#narrow example for the broad narrative metaphor but you get the idea

[gotjacobian]

LRB I think the thing I specifically get Got by in media is characters making a conscious choice to "be" human and participate in human society, though with a very specific flavor. It can't just be out of obligation, to keep up appearances, or because it entertains them. It has to be because they want what humans have. Their history, their perspectives, their community, their ways of engaging with the world. I like plots that capture the fear of getting cut off from those things, and that really dig into the tangible and physical difficulties of achieving and holding onto that qualified humanity (and the immense gift it is to do the work it takes to open the gates a little wider for anyone who wants to access it).

[denisezd0]

 Academic Blog #4

If we were asked to express that there is a step between people. What would you do? Here is one of the artists I chose to analyse. Italian illustrator Davide Bonazzi's expression.

One step beyond the other

Do you go to university for knowledge or just for money in exchange for a diploma？

In the fairy tale, the candy house is a way to find your way home through the little stones, but now you can find your way to your home by giving me 0 or 1.

Davide Bonazzi is a Bologna-born and bred illustrator working with major publishers, agencies and animation studios around the world. Davide's illustrations represent complex subjects in a narrative and witty way. His style combines digital media with the textures of scanned found objects, adding a warm and evocative atmosphere to his illustrations. I feel that its work leans towards magical realism, focusing on the intersection of reality and fantasy, and transcending social constraints. Transcending the real world through creative means and exploring the depths of the human mind and consciousness.

What will we think when we see this picture？ How would we feel? Would it feel dangerous, would be wondering why that man swam into the ocean. Maybe the swimming pool happens to be broken, so why is the swimming pool in the ocean？ Will sharks come and eat us, is it a conservation theme. These are just my thoughts when I see them.

Academic definitions of magic realism can be divided into two categories - narrow definitions and broad definitions. The narrow definition of magic realism tends to see it as "an aesthetic that belongs organically to non-Western or marginal cultures," while the broader definition sees magic realism as "a universal aesthetic that reveals the supernatural core of what is real everywhere. So what is the significance of the success of magical realism？

Davide Bonazzi had this to say about the idea for this piece: Brandeis Magazine asked me to introduce Samantha Mocle to a new book by Professor Andy Molinsky on "Reach: Helping You Step Out of Your Comfort Zone, Take on Challenges, and Build Confidence"! Article. I struggled to figure out how to represent the concept of "comfort zone" with a good visual metaphor and how to get out of it. After a few attempts, I focused on sports: the track, the playing field, and the swimming pool are good examples of comfort zones, where playing can be a lot of fun, where one can exercise, improve oneself, break records, become a great athlete in the world, and yet (despite all this) end up in a state of isolation and protection. In another way, the open ocean represents real life and the feelings it offers: wonder, fear, freedom, anxiety, excitement, and what people spend a lot of time in their comfort zones not being able to experience. I think there is a "swimmer" in all of us who dares to break the mould from time to time and go a little further.

Magic realism is a narrative mode, as Davide Bonazzi said, he wants to express how to go through such a process. And how this process is in a social environment. Through magical and grotesque characters and plots, as well as all kinds of supernatural phenomena inserted into the narrative and depictions that reflect reality. Is it really possible that the swimming pool is in the same "container" as the sea？ Davide Bonazzi depicts two worlds, one isolated and the other adventurous and surprising. A simplified technique with a mysterious and bizarre atmosphere integrated into common themes, with jokes and clowns that tell us the reality and the truth, reminding us of our current circumstances. I think that's what makes it work.

Compare the effects of two different magical realist techniques in novels and paintings

Magic realism aims to teach the public how to read between the lines of politicians' speeches and thus become a mature human being. Defenders of truth, therefore, suggest that magic realist novelists actually end up telling "lies that tell the truth". One Hundred Years of Solitude "Magic Realism" is the work of Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The story is about the rise and fall of six generations of the Buendía family over a hundred years, as power and lust are reincarnated. Old Buendía, the first generation, is tied to a tree in his old age, and Ursula, the matriarch of the Buendía family, is always quietly supporting her family behind the scenes, but she is full of a sense of justice. to fight for the people. The last descendant-Orellano's son was eaten by ants when he was just born, and Orellano disappeared with Macondo after reading the last draft of the gipsy's prophecy.

Novels need a context and a historical background, and as a literary phenomenon, magic realism arose in Latin America for profound social, historical and contemporary reasons. Mariano Siskind claims that magic realism is both a "formal and historical" cultural phenomenon. Author Gabriel García Márquez was awarded the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, with the Royal Academy of Sweden justifying the award because "like other important Latin American writers, Márquez has always been a champion of the weak and the poor, resisting both internal oppression and external exploitation."

