+

Christopher Lee Donovan

+ Martin Luther King Jr.

wood block print by Annie Bisset
 
Where are our generations heroes? Do we smother them? shoot them? are they in outpatient care? Sedated and depressed with the state of the world? Who can pick up where MLK left off, John Lennon, Kennedy.  Or is that our failure, we are all waiting for someone, so no one is stepping up. Are we uninspirable? I dont think so.  It could be more important than ever to depend on yourself as your hero, your guide. We all need to motivate and inspire ourselves, impress and surprise ourselves.  As children of this beautiful and magical world, we all have amazingness inside of us. We dont need one hero to do all the work, we all need to do our own part to improve the nations consciousness and make it a better place for all the children to come. Its our duty as humans to rise above the discrimination and injustice and hate, to stamp it out with a sheer mass of happy people with strong heart and active minds, outnumbering may be our only hope. so wake up your self, and wake up your neighbor. Statues of past heroes can only inspire, they cannot make solutions.

+ Lair O' the bear in January

This tuesday we went on a cold, adventurous walk at Lair O' the Bear near Morrison, Colorado.  We had the place all to ourselves and discovered the frozen trails, waters and plants with delight.

+ music from Denver's Hunter Dragon

+

+ words of the day for your enjoyment

cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is forced against by moment and shear stress.^[1] Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.

caddywhompus is defined by such adjectives as “uneven,” “crooked” and “out of whack”

+ The Peacock Room

http://www.flickr.com/photos/romanywg/6946774488/in/photostream/

+ Urodid Moth Canoon

According to entomologist and Amazon explorer Phil Torres, “It has a really beautiful woven lattice structure that hangs about a foot below a leaf on a thin silk string. This is an unusual structure because the pupa, resting inside the cocoon, seems fairly exposed to the elements. The hanging likely helps to prevent predation from ants, and the bright orange color may serve as an aposematic signal to predators to prevent it from getting eaten. The tube part at the bottom is the ‘escape hatch’ from which it eventually will exit as an adult moth. There is not a lot of research that has been done on the evolutionary origin structure - this is one of the many mysteries of the Amazon you can come across.”

Photo credit: Jeff Cremer

+

A welder at a boat-and-sub-building yard adjusts her goggles before resuming work, October, 1943. By 1945, women comprised well over a third of the civilian labor force (in 1940, it was closer to a quarter) and millions of those jobs were filled in factories: building bombers, manufacturing munitions, welding, drilling and riveting for the war effort.
life.tumblr.com

+ Aberration Sylvestre

by chachah on Deviant Art

+ a snowshoeing adventure to St. Marys Glacier, Colorado

My friends Amy and Andy took us on a wonderful adventure this sunday to a small glacier on the eastern edge of the rocky mountains. The beauty and magic that exists in these frozen rocky mountains will forever impress, fascinate, and comfort me. the crisp air and the strong sun does wonders for the soul.

+ Alexis Arnold

 San Francisco Magazine, magazine, Borax crystals, 11'' x 6.5'' x 5'', 2011

 

The Catcher in the Rye, book, Borax crystals, 7'' x 5'' x 3'', 2011

Crime and Punishment, book, Borax crystals, 8'' x 9'' x 5'', 2011 http://www.alexisarnold.com/index.html

+ Burning man 2013

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
        — Arthur C. Clarke

Who is John Frum? He is known to us by many names, this Visitor from Elsewhere, dispenser of endless abundance and wielder of mysterious technologies: John Frum, Quetzalcoatl, Osiris, "Bob." His cargo is splendid, his generosity boundless, his motives beyond our understanding. But across the ages and around the world, the stories all agree: one day he will return, bearing great gifts. Our theme this year asks three related questions; who is John Frum, where is he really from, and where, on spaceship Earth, are we all going?

"'E look like you an' me. 'E tall man. 'E live long."
        — Melanesian informant

Our story begins in Melanesia during World War II. Thousands of American GIs suddenly descended on this South Sea island chain, bearing with them unimaginable riches: magical foodstuffs that never spoiled, inconceivable power sources. Just as abruptly the troops departed, leaving only broken, rusted Jeeps, crumpled beer cans, and the memory of Spam. To the astonished eyes of the natives, this was a miraculous occurrence, and they yearned for the return of abundance. Accordingly, they built totemic sky-craft in an attempt to summon back these Visitors and their legendary leader, the man the Melanesians called John Frum. They had formed a Cargo Cult.
This Myth of Return is no less relevant today. To put this in a modern context, what if your electricity went dead and stayed that way -- would you know how to make the current flow again? Can you fix your car if it breaks down, or build yourself a new one? Like the islanders, most of us are many steps removed from the Cargo that entirely shapes our lives. We don't know how it's made, where it's made, or how it works; all we can do is look beyond the sky and pray for magic that will keep consumption flowing.

Pavilion design by Lewis Zaumeyer, illustration by Andrew Johnstone

Burning Man 2013 will court the return of our benevolent Visitors from Elsewhere by constructing an enormous replica of their sky-craft, hewn from the primitive materials of our backwater planet. Burning Man will stand atop this streamlined structure, majestically revolving like an interstellar beacon. Within this three-decked vessel participants will encounter the Temple of the Navigator, a shrine that features six hand-operated zoetropes that will function as prayer wheels. These will rehearse what little we know, or believe we know, of John Frum's story. A sweeping observation ring surrounding this central chamber will afford panoramic views of both the playa and our city.
We feel sure our theme will attract many alien Visitors, and hope this will stimulate our planet's faltering economy. To that end, we invite artists to create altars that may be placed in the vicinity of Burning Man's pavilion. These installations should be portable and easily removable from our burn circle. Participants are encouraged to contribute propitiatory offerings to these Space Age shrines. Artists are also invited to propose homemade interactive technology that may be installed on our saucer's upper Flight Deck (consult our online Art Guidelines for details).

