Re: Role of Benda masks in Usenet culture

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Palmer) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill Palmer) wrote in message news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
 
In the course of intensifying my thoughtstream
search for the charming Ms. Lee, I have uncovered
two new clues, which those of you in misc.writing
who have taken part in the search may find 
intriguing.

[By the way, due to misunderstandings apparent
in certain posts, it needs to be stressed that
this is strictly a thoughtstream search.  This
is scarcely some attempt to "cyber-date" Ms.
Lee, and I resent very much that such a vicious
canard has been libelously posted.   In
no way does this net-wide search involve any 
sort of personal attempt to get in touch with 
Ms. Lee--that is exactly the sort of dragger 
behavior I have identified as being very harmful 
to creative thoughtstream interactions.  The 
disappearance of Ms. Lee is a mystery that began 
in these electronic woods, and in these electronic 
woods in must remain and must be--if at all 
possible--solved.]

The first clue I came up with was found during
my careful reading of certain posts by Ms. Lee
wherein she made coded reference to a website
featuring the masks of W. T. Benda.   

As some of you know, Benda, a Polish immigrant 
to the United States, won international renown 
by creating a series of fascinating "character
masks" featuring women's faces.   You have
probably either seen imitations of these in
stores, or have encountered reproductions of
them, or even the masks themselves, in set
decorations for movies in which an exotic
residential locale, is mandated.   

Anyway, it is clear now that Ms. Lee--for 
reasons I do not completely understand-- 
manifested herself in her postings as a 
series of Benda masks; took on, that is to 
say, the likeness of a Benda, but with a 
slightly more Asian cast to the features
than the artist himself used.  

Why Ms. Lee did this, whether her purpose 
was to attract the most creative minds in 
Usenet, or simiply to entertain them, I do 
not know.  But the clue of the Benda masks 
itself is a valuable one, and I am pursuing 
it with all the intellect I can muster...

Clue Number Two is found in an an 
illustration by Thomas Blackshear II.
Blackshear's illustration is titled
"Intimacy."  The website text informs
visitors that he created the illustration
for the Greenwich Workshop in 1995.  

Ms. Lee, again through coded postings,
leads careful misc.creativity readers
through a bewildering maze of electronic 
highways, byways, and alleyways until,
at the far end of a certain mews, they 
reached a site where the Blackshear 
illustration pops into view.  The picture 
features a mysterious, stunningly lovely 
woman with features that suggest Afro-
American or possibly Afro-Asian ancestry.   

The woman in Blackshear's illustration
is holding (near, but to the right of her 
face, so only about half of her actual face 
is obscured by the object) a MASK that is 
much whiter than her own skin color.  She 
looks enthrallingly seductive in a lovely 
red and gold gown that is pulled gently 
down over one of her shoulders.    A 
brilliant white light sparkles from the 
bared middle portion of her body.

One of the things that Ms. Lee's latest 
creative swim in the thoughtstream reinforced 
was that the net is not about race, not about 
skin color, but about the astonishing things 
that can be produced by the creative mind,
which has no color, or all colors, depending
on how you perceive and untilize it.  Ms. Lee
did not preach this, she lived it in her 
amazing posts, and did so in a way that
assisted the creative aspirations of others,
in fashion, writing, art and other areas.

Keeping that in mind, and recalling Ms. Lee's
captivating body of work in misc.creativity,
there can be no doubt that pondering these
two clues will shed further light on the 
mysterious disappearance of our lovely 
friend...


the alt.genius.billy-palm
--posting from an office high
above rec.arts.prose