From Caveman Lee comes this picture of models in zebra costume. Read the story behind these costumes here and see more pictures from this event here.
January 2009 Archives
As part of its Highway 7 Reconstruction between Silver Lake and St. Bonifacius, the Minnesota Department of Transportation took photographs of the roadways before construction began and after it ended. Among those photographs is a handful of photos from the intersection of Minnesota Highway #7 and Zebra Avenue. These photos (dated September 30, 2008) do not seem to show Zebra Avenue itself, only Highway 7.
If you look at a map of this region you may notice something interesting -- which is to say that I spotted something of note: The named avenues across this part of Minnesota seem to follow alphabetically. Starting from Zebra Avenue and looking east it seems most of the named streets follow the alphabet in reverse order. After Zebra comes Yale, Weller, Vega, Urban, Tacoma, Salem, Rome, Quaas, Polk, Oak, Naples, Market, Laurel, Kelly, Jersey, Halsey, and then Guernsey. At Guernsey my tired eyes lose the trail (if there really is one and I am not imagining this). I can not seem to spot an avenue the name of which starts with an X, but the presence of Quaas Avenue with other circumstantial evidence suggests an alphabetic avenue planning system in this region of Minnesota.
From paintedcreatures.com comes this Standing Zebra, "An exquisitely sculpted, aristocratic zebra from Oaxacan master Angel Ramirez."
Macarena C.'s Flickr Photostream includes the Zebra Skin Set of five photos with titles like "To look at the world as one," and "Zebra Look." Check them out, they are beautiful.
I asked the Zebra,
Are you black with white stripes?
Or white with black stripes?
And the zebra asked me,
Are you good with bad habits?
Or are you bad with good habits?
Are you noisy with quiet times?
Or are you quiet with noisy times?
Are you happy with some sad days?
Or are you sad with some happy day?
Are you neat with some sloppy ways?
Or are you sloppy with some neat ways?
And on and on and on and on
And on and on he went.
I'll never ask a zebra
About stripes
Again.
Did you know that striped zebra clothing made a comeback in American prisons?
Image source: Pride Enterprises
In an October 1, 2000, story the New York Times wrote: "Dozens of county sheriffs, in states as diverse as Texas, Indiana, Nebraska, Florida and Maine, are putting their inmates back in stripes. The Mississippi Department of Corrections has been using striped trousers for more than five years (green-on-white for minimum-security convicts, black for medium, and red for maximum). The zebra look has even arrived in juvenile detention centers in Massachusetts and Missouri."
Read more at the New York Times.
Northwestern professor Jack Levin was quoted in Prison Chic," a July 5, 2001, story in the St. Petersburg Times:
"You can trace the punitive mood of a nation by the uniforms it makes its inmates wear," Jack Levin said from Boston. Levin is a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University.
"Right now, Americans are in a very punitive mood," he said. "Prison wardens and sheriffs around the country are doing some sadistic things."
Read more at the St. Pete Times.
More stories about zebra clothing making a comeback in prisons:
Associated Press: Prison stripes make comeback
Cartoonstock's mostly un-funny strips involving prison garb
Zebra striping — also known as candy striping or half-shadow — is the application of faint shading to alternate lines or rows in data tables or forms.
| Many believe that zebra stripes |
| aid the reader by |
| guiding the eye along the row. However, |
| despite being in use in both paper and |
| electronic mediums for almost |
| half a century, there is practically |
| no evidence that it actually |
| assists users in this way. |
°Doudou°'s Flickr photostream includes this beautiful composition: Beautiful legs on zebra @ New York City, USA.
