Happy Valentine's Day!

originally from Mandatory

Election Day

 

The US election has passed and Barack Obama has been elected president for a second term.  Instrumental in this process were hundreds of people who staffed the polls at every precinct, passing out information about voting procedure, manning catalogs of registered voters, and preventing the technically complex and extremely heavy electronic voting machines from falling down.

Yesterday I got to volunteer to help  as part of a program called the Future Vote Initiative, getting "future voters" (otherwise known as kids) to volunteer to help for three-hour shifts at local precincts. I was instructed to get to the polls at six o’clock in the morning, meaning that I had to get up around 5:30--which as a homeschooler is a very unusual event for me. While I had to get up early, it was worth every minute of missed sleep. I did everything I could to help, running Voter Access Cards back and forth, handing out "I Voted" stickers, or doing whatever was needed.

I had so much fun in the morning that I came back to help put everything away as soon as my fencing class had finished in the evening.  By the time I got home, it was just a few minutes before the outcome of the election was announced.

During the next presidential election four years from now, I hope to become a full election judge!

Evolution and Revolution

from STMB:

Dragons at the Textile Museum

Last week I went to the Textile Museum in DC.  It is near many of the embassies and in fact seems a little smaller than the embassies of Puerto-Rico and Ireland.

I explored the exhibit Dragons, Nagas, and Creatures of the Deep.  It was about the use of dragon imagery in clothing, rugs, and other textiles. Celebrating the Year of the Dragon, most of the textiles shown are from East and Southeast Asia Chinese.  In addition to images of a variety of dragons including highly stylized versions, there were also images of other mystical creatures.

I was fascinated by the idea that a particular portrayal of dragons could indicate the social class of the wearer of a textile garment.  The example presented at the museum was a surcoat depicting numerous images of dragons with four claws on each hand.  The annotation on the side explained that the hands had originally had five claws, indicating that the owner was of the ruling family.  When he or she gave it to someone who was not authorized to wear five claws, one claw on each hand had to be carefully removed from the coat.

After investigating the museum, I ate lunch in a nearby park with two fellow homeschoolers with whom I had gone to the museum.  A lovely day!