A Pagan's Life (For Me) - A blog and site for the modern, fashion conscious, pop culture crazed Witch. Yes, I said it, Witch. Witch, Which, Witch...
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Murdered teacher, devout Catholic who opposed witchcraft, could be South Africa’s first saint
NWELI, South Africa — Everyone in this poor northern corner of South Africa has a story about Benedict Daswa’s kindness to his neighbors, his schoolteacher colleagues, the young villagers he helped to feed.
It’s therefore all the more horrifying that some of those same friends and neighbors were in the mob that beat him to death in a spasm of violence born of a flash of lightning and a witch hunt.
And even now, 22 years later, the pain and anger linger. A movement is under way to have the Vatican declare Daswa South Africa’s first saint, but it has stirred concerns that old grudges which should have faded in the new post-apartheid South Africa could come surging back.
1990 was a tumultuous year in South Africa. Apartheid was ending, and violent passions were being unleashed. Recriminations and superstitions were swirling. Witch hunts — the literal kind, still prevalent on African communities — were claiming the lives of men and women.
When lightning struck homes in Nweli, the elders suspected witchcraft and wanted to hire a witch-finder. Daswa, a primary school headmaster and devout Catholic, objected. A week later he was murdered.
No one has ever been prosecuted in the case, and witnesses have refrained from speaking up. The ringleader died in a car accident years ago. Some of those in the lynch mob still live here. Today the watchword in the village of Nweli is reconciliation, and the proponents of sainthood for Daswa are quick to stress that they are not looking to reopen the investigation or hold any individual accountable.
In Assumption of Our Lady, Nweli’s tiny brick church with log rafters crisscrossed like fingers laced in prayer, about 40 worshippers recently celebrated Corpus Christi, reading from Psalms in Venda, the region’s main language: “O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful servant.”
Chris Maphaphuli, who was inspired by Daswa to become a teacher and counted him as a friend, said reopening the investigation of the killing would accomplish nothing. “As Jesus was forgiving, so we must also forgive,” he said.
Joao Rodrigues, the Catholic bishop in the diocese where Daswa lived and died, said the canonization effort had nothing to do with bringing the killers to justice. “Fundamentally, we believe he died with forgiveness in his heart,” he said. The aim is “to highlight that the man who was killed was a man of God and that his death is a testimony to his faith.”
Daswa, born Tshimangadzo, took the name Benedict when he became a Catholic. A village catechist who inspired him to convert from traditional beliefs was named Benedict. St. Benedict the African, who lived in the 16th century, was the son of slaves brought from Africa to Sicily.
Pope Benedict XVI last year called on African Christians to identify African saints to inspire them. But Rodrigues said the Daswa campaign evolved not because of orders from above, but because his predecessor, Bishop Hugh Slattery, had heard how Catholics in Nweli revered Daswa.
Daswa founded a soccer team for Nweli. He started a vegetable garden where youngsters could grow food for their families and sell produce to pay for school fees and uniforms — this at a time when the apartheid government did little to help the nonwhite needy. He was seen as a man who lived by his principles and his religion.
“This school is my home,” said Alicia Nembambula, who taught there when Daswa was its principal. “Wherever we look, we have his memory. If he is looking at us, he can see his fruits.”
But he also made enemies with his opposition to superstitious practices and his defense of people accused of witchcraft. He had already had to cut his ties with the soccer team he founded, because he wouldn’t let the players carry lucky charms.
The trouble came to a head in 1990 when lightning damaged some of the village huts. The village headman gathered his counselors, Daswa among them, in the kraal, the cattle enclosure that served as a meeting place. Daswa argued lightning was a natural phenomenon and refused to join in paying for a witch-finder.
A week later, driving home, he found the road blocked by a log. It was an ambush. Young men pelted him with stones. He fled across a field and into a village pub, where he was clubbed and beaten to death.
It was Feb. 2, 1990. On that day F.W. de Klerk, the country’s last white president, announced he was legalizing the African National Congress and would soon free its imprisoned leader, Nelson Mandela.
