Knits with Wits

Aaah. It is so comforting seeing knitting. Reminds me of watching my Mum go clickety click with the needles.

The knitting shown here is the lovely work of Jessica from i make stuff

It seems the homey image of knitting is under some contestation though, with crafty people,as seen in yesterday's post using names like 'Stitch n Bitch' or 'Yarn Harlot' for their sites. Please note how Yarn Harlot (who had 78 comments today), has just delivered the manuscript of her novel, and that 'And she Knits too' has a link to her PhD from her blog.
Knitters are not necessarily knitWits.
And see how Les Tricoteuses sans frontiers have raised thousands of dollars for Tsunami victims.
Moreover the Crafts Council can talk of CONCEPT KNITTING. I am not sure what the concept is but I am keen on the idea of a knitted television .
You might also want to see the exhibition Boys Who Sew"

But anyway shoppers, I like this business site with the lovely clothes and homey feel.

Some posts about blogs and knitting

knitting
Originally uploaded by Dr Joolz.

We start with this picture which comes from this site.

joey ramone

joey ramone
Originally uploaded by sbucha004.

This is one funky dude.

A whole lotta synchronicity going on ...

One of the students at the MA weekend school (at Ranmoor Hall) told me she used to be a professional knitter. Amongst other things she has knitted The Princess and the Pea and also a cauliflower and other vegetables.
Imagine my surprise to see that Trois Tetes has been blogging about knitting!
He must be right, it is all the rage. See this WONDERFUL knitting blog, including a post about making a fried egg and bacon bag.
The other day I brought you knitted snacks and am very excited that I may be on the brink of a whole new AFFINITY space to research. Oh the joy. I hope there are lots of knitting blogs. This one has quite a disturbing image of a mangled cat.
In case you thought that knitting was trivial, there is an activist site, with it's own manifesto. It has a strong sense of community, with the strapline, "Building community, and speeding forward the revolution, through knitting.". The site is brilliant. You should go there.
Then of course, there is the Chemo Cap. which are both a head warming, as well as heartwarmming idea.
But Stitch n Bitch seems to be very edgey and is linked on loadsa knitting blogs. It is all SO EXCITING.

Indian Sandals

Indian Sandals
Originally uploaded by Amorelicious.

I love these Indian sandals. I love going in shops selling sari fabrics too. They have everything you need to dress as a princess. (I don't mean Like Princess Anne btw).

Frankly

I sometimes think one link gives you enough to do.
(But you have to promise me that you will EXPLORE )

What kind of blogger are you?

Do this quiz.

Or this?
Or this?
Or this?


A bit repetitive isn't it?

sydneys shoes

sydneys shoes
Originally uploaded by zеn.

These are very expressive shoes.
Adults often have obsessions about teenagers and their shoes.
I once worked in a school where the kids all had to wear uniform and it was a real pain as a lot of time had to be focussed on what kids were wearing. I felt this was a diversion away from what I wanted to think about with the kids.
Anyway, at this particular school the kids had to have black shoes. I once saw a teacher make a pupil colour the white stripes on their shoes with a marker pen to turn them from black and white to black. This probably WAS an educational experience after all.

Feeling a bit girlie? (NO BOYS ALLOWED)

Well why don't you check out these lovely things?

Look also at these lovely dolls?
Or indulge a passion? (Without putting on pounds)

Just to let off a bit of steam you could do worse than visit the bitchin kitchen.
And then check out the sweetie sushi. And what about multicoloured yummy cooking fun?

Understand that YOU TOO could become a belly dancer. (Or just pick up some tips from the lipstick librarian .
Learn how to satrt up your own lingerie business.
Combine rugby with modelling.

Or throw a baby shower and make a diaper cake.
The more mature woman may prefer this.

Go on a Beauty Night Out.
And while you are thinking of beauty, how about a new skin for your laptop?
Or why not just have a good girls night out?

Global/ local

It was exciting today to meet Jackie's visitor who had come all the way from Japan to see her.
It was very exciting that we were talking about Popular Culture and Literacy.

This is obviously Jackie's cup of tea (oops wrong link. I meant this.)

Anyway I was rabbiting on about this and that and mentioned Michele Knobel's work looking at the language on e bay and the literacy agility needed to interpret some of the stuff on these auction sites.

