#brutal longing and religious trauma manifest

[anotherfallenchild]

A personal affront to me that they haven’t put Nick Cave songs in gomens cause who else is doing it like Nick re catholic longing and discourse trauma breakup songs

Boatman’s call is about aziracrow to me now

Far From Me and Idiot Prayer were made for them I don’t need to elaborate

[mercurials]

I really like brandy's design!! can u tell us a bit more about her backstory?

THANK U!! :') i accidentally wrote a huge ramble so i hid it under a readmore and added a tldr paragraph lol! gonna try not to feel too cringe for sharing all this bc shes from a silly little fantasy animal rp teehee. also if anything seems contradictory or lacking in context its bc theres a lot of nuance to the roleplay/dynamics that i had to leave out cuz i could talk forever

TLDR - basically she grew up a religious fanatic who was training to be a priestess of a warmongering god, and left home at too young of an age to carry out missionary work after she received a sign from him. being young, very sheltered, and always in search of attention and validation (she'd suffered through a lot of emotional neglect and outright hatred at various points in her life thus far), it wasn't long before she fell in with a bad, predatory crowd and an abusive boyfriend. this led to her completely cutting herself off from her family out of shame (and fear over abandoning her missionary work) and a long and still ongoing struggle with substance abuse, self worth issues, problems setting boundaries and understanding her sexuality, and self-destructive hedonism. the shitty hand she was dealt felt like a betrayal, considering it was all caused by her leaving to carry out religious duties, so she spurned her god and has been unlearning a lot of religious bullshit ever since. after being dumped by her boyfriend it took her a long time to reconnect with her family, because she spent a while spiraling in isolation with deeply unhealthy coping mechanisms as she navigated a fuckton of trauma with no help. since then, however, she was found by her aunt and finally brought home - though the home was new, as her family had been exiled from their community during her absence due to political conflict. reuniting with them has been the best thing for her; she was welcomed back with open arms and is slowly working through everything that's happened to her, but her recovery has had many ups and downs.

longer version

(content warning for themes of pedophilia and abuse beginning in paragraph 5)

despite being born elsewhere, early on she moved to and grew up in a deeply religious society that worships a bloodthirsty god - and she was all for it in her youth. like, very gung ho about becoming a priestess, cutting off her siblings who still lived in their birthplace, etc etc. her beloved grandmother was one of the rulers of this society and a voice of their god, so it meant everything to her.

this new life gave her the purpose, community, and companionship that she lacked in her birthplace, with no friends and a neglectful and emotionally distant immediate family, so as a lonely and vulnerable child she was caught hook, line, and sinker. she connected with extended family that actually made her feel wanted, she was favored by a god to the point of being granted powers, and she felt whole. i think isolating herself from her immediate family, who did not live here with her, gave her a sense of retribution as well.

buuut there was also a lot of developing political tension and a lot of vitriol toward her family - spearheaded by her grandmother's co-ruler, who had powerful sway. and in a brutal environment like her warmongering clan, this was a major and dangerous threat. so for all the joy brandy found in living here and worshipping her god, youthfully unaware of the conquest this necessitated, she grew more unhappy than she was able to identify. so when she one day manifested the ability to grow (and retract) a pair of wings, she interpreted this as a sign from the red god and jumped at the opportunity to leave her home and carry out missionary work in his name - perhaps out of a desperation to leave this place, although that was largely a subconscious motivation.

she was absolutely too young to be striking out on her own, probably around 15 at most (i was writing her on a feral forum rp so the aging was obv different which makes the conversion fucky so im still figuring that stuff out a bit lmao). but what the red god said, went, so no one questioned it - and she was naively eager and unafraid. she was his chosen. she was royalty. she was invincible.

NOT REALLY! she was more vulnerable than she ever could have realized, so desperate to prove her value to her clan (...and get as far away from those seeking to harm her as possible). desperate to be seen and loved without any judgment for her lineage. so it was all too easy for one of the first men she met beyond her land's borders to take advantage of her, and lead her astray from her goals - she was young, after all, and had very little world experience. finn was his name, and he introduced brandy to an entirely new world than anything she'd ever experienced, one of hedonistic vice. nothing a fifteen year old had any business engaging with, and certainly nothing a grown man had any business introducing a fifteen year old to. this new world, this new attention, was intoxicating to someone as sheltered and high strung as brandy - it wasn't long before she and finn began dating, and relatively soon after that her missionary work fell easily to the wayside.

their honeymoon phase felt amazing, like a dream to brandy, but red flags eventually began emerging that she didn't yet have the capacity to examine or act against. finn would always subtly shut down conversations about her home and family, and grew increasingly more controlling, overprotective, argumentative, and jealous over time. resentment did begin to fester within brandy, but she was easily guilt tripped or otherwise pressured out of it time and time again... until things came to a head in an explosive argument that ended with finn dumping brandy and kicking her out.

distraught, she spurned the god who'd led his devotee down this path and then let her suffer like this, and struck out on her own instead of returning home - the shame of dropping off the face of the earth and abandoning her family was too much to bear. what if they hated her for running away? for abandoning her mission? from there, she spiraled, finding relief in substance abuse and the bed of any stranger that would take her. it was the one area in which she enjoyed any sense of autonomy and control - although it reinforced the lesson she'd learned from finn and his friends that her body and sexuality were what gave her worth. with time her physical and mental health began to plummet, her sense of self weakening and her hedonistic escapism becoming the only thing keeping her afloat despite slowly sucking the spirit out of her. she missed her family desperately, and longed to be a child in their arms once more, but as time went on reaching out to them became less and less of a material possibility in her mind.

but by pure chance and far into the future, she one day stumbled into her aunt, arya, while out and about; though panic overtook brandy at the sudden reunion, arya was only ecstatic to see her again, which was an unbelievable relief. but it was a bittersweet reunion - brandy had missed a lot, including the assassination of her beloved grandmother and subsequent exile of her entire family from their community. the former broke her heart and flooded her with even more guilt about her abandonment. here she'd been gallavanting about, living solely for herself and running away from her responsibilities and family and obligations, while the loved ones she'd been trying so hard to forget were suffering.

it took a lot of reassurance and convincing to ease brandy's nerves about going home and reuniting with everyone else, but ultimately she gave in – and it was one of the best decisions she ever made. everyone welcomed her back with open arms, having assumed she'd died and ecstatic to be proven wrong. she moved in with her living grandmother and began rekindling the relationships she'd lost and missed out on for so much of her life, and though recovery has been a massively uphill battle she's doing what she can with her newfound support system.

aaaand that concludes everything i properly rped before the site i wrote on crashed and burned ✌🏼

[scripttorture]

What would you expect from the public, including minors, when torturing someone in public is done, especially when it's a public spectacle and people actually come to watch. Is liking to watch torture a thing in this case? My story is a medieval/steampunk fantasy by the way.

Well Anon, this does still happen today. It happens in the country I grew up in and consider my home. So… my first suggestion is to throw out the implication that this is a weird historical thing the world doesn’t have to deal with any more. Because it is still very real. And if you get any kind of success with your story there’s a good chance some of your readers will have experience with this.

 It’s also significantly more complicated then ‘liking’ or ‘disliking’ so let’s unpack this a bit.

 I’ve never actually seen anyone maimed or executed. But as a kid of around 9-10 I knew kids my age who had. We used it as a sort of… pissing contest basically. Kids would brag about it to show how hard they were, in the same way we’d stuff chilis into our mouths and see who could last longest.

 It’s one of those bizarre kinds of ritualised self-harm that you end up performing in order to cope with awful things.

 Because witnessing this kind of stuff is harmful, to adults and children. It can leave people traumatised and displaying some of the symptoms I write about here.

 But, however old the characters, if they grew up somewhere where this is the norm then I absolutely guarantee they understand showing opposition is dangerous. They know their responses to these displays of brutality and power are used as a proxy for their loyalty and worthiness by the state.

 And boy if you are in any way outside the norm, if you are queer or the ‘wrong’ ethnic group or faith, then the pressure to conform here is so much more intense.

 I lived in Saudi, my home town is Dhahran. My parents are from opposite ends of Europe and they tried to raise me Christian. I still spent a lot of my teenage years unpacking stuff I’d absorbed about public executions, amputations, whippings etc.

 From the kids I knew growing up (anecdotal evidence no matter how empassioned) I’d say the ‘normal’ responses to witnessing this kind of state violence are varied. Kids would get nightmares, start showing signs of mild anxiety disorders or depression. They’d become moody, angry and generally unhappy. Which they’d sometimes take out on other people.

 But I can’t remember anyone ever explicitly linking it to what they witnessed. They’d try to hide this stuff. Some of them would double down on justifications for state violence (seemed pretty common.) They would, above all, deny there was a problem.

 Because admitting to mental illness made you ‘weak’ and admitting to doubts about state violence made you a ‘traitor’. Which is a pretty risky thing to label yourself (even by implication) when you live in a state that publicly mutilates and murders people. (Note the author’s bias as a committed pacifist may be showing.)

 As you may have noticed Anon, I still carry a significant amount of anger on this particular subject. This bottled vitriole is not directed at you or your story idea but at the states and politicians who make sure this brutality continues. It’s about the fact that I can remember a nine year old girl matter of factly talking about beheading at a birthday party.

 Stepping back from the personal side of things for a moment we know from studies of PTSD and trauma survivors generally that witnessing violence can lead to lasting psychological symptoms. Including PTSD.

 PTSD specifically is more likely when an individual is directly effected (ie physically hurt). But repeated exposure to traumatic events, including witnessing violence, makes the manifestation of long term symptoms more likely.

 So a character that has seen dozens of these attacks is more likely to develop a long term mental health problem then a character who has seen only one. Regardless of age.

 We can’t predict which individual symptoms an individual witness will develop or indeed when a witness might develop them. We just don’t know enough about how these things happen yet.

 Having said that, the possible symptoms for witnesses are pretty much identical to the possible symptoms for torture survivors (link above.) I’d advise against using chronic pain for witnesses unless you have a clear idea of an underlying cause; it seems (anecdotally) to be more common in people who directly experienced violence.

 If you decide to use insomnia there’s a masterpost on sleep deprivation here.

 For mental health problems like depression, anxiety etc remember there are physical symptoms as well as symptoms related to mood. Characters who are trying to deny they have a mental health problem might focus overly on physical symptoms. Depression can cause nausea, vomiting and tiredness/lack of energy which might be mistaken for disease. Anxiety can cause chest pain and shakes.

 Circling back let’s talk about some of the phrasing in this question for a moment. Because ‘choose to watch’ misunderstands the way states use these public displays of violence.

 Attendance and witnessing of public executions and torture is often enforced. Sometimes overtly and sometimes more tacitly. Because the point of these displays is to hammer home the power of the state. That doesn’t work if people can easily choose not to go.

 Here’s an example of what that overt and tacit enforcement looked like back home.

 Tacit enforcement came from the timing and placement of executions and amputations. They took place on weekends, when almost everyone was off work. They were carried out in major towns and cities, where the population density was higher. The venue was typically on a main thoroughfare close to important sites. Which ensured a high volume of people would be in the area when the execution took place, whether there was due to be an execution or not.

 So picture the town or city this is taking place in, in your story. When are the public holidays? Where are the markets? Where are the most popular religious venues? At what time will the most people be in these areas?

 All of that will tell you where an execution or public torture is likely to take place. Because if you set this shit up in eye sight of the place most people buy food, at the time when the most people are out, you get witnesses.

 Whether they want to be witnesses or not.

 Overt enforcement, on the low end of the scale, means having officials among the crowd pushing people towards the scaffold. At home this seemed to be targetted towards children and people who were judged as ‘other’. Different races to the majority, people who might have been read as a different religion, people who might have been read as queer etc.

 This is because the message is ‘This could be you.’

 I know practices in other countries have sometimes gone beyond this. Police or armed officials will sometimes go out and gather a crowd of witnesses by just… approaching people on the street and demanding they attend.

 This approach requires quite a bit of man power and is not practical or necessary in every setting. In most cases setting things up in the right place and time is enough to ensure a large number of witnesses.

 What I’m trying to illustrate here is that a lot of people will see this stuff without having made a conscious choice to do so.

 And making a conscious choice to see it… well it does say something about the character but not in the way you’re thinking.

 Because these displays are all about the power of the state. Witnessing them, responding to them is performance and it’s a performance of state loyalty. You can’t expect someone to give their true opinion on public displays of violence when criticism or voicing ‘dislike’ could lead to them being targets of violence.

 Basically if you’ve got characters going to see this stuff regularly then it’s worth asking why they feel the need to display their loyalty in this way. Sometimes it’s because they really really believe in the state. But often… they’re compensating for something.

 Wrapping up I think it’s important to note there’s often a difference between what people say about this stuff versus what they actually feel. And that’s because these things are explicitly political and explicitly about the power a state has over it’s subjects.

 The way individuals respond to these things in public and what they say about them in public effects how they are treated. Sometimes it comes with obvious legal sanctions. Even if it doesn’t… these displays are entirely about reminding people the state can kill them.

 And it doesn’t actually discourage crime or civil disobedience but it does create a climate of fear and hostility which permeates daily life.

 Think about why the state is insecure about their power. Think about how your characters live with that background radiation and whether it feeds into cultural ideas around things like martyrdom or nobility of suffering.

 Remember that there is a difference between public and private life. Existing in these kinds of brutal states often means having quite a sharp distinction between them. This can create very strong bonds to those the characters trust. It can also create a big difference between private and public personas.

 If you’re writing a world where public torture and executions are happening there’s more going on then just individual character’s reactions. You are saying something about the world, the ruling class and the politics of the area.

 Take the time make sure you know what you want to say.

