From My Modern Met:
“109-year-old Alfred ‘Alfie’ Date, Australia’s oldest man, has 80 years of knitting experience under his belt, which is why the nurses at his retirement home asked him for a highly specific, peculiar favor. Back in 2013, there was an oil spill that was negatively affecting the little penguins of Australia and New Zealand, a species with only 32,000 members in its colony on the Australian Phillip Island.
“After the devastating oil spill, the Victoria’s Phillip Island Penguin Foundation began requesting knit jersey donations to ensure the survival of the penguins, since the jerseys prevent the penguins from ingesting toxins and keep water from getting into their sticky, oil-covered feathers, which causes them to freeze and be unable to hunt. Back in 2001, 96% of the 438 penguins affected in another oil spill were saved and rehabilitated using these sweaters.”
Please click through to read more about amazing Alfie and see the hysterical, wonderful photos of the penguins in their stylish garb! There’s also a charming 1:10 minute video.
“For some 35 years, Mary Jackson has created baskets true to that long, unbroken tradition [of West Africa], yet with a modern look and an expressive, sculptural flair that’s distinctively hers. She weaves them out of the strong, pliable sweetgrass that grows around the marshes and swamps of coastal South Carolina’s Low Country. . . Elegant and fine, Jackson’s baskets are shown in major art museums and prized by collectors around the world, including Prince Charles and Empress Michiko of Japan. She has received the highest honors, from a MacArthur Foundation ‘genius grant’ to a National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship. ‘I always wanted to keep the tradition in mind, to respect what was passed down to me,’ she says of her craft, which she learned from her mother and grandmother at the age of 4. ‘I just wanted to bring it to another level.'” Learn more from the American Craft Council 
Controversial avant-garde/experimental musician Philip Glass, 78, has written a new book, Words Without Music: A Memoir, that’s filled with insights into his work. Glass is considered one of the most influential music makers of the late 20th century. He is a prolific composer: he has written works for the musical group which he founded, the 
“This Passover holiday marks the end of an era for an iconic matzo factory in New York City. 
“Tailor Jorge Tello’s store feels more like a mariachi shrine than a tailor shop. Photos of Mexican stars like Pedro Infante fill the walls. And a glass case features one of Tello’s most intricate suits — a crisp, three-piece outfit with gold, flowerly designs down the lapel. . . It’s all on display at La Casa de Mariachi, the shop Tello has run in East Los Angeles for three decades. The store has become so synonymous with Mexican folk music, here and around the world, Tello has become known as El Maestro, The Master, to his customers. But it wasn’t always that way. Tello wasn’t even born in Mexico.” Read and listen to the story 
“Worth Repeating” is a weekly feature on the EngAGE Blog that will bring you previous posts that we think are still timely, interesting, or just plain fun! From 4/14/14:
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