It is most curious this feeling of being sick on vacation. What defines vacation. Escape from reality, time away from work, traveling out of state/country/continent, or something else. Anyone else have thoughts feel free to comment.

Welcome to PrettySweetLatin’s Chat

To chat live with this performer type in the text box below and hit [enter] key or click the Send button.
letsbangtonitevip : te quro dalte duro por detra mami
mmikee : eso pence (peniques eso)
lissliss : hi there
mmikee : una pregunta
mmikee : trabajas dond jhon? (jhon dond trabajas?)
PrettySweetLatin : si mi amor (if my love)
letsbangtonitevip : me gusta a follar con tigo mi amor
PrettySweetLatin : quieres jugar (want to play)
letsbangtonitevip : quero follar
lissliss : could i see your face? (¿Puedo ver tu cara?)
letsbangtonitevip : me gusta mucho
lissliss : you are pretty. (que son bonitas.)
lissliss : i love your skin. are you indian? (Me encanta tu piel. ¿Eres indio?)
letsbangtonitevip : que eda tiene mi amor (eda que tiene mi amor)
PrettySweetLatin : y tu a a mi (and your aa mi)
lissliss : i am apache on my mother’s side. my grandmother. (Estoy apache en el lado de mi madre. mi abuela.)
GCNU187 : yhe correct term is hindu (Yhe término correcto es hindú)
lissliss : chiricua
PrettySweetLatin : 2o (The 2nd)
PrettySweetLatin : años (aos)
GCNU187 : liss u a girl.?? (niña ua Liss.??)
GCNU187 : lissa
GCNU187 : lissa
letsbangtonitevip : que rico
GCNU187 : u fucking racist (racista de mierda u)
lissliss : i am a sweet pretty little girl, but i can beat the living fuck out of you any day (Soy una niña muy dulce, pero puede derrotar a la mierda que viven fuera de ti todos los días)
mmikee : tu eres maria/? (tu eres María /?)
GCNU187 : out (fuera)
letsbangtonitevip : te quero garate tus tetas mami (te quero Gárate tus tetas mami)
PrettySweetLatin : no soy camila (I\u0026#39;m camila)
GCNU187 : apunta su nombre bb (apunta su nombre bb)
lissliss : You are not camila? (Usted no está Camila?)
GCNU187 : no te dejes joder (joder no te dejes)
letsbangtonitevip : estas muy linda mami
mmikee : no (no)
GCNU187 : lissliss
mmikee : ese no es tu nombre
PrettySweetLatin : ese es (that is)
mmikee : jajaaj no ese no es
lissliss : you subhuman monsters should not be so idiotic as to try to contend with me on the internet. (monstruos infrahumanos que no debe ser tan estúpido como para tratar de lidiar conmigo en el Internet.)
GCNU187 : hey liss (hey liss)
lissliss : you eternal pussy of the toilet mind, gcnu187 (que coño eterno de la mente de tocador, gcnu187)
GCNU187 : suck u mama’ (u suck mama)
GCNU187 : molested child (niño abusado sexualmente)
GCNU187 : do not bring u racism here (No traer el racismo u here)
lissliss : i am not a racist, you moron. (Yo no soy racista, imbécil.)
luvladies633 : hello beautiful
jedi750 : MMMMMMMMMM
letsbangtonitevip : que cuerpaza (cuerpaza que)
jedi750 : RICURA DE MUJER
GCNU187 : ok (vale)
mmikee : ven aca y hay trabaja un tal jose? (Ven y aca hay un tal jose trabaja?)
GCNU187 : just be polite ok (sólo puede ser cortés)
letsbangtonitevip : estoy duro para ti amor
luvladies633 : how are you today bb? (¿Cómo estás hoy bb?)
lissliss : i have some indian ancestry, and i was making conversation with the pretty lady that was none …of (Tengo ascendencia india, y estaba conversando con la bella dama que no era …)
lissliss : your business (su negocio)
PrettySweetLatin : quieres jugar (want to play)
fredyskivip : hey sexy
fredyskivip : handbrabb plzzzz (plzzzz handbrabb)
luvladies633 : can you turn around for me bb? (se puede dar la vuelta para mi bb?)
eddiewrd : how wet are you (cómo estás mojado)
luvladies633 : mmm….mmm sooo nice (mmm …. mmm sooo nice)
lissliss : What city are you in? (¿En qué ciudad estás?)
GCNU187 : toronto
lissliss : I am speaking to the lady. (Me dirijo a la señora.)
GCNU187 : imtracing you (imtracing usted)
luvladies633 : you like to put toys in that sweet ass bb? (¿Desea guardar los juguetes en que el BB dulce culo?)
lissliss : eat shit, gcnu187. 2041 coburn blvd., apt 5, lexington, kentucky, usa (comer mierda, gcnu187. 2041 Coburn blvd. 5, apt, Lexington, Kentucky, EE.UU.)
GCNU187 : i knew it hillbill in da house (Yo sabía que hillbill in da house)
PrettySweetLatin : hola jedi (hello jedi)
GCNU187 : did you milk the horse yet.????????? (¿Te la leche de caballo todavía .?????????)
PrettySweetLatin : estoy muy caliente (I am very hot)
lissliss : sysop, please make this fool gcnu187 invisible to me. (operador del sistema, por favor haga este tonto gcnu187 invisibles para mí.)
lambac : hey bb
lambac : you look gorgeous (te ves preciosa)
lissliss : i am so sick with lye. jeff bilderberg, george w. bush, pablo escobar and other shitmonstering…. (Estoy tan enferma con la lejía. Bilderberg Jeff, George W. Pablo Escobar Bush, y otros …. shitmonstering)
lissliss : horrorpigs poisoned me. keith bilderberg too, right next door in apartment 6 (horrorpigs me envenenó. Bilderberg Keith también, al lado derecho en el apartamento 6)
lissliss : nazis all. there is nothing lower or more evil or filthy than a nazi (todos los nazis. no hay nada más bajo o más malo o sucio que un nazi)
lambac : are you wet bb? (bb estás mojado?)
PrettySweetLatin : si mucho (if much)
lissliss : adios, muchacha. i will think of you with love. (Adiós, muchacha. Voy a pensar en ti con amor.)
PrettySweetLatin : mira (looks)
lissliss : i wish you would talk to me. (Me gustaría que me hablara.)

Rio Vermelho – Salvador – Bahia

Some people believe you choose your family prior to birth, and if that’s true then I chose the most loving, open hearted, and understanding, family one could have picked. Unfortunately, they settled in Oklahoma, by way of California. Yeah, I don’t get it either but so it goes that my grandmother, the eldest of the Montano clan, made the pilgrimage to Oklahoma for a man and her little sister followed suit. Had they met after the second wave of the Women’s Lib., I’m sure the story would be that the men made the pilgrimage to California for the gold!

