Slow Glowing Dissolve

Where
do we go
after all this,

so little left to give,
silence of northern winter,
time running through our hands
and our veins like
the river runs
under its hard skin of ice,
like night runs from
morning
this is time,
daylight,
new year's
and almost time for new leaves,
for new leavings and
stayings behind,
for more dissipating of
our crowded memories.

But nothing transgresses
this space, no,
nothing ever could,
it was our own universe
where we re-wrote the laws of physics,

but even god gets tired, sometimes,
and so there are just these few
fragile words left,
this caustic intimacy,
this moment in the scent of you,

enough to imagine us
dancing
in the living room
to Bruce Springsteen,
with candles and champagne,
in time before our
new year
of bright blue silent winter,
of water lapping on the
frozen sub-ice
shores of
the Red,

time eroding the
memory of your voice
as it erodes us all, patiently,
gently,

through the slow
glowing dissolve
of
forever.

political review

PICT0203, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

just thought Id spill some politiks:

Someone told me they had heard on the news that the war in afghanistan is petering out so I checked out the figures and in terms of casualties the war has only escelated since it began, 2007 being the worst year for casualties. Here's some descriptions of some civilian deaths from 2007 all caused by either canadian or coalition forces:

A child was found dead in a tent and four others found wounded after coalition forces fired on the tent from which they claimed they had received gunfire.

A man on a motorcycle is killed and a child riding behing him is wounded by Canadian troops in Kandahar.

Six civilians, women and children are killed by an airstrike in Helmand province.

Many people, possibly in the hundreds, are reported wounded and killed by an air strike in the Baghran district of the Province of Helmand. NATO and US Forces claim to civilians were killed while injured people claim there were many civilians killed.

About 50 civilians, including women and children were killed by US and NATO bombings in Herat province of western Afghanistan during the preceding week.

Maybe the Taliban is an army of children?

In recent news, benazair bhutto is assasinated. Here's some interesting untold facts Ive uncovered about this incident:

-in a recorded and transcribed recent interveiw to the press Bhutto makes the statement that Osama Ben Laden was murdered 3 years ago and that the films being released since showing him are "elaborate fakes created by some unknown third party"

-Although blame has been put on the Taliban, spokesmen for the Taliban deny they were involved.

(conspiracy- the american imperialist powers that be have it as their goal to destabalize pakistan in the same way they are steadily destabilizing the rest of the middle east.)

Dear Visitator

Carnage by John Parsons

John was walking a country road and discovered hundreds of dead frogs on a road in Dunany.

Q. V. M.

nothing (to forgive/forget)

i didn't mean to
think or not

think, here
4
a.m,

end of december

writing this now just to
see if you're
better


winnipeg
cold but i
like where i'm living

(though i know
there's music on
clinton street

all through the
evening)

and i,
hear that you're
not here
anymore or you
maybe changed your
name as if there
was nothing to
change or
forget it is
mourning there
is nothing

to forget i
regret nothing i
am inside this

still grey dawn and
hearing voices in the
street below,

shaving my
head and
sleeping on my unheated back
porch in
the cold.

Secrets

metatcubebw, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

Humans have the possibility of manipulating events in the earthly sphere, using magical practices such as the manufacture of talismans, spels, and other such things to affect the middle-sphere of the cosmic soul. Contact is established through the fine-material of the 'sidereal' or 'astral body' that invisibly surrounds humans. Before the fall, according to the gnostice-cabalistic myths, the whole of heaven was a single human being of fine matreial, the giant, androgynous, primordial Adam/Eve, who is now in every human being, in the shrunken form of the invisible body, and who is wating to be brought back to heaven. Man can communicate with the macrocosm through this sidereal medium, and thus receives premonitions and prophecies in dreams.

The equivalent in man of the demiurgic, world-creating urge of the outer stars is the creative capacity of the imagination, which is sometimes called the inner star. Imagination is not to be confused with fantasy. The former is seen as a solar, structuring force aimed at the eida, the paradigmatic forms in the 'real wordl', the latter is a lunatic delusion realted to the eidola, the shadowy likenesses of the 'apparent world'.

