#ginzberg

[popolodipekino]

esequie senza requie

Vedendo che la salma [di Giacobbe] stava per essere inumata nella grotta di Macpela, Esaù tentò di impedirlo sostenendo che il patriarca aveva già occupato la parte che gli spettava seppellendovi la moglie Lia, e che quella ancora libera spettava di diritto a lui [...] I figli di Giacobbe, però, sapevano che il loro padre aveva comprato il lotto di Esaù, e che di questa transazione esisteva un atto scritto, del quale l'empio ebbe buon gioco a negare l'esistenza, supponendo, non a torto, che fosse rimasto in Egitto. Ma Esaù non aveva fatto i conti con il corridore Naftali, subito inviato dai fratelli in quella terra a prendere il documento probante. Mentre le due parti litigavano animatamente, Usim figlio di Dan insorse e domandò come mai non si fosse ancora proceduto alle esequie: essendo sordo, infatti, non aveva afferrato una sola parola della diatriba fra Esaù e i figli di Giacobbe. Quando finalmente seppe che cos'era accaduto e capì che per la sepoltura si doveva attendere il ritorno di Naftali dall'Egitto, esclamò indignato: "Non sia mai che mio nonno debba aspettare tutto questo tempo prima di trovare degno riposo nella terra!", e, ciò detto, colpì Esaù con la spada tranciandogli di netto la testa, con tale vigore che gli occhi furono proiettati fuori dalle orbite e caddero proprio sulle ginocchia di Giacobbe, il quale per un istante aprì i suoi e sorrise. da L. Ginzberg, Le leggende degli ebrei, vol. III

[puppii511]

Legends of the Jew's 💥 Highlights 1

~ I ~ ♡♡ THE CREATION OF THE WORLD◇◇◇THE FIRST THINGS CREATED ♡♡ ♡ In the beginning ~◇~ seven things were created I. The Torah Written with On 2. Black fire 3. White fire Laying in the lap of God ~ 4. The Divine Throne 5. Paradise on the right side of God 6. Hell, on the left side 7. The Celestial Sanctuary in front *Information from a Bible app in the history section. Legends of the…

[sighed-the-snake]

So, about Furfur's angel book. Remember the part about Baraqiel?

Image text: BARAQIEL. Dominion. Angel of the Sky. Appearance: Hair an eye-burning jinnjer. Eyebrows with the appearance of a grisly slug. Often draped in red. Occashunly damp, most likely singed.

I recently got my hands on a copy of A Dictionary of Angels, Including the Fallen Angels, by Gustav Davidson.

And here is the entry for Baraqiel!

Image Text: Barakiel (Barachiel, Barbiel, Barchiel, Barkiel, Baraqiel, etc. -- "lightning of God") -- one of the 7 archangels, one of the 4 ruling seraphim, angel of the month of February, and prince of the 2nd Heaven as well as of the order of confessors. Barakiel has dominion over lightning and is also one of the chief angels of the 1st and 4th altitudes or chora in the Almadel of Solomon. In addition, he is a ruler of the planet Jupiter and the zodiacal sign of Scorpio (as cited by Camfield in A Theological Discourse of Angels) and Pisces. With the angels Uriel and Rubiel, Barakiel is invoked to bring success in games of chance, according to De Plancy, Dictionaire Infernal.[Rf. Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews I, 140.]

Lightning of God We see Crowley let off some lightning while too angry to control himself, and an angel of lightning could easily be considered an angel of the sky.

Archangel Baraqiel We assume Metatron was referring to Satan when he spoke of the Prince of Heaven they lost. Could he have been referring to Crowley? There was a lot of hatred in the look Metatron gave Crowley in the bookshop.

Crowley also told Beelzebub that the whole erasure from the Book of Life thing was something they said just to scare the Cherubs and that it wasn't actually a thing. We think of fat little cupids when Cherubs are mentioned, but Cherub is just the singular of Cherubim, and those guys are just one step below the Seraphim.

And he was teasing them.

Crowley says he understands what Aziraphale is offering him better than his angel does. If he was a Seraphim, then I believe it.

I know Furfur's book places him as a Dominion, but Neil can be an unreliable narrator, and who knows how accurate a demon's book might be. Neil could have also just decided to make Crowley a Dominion instead. Afterall, the angel guarding the Eastern gate in the bible was a Cherubim, but Neil and Terry changed that to Principality when they made Aziraphale.

Also, if Crowley was hanging out with "Lucifer and the guys," that suggests he was a high ranking angel. You're friends with the people you see every day. They were probably his office buddies.

Crowley said in the beginning of S2 that he worked "very closely with upstairs" on his nebula project. Anyone who has worked for a hierarchical business knows that lower order employees aren't even allowed to talk to the higher-ups directly. They would have to submit their issues to their direct supervisor, and that request would go up the chain until it's taken care of, probably never reaching the highest levels of the company. If Crowley was working directly with "upstairs," and his crossed fingers suggest a close collaboration, then he must have been a very high rank to be allowed to talk to them directly.

It is also worth noting that the use of the singular seraph, in the Book of Isaiah, is translated as "flying fiery serpent."

Ruler of the signs Scorpio and Pisces Crowley is hissy and wrathful and WILL CUT YOU, but he also loves children, and turns goats into birds so he doesn't have to kill them, and breathes life back into smooshed doves, so this makes perfect sense to me. Who's our moody little snek, you're our moody little snek.

Invoked to bring success in games of chance We have already seen him outsmart Heaven and Hell with Armageddon. He is uncommonly sharp-witted and capable for a demon, or even an angel. Look at the way he invented regulations for the Rules of Engagement so convincingly that Shax backed down, and how he got Muriel to sneak him into Heaven. I would definitely want an occult force like Crowley-Baraqiel on my side if I was doing something risky.

[jewsinfandoms]

How the Jews Created the Comic Book Industry Part I: The Golden Age (1933-1955)

"The comic-book industry was built from the ground up at the height of the Great Depression by enterprising American Jews who fashioned a pantheon of the world's most famous superheroes" - Arie Kaplan

1933. FDR was inaugurated, Hitler became chancellor of Germany, television was patented, and an unemployed Jewish novelty salesman named Max Gaines (née Max Ginzberg) was pondering how on earth he would be able to feed his wife Jessie and their two young children, who were living with him at his mother's house in the Bronx. To lift his spirits, he began reading some Sunday funnies stored in his mother's attic. Suddenly the idea hit him: if he enjoyed reading old comic strips like "Joe Palooka," "Mutt and Jeff," and "Hairbreadth Harry," maybe the rest of America would, too!

