Red Balloon To Do 6 – Gavin Snider

Here is some additional work from Red Balloon to Do 6 by Gavin Snider for his band Midnight Vinyl. More of Gavin’s illustrations can be found on his blog, The Revolution Gets Industrial.

posted by: s.a.johnson

Take Back the Night

Take Back the Night began in 1976 as a rally against the continuation of violence against women. Following the first event in Belgium, awareness progressed and today thousands of Take Back the Night rallies are held worldwide. Most events include marches, candlelight vigils, and survivor testimonials in hopes of bringing issues of violence against women such as rape, domestic violence, and sexual abuse to the forefront of the community.

Interested in participating? Check out this Take Back the Night website which includes a calendar of events submitted by local rally sponsors. And if you are a Lawrence, KS or surrounding areas resident come to the Take Back the Night event this Thursday, September 18:

5:00 Clothesline Project, Pantyline Project, Food Vendors, Children’s Activities and Information Table @ South Park (12th and Massachusetts)

5:15 Music by Seed Love

6:15 Keynote Speakers Ashley Hoyle, Spokesperson for National Teen Dating, Violence Awareness Week, Christie and Curt Brungardt, Jana Mackey’s Mother and Stepfather, & others!

7:30 March down Massachusetts Street to Buford-Watson Park (7th and Kentucky)

8:00 Candlelight Vigil and Speak-Out Circles

Wikipedia: Take Back the Night

by: Tricia Rock

Semiosis

If you live in an urban environment you simply cannot escape it, and if you spend your time in the wilderness it’s not uncommon. Semiosis is what the modern human exists by. It’s how we find our food, how we perform our jobs, it is our entertainment and the backbone of finding our way from one place to the next.

A sign is an indication, or representation, of a thought. All humans rely on signs for every form of communication: from speech to writing, sign language to smoke signals (the first form of telegraph).

American logician, mathematician, philosopher, and scientist Charles Sanders Peirce defines Semiosis as follows:

“An action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant.”

If you live in an urban environment you abide by and adhere to the signs that create civilization, law, and order. In the wilderness humans tend to find stories in patterns of the stars and characters in the clouds. We search endlessly for recognizable patterns so we can utilize the meaning of objects and actions. Street signs, for example: if numbered streets run east to west and the numbers increase as you move south you can now orient yourself with your cardinal directions and get from one place to another on a grid. A street sign is made up of both a set of recognizable characters (letters) and a set of coded cultural symbols (we know green signs with white letters indicate guide messages). Without this set of coding it would be an extremely difficult task to find a location for the first time.

Assigning objects and actions meaning is part of what separates humans from other species. Our ability to preconceive the potential outcome of an event is the reason we dwell in houses during thunderstorms and have as much food in the winter as in the summer. These things are our very being and yet Semiotics is a relatively seldom mentioned study.

We are in an age of awareness, where consumers are constantly demanding to know more about the products they purchase. This discretion should be applied to the information we take in as well. Thinking about and knowing how you respond to your surroundings should be as vital a lesson as grammar.

For further reading: Saussure and C.S. Peirce:

Street Art From Lawrence, KS

This little piece of art was found in Lawrence, KS near the corner of 7th and New Hampshire.  Sadly, we cannot give credit to the artist because no name or tag was left behind. If the artist would like to be recognized for their good work, please contact The Rathaus at info@therathaus.com. We embrace street art here at the The Rathaus and understand if you want to use a pen name. Your true identity will be protected.

posted by: Harold Johns III

Chictopia

Who do I dress for? I work in an office with only two other people, both of whom I am related to, and still find myself trying to pick out new and creative outfits each morning. Will my brother-in-law really care that I paired up my most recent vintage floral print dress purchase with my favorite gladiator sandals? Probably not. So how can I justify my fashion obsession?

Chictopia is a new website where members can upload and share their style with other members of the Chictopia community. It’s fashion for the people, by the people. Each member has their own ChicBlog where other Chictopians can rate and comment on the outfits you have posted. Simply upload a photo from your computer or the web, write as much as you choose about the outfit (or your life if you’re interested, just like a personal blog), and any user comments made to your post will be sent directly to your email. As you add more posts to your ChicBlog previous outfits are archived, creating a time line of your blogs accessible even to your friends who are not yet members of the Chictopia community (check out my ChicBlog here). And as an added bonus the site also allows members to post information about from where and for how much items were purchased, and gives site users the ability to set up links to member’s online stores and websites.

With such a focus on brand names and high end designers in the fashion world, what happens to the individual? There is no question here because Chictopia highlights you. In this new digital age with endless amounts of access to information and inspiration the line sepatating “style icon” from “regular girl” is slowly blurring. We are no longer forced to accept only the rich and famous, or people genetically blessed enough to be featured in fashion print magazines, as the leaders in style. Similar to the democratizing of music on Myspace, Chictopia is providing the opportunity for anyone to become a leading fashion icon.

Since its launch on March 25, 2008, Chictopia has been growing fast. Started as the brainchild of CEO Helen Zhu, Chictopia has been featured on Mashable and The Washington Post: Tech Crunch and was sited by Teen Vogue as the “next big thing.” Part of the quick success of the site seems to stem from the receptiveness of the team at Chictopia to new ideas from their users. To read more of an explanation from Helen herself, check out this post from her very own ChicBlog.

Interested? Go to Chictopia and browse the style gallery or sign up to become a member of the Chic community. Add friends from your town, across the US, and overseas. Find other members your age, shape and size, and style. With so many opportunities for growth, this website is a great tool for both fashion industry insiders looking to share their knowledge and for the fashion obsessed like me who just need a place to say, “Look at my outfit…isn’t it great!”

by: Tricia Rock