Swimming into the Sunset

<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The Main Blurb</b></div><div class="MsoNormal">Since today was the final day of swimming, I’m going to bid a fond adieu to the USA Swim Team. Remember earlier in this week? I was frustrated that we didn’t seem to be doing anything and making much progress in the medal standings. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I can gladly say that they finished kind of how Michael Phelps did: they finished very strong. New stars like Katie Ledecky, Allison Schmitt, Matt Grevers, and Nathan Adrian came through in the clutch, promising that World Championships and Olympics to come would be in good hands. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Ryan Lochte came into this Games with a lot of expectations. He started with gold, but then kind of petered out at the end. Casual observers may remember Lochte more for his mother’s “one-night stand” blunder or his statement that he peed in the Olympic pool during events than his 400IM gold. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Phelps, on the other hand, missed the medal stand in his first final last Saturday, but didn’t miss the podium after that. He finally got some silver medals (4x100 relay, 200 butterfly) and four more golds (200IM, 100 butterfly, 4x200 relay, 4x100 medley). I am more impressed with his week than Lochte’s. As a fan of Phelps since 2004, I guess that’s understandable.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">But I need to give mad props to the ladies of the swim team. Missy Franklin, Ledecky, Dana Vollmer, Rebecca Soni, and Allison Schmitt all went away with individual golds in their specialties. Others – Natalie Coughlin, Elizabeth Beisel, and Jessica Hardy – helped gain more medals for the ladies. Then the 4x100 medley team came out, and it looked like Murders’ Row: Franklin, Soni, Vollmer, and Schmitt. There was no question that they would come away with gold – with a world record, no less! It was more of a sure-thing than the men’s medley relay!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">It is time to say goodbye to a few names that I have grown familiar with as I have watched swimming in the past eight years – some from the States, and some from rival countries: Michael Phelps, Brendan Hansen, Kosuke Kitajima, Laslo Czeh (who probably deserves a lot of gold medals for just dealing with Phelps for eight years), and my favorite swimmer to hate, Milorad Cavic. Farewell, guys. You made it fun to watch swimming!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Mini Blurbs</b><br />DID YOU KNOW? The song that NBC opens their Olympic coverage with - you know, "Bum! BUM! Ba-bum bum bum bum! Bum bumbumbum, bumbum bum bu-da-dum bum bum!"<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>was written in by Frenchman Leo Arnaud way back in 1958. ABC used it when they had the Olympics coverage starting in 1968, and then NBC took it. It's actually called "Bugler's Dream."<br /><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Watching Sun Yang’s bio about him and his Australian coach Denis Cotterell, I could see that being a quirky sports movie. Beach bum Cotterell and stiff upper lip Sun? I’d probably go see that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(And did you see the underwater camera? His legs never move – I’ve never seen freestyle swimming like that!)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I wonder if Morgan Freeman was as happy that Michael Phelps kept getting medals. Can you imagine his cell phone going off after every win? “Hey Morgan – you have to dub that Visa commercial again. Michael got another gold.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Where in the Olympics was Kobe Bryant? Well, he almost lost to Lithuania in basketball pool play, but then he appeared at the pool to help send Michael Phelps off with his giant silver trophy.  </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Ever heard of Keirin? It’s part of track cycling. Six racers start together, but are forced to follow a guy on a motorcycle for a bunch of laps before they are allowed to go full speed. That would be like having the Zamboni lead the short track speed skaters for half of the race. Which also helps me make my claim that track cycling is the speed skating of the Summer Games.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I LOVE the overhead camera for the track races. Such a different point of view!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Yesterday and today in the morning featured preliminary heats for the 100-meter dash. No, not the first heat, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">preliminary</i> heat before the first heat. Pretty much countries that don’t have a strong sprint team and don’t have a runner who has accomplished the A- or B-standards for the Olympics can enter in the preliminary heat. The top three runners get to be in the heats later in the day. There were women from Middle Eastern countries and men from the smallest Pacific islands competing, and I almost think that those heats were more interesting to watch than the heats and semifinals!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I think the trampoline gymnast from the US had a cooler-looking singlet than the regular gymnasts. By the way, apparently trampoline gymnastics are the most competitive in China and…Canada? A Canadian took gold in the women’s trampoline event today. Yesterday it was a Chinese man named Dong Dong! I am not even kidding here.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I think I may know the answer already, but it’s nice to put it out there: In the 400 medley relay they start with the backstrokers because the handoff is a lot easier that way. So why doesn’t the individual medley start with the backstroke? Because most IM-ers wouldn’t know how to start off the blocks and in the water? That’s my guess.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Jessica Ennis has abs of steel. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">I got to watch Serena Williams absolutely annihilate Maria Sharapova this morning. I’ve never seen a woman so giddy about winning a gold medal!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">The 10,000 meters was incredibly exciting this afternoon – I hope you were able to watch it. American Galen Rupp and his training teammate, Mo Farah of Great Britain, went 2-1 in that event. The field was so bunched for most of the race, I was thinking there would be a trip-up and fourteen runners would fall over. But they’re better than that. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">BOOM! As soon as I put out a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Czech Republic Gold Medal Watch, </b>they go out and win one! Miroslava Knapkova won women’s single sculls in rowing today. Congrats! Let’s win some more golds!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal">Today’s roundup: diving, tennis, trampoline gymnastics, volleyball, track, beach volleyball, rowing, long jump, heptathlon, water polo, soccer (I watched South Korea beat Great Britain in a shootout!), boxing, swimming of all kinds, and running of all kinds. </div>

Swimming into the Sunset

The Main BlurbSince today was the final day of swimming, I’m going to bid a fond adieu to the USA Swim Team. Remember earlier in this week? I was frustrated that we didn’t seem to be doing anything and making much progress in the medal standings. I c…

Read more »

