Well, I think the appearance is now mostly to my liking. I definitely like having a wider space for the blog text- it bugs me when blogs (my blog, at least) have these great big margins on either side so that the text only takes up about a third of the width of the screen. It just seems squashed to me. Anyway, the banner is a bit gritty looking, but I'll wait and see how much it bothers me in the next couple of days to decide whether or not to do something about it.
I found a couple of drawings the other day that I had started, and then lost momentum on, back in the fall. I had completely forgotten about them, and was happy to make their acquaintence again. Two are half-finished, and the third is something small that I just kind of doodled- the word "word". Typography is fun, and even more so when drawn by hand because you can custom-make each word so that the letters are in perfect harmony with each other. Well, that's the goal, but I can't boast about having ever achieved that myself. By the way, I'm listening to "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel" on cd, with a British guy narrating it, and consequently my thought-voice has a British accent. So as I think of what I'm typing, a British voice is narrating in my head. Oh, one more thing, while I'm speaking of voices in my head- if I listen to books on cd long enough in a day, I'll have that narrator's voice stuck in my head. Not actual words, but just the sound of the voice. It's kind of weird, like having random snippets of music stuck in your head...except it's someone's voice. Weird.
Anyway, I'm sure that some famous type designers would be horrified by my enjoyment of "custom-made" words, but others wouldn't. I don't know what the point of that last sentence was supposed to be.
I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of July. Seriously- it boggles my mind.
Well, have a good day! Toodleoo* for now.
* This was the answer to one of the clues in the WSJ crossword this weekend. I was amused.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
New book #2
Awwww...isn't it cute? This is the tiniest of the three books I made recently, measuring just 3.25 inches high and 2.75 inches wide. The limey-green headbands contrast nicely with the book cloth, and have a slight orangey-yellow iridescent quality to them as well.Go, little book! Make me proud on Etsy! :)
Two other things- 1) I am going to change the appearance of this blog sooner hopefully rather than later- it's looking too cluttered and I don't like the brown design very much any more. It doesn't look good with all the pictures I post. 2) To make it easier for those of you who read this blog and don't want to have to switch back and forth between one person's two blogs, I am going to blog as I used to in this one, and then copy whatever artsy things I might write about here and paste it in the artsy blog. That way you'll be sure to not miss anything. :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Time.
Time is weird. Days go fast, and then they go slow. Time goes fast when I'm doing certain things, and then nearly stops when I (try to) do others. I wish it would hurry up with this, and slow down with that. And it always does the exact opposite of what I want.
Well, that's enough of that. I have a new tiny book up for sale on etsy. Yaaaay tiny book!
Well, that's enough of that. I have a new tiny book up for sale on etsy. Yaaaay tiny book!
In other artistic endeavors, I designed an afghan pattern for my landlady, who's going to use it to make a Christmas gift for her son :)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A few random things
1) I don’t know why I think about these movies so often, but for some reason I find myself reflecting on the Ocean’s 11, 12 and 13 films now and then, and though I really enjoyed them, there are a few things that really kind of shock me. Today I thought of another. So something that really struck me was the end of Ocean’s 12, where everyone is celebrating their victory in thieving by gambling and drinking together. It’s a scene of contentment, comfort, and genuine fun…inextricably linked with the booze and gambling, as well as the plot that drew them all together in the first place. Isn’t that kind of a weird message to send? I don’t think anyone who enjoyed the movie is going to immediately equate stealing, drinking, and gambling as equaling good and wholesome things, but still…odd message.
The other strange thing I just now realized was before that, before the viewer knows that everything is going to work out “ok” for the protagonists. I don’t want to give too much away, but in this one, as well as the others, there are some extreme perversions of justice going on. Policemen, detectives, and other figures who are supposed to be upholding the law are actually subverting it for Ocean and his buddies. In the film, this makes them “good guys”, but in real life, they’re undermining the justice system- engaging in criminal activity. Corruption in the justice system is wide-spread and serious, so I’m surprised that it’s indulged in these three fairly popular films.