And he said he had met Colin, then Michele, a few years ago and had translated an ad from Japanese to English for Michele.
Well we all thought what a jolly small world it is, especially out here in cyberspace which is the only contact I have had with Michele at all... although we are soon to be in the same book together edited by Rowsell and Pahl (2005). (This, by the way is Jennifer and Kate's book only just out, and a jolly good read it is too.)

Well, I thought, what synchronicity! (Or was it just a coincidence?)

But I want to show you how anime is enjoying the walls in Sheffield.




(This is to be found on the outside of a nightclub called BED. Wittily, the phrase, "Will you go to BED with me?" is therefore not as naughty as you think. But les wittily my partner used to go to Bedwell School. "Do you go to Bedwell?" But I digress.)

And now a book,
With an English title,
From Japanese popular culture,
Set out with the pages going from right to left and starting at the 'back',
Written in German.

Gosh how Glocal!!!!
Wow!!!


Today's post was unnecessarily linky.

As a response

To Kate's comment , here is a picture of my workspace.



It is in the corner of the dining room and so I keep it tidy in order that my stuff does not invade everyone else's life.

I did not use to like working here as I felt like I was just in the dining room and I could not think. But now I am used to it and quite like moving in and out of my academic work and my family life.

Maria Tamboukou has written about this sort of thing . This piece focuses a bit on the ways in which women have had to negotiate spaces for themselves. Maria once told me at a conference that she used to do her academic work in a space by the kitchen. This is just the same as Kate and I, who carry out our family roles alongside our academic work.

It makes me happy to think we may be feminists like Maria.
( But I think I would prefer to have a spacious library to work in and someone to cook for me and to call me when my meals are ready. I would also like a swimming pool.)
Kate and I are women who juggle our lives between being domestic goddesses and marvellously clever academics (surprise! surprise! no pictures on this). Or perhaps we are just drudges in our chaotic homes.

I am v busy today

And I think I am a bit out of control of my workload.
But I am not in such a mess as this.

Or this

because I would not be able to concentrate AT ALL.

I know Kate likes mess, partly because she told me but partly because she wrote this.

Children should be allowed to get suff all over the floor to play with. This is not mess.

But frankly, some people should just get the hoover out and tidy up. If you need help in this regard and are not a feminist then go here.
Otherewise, I am afraid you will just have to wallow.

I must not copy other bloggers' blogs

I must not copy other bloggers blogs.

I must not copy other bloggers blogs.
I must not copy other bloggers blogs.
I must not copy other bloggers blogs.
I must not copy other bloggers blogs.

I recommend you look about on here especially the comments on the Copy Cat post. I think it has some interesting things to think about vis a vis copywrite etc.

Today a very nice person from here asked me my web address. (yeah, I went back.)
But I don't know it (duh!) so said to look 'Dr Joolz' up on Google.
When I checked at home that it would work, Google also took me here and here
And I thought it was so COOL to be talked about on a German blog.
Es ist wunderbar denke ich.

So, scouting about on this blog, I found ... (and oh the synchronicity/coincidence) it has a site which reflects how very cool Jesus is.

And just a reminder of how sporty and cool Jesus is:



(But oops-a-daisy, I am not sure that this kind of proximity is OK in UK schools. I may have to check this and get back to you. We tend to try and keep a teensie bt further apart in sports coaching, but maybe I am being a little over prudent.)

1. I went

here.

2. I saw this:



3. Read this:



4. Bought this:




(Will practice hard and then apply to the band tomorrow. I am really dedicated.)

Youth and Art in the cityscape

Thanks to Sarah for telling me about why the gates in Central Park arrived. Quite a conestation of natural space for some I imagine, but I think that from looking at this Central Park Gates Blog, that there is something quite profound in the change of atmosphere.

Certainly, wthout cyberspace I would not have experienced any of the installation at all, but I am not sure the blog quite works for those outside New York. This is not a criticism but an observation about local/gloal trannsferability. Something to consider about how firmly rooted in specific spaces and communities some cyberspaces are .... However, Central Park is a global symbol so maybe the Blog does work everywhere ...

The other link I found from Sarah took me to the poignant stories of young offenders. The narratives are powerful but all the more potent through their multi modal delivery.

