When Great Trees Fall - Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

- Maya Angelou

I.V. I Love You

This past week has been one filled with sadness, pain, and horror at the terrifying events that took place in Isla Vista, Santa Barbara; the same streets and neighbourhood I called home last year. Through all the dark talk about the NRA, misogyny, and politics, has shone the beautiful light of I.V. and UCSB’s community coming together in love and support. It hurts not being there, but you are all so inspiring and I love you so much. I will always believe that guns have no place in everyday society, and feel upset and angry that in some places the fear is made very real. The gunman’s actions cannot in full be blamed on his weapons, but the ease at which he could legally obtain three firearms and over 400 rounds is astounding. His twisted ideology highlights the importance of women’s rights, not for the quick call upon feminism, but because blaming his actions on insanity is not enough. He felt entitled to women, and there is something so devastatingly wrong with that. It is something that must be universally addressed, here in New Zealand too where groups like the Roast Busters are not dealt with seriously enough. To honour these victims and others worldwide we must change our mentality and the way we treat and talk about these cases, and in doing so, help prevent more atrocities from occurring.

Dolce & Gabbana x Magnum

For Magnum's 25th anniversary Dolce & Gabbana have created a Sicilian themed ice cream bar; vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate bits and crushed pistachios, covered in white chocolate. I want it to come to New Zealand so bad! They should also make a cassata flavoured one.

You Should Get Married in Italy

Thanks for the advice, Rory, maybe one day I will!

Master of Couture

Valentino Exhibition in London on Euromaxx, Deustche Welle

'Master of Couture is the name of an exhibition in London's Somerset House that is dedicated to Italian fashion designer Valentino.'

Yearning

Italy, with its scenery and its people's life, occupied my soul, and towards this land I felt a yearning. 

from The True Story of My Life: A Sketch by Hans Christian Andersen

Dolce Via

Some wonderful photographs of Italy in the 1980's by an American named Charles H. Traub, released in his new book Dolce Via.

The Price

'You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.'

- Miriam Adeney

Roman era graffiti found on Colosseum

Roman era graffiti found on Colosseum

Graffiti dating from the Roman era has been found scrawled on the walls of the Colosseum during restoration work.

By Nick Squires, Rome

10 January 2013

Restorers also discovered fragments of brightly coloured frescoes, suggesting that the ancient monument was gaudily decorated when it hosted gladiatorial fights and wild animal hunts under the emperors.

The fragments – in ochre, red, blue and green – are in stark contrast to the monochrome grey and white of the travertine marble that covers the facade of the amphitheatre today.

The graffiti includes hard-to-decipher words and symbols as well as two large phalluses – possibly an erotic representation, or perhaps just lewd scribbling.

The new discoveries were made on the third and highest level of the Colosseum, which is closed to the public.

They are spread out over a 200ft-long section of a covered tunnel which would have funnelled spectators to their seats high above the arena.

The coloured frescoes were "an extraordinary discovery", said Rossella Rea, who is in charge of the landmark in the centre of Rome.

"We weren't expecting to find them. There is still a great deal to be studied and there will almost certainly be other surprises."

The frescoes would have been "rich and elaborate" in colour and detail, said Ida Simonelli, the head of the restoration team.

A £22 million restoration of the Colosseum, to be funded by Diego Della Valle, the multi-millionaire founder of the Tod's shoe empire, is scheduled to begin within weeks.

It will be the most comprehensive restoration effort in more than 70 years and is expected to take two years.

The project, which will entail removing decades of grime from the facade of the Colosseum, will take place in phases so that the amphitheatre can remain open to visitors.

The privately-funded work, which has been delayed by months of bureaucracy, is being seen as a model for the sponsoring of other ancient sites in Italy, including Pompeii.

Source from The Telegraph

Matching

An artist painting a picture of a statue of a Flemish artists in Bruges, Belgium, May 1955

National Geographic

The Enclave - Richard Mosse

Interview with Richard Mosse, representing Ireland in the Venice Art Biennale 2013 with "The Enclave", filmed in the Congo.