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The work of Toronto photographer Samra Habib focuses on images and interviews with queer Muslims. 

Habib says. “I wanted to show everyone the creative and brilliant LGBTQ Muslims I identified with the most and would hang out with at art shows, queer dance parties, and Jumu’ah prayer. So I picked up my camera and decided to photograph what I was witnessing. In the words of the brilliant Dali (who I shot for this project), ‘we have always been here, it’s just that the world wasn’t ready for us yet.”

QueerMuslimProject.tumblr.com

CLICK THE HEADER LINK TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

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Relief with Enthroned Ruler

La Pasadita, Mexico or Guatemala. Maya.  750–800 AD

Artist: Chakalte’

This Maya landmark was likely the carved lintel of a doorway from the site of La Pasadita in northwestern Guatemala carved in the early A.D. 770s. The relief panel would have been installed parallel to the floor of the entrance of a temple at La Pasadita. Visitors to the building were thus forced to look upward to view the monument, and perhaps even had to light the surface with raking torchlight in order to read the image and the text. The Metropolitan lintel is striking for the amount of pigment preserved on the surface. A variety of red, yellow-orange, and blue-green pigment remains to give clues about the original brightly colored appearance of the lintels. The jade jewels of the main characters and the details on the ruler’s throne glisten in blue-green, a color that symbolized the ‘first/newest’ and most precious materials. In the 8th century, the small hilltop site La Pasadita was caught between the power struggles of the self-proclaimed divine kings of the river kingdoms of Yaxchilan (modern-day Chiapas, Mexico), and Piedras Negras (Guatemala). During the Classic Maya period (ca. A.D. 250-900), the two major royal courts vied for power, paid tribute to one another, intermarried, and engaged in conflict with subsidiary local lords. Loyalties sometimes shifted, boundaries between the two city-states were often fortified, and artistic programs sponsored by the lords and ladies served as propaganda to stake claims on the contested landscape. The Yaxchilan kings and queens favored elaborate sculpted doorway lintels at the royal capital, and they made sure their local allies marked their palaces in the same way. At least a dozen related lintel reliefs are known from subsidiary sites around Yaxchilan. Likely commissioned by the Yaxchilan rulers themselves, most show the ruler from Yaxchilan in the company of the local lord in a supporting role in some ritual, making an overt statement of political sovereignty. The Met’s lintel depicts three protagonists: the figure seated on the right is faced by two standing ones to the left. The main figure offering an elaborate headdress to the seated leader is the La Pasadita ruler named Tiloom (ti-lo-ma), who ruled from approximately A.D. 750s-770s, using the title of sajal, a title for subsidiary regional governors. Tiloom is represented on at least three other known doorway sculptures: one in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin (IV Ca 45530), one in the collection of the Museum of Ethnology in Leiden (3939-1), and one in an unknown private collection. The Berlin lintel dates to A.D. 759, and the Leiden monument dates to A.D. 766; the private collection lintel dates to A.D. 771. Based on the known sculptures of Tiloom, the Metropolitan lintel is contemporaneous with the private collection lintel, probably carved between 769 and the early 780s. Tiloom was a loyal provincial ruler to the final two major kings of Yaxchilan, the father and son rulers of Bird Jaguar IV and Shield Jaguar III. Bird Jaguar IV ruled from A.D. 752-768, and Shield Jaguar III from 769 to around the turn of the 9th century. Bird Jaguar IV dominates the Berlin and Leiden lintels, in which Tiloom assists in a captive presentation and a scattering of incense, respectively. The ‘Sun Lord’ captive depicted in the Berlin Lintel is likely from Piedras Negras, and is the final portrayal of the many war victories of Bird Jaguar IV, who referred to himself as ‘he of 20 captives.’ In the Leiden panel, commemorating an event that occurred seven years after the Berlin captive presentation scene, Tiloom assists Bird Jaguar IV with a ‘scattering’ ritual in which the king drops blood or incense into a basket. The lintel from 771 in which Tiloom dances in a bird costume alone perhaps signals a shift in authority from one overlord to the other; Tiloom celebrated his own right to rule rather than his supporting role to the Yaxchilan king. The Metropolitan Lintel also dates from the early 770s; in fact, the same sculptor carved the two lintels, an individual by the name of Chakalte’. Sculptors’ signatures are relatively rare in Maya art, though many are known from the area around Yaxchilan and Piedras Negras. Chakalte’ was probably a sculptor who worked under the patronage of Shield Jaguar III. That leader was known to send out sculptors to the other provincial lords, such as the rulers of the well-known site of Bonampak. Sculptors were sometimes important members of the royal courts; at Piedras Negras it seems that a master sculptor oversaw an atelier of apprentices who all signed the same works. Many hands thus crafted these royal portraits. Chakalte’ composed the Met’s lintel scene so that the visitor would be first greeted by the enthroned ruler, Shield Jaguar III, facing the interior of the structure. The king leans forward towards his visitors, wearing an elaborate feathered hair ornament, a feathered nose plug, and a beaded jade necklace with bar pendant. Tiloom then stands proudly presenting the Yaxchilan holy lord with a headdress and what could be packets of incense or a plate of tamales. Tiloom wears a jaded headband and human head pectoral, with an elaborate woven skirt with a geometric pattern. A third personage stands behind Tiloom in a similar outfit but with a type of sombrero associated in other scenes with travelers or merchants. The text names the Yaxchilan “divine” lord with his pre-accession name of Chel Te’ Chan K’inich, which he changed to Shield Jaguar early in his reign because it was a namesake of ancestral rulers of the kingdom. The text naming Tiloom as the sajal, provincial lord, is squeezed in next to the ruler’s arm and the offertory headdress, almost as if Chakalte’ had not originally planned to include it. A bowl of sliced fruit with seeds visible sits under the throne, presumably part of the offering brought to the seated ruler. La Pasadita was visited in the 1970s by renowned explorer and monument recorder Ian Graham, but subsequently became dangerous for scholarly visits because of border conflicts during the decades-long civil conflict in Guatemala. Land mines and security problems prevented archaeological work until 1998, when Charles Golden and colleagues performed reconnaissance in the area. Even today the site lies within a troubled zone suffering the effects of narcotrafficking and illegal settlements within the national parks in the Usumacinta River drainage. The Metropolitan lintel provides key information for the understanding of Classic Maya politics on the eve of institutional collapse at the end of the 8th century. It shows the final major Yaxchilan lord receiving tribute in the form of food and regalia from a lord loyal to his warlord father, known as “he of 20 captives.” But by the beginning of the 9th century, the dynasty at Yaxchilan ceased to build temples or commission monuments, silencing the voices of La Pasadita lord Tiloom and his sculptor of choice, Chakalte’. James Doyle, 2015 Resources and Additional Reading Bussel, G. W., and T. J. J. Leyenaar. 1991. Maya of Mexico. Leiden, The National Museum of Ethnology. Freidel, David, and Linda Schele 1990. Forest of Kings: The Untold Story of the Ancient Maya. New York, William Morrow. Golden, Charles, Andrew K. Scherer, A. René Muñoz, and Rosaura Vásquez. 2008. Piedras Negras and Yaxchilan: Divergent Political Trajectories in Adjacent Maya Polities. Latin American Antiquity 19(3): 249-274. Golden, Charles, and Andrew K. Scherer. 2013. Territory, Trust, Growth, and Collapse in Classic Period Maya Kingdoms. Current Anthropology 54(4): 397-435. “Border problems: recent archaeological research along the Usumacinta River.” PARI Journal 7(2):1–16. Golden, Charles W. 2010. Frayed at the edges: the re-creation of histories and memories on the frontiers of Classic period Maya polities. Ancient Mesoamerica 21(2): 373–384. “The politics of warfare in the Usumacinta Basin: La Pasadita and the realm of Bird Jaguar.” In Ancient Mesoamerican Warfare. M. Kathryn Brown and Travis W. Stanton, eds. pp. 31–48. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira. Grube, Nikolai, and Marie Gaida. 2006 Die Maya: Schrift und Kunst. Berline, SMB-Dumont. Houston, Stephen. 2013. Carving Credit: Authorship among Classic Maya Sculptors. Paper presented at Making Value, Making Meaning: Techné in the Pre-columbian World, a Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks. Martin, Simon, and Nikolai Grube. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. New York, Thames & Hudson, 2000. Mathews, Peter. Tilom, in Who’s Who in the Classic Maya World, Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, Inc., 2005, http://research.famsi.org/whos_who/people.php?mathewsnumber=PSD%20001 Schele, Linda, and Mary Ellen Miller. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum, 1986. Simpson, Jon Erik. The New York Relief Panel and Some Associations with Reliefs at Palenque and Elsewhere, Part 1, in Segunda Mesa Redonda de Palenque, edited by Merle Greene Robertson, Pebble Beach, Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, 1976, pp. 95-105.

