Comma Workshop Quilts

So this is going to be my first post using Windows Live as my new blog post editor.  I got so unbelievably tired of the format of blogging directly in Blogger (Y’all are part of Google, damn it.  If anyone should have the resources to make a good user interface, you should be all over that.)
So don’t be alarmed if things are a bit wonky whilst I work out the kinks.
Speaking of other things that are firsts, my friend Kerry wrote me for the first time in a long time.  She was in Architecture school with me and has an excellent eye for modern design, interwoven with a passion for vernacular and craft and time-honored traditions of yore.  I really respect so much how she’s been able to coalesce these ideas, especially in a way that is innovative when it is somewhat of a trend right now.
Her newest venture is a design studio that she runs out of Colorado called comma workshop.
They handcraft really beautiful quilt designs that feature cursive text in modern graphic ways all over the field of quilting.  Now, my mom always loved quilts, especially of the Amish variety, but these definitely aren’t your mother’s quilt.
Personally I always thought quilts were weird and tacky unless they had some sentimental connection.  (You know, like they’re made entirely from your Great Grandfather’s used and discarded underwear… Wait, that’s still weird.  Really weird.  Just threw up a little in my mouth.)  But these are pieces of art and distinctly modern ones that marry a warmth of sentiment and words and history while making total sense in a downtown loft.
This just makes me incredibly envious of Kerry’s talent.  In fact, I should probably end this post before I start swearing at her online.  I wonder if Windows Live has a “search for regrettable comments” feature near the spell check.  I should look into that.

Pride cometh before a Fall

Far be it from me to point out a speck in your eye without identifying the log in my own.

This website lists the 100 Most Often Mispronounced Words and Phrases in the English Language.

I immediately scrolled to "For All Intensive Purposes" which is my most despised distortion of the actual Phrase "For all Intents and Purposes". Smug and arrogant, I found that it was indeed listed and I was smarter than a lot of people.

But then I also noticed the following phrases which I've been screwing up for years...

Don't say: Chomp at the Bit
Do Say: Champ at the Bit
Reason: "Chomp" has probably replaced "champ" in the U.S. but we thought you might like to be reminded that the vowel should be [æ] not [o].

Don't say: Spitting Image
Do Say: Spit and Image
Reason: The very spit of someone is an exact likeness. "The spit and image" or "spit image" emphasizes the exactness.

Oh, Egg why doth you run down my face so gloppily?

They also have a list of 100 Most Misspelled Words which is a good reminder. I just screwed up license several times last night and I mess up address, friend, accommodate, judgment, and privilege so often that I have no misconceptions about spelling well.

Screw U*

Check out "The Hardware Aisle" on Thisoldhouse.com...

They've got a lot of great product reviews, home improvement tips, and educational guides...

One of my favorites thus far has been Screw University* where the poster goes over all the permutations of available screw types, including shaft, head, and metalurgy.


Very helpful for designers, craftsmen, and homeowners indeed...

Although they did not cover some of the more obscure hardware types that we often discuss in my office. For example, I recently came across the term "Clevis Pin" in some structural drawings for a roof canopy and was stymied. I asked my boss what that was and he said, "I don't know but it doesn't sound nearly as interesting as finding 'Sex Nuts' all over your design." Too true, sir, too true...

Thank goodness for Wikipedia and Google clearing things up. Otherwise I'm sure I'd could be in a lot of trouble for typing "Sex Head Wood Tapping Shaft Screw Nutdriver."

Footnotes:

*This whole post also reminds me of a conversation I had with my ol' roommate Jeff once. We conjectured that there is a universal right of passage for a young boy (or girl, not to be sexist, although I think this is particular to boyhood.) There comes a time in a young boy's life, where he is working with his dad on something around the house, and Dad asks for the "male" end of a piece of hardware, extension cord, etc. The young boy is confused. Which is the "male" end? He takes a guess and then watches as his father plugs it into the "female" end of the hardware, extension cord, etc. The light of understanding goes on for the young boy and the urge to snicker at this terminology and simultaneous sex ed lesson is before him. If he can supress the urge and proceed as if this was the most natural thing in the world, he has matured and is certainly ready for a more advanced sex ed talk.**

**Or sex ed "demonstration" involving dog breeding as I was subjected to. Disturbing, I know.

Schoolhouse Rock

Schoolhouse Rock: Great blog on public education reform debates from Slate. I've most appreciated what Paul Tough has to say in his newest post, called "The Divide":

"To those in the Broader [,Bolder Approach to Education] camp: Let's admit that our public schools could be serving poor kids much, much better than they are today, and that in order to do that, they need a radical overhaul right away."

"To those in the Education Equality camp: Let's admit that alone, even the best charter schools can't fix the crisis in the nation's worst urban neighborhoods."

I always love when someone sees through the crap and characterizations and demonization of two opposing idealogies and proposes a compromise that just might work.

I also love what Michelle Rhee, the DC Superintendant of Schools is proposing. Its a split contract, one that gives teachers the option of compensation and tenure the way they've had it for a while OR one that limits tenure and enacts performance based standards but with much higher potential for raises and bonuses. (Kind of like the rest of the world functions...)

The reaction from older generation teaching union leaders is illustrative of the problem. We can debate the kind of change needed, but entrenched refusal to change is looking worse and worse on them...

I'm curious what readers who have taught or are teaching in public/private/charter schools think...