You win the rat race; you’re still a rat. But rats are after all successes of evolution. Cockroaches, too. Humans? An evolutionary blip. Hair today. Gone tamale. C’est la vie. C’est la Guerre. Tout le Monde manges pommes de terre. Sight seen at Stanford University. Thanks, A.
Tag Archives: Stanford
What happens when you win the Rat Race…
Main Quad Mushrooms
Sights Seen at Stanford, continued: marvelous mushrooms sprouting up by Memorial Church, behind the Main Quad. Happy fall…the rainy season is almost here!
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Gardening, Stanford University
Stanford Men’s Bathroom Art
In my time at Stanford, I have seen some of the most fascinating, profound, thought-provoking, and hilarious bathroom graffiti of my life. This piece is one of the less cerebral contributions to the repository of high art and culture that is the Stanford Main Quad restrooms.
Seen in Pigott Hall, Building 260 (Language department) of Stanford’s Main Quad. Author and paint substance unknown.
-AidanAbroad
Cute boys graduating Stanford…
…including this site’s own Aidan Abroad. Congratulations to you and to all your classmates! Pictured here: graduation ceremonies in the departments of Religious Studies and American Studies. Aidan wrote his honors thesis on the response of the Metropolitan Community Church to the AIDS crisis. Photos: Gay Highwaymen.
Posted in Photography, Scholarship, Spirituality, Stanford University, Youth
Tagged American Studies, Gay, Graduation, Photography, Religious Studies, Stanford
Waru! Martu Aboriginal Art at Stanford
Tomorrow (Thursday) 5-7pm is the opening of an exciting new art exhibition at Stanford. Several Martu Aboriginal artists (who I had the good fortune to stay with and learn from in Parnngurr Aboriginal Community in 2009) are exhibiting their strikingly beautiful paintings of their homeland, Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
Here is a description of the show provided by Doug Bird, a Stanford anthropologist who has been working with the Martu for over 10 years:
“Waru! Holding fire in Australia’s Western Desert – a unique exhibition merging science and indigenous art marking the lived relationships among indigenous Martu of Australia’s Western Desert; their foraging economy, ritual arts, the expression of these on the landscape, and their links to desert biodiversity. The nexus of these relationships is distilled in the concept and practice of waru, which translates as fire. Here, Martu have chosen the title of the exhibition for its many meanings: Martu artists are cultural ambassadors, to spread, like fire, knowledge of their heritage and land; moreover, Martu artists are the literal agents of fire, applying fire to their country in the course of their daily foraging practice, resulting in the maintenance of key components of arid grassland biodiversity.
“Stanford University researchers have been working with Martu people and communities for more than ten years, on projects that are central to the cultural, social and creative universe of Martu people, including land use, fire, flora and fauna and the intersection of these physical phenomena with the mythological and metaphysical worldviews of the Martu. It is from the same interplay between these forces that the stories, content and confidence to produce exceptional art is derived.
“This exhibition at Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery is the result of a three year collaboration between Stanford University and Martumili Artists. It showcases the extraordinary depth and range of work being produced by the Martu artists and educates audiences about how these paintings describe the physical, religious, political and familial worlds of the Martu.”
Come check out the show if you can! Details about where & when are embedded in the promotional poster below.
-AidanAbroad
Posted in Art and Artists, Australia, Indigenous cultures, Stanford University
Tagged Aboriginal, Art, Australia, Doug Bird, indigenous, Martu, Martumili, painting, Pilbara, Stanford, waru
Stop him! He’s a photographer!
Quick! Before he gets away! Seen at the entrance of the art department sub-gallery at Stanford. Stenciled onto a concrete retaining wall. Neat-O.
Posted in Comics, Photography, Signage, Stanford University, Street Art, Grafitti, etc.
Tagged iPhone, Photography, Signage, Stanford
Dunn on the Farm: “God Bless All Marriages” – A Report from the Stanford Daily.
Aidan Dunn celebrates Judge Vaughn Walker's decision to overturn Proposition 8 yesterday.
The Stanford Daily, which has been breaking news from the Farm since 1892, reports on yesterday’s ruling by federal judge Vaughn Walker that found California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriages unconstitutional. Daily reporters interviewed Stanford religious studies student Aidan Dunn, class of 2011.
“Today is a great day,” Dunn said. “For me personally, it means that someday I might be able to marry the person that I love. What I hope it means for the community is that we start fighting for more queer and social justice issues.” For the rest of the story, visit the Stanford Daily online. [Photo courtesy Aidan Dunn]
The Gay Highwaymen 