sophie jodoin

 

 

Our own andy W. says, while calling on a pay phone,
"oh i feel so glamorous today, oh i forgot who i was calling."

 

 

Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees have converged on a town in Nepal for a festival which is considered the world's largest animal sacrifice.

The Gadhimai festival, which happens once every five years, is taking place in Bariyapur in southern Nepal.

More than a quarter of a million animals are expected to be slaughtered for Gadhimai - a goddess of power.

Sacrifice is a seen as a way of thanking the deity for good luck, or asking her for fortune and prosperity.

"The goddess needs blood," says Chandan Dev Chaudhury, a priest at the Gadhimai Temple in the centre of the festival site.

"If anyone has a problem, then I will cut the throat of an animal in the temple and that person's problem will be solved."

'Ancient belief'

Many of the worshippers have come from neighbouring India for the two-day festival.

Sixty-year-old Suresh Patak and his family travelled for a day to reach the festival from the Indian state of Bihar.

They have brought a goat to offer to the goddess.

"I have come here to worship Gadhimai. We are dedicated to her," he says.

Devotees have arrived from neighbouring India

"It is our ancient belief."

Festival organisers estimate more than half a million people are already at the festival site.

Many of them, like Suresh, have brought their own animals to be killed.

Behind high brick walls, thousands of buffalo move silently through the winter fog.

They are the largest animals to be sacrificed, but goats, chickens, pigeons and rats will also be killed.

Police inspector Bikesh Adhikari is one of the officials guarding the buffalo enclosure.

"First of all five buffalo are taken and sacrificed at the temple," he says.

"The rest are sacrificed here."

Two hundred and fifty local men have been given licences to slaughter the animals using traditional khukuri knives.

Spectators queue to watch the killing, each paying 20 Nepali rupees (26 cents).

But the scale and method of this sacrifice has angered some Nepalis.

'Cruel and barbaric'

Outside the temple grounds, a small but vocal group of animal rights activists cracked coconuts in a symbolic temple sacrifice.

It was a last minute plea to the organisers of the festival to call off the event.

They say that it is cruel and barbaric and that Hindu gods can be appeased by fruit and flower sacrifices.

"We're just giving out a message, that's all we can do at this stage," says protest organiser Pramada Shah.

The animal sacrifice has angered a lot of activists

"We're not saying stop the Gadhimai Festival - everybody's having a nice time," she says.

"But let's have it in a less gory manner is all we're trying to say."

But it is unlikely the animal sacrifice will stop.

Not only does the Gadhimai festival attract hundreds of thousands of worshippers, it is also big business.

The meat, bones and hides of the animals are sold to companies in India and Nepal.

Local hotels and restaurant owners thrive during the festival period.

And while protestors say they hope to raise awareness about the issue of animal cruelty, this ancient and bloody homage to the goddess Gadhimai looks set to continue.

 

Mon 11/23 Blues Control (Queens, NY) / Jamie Stewart (of Xiu Xiu doing an experimental set) / Randy Pelosi and Ethan Clauset improv set - $ 6 9:30 PM

Blues Control - vox, keys, ryhthm track & guitar duo from Queens with the ear and the touch to bring krautrock alive in full psychedelic glory and seamless mood control. A lovely rockin relation. With stone classics out on Fusetron, Holy Mountain and Siltbreeze. Here on the last date of a two month long tour! Check a recent performance and interview here.

Jamie Stewart - front of Xiu Xiu here in an experimental solo set! gongs, signal generator, dogs, cats, mice and men!

Randy Pelosi and Ethan Clauset - Improv set from these two local artists & longtime collaborators who began playing together in the legendary Kismet.

 

young man

clown

old female


female


painted face


old man

 

 

and she hurt you. and your anger elaborates memories of every moment you had with her. it pulls at seams of the trust she took for granted and stitches them back to your pain. how stupidly we hurt each other.

what are we, filthy little things, to cheat each other and collect reasons to cry. we hurt, then we ask for pity. what are we, filthy little things, to ask for pity.

