Moscow Through An Artist’s Eyes

25 Thursday Sep 2014

Tags

Montenegro, Moscow, Photography, Russian Federation

My closest friend from Montenegro, Bibi, visited me here and i was treated to an extraordinary experience – i got to see Moscow like i never did before, through the eyes of an artist. I’ve been living here for four years, i’ve seen countless images of the city and i read all i could find on it – from historical memoirs and tourist’s guides to classics and contemporary SF where the plot is set in Moscow, but experiencing it with Biljana opened my eyes to a new perspective, to a view which grasps the unusual, the hidden, that which normally escapes our attention… Here they are, for you to enjoy, some of the photograph’s Biljana took while in Moscow:

p.s. Since September 10th, i am officially Dr Ruth, it was on that day that i defended my thesis.

Let’s talk about the Tower, baby, let’s talk about you and me…

01 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Essay, Tarot

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Albert Camus, Aleister Crowley, Binah, Kabbalah, Lon Milo DuQuette, Montenegro, Russian language, Tarot

Tarot card from the Rider-Waite tarot deck; a 1909 card scanned by Holly Voley for the public domain

Tarot’s Tower does come across as a phallic symbol and in some interpretations it is read as such*; the Star accordingly could be read as female orgasm – and as connection to sephirot Binah and whatnot.

It’s one of the Major Arcanum I have working knowledge of, but can’t connect to on a deeper level, I don’t get it.

Yes, I know it all – the connection to even more confusing Biblical tale of the Babylonian Tower; for an uber-intellectual analysis of the Arcanum and references to anyone you can think of – from Nimrod to Plutarch, see “Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey” by Sallie Nichols… It is a great book on theory of Tarot and I recommend it heartily, but I do doubt it will improve your practical reading skills even the tiniest bit.

It’s been said before that Tarot is a language – a system of signs in semiotic understanding. As such, it does need to be studied both theoretically and practically. To me personally, the two aspects of studying do go hand in hand, otherwise – theory without practice is abstract and dry, whereas practice without theoretic studying tends to turn the discipline into mere fortune-telling. (Nothing too wrong about it, except that on philosophical level it’s diametrically opposed to the doctrine of free will, whereas in practice it too easily activates the notorious ‘negative self-fulfilling prophecy’, ie. negative predictions do influence sitter’s mind on various levels.)

I am not going to re-digest numerous valid and known interpretations of the Arcanum XVI, those didn’t do much for me. I did learn over years what Tower means in my readings – it’s usually denoting couple of days of stress and upset, but not more than that. (One of the cards I dislike getting way more is the depressing and dis-empowering Hanged Man, that energy for me is way more difficult to handle than shaky and unpredictable Tower.)

What I wanted to share is an unusual and non-deterministic take on the Tower to which I came during last couple of days, since I relocated once again from Montenegro to Moscow.

See, nevertheless we too speak a Slavic language and albeit my country throughout history had close ties with Russia – our own Balkan mentality and Mediterranean way of living has nothing to do with Russian ways. Italian mentality is close to ours – and no wonder, it is a neighboring country to ours and good part of Montenegro was historically ruled by Venetia. We get along with Turks very well – after all – as much as we fought throughout history, we did live in a close proximity for some 400 years and by now we do have a lot in common, taste in foods and similar cuisines among it. But Russians… as much as we love them, we have close to nothing in common with them – neither the system of values, nor the way of life. And it’s tough for me, every time I come here, to adapt and adjust to it all once again – and here we come to the Towerish experience which I wanted to share.

I wrote before on secondary linguistic personality and cultural adaptation ( you can read an excellent material – Russian source translated into English – here http://www.russcomm.ru/eng/rca_biblio/l/leontovich02_eng.shtml ), learning a foreign language is a profoundly transforming and deeply Tower-ish experience.

