Old Dude Came In The Shop And When I Said "lemme Know If You Have Any Questions" He Goes "what Was The

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Honorable mentions:

The last SAMURAI- white.

Prince of PERSIA- white.

Just shut up.

MAG-FUCKING-NIFICENT!!!

The Origins of Fairies

Fairies are magical creatures, and all manners of children are obsessed with just the mention of them. Not to mention the Disney-ified version of fairies like ‘‘Tinkerbell’’. But where or what was the was the origination of ‘fairies’? How did people come to call these magical spirits ‘fairies’? And where did the word ‘fairy’ come from, and how has the meaning change over the centuries?

Well, the first question, what are the origins of fairies, or ‘fairyland’? Fairies are most widely mentioned in Gaelic literature, meaning Ireland, and are vastly integral to the people and culture. ‘Ireland is the country of Fairies. Fully to understand the Irish temperament, therefore it is necessary to know Ireland’s Fairy lore. Since the Fairies are mentioned first and most frequently in the literature written in the Irish languages of centuries ago, we must turn for information to the great mass of poems and stories from the twelfth to the sixteenth century. The Fairies of ancient Ireland belonged to a race known as ‘Tuath De Danaan’ came to Ireland, legend says from the ‘northern isles of the world, where they had been learning lore and magic and druidism and wizardry and cunning until they surpassed the sages of the arts of heathendom.’ ’’

Why then, have the mention of fairies been connected to the feminine, and feminine ideals? Because beauty standards rely heavily on gender, and ‘fairies’ with their magical art forms, have become twisted and their original ‘conquering form’ forgotten, and what better way to reinforce this than by using children’s fairy tales, which emphasizing women’s beauty and passivity, which serve to legitimize the dominant gendered system. ‘‘Research since the early 1970s has shown that children’s literature contains explicit and implicit messages about dominant power structures in society, especially those concerning gender. Fairy tales written during the eighteenth and nineteenth were intended to teach girls and young women how to become domesticated, respectable, and attractive to a marriage partner and to teach boys and girls appropriated gendered values, and attitudes.’’

Finally, where did the word ‘fairie’ come from? ‘‘They were at first, as established up above, called the ‘De Dannans’, who came to conquer those who were already in possession of Ireland, but were overcome with the ‘Mileasans’, a mythical race said to be the ancestors of modern Irishmen, and settled in a seperate part of the island, retiring into the green hills, where they required a new name: People of the Fairy Mound, or Aes Side (Ace Shithe, or Shee). As clouds are shot through with lightning, so is early Irish literature with accounts of invaders who became the Fairy Folk. ‘In Ireland, the Fairies have never been forgotten’: Brian Merriman, the last Gaelic poet of prominence, speaks of them as the treasure of his country in time of trouble, and Patrick MacGill, the Donegal poet, expressed the same idea when, amid the terrors of the battlefield, he wrote, ‘If we forget the Fairies,

And tread upon the rings,

God will perchance forget us,

And think of other things.

When we forget you, Fairies,

Who guard our spirits’ light:

God will forget the morrow,

And Day forget the Night’’.

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Where are the black tumblr users that are still active on here at? please REBLOG

Mean World Syndrome

NO. 1

Mean World Syndrome is a theory the sociologist George Gerbner, creator of the Cultural Indicator’s Project, where three quarters of Americans believe in high level of crime, even though statistics show it is low. In the media, there is too much sex and violence, more so than the average person will ever see a day in their lives, and it has become repetitive, too routine, as the storytelling of violence seem ‘normal’. Since 1995, the demand for guns to ‘protect themselves’ has been at an all time high, and so is the fear, fear that everyone in the world is a suspect. But most importantly, is the image of the bad guys coming to get them. 2/3 of Americans get their information from the media, mostly the news, which creates negative stereotypes of minorities, who are seen as violent and aggressive.

