Fourth of July Curse?

Okay so many of you know, pretty much all of you should know that the Fourth of July is a really big thing here in america. It is the day in 1776 that the declaration of independence was signed. (Okay actually the declaration of independence was signed two or so days earlier but you get the idea.) It's the day where you sit around with loved ones, have a barbecue, and watch some fireworks, right? 

All american food, yum! 

But I wonder if any of you guys have heard about the Fourth of July curse? I read it in an article and then researched it and it all happens to be very true.

Okay so it all starts with John Adams..

So it just so happens that John Adams is one of our founding fathers and second president of the United States. Which makes it very weird that he died on July Fourth 1826 ; 50 years to the day america was born. Where it gets a little weirder on his death bed John Adams muttered, "Thomas Jefferson survives," since both of them were very close in the prime ages of their lives. (Jefferson of course took the White House right after Adams.)

But little did Adam's or the country for that matter know that Jefferson had just met his maker hours prior. So there you have it two of our countries presidents died 50 years to the day America was born. Weird? I think so...

So normally one would think that by those odds it would take a 1000 years for another President to die on that day. Nope. Our fifth president James Monroe died on July Fourth 1831. Yep that's right three of our first five presidents died on independence day.

huh?

While we're on the whole fourth of July topic, I might also want to throw in...The Battle of Gettysburg, the largest battle of the civil war which determined the fate of the nation Adams and Jefferson helped create? It ended on July Fourth, 1863.

And that victory was crucial for the Union forces because, in a completely unrelated battle, Union General Ulysses S. Grant's six-month campaign  against Vicksburg, Mississippi finally ended in the city's unconditional surrender.

Also on July Fourth.

By the way, we said July Fourth was a big deal here, that may not go for places like Vicksburg, who didn't celebrate it as a holiday until after World War II. Possibly because they were still bitter over the Civil War thing, or because they're just worried that the vengeful July 4 spirit will return to take out another president.

Wassily Kandinsky

Okay, art has always been a so so subject for me. I still to this day don't think I hold a shred of artistic capability, or could relate to art in any way. Until.... I found an artist I could understand and relate to very much so. His art made me look at it in general, in a different way. And I myself very much respect this mans vision and opinion of art in every way.

It all started when I took a freshman art class in school. We were told to pick an artist work we admired and write a paper and then make an attempt to sketch one of their paintings with our own interpretation in it. So of course, I was looking at every painters artwork I could find, with intense confusion. I like to look at things with simplicity but try and understand some significance or symbolism. I get paintings are beautiful but I would like to know what they are firstly and not be made out to look like an idiot for not seeing it with painters x-ray vision eyes. Do you need some sort of rare gift to see beauty in anything whatsoever? I mean it's comprehension.

I was at a loss and when every single student in that class had picked something I had to say I was feeling somewhat dazed. It couldn't be that everyone in that class looked at a Picasso painting and knew exactly what it was and understood. I mean can you? You can say it is open to your own interpretation but ahem, that's not what picasso said...

"If I paint a hammer and sickle people may think it is a representation of Communism, but for me it is only a hammer and sickle. I just want to reproduce the objects for what they are, not for what they mean."

Pablo Picasso. Las Meninas (Group), 1957.

I mean honestly if you never researched this painting you'd never be able to tell what it is.

Sadly you paint these objects for what they are but I certainly can not truly tell what it is. And I think many art critics only pretend to know and hold their opinions as the holy grail of artistic direction. So you do try to comprehend but then that interpretation, gets bombed by many others. And that my friends is what we call the superior circle of the "art" world. With your attempt to understand they make you feel idiotic for not having the "eyes" for art. Please. Their nastiness and superiority lacks imagination they critique only what's in the boundaries of their own mindset. Which doesn't stretch very far at any rate. It's like not sitting in the "in" crowd at the lunch table.

Now let me just add I completely understand it takes skill to draw, paint, ect.. But to critique it and get paid, well that is hardly amiable. I think they have a job of rating things and commenting when in fact no one wants their opinion. I am just commentating on the insane way the art communities look at things. And when someone doesn't see things your way they label you as ignorant and even more insulting, stupid. I'd rather go with how Basquiat looked at critics.

“I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is."

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Another painter I admire but definitely very abstract, I like him more for his background.

I think my teacher could tell I didn't belong in that class. Damn high school requirements! She let me have some more time to look things over and research some more artists. That is how I found Wassily Kandinsky. I read a lot about him. The more I read the more I liked.

