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| Impressions |
| (holly, 4 September 2008) I don't like to talk politics here, but this is absolutely spot on and I couldn't have said it better myself. Good first week of class, a couple students need to learn some manners (which I will teach them). I have one outstanding student so far who has already decided on a research topic and is raring to get her bibliography underway. I am feeling stable when upright and able to wear regular shoes (I was starting to think I would never be able to again) and today I was all over the place. I forgot how much energy it takes to lecture for an hour and a half while running all over the front of the room pointing things out and keeping everyone focused and alert. I'm ready for bed early tonight. Great site about old British Penny Machines. Make sure to check out all the different kinds in the museum. |
| Crap |
| (holly, 31 August 2008) As Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast, my stomach is in knots for the well-being of New Orleans and the efforts of those who have worked so hard to rebuild her. I wonder if we're actually going to be able to have a conference there in less than a month. Fuck off, Gustav. Sometime in the wee hours between Friday and Saturday, Murph woke me by repeatedly hopping on and off the bed. In my incoherence, I thought he just wanted snuggles. We found out how wrong that assumption was when RB discovered the hidden lake of diarrhea in my office yesterday morning. Unfortunately, he discovered it when he ran over it with the vacuum cleaner-- you know, one of those hurricane in a see-through cannister types? Yeah. Splatter. Household budget doesn't allow for a new vacuum right now, so it's in the yard drying out and awaiting our attempts to chip all the poo out of the damn thing. Talk about a shit storm. This is my favorite thing of the whole week. |
| Bits |
| (holly, 29 August 2008) The Ad Council has put a plethora of wonderful ads on Youtube. My current favorites are this one, promoting the study of foreign language, this one promoting the study of Algebra (heresy! I know!), and this one, just because the dad is adorable. I like the work of Arthur Zyck. The Haggadah is stunning. More images here. Excavating the library at Herculaneum's Villa of the Papyri. I can't wait to see the list of works. I've somehow managed to get sick. Or I guess it would be accurate to say my body has gone on strike from too much work, too much stress, and not nearly enough sleep. Long weekend with short lectures next week, so for now, it's lots of sleep, vitamin C and water. |
| Diversions |
| (holly, 27 August 2008) Ooof. This is orientation week-- the week before classes-- and I a. Have given one lecture to incoming grad students on the research process (yesterday) b. Have given a 3-hour procedures training session complete with 8-page handout for the student replacing me as TMR's assistant (today) c. Am giving a lecture about classroom incivility to incoming A.I.s/G.A.s (tomorrow) In addition, I have a. Completed my syllabus and sent it off for printing b. Scanned and converted to PDF all of the readings for the course c. Finalized all the projects for the class and drafted much of the exams d. Slept about 3 hours in as many days I'm knackered, folks. Although the 55-mile ride on Sunday helped give me the energy to get through this week. The Green Man of Cercles has some very interesting stuff (although I'm having a little trouble getting the slideshows to work). Early Visual Media has a nice collection of images of and links about early 20th century cabaret performers from the Moulin Rouge and the Folies Bergére. Also, an excellent little exploration of Danse Macabre prints and Ghost Shows. Sexy Witch is a blog about... wait for it... sexy witches. Wonderful vintage images and thoughtful commentary. Do I really need to remind you that with a title like "Sexy Witch" you are going to encounter nudity on this site? I thought not. A trio of milestones in August: a. hollyism.com is seven years old this week b. I've not had a cigarette in five years (thanks, Dio and Allan Carr!) c. We've lived in this house for eleven years Time flies... |
| Clean |
| (holly, 20 August 2008) I'm taking this week to do nothing school related and instead, am cleaning my filthy house like it hasn't been cleaned in years. I have a very busy semester ahead of me and I can't work if my space is cluttered and dirty, so I've been in bulldozer mode the past couple days. I returned 55 books to the library this evening and can now actually put *my* books on the bookshelf (well, most of them). Actually, I've come to the conclusion that I have too many books. I will never read most of them again and they are simply taking up space and attracting dust. Time to start selling things off, I think. In the meantime, tomorrow is office cleaning day-- the most important space and the most likely to be declared a disaster zone. It'll be an all day affair, but I can't wait until I can see enough of the rug to vacuum it. |
