MISH MOSH..................
Mish
Mash: noun \ˈmish-ˌmash, -ˌmäsh\ A :
hodgepodge, jumble “The painting was just a mishmash of colors and abstract shapes as
far as we could tell”. Origin Middle English & Yiddish; Middle English mysse
masche, perhaps reduplication of mash mash; Yiddish mish-mash, perhaps
reduplication of mishn to mix. First Known Use: 15th century
Theodore Roosevelt addressing a crowd in front of the Congress Hotel during the Progressive National Convention - August, 1912
I'm a big big Fan of
Bukowski
Sculpture this and Sculpture
that
HERE'S PLEASANT POEM FOR YOU
TO ENJOY................
FIRST LESSON
Philip Booth
Lie back daughter, let your head
be tipped back in the cup of my hand.
Gently, and I will hold you. Spread
your arms wide, lie out on the stream
and look high at the gulls. A dead-
man's float is face down. You will dive
and swim soon enough where this tidewater
ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe
me, when you tire on the long thrash
to your island, lie up, and survive.
As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.
HERE'S SOME NICE ART FOR YOU TO LOOK AT....ENJOY!
Old Fashioned Garden, 1984, Samuel Barber
I LOVE BLACK AND WHITE
PHOTOS FROM FILM
Dog not interested in Coltrane by Guy Le Querrec
WHY THE WORLD NEEDS
EDITORS..........
THE ART OF PULP
THE ART OF WAR............
AND HERE'S SOME ANIMALS FOR
YOU...................
ABOUT
THE AUTHOR
hn William Tuohy is a writer who lives in
Washi
He is the author of No Time to Say Goodbye:
Memoirs of a Life in Foster Care and Short Stories from a Small Town. He is
also the author of numerous non-fiction on the history of organized crime
including the ground break biography of bootlegger Roger Tuohy "When
Capone's Mob Murdered Touhy" and "Guns and Glamour: A History of
Organized Crime in Chicago."
His non-fiction crime short stories have
appeared in The New Criminologist, American Mafia and other publications. John
won the City of Chicago's Celtic Playfest for his work The Hannigan's of
Beverly, and his short story fiction work, Karma Finds Franny Glass, appeared
in AdmitTwo Magazine in October of 2008.
His play, Cyberdate.Com, was chosen for a
public performance at the Actors Chapel in Manhattan in February of 2007 as
part of the groups Reading Series for New York project. In June of 2008, the
play won the Virginia Theater of The First Amendment Award for best new play.
Contact John:
MYWRITERSSITE.BLOGSPOT.COM
JWTUOHY95@GMAIL.COM
HERE'S MY
LATEST BOOKS.....
We were lucky enough to spend a weekend this past summer as guests at a friends the beach house in Groton Point Connecticut, just beautiful, really, just beautiful
The CIA and Abstract Expressionist Art
The Abstract Expressionists
emerged from obscurity in the late 1940s to establish New York as the centre of
the art world – but some say they became pawns of US spies in the Cold War.
Alastair Sooke investigates.
By Alastair Sooke
In the immediate aftermath of
World War Two, something exciting happened in the art world in New York. A
strange but irresistible energy started to crackle across the city, as artists
who had struggled for years in poverty and obscurity suddenly found
self-confidence and success. Together, they formed a movement that became
known, in time, as Abstract Expressionism. It is currently the subject of a
major exhibition, featuring 164 artworks by 30 artists (including Willem de
Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Rothko), at the Royal Academy of Arts in
London.
One of the most remarkable things
about Abstract Expressionism was the speed with which it rose to international
prominence. Although the artists associated with it took a long time to find
their signature styles, once the movement had crystallised, by the late ‘40s,
it rapidly achieved first notoriety and then respect. By the ‘50s, it was
generally accepted that the most exciting advances in painting and sculpture
were taking place in New York rather than Paris. In 1957, a year after
Pollock’s death in a car crash, the Metropolitan Museum paid $30,000 for his
Autumn Rhythm – an unprecedented sum of money for a painting by a contemporary
artist at the time.
The following year, The New American
Painting, an influential exhibition organised by New York’s Museum of Modern
Art, began a year-long tour of European cities including Basel, Berlin,
Brussels, Milan, Paris, and London. The triumph of Abstract Expressionism was
complete.
Unwitting helpers?
Before long, though, the backlash
had begun. First came Pop Art, which wrested attention away from Abstract
Expressionism at the start of the ‘60s. Then came the rumour-mongers,
whispering that the swiftness of Abstract Expressionism’s success was somehow
fishy.
The art critic Max Kozloff
examined post-war American painting in the context of the Cold War. He claimed
to be reacting against the “self-congratulatory mood” of recent publications
such as Irving Sandler’s The Triumph of American Painting (1970), the first
history of Abstract Expressionism. Kozloff went on to argue that Abstract
Expressionism was “a form of benevolent propaganda”, in sync with the post-war
political ideology of the American government.
In many ways, the idea seemed preposterous.