"if someone really possessed these inner ideas of which Plato speaks, then he could draw his whole life from the and create artwork after artwork without ever reaching an end" (albrecht durer)

New Years Resolution

explosion1, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

POWER
overview:

Intensive meditation training and long lasting mojo, mystification, and reality.

"L'histoire du monde garde la trace de courants gnostiques, de movements entoure d'une aura de mystere. Les gnostiques maintiennent vivante la tradition d'un salut par la connaissance, par l'expereince intime du divin dont chanque etre humain est porteur."
attributed to Oberon king of fairies

ECSTACY
essential keys for top acheivers leading to the uncovering of the ultimate secrets:
-be in shape thanks to physical training
-discover the limitless space and bliss
-develop your internal energy
-increase your flexibility and your balance
-improve the coordination of your body movements
-relax your mind
-learn self-defence
-learn the art of super persuasion (85% of your success depends uopn your ability to communicate your ideas; in particular, your ability to persuade others to cooperate with you in producing the results you desire.)
-practice TIGER RA style while all the while stylin'(the lucky diamond way)
-Achieve a state of exaltation and rapturous delight (Electromagnetic Ecstacy)
-Undertake the famed journey to acquire firsthand knowledge of the hidden universe through the art of ressurection
-live the dream (Total self-confidence.)
-get EXTRARICH
- hail the relentless beat. (The indestructible rock & roll.)
-aquire spirit-helpers. You need to have a particular guardian animal in order to do your work and your guardian helps you in certain special ways.

Synopsis:

God created Light and Shadow and seperated them with the power of the divine word. One day, the word will be spoken and all will be understood, the light and the shadow will join and all will become complete. But someone has shattered the word. The tribe of light and the tribe of shadow each blame each other.

This story revolves around the bumbling but very skilled Prince Astral of the Tribe of Shadow who may be the one to bring the tribes together and restore peace.

UNMCK

Here I am giving my drawing over to the United Nations Memorial Cemetery. I was pleased to find out it will be on display in the newly renovated, Central Monument gallery (For all I knew they were going to put it in a hallway -this is much better).

Hey, Pig Face

I'm sorry I couldn't resist sharing this with you. Let's file it under cultural differences. This is what I saw out front of a restaurant I was taken to. I didn't eat the face as far as I know, but I did try some feet.

remains

your voice already echoes
even though we still share this geography
I can still imagine the window you look out ;
how the headlights and street lamps make golden
ice on the ox bow street
and the river that snakes behind
where you work.

the comfort of this conversation:
its landmarks and passage ways
familiar with visits


your new streets (with past names)
will have windows and streetlamps,
landmarks and passage ways
that I hope you'll picture for us
so we might imagine the window you look out:
how the head lights and street lamps make golden
where you work.

veg chinese Edmonton street lunchtime

...lunch w/ my parents
(two of my role models)
in a sparse,
insider
Chinese veggie place
that they suggested
only b/c
they knew it would
make their son happy

and our last meal
for now
in this city
before we
headed for
our own
separate poles and
i wonder if
i told them
everything i should have and
i know they wonder the
same thing
but it's
all there
anyway and

the most
beautiful woman i'd
ever seen
in my whole life
(and i'm
not exaggerating)
sat at the back
of the cafe
dressed in all
black with a
bright yellow
headband
eating so
gracefully with her
friend and
yet despite her
i still remember
every word
my parents

spoke before we
hugged and
said goodbye for
now

headed off
into the
mixed
blessing of
greyday snows.

I'm going to Frenchytown

Clikc here to see where I'm gonna be living in one month! (sorry, just a google map, not an actual picture).

I'm going to be living near Plessis, Panet, and Wolfe, all of which will make me feel at home.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=1391+Maisonneuve+est&ie=UTF8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&ll=45.521082,-73.554411&spn=0.008329,0.01914&z=15&om=0>

Happy Holidays!

studio

Dru & I checked out a studio in chinatown. $250 per month, 450 square feet, lots of light, looking to share it, anyone?

letter to santa (dictated to me a few days ago)

Dear Santa

there are monsters chasing us but Rudolph saved us. Santa the monster ate one of rudolph's friends and Rudolph really liked him.
dear Santa, I am really tired of chasing this awful monster away. He ate one of our friends and we can't keep her in the monster's tummy.
Now please do something right away.