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

[malhare-archive]

Me: Yeah idk if I'm neurodivergent or not

Also me: [Immediately has to pace around after experiencing one (1) intense emotion otherwise I feel like I'm going to explode]

ANYWAY. IM SO NORMAL ABOUT MEDIA. CANDYMAN THOUGHTS UNDER THE CUT BC SPOILERS

I actually really like that Nia DaCosta decided to approach the story as a possession/collective unconscious type haunting rather than trying to recreate the romantic aspect of the original film - I'm super obsessed with the whole "Candyman isn't a man; He's the whole hive" thing. The idea of a spirit being a collective that just progressively consumes more people as its' influence and notoriety grows is awesome

I love that they really leaned into the hook-killing technique, instead of having Candyman just straight up rip people open with it he used the hook to lift people up and smack em into other surfaces and drag them around. Brutal

SPEAKING OF KILLING - This movie had a really nice balance of kills without compromising the plot and themes of the film. I know that some people get bored (boo) by the original since there isn't a lotta slashing

In particular I loved the scene where those teenage girls summon Candyman and he kills them. It's so brutal while also not explicitly showing the carnage. Letting your mind fill in the gaps is a lot more horrifying

THE CHURCH SCENE was so intense and I adore the callback to the religious imagery of the original

Speaking of the church scene, one aspect of the film that might have gone over others' heads (or that I'm reading into too much?) is the mental health - specifically psychosis - aspect. Psychotic black people are disproportionately abused by the system, and the collective trauma that manifests Candyman obviously has roots in this too as shown by the "tortured artists' psychotic break" line, the artist who had a psychotic break and was murdered by the police, and even the frantic, psychotic behavior of the man from the laundromat during the church scene

OH I ALSO love the casual representation in both the gay couple and the lesbian in the bathroom summoning scene!

Okay okay last thought this is already so long: THAT LAST FUCKING SCENE. WAS SO GOD DAMN INTENSE MY HEART RATE WAS THROUGH THE ROOF. Hearing Tony Todd's voice again delivering those poetic lines? FULL BODY CHILLS. I am a bit sad that they didn't show more of Candyman's romantic/poetic nature, though I guess it wouldn't fit the tone of the film right so I'm just glad that we got this little bit at the end!

Also I never knew how to pronounce Daniel's laste name till now despite it being pronounced similarly to my middle name. It's such a beautiful name!

[thenexusofsouls]

Muse: “Priestess”/Esther Sun

[Bio and other information below the cut!]

Type of Character & Fandom/Source Material: Canon character from the movie Priest (2011)

FC: Maggie Q as “Priestess” in Priest

Race: Human (Priest genetic variant)

Age: 32

Sexual/Romantic Orientation: Heteroromantic/heterosexual, but is under a vow of celibacy

Family: Parents and a younger sister she hasn’t seen since she was eight years old

Occupation: A Priest, which is basically a religiously-oriented, specialized soldier with supernatural abilities trained to hunt and kill the creatures known as vampires

Potentially Triggering Material in Threads: Violence; blood; death; grief; forced service; PTSD; trauma-induced nightmares; war-related trauma 

Negative Personality Traits: She can be cold and stoic, and sometimes comes across as cruel, only because she’s very practical and doesn’t sugar coat things

Positive Personality Traits: She’s brave and selfless, and is more compassionate and empathetic than she lets on

Background, Unique to Esther: Esther was taken from her family by the Church at the age of eight and forced to train as a Priest. Basically, Priests/Priestesses make themselves apparent by their supernatural abilities, which can manifest either early or later in life. Usually the first signs that one has the potential to become a Priest is heightened senses/awareness, improved reflexes, sometimes faster healing, and heightened strength. Esther displayed these at a very young age and was taken as soon as the Church noticed. She was forced to forget her family and her identity, no longer being permitted to call herself by her name, but only by “Priestess.” The only one she has shared her real name with is Ivan, a fellow Priest in her same hunting party. Hunting parties were decided by the Church and usually were comprised of Priests of varying skills to make the party most effective. Esther’s skills are with the blade rope, a long, barbed, whip-like rose with a larger blade on the end of it that can be used like a whip, a tripwire, a bolo, or a sword, depending on how she wields it.

Background, Shared With Ivan: Priests were noticed by the Church and recruited to fight against the “vampires,” which, unlike traditional vampires who are “sparkly” or romanticized version of humans, were more feral, animal-like creatures with no eyes that hunt by smell and heat signatures. They’re not sexy emo men, they’re a different species entirely. They’re brutal, savage hunters with a queen overseeing them all. They kill and eat humans, but sometimes they make familiars (when a vampire makes you drink their blood instead of the other way around) that are tied to the vampires that made them. Unlike the vampires, who burn up in the sun, their familiars can be out in the daytime and thus can protect their master’s coffin or get valuable information for him/her on where food might be located at night.

There was at some point a great war between humans and vampires, and the humans won, only by virtue of the Priests, which are unbeknownst to most of them, genetic variants that are more highly evolved than humans. These natural variants that have occurred over time have better skills, faster healing, and supernatural abilities over and above regular humans. The Church  controls the Priests’ “Order” and issues them commands based on their agenda. Because the Priest genetic variation is hereditary, all Priests are forced to take a vow of celibacy upon induction into the Order. The Church tells them this is necessary for them to eliminate distractions and dedicate the whole of their lives to the service of the Church and the protection of mankind. In actuality, the Church does not want them breeding, growing in numbers, and perhaps rising to defy them, so they enforce the vow of celibacy to limit their reproductive capabilities. 

After the war ended, the remaining vampires were placed on reservations where they were restricted to a certain area. Humans lived in protected cities where the Church’s influence is strong, but some humans lived in towns far away from the cities to live by their own rules and not be under thee Church’s thumb. Some people even live out on the Fringes, the barren deserts with contaminated soil from radioactive weapons of old that span the landscape between the cities and towns. The Priests were disbanded and expected to integrate back into regular society. Because of the horrors of the war and the forced nature of their service, and because many Priests were taken as children, war was the only thing many of them knew. Being a soldier was the only skillset they had. To suddenly be expected to get mundane jobs in waste management or public service was an unrealistic expectation at best. Many of them fell into a deep depression while others became angry. Still others tried their best to integrate but were turned away by many employers because they had “no applicable skills.” It was as if society was just throwing them away, even though mankind had literally be saved by them. It was crushing and infuriating for both Ivan and Esther to navigate civilian life with little to no support. On top of that, Priests were seen as frightening figures in society. Most people shun them, mothers pull their children away from them, and in some ways, they’re seen as monsters just the same as the vampires are.

When Ivan went against the Church who wanted to keep the Priests out of commission and decided to go after his kidnapped daughter, Esther was reinstated by the Church along with a few other former Priests to hunt Ivan down. Instead of hunting him to capture or kill him, however, she warned him and then joined his cause. After Lucy was rescued, Jacob/Black Hat had gone missing, and the Church’s denial about the existence of free vampires attempting to invade the cities was exposed, Ivan and Esther went rogue permanently to try and figure out what the vampires’ plan was... and hopefully to bring other former Priests over to their cause.

Contemporary Verse: I could see the Priests being a division of the CIA, FBI, or in a Marvel Verse maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. or S.W.O.R.D., to fight vampires, creatures like them, or other supernatural or alien threats. They would be much like the Avengers, in that they would be specialized soldiers deployed to stop supernatural, high-tech, or not well understood threats to earth or mankind. I probably wouldn’t hold them to the vow of celibacy, but if possible I would want to keep them rather corruptly run, as it fits with how they’re deployed and managed.

Potential Starter Ideas:

In her canon world, Esther could rescue your muse from vampires, or you could team up with her to fight/track them. 

In a contemporary verse, she would be good as a hired or assigned supportive agent/hunter/etc. on missions of all sorts. Maybe even law enforcement or FBI-associated, something like that.

There are a lot of other slice of life things I’m sure we could figure out, depending on your muse.

Fun facts: 

Esther has been in love with Ivan for years, but believes he has never felt the same. She respects his adherence to their vows as Priests, even if they break her heart.

She had a friend and fellow Priest named Jacob who became the only human vampire in existence after drinking the queen’s blood.

She secretly believes there is a way to cure the familiar condition, but has never had enough time to properly research it.

[iobjectfa20]

OAXACALIFORNIA: For the Pride of Your Hometown, The Way of the Elders, And In Memory of the Forgotten

“And That Is How They Hid The Sun” by Oaxacan art collective, Tlacolulokos (Dario Canul & Cosijoesa Cernas). This mural is part of a larger exhibit, OAXACALIFORNIA, which can be found online in the Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA).

How & Why I Chose This Piece

The greater exhibit, OAXACALIFORNIA, showcases the complexities of language, migration, and culture specific to the experiences of Oaxacan (Oaxaca being the capital of Mexico) and Indigenous community members residing in Los Angeles, California. It aims to explore how these facets of identity have been integrated with that of non-Indigenous people (who function as agents of settler colonialism, regardless of intention), while simultaneously honoring the traditions of ancestors past. What immediately drew me to this specific piece was the juxtaposition of it’s red, gold, and blue colors. While the exhibit in its entirety uses the red and gold patterned background, it at once subverts this feeling of comfort with the choice to incorporate such a contrasting color such as blue in this specific mural. The blue also emphasized certain unrecognizable features of the mural and consequently piqued my interest. 

Taking a step back to examine the actual people and objects situated in the work, I could already deduce that this was meant to provide commentary on a few key aspects of society; religion (due to the robed figure on the far left donning a black robe and a cross-patterned shirt), the relationship between policing systems and religion (as shown by the batons positioned to create a cross at the foot of the robed figure), and culture (demonstrated by the different styles of clothing each person is wearing). Additionally, the context of the exhibit is to reinforce the importance and presence of Indigenous life despite the consistent whitewashing of history. I could therefore conclude that this in one way or another was attempting to push against dominant colonial narratives and also attempting to remind spectators that this history is not stuck in the past. Colonization is frequently framed as an unnameable atrocity of the past, but it is not often enough recognized as a trauma that has manifested to fit our world today. This piece insists on being recognized as a contemporary struggle while also affirming the Indigenous peoples ability to thrive regardless of all that they face. 

Despite knowing all this there was so much that was not familiar to me, such as the pants of the portrait’s middle character, their tattoos (or that of the person creating them), and the cultural artifact to the far right side. I was also really interested to see how language would be incorporated into a medium that was largely visual, and while we do see a phrase in Spanish, I was not yet sure about it’s meaning in the exhibit as a whole. I knew there was much more occurring than I could grasp based on my limited knowledge of Oaxacan and Indigenous communities, and it was my job to unravel that understanding from this mural. This is why I chose this piece. Not only does it echo a familiarity of colonial narratives that many of us grew up being educated on, but it de-centers this whitewashed history and instead encourages us to engage directly with the cultures of these communities. It forces us to dedicate time and effort to truly understand how this work is a piece of global resistance. 

Reframing as Object of Resistance Global Novels are about expanding our world view, about circumventing structures that exist to repress all expressions of identity. In studying this genre, we have been able to access various works that asked us to consider the magnitude of storytelling. It is not enough to just acknowledge the existence of these stories, but we have been tasked with challenging the people who have been positioned to tell them. Art exhibits accomplish much (if not all or more) of the same things, and both mediums allow us to reflect on our own experiences and create interpretations that would not exist otherwise.  OAXACALIFORNIA falls right in the middle of this mission as it is celebrating life, tradition, language, and reaffirming Indigenous communities' place in history and in the world today. It simultaneously collapses whitewashed narratives that have somehow tokenized Indigenous people in a way that suspends them in the past --- they are not honored as they exist in our communities now. Because this piece is framed within a colonial context, it is automatically assuming the position of a reimagined history. Both Canul and Cernas have expressed that the exhibit contains significant ties to Oaxacan, LA, and Indigenous cultures. Thus, this piece also functions by tying together generations of migration and stories. At face value this mural literally depicts several people, but there is a deeper underlying meaning that directly opposes the regurgitation of popular colonial accounts. Firstly, the Catholic priest on the far left is dressed in a black robe with patterned print underneath. The print contains imagery of the cross, and lying at this figure’s feet are two police batons that take on the shape of a cross. The battle helmet that they are wearing has the words “Born to Kill” engraved into the side, and they are wearing combat boots that are barely visible beneath the robe. This figure is also pictured holding a police baton in one hand (mimicking a crucifix) and an open religious text that is decorated with the imagery of death on the other. One should also note that the hand wrapping around the baton is skeletal, almost ghostly, and seems to mirror the picture of death on the open book. Combining all these characteristics together it is as if they are attempting to bless the person who is sitting down, but with promises of salvation through violence, policing, and deception (characterized by the fact that their face is being mostly shielded from the audience) much like the European conquistadors during the continent's pre-colonial era. This also calls forth the issue of police brutality that Black communities and communities of color face at the hands of the police officers, once again making this piece more contemporary than meets the eye. They are positioned in a way that makes them taller than the other two individuals, but they feel more blended in with the background as they are wearing duller colors. Next, we have a person who appears to be sitting down and getting drawn or tattooed on. Their chest, right arm, and ankles are covered in tattoos, and the ankle tattoos almost seem to mimic the print of their pants. They are wearing a bright blue cap backwards, dressed in sweats, and Nike sneakers. This person’s expression is one of bravado and they’re holding onto a machete, which is symbolic of resistance to the systemic, ideological, and physical violence experienced at the hands of colonizers. While that seems to be all that is going on, the emphasis of the bright blue colors led me to do research on the significance of the clothing. The sweatpants have actually been sown together with traditional wear for the highly respected “Danza de la Pluma/Dance of the Feather”. The dance is full of lively music, vibrant clothing, and the presence of ancestors (acted through the people dancing) that are meant to be honored. It existed long before colonization occurred and was specifically honoring the Aztec gods (i.e. of rain, sun and corn to name a few). After colonization it then began to also commemorate the survival of Indigenous peoples despite the violent intervention of Europe. The blending of traditional wear with the sweatpants and overall mainstream outfit (i.e. the only other blue accessory, the cap) are emblematic of the multiplicity of identity. Regardless of how much has changed sociopolitically, a person’s identity is their own to dictate and these identities do not exist in vacuums. Lastly, the person that seems to be tattooing is the more discreetly proactive character. The tattoos that have been drawn on the middle person’s chest are that of ships adorned with crosses on their masts, of lightning storms, and of the word “Raza/Race” on their abdomen. Because this last person is placed in a position of creating these images, this speaks more directly to the core of this project; the reimagining and rewriting of history by those who have been harmed. The waves lashing out at the base of the ships seem more fiery, like flames, and all of these combined illustrations create a tempestuous recounting of European colonization. These colonizers are the bringers of chaos in this story. It’s also important to note that this third person’s hand is dissolving into the body of the person sitting. Both people become one in this shared past and this tattooing process is consensual, reassuring the audience that both are partaking in the sharing of their truth. There is empowerment and autonomy here. While their expression is that of bravado (as mentioned earlier), the teardrop is representative that there is no bravery without expressions of pain and sadness. Whether this sadness is due to the remembrance of this agonizing past or the literal process of tattooing, it has become memorialized as part of their experience all the same. While religion was weaponized, it is also a testament of union and community. It is undoubtedly true that Christianity and Catholicism were vehicles of violence for the European settlers, but now that both have become ingrained as an integral part of certain Oaxacan communities (re: the tattoo of a rosary on the third person’s left hand), it has been reworked as a mode of unification and of finding each other. All of these truths can exist at once but it was imperative to Tlacolulokos to create a piece that was frank in it’s portrayal.   This piece also transcends borders, such as those of California (LA) and Mexico (Oaxaca), and highlights the issues of Indigenous displacement. The theorist that immediately came to mind was Dr. Aihwa Ong, author of Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality. Dr. Ong uses the imagery of a passport to disturb the conventions of “state imposed” versus “personal” identity. Not only does the passport symbolize a state imposed sense of identity (much like the creation of borders), but Ong outlines how a diasporan subject inherently resists these sanctions. Tlacolulokos have curated for us through their art the understanding that Indigenous people have been labeled as “other” and “inferior”, despite being displaced from their original land and right to sovereignty. There is an understanding that these marginalized groups now have learned to mold themselves around societally imposed expectations. Similarly, Ong explains that the concept of “citizenship” is always changing due to physical movement and displacement, and due to cultural exchange. This is exactly the rhetoric that this mural is attempting to emulate. In its entirety, this mural depicts the movement of people across borders (metaphorical and literal), and about the fact that these communities continue to exist regardless of how they are erased from institutional spaces. Despite the fact that the US government continues to ostracize and disrespect Indigenous people, these communities are continuing to find each other through the tracing of familial lines and self-identification. This exhibit addresses themes of being silenced by solidifying its place in history through documentation in a visual form. It is a memorialization of previously existing in a mythic state; of existing between reality and fantasy. However, this piece and the exhibit as a whole reassures audiences that these communities are very real and still deserving of appropriate recognition and care. On a final note, these pieces were commissioned by the Los Angeles City Central Library to counter the original murals that were situated on the museums walls. The original paintings (commissioned in 1933) depicted the European and Indigenous people in painfully biased ways --- the Indigenous as weak, submissive, and enslaved, while the Europeans were construed as symbols of power, wealth, and civility. The act of placing the new murals by Tlacolulokos directly underneath the older work is the museum’s way of addressing the pain that had been perpetuated by their previous commission. While I can’t speak to whether or not this is enough to rectify the harm done by the museum (as I myself am not Indigenous), Tlacolulokos has definitely embraced this as an amends.

