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MY MOTHER WAS A COMPUTER: DIGITAL SUBJECTS AND LITERARY TEXTS BY N. KATHERINE HAYLES CHICAGO AND LONDON: THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, 2005 228 PP./$55.00 (HB), $22.00 (SB) 'If nothing [...]

Electroquackery has a history all its own that is as long and colorful as that of legitimate electromedicine. But then, the difference between serious research and outright fraud has often been a little unclear. At a time when electricity was only beginning to be understood, fakers proposed devices that seemed no stranger to the general public than the proposed devices of legitimate researchers, and the theories of even the most extravagant charlatan could gain a ready following because they hardly seemed less believable than the phenomena they were supposed to explain.

The article discusses the pottery of the Mimbres, a tribe who lived in what is now New Mexico from 200 A.D. until 1150 A.D. Many of the designs on the pottery use dark space turning into light space, and vice versa. Archeologists such as J. J. Brody have used the pottery to learn about the culture of the Mimbres, drawing connections between the pottery of the Mimbres and their burial rites. The paintings and imagery found on the pots, which include animals such as deer and turtles, have also been used to discover more about the lives of the Mimbres.

The article focuses on the ceramic art of Cliff Garten, which combines architecture and ceramics to, according to the author, alter the perception of space and to give the viewer a chance to enjoy rich and sensual colors purely for enjoyment. After attending Alfred University in Alfred, New York and the Rhode Island School of Design in Rhode Island, Garten began to manipulate ceramic vessels, space, and architectural concepts for his art. The author likens Garten's art to other artists such as Jennifer Bartlett, and the evolution of his own style to the evolution of different movements in the art world.

The article focuses on the idea about monasticism, religious community, and spiritual work in the U.S. The author raises several questions concerning how she got mixed up with those spiritual leaders at the Holy Cross Monastery and how she ended up as part of the personnel of a male monastic community in the Episcopal Church. She also raises an issue on how such a sociological anomaly as a monastery happen to be settled on a hill on the west bank of the Hudson River.