2) Well, there was something designated for the 2 spot, but I don’t remember what it was. So I’ll go on to 3…
3) I encountered a great mystery yesterday morning. Walking back from the exercise room along 12th street (in Claremont), I had to stop and make way for ducks. A female duck and a half dozen or so ducklings (sooo…cuuuuuute….) had waddled casually up to the end of Columbia and were crossing from Scripps into Harvey Mudd. Where did they come from?? Where were they going??? It would make sense if there was any sort of water, aside from ornamental fountains, anywhere in Claremont, and how they had obviously set up a nest somewhere, remained undisturbed enough to hatch ducklings, find food, etc….I simply do not understand. It was an adorable little group. The mother duck ignored me completely and led her brood along the crosswalk as if they did this every day.
Ah! Now I remember!
2) I’m listening to an audio version of “Atonement”. The protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at her), Briony, writes a play at the age of 13 entitled “The Trials of Arabella”. Now, Briony is a bit of Quixote- self-absorbed, histrionic, makes mountains out of molehills, is the star of her own little world. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that her protagonist (who is a reflection of herself) shares the name of another Arabella from “The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella” by Charlotte Lennox (informative link). I had to read this obscure little novel (written in 1752) for an English class I took at Pomona. And I hated this novel, which of course is why I remember it so well. If it’s intentional, then I am impressed. If it isn’t, then it’s just a funny coincidence, I guess.
The end!
The other strange thing I just now realized was before that, before the viewer knows that everything is going to work out “ok” for the protagonists. I don’t want to give too much away, but in this one, as well as the others, there are some extreme perversions of justice going on. Policemen, detectives, and other figures who are supposed to be upholding the law are actually subverting it for Ocean and his buddies. In the film, this makes them “good guys”, but in real life, they’re undermining the justice system- engaging in criminal activity. Corruption in the justice system is wide-spread and serious, so I’m surprised that it’s indulged in these three fairly popular films.
2) Well, there was something designated for the 2 spot, but I don’t remember what it was. So I’ll go on to 3…
3) I encountered a great mystery yesterday morning. Walking back from the exercise room along 12th street (in Claremont), I had to stop and make way for ducks. A female duck and a half dozen or so ducklings (sooo…cuuuuuute….) had waddled casually up to the end of Columbia and were crossing from Scripps into Harvey Mudd. Where did they come from?? Where were they going??? It would make sense if there was any sort of water, aside from ornamental fountains, anywhere in Claremont, and how they had obviously set up a nest somewhere, remained undisturbed enough to hatch ducklings, find food, etc….I simply do not understand. It was an adorable little group. The mother duck ignored me completely and led her brood along the crosswalk as if they did this every day.
Ah! Now I remember!
2) I’m listening to an audio version of “Atonement”. The protagonist (or antagonist, depending on how you look at her), Briony, writes a play at the age of 13 entitled “The Trials of Arabella”. Now, Briony is a bit of Quixote- self-absorbed, histrionic, makes mountains out of molehills, is the star of her own little world. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that her protagonist (who is a reflection of herself) shares the name of another Arabella from “The Female Quixote; or, The Adventures of Arabella” by Charlotte Lennox (informative link). I had to read this obscure little novel (written in 1752) for an English class I took at Pomona. And I hated this novel, which of course is why I remember it so well. If it’s intentional, then I am impressed. If it isn’t, then it’s just a funny coincidence, I guess.
The end!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
the Krispix blog
is now up and running. The first post may look pretty familiar...I basically copied and pasted most of the previous entry :) Visit artblog.kknaebel.com.
Monday, June 9, 2008
An actual art-related update
I finished two commissions recently! One is a very, very large drawing (one of the largest I’ve ever done), and the other is small. I used the same rapidograph for both (.35). You can find images of both projects in the gallery.
The larger drawing was for a friend who approached me to do a commission celebrating her friend’s graduation from his Masters program. She gave me his 50-page thesis, which I shrank down to about 25 pages (by removing all excess spacing) and proceeded to write out by hand. The recipient’s name, Rippi, appears in the white design at the center. The thesis was about outsourcing in India- the history, present state, and future well-being of this huge industry as it applies to the people and nation of India.
