Internet Phone Book Explorations: Fungal

(This is one of a series of periodic explorations of the Indie Web via the Internet Phone Book project. I am on a personal exploration but also hope to lift the profile of sites I have found.)

This morning, I dug out the Phone Book and started plugging in some phone numbers, just to see where it might take me. I found some fun little corners but this one — 265 on the dial box — brought me to what seemed to be a Wikipedia page about Hypha (fungus), and then as I was looking, the page began to sprout a layer of fungus. The more time I spent watching, the more the tendrils grew until the page was filled. Pretty cool.

Raphael Bastide, the site creator, calls it a “post human tribute to Wikipedia” in the short blurb in the phone book.

This image comes from the Fungal site

On the Fungal site, Raphael writes: “It also represents a comforting example of what humanity can do: collaborating voluntarily on the largest knowledge project in our history. I consider Wikipedia being the descendant of Enlightenment’s encyclopédistes and free software movement, and I think such project made by the people, for the people are beautiful remains of the early Web’s utopia.”

I want to shout out another interesting project of Raphael — Carecore — a place to take care of seeds and flowering ideas. And I love that it was an accident. I tried to add a stem/seed but the plant was full. I’m gonna grab the RSS feed and see what happens.

Peace (poking into the odd corners),
Kevin

PS — There are other cool sound projects at Raphael’s site, too.

Front Page: Quidditch

Daily Hampshire Gazette: Quidditch

The local newspaper did a nice front page feature on our school’s game of Quidditch, now in its 25th year. The article might be behind a paywall (sorry). My homeroom team won the tournament this year and then we teachers played against the kids at night in a fun game. We invited back the student from 27 years ago who proposed the game, and she spoke to the crowd. (During the Pandemic, we did not play). My colleague, Jim, the PE teacher, is retiring, so this was a special year for him.

Peace (and literature in motion),
Kevin

Daily Create: The Heart-Stopper

The Heart-Stopper

For the prompt at the DS106 Daily Create, we were asked to rummage through the house and find a device or something, and give it a new, inventive name. I found this in our kitchen — I suspect it is a cookie cutter – but the stopper in the middle inspired my name for it: the Heart-Stopper.

Peace (in the found),
Kevin

Graphic Novel Review: Mexikid

Mexikid by Pedro Martín

Yeah, there’s a reason Pedro Martin’s Mexikid graphic memoir was on the finalist list for the National Book Award and is on so many Best Books of 2023 lists. It’s fantastic, on so many levels.

Martin weaves a rich story of his family and his own connection to both America and Mexico, as the graphic novel tells the tale of his entire, large family traveling to Mexico in a mobile home and an old truck (there are too many of them to fit in one vehicle) to bring his elderly but still very spry grandfather (Abuelito) to America to live with them. They also need to find a new burial site for the remains of his grandmother, creating a real moment of drama as the family scrambles to remove her bones from a flooding cemetery. (They succeed, but the impact of caring for his Abuelita’s remains is impactful on Martin).

With a deft emotional touch and plenty of humor, Martin’s illustrations and storytelling skills are top notch, and very engaging for the reader. What comes across is the love of family and of the stories of cultural heritage, and how a Mexikid (Martin’s title for someone like him, born in America but with deep roots in Mexico) can thrive by connecting to the stories of elders.

I highly recommend Mexikid for any classroom, but it would have the most impact on middle and high school classrooms, I think.

Peace (and Story),
Kevin

Two Morning Poems

Iris

This first haiku is from a -prompt — Wild Iris — and the second is a response to my friend, Algot, who writes haiku on Sundays and which I try to respond back to his with a poem of my own.

Home

Peace (in three lines),
Kevin