Monday, October 31, 2011

ALL SAINTS DAY

sacred art - Eastern Orthodox icon of All Saints

Christ is enthroned in heavean surrounded by the ranks of angels and saints. At the bottom is Paradise with the bosom of Abraham.

DIVORCED

Kardashian is one of the highest-paid reality stars on U.S. television with 2010 earnings estimated at $6 million from her TV show, clothing line, perfume, jewelry and tanning cream and other product endorsements and appearances.




It was reported today that Kim Kardashian's second marriage ended in divorce in less than 2 months. I am very sorry about this. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

CARRIE ANN INABA: engagement

"One of the challenges of watching television is not to become cynical, and hard hearted. In the wake of the loss of moral compasses it is impossible for immature people to navigate through television programming and advertisements and find themselves, and have a solid grasp on the complexity of American life. They usually are tightly wrapped in mummy cloth with too many pieces of truth, and lies, and not enough analytical abilities, education or discernment and no control over the images threading through their minds into action. One of the losses of the soul for many American viewers is the profound conditions of covenant within marriage, and the ritual of covenant now dead to Christian practice and theology, but fundamental to the relationships between men in the old days of the nomadic Hebrew tribes, and important to women because it was part of a woman's survival mechanisms..."  ©Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Carrie Ann Inaba kissing fiance on Regis & Kelly show after his proposal & her acceptance !!!!

Carrie Ann Inaba's engagement story was a beautiful surprise on the Regis & Kelly show. If I hadn’t learned how to watch the Regis & Kelly show I would’ve missed it. For most of its time on television the show turned me off. It was a show for older white middle class Americans to be amongst their own with their white hair entertained by someone who reflected their value system. Every group deserves their own and I wouldn’t begrudge them that. It just wasn't for me until a few years ago when Kathy Lee Gifford was co-hosting and her effervescence caught me up in Tinker Bell dust and her enthusiasm, and the fun she exuded tasted good. It felt good. Regis Philbin himself remained uninteresting though not as dull, conservative and predictable as Wheel of Fortune host, Pat Sajak until Regis' wife, Joy, hosted the show one day. My God! I couldn't see the man until I saw his wife!

Elegant, fine, beautiful, articulate, intelligent, supportive, understanding, cultivated married to a man who, for me, symbolized an era, and body of white male energy cloaked in the smart sophistication white men enjoyed in Jim Crow days. Flaunting their masculinity, and silently condoning socially inappropriate modalities that did not benefit Black people, for example, Black men had to employ defense mechanisms to psychological combat the social expectations of their manhood. In the light of these times, the 21st century, simple-minded people cannot grasp what I’m saying, but it takes a man to see another man through the woman who married him. She carries the story of who he is at the deeper levels that are behind the image he projects into the mind of another, and the world, if he is a celebrity. ©Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Joy Philbin & husband Regis at premiere of SEX & THE CITY 2010


Sunday, October 30, 2011

Carrie Ann Inaba


Hawaiian-born Carrie Ann Inaba’s diverse ethnic background inspired her to pursue a number of divergent paths, each with impressive success. Of Chinese, Japanese, and Irish descent, Inaba attended UCLA and earned a degree in World Arts and Cultures before using her fluent Japanese to live in Tokyo between 1986 and 1988. During that time, she had a successful career as a pop star, releasing three hit singles over the course of her two years in the country. Returning to the States, Inaba focused on her dancing skills, becoming a Fly Girl on the edgy sketch comedy show In Living Color from 1990 to 1992. She also joined many famous and prestigious dancing troupes, appearing as a backup dancer for Madonna’s The Girlie Show tour, and Ricky Martin’s Living la Vida Loca tour. Inaba also appeared as a dancer in movies such as Austin Powers in Goldmember and Showgirls. In 2005, Inaba put her loads of experience in dance to a different use, becoming a judge on ABC’s hit reality series Dancing With the Stars.



http://www.fullissue.com/index.php/carrie-ann-inaba-biography-1968.html  









 

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Today is Gabrielle Union's birthday. Let's see in 1972 I was doing what? What were you doing as the country slowly exhaled from the trauma of the 1960's, winced at the sound of the Vietnam War, men wore long hair, Black American pride, and property values were rising, White American's were still wrestling with their emotions around the war, race, and the subtle cultural changes integration presented. The Pequot nation was fighting for soverignity, and Africa was still a deep source of pride for Black Americans, and the United States was enjoying the respect and fear our passports inspired.  What do you remember about 1972? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Friday, October 28, 2011

DEEP FEARS RUN DEEP

FEAR OF THE SACRED FEMININE







“There are obvious reasons why people are scared of and blinking incomprehensibly at the Sacred Feminine. The Goddess was successfully renounced in sacred texts and redefined as we all know, but most disturbing of the reasons is the perceived loss of power as a man to what men have been taught is the weaker vessel or sex. It flies against the cultural grain protected by pride, meanness at times, and fear of capsizing. At another level the scope of the work to change and adjust as a man into simply understanding the Sacred Feminine has no tutorial, and confronted with justified anger from women is daunting.