The smaller drawing was commissioned by a cousin of mine. He gave me the dimensions he wanted, and then told me to do pretty much whatever I wanted for the design and colors. I was considering orange for the central swathe, but didn’t feel daring enough to do it. I think the drawing has a kind of oriental feel, and the curve of the central swirly thing sort of reminded me of a tiger stripe. Again, I didn’t have the guts to risk it (I’d left that part for last), but I don’t regret doing the red at all.
I’m in the process of putting together a blog for art-related things only, the link to which I will be able to post on etsy without feeling like I’m revealing my whole life to complete strangers. This blog will be used to post things about the commissions and various projects I’m working on, (art) things that I like and am inspired by, and if I can force myself to do so, that’ll be about it. I’ll try keep up with this blog, for sure, and you are all invited to visit the new art-only blog once it’s set up.
I am thiiiiis close to finishing a super-cool little journal I made using my very own, hand-painted, home-made bookcloth. I think it looks awesome :) It was my first time making bookcloth, and I was nervous that the method I used would fail. What makes bookcloth bookcloth is this property where when you put glue on the “wrong” side (the side that’s glued to boards to make covers) of the fabric, the wetness of the glue doesn’t seep through the cloth. If you used plain old cotton, for example, the glue would soak straight through the cloth and be very very visible when it dried. When you get glue on bookcloth, it dries darker than the fabric and looks terrible. Even the smallest bit of it is visible. I made my bookcloth by fusing painted cotton to a piece of tissue paper, using iron-on fusing material. I found a tutorial online, but I forget where. Before painting and fusing the cloth to the tissue paper, I “drew” on it using washable white glue, let it dry, and then painted on the cloth with acrylic paints (a method my mother calls “cheater’s batik”). You let the paint dry, and then soak it in warm soapy water for a while, to get the glue to dissolve. Where the glue had been, you get white lines. This technique is great for things that will never/rarely be washed, because the acrylics will fade. Unfortunately, this method will not work very well when actual fabric paint is substituted for the acrylic, based on my attempts to do so. I’ll post pictures when this book is finished, so you can see the effect.
Gotta go. Have a good Monday.
The larger drawing was for a friend who approached me to do a commission celebrating her friend’s graduation from his Masters program. She gave me his 50-page thesis, which I shrank down to about 25 pages (by removing all excess spacing) and proceeded to write out by hand. The recipient’s name, Rippi, appears in the white design at the center. The thesis was about outsourcing in India- the history, present state, and future well-being of this huge industry as it applies to the people and nation of India.
The smaller drawing was commissioned by a cousin of mine. He gave me the dimensions he wanted, and then told me to do pretty much whatever I wanted for the design and colors. I was considering orange for the central swathe, but didn’t feel daring enough to do it. I think the drawing has a kind of oriental feel, and the curve of the central swirly thing sort of reminded me of a tiger stripe. Again, I didn’t have the guts to risk it (I’d left that part for last), but I don’t regret doing the red at all.
I’m in the process of putting together a blog for art-related things only, the link to which I will be able to post on etsy without feeling like I’m revealing my whole life to complete strangers. This blog will be used to post things about the commissions and various projects I’m working on, (art) things that I like and am inspired by, and if I can force myself to do so, that’ll be about it. I’ll try keep up with this blog, for sure, and you are all invited to visit the new art-only blog once it’s set up.
I am thiiiiis close to finishing a super-cool little journal I made using my very own, hand-painted, home-made bookcloth. I think it looks awesome :) It was my first time making bookcloth, and I was nervous that the method I used would fail. What makes bookcloth bookcloth is this property where when you put glue on the “wrong” side (the side that’s glued to boards to make covers) of the fabric, the wetness of the glue doesn’t seep through the cloth. If you used plain old cotton, for example, the glue would soak straight through the cloth and be very very visible when it dried. When you get glue on bookcloth, it dries darker than the fabric and looks terrible. Even the smallest bit of it is visible. I made my bookcloth by fusing painted cotton to a piece of tissue paper, using iron-on fusing material. I found a tutorial online, but I forget where. Before painting and fusing the cloth to the tissue paper, I “drew” on it using washable white glue, let it dry, and then painted on the cloth with acrylic paints (a method my mother calls “cheater’s batik”). You let the paint dry, and then soak it in warm soapy water for a while, to get the glue to dissolve. Where the glue had been, you get white lines. This technique is great for things that will never/rarely be washed, because the acrylics will fade. Unfortunately, this method will not work very well when actual fabric paint is substituted for the acrylic, based on my attempts to do so. I’ll post pictures when this book is finished, so you can see the effect.
