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Bookshop Plus Cats

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 10, 2025| 5 Comments »

Photos: The Literary Cat Co.
Since Literary Cat Co. opened in Kansas about a year and a half ago, 32 of the store’s foster cats have been adopted by bookstore customers.

Today’s story is about a business in Kansas that meets two very different goals at the same time — and makes a lot of people in the community happy.

Sydney Page reports at the Washington Post, “At a bookstore in this Kansas town, three cats are on the full-time staff. Hank, a domestic longhaired cat, is the ‘regional manager.’ His job duties involve keeping track of the computer cursor and ‘sleeping in adorable positions 22 hours a day,’ according to the bookstore website.

“ ‘He’s the boss of this place,’ said Jennifer Mowdy, owner of the Literary Cat Co. in Pittsburg, Kansas — a bookstore that doubles as a cat lounge and feline foster home.

“Scarlett Toe’Hara, a black short-haired cat, who is polydactyl — meaning she has extra toes — is the ‘assistant (to the) regional manager.’ She is the front door guard, plant inspector and treat tester.

“Mike Meowski — a domestic longhaired cat with one eye, named after Mike Wazowski in Monster’s Inc. — is ‘assistant (to the assistant to the) regional manager.’ His role involves cuddling guests and quality control for boxes. …

“Mowdy opened the store in 2023 after 17 years as an educator. While teaching, Mowdy volunteered with animal rescues and fostered cats. She also loved bookstores. …

” ‘I decided I could do it; I could create something,’ Mowdy said.

“There are typically about seven cats — in addition to Hank, Scarlett and Mike — who live in the bookstore as foster cats. They’re ‘temporary staff,’ and Mowdy’s goal is for her customers to adopt them.

“ ‘We partner with a rescue, and when they get a cat that they think has a personality that would fit, or they haven’t been successful in adopting a cat through other means,’ she said. ‘If we have the room, we take them in.’ … The cats come from SEK Animal Advocates, a local rescue network. …

“Lori Seiwert and her husband adopted a brother-sister duo from the Literary Cat Co. shortly after it opened. The cats are named Frog and Toad after the picture book. …

“Frog, who is male, and Toad, who is female, turned 2 in February. Seiwert said she and her husband often stop by the store to visit Mowdy and play with the other cats.

“ ‘It’s a nice thing for such a small community,’ she said. ‘It’s very homey.’

“Most cats are adopted within six months of arriving at the bookstore, though some find homes much faster; others have stayed for up to a year. …

“Mowdy looks after the cats with Caitlin Fanning, a bookseller. They also have a volunteer who visits the store on Sundays and Mondays when it is closed to feed the cats and care for them.

“The bookstore is near Pittsburg State University, so college students often bring their own books to study there and snuggle some cats.

“ ‘We’ve got lots of cozy chairs and reading nooks,’ Mowdy said. ‘Lots of people don’t buy anything, they just come and play with the cats. That’s perfectly okay. We need to get the cats socialized, too.’ …

“The bookstore has become an environment for shy or unsocialized cats to get comfortable around people. …

“Before leaving work for the day, ‘we just make sure everybody is fed and watered, and anybody that needs meds gets them,’ Mowdy said. ‘We tell them goodnight and don’t cause any trouble, and we see them in the morning.’ …

“As far as books go, the Literary Cat Co. carries a wide range of authors and genres.”

This bookstore sounds like a place that “shy or unsocialized” humans could make friends, too, but I can’t help wondering how long a bookshop can last if it doesn’t matter that “lots of people don’t buy anything”!

More at the Post, here. Lots of pictures.

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Breaking News on Shakespeare’s Wife

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 9, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Hereford Cathedral and the Hereford Mappa Mundi Trust.
The letter fragment seems to place Anne Hathaway in London with William Shakespeare. 

Where do our firm convictions about history come from? Sometimes the accepted wisdom is based on facts, sometimes on what the influencers of the time thought, sometimes on mistakes. If for example, we have always thought Shakespeare had a bad marriage because his wife never came to London with him, what does new information contradicting that do to the accepted wisdom?

And there’s always new information.

Dalya Alberge writes at the Guardian, “It has long been assumed that William Shakespeare’s marriage to Anne Hathaway was less than happy. He moved to London to pursue his theatrical career, leaving her in Stratford-upon-Avon and stipulating in his will that she would receive his ‘second best bed,’ although still a valued item.

“Now a leading Shakespeare expert has analyzed a fragment of a 17th-century letter that appears to cast dramatic new light on their relationship, overturning the idea that the couple never lived together in London.

“Matthew Steggle, a professor of early modern English literature at the University of Bristol, said the text seemed to put the Shakespeares at a previously unknown address in Trinity Lane – now Little Trinity Lane in the City. It also has them jointly involved with money that Shakespeare was holding in trust for an orphan named John Butts.

“Addressed to ‘Good Mrs Shakspaire,’ the letter mentions the death of a Mr Butts and a son, John, who is left ‘fatherles,’ as well as a Mrs Butts, who had asked ‘Mr Shakspaire’ to look after money for his children until they came of age. It suggests the playwright had resisted attempts to pay money that the young Butts was owed.

“Steggle said: ‘The letter writer thinks that “Mrs Shakspaire” has independent access to money. They hope that Mrs Shakspaire might “paye your husbands debte.” ‘

“They do not ask Mrs Shakspaire to intercede with her husband, but actually to do the paying herself, like Adriana in The Comedy of Errors, who undertakes to pay a debt on her husband’s behalf, even though she was previously unaware of it: “Knowing how the debt grows, I will pay it.” ‘ …

“The fragment was preserved by accident in the binding of a book in Hereford Cathedral’s library. Although it was discovered in 1978, it has remained largely unknown because ‘no one could identify the names or places involved,’ Steggle said.

“Crucial evidence includes the 1608 book in which the fragment was preserved, Johannes Piscator’s analyses of biblical texts. It was published by Richard Field, a native of Stratford, who was Shakespeare’s neighbor and his first printer.

“Steggle said that it would be a ‘strange coincidence’ for a piece of paper naming a Shakspaire to be bound, early in its history, next to 400 leaves of paper printed by Field, ‘given Field’s extensive known links to the Shakespeares.’

“John Butts seems to have been serving an apprenticeship because the letter mentions ‘when he hath served his time.’ Scouring records from the period 1580 to 1650, Steggle found a John Butts, who was an apprentice, fatherless and in the care of his mother. …

“Steggle found John Butts in later records, placing him in Norton Folgate, outside the city walls, and living on Holywell Street (Shoreditch High Street today), home to several of Shakespeare’s fellow actors and associates.

“It was an area in which Shakespeare worked in the 1590s, first at the Theatre in Shoreditch, the principal base for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men throughout those years, and then at its near neighbor, the Curtain theatre. Shakespeare’s lifelong business partners, the Burbages, were involved in innkeeping and victualing nearby.

