Rocaterrania is a country located in part of what's often known as the
North Country of New York State, bordering on Canada. At least, it's there in the mind of Renaldo Kuhler, its creator, who has been imagining -- and sometimes physically creating -- the nation's
politics,
fashion, and artifacts since he was a teenager on his family's ranch in Colorado just after World War II. The son of
Otto Kuhler, who designed the
Hiawatha passenger trains of the Milwaukee Road railway, Renaldo needed an escape from ranch life. He invented a nation of forward-looking Eastern European immigrants with a vibrant, distinctly un-American culture. He warns, though, "it is not a Utopia." He has drawn, painted, and been the nation's history. He created its
language, Rocaterranski, and alphabet from Yiddish and Spanish and German. Rocaterrania is a large-scale work of fiction but sometimes the way Kuhler speaks, it sounds like he believes it's really there. Kuhler now
lives in Raleigh, North Carolina and is known about town for his Rocaterranian garb.
[more inside]
posted by knile
on Jan 7, 2011 -
12 comments
The
public shaming of Orange County billionaire Henry Nicholas continues apace. While his
financial crimes may not have drawn more than a passing reference, his drug use and other, more unsavory acts, have gotten widespread coverage -- as early as
last year. Perhaps, it's because Nicholas was
famously involved in supporting tough sentencing laws (his sister was murdered by her boyfriend in 1983.) However, some of the "tough on crime" policies he has backed as recently as
a few months ago are said to
unfairly worsen the punishment for those who commit crimes much less serious than those for which he was
just indicted.
posted by noway
on Jun 7, 2008 -
22 comments
Charles Kellogg was born in 1868 in California and claimed to have the larynx of a bird (called a
syrinx). Until his death in 1949, he
lectured and
entertained audiences as a performer of
bird calls. He travelled across the continent in the
Travel Log, a mobile home carved from a single Redwood log mounted on a 1917 Nash Quad truck chassis. In 1939, he smuggled samples of the Kakaula plant out of Fiji in hopes of providing birth control leader
Margaret Sanger with the perfect
contraceptive.
posted by 327.ca
on Mar 21, 2005 -
4 comments
Lord Timothy Dexter (1747-1806) was one of the most colorful characters of early American history, described here as, among other things, an "Eccentric 18th Century Merchant - Investor with a Midas Touch - Impresario - Patron of the Arts, founding the 'World Mouserum of Grate Wonder and Gret Caricters' - progressive 'Libperel' - Self Appointed 'Consler of Trouth.'" This site includes a complete transcription of Dexter's punctuation-free magnum opus,
A Pickle for the Knowing Ones featuring his famous
Addenda.
posted by Joey Michaels
on Nov 14, 2002 -
12 comments
Arthur Stace. Emperor Norton. These were not Great Men, but they were great men. Eccentric. Inspiring in a way. I have always found an affinity for people who walk to the beat of a
different drummer. People with a
vision underappreciated in their own time. Someone people
would never truly understand. I'd like to learn of more people cut from similar mettle, but what does one put in a search engine? What do you call people like this? Can you think of other eccentrics of history? (and yeah I already tried "eccentrics of history" but search engines bring up nothing of note).
posted by ZachsMind
on Apr 18, 2001 -
22 comments