NO. 2 Take for instance, Latina’s, who make up 15% in population in America, are portrayed by the media as aggressors, seen as ‘rapists and gangbangers’ or ‘murderers’. They are also the subject of illegal immigration, which all together creates dehumanizing effects. Then, there’s the vilification of Arabs and Muslims, as bloodthirsty terrorists, that are linked to violence and terror, and the subject of torture/ing of these people is ‘okay as long as it’s a good guy doing it’’. 39% of Americans actually believes that American-born Muslims are not loyal to the country’s ideals, and so not loyal to them. And finally, African-Americans are twice as likely to be seen as perpetrators. In the media, it is harmful showing black people as great middle/class, successful people, then as violent and aggressive in the next slide, as if to say some people choose that type of lifestyle, that they are simply a product of their environment. White people are five times more than likely to be criminalized by whites than black people, yet it’s not white people being shown almost everyday on the news for braking crimes.

The result of all this is the active fear in everyday Americans that makes us less likely to be compassionate, and more hardened to anyone and everyone. It also increases a high demand for national security, and believing that we have to lock these ‘criminals in cages where they belong.’

Cultivation Theory is the examination of the long term effects of television. Media cultivates a set of values, meanings, expectations, understanding, etc. which is the culture now in the modern century. Mass media replacement of community-based storytellers, it advances corporate interests (increasing profits and sales) since Americans spend a lot of time with the media. The effects are becoming more systemic and all encompassing. We need to start asking questions, like who is being represented in the media, who is the victim, and who is in the cast, and what are their fates. Who is generally casted as the good guy, and who is casted as the bad guy. We can look to the Media Database (IMDb) to see who is making the cultural object, and what is the main subject. Mean World Syndrome relates to this theory, through intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, criminal justice and the international border. We need to understand who is creating these TV shows/films, since America has such a global reach, it attracts the largest audience. Sociologists are not condemning media, but the constant repetition of ‘happy violence’—where in the film, show, or media, the good guy faces has a challenge, fights and action and explosions reoccurs, he stops the evil doer, saves the damsel, and the day is saved! It’s boring, cliché and the same story over and over again— and the various franchises and storylines springing from these corporations because it slows down progress and keeps negative stereotypes alive, some of them extremely damaging.

Haitian Revolution

     NO. 1

As history points out, the French Revolution sparked things like Freedom, Equality, and Fraternity, into the hearts of oppressed peoples, and birthed the Haitian revolution, where enslaved peoples did not have to stay that way. Thoughts of freedom and a life of their own ran through the hearts of the large population of enslaved and free blacks on the island of Saint—Domingue, where they did not have to answer any longer to the white hierarchy and elite. The one leading man that helped change a revolt into a revolution that paved change to the island, was Toussaint Louverture. But who was Toussaint Louverture? How exactly did one person, who was also enslaved, become the leader of a revolution, and how did it change life?

   NO. 2

The Haitian Revolution is such a widely popular topic to discuss and converse about is because a successful slave revolt against one the leading powers at that time, France, Spain and Britain, but mostly France, has never been done before. That, and it proved black people were not the primitive, lower species that the majority had deeply believed them to be, and Toussaint Louverture proved to be one of the most brilliant army generals to-be-rulers at that time. By scanning the map of the island, he was able to gain allies in the free black militia and the mulatto population, who were tired of being treated second-class. To go back to the quote, the Code Noir (Black Code), at the time legalized the most cruel, abusive and harsh treatment of slaves; if you ran, and you were caught, you would suffer dearly, and so would any slave you came into contact with by two folds. ‘’It forbid slaves from bearing arms, the assembly of slaves, and slaves trading or selling their own goods for a profit. It stated that slaves who struck their master or any free person were to be punished by death. It explicitly defined slaves as personal property.’’ The fact that King Louis XIV of France, put the Code Noir under effect and Louverture was able to defy it, and did it with his own army himself shows that his leadership was effective; and indeed, for in the capital of Haiti, Louverture is considered a hero and liberator for his people.

In American Political Science Review on Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, who was born on a southern plantation who is biased, showing a clear defense of slavery, particularly American slavery, and bases his experience on an economic study of American slaveholders and there sharecrops. He has made use of Southern newspapers and pamphlets, and some source materials, but has not made any effort to research ‘Negro’ sources, from which he claims are ‘dubious details’ anyway. The review last five pages, and explicitly states that the ‘Negro’ as a responsible person has no place in the book, and gives Louverture the term ‘criminal’ to suit his needs, and the needs of others. Half of the book implies historical facts, the treating of Africa and the slave trade and West Indian and American conditions while the other half is a series of essays on aspects of slavery—cotton crop, plantation economy, etc., and the other half is devoted to freedom and crime among slaves and slave codes. ‘The law is the law, and it should stay that way!’