Leading kabbalistis of our times, such as Shaul Youdkevitch, say that the language we speak molds our personalities – and albeit I am a doctoral candidate in linguistics, I quote kabbalists way more gladly than linguists and philosophers. (After all, during brief 45 min of intro lecture to Kabbalah – which is mostly on what Kabbalah is NOT- one learns way more than during hours long, boring and pretentious lectures by Slavoy Zizek for example, at least it is so in my experience.) The thing with me is that by now I speak Russian as a native and they don’t figure out easily I am a foreigner; but my attitude is foreign to them and that brings about a lot of confusion. Our society back home is conservative – and so is Russian, but in very different ways; I am from patriarchal culture, but I am not used to patronizing to which I am exposed over here due to my gender – and Russians are not used to women being as assertive as I am, at least not at my age (I look younger my biological age.) Back at home I don’t act from the framework of my gender – I am a responsible person, a member of the community and most often my gender is irrelevant to whatever I am doing or saying. It’s not so in mother Russia. I was told I speak too much for a woman (by a member of the academy of science, mind you.) I am constantly reminded I don’t need bother too much, it’s suffices that my looks are somewhat pleasing to the eye. That bothers me. I wasn’t raised as a girlie girl – I was raised to be a person, not a girl. More so that at my age and with social position I have back home it is ridiculous to be reduced to some kind of decoration… but it is what it is. I learned so far that there isn’t much point in arguing and explaining feminist premises to anyone, people get it or not. What’s important is that in my own microcosms – in academia and at my own Muscovite University it is NOT so; the treatment I – and most other women get out there… that I can’t change, as much as it bothers me. For the sake of the proverbial intercultural communication, you need to adapt- at least seemingly and temporarily – as difficult as it I; so, I learned a little trick, which makes my Towerish adaptation tad easier to bare – I introduced a heavy foreign accent which clearly marks me as an intruder. As soon as I step out from the comfort of Pushkin University, my faked accent distinguishes me as an outsider, a crazy foreigner, Albert Camus’ Meursault – by choice.

Meanwhile, I skyp with my family, so not to lose my mind completely 😉

my mom, my fur baby, my cousin Drago and sis in law Vanja; father dearest on the snapshot bellow (he’s just back from a reception hence the tie & all that jazz ;))

* Lon Milo Duquette, Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot; Weiser Books, 2003 (also Sexual Alchemy of the Thoth Tarot – DVD course by the same author)

Cetinje, Montenegro

29 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Balkan, Cetinje, Delta City, Filip Vujanović, Ireland, Matica Crnogorska, Montenegro, Sarajevo

Tiny as it is, Montenegro is historically divided into three distinct geographical and cultural areas – coastal part in the south, ‘old country’ in its midst and the mountains in the north. At the coast, Venetian influence is felt way stronger – and even the dialect spoken down there sounds somewhat like Italian and has many words borrowed from that language. Locals are shaped by the sea – all the people around the world, living somewhere close to a big water, to me are in a way like an extended family, the sea does that – its openness, its magnificence, its unpredictability and the readiness to bring in the travelers from other shores … The far north of a country is also somehow similar – wherever you go – the climate is harsh there, winters are long, in the past the crops were scarce and that too leaves certain impact on the people, they speak more succinctly than their coastal brethren, smile less and are way less concerned about romantic love and song that sing about it… These are sweeping generalizations, of course, but if you read serious anthropological studies – it’s been noted and explained in various contexts long ago.

My own family is from the mountainous part and the history of any family there is basically the history of endless battles against various potential conquerors; at the coast – historically there was little more one could wish for, besides what was there already – open trade with other Mediterranean principalities, beautiful weather, some of the best beaches in the world, olive trees and seasonal carnivals… Of course, there were bloody wars there too, but at least in the periods of peace a culturally diverse and rather privileged way of life could be enjoyed. (Still, hardly anyone from the north would move to the coast, I am not sure why is it so, but probably it’s about roots, tradition and staying where one’s ancestors have settled.)

