Anakis Oogoo: March 2006

Monday, March 27, 2006

Single Parent Balancing Act 1973

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This is my grandmother, Fannie Itzkovitcz, on the left, in drag, at a resort in the Catskill Mountains in New York State, around 1915. Nobody in the family has been able to explain the picture, except to say, "They were just having fun." The woman on Fannie's lap is unidentified.

Icarus 1962

Saturday, March 25, 2006

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Well, You Asked...

click on photos to enlarge

Well, you asked.
The picture is of the late Edgar Warner, also, mostly called Karmu. He died in '89.
He was a witch doctor,healer, teacher, and the guy who finished the job of raising me.
I was drugging, stealing,heading for bigger crime and less and less I.Q. when I ran into him in '69.
He immediately "adopted me" and healed me mentally and physically in about 4 seconds flat.
He was the real thing; an African-American shaman, garage mechanic, who ministered to everyone he came across.
Used to have this funky apartment in Cambridge, Mass, and everyone was welcome. The first time I met him, it was because I was reading this book called "Voodoo in New Orleans." It was an anthropology text by Robert S. Tallant about the practice of "vodun" in this country in the 18th and 19th centuries.
I told a friend about it, and she said she knew of just such a guy. I begged to meet him, and he and I immediately claimed each other as family.
My daughter Jennie is named after him: Her name on her birth certificate is Jennifer Christin Karmu.
When I was in his presence, I always felt 100%+ o.k....no anxiety,no problems, totally safe, totally happy.
He was a real rascal, too, former gun-for-hire, former bad cat, turned Holy Man & do-gooder. Taught me BS, TS and OS. [bullshit, tough shit and OTHER shit!]
The first day we met I took him aside and asked him, "Teach me your magic, ok?" He said, "Sure. Here it is: You just pervade the unconscious with a positive element. If you stay mentally, physically and spiritually above reproach, you can walk through shit and not get your feet dirty.
And above all, MAKE 'EM LAUGH."
That's the whole thing, cat. Do this and you'll be as pretty as 18 movie stars!
You'll have zook and wook, you'll be high flung and high sprung, you'll be an HCC, a High Class Citizen.
" I said, "That's it?" He said, "Yeah, that's it."