josh pincus is crying

The challenge on Illustration Friday this week is “tales and legends“. This is my second entry for this challenge. My first one can be seen HERE.

The legend of Pecos Bill grew out of the imagination of southwestern range hands who told tall tales to pass the time. The story goes that Pecos Bill, the youngest of eighteen children of a Texas pioneer, was lost in crossing the Pecos River and was brought up by coyotes. He considered himself a coyote until a cowboy convinced him of his true identity, a human being. After returning to civilized territory, Pecos Bill became the cowhand who invented all the tricks of the ranching trade; in various tales he appears as a buffalo hunter, cattleman, railroad contractor, and oilfield worker. His activities include teaching gophers to dig postholes, using a snake as a rope and roping whole herds of cattle at one time. He rode everything in the West, including a mountain lion and a cyclone. He invented the branding iron to stop cattle rustling and the cowboy song to soothe the cattle. On their wedding day, Slue-Foot Sue, Pecos Bill’s girl friend, was determined to ride Bill’s famous horse, the Widow-Maker, but the animal pitched Sue so high that she almost hit the moon. Her steel-spring bustle continued to bounce her so high that Bill finally shot her to keep her from starving. Pecos Bill’s death is a matter of controversy. Some cowboys say that he died from drinking fishhooks with his whiskey and nitroglycerin; others insist that he died laughing at dudes who called themselves cowboys. Whatever the mode of his death, Pecos Bill exists in cowboy folklore as a symbol of the endurance, enterprise and other qualities required of cowboys.

The challenge from Illustration Friday this week is “tales and legends“.

Beginning in early 1888, several violent attacks and brutal murders, mainly prostitutes, occurred in rapid succession in and around the Whitechapel area of London. A number of the murders featured extremely gruesome acts, such as mutilation and evisceration. Rumors that the murders were connected intensified in September and October, when a series of extremely disturbing letters were received by various media outlets and Scotland Yard, purporting to take responsibility for some or all of the murders. One letter, received by George Lusk of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, included a preserved human kidney.
Files kept by the Metropolitan police show that the investigation begun in 1888 eventually came to include eleven separate murders stretching from April 1888, until February 1891. These became known as “the Whitechapel Murders.”
Among the eleven murders actively investigated by the police, five are almost universally agreed upon as having been the work of a single serial killer. These are known collectively as the canonical five victims of Jack the Ripper. These victims were:

Mary Ann Nichols, killed on August 31, 1888. Nichols’ body was discovered at about 3:40 in the morning on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck’s Row, a back street in Whitechapel two hundred yards from the London Hospital.
Annie Chapman, killed on September 8, 1888. Chapman’s body was discovered about 6:00 in the morning lying on the ground near a doorway in the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street.
Elizabeth Stride, killed on September 30, 1888. Stride’s body was discovered close to 1:00 in the morning, lying on the ground in Dutfield’s Yard, off Berner Street in Whitechapel.
Catherine Eddowes, killed on September 30, 1888, on the same day as Elizabeth Stride. This circumstance is referred to as the “double event.” Her body was found in Mitre Square, in the City of London. Mutilation of Eddowes’ body and the abstraction of her left kidney and part of her womb by her murderer bore the signature of a Jack the Ripper killing.
Mary Jane Kelly, killed on November 9, 1888. Kelly’s gruesomely mutilated body was discovered shortly after 10:45 a.m. lying on the bed in the single room where she lived at 13 Miller’s Court.

By today’s crime standards, Jack the Ripper would barely make the headlines, murdering a mere five prostitutes in a huge slum swarming with criminals. Why then, over a hundred years later, are there more books written on the subject of Jack the Ripper than all of the American presidents combined? Why is this symbol of terror as popular a subject today as he was in Victorian London?
Because Jack the Ripper represents the classic whodunit. Not only is the case an enduring unsolved mystery, but the story has a terrifying, almost supernatural quality to it. He comes from out of the fog, kills violently and quickly, and disappears without a trace. Then, for no apparent reason, he satisfies his blood lust with ever-increasing ferocity, culminating in the near destruction of his final victim, and then vanishes from the scene forever. The perfect ingredients for the perennial thriller.

