M.J. Rose

“The story of how the three were intertwined is worthy of the era’s most lurid pulp novels.”

Indeed!

The Married Woman Who Kept Her Lover in the Attic
Dolly Oesterreich, her “Bat Man,” and one of the strangest sex scandals ever.
by Addison Nugent

Dolly Oesterreich, c. 1930. (Photo: Public Domain)

“In April 1930, the Los Angeles Times began publishing what would end up being months’ worth of eye-popping details from an exceedingly strange court case. It involved a “comely” woman named Dolly, her murdered husband, and her lover, a man known as the “garret ghost” who, at Dolly’s behest, lived a “bat-like life in hidden rooms.”

The story of how the three were intertwined is worthy of the era’s most lurid pulp novels.

Born in 1880, Walburga “Dolly” Korschel was a German immigrant who grew up on a poor Midwestern farm. In her early 20s she married Fred Oesterreich, the wealthy owner of a successful apron factory. The couple settled in Milwaukee but marital bliss was elusive—Fred drank too much and Dolly was sexually unsatisfied. “Her eyes and her appetites would bring a long line of men into her life—and send one to his death,” wrote the LA Times.

One uncharacteristically hot autumn day in 1913, Dolly asked Fred to send one of the factory’s repairmen to the house to fix her sewing machine. When 17-year-old Otto Sanhuber knocked on the Oesterreichs’ ornate double entry door, Dolly, then 33, answered wearing stockings, a silk robe, and nothing else. In the master bedroom the dusty old Singer machine remained untouched; the same could not be said for Mrs. Oesterreich. Their tryst that day marked the beginning of a multi-decade sexual relationship…”

For the rest, click here.

There is something incredibly thought-provoking about this work…

“By using relatable items, Dyck explores the relationship between the natural world and humanity; the shared dependency we have with different species that as humans we’re essentially at the mercy of.”

From The Creator’s Project,

Artist Fixes Damaged Objects By Placing Them in Beehives
by Anna Marks

“These honeycomb encrusted sculptures look like they’re 3D printed or shaped by a sculptor’s hands but all have been built by nature’s most efficient designers: bees. Canadian artist Aganetha Dyck is the woman behind these wax-covered objects with over 20 years experience working with beekeepers, scientists, and hundreds of bee collaborators.

Dyck’s work reflects the evolution of design today, where due to advancements in technology we can manipulate nature as an effective tool to produce elaborate artwork. Dyck has an inherent interest in collectibles and memorabilia and her personal work mirrors this fascination. Her honeycomb covered collection exhibits a range of items including Edwardian figurines, helmets, shoes and sports equipment that look as though they ought to be sitting within an old curiosity shop.

Dyck tells The Creators Project, “Throughout my life I’ve had an interest in figurines and collectibles. I wondered about dust and dusting of figurines and of the glass cabinets containing these untouchable treasures. These collectibles were beyond my reach as a child and adult alike.” But Dyck’s object choices are also political. “Choosing sports equipment is a reaction to the press discussing the importance of sports and their related public funding vs artists and cultural workers and their public funding.” By using relatable items, Dyck explores the relationship between the natural world and humanity; the shared dependency we have with different species that as humans we’re essentially at the mercy of. Her sculptures are visual representations of this dependent communication…”

Click here for the amazing photos.

From The Atlantic, a deep piece on the human fear of knowing it all…

The Human Fear of Total Knowledge
Why infinite libraries are treated skeptically in the annals of science fiction and fantasy

by Adrienne LaFrance

“Libraries tend to occupy a sacred space in modern culture. People adore them. (Perhaps even more than that, people love the idea of them. A Pew survey last year found that while people report feeling strongly about the importance of public libraries, those same people are using libraries less and less.)

The grandest libraries, built like monstrous cathedrals, are particularly beloved. It ought to follow, then, that the ultimate library—an infinite library—would be revered as a utopia, especially in an age where data is seen as its own currency. But libraries have a dark side in the cultural imagination.

In The Book of Sand, Jorge Luis Borges tells the story of an unexpected visit from a Bible salesman, who has in his collection a most unusual object. “It can’t be, but it is,” the salesman says. “The number of pages in this book is no more or less than infinite. None is the first page, none is the last.”

The strange book is so engrossing as to be sinister. This is a theme that comes up repeatedly in Borges’s work. “Paradise is a library, not a garden,” he famously said. But libraries, he warned, can be hellish, too….”

For the rest, click here.