Rudolph, where is this letter going to? this letter is going to the south pole? rudolph we can't go to the south pole because there are monsters in the south pole

signed
Olivia

happy holidays ~from~ the oakes family

WOLFBOY SPOTTED IN RUSSIA

label, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

Russian police are hunting a "werewolf boy" - who snarls and bites - after he escaped from a Moscow clinic just a day after being rescued from the wild.

Doctors expressed shock saying he was found living with a pack of wolves in a remote forest in the Kaluga region of central Russia.

"He's clearly dangerous to other people," said a police spokesman yesterday.

"He's got typical wolf-like habits and behaviour.

"He has very strong and sharp teeth, which could really endanger someone if he bites."

The boy looks about ten - but after tests conducted by Moscow medics, they believe he maybe much older.

They are puzzled because he appears intelligent but does not seem to speak Russian or any other language. It is suspected he has been running wild for many years.

Such cases are not uncommon in Russia where there have been regular reports of 'Mowgli' children abandoned by their parents who are cared for by animals.

The boy moves around with his legs half bent, said Tvoi Den newspaper. "He was running with wolves and searching for food with them."

Villagers found this "wild creature" in a lair made of leaves and sticks in freezing temperatures and told the police who named him Lyokha, though his real identity is not known.

"He's dirty, hungry, and looked to have had a hard time," said the police spokesman. "We brought him to a clinic in Moscow.

"It was simply unbelievable. He doesn't react when we call to him." Medics gave him clothes and said that he sprang down the corridor, bursting into his room and devouring his food like an animal.

His nails on his feet were like claws.

After 24 hours he had evaded security men at the clinic and escaped. He is now believed to be on the loose in Moscow region.

"We didn't even manage to complete the proper medical checks. We only succeeded in giving him a shower, cutting his nails and took some blood and other tests," said a doctor.

"It's quite possible he is a dangerous with psychological problems but also a source of viruses and infections."

for pictures:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=503736&in_page_id=1811

Jung Yule

Lee Sueng Woo

Kyoung Hee

Community Drawing

This one was a bit different. There were 5 artists using dry pastels.

Really Big Paintbrush

Mae Day

Mae will be accepting visitors this Sunday between 10 and 2pm. 148 Horace Street, come for a snack and a drink and check her out yo!

donkey ( at the christmas pageant)

Little Goddesses

The little blue one is Hestia and the purple one is Artemis.

TODAY IS INCREDIBLY SIGNIFICANT

Today is the Winter Solstice... sort of. Cosmologically, and culturally, it is fairly significant.

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice)

The solstice when the Sun's position in the sky is at its greatest angular distance on the other side of the equatorial plane as the observer, is the winter solstice. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the event of the Winter solstice occurs sometime between December 20 and 23 each year in the Northern hemisphere, and between June 20 and 23 in the Southern Hemisphere, within either the shortest day or the longest night of the year. Though the Winter Solstice lasts an instant, the term is also used to refer to the full day and night (24hrs) within which the event occurs.

The word solstice derives from Latin sol (Sun) and sistere (stand still), Winter Solstice meaning Sun stand still in winter.

Cultural Significance

Worldwide, interpretation of the event varies from culture to culture, but most hold a recognition of rebirth, involving festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations. Many cultures celebrate or celebrated a holiday near the winter solstice; examples of these include Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, New Years, Pongal, Yalda and many other festivals of light.^[1]

The solstice itself may have remained a special moment of the annual cycle of the year since neolithic times. This is attested by physical remains in the layouts of late Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites like Stonehenge and New Grange in the British Isles. The primary axes of both of these monuments seem to have been carefully aligned on a sight-line framing the winter solstice sunrise (New Grange)and the winter solstice sunset (Stonehenge).

The winter solstice may have been immensely important because communities were not assured to live through the winter, and had to be prepared during the previous nine months. Starvation was common in winter between January to April, also known as the famine months. In temperate climes, the midwinter festival was the last feast celebration, before deep winter began. Most cattle were slaughtered so they would not have to be fed during the winter, so it was nearly the only time of year when a supply of fresh meat was available. The majority of wine and beer made during the year was finally fermented and ready for drinking at this time.

