"Mug Shot Book" at the Philadelphia History Museum

#6774 Daniel Mason, Larceny

At the Philadelphia History Museum, you can view objects that reflect the city's history. Of all the objects on display, I found the "mug shot book" interesting. Dated from the 1900s, the book is an orderly visual compendium of criminals arrested in the city of brotherly love. For example, check out Daniel Mason (#6774), a well-dressed convicted thief (ca. the 1900s).

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"Air" by Walter Hancock - Sculpture along the Schuylkill River Trail

The Backside of "Air"

A photograph of the backside of Walter Hancock's sculpture "Air".

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Photograph: Spring Day in Philadelphia

"Around Panama Street, I Wouldn't Wonder."

A photograph in Philadelphia of decorative Crabapple trees that line the street with their purple petals.

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Tombstone at Trinity Churchyard on Wall St.

Detail of a tombstone at Trinity Church in New York City

Not too far from Alexander Hamilton's grave in Lower Manhattan, one can find detailed grave markers like this one. — How many symbols can you find on this tomb?

Possible Answers:

 htaerw; soroboruo; rats detniop-thgiE ,; nus; noixificurc; tsirhc; ssorc; xificurc; eniv eparg; ssalgruoH

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Photograph: Cat is an Horizontal "S"

My friend’s black and white spotted house cat lies on the floor in an “S” formation.

Cat is a Horizontal "S"

Image Source: © 2015 Greig Roselli

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It is Nice to Love a Bug

Bug #1 — Staten Island, 2015

Bug #2 — Staten Island, 2015

Bug #3 — Staten Island, 2015

Love a little. Love a bug. Love a green bug. Isn't love nice?

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Image Source: Greig Roselli

Photograph: "Chrystie Street, Lower Manhattan"

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Parking Garage, Chrystie Street, Lower Manhattan @lowermanhattan. . . . . #manhattan #selfcamera #selfie #picoftheday #4banger #instadaily #newyorkerbag #photooftheday #newyorkcitylife #parkinggarage #instagood #newyorker #newyorkcity #ig #fashion #dmvmeets #usa #newyork #taillights #nyc #parkinglot #architecture #dopeshot via stonesoferasmus.com

A post shared by Greig Roselli (@greigroselli) on Aug 3, 2015 at 7:59am PDT

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L is for "Lying Prone on the Floor at Manhattan Mini Storage"

Looking like a bible salesman 

who lost the key to his storage locker, 

I lie prone on the floor of the Manhattan Min-Storage.

How I was locked out of a storage locker and fished out the key with a ruler:

Lisa told me to ferret the key out with a flat ruler. It didn't work! And we needed to get in! Can you tell I'm opening this post like the beginning of a badly written situation comedy?

Feeling like a cartoon character, I got prone on the floor vainly fishing out the key to our storage locker. Am I a bible salesman trying to get my Gideon bibles? Or maybe I'm a bootlegger and this maximum-security storage locker holds my gin. Or maybe it's a year's worth of three-hundred-paged-glossy-covered coupon books —those artless tomes filled with fifty percent discounts for edible arrangements and vacation cruises. Mostly sold by high schoolers raising money for track and field. Or some other kind of extra-curricular activity.

Writing About Teaching (Again!) — and When Superheroes Have a Villain Named Lester

Jerome Avenue has its heroes.

Teaching kids in the Bronx at the Francis Martin branch of the New York Public Library, I learn a little bit about superheroes and us as a class brainstorm some ideas on how to identify and fix problems in the neighborhood:

Writing about teaching is a go-to blog post idea. When I am teaching, I notice human behavior in a way that I do not notice outside of the classroom. That's why the classroom is great fodder for something to write about on a blog.

Teaching is about being aware. I know this to be true. As someone who is characteristically blissfully unaware, when I train myself to become aware I notice phenomena that had previously railroaded me.

Book Art from the Lamb Shakespeare for the Young: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In the Lamb Shakespeare for the Young, a classic children's book version of Shakespearean plays, the opening act of Midsummer Night's Dream is retold.

A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Lamb Shakespeare for the Young
Illustrated by Helen Stratton
1908

Egeus comes before Theseus, the Duke of Athens to "complain that his daughter Hermia, whom he had commanded to marry Demetrius, a young man of a noble Athenian family, refused to obey him because she loved another young Athenian, named Lysander."

It's funny how in this Lamb Shakespeare for the Young retelling, published in 1908, the author comforts his readers (presumably the young) that while daughters who refused to marry the suitors their fathers chose were to be put to death under Athenian law, "this law was seldom or never put in execution." The author also adds — and I am not sure Shakespeare makes such a big deal about this part of the plot — that fathers "do not often desire the death of their own daughters, even though they do happen to prove a little refractory . . ."

In the drawing, Hermia is rather resigned. She sits. Her hands are calm by her side. Her father, while old, is a spry old man, and he seems animated in bringing his case before the Duke. Egeus is thoughtful like a student, with his chin resting in his hand.

I wonder if Hermia is seething with anger? Or is she just blithe and becoming, secretly humming a lighthearted tune? Maybe she is already scheming her escape with Lysander into the woods.

What do you think?

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Lamb Shakespeare for the Young. A Midsummer Night's Dream. New York: Duffield and Company, 1908.

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Image Source: Google Books