 

...I went up blue all the stairs;
The sky of our house was not the same as our neighbours,
I went down hungry all the stairs
To the depth of wheat.

Searching for the whiteness of the horse,
All over the wheat field I could see only one path,
Which my father, with his grey hair, trod.

I had crossed the wheat field alone,
I had seen the wheat
But still I could not say: My horse!
They reaped my horse.

 

beverly h.
is the winner of the xiu xiu pantheon
well done!!!!!
the answers R~

otis redding
martin hannett
maryanne amacher
freddie mercury
nina simone
william faulkner
tran anh hung and tran nu yen-khe
diamanda galas
elfriede jelinek
shigeru miyamoto
kenzaburo oe
steven patrick morrissey

 

i wasn't used to myself there. i wished i could pass myself over, but i couldn't carry my weight. she folded herself next to me, and pinched the cellophane of her pack of camels-turkish silver. she wrapped the skin of her mouth around a cigarette and pulled taut.
i hardly said a lot of things, and she repeatedly emphasized her lips. i wished i could either leave or fuck her. we both felt neither would happen, and i should never have said hello.

 

1 what sound would you be happy to never hear again? The sound of a fork scrapping against someone's teeth between bites as they eat.
2 what do you do when you are feeling self destructive? Cross streets without looking both ways, avoid seatbelts, obsessive controlled consumption.
3 what nut, fruit, or vegetable would you use to build your castle? Hazelnut.
4 what is/was your favorite controlled/palliative substance? Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
5 what do you want to see when you look at the sky? Milk.
6 what about yourself physically do you want to change? The length of my torso.
7 what item that is not food, do you wish was food? Windex.
8 what do you want to be free of? Impatience.
9 what book do you want to read but have not yet? Infinite Jest.
10 what deformity do you find attractive? Displaced canines, pronounced noses.

 

gray death
chocolate makes you happy
apple for a brain
house sparrow
hyunhye's theme
dear God, i hate myself
secret motel
falkland rd.
the fabrizio palumbo retaliation
cumberland gap
this too shall pass away (for freddy)
impossible feeling

 

The state of Texas used to list all the final meal requests of death row inmates: final meal requests. But people complained that it was offensive, and they stopped.

"Chocolate birthday cake with "2/23/90" written on top..." -Miguel Richardson, DOB: 07/07/54, executed: 06/26/2001


But they still list all the Last Words of executed offenders: last words

"Yes I do. I know ya'lls pain, believe me I shed plenty of tears behind Carlos. Carlos was my friend. I didn't murder him. This what is happening right now is an injustice. This doesn't solve anything. This will not bring back Carlos. Ya'll fought real hard here to prove my innocence. This is only the beginning. I love each and everyone dearly. Dre My queen. I love you. Yaws, Junie I love yall. Stay strong, continue to fight. They are fixing to pump my veins with a lethal drug the American Veterinary Association won't even allow to be used on dogs. I say I am worse off than a dog. They want to kill me for this; I am not the man that did this. Fight on. I will see ya'll again. That's all I can say. " -Reginald Blanton, executed 10/27/2009

"No, I love you. May the Lord be with you. Peace, I'm done. " -Michale Rosales, executed 04/15/2009

"The Polunsky dungeon should be compared with the Death Row Community as existing not living. Why do I say this, the Death Row is full of isolated hearts and suppressed minds. We are filled with love looking for affection and a way to understand. I am a Death Row resident of the Polunsky dungeon. Why does my heart ache. We want pleasure love and satisfaction. It. The walls of darkness crushed in on me. Life without meaning is life without purpose. But the solace within the Polunsky dungeon, the unforgivesness within society, the church Pastors and Christians. It is terrifying. Does anyone care or who I am. Can you feel me people. The Polunsky dungeon is what I call the pit of hopelessness. The terrfying thing is the US is the only place, country that is the only civilized country that is free that says it will stop murder and enable justice. I ask each of you to lift up your voices to demand an end to the Death Penalty. If we live, we live to the Lord. If we die we die to the Lord. Christ rose again, in Jesus name. Bye Aunt Helen, Luise, Joanna and to all the rest of yall. You may proceed Warden. (began singing) " -Johnny Johnson, executed 01/12/2009



