Oooh, I like this pretty Hummingbird pastel by Rosalyn M. King.  

Anyone else feeling like a snarky old ram this fine Monday?  

Grrr… worry about your own business.  

Hehe, this guy sure looks like Chaska’s Ram!  

Excerpt: “A pivotal theme in Silverblatt’s book is the dualistic nature of the Andean universe. She builds upon the received view that the Andean people divided their world into two complementary, gender-linked spheres. Silverblatt argues that gender was a metaphor for structuring social relations, and that social reproduction was possible only when the male and female spheres united. Each sphere was essentially a mirror image of the other, as illustrated by the bilateral system of descent and parallel transmission of inheritance. Gender parallelism resulted in strong gender and kin ties which allowed members to depend on same-sex relatives for their existence. In general, females were linked with the “forces of fertility” while males were coupled with the “implements of force” (Silverblatt 1978:46), but these divisions were relativistic, flexible and context specific. Sometimes tasks overlapped, the linkages were inverted, or males were symbolically females and vice versa (Zuidema 1990).”

“Hey, we heard about the Jim Henson invite.  Can we get a part in this play too?!”

A little Condor silliness… ah, the internet.

“Who?  Moi???” — Miss Piggy is certainly not A Girl Without Wings!  

We are over the moon to announce that The Jim Henson Foundation has selected Dramatic Adventure Theatre from a highly competitive group of artists to submit a full Family Grant proposal for our production of Jason Williamson’s poetic puppet play, A Girl Without Wings.  We are very excited about this opportunity and to start puppet construction this summer!  

Let’s hear it for ram! (…who refused to pose for this photo and offered no comment when asked about his part in this play.)

The image caption read “condor and handler.” I’m not sure you can call that guy a handler—the condor could definitely fly away with him! These birds deserve endless respect.

Some Days I feel like I’m the puppet and the birds are pulling the strings.  This play certainly has a mind of its own!

The Andean song “Oh Mighty Condor” appears in this play—sung in Quechua! Originally sans lyrics, this song dates back to the 1700’s.  Below are Quechua lyrics that were added later (and their English translation). Since then, Simon and Garfunkel used the music for their song, “El Condor Pasa,” with totally new lyrics.

Yau kuntur llaqtay orgopy tiyaq
Maymantam gawamuhuakchianqui,
kuntur kuntur

Apayllahuay llaqtanchikman,
wasinchikman chay chiri orgupy,
Kutiytam munany
kuntur kuntur.

Oh mighty Condor
owner of the skies, take me home,
up into the Andes. Oh mighty Condor.

I want to go back to my native place
to be with my Inca brothers,
that’s what I miss the most,
Oh mighty Condor.

Wait for me in Cusco, in the main plaza,
so we can take a walk
in Machu-picchu and Huayna-picchu