Heads! (exclamation point just for you, Snaps!)

In addition to doors and plants, Mexico also has LOTS of heads. Ancient heads...


Baby Olmec Head, Museo Amparo, Puebla, Mexico

...to modern heads...


Sprinkler Head, Museum of Modern Art, Mexico City. I was wandering around the sculpture garden, being totally delighted by everything, when I saw one more thing that looked particularly delightful. I had it framed in my viewfinder before I realized that it actually was a sprinkler head, not art (or is it?)

...to in between heads.


Victor Hugo Head, Parque Hugo in Puebla, Mexico. Apparently, Mr. Hugo was a big supporter of Mexico during the French-Mexican war. Puebla is the site of the Battle of Puebla, which is the battle celebrated hugely in the United States and Puebla, but nowhere else in Mexico.

It's the old heads that are most fascinating, I think. Here are some more.


I-don't-like-you-very-much-either head. Museo Amparo, Puebla



Head in the Sand, With Stone Beads. Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico City. All from a funerary stash.


Pierced-Earred Punker Head, Anthropology Museum, Mexico City


Shock or Awe Head, Museo Amparo, Puebla


Fountain Head, Hotel Patio, Taxco


And, finally, Happy Buddha Head, Museo Amparo, Puebla

Pitiful Post

I told Drunk-a-Husband that I would try to post every day, even if it was just to post a picture. Well, this is one of those days. I've been on my feet training all day and am too tired to think, let alone write.

Here is one of my favorite pictures from my time in Mexico.


Window in the Oaxaca Cultural Center, housed in the ex-convent of the Church of Santo Domingo with the cactus gardens on site (see "Plants" for pictures from the Oaxaca cactus garden).

BTW, I have enjoyed creating little "albums" of my Mexico pictures to share with you (see "Doors" and "Plants"). I'm working on another called "Heads." I won't spoil the surprise by telling you what it will have in it.

Weird Bird Friday--Inaugural Post!

Owls at the Aviary, Parque Ecológico, Puebla, Mexico

I have decided that it is long overdue that Drunkablog have its own "animal Friday." Following in the great tradition of The Blog's Cat Blog Friday and Avatar Brief's Duck Friday, I have decided to initiate Weird Bird Friday on Drunkablog.

In Mr. Drunkablog's absence, Mrs. Drunka made a unilateral decision to begin this new series. And, since D-a-B had to give Mrs. D his password so she could offer her insightful and entertaining guest posts, Weird Bird Friday just may continue even after the return of D-a-B.

If he doesn't approve of Weird Bird Friday, he can just start his own animal Friday. Then all you clowns out there in Drunkablog land can vote on which you like best!

Hot DAM

The new Denver Art Museum (DAM) building opens this weekend. The hope is that it will become the icon of Denver in the style of the Sydney Opera House. I love the new building, I love the art museum, I love just about everything about Denver, but I'm not so sure that the shape of this building can grab people like the shape of the opera house. It's just not quite graspable enough (whatever that means).

What do you think?


The new Hamilton Building of the Denver Art Museum. The little pointy thing behind and a bit to the right is part of the oh-so-cool Denver Public Library. The gray building to the left is the original DAM, built in the 70s, also a very cool building.

Maybe there will be a particular angle that will become iconic. I like this picture better. Sorry I couldn't find one without advertising for the museum on it.


Now you all can see that I didn't come up with the ever-so-clever "Hot DAM" by myself. I'm so embarrassed.

You can see more here.

Plants

Mexico also has plants. It has, for example, the largest tree in the world, in Tule, near the city of Oaxaca.


El Arbol del Tule, Oaxaca, Mexico

It's hard to get a picture that shows how really huge it is. You just have to walk around it. It does have some interesting burls, though.




Here's another tree I like.


Near the ruins of an ex-convent in Tecali, Mexico

But mostly, I like the little flowers.