"Your spaceship is cramped, and it's beginning to smell like fast food."
      — Reverend Al Ridenour

Burning Man is of course what one makes of it. So we must recognize that a few participants question the literal existence of John Frum¹. They believe that cargo culture is unsustainable; no deus ex machina descending from the sky can possibly provide consumers with relief. The only spaceship worth considering is planet Earth. Each and every one of us, it is held, must find our Inner Frum: the first step toward salvation is to give our gifts to fellow human beings.
As always, any work of art by anyone, regardless of our theme, is welcome at the Burning Man event. If you are planning to do fire art or wish to install a work of art on the open playa, please see our Art Guidelines for more information. To apply for a grant to fund the creation of artwork for Burning Man 2013, please see our art grant guidelines.

---

¹It is speculated that when greeting Melanesians, American soldiers would state, "Hi, I'm John from Tallahassee" or "I am Johnny from Detroit." John, being a common name, was remembered, but the various place names were soon forgotten. The only other constant being "from", this word soon morphed into a surname, hence John Frum. However Orthodox Frumites within our community repudiate this interpretation. Note: the Burning Man organization takes no position on religious beliefs.

entire article taken from www.burningman.com

+word of the day

PANACEA

太陽は常に上昇します。
pan·a·ce·a   
[pan-uh-see-uh]
–noun
1. a solution for all problems or difficulties

+ poem of the day

“I thought the earth remembered me,
she took me back so tenderly,
arranging her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds.
I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,
nothing between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths
among the branches of the perfect trees.
All night I heard the small kingdoms
breathing around me, the insects,
and the birds who do their work in the darkness.
All night I rose and fell, as if in water,
grappling with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.”

—	Mary Oliver, Sleeping in the Forest

+ DIY container project

learn how to remove the writing off plastic food containers from this blog.
you can reuse the blank containers for organizing storage or for gifting presents.  http://2busybrunettes.com/2012/04/18/i-heart-earth/

+ Pin and Thread Art

  Pin and thread artwork is a linear geometric design in which you draw string from point to point, creating a matrix of angles and lines.  It was more popular in the 60's but there are still many artists who make masterpieces.  My inspiration to make a design was seeing giant pentagonal pieces at burning man in 2011.  They were elevated and connected at their sides in various angles to make a long walkway in which the star dusted night sky shown through neon geometric designs. the installation was black lit and the effect was magical and interactive.  Being my first attempt, I learned a lot along the way and really enjoyed the process.  It was easy to get confused at the pattern so i used markers on each side as I went along, and developed a good rhythm in the process.  I felt as if I was weaving a magical tapestry.  Pins did not warrant a secure hold so I replaced them with nails and the string I used was an extra sturdy quilting thread. There are 18 pins on each side of the frame, with string going once to each 18 opposite pins, making a total of about 650 lines, all with their own individual path.  in the future, I want to experiment with polygon and circular frames, various colored and textured thread as well. 

+ 3D portable installation

Deciding on a theme was the hardest part of this project.  I chose Beetlejuice mostly because the painting aspect would be fun and i already posessed enough odd things to display among cob webs.  I left the rest to the imagination of the viewer, keeping it easy, simple, and fun. It could be his bioexocist kit, his lunch box, or the man himself morphing into a disguise.
 The box use to be a cassette case, opening on both sides. I gutted the plastic inside, painted the striped beetlejuicesque design, and let the piece fall open with bugs and jars of gooey things inside. 
As a last project in a poorly constructed class, i wanted to use the box in the future and not just a one time deal so i emptied it after presentation and now it will serve as a container for art supplies.

+ SALACIOUS

1: arousing or appealing to sexual desire or imagination :lascivious 

2: lecherous, lustful

hearing this word recently reminded me i learned it in high school from an emo song. I asked my 12th grade teacher what it meant because i had never heard it before and liked all the sounds amougst its syllables. Today i remembered how obsessed i was with this cd that i couldn't even remember the artist, so i went on an internet treasure hunt and bless the cosmic online web, it didn't take 5 minutes to track down the White Octave, on Deep Elm records, my trusty source for high quality emotionally charged indie rock of the late 90's. This music was the soundtrack of my early teen years.  Before a car, before i loosened up a bit and obsessed over Hendrix, Dylan, Zeppelin, Sabbath and other true heroes of all free spirits. A little trip down memory lane...

+HET architecture

the Organic Building in Chuo-ku, Osaka, Japan

http://www.hetgallery.com/

+ quote of the day

“Silence is God’s first language. Everything else is a poor translation.” - Fr. Thomas Keating

+ window shade

My work room has two nice big windows looking out into our yard and our neighbors. I wanted privacy without blocking the beautiful sunlight coming in so i made a decorated shade with patterned paper. While somewhat temporary, this shade diffuses the light so my plants are happy and i can use the shelf that a curtain might otherwise take up.

+

Tashi Mannox - Tibetan Calligrapher from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.

+ the 21st century clock

+ food snapshots: november

hot and fresh with a little cream. life is good and there is much potential in the morning with a cup of coffee in your hand.

heirloom apple with cashew butter is a great school snack

you cant have your avocado and eat it too

lavender mate with steamed soy

elephant garlic