Winter Solstice

Yay we have done half the run! Days are getting longer from today on, light is coming back. Wikipedia has listed all the traditions and myths from all over the world according the winter-solstice. Roman or Babylonian, Maya or Germanic, Japanese or North-American, we all have a long tradition of celebrating the return of light.

Reclaiming The Lucidity Of Our Hearts

Filipina activist Sass Rogando Sasot spoke about transgender rights before an assembly of the UN. It's a beautiful speach, very passionate, intense and moving. As she says: We all should have the right to live and be who we are in dignity, we all should have the right to express the uniqueness of our life force within us!

"Now is the time that we realize that diversity does not diminish our humanity; that respecting diversity does not make us less human; that understanding and accepting our differences do not make us cruel. And in fact, history has shown us that denying and rejecting human variability is the one that has lead us to inflict indignity upon indignity towards each other.

We are human beings of transgender experience. We are your children, your partners, your friends, your siblings, your students, your teachers, your workers, your citizens.

Let our lives delight in the same freedom of expression that you enjoy as you manifest to the outside world your unique and graceful selves.

Let us live together in the fertile ground of our common humanity for this is the ground where religion is not a motivation to hate but a way to appreciate the profound beauty and mysteries of life;

for this is the ground where laws are not tools to eliminate those who are different from us but are there to facilitate our harmonious relationship with each other;

for this is the ground where culture is not a channel to express the brutality of our limited perception but a means to express the nobility of our souls;

for this is the ground where the promise of the universality of human rights can be fulfilled!

And we will be in this ground if we let the sanity of our desires, the tenacity of our compassion, and above all, the lucidity of our hearts to reign in our lives.

Thank you!"
-Sass Rogando Sasot-
You can find the whole webcast here.

Eat It!

How To Eat A Guava

first rinse the fruit, rub the skin and inhale

make an incision with your eye tooth

a bite with a seesawing motion to break

that curved yellow moon surface

eat it

like you would kiss a longlost lover,

like you would taste the skin behind an ear

you cannot worry

about juice

separate the seeds from the flesh with your tongue

sift them down your throat

recall custard in expensive affair-soaked hotels

lemon mousse drowning the mouth in reckless garden sunsweat tussles

eat it

like you would plunge into a river in moonlight

like you would open your mouth and let the river in

like you would eat a stolen pear, a hot fig lush as a lovebite

eat it

like you would crush it onto skin, lower your head

confusing perfume with texture, tasting scent

under a collarbone, like you would lick a line of sweat up a spine

bite skin, flesh, seeds juice

eat it fast

like you were ravenous

parched, gluttonous, flushed with secrecy

eat it slowly

lick your fingers.

-Cate Kennedy-

A Journey Trough Life With The Selby

How do other people live? What do the homes of creative people look like? The Selby is one of my favourite interior-blogs. With an eye for details, a heart for the freaky, funny, strange side of life, the Selby travels this earth making pictures of interesting peoples homes. You may like it or not, take it or leave it, these pictures don't embellish, and they aren't voyeuristic. They just show details and pieces out of peoples everyday-lives, their mess, their treasures, their beauty.

And for all tailors, lovers of custom suits, handmade garments and the tradition of craft, here you can find workshop-pictures from Martin Greenfield's little factory in Brooklyn. I love all those old machines and the working-pics.

Les Soeurs Luxurieuse

Picture by: www.cherrymuffin-studios.com

I've got a new super-exciting project: burlesque performance!!!

I am part of a burlesque-duo called "Les Soeurs Luxurieuse". You can find Mimie and Loulou Luxurieuse on myspace with all our latest pictures, upcoming performances and films.

Check it out: www.myspace.com/luxurieuse

Russian Style

Every country or culture has it's own stereotypical symbols. Flashlight pictures from art, science, people or traditions become icons, and stand for the map of feelings of a culture. The Russian editor of L'Officiel Evelina Khromtchenko, has now published a great book that contains lots of Russian symbols, called "Russian Style" (Assouline, 60$). From Yuri Gagarin to Bakst, from Babushkas to Shapkas, and not to forget Tolstoy, or designers like Alena Akhmadulina, the icon-collection of this book is wide. Lots of symbols of a country, many people still don't know much about.

Sweet Temptation - Will Cotton

Will Cotton's oil-paintings are known for their candy sweet, surreal erotically fantasies. Indulgence, temptation, desire and gluttony are the topics of the New York based artist. Over-sweet landscapes and beautiful girls create an atmosphere of fright and lust, evil cuteness and glamorous repletion.