Maphaphuli said his friend was human, with faults; he could be sharp-tongued, but quick to apologize. He could be boastful about his faith, but he kept to his promises. He was a respected man, relatively rich, and that stirred jealousy.
Daswa’s commitment to resisting superstition became all too public, Maphaphuli suggested. “It’s then that they started to hate him. To hunt him. Because they wanted to do away with him.”
In 2009, diocesan officials presented an initial case for beatification, based on Daswa’s writings and interviews with those who knew him, to the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. The Vatican accepted the dossier and moved to the next step of formally requesting further documentation. That should be completed by year’s end and a recommendation made to the pope.
To be canonized, the Vatican would have to be satisfied Daswa had performed a miracle — intervened from heaven on behalf of someone on earth.
Claudette Hiosan, an Australian nun working in South Africa, has been made the promoter, a task that covers everything from distributing the documentation to updating the Daswa website at www.benedictdaswa.com where people can testify about Daswa’s works and miraculous powers.
“The thing that has really struck me was his moral courage,” Hiosan said. “He was a man who did not compromise on his deepest, innermost belief. It’s an ongoing challenge to me, to walk the talk.”
Daswa’s relatives won’t comment on the campaign. Hiosan said they have told her it is reviving painful memories.
Philippe Denis, a member of the Dominican order, teaches the history of Christianity at South Africa’s University of KwaZulu-Natal and helped prepare documents supporting Daswa’s cause. He said Daswa’s stance against witch hunts was not that of a Catholic criticizing “heathens,” but of an African appalled that traditional respect for humanity and life was being violated.
Daswa “challenged the corruption of African culture, and died for it,” Denis said.
Violence linked to witchcraft reached such high levels in the late 1980s and early 1990s that the government set up special villages to house those accused of the practice. A government investigation concluded that the upsurge was due in part to a power vacuum in the struggle against apartheid and that witch hunts tended to target traditional leaders seen as collaborators with the system of racial segregation.
Today witch-hunt deaths have diminished, but some fear that canonizing Daswa could renew rifts in South Africa’s complex religious landscape.
Simon Khaukanani, who once taught villagers about the Catholic faith alongside Daswa, is among those who regularly pray at Daswa’s graveside. He says those he holds responsible for Daswa’s death have never attended the graveside gatherings. If they did they would be welcomed, he said, but it would be “hard to discuss reconciliation.
“We cannot even talk to these people and say, ‘Let’s talk together about reconciliation. Because we have different beliefs.”
Then, he thinks again about Daswa.
“He wanted to see the unity among the community. Praying together, doing everything together.
“Because we were doing that during his lifetime.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Friday, July 13, 2012
BREAKING NEWS - Producer Richard D. Zanuck Dies at 77
The Wrap
Richard D. Zanuck, the producer of "Jaws" and "Driving Miss Daisy," died Friday in Los Angeles, a spokeswoman for his production company told TheWrap. He was 77.
Richard D. Zanuck, the producer of "Jaws" and "Driving Miss Daisy," died Friday in Los Angeles, a spokeswoman for his production company told TheWrap. He was 77.
The cause of death was a heart attack.
The son of famed 20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck, he would make his own indelible mark on the movie business by championing a then-unknown director named Steven Spielberg.
Their 1975 adaptation of Peter Benchley's pulpy novel about a killer shark terrorizing a beach town would usher in a new era of summer blockbusters and fundamentally alter the type of movies that the industry makes. The DNA of "Jaws," which at the time was the highest grossing movie in history, can still be detected in such recent tentpole hits like "The Avengers" and "Avatar," cinematic spectacles that entice audiences through a combination of special effects and easily digestible plots.
Although best known as one of the foremost movie producers in Hollywood, he would also enjoy stints as a top executive at Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, where he helped oversee such classic pictures as "The Exorcist" and "The Sound of Music."