Oklahoma might be landlocked and not feature ocean-front property, nor does it have a tranquil desert spread through its land but the Native American history is still very well and alive in small towns named after the legacy; Checotah, Geronimo, Hoot Owl, Indiahoma, Kiowa, Muskogee, Oolagah, Pawhuska, Quapaw, Sapulpa, Tahlequah, Talihina (where I was born), Tishomingo, Wapanucka, Yukon, and so on. If you’ve never been to Oklahoma then you couldn’t possibly know the beauty of the Kiamichi Mountains in Fall especially since my brother’s spirit is perched at the very top of those mountains.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of red dirt that doesn’t come off your shoes easily, or at all if you have an old pair. Hell, the red dirt even has it’s own genre of music, and it’s not just “Texas Red Dirt.” Fact, red dirt only got from Oklahoma to Texas because Texas sucks. See, I’m a loyal Okie that pokes fun at Texans (even though in reality Oklahoma is more culturally devoid than Texas), lets everyone know which celebrities were from Oklahoma, and roots on Oklahoma’s college teams since we have no professional ones.

I’m not blindly loyal though, to anyone, ever. If my brother murdered someone, I would urge him to confess or I would have to do it for him (cough, cough, unlike some sisters in Oklahoma I know). When Oklahoma voted McCain over Obama due to racism (I took a survey of which I won’t go into but yeah the “N” word is commonplace), I’m the first to stand up and let people know that the majority does not speak for the minority. Thankfully, the rest of the world picked up the slack on that one and Obama is in office. When the bigot Oklahoma State Representative, Sally Kern, made headlines for her hateful anti-gay remarks and continues to do such, I call her office non-stop to try and educate her on Gays, Lesbians, Bisexual, and Transgendered people. Even now her ignorance shows:

Sally Kern is an Oklahoma state representative with her own, unique take on the economic crisis: gays are to blame.

So let’s apply some simple Math for Ms. Kern (not sure they had that when she was in school). If a low population of people can be the reason for a state’s entire economic crisis then that must mean that the revenue these people make are insanely higher than the majority. Now, let’s get fancy and put in some statistics..that would mean that the minority factor here, LGBT’s (same-sex couples accounted for less than 1% of overall Oklahoma population in the 2000 census–I’m assuming that is because most were afraid of being openly gay in Oklahoma and by afraid I mean fearful for their life, as well as the fact the census under served the gay community in 2000 and single LGBT’ers) make so much more money than 99% of Oklahoma’s population that we alone can make or break a state. Wow, no wonder Pepsi, MTV, and other big corporations have embraced us. That also must mean, granted you assume the more money you make equals to more intelligence and academic merit you have, that LGBT folks are pretty damn smart! In the next census (2010) the LGBT community will be better served by collecting data on same-sex couples (still yet under serving the community by not including gender identification and single LGBT’ers but it’s a start), and I’m going to go out on a limb and just tell you that us gay couples contribute a buttload of money into the economy so imagine if our taxes were taken away from the entire country. Wow! If we can single handedly break an entire state, I’d hate to see what we can do to a country.

Oh Ms. Kern, you’re an idiot.

Oklahoma, listen up, ok? hehehe. This is just plain archaic what I’m reading about abortion. I know my small hometown would easily be able to spot that girl that ‘moved closer to her orthodontist’ or got half a dozen abortions to save her overly strict parents from embarrassment. We suspected in high school, but now stuff like that would be confirmed. C’mon, isn’t discrimination tiresome?

Get on the phones, call the leaders in your state and let them know how you feel about this stuff or write a letter. I can speak from experience that your words and you matter in change, but you need to be heard. Let Ms. Kern know if only 1% of the population is accounting for your state being broke then for heaven’s sake why wouldn’t you want the minority to be fully integrated into the population..imagine what the poor state would get back from the active minorities?! Women, get on the phone and let your state government know that YOU have the say over your body and deserve the privacy of your choices.

I don’t live in Oklahoma, and I’m happy to work for a company (MTV) that holds equality in the highest regard so that I can achieve greatness within it. I also live in a state that includes me fully into the population (lucky them that they get 45% of my paycheck for simply giving me something that should be free, freedom). I still remain loyal to Oklahoma, which is why I posted this blog because there is 1% of the Oklahoma population that are bullied by Ms. Kern and company and their spirit is heavy.

Oklahoma is beautiful, and even though I’m disappointed in the politics of the poor state over and over again, I still have hope that those amazing spirits that reside there (like my family and friends that are truly great people) will join together to make Oklahoma great like it’s people. Then you can send Ms. Kern to Texas!

In course of my short, colorful, yet painful existence in this vale of tears I developed many intrinsic, utter and  absolutely irreplaceable skills needed for my survival. Although if Darvin was correct, I should already be dead, and that… long, long time ago.

To corroborate this; I can fool around all days, make faces, laugh to myself for reasons even I do not exactly know (that’s quite something!). I can play stupid games, drink beer in amounts that enormously exceed GDA. I wonder why can we have degrees in drinking? Cause we always speak about the culture of drinking…

Nevertheless i will venture into that quagmire region of my own mind. Let the trip begin!  And be careful, you never know on whose dreams you will tread today!

{some editing still needed – im not happy with all of the things here}

We didn’t make it to the Library of Congress last weekend, but the next best thing, I’ve just discovered, is the Library of Congress on Flickr.

I can’t stop reading this headline, from the January 3, 1909 edition of the New York Tribune. It’s so wordy! Somehow erudite and trivial at the same time! And the selection of historical luminaries is curious. Why are these centenary celebrations all birthdays except for Josef Hadyn (d. 1809)? Moreover, if we’re counting death centenaries, too, where are Thomas Paine (d. 1809) and Merriweather Lewis (d. 1809), and why include British P.M. William Ewart Gladstone (b. 1809) instead?

Also: it is now 2009! Which means these centenary celebrations are now packing an extra century. Much was made this year, of course, of the shared 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, but Frederic Chopin and Felix Mendelssohn? Oliver Wendell Holmes? I had no idea! Happy birthday, fellas.

(Aside: I was impressed to learn at the National Portrait Gallery on Saturday how many 19th-century luminaries held a number of pursuits, professions and hobbies throughout their lives — Oliver Wendell Holmes was a doctor and medical reformer, an early stethoscope advocate, inventor of the word “anesthesia” and proponent of the germ theory of disease. Sanitary surgical instruments? Thank this guy!

Likewise, telegraph inventor Samuel Morse was a notable American painter; sewing machine inventor and entrepreneur Isaac Singer was first an actor, as evident in this indulgent portait:

)

And are an unusual number of great men (and women) celebrating their first centenaries in 2009?

Wallace Stegner, Carmen Miranda, Maybelle Carter, Francis Bacon, James Agee, Benny Goodman, Eugene Ionesco and Johnny Mercer were all born in 1909.

And Geronimo died. His skull is still MIA.

Vamos a ponernos en situación, esta es la primera película de el director Glasgow Phillips, personaje que en 2002 escribió once episodios para South Park, y para un par de series más. En esta película también ha escrito el guión, junto a Scott Pourroy, que se estrena como guionista, anteriormente ha hecho efectos con miniaturas para Gattaca, una de las pelis de Star Trek, y algunas más.

La historia empieza con el indio Gerónimo (interpretado por Lew Alexander, actor que por suerte no había visto antes) al que persigue el ejercito de los EEUU en tiempos de exterminio de los indios, antes de morir Gerónimo echa una maldición a los hombres blancos en general y por suerte unos años más tarde aparece un hombre blanco, que no sabemos de dónde sale ni dónde se “infecta”, afectado por esta extraña maldición que convierte a la gente en zombies (cómo duele llamarles así), lo divertido de la maldición es que se contagia con el típico mordisco o con un…. arañazo? Por DIOS quién pollas puede escribir esta mierda. Los “zombies” caminan, montan a caballo, hablan, piensan, no mueren con un tiro en la cabeza, sólo mueren al cortarles el pescuezo.

