The Dance of the Seven Veils

This is slightly not safe for work, especially the last video, which features naked boobs. But we have talked a little, I think, about the connection between the Dance of the Seven Veils and the connection (factual or just legendary) between it and Inanna’s visit to the underworld. In the Sue Allen project, off on a tangent, I suppose that, if that legend is true, that the dance was first performed by temple prostitutes as a sacred reenactment of the journey.

Since my manuscript ends with stripping (in every ending, so I guess it’s there for good), I thought I’d take a look at the Dance of the Seven Veils.

First up, Rita Hayworth, who, my god, you have to see at the two minute mark, even if you watch no further.

Second is Najla al Hafsa, whom I’m going to guess has maybe seen the Rita Hayworth version, if only for the similarities in the dropping of the first veil. But wait until she starts spinning and tell me if you don’t feel like you’re watching some kind of ritualized truth. That is a journey, my friends, ritualized and given some choreography, but that is a journey.

Okay, now here’s the one that’s not safe for work at the end. It’s a flamenco version of the dance and the mix of anger and power and seduction is really amazing. I feel like I’m not smart enough to know what to say about it. Just be sure to watch her arms.

It’s A Little Like a Fairytale, If You Overlook the Weeds

Levon Helm died today. Some people in my Twitter stream didn’t know who he was. You may not, either. It’s a long story and he died of cancer as an old man, so it’s both very sad and something of a relief, I’m sure, that he’s not suffering anymore and that there is no longer a worry that his suffering will increase, which is the pisser about cancer. It sucks so much. The thing you should know about him, if anything, is that he loved our music voraciously and promiscuously and unabashedly, and gave it back to us in a way that let us hear it as something worth loving again.

The Importance of Outlining

The proper ending of the Sue Allen thing is finally coming into shape in my head. I’m hoping to start outlining it today.

I should have, really, known that the ending was going to be difficult because my outline for the whole thing was basically “And this happens and this happens and this happens and then this cool thing happens and… and… and… um… I’ll know when I get there.”

But I didn’t. Or I did, but I didn’t have the guts to go for it. There seemed nicer endings that might work without any main characters having to fail or die or anything.

But it’s not true.

I also realized, this morning, woke me up from a dead sleep, that the Bell Witch could take on the form of a person and the Wampus cat had a semi-human form and human origins. And those are the recent ancestors of The Thing.

The Thing has a human form. Duh.

Honestly people, I’m not sure I can do this and yet, I can’t not try.

Is being a writer a kind of madness? Sometimes I feel like it is.

One Step Closer to Being a Hazelnut Farmer

I don’t know why this whole “growing hazelnuts” thing has me so on edge. Okay, I do know a little bit. I have been feeling like a total gardening failure this year. Everything needs to be desperately weeded. I don’t have the gumption to do it. I just can’t get a handle on what to do to make the sunny side of the big bed work, and until I do, it’s a weeding nightmare. And I can’t get poppies to grow, which makes me sad.

And every other day I go out and water the two sticks I planted in the ground last week, looking for any signs of life. I have a million reasons why I’m fucking this up. I soaked the roots, but only for an hour and not the two the directions recommended because I was rapidly losing daylight and wanted to plant them. Maybe I should be watering them once a day because they’re so young, but maybe every other day is too much because they supposedly like well-drained soil and I’ve stuck them in a wet spot (though other sources say they like wet spots, like, oh, you know the whole Pacific Northwest, where they’re grown commercially). Maybe I wasted a bunch of money because you can’t grow hazelnuts here anyway.

It’s hard to see in this picture, but if you find the white clover blossom and then look down the stick, you will see two buds. I have a little confidence this morning that it is going to leaf. The other one is a little further behind, but it, I think, seems to have a couple of smaller buds.

I will feel better once they have some leaves. I feel like leaves on a tree is a good sign everything is working how it should. You can monitor leaves, you know? Check for signs of health or unhappiness. This whole “water this stick” part is a little nerve-wracking.