WAHHABISM IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - Part 4

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-un2_Dfjo-nCRteA8FX7EbH5q_zpmuT7jYqWTUmc8I3K6WJ7Z6Y2E22PAciSjwO4xY1Z0OivfyyyuvZ1E984J4rRHNF6Yx-IVfGmo_1h-04FkWA9A60mDXQQeom9ZybpK-OHuWJToZEMA/s1600/bosnia-and_herzegovina_on_map_of_europe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-un2_Dfjo-nCRteA8FX7EbH5q_zpmuT7jYqWTUmc8I3K6WJ7Z6Y2E22PAciSjwO4xY1Z0OivfyyyuvZ1E984J4rRHNF6Yx-IVfGmo_1h-04FkWA9A60mDXQQeom9ZybpK-OHuWJToZEMA/s320/bosnia-and_herzegovina_on_map_of_europe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: red; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WAHHABISM AT THE DOORSTEPS OF EUROPE</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Topics:</span></b></span></div><ul style="color: blue;" type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Wahhabism versus Islamic community?</span></b></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Recruiting tactics in BIH</span></b></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Recruitment of BOSNIAK Diaspora</span></b></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BOSNIAK’S youth increasingly choose to study in Muslim countries rather than EUROPEAN countries </span></b></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Sandžak region, not only the gateway for BALKANS organized crime syndicates, but also for spreading Wahhbism to Europe?</span></b></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span lang="ES-AR" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; mso-ansi-language: ES-AR; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Juan Carlos Antúnez</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">After the reported closure of the AIO, Muhamed Porča, has appointed himself as the leader of the emergent Islamic Youth in Europe, an organization or movement that has appeared as a parallel of the AIO that insists on being point of reference for all the Bosniaks which no one should digress. In BIH Porča is using Selam organization to take the control over those Salafis that are not maintaining contacts with the BIH Islamic Community. These Salafi communities, such as those in the area of Bihać, Maoca and Bocinja, have decided to isolate themselves from official mesdžids and tears apart of the BIH Islamic community , embracing the concept of hijra, or emigration, to be a part of the jahilia, the corruption, the dark period before Muhammad spread their message.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Safet Kuduzović is considered to be one of the Missionary Salafi / Wahhabi leaders in BIH. Kuduzović is a graduate of the Islamic University in JORDAN, with a Masters degree, and a former Imam of the BOSNIAN Salafi Kewser Džemat (Muslim religious congregation) in Linz, AUSTRIA. Kuduzović is a well-known and active figure in BOSNIAN Salafi circles. It is possible he currently resides in BIH. Kuduzović actively cooperates with the Studio-din portal (www.studio-din.com), Salafi / Wahhabi missionary portal, and advices it on its political and religious direction.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In its 1 June 2007 edition, ‘SAFF’ magazine reported that after the death of Jusuf Barčić, a majority of members of his group had chosen Nusret Imamović to be their new leader. ‘Saff’ reported that Imamović was well known as a religious leader and primary school teacher in the village of Gornja Maoca. For more background information see:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Islamic_Youth">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_Islamic_Youth</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8493855.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8493855.stm</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://occidentallibertas.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/police-action-in-gornja-maoca/">http://occidentallibertas.wordpress.com/2012/01/29/police-action-in-gornja-maoca/</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://serbianna.com/blogs/michaletos/archives/750">http://serbianna.com/blogs/michaletos/archives/750</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nusret Imamović is a prominent Salafi / Wahhabi cleric originating from Kalesija. Imamović’s reporting started in 2002, when Barčić was imprisoned, Imamović had taken over the leadership over his network.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Major media attention has been drawn to an important inter-ethnic incident that occurred on 15 July 2006, in the Bukvik settlement near Brčko, when some 10 persons, known to belong to a Wahhabi group, clashed with three Bosnian Serbs. One Bosnian Serb, Mihajlo Kisić, was seriously injured and allegedly gunshots were fired too. The Brčko District (BD) Police started an investigation, and six Salafis / Wahhabis were detained by the Tuzla Police. BD Police increased the security around the detention centre as it was close to Gornja Maoca. A few days after the incident, the local police detained Imamović. He is known to have contacts with Nedžad Balkan, who was arrested together with Imamović, after the Bukvik incident. Imamović is close to Vienna-based Wahhabi cleric, Muhamed Porča. Imamović is one of the few Bosnian Salafis / Wahhabis who has publicly refused any kind of collaboration with the BIH Islamic Community. He is linked to the ‘Selam’ organization.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">WAHHABISM VERSUS ISLAMIC COMMUNITY?</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A mainstream Islamic biweekly ‘Preporod’, published by the Islamic Community of BIH, in its 15 March 2007 issue featured an editorial by the Editor in Chief, Aziz Kadribegović, entitled ‘Destruction of the Islamic Community as a Long Term Goal’, in which the author claimed that Bosnian Salafists were contemplating a new strategy for their mid-term activity. Kadribegović wrote that ‘Preporod’ had learned that one of the Salafi authorities in the Diaspora, a JORDANIAN student with a Masters degree mentioned as ‘S.K’ (probably Safet Kuduzović), having grasped the seriousness of the situation in which his companions could find themselves, and having realized that ‘the sand that until yesterday appeared as mortar has started to crumbled’, had held a meeting with a group of ‘the most mature Salafi / Wahhabi Da’ias or missionaries’. At this meeting, he presented them with the basic elements of a new strategy for the Salafi / Wahhabi movement, which the editorial called ‘the Organization’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">According to ‘Preporod’, the leader of the meeting stressed that:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">‘The Organization’s activity in the EU countries must remain a strategic interest, because the BIH Islamic Community was weaker abroad than in BIH, which created a manoeuvring space for the Organization’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">He told meeting participants that the strong ‘Organization’ outside BIH could:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">‘Financially assist ‘the brothers’ in BIH, and act as a powerful platform for a more aggressive approach in BIH’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RECRUITING TACTICS IN BIH</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The editorial also commented that the leader highlighted the importance of a new generation of missionaries graduating from Middle Eastern Islamic universities, who would be returning to BIH shortly. ‘These missionaries are better educated than the BIH Islamic Community missionaries, more eloquent, and, most importantly, fully committed to their work and ideas. In time, they will overwhelm the BIH Islamic Community and take full control of the Muslims in BIH’.</span></b></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_N5c2D9vTQ5kSZ2et01v4zVv9s8h1tJN4FsBIy6E0usoLX9bY964qXZdd5LilGplQl4z_QaOdN7iqVsYryzpLmMoWFfsXvyGLVCodptbeRUM7eSqUZebN9xRj0W6D8ujgHk_ZQnuciw5/s1600/img_0991.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6_N5c2D9vTQ5kSZ2et01v4zVv9s8h1tJN4FsBIy6E0usoLX9bY964qXZdd5LilGplQl4z_QaOdN7iqVsYryzpLmMoWFfsXvyGLVCodptbeRUM7eSqUZebN9xRj0W6D8ujgHk_ZQnuciw5/s320/img_0991.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saudi funded Mosque in Sarajevo</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">At the meeting, <b>the importance of avoiding future incidents was also highlighted. As ‘Preporod’ wrote, he advised that ‘brothers’ at all times ‘give the impression that they are normal citizens in BIH and in the EU countries in which they reside’</b>. ‘With this goal in sight, we must bury immediately the hatchet with the Rijaset, BIH Islamic Community executive office, and the representatives in BIH and abroad’. Jusuf Barčić was not mentioned at the meeting, which led Kadribegović to conclude that Barčić was probably ‘a lone shooter’ and not a member of ‘the Organization’. However, ‘some brothers from Sandžak’ were mentioned in this context at the meeting. According to the editorial, it was proposed that those ‘who cannot be controlled’ first be ‘isolated’ by ‘the Organization’ and, if this did not work out, then to ‘denounce them’ openly in Islamic papers such as ‘Saff’ (an Islamic youth magazine reflecting of Salafist, favouring some sort of cooperation with BIH Islamic Community) and ‘Al Asr’ (Islamic Salafi / Wahhabi bi-monthly, published by the BOSNIAN Salafi ‘Hidžra’ Džemat (BOSNIAN version of the Arabic word Jama'at) in HOLLAND, more theological in nature).</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">As for the group’s attitude towards Muslims sentenced on terrorism charges, the participants of the meeting have reportedly agreed that ‘brothers’ should be advised ‘not to embark on similar undertakings’ in the future, in view of the stiff sentences envisioned for these acts. However, the meeting decided against a public distancing from individuals charged with terrorism. Terrorism verdicts ‘should be ignored’ and ‘there should be no public reaction to them’.