Gaines shared his brainstorm with his good friend Harry L. Wildenberg, who worked at Eastern Color Printing. For years, Eastern had been toying with the idea of reprinting Sunday comic strips as tabloid-size giveaways. Gaines proposed a different approach--reducing the comic-strip reprints to half tabloid-size and selling them. Persuaded to take a chance on the concept, in February 1934 Eastern published Famous Funnies #1, Series 1, the first American comic book to be sold to the public. The 35 thousand copies shipped to department stores throughout the country quickly disappeared from the shelves. ECP followed in May with Famous Funnies #1, Series 2, the first monthly comic book to be sold on newsstands. Issue #8 turned a profit (earning $2,664.25), and an industry was born. By 1941 thirty comic-book publishers were producing 150 different titles monthly, with combined sales of 15 million copies and a youth readership of 60 million, making the emerging comic-book industry one of the few commercial bright spots of the Great Depression.

The full article is HERE

[girlactionfigure]

⚪Monday - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

Erev Tisha b’Av - Tisha B’Av, the 9th day of the month of Av (August 12-13, 2024), is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, on which we fast, deprive ourselves and pray. It is the culmination of the Three Weeks, a period of time during which we mark the destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.  https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/144575/jewish/What-Is-Tisha-BAv.htm

The 25 hour fast begins approx. 30 minutes before sundown.

▪️A HERO SOLDIER HAS FALLEN.. Omer Ginzberg, 19, from Kiryat Tivon, fell in battle in Gaza.  May his family be comforted among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem, and may G-d avenge his blood!

▪️TERROR STOPPED?  A car loaded with an Arab crew and weapons was caught in Ashkelon.

▪️STRONG DEFENSIVE STATEMENTS BAD.. Joseph Borrell, the European Union's foreign minister, calls for sanctions to be imposed on MK’s Ben-Gvir and Smotrich: "inciting to commit war crimes”.

🔹Hezbollah has evacuated all of its known headquarters in southern Dahiya in Beirut per "Al-Jamhoriya”.

⭕Overnight, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Western Galilee focused on Nahariya at 1:45 AM.

♦️Overnight, IDF forces operated early in the morning in the city of Jenin and arrested 2 fathers of terrorists in order to put pressure on them to turn themselves in. An exchange of fire developed between terrorists and IDF forces.

♦️HACK ATTACK.. Israeli hacker group Red Evils announced they are going to take down the Central Bank of Lebanon.

♦️COUNTER-TERROR OP.. overnight in Kfar Tal, near Shechem, as well as south Hebron.

🔸DEAL NEWS.. Otzma Yehudit leader MK Ben Gvir in a message to Netanyahu: We will withdraw from the government if the outline for the discussed deal is adopted.

.. The leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain warn Iran: "Avoid an attack that would endanger a deal”.

[bijoumikhawal]

The only detailed description of feminine pulchritude from post-biblical Jewish sources comes from the sectarian community at Qumran, the description of Sarah's beauty in the Genesis Midrash 20:1-8. As pointed out by M. H. Goshen-Ciottstem (1959-60), this appears to be the only residue of a Jewish wasf tradition. There is in the Talmud (TB Ketubot 17a) allusion to the custom of singing about "the beautiful and desirable bride," kallah na ah wahasudah, which traditionally included description of bodily traits. The sources, however, do not specify which physical charms of the bride were described. Such a custom, ordinarily repugnant to feminine modesty, was intended to increase the groom's desire for the bride. And this is precisely the purpose in the Genesis Midrash, as the quasi-bride (Sarah) is made to appear desirable in the eyes of a quasi-consort: How. . . and (how) beautiful the look of her face. . . and how fine the hair of her head, how fair indeed are her eyes and how pleasing her nose and all the radiance of her face . . . how beautiful her breast and how lovely all her whiteness. Her arms goodly to look upon, and her hands how perfect... all the appearance of her hands. How fair her palms and how long and fine all the fingers of her hands. Her legs how beautiful and how without blemish her thighs. And all maidens and all brides that go beneath the wedding canopy are not more fair than she. And above all women is she lovely and higher is her beauty than that of them all, and with all her beauty there is much wisdom in her. And the tip of her hands is comely (N. Avigad and Y. Yadin, 1956, English section, p.43).

This detailing of Sarah's charms is a midrashic elaboration of Gen 12:14-15, a passage which, quite naturally, piqued the interest of the rabbis (cf. L. Ginzberg, I, 222f). In answer to the question why the wasf tradition found expression only in this particular midrash, Goshen-Gottstein suggested that it was perhaps excluded from "official" or "higher" literature and allowed to remain only in such an extracanonical document.

[...]

An anthology of "Modern Palestinian Parallels to the Song of Songs" has been presented by S. H. Stephan (1922) based on Dalman's Paldstinischer Diwan and on Stephan's own collection of Palestinian folk songs. Comparison of these early Palestinian songs (i.e. the biblical Song of Songs) and those in use some twenty-five hundred years later, "shows a striking resemblance between the old and the new, both in the expression of ideas and in the grouping of words," according to Stephan (p. 199). Stephan disavowed the defense of any theory and professed to "let each word speak with its own force, unchained and unchanged"; he hoped that no one would be offended by the breadth of treatment in his paper. The following observations and conclusions were drawn by Stephan from his comparison of Canticles with the folksongs of his day (footnotes and citations of Arabic omitted):

There is no doubt whatever about the general idea of these poems, which is the same as that treated of in Canticles—the mutual love of the sexes. In monologues and dialogues are described the reciprocal love and longing of the male and female for each other.

To him "she" is altogether a charming and beautiful maiden. She is of good family (7 2) for he calls her the prince's daughter. Her stature (7 7; 2 14) is like a palm tree. She is beautiful, sweet and yet terrible (6 3), fair as the moon, bright as the sun (6 9). Her feet (7 1) are beautiful. Her face (2 14) is comely, "pars prototo": Her speech and voice (2 14;4 3) are sweet. Her odours (3 16;4 10,1 2-1 4) are aromatic, full of the fragrance of all spices and sundry powders of the perfumer. Although her complexion (1 5) has been bronzed by the sun, which has burnt her face (1 6), she is nonetheless fair, attractive and beautiful. Our contemporary songster is so much absorbed by her charms that he calls her his life. The raven black hair with its attractive curls and locks (4 3;6 6) is coloured with henna for the wedding night and appears to him like purple (7 5;6 4).

The hair and the dark eyes, with which she has ravished his heart (4 9), so that he cannot but cry out, calling her the fairest amongst women (1 8;4 9;5 9 and 1 7;6 4), are her most striking features. Both Canticles and the folk-songs praise her dove-like eyes (4 1;1 15b); yet we in our turn go a little farther, and ascribe to her doe-like or gazelle-like eyes.

