Hoy 24 de agosto Greta ha fallecido, 😢, no pudo seguir adelante.

Nos encontramos en la calle, era una cachorrita de 4 o 5 meses, desnutrida, hambrienta y en un estado lamentable. Me enamore de su alegría, inteligencia y, sobre todo, de sus ojos.

Durante 11 años esos ojos han estado fijos en mi, y los míos en ella, doy gracias por haberla encontrado, era especial.

Estará siempre conmigo, descanse en paz. ❤❤❤

Today, August 24, Greta has died, 😢, she couldn't move on.

We met in the street, she was a 4 or 5 month old puppy, malnourished, hungry and in a sorry state. I fell in love with her happiness, intelligence and, above all, with her eyes.

For 11 years those eyes have been fixed on me, and mine on her, I am thankful for having found her, she was special.

She will always be with me, rest in peace. ❤❤❤

Rescued on November 2nd, treated for massive intestinal parasite load and flea infestation. This tiny, malnourished, 6lb, 8 month old, male kitty has obviously been on the streets for a long time. Wonderful temperament and my resident cats accepted him without problem. Just booster vaccinations and neutering to go and he will be ready for a new home, although, I am tempted to train him as a therapy cat – we will see…

"I’m writing this from Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, where I’ve just finished operating on another severely malnourished young teenager. A seven-month-old baby lies in our paediatric intensive care unit, so tiny and malnourished that I initially mistook her for a newborn. The phrase “skin and bones” doesn’t do justice to the way her body has been ravaged. She is literally wasting away before our eyes and, despite our best efforts, we are powerless to save her. We are witnessing deliberate starvation in Gaza right now." - www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/22/gaza-israel... ▪️ Pont Groesor, Gwynedd

While aimlessly walking in the deserts around Moab Utah back in September, this little fellow crossed my path. It froze as if it had no idea I was there. I lifted my camera and took this shot, thinking that it was just a malnourished chipmunk and that I would delete the photo later.

As often happens, I don’t know what I don’t know, so I took a photo of it this morning in Google search and come to find out it is a new species for this kid, as it is a White-tailed antelope squirrel! A species that I had never heard of, nor did it come up in my research of the area.

As one who celebrates his ignorance and tries to learn something new daily, I’m done for today!

Taken on 14 September, 2024.

After a year's hiatus from Flickr, I'm back and hope to catch up with my contacts soon. Rather than focus on the sadness and loss of the last year, I'll start with new beginnings. This is Lola and Cooper. Our friend found them under a storage shed on her neighbor's property. Lola was malnourished and had lots of fleas; Cooper had that scrape on his nose that we think came from thrashing in the humane trap. Cooper still needs some taming, but we're getting there.

First of all, do you remember the little black cat that was photographed in this picture? Actually she's very surly and when she had got babies (three kitties), she took them to the neighbor's yard. My mother saw that they were in a dangerous place where they could fall down easily, so she went to talk with the neighbour who didn't allow to get into her house.

Days later our cat brought back her kitties to our house but there were only two of them. The other one had fallen down and my mom couldn't see it anymore. Another two days later my mom heard meows from the neighbor's house and went to ask her to get in the yard again. She found the cat in the floor, with large cuts in her mouth. The vet had to give points. She hadn't eaten for almost a week and she was malnourished. Besides that, her mother didn't want to feed her. So now we are feeding her with a improvised bottle.

She is much smaller than their siblings of the same age. She has about a month but looks smaller. I suppose it's because she wasn't fed the first days of life. I think it's a miracle that she's with us.

The remaining light-colored buzzard of four, this one is still quite active and does not let itself be approached (here photographed from behind the bushes). One light-colored buzzard is dead, a second has disappeared and the dark buzzard, which was brought to the bird shelter, is on the mend. In the meantime, 2 more dark buzzards have arrived in the area. Many sick and malnourished buzzards are brought to the bird shelters.

Last weekend home owners found a 5-6 week old female eastern grey squirrel in their yard, crying and walking up to them, dehydrated and malnourished. They brought her in. It was apparent something had happened to mom and after a day or two she had braved her way down to seek help. They were told to please watch and listen for siblings and to call if they found any. The following day another call came, her brother had showed up mid day, very dehydrated and covered in fleas.

Here they are a couple days later, cleaned up, rehydrated, full bellies, and back together.

THIS is why when you can’t reunite with mom you ALWAYS make every effort to find them all, and this is why you NEVER, EVER separate siblings ❤️

A really small poppy seed head, not properly developed having always been in the shadows of it's neighbours.

This little Fallow Doe was very cute with her platinum Mohawk but I couldn't help worrying that she seemed a bit malnourished...I hope she was ok.

Cape Pogue is a grey seal who was found on Chappaquiddick Island malnourished and dehydrated January 11th. After rehabbing at NMLC she was released at Scusset Beach

Cape Pogue is a grey seal who was found on Chappaquiddick Island malnourished and dehydrated January 11th. After rehabbing at NMLC she was released at Scusset Beach

They "pancake" to cool off. I received my apprenticeship permit for wildlife rehabilitation and these are my first two...when I got them at 7 weeks old they were orphaned and malnourished. I had to feed them formula 6 times a day. They are now 4 months old and thriving but will always be small for their age. They will be released once Spring arrives. I will miss them dearly!

We're becoming Noah's Arch! A few months back my wife was heading out to work, when she heard this little fella under the car. No mother around, so naturally we took another animal in. Fourth pet and this malnourished feline is thriving. Way to go Luna, you're a fighter.

We visited the OC Zoo again today along with a lot of other people. The animals were all out and about today, which was great for everyone. This is one of three young mountain lions who were taking advantage of their new home. There are two sisters who were found at a very young age abandoned and malnourished. The third one is a male who had been struck by a car, also at a very young age. All three are now thriving at the zoo, but because they were orphaned at such young ages it is unlikely they can ever be released into the wild.

Before I even began contemplating being a vegetarian, I remember as a child looking at the struggling lobsters and other trapped fish in these holding cells at markets and restaurants and I remember feeling so sad and identifying with these writhing beings, struggling in anguish at this point of their futile existence. And I remember thinking….is this life? And we are just supposed to eat them? I found out much later when I was in my 20s that I was allergic to most seafood, not that it mattered. I think I might also be little allergic to suffering. It seems to impact me in a different way than other people. It’s hard for me to breathe just thinking about all of the pain world wide.

So, I see this little girl clutching her stuffed animal with this look of shock, revelation, and revulsion on her face and, though this is far from a perfect photograph in many ways, I can so relate to that look.

When I was seven or eight, I also visited Red Lobster for the first time in my life. My mom, a seafood fanatic at the time (she’s now a vegetarian), really felt like if I just tried it, I would like it. But, I saw that lobster and locked myself in the bathroom, having the first panic attack of my life. That existential dread was going nowhere and I refused to come out until she promised to take me home. I rarely ever “got my way” when I was a child but my mom figured out pretty quickly that she didn’t want to visit me several years later as a seriously malnourished 30 year old, eating only crumbs of biscuits other restroom goers were willing to feed me every now and then.