| Varia |
| (holly, 15 August 2008) Now would be a good time for me to learn how to use the Spaces feature of Leopard. I have four major projects to work on and I find that I get distracted by one thing or another with all of the folders sitting in the same space. It would be nice for each project to have its own desktop. I wonder if I can time them to rotate every two hours so every project gets equal time during the day. I'd love to install the recent software updates, but our wireless modem has a habit of cutting out and the last thing I want is to lose the connection while updating the entire operating system. Coptic artifacts revealed as fakes in Brooklyn. Apparently, the fraud was noted in the 1970s, but no one seems to have taken any notice. I wonder if our collection will be subject to an evaluation. In all honesty, I hope our Coptic pieces are the real deal because our medieval collection is so weak, it really can't stand to lose anything. This NY TImes article on looking for the details in artwork has given me an idea for a future assignment. An interesting little article on "blue humor." Wonderful details of manuscript painting by the Boucicaut Master's workshop, Jean Colombe (look at the gorgeous grisaille Pentecost), Stephen Bening, the Rohan Master, and many more artists at the Digital Scriptorium. |
| Surprise |
| (holly, 13 August 2008) Out of the blue today, I received an email from the Fine Arts librarian containing an offer to act as bibliographer for a project currently being undertaken by a Very Famous Medieval Manuscripts Expert at a Very Famous Rare Book Institution. Seems our librarian knows one of their librarians and a request for a suitable person for the job was tendered to my advisor and she offered my name. What a complete surprise and a total honor this is. The pay's not too shabby, either. Mr. Rogers gets all freaky with his clown mask. Tiger Mike's Memos are the in-house communications of a tightly wound oil man to his various employees. Some of them are hilarious. I hope he paid his employees well. Funnily enough, I found these while looking for wording suggestions for classroom policy on a syllabus. |
| Vieille |
| (holly, 12 August 2008) I've noticed recently that Carnaby is really starting to look her age. She must be around fifteen years old and although she's always been very small, she's always been nicely rounded. But she's starting to get that delicate, old kitty boniness that really indicates elder-cat status to me. Her skin complaints are worse than they have been in a while, and there are times when I swear she's displaying some sort of senility and possibly deafness. She spends most of her days napping next to me while I work, but will occasionally explode with energy, tearing around the house or chasing her tail. She should go to the vet for a check-up, but I hate taking her because she gets so incredibly stressed in the car. I'd rather not subject her to that ordeal and then the fear of the vet's office just to be told that she's quite old. It's really starting to sink in that all the cats except Khephra and Clive are over eleven years old and starting to slow down a little. Carnaby is the one I've feared losing the most since she showed up at the window the night before Thanksgiving 1997, around four years old but weighing only four lbs., bald, and covered with scabs. I was surprised she made it through the night. She's always been my number one kitty (with Thomas close behind) and it hurts my heart sometimes to see her coming into the final stretch of her years, but by gods I've done everything I can to see that she's had a good life to make up for her first few years. She will leave a big empty hole in my heart when she goes (which, I hope, will not be for a few more years yet). In the meantime, she is the chief syllabus critic.  |
| Heaven |