Her lovely cheeks seemed to the old bard to be a slice of pomegranate (4 3;6 6), yet we consider them nowadays like apples, white and red, or like roses.

When Canticles compares her teeth (6 6) to a flock of white sheep coming up from the washing, our present songsters are inclined to liken them to hail-stones or to silver. Her lips are considered nowadays not so much as a thread of scarlet (4 3), but more as delightful roses in full blossom, as sweet as honey or sugar (4 11). Her mouth is like the best wine (7 9); and her throat has the same attribute of beauty, though it may be compared now and then to amber.

Her breasts, seemingly the most attractive part of her graceful person, are to the old singer like wine (1 2;4 10), even far better (4 10;1 2). We consider them as pomegranates and rarely as clusters of grapes (7 8). But in common parlance "the groom may take one breast for a cushion and the other as an eider-down quilt."... His love for her inspires him to describe her with a variety of pretty appellatives, common to both periods, such as dove (2 14), roe (3 6) an enclosed garden,a spring shut up, a fountain sealed (4 12); a garden fountain, a well of living water (4 15). He is captured by her beauty; first he considers her fair,and then as spotless (4 7). Yes, to him she is at the same time a rose in a flower garden (2 1) and a proud horse (1 9).

It is not usual to enumerate the attractions and charms of the man. So we have in our contemporary songs comparatively few ditties which deal comprehensively with the beauty of the male.

The bride describes him as "white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands" (5 10). His form and countenance are excellent (5 15) and therefore the virgins love him (1 2). His flowing locks are bushy and black as a raven (5 11). His cheeks are as a bed of spices (5 13). His mouth is very sweet, altogether lovely (5 16). His hands are gold rings set with beryls (5 14). And last, but not least, his stature is like the cedars—nowadays like a palmtree (5 15)— and his belly is like ivory overlaid or set with sapphires (5 14). Such is her friend and her beloved (5 16), a handsome youth, who is sure of the sincere love of maidens (1 2). To him she said in olden times: "Draw me and I will run after thee" (1 4). She may hear today just the same words from his lips.

He calls her sister, bride (4 9) and friend (2 10). She in her turn calls him her beloved (54;1 7;2 3;5 8), and her friend (5 1; 29). The words "friend, beloved, graceful, fair" and half a dozen synonyms are used equally for both sexes. All these expressions are taken over into the mystical and spiritual terminology of the Sufis.

While in the Canticles the man is compared to a deer or a hart, in our days it is the wife to whom these attributes are solely applied. The palm tree and the bird are common to both parties.

The erotic motives in all songs, old and new, are numerous. We shall dwell on them only enough to show the common ideas of both periods. The tatooing of hands and arms is common to both sexes. But the fairer sex, especially the fellahat and badawiyat permit themselves to be tattooed even on their belly (5 14b) as far as the mons. There are two colours, red and blue, used expressly for this purpose. The use of the mandrake (7 13) as an aphrodisiac is still known in Palestine, but it serves more for that purpose in Upper Mesopotamia. The nuptial couch (1 16) is often mentioned in our songs.

[[Inset note; the tattooing is of interest to me as SoS 5:14 describes the flesh of the arms and loins of the male lover as gold and ivory encrusted with gems, the latter specifically with sapphires- though this is sometimes also translated as lapis. This may be purely metaphorical, but I will remind people that the tattoo prohibition was originally applied to funerary tattoos, and it's expansion to all tattoos is Rabbinic, and not even all Rabbinic Jews follow that. Additionally the color of gold and ivory imagery reads as a man with tanned arms and pale legs from working outdoors, with the gems representing pigment; possibly a tattoo, but other body art is possible. Stephan seens to agree with me here that the imagery is connected, though he references women's tattooing and not men's. I am not familiar with the specifics of Palestinian tattooing, but in Egypt, while tattoos were historically feminine, plenty of men got tattoos as well.]]

She pretends to be love-sick during his absence: neither of them can sleep for longing to be with the other. Yet he asks her acquaintances not to wake her up before she wishes (2 7). What is said in Cant. 86, that love is fire, is in full agreement with our ideas.

Nature, with her unrivaled beauty, has made a deep impression on our poets. The moonlit night, the stars, flower gardens and orchards, wells and springs, flora and fauna, and even minerals have their place in our folk-songs. The beloved girl is likely to be compared with them all: the proud horse, the graceful doe or gazelle, the lovely dove or birds in general. Even the sun, the full moon, Orion with Pleiades are not as strange metaphors as they would seem at first sight. Flora's daughters are almost all numbered among the similes applied to the female charms. The mountains and the valleys have their roles; nor are even the earth and the stones forgotten. Wind and weather, as well as the seasons, must do their utmost to please the beloved one. And Nature as a loving mother will surely deign to help her on all occasions required. . . .

Such is our idea of the charms of Nature. We love her in our own way; now and then we fear her; but all her beauty we ascribe to our own sweethearts.

pg 55-59

The Descriptive Song (Beschreibungslied, Arabic wasf) Horst saw in 4:1-7, 6:4a, 5b-7, 5:10-16, 7:1-6. The Thousand and One Nights also employs the wasf. The content of the Descriptive Songs of the Canticle, Horst noted, is a series of more or less detailed descriptions of the bodily features of the bride, or, more rarely, also of the bridegroom. The parts of the body are treated in order, either beginning with the head (eyes, hair, teeth, etc., as in 4:1ff, 6:4a, 5b-7, 5:10ff), or, as in 7:1ff, from admiration of the dance steps to the description of hips, vulva, breasts, neck, eyes, nose, head, and hair. Horst conceded that one might regard the Descriptive Song as a special kind of Song of Admiration, but, because of the lack of the "exclamation" peculiar to the Song of Admiration and the special "Sitz im Leben" of the Descriptive Song, it seemed justified to regard the latter as a distinct form.

The Descriptive Song regularly has a brief introduction, either an affirmation (4:1), or a comparison (6:4a), or a rhetorical question (7:2a), or a general admiration of the beauty of the person praised, corresponding to the introduction which occurs in the Song of Admiration. It may, however, as in the case of 5:10ff, impose the detailed description on a general description. A concluding line may be lacking (as in 7:1ff), or maybe based on the introduction (4:7, 5:16b).

