Fear: Are you being followed by a moon shadow?sappiamo tutto capiamo poco

drawing collage by marguerita

Scientists generally define fear as a negative emotional state triggered by the presence of a stimulus (the snake) that has the potential to cause harm, and anxiety as a negative emotional state in which the threat is not present but anticipated. We sometimes confuse the two: When someone says he is afraid he will fail an exam or get caught stealing or cheating, he should, by the definitions above, be saying he is anxious instead.
But the truth is, the line between fear and anxiety can get pretty thin and fuzzy.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/anatomy-of-fear/?ref=global-home

)f Soul,Brains, Neuroscience,Consciousness....You (are your brain).

drawing /collage by marguerita

The idea that a person is a functioning assembly of brain cells and associated molecules is not something neuroscience has discovered. It is, rather, something it takes for granted.
You are your brain.
Francis Crick once called this “the astonishing hypothesis,”
because, as he claimed, it is so remote from the way most people alive today think about themselves.
But what is really astonishing about this
supposedly astonishing hypothesis is how astonishing it is not!
The idea that there is a thing inside us that thinks and feels.
What we do know is that a healthy brain is necessary for normal mental life, and indeed, for any life at all. But of course much else is necessary for mental life.
We need roughly normal bodies and a roughly normal environment.
We also need the presence and availability of other people
if we are to have anything like the sorts of lives that we know and value. So we really ought to say that it is the normally embodied, environmentally- and socially-situated human animal that thinks, feels, decides and is conscious.
But once we say this, it would be simpler, and more accurate, to allow that it is people, not their brains, who think and feel and decide.
It is people, not their brains, that make and enjoy art. You are not your brain, you are a living human being.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/art-and-the-limits-of-neuroscience/

Oscar Wilde,Clematis and I

photo by marguerita

To drift with every passion till my soul
Is a stringed lute on which all winds can play,
Is it for this that I have given away
Mine ancient wisdom, and austere control?
Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll
Scrawled over on some boyish holiday
With idle songs for pipe and virelay,
Which do but mar the secret of the whole.
Surely there was a time I might have trod
The sunlit heights, and from life's dissonance
Struck one clear chord to reach the ears of God:
Is that time dead? lo! with a little rod
I did but touch the honey of romance —
And must I lose a soul's inheritance?

Note: Apropos clematis

Though there are some types of clematis that have a bushy habit, most of them are born to climb.

Like other climbing plants, the growing end of a clematis vine is searching for something to grab onto, and if it can’t find anything, it will stop growing. Make sure you provide it with something to climb on from day one.

A clematis vine does not climb by twining around something, as a pole bean or a morning glory does.

It climbs by wrapping its leaf stems around something. Because these leaf stems are not very long, anything that’s more than about 1/2 inch in diameter is too wide for the leaf stem to twist around. The easiest things for a clematis to grab onto, are twine, fishing line, wire, thin branches, wooden dowels or steel rods. The more grabbing opportunities you offer, the better, so even if you have a nice trellis, consider adding some twine “helper” lines, or covering your trellis with a grid of trellis netting.

Depending on the vigor of the plant and the type of trellis you have, you’ll probably need to do some “trussing” during the season to help support the vines and keep them attached to the trellis. Both fishing line and twine work well for this job.

The Adventures of The Markie De Sade : He says he cannot figure me out,ha!

drawing/collage by marguerita
Markie de Sade copyrights by marguerita bornstein 2010

Marquis de Sade Quotes
The imagination is the spur of delights... all depends upon it, it is the mainspring of everything; now, is it not by means of the imagination one knows joy? Is it not of the imagination that the sharpest pleasures arise?
Marquis de Sade

All universal moral principles are idle fancies.
Marquis de Sade

All, all is theft, all is unceasing and rigorous competition in nature; the desire to make off with the substance of others is the foremost - the most legitimate - passion nature has bred into us and, without doubt, the most agreeable one.
Marquis de Sade

Are not laws dangerous which inhibit the passions? Compare the centuries of anarchy with those of the strongest legalism in any country you like and you will see that it is only when the laws are silent that the greatest actions appear.
Marquis de Sade