“Steggle said: ‘The adult John Butts, living on the same street as them, working in the hospitality industry in which they were invested … would very much be on the Burbages’ radar. So Shakespeare can be linked to Butts through various Norton Folgate contacts.’

“If the writing on the back of the letter – in another hand – was written by Anne, the words would be ‘the nearest thing to her voice ever known,’ he noted.

“The research is being published in Shakespeare, the journal of the British Shakespeare Association.”

What accepted wisdom will future historians overthrow by their scouring of our — probably digital — records? And will they draw such broad conclusions about what they find? I myself don’t see how you claim that Shakespeare had a good or bad marriage on the basis of his wife’s residence in London. But it’s fun to see how long new ideas can keep turning up.

More at the Guardian, here.

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A Neanderthal Paints a Nose

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 8, 2025| 6 Comments »

Photo: Álvarez-Alonso et al.
The archaeologists excavating on the outskirts of Segovia, Spain, noticed there was something odd about this stone.

Today we ask ourselves the timeless question, “Did Neanderthals ever just horse around?”

Sam Jones has a scenario at the Guardian, “One day around 43,000 years ago, a Neanderthal man in what is now central Spain came across a large granite pebble whose pleasing contours and indentations snagged his eye.

“Something in the shape of that quartz-rich stone – perhaps its odd resemblance to an elongated face – may have compelled him to pick it up, study it and, eventually, to dip one of his fingers in red pigment and press it against the pebble’s edge, exactly where the nose on that face would have been.

“In doing so, he left behind what is thought to be the world’s oldest complete human fingerprint, on what would appear to be the oldest piece of European portable art.

The discovery, which could enrich our understanding of how Neanderthals saw and interpreted the world, has come to light after almost three years of research by a team of Spanish archaeologists, geologists and police forensic experts.

“The dig team noticed there was something odd about the stone – which is just over 20cm [~8 inches] in length – as soon as they found it while excavating the San Lázaro rock shelter on the outskirts of Segovia in July 2022. It did not look like something that had been used as a hammer or an anvil; it didn’t look like a tool at all.

“ ‘The stone was oddly shaped and had a red ochre dot, which really caught our eye,’ said David Álvarez Alonso, an archaeologist at Complutense University in Madrid. … We were all thinking, ‘This looks like a face.’ But obviously that wasn’t enough.

” ‘As we carried on our research, we knew we needed information to be able to advance the hypothesis that there was some purposefulness here, this was a symbolic object and that one possible explanation – although we’ll never know for sure – is that this was the symbolization of a face.’ …

“The team enlisted the help of other experts. Further investigations confirmed that the pigment, which contained iron oxides and clay minerals, was not found elsewhere in or around the cave.

“ ‘We then got in touch with the scientific police to determine whether we were right that the dot had been applied using a fingertip,’ said Álvarez Alonso. ‘They confirmed that it had.’ The print, they concluded, was human and could be that of an adult male. …

“Álvarez Alonso argues that the dot’s existence raises questions that all point in the same direction.

“ ‘It couldn’t have been a coincidence that the dot is where it is – and there are no markings to indicate any other use,’ he said. ‘So why did they bring this pebble from the river to the inside of the cave? And, what’s more, there’s no ochre inside the cave or outside it. So they must have had to bring pigment from elsewhere.’

“The team’s findings, reported in the journal Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, reinforce the idea that Neanderthals – who died out some 40,000 years ago – were capable of acts of artistic and symbolic creation, meaning modern humans were not the first to use art as a means of expression.

“ ‘The fact that the pebble was selected because of its appearance and then marked with ochre shows that there was a human mind capable of symbolizing, imagining, idealizing and projecting his or her thoughts on an object,’ the authors write.

“ ‘Furthermore, in this case, we can propose that three fundamental cognitive processes are involved in creating art: the mental conception of an image, deliberate communication, and the attribution of meaning. These are the basic elements characterizing symbolism and, also prehistoric – non-figurative – art. Furthermore, this pebble could thus represent one of the oldest known abstractions of a human face in the prehistoric record.’ …

“ ‘We’ve set out our interpretation in the article, but the debate goes on,’ he said. ‘And anything to do with Neanderthals always prompts a massive debate. If we had a pebble with a red dot on it that was done 5,000 years ago by Homo sapiens, no one would hesitate to call it portable art. But associating Neanderthals with art generates a lot of debate.’ I think there’s sometimes an unintentional prejudice.’ “

More at the Guardian, here.

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Why She Saves Seeds

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 7, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Dani Anguiano.
Haleigh Holgate, seed collection manager at Heritage Growers, inspects a seed in the San Luis national wildlife refuge complex on March 2025. Only the correct species will do.

I have blogged about seed banks in various countries (search on “seed bank”), and particularly about the global one that will keep seeds safe forever — if it stays frozen.

Today we learn what’s going on in California, where Heritage Growers is focused on local flora.

Dani Anguiano reported at the Guardian, “Deep in California’s agricultural heartland, Haleigh Holgate marched through the expansive wildflower-dotted plains of the San Luis national wildlife refuge complex in search of something precious.

“She surveyed the native grasses and flowering plants that painted the Central valley landscape in almost blinding swaths of yellow. Her objective on that sweltering spring day was to gather materials pivotal to California’s ambitious environmental agenda – seeds. …

“As a seed collection manager with the non-profit Heritage Growers native seed supplier, Holgate is tasked with traveling to the state’s wildlands to collect native seeds crucial for habitat restoration projects.

“The need has become particularly acute as California aims to conserve 30% of its land by 2030, with the governor pledging to restore ‘degraded landscapes’ and expand ‘nature-based solutions’ to fight the climate crisis. …

“But the rising demand for seeds far outpaces the available supply. California faces an ‘urgent and growing need’ to coordinate efforts to increase the availability of native seeds, according to a 2023 report from the California Native Plant Society. There simply isn’t enough wildland seed available to restore the land at the rate the state has set out to, Holgate said.

“Bridging the gap starts with people like Holgate, who spends five days a week, eight months of the year, traveling with colleagues to remote spots across the state collecting seeds – an endeavor that could shape California’s landscape for years.

“That fact is not lost on the 26-year-old. It’s something she tries to remind her team during long, grueling, hot days in the oilfields of Kern county or the San Joaquin valley. …

“Seeds play a vital role in landscape recovery. When fires move through forests, decimating native species and leaving the earth a charred sea of grey ash, or when farmlands come out of production, land managers use native seeds to help return the land to something closer to its original form. They have been an essential part of restoring the Klamath River after the largest dam removal project in US history, covering the banks of the ailing river in milkweeds that attract bees and other pollinators, and Lemmon’s needlegrass, which produces seeds that feed birds and small mammals.

