Daniel Pinkwater

Daniel Manus Pinkwater (1941) is an American author of children's books and young adult fiction.

His books include Lizard Music, The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death, Fat Men from Space, Borgel, and the picture book The Big Orange Splot. He has also written an adult novel, The Afterlife Diet, and essay collections derived from his talks on National Public Radio.

Following an appearance by Pinkwater on the Public Radio International program This American Life, his book Devil in the Drain ended up on challenged book lists at numerous children's libraries.

Many elements of his fiction are based on real events and people he encountered in his youth.

Alex Jonas

Alex Jonas is a Paris-based portrait photographer.

My love for moving images and photography came quite early. I was always playing with my father’s camera when I was a kid, not really understanding that I could make a living out of it. Then in my 20’s, I lived in Spain for a couple of years during an Erasmus program and that’s when it really started.

Getting in the industry and making a living out of it is hard, but it’s even harder to stay in the industry. There is a lot of competition and talent out there.

The most rewarding part is when other people admire your work or use it as an inspiration.

K.I.Z.

K.I.Z is a German hip hop group from Berlin consisting of the rappers Tarek, Nico and Maxim. Until 2018, DJ Craft was also part of the group. Their lyrics often contain a lot of dark humor and irony as well as sociocritical content.

Characteristic for the group are sexist, provocative lyrics containing black humour, irony, sarcasm and cynicism. They also like to parody other rappers, people or the hip-hop genre itself, as heard on the song "Die kleinen Dinge im Leben" feat. Sido ("The Small Things in Life") where they have a competition of who has the smallest penis. K.I.Z satirically criticize society, politics and phenomena such as airs and graces, or life in the precariat.

In February 2010 K.I.Z uploaded a YouTube video in which they called people to participate in the anti-fascist protest Dresden Nazifrei (Nazi-free Dresden). On 8 March 2011, it was announced that Maxim and Nico would run in the 2011 Berlin state election as leading candidates for Die Partei in the Berlin borough of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

In September 2018 K.I.Z participated in a concert with other artists and bands in the German city of Chemnitz to make a statement against far-right protests and anti-immigrant violence. The show was attended by 65,000 people.

The Sixth Labor Battalion (VI Prapor) at a Slovak Labor Camp

The National Defense Law 20/1940 exempted Jews from military service in the new Slovak state but required them instead to do manual labour at military work camps.

Group portrait of Jewish members of the Sixth Labor Battalion (VI Prapor) 

Such Jews, who were called "Robotnik Zid" [work Jews], wore distinctive blue uniforms and berets. They were assigned to the Sixth Labor Battalion which consisted of five companies, three of which were exclusively made up of Jews. New Jewish recruits were assembled in Cemerne (Vranov district) in eastern Slovakia, where they underwent basic military training using shovels instead of rifles. After their training the Jewish labor companies were assigned to forced labor in various parts of the country.

Two Jewish members of the Sixth Labor Battalion (VI Prapor) dig out the foundation of a barracks at a Slovak labor camp.

In the spring of 1942, most of the Jewish labor units were concentrated at three labor camps in the Bratislava district in western Slovakia: Sv. Jur, Lab and Zohor, where they were put to work on drainage projects. 

Prisoners holding pick axes and other tools, work along a roadside at a Slovak labor camp

When the mass deportation of Slovak Jewry began in the spring of 1942 the position of the "work Jews" improved vis a vis the civilian Jewish population. The Jewish labor companies fell under the authority of the Ministry of Defense which was often in conflict with the Ministry for Internal Affairs that was responsible for the deportation actions. As a result, the Defense Ministry sometimes refused to comply with requests from Internal Affairs to discharge "work Jews" from the military labor service.

Group portrait of Jewish members of the Sixth Labor, Slovakia 1940

On May 31, 1943, the military labor camps for Jews were formally disbanded and the remaining "work Jews" were moved to civilian concentration camps or centers.

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lynn Affleck (née Lopez; 1969), also known by her nickname J.Lo, is an American actress, singer and dancer.

Often dubbed the "Queen of Dance", Lopez is regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of her time, credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood and helping propel the Latin pop movement in music. She is also noted for her impact on popular culture through fashion, branding, and shifting mainstream beauty standards.

Following the September 11 attacks, Lopez was heavily involved in charitable activities. Joining other artists, she was featured on charitable singles such as "What's Going On" and "El Ultimo Adios (The Last Goodbye)", which benefited people affected by the tragedy.

A supporter of the Democratic Party, Lopez has a long history of backing Democratic candidates for public office.

Ben Affleck

Benjamin Géza Affleck (1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of many accolades including two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and three Golden Globes.

Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educational series The Voyage of the Mimi (1984, 1988).

Ben Affleck wears beret on honeymoon with Jennifer Lopez

Affleck gained wider recognition when he and Matt Damon won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for writing Good Will Hunting (1997), which they also starred in.