Also read: Cannes 2012: 'Jaws,' Boos & Drugs
As an independent producer, he remained a major boaster of top-shelf directing talent. He would discover Spielberg and give him his first feature film job on 1974's "The Sugarland Express" and would go on to collaborate with the likes of Tim Burton and Ron Howard, producing such hit films as "Alice in Wonderland," "Cocoon" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."
In a statement Friday, Spielberg called Zanuck a "cornerstone" of the industry and reflected on the often troubled path "Jaws" had to maneuver to make it to the big screen.
"In 1974, Dick Zanuck and I sat in a boat off Martha's Vineyard and watched the mechanical shark sink to the bottom of the sea," Spielberg said. "Dick turned to me and smiled. 'Gee, I sure hope that's not a sign.' That moment forged a bond between us that lasted nearly 40 years. He taught me everything I know about producing. He was one of the most honorable and loyal men of our profession and he fought tooth and nail for his directors."
"Jaws" likely remains the touchstone, but Zanuck's was a varied career. In addition to blockbusters, there were also ventures into quieter dramas, such as "Driving Miss Daisy," which chronicled the unlikely friendship between an aging Southern dowager and her black chauffeur and won Zanuck an Oscar for Best Picture in 1989.
As befitting a son of Hollywood royalty (his mother was actress Virginia Fox), Zanuck made a big splash in the movie business almost immediately after graduating from Stanford University and serving as an army lieutenant. He joined his father as a story and production assistant on two 20th Century Fox films, "Island in the Sun" and "The Sun Also Rises."
At 24, he made his debut as a full-fledged producer with the feature film "Compulsion," a dramatization of the Leopold and Loeb murder trial that won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival for the ensemble work of its stars Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.
Just 28 years old, Zanuck was named president in charge of production of 20th Century Fox. He would inherit a studio still reeling from the big budget disaster of "Cleopatra," which had forced it to sell off its back lot in what is now Century City and enact major layoffs.
Salvation would come in the form of "The Sound of Music," an adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that won Best Picture and became one of the biggest grossing films of all time. Though the studio, like most of the other major players, struggled to adapt to shifting tastes during the 1960's, under Zanuck's leadership it produced such cultural touchstones at "Patton," "The French Connection," "Butch Cassidy" and the Sundance Kid" and "M*A*S*H."
In a statement to TheWrap, Tom Rothman, chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, remembered the impact that Zanuck had made not just on the studio, but the movie business as a whole.
"Richard Zanuck was a great man and a great friend -- a true giant in our industry," Rothman said. "The story of our studio, and indeed, all of modern motion picture history itself would not have been the same without his influence. All of us lucky enough to work at 20th Century Fox today, mourn his loss, and honor and celebrate his legacy."
Zanuck subsequently moved from Fox to become senior executive vice-president at Warner Bros., where he and David Brown, who would go on to become his producing partner, oversaw production of such box office hits as "Blazing Saddles."
Along with David Brown, he formed Zanuck/Brown Co. in 1971, and as independent producers the pair helped create award-winning and box office hits like "The Sting" and "The Verdict."
Zanuck would go onto form his own production entity, Zanuck Company, in 1988. He remained active in the movie business, producing this summer's box office misfire "Dark Shadows," an adaptation of the 1960's soap opera that failed to connect with audiences.
Zanuck is survived by his wife Lili Fini Zanuck, sons Harrison and Dean and nine grandchildren.
Alexander C. Kaufman contributed to this report
Just Because I Can!!! - Deborah Harry!!!
Daily Mail
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2173205/Debbie-Harry-tries-roll-decades-headband-wacky-shorts.html#ixzz20YQNAbuI
It's not the Seventies anymore! Debbie Harry tries to roll back the decades in a headband and wacky printed shorts
By LEAH SIMPSON
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She was a style icon during the late Seventies and early Eighties as the lead singer of Blondie.
But it seems Debbie Harry’s fashion sense seems to be getting more off-beat with age.
