Well I'm not, but all my ex's are.....

Postatem obscuri lateris nescitis.
"You do not know the power of the Dark
Side." There are two possibilities: you
are a Star Wars geek, or you are unreasoningly
scary.


Which Weird Latin Phrase Are You?
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TFM!!!STREAM!!!!

In my coming of age internet experience, I've tried lots of interesting new things: forums, radio streams, blogs, etc. But today, I have found the coolest thing ever! EVER! In case you haven't notice the first few links (all for The Floating Men) on this page, I can promise they're pretty damn important (at least to me and hundreds of other fans). So, now life is finally complete....with a TFM stream. Here try it, and I promise you can list for more than a day and never hear the same song. Yes, they've been around that long. So, if you haven't heard them, there's no excuse. And it's never too late to change....TFM stream ......enjoy!

You are the grammar Fuhrer. All bow to your
authority. You will crush all the inferior
people under the soles of your jackboots, and
any who question your motives will be
eliminated. Your punishment is being the bane
of every other person's existence, because
you're constantly contradicting stupidity.
Everyone will be gunning for you. Your dreams
of a master race of spellers and grammarians
frighten the masses. You must always watch your
back. If only your power could be used for good
instead of evil.

What is your grammar aptitude?
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mysterious

Seven is sometimes considered as a mystical and magical number because of the biblical seven days of creation, and the seven heavenly bodies of ancient astronomy (i.e. The Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter; they hadn't seen the others yet). You are understanding, perceptive and bright, and enjoy hard work and challenges. You are often serious, scholarly, and interested in all things mysterious. Originality and imagination are more important to you than money and material possessions. However, you can also be pessimistic, sarcastic, and insecure.


What does your name and arithmacy say about you? (some simple knowledge of adding is required on your part)
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Surprise...surprise, surprise, surprise

We got another nice surprise filming today. At the Embree House , we met the owner who had tried to contact us. She filled us in on some of the history and the stories and so on. It was so much more than we expected. We thought he was mainly known for his Abolitionist newspaper in the early 19th century. Rumors, of course, suggest that he was also part of the Underground Railroad . Either way, he's a still a most positive aspect of Appalachian and African American (it's just seems right without the hyphen) relationships, and i.e. still within the documentary's scope. Also I filmed some churches, a school, and (for dramatic-geographic significance) some train tracks. Pretty good for Spring Break, eh.


And now more than ever, I want a stone house. That place was more than 2 centuries old and still so magnificent.


....stilll waiting to hear about local t.v., but we have started a local controversy (at least for people who read tiny edits to the editors buried on page 10A). More than ever, glad I'm not a journalist.


Hasta Luego
toys

What's in a name?

VERONICA, ST. According to the most recent version of the legend, Veronica was a pious woman of Jerusalem, who, moved with pity by the spectacle of Jesus carrying His cross to Golgotha, gave Him her kerchief in order that He might wipe the drops of agony from His brow. The Lord accepted the offering, and after using the napkin handed it back to her with the image of His face miraculously impressed upon it. This, however, is not the primitive form of the legend, which a close examination shows to be derived from the following story related by Eusebius in his Historia Ecclesiastica (vii. 18). At Caesarea Philippi dwelt the woman whom the Lord healed of an is~sue of blood (Matt. ix. 20), and at the door of her house stood, on one side a statue of a woman in an attitude of supplication, and on the other side that of a man stretching forth his hand to the woman. It was said that the male figure represented Christ, and that the group had been set up in recognition of the miraculous cure. Legend was not long in providing the woman of the Gospel with a name. In the West she was identified with Martha of Bethany; in the East she was called Berenike, or Beronike, the name appearing in as early a work as the A cta Pilati, the most ancient form of which goes back to the 4th century. Towards the 6th century the legend of the woman with the issue of blood became merged in the legend of Pilate, as is shown in the writings known in the middle ages as Cura sanitalis Tiberii and Vindicta Salvatoris. According to the former of these accounts Veronica, in memory of her cure, caused a portrait of the Saviour to be painted. The emperor Tiberius, when afflicted with a grievous sickness, commanded the woman to bring the portrait to him, worshipped Christ before her eyes, and was cured. The legend continued to gather accretions, and a miraculous origin came to be assigned to the image. It appears that in the ,.th century the image began to be identified with one preserved at Rome, and in the popular speech the image, too, was called Veronica. It is interesting to note that the fanciful derivation of the same Veronica from the words Vera icon (ei,cd,p) true image is not, as has been. thought, of modern origin, since it occurs in the Otia Imperialia (iii. 25) of Gervase of Tilbury (fi. 1211), who says: Est ergo Veronica pictura Domini vera. In several churches the office of St Veronica, matron, is observed on. various dates.
See Ada Sanctorum, February, i. 44957; L. F. C. Tischendorf, Evangelia apocrypha (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1877), p. 239; E. von Dobschutz, Christushilder (Leipzig, 1899); H. Thurston, The Stations of the Cross (London, 1906). (H. Da.)
and of course, here