After all, most of the Abstract Expressionists were volatile outsiders. Pollock
once said that everyone at his high school in Los Angeles thought he was a
“rotten rebel from Russia”. According to David Anfam, co-curator of the Royal
Academy exhibition, “Rothko said he was an anarchist. Barnett Newman was a
declared anarchist – he wrote an introduction to Kropotkin’s book on anarchism.
So here you had this nexus of non-conformist artists, who were completely
alienated from American culture. They were the opposite of the Cold Warriors.”
Despite this, however, Kozloff’s
ideas took hold. A few years before they were published, in 1967, the New York
Times had revealed that the liberal anti-Communist magazine Encounter had been
indirectly funded by the CIA. As a result, people started to become suspicious.
Could it be that the CIA also had a hand in promoting Abstract Expressionism on
the world stage? Was Pollock, wittingly or not, a propagandist for the US
government?
Soft power
A number of essays, articles and
books followed Kozloff’s piece, all arguing that the CIA had somehow
manipulated Abstract Expressionism. In 1999, the British journalist and
historian Frances Stonor Saunders published a book about the CIA and the
“cultural Cold War” in which she asserted: “Abstract Expressionism was being
deployed as a Cold War weapon.” A synthesis of her argument is available
online, in anarticle that she wrote for the Independent newspaper in 1995. “In
the manner of a Renaissance prince – except that it acted secretly – the CIA
fostered and promoted American Abstract Expressionist painting around the world
for more than 20 years,” she wrote.
The gist of her case goes
something like this. We know that the CIA bankrolled cultural initiatives as
part of its propaganda war against the Soviet Union. It did so indirectly, on
what was called a “long leash”, via organisations such as the Congress for
Cultural Freedom (CCF), an anti-Communist advocacy group active in 35
countries, which the CIA helped to establish and fund. It was the CCF that
sponsored the launch of Encounter magazine in 1953, for instance. It also paid
for the Boston Symphony Orchestra to travel to Paris to participate in a
festival of modern music.
According to Saunders, the CCF
financed several high-profile exhibitions of Abstract Expressionism during the
‘50s, including The New American Painting, which toured Europe between 1958 and
1959. Supposedly, the Tate Gallery couldn’t afford to bring the exhibition to
London – so an American millionaire called Julius Fleischmann stepped in,
stumping up the cash so that it could travel to Britain. Fleischmann was the
president of a body called the Farfield Foundation, which was funded by the
CIA. It is therefore possible to argue that important British abstract painters,
such as John Hoyland, who were profoundly influenced by the Tate’s exhibition
in ’59, were shaped by America’s spymasters.
Saunders also highlighted links
between the CIA and New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which was
instrumental in promoting Abstract Expressionism. Nelson Rockefeller, the
president of MoMA during the ‘40s and ‘50s, had close ties with the US
intelligence community. So did Thomas Braden, who directed cultural activities
at the CIA: prior to joining “the Company”, he was MoMA’s executive secretary.
‘Shrewd and cynical’
Even today, however, the story of
the CIA’s involvement with Abstract Expressionism remains contentious.
According to Irving Sandler, who is now 91, it is totally untrue. Speaking to
me by phone from his apartment in New York’s Greenwich Village, he said: “There
was absolutely no involvement of any government agency. I haven’t seen a single
fact that indicates there was this kind of collusion. Surely, by now, something
– anything – would have emerged. And isn’t it interesting that the federal
government at the time considered Abstract Expressionism a Communist plot to
undermine American society?”
David Anfam is more circumspect.
He says it is “a well-documented fact” that the CIA co-opted Abstract Expressionism in their propaganda war against Russia. “Even The New American Painting [exhibition] had some CIA funding behind it,” he says. According to Anfam, it is easy to see why the CIA wished to promote Abstract Expressionism. “It’s a very shrewd and cynical strategy,” he explains, “because it showed that you could do whatever you liked in America.” By the ‘50s, Abstract Expressionism was bound up with the concept of individual freedom: its canvases were understood as expressions of the subjective inner lives of the artists who painted them.
He says it is “a well-documented fact” that the CIA co-opted Abstract Expressionism in their propaganda war against Russia. “Even The New American Painting [exhibition] had some CIA funding behind it,” he says. According to Anfam, it is easy to see why the CIA wished to promote Abstract Expressionism. “It’s a very shrewd and cynical strategy,” he explains, “because it showed that you could do whatever you liked in America.” By the ‘50s, Abstract Expressionism was bound up with the concept of individual freedom: its canvases were understood as expressions of the subjective inner lives of the artists who painted them.
As a result, the movement was a
useful foil to Russia’s official Soviet Realist style, which championed
representative painting. “America was the land of the free, whereas Russia was
locked up, culturally speaking,” Anfam says, characterising the perception that
the CIA wished to foster during the Cold War.
This isn’t to say, of course,
that the artists themselves were complicit with the CIA, or even aware that it
was funding Abstract Expressionist exhibitions. Still, whatever the truth of
the extent of the CIA’s financial involvement with Abstract Expressionism,
Anfam believes that it was “the best thing the institution ever paid for”. He
smiles. “I’d much rather they spent money on Abstract Expressionism than
toppling left-wing dictators.”
