Bardeen cachet, the JaPan way
There are times when projects come at you from all sides. Then again, there are times when said projects come at you like a runaway train right when you’re supposed to be doing something else such as, oh, C-U Confidential #2. What’s a boy to do? Why, all of it, of course!
Last Thursday, March 6, the physics department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign celebrated the inclusion of the late faculty member and double Nobel Prize winner Dr. John Bardeen in a stamp set honoring American scientists issued by the United States Post Office. At the Loomis Laboratory ceremony, the Champaign-Urbana Stamp Club also issued a first-day cover (a commemorative envelope with a stamp placed in the upper corner and cancelled on the stamp’s first day of issue) featuring original artwork done in a pen-and-ink style that a few of you might be familiar with:
Well, that’s a bit of a change from dinosaurs, monsters, and super-charged marsupials, ain’t it? Thanks to CUSC president and daytime co-worker Louise Toft for giving yours truly a shot at honoring Dr. Bardeen, who helped develop the transistor and the BCS theory of conventional superconductivity, among other things. You can read over this official UIUC press release and the proverbial Wikipedia biography to learn more about Dr. Bardeen (because you’d have to actually pay to read the News-Gazette‘s freshly-archived coverage), and then check out this envelope mock-up graphic posted on the CUSC Web site; ordering instructions can be found underneath it.
Just prior to sketching away furiously at ye olde drawing board (for the first time in way too long), I turned around words and design for two of my regular divergences from MICRO-FILM skullduggery. Next month’s issue of Sirens of Cinema magazine will feature my profile of Los Angeles-based actress Monique Parent (BLOOD SCARAB), while the fresh-off-the-press third edition of Champaign’s very own Bachelor Pad Magazine emerged complete from the very same computer where I type these words. Go get ’em from your nearest bookstore or Web site if you have a hankerin’ for a bit of stylish ‘n’ sexy fun!
~ Jason Pankoke