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3月29日 Lenten Ties - XIV I've been having some trouble with my scanner, and so I did not have a picture for the tie for tomorrow (3-30), the last necktie I'll wear in the month of March. It is from the Miracle Expressions™ series of neckties, made by Stonehenge. Like the Mothers Against Drunk Driving ties, these are based on electron microscopic images. This series (you can learn about it by clicking on the link) is based on images of drugs.
This necktie shows AZT (for a page about the drug and the ties), and you can even find there a picture, although I do not yet have one here. This is a very appropriate tie for tomorrow. It is one of the neckties that were originally produced to raise money for charities, and with its medical theme, it will be especially appropriate, since tomorrow, I have to attend required trainings on bloodborn pathogens, first aid, and CPR.
For Monday (4-2), I'll wear another Countess Mara necktie. I'm bringing to a close the Lenten observation with a reprise of the kinds of ties that I've worn the past few dreary weeks. These two represent ties originally sold as fundraisers for charities and, back to the generics, a tie with dots.
Lent is winding down; actually, it winds up, ending with Holy Week and Easter. For our devotional drawn from the Internet Sacred Text Archive, I suggest the sacred texts of Jainism.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved
Click on photo to enlarge 3月27日 Lenten Ties - XIII When dots last appeared, they seemed to be stretching the point or points, with owl-shaped and bison-shaped dots. Here, we return to an almost puritanically severe concept of the dot. Tomorrow (3-28), I'm wearing a necktie with dots so small that it could almost be mistaken for a solid. It is a polyester tie (not something I like), but I remember when I purchased this tie (at a thrift shop where ties were four for a dollar, and it was half-priced day for men's clothes), I made a real commitment (of 12.5 cents) because the label read "St. Michael." There is no country of origin identified.
Following that (3-29), I'm wearing a tie with the label "Oakton, Ltd." I'm guessing silk, but there is no. The dots are a little larger, but what else can I say?
It's that time, time for a Lenten reference to the Internet Sacred Text Archive. So, I put "Michael" together with "Sacred Texts" and came up with Ancient Egyptian Metaphysics. I expected more, since Michael is associated with a range of esoteric traditions.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved 3月25日 Lenten Ties - XII And so, we reach two dozen neckties for Lent, going back to plaid. These two have something else in common; each has a designer's logo. Tomorrow (3-26), I'm wearing a tie with the label "Polo by Ralph Lauren," with the little polo logo in red barely visible on the tie. "Made by hand; Made in USA from imported fabric, 100% cotton."
For Tuesday, I'm wearing my first (so far, only) plaid Countess Mara tie, with her logo and distinctive neckband, but with no labels. I can clearly see where the labels have been removed. In fact, this tie seems to have survived some surgery. The stitching along most of the back of the tie is very rough, and the "blanket" (the thick fabric which gives the tie weight and shape) doesn't seem to fit correctly. I have heard of gents having a favorite necktie cut down when fashion narrows ties, and I wonder if something like that happened to this tie.
I assume it is silk, and you should assume that the colors shown in the scan are not accurate. The tie is actually in shades of tan and gray, not the shades of pink that are showing. I had to fight with my scanner and computer to get the scanner to work tonight, so I suppose I should be thankful to get this much of a representation of a pleasant tie.
Where do we look in the Internet Sacred Text Archive for or next installment of devotional reading? How about Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes? I'll stretch to make a connection between the goddess Pele and Countess Mara.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved 3月21日 Lenten Ties - XI Back to paisley, with nothing new to say about it. These are two rather lively, downright exuberant paisleys, both silk, and both Italian. In fact the necktie that I am wearing tomorrow (3-22), has on its label only the words "Italian, All Silk Hand Made," while the tie for Friday (3-23) has a label reading "Renzo Caldi, New York, Milan." The first tie is a paisley pattern almost as if seen unde a magnifying glass, and the second seems to be a floral design with huge paisley creatures imposed onto it.
For our next installment from the Internet Sacred Text Archive, let's look at some particularly exuberant books, those from the Celtic Folklore traditions.
And so, with generic neckties (solids, stripes, dots, plaids, or paisleys) and a reference to the Internet Sacred Text Archive, two more days of Lent come to a close.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved 3月19日 Lenten Ties - XIt's starting to look a lot like Lent,
Countess Mara's everywhere!
As I dug around in the vaults to put together neckties that for me are the equivalent of sackcloth and ashes, I noticed something that might strike a newcomer as odd. Almost all of my ties with the maligned (at least in this blog) diagonal stripes are by Countess Mara. There's something almost Darwinian going on in my perhaps unnatural selection of ties. I have a rule not to buy ties with diagonal stripes, but I also have a rule to buy any Countess Mara tie I run across (and perhaps it is appropriate to remind you that I shop for ties in thrift shops, where a price over a dollar is high).