* Ninety-five percent of death row inmates cannot afford their own attorney. Court-appointed attorneys often lack the experience necessary for capital trials and are overworked and underpaid. In the most extreme cases, some have slept through parts of trials or have arrived under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
* Prosecutors seek the death penalty far more frequently when the victim of a homicide is white than when the victim is African-American or of another ethnic/racial origin.
* Co-defendants charged with committing the same crime often receive different punishments, where one defendant may receive a death sentence while another receives prison time.
* Approximately two percent of those convicted of crimes that make them eligible for the death penalty actually receive a death sentence.
* Each prosecutor decides whether or not to seek the death penalty. Local politics, the location of the crime, plea bargaining, and pure chance affect the process and make it a lottery of who lives and who dies.
* GEOGRAPHIC ARBITRARINESS: Since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 80% of all executions have taken place in the South. The Northeast accounts for less than 2% of executions.
source

 

i've waited a year putting off watching this, mostly because it is 2 hours long. but i finally did. it is done pretty well, the ending is a little WEIRD.

i thought it would come across as "conspiracy theory" - but everything is explained pretty thoroughly.





if this doesn't play, like how it is not playing for me now: trying moving the time indicator over and pressing play, or look up on youtube or google video: zeitgeist addendum

 

hi.

we set up an official xiuxiu facebook page.
it is pretty bare right now, but we will keep adding things a little by little until it is full of seeds and bulbs.

please find and add to your roster of thumbnailed friends. (search for "xiuxiu", not "xiu-space-xiu".

thanks.

 

the 12 greek gods and goddesses are thus-
zeus
aphrodite
apollo
hephaestus
ares
artemis
athena
demeter
dionysus
poseidon
hera
hermes
the 12 gods and goddesses of xiu xiu are thus-













if you are the first person to correctly send their earthly names
to willitburn@hotmail.com
the acolyte shall mail you ambrosia
or a human prize if you are a mere human

 

HELP YOUNG LOVERS!
a.e.m. #8
PINK
IS SENT OUT TODAY!
PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU
HAVE ANY PROBLEMS

 

so yet again the bigots steal civil rights- and yet again the sons of those same bigots are having their legs blown off in Afghanistan- is that the penance of bigots?

 

"We have poured over $100,000,000 in the last two years into efforts where Americans feel it is their obligation to vote on our freedom. The entire concept is repugnant and disgusting. That we for the last three decades have been drawn into this game of 'this is politics' and fighting these ballot box horrors so that maybe by in five, ten or twenty years we will have enough victories to force our federal government to protect our freedom is simply not acceptable anymore. Imagine the good we could have done with all that money. Imagine the civil rights movement we could have built if we had the leadership that was willing to think out of the box and put it on the line.

Call this campaign against us what it is - Gay Apartheid.

Refuse to allow any of our fellow Americans, President Obama or our allies to view this as a political issue who time hasn't quite come. America is in the process of creating a system of Gay Apartheid. We will not quietly sit and accept it. All over the place, this nation is creating one set of laws for LGBT Americans and another set for all other Americans. That is the classic definition of Apartheid. Either our political allies are for Gay Apartheid or against it. If they are against it, they must fight with us and no longer duck like President Obama did in Maine and Washington. There is no half way in fighting Apartheid.

