THE PIERCED POMEGRANATE TAVERN: Here's a sneak peek BEHIND THE SCENES: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

Thirsty for a Fresh Take on All Things True Blood?

WELCOME! Thirsty for a fresh take on all things True Blood? Pull up a virtual barstool at the Pierced Pomegranate Tavern where sisters Rachel and Rebecca are serving up juicy feminist analysis with a twist and opening a vein of thoughtful sociocultural dialogue on HBO's hit series.

Like the epic literary salons of eras past - theaters for conversation and debate which were, incidentally, started and run by women; where the spirited debate about the issues of the day ran as copiously as the actual spirits did - but updated for the digital age, the Pierced Pomegranate Tavern is a fun forum for exploring questions ripe for discourse about the human condition & today's most crucial social issues through the medium of True Blood.

Your salonnières are not peddling liquor per se, but they are offering up new and alternative ideas informed by such diverse influences as pop culture, art, music, cultural history, Goddess studies, transformative theory, literature and poetry, and archaeomythology, filtered through the sieve of their own lived experiences as feminist women of a particular age, background, and culture.

This is a space where you - patrons and passersby alike - can view and engage with these perspectives through the lens of True Blood and contribute your own thoughts. So, no matter if you're a Truebie or a more casual viewer of True Blood, or your drink of choice is a pomegranate martini - one of Rachel's favorite cocktails to drink and Rebecca's to mix - an herbal tea, a frothy double mocha latte, or a can of Fresca (wink, wink) you're invited to join the conversation on the show's complexities in a way that can spark transformation.

Hopefully you'll find something to sink your teeth...err...straw, into! PLEASE ENJOY RESPONSIBLY ;-)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Here's a sneak peek BEHIND THE SCENES: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

It's 4:23AM. Rachel sits alone on the couch. The house is quiet except for the furious clacking of her fingers on her laptop keyboard. Her eyes are blurry and close involuntarily from time to time, but she is determined...

So how'd you like my spoof of the True Blood S4 teasers HBO has been releasing? So far we've had brief scenes of amnesia Eric, Eric & Bill, Jason & Crystal, Sam & new female character (sorry, don't recall her name) and Pam, Tara, Jesus & company introduced by the disembodied voice over orienting us to the action I tried to mime above. Did I miss any?

So what's my teaser all about? I mentioned a while back, I'll be presenting a visual talk exploring issues of sexuality and representation through the lens of True Blood at the PCA/ACA & Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations joint conference, in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Area: Special Area: True Blood track in just a few weeks...(wipes sweat from brow, assures self presentation will be ready in time...steels self for 2 more weeks of living the vamp life by default, working on prepping my talk all night, in bed with the sunrise).

Now, this may seem like a pretty cool rock-star lifestyle and all, except for the fact that I don't have the luxury of going underground or hunkering down in a coffin all day...so the whole sleep deprivation thing is rather bothersome and the bleeds are sort of difficult to explain when working 9-5...

we were 1st introduced to the phenomenon of the bleeds during this scene, S2

...But anyway, I digress...the real point of this post is to pull the veil back a bit and give you a sneak peek of what is to come at the conference next month.

You may have noticed that we put out a teaser of sorts via Twitter with some shots of Neolithic goddess replicas I've been sucking up for the presentation.

My talk is entitled: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality. What do you think these images may have to do with it?

Persephone's return

Willendorf

Green Gulch Tara

Oh well, you'll just have to stay tuned to find out, won't you?

;-0

And please do stay tuned for the frothy confection on groupies & fangbangers that Rebecca's mixing up, to be served here at the PPT soon!

~ Rachel

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A SALON FOR TODAY - WE'RE YOUR SALONNIÉRES

The European literary salons of the 17th and 18th centuries had intellectuals. They had drinking. They had conversation and debate. They were social and stimulating places where Enlightenment-era movers-and-shakers could linger in pursuit of wisdom and just one more glass.

Over the centuries, salons have played a historic role in enriching literary and philosophical movements and have built bridges between artists and thought leaders, this has had a major impact on intellectual and cultural life.

Salonnières played a central role in salon life; since most paths to formal higer education were closed to them, these abitious, intelligent, self-educated, and educating women adopted and implemented Enlightenment values to shape salons as informal universities where they too could exchange ideas, receive and give criticism, read their own works and hear the works and ideas of others.

At a time when society was dominated by men, the salonnières (nicknamed "Blue Stockings"; a term that even today connotes intellectual women) exerted powerful influence in the salons they convened, selecting their guests, deciding about the subjects of their meetings, and directing the discussion.

The Pierced Pomegranate Tavern is inspired by the old-school salons and designed to carry the flavor of the Enlightenment era's venerable houses of drink and debate into the 21st century, with a few exceptions.

Where the salons of old were at times elitist and exclusive, this forum is open and inclusive.

We're your salonnières, here to foster a fun and safe atmosphere for sociocultural and political discourse through the medium of True Blood that feels more social and less academic, to get the conversation going, and to keep it on track.

Feminist philosopher Mara Keller reinterprets Persephone’s ingestion of the pomegranate seeds as being part of her sexual initiation into womanhood. She writes:

Death, life, male, female and, above all, the irrepressible power of reproduction—all are found in the image of the pomegranate seed. It is this seed that Persephone takes within her body—literally incorporating it into her own being. With this seed, she becomes a new person: whole, mature, fertile, and infinitely more complex than before. Having tasted it, she has crossed a barrier from which there can be no turning back.

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Monday, April 4, 2011

Here's a sneak peek BEHIND THE SCENES: True Blood Reenacts the Goddess Persephone's Ordeal of Abduction and Rape...or Self-Directed Sexual Initiation? Opening a Vein on Woman-Centered Sexuality

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