The 67-year-old star opted for a rather quirky outfit for a stroll in New York City yesterday.
Wacky fashion: Debbie Harry took a walk around in New York City yesterday wearing a bright ensemble
She stepped out in the East Village area with some friends and stood out amongst her companions as she donned a bright ensemble.
She pulled back her trademark blonde tresses with the help of a red rope-style headband which coordinated with her long cap sleeve top and printed shorts.
The fashion item – which featured several clashing patterns - fell above the knees to reveal the singer’s legs.
Psychedelic: She donned a headband and long red top to got with her clashing printed shorts
Her chunky high heels helped to give her limbs a more flattering appearance.
She also showed off her arms in the plain top which she layered up with a white vest underneath and matched her sunglasses to.
Her hard-to-pull-off style may have suited someone several decades younger but left Debbie looking as if she was trying too hard to be youthful.
Trying to look young? She showed off her smooth limbs in the outfit and wore chunky high heels with her clothing
The psychedelic style was hardly the right choice for one of the most iconic female rockers in history who should be embracing her years of experience.
Despite releasing their first album in 1976, Blondie, which comprises Debbie as well as Chris Stein, Clem Burke, Leigh Foxx, Matt Katz-Bohen and Tommy Kessler, are still going strong.
Their ninth studio album, Panic of Girls, was released in 2011 and they even proved popular enough to grace to UK music festival scenes last year.
Toned-down style: Harry in 1977 as part of Blondie and in 2010 at the Victoria's Secret fashion show
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2173205/Debbie-Harry-tries-roll-decades-headband-wacky-shorts.html#ixzz20YQNAbuI
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Russell Simmons Enters Yoga Retail with ‘Tantris’ Line, Plans for Studios and Vegan Restaurants
Tantris "teaser" via Simmons's site globalgrind.com
Coming this holiday season, serial yogapreneur Russell Simmons will be joining the celebrity yoga fashion crowd with his new line Tantris. The NYC native is no stranger to successful business ventures, having started the hip hop label Def Jam, and clothing lines including Phat Farm, Argyleculture and American Classics not to mention trying his hand at a reality TV show and writing books about being “Super Rich.” Crediting yoga for his renewed energy and vigor for life, the mogul will next conquer the ever growing yoga retail scene.
Tantris will include apparel, mats, candles, meditation beads and pillows. While initially the line will be sold in department stores, studios and spas, Simmons also shares his modest ambition to open his own studios, stores, juice bars and vegan restaurants. (It shall be noted Simmons is of the Jivamukti persuasion.)
In an interview with WWD back in March, Simmons explains, “I see yoga brands continuing to grow. I’m doing this because of my passion for yoga, not because I’m that kind of business guy.”
What kind of business guy would that be? Apparently not the kind who aspires to launch a line of yoga studios and doodads and tweet stuff like this.
Will your Secret Santa be bringing you Tantris this holiday season?
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Witch admits assault on business rival
As a result, Laurie “Lorelei” Stathopoulos, 52, of 125 Essex St. will spend the next two years on unsupervised probation, after a Salem District Court judge continued charges of assault and battery and malicious destruction of property without a finding for two years.
“She’s a bully,” said Joanna Thomas, 39, who said she was punched and had her head slammed repeatedly against the window of her shop, New England Magic, on the afternoon of Aug. 13.
Stathopoulos is the owner of Crow Haven Corner. Both shops are on the same block of Essex Street just past the downtown pedestrian mall.
“There’s a big history here,” said Stathopoulos’ lawyer, Scott Dullea.
Thomas, meanwhile, said she’s felt harassed by Stathopoulos since opening her shop in 2005.
Long-simmering tensions between the two boiled over on that afternoon, as Thomas was outside her shop taking photographs of oil that had been poured on her front step.
As crowds attending a street fair outside milled about, Stathopoulos walked up to Thomas and slapped the camera out of her hand, witnesses told police.