--- Zenaida R. 

[jswdmb1]

I Wanna Be Sedated

“Hurry, hurry, hurry 

before I go insane

Can't control my fingers, 

can't control my brain”

- The Ramones

All of our resources have been focused on two things: keeping people alive and keeping the economy afloat.  It is hard to argue the prioritization of those two areas and it is understandable that there are not resources beyond what we have already marshalled to focus on anything further down the list.  But I worry that we are just burying another landmine in the ground that we’ll be stepping on sooner than later if we forget about it.  I am talking about the complete and brutal destruction of our mental health both collectively and individually.

 Before I go further, I must repeat that I completely support the efforts of social shutdown and shelter in place that are currently in effect.  It is literally the only tool we have to fight this pandemic as our leaders (most specifically the president) mocked its potential wrath when more could have been done to prepare and now we are boxed into a corner.  Experts warned long before this man even got nominated by his party that he was unfit for this office and an existential threat to our way of life.  It was just a matter of time before his vulgarity, stupidity and incompetence manifested into real pain and destruction, and that time is now.  I bring this up before delving into my primary subject because I still see polls and news reports that show there is a large percentage of people who still think there is overreaction to the crisis and that the president is doing a good job handling it.  If you believe either of those things, please stop reading now because you do not have the intellectual capacity to grasp what I am going to say.

 Now that we have established how we got here and who is responsible, the real question that everyone has on their minds is what is next.  We have been told to shelter-in-place for the foreseeable future and been given no further instructions.  The economic bill passed yesterday is the equivalent of treating a gunshot wound with a band-aid, and will be of little use as a real solution to the financial devastation that most people will experience long after those checks run out.  This combination has made it increasingly hard to keep strong mentally as the massive uncertainty weighs on our minds literally every hour of the day.  For a few days, we found some solace in things like getting outside, but now that is being quashed as acceptable.  We are pretty much under a house arrest with no defined sentence and we are being punished for no crime we ever committed.  Even a prisoner gets access to basic services such as counseling and religious freedoms, but not those of us at home.  In war, there is something known as collateral damage, and our civil liberties are fitting that description for the current crisis.  On top of all of that, the weather in my part of the country has been miserable.  It all adds up to one very grim picture.

 Some of you may not like that I am painting such a picture, but that to me contributes to our mental health crisis in the same way that putting our heads in the sand about the virus got us to where we stand today.  I am not alone in feelings of anxiety or depression, but it’s well known I have had both long before the virus hit our shores.  I feel it gives me a little bit of a perspective on this issue and why I see it a potentially more damaging long-term than anything we are experiencing today.  What I can tell you from experience is that it is not possible to work through profound feelings of depression by “just being positive”.  The two worst things you can tell a depressed person is that they have to remain positive and they need to work themselves out of their mood. That is akin to telling someone who is drowning that they need to come up for air and should go look for a lifejacket when they do.  Yet, all I see on social media and the news is that this is the “new normal” and “we’ll get through this”.  What are you talking about?  There is nothing normal about this at all.  Why on earth would anyone accept it as such?  And, how do you know that we’ll get through this?  What are you basing that on?  Have you been through a deadly pandemic before?  Have you sat under quarantine for weeks that will soon turn into months?  It literally grates on my nerves to hear such things as good tools to use to “get us out of our funk”.

 So, that begs the question about what do we do?  I will not pretend to have any real answers and certainly there is no quick fix.  But first, we all have to acknowledge that this problem exists, and it is at least on par with the other aspects of this crisis. And don’t say that it isn’t life-or-death because it is.  I predict in a matter of weeks, not months, that you will see a morbidly sharp increase in the suicide rate.  This is also incredibly damaging to the efforts of those trying to recover from addiction diseases, and many will not only succumb to their addictions without a support system to help them, but they will die as a result of this.  And the casualties are not limited to those who don’t make it.  The deep psychological scars left on the rest of us that manage to get through this will not heal without significant intervention.  I am particularly worried about our teens and young adults who were already not in a good place and I think are suffering more than most when it comes to the social isolation steps being implemented.  We all need to acknowledge that we are experiencing acute mental trauma and we cannot simply accept that as “normal”.

 If you cannot accept this as fact, then there is not much more I can do to help you.  You are going to suffer a similar fate as those who don’t believe we are in the middle of a deadly pandemic in the first place.  But if you are willing to accept that your mental health is (or will be) destroyed as a result of this, there are a couple of things that I have learned over the years that can help you cope:

 Depression, pain and anxiety are normal feelings and you should not feel guilty for feeling them.  By all means do not suppress those feelings as they fester without an outlet.  Also be aware that those around you will have these feelings as well and don’t shame them for not being “positive” or “constructive” for expressing them.  It is going to take a lot of patience along with some give and take to work with each other on this, but if we deny ourselves or others the freedom to express these emotions, we can’t even get started with healing.

Recognize that while many tools have been taken way from us that usually can be a big help, many others are still available.  We have to just be more creative and look for other doors that may be open when others have been shut.  One of my main outlets has been a group running program where I coach, and that is now gone in its old form.  But we are working hard to still get out and run (solo and never congregating) and support each other virtually.  It is not perfect, but it would be wrong to dismiss the sense of community we have built over the years because it is still alive and well no matter how far apart we are kept.  It may even be stronger when we eventually can see each other again.  That is just one example.  I recommend you take whatever you had before and look for ways to retool and still use that as something you can have that is a positive force in your life.  It could be that you have that taken away at some point, but then go back and retool it again.  If GM can retool its operations from cars to ventilators, we can certainly do the same on our micro levels.

Avoid using alcohol and drugs as a crutch.  I can tell you from direct experience that this is just about the worst way to deal with depression.  I am not saying you cannot enjoy a drink now and then, but I have already seen anecdotal evidence in some of my interactions on social media and elsewhere that this is not the case.  I know that I sound preachy here, but I’m just trying to help as I’m sure many of you may have not experienced profound depression like this before.  There is no doubt that the drink or drug of your choice feels good for a little bit and may even help you forget, but it is an incredibly slippery slope.  

For those who have committed to sobriety before this all went down, please hold onto that. It may be the only thing you have left that they can’t take away, and it is too valuable to give up so easily.  I know it is hard, the thought of heading down to the liquor store (which incredibly is still open and considered “essential”) has passed through my head more than once, but you have to let that feeling pass.  You know better than I that what I say in the preceding paragraph is true and heading off the path to sobriety will be a disaster.  I have heard that support groups are still meeting (as they have also been deemed essential) so consider a way to attend those (even virtually) if you are struggling with temptation.  If you have no such support mechanism, contact me directly through FaceBook Messenger. I am always willing to talk to someone who needs to work though a moment of crisis.  It’s a ridiculously impossible situation, but there is no other choice to hold on.

 I know that I sound like I am on a soapbox here, but that is not my intent.  This is more of a plea to everyone out there not to forget that mental health is a critical component of living and bodies free of disease are useless if our brains can’t function within them.  Please just remember that as you deal with the people in your house and those you interact with virtually.  While you may think you have the right answer in telling people to stay happy and chipper during a dark time, that is not how everyone feels and it could be damaging to their mental health if you ignore the danger signs they are presenting.  My guess is that anyone who has gone this far into reading this already knows that, but it is going to take some reminding for even the most empathetic and caring person among us.  Starting now can hopefully get ahead of issues that are already taking root so that we can move forward much more quickly with “normal” life if such a thing ever exists again.

 In the meantime, I sincerely hope that this finds you healthy and safe and that you are coping with the mental aspects of the situation better than me.  One outlet I have is this blog, and I have thought about suspending it during the crisis because I don’t have anything to say that people want to hear.  After writing this post, I realize now that would be the easy way out, and at the risk of being unpopular, I can not give up the fight to protect the most important organ in our bodies – our brain.  So, I’ll keep on keepin’ on, but just remember that I really am trying to help. I don’t want anyone to end up in a place that they can’t leave.  We’ve come too far to let that happen.

 Please take care everybody,

Jim

[anhed-nia]

I LOVE RAVENOUS MORE THAN YOU DO

RAVENOUS is one of my favorite movies of all time. It may not be the prettiest, or the deepest, or the most refined movie or all time, but it is a true original, and one that insinuated itself into my mental DNA from the moment I saw it. It arrived on home video around the time that I was about to leave for college, so it makes a certain amount of sense that it would have such a lasting impact on the rest of my adult life. I was initially attracted to the its excessive violence, its salt-in-the-wound humor, and its style of rustic perversion to which I was well-disposed since THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE first ruined my life as a teenager. But, there is more to RAVENOUS than these broad strokes descriptors, and looking back, it is easy to see how this unusual film catalyzed my ability to read films, and at the risk of being dramatic, my ability to understand myself.

(why does this movie only have awful posters?)

RAVENOUS is the only horror movie I can think of that takes place during the Mexican-American war, an unconventional setting that is the first sign of how truly odd this movie will be. Guy Pearce plays John Boyd, a soldier who is being celebrated for turning the tide of a major battle. The reality is that he survived the fray by hiding under a pile of his countrymen's corpses, bathing in their blood and viscera, until an unexplainable burst of rage drove him to capture the Mexican commanders, garnering him the undeserved mantle of hero. General Slauson (John Spencer) has Boyd's number, though, and ships the coward off to the impossibly remote mountain outpost of Fort Spencer, a sort of depot for undesirables like himself. No sooner has Boyd resigned himself to his fate, than the group's stasis is destroyed by the arrival of a wandering frontiersman (the incomparable Robert Carlyle) who claims to have escaped from a Donner Party-like tragedy. Naturally, their ingratiating guest turns out to be the villain at the heart of his own story, and worse yet, a carrier of the supernatural wendigo virus that rewards cannibalism with virtual immortality. The whole situation quickly devolves into a Darwian competition to sort out the predators from the provisions, seasoned liberally with analogies to Manifest Destiny and American consumerism.

Writer Ted Griffin's prismatic metaphors could be pretty clunky on their own, with cheeky comparisons between cannibalism and communion, and handy food-related quotations from founding father Benjamin Franklin. Happily, Antonia Bird's distinctive directorial style prevents RAVENOUS from degenerating into a broad-side-of-the-barn satire of American history. Griffin's overly familiar arguments act as stabilizing road signs, as the viewer navigates the otherwise hostile and alien territory explored by Bird. In the broadest sense, RAVENOUS is a movie about bodies out of control: cravings and terrors that annihilate one's self-control, that erode one's dignity, that blend repulsion and eroticism into a noxious but irresistible brew. The body wages war on the personality, the morals, the institutional rank and decoration; it wages war on other bodies, and ultimately on itself. Griffin the cultural critic has his place here, but it is Antonia Bird's unique understanding of frailty and hysteria that makes this movie so affecting.

RAVENOUS begins with a gloriously shocking opener that joins pornographic closeups of the celebratory steak served at Boyd's promotional dinner, with Boyd vomiting violently outside of the dining hall. The body is turned inside out right away in this movie, and this stunt is immediately followed by a similarly disorienting trick turned by the film's main theme. The experimental score, a collaboration between the great Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn from Blur, establishes its power with a composition that is written in 6/7 time, creating a rhythm that is very difficult to follow for the average ear. Thus the viewer is first nauseated by the imagery, then disoriented by the sound, and it is in this unsettled state that one remains for the rest of the film.

