A burglar made off with $70,000 in antique coins and watches from a home near Williams, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department reported.
A man reported Wednesday that someone had broken into his house in the 17000 block of Highway 238 near Williams, most likely on Sunday or Monday, May 13 or 14, sheriff's spokeswoman Andrea Carlson said.
The burglar took the man's wallet and two framed shadow boxes. One shadow box contained 12 antique pocket watches and the other contained antique coins.
The oldest of the stolen coins dates to 1528, and eight other coins, from the 17th and 18th centuries, are made of sterling silver, Carlson said.
The stolen pocket watches include two Patek Philippe watches, a Cartier watch, a Vacheron Constantin and others that were purchased at auction between 1991 and 1994.
Carlson said there was no evidence of forced entry to the home.
The case is under investigation, and anyone with information regarding the burglary is asked to call the Jackson County Sheriff's Department at 541-774-6800 or the anonymous tip line at 541-774-8333.
Source: www.mailtribune.com
Zuma painting an attack on African culture - New Zimbabwe.com
THE controversial painting by Brett Murray which exposes President Jacob Zuma’s genitals cannot be classified as art but a personal attack on a black head of state by a white artist considered by some as a racist.
The painting, titled ‘The Spear ’, is being displayed at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. It is an insult to blacks and their culture and outright abuse of artistic freedom by Murray and the gallery that is displaying it.
South Africa is a democracy and has one of the best constitutions in the world. South Africans have the right to criticise anyone, including the president, but making personal attacks on the head of state and putting such provocative paintings of Zuma with his genitals exposed is just over the limit.
Murray has just gone too far in exercising his freedom of expression. In fact this is outright abuse of the freedom of expression and a violation of the President’s rights and privacy which he is entitled to as a citizen of this country.
Surely Murray’s painting has nothing to do with freedom of expression but a direct attack on Zuma, his family and the presidency itself. I wonder what would happen if Murray had insulted the head of state of an Islamic country or Prophet Mohammad. Moslems would have invaded the gallery and beat the hell out of the artist in question or any official who allowed such offensive painting to be put on display.
The artist would probably have joined British author Salman Rushdie in hiding. Rushdie got carried away while exercising his right as an author. But he went too far when he published his book titled ‘Satanic Verses’.The book sparked worldwide controversy in the Moslem world, leading to the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini, passing a death sentence on him on February 14, 1989.
Moslems around the world were ordered to hunt the author down and kill him for insulting their faith and prophet Mohammad. Rushdie was forced to go into hiding and was provided with round the clock protection by the British government.
Well, we don’t want that to happen to Murray but he is also lucky that he lives in South Africa where artists can abuse their freedom of expression and get away with it.
What angers me as an artist myself and writer is that there are some people, especially whites, who have come to Murray’s defence while his backers have ignored Zuma’s rights as a human being, father and citizen of this country.
I am also not surprised by many black people who have condemned his painting. Murray has also been attacked by Zuma’s political opponents who believe that this time, the artist has gone too far and should be dealt with decisively. These are probably times when the ANC needs people like Julius Malema to deal with Murray, men of conviction.
South Africans of all races should unite in condemning the abuse of artistic freedom by Murray and other artists who hide under the country’s constitution. Zuma is a public figure as head of state but he is also a an individual whose rights should be respected by all of us.
You do wonder what would have happened had Murray been living in Zimbabwe or China after attacking the President like that. Your guess is as good as mine. Such behaviour by Murray has become a recruiting platform for those who take the view that leaders like Robert Mugabe are heroes of the African continent. Mugabe does not tolerate nonsense in his country, especially from people who think they are better than other races.
During the apartheid era, white journalists and artists never insulted white leaders using their art. Why are they allowed to insult a black President? I am not a Zuma apologist, but it angers me as a black person to see a white artist abusing his artist freedom to insult a black President.
I was not surprised when one official of the Church of Nazareth, Enoch Mthembu, called on South Africans to kill the artist Murray for what he called “insulting blacks and their culture”.
Mthembu, whose church has embraced African traditions, said Murray's painting was an attack on all black people in South Africa and deserved to be stoned to death.