Are wars anything but the means whereby a nation is nourished, whereby it is strengthened, whereby it is buttressed?
Marquis de Sade

Between understanding and faith immediate connections must subsist.
Marquis de Sade

Destruction, hence, like creation, is one of Nature's mandates.
Marquis de Sade

Happiness is ideal, it is the work of the imagination.
Marquis de Sade

Happiness lies neither in vice nor in virtue; but in the manner we appreciate the one and the other, and the choice we make pursuant to our individual organization.
Marquis de Sade

I've already told you: the only way to a woman's heart is along the path of torment. I know none other as sure.
Marquis de Sade

In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice.
Marquis de Sade

It is always by way of pain one arrives at pleasure.
Marquis de Sade

It is not my mode of thought that has caused my misfortunes, but the mode of thought of others.
Marquis de Sade

Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life; it supports them all, lends strength to them all ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust.
Marquis de Sade

Lust's passion will be served; it demands, it militates, it tyrannizes.
Marquis de Sade

Man's natural character is to imitate; that of the sensitive man is to resemble as closely as possible the person whom he loves. It is only by imitating the vices of others that I have earned my misfortunes.
Marquis de Sade

My manner of thinking, so you say, cannot be approved. Do you suppose I care? A poor fool indeed is he who adopts a manner of thinking for others!
Marquis de Sade

Nature has not got two voices, you know, one of them condemning all day what the other commands.
Marquis de Sade

Nature, who for the perfect maintenance of the laws of her general equilibrium, has sometimes need of vices and sometimes of virtues, inspires now this impulse, now that one, in accordance with what she requires.
Marquis de Sade

Never lose sight of the fact that all human felicity lies in man's imagination, and that he cannot think to attain it unless he heeds all his caprices. The most fortunate of persons is he who has the most means to satisfy his vagaries.
Marquis de Sade

No lover, if he be of good faith, and sincere, will deny he would prefer to see his mistress dead than unfaithful.
Marquis de Sade

A reminder The Hormones by Marguerita A View from Inside

Of TEMPO,Time,Spent,Wasted,Thoughts in Search of Love, my Husband calls Convenience ?

drawing by marguerita

Sitting here alone, a curious flashback crosses my mind.TEMPO, an exhibit that was taking place in Rome ,years ago, when I had a chance to visit.I had missed my original destination,which was to see Hadrian's gardens in Tivoli.The day we got there was raining and my younger son,Jacob was cranky and crying.

The books that Marguerite Yourcenar wrote,I still may have, and not ever finished reading.Hadrian's Villa remains in Tivoli and in the book pages I keep looking at,on and off.

TEMPO,the exhibit I did not see,but I still remember the flavor of the coffee at the restaurant near the hotel we were staying.

TEMPO,that word devours me.

Of Things I Learned the Other Day,Cell Phone Blues,Intimacy,Libido and That a Man Should Be Like a Comfortable Shoe: One You Can Wear Every Day

drawing collage by marguerita

You Will Enjoy Razor Sharp Spiritual Vision Today

drawing collage by marguerita

El cerebro de Woody Allen permanece sin sombra de esclerosis, tan afilado y potente como siempre. También su comprensión de todos los anhelos, miedos, miserias, engaños y grandezas de la condición humana.

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Woody/Allen/divierte/Mike/Leigh/conmueve/elpepicul/20100516elpepicul_2/Tes

Of Husbands,Dazzle,Chimpanzees,Life and Real World,oops

drawings by marguerita

He tactfully waits until the third paragraph — journalists

call this

“burying the lead” —

to deliver the most devastating blow yet to

human self-esteem.

After noting that chimpanzees’ “tool kits”

are now known to include 20 items, Dr. McGrew casually

mentions that they’re used for “various functions in daily life,

including subsistence, sociality,

sex, and self-maintenance.”

Sex?

Chimpanzees have tools for sex? No way. If ever there was

an intrinsically human behavior, it had to be the manufacture

of sex toys.