Gotta go. Have a good Monday.
Friday, June 6, 2008
done
mission accomplished.
happy friday, by the way. and i hope it's as beautiful outside wherever you are as it is here.
this post was not first written in ms word and then copied to blogger, hence the lack of proper capitalization. just wanted to let you know, in case you feared that some imposter had taken over my blog :) (although, as many of you know, my emails almost never contain proper capitalization, so to you i say that blogposts containing these foreign characteristics are, in fact, also written by me).
toodle-oo.
happy friday, by the way. and i hope it's as beautiful outside wherever you are as it is here.
this post was not first written in ms word and then copied to blogger, hence the lack of proper capitalization. just wanted to let you know, in case you feared that some imposter had taken over my blog :) (although, as many of you know, my emails almost never contain proper capitalization, so to you i say that blogposts containing these foreign characteristics are, in fact, also written by me).
toodle-oo.
Dangit
Our society is seriously going down the toilet. I'd elaborate, but elaborating would just feel like endorsing it. And I don't have any solutions, so I feel stuck. Well, I guess I can say that what frightens me aren't the blatant, in-your-face gags for attention that everyone kind of shudders at, even if we shudder a little less each time, but the things that are supposed to be innocent, the things that are "cheeky". Maybe what most people find "cheeky" and cute in an edgy kind of way, I just find utterly shocking and offensive.
It's tempting to go on and indulge in the torrent of things that sicken and discourage me and confuse me...but I don't think that would be helpful. So how do we confront a society that is on the verge of openly encouraging, in all aspects of life (including places that are supposed to be professional), images and/or attitudes of sex, crassness, rudeness, pride, and a few other characteristics that I can't think of right now? I'll send them emails. I'll do it right now.
It's tempting to go on and indulge in the torrent of things that sicken and discourage me and confuse me...but I don't think that would be helpful. So how do we confront a society that is on the verge of openly encouraging, in all aspects of life (including places that are supposed to be professional), images and/or attitudes of sex, crassness, rudeness, pride, and a few other characteristics that I can't think of right now? I'll send them emails. I'll do it right now.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Definitely time for an update
First, I’m feeling much better, thank you. Most of whatever it was had passed by last Monday evening, when I felt well enough to voraciously wolf down two incredibly delicious burritos at dinner.
All last week I worked on a project that turned out extremely well, if I do say so myself :) I will post pictures on Friday, hopefully, when it will be “safe” to do so. I’ll also tell you all about the process, because a lot was involved to get it to its finished state.
My mum mailed me a bunch of cards I’d done a couple weeks ago and that she found hanging out at home in NY. On Saturday I photographed all of them in six or seven sets for selling them on etsy. I’ve read on the forums that it’s ideal to list once or twice a day, rather than all at once, because it keeps you at the top of the search lists and, therefore, people are more likely to see and click on your item. The default way of listing search results is by date listed, and since people list thousands and thousands of things every day, one’s products can quickly fall to page 358 in the search results. I also typed up some info for each set on Saturday, so that for the past couple of days, real quick in the morning and in the evening, I can fill out the forms for listing and get in one or two new items a day. It’s worked- I’ve gotten more views on those items, and a few more views in my shop in general (though the view counters are constantly resetting- arg), than I’d been getting before this week. Huzzah!