And The Guardian yesterday helped us to think about the young as contributors to the quality of city spaces in their skateboarding actions. I love this:

Shopping malls may be ideal places to shop but offer none of the "vitality and
downright unpredictability of the full-on urban experience". Skateboarders, in
contrast, pose questions about risky public spaces: who owns them, who has the
right to use them.

I know you like pix so here you go.

This post has been about reconsidering public spaces.

Thousand words

Well, a very long time ago (October) I did a post about Burquas.




This picture offers a new take on garments that 'cover with pride'; there is the adornment of ink on the woman's finger, that somehow looks more decorative than political; the tear in the eye reflects sensitivity and sufferance but there is also the steely tenacity. The one revealed eye looks directly to shot; it is a beautiful eye and it is returning the photographer's gaze. The eye seems to reciprocate the scrutiny of the camera, or at least seems to show involvement, interactivity. I like this pucture a lot but unfortunately, my computer crashed after I found it and so am unable to acknowledge the blog from whence it came. (Please tell me if you find it and I can put in a link.)

Unfortunately some of the links on my original burqa post are now dead, especially the sound track of the burqa blues song. In trying to find it again somewhere else, I have come across this debate in an alternative online Muslim journal.

Central Park

gates40
Originally uploaded by eatsdirt.

Just in case you thought I was not going to mention space today, there are these orange gate things to consider which have apparently been put up in Central Park.

You may be like me and be wondering why.

Portable computer

xin_15212012113183241898546
Originally uploaded by l0l.

Who needs all that fancy gear when with a little imagination you can take any pc (plus peripherals) anywhere?

space, youth, identity

I have been reading in this paper about the 'processual construction of space/identity' for 'street frequenting youth'.
(You may be interested also in seeing maps of gang areas in LA. Surf the site for info about the gangs.)

Robinson talks about the ways in which groups of young people include and exclude others by orienting themselves towards particular spaces and thus mark out boundaries for their groups through the use of space. Identities are often confirmed as tied to a particular place through the name of gangs or groups, such as 'Chapel Group'.

Value systems are gradually constructed and articulated by members, linking spaces with identity and investing spaces and activities with meaning. The paper talks about sociospatial divisions and networks but moves on to discuss the impact of place on behaviour, presumably as associations of space and identity become reified. In the conclusion, Robinson talks about, 'the processual creation of spaces and identities central to the nogotiation of daily and life paths'

Anyway I do think this is how online affinity spaces can work in terms of identity but I need to think more. When I have looked at particular groups on the Internet, as they get to know each other more, developing ways of communicating together, shared topics, in jokes, themes interests and even values, just going to that place on the Net seems to confirm their identity more and more as being part of the group, part of the space. And in reports of their life outside the net, they seem to have to reflect a meat space life consistent with what is talked about on the net. I have found this true on Babyz affinity spaces and on Wiccan communities. You should check out the sites though, some are fab.
You could go here, here , or here to see Babyz sites.
And for Wiccan fun try this, this or this.

And in the meantime, look at photos of street culture:
Here are some street-play shots.
Here are kids hanging out in Tokyo.

Do you think kids now hang out on line instead of on streets?

Some People

care more about their environment than other people do.
Lucky I keep my bit of cyberspace looking pretty in pink otherwise you may not visit.

But I hope I do not put you off visiting my meat space if I show you this disaster area:




My neighbour's 'garden'. Not nice is it?

There is a limit to what the council can do, although they try their best:




And whilst you notice Sheffield itself superimposed, reflected in the picture, it may put you in mind of reflections on car bonnets seen here.

In the meantime my neighbours have been keen to brighten up their travel spaces, with the vibrant hues of Hawaii:




Maybe it is all to do with private spaces, public spaces. The messy garden belongs to a student house; multiple occupancy, landlord lives away. Whilst the car, customised, personalised, shows the owner wanting to leave her/his print. But this is obvious, even Press Republican online knows this.

Why am I posting about all this?
It is because I know you like to see filth. The proof is in Kim and Aggie's successful clean up programme, now transported to the USA.

The formular is perfect:
1. Find a mess. (Show it in detail)
2. Attempt to clean it.
3. Find resistance from the main protagonists.
4. Finally persuade protagonists to see that clean is beautiful.
5. Clean the house. It is a battle that all try to fight together.
6. End up smiling and change the people's lives for ever after.
7. Heroes leave the site feeling successful and ready to battle on another day.

