'Cornucopia and an Empty Cup'

The advertising cornucopia on the Metro wall suggests plenty in the

larder, but the empty begging cup in this pensioner's hand tells a

different story after the ravages of inflation and multiple currency and

bank failures cratered the expected generous retirement lives of a

great many 'senior citizens' of this and other post-Soviet countries.

Your ratings, critique and observations are invited and most

welcome. If you rate harshly, very critically or wish to make a remark,

please submit a helpful and constructive comment; please share

your photographic knowledge to help improve my photography.

Thanks! Enjoy! john

Bank failures have not occurred in a long time; currency inflation seems well under control now, but one never knows, and it is happening, but things ARE better than in the turbulent post-Communist early years when it seems that almost everything fell apart.

Those who suffered the most were those who were unable to adapt to Capitalism, mostly because they had invested their working lives in Communism, willingly or unwillingly -- and had their pension books filled with promises of payment in rubles, but rubles are no more, and even so, the promises of cruises, camps, and enough heat in the winter, are replaced by elders working in kiosks, bazaars, and sitting in some cases like this man with what appears to be his pension document as 'proof' of his need -- not too common a sight as several years ago as the elderly from Communist years pass on and the more adept from the Capitalist years who have been learning to take care of themselves (or have relatives to take care of them), begin to take over.

This sad sight is not the fault of the present or any prior government, but of a systemic change in governing from one social system (Communism) to another (Capitalism), most likely with all the sloshing and upsets that is involved with such a massive changeover.

In a way, he's a victim of all that sloshing.

It would be too easy to pin his plight on one government, one person or one party -- all too easy, but it's far more complex than that.

john

John (Crosley)

Sad and unfortunately too common scene,even here.Quite a contrast between the lush publicity of the background that even a full can could not provide the man seemingly lost in his thoughts,surely(maybe) reflecting on why his life of hard work has come to this.Excellent image!

Meilleures salutations-Laurent

Sometimes I sit on an image for a long time; this one had an indeterminate time while I sat on it wondering is it as good as I think, or is it too simplistic?

I now think it's pretty powerful, and timeless, too.

What do you think about color vs. black and white.

I have opinions, but I'd like to hear others.

Thanks for commenting; I'm very much obliged.

john

John (Crosley)

Color is a distraction in this composition. In my singular opinion it would have far more impact in monochrome. A red filter...

You and I this time disagree.

I tried it both ways, and both ways are fine, but the color is far more striking.

And the man's coat, pants, document and even the floor blend with the color of the wall above the 'cornucopia' behind.

Also, his drabness contrasts with the vivid colors, emphasizing the point of the photo, if you understand. 

This is one of those photos that can go either way, and I like it the way I am presenting it.

This is one case where you and I disagree, but what's a small disagreement among friends?

Perhaps if you use a red filter, desaturate. then post with another comment, I'll be drawn more to your side . . . .

Who knows?  I didn't try a red filter.

;~))

I generally prefer black and white, but some times color seems stronger when colors blend well, and this seemed one of those photos; maybe I'm wrong.  Others opinions?

Thanks for sharing your view.

john

John (Crosley)

Gee, and America is going the other direction: Capitalism->Socialism.  hmmm

i have no idea what those eyeball-like things are, guess they are fruits... for me the story is about his own lack of sustainable resources and the great abundance depicted behind him of fruit and flowing milk... the color version, for me at least, gives great prominence to the bacdrop whereas i would like to give equal prominence to the man - without him the composition has no purpose... b&w perhaps achieves this... of course, mine is just one view...

America is going down the tubes over the issue of whether the big capitalists who have theirs can keep the small people from getting something so basic as universal health care.

They are hostage to a rabid minority financed in large part by the large Capitalists, such as the Koch brothers who don't give much of a damn about them and want to advance their own social agenda (more for us, and none for you -- you're all lazy bums, even though most of the 'lazy bums' are old, sick, disabled, or minors -- and some chronically displaced from employment not because they won't work but because their jobs went to Africa, the Far East, India and China -- even Sri Lanka, so their ability to eat is compromised -- hence 'food stamps' (SNAP).)

So, the government is shut down with a threat to its credit worthiness permanently if Boehner won't blink for fear of losing his speakership.

There's no hope of defeating Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) because it's LAW, and the Republicans have no alternative and no end game -- they're flying into a box canyon on this one and taking the nation with them.

You mean there's no Socialism in Israel?

There are no social programs in Israel?

Let me know, please.

john

John (Crosley)

Your workup with the red filter works pretty well and achieves its purpose.  I never would have though to use the red filter so prominently.