Yet the heart of Montenegro is neither in the northern mountains, nor at the coastal part – it’s exactly where it should be, in the midst of this magical kingdom, where its historical capital is – at the small town of Cetinje. The heart of the country beats there for centuries, through the numerous battles with Ottomans to whom it never surrendered and even in the recent history, during ex-Yugoslav wars, when it was the bastion of the resistance to the hatred and madness of the ethnic cleanse and everything else that had pulled this peninsula back into the dark ages. Cetinje always stood apart.

I wrote on numerous occasions that choosing the right side in Balkans can cost you a lot – and so happened with our historical capital; as its population rebelled against wars and hatred without a reason – the ruling back then elite in coalition with warlords had absolutely neglected the city, leaving it with close to none funds for its maintenance and eventual development. The people who live there over time developed a rather dark sense of humor – there was no other way to survive the surrounding them harsh reality. There is an old joke – that King Nikola I (1841 – 1921) had risen from dead at the very end of 20^th century… He looked around his native Cetinje and happily exclaimed: Nothing has changed!

I think that’s a perfect metaphor on how little used to be invested into city’s infrastructure – as a ‘punishment’ for its people rebellion.

But, all the things in life tend to change towards its diametric opposite and as the movement for country’s independence grew stronger – the historical capital started receiving more and more support – and that’s how it should be.

At present, the Ministry of Culture, along with several other major institutions, relocated there and big effort is made to revive the city, even Marina Abramovic is involved and also the grandson of our King Nikola I – Crown Prince Nikola II.

Yesterday there was a reception at the ministry and I took pictures for you – of the people there and of the city itself.

As a side note – people on the pictures are some of the major Montenegrin cultural figures, among them minister himself – Djaga Micunovic and famed director Ivana Mrvaljevic:

And, given that this blog is mainly devoted to the love of Tarot, here is how great British artist Emily Carding depicted the famous Fairy of Cetinje – on 11th Trump of Montenegro’s own Tarot of The Black Mountains:

As we know, the 11th Major Arcanum in Tarot stands for Justice, Destiny and each and everyone of us receiving according to our merits; the city of Cetinje certainly deserved all the glory in which it is basking.

Everyone Worth Knowing

08 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Belgrade, Cetinje, Delta City, Matica Crnogorska, Montenegro, Sarajevo, Shopping, Sundays

International Book Fair 2013 opened today in Montenegro’s capital. After the disappointment in Sarajevo (see book fairs aren’t fair ), I was thrilled to see the books represented and honored as they should be.

Ours is far from total sale and it doesn’t come across as a Church on Sundays either – true, fairs are the best to hunt for discounts and I am the first to seek spiritual titles, but let’s face it – book fairs should be about books in the first place, not about quick buck and dogma.

The fair itself is in the basement of Delta City shopping mall which for the purpose is redecorated; the air conditioning is perfect – that’s the first thing that you’ll notice at many fairs (even at my favorite Belgrade’s), that there is no fresh air and it’s too hot; this one is just perfect, it feels inside like early spring.

Fair’s Art Director – writer Ksenija Popovic did amazing work, you see her smiling in the pictures – I really admire her because it’s been an immense effort to make it all turn out so well.

Montenegro is among else known for having poets rule the country (Prince Bishop Njegosh in 19th century authored some of the most famous Montenegrin poems and philosophical treatises); here you see His Excellency Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Igor Luksic, who previously served as the Prime Minister and is an upbeat poet too; behind him you can see the Ambassador of Russian Federation to Montenegro, His Excellency Mr A.A. Nesterenko, to his right (in blue suit ) is H.E. Mr Vincenzo Del Monaco, the newly appointed Ambassador of Republic of Italy to Montenegro

A colonel and a kabbalist, Ilija Kapicic, representing a renown publishing house “Matica Crnogorska”:

So many books, so little time… Director of the National Theater, professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Cetinje and dear friend of mine – Janko Ljumovic:

Dubbed Montenegrin Edgar Hoover – an author and former chief of the Secret Service, Mr Vlado Kekovic (to the right) :

If surrealist were fortune tellers… Introducing Janko to the Lenormand oracle, the amazing little deck said to be read by Napoleon’s and Josefine’s reader – the famous madam Lenormand (it’s an urban myth, but what more can a surrealist ask for? ;))

