“Shoe doll that belonged to a child in the slums of London in the early 20th century. It is handmade from fabric scraps and the heel of a man’s delapidated shoe, with hair made from an old black sock.⁣⁣⁣⁣This doll belonged to an unnamed little girl living in Bethnal Green around 1905. It was acquired by the English folklorist Edward Lovell, who would buy poor children new toys in exchange for their makeshift ones. Although Lovett is perhaps best known today for his collections of folk charms and amulets, he also amassed a huge collection of homemade dolls and games in an attempt to preserve the material culture and history of London’s poorest and most vulnerable people. ⁣⁣Rather than exchange it for a new toy, Lovett gave the child and her family a sum of money in exchange for this doll. She selflessly gave up her ONE crude toy to help out her desperately impoverished family.”

The Laugh, 2016

tr“Whitebark pines are found at elevations up to 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) — conditions too harsh for most tress to survive. They are considered a “keystone” species other plants and animals depend on for survival, and their edible seeds are spread almost exclusively by a bird, the Clark’s nutcracker.

A nonnative fungus — white pine blister rust — has been killing whitebark pines for a century and they’ve been largely wiped out in areas. That includes the eastern edge of Yellowstone National Park, where seeds from the trees are a source of food for threatened grizzly bears.

More recently, the trees have proven vulnerable to bark beetles that have killed millions of acres of forest, and climate change that scientists say is responsible for more severe wildfire seasons.

The trees occur across 126,000 square miles (326,164 square kilometers) of land in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and western Canada.

Wildlife officials declined to designate which forest habitats are critical to the tree’s survival, stopping short of what some environmentalists argue is needed.

An estimated 88% of whitebark pine habitat is federally owned, with most of that area managed by the U.S. Forest Service.

Just over 50% of standing whitebark pine trees are dead, according to researchers. That includes about 25% that died in the past two decades, said Alexandra Kasdin with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”