A Ray of Light🥺🍉

My baby sister was born just two months before the war. Her life began under bombs, not lullabies — in a tent, not a home.

She’s known only fear, hunger, and displacement. Yet in her eyes, there's still hope.

A small light in the darkness — a reminder that even in war, childhood dreams deserve to survive.

#Gaza #Hope #ChildrenOfWar #Palestine #Refugees #Mastodon #WarDiary #SaveGaza #HumanityFirst #Evacuation #Fundraiser #GoFundMe

New blog post alert!

Italian War Diaries: A CHILL IN THE AIR and WAR IN VAL D'ORCIA by Iris Origo - a brilliant pair of books that provide a fascinating look at World War Two from Italy's perspective.

https://readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2023/06/11/italian-war-diaries-a-chill-in-the-air-war-in-val-dorcia-iris-origo/

#WarDiary, #Italy, #NYRBWomen23, #WorldWarTwo #bookrecommendations #bookreviews #books #bookstadon

Prisoner of War Portraits

Ashley George Old was stationed in Singapore when it fell to the Japanese in February 1942. He was taken prisoner and sent to work on the Thailand Burma Railway (The Death Railway). While imprisoned, the brutal POW camp conditions and medical treatment performed by Major Arthur Moon were documented by Old in a series of drawings and watercolor paintings.

Old also did about 1000 portraits of his fellow prisoners. Only about 18 of these survive today and I have only been able to find 8. Stanley Grimson recounts the experience of sitting for the artist in his War Diary:

‘Had my portrait painted again, this time by a Northampton man named Old. He is a great hulking, fair-headed yokel with a face like a harvest moon – faintly reminiscent of Holbein’s Henry VIII. As he works he keeps up a continuous monologue – “That’s excellent – interesting position that – now will get the eyes”. His work is splendid though doesn’t seem to be in keeping with his character. The watercolour he did today is a fine piece of work, but is too much glamorised. I wish I could send it home – it would dispense of all fear.’

#ashleygeorgeold #portraits #warportraits #prisonersofwar #wardiary #prisonerofwarportraits #watercolor #watercolour #watercolours #watercolors #sketches #paintings #painting #peinture #kunst #künstler #thailandburmarailway #history #deathrailway #pows #wwii #stanleygrimson

Prisoner of War Portraits

Ashley George Old was stationed in Singapore when it fell to the Japanese in February 1942. He was taken prisoner and sent to work on the Thailand Burma Railway (The Death Railway). While imprisoned, the brutal POW camp conditions and medical treatment performed by Major Arthur Moon were documented by Old in a series of drawings and watercolor paintings.

Old also did about 1000 portraits of his fellow prisoners. Only about 18 of these survive today and I have only been able to find 8. Stanley Grimson recounts the experience of sitting for the artist in his War Diary:

‘Had my portrait painted again, this time by a Northampton man named Old. He is a great hulking, fair-headed yokel with a face like a harvest moon – faintly reminiscent of Holbein’s Henry VIII. As he works he keeps up a continuous monologue – “That’s excellent – interesting position that – now will get the eyes”. His work is splendid though doesn’t seem to be in keeping with his character. The watercolour he did today is a fine piece of work, but is too much glamorised. I wish I could send it home – it would dispense of all fear.’

#ashleygeorgeold #portraits #warportraits #prisonersofwar #wardiary #prisonerofwarportraits #watercolor #watercolour #watercolours #watercolors #sketches #paintings #painting #peinture #kunst #künstler #thailandburmarailway #history #deathrailway #pows #wwii #stanleygrimson

#WaPo reports bluntly that the reason why assange is being charged by the #Trump administration is because of his leaks of the #wardiary and #ciacybertools, nothing more.

It should be obvious to just about everyone by now that Trump is simply a more impatient #USpresident than any before him and his agenda is to finish a longstanding #deepstate agenda as quickly as he possibly can.

It's easier to abandon #Assange in time of need, and what is the easier position to take, is also more cowardly.