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">RECRUITMENT OF BOSNIAK DIASPORA</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Assumptions taken in the previous chapters of this paper support the above information and give credibility to the ‘Preporod’ article. Salafi / Wahhabi future strategy may be summarized as:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Recruitment of Bosniak Diaspora. This recruitment is especially easy and profitable for ‘the Organization’ because:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">A. the BIH Islamic Community is weaker abroad.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">B. the BOSNIAN ‘converted’ Muslims are a healthy financial source.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">C. Converted Muslims abroad are able to spread Salafism / Wahhabism in their close circle when they come back to BIH.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Well trained Salafi / Wahhabi scholars will argue with those who are less prepared within the BIH Islamic Community. In 2003, there were about a hundred BOSNIAN students of Islam in different Middle East countries. Although many of them would easily find their place in the BIH Islamic Community upon return to the country, some of these students could adopt Salafi / Wahhabi ideas. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">BOSNIAK’S YOUTH INCREASINGLY CHOOSE TO STUDY IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES RATHER THAN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES </span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">In 2010 the number of BOSNIAK students studying in different Middle Eastern and Far East Muslim countries has increased significantly. In the not too distant past, BOSNIAK families used to send their children to study in EUROPE. As the EU visa regime became more restrictive and the economic situation for many BOSNIAK families deteriorated, they increasingly opted to send their children to Muslim countries, such as MALAYSIA, TURKEY, JORDAN, EGYPT and of course SAUDI ARABIA for studies, since these countries willingly provide scholarship as well as sponsorship programs for BOSNIAK students. Furthermore SAUDI ARABIA and also IRAN and TURKEY deliberately target BOSNIA’S education system by providing special loans for education projects etc. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Silent creation of a parallel Islamic religious structure, without publicly facing the official one but with the final goal of defeating it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Not to be directly linked to any kind of terrorist activity.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">ALTHOUGH ANY MISSIONARY ACTIVITY CANNOT BE SEEN AS A THREAT PER SE, THE RISK OF MISSIONARY ISLAM TO BIH SECURITY HAS TO BE ANALYZED FROM THREE PERSPECTIVES:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- To understand the meaning of this threat, it is necessary to pay attention to a concept very common amongst radical Islamic movements: The concept of ‘Takfir’ - the practice of declaring that an individual or a group, previously considered Muslims, are in fact Kafirs, or apostates. The sentence for apostasy under Sharia law, as traditionally interpreted, is execution. For this reason, orthodox Islamic law normally requires stringent evidence in support of such accusations. In many cases this requires an Islamic court of religious leaders to pronounce a Fatwa, or religious decree, of Taqfir on an individual or group. Also texts of scholars as Ibn Taymyyah and Abd Al Wahib recommended the ‘utmost restraint’ in Taqfir. However, certain extremist movements have been very ready to practice Taqfir, for which they have been condemned by mainstream Muslims. Modern groups, such as the Algerian GIA, take this practice to an extreme, and regard virtually all non-strictly orthodox Muslims as Kuffar, whose blood is legitimate to shed. Taqfir <b>might have taken root in some ‘groups of young Muslims in BIH’</b>. This position can be considered a threat, especially for the safety and security of Bosnian Muslims who do not agree with Salafi ideas and can be seen as ‘impious’ and be targeted by radical groups.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- <b>Members of the Salafi / Wahhabi movement may change their approach to Islamism</b> when its perceived that they are not going to attain their goal as a result of preaching and proselytizing, and so they may take a more radical and violent stance. The lack of a result by the Wahhabi mission and the religious attitude of the BOSNIAN Muslim mainstream, who wants to maintain the traditional local and moderate version of Islam, may hasten this process.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Salafi / Wahhabi groups are used to spot talent by Jihadi groups that find highly motivated and religiously convinced youngster.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Jihadi Salafism / Wahhabism</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Jihadism defends an armed struggle that has three main variants:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Internal: a Jihad against nominally Muslim regimes which the Jihadis hold to be ‘sinful’ and thus legitimate targets for insurrection.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Irredentist: the fight to redeem land considered to be a part of Dar Al Islam or Muslim territory, from non-Muslim rule or occupation.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">- Global: the Jihad against the West, particularly the US and their associates.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The three different strands of Jihadism can, and are, used in various combinations by the same Jihadist group simultaneously, according to their objectives.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: blue; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">SANDŽAK REGION, NOT ONLY THE GATEWAY FOR BALKANS ORGANIZED CRIME SYNDICATES, BUT ALSO FOR SPREADING WAHHBISM TO EUROPE?</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFe0FXrRtrU_h903VW7uOLW0DaNG9-xZMpZePDZHhQkfIxONovAD-om3NuTsItQB06uDU1jl14TDcVHFJP5WpMo42vhyphenhyphenw3nfMR6Y7gCsSkk-PEVcGutLX40CvIXRa3-OP45xV0lsVMt5fk/s1600/642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFe0FXrRtrU_h903VW7uOLW0DaNG9-xZMpZePDZHhQkfIxONovAD-om3NuTsItQB06uDU1jl14TDcVHFJP5WpMo42vhyphenhyphenw3nfMR6Y7gCsSkk-PEVcGutLX40CvIXRa3-OP45xV0lsVMt5fk/s320/642.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">No jihadi leaders have been reported in bih</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, although Nedžad Balkan, labeled as the leader of a Sandžak Jihadi group, maintains contacts with religious leaders in BIH. For further background information see: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand%C5%BEak">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand%C5%BEak</a>as well as <a href="http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/crime_omero.pdf">http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/crime_omero.pdf</a>(page 47), <a href="http://www.transconflict.com/about/where-we-work/the-balkans/sandzak/">http://www.transconflict.com/about/where-we-work/the-balkans/sandzak/</a>and</span> <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2667210/posts">http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2667210/posts</a><a href="http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/rel_exterm_vs_fried_beweg_05_radical_movements_moderate_balkan_islam_e_hecimovic_17.pdf">http://www.bmlv.gv.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/rel_exterm_vs_fried_beweg_05_radical_movements_moderate_balkan_islam_e_hecimovic_17.pdf</a></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_taGCAtMGlBvl6_7x9SmiB5y3blatlxx8KqPqSKIvVlv9L22eV5fKdbX-HWc6Q2f-ZSTVfs8ulOk8OlVIb1Ns44pvncvHx2YTKoaanGV8x88zSL5RZm8T3F8wa3kR5uNFDpKdTiAWXOhi/s1600/Pazar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_taGCAtMGlBvl6_7x9SmiB5y3blatlxx8KqPqSKIvVlv9L22eV5fKdbX-HWc6Q2f-ZSTVfs8ulOk8OlVIb1Ns44pvncvHx2YTKoaanGV8x88zSL5RZm8T3F8wa3kR5uNFDpKdTiAWXOhi/s400/Pazar.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Nedžad Balkan, also known as Abu Muhammad, who was born in Vienna AUSTRIA, is a BIH citizen of Sandžak origin. He studied at the Islamic University in Medina, SAUDI ARABIA, but he left without graduating, reportedly disappointed with the SAUDI political regime. Upon his return, he stayed in AUSTRIA, where he preached at the ‘Al-Tawhid’ Mosque. He left the mosque due to disagreement with Muhamed Porča and other members of the congregation. Nedžad Balkan led the ‘Sahaba’ Mosque in Vienna’s 7th County. In 2005, Balkan was placed under observation of the AUSTRIAN Police, for condoning the London bombings and for making extremist statements for the AUSTRIAN press<b>. According to ‘SAFF’ magazine, Balkan is considered to be the ‘highest religious authority’ of the Jihadi group Kelimetul-Haqq and of young extremists in Sandžak. </b><span style="color: blue;">www.kelimatulhaqq.co.nr</span><b>, the website of the group Kelimetul-Haqq (Words of the Truth, Right Words) is the first openly Jihadi Bosniak website, actively promoting the concept of holy war and disseminating Jihadi videos and lectures.</b> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">However, its radical message appears to have little support outside its base in the Sandžak region. <span style="color: blue;">www.islamskadravska.com</span>, whose content is hard-core Salafi. There are indications of ties with the Sandžak-based Jihadi group Kelimetul-Haqq. The website is also linked to <span style="color: blue;">www.abuhamzabrigade.tk</span> and <span style="color: blue;">www.bugojnocity.tk</span>. Both are Bugojno-based minor Salafi / Wahhabi web pages.</span></span></div>