Chapter fifteen of A Hundred Years of Solitude is taken from an incident that took place on 6 December 1928 in Xenaga, a city on the northern coast of Colombia. A strike by workers in a banana factory had been going on for over a month. plantation owned by the United Fruit Company in Ciénaga. The workers were demanding better wages and working conditions. Although the novel A Hundred Years of Solitude describes the massacre as having claimed around three thousand lives, the conservative government led by Miguel Avadia Mendez sent the Colombian army to suppress the workers, and the actual number of deaths is still unknown.

Illustration is a visual expression of art forms, the use of patterns to express the image, with its intuitive image, the real sense of life and the beauty of the infectious force. The use of artistic contagion can trigger the emotional resonance of the audience. When I see a picture, I want to cry or cry out immediately, but when I see a book, maybe I want to cry only when I see half of it, or I will cry only when I finish reading it. In a sense, visual communication is a kind of activity that uses visual symbols as a channel of information transmission to achieve information exchange and mutual sharing, and it is the main way of disseminating information.

Any form of artistic expression has its limitations, and I think the biggest difference between fiction and painting in terms of the effectiveness of the technique is whether it's your story or the ideas you're trying to express, and I'm not denying that one side isn't there, it's just the size of the weight that's given to it. If it's a story, then fiction is the best means of telling it.

References

Figlerowicz, M. and Mertehikian, L. (2023) ‘An Ever-Expanding World Literary Genre: Defining Magic Realism on Wikipedia’, Journal of Cultural Analytics, 8(2).

Hart, S.M. and Hart, J. (2021) ‘Magical realism is the language of the emergent Post‐Truth world’, Orbis litterarum, 76(4), pp. 158–168.

Thompson, R. (2010) ‘Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities: Editorial’, Rupkatha journal on interdisciplinary studies in humanities, 2(3).

Wang, Y. (2022) ‘Illustration Art Based on Visual Communication in Digital Context’, Mobile information systems, 2022.

[witch-priestess]

Wicca and Expanding Worship Beyond the Heteronormative*

Is Wicca a Fertility Religion or a Nature Religion?

Historically, Wicca started out heteronormative as part of the original intention by Gardener. As years progressed and Wicca developed, many of our leaders and elders and scholars came in hetero pairs, even if their sexuality was not necessarily straight. This lead to the dogmatic concept that Wicca is a fertility religion celebrating the two progenitive forms of the gods, Male and Female, God and Goddess. Many Wicca Practitioners call upon the God and Goddess, and have the symbolic Great Rite (heterosexual sex), usually done with an atheme and a chalice, during rituals. Groups and Rituals are typically led by both a cis-man and a cis-woman. A few of our holidays revolve around the fertility of the earth and the sexual union of the god and goddess. Even our rites of passage and the archetypes that we celebrate emphasize the fertility cycle i.e: Maiden-Mother-Queen-Crone for women. Youth-Hunter/Father-King-Sage for men. This focus leads to the idea that we are primarily a Fertility Religion. 

When I came to Wicca 10 years ago, I was introduced to it as a poly-theistic Nature Religion, worshiping the cycles and rhythms and diversity of nature, and most often recognized a God and Goddess in ritual to represent the duality and balance within nature. These concepts of stewardship, diversity, and balance were what drew me to the path of Wicca. I liked the concept of Nature as a religion. I liked the concept of diversity and unity and that being a part of nature, which is divine, meant that I was also divine. So, I came to the path as a seeker, and hungry to learn as much as I could.

As I learned more and practiced, I was introduced to my initiating Coven. The Coven is led by a queer couple, where the word “straight” need not apply, ever. Yet the rituals we had and celebrated didn’t celebrate any of the queerness represented by them, or by some of the members. Being queer myself and not really identifying with the whole concept of fertility, and heteronormativity, a feeling of dissatisfaction began to grow with the emphasis and role that fertility held in the practice of the religion, in my readings, discussions, and rites. 

My experience with Paganism and Wicca as a whole is that many of the people practicing are Queer, and they left more restrictive religions for something that represented them better. They turned to the Craft, or Wicca, searching for their own path and acceptance. The heteronormativity of the rites and practices didn’t represent the people who were actually practicing the religion. It didn’t reflect the diversity within the whole of the community. My struggles and dissatisfaction stemmed from this; though I was led by queer-folx, and our group and the greater community was made of and had lots of queer-folx, our religious rituals and expression didn’t reflect that. It didn’t feel like a Nature Religion celebrating all nature had to offer. Rather, it felt like a dogmatic fertility religion with strict gender/sex roles.My dissatisfaction intensified into frustration, and anger, and a pressing need for change.

