Friendship structures – modern and pre-modern: A short paper about the structure of friendships in medieval society. Many had more to do with material support than affection and one was not seen as more real than the other. The notion of “true friends” is a romantic ideal.
Birds Need Tune To Stay Current: The Chaucer jokes are a little labored but this is interesting — Birds have to update their songs to attract mates. Fashion, fashion, something, something.
UNDERWORLD SAINT BECOMING MORE POPULAR IN US: Forget the pope for a moment, some of the most interesting changes to Catholicism happen on the ground, without his knowledge or approval. Such was the case with voodoo and so it goes with a newly popular saint La Santa Muerte.
The origins of La Santa Muerte are unclear. Some followers say she is an incarnation of an Aztec goddess of death who ruled the underworld. Some scholars say she originated in medieval Spain through the image of La Parca, a female Grim Reaper, who was used by friars for the later evangelization of indigenous populations in the Americas.
For decades, though, La Santa Muerte remained an underground figure in isolated regions of Mexico and served largely as an unofficial Catholic saint that women called upon to help with cheating spouses, Chesnut said.
It wasn’t until 2001 when a devotee unveiled a public La Santa Muerte shrine in Mexico City that followers in greater numbers began to display their devotion for helping them with relationships and loved ones in prison. Economic uncertainty and a violent drug war against cartels that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives also are credited for La Santa Muerte’s growth.
Oscar Hagelsieb, assistant special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in El Paso, said agents have found that most members of the Gulf and Zeta Cartels mainly pray to Santa Muerte while those from the Sinaloa and Sonora Cartels honor folk saint Jesus Malverde.
I’m more of a St. Jude guy, myself but whatever gets you through the night.
5 ways robots will change real estate: Robots are altering and speeding up the real estate market. There’s drone fly-throughs of houses, better pictures and instant, robotic loan underwriting. These techs and applications may seem banal but they’re going to have some pretty shocking consequences. Bank it.
Eyes and Ears
¡Viva Calaca! 2. Pink Elephants on Parade from Ritxi Ostáriz on Vimeo.
Created in 2010. ‘Pink Elephants on Parade’ is the second chapter of ‘Viva Calaca’ project, by the art director and designer Ritxi Ostáriz (http://www.ritxiostariz.com). This piece is a tribute to the same title scene from Disney’s classic ‘Dumbo’. Music performed by the Seattle band Circus Contraption.
3 comments
Pat Caza
March 8, 2013 at 12:55 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
we used to have a cute little nothing fancy St-Jude church here in donwtown Montreal but it got sold a couple years ago and they turned it into a giant yuppy loft condo
ce monde est vraiment pourri !
xenia
March 11, 2013 at 8:16 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman, does mention the “unromantic” nature of friendship in the middle ages and the whole book is quite illustrative of how the chaotic, apocalyptic, totalitarian world we all know and love is a concrete reality that existed in the middle ages, and no facet of life was spared, including friendship, familial relationships and love. The idea that friendship is a an outlet for fulfilling the “self”, and in the middle ages the self didn’t exist.
I might as well share that I have started my own blog. I am not spamming you. In part The Grumpy Owl has inspired my attempt to share my ideas in the form of a blog. I have been at it a for a little while before deciding that it’s something I can actually do, and inviting people I find interesting. I really hope you take a peek at what I have done (if you have time).
Ryan Oakley
March 14, 2013 at 7:03 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I don’t consider that spam at all and have bookmarked your blog.
Thanks for letting me know.