“California has emphasized the importance of increasing native seed production to protect the state’s biodiversity. … Three-quarters of native vegetation in the state has been altered in the last 200 years, including more than 90% of California wetlands, much of them here in the Central valley.

“For the state to implement its plans, it needs a massive quantity of native seeds. … Enter Heritage Growers, the northern California-based non-profit founded by experts with the non-profit River Partners, which works to restore river corridors in the state and create wildlife habitat.

“The organization takes seed that Holgate and others collect and amplifies them at its Colusa farm, a 2,088-acre (845-hectare) property located an hour from the state capital. (The ethical harvesting rules Heritage Growers adhere to mean that they can take no more than 20% of seeds available the day of collection.) …

“Currently, the farm is producing more than 30,000 lbs of seeds each year and has more than 200 native plant varieties.

“The goal, general manager Pat Reynolds said, is to produce source-identified native seed and get as much of it out in the environment as possible to restore habitat at scale. …

“The benefit of restoring California’s wildlands extends far beyond the environment, said Austin Stevenot, a member of the Northern Sierra Mewuk Tribe and the director of tribal engagement for River Partners.

“ ‘It’s more than just work on the landscape, because you’re restoring places where people have been removed and by inviting those people back in these places we can have cultural restoration,’ Stevenot said. ‘Our languages, our cultures, are all tied to the landscape. … It’s giving the space back to people to freely do what we would like for the landscape and for our culture,’ he said. …

“The mission is worthwhile, Holgate said. The seeds she collects are expensive, but if they can be amplified and expanded, native seeds will become more abundant and restoration projects can happen more quickly.

“ ‘We can restore California faster,’ she said. … ‘I know that when I’m dreaming about a certain species, I should go check that population and see what’s happening. And normally there’s something going on where it’s like grasshoppers came in and ate all the seed, or the seed is ripe and ready, and I gotta call in a crew,’ she said. ‘I’ve really put my whole heart into this job.’ “

More at the Guardian, here. No firewall at this outstanding news site, but please support it.

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Traveling without Flying

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on June 6, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Photo: Thor Pedersen.
Thor Pedersen took a container ship from Praia, Cape Verde, to Guinea Bissau — one step in his quest to travel the world without flying. 

I recently met a couple who are unusually thoughtful about their footprint on Planet Earth, to the point of investigating how they could get to Europe without flying. There are ways to travel without flying, as we learn from today’s story in the Guardian, but they all have a cost in carbon emissions — ocean-going vessels especially. Unless you’re talking sailboats, which are not practical for most people.

Nevertheless, experiments in avoiding airplanes are consciousness raising — and often fun. Thor Pedersen reported on his own effort to travel everywhere without flying. It took him 10 years!

He writes, “Growing up, it seemed as if all the great adventures had happened before I was born. But in 2013 I discovered that – although it had been attempted – no one had made an unbroken journey through every country without flying. I had a shot at becoming the first to do it. …

“At 34, I set off – and didn’t return home until almost a decade later. These are the lessons I learned along the way.

“1. Human generosity can be astounding. It was a cold, dark night in December. A train had brought me to Suwałki, which people say is the coldest city in Poland. It was quiet. Snow was falling, but otherwise everything was still. I was carrying a piece of paper with a name, a phone number and an address for where I was supposed to be staying. But I had no sim card, so I began walking, looking for someone who could help me.

“Just as I was beginning to wonder if I would ever meet anyone, a woman opened her front door. I dashed over. Luckily, she spoke English and invited me in. She was happy to host me and convinced me there was no point in heading back out into the cold.

“I was quickly given a full plate of food and a spare bed. All this from a stranger. The next day, I was served breakfast and taken to the bus that would carry me to Lithuania.

“2. There are still some hidden and spectacular natural wonders. Lesotho was country No 106 on my very long journey. Its natural beauty was immediately apparent. … The mountains of Lesotho are horse country. Every now and again, riders draped in thick blankets would pass. Then I reached Maletsunyane Falls. The nearly 200-metre waterfall was glistening in the sun at the end of a canyon. And I had it all to myself.

“3. People’s resilience is powerful. In 2015, I travelled through western Africa. At the time, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia were dealing with the world’s largest Ebola outbreak. A taxi driver in Guinea said to me: ‘Here we have everything, but we have nothing.’ These countries are rich in many ways – from natural resources to beautiful landscapes – yet most of the people are not.

“But after only an hour in Sierra Leone, I had been invited to a wedding: loads of music, lots of people in fancy clothes, an abundance of food and drink, small talk and dancing.  …

“4. Isolating yourself is a mistake. When you take public transport in Denmark, where I’m from, you always pick the seat farthest from everyone else. We value our privacy and respect the privacy of others. But in much of the world, the best seats are the ones next to other passengers. Where else will you find conversation?

“In west and central Africa, I found that everyone in a bus or a bush taxi would immediately form a unit, sharing food and stories and holding babies for one another. …

“5. What you want and what you need are not the same thing. … I hit a wall after about two years, but had to push through it to reach my goal. I learned the difference between what I want and what I need. I learned to live on a rock and how to engage in conversation with absolutely anyone. Once I returned home, I realized the only things that had kept their value were the relationships and conversations I had had. Everything else seemed perishable.

“6. You can form connections without sharing a language. I once had a 12-hour train journey from Belarus to Moscow during which no one else spoke anything but Russian. It didn’t seem to bother them that I didn’t know the language beyond nyet or da; they sat and spoke to me in Russian for several hours, while we shared food and vodka.”

To see more of Pedersen’s photos and his life lessons from this kind of travel, click at the Guardian, here. No paywall.

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Senior-Friendly Urban Design

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on June 5, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian.
Elaine Unegbu, the chair of the Age Friendly Manchester [UK] older people’s board, and Paul McGarry, the head of the Greater Manchester aging hub. 

Where I live now, in a retirement community with various levels of care, the management favors pilot projects from academia and startup companies to test technology that can keep people independent longer. I haven’t volunteered for any of them, but I think it’s a good idea, especially as Erik still holds patents for something along those lines.

I recently read about some simple but ingenious innovations in Manchester, England, that I thought might interest readers like Making Home Home. I mean — how obvious but how overlooked is putting numbers on outdoor benches to aid in emergencies?

Chris Osuh  reports at the Guardian, “Futuristic planning for spaces where people can age well and live in an area designed for them to grow old in is accelerating in the UK with a radical project backed by £1.5bn [$1.7bn].

“The plan to transform a hospital into the first neighborhood in the country designed for people to thrive as they age will be a national testbed for holistic health and social care approaches. It will include hi-tech homes that adapt to occupants’ life stage and care needs, transport, a village green and a social calendar to combat isolation.

“The master plan for the North Manchester general hospital (NMGH) redevelopment in the Crumpsall district is the result of collaboration by public health officials, local politicians, experts and architects.