**All photos are copyrighted. You can have my panic attack, though**

Sure, Eric Draven comes back as The Crow...

I'd probably come back as a malnourished Penguin with a limp.

and I ain't talking a MoPar 413, a legend in its own right. We're talking what we came here for, a decent look at those KCS beauties, three FP9's on the head end of the Holiday train. KCS 1 is up front where it belongs as it leads the train out of the siding at Roodhouse, IL and heads down to the staging area where a rather malnourished Santa Claus and a bunch of little kiddies and another bunch of railfans are waiting impatiently for its arrival, even though the train was way ahead of schedule. I don't think anyone objected to that fact, though one gentleman with a camera did voice a concern that there were so many people getting in his planned telephoto picture. I guess he didn't count on all those other little kiddies with cameras.

substack.com/@tritaparsi/note/c-141275923?r=3qbxbp&ut... ▪️COFIWCH FOD LLYWODRAETH STARMER YN LLAESU DWYLO AC YN MALU AWYR YN LLE GWNEUD DIM O BWYS I ATAL ISRAEL. I'R GWRTHWYNEB, MAE'R AWYRLU'N CYNORTHWYO MILWYR ISRAEL A DARPERIR RHANNAU I'W HAWYRENNAU ▪️REMEMBER THAT STARMER'S GOVERNMENT IS SLACKING & TALKING NONSENSE INSTEAD OF DOING ANYTHING OF IMPORTANCE TO STOP ISRAEL. QUITE THE OPPOSITE, THE RAF IS AIDING THE ISRAELI ARMY AND AEROPLANE PARTS ARE PROVIDED FOR THEIR AEROPLANES▪️youtube.com/shorts/VElAG0x9qpc?si=Hp99HTcGi77LYC0A:black_...: Gorsaf Abertawe/ Swansea Station

This is my sweet Rozey who came to me as a malnourished orphan. I rehabbed her and her brother for over 5 months before successfully releasing her into the wild... she's doing fine out there. She comes to me every time I call her name, I love her so very much!

I received my apprenticeship permit for wildlife rehabilitation and these are my first two...when I got them at 7 weeks old they were orphaned and malnourished. I had to feed them formula 6 times a day. They are now 4 months old and thriving but will always be small for their age. They will be released once Spring arrives. I will miss them dearly!

I caught this magnificent Florida cloudscape during an airboat ride we took through the glades. The horses on the land are all rescue horses. They were malnourished, so the State brought them here where there is plenty of grass eat.

Here is Warner Bros. official Letters from Iwo Jima site:

iwojimathemovie.warnerbros.com/lettersofiwojima/framework...

... one of the great historical movies of our time. Yesterday I watched this movie with Scotty, a friend of mine from Austin. Scotty was a marine on Peliliu in November 1944 when that island was taken from the Japanese by U.S. Marines. Scotty has one of the medals, seen worn by General Kuribayashi, The Order of the Rising Sun. Scotty told me the intriguing story of how he came to be in possession of the medal, but I don't have his permission to retell it here. The medal is the one General Kuribayashi is wearing around his neck in the illustration here. Scotty promised to bring the medal next time he comes and I'll scan it and make him a color print of this image, so he can have it framed with a picture of it being worn. Scotty's job with the Marines on Peliliu was to repair telephone lines. In 1944 radios were powred through tubes which had very delicate filaments and were often out of order. Communications therefore fell back on field telephones which transmitted over wires. As the wires were discovered and cut by the enemy, Scotty would be sent out to repair them. At first his commanding officer sent two guards to go with him, but after a few trips, Scotty asked permission to go alone, because three marines made too much noise and increased the danger of the assignment.

And so, two old men sat and watched a movie and gained a better understanding of those people we hated so intensely, so many years ago. Even, had they been victorious, the Japanese soldier suffered more than the American soldier, simply because of cultural differences. The movie reveals this abundantly..

Wikipedia's Plot Summary:

The film is based on the non-fiction books "Gyokusai sōshikikan" no etegami ("Picture letters from the Commander in Chief" by General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (portrayed on screen by Ken Watanabe) and So Sad To Fall In Battle: An Account of War[4] by Kumiko Kakehashi about the Battle of Iwo Jima. While some characters such as Saigo are fictional, the overall battle as well as several of the commanders are based upon actual people and events.

In 2005, Japanese archaeologists explore tunnels on Iwo Jima. They find something in the dirt, and the scene changes to Iwo Jima in 1944. Private First Class Saigo, a baker conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, and his platoon are grudgingly digging beach trenches on the island. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tadamichi Kuribayashi arrives to take command of the garrison and immediately begins an inspection of the island defenses. He saves Saigo and his friend Kashiwara from a beating by Captain Tanida for having uttered 'unpatriotic speeches', and orders the men to stop digging trenches on the beach and begin tunnelling defenses into Mount Suribachi.

Later, Lieutenant Colonel Baron Takeichi Nishi, a famous Olympic gold medalist show jumper, joins Kuribayashi for dinner. They discuss the grim prospect of no naval or air support and the fanaticism their fellow officers would show. Kuribayashi evacuates the civilian population of Iwo Jima to mainland Japan. He clashes with some of his senior officers, who do not agree with his strategy of defending inland instead of the beaches; Kuribayashi believes the Americans will take the beaches quickly, and only the mountain defenses will have a better chance for holding out against the enemy.

Poor nutrition and unsanitary conditions take their toll on the garrison; many die of dysentery, including Kashiwara. The Japanese troops begin using the caves as barracks. Kashiwara's replacement, a young soldier named Superior Private Shimizu, arrives for duty on the island. Saigo and his friends suspect that Shimizu is a spy sent from Kempeitai to report on disloyal soldiers since he was trained at a Kempeitai institute. The first American aerial bombings occur shortly after, causing significant casualties. After the raid, Saigo is sickened when he sees the corpse of a friend, still sitting upright. Another casualty was Jupiter, Baron Nishi's horse, which was also killed by a bomb. The raid forces the Japanese to dig deeper into the volcanic island. A few days later, U.S. Marines land on Iwo Jima and the Japanese open fire. The battle for Iwo Jima begins.

As the landings occur, the American troops suffer heavy casualties, but the Japanese beach defenses are quickly overcome, and the attack turns to the defensive positions on Mount Suribachi. Saigo assists the defense by carrying ammunition to machine gunners. When a Japanese machine gunner is killed by a shell from an American ship, Saigo is ordered by the company commander to use his rifle, since the machine gun is damaged. He handles it so clumsily that he is sent to retrieve some machine guns instead. While delivering the request from his company commander to the commander of the Suribachi garrison, Saigo overhears General Kuribayashi radioing orders to retreat northward. The Suribachi commander, however, ignores the order from the general and instead orders Saigo to deliver a message ordering the men of his company to commit suicide. The Japanese soldiers of Saigo's unit commit suicide with grenades, including Saigo's friend Nozaki, and Captain Tanida shoots himself in the head with his Type 14 8 mm Nambu Pistol, but Saigo runs away and leaves the cave with Shimizu, convincing him that it is more productive to continue the fight rather than die. They come across two other Japanese soldiers, but one gets incinerated by an American flamethrower through a hole in the tunnel, causing the three remaining soldiers to flee. They then come across Japanese soldiers beating and tourturing a captured Marine (There are beliefs the captured Marine was Ralph "Iggy" Ignatowski). The Marine pleads to the Japanese to have mercy on him, although his plea falls on deaf ears as the Japanese soldiers stab him to death with bayonets, much to Saigo's disgust.