Considering all that evolution had done to make sex second

nature, or maybe first nature, I would have expected creatures

without access to the Internet to leave well enough alone.http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/science/04tier.html?src=me&ref=general

Note:The Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), also known as the Robust Chimpanzee, is a great ape. The nametroglodytes, Greek for 'cave-dweller', was coined by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach in his Handbuch der Naturgeschichte(Handbook of Natural History) published in 1779. Colloquially, it is often called the chimpanzee (or simply 'chimp'), though technically this term refers to both species in the genus Pan: the Common Chimpanzee and the closely-related Bonobo, or Pygmy Chimpanzee. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing show that the Chimpanzee is the closest living relative to modern human beings.

, "How ya doin'?,"and Life is a Circle,of Home,Real World

pastel by marguerita

(original previously used for Ariel Dorfman's book cover in 1985,published by Viking.)

The eyes of my Husband and my feelings for my Husband)

So, Tuesday I had to go to Court.

AGAIN.

My landlord, a very good man, I really put myself in his shoes,lost his patience.Our rent is in default since last September.

My husband , decided to leave me ,out in the blue.or rather in the dark.

He decided Rambo style, that he the whinging dude,

here in his own words in an e-mail to me:

"Stay out of my way or no possibility for us.

I NEED my own self.

Destructive or not. My choice.

If not live your life alone.

I do miss you but will not continue this way.

And the shit about my family, aquaintances, friend?? Real or

kiss/kiss. My world, my choice my way or the highway!!!!

I will stay away."I am working on getting business and it looks promising. Within

several months I will have $ again.

You will not be homeless. But you

have to understand my perspective and being away for now. But I know

you will not understand so????

???????? Says me.

Thus here I stand , after 25 years devoting myself to him,my

HUSBAND,and our sons ,

like a discarded Coca Cola can.

As much as my Husband drove me mad, as he would not respond to my cries for affection, tenderness, or care for me,to spend time with me,I loved the man.He was and is bad to me. I wonder many times,why in hell I give him my heart and soul,and he takes it all for granted.My Sin.Mea Culpa.

In an odd way he become my muse.I draw him,paint him,like Pierre Bonnard painted his wife, or Degas and many artists, take photos of him make collages, since the day I met him.

He has an irregular body, fleshy ,and maybe I as an artist, I see ,what others cannot.

I am also very forgiving.

His imperfections somehow inspired me.No,I am not a masochist.

Never was.

Maybe Love is really Blind.

In Court,the play takes an incredible turn.At one point, I

had lost it with the landlords lawyer ,who was aggressive and intimidating me. He was telling me that the "Marshall was coming and putting me in the street!"

My Husband standing there like a stranger.A Madame Tussaud character.

I screamed at the lawyer , I yelled : my parents were Holocaust survivors.

It flashed out from me ,jetted out from the pain and fear I feel.

An the incredible moment.

The lawyer froze and cracked up. He tells me that his mother was an Auchwitz survivor,still alive, his father not alive was in Mathausen. so he said," We are brothers my mother and yours both in Auschwitz!

I must help you. How can I go against you,even that my client is your landlord.I understand you.Nobody here ,more than I."

The andlord was always good to me. of course he was in his own right going mad for being ignored by my Husband,rand banging on the door. I always liked him,

He himself told the judge that he likes me as a tenant. the problem was the unpaid rent.

I on my own, for a long period of time have not had an income,besides that in truth my priorities were my family,the only one I thought and believed I have.

My landlord, himself,

only wishes my Husband to behave as a good Husband, take care of me.After all, I have no family alive,and my Husband ,my Husband should be there for me.

Despite the fact,that my Husband should be my friend,companion,lover ,provider and mostly a supporter to share Life together, I on my own ,am looking to continue on my path, with my creative capacities.

In the meantime, I am here a la Waiting for Godot.....my Home Sweet Home, oh yeah....

The rent is still not paid.

There is another Court date,on May 4th.

from Waiting for Godot:ESTRAGON:

(feebly). Help me!

VLADIMIR:

It hurts?

ESTRAGON:

(angrily). Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!

VLADIMIR:

(angrily). No one ever suffers but you. I don't count. I'd like to hear what you'd say if you had what I have.

ESTRAGON:

It hurts?

VLADIMIR:

(angrily). Hurts! He wants to know if it hurts!