I have broken the Countess Mara rule a couple of times lately, when I've found CM neckties in such sad condition that it was painful to look at them. But, in general, if I find even a tastefully boring or boringly tasteful confection of diagonal stripes that is graced with the Contessa's monogram, I'll buy it. As for the few ties with diagonal stripes that are not of the Countess Mara ilk, all I can say is, sometimes I have come across dollar-a-bag clearance sales, at which point all the silkies (silk neckties) have a new home.
So, where does that leave us in our Lent-long celebration of the Internet Sacred Text Archive? Truthfully, I'm not going to try to make a long stretch to link this entry to anything in the ISTA. Let's just find something interesting (to me, the whole site is), and this time, let's settle on theosophy. Please note that Madam Blavatsky can be a most intriguing (often maddening) companion.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved 3月15日 Lenten Ties - IX Although purists may say that I am breaking my Lenten discipline, I think that these little animals actually fit into two generic categories, dots and diagonal stripes. These really aren't buffalo and owls; they are buffalo-shaped and owl-shaped dots, dots which are arranged in diagonal stripes (think of pixels, lined up to create images).
These are owls with quite a pedigree, since this silk necktie (for 3-16) is "Made for Bohemian Club of San Francisco." The Bohemian Club owns the Bohemian Grove, a sort of scout camp for aged Republicans, where a forty-foot concrete owl oversees what are sometimes alleged to be pagan rituals. (Here is a 1999 index of Internet reporting on Bohemian Grove personalities and gossip.) Strangely enough, I found this tie and another Bohemian Club tie in a thrift shop in Florida. You can find quite a few videos about the Bohemian Club on YouTube. One I especially like is a 1981 ABC news report.
Let's move on to a better kind of animal symbolism, that of the white buffalo (great site, by the way) on the tie for 3-19. The tie is labelled "Peller & Mure | Buffalo," and - alas - "100% polyester." By the way, Peller & Mure is a store located in Buffalo, NY, so I don't know if the animal might be some sort of symbol for the store. We can nod to the city and avoid the buffalo/bison controversy. (I just found that there is a minor league baseball team called the Buffalo Bisons.) The tie also has a paper price tag, "$7.50."
Where should we go on the Internet Sacred Text Archive today? We've already visited the Native American section, so in honor of two legendary creatures on these two neckties, let's look at the Legends and Sagas, which could easily keep you occupied for many moons.
Update: Here is a bit of coincidence that might become the stuff of legends and sagas. A couple of days after posting this entry, I received an email from Korea from an old friend who is a native of Colorado to announce that bison have been re-introduced to his home state. That was worth a bit of snooping around on the Internet to discover this fascinating article. (Thanks to the Colonel for this welcome bit of news.)
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge 3月13日 Lenten Ties - VIII So, we come back to paisley, and guess what? Size matters! Of course, you know I am referring to the little critters in the paisley pattern (I do want to keep this blog family-friendly.) Tomorrow (3-14), those critters are about as small as they can be on an Izod necktie (silk, from Italy), while on Thursday (3-15), they're about as large as I've ever seen them on a necktie, this one silk by JL Roberts and Company (For Nordstrom).
Today's reference to the Internet Sacred Text Archive is to perhaps the strangest but most valid of all sacred texts, "Human Genome: First 1000 lines of Chromosome 1." Surely, no text could be more fundamental. What a wonderful thing is human DNA, which leads eventually to the Internet and blogs, to paisley patterns of all sizes, to the war in Iraq.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge 3月11日 Lenten Ties - VII You may well think, on viewing these ties, that I have lost my seasonal discipline, but not really. These two ties remind us of an important part of the spirit of Lent. There's more involved than just giving up something. These two neckties call us to practice charity (to do something with that which we give up) as well, since both of them were originally sold to raise funds for charities. For Monday (3-12), the really lovely tie is from UNICEF, United Nations Children's Fund ("Woven Banner, Tunisian flat woven textile"). Tuesday (3-13), the wild and crazy pattern is on a tie from The Children's Hospital of Buffalo ("Confetti," Lea Jones - Age 3). This tie also has a label "USA, Imported Silk."
Of course, I would guess that over 90% of my neckties have a charitable connection, since they come from a variety of thrift shops, such as Goodwill Industries, the Salvation Army, Meals on Wheels, and local hospices, domestic abuse shelters, and churches.