Nuestros protagonistas se conocen en un bar, uno es Elmer, interpretado por James Denton, que lleva unos años haciendo de Mike Delfino en Mujeres desesperadas, y el otro es Luke, interpretado por Chris Kattan, al que hemos podido ver en House on haunted hill, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, y en unas cuántas películas y series más. A lo que íbamos, Elmer y Luke acaban juntos en el calabozo del pueblo, dónde le encierran al lado de la primera víctima de la maldición, escapan del calabozo y hacen enfadar al sheriff Claypool que junto a su fiel ayudante Cletus les perseguirán durante toda la película en modo zombie.

Por el camino conocen a nuestra protagonista femenina, se llama Sue, interpretada por Navi Rawat, nuestra heroína en Feast. Sue es la sobrina de Gerónimo, ha estado en un internado en la gran manzana, esta bastante de buen ver, y ahora quiere vengar a su tío. Empiezan su andadura en busca de los hombres que provocaron la muerte de su tío, durante el camino irán encontrandose con “zombies” malosos y fin.

Es una película floja, cuyo guión no se puede coger por ninguna parte, los efectos dejan mucho que desear, algunas de las escenas de la película parecen homenajes a Feast entre otras películas del género. Ni las bromas de la película hacen gracia, seguramente no recordaré esta película durante demasiados días, al menos eso espero.

there was great news coming from the united nations the other day, but like the goldstone report, unless there’s teeth to back it up it will fall by the wayside. it seems that finally the united nations is not going to treat the zionist entity with kid gloves any more when it comes to their war crimes and when it comes to their nuclear arsenal. or, this could just be mere hot air. that remains to be seen. in any case, here is what al jazeera reported:

The UN nuclear assembly has called for Israel to open its nuclear facilities to UN inspection and sign up to the non-proliferation treaty.

The resolution, which was passed narrowly on Friday, marked a surprise victory for Arab states and others who have pushed for the move for the last 18 years.

The non-binding resolution voiced concern about “Israeli nuclear capabilities” and urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, to tackle the issue.

Israel vowed it would not co-operate, saying the measure singled it out while many of its neighbours remained hostile to its existence.

“Israel will not co-operate in any matter with this resolution which is only aiming at reinforcing political hostilities and lines of division in the Middle East region,” said David Danieli, the chief Israeli delegate.

‘Glorious moment’

Israel is one of only three countries worldwide – along with India and Pakistan – outside the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) and is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal.

It has never confirmed nor denied that it has nuclear weapons.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, the Iranian ambassador, whose country’s disputed nuclear programme is under IAEA investigation, said the vote was a “glorious moment” and “a triumph for the oppressed nation of Palestine”.

Speaking later to Al Jazeera, Soltanieh said: “All like-minded, peace-loving countries have always called for a resolution to take measures to push Israel to stop their nuclear weapon programme and adhere to the NPT and put every nuclear installation under the IAEA.

“All countries in the Middle East are party to the NPT – the only non-party is Israel … the resolution was addressed to the only non-participatory [state] in the Middle East.

Tehran was one of the 21 countries sponsoring the measure.

Iran absorbed a setback later when its bid to make legally binding a 1991 resolution banning attacks on nuclear sites failed to win a consensus from the bloc of Non-Aligned Movement developing nations and so was not brought up for a vote.

UN Security Council members Russia and China backed the Israel resolution, passed by a 49-45 margin by the IAEA’s annual member states gathering. There were 16 abstentions.

Western states said it was unfair and counterproductive to isolate one member state and that an IAEA resolution passed on Thursday, which urged all Middle East nations including Israel to foreswear atomic bombs, made Friday’s proposal unnecessary.

Western backing

Before the vote, Glyn Davies, the US ambassador, said the resolution was “redundant … such an approach is highly politicised and does not address the complexities at play regarding crucial nuclear-related issues in the Middle East”.

Canada tried to block a vote on the floor with a “no-action motion”, a procedural manoeuvre that prevailed in 2007 and 2008, but lost by an eight-vote margin.

Diplomats from the non-aligned movement of developing nations said times had changed with the advent of the US administration of Barack Obama, the US president.

“People and countries are bolder now, willing to call a spade a spade. You cannot hide or ignore the truth, the double standards, of Israel’s nuclear capability forever,” the Reuters news agency quoted one diplomat as saying.

“The new US administration has certainly helped this thinking with its commitment to universal nuclear disarmament and nuclear weapons-free zones.”

The non-binding measure was last voted on in 1991, when IAEA membership was much smaller, and passed by 39-31.

the next step should be to force the united states to submit to the iaea as well. and then to destroy all of these nuclear weapons for the potential threat they pose as well as for the environmental and health consequences for those who live in the midst of these weapons. and, of course, as a part of the ongoing genocide of american indians, the united states has made sure that such weapons are placed closes to american indian reservations and communities. brenda norrell has an interesting article in counterpunch on the subject:

When Paul Zimmerman writes in his new book about the Rio Puerco and the Four Corners, he calls out the names of the cancers and gives voice to the poisoned places and streams. Zimmerman is not just writing empty words.

Zimmerman writes of the national sacrifice area that the mainstream media and the spin doctors would have everyone forget, where the corners of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet, in his new book, A Primer in the Art of Deception: The Cult of Nuclearists, Uranium Weapons and Fraudulent Science.

“A report in 1972 by the National Academy of Science suggested that the Four Corners area be designated a ‘national sacrifice area,” he writes.

Then, too, he writes of the Rio Puerco, the wash that flowed near my home when I lived in Houck, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation in the 1980s. The radioactive water flowed from the Churck Rock, N.M., tailings spill on down to Sanders, where non-Indians were also dying of cancer, and it flowed by New Lands, Nahata Dziil Chapter, where Navajos were relocated from their homes on Black Mesa. They moved there from communities like Dinnebeto. Some elderly Navajos died there in New Lands, not just from the new cancers, but from broken hearts.

Zimmerman points out there was plenty of evidence of cancers from Cold War uranium mining and radioactive tailings left behind, but few studies were commissioned to document it. In the early 1980s, I asked the Indian Health Service about the rates of death around the uranium mines and power plants. No studies were ever conducted, according to the IHS press officer. I was shocked. Fresh out of graduate school with a master’s degree in health for developing nations, I really could not believe it.

This week, Zimmerman released a chapter of his new book to aid the struggles of Indigenous Peoples, after reading about the Havasupai Gathering to Halt Uranium Mining in the Grand Canyon.

As I read his chapter, I am flooded with memories, memories of people dying, radioactive rocks and the deception and censorship that continues on the Navajo Nation.

In the 1990s, USA Today asked me to report on the uranium tailings and deaths at Red Valley and Cove near Shiprock, N.M. In every home I visited, at least one Navajo had cancer and their family members had died of cancer. In some homes, every family member had cancer. In one home, an eighty-year-old Navajo woman looked at the huge rocks that her home was made of. She said some men came with a Geiger counter and told her the rocks were extremely radioactive. Then, on another day, I walked beside the radioactive rocks strewn in Gilbert Badoni’s backyard near Shiprock.

The dust we breathed at Red Valley and Cove was radioactive. When the Dine’ (Navajo) in the south and Dene in the north mined uranium without protective clothing, the US and Canada knew they were sending Native American miners to their deaths.

“Declassified documents from the atomic weapons and energy program in the United States confirm that official secret talks on the health hazards of uranium mining were discussed both in Washington and Ottawa. In 1932, even before the Manhattan Project, the Department of Mines in Canada published studies of the mine at Port Radium, warning of the hazard of radon inhalation and ‘the dangers from inhalation of radioactive dust.’ Blood studies of miners confirmed that breathing air with even small amounts of radon was detrimental to health,” Zimmerman writes.

When I moved to the Navajo Nation in 1979, I was a nutrition educator with the Navajo Hopi WIC Program. I had no intention of becoming a news reporter or an activist. Later in the 1980s, as a news reporter, I reported on Peabody Coal and its claim that it was not damaging the land or aquifer on Black Mesa.

Louise Benally, resisting relocation at Big Mountain said, “These big corporations lie you know.”

No, I didn’t know that then. But I know that now.

Earl Tulley, Navajo from Blue Gap, said something that changed my life. Tulley told me about the multi-national corporations, how they seize the land and resources of Indigenous Peoples, not just on the Navajo Nation, but around the world.

But it wasn’t until I covered federal court in Prescott, Arizona, as a stringer for Associated Press, that I learned of how it all continues. Covering the Earth First! trial in the 90s, I realized that federal judges and federal prosecutors are on the same team. The FBI can manipulate and manufacture evidence, even drive people to a so-called crime if the guys don’t have a ride.

During the federal trial of former Navajo Chairman Peter MacDonald, it became obvious: If you are an American Indian, you can forget about justice. Later, during the trials of American Indian activists it was clear: Federal prosecutors can just write a script and send people to prison.

There are parts of the American justice system concealed from most people: Distorted facts and planted evidence. News reporters seldom learn of the witnesses who receive federal plea agreements and lie on the witness stand. Few people except news reporters, ever sit through these long, and tediously dull at times, federal trials which can go on for months.

A three month trial of American Indians, or environmentalists, will smash any romantic myth about justice for all in the US court system. The bias and politics embedded within the justice system, and the back door deals of Congressmen with the corporations who bankroll them, seldom make the evening news.

Arizona Sen. John McCain and company brought about the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute, which was actually a sweetheart deal for Peabody Coal mining on Black Mesa. When they emerged from the back door deals, they swiftly went out to throw candy to Native Americans in the parades, claiming they were the best friends of Indian country. Money is the reason the Navajo Nation Council went along with coal mining on Black Mesa. The revenues from coal mines, power plants and oil and gas wells pay the salaries and expense accounts of the Navajo councilmen and Navajo President.

While I was on Mount Graham in Arizona at the Sacred Run, I learned of another part of the story. I learned about Skull and Bones, the Yale secret society. Former San Carlos Apache Councilman Raleigh Thompson told me of the meeting with Skull and Bones. Thompson was there. Thompson told how the Skull and Bones members, including President George HW Bush’s brother Jonathan Bush and an attorney, tried to silence the San Carlos Apache leaders. The San Carlos Apaches were seeking the return of Geronimo’s skull, during meetings in New York in the 1980s. Geronimo had asked to be buried in the mountains on San Carlos.

The more I read from the book Secrets of the Tomb, the more it became obvious that the Skull and Bones members weren’t just seizing money. Their desire was for power. They wanted world domination.

So, now years later, I see the Skull and Bones Society rear its head again in the Desert Rock power plant deal on the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners, protested by Navajos living on the land in the longstanding protest Dooda Desert Rock. Follow the money at Sithe Global and it leads back to Blackstone and a member of Skull and Bones.

Skull and Bones members controlled production of the first atomic bomb, according to Alexandra Robbins, author of Secrets of the Tomb. Zimmerman writes of this time, “The Manhattan Project is inaugurated, physicists are secretly recruited, clandestine outposts spring up in the wilderness, and a fevered race against time ensues to transform abstract theories into a deliverable weapon.”

The proposed Desert Rock power plant would be in the Four Corners, the same “national sacrifice area,” where the Cold War uranium mines, coal mines, power plants and oil and gas wells are already polluting and causing disease and death. The air, land and water are contaminated and the region is desecrated. It is the Navajos sacred place of origin, Dinetah, a fact voiced by Bahe Katenay, Navajo from Big Mountain, and censored.

Navajos at Big Mountain, and the Mohawk grandmothers who write Mohawk Nation News, make it clear: The government initiated tribal councils are puppets of the US and Canadian governments.

Several years before Dan Evehema passed to the Spirit World, relaxing on his couch after protesting in the rain backhoes and development on Hopiland, at the age of 104, he shared truth, speaking through a translator.

Evehema said the Hopi Sinom never authorized or recognized the establishment of the Hopi Tribal Council, a puppet of the US government.

In the early Twentieth Century, Hopi were imprisoned at Alcatraz for refusing to cooperate with the US. In the latter part of the century, when the threat of forced relocation of Navajos was great, traditional Hopi, including Evehema and Thomas Banyacya, stood with and supported Navajos at Big Mountain. Mainstream reporters don’t like to report these facts, since it deflates their superficial coverage, based on corporate press releases.

As I was being censored out of the news business (at least the type that results in a paycheck) Louise Benally of Big Mountain once again revealed the truth of the times. When she compared the war in Iraq to the Longest Walk of Navajos to Bosque Redondo, she spoke of the oppression and deceptions of the US colonizers, comparing the torture and starvation of this death walk to what the US was doing in Iraq. Benally was censored.

It was more than just a censored story. It was a statement of the times we live in: Hush words too profound to be written. The times had come full circle. Indian people once oppressed by US colonizers were now serving as US soldiers for US colonizers, killing other Indigenous Peoples. Victims had become perpetrators.

During much of the Twentieth Century, Indian children in the US, Canada and Australia were kidnapped. Stolen from their parents, these children were placed in boarding schools. In Canada, the residential schools were run by churches. In all three countries, young children were routinely abused, sexually abused and even murdered.

On the Longest Walk in 2008, while broadcasting across America, we saw the marsh at Haskell in Kansas. Here, there are unmarked graves of the children who never came home. At Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, we read the tombstones in the rows of tiny graves, the names of the children who never came home.

In the US, Canada and Australia, children were forbidden to speak their Native tongue, which carried their songs and ceremonies. Indian children were beaten, locked in cellars, tortured and raped. Many died of pneumonia, malnutrition and broken hearts. Some were shot trying to escape.

At Muscowequan Catholic residential school in Lestock, Saskatchewan, Canada, a young girl was raped by a priest. When she gave birth, the baby was thrown into the furnace and burned alive in front of child survivor Irene Favel (http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org/ .)

In the US, the young boys who survived were militarized, made into US soldiers. Zimmerman writes that Australia, like Canada and US, carried out a holocaust of Aboriginal peoples. “What occurred in Australia is a mirror image of the holocaust visited on Native Americans. When the British claimed sovereignty over Australia, they commenced a 200 year campaign of dispossession, oppression, subjugation and genocide of Aboriginal peoples.”

