Sir Francis Drake, sailing off the coast of north-western California, arrives at Nova Albion, 1578:

In this bay we anchored…The people of the country, having their houses close by the water’s side, showed themselves unto us and sent a present to our general. When they came unto us they greatly wondered at the things which we brought. Our general (according to his natural and accustomed humanity) courteously entreated them, and liberally bestowed on them necessary things to cover their nakedness. Whereupon they supposed us to be gods, and would not be persuaded to the contrary. The presents which they sent unto our general were feathers, and cauls of net work.

Their houses are digged round about with earth, and have from the uttermost brims of the circle clefts of wood set upon them, joining close together at the top like a spire steeple, which by reason of the closeness are very warm. Their bed is the ground with rushes strewed on it and lying about the house; they have the fire in the midst. The men go naked; the women take bulrushes and comb them after the manner of hemp, and thereof make their loose garments; which, being knit about their middles, hang down about their hips, having also about their shoulders a skin of deer, with the hair upon it. These women are very obedient and serviceable to their husbands.

From The Folio Book of Days (Folio Society, London: 2002).

N.B. While for some the exact location of Drake’s landing is in dispute, it’s pretty clear he landed in what’s now Drakes Bay.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

carapace (noun) A thick, hard shell made of bone or chitin found on animals such as turtles, crabs, and armadillos.

To survive at helveticka, Aaron learned that a protective carapace was necessary not only to blunt the blows of criticism aimed primarily at his writing (not to mention his attire and taste in music), but also to stifle Courtney’s frequent encomiums to someone called “Queen Bey.”

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

There’s a particularly obnoxious trend I’ve been meaning to write about for a while now, but hadn’t yet found an example egregious enough to make my point.

Until today.

Let me set this up: A month or so ago I received my limited-edition boxed set of the Grateful Dead’s July 1978 concerts, two of which were at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. I happened to be there last week, and, as you can see, it’s pretty spectacular:

So with Red Rocks on my mind of late, I naturally clicked on this Denver Post story this morning. It purports to reveal the ten “most memorable concerts in Red Rocks history.” (Let’s be honest, though. Any list that doesn’t put the Dead’s July 8, 1978 show at the top really shouldn’t be taken seriously.)

I digress. The Post mentions the “stunning vistas and naturally honed acoustics”; that the venue’s reputation “has a way of forcing artists to deliver their best while practically begging for crystal-clear live albums and heroic videos”; and that “the music, mood and weather often combine to produce the feeling of something legendary.”

So far, so good. Then you get to this line:

“Here’s a curated list of the most memorable Red Rocks concerts — the greatest, the most disastrous and the most influential — in honor of the venue’s 75th anniversary season, culled from decades of Denver Post coverage.”

Did you catch that? A “curated list.” So, well…a list. There’s nothing curated about it, you pretentious twits. Just like there’s nothing curated about Internet clothing subscriptions, online retailers, or beer dinners—whatever those are.

No, this is what a curator does:

“…collect, exhibit, interpret, maintain, and protect objects of historical and aesthetic importance primarily in museums, libraries, and private collections.…Both graduate education and practical experience are required for people who wish to become curators. Aside from an extensive knowledge of history and art, it is useful to have a basic understanding of chemistry, restoration techniques, museum studies, and even physics and public relations.”

Not to mention that the very word curator comes from the Latin for “to care for.”

This conflation of list-making with the type of work that often requires a PhD is a pervasive menace. And it’s not just me, either.

“Nowadays, every person picking out a new collar for their dog is a curator,” said EWU professor of history Larry Cebula, whose wife, incidentally, bills herself as a curator of vintage barware. (Oh, hey Renee—have you found us a mid-century decanter and some rocks glasses yet? We have a couple of bottles of Rittenhouse Rye that need a good home.)

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

The passing of Muhammad Ali reminded me not only of watching some of his great boxing matches as a kid with my dad—an avid boxing and wrestling fan—but also of another project we were involved in several years ago.

Back in 2002, we were commissioned by Portland-based Formations Inc. to provide signage and display concepts for the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Kentucky. Formations had been selected to provide exhibit design and fabrication for two floors of the six-story building, and I suspect we were asked to participate simply to augment their conceptual output.

For a flat fee, we focused on specific areas of the center, and were given total freedom to develop ideas without consideration for fabrication and installation costs—an especially enjoyable (and very rare) assignment. The 93,000-square-foot building opened in late 2005, but without any of those ideas.

May The Greatest rest in peace.

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

In 2013, one of the most ambitious projects our firm has ever produced opened at the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture: an interpretive exhibit entitled SPOMa: Spokane Modern Architecture, 1948–73.

The exhibit was an outgrowth of an extensive article about Spokane architect Moritz Kundig that we had developed three years earlier. During the article’s research phase, we discovered Moritz was part of a local—and incredibly talented—mid-century modern movement.

In addition to Kundig and a few others, the SPOMa exhibit featured the architectural achievements of Kenneth W. Brooks. On June 14, I have the honor of sharing a little bit about the late Mr. Brooks. I hope you will join me.

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: architecture the design life  |  make a comment

Leave it to Linda to ask the pertinent, pressing questions of the day. Like, “Should I wear the Manolo Blahniks or the Jimmy Choos?”

Today it was  something I could actually answer: “Is there such a thing as gurgitating?”

It stands to reason that, according to the rules of root words and prefixes, to regurgitate is to simply gurgitate again, right? Well…not necessarily:

re- pref. 1. Again; anew: rebuild. 2. Backward; back: react. 3. Used as an intensive: refine. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin.]

My dictionary tells me that regurgitate comes from the Medieval Latin regurgitare; re- + gurgitare, which means to engulf or flood. That brings us to gurgitation. Yes, it’s a word:

gurgitation n. A whirling or surging motion, as of water. [Late Latin gurgitare, to engulf (from Latin gurges, gurgit-, whirlpool) + -ATION.]

So where does that leave us? Hell if I know. So I checked with Courtney, who assures me that, after a night of tequila shots, all three definitions of re- apply to gurgitation. The tequila reappears again and again—backward from the direction it originally went in—and boy, is it ever intense.

Got a question for Aaron? Contact him directly at helveticka world headquarters. The higher the denomination of the accompanying bills, the more quickly you can expect an answer.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  comments(1)

posted by: CK Anderson  |  category: the design life  |  make a comment

If any of our readers out there feel compelled to compensate me for all the work I do to deliver fresh, incisive content every week, I wouldn’t say “No” to a setup like this. Problem is, I wouldn’t get any work done.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment