I met Belle Burch on the First Friday Art Walk April 4, 2014. Belle approached me when she saw I was filming her. I told her she looked like Botticelli’s Venus on a Half-shell. She felt flattered and blushed. I have compared the relationship of Botticelli and Simonetta Vespuccito, that of Sleeping Beauty. At the end of my video I tell Belle my blog has the legend of Sleeping Beauty at its core, and the family name, Rosamond, is key because that is the name Grimm gave the sleeping princess.

On this day, I declare Belle Burch, and SLEEPS, my living work of art. Because the transient homeless competes with the Bohemian Arts Scene in the downtown of many America cities, I decided to make these transients, their tents, their cause, a Work of Art. They are a living Mobile.

If Belle had accepted my proposal of marriage, then her surname would be ROSAMOND. This name can be adopted by a man who marries a woman name ROSE. Victor William Presco married Rosemary Rosamond. There is a ROSE in Presco and AMBROSE. Belle Rosamonde is the French name for Fair Rosamond, whom Belle will be my model for. She was put in a Labyrinth. Belles father operated a Labyrinth Walk.

Belle Burch and her lover, Ambrose Holtham-Keathly have been arrested while fighting for the RIGHT TO SLEEP. This is the Sleeping Kingdom of Rosamond that fell asleep when Rosamond’s finger was pricked by a piece of flax. My Rosamond kindred descend from a long line of weavers. Weavers have led many revolts in history that led to the formation of this Democracy.

My right to create any work of art, is protected by the United States Constitution. I have always seen Belle as a living work of art, and my muse, a role she did not object to. Only when I saw she was connected with SLEEPS, did she withdraw, and, bid Alley Valkyrie to attack me, these Sleeping Women claiming I was stalking them.

I have compared myself to the Knight who hacks his way thru the thorns and roses to get to Sleeping Beauty so I can awaken her with a kiss. At the Wandering Goat, I reached across the table, took Belle’s hand, and kissed it. This was the hand that imitated the painting by Waterhouse. Hence, Belle has never been more awake. She fights me because she is going to get everything she ever DREAMED of, because we have reached the point of no return, the masterpiece of the Artist and Muse is unfolding like a blooming rose.

Belle’s mother, Catherine Vanderturin, was involved in making masks for theatre. I am the Phantom of the Opera. I am the author of this play, this drama, this living work of art.

When I read my poem about Belle at the Wandering Goat, she leaned forward, closed her eyes, and smiled. Was Belle dreaming of her prince, that is yet to come and awaken her? How about Floris Van Rosemondt? Belle and her mother look like Rutger Hauer. Belle has his eyes. Gottstalk Rosemondt, was my illustrious ancestor, a member of the Swan Brethren, and the Falcon Art College in Holland.

Capturing Beauty will now be a serial published in my newspaper, Rosamond Press Co.

Jon Presco

Copyright 2014

http://www.wiseoldgoat.com/papers/floris.html

Knight Floris van Roozemond (spelling varies with o/oo, s/z and d/dt), accompanied by the Indian Sindala (Bergman), returns home from a trip around the world only to find his castle occupied by Maarten van Rossum, the commander in chief of Charles, Duke of Guelders. Charles, who controls Guelders, is involved in a power struggle against Philip the Handsome who rules the Burgundian Netherlands, the rest of the Low Countries. Floris had so far been neutral due to his absence, but after he finds his castle stolen, he sides with Wolter van Oldesteijn, who is allied with Burgundy against Charles, Duke of Guelders. Charles and Maarten van Rossum are aided by the Frisian pirate Greate Pier partly as an ally, and partly to do the dirty work.

Historicity[edit]

Apart from Sindala and Floris, all the characters are based on historical figures. Another divergence from history is the presence of the pirate Greate Pier: although a contemporary, he was not active as a pirate before the death of Philip the Handsome. In the series Pier is either guarded or surrounded by members of the Arumer Zwarte Hoop (called “Gelderse Friezen” in the series).

When I was a gifted youth
I do not recall if I studied the artist Sandro Botticelli.
When a man
I wrote my version of ‘The Birth of Venus’
and did a painting of my muse
coming out of the sea.

I must have neglected this great Renaissance Artist,
and his beloved Muse – until now!
But, Since I beheld her, my Belle
and compared her to Simonetta Cattaneo de Candia Vespucci,
do I now behold all the clues of the petals
and the thread
that have brought me through the labyrinth of time,
to adore her once again.

And she recognizes me!
Centuries ago I was buried at her feet
in order to continue my long vigilance,
for she was only asleep.
One day she will awaken, and the City of Flowers
will again bask in her unparelled beauty.

Bella! Mon Belle!

