Bricks in the Wall: Red with alternating lines

Pictures: Bricks in the Wall: Red Bricks, Mixed Sizes

Pictures: Bricks In The Wall: Classic Red Brick

Photo Essay: Things I Destroyed With My Hedge Trimmer, aka, Of course I take my camera with me when I'm doing yard work, don't you?

	It'd been a year with no trimming of any kind for the border plants and small trees, not to mention the vines and weeds. I don't mind a slightly wild yard, mind you, but it was getting hard to mow around them and the holly, in particular, wasn't playing nicely when the ball rolled that way. I didn't kill the hibiscus, I don't think, but I did take off a bunch of flowers and got it back on our side of the fence.
	I'm sure the spiderweb didn't survive the trimmer, but I'm sure the spider lived to spin another day. It'll just have to move a lot further in, now. I do wish the picture had come out better, but after swinging the hedge trimmer around for a while, my arms just didn't have the patience for a lot of that shoot-check-shoot again-check again stuff.
	Here's a sight you really don't want to stumble on suddenly in the midst of a vigorous trim! Fortunately, the wasps were out and about, or something. Just one flew around for a bit, and I continued on my destructive path, unmolested.
	Actually, this little worm/caterpillar/larval something is probably just fine. Maybe even happier with the new layer of foliage on the ground to burrow around, though that won't be there long: tomorrow the mulching mower does the cleanup!

Comments Elsewhere

In response to Daniel Larison's comment: "In the event that the officials responsible for these decisions were arrested or found guilty of crimes, that would not be a dark day, but rather the day when the sun has finally started to peak through the clouds of arbitrary and illegal government actions."

I wrote:

Absolutely.

My fear at the moment is the blanket pardon, though it would have the advantage (long-term) of eliminating the fifth amendment dodge.

Most of my more substantive comments lately have been at Edge of the American West. In a discussion of the Vietnam War Memorial, I wrote:

My only complaint about the Vietnam Memorial is that it spawned so many imitators: listing names — or exact enumerations of victims (those stars on the WWII memorial?) — is now the de facto standard for memorials, more or less obliterating any chance at abstraction, inspiration or processing beyond simple grief.

Others have pointed out that name lists were common memorials before, which is true but not entirely the point.

In an earlier discussion about engagement between liberals and conservatives, I wrote:

Going back, if I may, to one of the original questions, not only are there substantial portions of this country where Republicans — often extreme ideologues — rule and reign, but there is a substantial network of institutions developed in the 70s and honed in the 90s which are devoted to the maintenance and development of right-wing intellectual and political figures. Scaife, Murdoch, Gingrich and others have created a way to ensure that the issues will not go away, that the ideas will find outlets and new expressions, and that we will have to contend with all this over again.

The real question, by the way, isn’t “what conservatives are worth listening to and engaging with?” but “what conservatives are speaking reasonable truths to their conservative audiences and whose ideas are going to be influential enough to be worth taking into consideration?”

(and if you're wondering why I repost these, part of the answer is that I only got one response in that 200+ comment thread)

Finally, for now, in response to a fascinating history of a landmark work of modern art, I wrote:

One of the most wonderful things about the 20th century is that it became possible for obsession, intensity, creativity and temporary insanity to be expressed outside of the realm of religion.

I'm going back to my pre-election status: some quotations, some quizzes, ocassional pictures, and reposts of comments made elsewhere. Thanks very much for reading along, though!

Colors and Textures, discoveries offered without explanation

Art or Garbage? A Photo Essay

What is public space? What do we have a right to do in public space? What is art?

Art or Garbarge? This lovely bow was planted firmly in the middle of a parking lot. Accidental, I'm sure, but somehow charming, as though someone tried to make the parking lot pretty as a birthday present.

I've seen people work on cars in auto part store parking lots. I've seen bright, colorful packaging on green grass before. I'd never seen evidence of car servicing in a University parking lot before.

A subtle adjustment to the environment can create mystery, a sense of adventure. In this case, I still wonder what the story is. How did the traffic cone end up under the river? Was it flung from the bridge? From the bank? Brought there just to see if it floated? Removed from a despised repair site?

One of the things I love about the camera is the way in which you can look places you'd never be able to see otherwise. This is looking down an old pipe, probably a defunct water or sewer pipe, which stands open to the sky in a small downtown are. It never ceases to amaze me, really, the creative ways people find for hiding their garbage. It never ceases to amaze me now lazy and unthinking people are about their garbage: there are garbage pails all over downtown....

This was stencil painted on a downtown traffic signal control box (At least, I think that's what it was; it was near a traffic signal, anyway), and it's a clever little piece. The three masked and big-haired women on a three-person bike, how well-armed they are, the money bags in the bicycle's wire baskets at the back. Again, there's a story here, this time a much more deliberate one. Traffic control boxes don't usually tell stories. I found another interesting piece of graffitti here (mildly risque), demonstrating another way to apply art to public spaces quickly: it's drawn on to a sticker (a US mail address label). The two layers of drawing seem to have nothing to do with each other, artistically or thematically (nor do either of them speak to the medium of the address label).