Some Bad, Human Habits

 

Poor Marmaduke, being scolded for his human's bad habits. So very, very unfair! I know it may be tempting to do something like that, because it's part of the human nature to look for another "culprit" than the one that meets one's gaze in the mirror. 

Alas, that's the way of the world, unless you take one step out of the hamster mill that, at least in some respects, constitutes the life of most of us. Most children who were asked whether he or she wanted to be a part of such a future would decline the offer and point to other options like e.g. becoming a rich and famous rap-star, an astronaut, or maybe an overpaid politician. The good worker who is toiling day by day isn't the ideal of most people. What they dream of is a life of leisure and pleasure, which include riches beyond belief as well as fame, which has attained a stronghold of many dreamy minds these years. 

 

I know, and it's damn annoying! Nobody who knew me would take me for a tRump-fan. How could I, when he is a genuine crook in actions as well as in plans and ideas? However, there is ONE thing about him, that I understand, although I don't condone it. I see how he could choose his many blatant lies as well as tall stories over the historic truth that literally can't be denied by normal, decent people: It's pleasant to the lazy and callous mind .... 

 

Of course, he gets angry and feel betrayed when he is being fact-checked by some "nasty" individual who don't comply with those lies that flatter his ego. No matter what proofs of the difference between truth and lies, he has his own alternative truth. To make such a choice in one's personal scheme of things, which even is accepted by one's many (deluded!!!) fans, simply must make all of one's toiling worthwhile. "Shrug it off" might be his motto. 

Jesus, The Donkey-Headed God

 

 

 "Alexamenos, worships [his] god"

Did Jesus exist, and if so, was he a carpenter, who turned a rebel as well as what for more than 2000 years has been believed to be "The son of God", or was he a mere imposter, a deluded lunatic? To look at this age-old, Roman graffiti, which depicts a young man worshiping another man who sports the head of a donkey, hanging on a cross, one gets the impression that for someone - in this case "Alexamenos" - he was real enough to be mocked. What most likely was meant as an insult of the Christian belief and community has become a sort of backwards, but not conclusive, proof of the Crucifixion of Jesus.

Being an insult of Christianity, the graffiti was removed from the wall where it was scratched into the plaster of a room. Now it is located in the Palatine Museum where it may be seen, and, most likely, discussed by people who somehow relate to religion: WHO made it, and why? Was it to mock this "Alexamenos" or only his god? And WHEN was it made? Apparently it wasn't made right after the Crucifixion, but c. 200 years later: As so often with this kind of finds it has not been possible to estimate the time of the making of the graffiti 100%, so it will be give or take as one finds likely. However, it is considered to be the earliest depiction of the Crucifixion of Jesus which makes it intersting.

Donkey-headed deity, IAŌ, surrounded by the names Uriel, Suriel, Gabriel, and Michael

However, the image of a donkey-headed man is very confusing, as it also may represent the presumed father of Jesus, Yahweh. It's not my impression that this imagery has been studied as scientifically, as it should, which I hope shall be done in the future: The History of Religion is a most fruitful object for many scientific branches, history being one of them.

 

https://csac.au.dk/news-and-events/single-events/artikel/crucified-donkey-man-and-martyrdom-in-the-circus-late-antique-images-of-jesus-as-a-donkey-and-a-mu 

https://www.encounterchurchfw.org/blog/why-did-jesus-ride-a-donkey

 

Wikipedia

Selling Kids in 1948

 

I always thought that this photo was staged, and I'm quite flabbergasted to learn that that doesn't seem to be the case. All five of the individuals in this photo of August 5, 1948, have names: Pregnant Lucille Chalifoux, is the mother of all of them, and they are: Lana (6), Rae (5), Milton (4) and Sue Ellen (2). Allegedly the photo first was published by the Vidette-Messenger of Valparaiso, Indiana, although some people may have had a political need to claim it's from Chicago. Anyway, sadly enough, it's not the only instance of something like this sale happening.

Three of the kids before being put up for sale. I take it that the girl is Lana, and that she may be the one who claimed to have been sold for $2 for bingo money. It seems that the children were to become some kind of "slaves, and some of them claim to have been chained to a barn to work as slave laborers on a farm.