WAHHABISM IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA - Part 4

WAHHABISM AT THE DOORSTEPS OF EUROPETopics:Wahhabism versus Islamic community?Recruiting tactics in BIHRecruitment of BOSNIAK DiasporaBOSNIAK’S youth increasingly choose to study in Muslim countries rather than EUROPEAN countries Sandžak re…

Read more »

It’s the little things…

<p>One thing I did to keep me motivated to work out during the month of July was to write down my workout each day and put a sticker on the calendar for those days. Yes, I’m sure it sounds silly & maybe childish. But after I started I was so excited and wanted to fill up that calendar!</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpEWaUI4EGkepsawL3k7Tfxk1LzxOyM7nDN87uEDkDYRjxYTLbL9W-vlRhsTzv2e0NLhAHjlKPnj7RRTd4YBNhZDKTaO3ap0j39sLvDdxABcGiFV0inh4CC7ReWZVtQk8Xup65uD6S6epq/s1600-h/IMG_30674.jpg"><img alt="IMG_3067" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRAkrUbFmaIFhKeS0WGH3bdJhrmmV-oNbsZK7Wlc9U77VKOEEvpBDXoCOi9Cm5q-oliTxbHYwCYjdjS601igSjpNiVrDEDCaXMqyaT2Qp8naERzXhLFj7rfMHNrWUaB1tzbUgMiO0PBVyt/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_3067" width="404"></a></p> <p>I used some free {sesame street} stickers I randomly got in the mail {side note: when you have a baby, you somehow get lots of random things in the mail!}. I just keep a sheet of stickers clipped to the back of my calendar. </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCRMmsWdXRXgg-xAly_rCKMYnpKGbut3JyCb-I3bwqrDWvGqBHGiHMslytFSe0Uc-p_WFX4tpWTIBxx29JZxljngCAgXhVLUWA_Ly2bfGbAWCvWCT4V6CPwugUNt-Sn-43WkK9ufzx26zo/s1600-h/IMG_30684.jpg"><img alt="IMG_3068" border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVgpYGd1UZBZODs__BRq0r4g6wnhH8lWxGMNMxD2-xh23gvUmWi9bm56pI4De0YqDTFKgL6PezbN_UM1flW_juQbG-Ne5C3eJJJdjM1fHgWeXGfi4D5KBixxomnOx0vU7PLaIDd9-B_0UF/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto; padding-top: 0px" title="IMG_3068" width="404"></a></p> <p>I printed each month through the end of the year, so when August 1st came I was ready for a new month!</p> <p align="center"><strong>What do you do to keep yourself motivated to get those workouts in or meet your workout goals?</strong></p>

It’s the little things…

One thing I did to keep me motivated to work out during the month of July was to write down my workout each day and put a sticker on the calendar for those days. Yes, I’m sure it sounds silly & maybe childish. But after I started I was so excited and…

Read more »