There are a number of such bizarre formal techniques to discuss, and they are well matched by Bird's management of her cast. Even for a horror film, RAVENOUS is an extremely physical movie. The terminally guilty Boyd seems to be on the verge of literal implosion; the squirrelly and barely verbal religious fanatic Toffler (Jeremy Davies) scrambles around breathlessly at a pace that puts him in danger of killing himself (which he finally nearly does); the only "real" soldier in the bunch, the nightmarishly aryan Private Reich (Neal McDonough), is first seen screaming half-submerged in a frigid mountain stream, suggesting that even the the conventional trappings of heroism are purely pathological here. Other characters are chronically drunk or high, struggling just to stay awake or walk a straight line. The radical loss of identity in which the organism transforms from a sentient being, into stew in a cauldron, almost seems like a natural eventuality of the abjection and loss of control suffered by everyone at Fort Spencer.

This moral and physical degeneracy, that is the status quo with Boyd and his cohorts, eventually contaminates the mind as well. When I first saw RAVENOUS, I was entirely ignorant of real artistry in film, and whether I knew it or not, my malnourished brain was in dire need of deviance from Hollywood norms of beauty and power. At that time, I was mainly accustomed to two approaches to human behavior in films: First, the James Bond model, in which characters only behave as if they have perfect foresight and complete control of their emotions and deliberation even in the face of catastrophe. I use "James Bond" as the most recognizable face of this hyperrationalism, but this approach pervades most mainstream films involving any kind of peril. How many times have you, the reader, had to sit through a screening in which some know-it-all picks apart the decisions and reactions of every character, as if it were reasonable to expect any person on either side of the screen to behave with robotic pragmatism regardless of their circumstances? But people do expect this from fictional protagonists on the whole. The second approach that I want to identify is mainly relegated to slasher movies; According to this model, characters are permitted to make the stupidest possible choices at every juncture, because the audience has a preexisting assumption that these victims will be sacrificed on the altar of our prudish morals, or simply for the vicarious enjoyment of the power wielded by a Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. What we rarely see in the mainstream, outside of the comedy genre, is shock, mania, hysteria, the loss of one's faculties that comes when one experiences a violent divorce from accepted reality.

Other than the aforementioned TEXAS CHAIN SAW, RAVENOUS was the first movie I had ever seen that addressed the neurological reality of trauma. Boyd's uncontrollable vomiting at the very beginning of the film is just a taste of Antonia Bird's mastery of this subject. She has ample opportunity to address this with her cast when the interloping cannibal "survivor" Colqhoun, first leads the unsuspecting Fort Spencer crew to the cave where he says the "real" cannibal is hiding out. Upon their arrival, Colqhoun throws himself into an alarming fugue state, apparently reliving the trauma of the nightmare from which he fled. He pants and gasps, smirks and grimaces, claws at the air and at the earth, as if to bury himself, effectively scaring the shit out of everybody. After he reveals his true intentions and massacres most of the crew before chasing Boyd and Reich off the edge of a cliff, another interesting neurological event transpires. At the bottom of the hole into which they have plummeted, with Reich's last spasm of life, he clamps his fingers around Boyd's throat  until his maniacal laughter turns into a death rattle. An even finer example comes after Boyd has returned to camp, having shamefully mended his wounds by dining on Reich's corpse as per the wendigo myth. Still recuperating, Boyd greets the arriving officers who are escorting the Fort's replacement commander--who turns out to be Colqhoun, now dressed neatly as the "Colonel Ives" on whom he blamed the cannibalistic murders of his fellow frontiersman. At the sight of this shocking enemy, Boyd pivots wildly and slams face first into the nearest wall, crumbling like a swatted insect on the floor and shaking uncontrollably.

These are some of the principle moments that won RAVENOUS my heart, and that really let me know what I was searching for in films. In fact, this movie was so formative for me that it led to a sort of impromptu ritual of breaking with my childhood. As with all cultists, my desperation to rope in everybody I knew intensified along with my obsession. I couldn't imagine that anybody would reject this beautiful and fabulously unusual work of art. I pulled a lot of wins, but I was in for a rude awakening where it should have counted. I refer to my "best friend" and "high school sweetheart" of about ten years, a guy who dominated my cultural life for almost as long as we were pals, since he was slightly smarter and had slightly better taste than our high school peers, but very little interest in having his mind expanded, as I eventually realized. When I showed him my new favorite movie of all time, I was brutally disappointed by his scoffing at every scene that I considered to be the movie's crowning accomplishments. He scrunched up his face and rejected Reich's murderous dying breath as "stupid" and "fucked up" and "making no sense". Today I'm not sure how hard I tried to explain that, look, we're talking about a character who is on the brink of death, whose final moments were in especially ugly combat, and who is really extremely brain damaged; more to the point, he really hates Boyd, the coward, and may have tried to kill him at some point even if he were fully possessed of his faculties. I mean, we're finally seeing something psychiatrically real here...aren't we? I got the same snotty dismissal from my viewing companion when Boyd went into shock at the sight of Ives--shock, a real acknowledged medical condition--and really during any scene that he considered too awkward and bizarre to be "cool" and heroic. It was at that very moment that I knew we wouldn't be friends for much longer, and we actually fell out of touch a few years later.

With that personal digression out of the way, though, I'd like to return to the cave (don't I always?) to discuss how Antonia Bird, her DP Anthony B. Richmond, and her editorial team work together to keep the audience in more or less the same state of discomfort and disorientation as the characters. RAVENOUS was also the first movie that taught me how to interpret the visual grammar of film, since I watched it so often that, eventually, I couldn't miss what was going on. Bird and co. have a way of distorting and compressing space that prevents the viewer from ever really knowing where you are. When the crew arrives at the low, carbon black mouth of the cave, there is a sense that it couldn't possibly be as deep as Colqhoun's story suggests (and in practical reality, it isn't). When Boyd and Reich creep inside, the tunnel plunges promptly into a weird homey sublevel where Colqhoun had been subsisting on his fellow travelers. This is sort of weird, but not as weird as what happens outside. When Colqhoun plunges into his fugue state, we see in it a sweaty, spittle-flecked closeup. His behavior spooks Toffler, who in his own closeup cowers against his commanding officer Colonel Hart (Jeffrey Jones, playing essentially the same character as in Deadwood). Colqhoun appears to stalk closer and closer to the camera, but how close is he to Toffler and Hart? We have no idea, until he circles back to the pit he just dug and then lunges through the air to plant a knife in Hart's abdomen, gutting him. Then, when Boyd and Reich give chase, there is a moment where Reich stares into the camera, giving Boyd an order. Boyd looks shyly into the camera before glancing off, suggesting that he flinches away from Reich's hateful gaze--but in the next shot, we see that Boyd is actually behind Reich, looking in a completely different direction. Part of me suspects that Bird and her crew were making the most of the small and somewhat sparse-looking patch of woods that they had for this scene, but it gets more interesting later on. As Colquhoun-now-Ives surreptitiously prepares a human stew back at camp, the permanently drunk Major Knox (Stephen Spinella, who seems determined to turn RAVENOUS into a balls-out comedy) shouts down the hysterical Boyd--all in closeup, so where are they? As it turns out, Ives is in one building, Knox stands in a passageway outside the door, and Boyd sits shackled in a separate building in the distant background. Finally, in Boyd's epic showdown with Ives, there is a fascinating moment in which Boyd saunters into the room, gazing staunchly ahead, ready to kill. Cut to Ives standing in front of a roaring fire, spinning neatly to face his adversary--but when we cut back to Boyd, we see that he is completely alone in the space. Shortly, Ives plunges through the ceiling behind him; they were never even on the same floor. RAVENOUS consistently leaves the viewer as disoriented and untethered as its characters are emotionally.

This battle itself harkens back to the movie's crucial focus on the often degrading and humiliating experience of piloting a human body. In both the James Bond and slasher movie models of movie behavior that I previously discussed, a climactic showdown should be fast-paced, furious, with impressive feats of athleticism by the combatants. Not so in RAVENOUS. The final scene is accompanied by an eight-and-a-half minute minimalist trudge through hell by Nyman and Albarn that never threatens to raise your blood pressure with stings or arias. The music perfectly matches this sluggish fight between two men whose bodies have been repeatedly destroyed and recreated. Their weapons are a letter opener, a meat cleaver, a pretty substantial log, and finally, a massive bear trap. The conflict is no clash of the titans, no beautiful realization of the full potential of male aggression. It is gruesome, tragic, and in some way, romantic.

I would be remiss if I failed to dig in to the eroticism of this movie. Like all vampire movies, there is a virgin and a seducer, a victim who calls their lack of worldliness dignity, and a predator who sees chastity as a shameful waste of life. RAVENOUS is one of at least three movies that Antonia Bird made about the unique relationships between men in traditionally male situations. Her heist movie FACE has been compared to HEAT, though I am really thinking of the incendiary drama PRIEST. In this, her impressive directorial debut, a young man of the cloth struggles with the disturbing intrusion of sex into his chaste life, be it in the lives of deviant clergyman, or abused child parishioners, or in his own struggle with homosexuality. Robert Carlyle plays the unhappy lover left out in the cold, drifting down the street on a skateboard like a hovering ghost, trying to convince the eponymous character that love is greater than its stingy biblical proscription. While there are no literal love scenes in RAVENOUS, it takes place in a similar world, made up almost only of men--men who are brothers in arms, who look after each other's souls and bodies, and who even consume each other's bodies, who gain strength from one another by breaking the ultimate taboo. The closing image, of Boyd and Ives pinned chest to chest by the bear trap, bleeding to death in each other's arms, remains for me one of the tenderest images in all of horror cinema.

I would like to close by asserting that Bird's deft exploration of male sensitivity is nowhere more powerful than in her direction of David Arquette, the unlikely shining star of RAVENOUS. The often intolerably wacky comedic actor plays Private Cleaves, an absolute reject from society who (barely) functions as the help around Fort Spencer. He and George (Joseph Runningfox), one of two Native American appendages to the crew, are consistently high out of their minds, which may make them look like fools, but it also designates them as being the most wisely in touch with the genuinely hopelessness of their situation. When George is slaughtered by Colqhoun, Cleaves is left all alone tending the Fort, and he has a few scenes of powerful vulnerability before his inevitable demise. In between two key plot beats, we find Cleaves and George's sister Martha (the quietly wonderful Sheila Tousey) standing together in the snowy yard, observing the new commanding officer's arrival. What should be a forgettably dry piece of exposition concludes with Cleaves instinctively turning to Martha and stroking her hair, which causes both of them to dissolve in tears. In an adjacent scene, Boyd watches through the window as the agonizingly bereaved Cleaves chops wood in the yard, alone. Cleaves, certainly intoxicated, weaves and sweats, giggling in an unnervingly forced manner to try to resurrect the perpetual good time that he once enjoyed with his murdered best friend. The scene dissolves into a fantasy in which Boyd gives in to his mounting cannibalistic urges and eviscerates Cleaves--throughout which Cleaves laughs and laughs with escalating insanity. It is difficult to convey the raw force of the sequence in words, so I will just say this: Early this year, I dared to point out that among the many strange virtues of STARSHIP TROOPERS is the fact that terminal screwball Jake Busey is so warm, so funny, and so emotionally available in that movie that it almost throws off the deliberately boneheaded artificiality of the entire rest of the cast. So, I would just like to conclude that, if your movie involves somebody from EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS or Shasta McNasty, and you get that person to provide you with one of the most sensitive performances in the whole show, you're probably doing something right.

[timegeist]

NPD is “the black plague” of this century.

Please listen to the boos and angry clamoring you hear at all Donald Trump rallies. What is it, exactly, that you hear? Is that actually hate, or not?

The 2016 American election cycle is bringing to visibility a national epidemic of an emotional disease that lies dormant in modern societies and has been breaking out regularly for the past few hundred years.

The root etiology of this disease is the cycle of pain-rage-irrationality-brutality, ending in complete self-destruction. Its source is trauma imprints. We can call it: “Infantile Emptiness” – that first moment in our life when, due to parental neglect (They too had been wounded.), we felt we might not actually exist, at all.  So, it is a form of PTSD.  (For an extended description, see my http://thesecularspirit.com/right-wing-movements/ )

This condition is known as the Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and it is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (2013). Historically it has had different names over the years. It is the Nazi disease, the genocide disease (Pol Pot, Rwanda, etc.). It is also found among billionaires, especially hedge fund billionaires, because computer programming only uses one small specialized area of the brain, leaving plenty of room for otherwise very ordinary mind and even madness.

The pain in this cycle is purely internal and purely emotional. It is a trauma imprint. So, it is not felt as any overt physical symptom, and therefore has peculiar invisibility. But it is manifested in beliefs and behavior, although these are often not easily detected on a social level.

But the pain is real, and it produces simmering and constant rage. In German they have a word for this: Kampf.

Since the pain is internal and invisible, the rage it produces is indiscriminate in its choice of objects for blame. It could be “the federal government” (without specification as to activity), “immigrants”, “the establishment”, etc. A popular choice is any outgroup: all non-Aryans for Germany in the 30s (but especially Jews), the “other tribe” (Tutsis for Hutus in Rwanda), “the middle class” for the Marxist Khmer Rouge, “Mexicans” for Trumpites and Cruzites, “gays” (i.e., the whole LGBT community) for evangelical Christians.

I started to do research on the comment made by a German criminologist, reported on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago, that “humanity is written into the German Constitution.”

The constitution of Germany, the Grundgesetz, which came into effect in 1949, puts a particular emphasis on human rights. Its first sentence, “Human dignity is inviolable”, is being interpreted as protecting the sum of human rights. This paragraph is protected by an “eternity clause” and cannot be changed. It has wide-ranging effects on judicial practice; for example, it has been used to justify the right on Informational self-determination in a 1983 finding of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.