Walk Through St.Boniface

By the end of the walk my legs tingled and burned with the cold. Backwards to the city worker men in their white hard hats and white cherry picker, mundanely cutting away the dormant elm trees. Their orange cones signaling a risk, which could come in the form of an outspoken branch.And then through the mist to visit Parc La Verendrye and stare through the trees full of hoar frost and think about the place where I was born. That burning orange cross that sizzles through the chilly air and makes me think that perhaps the frost has broken now, to leave dripping wet branches and sloppy slush.Then up Rue Tache to see Gaboury's palace, the temple of sweet smelling nips and winnies. Walking back through the knee deep snow in my $2 brown bell bottom pants, and considering how the hoar frost and limestone are so beautifully colored. How the pathways of snow and its pillars echo each other in line, their perpendicularity creating a visual harmony.And finally passing my neighbor Shawna, whose husband pushes that stroller through the snow like a ten speed attempting to stay upright on the beach, with Eva, their new delight, in tow.

Dream:

Left my house with an injured back that suddenly felt better as i began to walk. Could suddenly jump to great heights and touch the top of buildings--not quite flying, just incredible jumps.

Ran into my old Bible college friend Brad, and we drove at high speeds through tunnels and alleys, crashing through metal doorways that swung open as we hit them, coming eventually to a neat little house in the middle of a dark industrial space. His mom was there, and she was African (he's not). She told me about a group I needed to join-- a resistance organization called the Gavrilo Zappatistas.

We played music. Anita was there along with Johanna (who's been linked to Tony Hisco in the past). Everyone was happy. I was shirtless.

Suddenly, the gathering was all of Jennni's family--cousin's, mostly, and they were playing Nick Drake songs and I didn't know the words and felt awkward. Eventually, after Knackerson showed up to lie in bed and watch episodes of Fantasy Island on tape, I snuck out the window and began running for the far-away bus until I was on a beach, weaving through crowds of people and carrying an important document.

Southeast Asia Pen Spinning

This would be a fun drawing trick!

What things are made of

You ask me what things are made of

Well..

Dreams are made of cotton
you can scry on their bulbous forms
you can pick them apart with your fingers

but then

dont be sad when they're all gone away
dont be sad when they're torn messed and grey

simians are made of humans
they knew about the plague
they picked the nits
out of their babies hair

so

don't be sad if we're all gone astray
don't be sad if we've all gone away

farther than here (inspired by M.L.'s "Vermillion Bay")

rain on the
road
499 km to our
destination
songs on the
radio and
swelling in
our hearts
all we have is our
youth and this
moment that is
forever this
time and this
going
onwards into the
beautiful unknown.

still standing moving

we didn't
think, there
was nothing to
think about
anyway just
momentum just
this forever moving
this go ahead and
go, don't
look back
in anger or
nostalgia don't
ask yourself
what might have
been there
is no romance there
are no soulmates
we bred
long before we
invented love
it's just a byproduct
of something
or other,
something that
drives us
still standing
moving apart as
you drive away.

Stan Dangerman & Wolfboy

The Home Cooked Meals

i'm not

i'm not
writing this about
you it's
not three
in the morning or
five i'm
not calling you from
far away cities
drunk in my bed or
hotel lobby this
isn't about
you it's
about
me it
always was so
tell me what
you think
about
me not
that i
care.

Pre-Show

Hello Friends. On the night of the reunion of the Home Cooked Meals, I share with you all a small piece of my pre-show inspiration. And in truth, its moments like the one Nina shows here (and every other time for that matter) that make me want to dedicate every breath of my life to music and at the same time, hang up my microphone for fear of never achieving that intensity. Thing is, you'll never know if you don't do it. And do it we shall.
Hope to see some of you tonight.
xox
p.s. Nina's got maybe one of the greatest outfits of all timein this one too.