Book Briefs #10

<i>"Book Briefs" are an ongoing series of posts with two- or three-sentence first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that make their way into my library. These briefs are not full-blown reviews, but they are a way to share more books worthy of attention than can find their way into reviews on my <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/search/label/book-review">daily</a> or <a href="http://www.archidose.org/books/books.html">weekly</a> pages.</i><br /><br /><img alt="BB10-1.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/BB10-1.jpg" title="Book brief covers" /><br /><br />1: <a href="http://www.chroniclebooks.com/titles/alcatraz.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Alcatraz: History and Design of a Landmark</span></a> by Donald MacDonald and Ira Nadel | Chronicle Books | 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1452101531?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1452101531&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a><br />When I visited San Francisco in the mid-1990s, one of the few touristy things I did was visit <a href="http://www.nps.gov/alca/index.htm">Alcatraz</a>, donning headphones and listening to old inmates talk about the place. Of course, the place is so much more than just an old prison, and a visit makes that clear, even as the prison buildings and spaces define much of the experience. So I was looking forward to receiving this history of the island, its architecture, landscape, and nature. Written by Donald MacDonald and Ira Nadel and illustrated by MacDonald, the book is hardly a comprehensive history, but it is not meant to be an academic study of the well-known island. At first I thought the watercolors were too bright for a place that was home to criminals and an American Indian occupation, but the varied formats (perspectives, plans, sections, etc.) do a good job of telling part of the story.<br /><br />2: <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-73302-0/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Saving Wright: The Freeman House and the Preservation of Meaning, Materials, and Modernity</span></a> by Jeffrey M. Chusid | W.W. Norton | 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393733025?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0393733025&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a><br />In 1985, Jeffrey M. Chusid moved into the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed <a href="http://www.usc.edu/dept/architecture/slide/Freeman/index.html">Freeman House</a> as a tenant of Harriet Freeman. Eventually he became the preservation architect for the textile-block house (one of four in the Los Angeles that Wright designed area in 1923), which he documents in this book. Interestingly, the house was also a canvas for Rudolph M. Schindler, who performed some infill interventions in the 1930s and '40s. Equal parts history, theory, and preservation literature, the book is an extremely thorough documentation of a house overshadowed by Wright's other textile-block houses (Millard, Storer, Ennis). It illustrates, among other things, what is needed to extend an idiosyncratic house designed by a master architect for many more decades. As a laboratory for preservation, the house and book offer lessons for many architects. <br /><br /><img alt="BB10-2.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/BB10-2.jpg" title="Book brief covers" /><br /><br />3: <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/978-0-393-73352-5/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Urban Intersections: São Paulo</span></a> edited by Nina Rappaport, Noah Biklen, Eliza Higgins | Yale School of Architecture | 2012 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393733521?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0393733521&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a><br />The sixth in Yale SOA's <a href="http://www.architecture.yale.edu/drupal/publications/books">Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Architecture Fellowship Series</a> presents the work of students in Spring 2010 under Tishman Speyer's Katherin Farley and architect Deborah Berke. The balance of real estate and architectural interests is embodied in the fellowship, and the projects exhibit something similar; as juror Claire Weisz mentions in a transcript of one of the crits, the projects "achieve a degree of economy while maintaining a sense of place." To me, the projects resemble those of an urban design studio. To be sure, they are architectural, but they take the greater São Paulo context into consideration, which is also evident in the supplementary essays that preface the projects.<br /><br />4: <a href="http://books.wwnorton.com/books/Turbulence/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Turbulence</span></a> edited by Nina Rappaport and Leo Stevens | Yale School of Architecture | 2011 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0393733505?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0393733505&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a><br />Like <i>Urban Intersections</i> above, <i>Turbulence</i> documents Yale SOA studios, in this case three of the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professorships. This, the third title in the series, features student projects under Ali Rahim (<a href="http://www.c-a-p.net/">Contemporary Architecture Practice</a>), Christopher Sharples, and William Sharples (both <a href="http://www.shoparc.com/">SHoP Architects</a>). Rahim's studio is set in Dubai and features, not surprisingly, a number of tall buildings that stand out on Sheikh Zayed Road. Christopher Sharples's studio rethinks airports and envisions designs for "Airport City" in New Delhi, India. The studio of William Sharples goes even farther, designing spaceports for three hypothetical sites in the United States. Interviews with the three architects preface each project section to provide background on their work and methods.<br /><br />5: <a href="http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300170375"><span style="font-style: italic;">Constructing the Ineffable: Contemporary Sacred Architecture</span></a> edited by Karla Britton | Yale University Press | 2010 | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300170378?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=0300170378&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20">Amazon</a><br />This book documents a <a href="http://www.architecture.yale.edu/drupal/events/archive/symposium/constructing_ineffable">2007 symposium of the same name</a>, organized by the Yale SOA with the Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Some big names (Kenneth Frampton, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Richard Meier, Rafael Moneo, Vincent Scully, Stanley Tigerman, etc.) tackle the topic of religious architecture, presented here in three sections: theoretical essays, historical precedents, and "contemporary expressions of the ineffable." This structure allows for the broadest exploration, but it also means there is something for everyone; those not interested in philosophical investigations toward sacred architecture, for example, will still find the case studies valuable. It's an important book in terms of understanding the many definitions of the sacred in the 21st century.

Book Briefs #10

"Book Briefs" are an ongoing series of posts with two- or three-sentence first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that make their way into my library. These briefs are not full-blown reviews, but they are a way to share more books wor…

Read more »

