It Came From Above

In the Madonna of the Toast epilogue, trying to sum up all of these visual manifestations and their stories, I wrote: “It doesn’t matter if you grew up with a religion or an always turned-on television, the iconography of both cultures has a roaming ability to effect all of us as they coexist and commingle, and that’s what this book samples. There are countless more examples of these phenomena out there in the world, and plenty more are destined to crackle through a fried egg or splatter in a plop of bird droppings.”

Well, I haven’t found an egg that resembles a famous face, yet, but here is a Jesus bird dropping.



Reported by MySA.com late last week, this divine doo-doo was discovered by 78-year-old Toney Guerrero, on the driver’s side window of his Mercury Grand Marquis. A resident of Floresville, Texas, Guerrero “hasn’t always had a strong walk in faith” though he spotted the face as soon as he noticed the bird dropping. The splatter conjures tears as he points out the hair, eyes and nose, the darker patches in the otherwise white blotch.

Now the car is covered up so rain won’t wash the face away. Guerrero still needs to process his discovery, but he says, “Jesus is right there. You can get whatever you want from that.”

He's right . . .

Yogi Bear In Argentina, Me in Florida

Yup, I'm back. Had a great time in Argentina, and I even spotted my own visual manifestation of a secular icon -- none other than Yogi Bear! Found this peeled-paint shape in the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires.



Everyone's favorite picnic basket thief is a popular figure in the world of pareidolia. He even makes a cameo in Madonna of the Toast, in potato chip form.

I'll be talking about potato chips, cows and grilled cheese sandwiches this Thursday at 6:30 at Books and Books in Miami. I'll also be joined by Diana Duyser, which should be a hoot. The Miami press has blurbed the event, so if you don't want to take my word for it, check out Flavorpill or the Miami New Times.

New News, and Some Old News Made New

This will be my last post for a couple of weeks, folks. I'm off to Argentina for vacation. If you've been visiting here regularly and are worried about not getting your fix of strange and sacred sightings, you can always check out the book, Madonna of the Toast.



Or, if you're in Miami, Florida, on Thursday May 24, I'll be reading at Books and Books in Coral Gables. All of the readings I have done over the last few months have been fun, but this one promises to be extra special because of Diana Duyser's presence. Yes, the woman who made the $28,000 Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese will be joining me for a chat. We'll talk about the impact one half of a sandwich has made on her life, from the money, the celebrity and her tattoo of the toast, which she received on the reality television show Miami Ink. The Duysers always draw a crowd in Florida, so this event may turn into spectacle. And, no promises, but there is a chance that the famed sandwich will also be on hand.

Lastly, and appropriately, in looking for a new visual manifestation to share with all of you, the only noteworthy tidbit I found had to do with none other than Diana Duyser! On May 7, Local10.com reported on Duyser's tattoo, and then the story got picked up by other news services. It's strange because she got the tattoo last summer, long enough ago for me to include it in the book! I don't get it, but I think it bodes well for an interesting time down in Florida.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll be on the look out for recognizable faces down near the bottom of the world . . .

No More Wafers, Just Chips

The other day, I blogged about an image of Jesus purportedly spotted on a Google satellite map. Today, I bring to you the face of Jesus in a flash memory chip, as rendered by transmission electron microscopy. Some of the people who have chimed in about the face at Engadget.com think it more closely resembles Gandalf or Rob Zombie, both recognizable cultural icons, I guess.

In my last post, I touched on my fascination with how several of these visual manifestations are linked intimately to our high-speed technological landscape. This example takes it to a whole other level, however. An online map is an interface, while this flash chip is a part of an infrastructure that is becoming as natural as our biological makeup. That I can even string together "Jesus" and "transmission electron microscopy" bowls me over, though I really need to stop being surprised by any of this, as it clearly indicates the extent to which technology influences how we understand the world and our place in it.

At the Last Supper, Jesus told the disciples "This is my body" and gave them bread. Today, it seems that technology sustains us more than food. I wonder if Christ would have handed out iPods had then been now.

Where Technology and Religion Meet

Or have a near miss, it's hard to say. According to Metro.co.uk, last week Brian Martin did a Google-map search for Mt. Sinai, and discovered this cloud over the holy mountain's location. This Jesus sighting has a few catches, however. First: the actual location of the peak from which Moses brought down the Ten Commandments remains a mystery, and may or may not be the physical Mt. Sinai in Egypt. Second: the YouTube video, the story's original source, has been removed. Third: upon some Google mapping over Egypt and Israel, I didn't find any clouds in any of the images.

Why post this, then? Well, I can't "prove" any of these manifestations that I report. I'm just relaying the stories, and adding my two cents every now and then. So, it is very possible that Martin did indeed come across this image of a Jesus cloud over some part of the Middle East where someone believes Mt. Sinai once stood. That's another part of this story that I like: Martin sees the whole body of Jesus, not just His face. He sees the head, shoulders, belt around His robe and legs. The cloud on the left does possess a human form, like a men's room sign, or a Lego figure.



The Jesus association must stem from the fact that Martin had Bible stories on his mind.

And, if you've been paying any attention to this blog, you know that I have a soft-spot for these occurrences that rely on technology, like the Star of David in oatmeal. Thanks to satellite imaging, we can see most any part of the globe from the comfort of home, at times in amazing detail. It makes sense that these innovations would reveal holy icons to certain people, as it seems more and more apparent to me that we cull more and more understanding of the world around us from technology, whether it is the Internet, television or airplane. Such developments shrink the world, and suggest that we can capture anything, even if it is as difficult to grasp as faith, or a cloud.

Jesus Didn't Use a Footstool to Wash Feet

This footstool, discovered in a home on Church Street in Toledo, Ohio, has reaffirmed Roberto Colon’s faith. According to Colon, and his wife, the face of Jesus can be seen on this worn, wooden piece of furniture, though Colon concedes that the face is easier to see from a distance. Reported by WTOL, the broadcast includes a mention of Donna Lee, a person I interviewed for Madonna of the Toast because of the Jesus pierogi she fried up one Easter morning a few years back. You’ll have to read the book to find out more about Lee, but I can tell you that during the course of our conversation she belted out an excellent rendition of “New York, New York.”



Lee sold her divine foodstuff on eBay for $1,775. For now, Colon plans on keeping the footstool, though he hasn’t ruled out auctioning off the item. He thinks bidding would begin at $100,000! When Jesus washed the disciples' feet, it was an act of humility, something Colon may get a dose of with such grandiose monetary expectations. Good luck, Roberto.

A Beatific Bank

Just before Easter, Ann Stromile's niece discovered this face of Jesus. From across a rural road in Plain Dealing, Louisiana, sunken into the bank, it looks back at Stromile's home. Reported last week by KTBS in Shreveport, it's worth checking out the video. At 75, Stromile serves as witness to this sign from God. Two rainstorms have come and gone, but the image in the red-clay bank remains unchanged.

The face looks out from underneath the base of three pine trees. Notice the beard of needles. The eyes and nose are apparent, but it is really the fallen needles that suggest Jesus, though the roots gnarl into Christ's Crown of Thorns.

There have been some visitors, maybe more since this news broadcast, though it is clear that the visual presence bolsters Stromile's faith. She may just be sitting out on her porch at this very moment, the pine trees rustling in the night breeze.