Julian Rodriguez

Artist, Concerned citizen, Designer, Explorer, Student

Hi! I'm Julian Rodriguez. I'm a Mexican American from Flint, Michigan working towards my undergraduate degree. I'm currently a junior rising in the Rhode Island School of Design's Furniture Design program. Outside of schoolwork, I've got a passion for exploring the great outdoors, including hiking, skiing, bike riding, and camping. Other than that, you can usually find me estate sale hunting or curled up with a novel drinking from my worldwide tea collection!

Dissolving Amazon and the instant gratification of subpar goods syndicated on the American household.

Why Do We Say "Sleep Tight?" I've long been obsessed with linguistics. English is haunted by phrases and terms that are physical evidence of another time, another century, and lifestyles totally foreign to the modern speaker. To take English as an example, this language- of course- comes from England, a nation that built it's power through seafaring. Relics of this historic legacy remain in popular phrases such as, "overboard" "smooth sailing" and "rummage." Now, why do we tell our children to "sleep tight?" Prior to the invention of mattresses that could fit in a box and deliver right to your door, and even before box spring mattresses of yore, beds used to be constructed of a series of ropes woven together to form a somewhat comfortable surface to rest at night. Like modern mattresses, these ropes could be loosened or tightened to create a more gentle or firm surface. Firmer surfaces were said to be more supportive of the spine and body, and it thus became desireable for the sake of health. Soon, the idea spread and tighter roping became the common method of making a bed. Therefore, it seems no small leap that parents would find a cute rhyme with which to convince (or scare) their children into doing what amounted to a routine chore. Goodnight, sleep tight, and don't let the bedbugs bite!

Fixing things!