Wednesday, June 19, 2013
[How can students improve as writers?] It’s hard to talk about something like that without sounding prescriptive, but I think that there’s a reluctance in all writers in early stages of their development to really commit themselves to trust their interests as being actually focused on things that are interesting. To realize that they do not have to talk in the same dialect that is being talked around them, in terms of literary convention and all the rest of it. Something that I sometimes say, and even sometimes believe, is that there has been a loss of the cult of genius. When I was younger, I remember going around totally deluded by the idea that other people might, in fact, be geniuses or at least be able to express this in any intelligible fashion. The idea that you might do something radically brilliant—that assumption is very empowering and it has given the world a lot of really interesting things to look at. It’s a side effect of the cult of normality—the idea that it would be preposterous and perhaps undesirable to single yourself out in that way. I think that’s why a lot of stuff that basically amounts to breaking china is seen as being creative when, in fact, it’s as subservient to prevailing norms as anything else is, as obedience to them would be. Marilynne Robinson (via wesleyhill)
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The Steadfast Tin Soldier, here, via @SlateVault on Twitter. I am tempted to re-post pretty much everything on the 50 Watts site,

The Steadfast Tin Soldier, here, via @SlateVault on Twitter. I am tempted to re-post pretty much everything on the 50 Watts site,

I just wish that we could talk about books as if they are for use, not as symbols of enduring knowledge that must be preserved against the ravages of digital barbarians or as emblems of obdurate and blinkered resistance to inevitable change. Throwing the Books at Each Other | Inside Higher Ed (via infoneer-pulse)
mrsdentonorahippo:

Frank Lloyd Wright in front of model of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1956

mrsdentonorahippo:

Frank Lloyd Wright in front of model of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1956

Monday, June 17, 2013
sad presidents are sad

sad presidents are sad

Instead of a second car, when we move to Waco I want one of these.

Instead of a second car, when we move to Waco I want one of these.

Saturday, June 15, 2013
Oratio dominica in CLV. linguas. Parma: Typis Bodonianis, 1806. The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology

Oratio dominica in CLV. linguas. Parma: Typis Bodonianis, 1806. The Elizabeth Perkins Prothro Galleries, Bridwell Library, Perkins School of Theology

Polyglot typography, collected by Ari Davidow

Polyglot typography, collected by Ari Davidow

Three-dimensional typography by Oded Ezer

Three-dimensional typography by Oded Ezer

unapologetic-book:

The dome of the Sheikh Lotfallah mosque, Isfahan, Iran (1618).  A tile put in the wall by the engineer, Ustad Mohammad Reza, describes him as ‘a poor small man in need of the mercy of God’.  

unapologetic-book:

The dome of the Sheikh Lotfallah mosque, Isfahan, Iran (1618).  A tile put in the wall by the engineer, Ustad Mohammad Reza, describes him as ‘a poor small man in need of the mercy of God’.  

Friday, June 14, 2013
Teletype advertisement, 1957

Teletype advertisement, 1957