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Congratulations to Anika Roth! By Tykeya O'Neil and Lindsey Story QuailBellMagazine.com Okay, so we're a little late in congratulating our new favorite fledgling, but what do you expect? This is a volunteer gig! Anyway, here it goes: Anika Roth, you're our Bell(e) of the Week! Thanks to all who voted. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
I Want My Own Empire Eliza Spell is less jewelry maker and more a black magic conjurer. We have recently had the chance to sit down with her in her studio while she worked on her ceremonial adornments. She is working on her empire and we were lucky enough to witness some of the work she puts in. Check out one of the more interesting and innovative characters I have met in years.
Eliza is leaned over her work bench. Her elbows sit amongst bags of beads, chains, crystals, crosses, panels of leather, and a few half drank coffee cups. Her drill press takes up an entire side of the table. A lamp stays lit on the other end. Her eyes are transfixed on the leather pouch she is working on. The way she looks at her is work is like someone out of time. She sees what it could be and is almost working backwards. Retroactively creating the image she sees. At least that is how it seems to me. She holds the leather and chain in her one hand with pliers in the other. Her fingers move as if each had its own mind. Each knowing exactly what to do. I have rarely seen hands outside of musicians work like this. She is so concentrated on her work, you ask her questions and she doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. She will occasionally pull herself from the table and rummage through shelves and bins full of materials she likes using. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
'Tisn't Shameful...By Fairy Godmother QuailBellMagazine.com By Christine Stoddard 'Tisn't shameful... to read the autobiography of a renowned author and think, “Damn, you're whiny.” to eat designer truffles and mass-marketed chocolate in the same sitting. to stand before your bedroom mirror in nothing but a pair of satin opera gloves on a Friday night. to feel that the $5 pink champagne from the drug store really does do the trick. to abandon your Ph.D. studies in '70s Serbian folk cinema a semester or two after starting the program. to still wonder how on earth Cinderella walked around in glass slippers. to ask a salamander if he's really a newt and if you may borrow his tail for a spell (emphasis on 'ask.') to hold onto all of your original mid- to late-90s Ty Beanie Babies for 'nostalgia's sake.' to turn your spring vacation into a staycation that involves more books than booze. to paint all of the eggs you're hiding for the community Easter egg hunt the exact same shade of green as the grass. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Where the heck is this?So evidently our loyal fledglings (and plenty of newbie readers, too) love polls. We pose a question, you submit your answer with a mere click. Done! How do we know this? Because our "Bell(e) of the Week" feature, which includes a poll, has been tremendously popular. Thus we've decided to throw more polls at you! We'll start with this: Test your history and geography knowledge by guessing the location of the mystical door pictured above. Please cast your vote by Saturday at midnight EST. We'll reveal the answer, along with a smattering of interesting facts, next week!
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Whole Otter LoveBy QB Camera Eye QuailBellMagazine.com Maybe your Prince Charming wears fur instead of a crown. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Australia's Oral History By Julie DiNisio QuailBellMagazine.com In the Western world, the idea of the family has undergone drastic changes in the last century. The Australian Generations Oral History Project (AGOHP) is working to document the “formation and significance of Australian generations.” Specifically, it will explore how members of a generation relate to one another in their perception of a shared cultural experience. Think the 'Baby Boomers' and Generations X and Y. The researchers of the AGOHP argue that this relationship between members of the same generation is more influential than class and other social differences. The Project is being lead by a variety of professors and authorities on oral history, working in collaboration with audio and archival experts. They will be interviewing 300 Australians from 1920 to 1990 and asking questions like “How do age and generation intersect with other social differences such as class, gender, ethnicity and race?” and “To what extent is Australian memory – both individual and collective – shaped in generational terms?” The results of this highly academic undertaking will contribute to two books and an online archive of 1500 hours worth of oral history interviews. To learn more about this project and even apply to be an interviewee (assuming you're Australian!), visit The Australian Generations Oral History Project's website. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Sarah is spunky...and crude!By QB Curator QuailBellMagazine.com Sarah Silverman, the protagonist of "The Sarah Silverman Show" (not to be confused with the actual performer Sarah Silverman) is racist, immature, lazy, and selfish. But she is also funny and quirky--and perhaps in that small respect [marginally] lovable. Her show will inspire you to sing poop songs, go on psychedelic trips, and maybe even sabotage your perfect nurse sister's life with your adolescent antics. If nothing else, Sarah's show promises some geek humor and bizarre animation. Check it out on Netflix next time you're wondering what to watch next.
