short notes:
will brady's ruminations
will brady's ruminations
2009-01-01
holiday background
Here is the tree on which the one in my 2008 Holiday card [posted below] is based. And here is the story about that tree in detail.
Some updates - from this year - to our tale. I recently met a man from Stonington and told him about the tree. He commented that the tree has locally always been an enigma, and burst out "Oh! So you are the Tree People!" I was quick to point out that we have never been the first to put decorations on the tree, so we could not make that claim.
This year, we were the first to arrive to add decorations to the tree. We also brought a stepladder to reach higher up into the branches. So I suppose, now, we have become the tree people.
From the number of folks who drove past us while we were there, honking, smiling and waving, I think it an honor to now be a part of local lore, even if Lorraine and I don't live there ourselves.
Here's a close-up of our handiwork, combined with decorations put up on the tree in years gone by.
Here is the tree on which the one in my 2008 Holiday card [posted below] is based. And here is the story about that tree in detail.
Some updates - from this year - to our tale. I recently met a man from Stonington and told him about the tree. He commented that the tree has locally always been an enigma, and burst out "Oh! So you are the Tree People!" I was quick to point out that we have never been the first to put decorations on the tree, so we could not make that claim.
This year, we were the first to arrive to add decorations to the tree. We also brought a stepladder to reach higher up into the branches. So I suppose, now, we have become the tree people.
From the number of folks who drove past us while we were there, honking, smiling and waving, I think it an honor to now be a part of local lore, even if Lorraine and I don't live there ourselves.
Here's a close-up of our handiwork, combined with decorations put up on the tree in years gone by.
Labels: christmas, holidays, memorials, rememberances, rituals
¶ 10:42 0 comments
2007-12-13
art + artists
One week before Christmas I was prowling Main St in downtown looking for something to shoot, when I spotted a Santa working in front of the general store. We got to talking and I came to find out the poor guy was miserable. He lived alone, his health was poor, he hadn't had a job in a long time and he was stuck doing this crummy santa gig out in the cold. He was really in pain and down-and-out, yet, when the children showed up he was a prince. The irony in this pic is that the children were from an obviously well-to-do family - none of whom would probably ever know this man's heart-rending story - and he was giving to them when, in a perfect world and in the true spirit of Christmas, they should have been helping him.
Photographer Ian Grey usually devotes his time to macro-photography and team sports but he's long expressed an interest in doing commentary photos, documenting in particular people who are homeless or otherwise disenfranchised.
His efforts at this are few, but go back to the homeless man in Northampton, Massachusetts [pictured above] and more recently [2004, below] Santa in the Berkshires. Ian takes the time to meet and speak with the people he memorializes. I have lifted [with Ian's gracious consent] the pictures and text from his PBase folio. Check out more of Ian's work, which you can find on sale at the Williams College Museum of Art gift shop in Williamstown and Papyri Books in North Adams, Massachusetts.
His efforts at this are few, but go back to the homeless man in Northampton, Massachusetts [pictured above] and more recently [2004, below] Santa in the Berkshires. Ian takes the time to meet and speak with the people he memorializes. I have lifted [with Ian's gracious consent] the pictures and text from his PBase folio. Check out more of Ian's work, which you can find on sale at the Williams College Museum of Art gift shop in Williamstown and Papyri Books in North Adams, Massachusetts.
One week before Christmas I was prowling Main St in downtown looking for something to shoot, when I spotted a Santa working in front of the general store. We got to talking and I came to find out the poor guy was miserable. He lived alone, his health was poor, he hadn't had a job in a long time and he was stuck doing this crummy santa gig out in the cold. He was really in pain and down-and-out, yet, when the children showed up he was a prince. The irony in this pic is that the children were from an obviously well-to-do family - none of whom would probably ever know this man's heart-rending story - and he was giving to them when, in a perfect world and in the true spirit of Christmas, they should have been helping him.
Labels: christmas, homelessness, Ian Grey, photography, social comment
¶ 01:01 0 comments
2006-12-05
christmas + consumer culture
I suppose Faux News commentator Bill O'Reilly would really hate the Christmas Resistance Movement though that would only give me more the reason for supporting it.
O'Reilly, together with his fellow dittoheads, fails, however, at getting all the facts correct. For if you read into the material at the site [developed and created by artist Nina Paley] it is the commercialism of Christmas that is protested, not the sharing of love and friendship.
And while I might agree with Ms. Paley's admonition to refrain from becoming a participant in the mindless consumerism that passes these days for Holiday Spirit, I can't say I agree with her entirely.
Rather I support the idea that we cut down on the spending on ourselves, but increase the outpouring of riches on others less fortunate than oneself. Each of us define this our own way.
Since I work with folks who are indigent, though provided food, clothing and shelter, then doing something to assure that those folks get something considered a luxury or even "unnecessary" but which can life the spirit.
For the folks who are scraping by on Social Security Disability, but managining, then invite some poor soul who lives in single room occupancy housing over for supper once in awhile ...and not just during the holiday season.
For the wealthy amongst us, well, I'm not even going to make the pitch to be generous. Fact of the matter is that those making 500,000 and more a year are [according to generic IRS tax records] less likely to share their abundance with others than the income group making between $50 and $75,000 per year. Big surprise, eh?
So I am not completely convinced that we should be donning the burlap sacks and chastising ourselves for being fortunate to have good enough credit to get the new high definition television.
Show some kindness to others this season, and, once you have done that, go about it during the rest of the year as well.
I suppose Faux News commentator Bill O'Reilly would really hate the Christmas Resistance Movement though that would only give me more the reason for supporting it. O'Reilly, together with his fellow dittoheads, fails, however, at getting all the facts correct. For if you read into the material at the site [developed and created by artist Nina Paley] it is the commercialism of Christmas that is protested, not the sharing of love and friendship.
And while I might agree with Ms. Paley's admonition to refrain from becoming a participant in the mindless consumerism that passes these days for Holiday Spirit, I can't say I agree with her entirely.
Rather I support the idea that we cut down on the spending on ourselves, but increase the outpouring of riches on others less fortunate than oneself. Each of us define this our own way.
Since I work with folks who are indigent, though provided food, clothing and shelter, then doing something to assure that those folks get something considered a luxury or even "unnecessary" but which can life the spirit.
For the folks who are scraping by on Social Security Disability, but managining, then invite some poor soul who lives in single room occupancy housing over for supper once in awhile ...and not just during the holiday season.
For the wealthy amongst us, well, I'm not even going to make the pitch to be generous. Fact of the matter is that those making 500,000 and more a year are [according to generic IRS tax records] less likely to share their abundance with others than the income group making between $50 and $75,000 per year. Big surprise, eh?
So I am not completely convinced that we should be donning the burlap sacks and chastising ourselves for being fortunate to have good enough credit to get the new high definition television.
Show some kindness to others this season, and, once you have done that, go about it during the rest of the year as well.
Labels: christmas, consumers, culture
¶ 22:02 0 comments
