Watching the Austrian cellar abuse scandal unfold, I could not help but wonder one thing. How had the imprisoned children's linguistic skills developed? I learned from the BBC that some of the children communicated with each other in ways that did not adhere to standard German linguistic structures. The Austrian news story is horrifying, of course, and I feel slightly guilty that I find its language acquisition aspect so intriguing. It also led me to briefly reacquaint myself with the legend of Kaspar Hauser and the idea of universal grammar. I should get out more. Speaking of which, I just finished knitting my first major project (I'm going to be self-indulgent enough to post a picture once I know the recipient has received it). The cherry trees outside are beginning to bloom. And while I am still struggling with stamina and energy, I do think I am getting better ever so slowly.
Sectarianism
Yesterday I wore my bright green woollen coat to celebrate that spring was in the air. A man approached me: "I don't like green." I blinked a couple of times and then sighed. Ever heard of Sectarianism? It is: "..bigotry, discrimination, intolerance or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion or the factions of a political movement." In Glasgow, sectarianism is linked to football.
I was wearing green, so to the stranger I was obviously a Celtic supporter. He was evidently a Rangers supporter given his "I don't like green" stance. He moved across the road to confront me head-on. I'm not proud of this, but I did a little girly giggle and put on my best Danish accent: "Oh, are you talking about the football stuff?" And after I had explained I was from Copenhagen, didn't know anything about football, and he had repeated his "I don't like GREEN" about a dozen times, the man told me that I was lucky I was such a nice girl .. otherwise he would have messed me up.
(and I once showed up wearing green nail varnish at work and was told that I better be wearing blue nail varnish the next day just to show my neutrality. It didn't matter that green is one of my favourite colours and I don't give a t*ss about club football. Honestly.)
This is the dark side of Glasgow life.
Synergy
Wheylona and I go back a decade (gosh). We first met when she worked in Sweden and was heading with friends to Denmark for a concert. I remember us walking through the streets of Copenhagen singing History Never repeats (youtube link) about twenty minutes after meeting for the first time. Ten years on, the American lives in the Basque country (Spain) and the Dane lives in the UK. History may never repeat, but time does move swiftly.
W. has written a fantastic entry about Will Ashford's recycled/re-contextualising word-art:
The artist, Will Ashford, takes pages from books and finds words and (near-)collocations that call to him, then designs his artwork around them. For me it's an amazingly engaging combination of art forms, resulting in layered, textured, juicy pieces that need to be savored and digested slowly. I find them very visually appealing--I love the the swirls, arcs, lines and dots, the touches of color on occasion, the contrast between sharp and blurred. I also totally dig the idea of taking words--things that seem so stable and static and fundamental--and highlighting the fact that they are not at all what they seem, or rather that they are more than what they seem.
Gorgeous stuff. And W. was lovely enough to say that experiencing Ashford's work brought me to mind. That means a lot to me, W.
Ashford's work brought another friend to mind. Bonnie MacAllister also works with the intersection of visual art and words. She's a performance poet, a visual artist and a feminist educator. I was lucky enough to receive a copy of her latest collection, Some Words Are No Longer Words about a month ago.
Sometimes I wish I could bring all my friends and acquaintances together in one room - all the writers, poets, thinkers, photographers, painters, crafters and performers - and just feed off the synergy. Whilst the internet does allow for easier interaction, having them all in that one room would be absolutely amazing.
Brain Bling
How good are you at recognising fonts? I got a measly 24 right out of 34. At least I still know my Helvetica from my Arial. It's all in the curves, baby.
I have actually been watching quite a bit of TV lately. BBC4 is having a rather funky Medieval Season, so I've been lapping up programmes on Thomas Aquinas, Abelard and the aformentioned Stephen Fry & the Gutenberg Press (which was pr0ntastic, incidentally). I get to flap my arms around excitedly and repeatably which is really nice. TV, I forgive you your multitude of sins when you indulge me like this.
Finally, I'd like to thank everybody who asked for my mother. She was discharged from hospital on Tuesday and is back home again. It is a relief.
You know you have a Dr Who problem when…
..you sit down on the sofa which bumps against the bookcase causing a Judoon figure to fall down on your head. You put the Judoon back on the shelf among the Doctor Who books (including the “Doctor Who & the Loch Ness Monster” book which you own because you live in Scotland). Then you rub your head and lean back .. making the Dalek pillow/hot-water-bottle cover spout “YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED”. Startled, you make an escape to the kitchen where you feel like getting a refreshment. On the fridge eight different Doctor Who fridge magnets stare back at you. Thank you, Live-In Boyfriend.
They Used Wine Presses, You Know
Me mam's apparently doing a bit better. It's slightly strange to be in another country and not being able to rush to the hospital.
Somebody at BBC is my new friend. Stephen Fry & the Gutenberg Press is showing on BBC4 tonight so whoever greenlighted that show gets to be my friend. Yes I'll sit there with popcorn shouting at the telly whenever they say something vaguely incorrect (or get too carried away with the entire 'cultural revolution' - too Eisenstein and not enough Johns for my taste. I just know they'll fly on the wings of the "printing press as agent for change" thing and there are so many problems with that idea..). Oh, my heart be still.
Related-ish: two ways of debasing/defacing/recycling books (delete as appropriate):
+ Nicholas Jones - Book Sculptor
+ How to make a handbag out of a book
I'm not sure I approve.