“Michelle Humphreys, the director of strategic projects for Manchester University NHS foundation trust (MFT), described it as a neighborhood that ‘adapts around people as they go through life,’ powered by advances in medical wearables and remote monitoring. …

“NMGH’s ‘healthy neighborhood‘ scheme is multigenerational. It will include family housing and will be built in line with age-friendly concepts, spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to two major trends – the aging population and urbanization.

“By 2050 60% of the global population will live in urban environments and 27% of people will be over the age of 65, the OECD predicts, yet experts say cities are often defined by spatial agism where environments are not set up for older people.

“The age-friendly movement aims to ensure older people can still play a part in civic life. The Elders Council of Newcastle, Northern Ireland’s older people’s commissioner and Wales’ commitment to becoming an age-friendly nation reflect how UK regions and devolved governments have been preparing for demographic change.

“The humble bench – improved with armrests, numbered to aid in a medical emergency, or placed strategically for wellbeing and intergenerational conversation – can be transformative, with dozens installed in Manchester, taking inspiration from New York’s CityBench initiative. However, the UK has further to go.

Akita, in northern Japan’s Tohoku region, where 30% of the population is over 65, has more than 60 heated roads to prevent slips on ice.

“In Singapore, where one in four are predicted to be over 65 by 2030, the Admiralty ‘vertical village’ has a central medical tier, so older residents, who live in slip-proof homes with alarms alerting neighbors in an emergency, can have surgery without leaving. In Germany in 2007, BMW made 70 changes to its Dingolfing factory to adapt to an older workforce. …

“Prof Stefan White, from Manchester Metropolitan University and Manchester School of Architecture, said the NMGH project would exemplify how to free up hospital space and allow people to ‘age in place’ with the type of support ordinarily provided in a care home made available to the whole neighborhood on a flexible basis.

“Elaine Unegbu, the chair of the Age Friendly Manchester older people’s board, has successfully lobbied the Greater Manchester mayor’s team for transport adaptations, benches and afternoon matinees. She said the healthy neighborhood would give residents peace of mind at a time when gentrification ‘whitewashed’ older urbanites, with many forced from their homes by health crises to the detriment of communities.

“Manchester, where previous age friendly projects include the Derek Jarman Pocket Park inspired by LGBTQ+ over-50s, has been pioneering the movement in the UK since 2008. Last month the city hosted international experts at the Age-Friendly Futures Summit.

“Paul McGarry, the head of the Greater Manchester aging hub, said: ‘The task is to get a national conversation on aging.’ “

More at the Guardian, here.

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Book Towns Galore

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 4, 2025| 2 Comments »

Photo: Wigtown, Scotland, Book Festival.

Book lovers who are traveling this year may want to think about visiting one of the “book towns” profiled recently in National Geographic. Ashley Packard collected seven that sound charming.

“1. In the Welsh village of Hay-on-Wye, where sheep outnumber people and books spill onto the streets, a quiet revolution began. Antiquarian and academic Richard Booth inadvertently launched a global movement when he began filling the empty buildings of Hay-on-Wye with secondhand books.

“What started as a single decision in 1961 to fill his sleepy hometown with secondhand books to sell in numerous empty buildings, turned into the birthplace of a global literary mecca uniting villages, bibliophiles, and dreamers alike. …

“Hay-on-Wye became the first ever ‘book town,’ supporting patrons who flocked to the shops. Booth, who crowned himself ‘King of Hay,’ inspired others to turn literature into lifelines for their little towns and villages. As word of his success spread, more towns around the world embraced the concept for their communities. Before long, the International Organization of Book Towns was formed in April 2001, though it had existed without the official designation for decades prior.

“The organization aims to raise public awareness of book towns through online information and a biennial International Book Town Festival. It supports rural economies by facilitating knowledge exchange among booksellers and businesses, encouraging the use of technology, and helping to preserve and promote regional and national cultural heritage on a global scale.

“By definition, a book town is ‘a small, preferably rural, town or village in which secondhand and antiquarian bookshops are concentrated.’ … Today, there are dozens of towns with the designation, from Pazin, Croatia, to Featherson, New Zealand. These selected and approved locations take pride in their history, scenic beauty, and contributions to the literary world. …

“2. In a small village tucked away in the hilly countryside of Belgium, Redu is now celebrating its 41st anniversary since becoming the second book town in 1984. This idyllic village is described as, ‘fragrant with the scent of old paper.’ … It, along with its hamlets Lesse and Séchery, were recently added to the ‘Most Beautiful Villages in Wallonia‘ list in July 2024.

“3. [In Scotland] nestled on a hill overlooking the sea along a rugged coastline, woodlands, and forests, lies Wigtown, celebrating 20 years as ‘Scotland’s Book Town.’ … It has 16 different types of book shops, many secondhand, that participate in an annual Spring Weekend in early May, a community festival in July, a market every Saturday from April through late September, and the annual Wigtown Book Festival in late September through early October. The 10-day literary celebration was founded in 1999 and now features more than 200 events, including music, theater, food, and visual arts. 

“4. Turup [in Denmark] is situated 37 miles north of the Danish capital of Copenhagen, between the sea and a fjord, and has a population of 374 people. Here, locals put out the best and most high-quality secondhand books from donations out for sale along the rural roads of the 10 different shops (if you can call them that) for purchase. These ‘bookshops’ include a garage, a workman’s hut, a disused stable, a bookshelf on a farm entrance, and even a newly restored railway station. Some of these stalls process transactions on a self-help and honesty basis where customers leave their change in a jar in exchange for their purchases. The Torup Book Town Association hosts an annual Nordic Book Festival with book readings from authors, contemporary short films, cultural events, and more. 

“5. Surrounded by stunning landscapes, rolling hills, and vineyards is the quaint town of Featherston [New Zealand] … became officially recognized as a book town in 2018. It is famously known for the annual book festival held in May. They have initiatives dedicated to fostering community growth, inspire reading, writing, and idea-sharing across Wairarapa and Aotearoa, New Zealand.

“6. Offering year-round bookstalls and literary festivals, the village of St-Pierre-de-Clages is home to Switzerland’s only book village. ‘Le Village Suisse du Livre,’ translated to ‘The Swiss Book Village,’ is home to a large secondhand market, along with authors, thematic exhibitions, activities for children, and a renowned Book Festival that has been hosted every last weekend of August since 1993. … This festival takes place over three days and attracts visitors from all over French-speaking Switzerland and neighbors. It offers insight into book professions such as calligraphy and old printing techniques, a welcoming space for writers and publishing houses to meet, and various artists to display their work.