  NO. 3

  According to Toussaint Louverture: A Black Jacobin in the Age of Revolutions , The man who would in later life be known as Toussaint Louverture himself belonged to the category of ‘creole; His father was Gaou Guinon, an African prince who was captured by slavers and endured the horrors of the Middle Passage across the Atlantic Ocean. As an enslaved child, Toussaint would have been known as Toussaint Breda, named after the plantation on which he was born. The actual details of his birth remain’s uncertain, but from his name he is associated with All Saints Day; his personal life, meaning his early childhood, is also uncertain. As Phillipe Girard comments, ‘retracing the childhood of a slave is an arduous task, not only because of the lack of archival traces, but also because such traces that exist tend to dehumanize the enslaved and deny their individuality.’

Toussaint, after rising to power, did not wish to surrender that power to Paris and ruled Saint Domingue as an autonomous entity. In 1801 he issued a Constitution for the island, which provided for autonomy and established Toussaint as governor for life, where he abolished slavery and aspired to put in place a multiracial society composed of blacks, whites and mulattos. When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in France, he aimed to return the Caribbean colonies to their earlier profitability as plantation colonies. In 1802 he dispatched an expedition of French soldiers to the island, lead by his brother in law Charles Leclerc, to reestablish French authority and slavery. Leclerc arrested Toussaint and deported him to France where he was imprisoned in Fort de Joux, where he died on April 7, 1803. For a few months, the island lay under Bonaparte’s control, but the French soldiers fell victim to weapons and disease, and surrendered to the indigenous army in November 1803; On July 1, 1804, under Jean-Jaques Dessalines control, Louverture’s general, the colony, the first black republic, became known as Haiti.

Whatever you’re thinking, think bigger. What got you here won’t get you there.

The Legend of the Holy Grail

The Grail legend is one of the most popular and reiterated myths told around the world. The legend is basically connected to the King Arthur tales as well, as the king and his noble knights embark on a heroic quest in search for the ‘Grail’, a shining cup claimed to be the sustainer of all life or a mysterious vessel that provides sustenance, which is guarded in a castle that is difficult to find.

The first Grail legend first appears in an unfinished romance called Perceval ou Le conte du Graal by Chretien de Troyes dated to about 1190. The basic outline would be the mysterious vessel being guarded in the castle, and the owner of that castle is sickly or unable to care for it; the surrounding land would almost always be barren, and the owner can only be restored if a brave knight finds the castle, and after seeing a ‘mysterious procession’, asks a certain question. If he fails at this task, everything will remain as before, and the search must begin again. After many adventures, the hero knight returns to the castle and asks the correct question which, hereby cures the king and restores the land. After, the knight succeeds the wounded monarch and becomes king instead, and becomes the guardian of the castle and its contents. The Crusades were the backdrop of this awesome tale, and the fall of Jerusalem occurred in 1187 just before the legend appeared as a literary motif, and Chretien’s romance was written at the behest of his patron, the crusader knight, Count Philip of Flanders.

‘‘In Chretien’s romance, the knight Perceval sees the grail during a feast at a mysterious castle controlled by the Fisher King, a lame man whom he had met before. Chretien calls the object simply ‘un graal’, and its appearance is just one of the unusual events which take place during the feast. Indeed at this time, Perceval is also shown a broken sword that must be mended. The two objects together, sword and grail, are symbols of Perceval’s development as a true knight. Chretien died before he could finish the romance, but the story was completed by other writers. The Continuations, as they are referred to in critical literature, expand several themes and the grail gradually acquires a more ‘sacramental’ character. The First Continuation is also incomplete and the author is unknown, but it can be dated before the year 1200. Besides Perceval, Gawain also has a grail adventure (the womanizing Gawain is the type of the perfect worldly knight and regularly forms a contrast to Perceval in these romances). During a procession which Gwain sees, ‘the rich grail’ (as it is now called) floats about the hall and provides food for all; the bleeding lance is later identified as the Lance of Longinus (the spear used by Longinus to pierce Christ’s side at the Crucifixion) and the broken sword belonging to a dead knight who is laid out of the bier. He who mends the sword will know the secrets of the grail castle (thereby strengthening the link between sword and grail.) Other medieval writers took up this theme; Burgandian poet, Robert de Boron, also wrote, at the behest of a crusader patron, the Lord of Montfacon, produced three romances, Joseph d’ Arimathie, Merlin, and Perceval. All these romances treat the grail theme, even into the context of Christ’ passion.’’