The challenge on Monday Artday this week is “transition“.

Up every evening ’bout half eight or nine
I give my complete attention to a very good friend of mine
He’s quadraphonic, he’s a, he’s got more channels
So hologramic, oh my TVC one five
I brought my baby home, she, she sat around forlorn
She saw my TVC one five, baby’s gone, she
She crawled right in, oh my
She crawled right in my
So hologramic, oh my TVC one five
Oh, so demonic, oh my TVC one five

Maybe if I pray every, each night I sit there pleading
“Send back my dream test baby, she’s my main feature”
My TVC one five, he, he just stares back unblinking
So hologramic, oh my TVC one five
One of these nights I may just
Jump down that rainbow way. be with my baby, then
We’ll spend some time together
So hologramic, oh my TVC one five
My baby’s in there someplace, love’s rating in the sky
So hologramic, oh my TVC one five

Transition
Transmission
Transition
Transmission

Oh my TVC one five, oh oh, TVC one five
Oh my TVC one five, oh oh, TVC one five
Oh my TVC one five, oh oh, TVC one five
Oh my TVC one five, oh oh, TVC one five

Oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh

The illustrationfriday.com challenge this week is “plain“.

It is the practice of the Amish that men typically wear dark-colored trousers and a dark vest or coat, suspenders, broad-rimmed straw hats in the warmer months, and black felt hats in the colder months. Single Amish men are clean-shaven. If they are available to court women, they will put a dent in their hat. Married men grow a beard. Moustaches are not allowed, because they are associated with the military.
Women wear calf-length plain-cut dresses in a solid color, such as blue or black. Aprons are often worn at home, usually in white or black, and are always worn when attending church. A cape, which consists of a triangular piece of cloth, is usually worn, beginning around the teenage years, and pinned into the apron. In the colder months, a long woollen cloak is sported. Heavy bonnets are worn over the prayer coverings when Amish women are out in cold weather.
Some Amish groups prohibit buttons, allowing only hooks and eyes to keep clothing closed. The restriction on buttons is attributed in part to their potential for serving as opportunities for vain display. Straight-pins are often used to hold articles of clothing together. Clothing should not call attention to the wearer by cut, color, or any other feature. In all things, the concern is “plainness”.
The “plain” tradition carries on to funerals, which are conducted in the home without a eulogy, flower decorations, or other display. The casket is plain, without any adornment.

The challenge this week on sugarfrostedgoodness.com is “fire“.

