lived extraordinary lives defying conventional standards of conduct and mores of their day. Frida was born on July 6, 1907, and died on July 13, 1954, after a long and protracted illness.

Although Frida did not consider herself a surrealist painter, her paintings portray otherwise. Within the universe of her canvases, she depicts her emotional and physical pain with exquisite poignancy. Even someone with a cursory knowledge of surrealism can easily decipher the objects of her derision and disgust.

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GrantAssist.com | Caveat Emptor

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GrantAssist.com | Caveat Emptor

In these tough economic times parents whose budgets are already stretched thin by the high cost of food, petrol and education are desperate for immediate relief in addition to securing the tools to implement long-term solutions to their budgetary constraints. Since lending has become increasingly difficult because of tighter restrictions on credit worthiness, people are seeking access to sources of money which does require repayment. My son attends a private school which does not provide financial aid. During this past year it has become increasingly difficult for me to make the monthly tuition payments, so I decided to see if I could locate grant money to pay for his education. I am pretty Internet savvy and most of the sites that I found were immediately dismissed as scams.

However, as a working mom tasked with a full-time job in technology and a full-time job as a parent the thought of searching through various sources to identify grants applicable to my needs was daunting. As if in answer to prayer, my sister who works for a United States Senator and knows how much I struggle, forwarded a link to an officious website titled Free Government Grants 2011.

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Wanted: Radical Feminists for the Trucking Industry

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Wanted: Radical Feminists for the Trucking Industry

"This is the year 2010, right? Just checking. I've been a trucking industry blogger for several years, with well over a million readers, and, been a driver for a lot longer than that. Like most people looking in on the trucking industry I've had opinions and judgments based on notions of what I thought I was looking at. As I became more and more entrenched and involved in issues as they pertain to truck drivers (and that's an entire book in itself if we're talking general controversy), my jaw would hit the floor on numerous occasions. The subject of this editorial is one of these "occasions", and in my view the most important one. Many industries, in past decades, have been battlegrounds for women's rights on several fronts. We're talking - equal pay, promotions, fair treatment, and of course, sexual harassment and abuse. What would you say if I told you we still had an industry here in America where women were routinely harassed, abused and even placed in trucks as part of training procedures with known male convicted felons of sex crimes." ~ Daniel Audet

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Chilean Miners | Freedom, Fresh Air & God

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Chilean Miners | Freedom, Fresh Air & God

Fifteen of the Chilean miners trapped in the San Jose mine have now been rescued, 18 still to make it to the surface. The 33 miners have been trapped since 5 August 2010. When the miners were determined to be alive in late August, it was said that it could take up to four months to get them all out alive. The ninth man to arrive on the surface in the specially-made capsule was Mr. Mario Gomez. At 63 years old, he is the oldest of the group and has been a miner for over 50 years. He kneeled and offered thanks to God for his survival.

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Rosh Hashanah 5771 | L'Shana Tovah!

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Rosh Hashanah 5771 | L'Shana Tovah!

Since we strive to highlight the commonalities between Abrahamic religions and hopefully introduce the readers to alternative views of each faith; I would like to extend warm regards to friends and family of both the Jewish and Muslim faiths. שנה טובה ומבורכת , שנת בטחון וללא פיגועים !!! to all my Jewish friends, family and readers.

To Arabic speaking friends and family kul 'am wantum bikhair.

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Ground Zero Mosque | 1431 Hijri

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Ground Zero Mosque | 1431 Hijri

This year observant Muslims will celebrate Ramadan at sunset Tuesday, 10 August 2010 and will continue for 30 days until Thursday, the 9th of September. The Islamic calendar is lunar and each new day begins at sundown of the day before. Although many of the world's one billion Muslims are celebrating Ramadan tonight, here in North America it will begin on Thursday, 12 August 2010. Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month in the Islamic calendar. For the next 30 days, believers will abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sex from dawn to dusk. For Muslims, Ramadan marks the month during which God, through the angel Gibril (Gabreal), revealed the Qur'an to the Prophet Muhammad. This in itself is reason enough to write a post; however, I would like to combine this joyous occasion with a brief commentary on the disturbing trend toward xenophobia by the American public and media.

I am speaking about the latest furor surrounding the construction of a New York City cultural center which will also include a mosque which is being erected at the former site of the World Trade Center known as 'Ground Zero.'

