Morse Code Mine Dancing: A Language Born in the Darkness

Born in the darkness of South African gold mines during Apartheid, “gumboot dancing” sprung from the basic need for exploited miners to communicate in what was a harrowing environment, where they were forbidden to even speak to one another. Workers decided to let their boots do the talking for them, and developed a kind of “morse…

Escape to Sarah Bernhardt’s Seaside Fortress

This weekend, let’s escape to the seaside paradise of Morbihan, France, to peak inside the 19th century fortress that belonged to the eccentric, inimitable Sarah Bernhardt. As an actor, she was truly one of the first global superstars, and it was her flair for blurring the lines between performance and reality that made her an…

He Spent 20 Years in the Desert Carving a Village of Dolls

Welcome to Possum Trot, California. Human population: 2. Doll population: 80. For decades, its human residents were Calvin Black and his wife Ruby, who moved out to the Mojave Desert in 1953, bought some land off of Ghost town rd. (an actual road that still exists), and proclaimed it “Possum Trot.” Over the course of…

Why Paris’ Greatest Art Nouveau Metro Stop Is No More

No one does nostalgia better than Parisians, who just seem to have a real knack for sprinkling eccentric, liveable history into their everyday routine. Case in point? Those luscious Art Nouveau metro stops, or “dragonflies” as they were dubbed by locals at the time of their construction in the 1900s. The green, arabesque forms were…

The Accidental Time Travel Incident with Marie Antoinette

Everyone can relate to taking a wrong turn on vacation – but few can boast taking a turn back in time to hang with Marie-Antoinette. That is, unless you’re Charlotte Anne Moberly and Eleanor Jourdain. It was 1901, when the two women, both academics hailing from Britain, decided to take a holiday to France and…

Why Your Sandwich Is Banned in Outer Space

John Young was a true pioneer of space exploration: he walked on the moon, orbited it alone, and commanded the very first space shuttle mission. But in 1965, he was also the first man to nearly ruin his illustrious career for smuggling a corned beef sandwich into space. Just three years after joining NASA, Young departed…

Steve Jobs’ Nerdy Dating Show with Bill Gates

A large part of Steve Jobs’ genius was the way in which he made new technologies not only exciting, but relatable. “Apple and Jobs fundamentally changed advertising,” said former Jobs employee, Bill Cleary, to Forbes. Watching Jobs in action at one of his many, legendary keynote (or “Stevenote,” as they were soon dubbed) speeches was like…

They Put What, Where? Weird Beauty Hacks of Yesteryear

According to fashion legend Diana Vreeland, “the only real elegance is in the mind; if you’ve got that, the rest really comes from it,” and we tend to agree. Of course, aesthetic cultural standards have fluctuated from generation to generation (and icon to icon) for the better, and for the worse. Sometimes beauty, fashion, and…

So Anaïs Nin Was Also an Electro “DJ”

Anaïs Nin is our favorite breed of artist: the kind who just can’t be bound to a single era, movement, or category. Diarist? Definitely. Muse? To many, most notably American novelist Henry Miller. Yet her oeuvre spans a good portion of the 20th century, and includes everything from those notorious diaries (about bohemian Paris in…

Saving China’s Memories from the Trash, One Kodak at a Time

What do giant sharks, gymnastics, and a banana-eating competition have in common? They all inhabit the fantastic world of “Beijing Silvermine.” For almost a decade now, this has been the curious project of French photographer Thomas Sauvin, who has been on a tireless mission to rescue and revive the millions of 35 mm negatives floating…