You'll need to know a few things, like...
What's a blunderbuss?
This, this is a blunderbuss.
This is Chuck.
Who was Mrs. Southcott?
She was an English spiritualist.
What was the Cock-Lane Ghost?
One of the first ever psychic scams. Read about it. You'll find MANY different versions on the web.
This is the issue of Spin-Off that I need two bloody pages from...here's the Sock thing from Stasia which I thought was very helpful. Check out Pandora and Last.fm
And in both the "any publicity is good publicity" and the "I've never heard of an idea so dangerous it couldn't be talked about" departments: the Librarians have lost their minds! Anyone remember Are You There God? It's Me Margaret? Anyone? Anyone?
And if you have the travel bug:
West Coast Folks. East Coast Folks.
Fun!
And don't forget: WWMDFK?
(What Would Madame DeFarge Knit?) 
Think on't.
Thanks to our readers Michael Sirois and Kara Shalinberg.
And, finally:
Spinneret's cogent and I think important note on "Screw":
From various sources -
As in England, early lawmakers in this country adopted 10 as the age of consent.
The age of consent in England was raised from 12 (which is what it was when James was born in 1843) to 13 in 1875 and then to 16 in 1886.
The Factory Act from 1844 reduced the hours of work for children between 8 and 13 to six and a half a day, either in the morning or afternoon, no child being allowed to work in both on the same day, except on alternate days, and then only for ten hours
The Factory Act, 1891 raising the minimum age at which a child can be set to work from ten to eleven.
So the perspective on children was a little different at that point, T.O.T.S. (funny that) being published in 1898. Accepting that these children are not from the working class they still would not have fallen under the societal view as young innocents.
Thanks for the great read.
Yay! You're back!
ReplyDeleteI am new to your podcast and had no idea you are living with an ADD son.
My son is 21 now but we went through all of this for years. I know the frustration of what you're going through and I too really debated the homeschooling. My mother was a teacher in the NY school system so I had the same misgivings.
I really love your podcast! You're funny, very engaging, and your sound quality is excellent. Keep it up!
Hey Heather
ReplyDeleteI had a an absolute blast making dorodango this summer. I came across this site:http://www.dorodango.com/about.html
and decided to have a go. It was really a satisfying process. Who knew that making a ball of mud would be so much fun? I found it a really calming process and if you enjoy the process you might consider having collecting a range of different muds as physical memos of different places. I think it would also be an excellent alternative way into ceramics.
Talking about ceramics, your neck of the woods has a really excellent tradition of ceramics, probably something to do with the climate... how about you find some local clay an read Moira Vincentelli's outstanding book on women potters and learn how to fire pots in a bonfire. If you think flames and children aren't quite at the stage where they are going to be a good mix, you could look at more sedate methods like sawdust firing.
Clay prep is the spinning of the pottery world you know. Some people might like to get their clay out of a bag, but the more 'hardcore' potters like to have more control over the composition of the clay body.
Anyway, if you have any more mudclay queries I'm always happy to help.
Tonia