Cala lily, garden outside Frida Kahlo's home, Coyoacan, DF, Mexico


From cactus garden in Oaxaca, Mexico


My favorite, also from Oaxaca cactus garden

And finally, this. Could be the Virgin of Guadalupe blessing the countryside. Could be an offering left by the Blair Witch. What do you think?

Drunkawife considers playmate for Billy Bob

Here's Josie!



Doesn't she look a little bit like a miniature Billy Bob?


Josie is in foster care right now and I'm considering adopting her. Do you think Drunkahusband would notice if I did that while he's on his river trip?

Doors

There are lots of doors in Mexico. Here are just a few.

There are fancy doors...

Fancy door

Detail of fancy door

...and not-so-fancy doors.

Not-so-fancy door

There are magnificent doors...

Magnificent door (Cathedral in Mexico City)


...and doors that must have been magnificent in their day.

Past-its-prime magnificent door

There are doors with people...,

...flowers...,

...lions...,

...and putti (or maybe just a couple of gay guys).

Here is my favorite.

Door #3

Detail, Door #3

Detail, Door #3

All photos taken by Drunkawife, January 2006. All except "Magnificent Door" from Cathedral in Mexico City, were taken in Puebla, Mexico.

Drunkawife solves the nature v. nurture controversy!

I just got back from my Kansas jaunt to find that I had set off a huge fight (well, tiny, really) around nature versus nurture as it relates to differences between the sexes (see comments under "♪ Getting to know me... ♪"). Here are all my astute, professional opinions (meaning: I have no more idea what I'm talking about than anyone else, but I'll spout my mouth off with the best [or worst] of them).

There really are physiological differences that cannot be explained away by nurture, environment, expectations, etc. I believe that nurture tends to reinforce some of what nature provides naturally, but nurture does not create it all. (Michael Gurian is one of several good sources for all this information.)

Boys' cerebellums, for example, the part of the brain having most to do with movement, are, by and large, larger in boys than in girls. You can add "by and large" (b&l) to anything said here, as, of course, there is a continuum and overlap. But there is no denying that, b&l, boys tend to volley back and forth between the two hemispheres of their brains, whereas (b&l) girls tend to use both sides at once. This is beause girls (b&l) have bigger corpus callosums than boys.

I would never say that we should let little boys run around like mad, while we make all little girls sit on their hands. I just want us to recognize that our educational system, which rewards the ability to learn while sitting still for long periods of time--something that boys' brains (b&l) are not designed to do--is disrespectful, even abusive, to half our population.

I am a card-carrying feminist and I find learning about brain differences somewhat refreshing and freeing from the old feminist line that there are no real differences, it's all about society and sexism. It helps me be more respectful, not only of the little boys I work with, but also with the purportedly grown-up men in my life, such as Drunkahusband.

This morning, for example... I was having breakfast with D-a-H and his buddies before they set off on their river adventure. I listened to them discuss in detail what was going on in some sport or another. In the past I might have thought something along the lines of, "How silly men are. They can't have real intimacy by talking about feelings and relationships [something that would only be described as "real intimacy" by someone with a large limbic system--i.e., (b&l) a woman]. Instead they have this ridiculous conversation about something meaningless like sports that focus on projectiles being hurled through the air [something that (b&l) males' brains are designed to be fascinated with] to create a kind of psuedo-intimacy." Instead, this morning I thought, "Wow. This IS intimacy, and I need to just shut the f**k up."

Hey, I consider that progress.

Not the Green

Not the Green.

♪ Getting to know me... ♪

Drunkawife here! I bet none of you clowns out there in Drunkablog land know that Drunkawife works with young 'uns. Here's a picture of some of the sweet young things at a therapeutic preschool (and yes, I actually have permission to use this picture from all the munchkins' parents) that I used to work at several years back.


Group Hug!

As cute as these guys appear in this picture, what you must understand is that each of them had been kicked out of various preschools (the record was 14) for various offenses related to massive violence. Kicking, hitting and biting, mostly. Drunkahusband will attest to the fact that I used to come home with massive bite-marks up and down my arms. It was fun!

