maniata76

[maniata76]

[maniata76]

I am here for the first time in years. I think I lost my password for a couple of them, and the rest was just due to sheer lack of desire to write. However, lately it has come upon me to return to myself. To write again and without apology. I am bursting with color and words and love and hate and anger. I am no longer convenient. I impede. 

[maniata76]

Solidarity is not the same as support. To experience solidarity, we must have a community of interests, shared beliefs and goals around which to unite, to build Sisterhood. Support can be occasional. It can be given and just as easily withdrawn. Solidarity requires sustained, ongoing commitment.

Bell Hooks (via theproblackgirl)

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[maniata76]

Do you fast? Give me proof of it by your works. If you see a poor man, take pity on him. If you see a friend being honored, do not envy him. Do not let only your mouth fast, but also the eye, the ear, and the feet, and the hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, by being free of avarice. Let the feet fast, by ceasing to run after sins. Let the eye fast, by disciplining them not to glare at that which is sinful… Let the ear fast, by not listening to evil talk and gossip. Let the mouth fast from foul words and unjust criticisms. For what good is it if we abstain from fowl and fishes, but bite and devour our brothers? It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness. The Great Fast has no advantage to us unless it brings about our spiritual renewal. It is necessary while fasting to change our whole life and practice virtue. Turning away from all wickedness means keeping our tongue in check, restraining our anger, avoiding all gossip, lying and swearing. To abstain from these things - herein is the true value of the fast. Accept the fast as an experienced educator by whom the Church teaches piety.

This is a quote from St. John Chyrsostom, and it bears reading at the begining of every Great Lent. May your lenten journey direct you on paths of righteousness. (via mesropash)

[maniata76]

Aortic Evolution

Last year at this time, my heart was stopping. She withdrew, retreated, and held her guard. She peeked out from time to time to see who was out there, but the safety of her fox hole proved the better option. Hibernation. The shots fired around her and casings pelted against her shell. Still she waited for a notable period of silence before emerging. Rescue and refuge. She packed her belongings and her baby and fled the rubble, never looking back. She felt she could never open up again. And then home. It's amazing how quickly wounds heal when you're safe. Exhilaration closes the gap and suddenly your shell seems small. The world seems inviting and the heart needs oxygen. I was scared at first, hearing voices tell me to go back inside. At night, the words of terror would come back and try to force me into fear again. But out here in the world, I felt things again. I breathed air and saw the sun. And I made choices. Choices about who I want to be and who I would allow in my world. I surrounded myself with love, honor, and trust. I no longer made excuses for bad behavior, mine or anyone else's. I admitted weakness and embraced support. I chose honesty and refused to tolerate anything short of integrity. And as I made those choices, as the picture became clearer, good things began to happen. I attracted light. I consciously chose to say no to bad and yes to good. And as I did, it became easier and easier to recognize the difference. Living within your value system is powerful. The world tells you not to sometimes, but you have to know how to choose it above all else. I finally am, and for the first time in my life, I am ecstatic about the present. I am not in the past, nor longing for time to speed by so I can be somewhere else. I am here, now, and it's perfect.

[maniata76]

#homesick #portlandia

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[maniata76]

This photo never gets old.

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Young cretan woman in traditional cretan costume

Crete is the biggest greek island and the 5th biggest in Mediterranean sea

[maniata76]

Free....

Scarlett Coten: Mectoub

Artist Statement ↬ lensculture

My current project, “Mectoub”, focuses on men, particularly the young urban generation. Since early 2011, they have been part of a larger movement calling for greater individual freedom.

Since 2012, I have been photographing in Moroccan and Egyptian cities (though the project is ongoing and I intend to travel to other Arab countries). In each of these cities,  I seek out male strangers who I ask to pose for portraits. Once they’ve agreed, I take my subjects aside, removing them from social pressures and expectations. The idea is to create a space of intimacy in which they will feel relaxed. I leave my subjects free to reveal something of their inner selves: their personality, sensitivity, fragility or sensuality.

*see more of her work (particularly the excellent ‘still alive series’) here and here

[maniata76]

untitled by fusion-of-horizons on Flickr.

[maniata76]

This week has got to be one of the most stressful of my entire life, apart from when I got divorced the first time and when my yia yia died. 

I moved out. With my daughter. Day 7 of being a single mom.

2 weeks ago I broke my leg.

1 week ago I celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday

I live in a foreign country with no family

No friends

Thank God I still have my job

The outlets in my place suck ass

But I have a king size bed

And hot water

A stove 

And enough food for my family

I finally got to church today

And got to take communion with my daughter

Now I'm 2 guavaritas in

Sipping cold decaf espresso with milk and coconut sugar

Eating a micro dessert

And I just remembered

I have to walk home on crutches

Shit.

[maniata76]

She writes by dim light In the corner of a tapas bar Enlivened by the laughter of young girls Who still believe their frivolity will have a happy ending But she knows better Salted rims speak no lies Like brushstrokes against the palate Rolling up the distance between rich and poor Foreign and indigenous Bitter and savory She was there once Ravenous for the pulp of life Delighting in the journey from flesh to seed Only to discover the hunger left behind Surveying dried carcasses strewn about her feet Shriveled Useless That once housed a living fruit Only to end up trampled Under the soles of the hopeful And unaware ~Irini

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Simply Beautiful: Vlisco’s Hommage à l’Art 

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Karpathos, Greece by Andreas Ganatsios on Flickr. Olympos village, Karpathos island, dodecannese island, Greece

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You really don't need to detract from your beauty with such patchwork...