Perfect fairy story upon which all makeover programmes (Keep Fit programmes; Nip and Tuck; Faking It; etc etc) are based upon.

I love them actually, makes me feel life is easy.

( Vladimir Propp has set out the narratvie formulae for us to see. (And if you want to generte your own fairy story, you can do so here..)

Cool Places

I don't really mean the kind of place that Guy was talking about yesterday, although of course that place might be a cool, and a cool place.
I am talking about Cooooool places. Thay are written about here too.
Even though A Pratt is keen to talk about Cool Places in relation to cyberspace, he seems to be clear that both cyberspace and meat space are interconnected and that there is other space is produced. Now that is cool. Maybe he agrees with Kev that space is not always something that pre exists and awaits visitors, but space can sometimes be created through interactivity. That also is cool and Kev and Margaret talk about these ideas here.
Cool Places for teenagers are often open spaces where they can skateboard and hang about. Shopping malls where you just sort of look around, pose, in aplace that is not quite playground, not quite street but you can be around trendy goods, even without cash. I know you are thinking, 'yes, they are unacceptable flaneurs, those teenage layabouts.' Which is what Matthews thinks too.
(But if it is a whole book and pictures you are after, you can do worse than going here and catching a few Martin Parr shots amongst others. We see how places that were once cool do not always remain so and that coolness is in the eye of the beholder. )

These places seem really cool to me.

(Tokyo)


(Hongkong)


Japan in partcular seems to be an edgy, happening place - is it to do with technology as well as their eat and funky fashion?

Even Sushi bars are very chi chi these days. You can get Sushi bars with Bratz, which do, of course, come in Japanese themes. One has to fit ones body image to the cool place one aspires to be in. Of course.

But that is all from me as I have spent too long today making this site cool, as, no doubt, you will have noticed.
I am in the pink.

Jesus is cool

If you want you can buy one of these:


And obviously if you want more choice of jesus playing other cool sports, you can select for yourself from here.

What else is cool?

Well, apparently this is.

And cows are cool, but leather is not.

It is NOT cool to talk on the phone at a restaurant.

And here are a couple of cool dinosaurs, one of whom can speak French.

Snapshotz on Life

.. going back for a moment to the title of this blogspace ... I want to think again about why I like digital photos so much.
I love the ease of carrying a compact, yet highly effective bit of trickery that can take photos as easy as looking and capture moments in my day with ease.

Today I was in school, and (hooray) had parents' permission to snap away at what was going on - to be used as research data. It was quick and easy as well as unobtrusive to get some really high quality images from the classroom.

This is one thing, the ease and simplicity and to have these images immediately available.

But there is that whole thing that happens where you start to behave like a tourist in your own town - or even workspace. You start to look for photos and to see things diiferently. There are so many photos here and here which I never would have taken with a non - digital camera (analogue??.)

We do this and find find exoticism or novelty in the detail of everyday objects or places, it is a look again culture. I have said all this before, when I was talking about apophenia.
In all of this, I want to reiterate - by obsessively looking for photos all the time, we start to see things that were invisible before. And just as I say this, wow, there is a journal which agrees.
I wonder if this idea is in this book.
We are living in a culture that is re educating itself to take visual culture seriously and making ourselves observe, gaze and take all due regard with much more care.

We have a lot to learn from Persistent Vision

So, Mums and Dads!! Don't worry at your youngsters getting more and more visually literate; it does not mean they are stupid, lazy, or necessarily becoming obese. They could be developing into very skilled readers and interactants with the most quickly developing mode of communication ever ... and Jim would agree I reckon.
Hence, yes I am in favour of digital technology. (In case you were unsure.)

National identities

Announcements have been made that in order to live on one of our apparently highly desirable islands (Britain, of course) there will soon be a stringent points based system. And when people have been here for a while they will have to do a Britishness test.
What will the questions be?
Perhaps they will need to know 'Mary Poppins' and /or 'The Sound of Music' inside out?
Or will they have to know what exotic meal should always be consumed after eight pints of lager and a Tequilla on a Friday night?
Should they swear allegiance to the queen while drunk and in Mallorca/Costa del Sol?
Maybe they should deny all knowledge of any foreign language whatsoever?
Or maybe we will get real and recognise the multicultural identity of these fair isles?
Maybe we will realise that Muslim Britain is part of Britain?

ooopsa daisy that's a bit political.