However, following experiences from the Weimar Republic, Germany sees itself as a wehrhafte Demokratie (fortified democracy); actions targeted towards removing the democratic order are not covered by human rights. For them, it was “the mountains of bodies” at concentration camps that alerted them to this situation

To expand on this: Now we can say that the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the foundation of right-wing politics. NPD is what generates the cycle of pain –rage (& fear) – irrationality - brutality. NPD is epidemic in the USA today. It is at the heart of Billionairism. It is at the heart of Thatcherism in the UK. It is at the heart of Friedrich Hayek’s version of “Austrian economics”. It is at the heart of Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign.

See also: https://tmblr.co/ZFxEpt26jpZxi - Conservatism

[NOTE: How does religion get in here? Well, all religion, all the time, everywhere, is part of the first stage of trauma treatment for that pandemic trauma experienced by homo sapiens in our evolutionary climb out of our primitive animality. The object of the exercise (religion) is the intuition of transcendence, which is our natural destiny. 

[See http://thesecularspirit.com/decoding-human-consciousness/ ] 

So, praying five times a day is clearly a strong pain medication, cathedrals were the genius sedative that saved the sanity of Europe for a thousand years, evangelical church services are the contemporary end-game of religious sedative today, and so on. Anyone actively practicing religion is working on unfinished treatment for PTSD.]

 The irrationality-brutality part of the disease comes from the fact that if you have unquenchable personal pain, it is alleviating to inflict pain on the world around you.

 [This characteristic of NPD explains a quality of Dark Money that so puzzled author Jane Mayer, how right-wing billionaires think their destructive behavior is actually “doing good”. Well, the good that it is doing, is alleviating their own personal pain.]

The existence of this disease in America has been completely unnoticed by all American journalism [and, of course, all political actors, including Hillary and Bernie]. (One glorious exception is: thank god for Anderson Cooper.) This is because you have to be somewhat introspective to notice it, and we are NOT an introspective culture.

[See my video: “The Heart of Darkness” -   https://youtu.be/Jiz33KN0NOM ]

 A display of the symptoms of this disease sometimes occurs in movies and popular culture. In The Monuments Men, the narrative points out that the art-stealing activity of The Third Reich reach a frenzied pinnacle towards the very end of the war. It had no military purpose. It had no economic purpose (they were hiding it all in underground mines). It was completely irrational and insatiable. It only served the purpose of distributing pain.  In Internal Affairs (1992, Richard Gere), the sick and good-looking Officer Dennis Peck fucks anything that moves, murders his own partner, and blames it on “the world”.

 Pete Townshend’s 1971 rock classic, Behind Blue Eyes is an uncanny diagnosis of this disease. (Such is the occasional power of popular culture.) https://youtu.be/BfuWXRZe9yA

 The basis of this disease, that can destroy civilization itself, always lurks in nooks and crannies of societies, but it only becomes critically dangerous when we fuck up our national economy.

 In America we do not seem to understand this, at all. In Germany’s Social Market Economy, they do.

 I keep going back to The Economic Consequences of the Peace, by Keynes (1920), as an archetypal definition of the situation:

  Economic privation proceeds by easy stages, and so long as men suffer it patiently the outside world cares little. Physical efficiency and resistance to disease slowly diminish, but life proceeds somehow, until the limit of human endurance is reached at last and counsels of despair and madness stir the sufferers from the lethargy which precedes the crisis. Then man shakes himself and the bonds of custom are loosed. The power of ideas is sovereign, and he listens to whatever instruction of hope, illusion, or revenge is carried to him on the air. (p. 250-251.)

Just sayin’.

[rouge-fox-expanded]

Muse Post #1 (Tumblr be messing with me)

All this is copied directly from my OC pages, apparently some users can’t get to these pages so I am making a post. In short: Tumblr be daft, so I’m doing this

FOX: WARRIOR OF GOTHAM

(art by the amazing @newtraumwelt​, here is his DA Page:  http://nwitchgun.deviantart.com/ )

Psychological Profile (taken from my DA page)

Name: Jack Dahl (birth name: unknown)

Alter ego: Fox

Age: Mid-twenties as birthdate is also unknown

Nationality: British

Eye colour: Burnt Orange

Personality Info

Jack Dahl works for Bruce Wayne as an executive operative at Wayne Enterprises and as a vigilante operative for Batman. Fox has a working partnership with fellow operative Ronin/Joseph Kane and the two of them are rather close friends. His personalities between his two identities seem very similar, as Jack Dahl he applies a charming guiding figure to his colleagues and employees at the Wayne Enterprises Technology department, something which carries over to his Fox persona (although the vigilante operatives he works with he treats more bluntly). He is outwardly quite a laid back, calm and often a relatively cheerful person but seems to be hiding a very potent and aggressive streak of rage. He is often able to keep a lid on this under what his friends (Joseph Kane and Jude Howard) have dubbed as ‘scary calm’ in which even under great stress he is able to operate under the same clear and tactical thinking he does when things are fine. However, when his rage becomes too much to keep in line, he lets it out in what Jude has dubbed ‘Scarier Angry’ in which an already violent and hyper militant warrior becomes incredibly brutal.

Fox adheres to Batman’s no kill rule, almost religiously, but has gained a reputation for leaving his prey with lasting physical and mental trauma, this is owed to his own brutal and hellish training under the enigmatic warrior known as the Mercenary King. Fox often finds himself at odds with the people he works with (Ronin, Robin, Nightwing et al) owing to what appears to be an arrogant belief that he naturally knows how to most effectively take on almost every enemy they may face. This links back to his hyper tactical mind where during his training he was taught to learn beforehand how to best the most powerful opponents so he didn’t have to think on his feet but would just know what to do, thus allowing him to work quickly and efficiently (and brutally).

Both inside and outside of his armour Fox is considered somewhat hyper social, using his infectious charm to quickly endear to almost everyone he meets (with the exception of his opponents), he’s been known to dance and sing and whilst fighting villains he frequently does so to a selected soundtrack (something he and Jude have regarded as ‘dropping the beat for a beat down’). However, despite all this Jack is not a happy man, on the contrary he is actually diagnosed with severe depression and a number of other mental defects.

Psychological info

Owing to parental neglect and emotional (sometimes physical) abuse, the separation from his little sister at the age of twelve and a very socially harmful time at secondary (high) school Jack carries a lot of unresolved childhood trauma. This was further amplified under the unforgiving training when working under the Mercenary king. It’s believed that this training is also where he got his emotional suppressive behaviour from (or scary calm) along with his hyper tactical way of thinking and it’s almost certainly where he got his high aggression from. The victims of these aggressive bouts are usually criminals whom have committed incredibly violent and depraved crimes, notable cases are Black Mask, the late and former mercenary Chameleon and the child killer known as the Bogeyman. As said before he doesn’t kill but his violence borders on torture and he has threatened several thugs he’s encountered with castration (fortunately he’s never had to follow up this infamous threat). Fox has confessed to several fellow vigilantes that he feels he is unable to live a life other than this one, he needs to fight as it’s been conditioned into his mind and soul by the Mercenary King but he doesn’t want to fight for someone else’s cause. He frequently quotes Metal Gear Solid character Frank Jaeger (aka Gray Fox) and says:

“we’re not tools of the government or anyone else, fighting is all I was ever good at but at least I fought for what I believed in”.

Fox’s hyper social behaviour is linked to a lingering sense of monophobia and self-loathing which has manifested in the schizophrenic voice which he has dubbed Kitsune. This secondary personality is frequently loudest in moments of great stress and anguish and tries to push Fox over the edge and make him commit very brutal acts of violence and has always been there whenever Fox was tempted to actually take one of his opponent’s lives. Fox’s self-loathing is a core part of his personality and at the heart of the structure of his severe depression. The following is Jack’s own account for summing up his feelings of low self-worth, confessed to Joseph Kane at a bar whilst intoxicated:

“I don’t give a shit about what people think about me, see this is because deep down…like in my heart of hearts I know…I know I suck. And because I know that, it doesn’t matter if other people tell it to me because I already know it to be true…so they can’t hurt me with it, that damage has been done already”

Joseph Kane then immediately took Jack back to his apartment and made him sleep on the sofa, incredibly worried about leaving him on his own that night.

Fox’s depression and self-loathing plays a direct hand in his difficulty and sometimes inability to form serious relationships, in the case of his close friendship with Jude Howard and Joseph Kane he feels he has to keep a large part of his life a secret in order for them to accept and like him. This also plays a much heavier hand in romantic endeavours, he cannot fathom why someone would have such feelings for him which also manifests in a fear of intimacy (also linked back to times under the mercenary king where he reveals a lot of people used romance as a means to get close enough to try and kill him). As mentioned above Jack is a drinker, not always a heavy one but he has become intoxicated on multiple occasions. It’s during these occasions that his emotional suppression is fully dropped and all of his feelings come out in a burst making him sometimes act with hyperactive joy, become angry and aggressive (resulting in a back alley brawl with some unfortunate thugs), confused and sleepy and often at the climax of all of these outbursts intense sorrow. Whenever these moments happen in the company of Joseph Kane he refuses to allow his friend to go anywhere alone as he is aware Jack has a history of suicidal tendencies. Possibly a result of the brutal training or the litany of unresolved trauma Fox no longer cares if he dies, apparently he fears becoming the monster he was conditioned to be more so than death (this is a huge concern for all who know him).

Conclusion

Fox is a noble warrior, a loyal friend and a charming human being but this is only scratching the surface of his personality. He is a deeply damaged and traumatized individual, suffering great mental sickness, emotional instability and a great difficulty forming serious relationships due to fear of intimacy, rejection and abandonment. He believes in Batman’s mission, in what he and his fellow superheroes and crime fighters stand for and will happily fight for that and is willing to die for it.

Abilities/Skills

Athletic build and stamina

Technologically gifted, proficient in weaponry, sonic technology, computer hacking

Heightened senses (augmented sight and hearing, not to superhuman levels ala Superman but heightened to give a clear edge in battle and stealth)

Expert swordsman, proficient in almost every sword art and constantly adapting more styles into his own

Heightened Stamina, through training and sheer will is able to take a monumental amount of pain

Advanced martial arts and combat skills, trained by the most dangerous people on the planet

Family/Relationships

(Art by the amazing @hazelmuttart​ so check her out)

Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Dahl (Adopted Daughter)

Jude Howard/Okami (Best Friend/Partner)

Haley Reid/Kumiho (Sister/Partner)

Joseph Kane/Ronin (Best Friend/Partner) –character created by @dkalban

Shipping

Fox is heterosexual though as seen in his psychological profile extremely jaded and traumatised when it comes to relationships. He is a multi-shippable character but so long as the relationship feels right, he will be slow to romance so patience is key. He is quick to take a mentor/paternal role particularly if caring for children.

Role-Play relationships

(To be amended when necessary)

[johnjankovic]

GOLGOTHA

Stay calm and await the gnashing of teeth, this is only the beginning.

4 John 1:1

Prior to crucifixion’s banishment, decreed by then Roman emperor Constantine in AD 341 as a defunct method of execution — Cicero notedly expressing the spectacle as the most cruel and hideous of them all —  this practice which the Romans imported from the Phoenicians three hundred years before the fateful day above Golgotha, and which historical archives document as existent even three hundred years earlier, lent itself to a display of deterrence for law and order most manifest in the six thousand crucifixions along the Appian Way to quell Spartacus’ rebellion in 71 BC. The event, in the main, involved three stages, the victim’s flagellation, public humiliation in wrestling the patibulum of what weighed one hundred pounds to the top of a knoll, and finally the nailing of palms with iron spikes to the said crossbar and feet to the anchored staticulum, both dovetailed in a hewn mortice that was stayed by gravity’s downward force upon the suspended body. The ordeal left the persecuted prostrate with pain that for Jesus on the eve of His death the mere thought of its eventuality, inescapable as He understood it from premonitions in the Garden of Gethsemane, precipitated hematidrosis, a physiological condition of acute anxiety originating from abject fear that which induces the perspiration of blood (Luke 22:44). It was this night’s mental and physical exhaustion, a prelude to the forthcoming horrors, which compounded the agony between Gethsemane and Golgotha.

Yet Jesus’ torture was atypical of Roman crucifixion, the speed of expiry even confounding Pontius Pilate (Mark 15:44). It assuredly was the most bloodthirsty of any heretofore seen ascribed to how criminals and slaves affixed to the cross ordinarily remained conscious for several days. The Son, however, survived less than three hours when, in deference to Jewish law prohibiting crucifixions on tomorrow’s Sabbath especially amid the ongoing festivities of Passover, removal of the footrest was essential to expedite death thus entailing contortion of the feet at an extreme angle for placement of the spike into the metatarsal bones. There suspended, sardonically adorned with a crown of thorns piercing the forehead as fashioned from an acacia nilotica plant outside Jerusalem’s praetorium, this bloody deed overlooking the panorama of a sadistic mob abreast of one centurion, four legionnaires, and the exactor mortis all of whom draw lots on the inheritance of His raiment (Mark 15:17; Matthew 27:35; John 19:24), Jesus brutally suffocates from pleural effusion and finally death issues from cardiac arrest primed by hours of hypovolemic and traumatic shock. The event was a climacteric to the preceding hours beginning with Judas’ betrayal and Jesus’ apprehension who in custody was escorted to the homestead of Caiaphas, a high priest of the Sanhedrin for more than a decade and ally to the Roman emperor Tiberius. Here to the Pharisees’ displeasure the subsequent proceedings were not at all of contrition even in the wake of being seriously drubbed but rather in sheer defiance the Son in a full-throated diatribe admonishes His interrogators (Matthew 23:1-36).

The death knell that night came from one of Caiaphas’ many questions on the identity of the haggard accused now before him whose rejoinder he judged as blasphemous (Mark 14:61). ‘Are you the Messiah?’ he asked, ‘the Son of the blessed One?’ Jesus responded in the affirmative. The Nazarene fated to die was quickly marshalled to the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate, and always obsequious to Rome the horde manipulated Roman law to proffer that rather than offensive to their proper religious sensibilities, in more secular logic, Jesus anointed himself king, an act they argued treasonous to Cesar (Luke 23:2; John 19:12; John 19:15). Incredulous of the false charge, Pilate sought to recuse himself and court favour of an enemy hence he next despatched Jesus to Herod (Luke 23:12), tetrarch of Tiberias there in Jerusalem already to fete Passover. The legal rationale was that inasmuch as His ministry originated in Galilee only the magistrate whose jurisdiction includes the province should adjudicate the case. Yet Herod, too obtuse for the moment’s significance, solicited instead for entertainment of cute parlour tricks and some wizardry from the Galilean (Luke 23:8). These overtures Jesus spurned who, then clothed patronizingly in the garb of a king, was returned to Pilate. Intransigent still, however, the Roman Prefect continued to balk at the petition electing instead to have the Son scourged and not executed in a show of appeasement that he trusted the restive mob would accept.