Saigo and the remaining Japanese soldiers in Mount Suribachi attempt to flee under the orders of Lieutenant Oiso and flee the tunnels at night. However, they run into U.S. Marines, who wipe out all the Japanese troops except for Saigo and Shimizu. The two men flee to friendly lines, but they are accused by Lieutenant Ito of deserting Suribachi. Ito raises his katana to execute Saigo and Shimizu for cowardice when General Kuribayashi appears to stop the punishment, confirming that he had indeed ordered the retreat and thus saving Saigo for the second time.

The soldiers from the caves attempt a futile attack against American positions, with the Japanese taking heavy losses. Saigo and the surviving soldiers are told to regroup with Colonel Nishi. Ito then heads towards the American lines with three land mines, intending to throw himself under an American tank. The next morning, heavy fighting takes place. The Japanese take casualties, but manage to kill several U.S. Marines and destroy a tank. Lieutenant Okubo, Nishi's executive officer shoots a U.S. Marine, who is subsequently captured by Nishi's men. He reveals his name to be Sam, and Nishi orders his medic to give him aid despite the Japanese's dwindling medical supplies. Despite their efforts, the Marine dies of his wounds. Nishi reads a letter the American received from his mother.

As a bomb hits Nishi's cave, Nishi is badly wounded and blinded. His men bind his wounds, and Nishi orders them to another position on the island. As a last favor, he asks Lieutenant Okubo to leave him a rifle. After leaving that position, the soldiers hear a distant gunshot from Nishi's cave.

Being fed up with the battle, Saigo says to Shimizu that he will surrender to the Americans and does not care if Shimizu reports this to the Kempeitai. Shimizu divulges to Saigo that he had been dishonorably discharged from the Kempeitai. In a flashback, it is revealed that he was discharged because he refused to obey a superior's order to kill a barking dog. He was then reassigned to Iwo Jima. This causes Saigo's attitude towards Shimizu to soften considerably. Shimizu breaks down and fearfully asks Saigo to surrender with him. Shimizu and another soldier attempt to flee the cave where they are stationed. Okubo orders them to halt; when they fail to stop, he shoots the other soldier while Shimizu escapes.

Shimizu surrenders to a U.S. Marine patrol and finds himself in the company of another Japanese soldier who had surrendered. The patrol moves on, leaving Shimizu and the other Japanese soldier and two Marines. One of the American guards, who does not want to be burdened with POWs, later shoots them, much to the other Marine's surprise and the two catch up to their patrol. The dead soldiers are discovered by the Japanese and Lieutenant Okubo points it out as a lesson for anyone else who wishes to surrender. Saigo, deeply saddened by his death, puts Shimizu's senninbari on his dead body.

Meanwhile, Ito has not come across any American forces to attack. Desperate, exhausted, and malnourished, his fanatical will breaks and when American Marines find him, he surrenders.

Saigo and the remaining survivors find that Kuribayashi's cave is under attack, and a fierce battle rages. They charge through the crossfire, and lose several men, including Lieutenant Okubo who successfully neutralizes an American Browning M1919 machine gun and its crew. They enter the cave under a storm of American bullets, meeting up with Kuribayashi, who recognizes Saigo. One last attack with all the remaining men is planned. Kuribayashi orders Saigo to stay behind and destroy all the documents, including his own letters to his family. By this, Kuribayashi saves Saigo's life a third time. Kuribayashi and his remaining troops launch their final attack. Most of Kuribayashi's men are killed, and Kuribayashi is critically wounded.

Kuribayashi's loyal aide Fujita drags him away from the battle. The next morning, Kuribayashi orders his aide to behead him; however, the aide is shot dead by an American sniper as he raises his sword. Saigo appears at this moment, having buried some of the documents in the cave instead of burning them all. Summoning his last reserves of strength, the very weak Kuribayashi asks Saigo to bury him so that nobody will find him. Kuribayashi then draws his pistol, an American M1911 — revealed in two previous flashbacks to be a gift Kuribayashi was given in the United States before the war, at a party in which he was the guest of honor — and shoots himself in the chest. Saigo carries away the dead general (unknowingly leaving the pistol behind near Fujita) and buries his body at another location.

Later in the day, a patrol of American Marines come across Fujita's body. One Marine claims Kuribayashi's pistol and another claims Fujita's sword as war trophies. They then search the area and find an exhausted Saigo with a shovel in his hand. Upon seeing the pistol tucked into a Marine's belt, Saigo swings angrily and wildly at the Americans with his shovel. Too weak to fight properly, Saigo is knocked unconscious with a rifle butt and is taken on to a U.S. aid station on the beach. Awakening a while later, he glimpses the setting sun, with ships in the distance, as well as a U.S. truck, and smiles grimly.

The scene shifts back to the Japanese archaeologists who uncover the bag of letters written by Japanese soldiers on the island, never sent, that Saigo buried in 1945. As the letters fall from the bag, the voices of the fallen Japanese soldiers are heard reading from them.

When examining advertising campaigns throughout history different political, economic, and social issues are very obvious. Advertising always seems to mirror not only what is occurring across mass society, but also the themes unique to a diverse group of sub cultures in society during a particular time period. After closely exploring fashion ads throughout history it was clear how the ideas about body image have changed over time. Gradually it has become acceptable to show more and more skin and advertising in general has become much more sexualized. In the book Adorned in Dreams, Elizabeth Wilson explained how people have used fashion as a way to represent themselves and their reactions to society across the decades. She says, “In all societies the body is ‘dressed’, and everywhere dress and adornment play symbolic, communicative and aesthetic roles. Dress is always ‘unspeakably meaningful’.” Wilson goes on to describe how in the twentieth century the integrity of dress has progressed to disassociate itself from the rigid behavioral codes that once sustained it. Fashion has been freed to become both an aesthetic vehicle for experiments in taste and political means of expression for dissidence, rebellion and social reform. In this book Elizabeth has set up an important foundation for further analysis into current fashion advertising. Many of the issues presented in contemporary advertising convey very similar messages about body images; however more distinctions can be made based on the market a particular ad is targeting.

As illustrated through the movie “Happiness Machines”, an important tool in advertising is the ability to create desire. The “desire”/ Consumer society was born after World War I as a response to the fears of the new industrial society that was a product in America from the war. Based on what Bernays had previously learned from his Uncle, Sigmund Freud, about the human mind and subconscious thinking, he realized this would require him to transform the way society thought about products and turn America from a needs based society into a desire culture. He had to create the new types of customers. Bernays began to create many of the techniques of mass consumer persuasion we still use today. He began to glamorize products by placing advertisements linking products with celebrities who used them. He used product placements in movies and dressed the stars for film premiers with the clothes and jewelry from other firms her represented. He told car companies they could sell cars as symbols of male sexuality. He also employed psychologists to claim a product was good for you and pretended they were independent studies. Finally he paid celebrities to repeat the new and essential message; you bought things not just out of need but to express your inner sense of yourself to others. “Wearing certain clothes will make you more attractive”. This caused a change in society called consumerism.