Affleck is the co-founder of the Eastern Congo Initiative, a grantmaking and advocacy-based nonprofit organization. He is a supporter of the Democratic Party.

Heads Up on Order Delivery Times

From 26 September through 19 October, South Pacific Berets is away from it's base in Aotearoa. 

Part holiday, part beret fact finding mission and part visiting some of the beret manufacturers in France and Spain, timely delivery of beret purchases may suffer.

During my absence, some orders will be fulfilled within the usual 24 hours; however, it may be on 20 October that your beret ships.

All orders placed before 26 September (NZT) will be shipped within hours!

Thank you all for your understanding.

Franz Büchler

Franz Theodor Büchler (1904 - 1990) was a German writer and visual artist.

In 1934, Büchler published his first volume of poetry.

His tragedy Sunanda, after Duke Bernhard Büchler's third drama, was removed from the program in 1942 shortly before the premiere in Leipzig by the "Reich Dramaturgy" of the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.

At the end of the Second World War, Büchler was forced to leave Strasbourg. He and his family reached Baden-Baden penniless and in 1947 their apartment had to be vacated for the French occupation and the family found accommodation in Unterlauchringen.

In 1950, Büchler returned to Baden-Baden and lived in the Lichtental district until his death .

Yakov Zak and Emil Gilels Play Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff's suite for two pianos No. 2, Op. 17 – Yakov Zak, Emil Gilels (1946):

Recorded in 1946 at All-Union Gramophone Record Firm.

With "groupies" in beret!

Bedřich Abeles

Private first class in retirement Bedřich Abeles, Ph.D., was born June 23, 1925 in Vienna in a Czech-Austrian family. 

The Abeles family lived in the town of Bielsko-Biała in Poland until Bedřich’s eighth birthday, and in 1933 they moved to Prague. Bedřich had grown up in Poland and he had to learn Czech when they arrived in Czechoslovakia. He attended elementary school and grammar school in Prague, from which he was however later expelled for his Jewish origin. The family was already aware of the Nazi threat and in July 1939 they thus sent their son from Prague to England in the so-called Winston transport. 

A relative took care of him in England and Bedřich was to study the Grammar School in Maidenhead, but he left the school soon after and began working in London. He was earning his living by washing dishes and as a cook and waiter. He rented a room and he has been fully independent since he was fourteen years old. 

He began to realize he needed more education, and later he thus completed his secondary school leaving exams. On May 11, 1943 he joined the Czechoslovak army in England and later the 311th Bomber Squadron of the Royal air Force, where he served as a ground engineer. His family was murdered in concentration camps during the war. 

After the liberation he went to Prague and studied physics at the Faculty of Science at Charles University. In 1949 he emigrated to Israel, where he again worked as a waiter, and after receiving his doctoral degree in physics he found employment as a mathematics teacher in the meteorological institute. Later he began working in the Weizmann Institute of Science. In 1956 he moved to the USA where he worked in the company Radio Corporation of America and in Exxon Mobil. He was renowned as a physicist; among other, he invented a thermoelectrical generator for use in space flights.

Abeles died in Leicester, England on 14 December 2020, aged 95.

William Benjamin Morel was a volunteer in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.

Born in Wilmington, NC in 1906, he became a merchant marine officer in 1935. Morel arrived in Spain on March 22, 1937 and made it back to the US alive on December 31, 1938, aboard the President Harding.

Morel died in 1977. 

Ben - Lingerie Designer

San Sebastian-born Ben from Wolverhampton is a history lover and professional lingerie designer.

"What I mostly enjoy about my work is the same thing that I enjoy about interior design. It is creativity and freedom. I'm a historicist, so my personality and the style and the creativity all stem from this creative compulsive obsession with the past."

Ben, 33, specialises in Victorian Maximalist designs, incorporating his passion for antiques and obsessions with the Edwardian era into each of his designs.

Gena Marvin - Queendom

With a painted white face and head, wearing an all-white ensemble save for long black gloves and gigantic black platform stiletto boots, Gena Marvin teeters as she balances on snow-covered rocks. She poses for a photograph, the sea rippling gently in the background behind her contorted figure, frozen still in the arctic chill.

It’s a striking scene that opens the new documentary “Queendom,” which follows the queer Russian performance artist as she creates artwork that challenges societal expectations and political situations — and the backlash she faces for it.

The performances, and Marvin’s very existence as a queer person, are not without their risks, including physical violence, threats and homophobic abuse. one performance sees Marvin tape the colours of the Russian flag around her body and walk as part of an anti-police protest calling for the freedom of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny. The action ultimately results in Gena’s expulsion from college in Moscow for “expressing a negative view towards the government”.

Throughout the film, Marvin experiences this hate and intolerance, whether it’s being beaten or abused while in public, or chastised by her grandparents for not following a traditional job or career path. Their relationship is often a fraught one that Galdanova felt essential to highlight in the film.

