Coldcopper Designs

I’m sure you’ve seen this a lot in the last few weeks, but if you are of age, get out and vote tomorrow. Republicans have been doing everything they can to prevent you, which goes to show that it’s important. In this election, every state is a potential swing state. Any race could turn on a single vote. If the midterms go red, that’s a mandate telling the administration that they can double down on all of the atrocities we’ve experienced over the past two years. The biggest factor in making them go blue is ensuring populations who often don’t vote do.

If you’ve been insisting that voting is useless and only revolution will change things, assuming that glorious revolution isn’t going to be launched tomorrow morning, you can spare an hour or so out of your day to vote to slow down the pace at which what’s left of our democracy is being destroyed. Otherwise, I don’t care how much you talk about ideological purity. If you are able to vote and do not, you’re complicit. Stop the bleeding now. We can argue about what direction to go next after the fatal wounds have been patched up.

To find your polling place, CLICK HERE.

Uber and Lyft are offering discounted rides to the polls. Information HERE and HERE. 

On the Federal level, I recommend voting straight ticket. If your blue representative isn’t ideal, I get it. Mine isn’t either. However,

A: In most cases, the third party candidate has no chance.  

B: Regaining control of the House and Senate is based on number of total Democrats, not their quality. Whoever’s in control gets much more power over what is discussed and voted on. Look how much damage Mitch McConnell has done. Every blue representative is another tallymark toward setting a progressive legislative agenda, even if you don’t trust them to do much good themselves.  

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A DRESS

Restored dress as worn by Ellen Terry in her 1888 portayal of Lady Macbeth.

“When Ellen starred alongside Henry Irving in Macbeth in 1888, there was not a wide choice of fabrics available in England, and Alice could not find the colours she wanted to achieve her effects. She wanted one dress to ‘look as much like soft chain armour as I could, and yet have something that would give the appearance of the scales of a serpent.’ (Mrs. J. Comyns Carr’s ‘Reminiscences’. London: Hutchinson, 1926) Mrs. Nettlship found a twist of soft green silk and blue tinsel in Bohemia and this was crocheted to achieve the chain mail effect.

The dress hung beautifully but: ‘we did not think that it was brilliant enough, so it was sewn all over with real green beetle wings, and a narrow border in Celtic designs, worked out in rubies and diamonds, hemmed all the edges. To this was added a cloak of shot velvet in heather tones, upon which great griffens were embroidered in flame-coloured tinsel. The wimple, or veil, was held in place by a circlet of rubies, and two long plaits twisted with gold hung to her knees.’

the history blog. the guardian V&A  blogspot