Indigenous Peoples around the world targeted by uranium mining, including the Dene in the north, linked to Dine’ (Navajo) in the south by the common root of the Athabascan language. From the Dine’ and Dene and around the earth to Australia, there was a recipe for death for Indigenous Peoples by the power mongers.

The US policy of seizing the land and destroying the air, water and soil is clear in Nevada and Utah. While Western Shoshone fight the nuclear dump on their territory at Yucca Mountain in what is known as Nevada, Goshutes at Skull Valley in Utah are neighbors with US biological and chemical weapons testing.

Zimmerman writes, “Dugway Proving Ground has tested VX nerve gas, leading in 1968 to the ‘accidental’ killing of 6,400 sheep grazing in Skull Valley, whose toxic carcasses were then buried on the reservation without the tribe’s knowledge, let alone approval. The US Army stores half its chemical weapon stockpile nearby, and is burning it in an incinerator prone to leaks; jets from Hill Air Force Base drop bombs on Wendover Bombing Range, and fighter crashes and misfired missiles have struck nearby. Tribal members’ health is undoubtedly adversely impacted by this alphabet soup of toxins.”

Zimmerman makes it clear that the genocide of Indigenous Peoples was not an accident. Indigenous People were targeted with death by uranium mining and nuclear dumping. Indian people were targeted with destruction that would carry on for generations, both in their genetic matter and in their soil, air and water.

One ingredient in the recipe for death is division: Divide and control the people and the land. This is what is happening at the southern and northern borders on Indian lands. Just as the US continues the war in Iraq and Afghanistan for war profiteers and politics, the racism-fueled US border hysteria results in billions for border wall builders, security companies and private prisons.

It comes as no surprise that the Israeli defense contractor responsible for the Apartheid Wall in Palestine, Elbit Systems, was subcontracted by Boeing Co. to work on the spy towers on the US/Mexico border. Militarized borders mean dollars, oppression and power.

The US Border Patrol agents harass Indian people at the US borders, even murder people of color on the border at point blank range. More often than not, the murdering border agents walk away free from the courts.

Meanwhile, the US under the guise of homeland security, seizes a long strip of land — the US/Mexico corridor from California to Texas –including that of the Lipan Apache in Texas. As Indigenous Peoples in the south are pushed off their lands, corn fields seized by corporations, they walk north to survive, many dying in the Southwest desert.

Another ingredient in US genocide in Indian country is internal political division and turmoil: Distract the people with political turmoil, to make it easier to steal their water and land rights. If that doesn’t work, put them in prison. In Central and South America, the mining companies have added another step: Assassinate them.

The US made sure that Latin countries were able to carry out torture and assassinations by training leaders and military personnel at the School of the Americas. Even Chiquita Bananas admitted in court that they hired assassins to kill anyone who opposed the company, including Indigenous Peoples and farmers, in Colombia.

So, when Zimmerman writes of uranium and the sacrifices of Indigenous Peoples, those are not just empty words. They are words that mark the graves, words that name the cancers, words that mark the rivers and words that give rise to names.

To give voice to a name is to break the silence.

Coconut and Jasmine Ice Ceam Bombe
Geronimo, Santa Fe

I have known about Geronimo for about half of its life.

This year (2009), this Santa Fe fine dining institution turned 18. In that time span, the restaurant has passed through a number of owners.

After a string of failed ownerships (I’ve heard two of its previous owners had gone bankrupt), Geronimo was recently reunited with Eric DiStefano, its original chef, who had left the restaurant a number of years ago to take over Mark Miller’s acclaimed Coyote Cafe.

I’ve read Geronimo’s cookbook many times. I can’t say that DiStefano’s Asian-inspired food has ever called to me; it intrigued more than tempted. But the place itself, a small porch-lined house along the historic and locally important Canyon Road, has.  With DiStefano’s return, I figured that this Santa Fe institution deserved a visit.

Geronimo, Santa Fe

There’s some dispute as to which Gerónimo the restaurant is named after.  Gerónimo Lopez built the adobe house in 1756.  Subsequently, a Gerónimo Gonzalez bought the place in 1756.

Either way, this house is steeped in history, none of which has anything to do with that famous Apache Indian chief by the same name.

The restaurant is larger than it looks from the outside, owing to two large rooms tucked behind the front dining room.  The decor can only be described as upscale Southwestern: moose antlers, clay-colored leather high-backs and booths, and large horse prints. I love it.

Cumin Flatbread and Spicy Chile Rolls.
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The staff uniforms, however, are something to puzzle over. They look like a failed Project Runway experiment involving Ralph Lauren and a regatta crew. (I believe those uniforms are for sale on their website under “Merchandise.”)

Prices here are high – most of the main courses were situated well within the thirty-dollar range.  Portion sizes are certainly commensurate within that bracket.  They are enormous – almost absurdly so for the single diner.

Here is what we three ordered.  In the main course section, the last two dishes were halved and plated together upon request.

CLICK HERE to see all of the photos, or on the hyperlinked dish titles below for the individual links.

First Courses

Organic Hot House Rice Vinegar Cucumber Salad
Spicy cremini onion chop sticks, truffle vinaigrette. ($11)

Steamed Shrimp & Chile Purses
Spicy sesame yuzu & sweet and sour lychee sauces. ($14)

Chilled Melon Soup
Cucumber, sake, key lime, fresh mint & Dungeness crab. ($15)

Main Courses

Green Miso Sea Bass
Black truffle, scallions, fresh made ramen noodles,
lobster miso and citron rouille. ($36)

Ginger Glazed Rock Hen & Udon Miso Bowl
Buttermilk fried hen, lemongrass,
udon noodles, baby bok choy, miso dashi. ($28)

Fiery Sweet Chile and Honey Grilled Mexican White Prawns
Jasmine almond rice cakes, frisee red onion salad, and
yuzu basil aioli. ($35 full main course)

Grilled Maine Lobster
Semolina rigatoni pasta, spinach, soy beans,
creamy garlic chile sauce. ($42 for a full portion)

Desserts

Coconut and Jasmine Ice Cream Bombe
Blueberry soup and Feuille de Brick Tuille. ($10)

Green Tea and Star Anise Ice Cream
Sesame Croutons and Fresh Lychee. ($10)

Mandarin Orange “Creamsicle” Cake
Orange Soaked Genoise and Creme Fraiche Whipped Cream. ($10)

Lemongrass Pineapple Tarte Tatin
Lemongrass ice cream & Mango Compote. ($10)

I’m fairly skeptical about Asian fusion cuisine. It’s rarely good, and even less likely to be convincing.

Fiery Sweet Chile and Honey-
Grilled Mexican White Prawns
Geronimo, Santa Fe

But overall, the food at Geronimo really impressed me.

DiStefano certainly isn’t afraid of flavor. The food here is intense and bold.

He’s not afraid to use spice.  Almost every dish had a touch of heat to it.

In some cases, the use of seasonings was a bit heavy-handed. “Fiery Sweet Chile and Honey Grilled Mexican White Prawns,” for example, were too fiery. While I enjoyed the heat, it obliterated the flavor of the two, giant, grilled shrimp, and rendered the yuzu-basil aioli impotent. The jasmine rice cake had a golden, crunchy shell, but the fragrance of the rice was also lost amidst the chile.