Today desire is still constructed through political, cultural, and economic conditions, but it is also invested with the power to authorize and normalize those conditions (Helstein, That’s Who I Want to be: The Politics and Production of Desire within Nike Advertising to Women). Susan Bordo described how ads play off of the female fear of food and desire to gain control. In Hunger as Ideology Susan Bordo explains the negative effects advertising has on womens’ body image. Throughout history advertising has played off of womens’ fear of food and desire to gain control and while doing so has embedded the idea that men are superior to women and food should be feared by women, as it is a sign of weakness. Marketers try to sell products by showing it as a tool to gain control over some aspect of their lives. Not only do advertisements play off of females’ struggle for control, they also must be considered as gender ideology- that is, as specifically servicing the cultural reproduction of gender differences and gender inequality, quite independent of marketing concerns. Although it is arguable, these desires seems to be an underlying theme in most advertisements. Different markets have unique desires that take precedence in their lives, thus the major distinctions between modern fashion ads lies in the specific market a brand is targeting.

One of the most dominant types of fashion advertising is that of high-end brands. The pages of fashion magazines are filled with ads for brands such as Gucci, Dolce and Gabbana, Fendi, Christian Dior, and Prada just to name a few. Although all the brands have unique ads with their distinct trademark on them, there is an eerie similarity between them all. Slender, blonde, Caucasian females seem to dominate the script for high-end fashion advertising. Although in the 21st century advertising seems to becoming more culturally diverse, even the “ethnic” models have very westernized features. The typical ad depicts this female adorned in the latest fashions by the designer and is preposterously posed in a glamorous setting. Often times sex appeal is created either from the way the model is posed or the ‘lack’ of clothing covering her body. Occasionally males are used in these ads as an accessory to the women. Although society in general has become immune to these imagines since they have become so common, the messages they enforce about body images are not acceptable.

According to The Beauty Myth, as found in the Naomi Wolf readings, a thin, white, blonde woman is considered the 'perfect woman' and the most beautiful woman to feature. The typical high-end fashion ad plays to that stereotype. In The Beauty Myth, Wolf argues that it is men that create this idea of what or whom is "beautiful". It is the men in society that deem white, thin, blonde woman as beautiful, not women. Men create these "beauties" so that culture can remain male and male dominated, as argued by Wolf. The idea of male dominance is very clear in the advertising industry. The readings from Fresh Lipstick by Scott support this idea of the male dominated gaze. Scott mentioned that a male point-of-view shot is just another way for men to continue to dominate society.

This first set of ads comes from the Fall/Winter 2007 fashion ad campaigns of some of the top high-end designers in the industry. Many of the models are either well known super models of famous celebrities. Ads like these are extremely common today in the fashion industry. They are neither innovative nor distinct and they only help to reinforce the body image crisis currently plaguing the general public.

The role the fashion industry plays on society is haunting. The westernized ideals and images of beauty are rapidly scattering through humanity. As discussed in Making the Body Beautiful by Gilman, aesthetic surgery is a growing industry. More and more people want to have western features and the age of the patients undergoing these surgeries keeps getting younger. Gilman said, “Patients seeking rhinoplasty…frequently show signs of guilt-tinged, second-generation rejection of their ethnic background masked by excuses, such as not photographing well.” When people are constantly bombarded with images of Caucasian females modeling the latest fashions and depicted as the “ideal beauty” it creates a desire to have those same features. “Happiness in our modern world is in part defined by the desire to vanish into the world beyond ourselves where there is no difference. We want to become happy like everyone else and thus be absolutely unique in our happiness. This contradiction is at the heart of the matter. The heart of the matter in aesthetic surgery is the common human desire to ‘pass’ (Gilman, 330).” By filling the fashion magazines with models that all share similar features it creates the idea that through plastic surgery one can achieve those same features and in doing so fit into society.

Another popular type of high-end fashion advertising is shock value. Certain brands choose to fulfill their consumer’s need for desire by use of shock value. These ads typically depict a fantasy world in which they illustrate deep desires that might not be considered proper to openly discuss. An example of this type of advertising is the Fall/Winter 2007 ad campaign by Dolce and Gabbana. According to Domenico Dolce the image is artistic and was meant to “recall an erotic dream, a sexual game.” Protesters complained that the ad depicted rape and was demeaning to women. Spain’s Labor and Social Affairs Ministry said in a statement, “One could infer from the advertisement that it is acceptable to use force as a way of imposing oneself on a woman, reinforced by the passive and complicit manner of the men looking on.”

This ad continues to be filled with Caucasian individuals all scantily clad and exposing extremely cut bodies. Naomi Wolf, in The Beauty Myth, explains how images such as this can have negative consequences on men as well as women. “So powerful is pornography, and so smoothly does it blend in with the advertising of products…that many women find their own fantasies and self-images distorted too…So rare is it to see sexual explicitness in the context of love and intimacy on screen that it seems our culture treats tender sexuality as if it were deviant or deprived, while embracing violent or degrading sex as right and healthy (Wolf, 140).” Men also face the stereotypic ideal of how they are supposed to look and act; men must be in shape, toned, tall, with good hair, teeth and eyes. Today, men make up one-third of all cosmetic surgeries. Images are damaging and may lead to inferiority and inadequacy, and can lead to cosmetic surgery. Men are finally understanding and feeling the affects that advertising and unrealistic expectations of beauty. However, women have been dealing with these issues throughout history.

Along with enforcing very negative messages about body images through the use of male positioning and facial expressions the ad creates a very negative message about male superiority. The men is this ad are holding the female down and forcing themselves upon her. She looks on with a very blank expression, implying that she is dazed and not enjoying herself. The men in the background are just looking on and not doing anything to help her or interfere with the act. In Fresh Lipstick Scott mentions the arguments Beauvior makes that women have an inbreed fear of being raped and becoming the sexual prey of men. Women learn to see themselves as an object viewed from the outside, thus she begins to dress in a way to attract a lover. This involves imagining how one might appear to the desired male (226). This ad perpetuates this fear and seems to allocate rape.

Although the ad campaigns for high-end fashion brands may seem innocent at first glance, upon further investigation it is obvious that they are enforcing negative messages about body image. If these brands clutter society with so many negative messages surrounding body images, how can they continue to remain so popular? It seems as though the designers of these ads knows that their main audience viewing their actual campaigns are not their actual clients purchasing the products. The majority of the people who wear these clothes have personal shoppers or stylists who buy their clothes for them. Rather, the images in these ads are designed to create a desire among a lower class of society to achieve this rich and luxurious lifestyle; however, the consequences resulting from the message of how to achieve this particular lifestyle is devastating.