Family fun

A couple of years ago my father-in-law gave me the canoe paddle on the left to use as a spare. Then, a couple of months ago, he took me out in the garage and told me how he'd always felt guilty about giving me such a crappy paddle (the tape is where he squirted some glue to fill up the cracks and hold it together). Then he gave me the paddle on the right.


Just as many cracks, and he didn't even bother to squirt glue in them this time. Thanks, Dad! (We're so close I call him "Dad," though not to his face.)
Anyway, naturally I had to get a canoe to match the fancy-pants paddle:


It's a Mad River Horizon 15, slightly chewed, as if you care.

Despite the chewing-over it's had (a season's worth) this is a marked improvement over my previous model.

Update: Yes, Mad River's logo is a bunny rabbit smoking a peace pipe. I could probably find out why, if I cared.

Racist to Denver: Let me help you celebrate Columbus Day!

In a column about Denver's annual Columbus Day Parade/Ward Churchill Memorial Protest, the Post's Al Knight mentions that David Yeagley, the "Comanche patriot," will be in town to support the Columbus-Day folks against the (indigene-supporting) protesters:

The run-up to the parade will also be different. Dr. David Yeagley of Lawton, Okla., a member of the Comanche tribe and an accomplished pianist, composer and lyricist, has requested an opportunity to speak in support of the local celebration.

Yeagley's one of those Ph.Ds who likes to see "Dr." in front of his name. Unfortunately, and as Knight fails to mention, the talented Yeagley is a bigot of the crudest and most race-baiting kind. Knight continues:

Yeagley, in a telephone interview Monday, said he wants to do his part to counterbalance the notion that all Indians take a dim view of the Columbus Day celebrations and the man himself. He said he believes that Columbus is an important part of the American story.

In written comments to the parade committee, Yeagley said, "I want Indians who protest Columbus to re-evaluate the effect of long-term resentments. I want them to weigh the psychological damage that negative thinking has on young people, how it stifles their natural ambitions, their intuitive aspirations. I want Indians instead to lead in American patriotism and to recover the true role in American society of host,
guide and savior."

Sounds pretty sensible to me. So it's hard to believe (but true) that he's also the kind of person who says things like this (pardon the repetition):

WHITE WOMEN ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, desirable creatures on earth, judging from the way dark men crave them.

And on the humongous FrontpageMag.com to boot. So Knight is either incompetent in not knowing about Yeagley's vomitings or corrupt in not divulging them.

Full disclosure: I mentioned Yeagley's racist diatribes recently to a group of maybe five bloggers and one newspaper person. They stared at me like a coven (no, the word's "school," isn't it?) of mackerel and moved on to another topic.

The story wasn't dropped; it was never picked up.

But talk about your ironies: here are two racists (Churchill being the other, of course), one an actual Indian (Churchill being the other, of course), confronting each other from opposite ends of the spectrum, politics-wise, over alleged white racism.

Update: And I'm going to be on the river October 7, the day of the parade. Last year's parade, while fun, was way too decorous for the anarchist rabble, and Knight doesn't actually say Churchill's not going to be there. I'm betting he will be, and all hell will break loose, and I won't get to take pictures and blog about it.

(via Pirate Ballerina)

Calm

Filthy murdering scum*

In Bailey, a little mountain town: Teen dies after school hostage standoff:

The man, wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and carrying a backpack, entered the school at 11:40 a.m., apparently looking for someone specific, according to witnesses, although police would not confirm that.

He entered Sandra Smith's honors English class, fired a shot in the air, then told all the students to stand facing the chalkboard, said Tom Grigg, whose son, Cassidy, was in the classroom.
Then, the gunman approached each boy in the class and told them to get out.

"A guy came up and pointed a gun at (Cassidy) and told him to leave," Grigg said. "He said, 'No, I want to stay with the girls,' and the guy put the gun in his face and said, 'You. Out of here."'