Let's just get interesting on the whole topic of nation and identity.

The British Council's site on identity and multiculturalism in Switzerland is a case in point. Who ever would have thought that Bollywood films were shot on the Swiss Alps? (Back to Julie Andrews again)
Don't you just lurve Bollywood and all the glamour?Not everyone agrees.
Some may argue that Bollywood offers something valuable in terms of identity and national pride. The picture is complicated of course and here it is argued that Indian culture is tainted by the west in its production of these films. Objections are more than your aaverage high culture versus low culture debate.

Not everyone, it seems is excited to take on a so-called British identity since actually it has all sorts of sordid nuances.

What happened to Saturday?

I was busy all day on Saturday here. teaching on this.

We had a fab time as usual and Guy came and talked to us about Internet Identities etc etc on Friday night. (Go to contents, vol 1 no 3) IT WAS VERY GOOD.

We had a lovely meal at Ranmoor as usual on the Friday evening; it is the kind of place where there are menus behind glass, with a little light above:



and also strangely, a bit of red rope supported by brass poles to stop people standing too close to things they are not intended to stand too close to.





Thinking about 'place as text', What do the signs in this text connote to you?


Hmmm.

Pourquoi???

I have written about Parkour. But isn't it so disappointing that reports of this sport concentrate on young males exploring and reinterpreting the space around them?
I and a few colleagues have engaged in a debate about the relative invisibility of middle aged women's practices of exploring spatiality.

I have therefore brought to your attention (here and here.) images and commentary on the more acknowledged uses of space associated with women and girls.

What I am talking about today, is the imaginative (often practical) uses of space which are so embedded in women's everyday practices, that they have, until now, remained invisible, except to the more discerning observer. These kinds of practice I refer to as 'Pourquoi??' ('Why??') since I do recognise Pourquoi?? movements' variance from, but similarity to, the more contemporary, more well known and possibly, well, pretentious, practice of Parkour.

I have a few images of what I mean and will be bringing you further evidence in due course.

Here is a middle aged woman creatively making her way down the banister in her workspace, reinterpreting the architecture, exploring the boundaries of workspatiality:



And here we see the movements of someone leaping from the top to the bottom of a staircase:



...Swwwwwwooooooosh!!!!!




Obviously our Pourquoi?? expert here leapt so fast her movements through space were rendered invisible (just like the fairy who does the housework; invisible, but we know she has done her work.)

Some women in the Pourquoi?? movement are able to exploit their feelings of oppression in really imaginative ways:



More of this later.

And now for something completely different ...

Just for a change I bring you two web sites to play with.
An online museum... a digital history which really explots multimodalism.

and go here and type in your post code in the box (sorry UK people only). You get to a page about where you live, but I recommend you use the links on the left - e.g. Voices which gives all sorts of things to listen to.

Unreal!! See this shot

It was a bit sneaky ...



to take a shot of this. Apparently a soldier from the USA is taken hostage and fearing for his life ... until, according to Channel 4 news, a USA toy manufacturer realised this photo is a hoax - simply a shot of an action figure it produces.

Apparently this is a world that worships false heroes.

Well it all seems so unreal .. . so often our heroes turn out not to be quite the men we thought they were .. such as Times Men of the Year .. see this blog report.

At least Robert has not let us down today, remaining true to himself, through and through.

Well, this is Dr Joolz reporting and just trying to be true ... but you still have one more day to wait for je ne sais pourquoi...

Being Julia

Responding to Kate's comment today about films and women, what better place to start than here?
I wonder now, to what extent I am DrJoolz and to what extent I am Julia, huh? How far does my identity as Julia move into DrJoolz and does DrJoolz leap out of cyberspace and influence Julia?
But are they really different spaces? Are we getting misled by the metaphor of space?
Huh?
Of course post-modernists are clear that the structures of language can be misleading and the metaphor 'meatspace' as an opppoisition to cyberspace confirms a binary position which many may dispute. It is so exciting to see theoretical work looking at cyberspace, real space, identity and heterotopias .

I have registered (as DrJoolz) for my first online conference.
Thanks to Sarah for putting the info on her blog.


Today, you may be interested to know, I began the photoshopot for a posting to appear tomorrow. You will have to wait and see pourquoi it is taking so long ...