Following the Renaissance of the Miller Brothers
to the top of the hill in the lost city of Fairmount,
I came to the crossroads of time.
When I saw the intersection of Flora and Fairmount,
I knew it would be a matter of days
before I was with my Sleeping Belle, once again,
once upon a time
She is the one I came here for.

After finding the lost tombstone of George Melvin Miller,
the founder of Florence,
I began to see the grand design.
When she came across the piazza de Keasy
while the minstrel sang a song by the Grateful Dead
‘Saint Stephen’
I had my rose at ready.
When I handed it to her
I heard the lovers complain
Where is my Belle Rose!

This is the Renaissance Rose
that my ancestor employed to write his name,
Rosemondt.
When I told Belle what kind of work I do,
I described my painting of a woman coming out of the sea.
Many have asked me who she is. Now, I can say;
“She is Belle, the most beautiful woman in Florence.”
We will go there, soon,
to behold the sea, a shell, and the foam

In 1475
at La Giostra
a jousting tournament was held at the Piazza Santa Croce.
The gallant knight, Giuliano
entered the field bearing a banner
on which was a picture of Simonetta as a helmeted Pallas Athene
Her image was painted by Botticelli himself.
Underneath was the French inscription
La Sans Pareille, meaning “The unparalleled one”.

From then on Simonetta became known
as the most beautiful woman in Florence,
and later
the most beautiful woman of the Renaissance.

Simonetta Vespucci
I salute thee!

Jon Presco

http://eugenesleeps.org/

­

SLEEPS protestors were arrested tonight at 11PM when the constitution, apparently, once again expired.  This is the fourth time Lane County has attempted to evict the protestors.  One time EPD declined to evict the activists and they left voluntarily the next day, one time one protestor decided to disobey what she considered an unlawful order to stop protesting and was arrested and early one morning at 2AM 13 protestors were ejected.
Those committing civil disobedience and arrested were :  Walker T. Ryan, Kristen Brandt, Arianna Brickell, Christina Dill, Vickie Embree, Mary Broadhurst, Peter Grotticelli, Florence Emily Semple, Shantia Gambill, Derek Lewis, Dave. I. Piccioni, Terra Williams, Ambrose Holtham-Keethley, Julio F. Lopez, Jr. Mark Hubbell, Dan O’Connell, Graham Lewis, Larry Pleasant, Alena Cardinal, Scotty Perey, Sergeant Reynolds.
The night was a celebration of Free Speech and Assembly rights.  The protestors has originally started out to simply protest to draw attention to the City and County’s anti-sleeping laws.  However, at federal, county and city sites, the unhoused protestors were summarily dismissed.  In recent events the City has determined that indeed, protestors can protest on public land and tents are symbols which are covered under First Amendment free speech protections.  Protestors tonight hope that the County will soon come to the same conclusion.
Then SLEEPS can get on with its REAL work, modifications to the anti-sleeping laws that haunt those who are unhoused.

http://www.oregonherald.com/oregon/local.cfm?id=4463

Photo 1: ason Miller ties a SLEEPS bandanna onto another activist Tuesday in the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in downtown Eugene. The protest organization uses the slogan “Safe Legally Entitled Emergency Places to Sleep.” More than 20 tents were standing in the courthouse plaza Tuesday morning. (Paul Carter/The Register-Guard)
Photo 2:Homeless activist Alley Valkyrie (center) raises her hands along with other activists to signal assent as campers at the Wayne Morse Free Speech Plaza in Eugene vote Tuesday night on the rules that will govern the protest action outside the Lane County Courthouse. (Paul Carter/The Register-Guard)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_art

The term came “Live art” into usage in the United Kingdom in the middle of the 1980s to recognize both new and existing performance work as a form of creative expression. Live Art is influenced by a diverse array of other forms including visual art, Experimental theatre and dance.
Definitions[edit]
Live Art is a varied and diverse practice. By its very nature live art “defies precise of easy definition beyond the simple definition that it is live art by artists”.[2] Below are a series of definitions of the term Live Art:
Tate Collection:
“Live Art mainly refers to Performance art and Action art and their immediate precursor Happenings, together with the developments of Performance since the 1960s.[3]
Live Art Archive:
“Live Art can be defined as “art work that broadly embraces ephemeral, time-based, visual and performing arts events that include a human presence and broaden, challenge or question traditional views of the arts”.[4]
The Live Art Development Agency:
“Live Art should not be understood as a description of an artform but as a strategy to ‘include’ a diversity of practices and artists that might otherwise find themselves ‘excluded’ from all kinds of policy and provision and all kinds of curatorial contexts and critical debates”.[5]

Sept 17 marked the two year anniversary of Occupy New York. Yet, the national news was largely void of its mention. Although a bit understated, the Occupy movement continues in Eugene to the benefit of area homeless and transient populations. Estimated at 1,700, the group has expanded with the prolonged recovery of what many economists now refer to as the second great depression. While Eugene’s unemployment has decreased with the economic recovery of the state and local economy, many of these folks haven’t clocked into a job in years.