There are other reasons and there are not enough capable ceremonial Teachers assisting in the transition, and sadly, it seems there are more angry activists than Teachers capable of assisting in the transition.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

African women in Sunday best walking down the street by Khamit Kinks

Thursday, October 27, 2011

TO LIVE BY

ROTARY CREED



Is it the truth?

Is it fair to all concerned?

Will it build good will and better friendships?

Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

on the peripheral of normal men’s consciousness...

Monqiue Washington
 I am and have always been fascinated by beauty, women, dignity within women, and by what I see and perceive looking at and within a woman. Hence, the number of pictures I have posted here for public viewing, and my private creative process which is a spiritual discipline outside of most men’s spheres of knowing. Photographers are magicians to me. The best ones I should clarify include rank amateurs with an eye to capture a moment of truth, a story within a moment with numerous potential to tell stories, and the photographers with an unbending determination to capture the essence, the soul of a subject, a landscape, view are by comparison: teachers, prophets, artists, and magicians. It is a high calling perceiving, and seeing Beauty. She is a mythical creation, and a mystical charmer of our erogenous zones, and spiritual palettes.” – Gregory E. Woods


Moon full in the darkening sky by Santee Featherarms

 

Monday, October 24, 2011

CORN MOTHER

Madonna story = Cherokee mother & son

CORN MOTHER reflected in life. . .



Sunday, October 23, 2011

AFRICA UNITED UNDER GADHAFI

In 2010 Gaddafi offered to invest $97 billion in Africa to free it from Western influence, on condition that African states rid themselves of corruption and nepotism. Gaddafi always dreamed of a Developed, United Africa and was about to make that dream come true - and nothing is more terrifying to the West than a Developed, United Africa.
Here is a selection of the initiatives Libya has already put in place in Africa, as well as some of the projects it is planning, explaining why the West's illegal war against Libya also is a war against Entire Africa.

AFRICAN UNION: Libya is one of the biggest contributors to the budget of the African Union. A Libyan diplomat told Reuters Libya is one of five countries -- the others are Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa -- which cover 75 percent of the Union's budget. "Libya makes its full required contribution to AU funds. Not all countries do and that buys it influence," a senior African Union official said.

AFRICA UNITE: Moammar Gadhafi


Moammar Gadhafti wearing Louis Vuitton shades surveys a Community of Sahel-Saharan States meeting in Syrte, Libya on March 7, 2002
" My Native American blood speaks in a clear language to me as do my African ancestors. There is something I, and we don't know to ask about the death of Moammar Gadhafi. In the life and theme of the General are secrets, answers, and questions with the capacity to knock powerful forces to the ground, and into the open sunlight! Just because the American press, and the American government have made their statements and shown certain images in brief flashes of insight doesn’t mean I, and we need to accept their presentations as the testament, the gospel of politics in Africa, or the definitive facts about a complex man: Moammar Gadhafi. I see something just beyond my intellectual grasp missed because of my lack of focus on Africa in recent years.


Vanity Fair and Time magazine are displaying photo galleries of Gadhafi with subtitles written by sneering columnists. Why are fashion statements forming public opinion for international politics? Africa is key to development and stability of Western countries, and the stability of the global economy has roots in Africa. What happens in Africa affects the world, and we are sporting naiveté, and having victory dances? I am missing something because I haven't done my homework." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2055860,00.html 

