Heritage

PICT0002, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

I have long legs and arms, a sloping forehead and deep set eyes and heavy brow very much like a cro-magnum man. I have not much facial or body hair.

My grandmother is purely Ukranian. Lobchuk like my Uncle Bill. My grandfather Thorgeir Bjarnason was left on the doorstep of an icelandic family and Im his only male heir. One legend tells that he is the offspring of a native girl and a catholic preist.

The other side Courtnage is british tractor salesmen from Moosejaw saskatewan. Grandmother on that side is strong Scottish clan Birss.

That's it. Nobody famous or anything.

Helios

DELETIONS WILL BE PUNISHED

you, me, the abandonded
house of social politics
nowhere yet to dream
get on this wild horse of mine
for all the best of times

the good is all but gone
delete another trip around the sun
All for one moment
and the power of
a sweet latent kiss
awake at the end
of all of this

IMAGINE the IMPOSSIBLE(from my black book)
fragmented dreams
of cocaine
and sleeping pills
a little drop of truth
clears the skies
overhead
as wild wisps of inspiration across my desolate praire sky
looking for
that perfect part of you
that cries
like I do
Imagine the world I will draw for you

My Mother's Side: The van Severens

My mother's side stems from Belgium, when General Andres van Severen (the first picture), an engineer in the Belgian Royal Court of Princess Maria Carlota Amelia, was tasked to build a railroad across Mexico.

Daughter of Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, king of Belgium, and Louise of France, the Princess married the archduke of Austria, younger brother of the Hapsburg Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph I, on July 27, 1856.

In 1864, Maximilian and Carlota arrived in Mexico, placed on the throne by Napoleon III as Emperor and Empress of Mexico. (Her father had been offered the Mexican throne and rejected it, years earlier.) Maximilian and Carlota believed that they had the support of the Mexican people. But nationalism in Mexico was running high, and soon the Mexican people rejected foreign rule. When Maximilian refused to leave after the French troops pulled out, the Mexican forces arrested the imposed Emperor.

This is when Andres high-tailed it to El Salvador.

The Princess in the meantime went to Europe to attempt to gain support for her husband, but during that time, she slipped into a serious depression. Maximilian was executed (June 10, 1867). Carlota lived in seclusion for the last nearly sixty years of her life in Belgium and Italy, never recovering her mental health.

Old Andres married, and had two children, Estanislao and Adela (pictured here as well). Estanislao is my great-grandfather. And this is why many of my cousins have light eyes and blond hair.

GPS Drawing

For part of my drawing project, I purchased a handheld GPS system to track my movements across La Belle Province, being drawn as I'm drawing. Below is my first attempt, I basically just turn it on and the satellites find me. Then I start walking around. I've been trying to retrace my steps, marking track points where I have done drawings already. I'm not sure what the little dots are, I think it means I changed direction. Talk about mapping new territory! I'll keep you all posted to my developments. I hope to be able to make a map of all my montreal drawings, as well as attempt a few drawings with the GPS, basically walking around in hopes of making an image that may or may not be representational. Your input is most welcome! :)

When the night comes on

The Rapture of St. Stephen

Free Tbet

flying, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Wow, just saw Kundun the scorcese flick about the Dalai lama as I pounded my first little bottle of rum in a while. the brand is "Old Monk Rum" from India. As it turns out I am not broke but my higher self had hidden my allowance in a place where my lower self couldn't find it.

Ive given myself to a new master for a period of ten days. A hindu Indian descendant of the warrior caste of these mountains. He is an artist gem collector painter and master wood carver. He's teaching me how to carve wood.

I've built a small temple in my room and pray there every night. Im writing a new book and getting a lot of video audio photo documentation.

Now I feel more intense about everything that is happening around me.

Funny how the monks here and the Dalai Lama remind me so much of the Jedi.

I have a new good guitar and am practicing for the tour in the motherland this summer. I welcome you all to join me.

Graffitti

"The average wall drawing is not simply the result of a lack of skill. Such drawings are nearly always a protest against deprivation or an expression of frustration." Picasso

What is the artist expressing here?

Response to Jihad

I believe strongly in exercising great caution while discussing faith by throwing down quotes or paraphrasing. I’m a staunch supporter of finding your own way, even by means of appropriating from other faiths. But the misrepresentation of religious text is very easy to accomplish and can have very dangerous outcomes.

In the West, "jihad" is generally translated as "holy war", a usage the media has popularized. According to Islamic teachings, it is unholy to instigate or start war; however, some wars are inevitable and justifiable. If we translate the words "holy war" back into Arabic we find "harbun muqaddasatun", or for "the holy war", "al-harbu al-muqaddasatu".