Anger and frustration are powerful motivators, and I delved into the theories on being a queer witch with the same enthusiasm and hunger that I had as a Seeker. I took these concepts to my leaders leading to some heated debates, passionate discussions of theology, surrounding my disquiet about things as they were and the need to change. These discussions and frustrations continued over the years, and still occur. Sometimes, I felt, in these discussions that I was hitting a brick wall, especially when it came to the Maiden-Mother-Crone narrative surrounding the Mother aspect. Yes, Motherhood is a stage of life, and it is important. However, crucially, it is not the only thing women can do, nor the most important. Furthermore, there are some women who do not have the equipment for giving birth or cannot or choose not to do so, and they are still women regardless of this. I am not a mother, and will not be, for a myriad of reasons. I am cis-female but my expression of my gender and interests fall outside of the societal norms. I am also pan-sexual, and so the experience of only heterosexual sex being ritualized was disconcerting and exclusive.  Disconnected and disgruntled by this I brought it up again with my leaders about the frustrations and lack of representation, I was told that “We are a fertility religion”,” Mother can be a metaphor, not just giving birth”, “Some of our members really identify with the maiden-mother-crone archetypes, do you want to say they are wrong?”. I was incensed, and ashamed. These statements led to feelings of alienation and isolation, and I took no comfort in them, because I wanted my religion to actually reflect me, to represent me, and to reflect the diversity in our community as equal parts.This focus of fertility was telling me I was less important because I was following a different pattern than the tradition. My religion was not meeting my genuine need to be represented in the practice of it. 

The thing that kept niggling at my mind, and rankled was the statement “We are a Fertility Religion”. Were we though? I agonized over this. All the struggles and discussions and theories brought me to the conclusion; We worship Nature, the beautiful and diverse spectrum and the balance of that spectrum. Human nature is just as broad and has such a huge diversity on every freaking level, it didn’t seem right to only venerate the extremes! The Gods don’t care about gender or sex! Many deities presented as an opposite gender and/or sex for various reasons within their mythos. Fertility and the primary care-giver, or birth giver, in some cases is not necessarily relegated to the female in the whole of the natural world. Fertility can be applied to many aspects of life, but the metaphor breaks down and excludes so many other things. The lens is too narrow when putting Fertility first. The realization that the narrow focus and veneration of fertility was an imbalance of the spectrum resonated in my soul. Therefore, I propose an alternate lens: Wicca as the Nature Religion to which I was first called. Nature encompasses the All, not just how we procreate, not just the ability to create, but also the very real beauty of the diversity within the universe at large. Nature recognizes that fertility is a facet, but not the only facet worth venerating.

I didn’t want to throw out the fertility aspect of our religion, which is important and valuable. Rather,  I wanted to expand the narrative to reflect all aspects of nature, widen the scope to see a bigger picture. I personally wanted to broaden the view of what it could be while still honoring the past and traditions. Tradition is important because it shows where we come from, it is a point from which to create and move forward. Being inclusive doesn’t mean we get rid of old ideas-- it just means that we expand them so that our practices actually reflect who we are and what we believe. For example, I like the tradition where we celebrate and lead in pairs as a way to represent balance, and I like the heteronormative great rite ritualized as the farthest ends of the spectrum meeting to have unity. I want to expand it so the duo we have to lead doesn’t have to be a hetero pair, if they can perform the office of Priest or Priestess and move or pull the energy required, it doesn’t matter their gender identity, as I saw in my own priest and priestess. The deities we welcome to our worship space don’t have to be a male-female pairing, it could be any combination of binary and non-binary deities. If we bless wine through the binary gods through the Great Rite, we can bless cakes through the non-binary deities and asexually. Excited, I explored other ways to include these ideas and concepts. The heart of this philosophy is explained thus: The balance in nature isn’t between two extremes, it is the balance of all the things in unison.

My Priest and Priestess, they heard me. Some of the traditions have changed, they now call the non-binary deities when performing rituals. They have expanded and changed the way they view the archetypes of the deities to include other forms beyond the traditional Maiden-Mother-Queen-Crone, and Hunter-Father-King-Sage, so people can move to an archetype that speaks to them in their rites of passage. They have thought about new ways to create rites of passage for Trans and Non-Binary people. They have listened to my frustrations, and they have done their best to meet me and the community. They are working on making these changes in positive ways, and they had already started taking huge strides in this direction before I came to the table.

For myself, my practice, and my students, Wicca is a Nature religion where we celebrate the bounty of all nature has to offer, and the diversity of the entirety of the universe through the balance of the spectrum of All. We will continue to expand and develop our traditions to reflect us, and our needs. I also intend to write further on how we can continue this expansion and work of inclusivity, because the “how” of change is as important as “why” of change. Wicca may have started out as a Fertility Religion, but in practice and who is practicing and the way it is evolving has changed it to be a Nature Religion. May Wicca continue to evolve, change, and expand to include those who worship and practice it. Blessed Be.

*This is the beginning of a series of blogs about inclusive Wicca, and how we can grow and change. This series will be tagged as INCLUSIVE WICCABtH.

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