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HIV Vaccine Discovered

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An extraordinary breakthrough in the fights against AIDS was announced last week. U.S. scientists have reported that they have isolated three powerful antibodies for HIV — one of which neutralizes 91% of HIV strains. This could be the basis for an eventual vaccine for AIDS. The antibodies were discovered in the cells of a 60-year-old African-American gay man, known only as “Donor 45.”

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A Rolle Model | American Football Hero

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A Rolle Model | American Football Hero

Who is Myron Rolle? He is a recent Rhodes Scholar who is finishing his graduate degree in medical anthropology. He graduated from Florida State University (FSU) in 2 ½ years with a pre-medical degree in exercise science (with a grade point average of 3.75). So, why is this so newsworthy? Let me continue. He decided to forego his senior year of football eligibility to accept a Rhodes Scholarship and attend graduate school at Oxford University in England. There are only 32 Rhodes Scholarships awarded every year. He played football for three years at one of the best football schools in the country—FSU. He gave up his senior year to attend graduate school, thereby deferring by one year his dream of playing professional football (had he entered the draft instead of going to Oxford, he was projected to go in either the 1st or 2nd round).

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Elite Controllers of HIV

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Elite Controllers of HIV

Globally 33 million people have HIV, researchers suspect that 1 in 300 people are probably "elite controllers." One of the earliest known cases in the United States of an "elite controller" is a man named Rod Fichter who was first diagnosed in 1986 but has been living symptom free for over 20 years. Both he and a friend tested positive, however his friend succumbed to complications from the disease shortly thereafter. Much to Rod's surprise not only did he survive, he never developed any symptoms and remained healthy without ever taking medication.

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Our World, His Music | Armand Amar | Philip Glass

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Our World, His Music | Armand Amar | Philip Glass

Much has been written about our world, man's adverse impact on the planet, and what needs to be done to save Earth. No doubt as our species continues to advance, our expansion and incursion into the remaining pristine corners of our planet will accelerate as we seek illusory security through the treasures the earth can yield to us. However, unlike our planet, our lifespan is akin to that of a flea, and like a dog with an itch, we will voluntarily or involuntarily be cast off. This perspective was best expressed by Dr. Iain Stewart's in the 2009 BBC program titled "Earth: The Power of the Planet." Dr. Stewart stated "in the long run, earth can cope with anything we can throw at it. We could clear all the jungles, but a jungle can regrow over a few thousand years. We could burn all earths’ fossil fuels, flooding the atmosphere with carbon dioxide but even then, it will take the planet only a million years or so for the atmosphere to recover even the animals we are wiping out will eventually be replaced by others equally rich in diversity as a relentless work of evolution continues. It’s only a question of time; the earth will be just fine. So all this stuff about saving planet earth, well that is not the problem: planet earth doesn’t need saving, earth is a great survivor. It’s not the planet we should be worrying about, it’s us."

Not withstanding that powerful sentiment, this post is tangentially about environmental issues, but primarily about the brilliant, contemporary composers Armand Amar and Philip Glass. Both of these composers possess unparalleled skills in weaving together the unique voices, languages and cultures of people around the world to tell compelling stories through film scores.

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Juárez, Mexico | Hell on Earth?

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 01:35 AM EDT, 23 February 2010

Update: 10.05.11  CNN 'Two headless bodies found in Juarez, third body found at Church

Santiago Meza

JUAREZ, Mexico - The atrocities imagined in the 14th Century epic poem the "Divine Comedy" by Dante Alighieri seem to prognosticate the horror that encompasses the daily lives of the inhabitants of Juárez, Mexico. The town "stands on the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte), across from El Paso, Texas.

El Paso and Ciudad Juárez comprise one of the largest binational metropolitan areas in the world with a combined population of 2.4 million people. In fact, Ciudad Juárez is one of the fastest growing cities in the world, in spite of the fact that it is "the most violent zone in the world outside of declared war zones."[1] With an average daily death toll at 12 a day and the most recent massacre of 16 innocent teenagers, Juárez is synonymous with senseless, brutal deaths and is the epitome of avarice and the inhumanity and depravity which are its natural by products.

The violent deaths and murders of both the innocent and guilty have shocked the world and anesthetized the inhabitants. Only in this cauldron of mayhem and destruction could Santiago Meza, known as "The Stew Maker," find purchase and purpose.