Party of the century

Host: friends and family of Damon
Type: Causes - Fundraiser
Start Time:
Friday, December 21, 2007 at 8:00pm
End Time: Saturday, December 22, 2007 at 3:00am
Location: Riverview Community Center
Street: 90 Ashland Avenue City/Town: Winnipeg, MB

Tickets at Custom Culture

Buk-Gu ICC Exhibition

I am pleased to say that the exhibition was a success and will be featured in tomorrows Korean Herald. Furthermore, the United Nations Memorial Cemetery has offered to display my drawing (publicly/permanently) in Busan. Isn't that nice?

"i saw the dali exhibit, and the melting clocks made me think of you"

it wasn't ever
supposed to be
about this or
about you or
me or whoever,
whatever, anyway,
nevermind

it was a year ago
you were in london
for christmas and
still are
i think and
it's been ages
since we talked but
i still remember
how cute you
looked in your
white winter coat.

Voila! L'hiver.

"Raygun Gothic"-- more of Metropolis

Sorry, folks, I've just kinda become obsessed with this movie. When you think about the year it was made, and what they had available for special effects, film technology, etc, it's incredible.

Here's the Wikipedia version, edited for length...

Metropolis (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Metropolis is a silent science fiction film created by the famed Austrian-German director Fritz Lang. It was produced in Germany in the Babelsberg Studios and released in 1927 during the height of the Weimar Republic. In addition, it was the most expensive silent film of the time, costing approximately 7 million Reichsmark (equivalent to around $200 million in 2005) to make.^[1]

The screenplay was written in 1924 by Lang and his wife, Thea von Harbou, and novelized by von Harbou in 1926. It is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and examines a common science fiction theme of the day: the social crisis between labour and management in capitalism.

Note: There are multiple versions of Metropolis. The original, longest version remained unseen except for its initial premiere and release in Germany in 1927. Of this version, a quarter of the footage is now believed to be permanently lost. The U.S. version, shortened and re-written by Channing Pollock, is the most commonly known and discussed.

The film is set in the year 2026, in the extraordinary Gothic skyscrapers of a corporate city-state, the Metropolis of the title. Society has been divided into two rigid groups: one of planners or thinkers, who live high above the earth in luxury, and another of workers who live underground toiling to sustain the lives of the privileged. The city is run by Johann 'Joh' Fredersen (Alfred Abel).

The beautiful and evangelical figure Maria (Brigitte Helm) takes up the cause of the workers. She advises the desperate workers not to start a revolution, and instead wait for the arrival of "The Mediator", who, she says, will unite the two halves of society. The son of Fredersen, Freder (Gustav Fröhlich), becomes infatuated with Maria, and follows her down into the working underworld. In the underworld, he experiences firsthand the toiling lifestyle of the workers... Shocked at the workers' living conditions, he joins her cause.

Architecture and visual effects

The film features special effects and set design that still impress modern audiences with their visual impact—the film contains cinematic and thematic links to German Expressionism, though the architecture as portrayed in the film appears based on contemporary Modernism and Art Deco. The latter, a brand-new style in Europe at the time, had not reached mass production yet and was considered an emblem of the bourgeois class, and similarly associated with the ruling class in the film.

The effects expert, Eugen Schüfftan, created innovative visual displays widely acclaimed in following years. Among the effects used are miniatures of the city, a camera on a swing, and most notably, the so-called Schüfftan process, later also used by Alfred Hitchcock.

Part of Fritz Lang's visual inspiration for the movie came during a trip to Manhattan, New York. He is quoted on the DVD of the Murnau Foundation version as saying "I saw the buildings like a vertical curtain, opalescent, and very light. Filling the back of the stage, hanging from a sinister sky, in order to dazzle, to diffuse, to hypnotize." Lang, in his later years did claim New York inspired Metropolis, but a mention of the script for Metropolis being recently finished is made in the Licht-Bild-Bühne journal of June 1924, Lang traveled to New York in October of the same year.

The science fiction-melodrama style Metropolis uses is sometimes referred to as "raygun gothic".

Metropolis

So, for the last few days, I've been watching the classic 1927 silent film "Metropolis", by the German director Fritz Lang.

It's quite mind-blowing to me for a bunch of reasons:

here are a few:

--as a visual spectacle, it's unlike almost any movie you've ever seen. It looks more like ballet than what we normally think of as film, in that it's very co-ordinated and rhythmic, using gestures and movement to tell the story. It also borrows heavily from (or influenced, perhaps) a lot of the painters and photographers of the day, especially German and American. Charles Scheeler (i think) for e.g., with his great American cityscapes of the 1920's, Brookly Bridge and stuff like that.