The 'eyeball-like things' are blueberries, and this is an advertisement for yoghurt, I recall.  He looks like he could have a serving or six.

I like the colors, but your view may vary.

I also believe this works well in black and white, but prefer (still) the color version, but who knows for sure which appeals more.  Maybe in a year, I'll post the B&W version and see.

Thanks for taking me up on the invitation.

john

John (Crosley)

Read the photo this way, maybe:

Increased plenty (for purposes of argument at least) and the new wave of capitalism) is washing away the older Sovietski workers now turned pensioneers, symbolically in this photo with their increased prosperity.

Anything seems 'more prosperous' than the meager $120/monthly he probably gets, or maybe he gets less -- (basic pension amount).  Others of higher jobs, get more.  But that's the basic pension allowance oldsters tell me, based on inflation adjustments and new additions.

john

John (Crosley)

I'm not even sure I broke stride to take this photo, aimed and framed in less than a second, probably while still walking, but maybe with a 'stutter-step' as the basket-ball players like to say.

Notice his eyes:  He is not even looking at me (in the next frame, they're squarely on me, as I got his attention, but too late!).

john

John (Crosley)

Cornucopia mean's a 'horn of plenty' but it might also be translated to mean 'my cup runneth over' or similar.

Contrast that to the man's empty cup.

Literally 'cornucopia meant a 'goat's horn', but over time it means simply a plentiful supply, which in turn means 'plentiful or abundant' which gives rise to the phrase in the first paragraph about 'cup runneth . . . . '

I think you see where this is going.

john

John (Crosley)

Yes, I can spelllll, but the editinlg window sometimels closes to quickly for me to respond, so I must apologize in a new comment for misspelling simple words like etymology, which got misspellled above.

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

Health care is not an entitlement. Your country owes you nothing John.

The constitution does not give you the right to health care and happiness but rather the right to pursue them.

Had you done so your tune would be different.

If Truman or JFK were alive today they would be Republican. "ask not what your country can do for you...."

What brought that on?

You're an Israeli citizen, so why the worry about the Affordable Care Act in America?

Oh, perhaps you're also an American citizen and a Republican at that?

You spent plenty of time in America.  Are you an expatriate who did not give up citizenship?

You never have said, but you store your photos in the USA, as I recall and much of your photo work was from the USA as well as Europe (if I recall correctly).

So, why the sudden outburst?

Stroke, perhaps?

I am sure Kennedy would NEVER allow himself to be even considered in the same mold as Ted Cruz, for instanced, architect of 'defund Obamacare and whose party is suffering hugely now in the polls.

He alone may be the architect of the downfall of the Republicans as a major party force in the USA, instead of what it was after the last election -- a party with a chance.

Already 17-18 SAFE REPUBLICAN SEATS in the house are in grave danger for Republicans, which they need to keep the House, if polls continue the way they are going.  Republicans have become the hostage takers of America, according to the vast majority of Americans polled, and they're pissed at Republicans.  Kennedy would never have let himself be associated with a party that did that.

;~))

You avoided the  question:  Are there no social programs in Israel?

john

John (Crosley)

"what brought this on"? You addressed me in response to my comment, Health Care is not an entitlement".

Are there social programs in Israel I think you asked? Of course, but you can find better answers on the internet than I can give.

I personally do not benefit from  social program other than I pay a lessor senior citizen fare rate on the train and buses.

As for Koch...You should contribute so much to charitable organizations which support cancer and other medical research; education, human services and "at-risk youth" as does the Koch Family Foundation.

America is the land of opportunity. People do not take that to advantage and now sour grapes.

The Koch Brothers would repeal Social Security.  It's one of their main goals.

Unemployment insurance is a 'social welfare program' that they would do away with, and for both (Unemployment Insurance and Social Security/Medicare) they have donated millions upon countless millions to politicians who are upending the American political system in the name of religionists but often secretly financed by Koch Brothers, to further their purposes to undo almost everything that Roosevelt did.  The see any social welfare program as 'socialism'. 

Undo Roosevelt Socialism and to hell with the rest, is their agenda.

Private giving is the answer, most libertarians argue, but the real answer is that private giving fails. with not enough and too much targeted to favorite groups and withheld from disfavored groups.

The Kochs stand for unbridled capitalism . . . and any charity is just window dressing, I believe . . . . It's less Conservatism than Ayn Rand libertarianism in Conservatism clothes.

I know they have some charitable interests, but I'd be surprised if they give equally to minorities and those whose groups did not come over on the Mayflower . . . . but that's just a well-educated guess.

I have to do more research, but their family interests are in things that would pollute the environment, and one of their family goals is to gut the environmental protection laws that protect us from their chemicals, the waste they're accumulating in Canada, just across the border, and other things that are inimical to the health and well-being of Americans.  These two guys just don't believe anybody or any body should regulate THEM and they should be immune from regulation AND taxation too.

They may be very wonderful, charitable people WHEN they give for their own charities, but what they do bad, is helping polarize America . . . and it's got as one of its reasons an underlying and unspoken racism and anti-ethnicism . . . .   

People these days deny they are racists and ethnicists, but regrettably the browning of America is a great motivator for Conservative America, and the Koch Brothers are one of the great financial sources for those who are fearful that America is changing in ways they do not recognize -- too many (former) minorities.

Remember, Jews were (and still are) a minority (in the USA). 

When I went to school at Columbia, NYC, Jewish law students couldn't get a job in silk stocking law firms and there were 'Jewish' law firms.  Jews were (and still are) banned from many 'country clubs' I think (haven't researched this recently, though). 

You were in America, so you know what it has been like to have been a minority, I suspect.

For OTHER minorities (blacks, Hispanics, etc.), the Koch Brothers are stoking the fires of resentment by financing those who oppose the programs that help those who are trying to break the barriers of prejudice against those minority groups.

YOU may not be affected, and may never have been, but when I was a youth, BLACKS were called Niggers routinely, and to express disgust at hearing such talk caused one to be called a 'Nigger lover'.  There were literally tens to hundreds of derogatory terms for blacks and later for Hispanics, and although I didn't 'get it' from literature, I learned that in the neighborhoods of the East, there were derogatory terms for Jews as well.  I read those terms, but I had no reference for them in my life, so those terms went over my head.

Probably you don't like being described by such derogatory terms or having such roadblocks as being barred from employment on account of your religion or where you can recreate (even publicly in many communities, though you'd know more about that than I.)

Jews have largely worked through the roadblocks against them in the US, I think, as 'minorities', but blacks, Hispanics and others have not yet, and especially blacks.

On the other hand, having spent some considerable time in Europe, I can tell you that hearing the screed from almost any Arab against Jews and Zionists makes me curdle with upset . . . .

The Koch Brothers are fostering with their billions the politics of hate . . . , and if you see that as a good thing, that's fine . . . . but I hope you'll consider things in context.

And what the Koch's do politically is veiled racism and anti-minority, though they would vehemently deny it, I am sure, since it is unfashionable for the Conservatives of America to acknowledge they are racist or anti-anything, though there are code words and phrases extant.  One only need watch their actions and ignore the words.

I lived, grew up, and was very observant in the USA, and I regretted how my countrymen treated my other countrymen, based on prejudice.  That prejudice still exists, though open acknowledgement of it largely has disappeared as it has been driven underground.

The Koch Brothers political agenda feeds on that leftover prejudice, and it's a large force in America, especially White, Republican America.

I invite you to try to join a country club that the Koch Brothers belong to and see if you are accepted, even if you have millions of dollars.

When I was growing up, Jews were 'blackballed from everything', and I was just as upset when I learned that as hearing derogatory terms used against blacks and Hispanics or learning that women were only considered worthy of being secretaries (I won one of the world's [perhaps the first] first awards for equal pay for similar and equivalent but not 'equal' work for a woman).

My home was a home where my mother typed master and doctoral dissertations from people of all races and from all over the world, and those people were in and out of our house on a daily basis as she edited their (often poor) English (without extra charge), and so my experience with people of different backgrounds racially, nationally, and ethnically is quite different from most -- the people I grew up with who were dark skinned or 'yellow' skinned or who spoke foreign languages invariably were the 'best of the best' and often returned to govern their countries.

I think my parents had their personal prejudices, but they would NEVER allow any member of the household to express or act upon a prejudice -- it was 'judge each person individually.   I can only guess about my parents' prejudices as they were NEVER spoken, at least in front of me.

The Koch Brothers feed on hate and foster it through their enormous political giving.

That's not good for America.

That's also against what I was brought up to believe.

;~))

john

John (Crosley)

My comment has nothing to do with "Cornucopia" but you went off on the tangent and so a little correction. The Koch compound is situated across the street from the Country Club which is the only show in town. Affluent Jews in the community are members and I expect so too is the Koch family. Next time in town, I'll climb the wall and take a picture for you. I never read anything that suggests that Koch family are anti Semites.  Sounds like you are ready for socialist revolution.

I wrote above that I do not have current information and that my information was garnered from much of my life's experience, but NOT in recent times regarding anti-Semitism in County Clubs, especially.

