Whether you live in an apartment with a balcony, a house with a huge backyard, or have no outside space to call your own, it is nice to have some greenery to add a touch of nature to your life.
Don Hirsch, a former designer for HGTV’s Curb Appeal, will be giving tips to improve the exterior and interior your home on August 7 at the Smithsonian Associates’ event “Home Makeover Magic.”
So, I decided to embrace my inner HGTV-lover and look for some creative ways to add a touch of green to any home.
Terrariums
Recently I started buying fresh flowers to spruce up my room, but they die so quickly and have to be replaced so often that they can become a hassle. For someone like myself who doesn’t have a green thumb, I needed something that would bring nature into my room without needing a lot of attention.
Recently, I was introduced to the terrarium craze that is going around. These are low maintenance plants that can be kept indoors, and the best part is that you become a landscaper because you can design them yourself! This tutorial for how to make a hanging terrarium globe is just one of many. You can buy them pre-planted at stores like Whole Foods, or you can get ideas online for ways to DIY, like these from Buzzfeed.
Let Gardening Hacks Make Your Life Easier
There are tons of gardening tricks out there, and if you are a pro, then you probably know most of them! But there is always something to learn, and if you are new to the gardening scene then make sure to check out some tips to make your life easier!
One trick that we have seen is the wine cork lanting board that uses wine corks to make holes for seeds in the ground. Want to try out this DIY project? Check it out here.
One tip suggests starting a seedling in a lemon rind
Find a Creative way Display Your Greenery
This old ladder was found and recycled into a series of shelves to hold potted plants! There are plenty of unique ways to display your green thumb’s work, but we thought this one was pretty cool. It takes some work, but it pays off, and if you’re up for the challenge there is a DIY tutorial to show you how they did it!
If you are looking for a quick and simple way to show off your greenery, try some of these ideas from Buzzfeed. There are some great ideas for both the indoors and outdoors. Putting plants in cinderblocks is always a great way to add creative flare!
Spruce Up Your Patio
If you have a patio instead of a garden or backyard, there are ways you can add some greenery! This tutorial on how to make a planter that your patio table umbrella can slide right through is an awesome way to start.
Terrariums are great for patios, and the previous tip on display methods can provide other ways to let your green thumb run wild even if you don’t have ground space! If you don’t have a large patio, consider options that allow you to stack plants. Here is an idea that requires a bit more work, but it can be as simple as stacking your pots in size order!
Ornate Stepping Stones
If you have more of a backyard area to work with, and are looking for something to create a walkway through your garden, you should look into adding stepping stones with some character. Try this tutorial for leaf shaped stepping stones; they are unique and will add to the outdoor feel of your garden. If you want something a little more classic for your backyard, check out this DIY walkthrough for concrete stones designed from rubber door mats!
If you enjoy interior design or just want to add some love to your home make sure to check out “Home Makeover Magic with HGTV’s Don Hirsch” on August 7. Find out more and get tickets here.
Written by Emily Hines, social media intern at The Smithsonian Associates.
In my previous blog post on Shakespeare, I wrote about how Shakespeare’s timeless themes are one of the many reasons that he is still so beloved after 450 years. During the Smithsonian Associates’ lecture “Shakespeare 450: A Standing Ovation,” on Tuesday evening, Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger illustrated this with a heartwarming and beautiful example.
In a war camp in Syria, children and families live in a community made of tents and dirt roads. The children don’t attend school; it is the least of their concerns. Syrian actor-turned-director Nawwar Bulbul was not okay with the prospect of these children losing valuable time in their lives for education and imagination. So, with the help of some of his friends, he created “Shakespeare’s Tent.”
Photo by: Khalil Mazraawi
This is a place where children can come to put on productions of Shakespeare with one requirement: they have to promise Bulbul that they will return to school as soon as they can.