--it has a 10 hour clock. (that was also once proposed for the independent prairie nation of Manisaskerta)

--it uses old testament mythology in lots of very deliberate ways-- the Tower of Babel shows up, the war god Moloch (when Freder, the main character, has a vision of children being sacrificed to Moloch--very Pink Floyd the Wall, too).

It's on youtube in 12 parts. Each part is about 10 mins. I highly recommend it.

here's part 1--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFviW7ISk6I

HEART WARMING STORY

tigerpigsDM3011c_800x425, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

A forlorn tigress, heartbroken because her own cubs have died, is fooled into adopting a litter of piglets when zoo officials wrap them in tiger skins.

It is apparently common practice in Thailand for tigers to suckle pigs, and for pigs to adopt orphaned cubs.

Wolsely (part 1)

you creaking, falling down palace

you snow elegance

you patchouli nose jewel

you enchant garbage fairies on bicycle

you river gardens

you plastered poster child

you swing between both sides



you smell of fresh bread rotting fruit

you derelict fence

you welcome veranda

you sweet yellow, screaming marigold curbside

you quiet us in vestibule


you shiver

you crumble in sunlight

The mushroom eats the ant and the ant goes crazy

This is on my exam next Tuesday, so if its a little nerdy, bear with me..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCeyW9m0SXA

I can't help myself, f'n amazing this guy! (and the team of writers)

Heavenly Manna

Riel
Originally uploaded by The Stranger

Riel had a vision that God had anointed him as "the prophet of the new world."

I am glad the Crown has proved that I am the leader of the half-breeds in the Northwest. I will perhaps be one day acknowledged as more than a leader of the half-breeds, and if I am, I will have the opportunity of being acknowledged as a leader of good in this great country

Do you know these people of mine are just as were the children of Israel, a persecuted race deprived of their heritage. But I will wrest justice for them from the tyrant. I will be unto them a second David

God has always taken care of the half-breeds. He fed them for many days in the desert. Providence enriched our prairie with the buffalo. The plenty in which our fathers lived was as wonderful as the heavenly manna. But we were not sufficiently grateful to God, our good Father, hence it is that we have allowed ourselves to fall into the hands of a Government which only thinks of us to pillage us. Had he only understood what God did for us before Confederation, we should have been sorry to see it coming. And the half-breeds of the North-West would have made conditions of a nature to preserve for our children that liberty, that possession of the soil, without which there is no happiness for anyone; but fifteen years of suffering, impoverishment and underhand, malignant persecution have opened our eyes; and the sight of the abyss of demoralization into which the Dominion is daily plunging us deeper and deeper every day, has suddenly, by God's mercy as it were, stricken us with horror. And the half-breed people are more afraid of the hell into which the Mounted Police and their Government are openly seeking to drive us, than of their firearms, which, after all, can only kill our bodies. Our alarmed conscience have shouted out to us: Justice commands us take up arms. Dear relatives and friends, we advise you to pay attention. Be ready for everything. Take the Indians with you. Gather them from every side. Take all the ammunition you can, whatsoever storehouses it may be in. Murmur, growl, and threaten. Stir up the Indians. Render the police of Fort Pitt and Battleford powerless. We pray God to open to us a way to go up. And when we get there, as we hope, we shall help you to take Battleford and Fort Pitt. Have confidence in Jesus Christ. Place yourselves under the protection of the Blessed Virgin. Implore St. Joseph, for he is powerful with God. Commend yourselves to the powerful intercession of St. John the Baptist, the glorious patron of the Canadians and half-breeds. Be at peace with God. Keep His commandments. We pray Him to be with you all and to make you succeed.

Carl Sagan was the maN!

West Broadway, east-- November/December '07

West Broadway, west-- November/December '07

Label Gallery, c. 2003 A.D.

pic by Knack-- one of my all-time fave pics of me and one of my all-time fave curmudgeons.

Label Gallery, c. 2003. The days of Wild Turkey, straight from the freezer, and push-up competitions.