ESTRAGON:

(pointing). You might button it all the same.

VLADIMIR:

(stooping). True. (He buttons his fly.) Never neglect the little things of life.

ESTRAGON:

What do you expect, you always wait till the last moment.

I am sure a door will open,

as I, already passed through the Gates of Hell,ha!

Amen.

Love is a Wonderful Thing,Not a Gadget, Not a Toy

drawing by marguerita

You don't remember me,
but I remember you 't was not so long ago,
you broke my heart in two
Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart, caused by you, you
If we could start anew, I wouldn't hesitate
I'd gladly take you back, and tempt the hands of fate
Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart,
caused by you, you, you, you, you
Love is not a gadget, love is not a toy
When you find the one you love, he'll fill your heart with joy
If we could start anew, I wouldn't hesitate
I'd gladly take you back, and tempt the hands of fate
Tears on my pillow, pain in my heart, caused by you, you
No, no no no now, no, no no (You...)

Lyrics by Little Anthony

Of Love,Darwin,Addiction and Emotions

artbox by marguerita and The Evolution of Happiness

http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?viewtype=side&itemID=F1142&pageseq=26

Q: What is your current thinking regarding the neural mechanisms underlying this flattened sensitivity to non-drug rewards?

A: Individuals with lesions to certain regions of their PFC, including the OFC, have difficulties in modifying behavior appropriately in response to altered reinforcement situations in their environment. Similarly, drug-addicted individuals also have PFC structural changes (e.g., reduced volumes), OFC and ACC functional changes (e.g., increased response when craving), and parallel behavioral changes (e.g., increased impulsivity). These findings led us to ask what role the OFC and ACC play in the drug-addicted individual’s ability to modify behavior based on the salience and value of a given reinforcer.

We think that drug addiction may be better understood as a disorder of neural regulation. Here’s why: even though the OFC and ACC are not sufficiently engaged in the processing of non-drug-related rewards, they are activated—in addicted individuals but not controls—in response to drug-related cues (e.g., words/pictures/videos of drug taking or pharmacologically similar drugs). Indeed, our preliminary fMRI results suggest that a possible communication breakdown between PFC sub-regions (OFC and dorsolateral PFC) may underlie the disrupted perception of motivational drive and the impaired control of behavior that characterized the drug-addicted individuals in our study.

Q: What does this work suggest in terms of clinical implications for treating drug addiction?

A: Consistent with the compulsive and chronically relapsing nature of drug addiction, our findings may help explain why efforts to control addiction through reinforcement can be compromised. It is possible that instead, efforts should be focused on devising new training and skill-development strategies and on supervised pharmacological interventions, all with the goal of decreasing the reinforcing effects of the drug, enhancing the relative value attributed to non-drug-related rewards, and increasing control of behavior.

Together, these approaches may enhance the ability to control drug-taking behavior even in situations when the desire for the drug exceeds that for other rewards.http://www.dana.org/news/publications/detail.aspx?id=6470

Among the different approaches for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of drug addiction, exploring the evolutionary basis of addiction would provide us with better understanding since evolution, personality, behavior and drug abuse are tightly interlinked. It is our duty as scientists to explore the evolutionary basis and origins of drug addiction so as to uncover the underlying causes rather than continuing to solely focus on the physiological signs and global activity of this epidemic. Too often the treatment of addiction simply works to alleviate the symptoms of addiction, dealing with overcoming the physiological dependence and working through withdrawal symptoms as the body readjusts to a non-dependent state of homeostasis. However, we must not only concentrate on this aspect of addiction when considering global treatments and preventative programs. We must take into consideration that it is not purely the physiology of addiction we are battling.