In Self-Help, Inc. McGee describes how there is a growing interest in the self-help society. The movement can be traced all the way back to the Bible as the first example of a self-help book. Today there is a book to teach people how to help themselves succeed in just about every aspect of life. Advertising seems to foster self-anxieties and endless imperfections. It is important to acknowledge the growth of this trend in society since it seems to parallel a slow shift toward more conscious advertising. In the early 1990s sales of self help books went up 6% following the trends in society of unemployment and a bad economy. In the past ten years there has been a noticeable amount of ads produced in effort to portray positive messages about the body.

The ad campaign by the French brand Nolita is an attempt to create a more positive message about the body image. The author of the campaign is famous Italian photographer Oliviero Toscani. The campaign is designed toward young women who keep up with fashion and is called to draw public attention to such awful disease as anorexia. The ad billboards feature a 27 years old French woman named Isabella Caro who weighs a mere 68 pounds. She says that she has decided to show her body for people to know and to see how the disease impacts the body. It is common knowledge that there is a major problem with eating disorders in the fashion industry. As previously mentioned the typical model has an abnormally tall slender frame. Maintaining this body image is generally unnatural, but models will go to any length to ensure that they stay at a dangerously low body weight.

Women are continually bombarded with advertisements and commercials for weight-loss products and programs. This type of advertising has been around for a long time and continues to enforce negative views of food for women. The media starts targeting girls from a young age and over time the idea is cemented in girl’s heads that food is bad. Many of the advertisements show the power that food has over women. They illustrate how the female psyche is in a constant state of starvation through their efforts to sell products that can create a “cool” or casual relationship with food for women. The issues surrounding food are a lot deeper and more serious than advertisements are willing to admit. Most often women feel upset and depressed and unhappy when they discuss compulsive eating or over indulgence. Since the Victorian era it has been considered taboo to show women eating, particularly in sensuous surrender to rich, exciting food (Hunger as Ideology, Susan Bordo).

Naomi Wolf made a lot of important points about the gravity of eating disorders. She illustrated how it is a vicious cycle that can often lead to death. When people diet the body often feels as if it is starving and chemicals in the head get messed up. It is really hard to control and basically anyone who diets is at equal risk for becoming anorexic or bulimic. Female fat is a sign of sexuality and reproductive ability. There have never been any studies on females that indicate being over weight can lead to other health concerns or put them at higher risk for death. Every study that has been done on obesity has involved male subjects; yet, females are the ones put under constant pressure from society and the media to be thin. It is acceptable for men to be fat, and men should have hardy appetites. It is age old and universal that if there is ever a shortage of food the women are the first to do without. In reality women really need just about as many calories as men and women suffer more serious problems if they are malnourished. Eating disorders effect a significant population in society. It is really scary because it is such a psychological problem that is seems there is no real way to prevent any one person from getting it unless the entire mind set of basically the world is transformed (The Beauty Myth, 179-116).

This ad from Nolita is defiantly a step in the right direction; however it does not do enough. Rather than say how to help someone with an eating disorder it almost seems to criticize the individual with the problem. People with eating disorders already have very flawed and negative self-images. Although this image is not seen as sexualized at all, it is merely because of the condition the model is in. She is still naked and being shot from a male gaze. It seems like a more effective approach would be to illustrate ways to prevent the problem or find a path to recovery; however, it is nice to see the problem is finally being recognized in the fashion industry.

Although the fashion industry is filled with images that perpetuate negative body images in society there seems to be some hope for improvement in the new century. It is very difficult to find ads that do a really good job of portraying positive body images, but they do exist. Some brands do a really good job of producing campaigns that portray a positive body image. United Colors of Benetton has a really unique campaign. It is interesting to note that the photographer for this campaign is also Oliviero Toscani, who shot the pictures of Isabella Caro for the Nolita campaign. Benetton Group's advertising campaigns are not only a means of communication but an expression of our time. Through their universal impact, they have succeeded in attracting the attention of the public and in standing out amid the current clutter of images.

The latest campaign by the United Colors of Benetton depicts the faces of four different species of apes. The print reads, “If we don’t do anything to save them, in ten to 15 years the great apes could disappear from the majority of the areas where they now live.” There were about two million chimps in Africa one hundred years ago, now there are little more than 150,000. They are dying out as a result of the expanding human population, deforestation, the destruction of their habitat, hunting and traps. The situation of mountain gorillas and orang-utans is even worse. The number of wild apes is falling while the number of orphans in sanctuaries is rising. This campaign does a great job of bringing awareness to important social issues. Some of the other ads depict the problems with starvation, AIDS and heart disease to name a few. Several of the communication projects created by Fabrica, Benetton’s research center have also been developed in cooperation with prestigious associations (including FAO, UNV, WFP) obtaining important acknowledgements at an international level.

Although these ads do not show the clothes, it creates the desire to help fight these problems. Through the campaign people realize that United Colors of Benetton does a lot of work with different organizations and that through buying this brand they are helping to support a very good cause. In that sense it is effective in creating a desire and does not perpetuate the negative body images that the fashion industry has been continually associated with.

Another genre of fashion advertising that seems to do a good job of portraying positive body images is in campaigns for athletic apparel. Currently both Adidas and Nike are attempting to produce campaigns that generate positive body images and messages. Nike’s campaign is a good effort to demonstrate more positive messages about body image, but it has been causing a lot of controversy. Nike’s new ad campaign, “Big Butts, Thunder Thighs, and Tomboy Knees” has been criticized because they highlight the butt, thighs, and knees of women athletes who could hardly by any means be considered out of shape. The campaign seems to have back fired and while those butts, thighs and knees should be praised, the manner that the ad presents the body parts almost condemns them. As explained in The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf, in modern society women are expected to have split personalities and lifestyles. Women feel pulled in different directions, such as housewife, working women, athletic social, etc. It seemed that this would have been a great opportunity for Nike to reach the diverse desires of all women, but this campaign does not seem to be there quite yet.

While the campaign seems to have stayed away from the typical genre of fashion advertising, it is not very effective in creating a more positive body image. The images are black and white and shot in a way to eliminate the male gaze or cultural inequalities. However, the depiction of these well-oiled, muscle crunching body parts has sparked some questions. If the message is supposed to be about authenticity, hard work, and in-your-face reality, how about showing a little more sweat and a little less creatine? Furthermore, this ad seems to be appealing to current Nike customers while the whole point of advertising is to try and attract new consumers. Finally, the ad is a copy of the dove campaign which totally strips it of any creative or unique credit the campaign could have been given.

The Adidas campaign launches a new global basketball movement featuring NBA All-Stars Tracy McGrady, Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Chauncey Billups and Gilbert Arenas. The movement of the “It Takes 5IVE” campaign is based on the idea of believing in something bigger than the individual-believing in five, believing in team. Adidas wanted to tap into the idea that there is more to the game then just individual achievement and focus on the value of being part of a team. That is the true spirit of the game of basketball. By bringing together five of the game’s most successful athletes and having them deliver the message that real success can only come from being part of a team, and that any individual achievements cannot measure to the success that five players on the court can achieve together shows that teamwork is the most essential aspect to a team sport.

This campaign seems to do a much better job of creating a positive message; however the message creates a desire for team work to help you succeed. While this is a good message, it is not a positive message about body image. Since this campaign stays away from assisting the fashion industry in creating negative body images and more importantly negative overall messages, it is a pretty good campaign.

