Cacti

A cactus is a member of the plant family Cactaceae, a family of the order Caryophyllales comprising about 127 genera with some 1,750 known species.

The word cactus derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greek word κάκτος (káktos), a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is now not certain. Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They are native to the Americas, ranging from Patagonia in the south to parts of western Canada in the north, with the exception of Rhipsalis baccifera, which is also found in Africa and Sri Lanka. 

Cacti are adapted to live in very dry environments, including the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth. Because of this, cacti show many adaptations to conserve water.

Most species of cacti have lost true leaves, retaining only spines, which are highly modified leaves. As well as defending against herbivores, spines help prevent water loss by reducing air flow close to the cactus and providing some shade. In the absence of true leaves, cacti's enlarged stems carry out photosynthesis.

Jerzy Ficowski

Jerzy Ficowski (1924 - 2006) was a Polish poet, writer and translator (from Yiddish, Russian, Romani and Hungarian).

 During the German occupation of Poland in World War II, Ficowski who lived in Włochy near Warsaw was a member of the Polish resistance. He was a member of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK), was imprisoned in the infamous Pawiak and took part in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. His codename was Wrak and he fought in Mokotów region.

After the war, Ficowski studied philosophy and sociology at Warsaw University. There he published his first volume of poetry, Ołowiani żołnierze (The Tin Soldiers, 1948). This volume reflected the Stalinist atmosphere of the early postwar Poland, in which heroes of the Armia Krajowa Warsaw Uprising were treated with suspicion at best, arrested and executed at worst, together with the sense of a new city arising on the ashes of the old.

 From 1948 to 1950 Ficowski travelled with Polish Gypsies and came to write several volumes on or inspired by the Roma way of life, including Amulety i defilacje (Amulets and Definitions, 1960) and Cyganie na polskich drogach (Gypsies on the Polish Roads, 1965). He was the member of the Gypsy Lore Society and translated the poems of Bronisława Wajs (Papusza).

Roma prisoners sitting in an open space in the Bełżec camp, July 1940. Photo Jerzy Ficowski

Ficowski translated the poems of Federico García Lorca, and he was also a known specialist of Jewish folklore and Jewish poetry, becoming an editor of the Jewish poem anthology Rodzynki z migdałami (Raisins with Almonds, 1964).

 After he signed the letter of 59 in 1975, all of Ficowski's works had been banned in Poland. However, his prose and poems were translated widely in the West and the emergence of Solidarity in the 1980s brought his works back to Poland's bookshelves. He was active in the opposition movement, and was a member of the Workers' Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR) and later the Committee for Social Self-defence KOR.

Arvid Lorentz Fougstedt

Arvid Lorentz Fougstedt was a Swedish painter and cartoonist. He worked for a time as a draughtsman at the Swedish satirical magazine ‘Puck’ before moving to Paris to continue his studies. 

There he studied at the Académie Colarossi under Christian Krohg and at the Henri Matisse school. In 1916 he journeyed to Madrid where he was commissioned to copy Memling’s altar piece triptych in the Prado Museum. On his return to Sweden in 1917, his style reached a synthesis of French Empire, French Cubism, German Renaissance and Dutch early Renaissance. 

In 1918 he produced "Ingredients in David's studio" a painting statement that aligned himself with the New Objectivity movement.

He established himself as a major portrait artist. He became in 1934 a member of the Academy of Arts and in 1937 professor of drawing there.

The Love of a Good Woman

The Love of a Good Woman is a collection of short stories by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published by McClelland and Stewart in 1998.

The eight stories of this collection (one of which was originally published in Saturday Night; five others were originally published in The New Yorker) deal with Munro's typical themes: secrets, love, betrayal, and the stuff of ordinary lives. Nice cover!

Los Potreros

Estancia Los Potreros is an exclusive 6,500-acre working cattle farm, at the top of the Sierras Chicas in the heart of the beautiful region of Córdoba, Argentina.

Estancia Los Potreros dates from 1574 when breeding mules for the silver mines in Peru was the main activity on the hills.

Cattle replaced mules during the last century and today the estancia provides an idyllic retreat for horse riding and nature lovers.

Reiner Frommer

Reiner Frommer was born in Berlin in 1938. After the severe bombing of the city in 1943, he spent his childhood in a village in Swabia before moving to Hesse, where his father owned a photographt business.

Reiner Frommer -  Fisherman, taxi driver, village clerk.. Central Finland 1961

After college and studies at the School of Photography (under Martha Hoepffner), Frommer started work in his father's company and as a freelance photographer.

