"So much working, reading, thinking, living to do! A lifetime is not long enough."          - Sylvia Plath

"The Shore Line is an open documentary project about rising sea levels and unchecked development that uses the coast as a thematic thread. We sought out people who are living along our global coast and confronting challenging situations with collective responses. I use the term open documentary (coined by Patricia Zimmerman and Helen De Michiel) because it’s a project that has an 'open narrative structure' and is also free and accessible to anybody with an internet connection. The creation of this documentary was collaborative, and many of the 42 short films within the project were developed by students or international filmmakers from nine different countries. 

"When you open up each chapter, there’s a soundscape, a series of films, interactive maps and data visualizations. And then we have a searchable database that is particularly important for teachers who might want a feature a particular country, topic or activity. And then we have action kits that feature classroom activities and social actions.

"I see the project as a multi-layered tool kit on climate literacy. It offers different ways to experience the material and different ways of learning and thinking." - Liz Miller

Article: ‘The Method of Sharing a Story Depends on the Social Context’

Dave Gray describes his true passion as “creating visual explanations that make complex or potentially confusing situations easier to understand.” 

This website is an expression of that passion. On it he catalogs visual frameworks, or “pictorial mental models that can help you clarify your thoughts.” And they do. While many of these frameworks represent familiar phrases such as snowball effect, uphill climb, and pendulum swing, being able to see them makes them much more usable.

Warning: This site is a time sink.

Website: Visual Frameworks, a Language of Patterns

It is no secret that some food manufacturers assuage eaters that the junk foods they sell are healthier than they actually are. After all, technically speaking, your favorite potato chips are very likely vegan, all natural, and cholesterol-free. 

To demonstrate how frighteningly easy it is to be so devious, Matt Rosenman of Cheat Day Design rebrands popular snacks and soft drinks to look like health foods on a very popular TikTok series. 

His redesigns include favorites like Doritos ("Whole Grain Veggie Chips"), Coca-Cola ("100% Plant Based!"), Twinkies ("Pre-Portioned for Guilt Free Snacking"), Oreos ("Made with 100% Sustainably Sourced Cocoa"), and Mountain Dew ("Now with Real Fruit Juice"). Ouch.

One-liners

The Image of the Week is by Sylvia Plath made in 1960, when the writer was living in London. She didn't name it, but it is commonly referred to as "the Eisenhower collage".

"Here’s something I’ve learned from studying notebooks: often, creative people are creative across multiple mediums. Take Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) for example—she was a brilliant writer and a talented visual artist.

"Not only did Plath fill her diaries with sketches, she created elaborate scrapbooks to document her life. She painted striking pieces of abstract art. She expressed her political views in a collage with Eisenhower’s face at its center. She was obsessed with the color red." - Jillian Hess

Article: Sylvia Plath's Visual Notes