Marilyn Monroe: Out of a Dream

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUl9XriX9DxisG86jxNHfm4FcHJAjvFQB429C_vHDUJxxdKYRtVemOGiHsyfm-eXttfwFATFsGu5ysRonKy4vh7PCY2VmIfhlLSAiDfqZCAnpDBhjy2kBPbV35eY4Fnr8d-JA6SlYTzTXr/s1600/MM+by+Cardiff+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUl9XriX9DxisG86jxNHfm4FcHJAjvFQB429C_vHDUJxxdKYRtVemOGiHsyfm-eXttfwFATFsGu5ysRonKy4vh7PCY2VmIfhlLSAiDfqZCAnpDBhjy2kBPbV35eY4Fnr8d-JA6SlYTzTXr/s400/MM+by+Cardiff+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by Jack Cardiff</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">One chilly winter morning in 1953, a 15-year-old boy took a bus from his home in New Jersey to New York City in search of adventure. His conception of the city then was of Times Square and he roamed the neighborhood until daylight began to fade. As he made his way to the Port Authority Terminal and his bus trip home, he noticed a long black limousine driving slowly toward him. The limo came to a stop and its driver jumped out and opened the back door at the curb. As he did, he motioned the boy to stay where he was so his passenger would have a clear path across the sidewalk. Nearly 60 years later, the man who had been that boy remembered,"...a white-gloved hand reached out for help and it was given. Then came a face of dizzying beauty..." She was blonde and she wore a long gown that appeared to be made of "tiny white pearls seemingly flung at her in wild abandon and clinging to every pore. Around her neck, over her wrists and on her ears were brightly sparkling diamonds." The boy's heart was already pounding when, as she turned, the woman noticed him, smiled and whispered, "Hi."</span><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Z71LHpcSOn4d7F07C7z_wbfH3ZOfuo8y8ytMEyZn0jy3e-U_APLtEVteF6Sgg5J50oPRy_XUnGyk-tz3AjOsJQAY0Riq5MPgWNRRZSH5C-NzsLHWVeJbwph-ZIptoleiAbJeISAoD2r1/s1600/Marilyn+by+Avedon+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Z71LHpcSOn4d7F07C7z_wbfH3ZOfuo8y8ytMEyZn0jy3e-U_APLtEVteF6Sgg5J50oPRy_XUnGyk-tz3AjOsJQAY0Riq5MPgWNRRZSH5C-NzsLHWVeJbwph-ZIptoleiAbJeISAoD2r1/s320/Marilyn+by+Avedon+4.jpg" width="216" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by Richard Avedon</span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The bedazzled boy, Frank Langella, who grew up to be an Oscar-nominated, three-time Tony-winning actor, was stunned. He had serendipitously encountered Marilyn Monroe, "the girl" who enraptured the world that year in <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i> and <i>How to Marry a Millionaire </i>and would soon create pandemonium with <i>The Seven Year Itch</i>. Years later Richard Avedon, one of many famed photographers for whom the actress posed, would comment, "There was no such person as Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn Monroe was an invention of hers. A genius invention that she created like an author creates a character."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The vision that materialized before wide-eyed young Frank Langella on a New York street was the painstaking creation of the former Norma Jeane Baker, but the realization of this fantasy creature had required inspiration and encouragement from others. Not too unlike an orphan on a quest in a folk tale, she rose from humble origins, faced great obstacles and setbacks and, with the aid of others along with her own hard work and desire, transformed her life.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3v1ToxOvx7d9qlTCuCjXhm6SuhyphenhyphenmQegIlimTe2gWrlN__7l_fD-k4oLurmphAy_me7QKRfmbiNBq6fwKZgw-wZtC02OvC-s28rEDrIr5BqNT47rRorEORp1B2TtB5EUqLZCjDemDmdVql/s1600/Marilyn+at+age+9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3v1ToxOvx7d9qlTCuCjXhm6SuhyphenhyphenmQegIlimTe2gWrlN__7l_fD-k4oLurmphAy_me7QKRfmbiNBq6fwKZgw-wZtC02OvC-s28rEDrIr5BqNT47rRorEORp1B2TtB5EUqLZCjDemDmdVql/s320/Marilyn+at+age+9.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norma Jeane Baker, age nine</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1935, Grace McKee, a friend and co-worker of Gladys Baker at a Hollywood editing lab, became her unstable friend's court-appointed guardian and the legal guardian of the woman's nine-year-old daughter, Norma Jeane. A childless peroxide blonde with "stage mother" instincts, McKee filled the little girl's imagination with lavish fancies of one day becoming a bombshell movie star like the one with whom she herself was obsessed - Jean Harlow. When Grace married "Doc" Goddard, Norma Jeane was, for a time, sent to live in the red-brick mansion that served as the Los Angeles Orphans Home. Grace would take the girl out to lunch and a movie most Saturdays and regularly had the child's hair styled at a beauty parlor. Norma Jeane would be returned to the orphanage with her hair freshly curled and be-ribboned and, on occasion, wearing makeup Grace had applied to her very young face. The guardian coached the girl on her smile and paraded her in front of friends crowing "isn't she pretty?" and bragged that the child was going to grow up to be beautiful and famous. It would be little more than a decade after becoming Norma Jeane Baker's guardian that Grace Goddard would, because her charge was not yet 21, sign the girl's first contract with 20th Century Fox.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When Johnny Hyde, a powerful William Morris agent on the West Coast, met 22-year-old Marilyn Monroe on New Year's Eve 1949, she was a starlet adrift in the wilderness of the "party circuit" looking for a break. At one time known as producer "Joe Schenk's girl," she had been under contract to Fox for a year, from 1946 to 1947, and with Columbia Pictures for just six months in 1948. It was during her stint at Fox that she had adopted her screen name with the help of Ben Lyon, the studio's casting director. "Monroe" was her mother's family name; Lyon suggested "Marilyn." He had known and loved Broadway star <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126833333" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">Marilyn Miller</a> before his marriage to Bebe Daniels, and Norma Jeane Baker reminded him of the talented and lovely blonde, blue-eyed actress who had died young.</span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhO1ZmpAkZv7VpB8DpHviHCQRnwSqiPelYBUh36-okLnmWqvAUyAmksa0igpspJECpfMTSPCUhLnrg3cK3hQp9a1QfPbjwwPmPmFi4qMYFm_F13Rz2aTQfM7aRLOF1Ng3aYoej_ng72ukD/s1600/Marilyn+in+1950+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhO1ZmpAkZv7VpB8DpHviHCQRnwSqiPelYBUh36-okLnmWqvAUyAmksa0igpspJECpfMTSPCUhLnrg3cK3hQp9a1QfPbjwwPmPmFi4qMYFm_F13Rz2aTQfM7aRLOF1Ng3aYoej_ng72ukD/s320/Marilyn+in+1950+2.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marilyn Monroe in 1950</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For Johnny Hyde, meeting Marilyn Monroe led to an enchantment that brought an end to his marriage and the beginning of his tireless promotion of her career. He saw a singular quality in the sensuous blonde and worked to make things happen quickly for her. By the time of his sudden death in 1950, Hyde had negotiated parts for her in John Huston's <i>The Asphalt Jungle </i>(1950) and Joseph Mankiewicz's <i>All About Eve </i>(1950). Her success in these roles led to a new, more generous contract with Fox, an agreement that was secured by Hyde.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Howard Hawks had been unimpressed with the starlet when he first met her in 1948. But after seeing her in <i>The Asphalt Jungle</i>, he realized she had something. And when she was cast in a supporting role in one of his films, <i>Monkey Business </i>(1952), he took a closer look at her potential. Hawks became convinced that Fox chief Darryl Zanuck was misreading Marilyn's appeal, too often casting her in the wrong sort of films. He told Zanuck, "You're making realism with a very unreal girl. She's a completely storybook character..." and urged him to produce <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i>, a studio property, and cast her in it; furthermore, he agreed to direct.