| (holly, 3 August 2008) After recovering from the double debauchery of a Saturday night Lammas / Mead Day celebration, RB chuck me and the bikes in the jeep and drove up to Morgan Monroe State Forest for an easy trial run. I've never been so afraid to get on a bicycle, and having not been on Oberon in so long there was a terrifying couple of seconds when I shoved off and planted myself in the saddle. The geometry of this bike requires a much more aggressive position than Morpheus, so I sit much higher and stretched out on this one. Carefully tested what my knee was capable of and by the time I'd ridden four miles I was simultaneously exhausted and elated. By mile six, I felt much better. A couple miles after that (on the slightly uphill portion), the knee started having sharp, stabby pain-- enough to make me gasp but not enough to warrant stopping. Things started to move around in there, little pops and twinges as random knee viscerae stretched out and moved back into place. Finally, it felt like a string of little champagne bubbles popped from my knee to my hip and then all unpleasantness just vanished. My legs are pretty weak relative to what they were in June, but I managed to do just over 21 miles. I think I could have done more, but I didn't want to push my luck. It was indescribably nice to have a shit-eating grin on my face for a while. I think I love riding that bike more than just about anything else in the world. I felt like I'd climbed Galibier and flew the whole way down. I'm really developing a love of the pre-Romanesque architecture in Asturias. |
| Gears |
| (holly, 1 August 2008) I'm taking a break from grading and watching Hell on Wheels and it just makes me sad. I've been off the road for six weeks (today, actually). I still can't walk without a limp. I have almost no muscle in my right leg and I've completely fucked up my posture from gimping around. Dammit. I can't stand this any more. I'm going to go out on Sunday because I am going to just burst with longing otherwise. This has been the most perfect summer for riding and I have missed nearly every fucking day of it. I'm a little surprised at how not okay I am with that. It really almost borders on anger and I need to let go of that. |
| Idears |
| (holly, 31 July 2008) Argh! Why won't the design for the fall class come along without a fight? Or why can I just not care if it's a crappy class? The way I want to teach would probably leave out a few substantial monuments and artwork but would provide a lot of juicy historical context by way of classes devoted to specific topics rather than trolling through four centuries in chronological order subdivided by medium and geography, as is the standard method. Boring! But it's a 300-level course, so surely it's alright to break from the tedium of the survey-course infrastructure? I want to talk about Catharism (and other heresies), crusades, secularism, plague, sex and gender, and how art speaks to those issues. The easy way would be to do the old chronological grind, but I'll hate myself if I do it that way. Maybe I can do both: lecture following survey protocol and when the students have a decent background in stylistic traits and grasp of terminology (why do they all hate architecture SO MUCH???) then I can do a couple topics lectures, and repeat that process as we move through the chronology. By the gods, I better have some sort of divine wind under my wings to get this sketched out in the next couple weeks. Mullanium's collection of spiffed up antique bird decoys are really cool. Preservationist side loses to "Oooo! Spolia!" side. I'm a bad antiquarian. Conversely, I have a nagging worry that someday I or one of the students will break something in the museum. Whenever I have to take a group in, I sleep uneasily the night before and dream of all those Roman heads on pedestals crashing to the ground because someone has backed into one. It's never happened. And actually, the article is right: the only time I've ever seen something broken in our museum, a staff member was responsible. |
| Distractions |
| (holly, 30 July 2008) I'm hate when I go through these periods of utter panic about things in the future. At the moment, I'm panicking because I'm teaching a class this fall that I've never taught before and for which I do not have a syllabus. Not even a rough draft. No readings selected. The upside is that I have hundreds of Powerpoint slides I can use to put lectures together and I do have a month (less a couple days to be safe) to get it together. I just need this current class to end so I can sit down and let myself think about this without distractions like next-day lecture tweaking and grading constantly in my face. Of course, that does nothing for those blood-curdling moments of "OMG! I'm going to utterly fail in New Orleans!!!! And my plane is going to crash!!!!" And those are really the most problematic types of moments because, really, there's nothing I can do about either situation, but I do like to worry about them. I can try my best not to fail, but if people don't like what I have to say, there's really nothing I can do about it. Nothing I can do about the plane, either, but then that's a familiar old boogey rearing its head at me. Still annoying as