The “Organic Hot House Rice Vinegar Cucumber Salad” was aggressively salted, but otherwise fine. The “cremini mushroom chopsticks” were a curious creature. I expected them to be crunchy. Instead, they were more like long, thin strips of breaded and fried cremini-onion jerky/sausage. They were tasty.

Green Miso Sea Bass
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The rest of the dishes, however, were quite balanced.

Our main courses were better than our first courses.

“Green Miso Sea Bass” was my favorite dish of the night. There was enough fish to feed two. Coated in a fragrant green miso paste, the fish was incredibly silky and moist. It sat in a generous bath of warm lobster miso broth that had been thickened with a touch of citron rouille and thoroughly perfumed with slices of black truffles (or, I suspect, truffle oil). (The server nor the kitchen could tell me whether the truffles were canned or summer truffles. This was confounding.) The noodles were correctly cooked and generously threaded with black trumpets.

Ginger Glazed Rock Hen & Udon Miso Bowl
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The “Ginger Glazed Rock Hen & Udon Miso Bowl” wasn’t far behind. The hen (dark meat) was juicy, moist, and incredibly flavorful. It had been fried, then glazed with slightly sweet ginger sauce. Flocked with chopped peanuts, the nuggets were a sticky, delicious mess.

The soup was spot on – a mild dashi full of elastic udon noodles threaded with finely cut bok choy. Together with the rock hen, it was high-end Japanese comfort.

My main course, assembled from a half order of each, the fiery prawns and the “Grilled Maine Lobster,” was the weakest of the three.

Grilled Maine Lobster
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The lobster tail had been split, grilled and served on thick rings of polenta pasta dressed with a warm, rather bland, creamy sauce.  As far as grilled lobsters go, it was alright. The meat could have been just a touch less firm, but it was more than palatable with a good smoky char at the fringes. The edamame beans tossed in were a bit of a non sequitur, but they were good.

Our first courses weren’t bad, but they were not nearly as solid as our main courses.

In addition to that over-salted cucumber salad, my chunky “Chilled Melon Soup” was a bit flat on flavor. And the crab meat mounded in the center of the bowl was a touch fishy tasting.  But that crab had a nice texture and was coated with a delicious, mildly spicy dressing, which was cooled by the honeydew and cucumber soup.

Soup: Chilled Melon Soup
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The dumpling dough used for the “Steamed Shrimp & Chile Purses” was absurdly thick (though it was nicely cooked). I don’t understand how they could have cooked these by steaming alone, as boiling seems like a much more plausible method. The filling was comprised of finely minced shrimp spiked with chile paste. The texture was more crumbly than meatball-like. But it wasn’t dry, which was its saving grace. Of the two sauces that came with the purses, the soy sauce one was much more familiar and traditional. The sweet and sour lychee sauce was not bad, but utterly foreign.

The pastries at Geronimo were not only beautifully presented, but were delicious.

More of a Baked Alaska than a bombe, the “Coconut and Jasmine Ice Cream Bombe” was probably my favorite of the four desserts we tried. The meringue coating was way too thick, gooey, and sweet. But the ice cream inside, a swirl of milky, white coconut ice cream and purple, jasmine-perfumed ice cream, was excellent. Sitting atop a deep purple blueberry sauce, it was a gorgeous marriage of tropical and floral flavors.

Steamed Shrimp & Chile Purses
Geronimo, Santa Fe

Simply presented with sesame candy wafers, both ice creams in my “Green Tea and Star Anise Ice Cream” duo were very good. The plate was filmed with a very thin layer of light green jasmine syrup – the color was very pretty. Overall, it was so pleasing in its simplicity that I was willing to overlook the dragon eyes that were billed on the menu as lychees.

When I think of tarte tatin, I expect something rich and caramelized. The “Lemongrass Pineapple Tarte Tatin“  was more of a “refreshing” tarte tatin than a comforting one.  I’m not sure if I wanted the shredded pineapple topping to be more caramelized, or if I liked it the way it was. Had it been more caramelized, I suppose the delicate lemongrass flavor in the the pineapple might have been lost.

Lemongrass Pineapple Tarte Tatin
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The tatin was composed of thin layers of chopped pineapple layered with what appeared to be a thin pancake, which had gone soft. I expected something either more flaky or hearty. Instead, this was just wet and crumbly.  The tatin came with a small scoop of lemongrass ice cream, which I didn’t get to taste.

In addition to those three desserts that we ordered, the “Mandarin Orange “Creamsicle” Cake” arrived as a gift from the kitchen.  Spongy, soft, moist, creamy, and lightly flavored with orange (think orange tres leches cake), this cake – a layered, cylindrical tower of genoise saturated with orange cream and topped with layer of mandarin orange gelee – seemed impossibly (and harmlessly) light.

Mandarin Orange “Creamsicle” Cake
Geronimo, Santa Fe

Service was excellent – nothing short of what the prices or the purported “seriousness” of this sort of restaurant would demand and offer.

Overall, our dining experience at Geronimo was very positive. We were ready to leave this restaurant quite happy.

And then the valet lost the keys to our rental car.

At first, a cab was offered to take us back to the hotel. After a good half hour of waiting for the valet to find our keys – while facilitating other patrons (there was only one valet on duty) – the cab option seemed to have disappeared.

Green Tea and Star Anise Ice Cream
Geronimo, Santa Fe

The valet ended up taking my guests and me back to our hotel.  The restaurant did nothing more than to offer to have the car re-keyed in the morning.  When I got back to my hotel, I called the rental company and was told that they could send a locksmith right away.  When I called the restaurant to tell them this, they informed me that they had found the keys (apparently, the valet had given the keys to another patron, who spent a few hours down the street at a bar before realizing they had the wrong set).  An apology was made over the phone, and the restaurant promised that the valet would be contacting me to come pick me up at the hotel to take me back to the restaurant.

More than half an hour later, the valet called, apologizing for the mix-up and delay. Apparently, he couldn’t leave the restaurant until all of the other guests had left.  Thus, three hours after my meal had ended – in the dead of the night – I was picked up and rushed, at dangerously high speeds, back to the restaurant, where I was left in an empty parking lot alone.  I was not impressed.  At all.

Patio seating.
Geronimo, Santa Fe

Despite the rather botched ending to the evening, I maintain that Geronimo was one of the two best dining experiences I had in Santa Fe (Cafe Pasqual’s was the other). The food was surprisingly good (DiStefano was in that night, a factor that many have cited as being crucial to a successful meal at his restaurants) and the service in the front of the house was excellent.

Geronimo is clearly a first-class institution in Santa Fe. It’s a pity that our otherwise lovely evening ended on a sour note.

Geronimo
Executive Chef Eric Distefano
724 Canyon Road
Santa Fe, New Mexico

A TVE Bahia abre espaço em sua programação para homenagear o músico argentino Ramiro Musotto, falecido recentemente. A emissora pública irá exibir, HOJE, sexta-feira (18), a partir das 22 horas, o especial Ramiro Musotto e Orquestra de Berimbaus Afinados, gravado na Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosário dos Pretos, no Pelourinho, Salvador, em dezembro de 2008.

No programa, o espectador poderá conferir a sofisticada sonoridade do percussionista argentino, que vivia há mais de duas décadas em Salvador e foi reconhecido por estrelas da música baiana, a exemplo de Gerônimo e Daniela Mercury, como um dos responsáveis pela modernização do gênero.

