small differences...

If you didn't know, I spent two years at a public high school and two years at an arts high school...

This is what kids wore to prom from one of those schools

and this is what we wore to the other...

I wore a black jumpsuit...
Hmm can you guess which is which?

photos

I got a random package in the mail from my high school. Back in the day we had headshots that were posted in the lobby of the theatre to let everyone know who was in the company... and here are mine;

I still look a lot like I did at 17. Perhaps I shouldn't moan and roll my eyes as much when bouncers ask to see my ID... I mean I don't think I look like a 17 year old, but perhaps this proves otherwise...

I thought it might be funny to try and reproduce these unnatural poses... the tilted glamor pose was almost do-able
I couldn't get my mouth to do this again though... at least I look a little older than 16 year old me...

Good Housekeeping

I found the best book today. It is "The Good Housekeeping, Housekeeping Book" Published in 1947!
("I love to iron, it's what I dream about")

It looks like after the War, when Rosie the Riveter was shoved back into the domestic life, there was a need to convince women that Housekeeping was so complicated and important that their work required a full 491 page book to help them. This book is simultaneously insulting and interesting. There is a lot of good advice about stain removal, ironing, starching, washing with non-automatic or automatic washers... Things that are actually useful to have in a manual. What's great about it is that this was published before the mass commercialization of the soap industry so a lot of the products suggested are; Borax, baking soda, soap flakes, vinegar... all simple and inexpensive items.

At the same time, every chapter begins with a poem about cleaning, keeping your man happy, being a good wife... the worst is the one about learning how to use tools and perform basic household repairs;

The Chapter is Titled "You can fix it yourself, sometimes"

Enigma
How women today--
Wives, sisters, and nieces --
Can Knit or crochet
Such intracate piece,
Yet be so dumb
With a hammer or pliers,
Leaves me numb
With Amazement, sires!

Well-- ouch! Weren't these women just busy running factories not more than two years ago? How did we ever win that war at all with all of these helpless women running the country?

One of my favorite photos is this one of a housewife fumigating her dress;

The chapter it's attached to continues with the whole useful-yet-disturbing theme. It throughly describes all varieties of household pests that you could deal with. The book even describes how to recognize different varieties of ants and moths. And then... 13 of the 27 pages in "Household Pests" chapter describe all of the various ways to use DDT to kill them all.

I think I may need to share more as I go through this old gem... there's a poem about the "Perfect Wife", There is a large portion of the stain busting chapter dedicated to "vanilla, fruit or chocolate" ice cream... it's all fascinating stuff.

The 19th Century is scary...

Walking up to the Museum of Natural History in New York, there is a statue of Teddy Roosevelt, our 26th President. He is atop a noble steed and holds a brave daring stance...

Zoom out... and you will see there is a naked er... 'man of the Afric' assisting him.

Walk around his haunches and you will see a leg and some feathers and I thought "oh maybe it's an angel"... my friend who is not quite as hopefully naive as me said "oh no... that's a Native" and sure enough, on the other side; what would have been called at the time; 'a noble savage'... also nearly naked.

I think this is possibly the most offensive statue I have ever seen.

The Train Museum

So it looks like Sacramento isn't exactly the cultural mecca of California. There was that one museum and beyond that there are a good two dozen attractions focused on the gold rush. It's all ye-olden days, gold rush, old California politics, Sutter's fort, California's birth... eh ok then. It's not quite as exciting as Albrecht Durer to me but it's what I've got. I went to the train museum...


... just to proove that I am a costumer I spent maybe three or four shots on the trains and most of the rest on costume research...



check out the prosthetic leg

Oh and of corse they had Dishes!  What the hell is up with the fascination with dishes! Now that I've noticed how many museums have rooms dedicated to dishes, it's really starting to get irritating...
There's a balcony full of toy trains... I liked the tiny one in the briefcase.

... yep that was it.  Well laid out, nice displays.  I guess I just wasn't that interested though.  I'd rather be at a science museum or an art museum.  

the old homestead

Hey Ma,
Look at what I found. We Wallaces had a castle and this is what's left of it. Because it is in ruins it's hard to find much information on it... It sounds like it's out in the middle of the countryside near a tiny village... I think I'm actually more interested in the place since it's in ruins than if I had discovered it were in perfect condition. We'll see if I can't dig up more info from the library. ooh ruins are cool!