Or maybe it does both, just depends on the day?
Either way, hearth or house, if the blanket covering you is made of love, you will be protected.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman, who never knows…until he does.
Quote by Joan Crawford, 1904-1977, American Actress
Lucille LeSueur, aka Joan Crawford
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Last we saw the bodyless Ghirl Ghosts they were learning how to milk cows after their food fight in the ski chalet. The milking didn’t go too well since they have no hands. They either had to use their mouths, which they thought was gross, or bump heads with a cow’s teat in between, which was also not very successful because they slipped off the teat and hit each other’s head each time. Even ghosts don’t like getting head butted.
But what Ghirl Ghosts do like to do is go hat shopping. Since they don’t have bodies it’s really not fun to go clothes shopping. They like to go to clothing stores, but just to watch people change clothes and then pull pranks on them. They especially like stealing men’s underwear and women’s bras in their changing rooms and then laugh as they have to walk out with too much ‘information’ showing and bouncing. But they also get depressed because they can’t try on the clothes.
Eight of the ghirls ghosts went back to the hotel to take naps. Two of them had head colds as well, which is the only kind of colds bodyless ghosts actually ever get. The other seven decided to check out ‘Not Topless’, the cute little hat boutique in Wolla Tompo, the ski resort where they were staying. Penelope, the leader of the Ghirl Ghosts tried on two hats, one of which was cute and wavy-like, while the other was a boy’s top hat. She liked it but the other girls laughed at her, saying she looked like a boy ghost. She had always hated when people told her that she looked like a boy when she was not a ghost and had a body, mostly because she was thin and didn’t have any hips or boobs to speak of. She used to wear a lot of make up, especially false eyelashes and bright orange lipstick to make sure everyone didn’t think she was a boy. So now, even though she only had a head, it made her feel bad and she started crying.
Sharita told her to get over it, that they all had something that bugged them about themselves. She herself was always told she was a slut, all because she had a lot of curves and walked so the curves kept curving. Now that she didn’t have a body she never got called that but she still felt that the other girl ghosts thought of her that way. Sharita started crying too. Ethel, the one who started the food fight earlier, and still had some applesauce stuck on her forehead, told how when she had a body it didn’t work and she hated it. Sharita asked between sobs what that meant. Ethel said she had been in a unicycle accident and had become paralyzed from the belly button down. She said that she didn’t have any sensation below that and never had sex or an orgasm or anything like that in her whole life. She started to cry.
So now there were 3 bodyless ghirl ghosts crying while trying on hats. The other four started to cry hearing those stories and they all apologized to each other for being insensitive. The saleswoman, who wasn’t a ghost and did have a body and had been on her feet for 12 hours started crying as well. All the ghirl ghosts went over to her and nuzzled her (they can’t hug so they nuzzle), telling her they were sorry and that they would buy the hats and go. The saleswoman said she didn’t want them to go because she had no friends and was very lonely. She wasn’t crying because her feet hurt and that she was tired but that seeing them all have fun and cry together made her feel even more alone. She said she had all sorts of body and head issues and no one to talk to about them.
The Ghirl Ghosts told her to close up the shop and then they went in back and listened to her tell all her stories. They all cried together and had the best time.
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Drawing and short short story by Marty Coleman, who loves hats on women.
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Since Pope Ben is going to retire this month I thought I would round up some interesting quotes from Popes recent and past and see how they illuminate things, both intentionally and un.
Who’s hand is that keeping them from seeing each other? Does the abused one hide or does the friend ignore? Do they have an almost invisible fence of hurt that keep them from reaching out? I have been accused in the past of probing too deep with people, asking too many personal questions, wondering about thing more intimate than I should wonder about out load. I will take that criticism and live with it because I would rather be accused of asking too many questions than not enough. I would rather be told I am being too pushy than to find out a friend of mine was abused or committed suicide and I hadn’t ask a question I really thought I should ask.
This quote is by Pope John Paul II, the Pope before the current and soon to resign Pope Benedict. I think it is a true statement. I think it is also a very ironic one considering the trouble the Catholic Church has had for decades in excusing the most unchristian and immoral behavior one can imagine. I am not suggesting Pope John Paul II knew anything about it but it is now obvious that child molestation and sexual assault has been going on a long, long time within the Catholic Church. It’s also obvious that many Priests and Bishops put their hands up and blinded themselves to the assaults. They cared about the political fallout and the monetary implications if the secrets got out. I am sure they were disturbed at some level about the actual assault as well. But obviously that was down the list in importance, that is why the best solution for them was to send the offender off to another parish or area of service so the blood would be washed from their hands instead of actually turning the criminal offender into the police.
That is ironic.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who is not Catholic
Quote by Karol Wojtyla, 1920-2005, Roman Catholic Pope (John Paul II) 1978-2005
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What is the sedia stercoraria and what was it used to prove among Popes?
Come back tomorrow to get the answer
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I am going back in time again. This time to Spain of the 18th and 19th Century. Francisco Goya was a master painter and printmaker whose work ranged from sophisticated royal portraits to illicit nudes to disturbing depictions of war and violence.
Francisco Goya – Self Portrait – 1795
He started out as an apprentice at age 14 and quickly moved up the ranks due to talent. He eventually came to the attention of King Charles III, becoming an artist on the royal payroll. He did pretty and sweet paintings of the Royal family to earn his keep. At least they look that way to us now. But at the time he was known for not sugar coating the looks of his subjects. He would be similar to a portrait photographer now who uses very little Photoshop on his work.