With the promise made, the children set to work to put on their productions of KingLear and Hamlet. Both are plays that deal with themes of loss, honesty, and power. The most important part of these productions for Bulbul is the line, “to be or not to be,” from Hamlet.
Photo by: Khalil Mazraawi
“They so craved a safe place to talk about lives, fears, their sense of loss… and that place was Shakespeare,” Stanger explained.
The children performed their plays in the center of the camp, on a stage that took the form of a giant square drawn in the sand, with swords made of brooms and old broken pipes. They wore the clothes that they had on that day. Families and friends came to watch the performance and eventually they were invited to Amman to perform for an even larger crowd.
These children’s entire view of themselves changed. They had the confidence to perform in front of all of these people. They had a way to cope with the challenges that they faced. And they were shown the endless possibilities that are out there. As one girl commented, she could “be an actor, or a doctor, who knows?”
And as one child said, “I do not feel lonely anymore.”
Photo by: Khalil Mazraawi
With this story in mind, Stanger begged the question: Why Shakespeare?
Why do we continue to read the works of a man who was born 450 years ago? Why did Bulbul choose him as a path for these children’s education?
The first answer that popped into my head was the themes. King Lear and Hamlet are tragedies that feature dark issues. The characters face loss, the corruption and changing of power, and the choice between what is right and what is wrong. This may not directly reflect the lives of the reader or viewer (or actor, in this case), but the emotions and tribulations behind the themes are universal, as are the ways in which we deal with them. These children used dark plays written over 400 years ago to cope with the emotions they faced and the violence around them.
Stanger had a much longer list of reasons for “Why Shakespeare?” which she calls her Shakespeare Top 10. She used this list to not only shed light on the question at hand, but also to provide the audience with a look into the life and times of Shakespeare.
10. Right Time: In England, during Shakespeare’s life, there were many changes occurring. It was a time for exploration into new worlds, new sciences, and new social structures. These new findings and ideas needed new language to communicate them, and Shakespeare was just the man for the job. It was also a time when there was a shift from theater as a group of traveling players to theater as an established building, or “the theater” as we think of it today.
9. Right Place: Shakespeare’s father held many civic positions in their town of Stratford Upon Avon. One of these positions, bailiff, required that he approve all plays that were to be put on for the people of the town. Players would come to his house and perform just for him. It isn’t hard to imagine a young wide-eyed Shakespeare sitting with his father watching these plays and having his interest for the theater heightened. Shakespeare was an actor before he was a playwright, and it is speculated that he may have joined one of these traveling groups that came through his town.
8. Royal Support: During Shakespeare’s time as an actor and a playwright, two monarchs held the throne: Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Both were highly fond of pageantry, celebration, and flamboyance which led to an interest in the theater. There was serious censorship during this time and more often than not, one would write their plays to please the monarch. Stanger mentioned a fun story: many like to think Queen Elizabeth I loved the character of Falstaff in Henry IV so much, that she asked Shakespeare use him more often. From this came The Merry Wives of Windsor, where Falstaff makes more of an appearance.
7. Social Changes: Social mobility was becoming more of a factor at the time. Shakespeare applied to have a coat of arms made for his father which can be seen at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The fact that a family with as little political power as Shakespeare’s would be granted a coat of arms was a reflection of the times. More and more people were applying and being granted coats of arms during his time.
6. Actor’s Eye: As mentioned previously, Shakespeare was an actor before he was a playwright. He may have acted in some of his own plays, and some scholars think he performed as the Ghost of Hamlet in his productions of Hamlet. Plays were written not to be read, but to be watched, and Shakespeare’s experience as an actor gave him valuable insight when he transitioned to the role of a playwright. He knew how to write for the actors, for the stage, and for the audience.
5. Comedies: Shakespeare’s comedies almost always feature the promise of marriage, a trick or a prank, a world that has been put back together, a knot that has been unknotted, and family. Some examples are Much Ado About Nothing, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night.