True/False? I hope it's the latter, but, as I said before, it doesn't seem so. Besides, not only these siblings have experienced something like this sale. Others have too:

I take it that children this young weren't meant for slavery (or sex?), but for adoption. This one was used for a postcard, which makes me believe that it was more of a joke than anything else:

Also, there were buyers for Native American Indian children. Apparently, they were sold by an organisation which were made to help the children, but which may have had ulterior motives. (NB: This letter is authentic).

When the Chalifoux-children grew up, some of them began looking for their relatives, which - as one might expect - wasn't too easy. Also, someone published a book about the case:

 

 

^{https://eu.thepublicopinion.com/story/news/local/2018/12/19/south-dakota-man-whose-father-was-in-4-children-for-sale-photo-pieces-together-his-pas/116602674/} 

 

^{https://allthatsinteresting.com/4-children-for-sale} 

 

^Wikipedia

 

 

Gaining Power By Proxy

A young girl of 12 years of age, Margaret Beufort, was married off to a grown man of 26, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and he - eager to have offspring as soon as possible - not only consummated the marriage, but impregnated her. That means that 13 years old, and thus very young, Margaret, gave birth to a son in 1457. With her more or less secretive help, he became king of England as well as the founder of the royal Tudor family of England, Henry VII (1485–1509). After the death of her husband, Edmund Tudor, a short time before the birth of their son, Margaret married again. Actually, she married several times, but she never had any more children, and it was said that her pregnancy at such an early age and the very difficult birth of Henry had ruined her womb. At that time, children of a noble family were important in many ways, one of them being used as some sort of "tools" in intricate arrangements and deals of their families. When Margaret married Edmund Tudor, she had been of age with the Shakespearean heroine Juliet, but there is no indication that her marriage(-s) were of a romantic nature: One married for power, property and dynastic reasons.

Henry VII

This being the time of the so-called "Rose Wars" several royal careers were made - or ruined - in some unforeseen ways. What was up often came down or was uprooted in wars or intrigues. Margaret was very good at political schemes, apparently not for herself, but for her son. For ages that was the way of the women: A man, be he father, brother, husband or son, became their more or less willing pawn in the game of power. 

The noble family tree of Margaret was quite fine, but neither she nor her son were royal, so for him to become king of England wasn't all that easy: It wasn't in the cards, so to speak, unless someone shuffled them some more. Luckily enough for Henry, his Mom worked diligently to advance his very slim claim to the throne. As far as I can see, he didn't really have a strong legit claim, except as the one who fought and defeated Richard III. What he had was first and foremost based on his lineage through his mother, who was a descendant of the House of Lancaster. However, the one with a much stronger claim to the throne was Elizabeth of York, who was the eldest daughter of Edward IV, and the sister of the so-called "Princes of Tower", who disappeared in 1483. Their marriage brought an end to The War of The Roses and a new royal dynasty on the throne: The Tudors.

Elizabeth of York

Of course, Margaret wasn't of royal birth, although her son had become the king of England. However, she was very good at attaining a position for herself at the royal court. Her son, the king, granted her the elevated title "My Lady the King's Mother", and she made sure that she was treated with due respect, yes, almost as the queen herself. According to some legends, she demanded to walk in front of the queen, and that her clothes were as fine as hers. The old age of the former child bride was spent with pulling the strings at the court of her only son, which I'm sure she, being whom she was, enjoyed very much.

My Lady The King's Mother, Margaret Beufort 

 

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Lady-Margaret-Beaufort/ 

https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/margaret-beaufort-mother-of-the-tudors/

 

Britannica

 

Wikipedia

Lost And (Sometimes) Found

Some of the many missing people 

I take it that everybody, or most of us, have had the experience of losing a friend or a relative over time. Unfortunately, people get ill, die, move on or simply fall out with relatives or friends, etc., etc., which means that they disappear from somebody's everyday circles. One may miss them, but if one knows what happened to them, it's different from losing them without any traces. To mourn the death of someone, and to visit a grave site may be heart-rending, but in my opinion it must be much worse living with the suspicion that a loved one is truly lost and only will be found when one starts looking for him/her on the pages of The Doe Network which features such cases. Here one may find photos or descriptions of people who went missing as well as of nameless, anonymous dead people who were found somewhere, but who have not been identified. Actually, there are surprisingly many such cases, but some lost people are being found again, hale and hearty, but severely abused, like for instance, in the case of Joseph Fritzl who abducted, raped and kept his daughter Elizabeth hidden for 24 years, fathering several children with her. That case seems so very special, but it's not the only one of its kind.

