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In case you missed this item in the news, some lucky fish now have their own doorbell. Since a doorbell is hard to ring with fins, the fish get assistance from nature loving humans.

The underwater action is in the canals of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Far fewer boats pass through that city’s canals in spring than in summer. As a result, a lock gate on the west side of the city is often closed. Fish gather around the gate waiting to swim upstream for their once-in-a-lifetime chance to spawn.

In 2020, ecologists Anne Nijs and Mark van Heukelum viewed these frustrated, sex-driven fish congregating around the closed dam. They also noted that birds like grebes and cormorants were scooping up lots of those queued up fish for their lunch entrees.

The scientists hatched an ingenious plan to help the fish reach their spawning grounds. They installed an underwater camera at the site. Viewers watching the live stream can push a virtual doorbell which alerts a worker to crank open the barrier.

The call for volunteer fish watchers to the doorbell (De Visdeurbel) was phenomenal. The live feed can accommodate 950 viewers at a time, but over a million citizen scientists wanted to ring the bell. The overflow crowd is directed to a YouTube stream, sans doorbell, and a Fish Doorbell news report. To say the fish have a whale of a fan club is an understatement. Their website has been viewed 8.2 million times.

In this surreal age when many people don’t believe science is real, it is encouraging that so many others are rushing to the aid of pikes, eels, catfish and numerous other species.

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I woke up last Sunday to the news that Faith Ringgold had died. A huge wave of sadness washed over me. I love her artwork, have followed her career for decades and have shared her art and stories with hundreds of children. People need heroes, and she is one of mine.

Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem on October 8, 1930. Eighteen months prior, her mother, Willi Posey Jones, had lost a little boy to pneumonia and was hoping for a boy. She had no name picked out for a girl. A nurse who was attending her suggested, “Call her Faith”, and Faith Willi Jones began her 93-year life journey.

As a child, Faith had asthma and was home bound for many days. Her mother, a fashion designer and dressmaker, gave her daughter scraps of cloth, thread, needles and art supplies to occupy her quiet hours. Faith’s love of art was a continuous path from those childhood moments.

In 1948, Faith enrolled at the City College of New York to pursue a degree in fine art, but she was forced to major in art education instead. At that time, City College limited women to only certain majors. Fine art was for men, teaching was for women. Faith taught in the New York Public Schools from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Even while teaching, Faith was constantly creating her own art. Her work is political; she boldly took on white racism, misogyny and other social justice issues. She stated, “I’m always thinking about what can be better. And if you don’t get out there, the situation will never change.”

Although she worked in many styles, Faith Ringgold will be most remembered for her unique story quilts. These mural-sized unstretched canvases honor the African traditions of storytelling and quilting. She collaborated with her mother on the construction of the story quilts many of which feature women characters.

One quilt, “Tar Beach”, is based on her happy childhood memories of summer nights on her tenement’s tar roof. Families would escape the sweltering heat in their apartments by picnicking and sleeping under the stars on the roof. In the quilt story, a little girl can magically fly up into the stars above the city. The Tar Beach quilt became the basis for Faith Ringgold’s first published children’s book. “Tar Beach” was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1992.

Last February, I learned that the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago was hosting a retrospective of Faith Ringgold’s work. I said to my husband, “I absolutely have to drive to Chicago to see this exhibit.” I did not know it at the time, but that trip would be a farewell to this powerful, talented woman who never lost a sense of joy despite the hardships she endured.

Tributes to her are pouring in. The words that struck me the most are from Holland Cotter, the New York Times art critic:

“Certain artists manage to leap over walls. Picasso was one. And some tunnel under those walls, hit resistance, tunnel some more and, once inside, open a door to let others in. That’s what Faith Ringgold, artist-activist to the end, did.”

Click below for a video of highlights from the MCA Chicago exhibit. The pictures are in chronological order.

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What would you do with a croissant, a coffee cup and a glass of water? The first thing that comes to mind would probably not be holding them aloft on a tray while hustling through the streets of Paris.