As “Queendom” was filming in April 2021, Russia invaded Ukraine. Scenes from the film show Marvin taking part in anti-war protests, being arrested, and then summoned to court for evading the military draft. This marked a turning point for her. “I realized the heaviness of the situation. I didn’t want to be in jail, or participate in this war and kill other people. That was not an option,” said Marvin, who cut contact with her grandparents during this time for their safety. In April 2022, Marvin moved to Paris. She has since been granted asylum and has built a life and community there, having walked in the recent Paris Fashion Week for Chinese label Windowsen. 

Baltimore Ravens

The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

The name "Ravens" was inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven. Chosen in a fan contest that drew 33,288 voters, the allusion honours Poe who spent the early part of his career in Baltimore and is buried there. As The Baltimore Sun reported at the time, fans also "liked the tie-in with the other birds in town, the Orioles, and found it easy to visualize a tough, menacing black bird". Edgar Allan Poe also had distant relatives who played football for the Princeton Tigers in the 1880s through the early 1900s. These brothers were famous players in the early days of American football.

A Beret Is Not A Fruit

 By Ben Hourigan

André 3000

André Lauren Benjamin (1975), better known as André 3000, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor.

Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, he is best known for being one-half of the Southern hip hop duo Outkast, alongside fellow Atlanta-based rapper Big Boi. Benjamin is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

In 2004 Benjamin was voted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) as the "World's Sexiest Vegetarian Celebrity".

Benjamin posed for a print advertising campaign by Declare Yourself, a campaign encouraging voter registration among youth for the 2008 United States presidential election. In the ads by photographer David LaChapelle, he had his mouth gagged by a bow-tie in a symbolic function.

Robert E. Paige

Robert Earl Paige (1936) is a multi-disciplinary artist and arts educator working across textile design, painting, collage, and sculpture based in Woodlawn, Chicago.

As an artist and textile designer allied with the Black Arts Movement, Robert E. Paige trained at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and worked at the architecture firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Sears Roebuck & Company and Fiorio Milano design house in Italy.

Paige was raised in Chicago's South Side where he continues to live and work, further developing his longstanding career in the decorative arts. His work visually and conceptually interrogates political and cultural themes that reflect both historical and contemporary African American art references, as well as traditional textile practices of West Africa.

For much of his career Paige considered himself a "ghost artist", as much of his work went into circulation without the attachment of his name as a designer, although his "Kool-Aid Color" textile designs helped popularize West African patterns to American shoppers.

He is now an artist in residence at the Dusable Museum and has expanded his creative practice beyond textiles and is experimenting in painting, drawing, and ceramics. His work has since been exhibited in major art institutions and museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, Salon 94 Design Gallery in New York, The Hyde Park Art Center, and Kavi Gupta Gallery in Chicago.

Robert Fitzgerald

Robert Stuart Fitzgerald (1910 –1985) was an American poet, literary critic and translator whose renderings of the Greek classics "became standard works for a generation of scholars and students".

He was best known as a translator of ancient Greek and Latin. He also composed several books of his own poetry. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. From 1984 to 1985 he was appointed Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, a position now known as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, the United States' equivalent of a national poet laureate, but did not serve due to illness. In 1984 Fitzgerald received a L.H.D. from Bates College.

Jack Agüeros

Jack Agüeros (1934 –2014) was an American community activist, poet, writer, and translator, and the former director of El Museo del Barrio.

After serving for four years in the United States Air Force as a guided missile instructor, he attended Brooklyn College on the G.I. Bill, intending to become an engineer. Inspired by Bernard Grebanier, a charismatic professor of English, and his lectures on Shakespeare, Agüeros began writing plays and poems, and instead graduated with a B.A. in English literature and a minor in speech and theatre.

Two of Agüeros's poems were included in one of the first anthologies of Puerto Rican literature, Borinquen, edited by Maria Teresa Babin and Stan Steiner, which was published by Knopf in December 1974. The two poems, "Canción del Tecato" and "El Apatético", are both in Spanish and appear in the section "Where am I at? The Youth," which also includes Pedro Pietri's well-known poem "Puerto Rican Obituary".

Albert Wagner #2

Following yesterday's post on Albert Wagner: One Bad Cat.

ONE BAD CAT is about the transformative role art plays in the tumultuous life of 82 year-old, African-American, renowned "outsider" artist Reverend Albert Wagner. He has been a lightening rod for controversy his entire life. Racism, ego and lust led him to the brink of ruin. Miraculously turned onto religion at age 50, he was inspired by God to paint, and become a famous artist for a mostly White clientele. From a racist Southern upbringing, in his later years his artwork railed against the lifestyles of members of the African-American community, which created as many detractors as champions. Near the film's conclusion, an ailing Albert comes to terms with his checkered past. Was Albert's penitence real and did he achieve redemption through his art?