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Posts Tagged ‘narratively’

Eccentric House on the Rock

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on March 5, 2014| 4 Comments »

Recently, documentary filmmaker and journalist Erin Kron collaborated with designer-printmaker-photographer Nathan Biehl on a Narratively feature about a very unusual house in rural Spring Green, Wisconsin.

The eccentric house is “the brainchild of self-trained architect Alex Jordan, who purchased land on the Deer Shelter Rock formation in 1956,” writes Kron.

“Jordan incorporated the rock’s contour into the base of the large house he constructed near the edge of the cliff, adding asymmetrical rows of canted windows looking out over the valley. He proceeded to fill the place with his extensive collections of kitsch  …

“He took a ‘more is more’ approach, tallying up tarnished collectible penny banks, reproductions of gothic and samurai armor, stained glass salvaged from churches, ornate replicas of the crown jewels, while slowly adding on wings to the building so he could pack it all in. …

“The Organ Room is perhaps the strangest of all. In it seems to be just a gigantic pile of metal machinery. It includes, as its name suggests, a few organs (and a lot of organ pipes). But mostly, it contains a nightmare-like assortment of large wagon wheels, stage coaches, church bells, typewriters, copper kettle drums stacked up to the ceiling, and a giant engine with a huge propeller.”

Matt Schneider, the House on the Rock’s marketing manager, admits that he doesn’t understand the Organ Room. “He’s quick to add: ‘I mean, it’s a really, really neat… I like the room! It’s not that I don’t—it’s just that I understand it the least.’ ” More here.

I wonder. Maybe, like the so-called Music Room in my house, it started life as a room with an organ, and they just kept calling it that after its function changed.

Photo: Nathan Biehl
House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin.

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Got Candy?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on February 6, 2014| Leave a Comment »

For a trip down Memory Lane, check out this Narratively essay on Jason Liebig’s candy-wrapper collection.

Daniel Slotnik writes, “It’s seven p.m. on election night, yet a steady flow of pedestrians are still streaming in to the London Candy Co. … Beneath the Upper East Side shop’s Day-Glo paintings and amid its colorful displays of Chupa-Chups and shelves stocked with Curly-Wurly bars is Jason Liebig, shuffling through a sampling of his personal collection of candy packaging—bright plastic and paper wrappers that most would consider trash, or at best a tease.

“Liebig, 43 … selects a glassine folder from the pile, containing several examples of Kit Kat wrappers dating back to the candy’s official incarnation in 1937, two years after its introduction under a different name.

“One of the wrappers is uncharacteristically blue. Liebig begins an enthusiastic disquisition on Kit Kat history, explaining that the cobalt wrapper dates from World War II, when the chocolate-and-wafer confection was impacted by rationing. …

“For Liebig, the London Candy Co., on Lexington Avenue at the corner of East 94th Street, is more than a sweet shop—it’s a treasure chest, an archive and an art gallery all rolled into one. Liebig is a die-hard candy packaging collector whose sprawling personal trove includes some 10,000 wrappers and boxes spanning from decades past to last Halloween’s special promos, stored entirely in his one-bedroom Astoria apartment. By his estimation, he has the largest, and possibly only, such hoard in New York City. …

“ ‘I figured out certain ways to open candy bar wrappers without ripping it,’ Liebig says. ‘And one of those ways is running it under hot water. And I’ve never questioned my sanity, but when I’m at the sink running hot water over a Snickers wrapper and my hands are burning, I kind of think, “What am I doing?  There have to be more productive ways to spend this time.” ‘ “

More at Narratively, a great place to read about curious characters you would likely never know about otherwise.

Photo: Brad Horrigan
Select pieces from Jason Liebig’s candy wrapper/box collection

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24-Hour Dentist

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , on December 31, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Among my best gifts this season was that my dentist was available when I broke my tooth at the office holiday party and that a dermatologist was available when I decided that a weird rash on my leg was was from a dangerous woodchuck tick bite (which, as I had read that morning, had struck down a grandmother in Maine).

Even though I knew I really didn’t have Powassan disease from a woodchuck tick, I do like knowing sensible medical people are available.

Now I read at Narratively that there is a 24-hour dentist in New York.