Such flagellation materialized more gruesomely than what popular conception allows or what the Church seems to have sanitized as tantamount to casual whipping. Miniature size pieces of sharp metal and bone were stitched into the many tails of the flagrum whereby each of the thirty-nine welts, on account of Mosaic Law proscribing anything above, inflicted an array of gaping wounds upon the flesh of the naked victim whose hands were chained to a column fully exposing the dorsum as he first doubled then kneeled when racked with pain that radiated all throughout his body. This method did the Romans habitually avail themselves of to prosecute verdicts of capital punishment in executions of Gentiles. Shrill screams resonated, ribs fractured, pneumothorax resulted in the collapse and bruising of lungs, muscles hemorrhaged all from the alternating blows between the flogging predators each of whose fresh opportunity at this schadenfreude obstructed the victim’s ability to breath as the oedema of pleural and pericardial fluid accumulated in the chest cavity and that the effluence of blood and water from Jesus’ impalement later bespoke (John 19:34). The harrowing experience caused dehydration associated with excessive perspiration and in preceding the Crucifixion there ensued the onset of hypovolemic shock. The Shroud of Turin ultimately numbers lacerations in excess of one hundred thus it is widely accepted the flagrum consisted of three thongs to inflict one-hundred-and-seventeen lashes commensurate with the thirty-nine prescribed by Mosaic Law.

Jesus long resigned to His fate, offering no mea culpa of recantation, stood for the last time before Pilate who once already endeavoured to exculpate the Nazarene by way of a Paschal Pardon which the Jews outrightly jettisoned in supplicating instead for the release of the murder Barabbas (Matthew 27:15; Luke 23:18; John 18:39). Presently bleeding crimson from orifices all over the body, Pilate hopes clemency for the prisoner’s appearance would quiet further cries for punishment, the obstreperous crowd did not acquiesce, neither dispersing nor yielding in size and unrest. Fear now beleaguers the Prefect. From his chair with trappings of Roman authority and of prosecutorial discretion a message was borne to him from his wife beset with worry, ‘Have nothing to do with that righteous man’, it read, ‘for I have suffered much because of him today in a dream’ (Mathew 27:19). Pilate in a fit of conscience once more attempted to set free the grossly disfigured Nazarene yet the cacophony of anger grew ever more deafening, ‘If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend; for everyone who makes himself king sets himself against Caesar’ (John 19:12). ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ Pilate now perched atop Gabbatha bellowed to the mass of skeptics below (John 19:13). ‘We have no king but Caesar’, they reciprocated (John 19:15), so it was the lot of Jesus was irrevocably sealed.  

From the praetorium to Gologtha, the place of condemnation and execution, a half-mile of road was trudged upon at noon by the parade of Jesus who balanced the instrument of His death atop a bloodstained shoulder (John 19:14). Of the four crosses that Romans customarily used, crux immissa (t), crux commissa (T), crux decussata (x), and crux simplex (I), the configuration of the first in this case is certain which Luke the Apostle corroborates in his recording of the Titulus Crucis placed ‘over him’ (Luke 23:38). So enfeebled was the Son by midday, exhausted, dehydrated, bloodied, and symptomatic with siriasis that the exactor mortis commanded an onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the crossbeam for the remainder of the journey lest the prisoner die on route. By this time Jesus’ vestiture adhered to His body, and, akin to a bandage torn from a lesion, the fabric that papered over His open wounds which it clotted was abruptly divested upon arrival at the hilltop with agonizing hurt. Forensic pathologists concur at this point around the brutality mimicked onto the Shroud of Turin that Jesus most certainly suffered a collapsed and hemorrhagic lung prior to the Crucifixion as his body could only sustain less than three hours more of torture. What followed proved exponentially more sinister than the beating and flagellation combined in the prologue of evil about to be visited upon Him.

Atop Golgotha Jesus’ cloak and tunic were shed. Cast to the ground on His back amid sweltering heat, the executioners stretch the arms to align directly above the crossbeam. Twelve-inch nails driven into the radial sides of both palms then strike the median nerves to a paroxysm of incredible pain derived from causalgia. The crossbeam and body are hoisted to the mortice beneath the apex of the stipe, a shallow angle then bends the knees, and finally the contorted feet are disposed to suffer the same fate as the hands only this time exacted upon the plantar nerves which elicits an identical response. No more than a brief moment passes before cramping of the calves and thighs exacerbate the trauma attributed to injuries already sustained from the haemorrhaging lung, broken thoracic cage, and lacerations to the dorsum. The sleepless night in the Garden of Gethsemane has markedly lowered the pain threshold and is punctuated by the ubiquity of shock, together with this phenomenon does lactic acid in the muscles prompt hyperventilation, and the attendant pleural effusion further truncates breath. It is the advent of a new sensation inspired from the inflammation of nerves throughout the arched body which begins to intensify: Jesus is now on fire. Spectators cheer and jeer at the Nazarene who claims to be Christ, and the high elevation of the cross amplifies the acoustics of their piercing laughter to its vertex where He languishes in silence, about this time the skies above have darkened to a sullen hue (Matthew 27:45).

The Son hangs listlessly from the cross, the skin symptomatic of shock turns ashen, spittle and vomitus regurgitated at intervals saturate the body as a result of nausea precipitated by critically low levels of blood volume and pressure. A hematologist would argue at least a fifth of it has hemorrhaged by this time. The acidic content of sweat trickling down from the perforated forehead by the crown of thorns stings those abrasions inflicted from, before the march to the crest of this hill, repeated strikes of a staff upon the head (Mark 15:19). Amid the orgasm of bloodlust, the soldiers who spat on Jesus’ visage and ridiculed Him moments ago rest with grinning faces, the crowd in turn expresses its enthusiasm at the sanguinary sight. ‘He deserves to die’ (Mathew 26:66), they yell, whistle, and beam with euphoria. At this hour, poor circulation to the heart begins the irreversible reaction of organ failure, moreover keen pains still accompany every breath from the uncharacteristic brutality of the scourging from the previous morning. Much of Jesus’ plasma pools in regions of the lungs, tremors and seizures assail the body, and faint with thirst a sponge of water is raised to His lips of which He drinks in one draught. Jesus, ever pugnacious, His wretched body an icon of the malice sown in the hearts of men, knew Father’s will had finally been done. Looking up at Him with stoic eyes right before death, here on a hill christened Golgotha humanity’s most powerful words were spoken: ‘It is finished’. The Son dies at three in the afternoon, year thirty-three anno Domini, on the third day of April.

[wionews]

How are Tibetan refugees doing as Dalai Lama celebrates his birthday

By Devanshi Verma & Raunak Sharma

Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama when he was five years old. At the outset of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he along with his retinue fled to India. Some time later, the 23-year-old set up the Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, which is often referred to as 'Little Lhasa'. 80,000 Tibetan refugees followed him into exile. As he celebrates his 82nd birthday in Ladhak, we explore the settlement of his faithful disciples in the capital of the country he took refuge in.

Tranquility in the midst of chaos

An ornamental gate that looks like a piece of mystical art, stands tall at the entrance of New Aruna Nagar colony. On entering, one is a spectator to winding alleys, faint echoes of Dalai Lama's preachings, amiable women in traditional Tibetan attire selling street delicacies in the courtyard, two majestic monasteries, aromatic air and chiming prayer bells singing a melody. With Yamuna river on one side and national highway full of maddening traffic on the other, a Tibetan colony peacefully takes refuge in the middle of Delhi’s hustle-bustle. ‘Majnu Ka Tila’, as the area is known, may be geographically a part of India’s capital, but in its cultural and existential essence, is a different world altogether.

A t-shirt on sell shows, Tibet will forever be in Tibetan's heart (WION)

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While hopping through grocery stores that sold authentic Tibetan spices, Yak cheese as well as Chinese biscuits and sodas, we noticed something head turning--a wheel on the counter rotating on its own, without any electric wire attached to it. It was a prayer wheel made of wood and operated much like a hand mill.

"Om Mani Padme Hum" is engraved on prayer wheels of all Tibetan temples. It means "In dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha."

"Chanting the mantra out loud is equivalent to spinning the prayer wheels," explained a Lama or Tibetan monk, dressed in a red and yellow robe.

The Sanskrit mantra originated in India but later moved to Tibet. Some call it destiny and others Chinese invasion, the reason this mantra is back to India, along with its chanters. In 1960, the Chinese government adopted oppressive measures against the Tibetans, forcing these people to flee to India and save themselves from the brutality.

Although a Tibetan settlement, this area is culturally diverse, being home to other Asian immigrants--the Nepalese community being significant in number. One experiences the cultural milieu when a Bhutanese dish is presented by Nepali server at a Tibetan restaurant, in Delhi. Such is the beauty of Majnu ka Tila which has surely become a cultural melting pot.

Bhutani mouth watering delicacies at Tibetan restaurant in Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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‘Tibet is in my heart, but I am an Indian’

The Tibetans residing here can be divided into three broad categories--the first and foremost, who followed Dalai Lama to India in 1959. They can be accredited for the establishment of this safe haven that retains the cultural individuality of the community.

Then, there are the next generations born and brought up in India. “Tibet is in my heart, but I am an Indian. I have never been to Tibet, only heard stories but India is where I belong--it is my home,” says Karten Tsering, President of the Residents Welfare Association, New Aruna Nagar Colony. He calls himself an Indian and rightfully so--anybody born in the country is considered a citizen, according to the Indian constitution.

The third and the most recent generation constitutes the people who have recently come to the country in the hope of better education, employment prospects, and life. They seem to be struggling to adapt to the norms of a foreign country but, at least, they have companionship and familiarity, which is a major comforting factor for them. In a country far away from home, they have found a hope with the flame of a free Tibet illuminating their hearts.

Beautiful Tibetan artifacts home this store in Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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Home away from home

A middle-aged woman on a street-side stall sold Laphing--spicy cold jelly noodle dish served with soya chunks. Although she had a constant serene smile on her face, her face reads of suffering. She was compelled to leave Tibet because of the ‘political outburst’ and the scars happened to remain. However, she is now content here. Even though she has been selling food on the streets for the past four years, she has managed to send off her children to study outside Delhi--son to Dharamshala and daughter to Mussoorie. These places also have Tibetan roots and they long to stay connected.    Speaking to a man in his late 50s, we discovered the other side of lives of Tibetan refugees in India. He was manning the desk at one of the numerous hotels that play a major role in the economy of the area. Spending 40 years in Indian states of Meghalaya, Karnataka and now Delhi, he is still struggling with basic necessities--a reason he did not marry. For a person who cannot keep his stomach full, it will be an added responsibility to support an entire family. He was never sure if he could provide them with a roof and chose the nomadic life. This is a shivering reality of most of them.

However, despite the air of melancholy surrounding these people, still, they continue to smile.   Gratefulness, diplomacy, silent agony

Meeting with the local association’s authorities, we understood that suffering is not limited to just the trauma of a lost home. Though these refugees get aid from the government and have legal rights but, deep down, are fighting a silent battle to meet the basic needs. "They are doing whatever they can. If Delhi government does not have enough water, how can we expect for extended supply? Same is the case of electricity." The spokesperson seemed to be in the state of acceptance with whatever they are being provided with.

Tibetan edibles- sweets, cookies and beverages (WION)

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Happy Birthday, His Holiness

Dalai Lama’s birthday falls on 6th of July and the enthusiasm for celebrating with performances, feasts and religious ceremonies is all over the place. The authorities informed that Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will be the guest of honour of the festivities.    To them, Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader, and patron saint is the manifestation of the supreme power--their faith is quite evident as every single set-up in the vicinity has a picture of him. A glance of him is all they crave for. But surprisingly, when asked about what they would like to say to him for his birthday, the chatty 25-year-old Tsering Choephel shied away, as if he is too small or insignificant to speak to the supreme. 

They believe that Dalai Lama helped them settle in India, and he alone can take them back by liberating Tibet from China.  

Next destination: Karnataka?

However, one thing that surprised us was that everybody aspired moving to Karnataka. Opportunity-wise there are more options for this community out there, which may have moved these people. Also, space wise Bylakuppe, a Tibetan town in Karnataka is way larger than here. 

"We get food for free in the monasteries of Karnataka, better shelter, more business opportunities, climate cooler than Delhi", says a monk. Not one, but many of the Tibetans dwelling in Majnu-ka-tilla are looking forward to move to Karnataka.

As we roamed around, a Ganesha idol among Tibetan deities caught our attention. “Ganesha is one of the important deities of the Tibetans,” mentioned the young Tibetan boy manning the store. In another store owned by a Nepalese woman, a statue of their very own version of Ganesha lied on the counter. The Tibetan shopkeeper is only seven years old to the country. Like many others, he wishes to head to Karnataka. 

Tibetan Ganesha idol in idols store, Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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The dream of returning to Tibet still inspires them. India has provided them a home away from home but nevetheless, it is a makeshift home. Assimilation is difficult, finding jobs tough, and speaking out publicly about lack of opportunities not welcomed. A refugee is a refugee at the end of the day and they should remain grateful for whatever they are getting -- a common assumption that is true for all host countries worldwide. Thus, we may celebrate Dalai Lama as ours but the refugees prefer to stay in the chrysalis they have built in the ‘Majnu Ka Tila’. The outside world of bustling city of New Delhi is too alien for them.

  ]]>

[consciousowl]

PTSD: How to Deal with Traumatizing Events

Back in October 17, 1989, I was working in San Francisco at a construction company located on the 21st floor of a downtown high-rise. Just after 5:00 PM, the Loma Prieta earthquake hit, and shocking me with its suddenness and impact. The skyscraper began to sway, the lights went off, and then all the telephones.