Let me take you to the Black Mountains

23 Saturday Mar 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Essay

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

Bay of Kotor, England, George Bernard Shaw, History, Montenegrin, Montenegro, Podgorica, Russia

‘Am I in paradise or on the moon?’ George Bernard Shaw famously quipped from the top of Mount Lovćen in Montenegro. Adriatic sea stretches to the horizon to its west and on a clear day you can see Italy; to the south is Skadar Lake, beyond it – the dark, mysterious hills of Albania; in the north is Bay of Kotor, Europe’s southernmost fjord…

To get to Kotor Fjord from the historical capital, Cetinje, once the only way lead through the mountains, up the steep, narrow and oddly curved road… When you look at it from the top of the mountain – a capital letter M is clearly seen, it seems to be engraved into the landscape by the road… The legend is that French architect commissioned to oversee the construction in this way declared his love for beautiful Montenegrin Queen Milena – and had ran away from the country for his life! Whether the story is true we can not know, but Montenegrin women are known for their beauty – King Nikola and Queen Milena’s daughters had married into the most influential European dynasties and our King will be nick-named “the father in law of Europe”!

Elena of Montenegro (born Princess Jelena Petrović-Njegoš of Montenegro) was wife of Victor Emmanuel III and Queen of Italy from 1900 until 1946; by Italians she was named “La Bella Elena” – beautiful Elena.

Two of our other princesses, with keen interest in the occult, Milica and Anastasia, had married into Romanov dynasty and it was them who later on introduced mysterious Rasputin to the Russian Court.

If you read serious historical sources – you’ll learn of False Tsar Stephen the Little; for my thesis i studied carefully archives of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the diplomatic correspondence exchanged between two courts – Montenegrins were fully aware that their ruler had a false identity; but did they care? Not the least – he was a great ruler and that was the only thing that mattered; where he came from and who he was in reality – nobody knows until today.

The longest war in history , Montenegrin – Japanese war, lasted from 1905 – 2006; when Russia declared war to Japan, the teeny kingdom sided with its ally and also proclaimed war to the Country of the Raising Sun! Albeit the answer was never received – Montenegrin gesture was not merely symbolical – the best warriors chosen from the most reputable of the tribes, along with Russians went to war, fought bravely, won victories and received medals! Again, all of it is documented in the archives of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs where the names of these people who fought against Samurai and the awards they received are meticulously listed!

Then super powers got busy with their own business and it’s only in 2006, when high representative of Japanese Government traveled to Montenegro to recognize our regained independence – that the truce was signed!

Montenegro is one of the oldest countries in Europe – Principality Doclea, the great-grand mother of Montenegro, was formed in 9th century; it shall have a turbulent personal history, like many outstandingly beautiful and rebellious princesses did … In 1042 it shall run away from what once was considered her home – the mighty Byzantine empire, in 1421, it shall get kidnapped by a Serbian Despotate; princess by birthright would renounce its nobility by joining the working class family of Yugoslav people and shall remain quite happy in its new home, as long as her inborn sense of human dignity was not jeopardized and her honorable name brought down to dirt. That’s when the princess decided it was the high time she hit the road and became a sovereign queen. (In 2006. Montenegro has regained its independence.)

In an earlier essay, Death by chocolate, i’ve written on Montenegrin cuisine.

Favorite entrée is Njegushi cheese stored in oil – let alone that goats and cows are fed freely on the nearest valley on herbs and grass typical of this region, the cheese is later smoked at home and the village of Njegushi is unique for its blend of sea-air with the air from the mountains; two climates intersecting in that very spot give the food a taste that’s impossible to second.

After the cheese is imbued with this unique aroma – it’s stored in olive oil and that’s a story unto itself, because the oil is hand made by monks in the monasteries on the coast; at the end you get a a small piece of cheese that’s threaded with history of this magical kingdom of Black Mountains. The cheese, it seems, is served mostly to go along with the story of our rulers, Petrovic Njegos dynasty, and their tribe of Njegusi; the monks, while making the oil – read prayers and these prayers give you the strength of a tiny rebellious nation, which resisted its numerous oppressors for centuries and never in its history was enslaved.