Today many will claim that we must surrender the word marriage or accept some sort of separate but equal arrangement. It didn't work in the African-American struggle for freedom and it doesn't work for us. We want full equality with the same rights, benefits and privileges as all other Americans now. We say to those friends, allies and even in our own community who want to accept that second class citizenship, "Oh No You Don't!" We will accept no compromises, time-lines, incremental approaches with our freedom. Don't counsel patience as if this is a new issue. We have been fighting these ballot box bigots for over three decades. Enough.

Third, it is clear that the political establishment in Washington doesn't understand that we no longer willing to wait until it meets their timetable or political needs.

President Obama standing on the sidelines in Maine and Washington was appalling. The failure of our national organizations and leaders to demand his involvement was equally appalling. The outrageous act of the Democratic National Committee sending an email into Maine asking Maine Democrats to call into "NEW JERSEY" instead of to support the fight against bigotry was unbelievable. No one gets to sit on the sidelines in an epic battle against apartheid and no one gets a free pass. If you want our support, you have to earn it. We are way beyond where we will accept a little bit in 2009, some in 2010 and maybe more in the second term. Does anyone think after yesterday election results and the upcoming 2010 election, Obama has the ability to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and "DOMA" next year? Does anyone really believe we haven't already missed a historic opportunity in the first 10 months of this year? Only a courageous fighting President and Congress can now help turn us this around and that we have not seen so far. Enough."

David Mixner

 

I think last night's loss in Maine was particularly hard because it was so close. There were so much hope and so much hard work riding on this. the early numbers saw No on 1 pulling ahead and i think many of us thought, this is it. finally! But around 12am, seeing the Yes on 1 number stay ahead by such a close but sure margin, and seeing no sign of it going down, i could feel my heart sink into my stomach.

I want to blame everyone. Obama, for not standing up for, for not even acknowledging the pertinence of this legislation. Instead, pulling his weight around some blatantly corrupt politician? (And let's not even get started on Don't ask don't tell.) The Catholic church for the incredible amount of work and contribution they put into this anti-marriage campaign, while choir boys are still being molested by celibate male priests. (Put some more effort into that, k?) The 52% of the Maine population, who stand so firmly against equality. Gay marriages will take nothing away from straight marriages. No straight marriage will be ripped apart just because their neighbors are also allowed to marry. And this whole crap about homosexuality being taught in public schools if gay marriages were allowed? Jeez. Yeah, I'm sure that's how people turn gay.

A friend of mine has once put this more eloquently than I:

"I would like to address the fundamental error on which you argument is built: that you are against equal marriage rights because you support the institution of family. The “family” versus “gay marriage” dichotomy is a clearly a false one. Gay people seek the right to create stable, loving, families, with the legitimacy that state-recognized marriage is uniquely able to provide. They have been prevented from doing so by those who, because they fear and hate those who are different from them, because they need to vilify the “other” in order to validate their own choices, seek to force gay people into lives of secrecy and shame...

You have taken this as an opportunity to present your message : you are less than a person. You are unequipped to be a husband or wife. You are unfit to raise a child. Your nature is fundamentally repugnant to God.

... This is not simply religious proselytizing. This is a threat, which you have directed toward every gay person... You are telling people with whom you attend class every day that they are doomed to burn in hell – that they are not your equals, or your peers, they are not deserving of basic human rights. They are, to use your language, a “problem of the world” that must somehow be solved."

For all my bitterness, I know we're on the winning side. (Perhaps that's why it makes the loss so much more bitter.) I know that we will look back to this moment in history with the same repugnance and regret as we have other civil rights violations. This per se discrimination against other human beings cannot last.

This does not mean that we can just stop campaigning for LGBT human rights and equality. It means we must work ever harder to bring about the change in this lifetime. To insist that our friends, our family, we ourselves, are allowed to love and marry freely in our own lifetimes. Call me optimistic, but I think it can, it must, happen. And with that hope, we go forward. we will never back down and We Will Win this fight.

 

 

Beth Cavener Stichter