Alastair Sooke is art
critic of The Daily Telegraph.
The
10 Things You Should Tell Your Spouse Every Day for a Happier Marriage
The 10 Things You Should Tell
Your Spouse Every Day for a Happier Marriage
Are you in less of the honeymoon
phase and more of the “don’t forget paper towels on your way home” part of your
marriage? Saying these little phrases daily to your husband or wife could help
you stay close.
BY TONI SUTTON-DEANGELICO
"Good morning" (and
"good night")
Make it a habit to start your day
saying good morning and ending your evening with a good night. A simple “Good
morning sweetie” can start your both of your days on a slightly brighter note.
Climbing into the bed after a long day and saying goodnight lets your partner
know that the relationship and the connection you two have are a priority. Even
if your schedules don’t allow the both of you to wake up and go to sleep at the
same time, you can still make a quick call or text letting your other half know
that they are on your heart. These little tips can strengthen your marriage in
a single day.
"How was your day?"
Many times couples will get so settled in
their marriage, and that is when you tend to forget that before you met the
person you’re with, you probably talked all the time. Don’t let this habit die.
The sharing of the events that transpired throughout the day is to great way to
ensure that you and your spouse share each others’ lives. Asking them also how
their day was will let you know what kind of mood they are in, so if maybe they
need some extra support you are there to give it. You can always try one of
these small ways to make your spouse feel loved.
"I’m proud of you"
Letting your spouse know that you
are their biggest cheerleader is very important for a happy marriage. You don’t
have to wait for them to do something grand to let them know how proud you are;
letting them know when it’s the littlest of things—finally helping your kid to
grasp that tricky math problem or fixing the paint job in the downstairs
bathroom—will show them that you support all of their goals and achievements.
It lets them know that see you them working hard every day and their being
supported and loved. Also remind them that you are proud to call them your wife
or husband, and in the same breath you’re proud to be their wife or husband.
"You make me happy"
Of course your spouse knows that
you’re happy being with them, because if you weren’t then most likely you would
not be in the relationship. But letting them know how they make you feel shows
how much you value the relationship the two of you have, as well as how much
you love and appreciate them and all they do. When you express this happiness
to your spouse they will take notice much more to the moments that really make
you happy. Don’t miss this surprising advice from the most happily married
couples.
"What do you think?"
A marriage is not a dictatorship,
but a democracy—and asking your spouse’s input on a daily basis is important.
You want them to feel and know that this is a partnership, and that you value
their opinions and want to know how they feel about decisions big or small,
from where to go to dinner Saturday night to where your kids should attend
college.
"You are
hot/gorgeous/handsome"
If you don’t compliment your spouse how can
you expect them to feel appreciated or wanted? Even if you tend to see the
no-makeup or sweats-wearing version of your partner way more than the
all-dolled-up one, it’s very important to let your spouse know that you’re just
as attracted to them today as you were in the beginning. This will make them
feel confident and amazing as they go on with their day. We all like to feel
sexy and desirable, so if you’re spouse still gives you those warm and tingly
feelings inside let them know! Even just flirting with them or having some
playful banter will do wonders for your relationship.
"What are we doing
tonight?"
Couples can easily get stuck in a rut with
their daily routines and may forget to take the time out to spend some quality
time together. Having date night is a great way to get out the house and have
some alone time, but remember you don’t have to do much to enjoy each other’s
company. Just making time for one another to hang out and relax with no phones,
laptops, tablets, etc. is a great way to connect at the end of the workday.
Here are 20 things happy couples do after work.
"I’m sorry"
Hopefully you won’t have to say
this every day, but you should be humble enough to say “I’m sorry” and take
responsibility when you’ve done something to upset or hurt your spouse.
Nobody’s perfect and you’re going to make mistakes, but what’s harmful more
than anything to your relationship is when you refuse to admit to your mistakes
and become defensive, or make excuses, or worse get angry. Avoid these phrases
that can make any fight worse.
"Please" and
"thank you"
You say please and thank to everyone you come
across on a daily basis, so your spouse should hear those words from you as
well. Wouldn’t you rather have your spouse say, “Honey, can you please take the
dog out? I’m on a call. Thanks—I appreciate it” or “Why haven’t you taken the
dog out?” Gratitude speaks to one’s heart and the love of your life will know
how appreciative you are and that you really value them and their efforts.
"I love you"
You can pretty much never say
this enough. Say these three words as often as possible no matter how long
you’ve been with your partner. “I love you” will never lose its meaning. Don’t
think that just because they know you love them that they don’t want to hear
it. Some people don’t like to overstate it, but this is the easiest—as well as
the most important—thing you can tell your spouse. However you like to say or
show it, you should make sure your spouse knows how much you love them every
day.
