Here are five items that caught my eye this week. What caught yours?
1. David Seah made a trading card out of his sketch. I’ve subscribed to David Seah’s blog for years for a few years now and appreciate his take on creativity and entrepreneurship. Take a look at his categories list and you’ll see he is truly a mosaic when it comes to writing about his various interests and passions.
This week, he took an old sketch of a spaceship he drew when he was a young man and turned it into a trading card. What a wonderful idea! You can read about his process – inspired by creating a valentine to his 6th grade self – and download the digital card here. In the meantime, here’s a smaller version of the trading card:
2. Are we over underpanties? It took being married to an awesome young woman who isn’t afraid to speak her mind to understand why the word “panties” isn’t often a woman’s favorite word. When I saw this article from The Atlantic entitled “Why the Word Panties Is So Awful and What to Do About It,” there’s the sub-header right there: “panties” is simultaneously “too-sexualized and too-babyish.” Exactly what my wife clued me in on. The article writer, Sarah Fentem, makes a good point, though. This is not a word that’s much embraced by many women, as far as I can tell, and I don’t see “panties” as some sort of construct we’re merely stuck with. If we want to change it, we can change it.
Sometimes I still say “panties” because it can be a challenge to bury embedded vocabulary relics of misogyny. My favorite word, though, for male and female unmentionables, is and always has been “underpants.” It’s funny. In fact, it’s 20% funnier than “underwear.” At least, that’s what Futurama writer Ken Keeler asserts in the first two minutes of the commentary of Futurama episode 2ACV18, “The Honking” (DVD Season 2, Disc 4). Futurama / The Simpsons creator Groening also adds, “Panties are not funny. …They’re arousing… Extra-large panties are funny.”
Agreed.
3. A teen gets a baby photo shoot. I would be so heartbroken to learn of any fellow teenagers who end up making fun of this adopted 13-year-old boy who finally got to have his very own newborn photo shoot. I can see it happen, to be a teen who chooses to assume gentle poses and purposefully have photos taken of him. But those teens don’t get it. They don’t understand their privilege in knocking someone down for trying to have something they themselves have. Or maybe they don’t have it and are jealous. Regardless, I’m so happy for this young man.
Rise above the nay-sayers, Latrell. As you’ve already noted, your willingness to give this a shot is already inspiring a lot of parents of adopted children to think about offering the same sort of thing for their loved ones. Love is spreading.
4. Tiny houses! Minnesota Public Radio is obsessed with tiny houses. I swear, their Daily Circuit episode last Friday on “tiny houses” isn’t the first time I’ve heard them talk about them. I don’t know that I would have given this too much thought except my time in the woods in my hermitage retreat is fresh on my mind and heart. With a growing family, I don’t see how I could move us into a tiny house under 300 square feet. But the idea of simplifying, peeling back the layers of “stuff” we have in order to live in a smaller space? We’ve been doing it a little since we moved to a smaller place last year and we continue to do it every day. Then again, a much, much smaller living space than what many in the US are accustomed to living in is exactly how much of the rest of the world lives so there’s an issue of privilege to consider here.
To simplify is exhilarating. To retreat is delightful. To live in a tiny house? Hmm. What do you think it would take for you to do it?
5. Ghostbusters Lego Mayhem. I was five when I first saw Ghostbusters in the movie theater way back in 1985. It immediately grabbed my attention. Now, in 2013, my 33-year-old self wishes my 5-year-old self had the opportunity to play with Legos the way these guys have as they created the Ghostbusters Lego Fire House.
Makes me want to watch the movie on one screen and have this article open in another so I can compare and contrast. Wonder how much is based on the cartoon. Guess I have to watch all of those, too, now…
…Well, the first season, anyway.
These five items caught my eye this week. What about you?
-nm
As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
1 thought on “Caught My Eye #2”