The two choral introductions of 7:1 and 5:9, according to Horst, point to antecedents in wedding celebrations. According to 7:1, the Descriptive Song is sung about the bride as she performs her dance. The Descriptive Song,according to Horst, has been combined with other pieces which sing of the search for the missing lover, his rediscovery, and union with him. Here one may think of a marriage custom which echoes the cult drama of the myth of Tammuz and Ishtar.

The Descriptive Song, in Horst's view, may have had its originin such wedding customs as the song during the bride's dance, but in the course of time was used separately and applied to other things, such as the bride's ornaments, or even in a modern example (cited by Dalman, 1901, 112)for the description of a lost knife. Horst cited 3:6-11 as an example of a mixed form of Descriptive Song and Song of Admiration. A song fragment with a beginning similar to that of 3:6ff is 8:5a.

pg 67

The hebdomadal division of the Canticles, corresponding to the Hebrew wedding week, proposed by Bossuet in 1693, was taken up again by Ernest Renan who noted (1860, 86) thesimilarity of the Song to modern Syrian wedding poetry and the custom of seven-day wedding festivals among Arabs at Damietta in Egypt and in certain localities in Syria. In 1873 a scholarly German consul in Damascus, J. G. Wetzstein, published a study of contemporary marriage customs in Syria (1873), describing the seven-day festivities during which the spouses were enthroned on the threshing sledge, crowned as king and queen, and descriptive poems (wasf, plural awsaf) praising their beauty were sung in their honor. War songs were also sung and the bride performed a sword dance (cf. J. G. Wetzstein, 1868, 105f, n45). See below pp. 143f.

[...]

Two decades after the publication of Wetzstein's articles, K. Budde applied the material to support the theory that the Song is a collection of poems sung at peasant weddings (1894a, 1894b, and in his commentary, 1898). The crux of the argument is that customs are tenacious and that the peasant weddings of Syria described by Wetzstein may be presumed to have persisted for centuries, even millennia, and thus they throw light on the origin and purpose of the Canticlesas folk wedding songs. The descriptions of the bride and groom in the Song resemble the Syrian wedding wasf and the Shulamite's Manhanaim Dance (7:1ff) was related to the sword dance performed by the bride (although there is no mention of any sword wielded by the Shulamite). This explanation of the Canticles, as reflecting ancient Syro-Palestinian village wedding songs in which the groom and bride were king and queen for a week, was widely acclaimed and accepted as solving the riddle of the book, and it dominated discussions of theproblem for more than a quarter of a century (cf. Rowley, 210n4).

Criticism and reservations with regard to this peasant wedding hypothesis were many and varied. W. W. Cannon, e.g., commented (1913, 29): "It is an enormous assumption that these wedding ceremonies described by Wetzstein as taking place in Syrian villages near Damascus in 1861 were necessarily the same in weddings in Judea more than 2000 years earlier, or at anytime." It was pointed out by several critics (cf. Rowley, 211n5) that the bride of the Canticles is never called "queen," as would be expected in accord with Budde's hypothesis. C. Gebhardt (1931, 12) likewise disputed the relevance of Budde's assumptions and denied that the wedding customs of Syrian peasants, being of hybrid origins as the result of numerous invasions, could have any bearing on Jewish poetry.

Hilma Granqvist in her study (II, 137n) found no evidence of a "king's week" in local weddings and little to suggest the existence of such a custom in other writings on Palestinian wedding customs. It has also been objected that the war songs of the Syrian weddings are missing among the Canticles and that the extent of the collection is insufficient for a seven-day songfest. Answer to the latter objection has been that the Canticles are only sample selections. It could also be observed that in folk singing a few words can be dragged out and repeated for a long time. The Arabic wasf, or descriptive song, was not limited to marriage celebrations and Dahnan (1901, xiff) adduced some prenuptial examples. Accordingly, a number of critics have concluded, following Herder, that the Canticles are simply a collection of love lyrics rather than wedding songs. Rowley (212nnl-7) cited several distinguished representatives of this view and expressed his own inclination to agree. "I am not persuaded that the marriage-week theory is soundly based, or that the songs had anything to do with a wedding occasion. They appear rather to be a series of poems in which a lover enshrined the love he gave and the love he received."

141-144, Song of Songs (commentary) by Marvin Pope

[bowtiepastabitch]

favorite non fiction book ?

Ooooh I'm totally picking two. My favorite nonfiction academic text is Carlo Ginzberg's The Cheese and The Worms. It's a really fun and interesting microhistory that I read for a class and it's a really good read about this guy who was prosecuted by the Catholic church in the 16th century for, among other things, believing that the earth was formed as cheese from milk and that angels are the worms that come out of the cheese. And also for like, owning a copy of the bible in his own language.

My favorite for funsies nonfiction at the moment is Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space by Amanda Leduc which was my second disability pride month read this year. It's a really interesting intersection of disability theory and personal anecdote that I really enjoyed!

Thanks for the ask<3

[055u4ry]

Submitting a couple of characters bc I’m curious, and bored. Gonna go for the obvious: Himura Kenshin. And Saito Hajime from the same anime. And (rolls dice) Eve Polastri from Killing Eve.

(also, if you’re up for it, could I get an assessment of my dude Book/Granada Holmes? Dunno how familiar you are with him though, lol)

First of all thanks for actually playing, no one ever sends me anything so this is fun.

Kenshin was my husbando for many years. It was love at first sight, the first time I saw the Toonami commercial for Rurouni Kenshin I knew I would love it. Thematically it hits all my favorite tropes. Kenshin as a character is unusual because he genuinely cares about others to the point of self-sacrifice, and he has to constantly tame that tendency. He’s not educated but he’s incredibly self-aware and is constantly trying to be a better person than he was the day before. He’s very humble despite having what is often described as “god-like” strength, though when he loses his cool you really see that rage come through, the rage of a man who lost both parents to disease and was sold into slavery before being essentially forced into the mold of a martial artist. The rage of a man who’s seen war and who’s killed. He’s able to mostly keep that rage at bay by living in the moment and surrounding himself with found family, but it’s the one vice he has trouble with. Poor baby needed therapy lol. But aside from that undealt-with rage he’s everything a real modern man is not and that’s why I was/am so enamored with him. He’s kind, intelligent, humble, wise, empathetic… he’s how many men see themselves but actually aren’t in reality. So definitely Smash lol.

Saito is interesting because he did nothing for me as a teenager but the older I get the more I like him. He always had a cool, aloof appeal but nowadays it’s sexier, and his whole aku zoku zan philosophy becomes more understandable the older one becomes as well. The main thing I like about Saito is how shrewd/smart he is- he doesn’t let anyone play him. He has trouble showing emotions but again these guys were soldiers and warriors so it’s understandable and even a little endearing. I can sympathize with life making you an aloof asshole lol. Of course deep down he’s not really an asshole, he just cares a lot about justice, which by extension means he cares about people, whether he’d admit it or not. I’d give him a Smash rating as well.

