Author Archive
March 3, 2015 by tomdalzell
Seventh Grade’s Quirky Berkeley Blog!
In January, the 7th grade went on a Quirky Berkeley exploration of quirky material culture south of the school. For two hours, they sharpened their eyes and saw all kinds of quirkiness that most of us miss most of the time. A week later, Andrew and Anne and Lucas learned the basics of Word […]
March 1, 2015 by tomdalzell
Cows (and pigs)
When Gabby heard that I was working on a cow post he sent (via my friend) this postcard. I am sure that there are many more where it comes from. He also reminded us of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses: The best known cow in Berkeley? I’d have to say the Cheese […]
March 1, 2015 by tomdalzell
Palms
Palm trees! More correctly – artistic depictions of palm trees! I wish that these signs were in Berkeley. They aren’t, but aren’t they something? They illustrate the point I am trying to make here. This post is as big a stretch as I have made. It requires a nearly complete suspension of the Quirky […]
February 28, 2015 by tomdalzell
Flamingo Croquet in Alice
The flamingo has long fascinated us. Exotic looking, bright pink, definitely From Another Place. Lewis Carroll was an early fan of the flamingo. In Alice, he described the Queen of Hearts’ croquet game: Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were […]
February 28, 2015 by tomdalzell
Date Palms
The date palms of the Coachella Valley are something approaching sacred to me. Between 1973 and 1977 I spent three stretches of time in the Coachella Valley, south and east of Palm Springs, working on strikes and organizing drives with the United Farm Workers. Between 1975 and 1980 I made the drive between Salinas […]
February 20, 2015 by tomdalzell
Seventh Grade at TBS Goes Quirky (Berkeley)
Once upon a time the Seventh Grade at TBS decided to take a Quirky Berkeley walk. For two hours they walked and talked (especially Andrew) and photographed. The student who spotted something quirky took the photo. These photos are the Very Best that they took. The ostrich and the pink car were the class favorites. […]
February 20, 2015 by tomdalzell
Neon Berkeley #2 – Telegraph Avenue and its Tributaries
I have confessed my love for neon and need not do so again. I have asserted that neon enjoys a rebuttable presumption of being quirky. And in support of that assertion I now have ocular proof: Quirky is an invention company in New York that allows inventors to submit their ideas, while also assisting them in […]
February 17, 2015 by tomdalzell
Testudines and the order Crocodilia
Turtles and tortoises and terrapins are all testudines. Alligators and crocodiles and caimans are members of the crocodilian species. The confusing difference/distinction is pretty much what they have in common, the testudines and the crocodilia order. We have enough in our front yards – barely – to make a post. And the anthropomorphic surfing […]
February 7, 2015 by tomdalzell
495 Vincente – what the heck?
Vincente winds above The Alameda. There is an installation of random objects at 495 Vincente, near where the Visalia Steps head west up the hill. Words are fairly useless here. I have spent a lifetime making a living with words, one way or another. But they aren’t helpful here. Do you see what I mean? […]
January 25, 2015 by tomdalzell