Detroit Redux

I was surprised after my series on the ruin of Detroit that I did not hear from the few friends I still have there. I did hear a lot from many; family, friends and strangers. The comments were from both sides of the Detroit Decline. Some felt I was too harsh, others agreed and most of those had lived there and since moved away. But no one still fighting the good fight has turned up to defend the soot-covered Motor City.

Summer 1967

The New York Times did a silver-lining piece on Detroit. How some residents are attempting to hold on to selected portions of the city. How even the new mayor has stated that saving the whole city is folly, while encouraging residents to concentrate themselves in salvageable corridors. Neighbors are doing citizen patrols and paying private companies for services the city can no longer provide.

I would like to find some reason to jump on the Save Detroit bandwagon, but the logic of saving certain neighborhoods necessarily means abandoning others. It is indeed a triage situation, which when extended to the country as a whole would mean saving certain cities and letting others go.  Detroit is going to be on everyone's list to let go.

R.I.P Motor City, let the wild flowers bloom, let the grasses cover over the scars of what once was.

Saturation Saturday: Blue

With the end of M&M Mondays this past week, I decided I needed another artistic outlet. Since I have gotten a lot of comments over the years about my selection of photographs and art to grace the blog, I thought I would empty some of the backlog of my blog art files. Welcome to the first edition of Saturation Saturday, where for several or many weekends into the future I shall explore the hues of the phantasmagoric rainbow as depicted on the world wide web.

Today - Blue.

This would be a blue whale, the largest creature ever to inhabit the earth. Not just the biggest mammal or the largest living creature on earth today but ever. Not even the biggest dinosaurs got this big; blue whales can weigh up to around 180 tons.

This is the Great Blue Hole, a giant sink hole about 50 miles off the coast of Belize. It's about 1,000 feet wide and 400 feet deep.

blue frog

blue morpho butterfly

rare blue lobster

Blue-Footed Booby 
I saw a whole colony of these when I went to Antarctica

Yes, a blue tennis ball.
Supposedly they were withdrawn from the market because they were "too painfully blue"

there have been some confectionerial complaints about the cancellation of M&M Mondays. . .

please note I did not mix this one up with the photo of the bird.

Something Peculiar Day

Something familiar, 
Something peculiar, 
Something for everyone:

A comedy tonight!

Nothing with kings, nothing with crowns;

Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns!

Old situations,

New complications,

Nothing portentous or polite;

Tragedy tomorrow,

Comedy tonight!

-from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Some things just defy comment.

I have wanted to use this picture for so long; it just never seemed appropriate, it still isn't I suppose.

There exists a fine line between social commentary and outright ridicule.

I imagine some will think this crosses that fine line.

Now wasn't that better than some tired, long-winded joke about me getting engaged, moving to Mississippi or supporting Sarah Palin? The date Emily, look at the date.