Unfortunately, some Muslim writers and translators of the Qur'an, the Hadith and other Islamic literature translate the term "jihad" as "holy war", due to the influence of centuries-old Western propaganda. This could be a reflection of the Christian use of the term "Holy War" to refer to the Crusades of a thousand years ago. However, the Arabic words for "war" are "harb" or "qital", which are found in the Qur'an and Hadith.

For Muslims the term jihad is applied to all forms of striving and has developed some special meanings over time.
In conclusion, jihad in Islam is striving in the way of Allah by pen, tongue, hand, media and, if inevitable, with arms. However, jihad in Islam does not include striving for individual or national power, dominance, glory, wealth, prestige or pride.

GreenRoomWonder

The Warrior's Eye

Image with a Name

...Untitiled...
How one looks is important
what is percieved is not the same

trajic here the line I cross
of art and my more humble name

and please see the beauty i beg
of a pidgeon shimmering there

for I am just such a dove
beside you in the market square

knife wounds echo thigh high eleven
connections odd not even

is it art or a heart
that has no mind to lie, to lie, to lie

The Monkey Sutra

One takes a coconut and makes a hole in it, just large enough that a monkey can squeeze its hand in.

Next, tie the coconut down, and put a sweet inside. What happens next is pure attachment. The monkey smells the sweet, puts his hand into the coconut, grabs the sweet and ... the hole is too small to let a fist out of the coconut.

The last thing a monkey would consider is to let go of the sweet, so it remains there indefinitely, literally tied down by his own attachment.

Often they only let go when they fall asleep or become unconscious because of exhaustion.
***************


now, having said this (actually it's a quote from buddhist website), are these really sutras? maybe a sutra is a big long prayer?

The SpiderMan Sutra

The Spiderman Sutra:

"With great power comes great responsibility."



more sutras! more, i say!

Looking for your face

gifted responsibility
over potential

believing
in this

is a
beginning

and an
ending

of my life
looking for

your face
gifted responsibility

TheFreedom

The five million cacti are welcomed back

They love but don't understand

Walking talking miracles purged of insecure commands

A blessing and a dream that said you're just a man

We all do what
we can

It's all a blur

hot religious art #1

two "ecstasy of st. theresa" works by bernini.

look at her face-- look at where her hands are. i'm not so sure she's thinking about god. but maybe that's just our cynical, 21-st century, saturated with images of sex culture. but maybe not.

hot religious art #2

good old saint sebastian, by peter paul ruebens.

gotta love 'im-- not only did he die in a heroic, service-of-god kind of way, but he also died sexy.

Jihad

Jihad, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

The word Jihad signifies the exertion of one's power to the utmost of one's capacity in the path of Allah.

The Jihad against the enemies of Allah with one's life is only a part of the struggle which a true servant of Allah carries on against his own evil self for the sake of the Lord.

You can fulfill this struggle in four ways, by your heart, by your tongue, by your hands, and by the sword.

Whoever amongst you who sees something abominable, you should endevour to change it.

The best of Jihad is the uttering of the word of truth in the face of a tyrant ruler.

There do arise occasions in which the use of arms becomes a dire necessity and even a slight show of weakness under these circumstances leads to disasterous consequences. Islam has stressed the need of rising to such occasions and has exhortd its followers to face the dangers that might thus beset them bravely and manfully.

The Quran also explains the function of war as moral neccessity. It is with the help of force that the ever-mounting evil in human life is curbed. For if it continues to spread unchecked it would brutally shake the basis of moral order and justice in human society so much that even the places of worship would not be safe at the wicked elements of the human race.

"And were it not for Allah's reppelling people, some of them by means of others, the earth surely would be corrupted, but Allah is Gracious unto the worlds."

St.Peter knew it 

Young Odin

Hung, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Odin Wotan. The nameless stranger. Master of crows and wolf. Wanderer in grey. God of the hanged man.

Le Pendu - El Ahorcado - The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man represents the uiversal principle of recognizing and awakening to repetitive patterns that bind, limit, and restrict our growth and evolution. In order to break limiting patterns, it is often necessary to take a distinctly different posture, or stance, such as turning ourselves up-side-down to get another view of a restrictive pattern or stuck place in consciousness that is being experienced.

The Hanged Man represents that state of consciousness which requires that we move beyond ego and trust the deeper aspects of who we are. Often this symbol might be viewed as the crucifiction of the ego or of egoic patterns which are no longer constructive. The universal symbol associated with repetitive patterns is the labyrinth, represented by the spiral in the background. This symbol ultimately teaches us that there are always many more options, solutions, and perspectives to consider than those in which we are currently invested.

