Philly Painting - A Community Mural

On an early morning in May 2018 I was driving to Philly. Traffic on the highway was backed up, as usual, and Google Maps routed me a different way. I ended up driving through part of Germantown Ave that is a huge neighborhood mural, took a quick picture, and looked up more information later.

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A post shared by RoboChristine (@iamrobochristine) on May 24, 2018 at 5:36am PDT

This project is called Philly Painting, and it was done by the same people who did the Favela Painting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Philly Painting’s Vimeo account has a bunch of short videos documenting the project, and I’ve embedded them below to make it easy for you to watch them in order. Check out this really cool project and what the community had to say about it!

Video about the original project in Rio de Janeiro:

Philly Painting!

In video #4 you can see the tour guide, Keenan, standing in front of the block in my photo. 

He says the neighborhood to the west is called Beirut because it was like growing up in a war zone.

I love seeing projects like this with community involvement!

Symbol of Progress

I've spent a lot of time at the Bethlehem Area Public Library (BAPL).  Summer reading programs when I was a kid, seemingly endless stacks of books, and an incredible Local History room full of old maps and records.  BAPL is a great place.

Of all of the time I spent there, I never knew anything about the sculpture in the plaza.  You know the one:


Yeah, that thing.  What is it called?  What does it symbolize?  Who made it?  When was it installed?  Why is it covered in spiders and their webs every summer?  So many questions.  Finally, here are some answers, brought to you by a long holiday weekend with no travel plans*!

The sculpture, called "Symbol of Progress", was installed in 1967 as part of Bethlehem's new City Center Plaza.  It was created by Joseph J Greenberg, Jr of Philadelphia, and is made of Bethlehem Steel.  According to Lehigh Valley Style, "His intent was to symbolize the diversity of ethnic groups living in Bethlehem. Greenberg’s vision features three tapered steel arcs that are joined in the middle, denoting the fusion of these different ethnicities. The arcs continue skyward, calling on the strength of the integration."  Pretty cool!

I can't answer my last question from above, regarding why spiders love this sculpture so much, but I'm going to guess they just really enjoy public art.


Photo by Munkeyspasm via Flickr
*No travel plans?  How did that happen?!  It worked out pretty well considering how icy the roads were!

Sources:

• "Steel Sculpture for City Center" from the Gettysburg Times, Aug 16, 1967.  
• Link: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2202&dat=19670816&id=52UmAAAAIBAJ&sjid=bP8FAAAAIBAJ&pg=829,1354496 
• "Lehigh Valley Icon" from the Lehigh Valley Style blog.  
• Link: http://www.lehighvalleystyle.com/January-2014/Lehigh-Valley-Icon/ 
• "Symbol of Progress, (sculpture)" from The Smithsonian.
• Link: http://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?q=record_ID:siris_ari_340711
•  "Depth of Field" photo by Munkeyspasm on Flickr
• Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13259574@N05/3169655682 

Virii!!

Coolest 'computer virus' I've seen in a while:


First off, you have to agree that it's a fun idea! They're marketing it as computer virus art. But what makes a virus a virus? The replication? The infection or malicious intent/outcome? The fact that the receiver doesn't really want it and receives it unexpectedly? I tend to think of this more as a cool application than as a virus. Thoughts?

Also, I know that "virii" isn't really officially accepted as the plural of virus, but I like it more than "viruses" because it's more fun. Wikipedia has this to say:

• The form virii would not have been a correct plural, since the ending -ii only occurs in the plural of masculine and feminine words ending in -ius. For instance, take radius, plural radii: the root is radi-, with the singular ending -us and the plural -i. Thus the plural virii is that of the nonexistent word virius. The form viri would also be incorrect in Latin. The ending -i is normally used for masculine or feminine nouns, not neuter ones such as virus; moreover, viri (albeit with a short i in the first syllable) is the plural of vir, and means "men."

Words are fun. :)