Finally there are a few campaigns from popular designers that do a rather good job of staying away from continuing the negative body images being produced by the fashion industry. Both Tommy Hilfigure and Old Navy have ads that completely stay away from the body and in that sense they are not effective at creating a positive body image either, rather they are neutral. In the Tommy Hilfigure ad a herd of sheep are standing in front of an American Flag and the tag line reads “follow the flock.” This ad is cute and creates the desire to fit in and then eludes to the idea that through buying Tommy Hilfigure clothing you will be like everyone else; however, as previously stated, people in society today desire control over their destination and the idea of being like everyone else seems to distract from the notion of controlling one’s destiny. The Old Navy ad also uses animals by creating ads depicting images of their icon dog. These ads are effective at getting the name of the brand to the public, but it creates no desire and is therefore not as effective as the Tommy Hilfigure ad.

Overall, fashion advertising is dominated by ads that encourage negative body image through highly sexualized poses, a majority of male gazes, and unrealistic body types. There is not enough cultural diversity in today’s fashion advertising. The ads are effective at creating desire; however, the desire is to achieve unrealistic and unhealthy goals. In the past few years some very significant changes have been made, but it isn’t enough right now. It is a gradual process so it will probably take some time before any major noticeable differences appear on the pages of the top fashion magazines. Hopefully the steps that are taking place now will have a lasting positive impact on the body images created through future fashion advertising.

Wednesday:

i'm sorry this is so blurry but it's all i have right now...believe it or not, that dog is NOT Chico...he's not even related to my dog...

yesterday afternoon, our neighbor mentioned he had a dog living in his front yard for a week and couldn't keep it...he thought he might belong to us but he doesn't...we told him if he caught the dog we would take it in...and well, he did...earlier tonight he comes over with this little gem, a smaller replica of chico! i swear, they could be father and son...this little guy, who is malnourished and very skinny, is infested with fleas (though not terribly)...i've bathed him twice and i'm keeping him away from the other dogs and in the dog carrier in my bedroom...he's such a sweetheart, perfectly gentle and loving and he's now eating and drinking properly...i even walked him to the bathroom on the leash and he was perfect...anyway, i'm worried of course...i need to find his owner and if he doesn't have one, what do i do? between my parents and i we already own 4 dogs and a cat...though yes, i admit lately i've wanted a small indoor dog but not like this! also, i can't afford to deal with fleas...i'm not even sure what to do so i'm researching...anyway, for now this little nameless guy is part of my family...fleas and all so if you have any tips, gimme!

also, nine years ago, on thanksgivig night i took a walk around 8pm...it was freezing cold, raining but i needed air...what i found was a tiny pitbull pup, only three weeks old...he was crying so i knocked on the front door of the house only to be screamed at that it wasn't their dog and they didn't want it or care what happened...bastards...he'd been abandoned in someone's back yard and they just left him there to fend for himself...i took him in and kept him for as long as i could...i loved him so much and named him Dominic...he even onced saved me from an abusive ex by defending me...i loved him and i when i had to give him away, it broke my heart...

anyway, i'm rambling...what i'm getting at, is i find it so damn strange that 9 years ago nearly to the day i found dominic, and now this little guy...happy pre-thanksgiving!

“ For St. Marco's Square ? “ mi ha chiesto questa donna indiana (o forse Cingalese ?) dall’aspetto trasandato e denutrito, timida con la testa abbassata quasi interamente avvolta da un grande fazzoletto.

Io gli ho risposto “ Avanti, e poi gira a destra …. “ con il mio migliore inglese possibile, un po’ sorpreso perché , in realtà , io pensavo che lei mi chiedesse l’elemosina.

Poi lei mi ha sorpassato con passo veloce e deciso … e quando è uscita dal sottoportico buio, l’ho guardata meglio: una borsa Aviatour sulle spalle, la sigaretta in bocca, nella mano l’accendino …

Altro che mendicante !!! Certamente una turista frettolosa … magari low cost !!

Taken From Wikipedia

Lennox Castle is an abandoned castle in Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland, approximately 12 miles (19 kilometres) north of Glasgow. It is infamous for previously hosting Lennox Castle Hospital, Scotland's "largest institution for people with learning disabilities".

The castle was built between 1837 and 1841 by David Hamilton for John Lennox Kincaid, on the Lennox of Woodhead Estate, replacing Kincaid House. In 1927, the castle and its land was purchased by the Glasgow Corporation, and converted into a hospital for people with learning disabilities; the hospital opened in 1936. The castle itself was the nurses' home, whilst its grounds provided accommodation for about 1,200 patients. The Scotsman reports that soon afterwards, the facilities were "vastly overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded".

By 1982, 1360 patients between the ages of 10 and 80 years old were looked after by around 500 staff- with fewer than half of these being trained nurses. The Scottish Hospitals Advisory Service had visited the year before and recommended a further 100 staff. The care provided by the hospital was reported to be poor, with patients being malnourished.

This hospital was closed in 2002, as a reflection in changes to how society treated patients with learning disabilities with a view to keeping them in the community. Further it was noted that patients were treated poorly by staff.

The castle itself (Category A listed since the 1970s) is in ruins following a fire in 2008.

This (aprox.) 2.5 y.o. Kudu male shows signs of being seriously malnourished, perhaps due to the drought that the area has been going through during the winter time.

September 2024, Klaserie PNR, South Africa

These were some horses we saw while walking around Büyükada, one of the Princes' Islands off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey. We were a bit surprised when we ran across them. It was nice seeing them up close, but they looked a bit rough and malnourished. We came across a few others along our hike that looked worse. Life seemed a bit rough for the horses on this island. Still beautiful creatures nonetheless.

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One and half year old Cherline Noel, who suffers from malnutrition, waits for medical treatment in a baby tent at the Caraduex IDP camp. The tent is managed by NGO UNASCAD ( Union des Amis Socio-Culturels d'Action en Development), one of UNICEF's most viable partners in promoting a whole diet to malnourished children living in IDP camps.

© UNICEF Haiti/2011/Dormino

Mother of three Yfolene Louis, 30 years old, holds her three months old son inside her tent after attending a training session on nutrition in a baby tent at the Caraduex IDP camp. The tent is managed by NGO UNASCAD ( Union des Amis Socio-Culturels d'Action en Development), one of UNICEF's most viable partners in promoting a whole diet to malnourished children living in IDP camps.

© UNICEF Haiti/2011/Dormino

A coyote walking close to a road at the Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Ontario. I followed him for about 15 minutes and was able to observe that he is small and may be malnourished, and that he suffers from mange on both flanks and a considerable portion of his tail. I would be surprised if he survives the winter. There are many coyotes present on this portion of experimental agricultural land right in the center of an urban centre. Many joggers have reported being followed and intimidated by several coyotes. Complain all you want, but I'm sure the coyotes are thinking "we were here first".

I saw this sad looking buck in the mountains today. He sure looked malnourished and you have to wonder how he broke one of his antlers.

Yesterday my husband and I drove out to the beach at La Push. There were hundreds of these cute little ducks in the surf and on the beach. We had never seen them there before. I took a few pictures and then discovered there were a number of dead ones laying on the beach.