Francisco Goya – Duchess of Alba – Oil on Canvas – 1795
Francisco Goya – The Straw Manikin – oil on canvas -1792
Even while he was painting supposedly idyllic scenes he was also infusing them with sometimes satiric or critical commentary about the state of Spain.
Francisco Goya – King Charles IV of Spain and his Family – oil on canvas – 1800
For example in the painting above the whole family is gathered but the Queen is in the center indicating greater power. And behind the King on the right is a painting of Lot and is daughters from the Old Testament, a very obvious allusion to corruption and perversion at the time. How he got away with these slights is a mystery, but he did.
You might be asking, why do I love this guy anyway? He looks like a pretty average painter of pretty boring Royal portraits, so what’s the big deal?
Here’s the big deal. in 1792 Goya came down with a mysterious malady, still unknown to this day, that caused him to go deaf. It led him to become withdrawn, introspective and much more willing to create images that were filled with his dreams, nightmares, disillusionments, madness and violence. These were directed at humanity, at France, at Spain, and the ceaseless political intrigue and the brutality of war. We would almost certainly not care or no much about his work if he had not turned to these subject matters so decisively. He didn’t give up his work as a painter of society and royalty, but he did work alone and intensely on images that were the complete opposite of his public image.
During my Sophomore year at Brandeis University I was able to study the prints of Goya at the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. Two series really stood out to me.
The first was ‘Los Caprichos’. In these images he depicts the folly of society, satirically making fun of both the high and low.
Francisco Goya – Now They Are Sitting Well – etching/aquatint – 1799
Francisco Goya – Blow – etching – 1799
Francisco Goya – Pretty Teacher – etching – 1799
The second series that stood out even more was his ‘Disasters of War’. Spain had been invaded in 1808 by Napoleon’s army and conflict ensued for 6 years. In response Goya painted his most famous piece, as well as countless prints for his series.
Francisco Goya – The 3rd of May – oil on canvas – 1808-1814
This painting turned the corner in art from the classic world to the modern. With this image Goya inspired centuries of artists to come to be bold and unsparing in their depictions of the true nature of war.
Francisco Goya – This is Worse – etching – 1815
Francisco Goya – Bazan Grande with Dead – etching – 1814
These were not published until 35 years after his death.
Even when the fighting was over the Bourbon dynasty was restored to the throne, setting back many decades of enlightened liberal progress in Spain. Goya was distraught over this. But worse yet was the likely dementia he was starting to experience. His images became dark, disturbing treatments of not just society’s woes but his own internal struggle.
Francisco Goya – The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters – etching/aquatint – 1799
The etching above wasn’t done towards the end of his life, but it illustrates both the mental madness he might have been experiencing and his belief in reason as a bulwark against such monsters, in life and in society.
Francisco Goya – Colossus
Francisco Goya – The Colossus – oil on canvas – 1812
Francisco Goya – Saturn Devouring his Son – 1823
This image was painted on the walls inside his house, along with many others called ‘The Black Paintings’ from his later years.
I can just imagine the torment he had in his head. But the amazing thing, and the reason he is an artist I love, is he kept creating. He pushed forward and unflinchingly showed his vision of the world, for good and for bad.
And now, just so we don’t end on a completely macabre note, here are two very similar images of the same woman. They never were displayed publicly during his life but were displayed in the home of the owner and commissioner of the pieces. There is no consensus on who the woman is but some think she is the Duchess of Alba that is shown at the top of the article.
Francisco Goya – The Clothed Maja – oil on canvas – 1800
Francisco Goya – The Nude Maja – oil on canvas – 1800
It was quite the scandal for him to have painted the nude in the first place, but it was even moreso because there was no pretense of mythology or religion. It was an image of a real woman, not a long gone historical figure. It’s probably the first major European painting to be painted and presented in this way since the Roman era.
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Fall/Winter 2016
Winter/Spring 2015
Summer 2014
Winter 2012/2013
Winter 2011/2012
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The images in this article are all from the fantastic site ‘WikiPainting‘. I highly recommend exploring it.
If you would like to read more about Goya I would recommend starting here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art page about him. Of course you will find the most information about him in Spain, primarily at the Prado Museum where many of his masterpieces are on display.
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I have been all three of these kisses to women throughout my life. I liked being the exclamation point the best, and disliked being the question mark the most. Being a comma didn’t matter much, unless I thought I was an exclamation point, then it was a bummer. In general that is when you are hurt, when you think you are one type of punctuation, but the woman decides you are another.
I was a comma in 2002 when a woman I started to date had me in between some other guys she was dating. I could tell she was not going to stop her sentence with me.
I was a question mark many times. The thing about being a question mark is you don’t usually stay that way. The question is answered pretty quickly and you are either going to become an exclamation point, a period or a comma in short order.
And my ego would like to say I have been an exclamation point more than a few times, but I can at least say I have held that punctuation title twice, to the two women I married. Of course I turned into a very long comma to my first wife, but I was exclamation point for a while at least.
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Drawing and commentary by Marty Coleman, who has given all 3 types in his life.
Quote by Mistinguett, 1875-1956, French singer and actress.
Take a look and listen to this, her only sound movie, from 1936.
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