Source: www.newzimbabwe.com
Bridport girl reaches final of short story competition run by Chris Evans - dorsetecho.co.uk
Bridport girl reaches final of short story competition run by Chris Evans
11:00am Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News By James Tourgout
TALENTED teenager Bethan Smith has beaten 74,000 rivals to win a place in the finals of a short story competition on Chris Evans’s breakfast show.
The 13-year-old is in the final 25 of her age group is the Radio 2 DJ’s 500 Words contest with The Antique Shop.
Colfox pupil Bethan will travel to the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in Wales with the other finalists for a live broadcast where the winner will be announced.
And she may have her story read by funnyman David Walliams as part of the event.
Bethan, who lives in Walditch with mum Tracey, dad Anthony and sisters Abbey, 16, and Imogen, four, said: “It is really exciting.
“I didn’t think I would get this far.
“It is the first writing competition that I have entered.
“I am quite nervous about the festival but it is a big achievement just to get in the final 25.
“I don’t really mind how I do. It should be a nice day.”
Some 74,000 youngsters entered the short story competition run by DJ Evans on his breakfast show. Judges will pick gold, silver and bronze winners in age nine and under, and 10 to 13 age categories.
There are 25 finalists in each age category.
Bethan’s story tells of a girl who goes into an antiques shop and is captivated by a music box, but there are unforeseen consequences.
David Walliams will be among those reading entries at the Hay Festival in at the end of this month.
Bethan said she heard about the competition from her friends and saw posters advertising it.
She is a fan if the Twilight series of books and recently just read the Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, which she loved.
Bethan said: “I’ve always written my own little stories but this is the first competition I have entered.”
She added she would like a career as a writer when she is older either writing books or in journalism.
Mum Tracey said that Bethan always has her nose in a book or a Kindle.
Visit bbc.co.uk/radio2/ 00words/2012/ to read Beth’s story and for more information. Bethan’s story is also on dorsetecho.co.uk
Beth's story: 'The Antique Shop'
The old shopkeeper sat at the counter, wasting time. He hadn't had a customer for years; antiques just weren't that popular anymore.
He'd been sat here for years. He wore plain clothes, old fashioned and moth eaten, but these were hidden by his long black coat which hung about him with an air of mystery. Not eating, sleeping, moving, he looked almost frozen in time. But he didn't need any of that, not anymore.
Suddenly, the old rusty door bell jingled brightly, and the frozen shopkeeper came to life. He sat up and gave a welcoming smile. A small red haired girl wandered in, browsing around.
Then she spotted it, sat in a clear glass display case, glittering in the sunlight, was a blue glass music box, with gold patterns and a shining golden key. She went over and pressed her nose against the glass, gazing longingly at it.
The glass display case was shining in the sunlight, but splotchy patches were grey due to a build up of dust. The shopkeeper looked at her hopefully; egging her on 'Please' he thought 'choose the music box'. She strolled nervously to the counter.
"How much is the music box?" she mumbled hopefully.
"£10," he smiled "Can I buy it, please?" she asked, slightly impatiently.
"Of course of course, sorry," he mumbled and ducked under the counter. He came up a second later with a rusty ring of keys, and led the way to the display case.
As he lifted the glass, there was a slight whoosh of the clean, fresh air leaving the display case. The girl reached in and picked up the music box, stroking her fingers along the smooth glass casing around the clockwork.
She turned the small key four times clockwise and listened to the tune.
He watched with anticipation as she started to fade away. She didn’t notice, she was too absorbed in the sweet tune, hypnotised by its menacing music. She faded and faded until she was nothing but a wisp of smoke, hanging innocently in the air, wavering at the slightest breeze.
He pulled a jar out from his long black coat and caught her in it, clasping it shut as if she was a precious diamond. Then he put her on the shelf with all of the others.
The young girl wandered into the Antique shop, looking at all of the old dusty jewellery boxes, and china statuettes.
A large vase with a marbled pattern caught her eye, reminding her of her mum. She'd like something like that.
The girl went to the back and looked at all of the furniture, the dusty moth-eaten armchairs and the rotten rocking chairs that looked as if they would fall down at the slightest touch. Nothing interested her much, so she turned to leave.
