School Test

While attending one of my grandson's basketball games hosted by another local high school I noticed this banner. I thought that it was an interesting logo, strong in image and clean uncluttered lines. I'm not sure what the connection is to the school, yet I thought that it is interesting. A postcard goes to the first one who identifies the "mascot" name for the school. Rule Number One: Ineligible entries are from Minnesota bloggers familiar with the school or anyone who has attended the school or anyone with prior information. Rule Number Two: Keep it honest...no cheating!! Go get 'em! Send in your names!

ADDED LATER: Some of you have asked offline for a definition of "minutemen": here is what I found on www.earlyamerica.com --

"The terms "minutemen" and "militia" are often thought of as one and the same. However, in early America — especially in the 18th century — there was a distinct difference.

Minute-men represented a small hand-picked force selected from the ranks of local militia companies and regiments. Approximately one-third of the men in each militia unit were chosen "to be ready to march or fight at a minute's notice."

The true minute-men — always the first to appear at or await a battle — stood at Lexington Green on the morning of April 19, 1775, and led the attack on Concord Bridge. Their numbers were reinforced by the regular militia that turned out in that day's historic battles.

Actually, the concept of minute-men existed in America as early as the 17th century, while the term itself came into use in 1759 during the French and Indian War.

The title "minute-men" was formally adopted the year before the American Revolution started. At that time, in October of 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts voted to enroll 12,000 men under the title of Minute-Men — volunteers who would be ready at a minute's warning to take to the field with arms.

After Congress authorized a Continental Army under the command of George Washington, minutemen units eventually ceased to exist. But their contribution as a trained and battle-hardened corps of veterans was an important and significant force as patriots took up arms to oppose the British army in the Revolutionary War."

Sunburst-The Answer

I thought that this quiz was going to be far more difficult. I guess that I gave too many hints in the commentary. Strangetastes from St. Louis, Missouri, clever little devil, found the answer on the MIA website and wins the postcard. The beautiful chandelier by Dale Chihuly can be found in the foyer of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. When it was being constructed, piece-by-piece, my then-preschool grandson and I sat off-and-on in the mezzanine for two days watching the worker bees putting each piece in its alloted place. Illuminated by neon lights in the interior, here is how the the museum describes it:

"Since the 1960s, Dale Chihuly has pushed the limits of glass in all directions -- including color, scale, and display -- to form organic, sculptural environments. Chihuly studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Rhode Island School of Design, where he experimented with glass, neon gas, steel, and Plexiglas. In 1968 a Fulbright scholarship allowed him to study at Venini Fabrica. There, he absorbed the ancient Venetian method of teamwork, in which glass masters work with assistants to produce a collaborative work. Chihuly brought the method back to RISD, and in the early 1980s, back to his home state of Washington. He centers his glassmaking and teaching activity in Seattle at his studio, The Boathouse, and the Pilchuck Glass School. Since loosing an eye in a car accident in 1976, Chihuly now serves as designer and director of his collaborative works, no longer blowing glass himself. Sunburst is made up of more than 1,000 individual pieces of glass and 100 feet of neon tubing. It weights more than 3,000 lbs." (MIA Website)

Postcard Quiz #2

This oughta stump you! The first one who correctly answers all three question wins an outstanding postcard which I will send to you from ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, USA: 1) What is this object and its function, 2)Name the artist (this should be easy for some of you--Twin City bloggers NOT eligible, and 3) Where is it located? The photo is an enlarged small section of the object. You'll see the whole thing after all three parts are correctly answered.