For today's installment of the Internet Sacred Text Archive, let's pick up on the Tunisian design on one of these ties to connect us to the page for African Religion.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge 3月7日 Lenten Ties VI - and a celebrity Well, it has happened. I have sunk into my Lenten duress or mess to wear... gasp, sob... striped neckties! Maybe I'm unfair, but when 99% of ties worn by local weathermen (gee, who besides me would consider local weathermen a barometer of style?) bear diagonal stripes, I want no part of such a thing.
We are finishing the week with about as much diversity as my generic Lenten devotion of striped ties can stand. First (3-8), we have one of my grand old neckties with a grand old variation on the theme of striped ties. In fact, this is one of my very few vintage (read: old and uncomfortably short) neckties with a label still existing. This one, attached to a gorgeously brocaded tie, says, "Samoan Prints, Wilson Brothers." The print is actually interesting, with garlands of something (looks like rosemary to me) together with a wild brocade on the burgundy. Oh, my....
And on Friday (3-9), we have a skinny little Wembley tie with a few horizontal bands on a dull, gray (actually, lightly dotted) background. It doesn't get much more Lentan than that, thank whomever!
And, thanks be to Whomever, I met a celebrity yesterday, just what I needed to brighten up my Lenten blog blahs. Some time ago, my neighbor's sister had a little girl who was born very sick. The little girl's father did something that I've always considered terribly brave. He started a blog, so that friends and family (and neighbors of aunts on the other side of the country) could keep up with her life, her progress, or....
Well, the little lady (and, oh, yes, her family) visited the aunt, and the neighbor (I) was granted an audience. That's the way I felt about it, about meeting her. When I held the now plump, smiling, downright sassy little lady with a killer smile in my arms (and she, to reciprocate, held me in hers), I felt quite a goosebump.
Thanks to this big bad thang called the Internet, we knew each other. At least, I knew her, and I defy anyone to say that she did not recognize me. Check her (and her wonderful family) out. Hey, it beats wearing neckties by a mile!
And, in honor of the little lady, today's link to the Internet Sacred Text Archive will take you to American Indian Fairy Tales, a collection published long ago, so even though the Sacred Text Archivist says she "for her time, appears to have had a fairly progressive attitude," I emphasize "for her time."
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge 3月5日 Lenten Ties V It occurs to me with these two neckties that I need a new category. I had them out to represent solid colors. Well, yes... and... no. I think I need to call these ties monochromatic, because they do truly have only one color, and yet, that color is not solid. Thanks to textures woven into the cloth, there are dots and stripes (two of my other Lenten devotions) on these "solid" ties.
For tomorrow (3-6), I am wearing one of my "Countess-feit" ties, ties that bear not only a "Countess Mara" label but also a label proclaiming, "Hecho en Mexico." It's lovely gold color is faintly borken by tiny lines,dots that, unless I look at them with magnification, seem to be just variations in texture.
Then, another designer joins me for Len, Yves Saint-Laurent, and this is truly monochromatic, the diagonal lines and the YSL monogram being matters of texture not color.
And so, for the daily reading from the Internet Sacred Text Archive, let's look at the section devoted to shamanism. That's a tough section, because probably no other existing spiritual way is so associated with pre-literate experience. In fact, I seem to remember having read somewhere that when the books come in, the shamans go out.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge 3月1日 Lenten Ties IV I feel like such a fake, to say I'm giving up wild ties for Lent, when - within the framework of my Lenten devotions - I get to wear some real beauties. So, what could be more minimalist than dots? Yet, what could be more uttery utter than the necktie I am wearing tomorrow? That is, March 2nd. The tie has the label "Fratelli," and it was made in Italy of silk. Basically, the tie is solid red, with six large black dots. Three are on the front (I could only get two in the scan; there is a third dot to the left, just above the scanned area, and there is evidence of three more dots on the tail of the tie.) Then, there is a wild design in a subtle brocade that makes the tie seem to be moving.
And, then, you want dots? You want boring? How about tiny dots on a "Lands End" necktie? Made of imported silk, sewn in the US. Gee, is any silk made in the US? Has any silk been produced since the Georgia colonists provided a dress for Queen Caroline? I'm kvetching, I know. I need a tie with lions, roses, and such. But, I must be good.
So, for this installment from the Internet Sacred Text Archive, what spiritual tradition screams, silently, minimalism moreso than Zen? And, if I've got it wrong, then, I've got it wrong, but what is wrong? I'll tell you what is right: Manual of Zen Buddhism, by D. T. Suzuki, which somehow lost copyright protection and ended up on the Internet. I hope you end up with "The Ten Oxherding Pictures," which ends with both ox and herder nowhere to be seen... unless, you look very closely, and you just may find them in the brocade of tomorrow's tie.
Copyright © 2007 by Michael Segers, all rights reserved Click on photo to enlarge |
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