SAY IT LOUD!

 no I MASTURBATE & I'M PROUD!

(for those of you who do not live in this extremely odd country,you might want to know that the republican nominee for the us senate
for the state of delaware, is, quite vocally,
running on an anti-masturbation platform!
it is time for all self-pleasurers to come to the aid of their party!)

SHE BOPWe-hell-I see them every night in tight blue jeans--
In the pages of a blue boy magazine
Hey I've been thinking of a new sensation
I'm picking up--good vibration--
Oop--she bop--


Do I wanna go out with a lion's roar Huh, yea, I wanna go south n get me some more Hey, they say that a stitch in time saves nine They say I better stop--or I'll go blind

Oop--she bop--she bop

She bop--he bop--a--we bop
I bop--you bop--a--they bop
Be bop--be bop--a--lu--she bop,
I hope He will understand
She bop--he bop--a--we bop
I bop--you bop--a--they bop
Be bop--be bop--a--lu--she bop,
Oo--oo--she--do--she bop--she bop

(whistle along here)...


Hey, hey--they say I better get a chaperone
Because I can't stop messin' with the danger zone
No, I won't worry, and I won't fret--
Ain't no law against it yet--

Oop--she bop--she bop--

She bop--he bop--we bop...

Cyndi Lauper

by any other name

william merritt chase called them 'japanese umbrellas'; his tenth-street studio was known to always have some around.

kent seavey, of the heritage society of pacific grove, calls them that too. 1

in fact, pretty much everyone called them that, and most of them painted them too.

(the grandma of them all may be friseke's garden umbrella.)

everyone, that is, but the japanese.

in japan, the umbrellas were only minimally decorated. if at all. (except maybe in versions by westerners.)

they might be colored, but they were otherwise plain.

friseke painted them several more times, often, like this one, painted in giverny.

"Careful examination of the choices the artist Frederick Frieseke made when depicting women as subjects reveals information about the artist, these women and attitudes toward women during the early 20th century. Consider the women in Frieseke's painting as both subjects and symbols.

Why do you think Frederick Frieseke chose this setting for his painting? The work depicts his wife, Sarah O'Bryan, and a companion enjoying a bit of leisure time in the Frieseke's garden. Frieseke often painted his wife set within the confines of her lush garden or intimate bedroom. In these feminine spaces, Frieseke was able to concentrate on the decorative qualities of nature, as well as the human figure.

How did the artist convey a feminine feeling, beyond setting his female figures in a garden? Frieseke's repetition of rounded forms, such as the chair backs and umbrella, echoes the soft forms of the female figures. Additionally, the repeated use of patterns in the Asian designs on the umbrella and the background flowers, the female subject and the natural setting suggest Frieseke was aware of 19th-century Japanese prints, which bear many of the same characteristics and were very popular among French and American art collectors at the time." 2

and he clearly wasn't the only one. consider this beauty from jean's blog. i loved this piece so went off on research, and found a very interesting thing.

miller's was first, and is much better. i think jean found his best.

there are others, but i think i'll leave it at that. for now. in recreating a bit of this wondrous new east they instead created an illusion.

they may have been created in the east, but they were make for the west alone.

The Greatest Grandeur

Some say it’s in
the reptilian dance
of the purple-tongued
sand goanna,
for there the
magnificent translation
of tenacity into bone and grace occurs.



And some declare it to be an expansive
desert — solid rust- orange rock
like dusk captured on earth in stone —
simply for the perfect contrast it provides
to the blue-grey ridge of rain
in the distant hills.

Some claim the harmonics of shifting
electron rings to be most rare and some
the complex motion of seven sandpipers
bisecting the arcs and pitches
of come and retreat over the mounting
hayfield.

Others, for gran- deur, choose the terror
of lightning peals on prairies or the tall
collapsing cathedrals of stormy seas,
because there they feel dwarfed
and appropriately helpless; others select
the serenity of that ceiling/cellar
of stars they see at night on placid lakes,
because there they feel assured
and universally magnanimous.



But it is the dark emptiness contained
in every next moment that seems to me
the most singularly glorious gift,
that void which one is free to fill
with processions of men bearing burning
cedar knots or with
parades of blue horses,
belled and ribboned and
stepping sideways,
with tumbling
white-faced mimes or companies
of black-robed choristers; to fill simply
with hammered silver teapots
or kiln-dried
crockery, tangerine and almond custards,
polonaises, polkas, whittling sticks, wailing
walls; that space large enough to hold all
invented blasphemies and pieties, 10,000
definitions of god and more, never fully
filled, never.