Joseph And Elizabeth Fritzl

Most of the cases being featured on The Doe Network may go far back, and they don't seem to have been many chances of being solved: Someone lost someone, and the lost one shall never find those who are looking for him or her. That goes for several children who went missing. The parents may hope that they were kidnapped to be adopted by the kidnapper, but if the kid turns up, it will often be as an unidentified corpse somewhere.

I admit that a child this cute might have a chance of being abducted for adoption, but sadly enough it may be more likely, that the kidnapper is - or work for - a pedophile. As far as I can see, he has not been found yet, neither dead nor alive, and he is only one of several lost children.

................................................... 

Some cases go far back, and I think it would take a miracle both to find them and to solve the mystery of their disappearance. For instance, that goes for this case:

543DFFL - Carmen Marie Hallock

Name: Carmen Marie Hallock
Nickname/Alias: Unknown
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: December 18, 1969
Location Last Seen: Fort Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida

Date of Birth: February 9, 1947
Age: 22 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Dentals: Available
Fingerprints: Unknown
DNA: Unknown

Clothing: Possibly a black cocktail dress and black patent leather pumps.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

She told a relative that she had an appointment with an unidentified teacher which might lead to a job opportunity for her. The clothes she was to wear at this meeting were a pair of black patent leather pumps and a black cocktail dress. However, that talk with her relative was the last anybody saw of her for four years, until some of her belongings were found in the possession of a certified creep: The cop who became a serial rapist and killer, Gerard John Schaefer.

Something like that may have happened to many of those missing people who are being sought in vain: A creep targets them for sexual abuse and/or murder. Was that what happened to this lovely child who was three years old when he disappeared, and who by now would be in his early fifties?

 

Jonathan Edward Hagans

 

His case was reopened by law enforcement in 2020. That means that investigators are reviewing his case file and the theories around his disappearance. His photo has been updated, and he may look like this now:

 

The family of Jonathan believes he was abducted, which may be the case, although the police think that he may have died in an accident at the beach. No matter what, he has been gone for more than 50 years.

................................................

 

 

4369DFTX - Sonja Kay Redbird

Sonja, who is an American Indian of the Kiowa Tribe, went missing in Dallas, Texas in 1975. At that time, she was 19 years old, and nobody seems to have any idea of where she might be. Her case was updated 07/18/2022, but it doesn't strike me as one of those rare ones that may be solved. That means that she most likely is a true "Jane Doe" who will not be found alive except for a miracle.

To see all these cases of people looking for someone, or someone dead being nameless for many years, is something most of us will be able to relate to. Some of these cases really are extremely touching - or downright scary, as this "game" of lost/found may happen to all of us.

 

https://www.wdio.com/tag/missing-person/ 

 

https://www.doenetwork.org/monthlycases.php 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Doe_Network 

 

https://www.watchmojo.com/articles/top-10-missing-people-who-were-eventually-found

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The Poet Who Was Turned Into A Picture

 

Ginevra de Benci (1457–1521)

She was a poet, but is first and foremost remembered for her portrait being painted by Leonardo da Vinci. It is the only one of his paintings on public view in USA after being bought for $5-6 million from The Prince of Lichtenstein. Somehow this portrait has gained impact over her and what she was, namely the woman Ginevra de Benci herself. I've often seen her described as her portrait, not what she was and did as a live woman. The myth of a Renaissance "muse" took over and pushed her and her personality aside. Some of the poems by others, which were dedicated to her, only extol her beauty and some pleasant parts of her personality. However, a modern poet also had something to say about this Renaissance woman:

 

John F McCullagh:

 

Ginevra de Benci

Someone has cut off my hands, not that it caused any pain

Look upon me, a proud man’s daughter, enjoy then what remains,

My eyes will stare into your soul. My lipsbear the trace of smile.

My portrait has lent immortality to this woman who never had child.

I was both a wife and a lover, this painting was made for my swain,

But he had both a wife and a mistress. In Florence he couldn’t remain.

In me you will see light and darkness. Sadness is there in my eyes

My family has made me an older man’s bride, my circumstance breeds my disguise. 

 

Maybe - just maybe - another portrait of Ginevra de Benci, this one by Lorenzo di Credi 

We know that she was a poet, but it seems that only one single line of one of her poems has survived, namely an opening of a sestina:

"I ask your forgiveness and I am a mountain tiger."  

