Controversial quilts!?

I know, right? I was surprised to come across this, but the latest issue of Quilter's Home magazine contains a "Shocking Quilts: we show you the controversial patchwork!" story. Apparently, the quilts were so shocking and offensive, Jo Ann's Fabric store refused to carry the issue. Even after offering to shrink wrap the magazine, much like Hustlers and other magazines of that type, Jo Ann's still refused.

The important questions here is, who has the right to censor the magazine by not carrying it the way it usually is? But the more interesting questions is, what do these quilts look like?

Luckily, Design Crisis has a post that features some of the featured quilts. Click to see the images.

You see, I like these quilts. Yes, they show the effects of racism, they degrade Jesus, and they make social and political statements, but that's exactly what makes them interesting. If I had the money, I would buy this one:

Who would Jesus bomb?

"If they're running and don't look where they're going, I have to come out from somewhere and catch them."

Over at Jezebel.com, there's a blog post/commentary about the strange pilgrimmages some people take to get J.D. Salinger to talk.

It's definitely weird and not something I had ever thought about before. I remember the first time I read J.D. Slinger was in my reading/writing about literature class a couple years ago, and our teacher warned us that Salinger's writing may not be for everyone; some people love him, some people don't. It's mostly because his writing is more about conversation and character than action or plot. Sometimes it's hard to even tell what the plot is, especially in his short stories.

I actually enjoyed his work so much, it inspired me to start reading the classics I never read in high school, starting with Catcher in the Rye. As for that book, I. LOVED. IT. I even incorporated it into a self-portrait I had to draw for an art project made entirely of text, where my hair is all excerpts from Catcher in the Rye.

Anyway, I knew J.D. Salinger is a recluse, and he has been for many, many years. But I never realized there was this weird tradition of reporters and fans trying to break his silence by getting him to talk with them. It makes me feel bad for the poor guy!

But before I end this post, I'll have to include a comment that someone left on Jezebel that makes me laugh so hard:

If I were Salinger, I would probably set up a highly intricate and highly dangerous obstacle course to get to my house--barbed wire, snake pit, pool of lava, wall spikes, the works--and then have locked door and a sign saying, "THAT WILL TEACH YOU; GO AWAY" at the finish line. But that would probably just get even more notoriety...

Internet friend saves life

Here's a sad but uplifting story from BBC.com:

A 16-year-old boy in the U.K. who is friends over the internet with a teenage girl from Maryland was suicidal, and he told the girl he planned to kill himself. Not taking his threat lightly, she told her mom what had happened, and they contacted police, who contacted the White House, who contacted the British embassy, who contacted police in England.

They finally narrowed their search down to where the boy would live based on his IP address, and after checking three other houses, they found his. He had overdosed on pils but was still alive, and he is now recovering.

The two are friends on Facebook, which, thankfully, is a much friendlier community than Justin.tv, where a boy followed through with his threat of suicide on webcam as others made fun of him. No authorities were contacted until hours after his dead body remained motionless on webcam for all to see.

Out of curiosity, I had searched the internet for evidence of these people's cruelty, and there was an unfortunate amount. I found cached discussions on message boards (which had been deleted) where he had posted his suicide note, only to have nearly every person make fun of him or urge him to go through with it. I also found recorded video of his dead body laying in the room as the police broke in, along with screen caps and transcripts of the chat room as it all happened.

Needless to say, it was depressing. So after that, it's nice to hear a story like this one, where a person is given a second chance instead of beat into their own grave.