My cell phone has a mind of its own. I’ve always sort of suspected this, because I have a bad habit of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects (especially when they refuse to operate the way I want them to), but now it’s confirmed. How do I know? How can I be so sure? It’s this- my phone calls people without my knowing it. I think somehow I lean up against things while I’m working, with my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, and somehow the phone manages to unlock itself (it’s one of those Sony Ericsons that doesn’t flip open), go to the recent calls menu and hit redial. Once it even unlocked, went to the main menu, scrolled over to the address book, scrolled down in the address book, and called someone I haven’t talked to in years (Greg). I don’t know if that was even still his phone number…hopefully if he did answer (he never called back, but it did happen twice) he wasn’t too weirded out. My phone has also called Marli and Jordan. Annoying!
I just finished listening to “Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiman on cd. It was pretty great. Clean and funny. The narrator was excellent- I think the book was better in audio format than it could have been in text. I keep meaning to do some reviews and write some thoughts on the other books I listened to- namely, “The Reluctant Mr. Darwin”, but I can’t seem to get there. Maybe that’s ok- a lot of it would be lamentations over the science vs. religion stuff. But I did get what I was looking for from that book: 1) Darwin was not a Christian, he was agnostic. 2) Mrs. Darwin was a Christian 3) a lot of scientists of that time, and now too, of course, had a totally distorted view of God. Ok, fine, I have to elaborate.
1) Darwin had been Christian/“religious”/Unitarian. The author actually kind of contradicted himself with this one, saying both that Darwin had been non-religious from the start, being of Unitarian background. He also stated that Darwin had been known at University for his Bible-quoting ways. Um? Well, at any rate, he became agnostic over the course of several decades, so slowly, claims the author, that the loss of his (supposed) love for God didn’t shock or worry him. That actually sounds incredibly shocking and scary to me…anyway, he came to disbelieve because of several things. First, he couldn’t get over why there was evil in the world and how a benevolent God could “allow” bad things to happen to “good” people. This stumbling block kind of confuses me, if the Bible-quoting Darwin is an accurate portrait of his early religious convictions. I mean, we deal with this issue in like, the first five chapters of the Bible. Second, why would a “busy” God spend his precious time creating, in this case, tiny variations in barnacles? Surely He has better things to do, right? Hmmm…as if creating makes God tired. As if God isn’t infinitely more creative and efficient than we can possibly imagine. What seemed so odd to me is that Darwin spent eight years of his life meticulously (obsessively?) studying a few varieties of barnacles. Eight years. Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time? Third- I forget if this was actually one of Darwin’s musings or just that of the author, he wonders how a good God could create something like a cat, which appears to torture and kill tiny helpless animals for fun. How could He create something so cruel? Again, we go back to the first few chapters of the Bible and discover that, when mankind sinned and fell, so did nature. I’m sure the time will come when the lion will lay down with the lamb instead of devouring it, when the child will put its hand in the viper’s nest and it will not strike, and when the mouse and cat will frolic and play in the meadow instead of the cat dismembering and eating all of the mouse but its ears. But for now, all these things are in enmity with one another.
2) Darwin’s wife was also his cousin. They loved each other very much, and Charles was able to share his doubts with her. It troubled her greatly, and she told him so, but to no avail. Other than this, though, I thought it was cool how devoted to each other they seemed.
3) The distorted view of God goes mainly back to the one or two things mentioned under “1)”. It suggests, unfortunately and also not surprisingly, that scientists who dismiss the idea of a creative God (not even just creationism) have never even tried to read the Bible. It’s true that the Bible is not a scientific text book, but I do think it can and should be taken as accurate. Even in the way it describes the formation of the world. I do think that God made, in the space of six days, all that we see. I do not necessarily believe that He created, one by one and at that time, every variety of finch and barnacle that Darwin studied. I think it would be within God’s wisdom and creativity, for Him to create all creatures with the ability to adapt. Otherwise, they wouldn’t really be very good creations. God also told all the living things to be fruitful and multiply, and so to help them do that, He put in them the ability to adapt to their environments, wherever they went. Maybe He also knew that these humans of His would start seriously messing up the planet, and that, along with natural worldwide climate changes, would necessitate all things having the ability to change.
