Shape And Shadow

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We all receive our character from the force we oppose and the least resistance we encounter. We flow along walls and into openings whether it's among families or within cultures. How we are perceived is a work in progress - a silhouetted ember glowing against the glare of our pasts. The shape we take in the mind of others is all about how our shapes got worked as we made choices about dealing with those things, people, and events which squared off our character.

"Everyone is broken by life," Hemmingway observed, "but some people are stronger in the broken places."

Rob Bowman, a local contractor says, "buildings should look different in Lancaster." Why? People expect that they will. Visitors expect that they will know when they have arrived here, even though they've never been here before. They expect that the form which the city's received will have come from the frontier it opposed, the culutres it attracted, from the opportunities it provided, from the influence it wielded. Cities are a legacy. But they are also a possibility. It's that balance which keeps them viable. When legacy dominates, cities become museums - Disney Adventures. The only work they provide is amusement . Which is perhaps the tragedy of New Orleans – a fate that cities like Lancaster must guard against.

GEEK STUFF: Canon EOS 20D, Canon EFS 17-85mm (f4-5.6),1/64 at f/14, exposure Bias value: -1, ISO: 200, Focal Length: 81 mm, Date/time: 7/31/07-6:07 pm, Metering Mode: Average, Camera RAW

Curiosity

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Betsy Hurley is sort of a day-time neighbor. Two doors north of us on N. Lime Street lives the Lancaster Museum of Art. Two doors south sits the Lancaster Literary Society. Yep, this is an artsy block. Anyway, Betsy is the President of the Literary Society and curiousity comes with her job description. She also edits that magazine in her hand called Raportage, the Society's journal.

Civilizing - that's the objective of people like Betsy. The rule books for civillity are kept by our institutions. And in the great nurture/nature stew in which we simmer, it's a Literary Society's job to add the condiments to nurture's mix. Which involves a hunt for resonating talent. So Betsy's a hunter into quiet places, never quite sure what's going to come out of the the second floor library at 113 N. Lime. I wanted to capture that thing about her as she rounded the library corner.

Growth

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Render unto me
your information
And I shall judge it
And by judging
Learn
For even in rejection
There are glowing pebbles

New York State Of Mind

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Dye your hair, you become a blonde. Someone knocks off your hat and you wonder, "Why did he hit me?" Collide your bike and you say, "I ran into a pole!" But these are all things... hair coloring, wigs, implanted boobs, bikes, dentures, hats, suits, heels... wuddever. Still, wear them and you extend yourself, right? Okay... okay... heavy stuff.
My point is that the line between who we feel we are and our immediate environment blurs. Get into a tank,or a big SUV... and we feel stronger, bigger, muscular, lethal!
So the question for the day, boys and girls, is... If you live in NYC, if you are a New Yorker (as opposed to a blonde), are these pictures in any sense - WHO you are? And isn't that different from say the folks who live in E. Dennis on Cape Cod Bay? Or in Lancaster? Waco? Or... well you get the point. So, like, what's the answer? Do these streets make these people different? How?Hmmmm....

Dissonance

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It's possible for people to live together, yet not live together. Huh? Look at these houses. They last played in harmony when the builder found buyers in the late 1800s. Do you think the owners speak-friendly?

Why aren't cultures always wobbling apart the way these people, who live right next door (same demographics, same wash of daily news, sports and climactic caprice) the way these people wobble away. It's as if society tries to stick the wrong ends of a whole bunch of tiny magnetic bars together. And they keep popping apart in their storm-windowed, cement-colored, down-spouted, weird-wired, sidewall-painted passions. People can live together without becoming neighbors. Maybe these greens and reds are the pulse beat of the city? Or are they the dissonant notes of urban jazz?