The Holy Grail legends are not only entertaining, with valiant heroes and dangerous but awesome quests, but they also speak of patience and knowledge that these heroes gain along the way. Perceval and Lancelot aren’t heroes because they are searching for a beguiled, golden chalice, but for greater understanding of themselves. These legends have been written and re-written for ages, and even in the modern years, people are still fascinated by the great quest for the Holy Grail. I know I am.

The Black Women Movements

         NO.1

Many movements came out after the Emancipation (freeing of the slaves) Proclamation, and even though some were hand-chosen, they were mostly male oriented, whereas women movements were pushed aside and forgotten. 

    The Black Women’s National Club Movement was the first woman movement set in the 1890s, where their primary concern was for family and the community. They desired freedom by using centering family values and unity, and the dynamic relationship between black women and men. ‘’Black women organized, throughout the nineteenth century, at first on a local, later on a state and national level, to undertake educational, philanthropic and welfare activities. Urbanization, the urgent needs of the poor in a period of rapid industrialization and the presence of a sizeable group of educated women with leisure led to the emergence of a national club movement of white women after the Civil War. Similar conditions did not begin to operate in the black communities until the 1890s, when local clubs in a number of different cities began almost simultaneously to form federations.’’

       Other movements, like the National Federal of African American women started in 1895, where their concerns were resistance to slavery, black women’s concern for education, the lynching of children, men and women, sexual abuse from white men, healthcare, childcare for orphans, care for the elderly, job training for the youth and various but broad subject for social justice. 

       The National Council of Negro Women was another important movement, ‘’ founded and organized in 1935 by the late Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune for the purpose of planning and directing Negro women to greater economic, social, educational and cultural development in local communities and on the national and international levels. The aspects of the national program are therefore varied and include departments which deal specifically with citizenship education, human relations, international relations, education, labor and industry, archives and museums, public relations, religious education and fellowship, social welfare and youth conservation. The National Program Committee feels that conferences may be used effectively as a technique to synthesize the activities of these various departments.’’

  NO. 2

 Most of these movements were discarded and disbanded because of the lack of support from black men and the racism they were also receiving by white women and men alike. The attitudes of sexism and racism go hand in hand, and as we progress through the centuries, a study comes out of that: Black Women’s Studies. ‘’Black Women’s Studies emerged in part because of the failure of Black and Women’s Studies to address adequately the unique experiences of black women in America and throughout the world. Attempts to celebrate the existence of distinct black female literary tradition in America, which can be traced further back in time, also fall under the rubric of Black Women’s Studies because they acknowledge the politics of sex as well as the politics of race in the texts of black women writers. This celebration has taken place in two phases. The first phase is characterized by efforts to document that such a tradition exists.’’ 

   Education is power, since knowledge, the knowledge of our past and our present can only help us persevere to our future, and that has been denied to us since the time of slavery. ‘’Education has persisted as one of the most consistent themes in the life, thought, struggle, and protest of black Americans. It has been viewed as a major avenue for acquiring first class citizenship. There is a large body of research that takes into account the educational experiences of Afro-Americans. Black female educators such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Charlotte Hawkins Brown, Lucy Laney, Fanny Jackson Coppin and Nannie Helen Burroughs are mentioned in some Afro-American history sources and in some instances are receiving attention in theses and dissertations. While this publication documents ‘the historical significance of black female educators in twentieth century America, beyond the role of teacher’, it is important that we establish to some extent an historical context for understanding the very basic struggle in which black women have been engaged to acquire an education and to utilize that education as a professional.’’