ever. On the other hand, I was extremely amused to see that in the preliminary conference program, my advisor is listed as "Stephen" (her name is nowhere near Stephen in any way, not even near it in the alphabet) and I have been billed as "Peter." I've been called Heidi and Heather with some frequency over the years, and I can understand the substitution there, but Peter? How was that mistake even made, I wonder? Well, I have my alter ego now, I suppose. RB sent me a link to Open Source Food (seriouly, do not click this if you're hungry), which I'm liking a whole lot better than Epicurious (although Epicurious seems to contain more information all around, their recipes have never been particularly inspiring to me). A search for mussels yielded a must-try pasta dish. With some of these on the side. Oh, gods, and this. You're welcome. |
| Surprise |
| (holly, 29 July 2008) I love this idea. We are living in strange times. I find these freak mushrooms simultaneously compelling and repulsive. I've got this unshakable aversion to GM anything that's edible, even when the potential benefits are so worthwhile. Paternosters is a great blog exploring the history of rosaries and other forms of prayer beads from the early modern world and earlier. The final result of the skully bits post is really lovely. Al Farrow makes incredible reliquaries out of bullets and gun parts. Have a plane ticket and a room in NOLA for five days at the end of September. Now I have to tweak the paper and design the visual presentation. If I can storyboard the paper, I may try this on Keyote, since I'll be taking the new computer with me. This will be the closest thing to a vacation I'll have had since 1999. |
| Machine |
| (holly, 24 July 2008) My old G4 Powerbook is five years old and on its second hard drive. It can't run for more than ten minutes without the fan coming on full force. If I type using Word, I can watch the letters following leisurely behind me as I type. No way can I use Photoshop or Powerpoint on it, which means presenting at conferences could be rather awkward if computers are not provided. Which means I am tethered to my desk and decrepit old chair if I am working on course materials. The desktop Mini is the workhorse, but it's slow sometimes, especially if I'm doing a lot of graphics or putting together a long lecture. Or a dissertation with a lot of tables and images. Random Banner surprised the hell out of me in recent days when he bought me a MacBook Pro. It arrived last week and it is snappy. Oh, yes it is. I treated myself to iWork and like how those apps work very much (with Keynote giving me some wonderful ideas for lecture presentations). The surprise hit, though, is video conferencing via iChat. RB has the same machine, so provided I have wifi in France, we can do video chat instead of ungodly expensive phone calls every day. I can't believe we actually have video phones. We are in the future now. And as terrible as it sounds, I'm really conflicted about RB's job with The Man, despite the snappy new computer it has bought me. I ripped a line from Madmen last night and told him with utter sincerity, "You're selling the lie!" He said, "Nuh-uh. I'm just making it pretty." This is a wonderful thing. I liked it even more when I noticed who the author is. Watched the first episode of "Long Way Down" (caution: sound and really annoying interface) last night and was a little disappointed with the breakneck pace (as was Ewan McGergor, apparently) at which they traveled. I hope they stop and look at things eventually. They flipped through Tunisia and Libya so fast I felt like they did both countries in the same day. Although the footage of the Roman ruins in Libya was well worth the wait. Lord, I am beyond busy right now. |
| Magic |
| (holly, 16 July 2008) I'd never heard of Ivan Albright until recently, but I am really liking what I see. He seems to have been quite prolific (if not overprotective about his work), so I can't believe I've never come across his stuff before. He seems to have sprung from that same class of late 19th-Early 20th century weirdness that produced Albert PInkham Ryder and David Gilmour Blythe. while simultaneously portraying the brutal realism of the human condition for which Lucien Freud became known much later. Someday, when I have some time and a little money, I need to get my hands on some stone carving tools and give it a try. How can I possibly teach the history of sculpture at an elevated level when I've never actually attempted to carve something? Plus, that might be something good to bring into my spring semester class -- let the students come up and try their hand at it during breaks. The gilding, painting, and calligraphy demos have