“7. The former garrison town of Wünsdorf [in Germany] is known as ‘book and bunker city’ due to the historical sites, buildings, book shops, cafes and tea rooms, and lively cultural life. Nestled about 12 miles south of Berlin, the town offers year-round events, readings, exhibitions, military vehicle meetings, and currently five different bunker and guided tours. Wünsdorf was established as an official member of the International Organization of Book Towns in 1998 thanks to its three large antiquarian shops that boast of a wide array of literary treasures on topics such as poetry, philosophy, classical literature, and many more.”

More at National Geographic, here. Great photos, as you would expect from National Geographic.

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Preserving Dance in Africa

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on June 3, 2025| 9 Comments »

Map: Maps of the World.
The National Ballet in the Central African Republic brings to life traditional dance forms from different ethnic groups across the country. 

In parts of Africa where colonialism glommed together disparate tribes with ancestral enmities, wars have continued off and on for decades. But the Central African Republic (CAR) is setting a different example, with the help of its national ballet company. The idea is to give all the CAR groups a moment in the sun by highlighting the dance traditions of each. The effort also brings people together in new ways.

In the following article, we learn about a number of ethnic dance groups, including the National Artistic Ensemble that performed recently at the Africa Day of School Feeding (ADSF) in Bouboui. [See the African Union site for an explanation of ADSF. Interesting.]

France24 reports: “The dancers shake their hips, kicking their feet to the beat of the age-old ‘dance of the caterpillars,’ typically performed in the south where the insects are gathered for food.

“Three times a week the National Ballet rehearses traditional dances of the many ethnic groups making up the Central African Republic.

” ‘The creations they ask of us are based on the particularities of each ethnicity. I’m Banda and I have to suggest dance steps from the Banda ethnic group,’ Sidoane Kolema, 43, said.

“They aim to preserve the heritage of the CAR, a mosaic of ethnic groups that is scarred by decades of conflict and instability and is among the world’s poorest countries.

“From behind the scenes, 26-year-old Intelligentsia Oualou began singing in Gbanu, the language of her native southwestern Ombella-M’poko region.

“To the jingle of bells and rhythmic thud of the drum and xylophone-like balafon, the spinning silhouettes of the other dancers soon appeared across the dilapidated stage, set up on waste ground in the capital Bangui.

” ‘All my relatives are artists and I’ve dreamed of being an artist too,’ said Oualou. She is one of 62 dancers in the National Artistic Ensemble, created by CAR President Faustin Archange Touadera in 2021.

” ‘Promoting our cultures means going to the hinterlands to find the different dance steps of the Central African Republic in order to create a show that is diverse,’ National Ballet choreographer Ludovic Mboumolomako, 55, said. He spent three weeks living among the Pygmies in their ancestral forests in the south in order to enrich his choreography with their dances, songs and ways of living. …

“The company is often called upon to perform the ancestral dances in public at political gatherings, inaugurations and official ceremonies. In front of officials or at festivals, they dance in costumes of raffia skirts topped with pearl belts and patterned wax-print fabrics.

” ‘We need to raise awareness among young people … by dancing the different dances of our different ethnic groups in front of everyone. Tomorrow, if we are no longer here, it will be up to them to take over,’ Kolema said.

“The dancers were even recently integrated into the civil service, just like the actors and musicians who also belong to the National Artistic Ensemble.

“One of the upsides is that the dancers ‘have not a subsidy, but a salary’ [Culture Minister Ngola Ramadan] said. …

“Kevin Bemon, 44, said he had been able to put his former ‘difficult’ life dancing at neighborhood wakes behind him, thanks to the monthly salary of [$124] – just over twice the minimum wage in the CAR. …

“For a decade until 2013, the CAR was wracked by civil wars and intercommunal conflict, and although the violence has lost intensity since 2018, tensions persist.

” ‘Traditional dance has brought us together. After the recent wars, different ethnic groups were divided. Thanks to dance, we’ve become children of the same family,’ Oualou said.”

Check out the great photos at France 24, here. No paywall.

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Stunning Excavation on Greek Island

Posted in Uncategorized on June 2, 2025| 5 Comments »

Map: Lencer.
Do you see the group of three islands on the west coast of Greece? Lefkada is the furthest north of the three, kind of a bell shape.

Like many of us, I have contradictory memories of being a teenager. There’s a lot of “on the one hand,” “on the other hand.” On the one hand, when I think of my trip to Greece, there were all those confused interactions with other teens on the independent schools’ trip and with an Athenian power couple for whom I had a letter of introduction.

On the other hand, seeing the Ancient Greek ruins in the Aegean Islands was something to cherish.

I had been interested in Ancient Greece since childhood and ultimately took five years of the language. I remain curious about the old tales from that part of the world, and especially any information on new excavations — like the one in today’s article.

Min Chen reports at Artnet, “More than a century after its initial discovery, the only known amphitheater on the Ionian Islands is finally seeing the light of day.

“Perched on a hillside on Lefkada, an island off the west coast of Greece, the structure has been excavated by archaeologists from the Ephorate of Antiquities of Aitoloakarnania and Lefkada over the past decade. While the upper part of the building has not been well preserved, the team was able to study its cavea, or semicircular seating area. The researchers have also estimated that construction on the theater began around the 4th century B.C.E., when ancient Lefkada was experiencing economic prosperity.

“ ‘Although damaged by time,’ the researchers said in a press announcement, ‘the theater, fully and harmoniously integrated into the geomorphology of the hill, with a panoramic view of the wider area, is undoubtedly the most important and imposing monument that has come to light in ancient Lefkada.’

“Ancient Lefkada was settled sometime before the 7th century B.C.E. by seafaring Corinthians. They homed in on the locale for its strategic position along major sea routes, which fueled the flourishing of the city-state. …

“In 1901, the ruins of the arena were found by German archaeologist E. Kruger and later logged by his collaborator Wilhelm Dörpfeld in his 1927 volume Alt Ithaka. Following their survey, the Germans reburied the monument. Over the years, as the grounds grew over with olive groves and became dotted with makeshift warehouses, the location of the theater was lost.

“It took decades before the structure was rediscovered in 1997 by archaeologists studying the geomorphological characteristics of the area. From 2015, a systemic excavation of the building commenced. Large olive trees had to be uprooted and extensive earthworks carried out in a project that archaeologists deemed ‘particularly difficult and demanding.’ So far, the project has unearthed the building’s cavea, orchestra pit, most of the stage, and various walls.

“The cavea boasted 21 rows of seats, likely topped by a diazoma, or horizontal aisle, which led up to a further three rows. Two cavea walls were found standing at lengths from 65 to 91 feet. The theater, however, appears to have been unfinished. Still, the team calculates it could have seated about 3,500 spectators; if completed, estimates put its capacity at 10,000 to 11,000.

“The orchestra pit, meanwhile, was discovered carved into natural rock in a perfect circle some 54 feet in diameter. A stone frame encircles it. Remains of the stage area were also discovered, including parts of sandstone columns and architraves. These fragments once formed part of the Ionic facade of the theater’s loggia, or external gallery, which once boasted 16 columns and was flanked by ramps.