Alissa Fleck writes that many patients wind up in Isaac Datikashvili’s office “because they put off getting help until the last minute, when the pain becomes unbearable.

“According to Datikashvili, this phenomenon stems from a deeply ingrained dental phobia, a fear that’s implanted during childhood when kids typically experience some sort of traumatic—and occasionally anesthesia-free—procedure. …

“Once out of high school in Philadelphia, he immediately began working as an EMT, and he grew accustomed then to a sporadic schedule that has given him a unique advantage …

“ ‘When it was time to start applying to graduate schools I could go to medical or dental school,’ he explains. ‘My uncle was a dentist and I followed in his footsteps. I realized I didn’t want to be a general dentist and just do cleanings, though, so I put together the two things I knew how to do.’ By this, he means dentistry and emergency care.”

Patients call him at night and “on the holidays, when no other dentist can be reached. ‘We get very busy around Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Labor Day, Memorial Day… ‘ he says, noting that he’s on call  364 days a year; Datikashvili’s only day off is Yom Kippur , when he’ll refer emergency callers to colleagues.”

Read more about him here. Who knows? You may need him if you break a tooth some New Year’s Eve in New York.

Photo: Emon Hassan

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The Old World Never Died

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 13, 2013| 4 Comments »

Erik is in no danger of giving up Sweden. Today he and Suzanne took my grandson to a Santa Lucia celebration in a friend’s house, and Erik helped with the singing and wore a pointy hat that I never knew was part of the deal. (I always thought the Santa Lucia ceremony was just about a girl with candles in her hair.) Swedish customs are living on in Rhode Island.

In Queens, New York, customs from home countries are not only flourishing but being passed to new generations. I liked a story on the topic by Lynnette Chiu at Narratively.

“As soon as the children conclude their routine,” she writes, “the 300-capacity ballroom echoes with the sound of coins hitting the dance floor. The young boys in lederhosen and girls in scarlet dirndl dresses break formation and a scramble ensues to collect the loose change and dollar bills tossed their way by family and friends. The joy is in the gathering rather than the gains; as per tradition, they obediently deposit their loot in the outstretched aprons of the dance group’s older girls.

“While the movements of Die Erste Gottscheer Tanzgruppe—The First Gottscheer Dance Group—are the occasion of the day, it’s the older generation who are doing most of the afternoon’s dancing. …

“Meticulously set tables accommodate pitchers of Hofbrau, wine bottles and cocktail glasses, leaving the family-style platters of chicken cutlet, pork loin and all the trimmings jostling for real estate. …

“What began as a place to preserve and celebrate Gottscheer culture has now become a go-to locale for other communities in [the Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens] to nurture their own traditions. Along with numerous quinceañeras—rite of passage fifteenth birthday parties for Latin American girls—Gottscheer Hall hosts the gatherings of the Ridgewood Nepalese Society, and recently opened its doors to the Ridgewood Market, where artsy vendors hawk vintage wares and DIY baubles.” Read more at Narratively.

Photo: Aaron Adler

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Torn-Poster Art

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on December 3, 2013| 3 Comments »

At Narratively, Ben Fractenberg has a photo essay about torn posters in the subway, a kind of “underground” art.

He writes, “As a full-time reporter and photographer in New York City, I spend a lot of time taking the subway. While running from place to place, the eroded subway posters lining the walls of stations started to catch my eye. Many looked like abstract paintings, the textures and colors and lines almost perfectly placed. I started to photograph ones that stood out to me, and as I traveled the city as a general assignment reporter for DNAInfo.com New York, I captured them for more than a year.”

In the torn posters, Fractenberg sees Jackson Pollocks, Mark Rothkos, and threatening smoke. Reminds me of my three-year-old grandson, who likes to point out clouds that look like dragons.

More great photos at Narratively.

(Narratively says: “Each week, we explore a different theme and publish a series of stories—just one a day—told in the most appropriate medium for each piece. … Every story gets the space and time it needs to have an impact—an approach we call ‘slow storytelling’ or ‘slow journalism.’ ” The site was named one of TIME’s “50 Best Websites of 2013.“)

Photo: Ben Fractenberg
Someone is trying to send a message. Are you tuned in?

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