Mad Skills Craft Club

Last night was the inaugural meeting of Mad Skills Craft Club. We decorated candles with images, glitter, sequins, toy parts, etc. Some people got inspired and made shadowboxes. It was a fun event, where we were able to get creative and make pretty things. You can see more images from the club here. I'm looking forward to next month already.

Mission District Murals

Mission District paper cut-out piece

Balmy Alley piece

I'm so happy to live near the mission district. I love the murals, and I became inspired to take photos recently on a beautiful day. I ended up dining at super cute St. Francis Fountain, highly recommended for yummy eats!

Armchair Travel

Maya stela at the de Young museum
photo by Madeline Horn

Check out these dizzying virtual tours of Mexican Cultural sites I especially love the tours of the Mayan ruins. When you virtually 'visit' Palenque through Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia's site, you can enter tombs and see burials that were closed to the public when I visited the site in person.

Airstream Dreams

A blog post on The Wallflower (through the SF Chronicle) on customized Airstream trailers caught my fancy today http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/wallflower/detail?entry_id=49515

I've always had a special place in my heart for homes on wheels. As a child, my family would pack up the VW van for extended trips all over California, and sometimes all the way to Canada and Mexico. My grandparents also had a portable home, the Toyota Chinook, that looked like a shoebox on a small Toyota pickup. It worked great though, and included a sink, a stove, a toilet, and two beds! The ad above pits the two family camper vehicles against each other. Personally, I loved them both equally.

SFMOMA has a decked out trailer in the collection that I've coveted for years. http://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/9696#

It's on display now; go see it before it goes back in storage!

Polaroid Back in Action!!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6316829/Polaroid-cameras-to-be-produced-once-again.html
I was thrilled to read the above article that announces that Polaroid will continue to make film! I love my Polaroid camera and I've been guarding my last pack of film in the fridge for over 2 years now, feeling sad and wondering what subject would be worthy of using the last pack for. Now I no longer have to fret, Polaroid film will be available to purchase once again. YAY!!!

Involvement of local people to combat looting

Looted Iraqi Cultural Heritage

photo courtesy of ABC News

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/opinion/13atwood.html

This New York Times article by Roger Atwood, author of the excellent book Stealing History: Tomb Raiders, Smugglers and the Looting of the Ancient World, explains the importance of involving local people to combat looting. Archaeologically rich areas, such as Peru and Iraq, are commonly impoverished. Unfortunately, poverty can lead to the exploitation of an area's cultural heritage for financial gain of residents. Education of local people and the development of responsible archaeological tourism are both excellent ways to combat looting. In Iraq, tourism cannot be developed like it has been in Peru. However, education and involvement of local people can instill pride in Iraq's heritage. Those who have pride in their cultural heritage are much less likely to loot archaeological sites.