Down in Dixie Land

the acropolis, athens, greece

if you’ve spent any amount of time with me, you may at a certain point discover that i’m an art history nerd: unabashedly, uncontrollably nerdy. i wrote my application essay to w&m about the first day in my AP art history class and how it changed everything. i guess they liked my zeal because i was accepted early…or they thought i’d feel right at home. 

that’s why mr cs and i are going to greece…and why he surprised me with a trip to Nashville’s Parthenon in feb. apart from italy, which ive been lucky enough to visit twice, greece is at the top of my art history bucket list. i remember eagerly studying the architecture: columns, friezes; the structure and order of it all. i followed along as sculptors discovered and mastered human anatomy, from the first indication of a rib cage to full contrapposto. it was fascinating. in my mind, greece was it. they made it happen, the romans copied it, and then everything was lost until late renaissance when the classics were rediscovered. 

so that’s why, at 8pm last night, i collected my art history books and flash cards and started furiously scribbling notes and dates to make my AP art history study tools tourism-ready. it felt very natural. i have read these chapters of gardner’s art through the ages dozens of times. as i sorted my flash cards according to what museums we were going to visit and when, dismissing others that mysteriously ended up in london or boston (not a mystery…definitely some ancient trafficking), i felt the familiar sense of preparing for a test. yes, just a really terrifically awesome test where there are no wrong answers and i’ll always walk out with a smile.

also familiar: the heaviness of my eyelids as i realized “damn. why did i procrastinate on taking notes for my own vacation?” 

<3

i like this quote the best: 

Pretty soon, I started watching all the other sports I’d watched all the other years with a fresh view. I’d think, That field doesn’t even move.

pumasport:

I did meet sailors. And sailors. And sailors. They told of a phantasmagorical “Southern Ocean,” correcting my misconception from the world having four oceans to its recently acknowledged five, and can you imagine being the International Hydrographic Organization and having the power to bestow ocean status upon swaths of water? In this Southern Ocean, in the part of the world that starts to think about becoming Antarctica, you would encounter albatross, whales, sea birds. You might go around icebergs that seemed as if white skyscrapers. You might be cold for spiteful amounts of time.

Great article on the sailors ‘Life at Sea.’

allcreatures:

A young woman and her service dog caused quite a stir over the weekend when they both showed up to her college graduation ceremony dressed in matching caps and gowns.

Click through for full story.

(via Service Dog Arrives At College Graduation In Cap And Gown, Becomes A Celebrity (PHOTOS))

npr:

By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That’s enough to flood the colonists’ first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it’s putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it’s too late.

— With Rising Seas, America’s Birthplace Could Disappear

Photo: John Poole/NPR

 

Source:

mr cs and i are trying to get ourselves organized enough to share photos. its more difficult than you’d think. first, there are so many of them. second, i don’t look good in all of them (which is completely fine, but i just want to be aware of the worst offenders). third, does everyone want to see all 850+ pictures? we’re still figuring that out. 

so…how about some teasers?

i dare you to pick out the brothers in this picture.

good:

In 1897, a Bicycle Superhighway Was the Future of California Transit
- Yasha Wallin posted in Transportation, Bikes and Biking

In 1897, a wealthy American businessman named Horace Dobbins began construction on a private, for-profit bicycle superhighway that would stretch from Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles. It may seem like a preposterous notion now—everyone knows Angelenos don’t get out of their cars—but at the time, amidst the height of a pre-automobile worldwide cycling boom, the idea attracted the attention of some hugely powerful players. And it almost got built.

Continue to vice.com