Iranian authorities are stepping up street patrols in a renewed push towards suppressing women who refuse to follow strict Islamic dress codes.

Under a new campaign called “nour” or “light,” endorsed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian “morality police” are out in force on so-called “guidance patrols” looking for women who refuse to wear the hijab, or headscarf.

One 25-year-old woman, who spoke to DW anonymously, said she was accosted on the streets of Tehran while on her way to university on April 20.

She said she was surrounded by dozens of police officers who demanded that she cover her hair, and when she resisted, they quickly resorted to violence, pulling out some of her hair, and verbally harassing her as they dragged her into the van.

“At that moment, I didn’t fully understand what was happening, I just knew they were beating me. Later, I saw that several parts of my body were bruised,” she said.

As she was being beaten and harassed by police, the women said she thought of the “Women, Life Freedom” movement, which was sparked in September 2022 after 22-year-old Jina Mahsa Amini died after being taken into custody by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly improperly wearing a hijab.

Iranian women defy laws limiting their freedom

03:22

Amini’s death was followed by the highest level of public unrest Iran had seen in decades, with thousands of people taking to the streets of Iranian cities in support of women’s rights. Authorities used lethal force to suppress the protests. A UN fact-finding mission estimates that 551 protesters were killed.

“I remembered Jina Mahsa Amini and other women who sacrificed their lives during the Women’s Uprising for life and freedom, and I told myself I had to be strong,” the woman said.

Source: Iran renews violent crackdown on women – DW – 04/29/2024

l Nome Nebty o “Le Due Signore” legato alle divinità patrone dell’Alto e del Basso Egitto è indicato da due simboli “neb” e compare solo con Den quinto sovrano della I. Si riferisce al Faraone e lo appella di fatto Signore dell’Alto e del Basso Egitto.

2 nb che significano signore, dominatore

sovrastati da due animali:

il primo è l’avvoltoio collegato alla dea Nekhbet venerata nell’Alto Egitto che rappresenta la corona bianca

il secondo è il cobra collegato alla dea Uto venerata nel Basso Egitto che rappresenta la corona rossa

È chiaro l’intento propagandistico di sottolineare l’unificazione delle Due Terre, uno dei nomi con cui gli antichi egizi si riferivano al loro paese.

Source: VI – Il nome delle Due Signore dei Faraoni | le pagine dei nostri libri

2024-04-29 02887-tod-019786 Birch Tree

NIKON D7100 – ƒ/8 1/250 30mm ISO100 – Spring Lake Park, MN

Source: Sharpshot Nature .Com 02887-tod-019786 Birch Tree

Street Artist Cosimo Cheone Caiffa

Source: Mural by Cosimo Cheone Caiffa in Milano, Italy | STREET ART UTOPIA

Source: Macro Monday – 100CountryTrek.com

Image Source: Colored Conventions Project

“Slavery is dead, but the spirit which animated it still lives.” -Frances Ellen Watkins Harper

As we come to the close of National Poetry Month, I wanted to present this spotlight on Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (September 24, 1825-February 22, 1911), an American abolitionist, suffragist, poet, temperance activist, teacher, public speaker, and writer.

She was well-educated and had a talent for writing from an early age. Her first collection of poetry was published when she was 20 years old under the title Forest Leaves. As she began lecturing on the subjects she was passionate about, her skills as a compelling public speaker were widely praised. Her 1854 collection Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects was one of her most successful publications with an introduction written by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison. Her heartbreaking poem “The Slave Mother” is arguably her best known. She became the first black woman to have a short story published when her work, The Two Offers, appeared in the Anglo-African Magazine.

Encouraged by these successes Frances produced a steady output of poetry and short stories. Much later, her novel, Iola Leroy, or Shadows Uplifted (1892), became another critical and commercial success.

But Frances’ literary achievements were just a smidgen of the incredibly courageous work she did unselfishly. During the 19th century, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper was a leading light in the “Underground Railroad”, a network of routes, safe houses, and people sympathetic to the plight of fleeing slaves. She worked alongside William Still, who is known as the Father of the Underground Railroad while he was an office clerk and janitor in the office of the Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, to help fugitives cross the border to British North America (now known as Canada). She was an inspirational figure and an activist with the mid-1850s American Anti-Slavery Society.

