Weekend Art: The Myth of Marsyas and Midas: A Tale of Ancient Turkey — by NormanB (“Deviations form the Norm”)

Weekend Art: Greek Mythology: Melampus — by NormanB (“Deviations from the Norm”)

Weekend Art: Homeric Hymnal: Fun With Homer and Herodotus — by NormanB (“Deviations from the Norm”)

Democracy Now! reports this morning on efforts to apprehend a suspected war criminal. “U.S. Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer said: “The massacre at Dos Erres was a dark moment for the Guatemalan people, and we will not allow suspected perpetrators to escape justice by taking refuge in our cities and towns.” That’s a malicious myth in the making.

CTuttle, commenting on the previous DCM diary, Deconstructing Myths of America: Pepe Escobar Special Edition pt1, makes two points most difficult to challenge: A) “Pepe [Escobar] is the man;” and B) Gareth Porter ain’t too shabby, either. As evidence, watch Porter’s July 12 and 14, 2009 videos for The Real News Network.

Are the two even related?? Yes, both pedagogically (meaning that the subject of Mythology is something that I have had the pleasure of teaching in the past), and, oddly enough as I found two nights ago, in a parabolic sense as well.

Avatar, Joseph Campbell & you. What myth do you believe in? Every heard the Bill Moyers interviews of Joseph Campbell? If Joe was alive today he would be able to teach Intro to Mythology to his kids at Sarah Lawrence College using Avatar.

In the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the first thoughts of a self-aware consciousness are explored. When consciousness first thought, “I am,” it next thought, “I fear what I am not.” This fundamental misconception is at the root of all human suffering, generating the all-consuming Fear that drives our insane militarism. What’s the answer to primeval fear?