Τό γυναικεῖον τῆς Ὑπατίας - El Gineceo de Hipatia - Hypatia's Gynaeceum

Derived by taking all 257 of the subject tags I've used in this journal since I created it almost 6 years ago, then sorting them according to frequency of use from the most used to the least used. The new ordering produced some interesting word strings that seem to grow their own syntax:

lesbian
writing
feminism
poetry
queer
women
womanhood
goddess
politics

family
muslim women
resistance

ancestor
languages
witchcraft

job
violence against women
writer's block

alienation
healing
purple 
religion

femme
pennsylvania
style

gender 
bitch

health
recipe

arab women
feminism friday

india
movie
prayer

virginia
africa 
art

central asia
dream
equality for all

sicily
arabic

dc 
indian

water
beauty
body
coming out
girl me

uncanny
animal

sex
shamanism
trans feminism
ural-altaic

america
archaeology

dark moon
goth
grrrl
guitar

mutant
pagan
race
satire

neolithic
numerology
parody

reality check
science

class struggle
death
evolution
geek

kabbalah
literature
men

nature
sacred sex
self-esteem

solstice
supernatural 
tarot

french
friendship

gallae
gynaeceum

imperialism
intrigue
irony

paleolithic
philology

red 
sacred 
spiral
st. louis

human rights
inspiration
intelligence

phrygian
plant 
priestess

Alice Walker

Jennie Bobb of the Lenni Lenape nation (also known as the Delawares) has now had her picture used for a poster promoting a campaign of resistance. The slogan "Occupy Wall Street" now reads "Take Back Wall Street: Occupied Since 1625." The Lenni Lenape were the indigenous people of New York City.



Her image was cropped from her portrait taken with her daughter, Nellie Longhat, in Oklahoma in 1915. This picture is from the Library of Congress collection.



Since we know her name and her daughter's name, and the time and place when they lived, do we feel quite the same to see her picture used to stand in for all Lenni Lenape people as we would for a completely anonymous subject? Do we see her more as an autonomous individual than an interchangeably generic iconic Indian image? Would she have supported Occupy Wall Street, if she were around today? We have no way to know. What about her descendants? Somehow I doubt anyone has contacted them for permission.

Acdega of Egdon (fl. ca. 960), Anglo-Saxon poet and musician, discoverer of the minor pentatonic scale.

John Lennon's album Imagine was released on September 9, 1971. At the time it was instantly recognized as a classic, it's gone down in people's memory as one of the greatest albums of all time, and its impact on world culture has been extensive. The title song has practically become an international anthem that expresses the world's longing for a better world distilled into its most concentrated, direct expression, and is still being sung around the world by groups of idealist people holding hands. According to Jimmy Carter, "In many countries around the world—my wife and I have visited about 125 countries—you hear John Lennon's song 'Imagine' used almost equally with national anthems." By Yoko Ono's authorization, Amnesty International adopted "Imagine" as their official song.

Let me look back at the album song by song...

Imagine ( Pour en savoir plus... )

I was at home when the earthquake hit. It took me about 2 seconds to realize what was happening, and did I ever get scared. What a surprise! It went on for what seemed a sickeningly long while (a minute or so?). I was thinking I need to run outside NOW. Except... damn, I was naked. Wouldn't you just know it... But then it was OK. The building I'm in creaked, groaned, and rattled to beat the band. It was built nearly 40 years ago and I was surprised it sustained no damage at all, not even anything falling from a shelf. One picture frame tilted an inch and a half off plumb. Otherwise, you couldn't even tell afterward.

Later I went to visit my 6-year-old grandson Rahiem. His other grandma accused him of jumping around upstairs when the earthquake began. He said he wasn't jumping, it was an earthquake. He knew right away what it was. Told you he was smart!

Practically the entire East Coast got it—such a huge extent, and no one got hurt. It's a miracle. I'm impressed.

It was my first one. Nothing got broken here except my earthquake cherry.

I would love to perfect what seems to me the quintessential belly dance technique. It was taught to me with the name ummi which literally means 'maternal', because it's associated with training a woman's muscles around her womb for giving birth.

It's done entirely with abdominal muscles. You have to learn to isolate those muscles' action from the rest of the body, and make them go forward and backward all on their own. Then you have to isolate the left and right sides of the abdomen from each other. Then you learn to move the whole abdomen around in a smooth, graceful circle. First move your belly button forward, then contract the right side to roll it to the right, then move it toward the back (inward), then contract the left side to roll it around to the left, then roll it back around to the forward position. Do all this while the rest of your body remains perfectly still. Now do it rhythmically to the beat and synchronize it with other sinuous dance moves. I learned to do this as a beginner in a class I took a few years ago. But then my health declined so that now I'm not able to dance any more. How I miss it! 

But I can still practice the ummi, sitting right here at my desk... 

 To be an Italian Pagan means to say "mamma mia" a lot... and really mean it.

My body is unusually sensitive to not only pharmaceuticals but also it seems some herbs. I'm fond of زعتر za‘tar, a Middle Eastern herbal blend of thyme (Thymus vulgaris), sumac, sesame seeds, and salt, all ground up together. Combined with olive oil, it makes a yummy, classic seasoning for bread. I have some I mixed up last year.

Well, as you know, ground herbs and spices lose their savor over time. So sometimes I sprinkle a little extra, newer, thyme into it on my plate for more flavor. Whenever I do that, it's inescapable that eating straight thyme like that has a powerful soporific effect on me. Just a few pinches of the stuff will knock me out faster than Ambien. I mean Ambien just helps me to sleep; thyme actually forces me to sleep. Soon after eating it, my eyes start closing and I'm seized with an uncontrollable urge to lie down and nap. I'm guaranteed to be out like a light and sleep very soundly for a minimum three hours. Cannot, must not be used before driving or operating machinery.

In Middle Eastern culture, it's believed that thyme is a good brain food that promotes the intellect. School kids are fed za‘tar at breakfast on exam days. Ha! If I were to go back to university to take some courses and tried that... it'd be ridiculous. Major flunkitude would be the result.

I'm guessing the reason thyme has a reputation as good for thinking is its calming effect on the brain. The reasoning would go something like this: when you're agitated and upset, you can't think very well, right? So calm down the brain and it will function better. Jethro Kloss made the same claim for sage (Salvia officinalis), which also has a sedative effect on me when I drink tea made from it. The two herbs are close relatives in Lamiaceae, the mint family. Even though there are many other well-known herbs in Lamiaceae that don't knock me out. Well, all I can say is the effects are highly dependent on an individual and her body's reaction to different substances.