Travel can be about learning. Liza Jascolt, at the University of Houston, teaches a class in Las Vegas each spring.
Photo from Liza Jascolt's class in 2011
Students in Professor Liza Jascolt’s class get the opportunity to tour casinos, meet with the managers and executives, and learn first-hand what it takes to run a casino—all for class credit.
Students can still register for Liza Jascolt’s spring 2012 class.
Introduction to Casino Hotels with Liza Jascolt
Dubuque's Hotel Julien
Places.
We move in and out of watching faces.
Float around the hotel lobby like fishes.
They’re all blowing air.
We know it must mean something but we just stare
–Lyrics “Places” by Fountains of Wayne
After a brief legislative debate, Indiana has approved a new license plate featuring the slogan “A Place to Pee Between Illinois & Ohio.” This phrase will also be the focus of the state’s tourism marketing campaign.
A $50,000 study, commissioned by the state, revealed what most Americans already realized. “Nobody knows what a hoosier is, and we are tired of getting asked the question,” said Indiana State Branding Czar Wilbert Wilkins. “We looked at what Indiana is known for, and the study revealed that, aside from the Indianapolis 500, Americans really know us for one thing: making the drive from Illinois to Ohio about three hours longer.”
The state also considered slogans like “Land of William Henry Harrison” and “The Land that Lincoln Left,” which focus on Indiana’s rich history. Instead, they chose the new slogan because, according to Wilkins, “It really cements our place on the map. Other states can match our museums and casinos, but no other state can separate Illinois and Ohio.” State tourism brochures have been designed with the new slogan, and a full rebranding is expected to take about one year, as Welcome to Indiana signs, license plates, and drivers licenses are redesigned to feature the new slogan.
Pondering a Robert Delaunay painting at Musee d'Art Moderne, Paris
Bootsnall.com published another of my travel articles. Read the article here: Visiting World’s Fairs: 11 Museums and Monuments that Take Us Back to the Future.
On an innocent stopover in Knoxville, I visited the Sunsphere. Once I had world’s fair on the brain, it was interesting to see where they would show themselves. In Wisconsin, I discovered the restored Norwegian Pavilion from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. On a visit to the Columbus Museum of Art this week, I found a Robert Delaunay painting created for the Italian Pavilion at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair. I didn’t make it to Shanghai for the Expo last year, but I bet I can find a relic somewhere.
Related Articles: Knoxville’s Sunsphere
Wisconsin’s Little Norway
I accidentally uncovered a World’s Fair relic in Southwestern Wisconsin–a 117-year old replica of an old stave church–on the site of a farm.
In 1893, Chicago hosted the World Columbian Exposition. For its pavilion, Norway built a replica of an old stave church in Trondheim before taking it apart and shipping it to the fair. (I have no idea how so many people could tour this little building). After the fair, when all the pavilions were dismantled, the Norwegian pavilion was purchased and ended up at someone’s estate in Wisconsin. Fast forward to 1935 and Isak Dahle, the founder of Little Norway, who happened to know the right people, purchased the faux church and brought it to Little Norway in Southwestern Wisconsin, where it has been on view ever since. Continue reading
I watch the patchwork farms’
slow fade into the ocean’s arms
And from here they can’t see me stare
The stale taste of recycled air
“Recycled Air” by The Postal Service – lyrics
Ode to Comfest Columbus circa 2008. Comfest 2011 is June 24-26, 2011.
This is not the truth. But it it what we wish were true.
Life is not this way. It is not a party. We don’t all get along. Which is why I like it here. Here there is live music and beer. There are artists and old hippies and wannabe hippies. There are cool dads with their kids hanging out on blankets in the park. There are college kids with their girlfriends hanging out on blankets in the park. There is the shade of the trees, vendors of crafts, activists, & vegetarian food. There are muddy people playing frisbee barefoot. There is the occasional whiff of an illegal smoked substance. There are more graphic tees than can possibly be imagined, some clever, some activist. As hippie, free-love as it sounds, all are welcome here. Maybe it is about making change. Maybe it is about remembering a lost past, reminding later generations about the first Comfest in 1972, when hippies were hippies. Continue reading
Behind Drawer #1 is...
I learned a lot at the recent American Association of Museums 2011 Conference in Houston. But my favorite discovery was Box 13 Art Space and their exhibit “Box of Curiosities” in a PODS moving storage box.
This faux-historical exhibit recalled the great Victorian collectors and museums like Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum, and featured drawer upon drawer of faux scientific relics: Keys to Unknown Places, The Great Horse Migration of 1873, Severed Hand Donor Anonymous, and more. It also taught of the great Squirrel Wars in Texas history. Didn’t learn about them in history class? This is probably the only place you ever will.
I saw the POD in downtown Houston at Discovery Green. Unfortunately, they moved it to Pasadena, but at least its still on display. Check it out.
http://www.box13artspace.com/current-shows/box-of-curiosities/
Austin San Antonio International Airport
I was alerted in a blog post today about flights from Chicago Rockford Airport.
When I grew up, Rockford was about 85 miles from Chicago. I checked Mapquest, and it still is. Rockford has apparently adapted the Ryanair model, where, if you are in the same time zone as a major city, you can name your airport after it. Rockford is kinda sorta close to the Chicago exurbs, so they named themselves after Chicago.
What would happen if other airports used this model?
Madison (MSN) could rename its airport Madison Milwaukee. It’s only 77 miles away.
Can Austin (AUS) rename its airport Austin San Antonio.? AUS is 88 miles away from downtown San Antonio?
But what if San Antonio (SAT) renamed itself San Antonio Austin? Continue reading
“Coney Island is always an attraction, whether you come away disappointed, disillusioned, or like me, obsessed.”
