The Contest

First prize: real jam. Second prize: plastic cake. Third prize: giant cardboard zucchini.

Knitted Pastries

Two Most Recent Sitings of Pop-Bottle-Head Baby

I Took Pictures of Meat Today

My friend told me about a pile of raw meat she had seen just sitting on the sidewalk and 3 of us went excitedly off to find it. Alas, It was gone when we got there. I consoled myself with taking pictures of meat that wasn't on the sidewalk. Boring.

Tabby Cat Terror for Black Bear

A black bear got more than it bargained for after straying into a family garden in the US state of New Jersey. The unwelcome intruder was forced up a tree - twice - by the family pet, a tabby cat called Jack. The terrified bear was only able to make its escape when owner Donna Dickey called the hissing cat into the house. Ms Dickey said Jack liked to keep a close watch on his territory and often chased away small animals, but one of this size was a first. "We used to joke, 'Jack's on duty', never knowing he'd go after a bear," Donna Dickey told local newspaper The Star-Ledger. "He doesn't want anybody in his yard," she added. The bear was first spotted in the tree by neighbours who thought the 15lb (7kg) cat was just looking up at it. They then realised the bear was afraid of the cat. After some 15 minutes, the bear descended, but was chased up another tree, before finally making its escape when Jack was called indoors. Bear sightings are not unusual in the area of West Milford in New Jersey, which experts say is one of the state's most bear-populated areas.

Source

Social Functions of Food: Food as Reward and Punishment

It is 3 am and I've just finished the first draft of my research paper, "Food, Culture, and Art". I came across this interesting excerpt by anthropologist, Margaret Mead: "Resistance and acceptance of food are thought of in terms of morality. People feel that they ought to eat correctly, or, more concretely 'It's wrong to eat too much sweet stuff'. Foods that are good for you are not good to eat, and foods that are good to eat are not good for you. So ingrained is this attitude that it may come as a surprise to learn that in many cultures there is no such contrast, that the foods which are thought to make people strong and well are also exclusively the foods which they like to eat, which they boast of eating, and without which they would be most unhappy". Having made the point that it is indeed possible to choose the 'wrong' foods, Mead continues regarding contemporary America: "Each Generation of children is taught that bad food habits are a possibility against which they must continually be on guard. That is, traditionally, we have tried to make the correct consumption of foods an act of repetitive personal choice, instead of a semi-automatic behaviour. In many homes the 'right' food and the 'wrong' food are both placed on the table; the child is rewarded for eating the 'right food and so taught that the right food is undesirable because, from the child's point of view, rewards are never given for doing things which in themselves are pleasurable or enjoyable. At the same time, children are punished by having the 'wrong' food taken way from them. Here again, the lesson is taught to the child that that which is delicious is an indulgence for which one is punished or with which one is rewarded. A dichotomy is set up in the child's mind between those foods which are approved and regarded by adults as undelicious and those foods which are disapproved but recognized as delightful. A permanent conflict situation is established which will remain with that child throughout life; each nutritionally desirable choice is made with a sigh, or rejected with a sense of guilt; each choice made in terms of sheer pleasure is either accepted with guilt or rejected with a sense of puritanical self-righteousness. Every meal, every food contact becomes an experience in which one must decide between doing right and enjoying oneself". Mead, Margaret (1980) A Perspective on Food Patterns, in Issues in Nutrition for the 1980's, (eds L.A. Tobias and P.J. Thompson), Wadsworth Inc., Monterey, pp. 225-9. This quotation can also be found in: Fieldhouse, Paul (2002) Food and Nutrition: Customs and Culture. Cheltenham: Nelson Thornes Ltd. pp. 86-7.

A Glimpse of London

I don't like taking pictures in public. There is something about looking like a tourist and not blending into foreign surroundings that curdles every bone in my body. My 2 cameras are used almost exclusively for documenting my art. Photographs don't capture what I require. I don't get the breeze, the smells, the sounds, the feeling I had, or the mood I was in. Instead, I am all for my hard-drive brain storing, blurring, exaggerating, and making others into monumental adventures. But I realise the strength of the visual can be stronger than words. On that note, here are some pictures of London. Most are blurry and not well composed. This is due entirely to the fact that I was whipping my camera out for mere seconds before jamming it into hiding again.

The Boat

I sit in the library trying to concentrate on the research paper that is due in 4 days. I can see from the window that there is a ship being reassembled on the parade ground outside. The tall sails catch the wind and reach higher than the 3rd floor that I am looking out from. I am in the middle of London, England. The press are here and are furiously snapping pictures of this gigantic construction. I run down to meet the girl who is responsible for coordinating this. I hear little tidbits around the school that she has just been sailing across the ocean and is recently returned from India. Lia left for India in her first year of art college and then sailed this boat across the Atlantic back to England. I tell her it is my favourite piece in the Bachelor of Arts Grad show (which opens in a week). She points out it is the only piece that is actually already exhibiting. We talk about travelling. My research paper (on food and culture). Food. She is renacting her ocean voyage and will not "touch ground" for 28 days. Maybe I should bring her some crisps(?). I tell her I will drop in and see her periodically. I hear the sail ripping in the wind as I walk off. In the midst of my research it represents a freedom and travel urge that has suddenly reared its head on this breezy sunny day. I think of India. The ocean. Desserts. Jungles. I think of my "almost husband" and his desire for adventure. We are going to have fun! Yee haw!

Her Website