Do you read science fiction as an escape? If you hoped the politics would die down after the election, and now you just want to get away from it all in a sci-fi world, I’ll try to break this gently. Politics in science fiction is pretty much baked-in. No romance, no adventure story, no mystery, and no historical drama can completely evade society or politics, even when it’s not the focus. But most of these are based on actual events…
The Artdog Quotes of the Week How does representation play a role in social transformation? Last week’s Monday post explored stereotypes and the power of portrayal. Now let’s tackle social transformation. Make no mistake. Society is always transforming. Social change happens, whether we want it to or not. And individually we can’t control how it changes. One person’s efforts rarely provide a huge pivot point, unless that one person speaks for thousands, and society was ripe for the change. Case in point: #MeToo. That one was way overdue!…
The Artdog Image of Interest Trees ON buildings? We’ve heard about trees around buildings, but something new has begun to take root in architectural circles. A major theme in environmentally sustainable architecture is the incorporating plants into designs. And that doesn’t mean just any plants. It means carefully chosen shrubs, grasses, and yes, trees on buildings Truly integrating them into the design requires some unusual logistics. But it creates such research-established advantages as mitigating urban heat islands, carbon sequestration, and psychological benefits. Especially for the people actually…