In 1962 he met his Finnish wife Ann-Marie and in 1978 moved with her and the two children to Finland. 

Today they have three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and live on a farm in Helsinki with dogs, cats, alpacas and Icelandic horses.

Egon Schwarz, aka Schnitzer Benni

The wood artist Egon Schwarz, better known as Schnitzer Benni (Carver Benni) has made hundreds of masks.

His day begins when he fires  up the stove in his workshop. It is located in the old part of the building. He likes to take visitors to his kingdom, which throughout his life gave him and his family daily bread. 

The art of carving is what he has learned from his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. It is his life. His father made ​​ wooden movable limbs for the renowned Professor Sauerbruch during the First World War.

His workshop is like a museum of local history. Egon Schwarz has made ​​hundreds of masks made ​​of linden wood. The wood he got mostly from the Rhine Valley and from northern France.

His creativity and reliability made ​​him an artist of high standing. 

Joshua Yospyn's Red Beret Project

Joshua Yospyn was born in suburban Cleveland, raised outside Detroit and went to college at the University of Dayton, where he majored in business.  In 1999 he moved to Washington, D.C. and bounced around several jobs doing website design while learning photography, and started freelancing part-time for the Washington Post and MSNBC.  

He still freelances for the Post and various non-profits; is a member of the STRATA street photography collective; and in May of 2014  was hired to teach photography on behalf of the U.S. Embassy in Jordan, where he spent time in Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps.  This summer he also created a multimedia piece on Iraqi refugees in Maine during a workshop at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.  

On Bastille Day in 2009 Yospyn was in search of French maids.  Instead, he found a little 11-year-old girl wearing a red beret, who was out for a stroll with her mother.  After a brief introduction on a street corner near a Belgian restaurant, Anka allowed Yospyn to photograph her child.  He took a few frames, said thank you, and bid them farewell.

They do it again every year.  And always on Bastille Day.  The original close-up portrait, which was taken on medium format Kodak film, was displayed at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado.

Russian Schoolchildren Hear Only One Truth: Putin's

The Kremlin imposes Putin's version of history on Russian schools and mercenaries are coming into class to tell of their "heroic deeds" at the front.

Since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian government has done everything it can to teach children the 'correct' story about the war. A story in which Ukraine as a nation has no right to exist, Russian soldiers act as 'liberators' of the oppressed and Russian history is full of heroic deeds.

The education policy serves a clear purpose. After all: "wars are not won by generals, but by teachers and priests," Putin quoted the words of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in his 2023 end-of-year speech.

Since September 2022, Russian schoolchildren have started the week by singing the national anthem and raising the flag. That year, the subject of “Conversation about the Important” was also made mandatory, which aims to spread “Russian values.” In addition, the “Principles of Defense of the Fatherland” curriculum was introduced. 

In some Russian regions, young people are taught how to use Kalashnikovs and hand grenades, how to dig trenches and what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. In view of the falling birth rate, schools must also place great emphasis on the family. At the end of 2023, “traditional” family values ​​were legally enshrined in the school system.

Schools that refuse to follow the instructions risk government inspections, fines and even closure. The risk of being denounced by parents, colleagues or students leads to a culture of fear at schools and universities, according to teachers.

In recent years, patriotic youth organizations have also been springing up like mushrooms in Russia. In 2015, with funding from the Ministry of Defense, the 'Young Army' (Joenarmia) was founded, considered by many to be a modern version of the communist youth organization Komsomol. By becoming a member, the young cadets with their red berets hope to increase their career opportunities. The organization is estimated to have almost a hundred thousand members in Russia and neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan. In 2022, the organization was put on the European sanctions list.

Akris Berets

Akris is an independent family owned fashion house established 90 years ago in St. Gallen, a Swiss town renowned for its longstanding tradition as the heart of the country's textile industry. Brothers Albert and Peter Kriemler are the third generation to head up the business. Creative director Albert Kriemler is Head of Design of Akris and Akris punto as well as the company's handbag and accessories collection launched in 2009, while CEO Peter Kriemler is at the helm of finances and management.

Akris is distributed worldwide. In addition to flagship boutiques in major cities throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia, Akris is available internationally in some 600 high-end department stores and fashion emporiums.