This, however, is what around 200 garçons, French waiters, did a few Sundays ago when the “course des garçons de cafe” was held after a thirteen year hiatus. The original race was held in 1914 and followed a five mile course. The waiters were attired in white jackets, bow ties, black pants and dress shoes. Their trays held bottles of French wine. In contrast, this year’s race was 1.2 miles, starting at Paris City Hall, going to Centre Pompidou and then back to City Hall. The participants wore aprons, and sneakers were allowed.

Crowds lined the sidewalks, cheering the participants along as they power walked through the twisting streets. No running is allowed in this historic race, and the trays cannot be carried with two hands. Minutes are deducted from the waiters’ race times for spillage and breakage.

Paris’ 15,000 cafes are an important part of the city’s cultural heritage. As the head of the restaurant trade group explains it, “A lot goes on in Paris cafes; love, friendship, business deals and revolutions.” Ann Hidalgo, Paris’ mayor, states, “The bistrot is where we go to meet people, where we go for our little coffee, our little drink, where we also go to argue, to love and embrace each other.” Note that she leaves out the “revolution” part.

The lucky winners of the waiters’ race receive medals, plus some things far more enjoyable…stays in four-star hotels and meals in highly starred restaurants.

I would love to be a spectator at this delightful event. I have long respected the hard and stressful work that all restaurant workers perform, often for low wages. And I know that I would be a disaster as a server. When I tried to balance a tray with a croissant, a coffee cup and glass of water, I only got a few meters when things got out of my control.

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It all began with a sculpture. From that single piece of art, it spiraled into today’s biggest craze in high-rise architecture. Twisting towers are popping up all over the world.

The Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat defines a twisting building as “one that progressively rotates its floors or facade as it gains height.” Their current world count of these eye-popping buildings is 41 twisted skyscrapers with 4 more under construction.

The renowned Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, sparked the era of twisted buildings. He was inspired by a sculpture by Halliday Avray-Wilson titled Twisting Male Torso. Calatrava then created his own sculpture, Twisting Tower, of white marble cubes.

In 1999, Johnny Örbäck, a director of Swedish housing, saw Calatrava’s sculpture and asked him to design a residential tower that resembled his artwork. The result was the first twisted building, “Turning Torso” in Malmo, Sweden.

These innovative buildings have advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, they are an aesthetic exclamation point on any skyline. Their occupants enjoy stunning and multiple vistas. And, environmentally, a twisted tower, compared to a similarly sized, rectangular one, can reduce wind load by as much as 24 per cent.

On the minus side, these buildings are far more expensive to build than traditional ones. Because of their complexity, the design and construction time is slower. In addition, the architects, engineers, developers and construction workers must all make a “highly focused” coordinated effort to make these unique buildings safe and successful. It’s so much easier to build a big, tall rectangle.

Check out these amazing structures from all around the globe.

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I’m a lifelong lover of ice cream. But until recently, I never knew where ice cream flavors go when they die. Now I’m dreaming of a trip to Waterbury, Vermont. Here’s the scoop.

In 1978, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield opened an ice cream parlor in a renovated gas station in Vermont. The business was fueled by a $5.00 correspondence course on ice cream making, $12,000 and a great deal of wit. Cherry Garcia, one of their first concoctions, remains a top seller to this day. But not all their imaginative flavor combinations have been hits.

In 1997, Ben and Jerry killed off four flavors but wanted their memories to live on. So they created The Flavor Graveyard on a hill overlooking their factory in Waterbury, Vermont. Four granite headstones with rhyming epitaphs were erected to commemorate the fallen flavors which were Dastardly Mash, Economic Crunch, Ethan Almond and Tuskegee Chunk. Since that bittersweet start, many more flavors have melted into the earth including Wavy Gravy, Holy Cannoli and Cool Britannica. To date, 44 banished flavors have been put to rest, and around a quarter million visitors come to pay their respects each year.

Ben and Jerry have even staged a funeral for one of their departed flavors, What a Cluster. The somber event was filmed and posted on YouTube.

And, finally, here is some sweet news. Flavors can be resurrected from the dead. Ice cream fans can go to Ben and Jerry’s website and click on “Resurrect My Favorite Flavor”. That is how Dublin Mudslide rejoined the living on March 22, 2022.

Here is a sampling of the humorous tombstones.

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