M.J. Rose

It’s time for something completely different…and completely nice.

From The Dodo,

Woman Throws Little Parties For The Squirrels Who Come To Visit Her
She builds them dining rooms and even food trucks.

by Caitlin Jill Anders

“After a woman discovered some injured baby squirrels in her yard, she felt a bond towards them, and decided to start doing something special.

Ashly Deskins woke up one morning to find that four baby squirrels had fallen from two different nests in her backyard. She watched in awe as one of the mother squirrels came down to save her babies — but unfortunately, the other two were left behind.

My husband and I attempted to save the other two abandoned squirrels by rushing them to a wildlife center,” Deskins told The Dodo. “Sadly, the injured babies did not survive, but the encounter sparked a special interest in the squirrels, which caused me to appreciate and enjoy them during my daily routine.”

From that moment on, Deskins couldn’t help but notice how many squirrels there were living near her apartment complex, and started to feel connected to them. Many of the squirrels would hang out on her back patio, and so she began leaving almonds for them occasionally. Then, she had a brilliant idea…”

For the rest, and more pictures, click here.

“Fantasy doll maker” is probably the best job title we’ve ever heard. And these dolls really are fantastic.

‘Forbidden Fruit,’ by doll artist Mari Shimizu.

From Dangerous Minds,

Surreal dolls reveal the dark fantasy worlds that live under their ‘skin’

“Fantasy doll maker Mari Shimizu hails from Amakusa, Kumamoto Japan where after graduating from Tama Art University, she dedicated herself to creating and photographing her intricate ball-joint dolls. Shimizu is deeply inspired by the Surrealist movement, especially Nazi-hating Dadaist, photographer Hans Bellmer whose scandalous work often incorporated dolls. Here are a few words from Bellmer on his artistic approach that appear to directly align to Shimizu’s ethos:

The body resembles a sentence that seems to invite us to dismantle it into its component letters, so that its true meaning may be revealed ever anew through an endless stream of anagrams.
Shimizu carves openings in her dead-eyed dolls in order to provide the viewer insight into the inner-workings of her inanimate creations. Themes that run through her work include mythology, religion, death and nature in which rabbits are common themes. Rabbits are symbolic for a myriad of reasons and perhaps as it pertains to Shimizu’s work is how the rabbit is regarded as an “Earth” symbol—as it is the earthly aspect of its existence that allows the animal to retain its composure in the midst of chaos. Rabbits are also categorized as being “tricksters” in various mythological tales and folklore from around the world including Japan. Shimizu’s utilization of the dolls as unconventional artistic vehicles is about as tricky as it gets…”

For the rest (many photos!), click here. Note: Some of the images of Shimizu’s ethereal dolls are NSFW….

This isn’t the most cheerful post we’ve ever done, we know. But imagine having lived in one of these places your whole life. If walls could talk…The Glore Psychiatric Museum is the closest thing to a voice those walls will ever have….

A mannequin peering out of a ‘Lunatic Box’ on display at the Glore Psychiatric Museum in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

From Dangerous Minds,

Take a chilling look inside the Glore Psychiatric Museum

“In 1874 the state of Missouri opened the “State Hospital for the Insane #2” more commonly referred to as the “Lunatic Asylum #2.” The asylum prided itself as the kind of institution that took on the “noble work” of “reviving hope in the human heart and dispelling the portentous clouds that penetrate the intellects of minds diseased.” While this claim does sound noble, the methods that were used to “penetrate” the minds of the patients who found themselves in one of the institution’s 25 beds were often medieval at best. At their worst the treatments administered by the staff were variations of what would be considered torture and were often experimental in nature—usually causing more harm than good.

The asylum would fill all of its available beds. In 1899 the institution changed its name to the far more friendly sounding St. Joseph State Hospital. Five decades later over 3,000 patients had passed through the hospital including dangerous criminals who had long taken leave of their mental faculties. These criminally insane people walked the halls alongside of residents who were struggling with depression. The hospital would continue to operate for 127 years. In 1967 a long-time employee of the Missouri Department of Mental Health, George Glore opened a museum in one of St. Joseph’s many wards. Glore’s on-site museum housed various mental health related artifacts that had been used over the centuries to treat patients with mental health problems, such as the horrific sounding “Lunatic Box” which was routinely used to treat patients that could not be easily controlled and were prone to act out, perhaps violently. The box, which strongly resembled a fucking coffin of all things, would house the patient in complete darkness in a standing position for hours. Patients were not even allowed to leave the box to go to the bathroom, leaving them to do their business in the box until a member of the staff felt that they had reached the appropriate level of zen.

In 1997 what is now known as the Glore Psychiatric Museum moved to a large, three-story building in order to provide enough room for its vast array of oddities…”

Click here to see many images from exhibits on display at the Glore including some haunting artwork done by patients who resided at St. Joseph’s during its century-plus existence.