Ok, I feel a tad awkward about writing this next part- but I really don’t think I should feel that way, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to go ahead and write it. (Hi, I’m Kristin and I’m over-analytical.) Bart and I went out for our third anniversary of dating (!) to this cool Brazilian place in Old Town. He gave me flowers when he picked me up :) Anyway, the food was pretty awesome, and it was a lot of fun guessing what different things were on the menu. We’re inspired now to try some Brazilian cooking. After dinner we walked around the uber-preppy streets, lined with shops meant for rich white people and, to keep you firmly grounded in reality, a few homeless people as well. One of them was selling some really, really cool drawings of his on a blanket next to where he sat. We browsed “Sur la Table”, which was jam-packed with all sorts of awesome, shiny cooking things, and then went next door to this artsy paper goods place. I can’t remember the name due to being distracted by the intense glow radiating from this shop, and the loud chorus of angelic singing emanating from all around me. Papersource, maybe? It had quite a selection of really, really pretty art paper with printed designs all over it. I don’t know exactly what this paper is called, but I should look it up online and try and buy some cheaper than the $6-15 per sheet that they cost in most stores. Or…I should just make my own. :)
After driving back to Bart’s house (hooray Jordan for letting us borrow his car!!), we watched Brian Regan’s “Standing Up” with Bart’s housemates. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t care how you get ahold of a copy of this performance, but you need to. And you need to do it now. It was brilliant.
Wow, this is getting long….time to go, then :)
All last week I worked on a project that turned out extremely well, if I do say so myself :) I will post pictures on Friday, hopefully, when it will be “safe” to do so. I’ll also tell you all about the process, because a lot was involved to get it to its finished state.
My mum mailed me a bunch of cards I’d done a couple weeks ago and that she found hanging out at home in NY. On Saturday I photographed all of them in six or seven sets for selling them on etsy. I’ve read on the forums that it’s ideal to list once or twice a day, rather than all at once, because it keeps you at the top of the search lists and, therefore, people are more likely to see and click on your item. The default way of listing search results is by date listed, and since people list thousands and thousands of things every day, one’s products can quickly fall to page 358 in the search results. I also typed up some info for each set on Saturday, so that for the past couple of days, real quick in the morning and in the evening, I can fill out the forms for listing and get in one or two new items a day. It’s worked- I’ve gotten more views on those items, and a few more views in my shop in general (though the view counters are constantly resetting- arg), than I’d been getting before this week. Huzzah!
My cell phone has a mind of its own. I’ve always sort of suspected this, because I have a bad habit of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects (especially when they refuse to operate the way I want them to), but now it’s confirmed. How do I know? How can I be so sure? It’s this- my phone calls people without my knowing it. I think somehow I lean up against things while I’m working, with my phone in the front pocket of my jeans, and somehow the phone manages to unlock itself (it’s one of those Sony Ericsons that doesn’t flip open), go to the recent calls menu and hit redial. Once it even unlocked, went to the main menu, scrolled over to the address book, scrolled down in the address book, and called someone I haven’t talked to in years (Greg). I don’t know if that was even still his phone number…hopefully if he did answer (he never called back, but it did happen twice) he wasn’t too weirded out. My phone has also called Marli and Jordan. Annoying!
I just finished listening to “Anansi Boys” by Neil Gaiman on cd. It was pretty great. Clean and funny. The narrator was excellent- I think the book was better in audio format than it could have been in text. I keep meaning to do some reviews and write some thoughts on the other books I listened to- namely, “The Reluctant Mr. Darwin”, but I can’t seem to get there. Maybe that’s ok- a lot of it would be lamentations over the science vs. religion stuff. But I did get what I was looking for from that book: 1) Darwin was not a Christian, he was agnostic. 2) Mrs. Darwin was a Christian 3) a lot of scientists of that time, and now too, of course, had a totally distorted view of God. Ok, fine, I have to elaborate.