always gone over well, so I figure it's time to cart around a block of stone as well. My transformation to Sisyphus must be nearing completion. FFS. This just makes me sick. Yeah, I know how that loud argument probably went: Driver (passing too close to cyclist): Hey! Get off the fuckin' road! Cyclist: Fuck you, buddy! Driver (slams on breaks and gets out): What the fuck did you say? I pay taxes on this road and you should be on the sidewalk or driving a car like a normal person. You got no fuckin' right to come out here on the road so I have to slow down to pass you or get off my phone. Now you've made me late! Cyclist: What the hell is your problem? I'm just trying to get to work. I pay taxes on these roads too. Now fuck off and let me be on my way. Driver (stepping in front of bike): HEY! I'm talking to you, asshole! I'm not done here! Things get loud and pushy and angry lizard-brained cager shoots cyclist in the face. Now, I have no idea if this is what really happened, and I am aware that I am fully biased in favor of the cyclist, but in my experience and the experience of others, this is usually the scenario (without the gun, thank goodness). I hope they catch this guy and let him have it. |
| Milestone |
| (holly, 13 July 2008) I've been so busy (with no break in sight) I haven't had time to do much that involves not sitting in this chair writing or reading or putting together Powerpoints. My knee has kept me off the bike for just over three weeks and haven't walked any farther than maybe a mile. I'm losing my mind-- I don't like being this sedentary. Plus today is supposed to be my "I Told You I Was Sick" Century day, commemorating my trip to the ER two years ago. I was hoping to make the solo-century an annual event, but I can barely ride four miles at the moment, thus one hundred is right out. So instead, I planned a nice long stroll up to Ninth Street park with Murph and Random Banner this evening-- the longest distance I've walked in almost a month. Or would have walked if I hadn't walked so extremely carefully through the grass at the park, so as not to step in a hole and twist my knee, that I didn't see the damn bee before it flew between my big toe and neighbor and let loose. Oh, and this was on the non-fucked-up leg. No point in trying to walk like a normal person at that point, so RB went home for the jeep while Murph and I sat down to invent a game (it wasn't a very good one). I'm having a hard time finding the silver lining in this. At least I got out of the neighborhood. I had a good entry ready to post, but I'm too tired and irritable to write it up. Maybe tomorrow. |
| Images |
| (holly, 9 July 2008) I'm ambling carefully through Mary Carruthers The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture, but it's making my eyes want to bleed. Excellent content, just content that, by its very exploration of how the medieval (or any) mind uses image as a fundamental function and tool of memory, seems to not translate into easily written language (not to my brain today, anyway). This is the very problem I'm having with the section of Chapter 5 I'm working on. I can look at the images in question and understand exactly how they work, but I can't seem to verbalize it in a way that doesn't sound convoluted or like I'm completely out of my mind. I've come up with some great SGPs (Sentences of Germanic Proportions) lately. I would rather just look at imagines rerum right now than think about whether or not the brain is using them heuristically, hermeneutically, or iconographically. My brain hurts. Some of the critters in this gallery of translucent creatures remind me of some of Christina Bothwell's work (which I linked to the other day). Clouds like these remind me I need to look at the sky more often. Especially this one and this one. The lsit of rare clouds is extremely interesting. We've had a couple shelf clouds roll though here this year. Related, but not a cloud, is the phenomenon of the sundog. I really want to see one of these. Awww. Lovely. |
| Progress |
