Sheron Long's Blog, page 2
March 9, 2021
In the (School) Zone of Different Cultures
The beeline—Did this school sign from The Gambia presage 2020 education
or where kids wanted to go?
© Kirszen
School Zone Signs of the Times
All over the world in 2020 school traffic stopped and not just in the crosswalks. Now buses are creeping back to school, kids are in the crosswalks again, and our minds at OIC have moved from online education to the lines on school zone signs in different cultures.
Sign designers have the challenge of a small canvas driven by the need for clarity and by endless government guidelines on color, shape, and messaging. Road sign specs in the US government manual alone amount to 862 pages, and most other countries also make the effort to standardize. Still, while school zone signs and other road signs are a labor of uniformity and full of constraints, they show more about different cultures than you might think.
Fashion Statements?
In the USA, the...
March 1, 2021
Protecting the Rural Heritage of France
The freedom to baa whenever you feel like it.
© Meredith Mullins
No BS: New Law To Preserve the Sounds and Smells of the French Countryside
It would not be unusual when thinking about the rural heritage of France to find a sign at the outskirts of a typical French village that says:
Enter at your own risk. We have bells that ring regularly. We have roosters who sing early in the morning. We have livestock herds that graze here (and might be wearing bells). We have farmers who work to give you food.
If you do not support these things, then you are not in the right place.
This pride of place is the new manifesto of the French countryside. In January of this year, the desire of agrarian areas in France to remain connected to their rural heritage is now supported by law—the new French Sensory Heritage Law.
This law protects the rights of the country dwellers to their heritage—the...
February 23, 2021
Into Armchair Travel? Try the Wheredunit of Mystery Books
1. Which Sicilian detective begins his day with espresso and a sunrise swim?
(Answers below the post)
Giuseppe Costanza/ Pxhere
Follow the Clues Around the World!
Pandemically speaking, today’s most favored mode of transport is armchair travel. But must safety rule out excitement? Not when you travel via mystery books. These page-turners whisk you away to virtually any corner of the world.
Stereotypes persist about mystery books. Like the idea that they’re merely puzzles. That the author presents a lineup of suspects, then interposes an obstacle course between the reader and the Big Reveal. You know, cryptic messages, red herrings, butlers arching an eyebrow, bodies falling out of closets, that sort of thing.
As comedian Michael Ian Black says of mystery books, “They make me too anxious. . . . Just tell me who did it.”
But for many fans, the whodunit is secondary to the ...
February 11, 2021
Fond ‘n Funny Valentines from Un-Secret Admirers
Who sent this funny valentine? Today you get to open someone else’s mail
and unmask the admirer. Read on…
© Sheron Long
Cultural Tradition Stamped with Love
Every Valentine’s Day, fond and funny valentines go out around the world in TikTok and email, on Facebook, by text, and in an instant on Instagram. It’s a cultural tradition.
Today, however, with so much shelter-in-place time on our hands, the old-fashioned handwritten Valentine’s card, the kind sealed with a stamp and a kiss, is loving its revival. Have a fun look at these tokens of love intercepted by OIC.
FROM: Beth Harmon of “The Queen’s Gambit”
TO: Her Chessboard
Like chess, the strategies of love are complex, but true masters bond with the chessboard and always find their queen, king, or knight in shining armor. And “The Queen’s Gambit” was strategic, too. It...
February 2, 2021
In the Kitchen with OIC: A Fun Japanese Food Tour!
What could be fresher than sushi made from Japan’s catch of the day?
© Yada Wama/ Ninja Food Tours
Yuma Wada Turns Trivia into Virtual Travel to Tokyo
A funny thing happened on the way to Yuma Wada’s Japanese food tour and trivia night. You know how it is. One minute you’re folding the laundry or microwaving leftovers. Next minute you’re at a fish market in Tokyo.
Maybe I should explain.
Collectively speaking, it was an ordinary weeknight, work had stolen our weekend, the kids were restless, and supper smelled . . . uninspiring. We’d all been “at home” nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for eleven long months.
We —me and several others from ages 9 to 65—needed a change of scene. Appetizing experiences and cultural insight. Creativity in good company. Something fun. (Remember fun?) And so, from coast to coast, country to country, we converged on Tokyo....
