Check out this cool site: http://www.lostateminor.com/ it has something for everyone - illustration, music, photography, fashion, architecture and more, and new stuff goes up everyday. Great for inspiration!

And this is probably my favourite so far...see if you can work it out

l(a

l(a

le
af

fa
ll
s)

one
l
iness

E. E. Cummings has written about 2,900 poems in total, but was also a painter, essayist, author, and playwright.

I have to confess I'm a bit of a poetry fan, but I'm quite fussy about the types of poems I enjoy. Thinking about our work with typesetting, and what we've learnt about text readibility during the year made me think of E. E. Cummings, a 20th century American poet who I really like, mostly because his work is just so unique and unusual. He deliberately defies any fundamental conventions of poetry and seems to focus more on playing around with word structure and page layout, and changing the function of punctuation. The overall design of text on the page is really important in grasping the essence of the poem. His poems can be pretty hard to read, mainly because of their lack of rhythm and strange syntax, but you find they are really clever if you take time to work them out. Here is one of his free verse poems that I like:


because it's

because it's

Spring
thingS

dare to do people

(& not
the other way

round)because it

's A
pril

Lives lead their own

persons(in
stead

of everybodyelse's)but

what's wholly
marvellous my

Darling

is that you &
i are more than you

& i(be

ca
us

e It's we)


This one is a bit more 'normal'...

(Me up at does)

Me up at does
out of the floor
quietly Stare
a poisoned mouse

still who alive
is asking What
have i done that
You wouldn't have

Just while I'm on the topic of sharing about other countries, this website is a great way of finding out about global current events, simply by presenting a collection of annotated photographs. It really demonstrates the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Some of the images are pretty amazing: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/

These are some shots from a market we went to on the last day, it was supposedly the cheapest in Dhaka (but also the most hectic!), situated at the universtiy. The bird sculpture was on a roundabout at the entrance to the uni, and the top image is of the Bangladesh Independence Day memorial. We had to take our shoes off just to climb the steps, as it is very highly respected. Bangladesh gained indepence from Pakistan after a Liberation war in 1971. Being a relatively new country in that regard, this is still a very emotional issue for many Bengali people. The banners and people gathered at the base of the memorial are part of a protest by uni students for better education. And I think that had better be the last lot before I get too carried away!

I was also really interested in the architecture over there - so many amazing buildings and all so different! (Mainly as a result of the different religions having their own unique style of mosque or temple). Bangladesh is primarily a Muslim country (88%), with Hindus making up 11% and Buddhists, Christians and others as the remaining 1%. The first two pics are of the HOPE Training Centre where we stayed in Savar, Dhaka. It was a secure compound patrolled by armed guards, in the midst of a chaotic rural part of the country. You wouldn't think so being inside though! My favourite building would have to have been the Parliament buliding though (top). The photo doesn't really give a good indication of size, but it is huge and very majestic, with a moat around the other side! (Kind of puts our beehive to shame...) The image at the bottom is an example of a decorative gateway that is put up to celebrate a wedding. I saw lots of these too!

Much to the amusement of the local host team, I was fascinated by the elaborately decorated vehicles. I don't think I saw a single truck or rickshaw that wasn't brightly painted! I found the whole country was like this in terms of appearance - despite the muddiness and litter everywhere, it was amazingly colourful and arty. The vibrant colours seem to bring a cheerfulness to the place that could otherwise be quite depressing.