Police would not say whether the suspect sexually assaulted any of the girls. But Grigg said his son told him, "There were some really bad things that happened in that classroom." He did not elaborate.

*Formerly, "Filthy murdering motherfucker."

Not advertised on matchbooks

I've been reading Manhunt: The 12-day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. Fascinating stuff, but author James L. Swanson renders a famous quote in a way I'd never heard before. When Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton was told that Lincoln had died, Swanson says, Stanton uttered the words, "Now he belongs to the angels."

To the angels? In everything I've ever read about the assassination it's always been, "Now he belongs to the ages."

In his notes Swanson gives this somewhat sketchy explanation: " Most accounts of Lincoln's death quote Stanton as saying that Lincoln belongs to the 'ages,' not the 'angels.' In my view, shared by Jay Winik, the most persuasive interpretation supports 'angels' and is also more consistent with Stanton's character and faith."

Yeah, I know, who gives a Flying Wallenda. But it's important. Stanton was a hardcase, and I don't think he'd have used the word "angels" like some candyass fruitcake who took Diane Cooper's Angels Correspondence Course.

NorthDenverTribuneWatch!

How has the NDT survived for 72 years? I mean, there's no news in it. It's all features and wildly favorable reviews of everything--restaurants, plays, concerts (especially if they're student restaurants, plays or concerts)--in Northwest Denver.

But there are a few interesting items this week, I guess, like:

For no particular reason, a picture of the Burnham Hoyt-designed Lake Middle School at Sloan Lake (this is one of mine, though):

The paper's new feature, "The New Entrepreneur." This week's new entrepreneur is Bliss Works, which uses a technique called Belief-Shifting to, you know, shift beliefs:

Belief-Shifting is a powerful new healing technique for correcting errors of the mind stored in the body's energy system. It is an elegantly simple method that replaces life-defeating thinking patterns with life affirming patterns. The process integrates new beliefs in just a matter of minutes!

A guest editorial by Sally Spencer-Thomas, "Director of Leadership Development and Behavioral Health at Regis [College]." It's entitled "Learning about suicide helps save lives." I didn't read it. Just how did Sally Spencer-Thomas (SST) become director of both leadership development and behavioral health, anyway? Nepotism, probably.

"Crime Beat!" But it sucks. All about not leaving valuables in your car when you park in the neighborhoods around Mile High Stadium. Butt out, coppers.

Ooh! Ooh! The "One Sky One World" Peace and Kite-Flying Thingie is coming to Sloan Lake again!

The event features Kite Village, Sustainable Living Village and Pet Village. Special guest will be John McConnell, Earth Day founder, who at 93 will share his vision of Planet Earth's future . . . .

[The event] was inspired by Denver kite-maker Jane Parker-Ambrose when she presented a kite to the Soviet Women's Peace Committee in 1985 . . . .

Sustainable Living Village will feature exhibits and vendors, including information on wind energy credits . . . . Another special guest will be the "Flu Bug" Mascot who will help Colorado Visiting Nurses give flu, pneumonia and diphtheria shots at a cost.

And I'm gonna be on the river.

Tribune Pet of the Week is Ignaz, a "one-eyed pound hound." Ignaz had this to say:

The last time I was mentioned in the paper, it was in the Police Blotter for snatching away a baseball during a game at Rocky Mountain Park when I escaped from the back seat of the car.

Me too!

Mrs. Drunka's inaugural post

Hi, all you clowns in Drunkablog land! Drunkawife here, making her very first appearance as a guest poster. Drunkahusband is still in town, but will be leaving soon, so I am practicing. You will probably just see lots of pictures as I am not much of a writer. Why, here's one now!



West side of the Palacio de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Man with jaguar on his head.


Here is another one!


That's Mr. Jaguar Head at the top of the picture. And some cool snakes.

Thanks for visiting! See you again real soon!

Cordially,
Drunkawife

Update: Re: "Man with jaguar on his head," I suppose that should really read, "jaguar with man's head in its mouth."