This morning, I picked up the local paper and found this headline:

100-plus seabirds found dead on 25-mile stretch of West End beach

LAPUSH -- More than 100 dead seabirds have been found on beaches stretching about 25 miles from Kalaloch to Rialto Beach since Friday.

Hundreds more of the birds -- which appear to be primarily white-winged scoters and surf scoters -- appear to be ill, said Mary Sue Brancato, a resource protection officer with Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.

Brancato said it hasn't yet been determined what caused the birds' deaths or illnesses.

"Often when the birds are in a vulnerable state -- say if they are molting or migrating or malnourished -- and then there is an off-coast storm, we might see something like this," Brancato said.

"They do appear to be molting and in the very beginning stages of migrating south from Alaska and the theory of the storm does hold up.

"However, the thing that is a little different about this situation is that typically we would expect to see several different species, whereas this is just a couple of them that seem to be impacted."

In addition to the large number of dead birds, the ones that are alive on the beach seem to be ill.

"They seem to have some sort of food problem," Brancato said.

"They appear to be dazed and ill, and some of them seem to be seizing."

Very sad.

Like a prison camp, Lennox Castle became a prison for thousands of people declared as "mentally deficient". Now it lies in ruins, perhaps with one snowdrop signifying every previous inmate.

“Your head is all full of broken bottles once you realise that you don’t belong.”

Lennox Castle, in Lennoxtown, Dunbartonshire, was less of a mental institution than a warehouse, where those deemed society’s misfits were deposited.

Truants, unmarried mothers, wayward teenagers and children with learning difficulties, Down’s syndrome or mental illness all ended up there.

They were starved, drugged, -physically and emotionally abused and robbed of their humanity.

Part of the castle grounds now house Celtic’s training ground, opened in 2007. Players come and go, oblivious to what went on just decades before.

Marie regularly ran away. She was not the only one.

Those who did were chased by dogs through the surrounding woods. When returned, they were locked up for six weeks, placed on a mattress on the floor, drugged and forbidden visitors.

Punishments included being dressed in a knee-length white -nightshirt and being forced to scrub the floors with a toothbrush.

For misdemeanours, patients would be made to sit in a nightdress at a table in the corridor and eat bread and milk.

Not that mealtimes were much better for the rest.

Marie says: “The patients would sit with a plate and the staff would throw a pie at them, like it was feeding time at the zoo.”

One relative of a patient said he was horrified when he saw bread being thrown at his brother, like they were feeding birds.

In December 1989, a study in the British Medical Journal found a quarter of patients in Lennox Castle were grossly underweight and malnourished.

Marie had been placed in the hospital when she went off the rails, drinking and smoking and staying out.

She was diagnosed with a learning difficulty and her parents were assured Lennox Castle was the best place for her.

Marie says: “I was no different from thousands of other teenagers. I knew there was nothing wrong with me and if I hadn’t been strong in my mind, I would have gone crazy.”

Many were drugged and became institutionalised, making it almost impossible to break free.

Psychiatrists eventually admitted Marie had no learning difficulties and she was released but her ordeal wasn’t quite over.

Four years later, aged 39, she had a son, Joseph, to a former worker at the hospital.

But she had to fight to keep him and social workers visited her up to three times a day until they recognised she was a fit mother.

There's something deeply perverse going on within the Scottish SNP and Green's Goverment of Scotland's young people. If you can stomach it, and do not mind becoming too enraged you can get more idea what is going on here wingsoverscotland.com/the-fury-of-the-furries/ (WARNING: it is deeply distasteful to most people)

(Photo Note: CA. Sea Lions are extremely creative at finding unusual places to rest and warm up from the cold water. California Sea Lions are very social animals, and groups often rest closely packed together.)

Please do not copy this image without my expressed written permission. Thank you.

At The Marine Mammal Center

"California sea lions are our most common patients at The Marine Mammal Center. In 2009, we admitted over 1700 animals. Nearly 1400 of these were California sea lions. The most common reasons California sea lions are rescued include: malnutrition, domoic acid toxicosis, leptospirosis, cancer, pneumonia, entanglement in debris or fishing gear, gunshots, and other wounds. In 2009, many of the sea lions that stranded were malnourished yearlings. Animals can become severely underweight from maternal separation, disease, lack of food sources, effects of El Niño and other environmental factors. In 1998, the Center diagnosed the first case of domoic acid toxicosis in marine mammals; a condition caused by harmful algal blooms that causes the animals to have seizures. Although the Center has conducted extensive studies to better understand this disease, hundreds of sea lions are affected annually." (Source: Marine Mammal Center 2015: www.marinemammalcenter.org/)

Behavior:

California sea lions are very social animals, and groups often rest closely packed together at favored haul-out sites on land or float together on the ocean's surface in "rafts." They are sometimes seen "porpoising," or jumping out of the water, presumably to speed up their swimming. Sea lions have also been seen "surfing" breaking waves. California sea lions are opportunistic eaters, feeding on squid, octopus, herring, rockfish, mackerel, and small sharks. In turn, sea lions are preyed upon by Orcas (killer whales) and great white sharks.

Cape Pogue is a grey seal who was found on Chappaquiddick Island malnourished and dehydrated January 11th. After rehabbing at NMLC she was released at Scusset Beach

That unspeakable unwholesome patch of ground was the source of another of my childhood nightmares. When I was but four, I recall watching the landlords paltry few remaining malnourished cows grazing that field, when I noticed a new addition. Born overnight was a shiny new black and white calf chewing tufts of horridly enriched grass surrounding the blackened pool. Indeed, this, like the poison ivy and the only other living thing thriving on the farm, a stand of poison sumac trees at the foot of the rotting filth, was the only place where the cattle could supplement the dried feed trucked in weekly with fresh greens, a necessity for the production of milk (which I never drank having seen its unhygienic source).

We went to our local park hoping to see some newly hatched chicks. A couple and their children were feeding the birds bread. (Not really a good idea, for starters, bread is essentially just junk food. It fills birds up, but it doesn't carry much nutritional value. That means pretty much the same thing it does for humans: baby birds are more likely to end up malnourished, without the plant nutrients they need to grow properly.) The mother Mallard swam, with her 5 ducklings in tow, across the pond to where the feeding was taking place. She carefully kept watch as her ducklings made their way over to the humans for the bread. She was intent on keeping them safe as she did not eat but watched carefully as her little ones filled their tummies.

Contrary to appearances this is not a story about a Sado-Masochistic relationship. It is a record of that ordinary accommodation arrived at between companions over a thirty-five-year friendship. Unfortunately, before they met, our protagonists had been previously brutalised.

What immediately followed their first encounter was a record of their attempts to accommodate their histories and each other.

How do you describe ‘damage control’ without making it sound pathetic? How do you find the words to describe that accommodation which is an act of mutual abuse based on trust and which is an attempt to reverse that initial damage? The only way forward is to describe an inter-weaving, time strands taken from different ages and intermeshed and plaited into a whole, which might describe the healed self in tandem with the healed and healing other, that is your abuser and object of your abuse. I am talking about a reversal, a road back from abuse but through abuse, it is the only way back. Attached to the Gordian knot of the self, blind and trusting, walking backwards to the healed and knowing self, to a point of renewed innocence and enlightenment. This is what I want to attempt to do with this story. I am not going to judge it until it is finished. I am not going to allow her to judge it either. Otherwise, we would both turn into pillars of salt, blubbering salt licks.