Veronicas
Family: N.O. Scrophulariaceae

The genus Veronica includes some of our most beautiful native flowers, the Speedwells, which differ from the other British Scrophularicece in having only two stamens, which project horizontally from the rotate, or wheel-shaped corolla, which has only four unequal spreading lobes, the lower segment being the smallest, the two posterior petals, according to the theory of botanists, being united into one large one. The numerous species found in England have generally blue petals with dark diverging lines at the base, though in a few cases, pinkish flowers are found.
All the species of Veronica possess a slight degree of astringency, and many of them were formerly used in medicine, some 20 of them have been employed as drugs, those with the chief reputation being Yeronica Chamcedrys, V. officinalis, and V. Beccabunga, all natives of Great Britain; the American species V. leptandra, now known as Leptandra veronica and another species, native to Asia Minor, called V. peduncularis (Bieb.) or V. nigricans (Koch.), the root of which is used there under the name Batitjoe.
The name of this genus of plants is said to have been derived from the Saint; others say it is from the Greek words phero (I bring) and nike (victory), alluding to its supposed efficacy in subduing diseases.
genus


From the Latin vera icon meaning true image Other forms are Veronika (Lithuanian) VŽronique (French)
vera icon

flower pics

genus pics

Snow Day....'til Spring Break

It's so nice when it snows, and you needed it most. To finish out this week, I had 2 assignments, 2 speeches, 2 exams, 3 papers, a traffic ticket to appeal, and camera equipment to pick-up and shoot with, at a local Underground Railroad house (name of which is in dispute, but we'll call it Bell-Herrin-Gilliam, for short, for now). I could've done it all, but it'll sure be nice to have that extra Spring break to finish everything.

The down side, if ETSU isn't open tomorrow, no camera-stuff. But the is good news about equipment....The countdown on my computer parts is now 10:12 (anxiously awaiting RAM and monitor). Luckily they deliver in the snow, but we may see if that holds true in a blizzard.

Today's projections range from 4" to 14". It's not the size, but the distance that scares me. We haven't had a March blizzard in a long, long time, I hope this holds on for just a couple days. Unfortunately, it's melting a little right now, but there's no decrease in snowfall (predicted for hours, yet). Yeah! -- for all those who don't have to go anywhere....And good luck! -- to all those that do.

ETSU Pride

Brag, brag, blah, blah, proud, proud, yaddah, yaddah, etc, etc.....

Just in case you didn't get today's copy of the Johnson City Press, maybe this will help.


As excited as I am, I still must complain. The article doesn't make a request for local help (which we could really use) or list my number as a contact. Also I'm misquoted, not pictured, and my comments are out of context. But our names are spelled right, so, I really ought not complain. ETSU was so proud, they bought stacks of today's paper (so that all the poor college students wouldn't be left out).

Give it back, a little bit deeper....

I never knew how exciting the Underground Railroad could be. I'm probably assuming too much, but I think every time we find a little more substance to our documentary, I feel empathy -- like a slave finding the next station, perhaps. It's so hard, yet so exciting. It almost doesn't matter that Hypoglycemia has left me no energy -- just the excitement behind this story is enough to keep me going (at least that what I keep telling my self). Anyway, today's point....I was following a lead on a safe house (a station on the UR where slaves were hidden -- usually during the day, waiting for nightfall to escape). This lead ended quite abruptly, as it also turned into a whole new avenue. I began at the local paper, the Elizabethton Star , then was transferred to a larger, also local paper, the Johnson City Press . My documentary group had been discussing listing a PSA (free article) with the Press, but I hadn't had time to finish or deliver it. One reporter, and then another, and another....And they loved it! They wanted to do an article on us. I think representing ETSU is a big enough deal, but this added personal research and newly uncovered local history to a simple little story.

The moral of the tale: no matter how much I've done so far, there's always more to be found. My hope with the article is that it will turn up more leads, allow more secret history into the public, and just maybe, help change a few attitudes. My concern, however, is the negative response....Our documentary is focused on the positive aspects of relationships between blacks and whites in east TN, and not the usual behavior. Although I'm learning that east TN may have been one of the most slave-friendly areas in the south (of course, not including Erwin), there's certainly still some confederate-attitude leftover. All I can say is that, I hope this article doesn't generate burning crosses for my lawn, but rather a healthy response including mostly substantiated claims, rather than mainly family stories. From Jonesborough, Elizabethton, Johnson City, Telford, we found the most leads, but now I think we're about to find out just how big the distribution is for the Press . So, check the paper on Sunday, and call me if you can help. Wish me luck!

O.K., here it is...

The holidays were different, but great. Hypoglycemia has subsided, but is not subdued. ETSU has consumed my time, and worn out my mind, body, and soul....I'm just tired. With merely 75 hours left, I have go, I have to finish, it's so close. My house has radically changed...none of the original room-mates still live here. It's kinda weird, yet really nice. Some things will always be missed, but mostly not.

And most interesting of all: I'm finally making a documentary (for those who don't know, that's like my dream, and stuff). It's not the subject matter for which I'd planned, but something completely different. It's quite local, yet still quite diverse. The working title: Tour Appalachia on the Underground Railroad (doesn't leave much up to the imagination, but gimme a break, it is a working title). So, now the problem: researching local history....is turning into hearsay land. It's easy to find rumors/leads, but mostly they have no real ending. Most locals don't seem to want to help us with our research, but it's that supposedly liberal east-TN spirit that is main focus of this documentary. I guess these people were just plain good at hiding. Everyone's got a story, but no one's got the address or phone number. But all that complaining aside, I'm loving it -- every minute of it. Even when I find a frustrating end, it's still so satisfying just doing the work. It's the best class ever!

So, if anybody know about the underground railroad, especially in Appalachia, then lemme know. And, if anyone needs to rent a room, lemme know that, too. Otherwise, hablamos luego...hasta pronto.