January 25, 2021
Art Discoveries: The Mystery in the Ceiling
What treasure is hidden in this Paris ceiling?
© Meredith Mullins/Charlie Meagher
Follow the Clues & Travel Through History
The world loves stories about surprising art discoveries—treasures that are unearthed via bizarre circumstances and that send the finder on a compelling journey, perhaps including travels through history.
In 1940, four teenagers followed their dog down a narrow cavern and found cave walls filled with hundreds of prehistoric paintings—the now famous Lascaux caves in France.
A dog discovered the famous Lascaux cave paintings.
(Photo courtesy of the French Ministry of Culture)
An Arizona man sorted through things as he was getting ready to move to a retirement home. He found a few posters that he thought might be valuable and invited an appraiser to take a look. The appraiser’s eye wandered to a painting in the corner that had belonged to the man’s...
January 4, 2021
SOS: Save Our Skeuomorphs!
What smartphone app resembles a 12th century nautical tool? The answer’s due south!
TheHilaryClark/ Pixabay
Skeuomorphs “Net” Cultural Memory
As we sail into a new decade, a titanic debate continues to rock the boat from port to computer port. On one side, designers who’ve jettisoned skeuomorphs. On the other, those who are still on board with them.
Should skeuomorphs be set adrift? Or treasured because they’re anchored in cultural memory? What are skeuomorphs, anyway?
Some designers dislike skeuomorphs’ ties to the past, as in this digital version
of a nautical compass.
Geralt/ Pixabay
Say, That Looks Familiar
Even if you’ve never heard of them, you know them. In computing, skeuomorphs are digital images that mimic older, physical objects. The nearest examples are probably on your cellphone:
a retro telephone handset (digital phone app)
a postage stamp...
December 21, 2020
In the Kitchen with OIC: Cooking with Spice!
Live from Berlin, Nistha shares the art and science of spices with people around the world.
© Nistha Trehun, The Kitty Party
Nistha’s Top Ingredient: Indian Tradition
What’s in your spice collection? And how long has it been there? Even confident home chefs can feel intimidated when it comes to cooking with spices. Sure, we regularly summon familiar favorites into culinary action. But are they favorites because they’re familiar?
Meanwhile, turmeric, cardamom, fenugreek, and other spices may languish in a cupboard, their magic wasting away, if we’re not sure how to use them.
Cue Nistha to the rescue. The India-born, Berlin-based chef (whose name in Sanskrit means “trust”) helps people around the world spice things up—from everyday cooking and eating to their health and even how they learn.
Oh, I see: Inspired by the Indian tradition of cooking with spice, Nistha Trehun...
December 15, 2020
Happy National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day
Celebrating chocolate in the best possible ways
© iStock/5second
Savoring the Cultural Traditions of Chocolate
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.
—Charles M. Schultz
Have you ever had a craving for chocolate-covered bacon? How about chocolate jalapeños? Could you resist a chocolate-covered mushroom?
Despite the challenges of the year 2020, we should rightfully honor any national day that delivers pure joy. One of those days that rises to the top of the bliss list is National Chocolate-Covered Anything Day (December 16). So, let’s celebrate its cultural traditions.
Someone who knows how to celebrate chocolate
© Meredith Mullins
Just how this accolade came about, no one really knows. And I’d venture to say, no one really cares about the origins when the tribute involves such sweet reward for both chocoholics and chocolatiers.
Chocolate...
December 1, 2020
Can Art Change the World? Artivist JR Has the Answer
French artivist JR (artist/activist)
© JR
JR’s Monumental Portraits Spark Social Awareness
There are hundreds of motivational quotes about how one person can make a difference . . . or shake the world. One person can be a revolution.
We know it’s true. There are people throughout past and recent history who changed the world—sometimes for worse . . . but mostly for better.
French artivist (artist/activist) JR is one of those people with an instinct for the positive side of change—a street revolutionary, a shaker of the world—with a simple goal of better understanding what makes us human.
His photographic projects and documentaries spark connections in a diverse world and heighten social awareness—all with his driving force of respecting differences, seeking the best of humanness, and valuing unity.
Can art change the world? JR is living proof.
JR’s Wrinkles of the...