1) Darwin had been Christian/“religious”/Unitarian. The author actually kind of contradicted himself with this one, saying both that Darwin had been non-religious from the start, being of Unitarian background. He also stated that Darwin had been known at University for his Bible-quoting ways. Um? Well, at any rate, he became agnostic over the course of several decades, so slowly, claims the author, that the loss of his (supposed) love for God didn’t shock or worry him. That actually sounds incredibly shocking and scary to me…anyway, he came to disbelieve because of several things. First, he couldn’t get over why there was evil in the world and how a benevolent God could “allow” bad things to happen to “good” people. This stumbling block kind of confuses me, if the Bible-quoting Darwin is an accurate portrait of his early religious convictions. I mean, we deal with this issue in like, the first five chapters of the Bible. Second, why would a “busy” God spend his precious time creating, in this case, tiny variations in barnacles? Surely He has better things to do, right? Hmmm…as if creating makes God tired. As if God isn’t infinitely more creative and efficient than we can possibly imagine. What seemed so odd to me is that Darwin spent eight years of his life meticulously (obsessively?) studying a few varieties of barnacles. Eight years. Didn’t he have anything better to do with his time? Third- I forget if this was actually one of Darwin’s musings or just that of the author, he wonders how a good God could create something like a cat, which appears to torture and kill tiny helpless animals for fun. How could He create something so cruel? Again, we go back to the first few chapters of the Bible and discover that, when mankind sinned and fell, so did nature. I’m sure the time will come when the lion will lay down with the lamb instead of devouring it, when the child will put its hand in the viper’s nest and it will not strike, and when the mouse and cat will frolic and play in the meadow instead of the cat dismembering and eating all of the mouse but its ears. But for now, all these things are in enmity with one another.
2) Darwin’s wife was also his cousin. They loved each other very much, and Charles was able to share his doubts with her. It troubled her greatly, and she told him so, but to no avail. Other than this, though, I thought it was cool how devoted to each other they seemed.
3) The distorted view of God goes mainly back to the one or two things mentioned under “1)”. It suggests, unfortunately and also not surprisingly, that scientists who dismiss the idea of a creative God (not even just creationism) have never even tried to read the Bible. It’s true that the Bible is not a scientific text book, but I do think it can and should be taken as accurate. Even in the way it describes the formation of the world. I do think that God made, in the space of six days, all that we see. I do not necessarily believe that He created, one by one and at that time, every variety of finch and barnacle that Darwin studied. I think it would be within God’s wisdom and creativity, for Him to create all creatures with the ability to adapt. Otherwise, they wouldn’t really be very good creations. God also told all the living things to be fruitful and multiply, and so to help them do that, He put in them the ability to adapt to their environments, wherever they went. Maybe He also knew that these humans of His would start seriously messing up the planet, and that, along with natural worldwide climate changes, would necessitate all things having the ability to change.
Ok, I feel a tad awkward about writing this next part- but I really don’t think I should feel that way, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to go ahead and write it. (Hi, I’m Kristin and I’m over-analytical.) Bart and I went out for our third anniversary of dating (!) to this cool Brazilian place in Old Town. He gave me flowers when he picked me up :) Anyway, the food was pretty awesome, and it was a lot of fun guessing what different things were on the menu. We’re inspired now to try some Brazilian cooking. After dinner we walked around the uber-preppy streets, lined with shops meant for rich white people and, to keep you firmly grounded in reality, a few homeless people as well. One of them was selling some really, really cool drawings of his on a blanket next to where he sat. We browsed “Sur la Table”, which was jam-packed with all sorts of awesome, shiny cooking things, and then went next door to this artsy paper goods place. I can’t remember the name due to being distracted by the intense glow radiating from this shop, and the loud chorus of angelic singing emanating from all around me. Papersource, maybe? It had quite a selection of really, really pretty art paper with printed designs all over it. I don’t know exactly what this paper is called, but I should look it up online and try and buy some cheaper than the $6-15 per sheet that they cost in most stores. Or…I should just make my own. :)
After driving back to Bart’s house (hooray Jordan for letting us borrow his car!!), we watched Brian Regan’s “Standing Up” with Bart’s housemates. It. Was. Awesome. I don’t care how you get ahold of a copy of this performance, but you need to. And you need to do it now. It was brilliant.
Wow, this is getting long….time to go, then :)
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