For many years, I had wondered when the Big One would come. Perhaps this was it. I was fortunate to get a ride across the Golden Gate Bridge, passing the Marina where an apartment building caught fire. Only when I got home and played the TV did I grasp the full scope of what had happened. For example, my stereo had slid across the carpet several feet. Outside, the San Francisco Bay Bridge had undergone considerable damage.

Although this earthquake wasn’t the end of the world, I developed a strange reaction over the next several days and months. I kept watching movies on earthquakes, hoarding emergency supplies and obsessing over the news. I kept expecting more earthquakes to come. I got smart and decided it was no longer safe to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge. I would now take the Ferry.​

It took me nearly half-a-year to get over it. While this wasn’t a full-scale trauma, it was a memorable foretaste.​

PTSD: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Definition

Due to growing uncertainty throughout our world, capped by religious wars and terrorism, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder has become a fact of life, no longer limited to Vietnam, Gulf War or Afghan vets. With climate change increasing hurricanes, floods and fires, anything can happen at any time. If the situation is drastic and dangerous, it can provoke severe psychological reactions.

PTSD entails sustained stress well over and beyond the initial traumatizing event, which can be as intense as attempted murder, torture or child abuse, or can be more along the lines of a sudden loss of job or career, a marital disruption or flunking a final exam.​

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The stress manifests as nightmares, unwanted flashbacks, obtrusive memories or exaggerated emotional reactions to anything that reminds you of the initial event. For example, when someone broke into my car and stole my laptop in a well-lit spot in a prominent private university, I felt violated. I called security, and drove home almost crying. Later, I took out home insurance. Does it mean I am now paranoid or traumatized?

Symptoms of PTSD

Symptoms of severe trauma can result in panic attacks around anything that reminds you of the painful event, such as someone who resembles a rapist, riding in a plane after a crash or facing heavy winds after suffering a major hurricane or tsunami. This can involve a pounding heart, sweating, trembling, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness and even chills.

Traumatized individuals can develop severe avoidance behavior, withdrawing from public interaction and becoming homebound. You go out only when accompanied by others. Your basic trust in humanity has been shaken to the core, and it may take a great deal of time for it to ever come back.

PTSD can also lead to suicidal thoughts amidst deep depression, especially in rape victims. These thoughts are compounded if you don’t feel free to discuss them with anyone. For relief, people may reflexively turn to alcohol or drugs to deaden the pain. You might feel betrayed by the world, and even God, following acts of terrorism.​

Shock Trauma

It is important not to confuse PTSD with shock, which is a dangerous medical condition after an accident resulting in a fall of blood pressure and loss of blood, marked by cold skin, irregular breathing, rapid pulse and dilated pupils. First-Aid is demanded. Unattended, shock can rapidly lead to death.

If one survives the initial shock, however, perhaps through being taken to a nearby hospital, trauma can develop over the incident that caused it, which might be warfare, inner city violence, flood or fire. As the physical danger is removed, the persistent dreams and memories can make the stress continue months, even years.

One need only think of the holocaust survivors who came close to the ultimate degradation. If they escaped, they were haunted for the rest of their lives as to why they were spared, while their family and friends died in the most degrading circumstances imaginable.​

Rape Trauma Syndrome

Rape victims often suffer from a brutalizing stigma, that they did something to be raped, or that the incident wasn’t really rape if they were on a date. Here we see a violation of trust on one of the deepest possible levels, with the possible exception of child abuse.

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This can severely set back a woman’s ability to ever open up again to another man, even if she loves him or wants to demonstrate affection. Women have to heal from the initial trauma and beginning to narrow their association of the rapists with other men. Even the slightest resemblance can trigger a powerful reaction.

Exceptional women have been known to forgive and forget in these circumstances, but only through the aid of a powerful spiritual force within them. There is good reason for etiquette with women, and a basic code of honor, empathy and tenderness. Women carry humanity forward. Without them, we would all perish in a single generation.​

Vicarious Trauma

Less well-known is vicarious trauma, where family, friends, colleagues and healthcare professionals can experience distressing feelings entailing upset, overwhelm, shock and grief over the condition of their loved ones. Professionals include doctors and nurses, law enforcement officers, therapists and counselors, even religious leaders.

No one is exempt from feeling overwhelmed over the severity of another’s misfortunes. It is interesting that, in the Gospel account, Jesus Christ, Himself, wept over the death of his dear friend, Lazarus.

Vicarious trauma can show up in therapists having difficulty discussing their own feelings, losing sleep over clients or actually dreaming about their clients’ traumatic experiences. This can further manifest in overwork, exhaustion, withdrawal and isolation from colleagues, apathy or even profound existential doubts about the validity of their own worldview.​

Psychiatry has the highest suicide rate of any profession, and this can closely relate to overload, feelings of burnout, getting to the point where you can’t take it any more, but are unable to admit this to your colleagues. These problems are finally being recognized and programs are emerging to address them.

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Healing Trauma with Therapy

Several different approaches to PTSD have been developed in therapy, including anxiety management, cognitive therapy and exposure therapy.

Anxiety management entails learning to relax, start breathing consciously, replace negative thinking with positive self-talk, be more assertive and stop the flow of distressing thoughts.

In cognitive therapy, trauma victims are guided to a more rational approach with their past experience. For example, soldiers may blame themselves as to why their buddy was shot and killed, and not them. You are encouraged to identify your upsetting thoughts and assess the rational evidence for and against them.

It becomes easier and easier to accept that what happened, happened, that it is time to move on.

In exposure therapy, you are supported in confronting actual situations, people, objects, memories or emotions that evoke intense aversion and fear. You may retell the traumatic memories in a safe environment. If you stay with the situation, and repeat this process enough times, your intense fear may go away, much like learning to handle a live snake.

Healing Trauma with Medication

In the face of severe trauma, it may be desirable to seek additional assistance beyond therapeutic intervention. Medication may be prescribed by an MD over several months, even as long as a year Each medication may have unwanted side-effects, which sometimes decrease with usage.

Common serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant medications include Zoloft, Paxil and Prozac.

Mood stabilizers include Depakote (divalproex). These are typically recommended for being with combined bipolar disorder and PTSD.​

Anti-anxiety medications are typically prescribed for shorter periods of time, such as Valium, Xanax and Klonopin.​

Medication is most typically used to counter depression, especially when it leans towards suicide.​

What must be avoided is thinking that the chemicals, all by themselves, can do it. They should be considered only temporary adjuncts to therapy to see yourself through an extremely stressful period.

Importance of Reaching Out: Powerful Online Help

Most important of all in dealing with PTSD is to reach out to others, family, friends and concerned professionals, either health or spiritual in orientation. Support groups and peer counseling have made a powerful difference to patients and clients in clinical settings.

What has opened up for us in the Internet era is powerful online support, where you can educate yourself on trauma and phobias and actually receive expert assistance from highly experienced professionals, skillful in dealing with real-life problems. You can maintain your own privacy and confidence, while discovering new options and relevant resources.​

Steve King offers a helpful course on PTSD for both clinicians and clients that explores the condition in great depth with both video and audio, as well as substantial resources. His is a good-natured, no-nonsense style that developed out of helping thousands of people through very challenging conditions. You may want to take a closer look at his offering to see how it fits your current needs.

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PTSD: How to Deal with Traumatizing Events appeared first on http://consciousowl.com.

[murteza]

Muslims & Interfaith Responses to Executive Order Banning Refugees and Immigrants

The All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) calls for compassion and urges continuing acceptance of peaceful Syrian refugees and peaceful immigrants from all countries. We all support our national security and we also want to prevent anyone from harming our nation. We appreciate the statements and actions of National Christian and Jewish groups including: Shoulder to Shoulder Interfaith Campaign, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, Catholic Relief Services, Church World Service, Jewish Community Relations Council( JCRC) of Greater Washington, Interfaith Alliance, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, Alliance of Baptists, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, National Council of Churches, New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good, Presbyterian Church (USA), Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Sojourners, T'ruah (The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights), National Council of Jewish Women , Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Interfaith Immigration Coalition, and more.   We also support and urge all our congregation members to the following: ACTION ALERT:PLEASE CALL THE WHITE HOUSE AND CONGRESS TODAY!

President Trump: (866) 961-4293

Your Senators and Representatives: (202) 224-3121* *Please call this line 3 times to be connected with your 1 Representative and 2 Senators

Along with our fellow Americans, we are heartbroken by the Syrian Refugee Crisis which affects both Muslims and Christians, who are fleeing ISIS violent extremism and the unimaginable brutality of a despotic dictatorship. 

We wholeheartedly condemn terrorism and violent extremism, and have partnered with the FBI, DHS and all Law Enforcement in protecting our country for the past 15 years.  We will continue to help in national security.  

This Executive Order is simply unnecessary.  We  agree with CNN's national security analyst, Peter Bergen, Vice President at New America and a professor at Arizona State University, that "there is no evidence of terrorists among Syrian refugees to the United States". 

America's refugee vetting process is very detailed and requires almost 24 months of vetting and processing. Over the past four decades the United States has processed more than three million refugees, who are the single most scrutinized and vetted travelers to our nation, each undergoing more than seven security intelligence Agency checks, including biometric tests, medical screenings and in-person interviews with Department of Homeland Security officials.

This is far more detailed and secure than the screening of any European tourists visiting America.  We note that most of the alleged Paris attackers were European citizens born in France or Belgium, whose French or Belgian passport would not need screening or a visa; by contrast, any Syrian refugee must pass multiple careful tests to enter the USA.We therefore pray that these most vulnerable refugees, including women, children, elderly and families are helped as they continue to be appropriately examined and confirmed.  We urge that Muslims, Christians and people of all faiths and backgrounds from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen be allowed into the USA through the refugee process. We also agree that security enhancements should be enacted as needed to vet refugees more carefully.

ISIS does not want refugees to leave Syria and find a better life in America. Those refugees who successfully come to countries like America will send powerful messages that in fact completely demolish ISIS' claims of a clash with the West, and strengthen our fight against extremism.    

We should never forsake our cherished American ideals, but rather help Syrian and all refugees with America's world renowned compassion.  By working together, the International community can end the Syrian conflict peacefully so the nearly 5 million Syrian refugees can return to rebuild their homes and their nation.We are therefore would like to highlight the following Christian, Jewish and Interfaith statements and action alerts: 

1.  Shoulder to Shoulder Interfaith Campaign - Catherine Orsborn, Executive Director:  http://www.shouldertoshouldercampaign.org/In my own upbringing in an evangelical Christian community, I learned early on that loving my neighbor (as well as my enemy), and seeking to come alongside "the least of these" were core to live out the message of Jesus in the world.  (As) a student of the history of religious and racial prejudice in our nation, I am convinced the patriotic and Christian response is to stand alongside refugees fleeing unimaginable conditions to find safety, rest, and opportunity on these shores. To ban any person based on their religious identity flies in the face of America's promise of religious and racial equality. Not only is it immoral, but it does nothing to make us more safe. People of faith and moral conviction should take every step to oppose this action. 

2.  Interfaith Immigration Coalition Action Alert http://www.interfaithimmigration.org/supportrefugees/

3.  U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration  http://www.usccb.org/news/2017/17-026.cfm:We strongly disagree with the Executive Order's halting refugee admissions. We believe that now more than ever, welcoming newcomers and refugees is an act of love and hope. We will continue to engage the new administration, as we have all administrations for the duration of the current refugee program, now almost forty years. We will work vigorously to ensure that refugees are humanely welcomed in collaboration with Catholic Charities without sacrificing our security or our core values as Americans, and to ensure that families may be reunified with their loved ones.

4.  Catholic Relief Services http://www.crs.org/media-center/news-release/head-of-crs-reacts -Our elected officials have an obligation to protect the security of the American people, and take concerns about security seriously. But denying entry to people desperate enough to leave their homes, cross oceans in tiny boats, and abandon all their worldly possessions just to find safety will not make our nation safer. The United States is already using a thorough vetting process for refugees-especially for those from Syria and surrounding countries.  CRS welcomes measures that will make our country safer, but it shouldn't jeopardize the safety of those fleeing violence, nor add appreciable delay nor entail unjust discrimination. As Pope Francis has said: "Fear...weakens and destabilizes us, destroys our psychological and spiritual defenses, numbs us to the suffering of others." We have a moral obligation to 'welcome the stranger'. Our faith compels us to do so.

5.  Church World Service - Rev. John L. McCullough, President/CEO:Church World Service is staunchly opposed and gravely disheartened by this callous, discriminatory decision, which turns our backs on refugees when they are most in need of safety. Make no mistake-by restricting access to resettlement for Syrians, President Trump is manifesting the "Muslim ban" that he threatened on the campaign trail. My heart is heavy for Syrian refugees who believed our promise to them; for their family members who are here and desperately waiting to be reunited with their sister, brother, parent or child; and for the very soul of this nation.

6.  Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Greater Washington:President Donald Trump's order to restrict many tens of thousands of helpless refugees from seeking safety in America, and also barring visas from being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, betrays the Jewish and American values we cherish. This shouldn't be a partisan or political issue; welcoming refugees is part of what has truly made America great. Our nation has a centuries-long tradition of opening its shores to the oppressed. The Torah teaches, 'You shall not wrong or oppress a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.' Our history as Jews, and of repeatedly fleeing persecution, makes us sensitive to and compassionate for those who suffer similar fates and experiences and we believe that refugees should be treated with compassion and dignity. The Jewish community must make our voice heard and stand up for our values.

7.  Interfaith Alliance - Rabbi Jack Moline, President of Interfaith Alliance:http://interfaithalliance.org/trump-ban-refugees-international-holocaust-remembrance-day/ Our country has always welcomed those fleeing persecution and violence; it is, in fact, the story of how we came to be. We must stand up to those peddling xenophobia. We must choose wisdom over hateful rhetoric. Our elected leaders must live up to the mandate inherited from our ancestors, starting with President Washington who celebrated that our United States offered "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.