   NO. 3

     The main statement discussed repeatedly in Black Women studies is centered around race, class, gender and sexuality, which all have an important part to play while surviving in America. That it is why it is so important to discuss such serious topics with like-minded individuals, those who yearn for the freedom and privileges that other citizens have, because even though we have our freedom, oppression is still prevalent. Around the world, women of every origin face the same problems. ‘’ The history of women’s movements in the Middle East has received much attention in recent years. Studies have been devoted to the advent of these movements, their development, activities, politics, organizing style and central figures. Preliminary attempts at comparative analysis of these women’s movements have also been made. In 1999, Ellen Fleishmann published a comprehensive comparative article entitled, ‘The Other ‘Awakening’: The Emergence of Women’s Movements in the Modern Middle East, 1900-1940’. In this first stage, ‘The Awakening’, women and men began to raise the issue of women’s status and to question related social practices. This stage is also typified by the emergence of varied women’s organizations and by women’s efforts to enhance girls’ education. In the second stage, ‘‘Women and Nationalism’, women adopted nationalism as a liberating discourse linking their involvement in nationalist movements with women’s emancipation. The third stage, designated ‘State Feminism’, is characterized by ‘women’s co-optation by, and collusion and/or collision with, the state-building project, resulting in the evolution of state feminism.’’

     NO. 4  

 In Ireland, the ‘problems is that most mechanisms for choosing representatives tend to refract, not reflect, the composition of society, and some groups will always be marginalized even if not formally. The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition is only one example of a movement party. Though unusual, more than 50 women’s parties have formed the world over 1945, in places such as Israel, Belarus, Russia, India, the Philippines, Belgium, and Iran. The experiences of these parties are diverse but in at least two other situations, Iceland and Israel, strong scholarship demonstrates that women’s parties have succeeded in drawing public attention to issues of female marginalization and put ‘gender politics on the political map for the first time.’ In Iceland, in particular, the effect of the women’s party in pressuring the other parties to adapt their behavior and policy commitments to facilitate inclusiveness is well documented.’’

     In conclusion, women deserve to get attention for their efforts to change society just as much as anybody else who has felt the sting of oppression no matter what the gender. Race, sex, class and gender all define who we are in the society, and it is without the benefits of education given to all the people no matter where they come from, are we truly lost.

The Origins of the date of Christmas

Yesterday was Christmas, so Merry Christmas everyone! This is the holiday to be surrounded by family and friends and to look back on how far you’ve come, especially in this hellish year. Every year we celebrate this festive holiday on the 25th of December, but I’m curious, where did the celebration of Christmas originate? How did it become decided that this was when we would celebrate Christmas?

It’s a valid question! It is a fact that liturgical tradition, no matter how lauded, is no longer seen in a reliable manner any longer. The skepticism comes from the sixteenth-century Reformation, which inspired Protestant and particular Calvinist scholars to attack the ecclesiastical calendar. ‘‘As recent research has shown, it is the context of these early modern inquiries into the history of the liturgical year, which were often permeated by inter-confessional polemic, that the two basic approaches to understanding Christmas’ origins that continue to characterize the twenty-first-century debate on the subject first germinated. For lack of more appropriate labels, these two approaches may be referred to as ‘History of Religions Theory’ (henceforth: HRT) and the ‘Calculation Theory’ (CT). Roughly speaking, proponents of HRT interpret Christmas as a Christianized version or substitute for pagan celebrations that took place on the same date as the Roman Calendar, the most widely cited example being the birthday of Sol Invictus on December 25. By contrast, adherents to CT find evidence that the birth of Christ was determined independently, by resource to certain types of chronological speculation.’’

It is well known that a lot of Christianity is used to subvert or covert most of the old world’s celebrations. The holidays, like Halloween, Easter, Spring, and Christmas were all re-used from pagan traditions. German philologist Herman Usener (1834-1905) was one of the pioneers in the modern academic study of religion. ‘‘According to his view, the celebration of Christ’s birth in midwinter was essentially the heritage of a syncretistic sun cult, which already bore traces of an incipient ‘pagan’ monotheism. The central turning point in this story comes from the year 274 CE when the emperor Aurelian allegedly elevated the original sun god Sol Invictus to the supreme deity of the Roman empire and established his cult on December 25. Threatened by the persistent popularity of these rituals among newly baptized Christians, the early Church was moved to incorporate traces of the cult into its own liturgy and thus re-interpreted the annual ‘birth’ of the sun at the winter solstice as the birth festival of Christ.’’