RESTORED FUCK YEAH

In a corn field in the Mexican state of Chiapas, Salma Palamo Diaz wears a traditional tzotzil skirt. Muslims in Mexico blend their indigenous ways of life with the customs required by Islam.

Forbidden Plants Of Palestine tatreez motifs

Shereen Quttaineh: 'For countless generations, Palestinians foraged and harvested the fruits of their land, from wild plants like tumble thistle (Akkoub), medicinal thyme (Za’atar), and wild sage (Meramieh) to cultivated staples like olives, oranges, and watermelons.

Like all other facets of their lives, their autonomy over their own food is under occupation. In addition to confiscating farmlands and uprooting centuries-old fruit trees, the occupation imposes oppressive laws forbidding Palestinians from picking and growing the plants that comprise their culinary, medicinal, and cultural traditions. Despite this, Palestinians continue to find ways to resist.

Each tatreez motif documents a “Forbidden Plant of Palestine,” carrying a story of connection and resilience, offering a reminder of the enduring bond between the people and the land that nurtures them.

Palestinian women have long documented their stories and surroundings through embroidery, preserving history and identity in every stitch. Through creating my own motifs for the plants that Palestinians are restricted from accessing on their own land, I am continuing this tradition—using thread as a form of resistance. This project is my way of documenting apartheid, reclaiming narratives, and strengthening my connection to my roots and identity. Each tatreez motif is a testimony of endurance, belonging, and the fight to keep our heritage alive.

I created these motifs to be used for non-commercial purposes. The Palestinian cause is not for sale and should not be exploited for profit. If you wish to share or use these motifs, proper credit is required.

The avoidance of the puddle would be precisely the kind of superb detail that, say, Tolstoy might flourish; War and Peace has an execution scene very close in spirit to Orwell’s essay, and it may well be that Orwell basically cribbed the detail from Tolstoy. In War and Peace, Pierre witnesses a man being executed by the French, and notices that, just before death, the man adjusts the blindfold at the back of his head, because it is uncomfortably tight. The avoidance of the puddle, the fiddling with the blindfold—these are what might be called irrelevant or superfluous details. They are not explicable; in fiction, they exist to denote precisely the inexplicable. This is one of the “effects” of realism, of “realistic” style. 

But Orwell’s essay, assuming it records an actual occurrence, shows us that such fictional effects are not merely conventionally irrelevant, or formally arbitrary, but have something to tell us about the irrelevance of reality itself (…) There was no logical reason for the condemned man to avoid the puddle. It was pure remembered habit. Life, then, will always contain an inevitable surplus, a margin of the gratuitous, a realm in which there is always more than we need: more things, more impressions, more memories, more habits, more words, more happiness, more unhappiness. 

Hello, friends. As a Belfast-based company - and as thinking, feeling people making their lives in this city - we wanted to address the racist violence that has been taking place across NI.

First up, everyone at Monstrous HQ is fine. There was some activity near us but it didn't spread up towards where we actually are. Emotionally, we're… getting through it.

For those of you of a practical bent, here are two charities you can donate to right now who are helping victims of last nights attacks:

The Anaka Collective is directly raising money for those impacted

The Migrant Centre does ongoing work to support migrants in Belfast and across NI

Please donate if you're able, and share if you're not.

The important thing to remember in the wake of this kind of outburst is that these people, whatever they may think, do not represent either this city or this country. They are pathetic, power-hungry losers who will stop at nothing to make themselves feel big.

Belfast of today is almost unrecognisable from the city I moved to 15 years ago. It's become a place where diversity is the norm rather than the exception, and while it still has a ways to go, it's made huge strides in reconciling with its past and building something beautiful for the future.

That's why they call me the Rabid Dog. I always do real crazy stuff.