Pushed by local law enforcement to ‘ move along,’ the homeless and the intentionally un-housed, continuously search for a safe, if not quite encampment or place to sleep.

While the “Occupy” bank and government protest of 2011 is all but a memory, the un-housed freedom and rights protest isn’t. The homeless remain under fire in a city that is often overwhelmed by an expanding homeless population. Public safety and health departments colliding with mostly well intentioned protestors and A.C.L.U. attorneys, fuel the fire of discontent smoldering within an often downtrodden street society that very often simply wishes to be left alone.

To date, the city council, organized homeless advocates and protest groups have not reached an accord as to a viable homeless solution. It’s a big problem that many citizens believe not to be that of city government. Nor, do they wish to pay for it with tax dollars. Fueling the homeless debate is one of unlawful camping within the city limits. Well, that’s part of the issue! As mandated by city ordinance, local law enforcement sites and evicts non-permitted campers at will. No over-night, long term camping is allowed within the city limits.

On a national level, Eugene is known by the homeless as a mostly kind, giving community. It is in-fact a West Coast stopping point for many young transients looking for a hand up. The influx of young homeless is most noticeable in the spring and summer months.

Downtown you’ll find SLEEPS, a rag-tag, yet seemingly well-organized assembly of ‘un-housed’ protestors and veteran street inhabitants with a message. “It’s everyone’s right as a human being to sleep.” And, SLEEPS believes that the un-housed should be allowed to do so safely within the city limits of Eugene; without harassment from the citizens or law enforcement and without the daily breaking and moving of camp.

As stated by SLEEPS organizer Joe Nauseous, the mostly vacant federal building falls under the watchful eye of Homeland Security. And, that other than a random tent search from time to time, the Fed is O.K. with the tented protest. “They’re mostly concerned with things that could be made into weapons and such,” says Joe. So they don’t harass us!

Sign boards surrounding the encampment warn participants that they inhabit a federal zone. That the camp is” not Eugene!” Medical Marijuana permits will not be honored here, and that the camp is under constant 24 hr. audio and visual surveillance. The sign warns all that enter to “watch what they say and do.” Thoughts… O.K.!

With that said, it becomes apparent that the strategic positioning of the camp is one of high traffic visibility, as many drivers passing the encampment honk and wave in approval of the protest.

Homeless or ‘un-housed’ camps can be seen throughout Eugene.

On Monday night following the city council meeting, one took form across from the new Federal Court on the Ferry Street Bridge green way. Across town on 13th Ave, bordering the Lane County Fairgrounds, a third camp has taken form. While the message is the same, the movement remains splintered. According to Joe, the SLEEP group has split from others, due to differences of opinion. The other homeless camps in the Downtown area, known a “Whovilles” are growing. Waiting for their next eviction, these folks claim that for every camp evicted by the city, two more will spring up in its place. According to protestors,” the protest is not for us, but for future generations.” It’s a rights thing!

“Got a dollar, I’m hungry!” Talking to the un-housed and proud of it!

In speaking with local street icon James “the Profit,” he shared with me his sentiment.” There’s a certain freedom on the street, and me and others living here aren’t going to give up that freedom.” Many street people like James, shun the advances of mandated bible study “warm houses,” and tough it out in makeshift shanty tent cities or under a bush or steam heated building entry. They consider themselves to be citizens of Eugene, regardless of lack of physical mailing address.

Last August a ‘ homeless’ camp was shut down by county and state authorities. Located in a West Eugene wet lands nature reserve, the camp reportedly housed over 150 and had been in place for a year or more. This eviction pushed more homeless onto the streets where the crisis continues to escalate. A few days later a fire burned an adjoining 40 acres; assumed to be set by a vacated homeless man in retribution for the eviction.

With an estimated 2000 or so seasonal homeless in Eugene, quick fix programs such as City Councilman Allen Zelenka’s proposal to provide safe overnight camping for up to 15 campers at area “rest stops” while a step in the right direction is failing to gain community support. According to Occupy Medical and other area advocacy groups, the city’s 24 hr. break camp and vacate ordinance is not practical.

As neighborhood watch captains scream “not in my neighborhood,” the homeless stand up at city council meetings and dispute the validity of proposals that pale in comparison to the seemingly overwhelming burgeoning homeless population. It’s estimated by the Federal government that on any given hour in America, 600,000 people live on the streets of America. Most believe the number to be much higher.

As to the cities approved proposal for an “opportunity village,” two years after Occupy Eugene focused the community on the growing issue, the people of Eugene are still waiting!