Bart and I snooze it up in a hotel room in Baltimore (otherwise he's not allowed up on the bed, so this is a big deal for him)
THE RUSSIAN ROYAL FAMILY WAS EXECUTED AND
BURIED IN JULY 1918. SO WHY DOES VLADIMIR PUTIN KEEP BRINGING UP THE BODIES?
by SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
by SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
At about 1 a.m. on July 17, 1918,
in a fortified mansion in the town of Ekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, the
Romanovs—ex-tsar Nicholas II, ex-tsarina Alexandra, their five children, and
their four remaining servants, including the loyal family doctor, Eugene
Botkin—were awoken by their Bolshevik captors and told they must dress and
gather their belongings for a swift nocturnal departure.
The White armies, which supported the Tsar, were approaching; the prisoners could already hear the boom of the big guns. They gathered in the cellar of the mansion, standing together almost as if they were posing for a family portrait. Alexandra, who was sick, asked for a chair, and Nicholas asked for another one for his only son, 13-year-old Alexei. Two were brought down. They waited there until, suddenly, 11 or 12 heavily armed men filed ominously into the room.
The White armies, which supported the Tsar, were approaching; the prisoners could already hear the boom of the big guns. They gathered in the cellar of the mansion, standing together almost as if they were posing for a family portrait. Alexandra, who was sick, asked for a chair, and Nicholas asked for another one for his only son, 13-year-old Alexei. Two were brought down. They waited there until, suddenly, 11 or 12 heavily armed men filed ominously into the room.
What happened next—the slaughter
of the family and servants—was one of the seminal events of the 20th century, a
wanton massacre that shocked the world and still inspires a terrible
fascination today. A 300-year-old imperial dynasty, one marked by periods of
glorious achievement as well as staggering hubris and ineptitude, was swiftly
brought to an end.
For the better part of the 20th
century the bodies of the victims lay in two unmarked graves, the locations of
which were kept secret by Soviet leaders. In 1979 amateur historians discovered
the remains of Nicholas, Alexandra, and three daughters (Olga, Tatiana, and
Anastasia).
In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the graves were reopened and the identities of the interred confirmed by DNA testing. In a ceremony in 1998 attended by Russian president Boris Yeltsin and 50 or so Romanov relatives, the remains were reburied in the family crypt in St. Petersburg. When the partial remains of two skeletons believed to be the remaining Romanov children, Alexei and Maria, were found in 2007 and similarly tested, most people assumed they would be reburied there as well.
In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the graves were reopened and the identities of the interred confirmed by DNA testing. In a ceremony in 1998 attended by Russian president Boris Yeltsin and 50 or so Romanov relatives, the remains were reburied in the family crypt in St. Petersburg. When the partial remains of two skeletons believed to be the remaining Romanov children, Alexei and Maria, were found in 2007 and similarly tested, most people assumed they would be reburied there as well.
Most of the family was still
alive, wounded, crying and terrified, their suffering made worse by the fact
that they were in effect wearing bulletproof vests.
Instead, events took a strange
turn. Even though both sets of remains were identified by teams of top
international scientists, who compared recovered DNA to samples from living
Romanov relatives, members of the Russian Orthodox Church questioned the
validity of the findings. More research was needed, they claimed. Rather than
rebury Alexei and Maria, the authorities stored them in a box in a state
archive until 2015 and then turned them over to the church for further
examination.
Last fall the official state
investigation of the tsar's murder was reopened, and Nicholas and Alexandra
were exhumed, as was Nicholas's father, Alexander III. Since then there have
been conflicting reports from government and church officials on when, or if,
the entire Romanov family will be reburied and reunited, even if only in death.
Had Nicholas II died after the
first 10 years of his reign (he came to power in 1894), he would have been
regarded as a moderately successful emperor. Ultimately, though, his
well-intentioned but weak personality—which also comprised duplicity,
obstinacy, and delusion—contributed to the disasters that befell the dynasty
and Russia.
He was handsome and blue-eyed but
diminutive and hardly majestic, and his looks and immaculate manners concealed
an astonishing arrogance, contempt for the educated political classes, vicious
anti-Semitism, and an unshakable belief in his right to rule as a sacred
autocrat. He was jealous of his ministers, and he possessed the unfortunate
ability to make himself utterly distrusted by his own government.
His marriage to Princess
Alexandra of Hesse only exacerbated these qualities. Theirs was a love match,
which was unusual for the times, but both Nicholas's father and Alexandra's
grandmother, Queen Victoria of England, regarded her as too unstable to succeed
as empress. She brought to the relationship paranoia, mystical fanaticism, and
a vindictive and steely will. Also, through no fault of her own, she brought the
"royal disease" (hemophilia) into the family and passed it to her
son, the imperial heir, Tsarevich Alexei, undermining the power of the family
and distorting their interests.
Princess Alexandra brought to the
relationship paranoia, mystical fanaticism, and a vindictive and steely will.
The personal inadequacies of
Nicholas and Alexandra led them both to seek support and advice from Grigori
Rasputin, a holy man whose notorious sexual promiscuity, hard drinking, and
corrupt and inept political machinations in their name further isolated the
couple from the government and people of Russia.