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1949 <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes </i>had made Carol Channing a Broadway sensation; in 1953, the screen adaptation had an even more powerful impact on the career of Marilyn Monroe. With the film's tremendous success, Marilyn left behind forever her years as a struggling cheesecake model/rising newcomer and emerged a bona fide superstar. She proved to have a talent for comedy and a fine sense of timing and, with Howard Hawks creating the ideal vehicle for her and overseeing an elegant Technicolor upgrade of her look and style, she embodied to scintillating perfection a funny, sexy, sweet and unique confection that produced fireworks on the screen.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i>, Marilyn Monroe and top-billed co-star Jane Russell are well-matched as a pair of gorgeous gal-pal showgirls on the loose on the high seas and in Paris. Delectably dizzy/witty blonde Lorelei and droll, down-to-earth brunette Dorothy cut loose in clever comic scenes and dynamic musical routines. Both perform renditions of the centerpiece number, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." Marilyn's version became legendary.</span><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></b><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/y2bGerBiZQ8" width="420"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fox strikes again! This video clip has been blocked</span></span>.</div><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fox's next assignment for its new star was not as solid a film as her last, but it was even more popular. <i>How to Marry a Millionaire </i>(1953) teamed Marilyn with not just one but two other glittery leading ladies - Betty Grable and Lauren Bacall. Another glamor-fest, the story follows three models who rent a ritzy penthouse in Manhattan for a year in hopes of luring and marrying wealthy suitors before their lease expires. Bacall's is the central storyline and hers is the commonsense character; Grable and Marilyn are both ditzy-but-dear dumb blonde types. Marilyn, of course, is the knockout in the trio and, next to her, Betty Grable seems a decade out-of-date. <i>How to Marry a Millionaire </i>was the #5 box office hit of 1953, with <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes </i>close behind at #6. As for Marilyn Monroe, she was on top.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjleWBrBKTUsAgThPj4XUKceKKfN6KD94YF-VquJHLqjS31MZQK5ZH9AQOM3oDKQjiZaMHmF_qQG6K3cRpGYHVXS7TUI9IIUZ5u5kX3p6GBw1ZhCUoxx1vTxoWuLCz2EJKwYTJutzq1cDJz/s1600/Marilyn+in+Travilla+HtMaM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjleWBrBKTUsAgThPj4XUKceKKfN6KD94YF-VquJHLqjS31MZQK5ZH9AQOM3oDKQjiZaMHmF_qQG6K3cRpGYHVXS7TUI9IIUZ5u5kX3p6GBw1ZhCUoxx1vTxoWuLCz2EJKwYTJutzq1cDJz/s200/Marilyn+in+Travilla+HtMaM.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Marilyn in a classic Travilla gown<i></i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By the time Darryl Zanuck conspired with Billy Wilder to adapt the Broadway adultery romp, <i>The Seven Year Itch</i>,<i> </i>to the screen for Marilyn in 1955, there was no longer any need to pair her with another actress or even an established leading man to bolster the film's box office appeal. Though it is minor Wilder, <i>The Seven Year Itch </i>is the film that certified Marilyn as a phenomenon. On Broadway, George Axelrod's play centered on the brief affair of a married man with his gorgeous neighbor while his family is away on vacation. Even though Hollywood's Production Code demanded that there be no adultery in the adultery comedy, the onscreen presence of Marilyn Monroe was enough to tantalize and satisfy a worldwide audience. The studio's enticing publicity campaign - it was all about Marilyn in a <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2011-06-20-marilyn-monroe-dress-auction_n.htm" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">billowy white dress</a> - created a furor.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">For a while the sensitive but wily star was able to navigate Hollywood's treacherous rapids. She managed to use the scandal of nude calendar photos to her advantage; she explained away the revelation that she was not, technically, an orphan; and she weathered the outcry stirred by the public remarks of Joan Crawford who implied she was lewd and vulgar. But Marilyn could never cope with her performance anxiety.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Billy Wilder, ever outspoken and eminently quotable, quipped about his tribulations in working with Marilyn, "I had no problems with Monroe. It was Monroe who had problems with Monroe."</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWWTkOrRBxJXo6xDg45clzEQN29qrhtcCY8aODunwxBR3rnuYo8EXDsHw6QxdJQAoewcewJAovtFpT_1Ys604e_49EKg9a-6VHsBpov77FU7uvB3aJmH4VdxxAEf9tK09jzEh2FEvXCIj/s1600/Marilyn+sans+makeup+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQWWTkOrRBxJXo6xDg45clzEQN29qrhtcCY8aODunwxBR3rnuYo8EXDsHw6QxdJQAoewcewJAovtFpT_1Ys604e_49EKg9a-6VHsBpov77FU7uvB3aJmH4VdxxAEf9tK09jzEh2FEvXCIj/s320/Marilyn+sans+makeup+2.jpg" width="286" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marilyn <i>sans</i> makeup</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Fritz Lang, who had directed her in <i>Clash by Night </i>(1952), remembered that she was "...scared as hell to come to the studio, always late, couldn't remember her lines..." And Howard Hawks noted, "The more important she became, the more frightened she became." Whitey Snyder, Marilyn's makeup artist from her Fox screen test to her funeral, thought her anxiety was connected to her appearance. He said that though she knew every makeup trick there was and used them to marvelous effect, "...it was all an illusion: in person, out of makeup, she was very pretty but in a plain way, and she knew it." It was more than that, though. Marilyn Monroe wasn't simply at the mercy of a fantastical physical image that required scrupulous upkeep. Her ever-shifting entourage included more than hair, makeup and massage professionals, she was also closely attended by personal confidants, studio advisors, talent agents, attorneys, psychotherapists, trophy husbands - and drama coaches.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Determined to be more than a pretty onscreen face with a voluptuous body, she took acting seriously. Teacher Natasha Lytess, employed by Fox at Marilyn's insistence, coached her even as the actress performed in front of the camera. Howard Hawks balked at this and successfully barred Lytess from the set of <i>Gentlemen Prefer Blondes</i>. Billy Wilder referred to her as "that creature Lytess" but put up with her on <i>The Seven Year Itch</i>.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">By the mid-'50s, Marilyn was studying with "method" guru Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York. Julie Newmar, a member of the Studio at the time, remembered her performance of a scene from <i>Anna Christie</i> with Maureen Stapleton. She recalled that Marilyn's hand actually shook as she lifted a drink from the bar. In her view, Marilyn reflected precisely the essence of Strasberg's teachings - she had <i>become </i>Anna Christie. Of Lee Strasberg, Newmar mused that he favored three kinds of artists, "the highly gifted; the injured, tortured souls; and the beauty queens. He adored Marilyn." Soon Lytess was replaced as Marilyn's personal acting coach by Paula Strasberg, Lee's wife.