Timeline Research. Wedding. Terrifying Facts.

TIMELINE RESEARCH.
When I last left off, I vowed to do a better job at keeping my blog a bit more current.  Well, I might not have been very prompt in the immediate follow-through, but I did spend a bit of time doing some research for my upcoming project that looks at the role women played in society from the 30s through the 60s.  In order to get a better grasp on an era which I did not personally witness, I thought it would be helfpul to look into major events and "advancements" in technology starting with the year of 1929 which is, of course, the year the American stock market crashed.    To understand the role women have played in society, it is important to take a look at these events to determine in which ways they are linked.  If it weren't for WWII, for example, the development of suburban communities as we know them may not have happened - at least not as quickly.  And without suburbia we wouldn't have the suburban housewife.  Of course it's possible history would have unfolded just as it did regardless of war or the stock market crash, but I think it's fair to say these events certainly sped up the process. 

Anyhow, I wanted to share some of my findings.  I looked at events that took place each decade starting with 1929, so there are admittedly a lot of gaps to fill.  Still, it's an interesting to look at major events that happened only 80 years ago that have had a direct impact on our lives today and forever changed life, directly influencing how we live today. 

1929

MoMA opens in NYC

BBC broadcasted its first TV transmission

Longest bridge in the world,  San Francisco Bay Toll Bridge, opens

Women are announced to be persons by Privy Council in Britain

1939

Regular TV broadcasts begin

Assassination attempt on Hitler fails by 8 minutes

LaGuardia Airport opens in NY

PamAm begins passenger and airmail service

1949

Truman unveils the Fair Deal Program

First monkey in space

1959

Guggenheim in NY completed

Barbie is launched

US unemployment reaches 1.4 million 

WEDDING.



Left: Dave, Romayne & I   Middle: Ro the Rev   Right: Embrace on the beach

 Now to explain my absence from blogging.  I got married!  We all know what excuses are like, but I think this is a pretty good one.  At 2pm on the 23rd of October, I got married to David Singleton (yay!) in a very intimate setting at the cottages at Indian River Inlet Marina, Delaware.  It was the most gorgeous day and it was such a wonderful blessing to be surrounded by such great friends and family.  The service was led by my family pastor, Michaele Russell, and a long-time friend of both mine and Dave's, Romayne Putna.  This was the first ceremony she's ever conducted, but you would have thought she was an old pro!  She did such an amazing job - words can't even begin to describe it.  Dave's mum, dad, brother and sister all made the trip from England to share the day with us.  And my family was all there, even my dad from Alaska!  The day was filled with joy and love.  Sadly, Dave had to go back to England on Sunday and I won't be able to join him without a visa, which is currently being processed.  We're very hopeful it will be granted, but we won't know anything for at least a couple of weeks.  I'm anxiously looking forward to going back to England so my husband and I can settle into married life.  Keep your fingers crossed!

TERRIFYING FACTS.

The fact that I can't join Dave in England right now leaves me feeling a bit hollow and lost.  Thankfully, I have my sketchbook and laptop, so I can focus on my work.  I've decided to fully immerse myself into it during this tough time.  Idle hands and all that.  Of course not every minute is filled with sketching, researching or blogging (obviously!) and last night I wanted to watch something, but I wasn't sure what.  So I pulled up Hulu and had a browse at their selection of movies.  I was pleased to find a documentary called The Future of Food.  It's so eye-opening!  I had recently watched a more recent documentary about our food industry called Food, Inc., which is also quite moving so this wasn't new news to me, but I found the Future of Food to be a bit more comprehensive in outlining the details of the history of Genetic Engineering, corporate power and its consequent impact on legislation.  I thought I'd share some of the facts revealed through this documentary.

Prior to the 30s, nature couldn't be patented.  This all changed when a man who'd discovered oil-eating microbes took his patent case to the Supreme Court.  His patent was accepted by 1 vote.  This changed everything.  This paved the way for the company Monsanto - creator of the weed-killing product Round-Up - to place a patent on their seeds which have been modified to carry the herbicidal properties of their weed-killing product.  As such, Monsanto has become an amazingly powerful entity who have a strongarm on farmers and whose product has essentially taken over our fields, consequently making it into our diet because, as you know, most of the food products we eat are made with high fructose corn syrup which comes from....you guessed it...genetically modified corn.  As a result of these incredible seeds, super weeds have evolved and crops now require an herbicide to combat this nuicance.  The herbicide used on these super weeds is similar to Agent Orange, which is known to cause birth defects.

 
There's so much I can rant about, but that's not the reason for bringing up these facts.  It's more to illustrate the major shift in farming.  It's also to show how all things are connected either directly or indirectly and although I'm not a historian or scientist, it seems to me there's a connection between the severe droughts affecting American in the 30s, which reached its peak in the late 50s, and this new technology.  And this technology brought more food, which helped stabilize (in some ways) the economy.  This in combination with WWII created an economic boom in the 50s and with so many of our men returning from the War, the creation of suburban communities.  See, it all comes full circle.  My challenge now is to find a way to play on both of these themes in my artwork.  I've defintely got my work cut out for me.