The crisis of World War I placed the fragile regime under intolerable stress. In February 1917, Nicholas II lost control of protests in St. Petersburg (which had been renamed Petrograd during the war to sound less German) and was soon forced to abdicate, replaced by a republic under a provisional government.
The crisis of World War I placed the fragile regime under intolerable stress. In February 1917, Nicholas II lost control of protests in St. Petersburg (which had been renamed Petrograd during the war to sound less German) and was soon forced to abdicate, replaced by a republic under a provisional government.
The 1998 reburial of the Romanovs
was a solemn state event meant to showcase the Russian nation's reconciliation
with its past. In a televised procession, soldiers in dress uniform carried
coffins down a red carpet, past Romanov descendants and assembled dignitaries,
and into the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. President Yeltsin, a
former Communist Party leader, told those gathered that the lesson of the 20th
century was that political change must never again be enforced by violence.
Priests from the resurgent
Russian Orthodox Church offered blessings, but, notably, the patriarch of the
church was not in attendance. At that time the Orthodox Church, which had been
an intrinsic part of the Romanov system of rule, was reestablishing itself as a
national power. Many members of its hierarchy resented the fact that the burial
ceremony had been directed almost entirely by Yeltsin's secular political
agenda to promote a liberal democratic Russia.
A decade later scientists
announced that the two bodies found in the second grave were Alexei and Maria.
This time the church publicly objected to the findings of the "foreign
experts" (many members of the forensic teams were American) and even
questioned the earlier identifications of Nicholas and the others. The church
had canonized the family in 2000, which meant that any physical remains were
now holy relics.
It was essential, the church maintained, that it have a role in making sure the bodies were correctly identified.
It was essential, the church maintained, that it have a role in making sure the bodies were correctly identified.
Yeltsin had resigned the
presidency of the Russian Federation in 1999 and handed over power to a
little-known ex-KGB colonel named Vladimir Putin. The young leader regarded the
fall of the USSR as "the greatest catastrophe of the 20th century,"
and as soon as he took office he started centralizing power, reining in foreign
influences and promoting a combination of nationalism, Orthodox faith, and aggressive
foreign policy. It was an effective approach that, ironically, could have been
taken from any number of Romanov tsars' playbooks.
Putin was no closet royalist, but
he was an admirer of the autocracy perfected by the Romanovs. Though born under
Soviet communism, he had a pragmatist's understanding of history, in particular
the fact that the most forceful leaders of Russia, from Peter the Great to
Catherine the Great to Joseph Stalin, had managed to personify the essence of
not just the state but the Russian soul, and Russia's uniqueness in world
history. Like the first Romanov rulers, Putin came to power during a time of
troubles, and like his forebears he set about restoring the power of the state
and the persona of its ruler.
Rejecting the findings of the international
scientists was, of course, a power grab by the newly emboldened church, and it
was supported by the growing anti-Western sentiment promoted by the Kremlin and
shared by much of Russian society. By agreeing to the church's conditions,
Putin was appeasing an important ally.
But the move also reflected conspiracy theories (which often had anti-Semitic undercurrents) spreading among ultranationalists about the remains. One was that Lenin and his henchmen, many of whom were Jewish, had demanded that the heads of the saintly Romanovs be brought to Moscow as a sort of diabolical Hebraic-Bolshevik tribute. Was this the reason for the shattered state of the bones? Were these bones really the Romanovs? Or had someone escaped?
But the move also reflected conspiracy theories (which often had anti-Semitic undercurrents) spreading among ultranationalists about the remains. One was that Lenin and his henchmen, many of whom were Jewish, had demanded that the heads of the saintly Romanovs be brought to Moscow as a sort of diabolical Hebraic-Bolshevik tribute. Was this the reason for the shattered state of the bones? Were these bones really the Romanovs? Or had someone escaped?
Putin was no closet royalist, but
he was an admirer of the autocracy perfected by the Romanovs.
These questions might seem easy
to dismiss, but there is long-established tradition in Russia of murdered
royals suddenly reappearing. During the Time of Troubles, in the 17th century,
there were not one but three impostor, known as the False Dmitris, who claimed
to be Prince Dmitri, last son of Ivan the Terrible. And after 1918 more than
100 imposters claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia.
At first, during the spring of
1917, the ex-imperial family was allowed to live in relative comfort at a
favorite residence, the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo, not far from
Petrograd. Nicholas's cousin, King George V of England, offered him sanctuary,
but then changed his mind and withdrew the offer. It was not the finest moment
for the House of Windsor, but it is unlikely that it made any difference. The
window of opportunity was short; demands for the ex-tsar to stand trial were
growing.
Alexander Kerensky, first justice
minister and then prime minister of the provisional government, moved the
royals to the governor's mansion in Tobolsk, in distant Siberia, to keep them
safe. Their stay there was bearable but depressing. Boredom turned to danger
when Kerensky was overthrown by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917. Lenin
famously said that "revolutions are meaningless without firing
squads," and he was soon considering, along with lieutenant Yakov
Sverdlov, whether to place Nicholas on public trial—to be followed by his
execution—or just kill the entire family.