A highlight during the dig, the team noted, was the unearthing of fragments of three stone thrones.

“These seats, once decorated with reliefs depicting dolphins, birds, and lion paws, were intended for prominent guests, whether priests or city officials.

“Quite likely, the theater saw modifications during its lifetime before it was abandoned as Lefkada declined during the Roman era. In 31 B.C.E., Roman emperor Augustus founded Nicopolis, a new capital city near Preveza, at which the majority of Lefkada residents were made to settle. Ancient Lefkada was deserted, with many of its buildings, including the theater, being mined for construction material.

“At the remains of the monument that once dominated the ancient city, archaeologists will next survey its upper cavea and part of the stage. The team is also awaiting approval for its plans to conserve the theater.”

Interesting. I hadn’t hear of covering up a partial excavation as the German archaeologists did in the early 20th century. I assume they had reason to think the ruins need protection.

Good pictures at Artnet, here. No firewall.

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The Dying Art of Steel-Cut Letters

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on June 1, 2025| 3 Comments »

Illustration: Theodore Low De Vinne (1828-1914) via Wikimedia Commons.
Illustration of a punch (left) and matrix (right) used in type-founding, ca. 1876.

I’ve always loved the way steel-cut letters make a formal invitation look, the way they press into high-quality paper, drawing my attention to the hands of whoever did the typesetting. It’s a dying art to make the letters and even to print with them, and that inspired a filmmaker to look into the masters of the craft.

Carey Dunne writes at Hyperallergic, “In a smoky atelier in Torino, Italy, Giuseppe Branchino works as one of the world’s last punch cutters. Cutting punches, the first step in traditional typesetting, is the meticulous craft of carving letterforms into small steel billets.

“Branchino was the former head of the engraving department of type foundry and printing press manufacturer Nebiolo, founded in Turin in 1852. Along with a few others scattered across the globe, he carries on a centuries-old practice that’s becoming obsolete in the age of digital type.

“In the meditative short film The Last Punchcutter, by Giorgio Affanni and Gabriele Chiapparini, we watch Branchino create a punch. Drinking espresso and smoking a cigarette, he works silently and slowly, carving the letter ‘G’ into a thin block of steel with awls and chisels, peering through a magnifying glass to inspect his handiwork. He spends nearly seven minutes on a single letter.

“The film was created as part of Griffo, the Great Gala of Letters, a multidisciplinary project focusing on the life of Francesco Griffo, a 15th-century Venetian punch cutter and type designer. Born circa 1450 near Bologna, the son of the goldsmith and engraver Cesare Griffo, he went on to work for the house of Aldus Manutius of Venice, the most important publisher of the day. In 1501, for an edition of Virgil (the Aldine Virgil), he created what’s regarded as the first italic typeface. 

“Though his typefaces are still widely used and inspire most contemporary type designers, details of his biography are murky and, as Joseph Blumenthal put it in The Art of the Printed Book 1455–1955, ‘Griffo has never received adequate recognition for his enormous contribution to type design.’ Through videos, texts, and an upcoming exhibition, the Great Gala of Letters project aims to bring Griffo some long overdue recognition on the the 500th anniversary of his death.”

That book is out of print, but nothing stops GoodReaders from reading out-of-print books. Marc Joseph gave Blumenthal book five stars, saying, “Joseph Blumenthal was a fine printer for years at his Spiral Press. One of the great printers of the mid-twentieth century. He was also a typographer, educator, author in all things fine printing and a historian in the history of the printed word.

“Here he brings all of that acumen to bear on the history of the printed book, from 1455 to 1955. … There are multiple plates showing examples of the printing mentioned in the text, so the reader not only reads the facts, but sees them as well.

“This book forms a foundational basis for understanding the history of print. A note must also be made on the production values of this book. It is printed letterpress by the Stinehour Press (which for the size of the book and length is crazy). The tactile feel of the letterpress is amazing and shows the reader what fine press work is all about.

“The plates were printed by the Meridian Gravure Company, another fine printer, particularly of plates, either black and white or in color (black and white here). This hardbound volume was released in 1973 by the co-publishers, the Pierpont Morgan Library and David R. Godine. At the time of writing this review [December 2023], this particular edition can be had for $22.00 in ‘as new’ condition.”

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A Season of Flowers

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on May 31, 2025| 4 Comments »

Photos: Suzanne and John’s Mom.
First Jack-in-the-Pulpit I had seen in years.

Today I’m sharing recent photos — mostly of Massachusetts spring flowers. One thing I’m especially enjoying this year is all the wildflowers. After my retirement community built a boardwalk that could accommodate walkers and wheelchairs, the administration and a group of residents started planting (ethically grown) wildflowers. Wonderful! And then we got a trip to the Native Plant Trust’s Garden in the Woods, which is entirely wildflowers.

Below, note a flowering May apple near our boardwalk. It’s followed by yellow Lady slippers at Garden in the Woods. At the same nature preserve, we learned about Golden club, which is found in the wetland area. So unusual!

There are more pictures from Garden in the Woods after that.

Next are a couple photos from our local library. The librarians love fun art projects, often involving child artists. They offer loads of activities for kids. For example: painting book bricks to border a garden.

Next are Jane’s poppies. Jane has a variety of flowers and edibles in one of the raised beds in our community.

Finally, here are some pansies that seemed to sing, reminding me of the pansies in a wacky Disney remix I love.

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Wondrous Wildlife Crossings

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on May 30, 2025| 7 Comments »

Photo: Colorado Department of Transportation.
A black bear (black bears are sometimes brown) walks through a wildlife underpass at State Highway 9. 

In parts of the country where people really value their wildlife, there are increasing efforts to prevent roadkill by building safe crossings for animals. They’re expensive, but the passes also save humans from life-threatening collisions.

In an article at the New York Times, reporter Catrin Einhorn learns that the motivation to build pathways crosses political divides.

She writes, “The aim was to protect motorists and wildlife along an especially grisly stretch of highway. Now, it was time to see whether the investment would pay off.

“Aran Johnson, a wildlife biologist for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in the southwestern part of Colorado, walked up a bank to a newly constructed overpass crossing Route 160. … It was a cool summer morning in 2022, with mist rising from the ground. Mr. Johnson carried trail cameras. Mule deer and elk wouldn’t be showing up in any numbers until later in the year, when they had to cross the highway to reach their wintering grounds. Still, he wanted the cameras ready to capture the earliest evidence possible of any animals using the structure.

“At the top of the overpass, he could barely believe what he saw: a line of hoof prints pressed deep into the fresh mud, stretching from one side to the other. An elk had already found its way across. …

“Since then, it’s been one successful year after another. Entire herds of mule deer and elk use the structures, as well as bears, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes and foxes.

