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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

@lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social

140 followers 130 following 95 posts

Brooklyn-based Colombian artist, educator, and parent. Professor of Integrated Design at The New School's Parsons School of Design. Director, DEED Research Lab focused on the indigenous and traditional artisan sector.

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · 2d

The sun sets in #Atlanta, as seen in the penthouse recreation space of a senior living community.

My entry for this week’s #BlueSkyArtShow, with the theme #vertical.

#nofilter

The sun sets in #Atlanta, as seen in the penthouse recreation space of a senior living community. You see a gorgeous sky through tall windows behind a ping pong table under an elegant chandelier.

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · 23d

Here’s my entry for this week’s #BlueSkyArtShow, theme #TheRoad.

#upsidedown #puddlegram of people working on a #Brooklyn #street

#nofilter

Upside down photo of people doing work in a road in Brooklyn, reflected in a big puddle.

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · 23d

And...? Don't leave us hanging! How was it??

Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Dr. Nick Posegay @nposegay.bsky.social · Sep 17

I'm sorry, worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable permission to my voice and likeness? For what now? In any manner for any purpose???

This is in academia/.edu's new ToS, which you're prompted to agree to on login. Anyway I'll be jumping ship. You can find my stuff at hcommons.org.

By creating an Account with Academia.edu, you grant us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable license, permission, and consent for Academia.edu to use your Member Content and your personal information (including, but not limited to, your name, voice, signature, photograph, likeness, city, institutional affiliations, citations, mentions, publications, and areas of interest) in any manner, including for the purpose of advertising, selling, or soliciting the use or purchase of Academia.edu's Services.

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Sep 13

Tysm!

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Sep 13

#BlueSkyArtShow #Home

#colorphotography #architecture #lookingdown #stairwell #kids

Photo of two kids walking down a stairwell holding rainbow umbrellas

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Sep 6

2020, epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic in the U.S. #Summer was a blur--schools had been closed for months already. With 5-year-olds at home, these were the moments that most nurtured us. This was the peak of “summer” that year, and which we hold with so much gratitude and love.

#BlueSkyArtShow

A color photograph of 4 kids playing at sunset in the water. One is jumping up, surrounded by 3 kids. You see the horizon and sunset colors in the sky in the background.

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 30

I’ve always loved photographing #shiny surfaces in the built environment. Here, I’ve rotated this photo of an empty apartment with a shiny marble floor.

#florida #interiors #lookingout #bluesky #blueskyartshow

Rotated photograph of an apartment and its balcony looking out on a blue sky and tropical vegetation

Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Blue Wave @votebiue.bsky.social · Aug 26

For all the dog lovers. This is a classic. Worth seeing again.

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Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Upaya Zen Center @upaya.bsky.social · Aug 26

Will you be joining us for this FREE in-person and virtual Awareness in Action teaching with Rebecca Solnit?

Rebecca is such a powerful and kind presence at Upaya. We are looking forward to gathering with you all!

Register online here: www.upaya.org/program/awar... @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 26

Fan of em dashes here! 🙋🏼‍♀️

Clive Thompson @clivethompson.bsky.social · Aug 26

Since "an abundance of em dashes" has become a tell for AI-generated writing ...

... I'm gonna re-up my essay: "In Defense of the Em Dash"

gift link: medium.com/medium-handb...

Just because AI over-uses 'em doesn't mean *we shouldn't too!*

it is a noble piece of punctuation

reason #1 (of 6)...

A screenshot reading:

"1. Em dashes feel slightly *anarchic*
People have a pretty good sense of the function of the various punctuation marks. The comma gives a short rest, while the semicolon joins two related ideas. The colon often introduces a list.

But the em dash? It’s weirdly all-fungible. It can be used in place of all of those punctuation marks I noted above, as the Punctuation Guide notes: “The em dash is perhaps the most versatile punctuation mark. Depending on the context, the em dash can take the place of commas, parentheses, or colons — in each case to slightly different effect.”

So it’s a shapeshifter, which makes it hard to pin down. Yet that also makes it exciting for me — because it suggests you can bust out an em dash, for, like, no reason at all except that you feel like it.

As Ben Yagoda notes, “It’s the mark that — unlike commas, periods, semicolons and all the others — doesn’t seem to be subject to any rules.” Or as Kate Mooney of the New York Times puts it…

[…] the em dash is emphatic, agile and still largely undefined. Sometimes it indicates an afterthought. Other times, it’s a fist pump. You might call it the bad boy, or cool girl, of punctuation. A freewheeling scofflaw. A rebel without a clause."

Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Aug 25

"There are more than 19 million college students in the US. Most are well removed from corridors of wealth+power..43% of undergrads attend community college. 25% live with their parents."

a listicle for everyone, especially for the NYT editors themselves to learn

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...

The Typical College Student Is Not Who You Think It Is

www.nytimes.com

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 23

A #skyline for this week’s #BlueSkyArtShow.

Inside or outside?
Trapped or free?
Fog or smog?

#nyc #photography

A gloomy photo of the NYC skyline seen through a metal fence

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 17

Colorful #pieces for this week’s #BlueSkyArtShow.

#craft #ribbon #yarn #multicolor #photography

Wooden shelves full of various colors and sizes of ribbon on spools

Wooden shelves with bundles of yarn of all colors

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 10

Thank you!

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 9

Here’s my entry for today’s #BlueSkyArtShow with the theme #Jagged.

#boy climbing a rock in Île d'Yeu, France

#photography #nofilter #bluesky

White clouds interspersed across a blue sky above the ocean. In the foreground, a large rock on a sandy beach. A boy is climbing the rock in an elevated crawl position

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Aug 7

The nerdy tattle-tale in me grew up to be an academic who loves calling out designers who plagiarize and culturally appropriate. The latest is #Adidas x #WillyChavarría. Here’s what I wrote (including learning resources!): deed.parsons.edu/2025/08/07/c...

#culturalappropriation #acasky #huaraches

Screenshot of a blog post that reads

Cultural Appropriation? Willy Chavarría x Adidas’ “Oaxaca Slip-On”

Statement from the Secretary of Cultures and Arts of Oaxaca (provided by Cultural Documentalist Laura Quiroz)
On Sunday, August 3, 2025, designer Willy Chavarría unveiled his latest collaboration with Adidas—the “Oaxaca Slip-On” (see images here). While the shoe is being celebrated as a “nod to Chicano culture” and a “revival of Mexican tradition,” the Secretary of Cultures and Arts of the State of Oaxaca claims that Chavarría and Adidas have neglected to credit the Yalalag Community, “whose traditional huaraches were used as the aesthetic basis for the footwear.” This accusation of cultural appropriation is now being widely reported, including on CNN.com (August 6, 2025).

Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Aug 1

❤️ this: "Ea week we’ll take one platform fm the Google suite [+] treat it... like a performance venue, a poetic constraint, a sketch comedy prop... We’ll misuse features that usually go unnoticed: version history as revisionist memoir, autofill as ⏰ device, data validation menus w/ no valid options"

School for Poetic Computation

The School for Poetic Computation is an experimental school in New York City supporting interdisciplinary study in art, code, hardware and critical theory. It's a place for learning and unlearning.

sfpc.study

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Reposted by Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo

An-Jes Oudshoorn @annejessicalise.bsky.social · Jul 31

What if "bicycle street, cars as guests" were the starting point for all streets?

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Jul 31

I had the same thought - I see the TikTok trends already testing different gloves, ha!

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Jul 31

I was with my kids so I then showed them this work from artist Sarah Ross's "Archisuits" (2005-06) which powerfully fills "the negative space of the structure designed to deny" certain people.

#iykyk #urbandesign #safestreets #politicalart #subversiveart #mta #nyc

A white woman lies on a series of soft-looking blocks designed to create one seamless flat surface on a bench that has been otherwise fragmented to prevent anyone from laying on it.

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Jul 31

Yesterday, I had noticed these new dividers in NYC Union Square's turnstiles, so this morning I stopped to ask an MTA worker what they were for. She explained that they are to prevent people from jumping over as now, they don't have anything on which to hold. (And, that edge would hurt if grabbed!)

The backs of two people who are about to walk through a turnstile at a subway station in NYC. You can see the OMNY scanning screen and also large dividers between each turnstile.

Close-up of a turnstile divider with a jagged edge, in polished metal.

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Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Jul 29

Cross writes about #ReynerBanham's conference opening (keynote?) which succinctly sums up the "professional man's" (designer!) paradox of wanting to solve problems but not necessarily ever getting to root causes.

#designresearch #codesign #participatorydesign #design

Cynthia Lawson Jaramillo @lawsonjaramillo.bsky.social · Jul 29

Re-working a case study for a journal submission and grateful to have stumbled on this out-of-print gem from 1972 -- Nigel Cross's "Design Participation" (proceedings from a Design Research Society conference). Great range of critique on #participatorydesign #codesign #designpractice.

Screenshot of a book cover in red background with white boxes in a grid (suggesting a facade) with one of them in red ornamentation.

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