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WHAT'S HAPPENING

Well, it's been HOT AS 🙀HELL here in western Massachusetts and VERY hard to think straight. It doesn't help being bombarded with (TMI) TOO MUCH INFORMATION. I try not to do that on my website. Once a month, you will see what I am reading, thinking about, etc. ALWAYS know you can reach out to me, anytime... use the contact form on this blog:

(EMAIL: laratrace@outlook.com)

 
Keep positive and stay as full of hope as best you can... TL Hentz


Maya Inlaid human teeth incrusted with jade and pyrite. (via Wikimedia Commons)

  • New findings reveal that the sealant used to hold inlaid Mayan teeth stones helped prevent infection and tooth decay.

    (excerpt) An intriguing recent discovery suggests that there is a healing aspect in the ancient practice of sticking gemstones into body parts. Maya people in the Classic period (200–900 CE) ritualistically augmented their teeth by affixing jade, turquoise, and pyrite in small holes drilled by ancient dentists. New findings now indicate that the sealant used to hold the stones in place may have had properties that helped prevent infection and tooth decay, according to an article in Science Magazine published in May.

    A disinfectant sealant seems like a good policy in the practice of intentionally drilling, filing, polishing, and notching teeth, all of which were ways that ancient Maya honored their belief in “I’q” ( Breath, Air, or Spirit) as divine. It also has proven to stand the test of time, as more than half of teeth bearing such modifications still have their stone inlays intact when discovered during archeological digs, but until recently, its exact composition was unknown...

    KEEP READING

URG

 Re-watching this today doesn't make me curious. It makes me horrified...


"The reality is, if this comes to pass, you don't 'got this,'" tweeted the International Campaign to Ban Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), which was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its work leading to a landmark treaty outlawing nukes.

 

💀What Our Fantasies About the European “Middle Ages” Say About Us

...In the centuries since, a narrow, whitewashed vision of the past has frequently been perpetuated in popular fiction and fantasy versions of the Middle Ages.

The Getty exhibition’s excellent companion publication critiques and expands on this topic, including sidebars on medieval conceptions of identity, gender, and race, but the examples it cites would be a powerful addition to the show to continue enlarging this perception.  Several medieval texts include Black knights at the Round Table of Arthurian legend, such as Sir Palamedes, a Muslim knight who was sometimes represented as Black and sometimes as Middle Eastern. Amid a wealth of European manuscripts, the show contains just one Iranian illustration from the Persian epic Shahnama, and an Egyptian manuscript of One Thousand and One Nights. 

Illustration showing Sir Palamedes, a Muslim knight who was represented as both Black and Middle Eastern (photo Anne Wallentine/Hyperallergic)
In the past few years, some white supremacist groups have co-opted medieval symbols and narratives to dangerous and destructive ends. While scholars are working to counter false claims about the past, this can also be achieved in the realm of modern fantasy by diversifying both casting and narratives. SOURCE

The Fantasy of the Middle Ages continues at the Getty Center (1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California) through September 11. This exhibition explores the ways in which the Middle Ages have been mythologized, dramatized, and re-envisioned time and again, proving an irresistible period for creative reinterpretations ranging from the Brothers Grimm to Game of Thrones.

 There’s also an impulse to turn almost anything into a meme these days.

Devil Meme from @artmemescentral (screenshot Alicia Eler/Hyperallergic; image used with creator’s permission)

“There’s something about the surprise of the medieval,” said Sonja Drimmer, a scholar of medieval European art, and associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.  “One of the conceptions about the European Middle Ages has to do with blind piety, prudishness, but when people see imagery that defies that, the disjunction leads to laughter.”

Contrary to this cultural theft, there is a very awesome Tumblr, People of Color in European Art History, which responds to the whiteness of medieval art history.

Meme from @artmemescentral (screenshot Alicia Eler/Hyperallergic; image used with creator’s permission)
It can “be racist and quite terrible, and ground zero for white supremacy,” said Drimmer. 
 
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Adoptee, Author, Mosaic Artist, Blogger, wildly curious

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