My avatar on IMVU

Here are some pics of my IMVU avatar, which I've tried to make as much like me as I can....

Slavery in North Africa 2

Shackled white slave girls

Female slaves were required for two main needs - the first was as domestic servants in rather the same way as the house slaves on American plantations - older women would usually be destined for this role. The younger and especially the more attractive women were required as sex slaves by the ruling class and richer merchants. The first requirement for a sex slave was that she should be a virgin and preferably young - around 12 being the ideal age. In a way similar to what happened in slave markets in America the girls would be stripped and put on public display at auctions - those who were most desirable would fetch the most money and go to the ruler or members of his family, those a little less desirable and thus cheaper would go to more minor nobles and so on. Slaves of all colors would be sold at these markets not just the European girls, but European girls tended to fetch more money - this was due to the color bias of the Ottoman buyers.

The sale of white slave girls

Illustrations made at the time almost always show very white girls in the harems of high-status Ottomans - any black girls present tend to be depicted as servants - of course there might be some bias on the part of the artists involved here. Over time a hierarchy of desirability was established all based upon the Ottomans' lust for white flesh - at the bottom would be slaves from sub-saharan Africa, then girls from non-muslim North African tribes, then girls from the Mediterranean countries such as Spain and Italy, then girls from England and other northern countries. At the top of this hierarchy were Circassian girls from the area of the Caucusus mountains - the Ottomans regarded these girls as the purest and most beautiful of whites.

Young Circassian slave girl

The enslavement of these Europeans mostly caught by pirate raids on ships and coastal settlements was much talked about in Europe at the time, even though it might be an almost forgotten episode today and much was made of the lustful Turk and the terrible state of the female prisoners - in reality it was the male prisoners who were more harshly treated, many being worked to death - for many of the female slaves their life was not that terrible in reality as they could be highly pampered within the harems. It should be remembered that these girls were almost all European peasent girls from very poor backgrounds - if their relatives had had any money their pirate capturers would have held them for ransom rather than selling them at a slave auction.

Life in the harem

Barefoot jogging

If you are a person who runs to keep fit you probably always wear trainers or running shoes. You probably won't want to jog through the streets barefoot unless you've done plenty of barefoot walking before, but there is a compromise - Huarache sandals - these are based on the running sandals of the Tarahumara Indians and you can find out more about them from here....


http://www.invisibleshoe.com/


They look like this...

Slavery in North Africa 1 - the Barbary Pirates

Recently I've discovered the amazing fact that 1.5 million Europeans were taken to Africa as slaves in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. These people were captured from ships and from coastal settlements by Barbary Pirates and then sold as slaves of the Ottoman Empire. Most of the people captured were from the Mediterranean countries, which opens up the possibility that some of my Sicilian ancestors may have had relatives enslaved in this way. There can't have been much more terrifying a sight than to see a Barbary pirate galleon bearing down upon you. I'm going to gradually post more about this period as I learn more and more about it. Here are some pictures of these galleons, quite different to the Pirates of the Caribbean type ship. They were powered by wind when there was some and by European galley slaves when there wasn't....

African slaves in America

One thing about being born part African American is that you pretty much know for certain that some of your ancestors were slaves - people kidnapped from their homes in Africa and forced to work in America. There are plenty of sites on the web that give all too graphic accounts of the slave trade and the horrors of life as a slave. When my ancestors first arrived in the US they would have looked very obviously black, but after a few generations of enforced interbreeding people looking like me would have been produced - these people would have still been slaves and could be bought and sold the same as any other slave - the system was governed by economics as much as color....

Just to confirm how white looking some 19th century black slaves had become look at these two adverts posted by slave owners trying to recapture runaway slaves...

Runaway, a bright woman, named Julia, about twenty-five years old. She is white and very likely may attempt to pass for white. She is a good seamstress, dresses fine, and can read a little. $200 reward, if caught in any Free State and put into any good jail in Kentucky or Tennessee. — A.W. Johnson. The Republican Banner and The Nashville Whig, Tenn. July 14, 1840.

Runaway from me, a woman named Fanny. She is as white as most white women; with straight light hair and blue eyes, and can pass herself for a white woman. She is very intelligent; can read and write, and so forge passes for herself. She is very pious, prays a good deal, and was, as supposed, contented and happy. I will give $500 for her delivery to me. — John Balch, Tuscaloosa Alabama, May 20, 1845.

New Zealand - barefoot capital?

