I went looking for an example of seagrass basketweaving to insert into an answer to a comment about our fondness for using "basketweaving" as a pseudonym for our particular disciplines, and the images I found are so beautiful, I decided they deserve a post of their own. If you need a few moments of looking at really well-crafted work after a week of reading too many student papers (or problem sets, or lab reports, or whatever), go here; the images are stunning.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Real Basketweaving
I went looking for an example of seagrass basketweaving to insert into an answer to a comment about our fondness for using "basketweaving" as a pseudonym for our particular disciplines, and the images I found are so beautiful, I decided they deserve a post of their own. If you need a few moments of looking at really well-crafted work after a week of reading too many student papers (or problem sets, or lab reports, or whatever), go here; the images are stunning.
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Awesome.
ReplyDeleteI do something similar to this. Ever watch YouTube videos of people throwing pottery on a wheel? I recommend the videos be muted so you can play various Penguin Cafe Orchestra tracks over them, with the lights off, or with candles to supplement the glow of your monitor.
Here's one already set to the right kind of music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap4nECBiLwI
But closeups are more mesmerizing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDaNJ-uEwgk&p=885C0CEA29AF264F&feature=BF&index=108
Instead of basketweaving, let's use graphopathology, the study of handwriting as a symptom of mental disorder.
ReplyDeleteI've always wondered why we use basket weaving. It looks to be quite difficult if done well. Maybe we are thinking of those dreadful ones kids do at camp?
ReplyDelete@EnglishDoc: Yes, I think the reference (which I originally heard as "underwater basketweaving") must go back to some of the raffia-and-reed monstrosities constructed by kids -- and some young adult hippies -- in the '60s and '70s, combined with a perception of declining educational standards in the same era. If I'm remembering correctly, the camp basket-weaving process involved some soaking of materials to induce flexibility and produce a tighter final product when dry; hence, I suspect, the "underwater" part, which may also have some reference to not-quite-scholar/athletes, and the "gut" courses they take to get a degree (presumably the pool is in/near the gym. I also suspect that SCUBA training may have been fairly new at the time, and considered by some to be a rather dubious thing for which to get college credit, though it is, of course, very useful for some sorts of field observation.)
ReplyDeleteHere on CM, I've seen several people use the reference to create more respectful analogies; for instance, I've seen at least one post and/or comment (which I can't find; sorry) which talked about the difference between "creating a schematic of a basket" and "weaving the basket" (which I take to equal writing a proposal vs. actually doing original research and writing up the results). That seems to assume that weaving a basket is a task that requires a fairly high level of skill and care.
So, at least on CM, I don't think we're necessarily using "basketweaving" as a pseudonym for a "gut" discipline/course; instead, we seem to be acknowledging that, as in many disciplines, and crafts, there are degrees of skill and care that can yield products ranging from elementary and/or sloppy to intricate, sophisticated, and even beautiful.
Maybe the reference is evolving (and/or we are causing it to evolve, at least in our little subculture, through usage)?
I took a basketweaving class once. I developed a whole new respect for those $1 store baskets because basketweaving requires skill and patience. The lady next to me actually cried in frustration. She's probably taking my chemistry class for relaxation now!
ReplyDeleteThanks Contigent Cassandra for great background info.
I'm with Prof and Circumstance. I actually took a class on basketweaving once, and like most things, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay harder than it looks when it is done well.
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