Say Goodbye to 2013...

Merry Christmas 2013!

The sun's birthday and Saturnalia! Enjoy the day and Happy Holidays!

Thanks, Jesus...2013

As we eat our Thanksgiving meal, let us thank not an imaginary figure in the sky but those who are TRULY responsible for bringing our food to our tables, through their numbingly long days of low-wage, backbreaking work.

Happy Thanksgiving 2013

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

― Eckhart Tolle

La Toussaint 2013

Aujourd'hui est le jour de La Toussaint en France.

La Toussaint by Emile Friant (1863-1932)

Today is La Toussaint in France, a national holiday. Although Toussaint is a combination of the word tous ("all" in French) and saint, meaning "All Saint's Day," it is also "All Soul's Day." La Toussaint is closely related, in intent and spirit, to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration in Latin cultures. It is a day to remember, celebrate, and honor departed loved ones and ancestors.

In France, people visit cemeteries to have picnics and to tend to the graves of family members and decorate them with chrysanthemums, a flower symbolizing death (a symbol shared with Day of the Dead); generally, the French do not use this flower for any other purpose.

In honor of the day, I present some lovely images of the most famous cemetery in France, possibly the world: Père Lachaise, the largest cemetery in the city of Paris.


There are many famous people--writers, actors, composers, public figures, politicians, scientists, even rock stars (Jim Morrison)--buried at Père Lachaise. Below are the graves and monuments for Edith Piaf, Marcel Proust, Oscar Wilde (a very interesting, very Streamline Moderne monolith for him!), and Chopin. I have visited these tombs many times over the years and it never ceases to amaze me, as I wander and look at the names, just how many well-known people are interred here. For an easy alphabetical list of famous citizens of the cemetery, see the Wiki entry for Père Lachaise here.


Visit the Père Lachaise website for an absolutely fantastic virtual tour. You can wander around the beautiful serene avenues, admire the sculptural tombstones, or search graves by name!
http://www.pere-lachaise.com/

Happy Cherokee New Year, 2013!

Happy Cherokee New Year!

The Cherokee people ended their year and started the new year in autumn. It’s interesting—and makes sense—that they chose the harvest to mark the end of the year. The earth had gone through a cycle: the food had grown from spring, through summer, and then was harvested in the fall. The cycle was finished; time to start anew. The New Year was celebrated with a festival that featured purifications, dancing, prayers and offerings, and food such as corn, beans, squash, and meat.

Since the Cherokee calendar was and still is extremely tied to the phases of the moon, the timing of the New Year observation is somewhat up for debate. Some sources say that it was observed on the first full moon after the start of autumn (which is today, October 19th, 2013). Other sources report that the New Year was observed ten days after the first full moon, the ten days probably being a period of fasting and preparation for the festival. Still other sources cite the first full moon in the Cherokee month of Nvdadequa or Nvwatitequa—which happens during our month of November—as the true Cherokee New Year.

Whenever it was celebrated, it was surely around this time... when the earth turns, the days grow shorter, the nights grow longer, and the weather turns cold. We prepare for the introspection that comes with winter, when the ground sleeps under the snow. That is the beginning of the year, the beginning of time: from darkness and cold springs life, new growth.

I wish you all "alihelisdi itse udetiyvsadisvi" or Happy New Year!


http://www.cherokee.org/

Happy National Coming Out Day! 2013

Today is the 25th annual National Coming Out Day. This celebration started in 1988 as a way to raise awareness of the GLBT community and civil rights movement. It may be called "National" Coming Out Day but it is observed internationally in many countries including Australia, Canada, Croatia, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

http://www.hrc.org/campaigns/coming-out-center
http://www.hrc.org/resources/entry/national-coming-out-day

Happy Autumnal Equinox 2013!

Today is the official start of autumn, when our planet begins to tilt the other direction, tipping the northern hemisphere away from the sun. The days grow shorter, nights grow longer, as we move indoors and into ourselves for hibernation and introspection. Autumn is a time of harvest as the earth moves into hibernation as well. It is a beautiful time, a spiritual transition, a doorway between summer and winter.

HAPPY EQUINOX 2013!

"Here Come July" by Scritti Politti 2013

The incredible Green Gartside and Scritti Politti. Some of the smartest pop music out there.

"Here come July
The world is there for me to share
Here come July
It sort of feels so hyper-real

Here come July
To test you all before the fall
Here come July
The end of school, the death of cool

Here come July now
And everybody's burning
My summer's high now
The world has never been so happy in its heart of hearts

Here come July
To sort the men from boys again
Here come July
To melt away the need to say

Here come July now
The heat'll hurt your feelings
It's beautified now
The sun will scorch the pavements of all piety and sin

It doesn't mean nothing, it doesn't mean sh*t
How can I be a part of it?
It doesn't mean nothing, it doesn't mean spit
How can I be a part of it?

It doesn't mean nothing
Some things never do to me

I'll mean the world to you
Maybe I could double all the negatives we know

Here come July
I love it makes it hard to take
So why d'you lie?
To me about the truth will out

Here come July now
And I can't hear your lipgloss
No case to try now
The sun will be on subterfuge, iniquity and you

It doesn't mean nothing, it doesn't mean sh*t
How can I be a part of it?
It doesn't mean nothing, it doesn't mean spit
How can I be a part of it?

Here come July now
Here it comes (woah)
Here we come
I'm gonna crash, gonna burn, gonna watch as the worlds collide
I'm gonna crash, gonna burn, gonna watch as the worlds collide

(It doesn't mean nothing)
Here come July now (it doesn't mean nothing)
Here come July now."

http://www.scritti.net/
http://www.myspace.com/scrittipolittiofficial

The Peacocks of Pitti Uomo June 2013

A sampling of the attendees at this year's Pitti Uomo at the Fortezza de Basso in Florence. Shorts suits, breezy warm-weather clothes, and some great unique fashion details like a tassel on the back of a jacket, a knotted-rope belt, jodhpur-cut trousers, and Asian tops with frog closures.

Above photos by Nam of STREETFSN

Above photo by The Sartorialist

Above photos by Tommy Ton

2013...