Walking and Hiking

     Since I have to get into shape for my fundraising hike in October at Zion, I've been making a conscious effort to increase my exercise. On Friday I went camping in Western Massachusetts near Savoy Mountain. On Saturday Jennifer and I did an 8 mile hike with the boys. We began at the summit of Mt. Greylock then hiked down the Hopper Trail to Stonyledge Overlook. Then we hiked up the Hopper trail, with a diversion to see a waterfall, then back on the Hopper trail, which we actually ended up losing. We ended up on the main road for awhile, but eventually got back into the woods. Overall it was a challenging yet very nice hike.

     Today Jennifer and I completed another walk. We walked about 4.2 miles, from one end of the Arboretum to the other. It's a very lovely walk, even with the humidity.


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Old Burying Point

     Yesterday Ellyn and I walked around Salem, Massachusetts, somehow avoiding all the tacky witch related tourist traps and only touring the Peabody Essex Museum for about two hours. We also went and explored the Old Burying Point Charter Street Cemetery. Ellyn said that this cemetery of 347 recorded souls is the second oldest in the country. It was established in 1637. Some famous people are buried there, including Simon Bradstreet, a royal governor of Massachusetts. Also buried there is the notorious Judge John Hathorne, the man responsible for hanging 19 people during the Salem witch trials. Ellyn explained how Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous writer of "The House of Seven Gables," changed the spelling of his name to dis-associate himself from his distant Hathorne relatives. Other frequently found surnames in the cemetery include Bowditch, Gardiner, Crownsfield, Pickman, and Peele. Ellyn and I also noted that common female names were Elizabeth, Abigal, and Sarah. Most fascinating was the varied decor on some of the gravestones--- grip reapers, skeletons, willow trees, angels, cherubs, and urns.

Walkie Walkie Gromit

hot socks

    The GF and I went for a little jaunt today in the urban oasis also known as the Arnold Arboretum. We walked from one end of the Arboretum to the other, and back, with some side tracks. If you want to see our every step, check out the map. The GF has a way cool application on her iPhone that records our every step and distance. We actually went a bit further, as we forgot to turn on the device from the beginning. It was a good walk--- we saw robins, cat birds, chipmunks, squirrels, dogs, people, fruit trees, and a hawk's nest..... Plus, I sampled my new compression socks. (see photo). With me in the socks and the GF with the fishing hat, nobody bothered us.

Smoking the Bard's Bones?

 A gentleman named Francis Thackeray, a palaeontologist from South Africa, has petitioned the Church of England to exhume Shakespeare's bones, and that of his wife and sister. It's very unlikely he'll get his way, but he wants to submit the bard's skeleton to a laser technology that will shed light on the cause of death. When Shakespeare died in 1616 at the age of 52, the cause of death was not listed. Thackeray also wants to prove that Shakespeare smoked pot, by analyzing his teeth, hair, or fingernail samples. In 2001 Mr. Thackeray analyzed several clay pipes excavated from Shakespeare's garden, that contained traces of cannabis and cocaine. Interestingly enough, several of Shakespeare's plays and poems mention the "noted weed." Pot was grown in England at the time, and used for rope and textiles, and presumably smoking.

Please Call Stella

I discovered a website called The Speech Accent Archive, developed by the linguistics department of George Mason University in Virginia. The site has a collection of transcripts from speakers all over the world, rehearsing the same paragraph in English. You can submit your own, if you like. Below are some samples of American speakers, then some other English speakers, then some foreign speakers: 

Please call Stella.  Ask her to bring these things with her from the store:  Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob.  We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids.  She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station. 

I tried to get a cross-section of the country.

Boston, MA
http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=79

Atlanta, GA
http://accent.gmu.edu/searchsaa.php?function=detail&speakerid=83

Australia
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=148

Norway:
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=562

El Salvador:
http://accent.gmu.edu/browse_language.php?function=detail&speakerid=349

The World's Most Typical Person

The world's most typical person, out of the 7 billion of us, is a 28 year old Chinese man. Here he is:

 
My first thought: If China didn't have it's birth limitation policies, I wonder if the world's most typical person would be a Chinese woman?
My second thought: I am far from the world's most typical human being....

Musket At Bat

Here's an old video of me hitting the ball in 2007.

Johnathan in the Hollywood Hills

Tall Tree Lady

my sister's awesome photos from Maine....

The Kids Are Out of School-Here They Come

Photos by Janet M. Taylor 2011

The Ordinary People Behind Landmark Supreme Court Cases

On every Law & Order episode, we hear the "Miranda Warning" recited as the suspect is being dragged away. Today marks 45 years since the Miranda v. Arizona case went to the Supreme Court. This landmark court decision gives citizens the right to counsel prior to being questioned by police.