8.  Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - Amanda Tyler, Executive Director:Any attempt to ban Muslim refugees based on their religion betrays our values and sends the un-American message that there are second-class faiths. Our country, founded by immigrants who established religious freedom as a bedrock principle, is better than this. A threat to anyone's religious liberty is a threat to everyone's religious liberty, and we as Baptists stand with those facing religious persecution around the world, regardless of their faith.

9.  Alliance of Baptists - Rev. Paula Clayton Dempsey, Director of Partnership Relations:The plight of the displaced is well-documented with the influx of refugees evident along borders, or in small, vulnerable boats dangerously crossing the Mediterranean Sea, or in the overflowing camps in host countries providing emergency relief. More than fifty percent of the refugees are children, many of them orphaned and/or dealing with the loss of family members through the nightmares of trauma and violence they've experienced. The Alliance of Baptists joins the international call for justice and mercy for such vulnerable people. Our faithful actions of advocacy for the rights of refugees is rooted in our concern for all human beings and the protection of the resident alien in biblical justice and Jesus' call of righteous acts of compassion to those in need.

10.  Episcopal Church - Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:The National Cathedral (an Episcopal Church) recently hosted President Trump, and implored him to keep the refugee program intact.  Refugee resettlement is a form of ministry, and one that we, and many other churches and faith-based organizations, cherish. The work of Episcopal Migration Ministries is God's work, and we show the face of God through the care and compassion in that work. I ask President Trump to continue the powerful work of our refugee resettlement program without interruption, recognizing the long wait and screening process that means refugees wait months and sometimes years to enter the country. We ask that we continue to accept as many refugees as we have in the past, recognizing the need is greater than ever. We ask that refugees from all countries receive consideration to come to the U.S. and not to ban those who come from countries most in need of our assistance. Our Book of Common Prayer asks for God to "look with compassion on the whole human family;" to "break down the walls that separate us and unite us in bonds of love." On Saturday, we prayed for God our Father to look with compassion upon the widowed and orphans, outcasts and refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger. We pray to love one another as God loves us. I echo that prayer now and ask that we may work together to build a more grace and compassion-filled world.

11.  Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - Elizabeth Eaton, Presiding Bishop:Temporarily banning vulnerable refugees does not guarantee our security nor reflect our values as Christians. Refugees being resettled in the United States have fled persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political views or association with a particular group. They have waited well over a year to successfully complete security screenings by multiple intelligence agencies while living in a completely foreign culture, many times, still facing danger. As Lutherans, many of our ancestors faced the pain of having to flee our homes and the joy of being welcomed in new communities across the United States. As we have done throughout history, I urge our elected officials to honor our biblical witness as well as the best of our nation's traditions of refuge and stand firmly against any policies that result in scaling back the refugee resettlement program.

12.  National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA - Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary:By effectively preventing the entrance of refugees into this country, President Trump is establishing a policy would have kept Joseph, Mary, and Jesus from entering our nation. We ask President Trump to repent and show kindness to the stranger and the refugee that is central to Christian and American values.

13.  New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good - Rev. Dr. Richard Cizik, President:Let me clearly state what should be obvious: American political history, the moral principles of Christian faith, and the enormous contributions made by immigrants to America combine to make refugee admissions-even from war-torn Syria-a good and compassionate thing to do. However, to expand the boundaries of our inclusion will require a greater degree of political vision, compassion, and bold determination. We who are the "new evangelicals" will oppose violations of these principles by President Trump with equal determination.

14.  General Assembly of Presbyterian Church (USA) - Rev. Dr. J. Herbert Nelson, II, the Stated Clerk:Presbyterians, professing a faith in Jesus who entered this world a refugee, have supported refugee resettlement since World War II. Many of our congregations are led by and comprised of former refugees and many more have been transformed by the new friends they have encountered when assisting in resettlement. We are in the midst of a worldwide refugee crisis. Repressing mercy and compassion, in times like these, with groundless limits placed on the faith and nationality of those we should welcome, will not make our nation safer. It will only serve to harm hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting desperately for a safe home and will drive rifts between us and our global neighbors. Our nation is better than this and our congregations stand ready to welcome refugees of all faiths and nations.

15.  Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism - Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director:The expected executive order defies the best American tradition of being a place of refuge for those fleeing persecution. As Jews, we recognize the danger in any action that singles out people based on their religious beliefs. If the order is issued as anticipated, it is deeply troubling, rooted in exclusion and discrimination, and echoes the most shameful parts of our history. Facing the largest refugee crisis in recent history, the United States must remain a beacon of safe haven and welcome. Jewish tradition teaches "and each shall sit under their vine and fig tree, and none shall make them afraid" (Micah 4:4). Ensuring our security and fulfilling our highest aspirations as a nation rooted in compassion and committed to religious freedom are not mutually exclusive. Policies such as those promulgated by President Trump in this expected executive order unjustly and falsely create the impression that all Muslims pose a security threat. Attacks on one faith are attacks on all faiths, and we stand with our Muslim friends and allies in rejecting such egregious suggestions.We call on President Trump to refrain from issuing this executive order, on Congress to ensure robust refugee resettlement, and call on all Americans to protect the fundamental principle of religious freedom upon which our country was founded.

16.  Sojourners (Christian social justice advocacy organization) - Jim Wallis, President and Founder:U.S. citizens, immigrants and refugees who practice their Islamic faith in this country-our friends and neighbors-are our brothers and sisters as fellow human beings and children of God. We will never accept a religious test for entry into the United States. As Jesus taught us in Matthew 25, our Christian faith should compel us to act-to advocate for welcoming refugees of all faiths into our country instead of turning them away. Religious tests, in addition to being morally repugnant, would threaten our nation's democratic principles and the constitutional rights of every American. The violation of the religious freedom of our Muslim brothers and sisters must be not be accepted by any people of faith.

17.  T'ruah (The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights) - Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director:The Torah teaches thirty-six times that the Jewish experience of being strangers in Egypt and fleeing to freedom compels us to care for the stranger in our own midst. The Jewish community knows too well the dangers facing refugees fleeing war and violence, as too many of our own families died because the US borders were virtually closed to Jewish refugees during the Nazi regime. T'ruah joins with the more than 1500 rabbis who have signed the HIAS rabbinic letter welcoming refugees in calling on our elected officials to keep America's doors open and to maintain our historic and moral commitment to serving as a lifeline to those fleeing persecution and violence.

18.  National Council of Jewish Women - Nancy K. Kaufman, CEO:NCJW opposes any actions to reduce refugee resettlement, including measures that would discriminate based on religion or nation of origin. As Jews we are taught va'ahavtem et ha-ger -as we were once strangers, so must we love the stranger. We must rise above prejudice and fear to open our communities to the individuals and families who seek sanctuary in the United States.

19.  Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) - Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister and President:We are guided by our faith in the commandments to love God and love our neighbors, whoever they may be. We cannot separate the two, and seek to be welcoming of all people because loving God means loving our fellow human being. We pray that our country reflects principles of both welcome and of religious freedom, and that we remember the value of diversity. As refugees flee conflict, may we seek to offer them compassion, and not turn them away for any reason, including their religious identity.

* Source of Statements and More Statements here https://thinkprogress.org/faith-groups-country-immigrants-muslim-b22798233c90#.n9qig5fff6

[wionews]

How are Tibetan refugees doing as Dalai Lama turns 82 today

By Devanshi Verma & Raunak Sharma

Tenzin Gyatso was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama when he was five years old. At the outset of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, he along with his retinue fled to India. Some time later, the 23-year-old set up the Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, which is often referred to as 'Little Lhasa'. 80,000 Tibetan refugees followed him into exile. As he celebrates his 82nd birthday in Ladhak, we explore the settlement of his faithful disciples in the capital of the country he took refuge in.

Tranquility in the midst of chaos

An ornamental gate that looks like a piece of mystical art, stands tall at the entrance of New Aruna Nagar colony. On entering, one is a spectator to winding alleys, faint echoes of Dalai Lama's preachings, amiable women in traditional Tibetan attire selling street delicacies in the courtyard, two majestic monasteries, aromatic air and chiming prayer bells singing a melody. With Yamuna river on one side and national highway full of maddening traffic on the other, a Tibetan colony peacefully takes refuge in the middle of Delhi’s hustle-bustle. ‘Majnu Ka Tila’, as the area is known, may be geographically a part of India’s capital, but in its cultural and existential essence, is a different world altogether.

A t-shirt on sell shows, Tibet will forever be in Tibetan's heart (WION)

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While hopping through grocery stores that sold authentic Tibetan spices, Yak cheese as well as Chinese biscuits and sodas, we noticed something head turning--a wheel on the counter rotating on its own, without any electric wire attached to it. It was a prayer wheel made of wood and operated much like a hand mill.

"Om Mani Padme Hum" is engraved on prayer wheels of all Tibetan temples. It means "In dependence on the practice of a path which is an indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech, and mind into the pure exalted body, speech, and mind of a Buddha."

"Chanting the mantra out loud is equivalent to spinning the prayer wheels," explained a Lama or Tibetan monk, dressed in a red and yellow robe.

The Sanskrit mantra originated in India but later moved to Tibet. Some call it destiny and others Chinese invasion, the reason this mantra is back to India, along with its chanters. In 1960, the Chinese government adopted oppressive measures against the Tibetans, forcing these people to flee to India and save themselves from the brutality.

Although a Tibetan settlement, this area is culturally diverse, being home to other Asian immigrants--the Nepalese community being significant in number. One experiences the cultural milieu when a Bhutanese dish is presented by Nepali server at a Tibetan restaurant, in Delhi. Such is the beauty of Majnu ka Tila which has surely become a cultural melting pot.

Bhutani mouth watering delicacies at Tibetan restaurant in Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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‘Tibet is in my heart, but I am an Indian’

The Tibetans residing here can be divided into three broad categories--the first and foremost, who followed Dalai Lama to India in 1959. They can be accredited for the establishment of this safe haven that retains the cultural individuality of the community.

Then, thre are the next generations born and brought up in India. “Tibet is in my heart, but I am an Indian. I have never been to Tibet, only heard stories but India is where I belong--it is my home,” says Karten Tsering, President of the Residents Welfare Association, New Aruna Nagar Colony. He calls himself an Indian and rightfully so--anybody born in the country is considered a citizen, according to the Indian constitution.

The third and the most recent generation constitutes the people who have recently come to the country in the hope of better education, employment prospects, and life. They seem to be struggling to adapt to the norms of a foreign country but, at least, they have companionship and familiarity, which is a major comforting factor for them. In a country far away from home, they have found a hope with the flame of a free Tibet illuminating their hearts.

Beautiful Tibetan artifacts home this store in Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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Home away from home

A middle-aged woman on a street-side stall sold Laphing--spicy cold jelly noodle dish served with soya chunks. Although she had a constant serene smile on her face, her face reads of suffering. She was compelled to leave Tibet because of the ‘political outburst’ and the scars happened to remain. However, she is now content here. Even though she has been selling food on the streets for the past four years, she has managed to send off her children to study outside Delhi--son to Dharamshala and daughter to Mussoorie. These places also have Tibetan roots and they long to stay connected.    Speaking to a man in his late 50s, we discovered the other side of lives of Tibetan refugees in India. He was manning the desk at one of the numerous hotels that play a major role in the economy of the area. Spending 40 years in Indian states of Meghalaya, Karnataka and now Delhi, he is still struggling with basic necessities--a reason he did not marry. For a person who cannot keep his stomach full, it will be an added responsibility to support an entire family. He was never sure if he could provide them with a roof and chose the nomadic life. This is a shivering reality of most of them.

However, despite the air of melancholy surrounding these people, still, they continue to smile.   Gratefulness, diplomacy, silent agony

Meeting with the local association’s authorities, we understood that suffering is not limited to just the trauma of a lost home. Though these refugees get aid from the government and have legal rights but, deep down, are fighting a silent battle to meet the basic needs. "They are doing whatever they can. If Delhi government does not have enough water, how can we expect for extended supply? Same is the case of electricity." The spokesperson seemed to be in the state of acceptance with whatever they are being provided with.

Tibetan edibles- sweets, cookies and beverages (WION)

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Happy Birthday, His Holiness

Dalai Lama’s birthday falls on 6th of July and the enthusiasm for celebrating with performances, feasts and religious ceremonies is all over the place. The authorities informed that Delhi’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal will be the guest of honour of the festivities.    To them, Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader, and patron saint is the manifestation of the supreme power--their faith is quite evident as every single set-up in the vicinity has a picture of him. A glance of him is all they crave for. But surprisingly, when asked about what they would like to say to him for his birthday, the chatty 25-year-old Tsering Choephel shied away, as if he is too small or insignificant to speak to the supreme. 

They believe that Dalai Lama helped them settle in India, and he alone can take them back by liberating Tibet from China.  

Next destination: Karnataka?

However, one thing that surprised us was that everybody aspired moving to Karnataka. Opportunity-wise there are more options for this community out there, which may have moved these people. Also, space wise Bylakuppe, a Tibetan town in Karnataka is way larger than here. 

"We get food for free in the monasteries of Karnataka, better shelter, more business opportunities, climate cooler than Delhi", says a monk. Not one, but many of the Tibetans dwelling in Majnu-ka-tilla are looking forward to move to Karnataka.

As we roamed around, a Ganesha idol among Tibetan deities caught our attention. “Ganesha is one of the important deities of the Tibetans,” mentioned the young Tibetan boy manning the store. In another store owned by a Nepalese woman, a statue of their very own version of Ganesha lied on the counter. The Tibetan shopkeeper is only seven years old to the country. Like many others, he wishes to head to Karnataka. 

Tibetan Ganesha idol in idols store, Majnu-ka-tilla (WION)

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The dream of returning to Tibet still inspires them. India has provided them a home away from home but nevetheless, it is a makeshift home. Assimilation is difficult, finding jobs tough, and speaking out publicly about lack of opportunities not welcomed. A refugee is a refugee at the end of the day and they should remain grateful for whatever they are getting -- a common assumption that is true for all host countries worldwide. Thus, we may celebrate Dalai Lama as ours but the refugees prefer to stay in the chrysalis they have built in the ‘Majnu Ka Tila’. The outside world of bustling city of New Delhi is too alien for them.

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