Eve is difficult because I (regrettably) haven’t seen much of Killing Eve. It’s one of those shows that has been on “my list” for a long time. I do think Sandra Oh is attractive as fuck though. She has a soft aura but seems like an emotionally strong person. Based on the actress alone she gets a Smash, and I have a feeling I’d still say that if I knew the character more.

I’m not very familiar with Holmes (though I have always wanted to read the original books). The only version of him I am familiar with is Data’s portrayal of him in Star Trek: The Next Generation (and Data always gets a Smash rating from me, not that he’d know what “smashing” was lol). Based on that portrayal and my penchant for stoic, logical men I’d probably say Smash though.

@gryphius-ginzberg you seem to get my taste in characters pretty well!

[33-108]

ZOHAR AND LILITH:

"References to Lilith in the Zohar include the following:

She roams at night, and goes all about the world and makes sport with men and causes them to emit seed. In every place where a man sleeps alone in a house, she visits him and grabs him and attaches herself to him and has her desire from him, and bears from him.

And she also afflicts him with sickness, and he knows it not, and all this takes place when the moon is on the wane.

This passage may be related to the mention of Lilith in Talmud Shabbath 151b (see above), and also to Talmud Eruvin 18b where nocturnal emissions are connected with the begettal of demons.

According to Rapahel Patai, older sources state clearly that after Lilith's Red Sea sojourn (mentioned also in Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews), she returned to Adam and begat children from him by forcing herself upon him.

Before doing so, she attaches herself to Cain and bears him numerous spirits and demons.

In the Zohar, however, Lilith is said to have succeeded in begetting offspring from Adam even during their short-lived sexual experience.

Lilith leaves Adam in Eden, as she is not a suitable helpmate for him.

Gershom Scholem proposes that the author of the Zohar, Rabbi Moses de Leon, was aware of both the folk tradition of Lilith and another conflicting version, possibly older.

The Zohar adds further that two female spirits instead of one, Lilith and Naamah, desired Adam and seduced him.

The issue of these unions were demons and spirits called "the plagues of humankind", and the usual added explanation was that it was through Adam's own sin that Lilith overcame him against his will.

17th-century Hebrew magical amulets

Medieval Hebrew amulet intended to protect a mother and her child from Lilith (see picture)

A copy of Jean de Pauly's translation of the Zohar in the Ritman Library contains an inserted late 17th century printed Hebrew sheet for use in magical amulets where the prophet Elijah confronts Lilith.

The sheet contains two texts within borders, which are amulets, one for a male ('lazakhar'), the other one for a female ('lanekevah').

The invocations mention Adam, Eve and Lilith, 'Chavah Rishonah' (the first Eve, who is identical with Lilith), also devils or angels:

Sanoy, Sansinoy, Smangeluf, Shmari'el (the guardian) and Hasdi'el (the merciful).

A few lines in Yiddish are followed by the dialogue between the prophet Elijah and Lilith when he met her with her host of demons to kill the mother and take her new-born child ('to drink her blood, suck her bones and eat her flesh'). She tells Elijah that she will lose her power if someone uses her secret names, which she reveals at the end: lilith, abitu, abizu, hakash, avers hikpodu, ayalu, matrota ...

In other amulets, probably informed by The Alphabet of Ben-Sira, she is Adam's first wife. (Yalqut Reubeni, Zohar 1:34b, 3:19

Charles Richardson's dictionary portion of the Encyclopædia Metropolitana appends to his etymological discussion of lullaby "a [manuscript] note written in a copy of Skinner" [i.e. Stephen Skinner's 1671 Etymologicon Linguæ Anglicanæ], which asserts that the word lullaby originates from Lillu abi abi, a Hebrew incantation meaning "Lilith begone" recited by Jewish mothers over an infant's cradle.

Richardson did not endorse the theory and modern lexicographers consider it a false etymology."- Adam van norden

[popolodipekino]

bollettino apocalittico: previsto traffico intenso

Al tempo stesso il patriarca aveva ottime ragioni per desiderare d'essere inumato nella Terra Promessa: al tempo del Messia, quando i morti risorgeranno, coloro che riposano in quel suolo saranno i primi a ridestarsi a nuova vita, mentre agli altri toccherà rotolare nella terra da una landa all'altra, passando per buche e canali sotterranei che il Signore scaverà all'uopo, prima di raggiungere la destinazione e poter uscire dalle tombe. da L. Ginzberg, Le leggende degli ebrei, Vol. III

(poi non dite che non ve l'avevo detto)

[daughter-of-sapph0]

hiii, im an argentinian jewish person, im going to a jewish school currently and have been since 6 years old, im curious because in our lessons we never learned about golems or jewish folklore, and i want to know more, could i ask where you get your information please? (not mad, sorry if it sounds like it just very curious abt culture)

a lot of what I know about Jewish folklore is stuff I learned on my own time / things I've researched online myself. again, since they're mostly myths and folktales, they probably wouldn't be taught in Hebrew school. similar to like, how you wouldn't learn about leprechauns or faeries in a Irish studies class.

usually I'll hear about a topic or myth in passing or online, and I decide to do further research on it myself.

I actually first heard about Behemoth and Leviathan from a game called Katana Zero, several years before I started my conversion. I knew they were mythical monsters, but I didn't know anything else beyond that. so I decided to look them up. and I discovered that they were mythical chaos monsters created by god at the beginning of creation. I had also already learned about golems in passing before.

I hadn't made the connection until someone online pointed out that the Regi trio seemed to be based on golems. and looking into it, I noticed that groudon kyogre and reyquaza was based on the Behemoth the Leviathan and the Ziz. it was super interesting to make that connection, and honestly, that's what I hope my post about that does for people. it'll help them go "oh yeah, now that you mention it" and inspire them to do more of their own research.

but to answer your question, where do I get my information. it's all over the place. but a good guide is to just search online to learn more. some of the sources I used for finding info on my original post include Britannica, JMBerlin, a few passages from the books titled The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg, and Putting God on Trial: The Biblical Book of Job by Robert Sutherland, and a translation of the Book of Job. and while I do use Wikipedia sometimes, I don't use it as a main source. always take everything you read on there with a grain of salt. use the sources cited on Wikipedia rather that Wikipedia itself.

yeah, you aren't really gonna learn about folktales and myths in Jewish school. but there's tons of books and articles online that you can learn from. and if you're looking for a recommendation, the book Lilith's Cave by Howard Schwartz is a great retelling of many Jewish myths and folktales.