Joseph of Cupertino

San_Giuseppe_di_Copertino_18th_century_engraving, originally uploaded by babajiwotan.

an Italian saint. He was said to have been remarkably unclever, but prone to miraculous levitation, and intense ecstasies that left him gaping. In turn, he is recognized as the patron saint of air travelers, aviators, people with a mental handicap, and bad students. He was canonized in 1767.

As a child, Joseph was a remarkably slow witted. He was given the pejorative nickname "the Gaper" due to his habit of staring blankly into space. He is also said to have had a violent temper.

Joseph was also often found wandering in a daze, winding up in different places in the friary unaware of how he got there.

On October 4, 1630, the town of Cupertino held a procession on the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi. Legend holds that Joseph was assisting in the procession when he suddenly soared into the sky, where he remained hovering over the crowd. When he descended and realized what had happened, he became so embarrassed that he fled to his mother's house and hid. This was the first of many flights, which soon earned him the nickname "The Flying Saint."

Joseph's life changed dramatically after this incident. His flights continued and came with increasing frequency. His superiors, alarmed at his lack of control, forbade him from community exercises, believing he would cause too great a distraction for the friary. For the fact was, Joseph could not contain himself. On hearing the names of Jesus or Mary, the singing of hymns, during the feast of St. Francis, or while praying at Mass, he would go into dazed state and soar into the air, remaining there until a superior commanded him under obedience to revive.

Joseph's most famous flight allegedly occurred during a papal audience before Pope Urban VIII. When he bent down to kiss the Pope's feet, he was suddenly filled with reverence for Christ's Vicar on earth, and was lifted up into the air. Only when the Minister General of the Order, who was part of the audience, ordered him down was Joseph able to return to the floor.

Joseph could sense that the end was near, so he could be heard mumbling, "The jackass has now begun to climb the mountain!" The 'jackass' was his own body.

Because of his many 'flights', St. Joseph is the patron saint of those traveling by air, and is the patron saint of pilots who fly for the NATO Alliance.
here are numerous saints to whom the ability to fly or levitate in spite of their weight has been attributed. Most of these flying saints are mentioned as such in literature and sources associated with them.

The ability was also attributed to other figures in early Christianity. The apocryphal Acts of Peter gives a legendary tale of Simon Magus' death. Simon is performing magic in the forum, and in order to prove himself to be a god, he flies up into the air. The apostle Peter prays to God to stop his flying, and he stops mid-air and falls, breaking his legs, whereupon the crowd, previously non-hostile, stones him to death.

list of levitating saints:
* Saint Alphonsus Liguori
* Saint Archangela Girlani
* Saint Catherine of Siena
* Saint Christina the Astonishing
* Blessed Christina von Stommeln
* Saint Edmund Rich[5]
* Saint Francis of Paola
* Saint Francis Fasani
* Saint Francis Xavier
* Saint Gemma Galgani
* Saint Gerard Majella
* Saint John Bosco
* Saint John Joseph of the Cross
* Saint Joseph of Cupertino[6]
* Saint Ludgardis of Tongeren
* Saint Luke Thaumaturgus (Luke the Younger)[7]
* Saint Martin de Porres
* Saint Michael Garicoits
* Blessed Miguel Pro
* Saint Paul of the Cross
* Saint Peter Claver
* Saint Peter of Alcantara
* Saint Philip Neri
* Saint Theresa of Avila
* Saint Thomas Aquinas

Norval Morrisseau, r.i.p.

image from Bau-Xi Gallery-- www.bau-xi.com

Iconic Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau, the "Picasso of the North," has died at the age of 75 in a Toronto hospital. The Ojibwa painter helped originate the Anishnaabe School of Art.

CTV.ca News Staff

He had struggled with Parkinson's disease for several years.

Morrisseau, who signed his works under the name of Miskwaabik Animiki ("Copper Thunderbird), was a member of the Order of Canada.

He inspired generations of First Nations artists and his pictographic style was imitated by many, and he actively sought to teach others about his craft.

"I've always wanted to be a role model," he once told the Toronto Star.

"I've always wanted to stay an Indian. I wanted the little kids to know that."