"Spectacularly unspectacular"-this is how one leading US American fashion critic has deftly characterized the house of Akris. Akris stands for state-of-the-art fashion that makes perfect sense, effortlessly to the needs of today's women, where true creativity and innovation segue into wearability; fashion whose clear, architecturally inspired lines will work as well tomorrow as they do today.

Ah yeah, and berets, of course...

(Dutch) Boules

Boules is a collective name for a wide range of games in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls (called boules in France, and "bocce" in Italy) as close as possible to a small target ball.

Boules-type games are traditional and popular in France, Italy, Malta and Croatia, some former French colonies and also in my native Netherlands (see pictures). In those countries, boules games are often played in open spaces (town squares and parks) in villages and towns. Dedicated playing areas for boules-type games are typically large, level, rectangular courts made of flattened earth, gravel, or crushed stone, enclosed in wooden rails or back boards.

In the south of France, the word boules is also often used as a synonym for pétanque. Coloured berets make for ideal team recognition! 

Tardi

In 2016 I published a post on 'Goddamn this War!', by Jacques Tardi - still one of the best anti-war books ever, in my opinion. 

French graphic novelist Jacques Tardi (1946) is often credited solely as Tardi.

In the English language, many of Tardi's books are published by Fantagraphics Books, edited and translated by Fantagraphics' co-founder Kim Thompson.

In 2013, Tardi was nominated as a Chevalier in France's Legion of Honour, the country's highest distinction. However, he turned down the distinction, citing that he will "remain a free man and not be held hostage by any political power whatsoever.

In 2012, he published ‘I, René Tardi, prisoner of war at Stalag II-B’, based on his father's memories of his captivity during the Second World War, followed by ‘My Return Home’ and ‘After the War’. 

Léo Malet

Léo Malet (1909–1996) was a French crime novelist and surrealist. He was known for creating the Parisian private eye Nestor Burma.

In the 1930s, he was closely aligned with the Surrealists, and was close friends with André Breton, René Magritte and Yves Tanguy, amongst others. During this time, he published several volumes of poetry.

His books have been made into films and Nestor Buma has been created into a series of graphic novels by Tardi.

The Children's Train

The Children's Train (Il treno dei bambini) is an Italian film co-written and directed by Cristina Comencini, based on the novel of the same name by Viola Ardone. It premiered at the 19th Rome Film Festival on 20 October 2024 and was released on Netflix on 4 December 2024.

In 1946, a Neapolitan boy travels to northern Italy to live with a host family as part of the treni della felicità (trains of happiness) initiative. It was part of a movement to transport poor southern Italian children to northern families who could support them in the years after World War II.

The real-life events inspiring the movie began once the Italian Communist Party took control of Italy following the nation’s collapse in World War II. Italy’s military and economic failures brought the nation to an all-time low as the war ended in their unconditional surrender, with many impoverished families dying from starvation or exposure to the elements. In order to curtail some of these unnecessary deaths and reform their nation, the Communist Party was forced to take extreme measures, including rounding up impoverished children in Italy’s poorest regions and shipping them North to be sponsored by wealthier families via train.

Jean-Marie Le Pen

 A dilemma: do I publish a post on Jean-Marie Le Pen, who died yesterday 7 January, 2025...

Needless to say, no glorification here, but since he did wear berets, be it mainly military, he deserves a place here. 

Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928-2025), was a French far-right politician who served as president of the National Front from 1972 to 2011 and honorary president of the same party from 2011 to 2015.

Le Pen started his political career as president of the Association Corporative des étudiants en droit, an association of law students whose main occupation was to engage in street brawls against the "Cocos" (communists). He was excluded from this organisation in 1951.

After receiving his law degree, Le Pen enlisted in the Foreign Legion. He arrived in French Indochina after the 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu. Le Pen voluntarily reengaged himself for two to three months in the Foreign Legion in 1957 and was then sent to Algeria (1957) as an intelligence officer. He was accused of having engaged in torture.

Jean-Marie Le Pen decorated by General Massu, at the Villa Sésini, in Algiers, at the end of March 1957

In 1972, Le Pen founded the Front National (FN) party. His daughter Marine took the party’s leadership in 2011 and expelled him four years later, seeking -unsuccessfully- to distance the movement from his extremist reputation. The party has since been renamed the National Rally (RN).

The singers of the "Brigandes" and authors of violently xenophobic lyrics, recorded a tribute to Jean-Marie Le Pen, for his 90th birthday

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the hard left France Unbowed, wrote: “The battle against the man is over, that against hatred, racism, Islamophobia and antisemitism that he spread continues.”