Meza, a scruffy, non-descriptive man was known as "El Pozolero" because he dissolved the bodies of the enemies of a local drug baron in industrial drums of acid turning them into a gelatinous soup which he later poured his property.

Over several years he claims to have “disappeared” 300 enemies of Teodoro García Semental, a former henchman for one of the largest cartels in Mexico. Meza stated that he was paid $600 a week by García and during one interview he said, "they brought me the bodies and I just got rid of them. I didn't feel anything."

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aci_wE6csQ]

If Inferno or Purgatorio exists, the innocent citizens of Juárez must ask and wonder what they have done to deserve such a fate, while we ponder if there is justice in this world or the next for those who would blithely take human life over pieces of paper called the dollar.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wREQUO8WG4U]

[1] Wikipedia
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Cesaria Evora | Celia Cruz | Mama Afrika

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In Tanzania and Nigeria where I grew up, "everyone is an artist because art in Africa is not a commercial enterprise but is part of life itself." This is true of all the disciplines, sculpture, art, and music; however, unlike sculpture and art, music is immediately accessible. Whether the vocalist sings in Xhosa, Portuguese or French the listener comprehends the essence of these songs. Music is the lyre of our souls and though there are many great voices that hail from all parts of the Diaspora, for me these matriarchs of Africa have created a lasting legacy capable of transporting us from the ennui of our daily existence to the coasts of Cape Verde, the sensuality of Cuba, the heart of a South African township, or to the vaulted halls and stages of Paris, France.

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Apartheid Reparation Case

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“Corporations have been enthroned …. An era of corruption in high places will follow and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people… until wealth is aggregated in a few hands … and the Republic is destroyed.” ~ Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). A landmark "lawsuit is being brought by black South Africans who were abused by the military and security forces of apartheid South Africa against a number of companies that provided the tools to the military and security for them to perpetrate the abuse."

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Faces of Brazil | Gabriel Wickbold

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefLast Modified: 22:50 PM EDT, 27 December 2009

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. This post features his 'Faces of Brasileiros' series.

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Ellsworth Kelly

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Ellsworth Kelly is a 21st century American artist. The simplicity of the image sums up humanities' eternal quest for understanding. Perfectly sublime. This artist, like Mark Rothko, who is another favorite, was part of the color field painting and the minimalist school.

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Exodus to Africa | Gordon Parks

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The strength of Parks' work, resides in its perspicacity coupled with the power of the stories he tells through his photography. It is the reason why doors typically closed to African-Americans during the pre-Civil Rights era, were opened for him. These skills and talents allowed him to work for some of the most prestigious fashion magazines in America, at a time when most African-American photographers, journalist, and models were barred. Parks' association with the Civil Rights Movement, and in particular, the two photos of individuals associated with the Nation of Islam; Ethel Shariff, Daughter of Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X prompted this post.

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Gabriel Wickbold | Brazilian Photographer

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Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-ChiefUpdated: 12:36 PM EDT, 22 November 2012

Gabriel Wickbold PhotosSAO PAULO, Brazil - By now readers are familiar with tone and focus of this blog, and how art, music and photography are used to augment the posts.

As a writer and painter, it is my belief that we are charged not only with translating the ethereal, insubstantial, and unconscious into a form that individuals who are not similarly wired can receive; but we must also help them to re-engage with that energy source from which all creativity flows.

The ability to render through imagery and language, products that evoke visceral reactions that inspire viewers to engage, if only momentarily, with the unconscious world from which all reality flows, is the primary responsibility of our griots and shaman. An an example of this, is Surrealism, which holds an attraction for most individuals, even those who are not art connoisseurs.

Gabriel Wickbold is a young Brazilian Photographer whose images are intriguing and captivating. There are many links to photographers and other artists on this blog, and when possible their works are featured with a direct link to their websites.

It is the responsibility of all artists and writers to promote the work of other talented individuals. Please feel free to submit up and coming artists and their work. Of particular interests are the works of Africans on the Continent and in the Diaspora, South Americans, Europeans and other cultures. If the proposed artist's work is deemed appropriate, it will be featured on this blog.

If you are an artist or photographer who would like to submit your work, please provide at least three photos and a link to your website for consideration.

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India’s Biggest Export | Hair Weaves

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When a person has no roots, they cannot weather the storms of life. When a person doesn't know who they are, they will try to be anyone. When a person stands for nothing, they will fall for anything. Platitudes spoken throughout the ages, yet ever true even with repetition.

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