Category Archives: Culture

How an Indigenous Weaver’s Mastery of Color Infuses Her Tapestries With a Life Force

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

October 16, 2024 A red tapestry is edged with indigo at the top and bottom and features an undulating line of the same color across the top quarter. The work is a flat rectangle of wool, but the vibrancy of the … Continue reading →

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How Golden Peacocks on a Dining Room Wall Destroyed a Longstanding Friendship in Victorian Society

Posted on 01/04/2025 by alicia

July 19, 2024 When James McNeill Whistler put the final, defiant flourishes upon two golden peacocks on art collector Frederick Leyland’s dining room wall, it was an act that would lead to the end of a long and lucrative friendship, and the … Continue reading →

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Ask Smithsonian: Why Do We Kiss?

Posted on 07/03/2016 by alicia

Love snuggling up to a sweetie and smooching? That’s romantic, but—spoiler alert—kissing can be a disgusting and dangerous activity.  While kissing, couples exchange 9 milliliters of water, 0.7 milligrams of protein, 0.18 mg of organic compounds, 0.71 mg of fats, … Continue reading →

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What Is Bertsolaritza And Who Are The Basque Poets Who Know It

Posted on 07/03/2016 by alicia

Part poetry-slam, part hip-hop freestyling, part a cappella singing and 100 percent improvisational, the tradition of bertsolaritza has become a cultural signifier for the Basque diaspora. Read More.

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Journey to Mingering Mike’s Magical, Musical World

Posted on 03/26/2015 by alicia

Lots of kids create their own fantasy worlds, populating them with monsters or superheroes—representations of friends and family, persecutors and allies, foils and alter-egos. For some, it’s a way of getting by when they don’t fit in, or of escaping … Continue reading →

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U Street: The Corridor Is Cool Again

Posted on 04/14/2006 by alicia

SAUNTER down U Street in northwest Washington almost any night and you’ll hear the pulsing beat of urban nightlife: the tinny pop of a snare drum, the caustic sneering of an indie rocker, the smooth melodies of a lounge singer, … Continue reading →

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A Conversation with Cristian Samper: A Fascination With Forests Finds Fulfillment at Smithsonian

Posted on 06/17/2003 by admin

As a boy, Cristian Samper rambled through the tropical forests of his native Colombia, marveling at the diversity that surrounded him. Not content to view the flora and fauna only in the abstract, he began what was to become a lifelong obsession and vocation, cataloging the diversity and assembling it into collections that forcefully argue for its preservation. Continue reading →

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Turning a Camera, Stress and the Wild Into a Sudden Hit

Posted on 07/23/2000 by alicia

LESS than a decade ago Mark Burnett was competing in adventure races, an experience that led to his life plan: he would bring the sport to America, which was having a love affair with the outdoors, sport utility vehicles and … Continue reading →

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