People often think me plodding around London in my bare feet is a bit odd, but if I lived in New Zealand I think I'd be one of many as these snaps of barefoot walkers there show...

Maybe its something to do with the warmer climate there - apparently its very common on the warmer north island, but not on the colder south island.

One thing though, don't agree to have a game of hockey without shoes as I now have 2 rather bruised toes from getting wacked with the ball - OUCH!

Quadroon girls 'today'.

One of my favorite bands when I was younger was Atomic Kitten - one of the girls in Atomic Kitten, Natasha Hamilton is 1/4 black like me, but can you really tell from these photos - if you don't know the group can you even tell which one she is - this shows what I was meaning in my earlier post when I said that quadroon slaves could be as white as their master's legitimate children. Of course this is only true for some of us, other quadroons may be much darker than you'd expect and might look 1/2 black rather than 1/4...

If you didn't know she's the one on the left in both of the photographs.

Is less or more covering sexy to men?

Off on a beach holiday at the end of the month to the Canary Islands - so decided I needed a new cossy for the beach. Went on the net and must admit I was quite shocked by some of the things on offer - certainly covering less than I've seen on beaches I've been to before. Some of them also seem bordering on the illegal I would have thought. The first picture here is of something you would have to be very brave to wear - especially if you're going to get off the beach to visit a cafe or a shop - the advert for this suggested you could walk down the street in Ibiza wearing this?! The second picture is the cossy I ended up buying - it covers me up quite a bit, but I actually think it looks sexier than the skimpy one - but then again I'm not a guy.

COSSY 1 - barely there, legal?, sexy?

COSSY 2 - covers quite a bit, fine for going off beach, sexy?

COLOR BIAS IN HOLLYWOOD?

I enjoyed Prince of Persia - it was a fun escapist movie that appealed to me and the guy I watched it with. I thought the girl who played the princess in it was really pretty - so I Googled her to find out who she was. Now I've got absolutely nothing against this girl - good for her that she got a part in a major Hollywood movie, BUT...

Why was it necessary to find a white girl who had to take 4 hours plus in make-up to make her look Persian? Surely there are enough actresses in the US who already have this look to choose from - I'm getting flashbacks of white folks dressing up for minstrel shows here.

Gemma Arterton

Some more photos of Aosta - ancient Roman city in the Alps

Some more photos of San Antonio - home of the Alamo

Quadroon girls in history 1

Quadroon girls hold their own special place in American history, especially during the slave era. They were often the daughters of the plantation owners themselves and may have been 'whiter' than his own legitimate daughters and yet they were still slaves and could be treated as cruelly as any other slave. This is a poem by Longfellow about the fate of a quadroon girl....

The Quadroon Girl

The Slaver in the broad lagoon

  Lay moored with idle sail;

He waited for the rising moon,

  And for the evening gale. 

Under the shore his boat was tied,

  And all her listless crew

Watched the gray alligator slide

  Into the still bayou. 

Odors of orange-flowers, and spice,

  Reached them from time to time,

Like airs that breathe from Paradise

  Upon a world of crime. 

The Planter, under his roof of thatch,

  Smoked thoughtfully and slow;

The Slaver's thumb was on the latch,

  He seemed in haste to go. 

He said, "My ship at anchor rides

  In yonder broad lagoon;

I only wait the evening tides,

  And the rising of the moon."

Before them, with her face upraised,

  In timid attitude,

Like one half curious, half amazed,

  A Quadroon maiden stood. 

Her eyes were large, and full of light,

  Her arms and neck were bare;

No garment she wore save a kirtle bright,

  And her own long, raven hair. 

And on her lips there played a smile

  As holy, meek, and faint,

As lights in some cathedral aisle

  The features of a saint. 

"The soil is barren,--the farm is old,"

  The thoughtful planter said;

Then looked upon the Slaver's gold,

  And then upon the maid. 

His heart within him was at strife

  With such accurséd gains:

For he knew whose passions gave her life,

  Whose blood ran in her veins. 

But the voice of nature was too weak;

  He took the glittering gold!

Then pale as death grew the maiden's cheek,

  Her hands as icy cold. 

The Slaver led her from the door,

  He led her by the hand,

To be his slave and paramour

  In a strange and distant land! 

This poem is typical of the way in which the quadroon girl was seen as a tragic figure by many - white enough for white folk to have sympathy for her, but black enough to still be enslaved.