Além da carreira solo, com álbuns lançados e dezenas de apresentações, Musotto também tocou e gravou com Lenine, Kid Abelha e outros nomes da MPB e do pop nacional. Em 2009, sua grande performance foi durante o carnaval de Salvador, à frente de um trio elétrico independente no Programa Carnaval Pipoca da Secult-BA.

Under construction…

Geronimo Stilton

Publisher: Papercutz	Publisher: Papercutz	Publisher: Papercutz
ISBN: 9781597071895	ISBN: 9781597071901	ISBN: 9781597071727
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The Simpsons

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]]> http://davidcarterca.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/option-4/ Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:32:33 +0000 davidcarterca http://davidcarterca.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/option-4/

Well, it wasn’t all that clear to me after several reads of the documentation, but I worked around my Maven build issues using a fourth option. I have a pre-configured Geronimo server with all the pools created sitting idle and load it in using the tag instead of an assemblies tag. This means I have to pre-configure all my build servers and test machines, but at least it works.

I hope the Geronimo folks address this in an upcoming release. Of course, I would also hope that I could build pre-configured custom assemblies.

I’ve been working on this problem for some time with varying degrees of success. My goal is to have continuous integration working for all the modules of the system, and Maven is well suited to this. For some of my modules, things work well. For example, for independent modules not using a database or other system facility. I’ve even got web services that use JNI building with success.

The problem child is the EJB module that uses the database. It depends on a database configuration that’s very easy to create using the console. This doesn’t work well for continuous integration, especially as modules are loaded and unloaded for testing. The standard Maven approach is to install an assembly, load the pieces you need to test, and unload when done. The standard assembly doesn’t include the database pool so that has to be set up separately. Maven doesn’t support this.

Option 1: Create a custom assembly.

For Geronimo 2.1.3, which I’ve been using, this fails. Period. It can’t be done. In order to include the modules I need, I consistently get in “IOException: HEAD full” error. 2.1.4 doesn’t give this error and builds an assembly, but it fails to start with a ClassNotFound error.

Option 2: Create and install plugins

This can be done, but Maven refuses to load them because the manifest is incomplete. I haven’t investigated this option fully, primarily because it annoys me that a plugin creator would create an unusable plugin.

Option 3: Create the pool in the deployment plan

When loading from Maven, it just says “Sorry, try again.” with no indication as to what the error is. I’m paraphrasing, but if you’ve done much work with maven you know what I’m talking about. Loading it using the deployer.jar fails because the MySQL .jar is missing. And there’s no way to load it. Well, I could load it into a custom assembly, but we’ve already covered that.

Summary:
I’m stumped. I’ve tried the recommended approaches and all the work arounds I can think of. Time for a nap.

Geronimo

• Create key in Geronimo (setup certificate)
• CN needs to be the server name (e.g www.wordpress.com)
• Create new Keystore (e.g wordpress)
• In keystore create private key, again CN needs to be server name
• Add Trust Certificate (copy paste it from the one you created before)
• In Web Server edit the HTTPS listener and change the keystore file to the on you create before (e.g wordpress)
• Optional: change address to fixed ip of server

Get certificate

In firefox got to https address -> Add exception -> Get Certificate -> View ->
Details -> Export: export certificate (PEM will do) (e.g. www.wordpress.com)

Shell

keytool -import -trustcacerts -storepass secretphrase -alias “Apache Geronimo Dev” -file www.wordpress.com.cer

The keystore is created in default location ${home}/.keystore

Java

System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore", "/home/user/.keystore");
System.setProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword","secretphrase");
System.setProperty("java.protocol.handler.pkgs", "com.sun.net.ssl.internal.www.protocol");
Security.addProvider(new com.sun.net.ssl.internal.ssl.Provider());

PS Of course it shouldn’t be a static url (/home/user/.keystore), but this is for simplicities sake

Chiles
Santa Fe, New Mexico

I’ve been looking for a good excuse to visit Santa Fe for quite some time. Natalie Dessay gave me one.

She was to appear at the Santa Fe Opera, a spectacular venue I have longed to see in person.

I had to go.

Since you probably don’t read my blog for my opera reviews, I’ll move on to the eating portion of my trip.*

New Mexico sky

Hand-in-hand with its vibrant arts community, Santa Fe has a small, but focused, restaurant scene. With a high percentage of jet-set and wealthy visitors from afar, the restaurants in this tiny town are used to catering to a somewhat sophisticated audience.

Pro: The menus I saw boasted high-quality ingredients.  In line with the progressive and hippie nature of the local population, the restaurants emphasized sustainable and organic agriculture.  Produce was notably fresh, spices were vibrant and alive, and meats were full of flavor.

Con: Prices were uniformly inflated.

Although I had a good variety of recommendations for restaurants, I chose to stick largely to the old favorites – the restaurants, like Cafe Pasqual’s and Geronimo, that first made Santa Fe an object of dining interest nearly two decades ago.

Here is where I ate:

Cafe Jean-Pierre
Cafe Pasqual’s
Coyote Cafe and Cantina
Geronimo
The Shed
Terra at Encantado Auberge & Resort
tune-up cafe

Loretto Chapel
Santa Fe, New Mexico

I’ll hyperlink this list to the reviews when they get posted in the coming weeks (or, months, more likely).

Santa Fe and its environs offer more than just food and opera.

At an elevation of 8,000 ft. above sea level, the air is considerably thinner in Santa Fe, making the sky a brilliant and dazzling sight to be hold.  Clouds sweep by with an added touch of drama. And at night, there are countless more stars in the sky.

Although I had hoped to eat in Taos, my drive up there was limited to a short time.  The pueblo – which I had specifically driven up there to see was, unfortunately closed.  But a short journey outside of that town rewarded me with a breathtaking walk over the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.  The bridge looks its age: constructed over forty yeas ago.  It rattled and shook with the passing of large trucks. It is not for the faint of heart.

New Mexico sky

I wasn’t able to make it out to Georgia O’Keeffe’s home in Abiquiui, but I did visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in downtown Santa Fe. She is an amazing woman with an amazing story.

Lastly, while killing some time before my flight back, I went for a nice hike through the Rinconada Valley in the Petroglyph National Monument, near Albuquerque.

* The Santa Fe Opera is set in the mountains and is exposed to the elements. It makes for a wonderful evening if the weather is as gorgeous as it was the night I went. Holding steady in the upper 60s (Farenheit, of course) the occasional breeze that drifted through the house was quite lovely.

Tailgating
Santa Fe Opera

Pre-opera tailgating is a huge past time. We’re not talking beer and grills. These hoity toits set up camp with linen-lined card tables, bottles of wine, boards of cheeses and fine meats, and multi-coursed dinners. The view, if you manage to park toward the look-out, is fantastic. The opera has also set up a couple of designated picnic areas with tables and benches.

It is somewhat unfortunate that Ms. Dessay was not to appear in a more interesting production. For me, “La Traviata” holds all the appeal and excitement of watching my neighbor (who is not a super-model) mow the lawn. It features one of the biggest schmucks in all of operadom (Germont), and boasts one of the most abusively agonizing deathbed scenes this side of “La Boheme,” with the heroine hopping in and out of bed until she draws her long-overdue, last breath. It’s an opera that’s repeatedly cursed by unimaginative productions like the one I last saw earlier this year in February.