Ok Beatrice, get your blindfold on…we have some backward walking to do.

It seems that from the moment we met we were screaming, love me, don’t love me, at each other.

Time strands.

Memory has a renegade nature. It teases and occasionally attacks in blinding, apparently inconsequential, flashes. It is never persistent enough to demand honouring. It presents itself, skittishly. It never pretends or admits to its worth. It is like gold masquerading as fool’s gold, teasing you to pick it up, downplaying its own value. We are prospectors of our own memories, we sieve diligently or allow it all to flow through our fingers unchecked, malnourished and dishonoured. Prospecting is an art form. It demands discipline and commitment. Seams open slowly, they are teased open, until they are seduced and are capable of self-lubrication and discharge. Memory wants to be seduced. The first demand that memory makes on the seducer is that she be respected, no matter how skittish she might appear. The seducer of memory picks up on every sign constantly moving forward in the hope that he might deserve, or earn, the right to remember more.

This is Ronni, my senior citizen fur-child and a source of eternal joy. We’ve been together for ten years now and I can’t imagine life without her. We met when I was living in Edmonton and she was a skinny malnourished stray who wandered into my back yard. We bonded immediately and have since lived in various Canadian cities together before settling into life in Ottawa.

Fun facts about Ronni: I am “her person” and she is reluctant to share me with anyone else. She is passionately jealous of Peter and makes her feelings about him clear - although, happily she seems to be mellowing a little bit in her old age. I don’t know how old she is, she could be as ‘young’ as 12, or as old as 17 (I hope the former!). She is incredibly lazy and prefers to be carried over being walked. As she only weighs 7lbs, this is not too much of a problem! Lastly, she prefers to adopt an offensive posture when meeting new dogs, this can be problematic when meeting big dogs - and let’s face it, most dogs are bigger than a 7lb chihuahua!

In my travels in Southeast Asia, it was common to see street dogs, especially malnourished and infested ones, position themselves near eateries that were open to the street. They were looking for scraps of food offered from the generosity of the patrons. Street dogs know which establishments are safe to cadge for food and which ones they will be chased away.

My photographic images, and photo-transformed graphics are free to download under Creative Commons: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs. Some Rights Reserved. Thank you for your continued fellowship in photographic imagery.

A curious horse in Jesup, Georgia.

I recently got a comment on one of my other horse photos, and the person said I should stop photographing the horses and start feeding them, that they looked extremely malnourished and hungry. I assure you, all of the horses in my photos are well fed. Sometimes the distortion of the Sigma 10-20 can be a little deceiving :-) No worries...

Excerpt from highparknaturecentre.com/index.php/about:

The High Park Nature Centre is a charitable organization that was established in 1999. Our mission is to promote awareness and respect for nature through year-round, hands-on outdoor nature education and park stewardship.

The High Park Nature Centre serves a diverse audience of over 14,000 people annually from across the Greater Toronto Area, including children, adults, seniors, families, elementary and secondary school students and teachers, ESL schools, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, community centres and recreational programs. Through the Nature Centre’s programs, more than 100,000 participants of all ages have been able to “give back” to High Park through park stewardship activities like planting native grasses, wildflowers and sedges or removing invasive plant species.

High Park Forest School opened on July 15, 1914 with an attendance of 115 students. For the school’s first 18 years in operation, it was housed in three outdoor tents and a set of wooden platforms fitted with desks, benches and blackboards.

Students who were malnourished, had mild cardiac conditions or had been in contact with persons with tuberculosis or cholera attended the school to derive health benefits from time in the outdoor environment of High Park.

By the early 1930s, enrollment in the High Park Forest School had grown to 264 students and it was decided that the school should have a permanent building. Constructed in 1932, the Forest School was designed as a pavilion with a large central classroom surrounded on three sides by offices, meeting rooms and a large kitchen.

The Board of Education closed the doors in 1964 and returned the remaining students to their regular schools.

Around 1975, the Ontario Foundation for Visually Impaired Children (OFVIC) moved into the building and provided educational services to blind or low-vision pre-school children. In 2014, OFVIC found a new home and the Forest School became vacant again.

The High Park Nature Centre moved from our previous headquarters in the Lawn Bowling Club House on Parkside Drive to the Forest School in June 2015! The Forest School building was designed with the belief that spending time outdoors would benefit children’s health and well-being. We are excited to bring the Forest School back to its roots!

The expression of a poverty driven malnourished boy, while roaming in the paddy field, when he suddenly looks up to the sky in a hot summer afternoon.

Sráid an Chapaill Bhuí, Corcaigh

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NÁ DÉAN DEARMHAD

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Bhí leathmhilliún Giúdach ag an ngeiteo Naitsíoch ba mhó sa Dara Cogadh Domhanda.

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B'éigean dóibh a dtithe a fhágaint agus an méid arbh fhéidir leo a iompar. Ansan fágadh ar ghanntan bia iad, ag fáil bháis den ocras. Ar deireadh díothaíodh iad.

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Cuireann sé sin síos mar atá sé i Rafah inniu, ach amháin go bhfuil 1.5 milliún duine ann.

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Agus dúradar "Go deo arís"

~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~

NEVER FORGET

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The largest WW2 Nazi ghetto housed half a million Jews.

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They were forced to leave their homes with what they could carry. They were then slowly starved and finally exterminated.

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Almost a perfect description of the hell in Rafah today except it's 1.5 million people.

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And they said "Never Again" .

▪️▪️▪️ 02/03/2024 "Commenting after the death of 10 children in Gaza from malnutrition, UNICEF head Catherine Russell wrote in a social media post that one in six children in Gaza under the age of two are acutely malnourished.

“For children in Gaza, every minute counts in safely accessing nutrition, water, medical care & protection from bullets & bombs,” Russell wrote. “This requires a humanitarian ceasefire NOW.”

Toto consumido y su fantastico hueco prodigio

“That has to be the nastiest looking engine I’ve ever seen.”

That’s a comment from an LIRR employee I showed this image to on the day it was captured. LI 167, an unkept and malnourished looking MP15AC, drags a train of empties across the viaduct at Hicksville, NY. I could hear the sputtering of her engine from across town. She’s on her way to Wellwood Siding in North Lindenhurst, a base of operations for railroad maintenance in western Suffolk County.

While thunderclouds gather above the viaduct, a pair of refurbished old cars sit below - probably dating from when the E15s were in their prime.

....so wie es aussieht.

Ungewollter Gewichtsverlust.

On the first day of winter,

the earth awakens to the cold touch of itself.

Snow knows no other recourse except

this falling, this sudden letting go

over the small gnomed bushes, all the emptying trees.

Snow puts beauty back into the withered and malnourished,

into the death-wish of nature and the deliberate way

winter insists on nothing less than deference.

waiting all its life, snow says, "Let me cover you."

-- Laura Lush