River trip looming

Posting may be light, perhaps even annoyingly fey.

Editorial: "Our editorials are terrible; we quit"

The Daily Illini, the University of Illinois' venerable (founded 1871) student newspaper, has quit running editorials because too many of them "have been based on faulty facts, providing nothing but misinformation and misrepresentation. . . . "

The latest botch was an editorial Thursday about some college-type event that got pretty much everything wrong, and for which the editorial board had already apologized. Unfortunately, having to apologize for a rogue editorial

is a position that we have put ourselves in numerous times throughout the last couple of semesters. For this reason, The Daily Illini Editorial Board has decided to stop publishing editorials until further notice.

Has this ever happened before in the entire gaudy history of newspaperly incompetence and venality? I don't mean the "misinformation and misrepresentation," of course, but admitting it, and having a healthy enough sense of shame to cut it the hell out?

Jack Mabley, one of our most distinguished alumni, once reflected on his time here. He said, "I was proudest that in my 365 days as editor we never had to run a correction or skinback or apology, nor were we asked to."

It is in this spirit, both of the long legacy of this paper and the importance of the editorial as an institution, that we do our duty to our readers, admit our mistakes and restore the credibility of this paper.

However, we cannot hope to restore our reader's [sic] faith in us without hearing from them. Write to us, tell us what you think about The Daily Illini, don't pull any punches. We cannot fix this without you.

(via Romenesko)

Update: "Distinguished alumni" Jack Mabley, who died last year at age 90, had a blog.

Update II: "Skinback?"

Update III: Really, read Jack Mabley's blog, including the comments. Even reading the whole thing won't take long. He's pretty good, for 90. Sample (from his last post):

My watchword and guide in my old age is "patience." It works wonders most of the time, and especially in traffic. I will go through these good senior years smelling the roses and trying to minimize the scratches from the thorns.

I also avoid eye contact with or the finger to wild drivers. They may be drunk, or hung over, or just plain ugly. They may be mentally unbalanced and have an automatic rifle on the seat. Only about one in 10 is this way, but that means I am going to pass or be passed by 10 or 15 of them driving to and from the office.

Ol' Jack still drove, but would you have ridden with ol' Jack? My grandmother drove until she was 95 or so--in fact, both my grandmothers drove until they were 95 or so--but neither should ever, ever have been allowed to.

Sat Eve Post 11-2-68

I've posted this cover before, but nothing else from the issue.


Creepy.



Creepier: "None of the above" hadn't been invented yet.
The September 21, 1968 Sat Eve Post's "Speaking Out" column was by then-student radical Mark Rudd. Called "We Want Revolution." It drew a letter from a Paul M. Peroff of Oxford, Connecticut:

To quote student Mark Rudd: "We intend to unite with all people who believe that men and women should be free to live as they choose . . . in a society where the government is responsive to the needs of the people and not the needs of the few wose enormous wealth gives them the political power. We intend to make a revolution."

Wonderful! But--sounds familiar. . . Where did I hear it before? Oh, yes . . . back in 1917 when I listened to Mr. Nikolai Lenin speaking to the crowd from the balcony of Krzesinska's Palace in Petrograd.

Of course, Rudd has a website now, Mark Rudd's Website. It bears the subtitle, "Yes, this is the Mark Rudd from the sixties." Like his friend and fellow Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, Rudd has held on to his radical views and revolutionary arrogance; unlike Ayers, he has apparently renounced violence.

In fact (small world alert), Rudd links to a 2001 piece by George Lakey that criticizes Ward Churchill and his book Pacifism as Pathology.

This week's "Speaking Out" column, by the way, is "I Hate Horses" by naturalist Bil Gilbert, who "has three horses and dislikes them all."



Sorry, I just dig the Duofold underwear ads.


Nothing against the man, but: Buck Owens?



Xenophobia sells: The Rambler was discontinued in 1969.

To go with the "pop scene" theme, a piece on "the new sculpture," which includes this picture of an artist in the act of creation:

Read the caption.