Little Secrets

Finding graffiti is the modern version of discovering buried treasure.  

Uncovering and collecting items that have been left behind is like finding a little piece of the person who lost it.  

This is why I write in library books. 

This is why I keep bookmarks and baby pictures that others forgot within the pages.

A classic carving in the Brew Bayou at Marquette

Nostalgic for Nostalgia

Having fun is too much work.

I spent a very lazy day recovering from the first night of Halloween events.  Ignoring my massive pile of homework I wasted time cruising the internet and watching Kim Possible on youtube.  

Whilst searching the mythical web of imdb I discovered something curious.  Michael Cera was the voice of the main character's younger brother on the cartoon Braceface! If you think Cera's voice is high now, listen to the pubescent squeak it was before he went through puberty.

He appears around the 4:00 minute mark in this random episode I came across.  Enjoy this blast from the past. 

Palinodes

Halloweekend is finally here! I've been hosting a Halloween Film Festival rented from the Milwaukee Public Library and Marquette's library.  So far I've shown Young Frankenstien, Sleepy Hollow and The Wicker Man (1973). Movies and Spiked Apple Cider will continue throughout the weekend!


Poetry has been enthralling me lately in my class called "Young Americans".  I love this famous snippet from humorist and poet Ogden Nash,

       "Candy

        Is dandy

        But liquor

         Is quicker."   

Beware, Nash did publish a palinode on the subject later on,

"Nothing makes me sicker

than liquor

and candy

is too expandy"

Cinnaberry

I've become an honorary Ginger and dyed my hair yesterday.  I usually use Clairol Semi Permanent Spiced Tea, but was unable to find it and settled on Cinnaberry.  The color has an elusive purple tone to it, and is deliciously vivid. This was taken at the lovely Milwaukee Public Library.

Despite popular opinion, I did keep my soul.

Oh, Milwaukee

I've been on a hiatus for awhile. But, the wait is over! I'm back at school at Marquette with a fresh new look, and a new job.  I spend my days doing homework and traveling around the city.  

Look at this gem I found on the corner of 17th and Wisconsin.

 

Top 5 Moments from August 7th Lollapalooza

I buckled and bought a 90 dollar one day pass for Saturday Lollapalooza. It was my first music festival and I was surprised at the endurance it took for the all day experience.  Here are my top 5 moments:

1. Getting to hear Symphonies by Dan Black, he was a dancing fiend! His limbs are so long it was like watching a puppet, an eccentric puppet with face paint, white jeans and a great British accent.

2. Seeing tears in the eyes of lead singer Thomas Mars of Phoenix as they preformed their hit album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.  He went down to touch the hands of the crowd and had to be escorted along by event staff. They were so happy to be at Lolla, and it was refreshing and endearing to see it.

3. Watching Spoon sing "I summon you" with my boyfriend Nick.  While we are at college he's 400 miles away and the lyrics give words to the experience.  And it just so happens to be his favorite band. 

4. Watching some bandanna wearing tanned Lolla goer pee for literally 5 minutes straight while he made eye contact with my friend and gave her the thumbs up.

5.  Seeing my boyfriend's Dad get into the DJ stage Perry's while hes surrounded by all the pumped moshers.

All I have to do is Dream

           Inception caught my eye from the first trailer.  I'd see anything featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and the graphics were impressive, especially when the cityscape bent up on itself.  Before seeing the movie in a dreaming slumber I was walking down Wisconsin Street in Milwaukee, with huge European looking buildings.  Out of nowhere the street and buildings began to curve upward, just like Inception!  At this point I did not realize Inception was about exploring dreams. 
           Much to my surprise I had another Inception inspired dream quirk recently.  In Inception Jordan Gordon Levitt and Ellen Page walk on a Penrose staircase right out of an M.C Escher drawing. The other day I had an impossible loop of my own, as I was walking through a purple velvet vaulted ceiling forever 21, then through an duck park then I would return to the beginning of my walk.
           I'm fascinated by dreams, I have a left handed journal that I write down the ones I can remember.  I believe the whole movie of Inception was a dream, in this case it was viewed as a playground for the mind to solve issues. In reality I don't believe this is what dreams are, random firings of the brain, that you can still take a greater meaning out of.  I love what random neural firings in the pons can create, and enjoy going along for the ride not in control of my own thoughts.  My dreams are often about people or completing tasks. But my favorites are the rare moments where I am not involved at all, but creating scenes with other characters in a movie.
          Sweet Dreams.