Moammar Gaddafi on Jan 24, 2006 at African leaders' summit in Khartoun, Sudan

INNER WORLDS

art - Mystical Artwork by Mizzlilly Art

Mystical Artwork



“These are symbols arising from our sub-consciousness. I can't name them but I know them upon sight. They know me as I do them. They belong to and come from me. Snaking itself around the square is an ancient symbol from the Hopi, I believe. The four corners of the earth encircle us with teachings, and nuances. 4 numbers are days, and our stages of growth in this Life...” - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories


 by Mizzlilly Art

Thursday, October 20, 2011

SACRED WOMB teaching: fire of desire

WOMAN IN PANTIES


“... There is a fair amount of appeal, value, and intrinsic allure pulling the core of a man's mind, loins, and imagination towards the mid-section of a woman's body that feels like an embrace, or a trap. The feel of an embrace or a trap is wholly dependant upon the value a man places on Punany, friendship, and the type of man he is. What is his calibre? What is his sense of pleasure beyond the sexual release? Is there a story within him that extends his imagination beyond the predictable into the spheres of influence within the folds of his woman's heart, lips, legs, and capacity to hold his energy unto herself? It is a deep story a man tells looking at a woman's flesh.” – Gregory E. Woods

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

MANHOOD TEACHINGS: man creating the world

“Daring to live means daring to die at any moment, but also means being daring to be born, crossing great steps of Life in which the person we have been dies, and is replaced by another with a renewed vision of the world, and at the same time realizing that there will be many obstacles to overcome before we reach the final stage of Enlightenment.” – Aarnoud Desjardius



“You have not lived until you have done something for which someone cannot repay you.” – Bilaal Rajan, an 8 year old Candian boy who raised $1 million for tsunami relief, March 14, 2005



TRVIA ELEGANCE


reality star - Lisa Vanderpump in bookstore at LaToya Jackson book signing !!!
 'The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills'


Witty Brit Lisa Vanderpump-Todd may be the newest resident of Beverly Hills, but after living in Monte Carlo and the South of France, she's very used to high-class environments. While living in Europe, Lisa designed various homes, yachts and all 26 London bars and restaurants she ... more and her husband, Ken Todd, own. The married mother of two, who moved to Los Angeles five years ago to open new restaurants, now lives across the street from fellow BH Housewife, Adrienne Maloof.(Bravo)



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
"Great assumptions are given to rich, elegant, and attractive white women intensely engaged in games of tag with the frivolities they may or may not exude, and the expectations of the less fortunate. The assumptions and dreams of the poor come from inspirations and frailties. In the face of the pressure the rich and powerful exude over the lesser citizens people too often and innocently wrap the purpose of their lives into blankets they cannot afford, and minimized or exaggerate the hustle of their lives with the bitterness inherited from Eve’s curse. .." ~ Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories
 

Monday, October 17, 2011

MYSTICISM: of the Soul

Taraji P. Henson standing in green dress !!!!

tarot Queen of Swords

Saturday, October 15, 2011

GROWTH of a people, a soul

Frederick Douglass Circle, photographed from a monumental perspective by Earle Briggs Wilson, Jr.
"It is time to stop merely worshiping the great ones
but to embrace, accept and dare to step into
our own magnificence and Divinity.

It is time that we humbly recognize that,
that which we are projecting is what we actually are.

What you are able to see in another is that which you are already.
When you are able to acknowledge your true SELF, you realize
the living miracle that you are, and the possibilities are endless.

Then infinite creative intelligence will rise to meet you in a co-creative dance.
When you reclaim your power and accept it, you open yourself
to another level of power, which sometimes can be SCARY to realize
how powerful we really are.

We often run from it, and pretend to be light bulbs when we really are the Sun.

We try to run from our own Divinity. But we can never.
When you embrace your own innate Divinity and move beyond
victimhood then you become co-creators and no longer have any excuses."

~By Kute Blackson
Goddess form of an African woman in her youth

Friday, October 14, 2011

FIRES OF KNOWING


SPIRITUAL WALK OF THE WARRIOR



The person of power sits alone before the fire. They confront their past. They hear the testimony of these specters. And dismiss them one by one. They acquit themselves of the past. The person of power has no past, no history that can claim them. They cast aside their shadow and have learned to walk in the snow without leaving tracks." - Alberto Villoldo


Fire pit by Brian Wilkes

 

Thursday, October 13, 2011

dark sky dark water




“People in or near cities don't feel the dark of night or know the unique feeling of the embrace of star brightness. Planets, and the phases of the moon viewed in the mountains, the forests, the open grasslands, or at sea create a sensation within the body unduplicated by pharmaceuticals. Without the experience the intimacy captured in a photo does not breathe! It reflects. Being within darkness, and under the heaviness of nighttime illuminated by stars, and planets is the mystery of being in the present, the past and the future in the one moment. It is a powerful mystery to allow into the body when you are outdoors, and vulnerable to the unseen watching you from their perspectives above and below.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/6/11