4. Histories: The history plays, while often dreaded the most by school children, are “endlessly adaptable” as Stanger says. They feature both the past and what is to come, politics then and now, and question who is and who should be king. In his history plays, Shakespeare does not hesitate to play around with characters and plot, to make it more entertaining, as long as the historical outcome is the same. Modern renditions of the history plays can be used to reflect sentiments at the time.
3. Tragedies: Shakespeare’s tragedies have the ability to bring us to the edge of our seat, to tears, and to cause us to think deeply about the questions he poses through his characters and their actions. There is almost always an ending where the world is still broken and the death toll is high. “It’s being catapulted toward an outcome you can't prevent," Stanger comments, and I think this is what keeps us so intrigued and interested. We so desperately want Romeo to wake up in time, or Othello to find out the truth about Desdemona, but we know with Shakespeare’s tragedies it is not likely.
2. Timeless: If I have said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times. Shakespeare’s themes, and even some of his characters, are timeless. That is why the children in Syria performed his plays and that is why many people are gathering throughout the world this year to celebrate his 450th birthday.
1. Language: Stanger pointed out to the audience that, because most of Shakespeare’s plays were based off of existing narratives, the theater goers did not attend his productions for the plot or the outcome, but instead they must have gone to listen to the beautiful language that he crafted.
Written by Emily Hines, social media intern at The Smithsonian Associates.
If I had a knack for science, I would definitely have studied to be an animal conservationist. The thought of spending my day with animals both big and small is heaven, but I often forget just how much science goes into being a veterinarian or working in conservation like Pierre Comizzoli, a reproductive physiologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
Red panda babies recently born at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute
Comizzoli has jokingly been called the “father of Bao Bao,” as it was his and his colleagues’ efforts that led to the adorable giant panda’s birth. I know I do not just speak for myself when I say that I would LOVE to be able to play with the Zoo’s celebrity cub, but what most of us don’t know is the hard work that went into Bao Bao and many of the other animals at the zoo.
“The phrase ‘zoo’ has evolved quite a bit,” said Comizzoli, mentioning how zoos now are far more interested in scientific efforts and reintroducing animals into the wild than they were when they first originated.
“The zoo is a place for family time and seeing the animals, but it is also a place for science and conservation,” he told the audience.
This is good news considering every day in the news we hear that more and more animals are added to the endangered species list, or worse – the extinct list. The limited number of remaining animals proves to be a problem for reproduction. If too few animals are left to revive the species, their offspring may be inbred. This leads to a decrease in what Comizzoli calls “genetic diversity.”
If animals across a species have diverse genetic makeups, then they will pass on the best genes to their offspring as generations go on and produce even more diverse offspring. If the makeups are not diverse, as is the case in inbred animals, then they keep passing along the same traits. Many of these traits may be negative and because of inbreeding will never be eradicated from the species.
To combat this, scientists have begun assisting in the reproduction of endangered species in captivity. The stress of being in captivity means that reproduction may not occur naturally, so scientists have developed methods to help with this, and to promote genetic diversity. With these methods they can reintroduce beneficial genes into a population.
Processes such as in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination are used to assist in the conservation of these endangered animals. Freezing reproductive materials in liquid nitrogen is a big part of these efforts. While it might seem as easy as freezing an egg or reproductive tissue (sometimes they can freeze an entire ovary, imagine the size of an elephant's!), it is much more difficult and scientific than that. Cryobiology, the official term for the collection and storage of biomaterials for conservation and biomedical science, is a growing field.
Each species’ genetic material reacts differently to the processes and therefore must be studied closely and have an individual procedure. Each animal’s reproductive behavior is also different and must be taken into consideration.
For example, Comizzoli pointed out the interesting fact that wild cats, most of which are endangered, ovulate at different times across species. For some, it is induced by mating, and for others it is spontaneous, oddly enough. To figure this out took many years of studying the animal’s behavior and numerous tests.