With support from Stills, Frances Harper began writing poetry for antislavery newspapers. Her poem, “Eliza Harris,” was published in The Liberator, and in Frederick Douglass’ Paper. Harper wrote many poems about slaves and slavery and one of her most poignant was The Slave Auction, one that I recited on today’s podcast.

Click here to visit, follow the podcast, and engage with any of the previously recorded Poetry, Pastries, & Pies episodes.

With Gratitude,

Kym Gordon Moore, MBA   Author, Poet, Podcaster

If you are unable to listen to this episode, “The Activism and Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper” on the podcast banner below, try connecting to this Poetry, Pastries, & Pies Spotify channel by clicking on the following link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kym-gordon-moore/episodes/The-Activism-and-Poetry-of-Frances-Ellen-Watkins-Harper-e2j03lphttps://open.spotify.com/episode/6Zm257J6pcpIWlpwEq1tNR?si=d88693895c4a4634 

Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825–1911). Iola Leroy or, Shadows Uplifted. Philadelphia: Garrigues Brothers, 1892. Susan B. Anthony Collection. Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (046.03.00)

Source: POETRY, PASTRIES & PIES PODCAST: The Activism and Poetry of Frances Ellen Watkins Harper | From Behind the Pen

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) posted at 0:59 PM on Tue, Jul 26, 2022:
Wilenchik also advised Kelli Ward – who was recently subpoenaed by the DoJ to keep the plan a secret. 4
(https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1551990541595750402?t=vqigEclnaXuS4xWAoSCtFg&s=03)

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) posted at 0:59 PM on Tue, Jul 26, 2022:
He also wrote He also said “His idea is basically that all of us (GA, WI, AZ, PA, etc.) have our electors send in their votes (even though the votes aren’t legal under federal law — because they’re not signed by the Governor); so that members of Congress can fight about [it] 5/
(https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1551990543059537922?t=NkyF625lUMIsSNdVnKR2jQ&s=03)

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) posted at 0:59 PM on Tue, Jul 26, 2022:
That tracks with trump’s call to DoJ to simply announce election fraud and he and the congressional republicans would handle the rest. 6/ https://t.co/cUnu3ZAT0L
(https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1551990550718398467?t=KKhGcZpzjKUFiEt_TDLozg&s=03)

Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) posted at 0:59 PM on Tue, Jul 26, 2022:
AND get this: these emails show a connection between the elector scheme and the violence at the capitol. 7/ https://t.co/7Q6IUsYzEf
(https://x.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1551990560038105090?t=ZKIKe3Wu4v0731Wf_OODmA&s=03)

It’s all related. And, everyone involved, should be charged. The organizers. The funders. Everyone.

Source: Open Thread | Never Forget….January 6th Was An Attempted COUP …As Were Those Fake Elector Schemes | 3CHICSPOLITICO

Good morning, friends!  Guess what today is?  No, it’s not National Go Back To Bed Day … sorry to say.  No, today is the next-to-last day of April!  Yesterday when I mentioned to daughter Chris that there were only two more days left in April, do you know what she said?  “That means Christmas is right around the corner!”  Lucky for her, I had a kitty sleeping in my lap!  Christmas … my foot!  Bah HUMBUG!  I was thinking more along the lines of May flowers, grilling out on a Sunday evening, etc.  At any rate …

Today seemed a good day for breakfast, so Joyful and I have been hard at work preparing some nice breakfast-y foods for a morning treat.  So … grab a plate and find something to your liking, then we’ll go in search of some humour to start this week with grins, smiles, chuckles and laughter!

Source: Jolly Last-In-April Monday!!! | Filosofa’s Word

Tuane + Heloisa Arnold @ Campeche Island, Brazil

Location: Campeche Island, Brazil
Artists: Tuane + Heloisa Arnold
Year: 2024

Photo credits: Tuane

“Semana passada a convite da mana Heloisa Arnold colei pro sul da ilha pra fazermos nosso primeiro mural juntas.
Demos uma pedalada pelo bairro e encontramos esse murinho branquinho pedindo uma cor, o dono super topou nosso pedido e tá aí o resultado de dois dias de pintura.”

Source: Streetart – Tuane + Heloisa Arnold @ Campeche Island, Brazil – Barbara Picci

trending Spring fashion

apple blossoms in winter coats

last snow blanket melts 

Source: Fashion – Haiku 2024 -Week 17: “Last Frost” – Suzette B’s Blog