[dankusner]

A captivating story of an extraordinary woman, "Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter" provides an intimate look at the trailblazing career and influential life of journalist, author, humorist, political activist, and proud Texan Liz Carpenter, who served as chief of staff/press secretary for Lady Bird Johnson, and was an inspirational leader for the women’s movement.

From the JFK assassination to campaigning for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, Liz Carpenter experienced and helped shape some of the most vivid moments and movements of the 20th century.

Directors Christy Carpenter and Abby Ginzberg weave candid modern-day interviews with Dan Rather, Bill Moyers, Gloria Steinem, Luci Johnson, and more, with archival footage that reveals Liz’s enduring passion for shaking things up in the battle for equal rights and human progress.

UT alumna, trailblazer Liz Carpenter’s life story told with loving humor in documentary co-directed by daughter

Through archival news footage, photographs and recent interviews to provide context, “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter” shared the story of proud Texan and UT alumna Mary Elizabeth Sutherland Carpenter in its premiere at SXSW on Sunday.

In nearly an hour and a half, the film detailed Carpenter’s early career as a reporter, rise to power in political circles, trailblazing in women’s rights and her whimsy.

The documentary’s retelling of Carpenter’s career and life feels personal and gives viewers the sense they’re hearing stories about an old family member.

This is undoubtedly because the documentary was directed by Peabody award-winning director Abby Ginzberg and her friend Christy Carpenter, Liz Carpenter’s daughter.

Throughout the film, scenes cut to Christy contextualizing the experiences of her full-time working mom as portrayed in the documentary’s news footage.

At one point, she shares the story of her mom being so distracted that she accidentally brought the wrong dog home from the vet, not realizing until Christy and her brother spoke up.

The first portion of the documentary details how Carpenter went from reporting for The Daily Texan and the Austin American-Statesman to being Lady Bird Johnson’s press secretary during the Johnson presidency.

From her early career, Carpenter chose not to be thrown into societal reporting — the typical role of women in the newsroom at the time.

She pushed to be involved in the center of the political sphere in Washington, D.C., with the support of her husband, fellow journalist and UT alumni Les Carpenter. Photographs from social events balance with home footage of the two’s young family early in the documentary.

Emphasizing that Carpenter served as a strong asset to both Lady Bird and Lyndon B. Johnson, memorable moments include the image of the speech she wrote for President Johnson to give after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and footage of her campaigning alongside Lady Bird through the South to support the Johnson presidency, equal rights and environmentalism.

Carpenter’s unique humor serves as a strong theme throughout the documentary.

Though it’s emphasized that Carpenter was stubborn and extremely driven to fight for women journalists and advocates, it’s also emphasized that Carpenter’s wit and jokes helped people be more agreeable with her and the causes she supported.

Her use of theatrics crops up in photographs from social events Carpenter would host at her home in Austin in her later years.

An especially funny photo of Carpenter in a hot tub with writer and politico party invites with the dress code of ‘nearly naked’ near the end of the film leaves the sense that Carpenter would have been a great ally but also a fun friend to have.

The passion from Carpenter’s career bleeds through “Shaking It Up: The Life and Times of Liz Carpenter,” helping viewers understand the kind of grit it took to be a female trailblazer in the 60s and 70s.

Christy Carpenter’s loving storytelling about her mother reinforces the lessons that can be taken from her mother’s career — making a difference can be made easier with flair and a bit of Austin’s weirdness.

4 flamboyant canes out of 5

Liz Carpenter's home for sale

Liz Carpenter was a salty, unassailable force.

She was so full of energy, spunk and verve that her friend, columnist Erma Bombeck, said she "always made Auntie Mame look like a shut-in."

But on March 20, 2010, the Democratic trailblazer, witty, wise author and frontline feminist went to what she called "The Great Precinct Convention in the Sky." She was 89.

Nearly a year later, Grassroots, her beloved home on a quiet limestone shelf overlooking the Colorado River and City of Austin, is for sale for $895,000. Kay Andrews of Amelia Bullock Realtors has the listing.

"Liz brought so much life to that house," her good friend and assistant Shirley James says. "When I think of the house, I think of lots of people, laughter, food - food was big - and music, mainly music."

In 1976, after 34 years at the vortex of power in Washington, the sixth-generation Texan came back to Austin, she said, to find her soul and replant her roots. At 116 Skyline Drive in West Lake Hills, she did both.

Ignoring friends' advice to buy a condominium, the former journalist, press secretary to Vice President Lyndon Johnson and press secretary and staff director for Lady Bird Johnson looked for a house with a view of the city and water.

Niece Carol Hatfield found it: a wood-frame, rock-veneer bungalow with a guest cottage, seven live oaks and a spectacular vista. "Once she saw the view," son Scott Carpenter says, "she fell in love with the house."

From her long, narrow house on the hill, the Distinguished University of Texas Alumna could see the river, the UT Tower and the dome of the pink granite Capitol in the distance. "Liz always said she had a million-dollar view," says Genevieve Van Cleve, deputy political director for Annie's List, who lived for two years in the guest cottage.

"The first thing my mother wanted to do was name it," daughter Christy Carpenter says. "Grassroots seemed perfect, so she put up a sign and had native Texas grasses etched on glass for the double front doors and painted on tiles for the living room fireplace."

Liz Carpenter, who loved bright colors and often wore red, lightened the interior. Dark paneling became white, white bookshelves went up, glazed white floor tiles went down and a solid wall was opened to the panoramic view.

"For my mother, Grassroots was her identity," Christy Carpenter says. "It reflected every aspect of her nature: Her warmth, her sense of fun, her enveloping spirit, her desire to embrace people."

Only minutes from downtown, the 2,521-square-foot house on 0.85 acre loomed large with its owner's hospitality.

"Liz loved parties, and she loved parties with themes," says James, who often cooked for the lively affairs. "Liz invited everyone to her house. You might see a governor or U.S. senator sitting next to an Esther's Follies performer, masseuse or student."

Unable to afford a pool, Carpenter installed a Texas-sized outdoor hot tub, currently inoperable, that she called "My Golden Pond." Surrounded in limestone, the heated spa that, she said, "seats six Republicans or eight Democrats and a bucket of champagne" was the scene of her infamous Bay at the Moon parties.

In its warm, bubbly waters, the Queen of the Hill relaxed, held meetings, nurtured needy friends and howled at the full moon with celebrities such as Carol Channing and her much-loved GBATs (Getting Better All the Time) local singing group.