As you would be snacking on the cheese, you would get served Montenegrin brandy – Prvijenac, which is made by unique technologies and in limited quantities; it comes in numbered bottles, like a part of a collection – which basically it is.

There is that joke – the proverbial Russian, American and Montenegrin argued whose beverage is the best and , as expected, without having agreed – they decided to conduct an experiment; a group of mice got treated to Whiskey, Vodka and Prvijenac respectively and the effects were observed and recorded.

The mouse who had Whiskey started walking around nonchalantly, with a seductive aura of a western-movie actor, he demanded his own Colt to protect the mice maidens and after a while rode into the sunset.

The mouse who had Vodka started quoting Russian Classics and despairing over the current state of the world’s affairs, lady mice were admiring him while silently wiping off tears with tiny handkerchiefs and praying that this hero wins the duel against the usual bad guy.

The mouse who drank of Prvijenac just stood there.

After some time, he stood on his back paws and yelled out in a human voice, carrying the menace of vengeance high and low: Ladies, back to the hole, you have no business here! Where is the bloody cat?! I’ll do it away with my bare hands! ‘Nuff of this oppression! Come out, you villain, fight as a man!

You get an idea…

an airplane window shot of the Black Mountains

Vintage Cover of a French Magazine, public domain

Montenegrin coast, a pic my mother took back in early 70ies

Here you can see the gallery of pictures from Kotor Fjord, Scadar lake and other shots of the amazing Black Mountains.

P.S. Just in case you are wondering what’s gotten into me to write on my country once again – it’s that after bitching about FP in how NOT to get freshly pressed, EVER, i do think the guys behind Daily Prompt deserve cudos for coming up with today’s “Local Flavor‘. 😉

The Great Wall of China & Kentucky Fried Chicken

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

Arts and Entertainment, Asia, Badaling, China, Great Wall, Great Wall of China, KFC, Montenegro

KFC is probably the last thing you think of while heading for the Great Wall – yet that was the very first thing i saw when our bus stopped somewhere at the foot of Badaling.

I swallowed the bitter disappointment and together with thousands of other tourists proceeded forward, towards the wall and… towards even more disappointment. I can’t think of enough synonyms of ‘awful’ to describe the commercialization and banality of the experience, basically it comes down to tickling Chang Cheng off your itinerary, buying kitschy souvenirs and getting the infamous paper which says “I climbed the Great Wall.” Well, i didn’t – i went back to KFC and got myself a coffee.

The Great Wall? You must be kidding, i am from Montenegro, here almost every city is surrounded by a medieval wall of a kind – and Chinese one came across as nothing more than yet another wall…

I am not even sure how Rebecca managed to persuade me to give it another try, yet she did and soon we were on our way to the The Wild Wall, the untouched parts of the fortification… And that’s when it hit me, the realization that i am at one of the most amazing constructions ever built by a man… It is mind blowing and awe inspiring, albeit it’s not “the only human artifact on Earth visible from the moon”, as the legend goes. 😉

“There in the mist, enormous, majestic, silent and terrible, stood the Great Wall of China. Solitarily, with the indifference of nature herself, it crept up the mountain side and slipped down to the depth of the valley. ” W. Somerset Maugham

Keep Calm and Blog on

10 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Awards

≈ 34 Comments

Tags

Automattic, Blog, Budva, Kate Upton, Montenegro, Publishers, Tools, WordPress

It’s my 1st Anniversary on WordPress! Party time! It’s been an amazing year and i loved every moment of it… Hold on, that’s not the whole truth. It’s more honest to say: i loved almost every moment of it! I couldn’t sleep AT ALL the night after my my very first WordPress post, i was excited, i was anxious, i was thrilled!