“Wildlife crossings are growing in popularity across the country, and in recent years, Colorado has emerged as a leader. Since 2015, it has built 28 new large game crossing structures, according to the state Transportation Department.

“The state is rich in wildlife, and many of its species travel from higher elevations in the summer to lower ones in the winter, oftentimes crossing highways at great peril. In 2022, the General Assembly passed a law creating a cash fund for the department to use for animal crossings. Colorado has also evaluated its highways to create a priority list for future projects.

“Wildlife crossings, when combined with long stretches of fencing to funnel animals to the right location, have been found to reduce vehicle collisions with large animals by more than 80 percent.

“They are expensive, but research has shown they can save money when installed on stretches of highway with at least an average of three collisions between motorists and deer per mile per year. For collisions with elk and moose, which are bigger and therefore cause more damage to vehicles and people, that threshold goes down to less than one collision per mile per year.

“Locals had long known they had to pay close attention when driving along that stretch of Route 160, near the Chimney Rock National Monument. … In the early 2000s, Mr. Johnson, the biologist for the Southern Ute, started collaring mule deer to better understand how they moved over the landscape around the reservation. He analyzed his data and superimposed them on state records of wildlife-vehicle collisions. …

“The Colorado Department of Transportation, which covers the vast majority of the cost for wildlife crossings, agreed to put in an underpass on the reservation. But the Southern Ute also wanted to install an overpass, since certain species, particularly elk, seem to greatly prefer them. The tribe came up with $1.3 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make that happen.

“Additional funding for the $12 million project came from the state department of wildlife, nonprofit groups and even a private donor. …

“An added bonus of wildlife crossings is the photos that come from trail cameras, which help to bring attention to the programs, Mr. Lawler said. … [But with cuts in] federal spending, a grant program that helps states and tribes pay for wildlife crossings in collision hot spots is now in doubt, including grants that had already been promised. …

“Wildlife crossings transcend political divisions, said Patricia Cramer, an ecologist who consults with states on wildlife crossings. … Of the two states she sees as national leaders, Wyoming is red and Colorado is blue.”

More at the Times, here, and at Denver7.com, here.

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When the Ice Broke Off

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 29, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Photo: NASA Worldview, NASA Earth Science Data and Information System.
Satellite imagery showing the iceberg calved from George VI Ice Shelf in the Bellingshausen Sea, Antarctica, on 19 January 2025.

Not much of a recompense for ruining our planet, but it’s true that global warming is giving scientists a chance to study previously unknown places.

At Schmidt Ocean Institute, we learn about some unexpectedly vibrant communities of ancient corals and sponges in Antarctica.

“An international team on board Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too) working in the Bellingshausen Sea rapidly pivoted their research plans to study an area that was, until last month, covered by ice. On January 13, 2025, an iceberg the size of Chicago, named A-84, broke away from the George VI Ice Shelf, one of the massive floating glaciers attached to the Antarctic Peninsula ice sheet.  The team reached the newly exposed seafloor on January 25 and became the first to investigate an area that had never before been accessible to humans.

“The expedition was the first detailed, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary study of the geology, physical oceanography, and biology beneath such a large area once covered by a floating ice shelf. The ice that calved was approximately 510 square kilometers (209 square miles), revealing an equivalent area of seafloor.

“ ‘We seized upon the moment, changed our expedition plan, and went for it so we could look at what was happening in the depths below,’ said expedition co-chief scientist Dr. Patricia Esquete of the Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and the Department of Biology (DBio) at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. ‘We didn’t expect to find such a beautiful, thriving ecosystem. Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years.’

“Using Schmidt Ocean Institute’s remotely operated vehicle, ROV SuBastian, the team observed the deep seafloor for eight days and found flourishing ecosystems at depths as great as 1300 meters. Their observations include large corals and sponges supporting an array of animal life, including icefish, giant sea spiders, and octopus. The discovery offers new insights into how ecosystems function beneath floating sections of the Antarctic ice sheet. …

“The team was surprised by the significant biomass and biodiversity of the ecosystems and suspect they have discovered several new species.

“Deep-sea ecosystems typically rely on nutrients from the surface slowly raining down to the seafloor. However, these Antarctic ecosystems have been covered by 150-meter-thick (almost 500 feet) ice for centuries, completely cut off from surface nutrients. Ocean currents also move nutrients, and the team hypothesizes that currents are a possible mechanism for sustaining life beneath the ice sheet. The precise mechanism fueling these ecosystems is not yet understood.

“The newly exposed Antarctic seafloor also allowed the international team, with scientists from Portugal, the United Kingdom, Chile, Germany, Norway, New Zealand, and the United States, to gather critical data on the past behavior of the larger Antarctic ice sheet. The ice sheet has been shrinking and losing mass over the last few decades due to climate change.

“ ‘The ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a major contributor to sea level rise worldwide,’ said expedition co-chief scientist Sasha Montelli of University College London (UCL), United Kingdom, also a 2019 Schmidt Science Fellow. ‘Our work is critical for providing longer-term context of these recent changes, improving our ability to make projections of future change — projections that can inform actionable policies. We will undoubtedly make new discoveries as we continue to analyze this vital data.’

“In addition to collecting biological and geological samples, the science team deployed autonomous underwater vehicles called gliders to study the impacts of glacial meltwater on the physical and chemical properties of the region. Preliminary data suggest high biological productivity and a strong meltwater flow from the George IV ice shelf. …

“ ‘The science team was originally in this remote region to study the seafloor and ecosystem at the interface between ice and sea,’ said Schmidt Ocean Institute Executive Director, Dr. Jyotika Virmani. ‘Being right there when this iceberg calved from the ice shelf presented a rare scientific opportunity. Serendipitous moments are part of the excitement of research at sea – they offer the chance to be the first to witness the untouched beauty of our world.’ ”

More at Schmidt Ocean Institute, here, and at radio show The World, here. No firewalls.

Photo :A large sponge, a cluster of anemones, and other life is seen nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed. Sponges can grow very slowly, and the size of this specimen suggests this community has been active for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years.

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Remembering the GB Shaw Festival

Posted in Uncategorized on May 28, 2025| 5 Comments »

Photo: David Cooper/Shaw Festival.
The Shaw Festival’s Royal George Theatre, pictured in this undated file photo, will close at the end of the 2025 season to make way for renovations. 

In Ontario, Canada, near Niagara Falls, there is a great summer festival centered around the plays of George Bernard Shaw. I remember a lovely weekend we spent there when Suzanne and John were little. Suzanne had barely started to walk. I think of it every year when I decorate my Christmas tree because a couple crocheted ornaments from China were bought in a shop there.

With two young children, my husband and I had to trade off babysitting. He went to one of the Shaw plays (Arms and the Man? I don’t remember). I took advantage of the opportunity to see the aging concert comedian Anna Russell. I’ll never forget her rendition of an Edith Piaf character: “She vas drinking too much, she vas smoking too much, she vas doing everything too much. And when you do everything too much — even if eet is ni-ice — eet is to-o much!”