Often, when we experience ourselves being bound or limited, there is a sense of being numb, asleep, depressed, or blind. The sleeping snakes remind us that nothing is renewed or regenerated when we are fixated or stuck. The Egyptian Ankh(the reversed cross holding the foot of the man) is a symbol of unlimited life force, constantly accessible for creative use.

By releasing the wounded parts of the past that we still hold in our minds, we are able to express our feelings abundantly from a place of knowing our priorities and commitments. Love with wisdom comes from a place of integrity, which is the alignment of mind, heart, and action in all that we do. When we release our limiting and destructive patterns, we are free to openly express our inherent love with wisdom in the world.

Missing from the Eyebrary 

Here I come

Ladder, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

The staple of my poetry is largely a description of the joys of battle, the struggle for mastery, and the perils of the long dark journeying through the waste. The noble horse and camel, the keen flashing sword in battle, the deadly lance and arrow, the swift sudden storms that sweep over mountain and plain, driving the goats and wild antelope in panic fear to their fastness, while the lightning flashes and thunder roars, and the rain torrents hurry down the stony watercourse. These are the themes of my song.

And prefaced to nearly everyone of my longer poemsis a wail of lament over the ashes of a long deserted encampment, once the home of a beloved maiden, a tearful note of human sorrow to attune the heart of softened melancholy.

Praise and prayer is often heard, and wild and terrible oaths are also not wanting.

I am above all things, self-centered, self-reliant, and confident that the cunning of my own strong right hand will conquer fate.

I will take the arrows of divination, but if the answer squares not with my desire I will hurl them back wrathfully and scornfully in the face of my idol.

My idol. The one to whom all my lesser gods pay their respect. The one to whom I pay the devotion of my soul:

The mysterious Goddess.

Strive, Seek, Find, Do not Yield

coat of arms, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Allah knows well those times when I will stand forth a lion to lead men or face those that rushed on me. Yea, many a slaughtered beast I will give to the gamers, often I will journey along where none will venture to share my way. I will slay, to feast my fellows, the beast I ride. At times I will rent my robe in twain for two singing girls. There will be times when underneath the stress of spears our steeds will plunge and break and back. Yet mine will be the fingers deft that turn from our line the steel. And hosts like the locusts swarm will sweep upon me alone, and my hand it will be that stems and gathers in one their spears.

Kinetic Waiting

gorilla munkeez

here's a collage i made in toronto from a cereal box and the cover of a book of japanese prints. no gluing, though-- so far it's still in pieces, and only exists as a photo.

it's dedicated to all my peoples at the sunday night crafting circle.

Return to School

As I think about returning once again to my life as a student I find an old journal at my folks place. It was slotted in between "On War" and "Rhetorical Criticism".

I flip to a page dated Tue Nov 9 02. It reads:

I have dumped and filled the ashtray -again.
I ate Mr. Noodle twice today
and it was a nice change from macaroni.
Sex Life? One time I caught this fish
and it wouldn't stop jumping around in the boat.
I had to hit it again and again
wack, wack, wack, sex life.I'm broke,
my back aches, my stomach still feels empty.
Doing anything but these last two papers is a relief.
No wonder I dream of falling through panes of glass
and of magical birds arising from the ash.

portage ave. east/west

portage ave. east/west

bruce head, anyone?

uniter cover

here's the latest uniter cover, with an article about the label's latest show inside.

i had just walked in the door around noon after a nite of insomnia (seems to be a theme for me these days!) when dangerman handed me the paper and snapped a quick pic.

lr

OH!!!!!! art by DON RITSON the profilic and skilled.

Winnipeg

Notice of Adventure

The Feathered Serpant, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Attention all adventurers:

Im planning some kind of trip this summer some time after folkfest. A return to the guatamalan jungle to reclaim certain precious items that were stolen from me there. It is a road laced with peril and tequila.

Who's interested? Details to come as the plan pans out.

Ps. don't beleive the hype regarding my sexual orientation. I belief some sort of Doppleganger character is out there posing as me spreading strange rumours. Who knows the truth? Details to come as the story pans out.

Kronological

j, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Speaking of which, anyone seen this monkey?

In other news, Im thinking of making a new album to be posted soon of songs I recorded in the public bathroom here in Dharamsala. Watch out for it. It will be a tear jerking re-hashing of old songs like Im a ghost in the afterlife wailing to all the people I used to know through the ultra-dimensional cyberwires. It will be a sort of pre-cursor to the arrival of my actual tatoo covered physical body in your dimension that is coming to a theatre near you.

