Sheron Long's Blog, page 37
October 27, 2013
Culture Smart: How Far Can Good Wishes Spread?
Sending good wishes into the wind.
Blessings on Tibetan Prayer Flags Travel with the Wind
Around the world, people hope for a long life full of health and happiness, prosperity and peace. And others find a multitude of ways to wish them well.
One colorful well-wishing tradition is the Tibetan Buddhists’ use of prayer flags. Hung outside of homes, along roads and trails, and throughout the countryside, the rows of prayer flags contain ancient Buddhist prayers, symbols, and mantras with positive messages for a good life.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the wind propels these messages through the air, blessing those touched by the wind and increasing their fortune and happiness.
Origins and the Tradition Today
The tradition has its roots in India and, in its current practice, dates to about 1000 CE in Tibet. The flags are printed from wood blocks in five colors,...
October 26, 2013
Aha Moment Maker: Monumental Critiques
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, 1981—Sculptor and architect Maya Lin was just a 21-year-old senior at Yale University when her design for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was chosen from over 1,400 entries.
Her winning design was initially created as a project for her funereal architecture class, and not for the competition. Only later did she decide to enter it.
A bit of architectural lore is that her professor in that class gave her a B+ on the project. The professor, however, maintains that she actually received an A on that assignment, and that the B+ was her final grade for his course.
Lin herself may not recall the specific grade she received, but she never forgot the harsh words of criticism he had for a different war memorial design of hers from an earlier assignment. The professor’s assessment? He told Lin, in anger, “If I had a brother who died in that war, I would...
October 24, 2013
Signs of the Time
It’s a tough job, but someone has to hold up those street signs.
Photo © Jerry Fielder
Artistic Expression Takes to the Streets
Daily life is filled with “Oh, I See” Moments. You just have to look around. What you often stumble upon is spontaneous artistic expression—offered to make a day in the streets just a little bit more interesting.
Artists of the street make art for themselves, but they also hope that someone else will connect with what they do and be surprised or amused or moved by the unexpected.
When you least expect it, a bearded man-sheep appears.
Photo © Jerry Fielder
Street artists add, augment, or interact with a set or scene, whether it’s a wall or a sign or a window. They mark the territory as their own with some piece of themselves, their own vision of what needs to be there—to make a passerby smile or look at something...
October 21, 2013
Picture-Perfect Pumpkin Carving
a tribute to Klimt’s The Kiss
© Maniac Pumpin Carvers
Creative Expressions for Halloween
Most people may take a break from their everyday jobs to go on vacation. Marc Evan and Chris Soria use their time away to, as they say, “get messy with some pumpkins.”
The Brooklyn-based childhood friends pause their 11-month art careers to spend every day in October working until early into the morning carving, cutting, and hollowing out hundreds of orange gourds as part of their seasonal business, Maniac Pumpkin Carvers.
Evan explains, “Part of the fun for me is seeing what can be done in a pumpkin because it is this new medium. We’re constantly finding new things and pushing the envelope.”
for Day of the Dead
© Maniac Pumpkin Carvers
Becoming Carvers
The friends’ passion for Halloween started during their high school days, when they...
October 20, 2013
Culture Smart: How Much Power’s in a Flower?
In the language of flowers, what does a yellow rose mean to you?
The Yellow Rose, Symbol of . . .
Friendship and joy. Jealousy and infidelity. New starts and love’s end. It all depends on when and where you live.
The language of flowers originated in Persia during the Ottoman Empire when women, forbidden to write, used them to get a message across. The art of speaking with flowers traveled in time to Victorian England. There, the yellow rose meant jealousy and was used with other flowers to convey elaborate coded messages.
In the USA today, the sunny color of the yellow rose cues joy and happiness—perfect to cheer up a sick friend or send congratulations on the start of a new job. A long-stem yellow lovely is a symbol of devoted friendship.
In other countries, however, yellow roses may not be such a cheery gift:
In Russia, they are given to signify the end of...
October 19, 2013
Aha Moment Maker: The Real McCoy
JACKSONVILLE, 1920—Boatyard owner William Frederick McCoy had already made a name for himself designing and building luxury boats for the rich and famous before the advent of Prohibition.
Even though he didn’t drink, McCoy saw an opportunity and began using his own boat to transport cases of liquor from the Bahamas to the U.S. Soon enough, McCoy had put together a network of boats and was in undisputed control of Atlantic Ocean rum-running between the Bahamas and Canada.
In fact, McCoy became well-known for providing genuine liquor—not watered-down or otherwise touched. To distinguish his product from competitors’ booze, he termed it “the real McCoy.” Though competitors with only homemade liquors also used the phrase “the real McCoy” to fool their customers, McCoy’s reputation for quality caused him to prevail.
From his bootlegging,...
October 17, 2013
Fleeting Art: A High-Rise Swan Song
Artistic Expression at the Tour 13
Work by Kruella (Portugal) at the Tour 13
Photo © Meredith Mullins
Guess what’s the hottest attraction in Paris these days? Eiffel Tower? Notre Dame? Louvre Museum? Any of these answers could be true. But, at the moment, the hottest (free) ticket in town is a visit to a bright orange dilapidated building in the 13th arrondissement.
Tower of Power: The Tour 13
© Meredith Mullins
It’s 10 am. The line of hopeful visitors winds around the nine-story deserted apartment building, and it’s still two hours before opening time. They’re here to see the Tour 13—a street artists’ paradise.
The facade, covered with graffiti, hints that something’s up. (The line of people camped outside is also a clue.)
When you step inside (after your two- to six-hour wait), you are engulfed and electrified by a flood of...
October 16, 2013
Secrets to Life #105: Do Your Part
[image error]
What other Secrets to Life have been revealed?
Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here .
Image © iStockphoto
October 14, 2013
Artistic Expression That’s a Cut Above
Karen Bit Vejle
Image © Marjaana Malkamäk
The Cut Paper Art of Karen Bit Vejle
Until just a few years ago, Karen Bit Vejle had a secret hidden under her rugs.
Like many in her home country of Denmark, Vejle grew up making gækkebrev, cut paper holiday cards. She discovered that she was rather talented at cutting out the little greetings.
For years, Vejle reserved her paper cutting for the holidays. But the summer she turned 16, she had an “Oh, I see!” moment:
. . . I saw a man who was sitting in the sun cutting out paper silhouettes with motifs I had never before seen. I was enraptured, and stood there staring for a long time, watching the man as he maneuvered his scissors to bring forth the most beautiful little paper cutting. I was so taken with the idea that I went right home and got my mother’s sewing scissors, and I have never let them out of...
October 13, 2013
Culture Smart: What’s in a Baby’s Name?
How will the new parents decide on their baby’s name?
Naming Customs Around the World
If you want to start a good conversation, just ask people from different cultures how they got their names.
is named after a warrior who saved his grandfather’s life in the eastern Congo. Like many, Dibinga’s parents chose a name to honor an older person. In China, however, this would never happen since a child taking the name of an older friend or relative would be a sign of disrespect.
Some names reflect what inspires the parents. Leticia’s parents took her name from laetitia, the Latin for “joy.” American parents inspired by Shirley Temple in the 1930s named their girls Shirley in record numbers, and today there are Shirley Clubs all over the USA.
Some parents want a —In the USA,...