.........................

I bet she was an interesting tiger and I regret not having more poems from her to prove it. 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/search/

 

Wikipedia

When One's Wishes UNFORTUNATELY Come True

Gladys Deacon was considered a stunning beauty in her youth, but all her glamour was gone when she died in a mental asylum in 1977, almost 100 years old. So were those wild ambitions of moving from a position of American wealth to English nobility, which had led her onto a dangerous road of dreams at an early age: She was 14 years old when her lifelong envy was triggered by another American girl, Consuelo Vanderbilt, getting married to The Duke of Marlborough. Being of the highest nobility he was considered a real "catch", although he wasn't a very pleasant character.

The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, Consuelo Vanderbilt and Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough

Gladys wasn't only beautiful, but also very smart and charismatic. Maybe that was why she succeeded in becoming a friend of the young, American-born Duchess, Consuelo, who wasn't very happy in her high society marriage into nobility. Actually, she hadn't been interested in marrying the somewhat somber Duke. Also, she had been in love with a young American, but her very ambitious mother was against such a non-classy marriage, so she conceded in giving up her true love to make her family happy by becoming a full-class Duchess. That meant that she spent many unhappy years in England, but at least her American money saved Blenheim, the castle of the noble Marlborough family, which her son eventually inherited.

Gladys had her own worries, and they were of a peculiar nature: The German Crown Prince, Wilhelm, was one of the numerous men who fell madly in love with her. When that happened, it became a big sensation, broadcasted by numerous newspapers. Yes, the sensation grew to such length that someone started to sell a cut-out-doll over her likeness. 

Vilhelm

Many others than the German Crown Prince extolled her beauty. One of them was the French writer, Marcel Proust, who wrote: "I never saw a girl with such beauty, such magnificent intelligence, such goodness, and charm". 

 

The exceedingly ambitious (and presumably always envious!) Gladys might have made a "career move" by accepting the proposals of e.g. Prince Caetani or Radziwill. She wasn't in love with either of them, but when her younger sister, Dorothy, married prince Radziwill she got enraged as she found that she had been outdone by her in some kind of secret "sister-competition". Something she couldn't abide!

It's my impression that she was totally engulfed in all of these more or less secret competitions for female status that was so very important to many/most women because that was their only accepted outlet for their ambitions on a personal level. Had she not felt that way, she might have been much happier, but that was what she had been brought up to feel. When another one of her sisters were introduced in high society, she saw to it that she herself outshone her in the typical Gladys-way she had attained as her personal style.

Being considered a stunning beauty wasn't enough for her vanity: She saw flaws where others saw perfection, so she went to Paris to have cosmetic surgery of her nose. Alas, she became one of the many who suffered from botched surgery, as the wax she had had injected into her nose melted and, sort of, twisted her facial traits. Poor Gladys had entered a trail of misery, although she succeeded in having some of the melted wax removed: She got scars and other disfigurements.

However, when she was almost forty years old she succeeded in obtaining that noble title she had pined for since she was 14: She got married to The Duke of Marlborough, who probably had been her lover for years, even before his marriage to Consuelo was ended. Unfortunately for Gladys, the marriage soon proved not to be what she wished for, as it put a stop to her life as an international socialite. Becoming the new Duchess of Marlborough meant staying at the family seat of Blenheim, being bored and restless. Also, there were no kids, but she underwent a couple of dangerous abortions which must be part of her wishes as she made some utterances against having kids. 

At one point, she mocked the Duke by talking about all the men of noble and royal birth she had slept with, all the time hoping that sex wouldn't lead to a pregnancy. Maybe that was why he sort of harassed her out of his life in 1932. He died of cancer two years later, and she turned into a rather weird recluse whom her family had committed into a mental asylum when she was 81. No matter what she did, she didn't succeed in getting out, but stayed until she died.

 

https://www.theshot.com/actors/facts-about-gladys-deacon-the-socialite-turned-recluse-188-1719587956 

 

https://nypost.com/2018/08/25/these-four-american-brides-were-sold-off-to-foreign-lords/ 

 

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/true-stories/the-story-of-gladys-deacon-the-1920s-socialite-who-became-a-recluse-and-died-in-a-mental-hospital/news-story/c94037af12d6ec5d9b0ce6bce5526d6e 

 

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/8839177.gladys-deacon----eccentric-duchess-blenheim-palace/ 

 

Wikipedia