| (holly, 8 July 2008) Weaned myself off crutches in the middle of last week, and gave up the brace over the weekend. Took it real easy riding Morpheus to campus today, but I've lost a lot of road confidence and traffic savvy. Went real slow, which is no fun, but I didn't want to fall (or worse). My knee is stronger than I think it is, but I've got a long way to go to make it as strong as it used to be. Season 2 of Madmen is fast approaching (spoilers aplenty in the Wiki link, so don't read if you don't want all the beans spilled). The New York Times Magazine has a nice piece on the series and its creator. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am not prone to political correctness, but this show usually pushes even my buttons within the first couple minutes. It would almost be offensive if it weren't so over-the-top. Still, gape-mouthed indignation has never been so much fun. This has to be one of the best shows to air in recent years. Don Draper. Bring it. The juvenile in me is getting a kick out of some Failblog entries (and the comments). Regarding a comment left for this one in which the commenter wonders what went wrong-- did kids do it? Forget the "G"? Here's an anecdote. One summer day when I was in my teens, my BFF and I were out driving around listening to The Police at full tilt with the windows down. We went to Dairy Queen for something cold and we sat on the hood of her car to eat our ice cream. About 20 feet away, some guy from Ponderosa was up on a ladder putting letters up on their sign. He was working from a piece of paper in his hand, so we thought we should tell him that he spelled tenderloin wrong before he climbed down. "Hey, you've spelled it LION! TenderLION, not LOIN." It took about four tries to get him to understand what we were talking about. He said his manager told him to put up exactly what was on the paper and when he showed it to us, it did indeed advertise a reasonably priced tenderlion. Which I think I'd prefer over an anus burger. Had a really intense conversation with a student after class today about all kinds of things-- life, death, love, art, mystery, history. She had come to tell me about a recent death close to her, which led to revelations about love, and ideas started flowing after that. She's quite an exciting artist, a top student, and has a great mind. We both ended up with teary eyes, but what a lovely experience it is to connect with a student in that way. Actually, today's class was great: lots of good questions were asked, enthusiasm was evident, one student even commented that he was glad to see that the tympanum of Conques was included on the exam because he had been wanting to write about it. I'll say that again: He wants to write about something he saw in my class. I caught one! That right there is reason enough for me to teach this class. I am totally stoked. Oh, and I'm adding French Word-A-Day to the blogroll because I think it's wonderful. |
| Opinions |
| (holly, 7 July 2008) Interesting collection of rejected ads. I'd never seen the ones Channel 4 had for Six Feet Under. I can understand how some might find these upsetting, but they are done tastefully. In a completely creepy sort of way. My hackles are up far higher at the reasoning behind the yanking of this ad. Never mind that the whole premise is based on the (presumably) male gaze and the clinical subjectification of the female body (how convenient! She doesn't have a head!) culminating in tacit encouragement of peeping. No, that's OK. According to the website, "The complainant objected that the advertisement was offensive because it suggested that the model was masturbating." Oh, come now. Masturbating? Really? REALLY?!? With her thumbs? I think the person or board who called that shot is reaching real hard. Also, I wish people would take pause and reconsider throwing around the word "offensive." Is there anything in the world that isn't "offensive" ? Can't things just be controversial or provocative or troubling anymore? Oooh! I like Christina Bothwell's work, especially this one, this one, and this one. Cool hair hats from Nago Noda. One of those would be quite the distraction at the front of the classroom, wouldn't it? Hell, it would be a distraction anywhere. |
| Balance |
| (holly, 6 July 2008) In honor of Thor Hushovd's Stage 2 win and the fact that I can now walk all the way around the cemetery without cane or crutch, I shall attempt to take a victory lap around the block on Morpheus today. I really hate starting all over yet again. Am I configuring this incorrectly, or does the latest death trifecta really go like this? Because I just love it! 1) George Carlin 2) Bozo the Clown 3) Jesse Helms I wish I could get inside the heads of those students (and there's always at least one) who, despite my lengthy explanation (both on the syllabus and discussed the first day of class) of the "you miss an in-class assignment, there are no make-ups no matter what the reason," rule, feel the need to present me with a note from the health center because they "weren't feeling well" and expect me to ignore my own rule and let them make up the assignment. I have no idea how this rule is not clear. I deliberately make these exercises of low point value so the students can miss a couple and not damage their grades. If you skip class more than a couple times (especially during an eight-week course!), maybe you