Support Your Local Fiddler

Should you be in the area, have a listen to Jane Hilton and Shay Veno at Tim Finnegan's this and every Thursday. Shay's a journeyman and Jane is terrific. They'll rouse your sinews.

Shay also holds forth regularly at O'Connors on West Dunlap.

Maybe we'll see you.

Going Dutch

Started Vemeer's Hat and an armchair travel read it is. Brook uses the elements of Vermeer's pictures to lecture about aspects of trade and culture in the 17th century. "Transculturation" is the thesis he's relaying and applying to Dutch traders upon their interface with Asia.

Though he doesn't use this example, he'd have us look at The Girl with a Pearl Earring considering silk from China and Japanese pearl divers, giving the histories of these endeavors and how those products made their way to Europe.

The Dutch have a terrible reputation for colonial ruthlessness and racism in actual estimation of their former hold on Indonesia. Brook's purview is definitely not Marxist and he's somewhat romantic. He's rather like a docent conversing with other snobs, but very accessible.

An interesting point made about the ceramic trade was that the first high-volume customers were the Persians. It seems the Koran prohibited the use of gold or silver plate as being immodest and proud. Fine porcelain was a means to luxuriously evade the ban. So much for principle!

Native Intelligence

A Lesson

Wanted to learn how to use the slide show feature, so took a walk in the Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix, where is located the long closed Phoenix Indian School itself, taking a series of shots of buildings being refurbished and landscaping being done.

Although the park is a city operation, I don't know who is funding the work on the grounds. They've been at it for years; I'm surprised it's taken so long. Of at least six structures, only one looks finished. You'd think with all the casino money being infused locally there'd be some support, but a colleague just said that, on account of the hard feelings about Bureau of Indian Affairs policy regarding forced deculturation and such, they (the tribes) might not necessarily be interested.

The park anchors a lot of future planning with regard to redevelopment. The new light rail is immediately adjacent. The park, about a half-mile square, affords the premium open space within the prospective density along the line.

Wasn't able to find a good explanatory web site. This is informative.
Most of the building were put up in the 1920s. The fountain is newly installed.

Ha. Trouble getting this page format to support a slide show.
Looks like you've got to link to a host; we'll see how it goes.

I wouldn't be so presumptive as to make much commentary. Not only is it a work in progress, but what's past is quite controversial. Is Old Glory a "central unifying principle" or significant of conquest? Is it not as much a totem as as any "tribe's?" Well, as you can see, no one is there.

Decided not to link to the slide show on the hosting site as it gives entree of my album to strangers. I should have to tidy that up too! You really have to be careful here.

Figured out how to get the slide show running from the other side. Don't see yet how to add text to post. Put it on to see how it presents.

By the way, it appears your hosting site album can be accessed by posting photos. Bear that in mind as well.

One Thing After Another

Presently at coffee shooting the breeze. Getting asked of what I thought of the financial bailout had me sputter a bit, but they've got to do it.

"The thing of it is, who gets bailed, and it looks bad... Lehman goes under but Goldman gets covered? Paulson chaired Goldman. But it's all so interconnected. Who's really hurting are the overseas exchanges and international funds. Lots of trade dollars got invested there. They ain't covered."

So you sit down, relax, and lo and behold, the liquidation is buying greenbacks. The hedge department may be debunked, but the currency traders are going great guns.

"It's all relative and you just can't keep up."

I try to keep Gresham's Law in mind, not that my heart's in it. Easy credit debases the full faith we have everything's going to be alright. Well, you do know why the mateys bit the coins in the pirate movies, don't you? And pieces of eight? Clipped into bits; two bits. Get it? We'll be fine.

Public Stuff

The previous post included just the sort of banality I'd like to avoid (Rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, put the kettle on and another day, another dollar.), but I'm serious about getting the presentation right. There isn't a help window on this page and I've yet to see a good tutorial in "Layout." With no responses, there's no way to streamline the informational flow. I guess I've got to inquire myself of other users who've posted their e-mail address. Really don't want to get that involved.

For purposes like above, this is good. I got to thinking about the subject, about how cold or vapid most "public art" is, even considering that it's got to stand up to the elements, and remembered this in the file. I thought it had a Kokopelli medallion in the light post like others, but not this one... is that a phoenix rising? Can't quite make it out.

Anyway, I've yet to complete my profile. Oh yeah, like to take pictures and process them. Presently listening to this. Like it a lot too. Today, I've got some banking to do. I think the signage qualifies, don't you?

Here's some bells from the Arcosanti forge. Took a lot of pictures years ago at the Cortes Junction facility, not a public place. Film. (Been meaning to take a ride to get some digitally.) These are at the main branch of the public library. More to say up the pike about Paolo Soleri's mission.

Chores

After an active day, fell asleep in the early evening, waking at 2 a.m., and have decided to take a spin around the blog. This is very much a learning curve - how to get the text right (you can't indent paragraphs - that bugs me; I don't like to present walls of words and you need the ocular break) and it's a chore interspersing multiple photographs. Sometimes spacing gets botched. And there's the peculiar feeling that you're really just talking to yourself. Not much feedback. I need that.

Take the photos. The rose pictures were taken fully automatically. A little too washed. If I set the ISO to 200, will that dampen the light? I should think so. What's the story about boosting images from the net? Or linking to videos? A search engine suffices, and I found a site for free clip art. Just before, on another site in a bulletin board, I had to deal with a copyright issue.

Great picture, huh? You can use them privately or educationally for no pecuniary gain so long as you credit the maker and source. This is from Wikipedia. Looks so much like a Steichen but it's not, and may well be by a Daily News stringer. Anyway, I'd like to blow it up and print it to cool off an instant every now and again.

To top it off, I'm still on dial-up ISP at home, so jumping through all the hoops is exaspertin'.

So, is it a learning curve, a heuristic experience, or is it all a waste of time?

And just killing time, I am, until the Mets and the football Cardinals take the field later this morning. Patience has me looking for something to do and fortitude has got me looking around to see I've got some tidying up on the agenda. I could use this device to express my political opinions (I've pretty much got the presidential race distilled to Navy vs. Punks.) or wax poetic (I do write constantly rewritten verse.) or essay upon the conflict I'm having about whether to go to church or to a tavern to watch those games. I'll spare you. Maybe later.

Yes, I'd better clean the kitchen and do a laundry.