Santa Fe Opera

Thankfully, this production was made bearable – and at times quite enjoyable – by a strong cast. The vocal talent was solid. I’m not convinced that Dessay was in her finest form, but she was wonderful all the same. [It is a pity I missed seeing Dessay and her husband (L. Naouri) sing opposite each other (he played the roll of the schmuck for the majority of the season). His engagement ended before the last two performances (for reasons unknown to me, but anticipated by the playbill).]

The set, which had been heavily criticized, I found quite compelling, a reflection of the local landscape: the large, dark boxes stacked on a rise with walkways and stair steps woven throughout looked like a mountainside tumble of boulders. This set was used to great effect in the second act, when the stage was convincingly converted to a mountain-side stretch of green, with the “boulders” peeking out here and there.

“Dear Mom and Dad,

Camp is great! We’re learning how to use knives and guns and the boys and girls are sleeping with each other. It’s the greatest summer camp ever!”

- SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE

I am truly saddened over the fact that I have never been to summer camp a day in my life. I would have loved to have camped out in the woods by a crackling fire and toasted marshmallows while singing, “Koom-by-yah” with my fellow campers. Archery, arts and crafts, and skinny dipping would have been a lot of fun, but this was just not meant to be.

My summer camp memories are relegated to the movies, so I was excited to see that the Cinefamily was throwing an all-night SUMMER CAMP MOVIE MARATHON! I went with my partner in crime, the lovely Grae Drake of The Popcorn Mafia and boy did we have ourselves some fun. The Cinefamily’s main programmer, Hadrian Belove and his staff were all dressed like counselors and there was a wading pool and a crafts table set up for making “friendship” bracelets. There was also plenty of beer on hand for us older campers and I ate one of the most delicious smores ever made. The first movie we watched was the amazing, LITTLE DARLINGS…

Kristy McNichol and Tatum O'Neil spend their summer trying to get laid.

You’ve got to love a teen comedy that’s this inappropriate. Tatum O’Neil and a chain-smoking Kristy McNichol spend their summer camp experience trying to win a bet on which one of them can get laid first. Kristy has her eyes on a teenage (almost unintelligible) Matt Dillon, while Tatum tries to score some loving from an extremely hairy and waaaaayyyyyy too old Armand Assante. If you like under age drinking and jail bait, this is the summer camp movie for you! Up next was something truly incredible…

Meatballs meets The Beach!

1987’s SUMMER CAMP NIGHTMARE tells the story of an all boy’s summer camp that’s run by a very strict Chuck (The Rifleman) Connors. He makes them watch religious programs on the only T.V. and cancels the dance with the nearby girl’s camp. That’s when the kids form an uprising and take control by killing him, jailing the counselors and creating their own society with their own rules. This movie was like a cross between MEATBALLS, LORD OF THE FLIES, THE BEACH, TAPS and a half dozen prison films I’ve seen, complete with a shanking, a rape and a lynching! WOW! Next up, it was time to get stupid…

Meet Meathead, the pot smoking alien.

MEATBALLS PART 2 has absolutely nothing at all to do with the Bill Murray movie. It’s about a war between the laid-back Camp Sasquatch and the military-themed Camp Patton. There’s also an E.T. who smokes weed in it, named Meathead, who has been sent to Earth for the summer by his parents to get his merit badge. Pee Wee Herman, John Larroquette, Richard (EMPTY NEST) Mulligan and the guy who played Ogre from REVENGE OF THE NERDS are on hand for the hilarity. I haven’t seen this one since VHS back in the eighties and it was quite a treat to see a beautiful 35mm Sony archive print of it.

Then, our “camp director” Hadrian offered us all a choice between watching the MEATBALLS rip-off GORP or a christian summer camp movie called, GERONIMO.

We chose GERONIMO and boy am I glad! It’s the “honky and the home-boys” tale of a born-again camp counselor who’s given the tough assignment of taking care of a group of wild, inner-city kids from Chicago for the summer, all of whom seem very “real” and behave like the cast of Larry Clark’s KIDS. After dozens of lectures about Jesus and a few unintentionally racist comments, the boys finally discover the “joy” of camping, when they’re not stealing everything in sight, picking fights with everyone and sniffing glue. This was truly a “rare” treat to see.

Next up was GORP, but it was about 4 a.m. and we needed to take the big, yellow bus back home. Thanks again to the Cinefamily for all the fun. It was the best summer camp experience I’ve ever had, without all that awkward “growing up” stuff!

Cuando se cumple el centenario de la muerte de Gerónimo (1829-1909), el último Gran Jefe de los apaches chiricahuas, la editorial sevillana Mono Azul ha decidido editar en español sus memorias bajo el título «Soy Apache». Un volumen que recoge íntegro el legado oral que el legendario guerrero apache dictó al inspector S. M. Barrett poco antes de morir, anciano y recluido, en la reserva de Fort Sill (Oklahoma), lejos de su Arizona natal. Sabiéndose el último eslabón de una estirpe de hombres libres, el otrora poderoso Pueblo del Águila, Gerónimo quiso dejar al mundo su visión, íntima y apasionada, de lo que significó ser apache en un mundo dominado por el hombre blanco. Y lo hizo precisamente en español, lengua que utilizó siempre para entenderse con los colonizadores -de hecho, el propio Barrett se encargaría de traducir posteriormente sus palabras al inglés-.

Uno de los episodios que marcaría la trayectoria vital del legendario apache fue la muerte de su esposa y sus tres hijos a manos de las tropas mexicanas. En 1858, aprovechando su ausencia y la de otros hombres de la tribu, que habían marchado a comerciar, los soldados mexicanos atacaron sus hogares organizando una matanza de mujeres y niños apaches; en una acción en la que pereció toda su familia. Así fue cómo el joven Gerónimo se puso al frente de tres tribus apaches, que con posterioridad atacarían el norte de México diezmando la sección de caballería que había cometido semejante carnicería.

Javier Hernández Pizarroso, director de la editorial sevillana, asegura que el motivo de esta nueva publición -traducida opr Javier Lucini- responde a que todavía sigue habiendo demasiados aspectos relevantes de su biografía que el gran público desconoce (como el hecho de que hablara español, y no inglés; o que fueran los mexicanos, y no los gringos, sus grandes enemigos). «Como todos los de mi generación, he visto películas de los indios, he leído tebeos y he jugado a los indios con los muñequitos, pero tenía una gran ignorancia sobre la realidad de los apaches y de Gerónimo», señala el editor en declaraciones a Efe.

Es Gerónimo uno de los nativos más legendarios en la Historia del continente americano, protagonista de la lucha fraticida entre los indígenas y el hombre blanco, que acabaría sus últimos días recluido por los norteamericanos en una reserva apache en Oklahoma. Allí, Gerónimo posó para los fotógrafos a cambio de dinero, convirtiéndose en una especie de atracción de feria. En febrero de 1909 la muerte visitó al último gran caudillo de la reistencia indígena.

Juan Carlos Delgado

Extraído de ABC.

E por falar no tocador de promessas, um vídeo em que o Gerônimo fala sobre como aplicou os conceitos da Sevirologia para continuar produzindo artisticamente.

Captado e Editado por Fabrício Jabar.