Here is the third and final posting of our series on spring in the Arboretum. We’ve covered the fragrant winter garden and the blossoming of the cherry trees. Now it’s time for azaleas.
The place is positively psychedelic with fragrant color.
Maurice Sendak 1928-2012
•May 8, 2012 • Leave a Comment
Vintage Knits: Wig Hats!
•April 29, 2012 • 2 CommentsYou mean to tell me you don’t have a wig hat? Darling, you simply must make one!
They’re from the American Thread Co. Star Book No. 141, circa 1955.
Here are the patterns, one fringed, one looped:
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1949 Look Magazine Article on Skin Lightening
•April 21, 2012 • 2 CommentsA very interesting old magazine article by former NAACP secretary Walter White discussing the use of a new skin lightening agent as a tool for racial equality.
Click and zoom for a closer look.
Some three years ago I wrote an article, quite innocent that my words might prove prophetic. I said: “Suppose the skin of every Negro in America were suddenly to turn white. What would happen to all the notions about Negroes, the idols on which are built race prejudice and race hatred?”…
…One prominent Negro editor, John H. Sengstacke of the Chicago Defender, has guessed that about 20 per cent of Negroes will use monobenzyl when it is made available. “Negroes,” he says, “are proud of their heritage and do not want to lose it by merging with the white world. They want first-class citizenship, not second-class, as Negroes.”
From the August 30, 1949 issue of Look magazine.
Walter White’s story is a fascinating one. His light coloring allowed him to pass as white as an undercover investigator of racist lynchings. Needless to say, his suggestion that others should attempt to pass by lightening their skin was a controversial one. There’s a thorough discussion of Walter White and the controversy surrounding this article in a 2006 issue of American Studies.
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Airplane Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style
•April 11, 2012 • 1 CommentArtist Nina Katchadourian took this self-portrait in an airplane lavatory. Brilliant.
Several more just as good at Laughing Squid.
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B. B. King: Night Life
•April 10, 2012 • Leave a CommentHere’s B.B. King performing Willie Nelson‘s great honky-tonker’s lament Night Life (Ain’t No Good Life).
I’ve had the good fortune to see B. B. King perform this live a couple of times. I love the way he slaps his chest and says “it’s my life”. That just sends me.
Arboretum Walks, part two
•April 5, 2012 • Leave a CommentAs promised in our previous post, here are more springtime photos of the Washington Park Arboretum. The cherries are just starting to open.
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