Stathopoulos then grabbed the necklace Thomas was wearing and ripped it from her neck, began hitting her, and then struck Thomas’ head against the glass window of her shop, prosecutor Jay Flynn told a Salem District Court judge.
Thomas’ boyfriend, Karl Sirois, repeatedly warned Stathopoulos to stop, then used a canister of pepper spray, which finally ended the confrontation. (Sirois, who had a license for the spray, was charged with assault and battery but was cleared following a trial last month.)
Both Thomas, who suffered a concussion, and Stathopoulos, who had been hit by the pepper spray, were taken to local hospitals, and Stathopoulos was later summonsed to court.
Stathopoulos and a friend who was with her both claimed that she was acting in self-defense. Yesterday, she told the judge she was trying to protect her Chihuahua, though she admitted that the police report read in court by Flynn was accurate and that she had assaulted Thomas.
Witnesses, including several tourists, indicated that Stathopoulos had started the confrontation.
Thomas said that nearly a year later, and even with a civil harassment order against Stathopoulos, “I still feel harassed and threatened by her and her associates.”
The attack left her not only physically injured, with a concussion that caused her to suffer nausea whenever she drove, but with emotional scars.
“I don’t feel safe walking around Salem, and I love Salem,” Thomas said, her voice choking up. “I don’t understand why they do this to people.”
Flynn urged Judge Michael Uhlarik to find Stathopoulos guilty and sentence her to two years of probation.
But Stathopoulos’ lawyer urged leniency for his client, suggesting the allegations were exaggerated by someone looking to file a civil lawsuit (a claim Thomas and her lawyer disputed after the hearing).
Dullea said Thomas had called the police numerous times to complain about his client, claiming that Stathopoulos had poured oil on her doorstep.
In addition to unsupervised probation, Stathopoulos will have to pay $500 in court costs and a $90 victim-witness fee, as well as a $50-a-month probation fee for the next two years.
The judge ordered her not to have any contact with Thomas and her store, whether face-to-face or through social media, and added a specific warning about indirect contact through third parties, including the dozen or so witches who filled three rows in the courtroom yesterday.
If Stathopoulos stays out of further trouble during the next two years, the charges will be dismissed.
Dullea said outside court that there was “mutual provocation” that day and pointed to the large group standing with Stathopoulos.
“She’s got the support of the Wiccan community,” Dullea said. “It’s a strong community filled with good people.”
But Thomas doesn’t share that view, saying she believes Stathopoulos brought the large group to court — as she has done throughout the case — to try to intimidate her.
“The nature of our business is spiritual,” Thomas said, “and to have to deal with harassment and being assaulted intentionally by someone who considers it normal, business competition — well, it’s not normal, it’s not spiritual, it’s criminal.”
Courts reporter Julie Manganis can be reached at 978-338-2521, via email at jmanganis@salemnews.com or on Twitter @SNJulieManganis.
Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures - Reserve your Copy today!
Hint to my family...it's just in time for my Hatching day;-)
BOO!!! - 'Hocus Pocus' Sequel Rumors Are Unfounded, Disney Says
Huffington Post
If you're a child of the 90s, a Bette Midler fan or a creepily over-enthusiastic admirer of young Omri Katz, you might want to sit down. We have some bad news. Disney is not -- despite rumors that have flown faster than Sarah Jessica Parker on a broomstick -- planning to revisit its classic 1993 Halloween musical.
"The studio is not developing a sequel to 'Hocus Pocus,'" a rep told The Huffington Post.
For those who initially missed the news debunked by this email, Moviehole reported on Friday that Disney was "quietly developing" a follow-up to "Hocus Pocus."Moviehole even claimed that the movie had a title: "Hocus Pocus 2: Rise of the Elderwitch," which instantly brought to mind spectacular visions of Betty White joining the cast as Bette Midler's slightly older sister.
Moviehole's report cast a spell over a large swath of the blogosphere over the past few days. It was picked up by Perez Hlton, MTV, NME and many others.