shouldn't be wasting your time and money. *shrug* I am further amazed when the "special case" pleaders cop a snippy attitude when I tell them "no." Seriously, does no one uphold rules and tell these kids no, ever? But then, kudos to the student who was back in class two days after her father's funeral (with no request to make up work) and the one who came in soaking wet and bloody because she crashed her bike in the rain trying to avoid being hit by an idiot in a car (and she was only five minutes late). Those students inspire me. It's for those people I try to keep the bar raised. I just wish they weren't so rare. Great site for the NGA's Winslow Homer exhibit in 2006. I would have loved seeing this show! And where were these great images when I was writing my M.A. thesis? Seeing "The Lifeline when it visited the IMA several years ago was an emotional experience. You really can't get a sense of his technique without seeing these paintings in person. The water drops on the rope were really impressive. And her face has...many layers. Fascinating article about the relationship between rock art and aboriginal tattoos down under. I wish they would more clearly define the delimiter "early", though. Grading awaits. Alas. |
| Places |
| (holly, 3 July 2008) This site has some nice photo essays. The Soviet Bus Stops and Havana Old Timers are especially appealing. I'm loving this Map of Heaven. Although, if I may pick a nit, if God is the largest figure waiting to have his lap sat on, then Jesus has been put on the wrong side. More great (and strange) maps here. I particularly like the Swiss Army France. I love that they got the topography of the Massif Centrale correct, too (although its area is a bit expanded here). Greek culture. The alphabetical lists of archaeological sites and monuments are nice. Just poking around the Bibliotheque Nationale's online exhibit, "The Age of Charles V (1338-1380) I happened upon an illumination in which Clovis looks disturbingly like this King. Um. That's quite a resemblance. Even the little curls on the side of the head are the same. |
| Transposition |
| (holly, 2 July 2008) I'm amused that when I search Google for "romanes" it asks me if I mean "Ramones." I don't think I've ever gotten a cassette from a love interest, but I used to get them from friends and I sure made a few of them for friend (and myself) once upon a time. I love the stories behind their creations, and for that reason, I love this site. Making a mix CD just isn't the same. For one thing, you gotta have two sides. And moving parts that somehow make the tape so much more a tangible object than a cold, impersonal disc. I've just put together a really great lecture on four of the great Romanesque pilgrimage portals. I hope my timing is good tomorrow. |
| Florilegium |
| (holly, 1 July 2008) This stingray migration is something I'd love to see someday. From a boat. I like the collective term, too-- a fever of stingrays. This is why I will never eat duck. Here is a wunderkammer of a page relating to Athanasius Kircher. The meaty article about medieval dancing mania (tarantism) is quite good. Also, many of the sites linked to are in German. You should click links regardless, because some of them lead to fantastic pictures. Cabinet Magazine has a great, pithy article about the catacombs of Palermo. With pictures. Might not want to read if you're eating. Meanwhile, Low-Tech Magazine has a few suggestions about how to entertain your eyes without the use of a TEEvee. |
| Flurries |
| (holly, 29 June 2008) I've had a longtime fascination with snow globes and have never fully explored that fascination because I know it would become a fullblown obsession in no time at all. Having said that, Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz make some seriously cool snow globes. I'm particularly fond of the "Travelers" series. Especially this one. And this one. And, of course, this one. |
| Thinking |
| (holly, 27 June 2008) One of the things I'm enjoying about the trio of classes I'm teaching this year is the fact that I can give the students a chance to read real scholarship in the field. Whenever possible, I try to provide them with essays of conflicting opinions so they can question what they read and try to come to a decision themselves. Although the readings are a little difficult to grasp, I think, for some of the students, the majority of them seem to appreciate a bit of a challenge. I'm not asking them to read closely for every single nuance, just close enough that they can glean the argument and the proof. It's been great fun for me to pit scholar against scholar and have visual accompaniment in the Powerpoint lectures. The amount of Arthur Kingsley Porter I've