Oh, and i was such a techno-dummy back then! Not that i am a wizard now, but i had spent months googling mysterious terms such as WIDGET, trying to figure out how to insert pictures, links and just about anything else. And it took me MONTHS to get it what a pingback was!

Then the sweating over copy-right; I had emailed every single publisher whose decks i posted here, waited for an official reply from them – and for written authorization to use images of their copyrighted artwork. I am still strict with copy-right of anything i use in my posts, the thing is that publishers are fine with images of up to six cards from any deck being posted, as long as the copyright notice is there, there is no need to send them official inquiries and insist on getting a written authorization.

All of it can get quite overbearing in the beginning, i think the first month or so i was logged in almost all of my waken time, trying to figure out plugins, themes and other WordPress wonders.

Funnily, writing per se took the least of my time. There is a brief notice i posted at About this blog on why, being a published writer, i switched to blogosphere – mind you, i partially blame the funny evolution of-social networking for that!

It took me a lot of courage to start posting my own photographs, i was taken aback and felt humbled that those were liked! In the art of photography i am an absolute dilettante, i know nothing about it – i simply capture some special to me moments with automatic camera and later on retouch them a bit digitally, that’s it. The thing is that through these enthusiastic efforts here on WordPress i got to know some great artists whose work i love.

WordPress is a world unto itself, and it’s a safe, creative and supportive one. I have dabbled on phenomena of blogosphere before, in Pirate’s Heart &The Copper Sun.

It’s doable and you can make it, even if English is not your first language, and even if you write in it while living in one of those tiny European countries which most have problems pinpointing on the map.

Still, most of the advice on blogging is quite useless, what worked for some won’t work for others and there is no formula for success… Except the usual: do what you love, make it as relevant to others as you can, make it positive, at least in the potential – even the darkest of it.

I am all for quality, i don’t see a point in flooding other bloggers’ readers and I must confess that i am the first to unsubscribe from folks who overdo it.

I love Truth and Cake and i think Rian’s advice on how to start a blog and how to keep it going is about the best you can get.

I’d add only one thing: please don’t start your blog entries with WOW and AWW, it’s such a turn off! A great post on use of REALLY, LIKE & other simulacra by an adjunct professor of English was recently Freshly Pressed, if you are still tempted to use I MEAN, WHATEVER & GEEZ in your writing, please, do take the time to read it.

To my amazement, the rant i had written about Slavoj Zizek became the most popular piece I’ve posted; funnily, second to it is the entry mentioning Kate Upton’s cellulite.

The statistics are downright breath-taking, in a year of blogging more people had read my writings than over in a decade of traditional publishing:

The blog is featured at Portal Montenegrina, the main online cultural gate to my country, sponsored among else by U.S. Embassy in Montenegro and Government of Montenegro.

Meanwhile, in my native Montenegro, I published a collection of poems. Devil, an unauthorized biography was promoted at last Winter’s Book fair and at one of the main regional art&literature festivals held in the summer at the coastal city of Budva.

Other than that, in 2012 I’ve completed second year of the doctoral program at Pushkin University in Moscow; I’ve been to Brussels at the conference on author’s rights, chaired a session at the European Parliament, traveled to Hungary to attend P.E.N. congress, took some cool shoots of Pest and wrote a poem.

Not too bad, now that i think of it. 😉

Lovely (Blog) Or Not

21 Sunday Oct 2012

Posted by moderndayruth in Awards

≈ 21 Comments

Tags

Denzel Washington, From Russia With Love, Montenegro, Oscars, Wordpress Awards

Makya McBee’s is probably the best ever blog entry on WordPress “awards”: “Here’s how they work. When you win this award, you are requested to nominate ten other blogs…it’s essentially an award chain letter. Obviously, if every blogger that won this award were to nominate ten others, every single blogger in the world will have won within a matter of days. I’ve got to figure this hurts the prestige just a little. I mean, if after winning the Academy Award, Denzel was given ten more Oscars to quickly hand out to folks in the audience and so on and so forth…

…The internet has helped to create a world in which anyone can rant about anything, upload hilarious shots of teenagers getting hit in the crotch, and create your very own “music” video…and talent is never a prerequisite. Like almost everything in the universe, this is good and bad. But the web’s content is still mostly the latter. I’m sorry, but we’re not all special.