The ordinary bloke responsible for the Miranda Rights case-- Ernesto Miranda-- was no stranger to crime. In 1963 he was accused of rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery in Arizona. The police secured a confession, and Ernesto was brought to trial and convicted. In 1966 upon appeal Ernesto's conviction was overturned by a Supreme Court ruling. Lawyers argued that Miranda's 5th amendment right against self-incrimination had been violated. Miranda was not informed he could seek counsel.

Though Ernesto's charges were overturned,  Arizona retried him without the confession being admissible. Ironically, despite having the confession squelched, Ernesto was still convicted of the kidnapping/assault charge and served 11 years. After his release in 1973 Miranda worked odd jobs, drifted, and was involved in other petty crimes. In 1976 Ernesto was involved in a bar fight and was stabbed to death. He was only 34. The suspect involved in the incident was never arrested and fled to Mexico. The suspect asserted his Miranda Rights when the police questioned. him.

Perhaps one of the most controversial landmark case is Roe v. Wade. The ordinary citizen behind this case is Norma L. McCorvey, a.k.a. "Jane Roe" for the purposes of the case. In 1969 Norma became pregnant with her third child. She was only 21. Norma sought a legal abortion by claiming she had been raped, which was untrue. In Texas at the time a woman could only legally get an abortion in cases of rape or incest. There was no police evidence a rape occur ed, so she was denied access to a legal abortion. Norma tried the illegal route but was unsuccessful.

Two ambitious lawyers, Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, used Norma's story to challenge the policies of the state of Texas regarding a woman's access to abortion. Eventually, after some years of haggling, the Supreme Court cited the 14th Amendment in favor of Roe, arguing that a woman's right to privacy was violated, and that it is a woman's personal decision to choose an abortion. Miraculously, despite many challenges and much controversy, Roe v. Wade has stood since 1973.

Ironically, Norma McCorvey has since converted to the Pro-Life movement. In 1995 she sought to overturn her case, Roe v. Wade, claiming that she was a unwitting pawn of two feminists lawyers. Apparently her case was dismissed as moot.

Lilac Sunday

This year I went over to the Arboretum for Lilac Sunday with the gf and my Aunt Norma. Despite the cloudy weather, it was a good outing. Just seeing lilacs, and the some signs of spring, was enough for me. My gf got a few of these pictures, and sent them to me.

Dykie Dolls

My Rosie the Riveter action figure arrived in the mail today. I already have a smaller Rosie, equipped with a lunch box and drill. But the Rosie I received today is a 9" action figure with blue overalls, a red bandanna, and gloves!

For those of you who may not know, Rosie the Riveter is an icon of the WWII era. She represents the thousands of women who went to work in shipyards, aircraft assembly lines, and weapons facilities while 'the boys' were away at war.

The icon of Rosie the Riveter and the "We Can Do It" posters of the time helped spur the women's movement decades later. After the war, the women were removed from their jobs so the men could return to work. Not surprisingly women received lesser pay for the same jobs and skills as men. These injustices precipitated the first stirrings of the Women's Rights Movement in the 60's and 70's.

The Rosie I received today is part of a series of dolls made by the Minnesota Historical Society called "Eleanor's Girls," to pay tribute to the valor of women who served in varied capacities during WWII. I also bought a WASPS (Women's Air Force Service Pilots) doll. Eleanor Roosevelt, of course, was a champion of the rights of many, including women. She also was a model herself of women serving in nontraditional roles for the time.

Despite all the history and honor, I bought the dolls mainly because they are truly unique. I have never seen such dykie dolls in all my life! They even beat the bastardized scooter barbie dolls I made last year! Look at the pilot's boots!

New Art

I went to JP Open Studios last weekend, and bought 2 pieces from an artist named Amy Hitchcock. In January I will be taking a class with her called "Assemblages With Found Objects" at the Eliot School of Arts & Crafts in Jamaica Plain.

Tamara Lempicka

Apparently there is a goddess in heaven, because this woman Tamara Lempicka existed. I can't fathom how incredibly gorgeous her work is, yet she is relatively unknown. If I were to conjure up sleek, Art Deco era images of women in my mind, her paintings would be my dream come true.




Briefly, she was born in Poland and emigrated to Paris in the 1920's, later escaping the Nazi regime. She settled in the United States in her later years. Tamara lived to be an old lady, heartily disapproving of the Sixties generation, because she thought the hippies weren't radical enough. There's nothing like the Roaring Twenties and early Thirties in Paris. What an era!

Tamara Lempicka was bisexual, hence she painted alluring images of mostly women, though she was married to several men. To add to her decadence, she became a Baroness through one of her marriages! Lempicka was influenced by the Cubists and Surrealists. Naturally she hobnobbed with the likes of Vita Sacksville West, Djuna Barnes, Picasso, Gide, Cocteau and others.

Artist friends: is she one of the few female artists in history to paint naked, sexy, and in some cases very masculine women?

Don't You Know The Law in Massachusetts, Masshole?

Here's my catz LOL. Click on for website:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

Trash Talk

Here's my friend Jonathan acting in a short movie he also wrote. It's called "Trash Talk." He's the handsome devil with dark hair.