worked into the lectures as examples of sacred cow needing to be slaughtered indicates my level of obsession and irritation with his methodology and the blind following he garnered for generations. Further evidence of this may be seen in the continuous reworking of the first chapter of my dissertation. Hell, Porter ought to get his own chapter so I can refute him at length. After reading Hearn, Morey, and Porter this past week, I hope Linda Seidel's refreshing scholarship goes down like a cool glass of water on a hot day. Although I'm not sure challenging the notion of Giselbertus' identity will be as exciting to them as it is to me. The more I get into this class, the more I believe it is as much about critical thinking as it is about art history. And while the class deals with art and architecture of medieval pilgrimage, I have also added the category "Culture". I want us to delve into the psychology of pilgrimage and to consider what kinds of forces drive a person to complete such an endeavor (despite frustrations along the way). To that end, I am sending the students on a pilgrimage. I handed out a hand drawn map of campus, complete with cautionary markings steering my intrepid pilgrims away from the wild dogs and hippies in Dunn Meadow and the beer at Bear's Place. Each week, I will post directions and clues (a la Amery Picaud's twelfth century pilgrim's guide) that will lead them to a particular piece of sculpture on one of the campus buildings. Once they find the mark, they must answer some questions about the propriety of that sculpture on that particular building. On the last day of class, they will bring me their completed pilgrimage "passport" with all the answers and this will count as their final exam. Each student who completes the pilgrimage will receive a small badge with the year and the class "mascot" (I didn't think it proper to use the customary shell):  I wonder if this is a completely dorky assignment, but the sculpture on the WPA-era buildings is extremely cool and I seriously doubt that the students have noticed much of it. They seemed to get a kick out of the map, so hopefully this will be an effective experience and I can use it again. The only bad thing is that for the amount of time it took me to draw the map, it can only be used here on this campus. If I have the chance to do this wherever I end up, I will have to do another map. Auuughhh! |
| Testing |
| (holly, 26 June 2008) Soooo! Six months off has been nice! I've delved into various online communities and fora and realized today that I really like my quiet, solitary little room here and I need a place to write without censure, so here I am again. It may be difficult to get back in the swing, but I'm going to give it a shot. Hanging up most of my virtual community ties will allow me a little time for that, I hope. I seriously doubt that anyone is still reading anyway. Currently have a sprained knee-- possibly a torn ACL-- because some random asshole dumped beer on the dance floor at a show I attended last week. So crutches for me for two weeks and if I still can't walk, it's in for an MRI. I had planned early to train for RAIN this year, but the weather (everlasting Winter! No Spring at all!!!) deterred me from seriously training. Had I trained for that ride and been felled like this three weeks before the event I would be absolutely livid. As it is, I am depressed at the loss of use of my leg and by the fact that I'm not even allowed to get on a bike until I can walk without crutches. I have never wanted karma to visit anyone quite as much as I do right now. Teaching! I'm teaching this Summer! And in the Fall! And in the Spring! And next Summer! And going back to France in the Spring as well! Hoping to defend next year (no, not hoping-- I have to do it. I simply must finish and get out of here). Teaching 300-level courses this year and enjoying it. The level of reading I assign makes for meatier discussion and debate and this semester's students are a sharp bunch. I hope to maintain that quality in the Fall. More later, but I have lectures to compile for next week-- lectures I actually want to give! Hurrah! |
| Later |
| (holly, 3 March 2008) I don't think Hollyism is gone for good, but a lot has happened in the past three months (most of it good, some of it scarily uncertain) and I haven't felt the compunction to discuss it here. I often run across things to blog and then never get around to doing it. Maybe I will again at some point. This is my seventh year maintaining this blog and I don't intend to let it die, it just needs to undergo a metamorphosis. Do check back from time to time. |
Last Updated on 27 June 2008 by |
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