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Bell(e) of the Week: March 26thBy Tykeya O'Neil and Lindsey Story QuailBellMagazine.com You have until Thursday, March 29th at midnight EST to cast your vote! We'll announce the winner on Friday, so please check back, fledglings <3
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The AriaThere are good gifts and there are bad gifts. Your favorite cousin always know what book or CD to get you. Your least favorite aunt probably became your least favorite because of the matching knitted bloomers and booties she makes you every year. In Maori culture, the aria—a form of evil spirit--brings the nastiest of gifts: disease, misfortune, and general ill will. If you've ever eyed Geico's gecko mascot and thought he looked suspicious, you might have an ounce of Maori in you. According to Maori tradition, the aria sometimes assumes the shape of a green gecko. Of course, sometimes the aria just resembles a possessed fetus.
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Imagimania! Rescheduled Show Quail Bell some love by attending Imagimania! on Sunday, May 20, 5 - 7 p.m. At this free, open-mic event, staff members will be reading a selection of works from the website at Chop Suey Books in Richmond, Virginia. It will also celebrate the approaching publication of Quail Bell's anthology. No true Quail Bell(e) should miss it! More information to come, featherlings!
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Your voice is gold.By QB Provocateur QuailBellMagazine.com Do you know any awesome people with awesome voices and awesome stories to tell? Are these stories so powerful that they should be recorded for the ages? How would an oral history project benefit your community? Or would it be better to have a documentary film made or a book written about whatever story your community needs to tell? Please discuss! Don't worry--you don't have to form a thesis.
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Art in Atlanta By QB Social Butterfly QuailBellMagazine.com Washington D.C. has its cherry blossoms and Atlanta, Georgia has its dogwoods – and an art festival. The 76th Annual Atlanta Dogwood Festival will be held in Piedmont Park and, every year, features a variety of artists in a variety of mediums including clay, glass, photography, metal, and paint. Dozens of these artists set up shop at the Artist Market, and there is an art contest for high school students. This, in addition to the International and Eco Villages and live music, makes the (free!) Atlanta Dogwood Festival a unique and noteworthy art celebration. Below, are the festival times and some paid events: Friday, April 20, 12 – 10 p.m. Saturday, April 21, 10 a.m. –11 p.m. Sunday, April 22, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Friday, April 20, 7 – 10 p.m. La Fête International Wine Tasting Advance tickets are $29, regular $35, Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, 1 – 5 p.m. Friends of Dogwood Enjoy the festival from the comfort of an upscale pavilion with catered food and wine tasting. Advance tickets are $25, regular $35. For an open bar, the prices increase to $54 and $60. Make your plans now, Quail Bell(e)s! The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Congratulations to Kellani Mansfield!By Tykeya O'Neil & Lindsey Story QuailBellMagazine.com Thanks to all who voted. Kellani Mansfield is the Bell(e) of the Week! The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Anne Boleyn Villain Series: A Love AffairBy Bayly Odgen QuailBellMagazine.com In 1521 C.E., after the Field of Cloth of the Gold, Anne Boleyn was recalled back to the England at the age of twenty. Anne’s return to England was during the Shrovetide, the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, which placed her arrival during the winter of 1521 to 1522 C.E. She was given a leading part in the festivities, in a play whose theme was woman’s power over man’s heart. Each women in the play portrayed a virtue; Anne was “perseverance.” Anne and King Henry VIII probably met for the first time at the play. Henry himself starred in the performance as one of the noble knights (Starkey 265-266). After meeting Anne, King Henry VIII was immediately interested in pursuing a “relationship” with her. But he was not her only courter. There were other men interested in Lady Anne. The first suitor was Henry Percy. Henry Percy was the son and heir of the Earl of Northumberland. Anne and Henry Percy met during the festival of Shrovetide, where the attraction between them was immediate. Soon they would enter a secret betrothal.
