VerelaiR

Astrological sign: Scorpio So


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My freehand drawing of a Westminster Abbey tomb sculpture: white on black paper

MORE ABOUT ME...

I joined this wiki because: I've studied the early Tudor era (Anne Boleyn particularly) for forty years: informally and formally (undergrad. and grad. at university). Not a fan of "The Tudors", but interested in adding historically accurate information based on the most reliable, recent information, corroborated by my own research.

Specialties:

MA in Anne Boleyn's early years in continental Europe at the the courts of Margaret of Austria and François I - how Renaissance humanist philosophies influenced her notions of monarchy and queenship;

MA in Anne Boleyn's image in portraits: accuracy and historical iconography; MSW.

The best words to describe me are: passionate writer and artist; curious; objective.

Interests: international law/politics (published), human rights advocacy (published), history, art history, early music (Arabic pre 1100 CE, European pre 1800 CE, Jewish/Sephardic pre 1500 CE); understanding the Palestinian/Israeli conflict - past and present. Collecting recordings of MS 1070; now turning to literary fiction. Writing poetry: influenced by 17th C. metaphysical poets (eg. John Donne).

Favorite movies: Pan's Labyrinth, The Others, Le Roi Danse, Wit, Napoleon (Abel Gance, 1927), The Lives of Others, Shoah, Danton, Judgement at Nuremburg, Marquise of O., A Man for All Seasons, Pi, Anne of the Thousand Days (notwithstanding inaccuracies), Orlando, Derek Jarman/Tilda Swinton collaborations . . .

Favorite TV shows: Frontline, MSNBC (Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow) and left wing political internet news, Ghost Hunters, Antiques Road Show, Sopranos, Angels in America, I Claudius, PBS history documentaries, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Colbert Report, al-Jazeera.

My hero(es): Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Ilan Pappe, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Erasmus, my partner James - a brilliant intellect (attorney and PhD in physics) dedicated political activist - my eccentric genius. My late mother - brilliant scholar/professor and loving, lovely soul. A survivor of WW II.

My superpower is: perceptive, critical, measured; sensitivity tempered with intellectual rigour.

If I could live anywhere, it would be: London or Paris - can't stay away from either; have traveled extensively across Europe and Middle East. Cairo.

My dream job(s):

What else you should know about me: Estonian and fluent in the language, a voracious reader of quality nonfiction and fiction; favourite authors: Thomas Mann, Tolstoy, Hugo, Milton, Emily Bronte, Balzac, Zola, Dante, Edward Said, A. B. Yehoshua's "Journey to the End of the Millenium" (the best historical novel ever written), Jim Crace, Matthew Kneale, Robert Graves . . . ad infinitum. Classical and complex modern literature - no popular fiction, no bestsellers. Lifetime member of the Bronte Society.

Reading everything ever written on Anne Boleyn from primary source documents to modern biographies. Best ever: "The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn" by Dr. Eric Ives. Worst modern works: "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" by Alison Weir; "Anne Boleyn" by Joanna Denny. Special dishonorable mention to Philippa Gregory, whose "The Other Boleyn Girl" resulted in the recent rise of vicious anti-Anne Boleyn rhetoric on the internet - pompous hack. Worst book in the world - flat, inaccurate, poorly written slander.
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