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

black actress: PHYLICIA RASHAD

Phylicia Rashad's expressive & exquisite face

Is it necessary for photographers, and fashion editors to airbrush a woman's features that are aging, and defining with more surety the dignity of her life, and life choices? What would prompt such an action? Fear? Fear of aging? Contempt? Contemptuous of the African melanin does the fashion and entertainment industries reflect envy towards Black models, and actresses? Does the contempt come from somewhere deeper towards women in general from the homosexual men in these industries? - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Phylicia Rashad
 

MANHOOD TEACHING: a walk

FATHER to SON


“A son and his father were walking on the mountains. Suddenly, his son falls, hurts himself and screams: "AAAhhhhhhhhh!!!" To his surprise, he hears a voice repeating: "AAAhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Curious, he yells: "Who are you?"
He receives the answer: "Who are you?" Angered at the response, he screams: "Coward!"
He receives the answer: "Coward!"
He looks at his father and asks: "What's going on?"

The father smiles and says: "My son, pay attention" and the father screams to the mountain: "I admire you!"
The voice answers: "I admire you!" Again the man screams: "You are a champion!" The voice answers: "You are a champion!"

The boy is surprised, but does not understand. Then the father explains: "People call this an ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do. Our life is simply a reflection of our actions. If you want more love in the world, Create more love in your heart. If you want more competence in your team, Improve your competence. This relationship applies to everything in all aspects of life. Life will give you back everything you have given to it. Your life is not a coincidence; it's a reflection of you!”. – Tony Lewis

BAI LING

Bai Ling at star magazine's 3rd annual all hollywood party held at trousdale 2

Bai Ling, actress

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

DANCE SACRED

"The dances are prayers." -Pop Chalee, TAOS PUEBLO


”When we dance to the drum we pray to the Creator and attract the heartbeat of the earth. We never dance without reason; every dance has a purpose. We dance for rain; we dance for healing; we dance for seasons; we dance for joy; we dance for our children; we dance for the people; we dance for courage. The drum plays to the beat of the heart, to the beat of the Earth. The drum connects us to the Earth while we dance our prayers. Oh, Great One, let my dance and prayer be heard by You.” – Maxine Hartman 

dancing in the light of sun setting Debra Robinson
“... a few related stories come to mind hearing these words anew. Tied to the Creation story of the Drum is this very same charge when the People first met the drum. Every one of the People from the Four Walks, the Four Winds, the Four Colors heard the Drum telling its stories yesterday a long time ago. We all remember in our heart chambers the song of the first story about the relationship between heart, and dance, the mind and the heart, and sound and movement.

AHO! We dance and live.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of the Drum

dancing at powwow

dancing at Temple University homecoming by Talia Woods

Here I am, Dawn Wolf, (l.) dancing at 2008 powow at Maryland University

 

Monday, October 10, 2011

DEATH OF A PEOPLE



EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS

I think this is an important issue as is the complexity around the industry of incarceration, and death. But the merchandise of souls is so intimately tied to other concerns, and problems within our communities we cannot afford the luxury of a slow pace to change our penal system, and the execution of our people. We need to be much quicker than an issue at a time. The assaults against us from within and without moves at a rapid pace, and remains uninterested in our agenda, pace, or inability to heal ourselves. As a people our relationship with and understanding of power is fundamentally killing our significance in the world arena.

As the world changes, as American life changes the insistence of our people (Black folks) to be disengaged from the world stage has become our Achilles’ heel. The ethnic groups with intimidating powers in this country do not have the attitudes we embrace in our thinking processes. If we are to be taken seriously, and we barely are, our entire belief structure needs to be torn down. - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories (9/15/11)

BOBBY ALLEN, Native American radio announcer

“Intelligence and introspection should be one word. Thoughtfulness designs the structure of one's state of mind. The concept of merging believes in the individual and the group. It, the process of merging, has historically been the sustaining trait of the Cherokee people, and other indigenous nations. It is an important and missing element of the last 10 years as has been the voice of American women of depth, power, and introspective gazes into the meat of issues that affect and create life in the face of the death of ideas, misconceptions, babies, and hope…



More could have been learned and understood about September the 11th looking deeply into your face than using that day to reflect and see this nation through the paradigm of dictatorial patriotism.” – Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

Bobby Allen

Bobby Allen
www.tribalvoiceradio.com