</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_g26QKnkIcGsPgafHeu1xuLOAE6rO4AahyphenhyphenX6SbdMlM10QCHt92ElXBlVJvessDe-KZfucuR-c_sZ4VydO9bZKuvROyzQq0RTlVCcDh8gIYu_L-kyirlEVKtqtoeg5y-TnLbEZGX53VVl/s1600/marlon+and+marilyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim_g26QKnkIcGsPgafHeu1xuLOAE6rO4AahyphenhyphenX6SbdMlM10QCHt92ElXBlVJvessDe-KZfucuR-c_sZ4VydO9bZKuvROyzQq0RTlVCcDh8gIYu_L-kyirlEVKtqtoeg5y-TnLbEZGX53VVl/s400/marlon+and+marilyn.jpg" width="302" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...with Brando promoting a 1955 Actors Studio benefit </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Billy Wilder happily agreed to tackle another project with Marilyn in 1959; her natural luminosity was "something extra, something special" that he believed </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">no one else could bring to the film. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">He would struggle mightily with her on the comedy masterpiece <i>Some Like it Hot </i>and was critical of the effect method acting seemed to have had on her. Before she took up Strasberg's approach, he said, Marilyn came before the camera as if she were about to walk a tightrope over a pit. After adopting "the method" it seemed to him that she focused her full concentration on only the pit...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Over the years, perhaps in an attempt to deal with her terror of "the pit" and other personal woes, Marilyn became dependent on drugs - pills that lifted her up or calmed her down or put her to sleep - and alcohol. Her reputation for being unreliable and difficult grew to epic proportions. Those who worked on her later films reported that she sometimes appeared on the set as if in a daze and, during the filming of <i>Some Like it Hot</i>, screenwriter Izzy Diamond recalled that she sipped liquor from a thermos that ostensibly contained coffee.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kElKxgf2t0Owzpw9Au1ruoRdNTMRNE2qBRzcwdv44PELwFAREQBlDvjNyYtcCJ-zR7urWnGNTTKTyhkSmqwjLTw4WyP-d62M04SxExYW4wNqSfqhQSLUeXZkkqQfBUQxkfj1FTHIA0Z2/s1600/Marilyn+by+geo+barris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7kElKxgf2t0Owzpw9Au1ruoRdNTMRNE2qBRzcwdv44PELwFAREQBlDvjNyYtcCJ-zR7urWnGNTTKTyhkSmqwjLTw4WyP-d62M04SxExYW4wNqSfqhQSLUeXZkkqQfBUQxkfj1FTHIA0Z2/s320/Marilyn+by+geo+barris.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by George Barris</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">When Marilyn returned to Hollywood in 1960 after years of making her home in New York, she sought the care of Freudian analyst Ralph Greenson. The doctor, who treated her until her death, diagnosed her as "a borderline paranoid addictive personality." Norma Jeane Baker had endured a confusing and chaotic childhood, passed from home to home among friends and family - to an orphanage and back - until she was handed off in marriage at just 16.  Young Marilyn Monroe was also passed around - among the powerful men of Hollywood - during her years as an aspiring starlet. From a psychological standpoint, then, it's no surprise that her relationships were intense and volatile, her identity unstable, her emotions erratic and her actions impulsive. Greenson, who viewed her as a perennial orphan, discarded traditional therapeutic methods and took up a highly unorthodox approach in treating her. In a misguided attempt to "save" her, he welcomed Marilyn into his home and family and took on the role of "father" as well as therapist. He had set for himself an impossible task.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktWVTLVUR8lSJSTGgJVsU7zfoZk3JVUczEM84GWgxoa2uY4TKhD0oEcKfOQhicz-uv5vcA8rlAQppAJKXrta_OX_Q2g_7GGfGoj1ZAuVPvuwdGGviAMPfDfiPu8MKHPX8JEwZjWVfcfoI/s1600/MM+SGtG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktWVTLVUR8lSJSTGgJVsU7zfoZk3JVUczEM84GWgxoa2uY4TKhD0oEcKfOQhicz-uv5vcA8rlAQppAJKXrta_OX_Q2g_7GGfGoj1ZAuVPvuwdGGviAMPfDfiPu8MKHPX8JEwZjWVfcfoI/s320/MM+SGtG.jpg" width="199" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Something's Got to Give </i>(1962)</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Even at the peak of her popularity, Marilyn was considered risqué, a sex symbol, and was not taken seriously. Her film roles changed little over time and became, for her, a deadly repetition – the artless, often giddy showgirl, or ex-showgirl. Cherie in <i>Bus Stop </i>(1956), Elsie in <i>The Prince and the Showgirl </i>(1957), Sugar in <i>Some Like it Hot</i>,<i> </i>Amanda in <i>Let’s Make Love </i>(1960) and even Roslyn in <i>The Misfits</i> (1961) are variations on a type the actress wanted to break. With her final, unfinished film, George Cukor’s <i>Something’s Got to Give</i>, she was cast in a role that might have helped her broaden the "Marilyn Monroe" persona; Ellen Wagstaff Arden was beautiful but she was also married and the mother of two small children. Had she been able to finish the film, Marilyn might have gone on to romantic comedy roles <i>a la</i> Doris Day or Shirley MacLaine. It’s also possible she could have moved into mature dramatic roles as Ava Gardner, Lee Remick and others did. But this was not to be. Life as a cultural metaphor and brand-name commodity may simply have been too much for a woman already consumed by an array of insecurities. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">50 years ago Marilyn Monroe stepped out of the dream and into eternity. Her extravagant fulfillment of a childhood guardian’s fuzzy fantasies had taken her on a journey both harrowing and exhilarating, but her life would come to no fairytale ending. Only with death would come transcendence, and the mythical being she so carefully fashioned and brought to vibrant life lives on, unforgettable and bewitching.</span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMd-0vYMqgVD9vKY0lSmts5kvGFIVl6tlP3tszTIc_jIa_DkhzkHOiafw1031zcuqyq4_yFEKW-ZmAL6gH57KU70VKdNkZEwPosqLlTCHOGbYWCzryhRNNgRRnw3z9TZQRmxCoPJHqV6p0/s1600/Marilyn+in+black+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMd-0vYMqgVD9vKY0lSmts5kvGFIVl6tlP3tszTIc_jIa_DkhzkHOiafw1031zcuqyq4_yFEKW-ZmAL6gH57KU70VKdNkZEwPosqLlTCHOGbYWCzryhRNNgRRnw3z9TZQRmxCoPJHqV6p0/s400/Marilyn+in+black+2.jpg" width="396" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by Bert Stern</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><span style="color: #0b5394;"><b>T</b><b>his post is my contribution to the Summer Under the Stars blogathon hosted by Jill of Sittin' on a Backyard Fence and Michael of ScribeHard on Film.</b></span><b> <a href="http://scribehardonfilm.wordpress.com/tag/2012-tcm-summer-under-the-stars-blogathon/" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">Click here</a> <span style="color: #0b5394;">to learn more...</span></b></i></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> ~</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u>Notes</u>:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Marilyn Monroe: The Biography </i>by Donald Spoto, Harper Collins (1993)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Marilyn Monroe</i> by Barbara Leaming, Crown (1998)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>On Sunset Blvd.: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder </i>by Ed Sikov, Hyperion (1998)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis </i>by David Wills and Stephen Schmidt, It Books (2011)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Dropped Names </i>by Frank Langella, Harper (2012) </span></div></div>

Billy Wilder Gentlemen Prefer Blondes How to Marry a Millionaire Howard Hawks Marilyn Monroe Summer Under the Stars TCM The Lady Eve (author) The Seven Year Itch Marilyn Monroe: Out of a Dream

photo by Jack CardiffOne chilly winter morning in 1953, a 15-year-old boy took a bus from his home in New Jersey to New York City in search of adventure. His conception of the city then was of Times Square and he roamed the neighborhood until dayligh…

Read more »