When Carpenter first moved to West Lake Hills, she thought the neighbors were "nutty" about wildlife. But soon she was out every morning in her nightgown and slippers feeding the deer and driving almost eight miles each month to spend $42.75 on corn at Buck Moore Feed and Supply.

"She was crazy for the deer," Christy Carpenter says. "She had outdoor speakers that used to play the "Out of Africa" soundtrack. She thought the deer liked it." So many came that Lady Bird Johnson, a frequent visitor, told Carpenter she had her own Serengeti.

Her champagne glasses, Cokesbury hymnals and pianos are gone, but whoever buys Grassroots will inherit a storehouse of music and laughter. Scott Carpenter, retired and living on Vashon Island, Wash., says, "You could write a book about noteworthy guests."

To reach Grassroots, she told visitors, "Turn right onto Wild Cat Hollow, and before you can say `Vote Democrat,' take a left." Among the many who did: Walter Cronkite, Barbara Jordan, Gloria Steinem, Ann Richards, Bill Moyers, Maya Angelou, Bill and Hillary Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

"She loved to be surrounded by people, especially interesting, quirky people," says Christy Carpenter, who is executive vice president and CEO of the Paley Center for Media in New York. "By inviting writers to live in her guest cottage, she felt she was doing her part to keep Austin weird."

"God, we had fun," says author Marshall De Bruhl, who wrote "Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston" in the limestone cottage with a stone fireplace and full bathroom.

"Such memories," he says. "Betty Friedan, Molly Ivins and Liz in that hot tub. Lady Bird catching me in my underwear one morning. And my favorite, coming home and finding the UT cheerleading squad there for a photo shoot."

"You could feel creativity pulsing in that home," says British poet, minister and former cottage dweller Geraldine Buckley, whose poem about Carpenter, "Modern Frontier Woman," was read at her funeral.

"At the time, I was soaked in poetry, and Liz loved poetry," she says. "I cooked for her poetry parties. Then Liz would bring in a basket of `Senator-sized' swimsuits, and everyone would end up in the Jacuzzi."

By the time spoken-word artist Van Cleve moved in 10 years ago, she says, "It was a little bit like camping out. However, no matter how worn the cottage, it was still a joy to wake up with the sunrise and watch the deer and other animals starting their day."

In Washington, Liz Carpenter had a long career at a whirlwind pace. But after Les Carpenter, her journalist husband and soul mate, died of a heart attack at 53 in 1974, the Capitol merry-go-round wasn't fun anymore. A farewell party at Ford's Theatre drew 600 friends.

Back in Texas, Carpenter fashioned Grassroots to her needs, hosted A-list parties, lectured, campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment and wrote four more books, including the inspirational "Getting Better All the Time" in 1987.

At President Carter's request, she returned to D.C. as assistant secretary for public affairs in the new Department of Education, but bureaucracy wasn't the White House, and she missed "the quiet beauty" of her hill.

Grassroots was also her workplace. Located first in the cottage, her office moved next to the guest bedroom. Later, remodeling expanded a small porch into a room with three walls of windows, where the 5-foot-1-inch dynamo worked and "watched the theater of the sky."

At 71, she took in her late brother Tom's three children, ages 16, 14 and 11, then chronicled their lives together at Grassroots in the poignant "Unplanned Parenthood" in 1994.

Always the organizer, the hymn-singing Methodist planned her own funeral and staged rehearsals. Buckley remembers her lying on the floor, eyes closed and arms folded, while her friend Ruben Johnson sang "How Great Thou Art."

After the public memorial service at the LBJ Library, family and a dozen friends gathered at College Hill in Salado. As close kin scattered her ashes mixed with wildflower seed, a bagpiper skirled "Going Home."

"Something unusual always happened at her parties," James says. And Carpenter's final one was no exception. As one of the mourners crossed the street to attend the reception, the kilt the bagpiper was wearing fell down. "Liz would have loved being flashed at her own ash-strewing," James says.

And though Liz Carpenter is now gone, her spirit lives on in Grassroots. Andrews will hold an open house Sunday, March 6 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Leslie Carpenter Dead at 52; Long a Newsman in the Capital

Leslie Carpenter Dead at 52; Long a Newsman in the Capital July 26, 1974

Leslie Carpenter Dead at 52; Long a Newsman in the Capital

July 26, 1974, Page 36

WASHINGTON, July 25 (AP) — Leslie Carpenter, a Washington newspaper correspondent for nearly three decades and husband of a former White House press aide Elizabeth Carpenter, died yesterday at the age of 52.

Mr. Carpenter came here in 1945 as correspondent for a group of newspapers including The Fort Worth Star‐Telegram, The Dallas Times Herald, The Houston Chronicle and The New Orleans States. He opened his own news bureau in 1951, representing more than 30 newspapers mostly in Texas.

Mr. Carpenter and his wife were closely associated for many years with the late President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Mrs. Carpenter served for a number of years as Mrs. Johnson's press secretary.

Mr. Carpenter wrote a syndicated column distributed by Hall Syndicate for nine years.

He had also served as Washington editorial representative for G. P. Putnam's Sons, the book publishers.

He joined Hill & Knowlton, Inc., an international publicrelations firm, this year as vice president.

Survivors also include a son, Scot of Austin, Tex., a daughter, Mrs. Harvey Levin of Washington, and his father, John W. Carpenter of Austin.

SHAKING IT UP’

Texas icon Liz Carpenter up close and personal in new documentary

It is one thing to read about Texas icon Liz Carpenter.

It is another thing altogether to watch her in glorious action, bursting onto the national scene as pioneer woman journalist during the 1940s; working as a key aide to Lady Bird Johnson, and before that, Lyndon Baines Johnson in the 1960s; leading the fight across the country for women’s rights in the 1970s and beyond.

After all that, settling down, not quietly, but joyously, back in Austin, throwing parties, singing songs, howling at the moon, and, as always, getting things done.

That’s a part of what we see and hear thanks the new 77-minute documentary, “Shaking It Up: The Life & Times of Liz Carpenter,” co-produced and co-directed by her daughter, Christy Carpenter, along with veteran filmmaker Abby Ginzberg.

The movie, which briskly introduces a cascade of archival images as well as an array of short, astute interviews, premiered at South by Southwest during three packed showings.

It will be exhibited again on May 21 at the LBJ President Library.

Later, the film will be shown at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum on Sept. 28.

Next year, during Women’s History Month, it will appear on public television; you will be able to stream it for free on PBS.org.

PROVIDED BY CHRISTY CARPENTER

It was good to hear Carpenter’s singular voice again.

How well I recall those phone calls to the newsroom during the 1990s and early 2000s.