So unless Disney changes its mind after seeing how surprisingly popular a 19-year-old movie about soul-sucking songstresses remains, there are going to be a lot of disappointed fans out there.
ALSO ON HUFFPOST:
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Just Because I Can!!! - Lily Allen Is Prego With Her Second Baby!
Sky TV
Lily Allen is pregnant.
The 'Smile' singer and husband Sam Cooper - who became parents to daughter Ethel Mary last November - are said to be 'thrilled' at the news they will welcome another child into the world in December.
A source told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: 'Lily has started telling her friends and everybody in her close circle is so excited for her.
'It was a surprise but Lily and Sam are thrilled. The pair of them have loved every minute of parenthood so far and wanted to expand their brood quickly. So it's great timing.'
Friends admit to being shocked by the news but couldn't be happier for the couple, who married in June 2011 after two years together.
One pal told The People newspaper: 'I think everyone is a bit surprised they've decided to have another baby so quickly.
'But they are great parents and absolutely devoted to Ethel. The pair of them are just delighted they've got another one on the way.
'They're such a happy family with Ethel. This is really great news.'
The 25-year-old star is said to be surprised people hadn't already guessed her happy news as her figure has already noticeably changed shape.
A source said: 'Lily was sure people were going to cotton on to the fact she had a pregnancy bump but she seemed to get away with it thanks to wearing very baggy clothing.
'Her bump has popped out very early - far earlier than the last pregnancy. She's been joking she feels six months pregnant already.'
Almost two years ago, Lily and Sam, 34, were left devastated when they lost their baby six months into the singer's pregnancy.
In 2008, the brunette beauty - who recently confirmed she was returning to her pop career - suffered a miscarriage while dating Chemical Brothers star Ed Simons.
Imagine a world without witches and wizards
Abu Bakarr Sulaiman Tarawally has been doing a perspective survey on what the existence of a society called the witches and wizards’ world is with particular reference to the fact that the said society poses strange experiences in both society and human lives. (Photo: SEM’s Abu Bakarr Sulaiman Tarawaaly interviews President of SLITHU, Alhaji Dr. Sulaiman Kabba)
This perspective is severed into narrow thoughts and the various understanding blinks of the fact that there can also be good things about the existence of such world. My first bus stop was at the door step of the President of the Sierra Leone Indigenous Traditional Healers Union (SLITHU), Alhaji Dr. Sulaiman Kabbah.
Dr Kabba began by giving an insight of what the witches and wizards world is: “It is a little above what people used to call fraternity cliques. It is an existence of psychics with supernatural powers and members of this world who are capable to manipulate and transform their forms into various patterns and behaviours”.
Dr. Kabba takes this understanding further by defining the limit of what witches and wizards can be, especially talking from an African perspective wherein the supernatural world is perceived to be very destructive. “If one looks at the resultant powers of the witches and wizards, you’ll result at the all common answer which is agreed that the supernatural world is destructive. However, on the other hand one would also invest in the answer using the proverb ‘use a thief to catch a thief’. If one is not au fait with what obtains in that world, like my very self, it would come out a cumbersome task to challenge the efforts of reforming them into healers from killers. This takes the equality measure in the psychic science to reveal further that witches and wizards have a culmination in science and inventories.”
One practical point given by Dr. Sulaiman Kabba is their knowledge and power to manufacture traditional allopathic medicines with a healer’s purpose which combines spiritual therapeutic means. The supernatural world is known of comprising occults, necromancy and pack of secret societies using herbs and mystic letter notations from sacred scripture archives. But like the traditional healers president mentioned, this secret knowledge is diversified into drifts of purposes – for the good, the better – and worse.
Join me on the next issue in this same piece on how the debate fares on as I bring you the different make-ups of ideas on how people perceive a world without witches and wizards.
You too can be part in this debate by responding to the inbox tarawally2009@yahoo.com or to sierraexpresssl@aol.com.
You can also make your comment through voice calls on the number +232 78 509445.
Please join me for the Monday edition of this series.
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