Nina Simone
October 30, 1969Photographs by Jack Robinson
Fonseca del Sur: The Application ↘
If I could bring myself to be honest
with my prospective employers,
I would attach a dollar to my skinny
resume with a Post-It note, reading:
Thank you for considering me for
this position, even
though I have no intention
of staying with your company; But
for the time being, I happily will…
Poto and Cabengo are identical twins (real names Grace and Virginia Kennedy, respectively), who used a language unknown to other people until the age of about eight. Poto and Cabengo is also the name of a documentary film about the girls made by Jean-Pierre Gorin and released in 1979.
They were apparently of normal intelligence. They developed their own communication because they had little exposure to spoken language in their early years. Poto and Cabengo were the names they called each other.
Cryptophasia is a peculiar phenomenon of a language developed by twins (identical or fraternal) that only the two children can understand, it includes mirrored actions like twin-walk and identical mannerisms. Little is known about cryptophasia. Once thought to be a rare phenomenon, it is now understood that it is far more common – possibly occurring in up to 40% of twins. These autonomous languages are unintelligible to others and can only be understood by the other twin. Though cryptophasia is common, the unique language the twins invent soon disappears as they age. It does not appear the children are inventing their own language, though they do create their own words. It appears they incorrectly model the fragmented exposure to adult language, utilizing the limited and constrained phonological possibilities of young children. These words being hardly recognizable, the language may turn out to be completely unintelligible to speakers of the model languages. (Via)
![bill—maplewood:
David Vetter suffered from a rare genetic disease now known as severe combined immune deficiency syndrome. Forced to live in a sterile environment, he became popular with the media as the boy in the plastic bubble. Although the press created an image of a healthy young boy trapped in a bubble, David was psychologically unstable, primarily due to the lack of human contact, and the seeming hopelessness of his condition. Normally presenting a painstakingly polite façade, he was increasingly angry and depressed about his condition and would act out, expressing rage in a variety of ways, including once spreading his own excrement around the bubble. David was also extremely anxious about germs, including repeated nightmares about the “King of Germs.”
Three years later, at the advice of the original trio of doctors who had encouraged them to have David in the first place, David’s parents decided to allow his medical team to perform an unmatched bone marrow transplant, with marrow donated by his sister Katherine. The transplant operation went well, and for a few months hope was high that David would be able to leave the bubble. However, a few months after the operation, David became sick for the first time in his life; he started having diarrhea, fever, and severe vomiting from intestinal bleeding. These symptoms were so severe that David had to be taken out of the bubble for treatment. David had always wanted to try Coca-Cola, after seeing it in many commercials and hearing about it from other children, but the sterilization process required to insert it into the bubble ruined the taste. After he exited the bubble, he requested a Coke. His mother said “[i]t was one of the first things he asked for when he was taken out of his bubble before he died. But the doctors decided he shouldn’t have one in his frail condition.”](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu2omilAen1qdj4d8o1_1280.jpg)
David Vetter suffered from a rare genetic disease now known as severe combined immune deficiency syndrome. Forced to live in a sterile environment, he became popular with the media as the boy in the plastic bubble. Although the press created an image of a healthy young boy trapped in a bubble, David was psychologically unstable, primarily due to the lack of human contact, and the seeming hopelessness of his condition. Normally presenting a painstakingly polite façade, he was increasingly angry and depressed about his condition and would act out, expressing rage in a variety of ways, including once spreading his own excrement around the bubble. David was also extremely anxious about germs, including repeated nightmares about the “King of Germs.”
Three years later, at the advice of the original trio of doctors who had encouraged them to have David in the first place, David’s parents decided to allow his medical team to perform an unmatched bone marrow transplant, with marrow donated by his sister Katherine. The transplant operation went well, and for a few months hope was high that David would be able to leave the bubble. However, a few months after the operation, David became sick for the first time in his life; he started having diarrhea, fever, and severe vomiting from intestinal bleeding. These symptoms were so severe that David had to be taken out of the bubble for treatment. David had always wanted to try Coca-Cola, after seeing it in many commercials and hearing about it from other children, but the sterilization process required to insert it into the bubble ruined the taste. After he exited the bubble, he requested a Coke. His mother said “[i]t was one of the first things he asked for when he was taken out of his bubble before he died. But the doctors decided he shouldn’t have one in his frail condition.”
The incestuous photography of Leigh Ledare.
In his project Pretend You’re Actually Alive, the New York photographer Leigh Ledare celebrates love despite all taboos. Every shot of his punctures prejudice, destroys the conservative illusion of “a normal family,” and reveals the intimate sensuality, those special relations Leigh has with his own mother, the red-haired ballet, and strip dancer Tina Peterson.
Her room smells like perfume. Mom’s lying on her bed, running her fingers through her hair. A breeze is coming in from the curtains. Sinking back in my chair I watch her. I can see the side of one of her breasts through the slit in her robe but I try not to look too hard. Suddenly she pushes herself up. “I’m gonna take a shower to cool down,” she says. She stands up and lets the pink robe slip off her shoulder and fall around her ankles.
She walks to the bathroom off her room and starts the shower. Bending over slowly she tests the water with her hand and I can see the dusky color of her ass. Through the frosted glass shower door I watch her get her hair wet and wash herself.
When the water stops I pretend to be asleep. I hear the shower door shut behind her. My eyes are open just a slit but I see her walk straight back into the room and lie on the bed. She is entirely naked. Her hair is wet and her legs are stretched out and covered with droplets. Her eyes are closed but I can tell she knows I’m watching her. Her nipples are hard. The mound of red hair at her crotch is starting to dry and get fluffy. A few minutes later she stretches and lets out a sigh. “I thought it would feel nice to airdry,” she says.
(Via)
Franz Reichelt attempted to use this contraption as a parachute. Reichelt died after he jumped off the Eiffel Tower wearing his invention, which failed to operate properly as a parachute. Despite attempts by his friends and spectators to dissuade him, he jumped from the first platform of the tower wearing his invention. The parachute failed to deploy and he crashed into the icy ground at the foot of the tower. Although it was clear that the fall had killed him, he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was officially pronounced dead. The next day, newspapers were full of the story of the reckless inventor and his fatal jump – many included pictures of the fall taken by press photographers who had gathered to witness Reichelt’s experiment – and a film documenting the jump appeared in newsreels.
Reichelt’s preparations and fall were captured on film by cinematographers who had turned up to record his experiment. The film also included scenes of the body being removed and the measurement of the hollow created by Reichelt’s impact. (The film.)
(Via)
