Some people might remember the famous song, “Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis,” sung by the famous Judy Garland. She recorded the song in 1944, but it was actually used at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair.
While this song is noteworthy on its own, this particular international fair was momentous for the introduction of American food to the international stage. The list reads like a ‘thou shall not eat,’ to anyone who attempts to eat healthy: hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, Dr. Pepper, Candy floss and ice tea. While many historians have argued these foods were alive and existing in the United States before, this fair was used as an opportunity to promote American food to an international crowd.
It is also interesting to note that candy floss was invented by a dentist-talk about job protection.
While the introduction of these foods holds a special significance to the American culture, their influence goes deeper. I would argue that this food was the establishment of typical fairground food. Who among us can’t thank the St. Louis Fair for our summer memories of the sweet scent of candy floss after the carousel, mingled with the char-broiled smell of meat roasting on a grill during a ball toss?
The character Sweeney Todd, made the dark side of the barber’s chair famous through his blood lust. Few might know that there is an element of truth to the relationship between barber and blood. Men- read on if you dare.
A common fixture of a traditional barber shop is the barber’s pole: A white vertical cylinder, with a red, and sometimes blue, helix. It has been in existence since the Middle Ages; a beacon to let the public know that the barber surgeon resides within. The top of the barber’s sign is a symbol of the bowl that would hold leeches, and the bottom was the basin that would receive the blood. Intrigued?
What did the barber surgeon do? He could cut your hair, perform surgery, extract a tooth or (wait for it) perform bloodletting. In the Council of Tours of 1163, clerics were forbidden to shed blood, this is characterized by the Latin, “Ecclesia abhorret a sanguine”- the church abhors the shedding of blood. Overnight the profession of surgery was turned over to the laity, or the common people. And the barber flourished.
The Company of Barbers was created in 1308 in England. As late as 1540, under the reign of King Henry VIII, the Barber’s Guild Hall was the place of public dissections. It was mandatory if you were a surgeon to attend these quarterly events.
The agora, or marketplace, is alive with voices of farmers selling their produce. Men argue over politics, philosophy and the current state of Athens. The name of Socrates, and his student Plato, dead less than half a century ago circulates amongst the toga clad men gathered in the far corner of the agora. Servants hurry about sending messages from house to house, and buying produce for their mistresses for the evening meal. There is talk of a play at the Theatre of Dionysus.
Even in the heat of the day, the naked and glistening bodies of men in training can be seen in the gymnasium. They are preparing for the athletic competitions that are part of the Panathenaic Festival. In contrast, four young girls sit weaving a dress for the Goddess Athena in a dark chamber at the Parthenon, which has been completed now for one hundred years. The dress…
Canadian fashion designers Dean and Dan Caten, also known as Dsquared2 made their dent in the world of perfumery with the launches of their Wood fragrances for men and women in 2007 to mixed reaction. Their masculine offering boasted a minimalist, authentic approach and blended the smells of pencil shavings with grassy vetiver. They followed with 3 other variations of wood based scents, flirting with redundancy. With the launch of their 2011 Potion fragrance, boldly described as the “scent of seduction”, the brothers managed to maintain the familiarity of their timber themed scents while exploring the incorporation of strong herbs, spices and floral notes.
Brushed With Mystery 