The Met

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Libros y manías.

Siempre digo que lo mejor que me ha pasado en la vida es la lectura. 

Mario Vargas Llosa.

Todos hemos juzgado un libro por sus tapas o hemos olido sus páginas al terminar de pagarlos. Viajamos con ellos y nos sentimos acompañados si los tenemos cerca, y el imaginario colectivo está plagado de libros. 

Comprar un libro es un ritual tan importante que para hacerlo como es debido hace falta una tarde entera, pero antes es necesario tomar algo cerca de nuestra librería de cabecera. La Extravangante en Sevilla, como la lluvia, es una maravilla y podemos tomar un café con leche en El Corral de Esquivel en el jardín público más antiguo de Europa, la Alameda de Hércules. Mientras tomamos ese café repasaremos la lista de libros que últimamente nos han recomendado, entre los que probablemente esté Gafas de sol para días de lluvia de Mamen Sánchez. Otra opción es dejar de lado la lista y dejarnos llevar por el azar de las estanterías o el buen hacer del librero, que si es bueno, sabrá predecir por nuestra expresión el tipo de libro que estamos buscando.

Y para los que no sabemos decir basta a ese precioso vicio de comprar libros, ahí están las bibliotecas. Acogedoras, silenciosas, estimulantes, fresquitas en verano y con suerte, calentitas en invierno. Algunas son tan bonitas que casi no nos atrevemos a dar el paso y entrar, como ocurre con la Biblioteca Nacional de España. Para los que hemos pasado media etapa estudiantil metidos en una, la conexión es extrema. En ellas es difícil encontrar el olor a libro nuevo, pero tenemos una alternativa para los románticos de estos espacios llenos de historias, la tipografía e ilustraciones de los libros usados o las anotaciones de los antiguos lectores. A menudo salimos de ellas cargados como una Matilda adulta, rezando para que el bibliotecario no nos haga la temida pregunta para la que la respuesta casi siempre acaba siendo negativa “¿de verdad te los vas a leer todos?” .

Leer nos hace felices. Podemos reconocernos a nosotros mismos leyendo ese libro maravilloso con una media sonrisa o metidos en la cama muertos de miedo sin poder dejar de leer. Quizás no nos ha salvado la vida una Biblia metida en nuestro bolsillo de la camisa, pero sabemos perfectamente cuál es el título de aquel que nos hizo más amenas aquellas desesperantes horas en un aeropuerto por culpa del retraso de nuestro vuelo. En mi mente se mezclan los paisajes de la costa noruega con el de la ciudad sudamericana en la que se desarrolla De amor y de sombra de Isabel Allende, porque en mi último viaje no podía levantar la vista de ese libro, pero a la vez quería llevarme en los ojos todo ese verde y azul tan característico del verano del norte. 

Cuando nos imaginamos nuestra futura casa, muchos de nosotros lo primero que vemos es una gran estantería llena de libros de todos los tamaños y colores, puede que colmados de dedicatorias. ¡Ah! las dedicatorias… algunas son más especiales que el propio libro y las releemos cada vez que nuestros ojos se posan sobre el que la contiene. Y si nos regalan un libro y no la tiene, hay que pedirla. Si por otra parte, el libro nos lo ha prestado o recomendado alguien, ese objeto lleva parte de la esencia de esa persona y en alguna página concreta nos la imaginaremos leyendo esa linea que tenemos ahora entre las manos, quizá con el mismo entusiasmo que nosotros. 

Existe quien lee en un maravilloso sillón en una casa en silencio, en una biblioteca llena de gente, en los bares, en la cama o en la parada del bus. Hay quien no puede dejar sin terminar ninguno y quien desecha uno tras otro durante meses hasta dar con la historia perfecta. Muchos son los que no pueden prestarlos porque no se quedarán tranquilos hasta que les sea devuelto. Unos no soportan que se les haga la más mínima arruga en una hoja, mientras que otros, entre los que me incluyo, disfrutamos manoseando, subrayando y anotando el libro entero, siempre que éste no nos lo hayan prestado. Esta es la primera regla del código no oficial que entra en vigor cuando alguien te presta un libro.  