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Fashion & Graphic Arts in Snow By Julie DiNisio QuailBellMagazine.com The story of Snow White is regaining popularity in American entertainment. Current ABC drama Once Upon a Time has picked up where the fairy tale left off, and movie Snow White and the Huntsman is going to be released on June 1. The creators of this entertainment all have put their own spin on this classic tale, but perhaps Alex, creator of Pop Mirror, has the most unique perspective with her comic Snow. Set in the modern day, Snow captures some of the darker and also more comical aspects of the two-hundred year old fairy tale. And Alex willingly answered some of Quail Bell's questions about Snow and the title character's style. QB: When and how did you conceive the idea for Snow? Alex: I thought of Snow while watching Project Runway. I had been thinking about a story for a comic because I wanted to enter the Morning International Comic Competition. I had entered a manga competition before and had gotten into a finalist position. Thinking I was good enough, I decided to enter another competition. The comic, which could be in any style, had to be 50 pages or under. Originally, Snow was written within these bounds, but since I didn't finish it in time for the competition that year, I changed the story to the length I felt it should be. So back to Project Runway – it was Season 5 and Kenley Collins made a dress that reminded me of Disney's Snow White, and I thought that Snow White would be a great story. What if she was more gothic? Snow White would look great in all black. And Snow was born. I had to iron out some of the story. I'd decided on a modern twist, but the fairy tale has a lot of magic. I used technology to replace the magic. The magic mirror was now a computer. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Most Beautiful Napkins in the WorldBy Christine Stoddard QuailBellMagazine.com Part of a nascent women's artisan cooperative, these Mixteca women are preparing to sell their servilletas (tortilla napkins) and other handicrafts at a new mercado on April 14th at Broad Rock Park in Richmond, Virginia. Hooray for artesanía folklórica!
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Maybe you can still go to grad school next year.By Paisley Hibou QuailBellMagazine.com Christmas may be long gone, but your GRE scores aren't stale yet. Grad school may still lie in the stars for you in 2013. After all, Columbia University's M.A. Oral History program's still accepting applications until April 15th. If your exam scores are in order and you've applied to a couple other programs already, you're probably in good shape to throw another dart. The M.A. Oral History program may particularly appeal to Quail Bell(e)s because of its connection to folklore and its interdisciplinary nature. Collaborating with the Columbia Center for Oral History, the program emphasizes both theory and practice in six key disciplines: History, Anthropology, Public Health, Literature, Sociology, and Psychology. According to the program's website, "OHMA also has practical applications in historic preservation, radio production, writing, and legal and human rights work." Start ruffling your feathers and see if this M.A. is right for you. April 15th gives you ENOUGH time, but it's not FOREVER away, either. http://iserp.columbia.edu/education-programs/ohma The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Puppets, but not much magic realism!Right now Executive Editor Christine Stoddard is reading Salman Rushdie's seventh novel, Fury. But who woulda thunk? Even though Rushdie, one of the literary kings of magic realism penned the book, Fury is not especially...magical. A great read about Malik Solanka, a professor and millionaire puppet maker in millennium-era New York, Fury is enchanting in a fast-paced, pop culture-infused sort of way. But enchanting in the telepathy and witches sort of way? Not so much. Don't be disappointed, just be warned, and hopefully enjoy the book nonetheless. After all, who can resist a phrase produced by Rushdie?
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My, my - How Beauty Ideals Change By Jade Miller QuailBellMagazine.com While traipsing around the web, I stumbled across a collection of photos of these lovely ladies from the heydays of burlesque during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Their curves speak truth and beauty in a way a skinny runway fashion model these days just can't quite get the same... The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The Elusive Penguin MermaidBy Starling Root QuailBellMagazine.com Deep down in the sea, far below the coral you long to see on your more exotic spring break vacays, lives the penguin mermaid, a most mysterious being. No, you're not tripping. This is a real live “aminal,” to quote the Rugrats. He is plump and def awk (not auk, you dork). After all, he's half-bird, half-fish. You can bet he lies awake at night contemplating his identity. Of course, most of the time the penguin mermaid doesn't think at all. He chases fish. He eats fish. He chases some more fish and then eats those ones, too. His life doesn't get much more complicated than that, except during mating season.