But not me, I am special. Clearly. I mean, I won an award, suckers.“

To me, the award thing is like recommending your favorite books to your ‘real life’ friends – it certainly doesn’t mean the book you liked increased its chances of winning a Booker, but the friend will appreciate the recommendation; more so that advice on books is the only advice i personally take from others. See, i gave up long ago advising anyone on anything – and i don’t ask for advice either; when we are ready to deal with anything perceived as a challenge, we are granted clarity of thought too – and strength to handle whatever was sent sent our way; before that – it’s futile to get advice and in my experience it only develops animosity to whomever is giving it.

Just think of the last time someone close to you vented about their partner or children, how irresponsible or inconsiderate they were… If you are naive enough to advice them anything – to calm down, not to take it that way, to seek counseling – first, chances are they’ll take out their frustration on you, second – once they make it up with their significant others, you’ll be the mean bitch who wished them ill… So, nay. I am not listening to angry rants – and i am sparing my friends of mine; there are peeps who are trained to deal with it – i am not.

When it comes to books, it’s all another story – if you recommend me a book i haven’t read and i like it – you opened the door for me to an adventure of which i didn’t know it existed and that’s the kind of surprise i like the most. Especially when it comes to these complex philosophical subjects i like to meddle with – a good recommendation is worth of gold.

So, that’s how i view WordPress ‘awards’ – its merely my list of blogs i check out whenever they post something new because its authors are talented, creative and non-commercial. Which is – on many blogs i follow you can buy photography or books, that’s one thing, but the blogs which open with: I started this so you can buy *insert whatever they are selling ..* No, thank you – i can look up myself whatever i need to buy and i loathe aggressive marketing tactics, i have enough of marketers in real life.

(And if one is down to pressuring their blog followers to buy products or services – i believe they’d rather rethink their business strategy, i really don’t think it earns anything more then embarrassment; a blog, as i see it, is for expanding on what we do and why, and to promote it – not to guilt trip someone to buy stuff just because they stopped by to read an entry or two – in my opinion that is.)

So, this is my list of some of my favorite blogs (in no particular order) which offer awesome content – and some of it is available for sale; i really don’t expect anyone to continue this chain-thing, unless they find it utterly entertaining :

1. Arlen is a super cool guy from Armenia who loves animal and writes books: http://arlenshah.wordpress.com

2. Dianne Gray is an amazing author from Australia whose latest blog entry got Freshly Pressed: http://diannegray.wordpress.com

3. Bonnie Cehovet is a prolific blogger who writes great microfiction and the best tarot and oracle reviews i know of: http://bonniecehovet.wordpress.com

4. Tea& Tao is a great blog for daily inspiration: http://teaandtao.com

5. Judy offers amazing recipes and baking tips: http://petit4chocolatier.wordpress.com

6. Slicethelife posts awesome insight into American history and some great pics too: http://slicethelife.com

7. The cultureur has impressive intellectual content: http://thecultureur.com

8. Leanne Cole posts great photographs: http://leannecolephotography.com

9. I love Christian Mihai’s writing style: http://cristianmihai.net

10. Russel Ray and Zoey are among my favorites: http://russelrayphotos2.com

11. Setsnap is a place to go on gloomy days, you’ll love his pictures and they will brighten your mood: http://sethsnap.wordpress.com

12. Marviilous is an amazing Indonesian woman living in US who is snapping some marvelous pictures of wildlife and landscapes: http://marviiilous.wordpress.com

13. Anne writes great poetry: http://shrewdbanana.wordpress.com

14. I adore Truth&Cake: http://truthandcake.com

15. Shovonc is one of the best satire writers around and his blog is on the stuff that does matter: http://shovonc.wordpress.com/

There are many more blogs i love and follow, but sadly this round i can recommend only fifteen of them.