A little piece of nature

            On the beach in Michigan I found a thin piece of birch wood bark and kept it to make a notebook! First I folded sheets of thick paper into pallets and sewed them into a binding.  I added pages at the front from a 1953 "How To Read Homeric Greek" book that I got from the discard book pile at Marquette's library. I dipped the edges of the pages in watercolor blue and speckled some pages.
           Also pictured is an old notebook that I covered with the same Greek book with addition pages from a German book about flowers.
           Here's the finished product.

Cheers

More prized finds I have made this summer.  I hope to never own two of the same dish or cup.

This treasure of a chalice was discovered near Watervale, Michigan.  Etched on the bottom is 'Made In India'.

This adorable yak won me over quickly with the imaginative pastels. A snail can be found hidden at his rump.

Oh, Sexism

Some of my favorite things to look for while at resale stores are vintage books. So far this summer I've had some great finds!
The Total Woman (1973)
          This gem was originally used in a "Total Woman" class that taught you how to make a great marriage by acting like a slave for your husband.  The resounding mantra is just be cheery while your husband takes control of every decision in the house.
           Marabel Morgan starts off with remembering the beach at night while her boyfriend's voice puts her to sleep with what he wants in a wife. He shakes her awake with a proposal and this is seriously how their engagement begins.  After a few years of marriage they settle into her husband coming home angry with silent dinners culminating into fight where he orders, " from now on when I plan for us to go somewhere, I will tell you twenty minutes ahead of time. You'll have time to get ready, and we'll do without this arguing". Only after this transition does her husband finally start to tell her he loves her and give her gifts.  The message is simple, remove your brain, do everything your husband wants and maybe then he will just show up with presents that exist in your secret desires.  Only then are you a "Total Woman".
           I won't argue with the books encouragement to think about your strengths, weaknesses, goals and plans for the future.  But all of the self reflection doesn't amount to much with the justification of men being higher then women with sexist quote from the bible.  Heaven forbid if women are in charge, "the family is turned upside-own".  Not only is this insulting to women, it is insulting to men. Are they that fragile they must always be in charge or the world crumbles?  Supporting your husband's ego seems like a daily laborious task.  Instead of complimenting your lover out of desperation, why can't it be sincere?
         Sex is viewed as simply a task, a duty to fulfill, instead of the mutual enjoyable experience. A wife is only holding up her end of the bargain because "If you are stingy in bed, he'll be stingy with you."  The idea making a sexy outfit out of saran wrap for a little fun sparks my interest though. Serious preparation is taken to plan for sex once a day and "think about his body, not Sunday's dinner menu", because planning meals is all that could ever be on a woman's mind! 
            The worst of all this Marabel Morgan was named one of the most influential women in America by People magazine and the 1975 World Almanac as part of the opposition of the woman's movement. I can breathe a sigh of relief after reading this and know that I'm in a mutual relationship where I am pampered and not the mindless slave this anti-feminist woman wants me to be.
        
Great Quotes
"The first look tells him your nerves are shot, his dinner is probably shot, and you'd both like to shoot the kids. It's a bad scene, Is it any wonder so many men come home late, if at all?"
"Its easier to resolve a conflict when my husband's blood sugar is high"
[On child rearing] "When a close friend spanked his three year old for hitting the baby, he did it in a loving way"

Wicked Fifties

What if the Wicked Witch of the West had a penchant for the fifties? Here I imagined her wearing Yellow Brick Road hued sweater with a Gingham blouse (an homage to Dorothy's dress).  She proudly displays her Monkey broach representing her beloved minion, all with a fifties 'do.

Salutations!

I’m venturing out into the blogging world, finally! After many promises to myself of beginning one I'm making it happen. I plan to use this to display my ventures into creativity with various projects as well as discuss my life and work. 

I’m a college student with a love of all things vintage.  I bruise like the flesh of a southern rose peach ripening under the undulating rays of the Georgia sun.  Within me beats the heart of a storm chaser; syncing to the cadence of the raindrops and skipping with each stroke of lightning.