Blogging for Apples

Just a quick reminder to come to Homecoming this afternoon! We’re all going to meet at 5:00 pm at the Superior Domem, and the parade itself starts around 5:30. Homecoming should be awesome, and Northern’s football team is super-good this year, so there’s pretty much no reason why you shouldn’t be there.

Though, secretly, I hate Fridays. Everyone else is gearing up for the weekend and getting excited to have fun, but Fridays are so long. I’m lucky if I can make it home to take a quick nap before I go back to work.

I think it’s safe to admit that I’m a little sad that the summer is over. I biked to work (I do that on occasion, especially while the whether is still co-operative) and I was stunned to find how cold it was! I wanted gloves!…

And in that moment, I realized the summer was over. Well, I guess it should start snowing any day now.

Eastern Civ is now American History! Rejoice and be glad! If you want to know why, I’ll let you all know later.

Hey guys, look over here! It's me, the general! Aim your longbows here!

So, as I was flipping through websites looking for some appropriately awesome pictures to wow everyone with for the first weeks of school when I stumbled upon this beautiful French helmet. Taken from the fourteenth century, a time rife with European warfare, its gorgeous gold detail work instantly caught my eye. I really liked the way the dragon was perched on top of the helmet, ready to spit imaginary fire at its master’s opponents, similar to the way a dog might bare its teeth at an intruder breaking into a house. Of course, the gold swirl on the side of the helmet looked cool as well–it was detailed and looked like the golden leaves of fall.

After a couple of moments of looking, though, I had two questions. Why would someone wear something this flashy to a battle where people are trying to find you and kill you? Furthermore, how do historians find such beautiful pieces of armor?

In the end, I think the first question helps answer the second. If you were a French officer sporting a beautiful helmet who got killed by the Brits, certainly they would take this helmet with them when they left. Spoils of war, and all. (Even if it was covered with gross stuff at the time, which I’m sure it was.) Then some great-great-great-great-reallygreat grandson decided to donate the piece to the Met because he was moving to a smaller mansion and needed to get rid of some clutter.

So, I believe there is a lesson here for both officers and the general public. If you are an officer, don’t wear the flashiest clothes in the world unless you’re really good at not getting shot. And, for museum visitors, be thankful they set the armor and arms art pieces in glass–they probably had gross stuff from battle all over them at one point, even if they don’t anymore.