She was almost at the door, when she saw it, shining in a dusty glass display case, blue glass with golden patterns and a tiny golden key. It was a beautiful music box.
Source: www.dorsetecho.co.uk
Painting Stirs a Debate in South Africa - New York Times
The tussle over the painting is the latest battle over free speech in a country where the government has taken increasingly firm steps to squelch critics despite one of the world’s most expansive sets of individual rights, enshrined in its 15-year-old Constitution.
At the center of the controversy is a six-foot-tall acrylic on canvas, called “The Spear,” painted by Brett Murray, an artist based in Cape Town. It is part of an exhibition of his work at the Goodman Gallery called “Hail to the Thief II.”
The painting depicts a man who resembles Mr. Zuma in a heroic, Leninesque pose, but his genitals appear to be hanging out of his trousers. Mr. Zuma, a practicing polygamist who has 4 wives and at least 20 children, had been charged with rape before he became president.
In 2006, he was acquitted of raping the daughter of a friend; he said the sex was consensual. He was heavily criticized for his testimony at the trial, in which he argued that the woman had dressed provocatively and that as a Zulu man, he was required to sexually gratify her.
The woman was H.I.V. positive, and Mr. Zuma did not use a condom; he testified that he showered immediately afterward in the hope of avoiding infection, a response that shocked many people in a country grappling with some of the highest rates of H.I.V. infection in the world.
Mr. Murray’s artworks, done in the style of Soviet propaganda, tackle government corruption, an issue that fills newspapers in South Africa every day and has become a major source of disillusionment among citizens of this young democracy.
One canvas features the logo of the African National Congress, the liberation movement that ended apartheid and now governs South Africa, with the words “for sale”; another with the logo includes the word “sold.” One poster uses a popular slogan of the struggle against apartheid, “amandla,” or “power,” to show protesters demanding not freedom but “Chivas, BMWs and bribes.”
In a statement, the A.N.C. called “The Spear” “distasteful, vulgar, indecent and disrespectful,” and “an affront to the dignity and the privacy of President Zuma in all his capacities, but also as a South African whose right to human dignity and privacy is protected and guaranteed by the South African Constitution.”
The Goodman Gallery responded by arguing that the artist had a right to express his views through his paintings.
“The gallery provides a neutral space in which dialogue and free expression is encouraged,” it said in a statement. “In this space, the A.N.C.’s right to condemn the work is acknowledged as much as the artist’s right to display it. This, the gallery believes, is democracy at work. But the gallery cannot give up its right to decide what art will hang on its walls.”
Mr. Murray has declined to talk about the dispute; through the Goodman Gallery, he has said he prefers to let the art speak for itself. But other South African artists have quickly risen to his defense. William Kentridge, perhaps South Africa’s most famous visual artist, said in an affidavit in support of the Goodman Gallery, “Both the work of the artist and the controversy his work arouses are to be welcomed,” and South Africans are “fortunate to live in a country with a Constitution that acknowledges the importance of open debate on all issues.”
Vandals splashed paint on the painting on Tuesday, painting an X over the subject’s face and black paint on the genitals. The Goodman Gallery said it was forced to close the exhibition temporarily.
The painting has stirred passionate debate about the limits of free speech and racism in a society still emerging from decades of white-minority rule.
Gwede Mantashe, a senior leader of the A.N.C., said the painting played into stereotypes of black men as hypersexualized.
“It is rude, crude and disrespectful,” he told reporters in Johannesburg. “It has an element of racism. It says that black people feel no pain and can be portrayed walking around with their genitals in the open. They are objects of ridicule. I can tell you that if you were to draw a white politician in that way, the outcry would be totally different.”
But Mondli Makhanya, a senior columnist at The Sunday Times, a South African newspaper, wrote that Mr. Zuma’s outsize sex life made the topic fair game.
“It will be his sexual legacy that we will remember more than anything else,” Mr. Makhanya wrote of Mr. Zuma. “His sexual endeavors are therefore fair game for artists, cartoonists, comedians, radio D.J.’s and tavern jokers.”
Source: www.nytimes.com
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