"As Famous As The Dodo."

From wikipedia:

"The dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was a flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Related to pigeons and doves, it stood about a meter tall, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 lb), living on fruit and nesting on the ground.

The dodo has been extinct since the mid-to-late 17th century. It is commonly used as the archetype of an extinct species because its extinction occurred during recorded human history, and was directly attributable to human activity.

The adjective phrase "as dead as a dodo" means undoubtedly and unquestionably dead. The phrase "to go the way of the dodo" means to become extinct or obsolete, to fall out of common usage or practice, or to become a thing of the past."

Okay, so "dead as a dodo" used to mean that something was gone, baby, gone. Ne'er to return.

Now, it really should mean: "So famous for being absent that it actually comes back to life, albeit in different form."

Meaning: The dodo is biologically extinct, but culturally bigger than ever.

Witness the above picture, the Muji pop-out DIY dodo.

The Muji dodo is just the most recent entry into a gargantuan heap of dodo-related gear.

There are plush toys:





T-shirts:



Record labels and websites:



Aimee Mann albums:


Porcelain figurines:








Calendars:


Coffee cups:



It goes on and on. These were just the first and quickest things I could find.

Now, "as dead as the dodo" should mean gone AND forgotten, not gone and endlessly reproduced in every conceivable form...

Let me think... Is there a dodo musical?

There is indeed!



Dodo food products? Ummmm... no.

Alright, I'm going to get to work on "Cap'n Jackson's lightly breaded and fried Dodo Sticks *" and y'all get to work coming up with a new phrase that means what "as dead as the dodo" should mean, m'kay?

How about "as dead as the broad-faced potoroo?" Maybe the problem is that once you call attention to something's absence, well, it sort of ceases to be entirely absent.

You at home come up with a new phrase, tell it to us and we'll all spread it around!
One day, you could be "as famous as the dodo."

Fun with language!

Love to All,

Jackson


* ("Dodo meat" is actually sustainably line-caught herring)

Visualizing Kinship

As I stated before, my theme for this week is Kinship with all life. And I can think of nothing that better represents that theme (visually at least) than Gregory Colbert's Ashes and Snow:






The show encompasses over 60 expeditions to almost every continent and more than 16 years in the making (and ongoing). Ashes and Snow has been viewed now by over 10 million people worldwide, making it the most attended exhibition by a living artist in history. All in all an epic endeavor, the success of which I believe must be attributed to the power of its message.

And if that's not cool enough, the show is housed in The Nomadic Museum, a sustainable and transportable structure, made originally out of recycled shipping crates and most recently, out of sustainable bamboo in Mexico City (the largest bamboo building in the world, to date!).



Emily Dickinson once wrote that great poetry can knock your head off. This does it for me. Tune in later for more in my series of kinship with all life...

-jordan

Kinship With All Life

The title of this post will be my theme for the week. It also happens to be the title of the first book my grandmother gave my father, and the first book (and same love-worn copy) that my father gave to me.

It is a wonderful book with an important message: that there is a universal language of love that transcends and translates amongst all living things. And with an open mind (and heart) we can communicate, and commune, with all life (animal and human).

This is something I'm sure most animal lovers or pet owners at one time or another have experienced, and it's a message that's personally had a lasting impact on my life. As a largely 'civilized', urban dwelling, technologically advanced species, we often forget our true context in the world, or lose touch with that special connection to nature.

This book is a wonderful reminder.

It's available here at Amazon or from the publisher.