I am also supposed to write seven things about myself (and so are you, if you are to continue the game), so here they are:

1. I am somewhat irked by the term ‘blogger’ – many of us are published writers and recognized artists who simply choose new venues of publishing. Here you can read my musings on the phenomena of blogosphere.

2. I don’t really make a difference between so-called “real life” and online experiences, To Hell With Common Sense is about that.

3. Prague, a coming of age story is an excerpt from my memoir, and the first piece i wrote in English; it took ages and i cried of frustration, but i am glad how it turned out at the end.

4. According to WordPress statistics, in less then a year since i started this blog more people have read what i write – than in 12 years since i was first published in my native Montenegro.

5. The photographs i often include in my posts are taken by automatic camera, i can’t claim i know anything about the art of photography – i simply snap some moments that are special to me; i am happy i can connect with guys who are pros that way and i love keeping up with what they do.

6. I oftentimes prefer thinking in solitude to events and crowds of people, so this blog and my writing in general is more about ideas which to this or that extent influence all of us – no matter the geographical location.

7. I’ll be moving to Moscow soon, i am working on my PhD thesis there, so stay tuned for more From Russia With Love writings and pictures too.

With Love,

wherever you are

L.R.S.

Book Spine Poetry & Airplane Window Shots

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography, Poetry

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Airplane Window Shots, Black Mountains, Book Spine Poetry, Montenegro, Moracha river canyon

Tiger’s Wife
The Call of the Wild
Blood of Dreams
Times of Turmoil
Dear Ghosts,
Nothing to be frightened of

The Star Connection
Taming Chaos
God Wears Lipstick

Moracha river canyon, Montenegro

Black Mountains

for my sojourner who kept me awake so i didn’t miss the view (and more so treated me on chocolate ; ) you know who you are … thank you.

L.R.S.

From the Narrows I Was Liberated

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography, Poetry

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

David, God, Montenegro, Rosh Hashanah, Talmud, Tashlikh, Zohar

Ottomans called this land Karadag
the black land
where black mountains encircle
the black lakes
and women with black eyes
save the black wine
for men with black mustache
when they come back home from the battle
in the Bright Dawn of May*
L.R.S.

Last night (Mon, 18 September 2012/ 2nd Tishrei 5773 ) at a poetry festival in Northern Montenegro:

(right to left: Jelena Nelevic Martinovic, Dragana Tripkovic, Lena Ruth Stefanovic, Tanja Bakic standing)

we speak on behalf of generations who were silent
we speak for your mother and her mother and her mother’s mother
who kept silent
in a “male world”

we speak for those who kept covering bruises
and wept into the pillow
for they still had to keep the light
for they still had to feed the kids

yet it was them – your mothers
who built this male world for you
it was them who spared you the truth
that it is a woman
running the world
while you are showing off boys’ toys
in the sand of the global playground
only for grown up little boys
L.R.S.

Hebrew word tashlich means “you shall cast away” and the esoteric ritual itself is performed in the afternoon on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, preferably near running waters. As we stand by living water, the barriers to spiritual and personal growth are washed away and we hear the voice of King David echoing “Out of the narrows of distress I called upon God, God answered me with liberation.”

As we cast off the pain and transgressions into the river Moracha near city of Kolashin in northern Montenegro, this guy appeared -as it seemed – out of nowhere…

He hung around us for couple of moments

before trotting off into the approaching dusk…

*The Bright Dawn of May is the national anthem of Montenegro

moderndayruth

~ Tarot inspired essays and more

Tag Archives: Montenegro

Moscow Through An Artist’s Eyes

Let’s talk about the Tower, baby, let’s talk about you and me…

Cetinje, Montenegro

Everyone Worth Knowing

Let me take you to the Black Mountains

The Great Wall of China & Kentucky Fried Chicken

Keep Calm and Blog on

Lovely (Blog) Or Not

Book Spine Poetry & Airplane Window Shots

From the Narrows I Was Liberated

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