A todos nos ha pasado que hemos cogido un libro esperando conciliar el sueño más rápidamente y de repente nos hemos dado cuenta de que son las tres de la mañana y del sueño, ni rastro. Y por supuesto, muchos estamos deseando llamar por teléfono a ese autor que ha decidido tomarse unas merecidas vacaciones para rogarle que escriba al menos un libro más. Somos capaces de releer ese que casi nos sabemos de memoria antes de comprar uno nuevo, pero hay libros que hay que leer con una edad concreta, o que simplemente llegan a nosotros en el momento adecuado, como en mi caso ocurrió con El Lobo Estepario, de Hermann Hesse

El ceremonial es infinito. Los cerramos con los dedos entre sus páginas, tomamos aire y volvemos a abrirlos para leer de nuevo esa frase que nos ha llegado. En ocasiones se convierten en foco de nuestras manías. En mi caso, antes de leer la primera frase del libro tengo que leer la última palabra y me imagino qué relación puede tener con el resto del libro. Cuando compro uno de un autor que no conozco, leo sobre su biografía y a través de su foto me imagino su forma de ser y las circunstancias que pudieron llevarlo a escribir ese libro y no otro.

Pero para ceremoniales, el de terminar un libro. En una especie de alivio de luto bibliográfico a veces he comenzado a leer alguno que sabía que dejaría a la mitad, porque me apetecía seguir leyendo pero no quería que nada suplantara ese momento de final perfecto. Cuando me aproximo a las últimas páginas las ojeo con miedo de leer algo importante para el final, las cuento y acto seguido intento olvidar ese número, me entusiasmo y me apeno. Y como final perfecto, justo cuando paso la última página muy despacio, leo la última frase y veo que ya no hay más, aprieto el libro entre mis manos, respiro hondo para quedarme en silencio y con esa desazón inexplicable me pregunto ¿y ahora qué?

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a jackass: I just don't understand how someone could use they as a pronoun, wouldn't they know that the word isn't a proper pronoun? You'd think they'd understand that they need to use he or she

me: this is incredible

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https://www.etsy.com/shop/DemianDineyazhi Survivance: Indigenous Poesis is a 40-page zine featuring the poetry of 6 Indigenous/First Nations poets: Janet Rogers, Trevino Brings Plenty, Demian DinéYazhi’, Melissa Bennett, Melanie Fey, & Neal Shannacappo. Published by R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment, 2015. ABOUT Survivance: Indigenous Poesis Zine Survivance is a collection of Indigenous poetry that highlights Indigenous narratives in order to heal, inform, empower, and mobilize Indigneous communities. Influenced by the social impact game Survivance, this collection of poetry came together and acts as a bridge between Indigenous tribes from the colonized lands of Canada and the United States of America. Survivance was created by Dr. Elizabeth LaPensée. LaPensée is an Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish game researcher, designer, and writer whose focus is Indigenous game development. Her practice is informed by cultural values and teachings. She encourages community collaboration, which led to the partnership with R.I.S.E. for this meaningful collection. R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment is an Indigenous founded & operated artist/activist/warrior collective. We are dedicated to the education, dissemination, and perseverance of Indigenous art & culture. (http://burymyart.tumblr.com)

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High resolution posters of two Indigenous Queers taken during the Long Walk/forced removal/ relocation of the Diné to an internment camp located near Bosque Redondo, New Mexico in 1866. As with all our posters, feel liberated to print out and wheatpaste at will! The photograph shows two Diné Nádleehí (translation: “the one is changing”), which is the equivalent to Indigenous Queer identity in contemporary culture. It is accompanied by text that challenges Western perspectives on homosexuality by asking the viewer to imagine the pre-“history” of terms and issues that have become relevant to contemporary Queer culture. In this case, it inserts an Indigenous narrative prior to genocide, colonization, health epidemics, and forced assimilation to Western notions that include but are not limited to gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, same-sex marriage, queer history, and romanticization of nature and masculinity/male identity.

R.I.S.E.: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment https://facebook.com/RISEindigenous

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Indigenous People’s Day - Monday, October 12, 2015

RISE: Radical Indigenous Survivance & Empowerment’s ‪#‎AntiColumbusDay‬ 10.8" x 18" poster has been reduced to $15 in acknowledgement of this year’s Indigenous People’s Day. Order yours TODAY to ensure delivery by Monday, October 12th. Share far and wide!! ORDER HERE: https://www.etsy.com/list…/215752303/indigenous-peoples-day… You can also head over to BuryMyArt for a FREE download of the poster: http://burymyart.tumblr.com/…/burymyart-in-recognition-of-p… #AntiColumbusDay ‪#‎IndigenousPeoplesDay‬

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by Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

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Celebrities join forces to get free community college for all! Watch the full PSA

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Leo is such an icon

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