The Bolsheviks faced a desperate
civil war against the Whites, counterrevolutionary armies backed by Western
powers. Lenin responded with unbridled terror. He decided to move the family
from Tobolsk closer to Moscow, to which he had relocated the Russian capital. A
trusted Bolshevik factotum was dispatched to bring the Romanovs westward, and
in April 1918 they endured a terrifying trip by train and carriage.
The teenage Alexei suffered an
attack of bleeding and had to be left behind; he came to Ekaterinburg three
weeks later with three of his sisters. The girls, meanwhile, were sexually
molested on the train. But eventually the family was reunited in the gloomy,
walled mansion of a merchant named Ipatiev in the center of the city, whose
leaders were the most fanatical of Bolsheviks.
There is long-established
tradition in Russia of murdered royals suddenly reappearing.
The mansion was ominously renamed
the House of Special Purpose and converted into a prison fortress with
painted-over windows, fortified walls and machine gun nests. The Romanovs
received limited rations and were watched by hostile young guards. Yet the
family adapted.
Nicholas read books aloud in the evening and tried to exercise. The eldest daughter, Olga, became depressed, but the playful and spirited younger girls, especially the beautiful Maria and the mischievous Anastasia, began to interact with the guards. Maria began an illicit romance with one of them, and the guards discussed helping the girls escape. When this was uncovered by Bolshevik boss Filipp Goloshchekin, the guards were changed, regulations were tightened. All of this made Lenin even more anxious.
Nicholas read books aloud in the evening and tried to exercise. The eldest daughter, Olga, became depressed, but the playful and spirited younger girls, especially the beautiful Maria and the mischievous Anastasia, began to interact with the guards. Maria began an illicit romance with one of them, and the guards discussed helping the girls escape. When this was uncovered by Bolshevik boss Filipp Goloshchekin, the guards were changed, regulations were tightened. All of this made Lenin even more anxious.
By the beginning of July 1918 it
was clear that Ekaterinburg was going to fall to the Whites. Goloshchekin
rushed to Moscow to get Lenin's approval, and it is certain that he got it,
though Lenin was clever enough not to put the order on paper: The killing was
planned under the new commandant of the House of Special Purpose, Yakov
Yurovsky, who decided to recruit a squad to murder the royals all together in
one session and then burn the bodies and bury them in the woods nearby. Just
about every detail of the plan was ill conceived and would be grotesquely
bungled in practice.
Early on that July morning, the
bleary-eyed Romanovs and their loyal retainers stood in the cellar as the
heavily armed murder squad filed into the room. Yurovsky suddenly read out a
death sentence. Then the men used their weapons. Each was meant to fire at a
different family member, but many of them secretly wished to avoid shooting the
girls, so they all aimed at the loathed Nicholas and Alexandra, killing them
almost instantly.
The firing was wild; the killers
managed to wound one another as the room filled with swirling dust and smoke
and screams. When the first volley was done, most of the family was still
alive, wounded, crying and terrified, their suffering made worse by the fact
that they were in effect wearing bulletproof vests.
The Romanovs were famed for their
collection of jewelry, and they had left Petrograd with a large cache of
diamonds hidden their baggage. During the last months they had sewn the
diamonds into specially made underwear in case they needed to fund an escape.
On the night of the execution the children had pulled on this secretly bejeweled underwear, which was reinforced with the hardest material in existence. Tragically, ironically, the bullets bounced off these garments. Finally the murderers waded into the gruesome scene of wounded, bleeding children (one of the killers compared it to a slippery ice rink awash with blood and brains) and stabbed them manically with bayonets or shot them in the head.
On the night of the execution the children had pulled on this secretly bejeweled underwear, which was reinforced with the hardest material in existence. Tragically, ironically, the bullets bounced off these garments. Finally the murderers waded into the gruesome scene of wounded, bleeding children (one of the killers compared it to a slippery ice rink awash with blood and brains) and stabbed them manically with bayonets or shot them in the head.
The mayhem lasted 20 agonizing minutes. When the bodies were being carried out, two of the girls turned out to still be alive, spluttering and coughing before being stabbed into silence. This was surely the origin of the legend that Anastasia, the youngest daughter, had survived, a story that inspired so many impostors to impersonate the murdered grand duchess.
Now that the deed was done,
drunken assassins and Bolshevik thugs argued about who was to move the bodies
and where. They mocked the deceased royals, pillaged their treasures, and then
failed to conceal or bury them. Eventually the bodies were piled into a truck,
which soon broke down.
Out in the woods, where the Romanovs were stripped naked and their clothing burned, it turned out that the mineshafts that had been selected to receive the bodies were too shallow. In a panic Yurovsky improvised a new plan, leaving the bodies and rushing into Ekaterinburg for supplies.