© 1994 by Pattiann Rogers

from Firekeeper: New and Selected Poems (1994).

bosoms lost

don't tell any- one, but women used to have bottoms, breasts, and bellies. in fact, when they chose clothes to wear, or dictated what was fashionable, the styles might even exaggerate them. but then things changed.

It was a difficult time for the former matrons of Edwardian society, the previous leaders of fashion whose style of dressing became as passé as their rounded figures and older faces. More youthful women who could party all night and carry the boyish fashions well were all the rage.

The slender flat- chested tanned body and face of a 15 year old became the desired silhouette of the bright young things of the 1920s. 1

Women’s fashion in the early 1900s highlighted the silhouette of the mature, full-figured body. Low busts and curvy hips were flaunted by the dress styles of the era... From 1910 until the start of the First World War in 1914, fashion continued to move toward slimmer, narrower silhouettes that emphasized flat busts and slim hips . Bustles and trains were removed from dresses, as fashion designers played with the length of skirts to reveal enticing new areas of skin. 2

and of course, as we've seen, this is also the period during which the influence of japonisme on fashion became the most evident. women and fashion designers were suddenly looking at young idealized japanese courtesans with a new eye. but this new audience for the ukiyo-e may not have understood that they were seeing through the artists' eyes as well.

Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) was the first artist to use the technique of full color printing. He popularized a new aesthetic in female beauty—that of a delicate, ethereal, childlike woman... Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) focused on bijin-ga (pretty women). His women are stately and statuesque. They are more realistic than Harunobu's, but are still impossibly tall and elegant. His faces exhibit a high degree of idealism and are often indistinguishable from each other.

Kitagawa Utamaro (1750-1806): Utamaro worked mainly with bijin-ga, his prints dominating the Ukiyo-e scene in the 1790s. He took Kiyonaga's female type to its elegant extreme. His were tall, full-bodied women with large oval heads. Utamaro depicted these women on a monumental scale, often delighting in bringing the figure forward and focusing on enlarged heads and torsos. 3

so i begin to wonder, putting this all together in my head...: were we seeing, in the 20s, evidence of women's "new freedom," as the new look is often attributed to, or yet another sample of japonisme?

are we still punishing ourselves for having edwardian bodies in a "modern" world due to the fancies of japanese printmakers from over 200 years ago?

as we've seen, we were quick and happy to emulate the japanese clothing, and perhaps we were also inviting in their bodies as well. many of us in the west are from, or have ancestors from, european peasant stock, inheriting bodies as far from the stereotyped (let alone the idealized) japanese body as a body could be. in inviting in these body images, we were also welcoming decades of frustration and self-hatred.

garb

JAPANESE GARB: An Overview 1

The Kimono was developed in Japan starting in the early 10th Century, when the Ancient Chinese styles were supplanted by the now common kimono style. This was derived from native work garments which better suited the climate, lifestyles and aesthetics of the Japanese, This was the late Heian or Fugiwara, period (897-1185). The earliest form of the kimono is the Kosode (small sleeve garment). Originally, it was a generally worn, plain undergarment. The farmers, crafters & merchant class continued to wear their simple two-piece garments: the Happi, a knee length top tied at the waist and loose trousers just below the knee. This was common to both sexes. Women could also wear a mid-calf, wrap-around, pleated skirt, the Mo.

In cold weather, the longer kosode would be worn. They were often padded and/or quilted for extra warmth. Through changes in decoration and sleeves, the kosode became an outer garment of the samurai class. (1200's forward)

During the Heian period, the men of the nobility and imperial household retained some of the ceremonial styles of China, wearing the kosode as an undergarment- Kariginu. The women embraced the kimono of the large, open sleeves, the Osede. This was the era of the 12-layer kimono, (Juni-hito) worn at court. They were unlined, with wide sleeves. Care was taken that the layers blended, matched & contrasted in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The layers were visible at the neck, sleeves and the lower skirts. Up to 20 layers could be worn. Underneath it all was a kosode and Hakama, long pleated pants. The layers were tied with sashes.

The transition from the Heian period to the Kamakura period (1185- 1333), was the change from imperial control to the shogunate and samurai. This changed the style of clothing to a simpler, more practical form, befitting the warrior class. The classic crossover front of the kimono replaced the high-collared tabard of the Heian. The men's Hitatare retained the large open sleeves that could be closed with drawstrings, but were now attached all around, instead of only under the arms. Hakama completed the outfit. A similar style for under armor and certain ceremonial activities had smaller, narrower sleeves and short trousers, or hakama wore with leggings.(Yoroi hitatare)

The lady's garments became very simple. The basic kosode sleeve had a small opening and less fabric hanging down. This was worn with hakama, the hem varying from just to the floor to dragging, depending on the occasion.