It did exist in my home town I am told where Jews I am told were blackballed from the Eugene Country Club.

At the same time famed opera singer Leontyne Price, in a very 'liberal' community which prided itself on being such (a university community) was refused a room at the Eugene Hotel on account of her race and told 'it's not that we have anything against 'colored people, Mrs. price, but some of our customers do have steong feelings, and we'll lose their business, they have threatened us.

I grew up with some pretty nice kids who I later learned were Jewish, but I did not know them as 'Jews' until long after I left high school and learned of their family histories, or learned from the local butcher that they didn't eat pork or some such (I worked in a supermarket whose franchised butcher was owned by a talkative and friendly guy who befriended me and told me lots of scuttlebutt about folks in town).

He was a crafty fellow too, who would weigh a beef roast with bones, and then on instruction would remove the bones (he was told to) then resell the bones, effectively selling them twice.

I learned from him that 'old' and 'brown' beef often is not spoiled even if it has an odor, and that beef can be aged dry up to 30 days and moist even will last a very long time, so in a butcher shop often the best deals are the markdowns where the beef has turned color (so no one else will buy it) and the butcher has had to mark down the price, but in effect the aging of the beef has begun to take place, and that beef will be the tenderest (all other things being equal) that you would find on the shelves.

I learned to buy cryo wrapped rip roasts and other roasts from Costco and put them in the bottom of my COLD refrigerator for 30 days, then open them and slice them for the tenderest steaks one could possibly imagine, when other people would have bet they surely were spoiled.  Ha!

There may have been LOADS of anti-Semitism in my town, and my parents may even have partaken of it in the sense that they held feelings or at least were aware who was and who was not Jewish and felt that certain people fell into certain stereotypical behavior, but they did not pass that information to me; I was a tabula rasa.

Perhaps I was too busy making my own impressions first hand.

I tended to judge people on their own merits; and disregarded stereotypes in general in part because I WAS NOT PRIVY TO THOSE STEREOTYPES AS A YOUTH, THOUGH THEY MAY HAVE BEEN PART OF MY PARENTS OWN CULTURE AND SHARED THOUGHTS.

They never said a negative word when I chose a school (Columbia) where the student body was 1/3 Jewish, nor did I get one blink of an eye when I told them about the woman I dated my sophomore year (she's pictured here, 'Daughter of the Holocaust' -- a wonderful woman whom I wish well, and whose father was a Kosher butcher who allowed me in his house because I was wearing my (Ivy League, buckle on the back) yarmulke and using my middle name (not John), a name momma hung up on when she heard it without meeting me and never thereafter associated me with that name.

Then their daughter and I on Fridays would go out for ham sandwiches and milkshakes or whatever . . . . the ultimate act of rebellion then for a good Kosher daughter.

Until she dumped me for a H I P P I E !. 

(Photo taken during a meeting one day, two years later, a sort of reconciliation.  She had graduated from Hunter and I think also had her Masters from New School, and I was just working on my bachelor's degree (interrupted by Columbia campus riots).

Her accent made Fran Drescher, the actress, sound like she grew up on Park Avenue or Minneapolis, perhaps.

And a relative I contacted years later shouted over the long distance phone (it was LONG DISTANCE, so he had to shout) 'SHOILEY, SHOILEY, OH, SHE GOT HERSELF A DENTIST!'

Last I ever heard of her.

I hope some day she sees her photo here.

And appreciates it.

Meir, my door's open to almost all types, EXCEPT those Muslims and Arabs in Europe (especially) who are so vitriolically anti--Semitic; I draw the line there.   

I watched Arabs and Afghanis together in a shop in Hamburg watching Osama bin-Laden deliver a speech on video tape one day, and these men were cheering.  Bin Laden was denouncing both the US and Israel.  There is no place in my world for such hatred, and I was horrified then and still am at seeing such hatred glorified.

Women only now are being reluctantly admitted to country clubs, so I presumed that the Jewish barrier may have still existed in some parts of the US, but lacked (and still lack) direct evidence, until someone with personal knowledge advises me otherwise.

'Blackballling' was made for cowards.

I once was a member briefly of the Oakland Yacht club.

I realized that the Oakland Yacht Club, situated in Alameda across an estuary from Oakland, did not then have one black member nor was it ever likely to have one in the near term.

Oakland is one of the most predominantly black cities in the United States and its mayor at the time, I recall, was black.

I left the club in protest.

Never to return.

Good riddance.

Life's made of little gestures that together add up to something grander, I hope.

john

John (Crosley)