"Just because an artist uses 'abstract' methods, it does not mean that he is an 'abstract' artist. It doesn't even mean that he is an artist. Just as there are enough dead triangles (be they white or green), there are just as many dead roosters, dead horses or dead guitars. One can just as easily be a "realist academic" as an "abstract academic". A form without content is not a hand, just an empty glove full of air".

-Kandinsky

I get that things in itself, paintings in itself, art in itself are one of this worlds gifts and beauties. Some gifts don't have to be explained they just are. Simple. Beautiful. Magnificent. Explainable. Unexplainable. Abstract and not.

I haven't looked at many artists that were considered to be abstract and understood them like I do Kandinsky. Because he did consider himself abstract but didn't give meaning to what it was to be abstract at all. It was what it was. He had odds with critics because they made things to complicated. As did many artists along with them. He was an outsider in a way and died that way. Either way his paintings were colorful, vibrant, beautiful works of art. That were just there to be enjoyed. In each one there was himself inside them and in that way I saw the beauty in art and related to it completely. It gave me a chance to love artwork without being completely judged as to what I can do or what my opinions were. And for that I will always love Kandinsky.

As you can guess I chose him for my project, the art work didn't go so well, okay I admit it was completely crappy, haha. But I walked away with a great sense of knowledge that art lies within its own sense of brilliance enjoy it, art is free, you keep putting labels and descriptions on it, it loses its meaning all together.

Kandinsky , Farbstudie Quadrate, 1913

"… lend your ears to music, open your eyes to painting, and … stop thinking! Just ask yourself whether the work has enabled you to “walk about” into a hitherto unknown world. If the answer is yes, what more do you want?"

Mary Bell

Mary at the age of eleven, when the murders occured.

This one makes it on my list for apparent reasons shes eleven and a killer of not only one boy but two. Quite shocking. Mary was born May 26th in the year of 1957 in England. She was convicted of manslaughter in 1968 for killing four year old Martin Brown and three year old Brian Howe.



Mother June with a picture of Martin

Mary killed Martin Brown when she was ten. The murder was overlooked and ruled accidental. There was an empty bottle of aspirin near, and there were no visible marks of any harm to the body. Mary actually wanted to get caught, she was the one who led police to the spot where he died. After the death she lingered around the family, asking the aunt and mother odd questions, "Do you miss Martin? Do you cry for him?" all while grinning. Martins mother June was also bothered by Mary, on one occasion she heard a knock at the door and it was Mary asking if she could see Martin. When the mother replied, "No, Pet, Martin is dead." Mary said, "Oh I know hes dead, I wanted to see him in his coffin."

Weeks later she killed Brian Howe, she and a friend Norma Bell (no relation) pretended to look for the boy, and even tried to lead his sister to the spot where he was lying to see her reaction; but they failed. Brian was strangled, nearby broken scissors lay in the grass. There were puncture marks in his thigh and part of his genitals were skinned. On Brians stomach there was an "M" mark made with a razor blade.



A message from Marys notebook

Mary throughout the whole trial was cold and elusive. She admitted to the murders, and actually wanted to get caught. She told various people and wrote in her notebook leaving messages everywhere. It just happened that no one took her seriously until her good friend Norma ratted her out. Then the trials of murder began, she was found guilty and sentenced to life in detention.
But got out at the age of 23. She is now a mother and just recently a grandmother in 2009. She won a court order giving her the right to anonymity for life, the identity of her daughter and granddaughter included. Sound fair? She has had three assumed identities and has moved five times since identified.

Even though her crimes are unthinkable and outrageous. Mary had a childhood that was actually quite similar. Her mother was a prostitute and left Mary on various occasions with strangers. When she was "at work" several times Mary would be at home and the door wouldn't be closed. Her mother was into bondage and dominant sexual acts with her customers. And often included Mary in these acts for money. This could paint a picture of her psychological portrait or she could just be a bad seed. You be the judge.

Brothers Artwork

So upon our very first visit to Wishon Lake. There came a time where all three of my younger siblings got bored, to which my mother suggested they draw on construction paper. I have no idea what was going through my brothers' head, but to our surprise we saw this. When we inquired about his artwork he said it was him shooting his baby brother. I am a bit concerned that someday years in the future, I or my mother will be on Nightline with someone questioning us if there were any signs. To those circumstances I should hide this drawing, I guess too late.