warning: ancient crone blood

So there are certain things I mention at dinner parties and at any parties or conversations that I know about from my history degree that are conversation stoppers. But they are things I feel like people should know about, only they don't know about them. But it's kind of like, I dunno, talking about genocide at dinner?

Usually I just stay quiet, but I am going to mention a thing here behind a cut. Be forewarned that it is a TRIGGERY thing and it has the potential to:

1. make you angry at people in the past
2. be visually disturbing (pictures of graphical violence if you follow the link)
3. poke at any anti-racism feelings you have rather hard
4. make you angry at people in the present for ignoring this part of history in favor of the [World War II] History Channell
5. make you insufferable at dinner parties

( TRIGGER WARNING please read numbered list above; triggers involve racial violence, hate crimes, learning things that will make it hard for you to stay quiet at dinner parties )

Thich Nhat Hanh - "The Island Inside"

Written transcript also available

For my Aussie friends, who don't have much experience with squirrels, a history of squirrels in Washington, DC from the Washington Post.

An excerpt:

"A little more than a century ago, the District's downtown parks and green spaces didn't have a squirrel population to speak of. Eastern gray squirrels are native to this area, but they had been largely wiped out in the most urban parts of town by the late 19th century because of hunting, which wasn't outlawed in much of the city until 1906.

Looking to fill the squirrel vacuum, nature lovers, government officials and other civic-minded residents in the early 1900s pushed to have areas including Lafayette Square, the U.S. Capitol grounds and the Mall stocked with squirrels. "Several Pairs of Interesting Little Animals to Be Set Free Among the Trees" read a 1901 headline in The Washington Post, announcing plans by the Architect of the Capitol to introduce squirrels to the grounds."

Continuing on the quilting theme, there was an exhibit near Seattle that started after I left that I really wanted to see. It's called "Bold Expressions: African American Quilts from the Collection of Corrine Riley" and runs until October 7, 2012 at the Bellevue Arts Museum. Many of the materials are scraps of blue jeans, flour sacks, and work clothes.

Here is one sample from the deeply abridged (only 12 photos) and drool-worthy online exhibit, entitled "Controlled Crazy Quilt" (Indiana, 1970s):


image of a crazy quilt in bold colors and...I really can't do it justice with words, I'm sorry

For more images, click here.

From a review of the exhibit, which maybe does a better job with verbal expressions:

"I saw striking and organic Rauschenberg swathes in a strip-style quilt from East Texas, circa 1930s or ’40s, and, when looking at examples of what are categorized as “controlled crazy quilts,” I made plans to reorganize my already color-grouped closet in a whole new way. Reds and blues hang out with pale pink, two examples put cobalt blue with dull plum and creamy white, and different shades of denim show up in the most inspiring and satisfying ways....

It’s Riley’s contention, and BAM’s artistic director Stefano Catalani agrees, that all of the quilters’ decisions—the random red square, the broken pattern—were intentional, but I’ve found that many artists and designers are happy to admit that their best work often comes from a happy mistake or a last-minute recovery from some supply or time shortage."

This is an awesome performance of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance by a men's A Capella group, complete with choreography. Even if you're dear/hard of hearing it's worth watching just for the dance moves. (And if you're visually impaired, the singing is awesome and it's interesting to hear this song in male voices.) I love, love, LOVE how unself-conscious these folks are about crossing traditional gender lines.

I enjoyed making a Washington, DC/Smithsonian-related post, so here's another one. Many people know about the Hope Diamond, housed in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. However, there is another diamond - or rather, many very small diamonds - that I find infinitely more interesting. It's just around the corner, and hardly anyone seems to notice it.

The diamonds are in a little glass tube at the entrance to the Meteorite exhibit, or rather the end of the Gems and Minerals Hall. They're not very imposing at all, and you have to use a microscope to see them. Why are they so exciting, you may wonder? Well, they may be one of the oldest things in our solar system.

Most of the "old" things in our solar system were formed around the birth of our sun, about 4.5 billion years ago. However, these lovely little specks of diamonds were formed - at least, scientists are pretty sure that they were - during the supernova of another star. It's been awhile since I've paid homage to them (for they're another thing I visit when I go to the Smithsonian, and sadly, they don't merit their own web page for me to look it up), but consider this: these little bits of diamond dust were once - something - in another solar system. Maybe even another life form (although don't quote me on that, as there is no evidence to back up that particular guess. But at least some form of matter.) The sun went supernova and in that flash, they became diamonds. They survived through space and time to arrive here, on Earth, where eventually someone picked up the meteorite that they were part of and thought, "Huh, this looks worth investigating." And then they figured out what they probably were.

Pretty frelling awesome.

Here's an article about diamonds that hail from outside our planet, if you're interested in reading more. It's not specifically aimed at the ones at the museum, but that's as good as I can get to a direct link.

An article about Freecycle and social science; or, how giving stuff away on Freecycle helps build communities and social identity.

My favorite museum in the Smithsonian - indeed, in all of Washington, DC - is definitely the National Museum of the American Indian. I love that the outside of the beautiful natural landscape of the outside of the museum is part of the museum's exhibit, which demonstrates Native American tribes' connection to the natural landscape. I've seen baby ducklings swimming in the pond, heard a red-winged blackbird, watched dragonflies skate across a lily pond - and all within sight of the Capital building and the Washington Monument. The architecture of the Museum itself also suggests adobe buildings. There is also a garden along one side of the museum that uses the "three sisters" method to grow corn, squash, and beans, as well as tobacco and other crops. It's really cool. And that's just the outside.

I could go on and on about the exhibits, which make a point of (1) not showing artifacts plundered from the grave sites of Native American peoples; (2) showing Native American peoples as living and evolving peoples rather than somehow "trapped in time"; (3) showing beautiful depictions of Native American craftsmanship; (4) showing more than just the European angle. My favorite exhibit is probably the one on spirituality, which shows similarities and differences between the spiritual beliefs of a number of Native American tribes throughout North and South America. It's interactive, there's videos, it's very cool.

The cafeteria is also worth a visit, as there is a selection of delicious food that's representative of different regions of the Americas. You can get (depending on the season) tamales, salmon, bison burgers, squash and crab apple soup, various kinds of salads, yucca, yams...it's delish. I go here sometimes just for the outside of the museum and food. (It is a little pricey, but given what you're eating it's comparable to a nice restaurant. But definitely not as cheap as the McDonald's at the Air and Space Museum.)

My favorite part of the museum, though, is this statue by Apache artist Allan Houser. It's entitled Sacred Rain Arrow, and it depicts a young man shooting an arrow into the sky as a prayer for rain for his people. To me, it is the essence of prayer. (This photo depicts the statue from before it was housed at the museum, because I was trying to find a public domain image.) Please note that sometimes the statue goes on tour, etc. or they stick it in a weird part of the museum so sometimes you have to ask the info desk about where he might be.

I thought I'd follow oursin 's example with the 100 things blogging challenge. Also similar to oursin , I couldn't think of one thing to blog about, so my theme is going to be something along the lines of "random things I like." We'll see where that leads.

For today, here's a historical photo of a garden from the Library of Congress's photo stream. It's taken in New York City in 1921 or 1922. It looks like such an oasis to me, sort of Tree Grows in Brooklyn-meets-jungle. But of course it was all carefully planned, because it was part of a gardening exhibit.



From the description:

This garden was comprised of three lots at 117 and 119 West 55th Street, owned by Charles Clinton Marshall who lived at 117. At the 1922 City Gardens Club of New York City exhibition at the New York Camera Club, Abby Story Marshall won "Before and After" Special Medal for the garden she developed from the three back yards. Today: House and garden not extant.