Because, you see, these mystical critters can't get it on with their fellow penguin mermaids. They have to choose between penguins and mermaids, and most penguins and most mermaids would rather shag their own kind. Only the really kinky ones go for these exotic hybrids. How else would these aquatic monsters come to be? Incredulous? Just ask Dan Savage. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Devil's PlaygroundPhotography by Alexander C. Kafka Modeled by Gia Veronique QuailBellMagazine.com To inspire your spring attitude, dear fledglings: The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
A City of Cemeteries By Julie DiNisio QuailBellMagazine.com Richmond, Virginia, former capital of the Confederacy, is (not surprisingly) home to many cemeteries. These are the final resting places for all types of people, from Presidents of the United States to slaves who met their ends at Shockoe Bottom, a prime Southern slave trading location. White and black, slave and elite, were not buried together, though, and people segregated in life remained segregated in death. Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery chooses not to perpetuate this social standard, though. Established in 1822, Shockoe Hill Cemetery was the first cemetery owned by the City of Richmond. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places because many famous Americans and Virginians – notably John Marshall, William Foushee, and Frances K. Allan (Edgar Allan Poe’s beloved foster mother) – were buried here, in addition to Confederate soldiers. Despite the fact that it was a cemetery for elite Richmond residents, much of the city community has embraced the history surrounding the cemetery. Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery, an organization that acts as a steward to the cemetery, encourages public involvement in the graveyard’s upkeep. According to their website, Richmond-based volunteer groups and individuals have all contributed in the maintenance of gravestones and the grounds. Although most people might consider a graveyard a spooky place to spend any quality time, the website encourages people to use it as they might a park. The website reads, “…there is the realization of all the other things this Cemetery represents: the largest green space north of the city, a working classroom, an arboretum, an art gallery and a sacred site for meditation.” Though the online calendar does not currently show any pending events, The Friends of Shockoe Hill Cemetery have partnered with Haunts of Richmond and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in the past to produce chilling nighttime graveyard tours. Keep an eye on their website or Facebook page for upcoming events or just spend an afternoon there, in communion with the past and appreciation of its history. The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
Congratulations to Amy Gatewood!By Tykeya O'Neil & Lindsey Story QuailBellMagazine.com Thanks to all who voted. Amy Gatewood is our Bell(e) of the Week! The Breadcrumbs widget will appear here on the published site.
The LeprechaunBy Paisley Hibou QuailBellMagazine.com The most popular bloke of St. Patrick's day is the leprechaun, that wizened little fairy with a penchant for green, gold, and mischief. When the leprechaun isn't scurrying over rainbows, he's cobbling shoes, playing pranks, and evading the watchful eyes of humans.
The word “leprechaun,” at least according to some translations, literally means “half shoe,” since leprechauns are often depicted making just one shoe. More commonly, the word's translated simply as “shoemaker.” In Irish Gaelic, the word for leprechaun is leipreachán, also written leithbrágan. Elizabethan dramatist Thomas Dekker's use of “leprechaun” in his comedy, The Honest Whore, Part 2 (1604), marked the first known appearance of the word in the English language. To add further interest to an already fascinating fellow, to quote Fox News, “The original leprechaun was not the top-hat wearing, pipe-smoking, green clad sprite of modern day.” Leprechauns used to wear red, at least according to the Irish writer, Samuel Lover, who wrote during the mid-1800s. Lover explained that the leprechaun wore “a red square-cut coat, richly laced with gold [and a] crooked hat, shoes and buckles” (1831). Basically, the leprechaun resembled a teeny Santa Claus. This matches Irish poet W.B. Yeats' observation that loner fairies wear red, whereas “trooping fairies” sport green. (Yeats also described leprechauns as “sluttish, slouching, jeering, mischievous phantoms.” Doesn't exactly josh with your Lucky Charms picture, huh?) If you want to add one of these bitty buggers to your menagerie, YourIrish.com has published an intriguing guide, suitably titled “How to Catch a Leprechan.” |
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