He spent three days and three nights, sleeplessly driving back and forth to the woods, collecting sulfuric acid and gasoline to destroy the bodies, which he finally decided to bury in separate places to confuse anyone who might find them. He was determined to obey his orders that "no one must ever know what had happened" to the Romanov family. He pummeled the bodies with rifle butts, doused them with sulfuric acid, and burned them with gasoline. Finally, he buried what was left in two graves.
Out in the woods, where the Romanovs were stripped naked and their clothing burned, it turned out that the mineshafts that had been selected to receive the bodies were too shallow. In a panic Yurovsky improvised a new plan, leaving the bodies and rushing into Ekaterinburg for supplies.
He spent three days and three nights, sleeplessly driving back and forth to the woods, collecting sulfuric acid and gasoline to destroy the bodies, which he finally decided to bury in separate places to confuse anyone who might find them. He was determined to obey his orders that "no one must ever know what had happened" to the Romanov family. He pummeled the bodies with rifle butts, doused them with sulfuric acid, and burned them with gasoline. Finally, he buried what was left in two graves.
Yurovsky and his killers later
wrote detailed, boastful, and confused accounts for the Cheka, a precursor to
the KGB. The reports were sequestered in the archives and never publicized, but
during the 1970s renewed interest in the murder site led Yuri Andropov, the
chairman of the KGB (and future leader of the USSR), to recommend that the
House of Special Purpose be bulldozed.
Next year is the centennial of
the Russian Revolution, and while the country will undoubtedly find many ways to
mark the occasion, the unburied bones of its deposed ruling family present a
dilemma. For a nation that aspires to regain its former influence and historic
glory, coming to terms with complicated moments in its past is of paramount
importance. But the protracted burial saga reflects issues that are universal
and not easy to address.
Notions of birthright,
bloodlines, and family power still have the ability to fascinate and resonate
globally. Even though Britain, for example, is a constitutional monarchy in
which the royal family has no power whatsoever, the E! channel is as obsessed
with the elegant Duchess of Cambridge as with Taylor Swift and the Kardashians.
And during the presidential election four years ago, a vocal
"birther" movement tried to prove that Barack Obama did not have the
right to be president of the U.S.
In 2015, the patriarchate of the
Russian Orthodox Church, in conjunction with an investigation committee set up
by Putin, ordered the retesting of all the bones. Nicholas II and his family
were discreetly exhumed and their DNA compared with that of living relatives,
including England's Prince Philip, one of whose grandmothers was the Romanov
Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna. The tsar's DNA was also compared to that of
his father, Alexander III, and grandfather Alexander II. (For the latter,
scientists were able to use blood caked on a tunic the tsar was wearing when he
was assassinated.)
There were also plans to test
Alexandra's DNA against samples from the preserved body of her sister Ella, who
was also killed by the Bolsheviks and whose body is now displayed in a glass
case in a Russian church in Jerusalem. Nicholas, Alexandra, and three daughters
were returned to their tomb, but Alexei and Maria remain unburied.
A year later there have been
vague reports that the tests have been completed but no new announcements about
a final burial. This might seem a strange process, but it reflects the opaque
way power has always worked in Russia—under tsars, Bolsheviks, and now its
contemporary leaders. The church certainly has its own agenda, but it has
historically been an arm of the autocracy.
Most Kremlin observers agree that
the final decision regarding the remains of the Romanovs will be Putin's.
Somehow he has to reconcile the 1917 Revolution, the slaughter of 1918, and
contemporary Russia. Will there be ceremonies to commemorate both? A reburial
ritual with royal honors or a religious ceremony to revere saints? No one knows
exactly how he will try to pull it off.
Members of the Russian public, particularly
those who are either ultranationalists or Orthodox believers, are fascinated by
the story of the Romanovs. And almost everybody is willing to embrace the tsars
as part of Russia's magnificent past. Stalin promoted a few of them, such as
Peter the Great, as rigorous reformers, but Putin's new textbooks present many
as heroic leaders. So, even if there's little support for a restoration of the
dynasty, there is huge enthusiasm for the restoration of the glory and prestige
and power that the dynasty represented.
Putin's view of Russian history,
fueled by his regular reading of historical biographies, is organized by
success and achievement, not ideology.
One thing is certain: Putin's
view of Russian history, fueled by his regular reading of historical
biographies, is organized by success and achievement, not ideology. The
country's great "tsars" were Stalin and Peter the Great, the
disastrous ones Mikhail G
The human brains being grown
OUTSIDE the body: Lab making miniature 'organs in a jar' is revealed
• In
2013, scientists used stem cells to grow 3D tissue that mimics a brain
• Now
researchers over the world are working on making these mini-brains
• Skin
cells are transformed into stem cells, which are grown into brain cells
• The
brains are being used for researching disorders unique to humans
By ABIGAIL BEALL FOR MAILONLINE
From what makes us right or
left-handed to why we develop autism, there are many mysteries about the human
brain we are yet to solve.
Some of these questions can be
answered by studying the brains of other animals like mice, for example.
But this isn't possible for other
phenomena that are unique to human brains.
Researchers are now growing
hundreds of tiny human brains in labs, in an attempt to understand what gives
us unique disorders like autism and schizophrenia - and the method they use to
create these brains is surprisingly simple.