The brassy blast from the other end of the line dispensed with any preliminaries:

“Now Michael, listen, this is what I need you to do.”

Liz Carpenter (1920-2010) had one of those unstoppable personalities — part LBJ, part Lady Bird.

She mesmerized almost everyone around her, especially journalists, who knew that whatever Carpenter had in mind would likely lead to a hot story.

You witness that in the movie: Time and again, hordes of reporters and visual journalists swarmed together whenever Carpenter staged an environmental event for Lady Bird, or the times she put together rallies for the Equal Rights Amendment, meant to put women on the same constitutional footing as men.

The U.S. Congress passed it overwhelmingly in 1972, but the ERA was stopped just short of full ratification by the states due to a coalition of emerging culture warriors.

To celebrate the film, which will play additional festivals around the country during the coming months, take a look at the following 10 things that might surprise you from this movie about the unparalleled Liz Carpenter.

A long line of strong Central Texas women

It is good to be reminded that Carpenter was a 5th-generation Texan whose early years were spent in the Central Texas town of Salado.

I should not have been surprised that she descended from a line of unbowed women, several of whom attended since-gone Salado College, founded by her greatgrandfather in 1859, and were suffragists.

These days, several small monuments to Carpenter can be found in Salado.

Noted journalist learns her trade in Austin

Carpenter’s family moved to Austin when she was seven.

She edited the school newspaper at Austin High School, back when it was located on Rio Grande Street.

That’s where she met her future husband, Les Carpenter, with whom she later founded the Carpenter News Bureau, located in the National Press Building in Washington, D.C.

They studied journalism at the University of Texas, then Liz contributed to the Austin American-Statesman, a gig that included frequent interviews with LBJ and Lady Bird.

Breaking into the national press corps

Liz Carpenter was hardly welcomed with open arms by the male press corps when she arrived in D.C. as an outspoken Texas reporter.

Men ruled the roost.

Although most women reporters were relegated to the society pages, Carpenter was a political reporter from the start.

She was helped along by first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who held press conferences exclusively for women reporters.

Another unlikely figure also pitched in: Carpenter, as president of the Women’s National Press Club, convinced visiting Soviet Premier Nikita Khushchev to insist on the inclusion of women reporters at his speech to the male-only National Press Club during his showboating trip to the U.S. Brick by brick during Carpenter’s two decades as a Washington reporter, the walls fell.

In 1960, LBJ picks Carpenter to help his campaign

LBJ could spot talent a mile away.

Liz Carpenter, whose political gifts and speechmaking skills were undeniable, was recruited during his 1960 run for the president.

After the election, she joined his vice-presidential staff and accompanied him on the fateful trip to Texas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

On the plane back to Washington, Carpenter wrote the short, eloquent speech that the new president gave upon his return.

Johnson chose Carpenter for her selfevident skills.

He could be genuinely charming and persuasive to his staff, when he was not outrageously demanding and what today would be considered abusive (a recent book to read on the subject is Tracy Daughtery’s “Leaving the Gay Place: Billy Lee Brammer and the Great Society”).

Putting together a staff for the first lady

Lady Bird Johnson was the first presidential wife to assemble a professional staff.

Although her title was press secretary and chief of staff, Carpenter was much more.

She organized events, ironed out every detail, and brought along her press pals anytime the first lady announced a political or policy objective.

As described in Julia Sweig’s bestseller, “Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight,” Carpenter helped coordinate the efforts of the East and West Wings.

Sweig appears in the documentary, along with presidential daughters Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Bird Johnson Robb, environmental historian Douglas Brinkley, Johnson aide Bill Moyers, journalist Dan Rather (who called Carpenter the “insider’s insider” in the Johnson White House) and many others.

Butting heads with the leader of the Free World

Carpenter’s closeness to the Johnson family did not exempt her from LBJ’s wrath.

Yet, as the audio records show, Carpenter, not unlike Lady Bird, stood up to the president time and again.

Interestingly, both women used the tactic of talking right through his objections, never raising their voices, as if the outcome would eventually go their way.

An unprecedented campaign for the environment

Quite a few historians have amended the record to show that Lady Bird was no mere “beautifier,” instead she was a crucial link between the conservationists of the past and the environmental activists who followed in their footsteps.

Her barnburner tours of the U.S. with Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall sparked the imaginations of Americans regarding their national parks and other natural legacies.

Carpenter not only made sure the trains ran on time during these tours, she convinced many otherwise sedentary reporters to take mountain hikes and climb into whitewater rafts to follow them.

Headlong into women’s rights

Not long after the Johnsons returned to the relative quiet of the LBJ Ranch west of Austin in 1969, Carpenter turned her energies to an enormous political project she already supported.

The intellectual leaders of the women’s movement had laid the groundwork for cultural changes, but it took a political insider and galvanizing speaker like Carpenter to put together the panels, speeches, conferences and tours, meanwhile guaranteeing media coverage for the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Equal Rights Amendment campaign.

She knew the power of having three first ladies — Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford and Rosalynn Carter — on the stage at the same time, along with rising stars such as Rep. Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman to run for president, and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, whom Carpenter influenced and encouraged, to support the fight for the ERA.

Ann Richards, others follow in Carpenter’s footsteps

“Shaking It Up” makes it clear that Carpenter blazed a trail for other Texas women political figures, including Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sissy Farenthold.

If you include some others, such as Molly Ivins and Sarah Weddington, who did not hold office, you behold a generation of women who changed the tune of good ol’ boy politics in the state.

Singing, howling and soaking in Austin

Austinites got to know Carpenter better once she returned to the city and a modest house with a gorgeous view of downtown in the western hills.

Carpenter wrote books and threw parties.

She dressed up in costumes and adopted young talents.

She founded the Getting Better All the Time singing group.

People crowded into her hot tub and followed her outside to howl at the moon.

There’s no denying that she let her hair down.

This movie captures all of that.

She was an original in every way.

[ladailymirror]

Mary Mallory / Hollywood Heights: Bessie Lasky, Painter

Bessie Lasky in her studio, courtesy of Jesse L. Lasky.com. Note: This is an encore post from 2019. Though overshadowed by her husband, Jesse, Bessie Lasky was as much an artist as he, a multitalented artist in many fields with some renown from the 1920s through the 1950s. Born Bessie Ginzberg April 30, 1888, in Boston, the gentle, spiritual woman earned an early education in Boston’s Sacred…

[annacswenson]

•

"So I wasn't there when he died, which I regret. But after a certain point in life a person has to dunk her regrets in the morning coffee, like biscuits." —Natalia Ginzberg, Happiness, As Such