Drug addiction is thought of as an adjunctive behavior, or a subordinate behavior catalyzed by deeper, more significant psychological and biological stimuli. It is not just a pharmacological reaction to a chemical but a mode of compensation for a decrease in Darwinian fitness . There are three main components involved in substance addiction: developmental attachment, pharmacological mechanism, and social phylogeny including social inequality, dominance, and social dependence . Developmental attachment created by environmental influences, such as parental care or lack thereof, may influence children's vulnerability to drug addiction. Evolutionarily speaking, children that receive care that is more erratic may focus more so on short-term risks that may have proved to be an adaptive quality for survival in ancient environments. Compounding that attachment, the pharmacological mechanism describes the concept of biological adaptation of the mesolimbic dopamine system to endogenous substance intake. These factors combined with the influence of social phylogeny create a position for predisposition to drug addiction. They attribute to the common belief that many substances of abuse have great powers to heal, and that is often the driving motivation for overuse and addiction. Evolutionary perspective shows an intermediate and fleeting expected gain associated with drug addiction correlated with the conservation in most mammals of archaic neural circuitry , most often being a falsified sense of increased fitness and viability related to the three components of drug abuse [5,8]. The chemical changes associated with fitness and viability are perceived by mammals as emotions, driving human behavior.

Human behavior is mediated primarily by dopaminergic and serotonergic systems, both of ancient origins probably evolving before the phylogenetic splits of vertebrates and invertebrates . 5-HT (serotonin), stimulated by a small range of drugs, mediates arousal. It is believed to be inhibited by hallucinogens and also helps control wanting for ethanol and cocaine consumption. The cortico-mesolimbic dopaminergic system, on the other hand, is believed to be the target of a wide range of drugs, including marijuana and cocaine, increasing the transmission of dopamine to the nucleus accumbens . This system mediates emotion and controls reinforcement, and is the primary pathway acted on by antipsychotic drugs such as chlorprothixene and thioridazine. Problematic use of drugs develops into addiction as the brain becomes dependent on the chemical neural homeostatic circuitry altered by the drug [7]. No matter the theory of drug addiction, there remains one constant: withdrawal is inevitable. As a drug is administered continuously and an individual becomes addicted, the brain becomes dependent on the presence of the drug. With an absence of the drug, withdrawal symptoms are experienced as the brain attempts to deal with the chemical changes. There are believed to be evolutionary origins of drug addiction, which will be discussed further, as well as a link between physiological addiction and the evolution of emotion.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1174878/

Food for Thought: Roti du Porc au Lait

drawing by marguerita

Rub the pork with salt and pepper.

Act XXV

Apigollo- You got it the wrong way!

How it is easy to get you so raged....

Daisy- Ooooooooh

Apigollo -You do not understand what I am saying !

Daisy - I attended an extraordinary vinegar tasting today.

Even on a cold blistery day an eventful evening .At last I was courted

by few interesting gentlemen,while also putting on my horny lips some green Sicilian olives. Wished you were there,but hell,you cannot understand.......

"Qu'il soit farci ou non, le cochon de lait est toujours rôti entier; le point essentiel est de conduire la cuisson de façon à ce qu'elle soit au point lorsque la peau est devenue croustillante et dorée. La durée de la cuisson varie entre une heure et demie et 2 heures pour un cochon de lait de poids moyen. S'il est farci, ce temps est augmenté d'un quart d'heure par livre de farce. Il doit être arrosé de préférence avec de l'huile pendant sa cuisson; cet élément permettant d'obtenir la peau plus croustillante que par l'emploi de tout autre corps gras. En même temps que la pièce, on sert toujours une saucière de bon Jus."

Auguste Escoffier- Le guide culinaire

http://chefsimon.com/cochon-de-lait.html

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/8052/1988/08/28/Roti-De-Porc-Au-Lait-Roast-Pork-With-Milk/recipe.html

l

Passion for Living: Eu So Quero um Xodó

drawing/photos/collage by marguerita..... portraits in blue

Gilberto Gil

Composição: Anastácia / Dominguinhos

Que falta eu sinto de um bem
Que falta me faz um xodó
Mas como eu não tenho ninguém
Eu levo a vida assim tão só...

Eu só quero um amor
Que acabe o meu sofrer
Um xodó prá mim
Do meu jeito assim
Que alegre o meu viver...

Preachers stood atop boxes and gave impromptu sermons, reassuring their listeners in the dark: “It seems like the Good Lord is hiding, but he’s here. He’s always here.”http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/14/opinion/14bhatia.html?ref=globalhttp://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/video/2010/01/14/dans-la-rue-des-haitiens-desempares_1291899_3222.html#ens_id=1290927