Joshua Chong recently reported at the Toronto Star that the province of Ontario is determined that future generations will enjoy the Shaw Festival as much as we did.

“The Ontario government will invest $35 million over three years,” he writes, “to help rebuild the Shaw Festival’s aging Royal George Theatre. 

“The announcement [comes] after the repertory company in Niagara-on-the-Lake previously said it was permanently closing the 305-seat venue at the end of this year due to persistent infrastructure issues. 

“The proposed theatre that will replace it is expected to honor the original building’s design, the province said, but will also include about 20 per cent more seats, accessible front-of-house areas and new rehearsal space. The project is expected to be completed by the spring of 2029. 

” ‘The Shaw Festival is a cultural icon for Ontario and for Canada, and is just one of the many great reasons to visit Niagara-on-the-Lake and the broader Niagara Region throughout the year,’ said Stan Cho, minister of tourism, culture and gaming, in a statement announcing the rebuild. …

“ ‘Rebuilding this beloved venue has been a priority for us, not just so we can continue to deliver outstanding theatre here in the heart of wine country, but to play our part in accelerating the growth of our region as a world-class center for cultural tourism,’ said Tim Jennings, executive director and CEO of the Shaw Festival, in the release. 

“The existing Royal George Theatre, which began its life as a vaudeville house in 1915, stands on the site of a former blacksmith shop.

It was initially an entertainment venue for troops stationed in town during the First World War, then served for years as a movie theatre.

“The Shaw Festival acquired the space in 1980, hosting dozens of productions in the decades since. But the venue has become a liability for the organization in recent years. In the 2023 season, a water leak in the building’s clay foundation forced the cancellation of several performances. 

“Before it closes, the Royal George Theatre will host four productions this season. Tons of Money, the British farce by Will Evans and Arthur Valentine, will run from April to October in a new production helmed by Eda Holmes.

“In June, Peter Hinton-Davis will direct Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara, a social satire about a Salvation Army officer and her estranged father. The play is the sole Shavian offering programmed for the upcoming season. …

“Shaw Festival artistic director Tim Carroll will then close the Royal George Theatre with his production of A Christmas Carol, which has been revived annually since it premiered in 2017.”

More at the Toronto Star, here.

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From Coal Plant to Creative Hub

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , on May 27, 2025| 4 Comments »

Photo: Garcés de Seta Bonet Arquitectes/Marvel.
Barcelona is transforming its skyline’s biggest eyestore into a beautiful tech hub.

I have a dear friend who is so keen on the possibilities of artificial Intelligence that she doesn’t seem to care how much energy it takes from other purposes — or whether the energy is clean. She says China uses coal; China is ahead.

I, on the other hand, rejoice to see coal going by the wayside and creative uses for the coal plants that once stained the landscape.

Jesus Diaz has a story about that at Fast Company.

“Tres Xemeneies (Three Chimneys) is a former coal-fired power plant in Sant Adrià de Besòs. … Barcelona’s plant is set to undergo a radical transformation into the new Catalunya Media City — a cutting-edge hub for digital arts, technology, and education. 

“The winning design is called E la nave va, a nod to Federico Fellini’s film of the same name, which translates to And the Ship Sails On, a reference to how this long-dead structure that resembles a three-mast ship will keep cruising history in a new era. According to its creators — Barcelona-based Garcés de Seta Bonet Arquitectes and New York-Barcelona firm Marvel — the project promises to honor the site’s industrial legacy while propelling it into a sustainable, community-centric future. The project is slated to break ground in late 2025 and be completed by 2028.

“Three Chimneys looks exactly how it sounds: a gigantic structure dominated by three 650-foot-tall chimneys. The brutalist plant was built in the 1970s and faced controversy even before its opening. Many of the residents of Badalona and Barcelona hated it both for the aesthetics and the environmental implications. Its problems continued in 1973, when workers building the station went on strike. … The company that ran the station was also sued because of the pollution it caused, and the plant eventually shuttered.

“The structure is imposing. Its giant concrete vaults, labyrinthine floors, and towering chimneys presented a unique challenge to preserving its industrial DNA while adapting it for the 21st century. … Rather than force modern elements onto the existing framework, the team used the building’s features to organize its function.

“For instance, the lower floors — with their enclosed, cavernous spaces — will host incubators and exhibition halls, while the airy upper levels with their panoramic coastal views will house vocational training classrooms and research labs.

“ ‘We kept the existing structure largely unaltered,’ [Guido Hartray, founding partner of Marvel] says, ‘retaining its experiential qualities and limiting modifications.’ This approach ensures that the power plant’s raw, industrial essence remains palpable, even as it accommodates immersive media studios and a modern, 5,600-square-meter exhibition hall likened to London’s Tate Modern Turbine Hall. …

“The architects leveraged the building’s robust concrete skeleton — a relic of its industrial past — as a sustainability asset. Barcelona’s mild climate allows the thermal mass of the concrete to passively regulate temperatures, reducing reliance on mechanical systems. Spaces requiring precise climate control, such as recording studios and laboratories, are nested in a ‘building within a building,’ insulated from external fluctuations, according to the studios.

“The rooftop will double as a public terrace and energy hub, with 4,500 square meters [~48,438 square feet] of solar panels generating renewable power. This dual function not only offsets the energy demands of lighting and HVAC systems but also creates a communal vantage point connecting Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Badalona. ‘The rooftop’s role as both infrastructure and gathering space embodies our vision of sustainability as a social and environmental practice,’ Hartray says.

“The project’s most striking intervention — the ‘transversal cuts’ that slice through the turbine hall — emerged from a meticulous study of the building’s anatomy. Marvel and Garcés de Seta Bonet identified natural breaks in the long, warehouse-like structure, using these to carve openings that link the interior to the outdoors. These cuts create fluid transitions between the industrial hall and the surrounding landscape. …

“The north facade’s new balcony, overlooking the Badalona coastline, epitomizes this connectivity. Jordi Garcés, cofounder of Garcés de Seta Bonet Arquitectes, tells me via email that they have designed a proposal that plays with connections and knots — temporal, landscape, and territorial. … ‘The architectural elements at different heights will offer new landscape perspectives, as if it were a land art piece.’ In this ‘shared communal space,’ he says, residents and visitors alike can engage with the Mediterranean horizon.

“The building is the core of Catalunya Media City, which is a project that the regional government says will democratize access to technology and creativity. It claims that it will house educational programs for more than 2,500 students annually, including vocational training; research incubators partnering with universities and corporations; immersive installations and performances in a monumental hall with 56-foot-tall ceilings; and production studios, including an auditorium, soundstages, and UX labs.”

More at Fast Company, here.

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