What better time is there to talk about breasts than breast cancer awareness month?
"Boobs. Boobies. Tits. Hooters. Knockers. Jugs. Breasts. We celebrate them; we revile them. They nourish us; they kill us. They have fascinated us since prehistoric times." - Merril D. Smith
I got this book from my local library. I was tickled pink that Merril,a 5 aces poet IMHO, whose blog I follow, put this encyclopedia together. As well as the Preface, Acknowledgements, Introduction and Chronology of Selected Breast Events, she wrote 17 of the entries.
Danae – Painting by Artemisia Gentileschi -1612
Renewed thrice, I approached it a few pages at a time whenever I lounged in my favourite chaise.
I learned a lot of big medical words, and the physiological and the psychological lessons on the breast that comes with that. I also gleaned a lot about breasts in terms of cultural history from: Art to Wonderbra, Barbie Dolls to Slaves as Wet Nurses, Eating Disorders to Hollywood, Flappers to Mythology and 137 other entries.
Old sketch of Resa – unsigned
This book enlightens with a societal purview, that runs through the ages. As encyclopedic entries give only a general overview, each entry is followed by extra and more detailed reading available on each topic.
This is not a picture book, so don’t run out and get it because you want to see lots of images of breasts. If that’s the aim, you might as well just grab an issue of Playboy (an entry in the book & reviewed by said magazine), or visit any online site of breast repute.
However, every so often there is a photo insert that helps make a point. One such picture is a black & white detail of Jean Fouquet’s (circa b.1420 – d.1481) painting Virgin and Child from the Melun Diptych.
I was keen to learn from the encyclopedia that the model for this painting was Agnès Sorel, celebrated beauty and mistress of King Charles VII of France.
Having decided to use a representation of this painting: I went online, found hundreds of pics of it, many variations on it and discovered that you can buy prints of this painting at Walmarts.
I’m wondering – Did Mr. Fouquet actually ever look at Agnes’ breasts, or was one of them growing out of an armpit?
It wasn’t always about big boobs
Breasts actually have a purpose. They were not always culturalized primarily as sexual objects, as they are in modern western culture. Here, much money is to be made in the plastic surgery realm, and the trend has spread to non western cultures. Other times and societies have looked at them differently from practical, to fertility symbols and with different eyes on beauty.
Pink Ribbon Campaigns
.. is one of the entries in the encyclopedia. I found this entry eye opening in a way I hadn’t envisioned.
Two things that stood out, in terms of Breast Cancer awareness, are that:
The Pink campaign began with The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, with the ubiquitous Pink Ribbon becoming the official symbol in 1992. Since then support, awareness and survivorship has increased many fold.
Over the last 2 decades, “Pink Ribbon” products have become big business with little oversight, engaging in “Pink Washing”. So please make sure to investigate where your money is going if donating.
AI
Published in 2014, everything still holds true to today. However, due to rapid changes in technology there is one topic not covered in this encyclopedia. That would be AI’s cultural influence on breasts. I’d love to read what Merril would write about that!
This is Emily Pellegrini. She is the most famous AIwoman in the world, currently. She has Facebook & TicTok accounts.
Merril D. Smith, PhD, holds a doctorate from Temple University.
She is the author or editor of several books including: Encyclopedia of Rape, Women’s Roles in Eighteenth-century America and Sex and Sexuality in Early America.
In a dark second floor bedroom is this fabulous face.
The room was so dark and the colours of the painting so dark that some of the pics came out almost black.
It was quite the shock to my senses,
When I turned 180 degrees around, and saw this.
View of when you come out of the room, to go down the stairs. The black w/ green motif doorway on the right,
….. is a bathroom.
Pics taken by Resa – August 11, 2024
Toronto, Canada
Artists:
LIZ
I told you I had a surprise for you on my stop of your Simple Pleasures book tour. All I had to do was pick 1 Bryan Ferry song. This turned out to be most difficult, overwhelming. Better late than never!
fading light, moonrise day and night come together our past, our future
Welcome to the final stop of the Simple Pleasures blog tour!
Liz –Thank you, Resa, for hosting me for the final day of my blog tour for Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right!
Resa – My pleasure, Liz!
Florida Vacation
Liz -Today, I’m taking your readers to Cold Hollow Sculpture Park in Enosburg, Vermont. The park features dozens of sculptor David Stromeyer’s large-scale abstract metal sculptures spread over 45 acres of hay field.
Resa – I am thrilled about getting to feature David Stromeyer’s art, with your book of images with Haiku. I’ve chosen to use all of the options you sent. FYI readers – the names of the sculpture is below its photo.
Ngozi
Cold Hollow Sculpture Park
Liz – I first visited the park site with my dad in the early 1970s, when he was counseling someone who lived in the area. I remember that the sculptor lived on the property in a barn that had seen better days, which I found the epitome of counterculture cool.
Lost in the Roundabout
At that time, Stromeyer had two, maybe three, sculptures completed and displayed. I vividly remember the one he’d created out of the tank of a smashed milk truck. The sculpture made such an impression on me that twenty years later, I included it in a short story.
Rock-in Sphere
Slice Rock
Banded Rock
Jumoke
Primavera
Da-jo-jo
Ensemble-4+2
Resa – Liz, I thoroughly enjoyed your book, and have selected my 2 fave Haiku for this post.
Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.
She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.
Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Visit Liz on her blog!
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