Researchers are now growing
hundreds of tiny human brains in labs, and the method they use to create these
brains is surprisingly simple. A magnified picture of an organoid, three to
four millimetres across, with a structure similar to that of a human brain is shown
WHAT ARE ORGANOIDS?
'Organoids', three to four
millimetres across, have a structure similar to that of an immature human
brain.
Just like a normal brain, the
organoids are divided into grey matter, made up of neurons, and white matter, a
fatty tissue composed of their spindly 'tails'.
Each is also composed of specific
regions, like the human brain.
But they look nothing like a
brain, instead they are watery blobs floating in pale liquid.
Scientists across the world are
developing cerebral organoids, or mini brains, to solve a variety of problems.
Many of these groups are trying
to understand other complex neurological diseases that are unique to humans,
like autism and schizophrenia.
One such researcher is Madeline
Lancaster, who works at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of
Molecular Medicine in Cambridge.
The brains are created using
cells. The team uses skin cells but, they could start with any cell type.
'The brains develop in the same
way you would see in an embryo,'Dr Lancaster told BBC Future.
They turn these cells into stem
cells, using proteins, and as these grow, brain cells begin to develop.
The researchers starve the cells
and, for an unknown reason, the brain cells seem to be the most robust ones, so
they survive.
These brain cells are placed in a
special jelly and put into an incubator.
The researchers in Dr Lancaster's
lab are using these brains to study a variety of conditions.
'Our current interests focus on
other neurodevelopmental disorders like autism and intellectual disability, by
introducing mutations seen in these disorders and examining their roles in
pathogenesis in the context of organoid development,' Dr Lancaster says on her
project page.
Scientists created pea-sized
brains from a patient's skin that could lead to cures for common neurological
disorders such as schizophrenia
HOW TO MAKE A BRAIN
The brains are created using
human cells as a starting point.
The team uses skim cells but,
they could start with any cell type.
'The brains develop in the same
way you would see in an embryo,'Dr Lancaster told BBC Future.
They turn these cells into stem
cells, using proteins, and as these grow, brain cells begin to develop.
The researchers starve the cells
and, for an unknown reason, the brain cells seem to be the most robust ones, so
they survive.
These brain cells are placed in a
special jelly and popped into an incubator.
The first 'brain in a bottle' was
grown by stem cell scientists in 2013, who hoped it would lead to treatments
for neurological and mental diseases.
The 'organoids', three to four
millimetres across, have a structure similar to that of an immature human
brain.
Just like a normal brain, the
organoids are divided into grey matter, made up of neurons, and white matter, a
fatty tissue composed of their spindly 'tails'.
Each is also composed of specific
regions, like the human brain.
Professor Juergen Knoblich, of
the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, derived the iPS cells
(induced pluripotent stem cells) from the connective tissue of a patient with
microcephaly.
This is a rare but devastating
genetic disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced, leaving the
sufferer with severe mental disability.
Like many neurological
conditions, the disease has been difficult to study in mice because they do not
share the same brain complexity as us.
The team used a 3D matrix
scaffold that mimics the environment of a human embryo and special lab devices,
called spinning bio reactors, which produce nutrients and oxygen, to grow the
brains.
'Ultimately, we would like to use
them to study more common disorders like schizophrenia or autism as it has been
shown the underlying defects occur during the development of the brain,'
Professor Knoblich said at the time.
'We are satisfied - or we hope -
we will be able to model some of these defects as well.'
The original goal was to produce
a biological tool that can be used to investigate the workings of the brain,
better understand brain diseases, and test new drugs.
The goal for many researchers is
to develop a brain exactly like a human's.
But some researchers say this
would be a step too far.
Dr Martin Coath, from the
Cognition Institute at the University of Plymouth, questioned why anyone would
ever want to create a 'real' human brain.
'A human brain that was 'fully
working' would be conscious, have hopes, dreams, feel pain, and would ask
questions about what we were doing to it,' he said.
'Something we have grown in the
lab, but on a much simpler level than a human brain, might be hooked up to
electronic eyes, ears, and hands and be taught to do something - maybe
something that is as sophisticated as many simple living creatures.
'That doesn't seem so far off to
me.'
From what makes us right or
left-handed to why we develop autism, there are many mysteries about the human
brain we are yet to solve. Now researchers are growing hundreds of tiny human
brains in labs, in an attempt to understand
The lady behind me in this photo works
for the Virginia State Motor Vehicle office. She calling someone, somewhere
about me. I was getting a West Virginia driver license and she was putting in
all my information to the computer when she got a message to call someone about
me. She wouldn’t tell me anything else except “Sometimes they flag people”…whose
they? Why am I one those people?
And this happens all the time.
I got that quick boarding thing
from the airlines, yet every time I try to get on the plane using the pre-boarding
thing THAT I PAID FOR…I somehow get “randomly selected” by security. And I have a witness to all of this in my wife Mary.
I Love the Cold Weather but Winters Coming
THE END