Edward Slovik was arrested and served jail time for several incidents of petty theft, breaking and entering and disturbing the peace, between 1937 and 1939. Slovik was classified as unfit for duty in the U.S. military because of his criminal record.
He met Antoinette Wisniewski while working at a plumbing company in Dearborn, Michigan, and the two were married in 1942. The intensity of World War II forced the military to lower their standards in order to meet demands for replacement troops. As a result, Slovik’s draft classification was changed and he was drafted into the infantry in January 1944.
During training, Slovik earned the reputation of being a good-natured buddy and learned to fire a rifle (which he hated) and other weapons. He was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division, stationed in France.
En route to the front, when his group of replacements was fired on, they stopped and dug in. Slovik and a friend became separated from the others. The two men soon came upon a camp of Canadian infantry and “joined” it, remaining with them for six weeks. Slovik finally rejoined his division, but he deserted almost immediately upon returning, ignoring the pleas of a friend not to leave. Slovik informed his company commander that he was “too scared” to serve in a rifle company and asked to be reassigned to a rear area unit. Slovik told the commander that he would run away if he were assigned to a rifle unit and asked him if that would constitute desertion. The commander confirmed that it would and refused his request for reassignment, assigning him to a rifle platoon.
A day later, Slovik voluntarily surrendered to an officer of the 28th Infantry Division, handing him a signed confession of desertion. However, he firmly stated he would run away again if forced to go into combat. The officer warned Slovik that his written confession was damaging evidence and advised him to destroy it. Slovik refused and he was confined in the division stockade.
Just prior to trial, the division judge offered Slovik a deal under which the court-martial action would be dropped if he would go back to his unit. Slovik refused. As a result, Slovik was tried and convicted of desertion, although he pleaded not guilty at the trial. The sentence of death was voted unanimously.
Slovik wrote a letter to General Dwight D. Eisenhower pleading for clemency, but no basis for clemency was found. On December 23, in the midst of the Battle of the Bulge, Eisenhower confirmed the death sentence. It was held that he “directly challenged the authority” of the United States and that “future discipline depends upon a resolute reply to this challenge.” Slovik was to pay for his defiant attitude and he was to be made an example.
Slovik was executed by firing squad in January 1945. None of the riflemen so much as flinched, believing Slovik had gotten what he deserved. Slovik’s last words were “They’re not shooting me for deserting the United Stated Army - thousands of guys have done that. They’re shooting me for bread I stole when I was 12 years old.”
Although over twenty-one thousand soldiers were given varying sentences for desertion during World War II—including forty-nine death sentences—only Slovik’s death sentence was carried out. He remains the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.

The man didn’t refuse to serve, he refused to kill.

Louis Armstrong was one of the most charismatic and innovative performers of the 20th century. His inspired and improvised soloing was the main influence for a fundamental change in jazz. Most famous as a cornet player, then as a trumpet player, toward the end of his career he was best known as a vocalist and became one of the most influential jazz singers.
Louis was born in 1901 in one of the poorest areas of New Orleans. His father abandoned the family when Louis was an infant and his mother left Louis and his sister to be raised my Louis’ grandmother. Louis moved back with his mother when he was five. He brought a little money into the home by delivering newspapers and selling discarded food to restaurants, but it wasn’t enough to keep his mother from prostitution. Louis hauled coal in New Orleans’ red-light district. There he experienced bands playing in brothels and dance halls. He formed a vocal quartet with three other boys and performed on street corners for tips. The Karnofskys, a family of Russian Jewish immigrants, hired Louis to work on their junk wagon. Louis purchased his first cornet with money loaned to him by the Karnofskys. To express gratitude towards the Karnofskys, who took him in as almost a family member, and fed and nurtured him, Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life.
Louis’ 1926 performance of the song “Heebie Jeebies” was the turning point for “scat singing”. According to Louis, when he was recording the song with his band The Hot Five, his music fell to the ground. Not knowing the lyrics to the song, he invented a gibberish melody to fill time.
Louis continued to experiment and improve his playing for his entire career. He played with every major musical and vocal contemporary (Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Crosby, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald and many others) from the 1920s until his death in 1971. For thirty years, he played over 300 performances a year.
The nickname “Satchmo” is short for “Satchelmouth” (describing his embouchure). In 1932, Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in London with “Hello, Satchmo!” shortening “Satchelmouth“. Louis loved it and it stuck.
Louis Armstrong was a major financial supporter of civil rights activists, but preferred to work quietly behind the scenes, not mixing his politics with his work as an entertainer. However, he criticized President Eisenhower, calling him “two-faced” and “gutless” because of his inaction during the conflict over school desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. As a protest, Armstrong canceled a planned tour of the Soviet Union on behalf of the State Department saying “The way they’re treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell”.
In 1964, Louis knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart with “Hello, Dolly”, which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #1 song.
Louis Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, at age 69, the night after playing a famous show at the Waldorf Astoria’s Empire Room. Shortly before his death he stated, “I think I had a beautiful life. I didn’t wish for anything that I couldn’t get and I got pretty near everything I wanted because I worked for it.”