Versatile Blogger Award

Kelly M, author of one of my favorite blogs The Archeology of Tomb Raider, nominated me – 9 Muses News – for the Versatile Blogger Award.

It is my pleasure to nominate 15 blogs and bloggers that I follow for the award (in alphabetical order)

Acropolis of Athens Nikos, the most amazing thinker, creator and photographer is passionate about re-unifying the Parthenon Sculptures, respecting and protecting cultural heritage around the world.
Association for Research into Crimes Against Art (ARCA) a leading authority on art crime and mentioned in Dan Brown’s new book.
Ancient Games of Athens love how the ancients are still relevant and speak to us today.
Chasing Aphrodite the go-to source for current news on looted antiquities.
Clanco – Art Law – consumers and artists must know copyright law.
Conflict Antiquties: illicit antiquities, trading in economic crisis, organized crime and political violence
Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire: A lawyer’s insights into cultural property law, antiquities trafficking, art crime, and museum risk management.
Elginism: on the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures and other disputed artifacts.
History of the Ancient World – as much as we move forward in time, the ancients are still relevant.
Illicit Cultural Property: Derek Fincham’s blog on art, antiquities and the law
Lost Gallery of Art this is one of the most beautiful web sites dedicated to lost art.
Moses Brown covers Syria. It takes a bold person to expose war and in an independent blog.
Moshe Rynecki, Portrait of a Life in Art Elizabeth Rynecki is seeking her great-grandfather’s art collection lost during World War II.
Nord on Art great stories and perspectives on art. I especially appreciate the stories on landscape art.
Plundered-Art: A Perspective from the Holocaust Art Restitution Project. War is complex and one of the last victims of war are families trying to recover their stolen, looted or plundered art.

And, of course, The Archeology of Tomb Raider ! Always appreciate Kelly’s features on ancient languages.

If you’ve been nominated for the award and wish to join in the fun, you will need to:

Thank the person who nominated you this award and include a link back to their blog.
Select 15 awesome blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award (if possible, include a link to the website so that others can learn more about the award)
Share 7 facts about yourself.
Optional: You’re free to add the Versatile Blogger Award button to your blog if you’re one of the 15 nominees and have nominated 15 blogs of your own. Just save the image below, upload it to your blog, insert it in your blog post and/or menu, and add a link back to the Versatile Blogger Award website.

THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD BUTTON

And, so seven facts about myself:

Am a global nomad in the true sense of the word having grown up around the world. It explains my curiosity and connection to foreign cultures, languages, justice, history and art.
One of my earliest memories is being in Franciszek Kmita’s attic studio in Warsaw overlooking a cobble stone courtyard. After my mother selected the paintings she wanted to purchase, Kmita would serve us smokey black tea from his samovar.
Being inquisitive and curious is simply my nature. If not asking questions, exploring. As a child I always had a shovel to dig for treasures in abandoned temple grounds in Greece, the hills of Beirut or ancient forts in India. Nothing was sacred. Friends and I would sneak into old abandoned mansions filled with ghosts of the past or at least we would make up good stories to scare ourselves silly. Well, we didn’t pay attention to 24 hour curfew in Beirut either. So, I suppose it helped to have training on what to do if you see a sniper on a roof top or need to ditch surveillance or evacuate a country at a moments notice. As a matter of fact, my passport is always by the front door.
If I could be, I would be a rather happy art thief or at least collector of antiquities until my dear friend Marilyn Henry set me right many years ago. I love these ancient treasures and how they are relevant and speak to us today. So, instead of acquiring artifacts documented or undocumented that gather dust and take up space, I love to tell their stories.
Love how social media is unsettling bureaucracies of institutions and thinking and opening connections between people around the world.
Love observing animals communicate with each other and will certainly rescue any in need – turtles, birds, stray dogs and cats. In fact, one of my cats, Bisous, is a little feral from a country road in Pennsylvania and the other, Justin, is a city slicker from the DC shelter foster care system.
When I am playing, I am with Mr. Right or dear friends in random places; having everyone over for dinner on the patio; doing yoga; taking photographs; going to art shows; or traveling off the beaten track to experience the authentic culture be it in Paris or Lhasa or Phuket or Asuncion. Honestly, Paris is my favorite.

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PS. Visit the Versatile Blogger Award’s website if you need any more information about the award or rules and don’t forget to let me know who you’ve nominated. You can do so by leaving a link to your blog post in the comments section below.