There are many success stories that Comizzoli touched on, the first of course being very dear to most of our hearts – Bao Bao. In the 1990s there was a very low number of Giant Pandas in China and the rest of the world. Those in captivity had stunted development and poor genetic diversity due to inbreeding which made reproduction difficult on conservationists’ part.
The solution they devised was to use artificial insemination. They also separated the males and females because, after studying giant pandas in the wild, they found that males and females interacted very little outside of mating. To make matters difficult, there is only one period of time during the year that female giant pandas can reproduce, so they had to time the artificial insemination exactly.
Bao Bao at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
The effort was a huge success with 300 pandas now in captivity, which can lead to greater genetic diversity in the population. It is unknown exactly how many giant pandas are in the wild, but it is estimated to be about 1,600. However, the destruction of the giant pandas’ natural habitat has caused population fragmentation, which leads to inbreeding because of how the species is separated across their remaining habitat.
Work is being done to restore and reconnect their natural habitats so groups of giant pandas can mix, and with this comes the possibility for reintroducing those animals in captivity back into the wild.
With all of this in mind, Comizzoli stressed the importance of “filling the gap between technology and ecology, and creating a link between the lab and the field.” Without technology none of this conservation would be possible. Scientists at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and institutions around the world are working to create more cost and time effective ways of conserving our planet’s endangered species.
A lot of science goes into creating these cute cuddly animals we love to visit and see pictures of, and next time I am at the zoo oohing and ahhing over Bao Bao, I will make sure to remember that.
For more information on cryobiology at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo check out this article from the Zoogoer.
Written by Emily Hines, social media intern at The Smithsonian Associates.
The Bard turns 450 this year! I find it pretty amazing that after 450 years we are still reading Shakespeare’s work. I used to wonder what all of the fuss with Shakespeare was about, so I signed up for a class my sophomore year of college. Come my first day, Norton anthology in hand, when I looked around the classroom full of seniors who were rattling off all of the plays they had read, I was embarrassed that I even thought I could attempt to understand Shakespeare’s writing and be on par with these older and more experienced students.
In the iconic play Hamlet, Polonius asks Hamlet, “What do you read, my lord?” Hamlet responds with the famous line, “Words, words, words.” That’s all Shakespeare is really made up of—words—but the Bard is still intimidating. While my Shakespeare class was not my easiest that semester, and understanding all of those words was extremely difficult, the time I put into attempting to grasp the meaning behind each work made it the most rewarding class I have taken.
The reason Shakespeare’s work was able to gain my attention was the ability that I had to relate to the themes and hidden moral and philosophical questions that Shakespeare posed. Shakespeare’s plays have themes we can connect to today, 450 years later, which is probably the most amazing thing about his work! Plays about love, loss, jealousy, money, history, forgiveness, and time just skim the surface of his themes that bridge the gap between Early Modern English writing and modern day life.
Not only has he left us with works that apply to all humans at some point in their life, but he left us with some pretty awesome vocabulary as well! We use more phrases and words in modern English that can be attributed to Shakespeare than you may think. Check some of them about below, and see if you can even guess what play they are from!
It doesn’t take an expert on Shakespeare to know that the legacy he left behind is pretty amazing! Newbies to the author and just general fans like me can look at the list of modern adaptations in film, writing, and on the stage and see that after 450 years the Bard is still creating magic.
In many of Shakespeare’s sonnets, especially Sonnet 60, he wrote about how time destroys all things, but art may have the ability to stand the test of time. Shakespeare has definitely accomplished that with his work, and that is what we will be celebrating in our program, “Shakespeare at 450: A Standing Ovation” on 7/15.
Carol Ann Lloyd Stanger, a Tudor and Renaissance scholar and education specialist at the Folger Shakespeare Library, will be with us to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday and to talk about the legacy he has left on our culture! Get your tickets and learn more here.
Written by Emily Hines, social media intern at The Smithsonian Associates.