Being 1/4 black, but looking white(ish)

So what's it like being mixed-race? Well I could just as easily say what's it like belonging to just one race? For me its just normal, I've never known anything different. The one thing that is different about me is that I wasn't born looking that mixed - I look almost white, but being part black and part Italian, I've ended up looking like a light Latina. In fact for people like me who are 1/4 black our looks probably vary more than any other group of people - some of us look like we're pretty black, others almost white, and there's every shade in between. At the same time our features can vary from pure African to pure European and again every combination in between. The same is even true of body shape. Those of us who look white can more or less blend in when we live in mainly white areas / countries so long as nobody knows we're mixed from seeing our parents or other relatives. Personally I'm not that interested in blending in really, but then I have the luxury of living in the 21st century where racism isn't quite as bad as it was in the past, plus the racism we lighter mixed people get isn't usually as much or as blatant as darker people experience. Its also true that some of us can pretty much change our looks by different hair styles or different make-up to make ourselves look darker or lighter. The girl in these photos Jessica Szohr is a quadroon, but is able to change her look completely....

Another girl who can change her look completely is Brazilian model Emanuela de Paula - how many people would realise that these are photographs of the same girl?....

Add in some blonde hair to the light mix and you can see why some people can't tell some mixed people from 100% white ones...

My own skin color changes throughout the year as I can tan very easily - so I could look the same color as anyone from ultra-white Gwen Stefani through to light-brown Rihanna just depending on the month and if I've been on vacation recently.

Home towns at night

1/2 my family come from a city in the USA where I was born called San Antonio, the other 1/2 of my family come from a city in Italy called Aosta. These are night-time photos of the two places....

Daytime photos of the two cities to come later!

SOME MORE PHOTOSHOP ART

These are pictures that I've made on PhotoShop in an attempt to get the feeling of a painting - again done from my own photographs....

 

MEDITATION to relieve stress

Life can get pretty hectic when you live in a big city and the stress can build up easily if you're not careful. One way I calm myself down is by practising the Tai Chi forms that I've already talked about. Another method is meditation. If you want to get into this I'd really recommend going on a course of some kind as just sitting there on your own contemplating the universe probably won't work. My own route is through Zazen, which is Zen Buddhist meditation - something I learnt at the same place I learnt my Tai Chi. Traditionally Zazen is done in a kneeling position, but personally I far prefer the lotus position used in yoga as its way more comfortable and avoids me spending most of my meditation time concentrating on the agony of the way I'm sitting. One problem you can encounter with meditation is that to work well you should avoid wearing anything that is made of artificial fibres such as nylon, polyester etc - the simplest way to do that is just strip off - best to do that indoors though if you're in a city, though I do meditate that way out in the wild sometimes, away from everyone and everything. Meditating this way out in the rain in the summer is sublime.

ON HAVING DYSPRAXIA

Dyspraxia is an impairment of the organisation of movement. It is associated with problems of perception, language and thought. The term dyspraxia comes from the word praxis, which means 'doing, acting'. It includes what to do and how to do it.

There may be an overlap with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), Dyslexia and Asperger's Syndrome. Many dyspraxics show autistic traits.

In addition to the physical impairments, dyspraxia is associated with problems with short-term memory. This typically results in difficulty remembering instructions, difficulty organizing one's time and remembering deadlines, increased propensity to lose things or problems carrying out tasks which require remembering several steps in sequence. People with dyspraxia may have sensory integration dysfunction, including abnormal oversensitivity or undersensitivity to physical stimuli. They are sometimes prone to panic attacks. Dyspraxia can cause problems with perception of distance, and with the speed of moving objects. This can make learning to drive a car difficult. Many dyspraxics struggle to distinguish left from right.

I can’t read or write

Concentrating I don’t do

My teacher says …ain’t nuffin wrong

But I long to be like you!

  

I listen closely but nowt goes in

I look yet do not see

I read and do not understand

Whatever’s wrong with me?

My life!  What do I have?

It don’t get any better

My future don’t look very bright

I need to break these chains that fetter

ALMOST BAREFOOT

Want to achieve the barefoot look, but worried about stepping on something sharp or getting your feet too dirty (though you're missing out the fun of feeling the ground), then you could have a go at Nude Sandals. A new invention, they're a kind of strapless flip flop that sticks to your feet - so really they don't flip or flop. They look like this....

If you want you could combine them with some barefoot sandals even. They're available from...

http://www.nudesandals.co.uk/index.php