I shall destroy you into illuminated face peeling raptured ash and brimstone with my sonic vibrations from heaven.

DogKings

DogKings, originally uploaded by The Stranger.

Heritage is a myth. This is my family.
Jeeze I love life. Nowhere is my shadow.
Don't cry little Butterfly, Heaven is just down the road.
Don't weep and wail my little angels.
It's just down the road.

it's 2:22 a.m.

it's 2:22 a.m. and

raining in toronto,

grey for days and
the city feels sad and overwhelmed.


12 hrs ealier...

stepping out of union station
into the sidwalk traffic and
life and all that
i saw a flurry of feathers and
thought a pigeon had fallen off the
edge of something into
space

when a falcon emerged from
under a ledge
a sparrow in his claws
who fought desperately and
cried out
over and over

"too soon, too soon"

wanting just to live and

j put her hand across my arm
because we both understood that
life was impossibly ugly
and cruel and all we had was
each other
to somehow make it less so

and then
we passed by the beggar
on the cold rainy sidewalk
with his one eye

who held out his hat and
said to everyone walking by:

"have a nice day, folks" and
we felt shitty about that, too.

Here's one roberts-- more to come

and soon i shall throw down some matrilineal shit.

from my mom's french/polish side of the family.



this here's evan roberts (1887-1956)-- leader of a huge revival of christianity in western europe in the early 1900's.

though he had little formal education, and worked as a coal miner, evan roberts was an eloquent speaker and self-educated in the "classics".

as opposed to the "fire and brimstone" method of preaching so popular at this time, he preached a more introspective christianity. hundreds of thousands converted in wales, england, and europe-- in fact, there were so many converts in wales that crime rates dropped for several years.

after a year in the "limelight", roberts dropped out due to severe exhaustion, and spent the rest of his life writing poetry, hanging out at home, etc.

never married.

The Culletons

My Coffee/Colonial History I

El Salvador was opened up to the world due to its coffee, and in the late 19th century, the Quinonez clan was the most powerful among the ranks of the Salvadoran oligarchy, helping to suppress and marginalise millions of indigenous people so that the world can feel awake in the morning.

Frederick Lewis Maitland

Daniel Maitland Robinson

Captain ( later Admiral) Frederick Lewis Maitland of Lindores commanded H.M.S. Bellerophon when that ship intercepted Napoleon in his attempt to escape from Rochefort in western France to America after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Above: HMS Bellerophon at Torbay.

I've been told that I am related to this man. Years ago, my grandmother showed me a small blue book which had been passed down to her that contained a passage written by F.L. Maitland relating his first impressions of Napoleon.

Mike & Frank Macri 

Guillaume Massicot (1797-1870)

Inventor of the papercutter.

Patented in France in 1844, this tool would therafter come to be known as "le massicot." His contribution was especially useful to the bookbinding aspect of the printing business.

These are the Massicot(tes) I know...

Jacques Massicot (1661-1738). Born in Saint-Pierre de Juicq, Saintonge, France. He is the first known ancestor to all Massicottes in Canada, Mexico, and United States. The historian in our family, Edouard-Zotique Massicotte, blames a chance event for Jacque's pioneering life in Nouvelle France. His aunt, Louise Landry, lived a married but childless (yes, barren) existence in Quebec. With no heirs, her husband Pierre Content wills his property to his wife and to her descendents. Enter Jacques.

Arrived in Quebec in 1689, Jacques married 21 year old Marie-Catherine Baril in 1696. Her parents gave them a sum of 500 pounds, 2 cows and some pieces of furniture to start them off right. Between July 1697 and May 1719, Marie-Catherine gave birth to 12 children. Yee haw. She died in 1752. Brave woman.

Many have changed their names since Jacques made his voyage. Some go by Mexicotte or Mexico, though generally only those crazy yahoos in Michigan. Apparently the ancestral grounds are still in the family, on the banks of the fleuve St Laurent.

You know the initial motive behind all of this was to find some female Massicottes, helping James's idea along. I found some, but evidently nowhere near as far back as this.

Happy Valentines

Red Heart Exposed (WARNING: from my black book)

"nothing good can come of this"
you are still alive
"these beings are tied, tried and tired"
stab out only my eyes
"apprieciate what is unseen"
a black heart beats beneath
"under so much flesh and stone"
that sails the seas
"kept wild, free, yet undreamed"
on the expired leftover breeze.

feed on this, my bloodied, putrid beast.
on red hearts, not roses, alone I feast.

WhatWeCan

Listen to me:
walk the street

we can all
be free

Every night,
the turn
of tides
and command

The dreams
you can see

Pray it to be

We can all do what
we can