Politicians had been talking for years about the need to replace the Oregon State Hospital, but didn’t get serious about it until a group of legislators made a grim discovery during a 2004 tour: the cremated remains of 3,600 mental patients in corroding copper canisters in a storage room. The lawmakers were stunned.

“Nobody said anything to anybody,” said Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney, who dubbed the chamber “the room of lost souls.”

The remains belonged to patients who died at the hospital from the late 1880s to the mid-1970s, when mental illness was considered so shameful that many patients were all but abandoned by their families in institutions.

After doing some research into the story, Photographer David Maisel got in touch with the hospital administrators – the same hospital, it turns out, where they once filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – and he was granted access to the room in which the canisters were stored.

Maisel set up a temporary photography studio inside the hospital itself. There, he began photographing the canisters one by one.

His book, Library of Dust, will be released later this summer.

Tip of the Hat to: Cleanser

The Today Show is never on here. Ever. But today, NBC’s Today Show was Must See TV. Why? To catch an interview with my latest study. Top Blogger Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com. If you want to skip the intro to Mommy Blogging and go right to Heather’s interview the time code is at approx. 3:05.

Maybe I’m a little late to the party, I just discovered Dooce from June-Gonna-Eat-That, and I’m both intrigued and amused. Heather’s bio is interesting as well as her presentation. The Blog Gets Personal. Always has, and she has the hate-mail to prove it (and she showcases it).

Dooce.com is loaded with advertising. The blog format unintentionally uses the oldest advertising appeal; kids and animals. And it supports the family.

Kathy Lee was clueless to the concept. Who Knew that this blog thingy on the interweb could cost you your job and possibly create a new revenue stream?

I want to know more. When I worked in television, I always enjoyed working on the production part of a show or ad.

Now? We’re all producers.