1338-1568 was the Muromachi period. This is when the tea ceremony and Noh drama were developed, along with other flowerings of artist expression. The samurai austere warrior's code had them distance themselves from the clothing of the court by wearing subdued fabrics. The men's robes were very similar to the hitatare, but were made of linen, not silk, with cords of leather, not braided silk. This was the Daimon. This garment often had the family crest (kamon) in 5 places on the kimono- 2 at the shoulders in front, 2 on the sleeves and 1 at the neck, in the back. There was no other decoration, only the fine woven patterns of the fabric.

The lady's kosode was the standard for all women, but for formal activities, an over kimono (Uchikake) was worn with the kosode under the hakama. The uchikake had longer sleeves with a small sleeve opening. In summer, the uchikake was allowed to drape over the ties of the hakama and trail behind. This could also be worn with extra-long hakama (Koshi-maki style).

During the Momoyama period (1573- 1603), warriors and land owners assumed positions of authority. This caused a change of attitude toward fashion. What ever was new and novel was highly valued. The women of the daimyo families wore richer and more elaborately decorated kimono. The ceremonial kosode and uchikaki, with a sash obi, became the standard.

After 1603, the Tokugawa shogunate was in control. The capital was at Edo, now called Tokyo. The island was closed to outsiders, except for a few Dutch and Chinese merchants at the port of Nagasaki. In men's fashion, they added the wing-shaped Kamishimo to the kimono and hakama for ceremonial attire. A formal occasion would require long, dragging hakama.

The women's styles also continued to evolve as the sleeves became much longer. Fashion was influenced by the Kabuki actors and courtesans. A style of obi was a long, braided silk cord with tasseled ends. This was wrapped around the waist and tied in back, so as to not detract from the elaborate, colorful kimono.

Later in the Edo period (1680- 1700's), the sleeves were at their longest- the Furisode style. The long sleeves were often used for flirting, so this style was worn by unmarried women and of course, courtesans and geisha. With the furisode was worn a much wider, stiff obi, tied in an elaborate bow in the back. This was the Darari-musubi. The samurai ladies would also still wear the plainer styles encouraged by the samurai code.

The obi itself became a design element, wider and heavier than before. During the middle of the Edo period, the obi developed its' now traditional size of 3.6m in length by 26.8cm. width. During this time, obi were often tied in front or back, with different tying styles coming from Kabuki actors. Men's obi were in two styles-- Kaku obi, which is stiff and the Heko obi, which is soft.

Traditional fabrics for kimono are silk, linen, cotton and wool. Patterns are produced by many methods: weaving (hand or machine), hand-painted, stencil & tie- dyeing, embroidery or combinations of techniques. All are period methods. Common dye colors were yellow, brown, black, blues, red and green. In period, white was reserved for undergarments and burial clothing. Modern western influence has changed that tradition. The older patterns from Japan include cross, parallel cross, check, plaid, stripe, diamond, dots, dashes, and squares. Stenciled and block printed patterns often reflect nature: tortoise shell, clouds, blossoms, pine needles, mums, crane, water, mountains, bamboo, leaves, insects, birds, land & sea animals. Other designs: fans, comb, yin-yang, spiral, feather, tied ribbons, etc. Check various Japanese picture prints and other artwork for more designs. The mini- series- Shogun, has lots of info for garb of the early 1600's.

The Yukata is an unlined cotton kimono originally worn after bathing. It became a garment for casual home wear, especially during the humid summer months. The colors are usually a dark blue and white pattern. A simple sash obi is wore with this style. Another summer kimono is the Jofu, made of lightweight linen. This is worn with a light cotton kosode and an open-weave silk obi.

Japanese kimono fabrics are about 13"-15" wide, some can be 28" wide. Standard fabric of 44" can be used, but the pattern layout has to be adjusted. A kimono is traditional hand- sewn to make it easier to clean. A simple set of running stitches is all that's needed.

By Mistress Ella Gajewi von Pommern, O.P. Aka Louise Sugiyama May 2007, AS XLII

1. The Book of Kimono- Norio Yumanaka, c1982, Kodansha International Ltd. 2. Folkwear Patterns- # 113- Kimono, cI977,1982, #151-Hakama & Kataginu, c 2003, Taunton Press. 3. Japan: National Costume Reference, Marion Sichel, c1987, Chelsea House Publ. 4. Make Your Own Japanese Clothes- John Marshall, c 1988, Kodansha 1 International Ltd.