BLOWIN' IN THE WIND

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I'm amazed to see so much paper blowing around on the landscape. Maybe there are not enough prisons in the area to allow for the land to be kept clean.

Yeah, we're a dirty bunch down here. I tell you one thing, if anyone ever puts a monument up for me, I hope it is a bit more aesthetically pleasing than this one, even if this environment might be more suited to my personality and style.

Dave, A roadside monument? Regardless of the litter, I always find these very moving. Somebody gave a damn. And I know you did, too. In addition, you got a good shot. Regards, Joe

Thanks for looking and commenting. Although it is taken from a different perspective (to show the litter) this is the same monument shown in http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5108824 and http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=4455640.

I stop by here now and then to observe the changes with time. Peace

Really a unique landscape, David, not really the kind you disect compositionally. It has the feeling of a photograph that created itself which for me is always the sign of a good picture. Only someone who can think outside the usual templates would take a shot like this. I have to laugh that someone gave you a 3 for originality. Now perhaps if you had picked up all the trash....

As you are well aware, we defile our planet in so many ways. In some ways a scene like this is a perfect representation of where we are going. Death, and mess. Sometimes it seems that what people are best at. Death and mess. That should have been the title.

you mean all that mess is not paper tissue left behind by the mourners, and soaked with tears? Hey, you can also look at that paper stuff as processed trees. Or, from another angle, it might mean "death of mess". (Hopefully it wasn't a messy death.) How about that? Cheers, Micheal

I think you are as wildly crazy as ever. That's what I think.

...and the answer, my friend, the answer my friend, the answer is blowin' in the wind. Maybe it's on the back of one of those papers? I like this. There is sort of a tension here. On the surface it is a very simple pic, but there seems to be some deeper meaning beneath of it. Anyway, that's my interpretation and I will stick to it. B ;)

Yes, I think there is a deeper meaning to this. And you may be right. I should go back and start reading the back of all those papers. Perhaps the answer REALLY is there, just blowin' in the wind like Bob said.

In the middle of a true wasteland, someone's sentiments and memories remain. I'm always emotionally pulled by these little markers on the sides of roads and highways, memorializing those who left earth too soon. The color always jumps out from a crushed barrier or damaged tree or the end of tire tracks. And then I think of the connection that drives those who remain to return to remember. The melancholic part of me always thinks about it for awhile. Here, the emptied bags and crumpled papers add considerably to the pathos.

First, thanks as always for your commentary. I hope I do not seem too inhumane when I say that to a certain extent, these increasingly popular forms of memorial are kind of bothersome to me. No matter how, when or where I die, I have absolutely no desire for someone to mark the spot. As a child growing up in the Midwest, I do not have any recollection of this as being a common practice. When I was in South America for several years in the sixties, I first became aware of the practice of putting up these roadside memorials. I attributed it to a certain extent to the Catholic religion to which most of the people there were affiliated. Upon returning to the states, I ended up in California in 1970. At that time some of these monuments were to be found, and I, once again, attributed them primarily to the Latino population. I still believe that the Latino influence is primarily responsible for the original use and increasing popularity of such displays. Now the anglos have adopted it as de riguer. I guess we have decided that these will be the common man's way of getting a statue in the park.

 

Frankly, I'm not fond of them. Yes, I do see the pathos. Yes, I do find myself wondering about the lives they represent. But I do the same thing in a graveyard, or visiting an abandoned habitat. My major beef is that I think aesthetically it is a dead end. And, as in everything else, if it is overdone, too often the underlying meaning becomes lost in the shuffle. As the practice becomes more and more common, and as the population grows more and more rampantly, these monuments will eventually clutter nearly every vista imaginable. That's not my vision for our country. So, I think they are largely inappropriate. As usual, sorry for being such a curmudgeon.

I don't know how curmudgeonly you are, but you certainly express your opinions well and clearly. I, too, don't think I would like to be memorialized in this way, and I find the little placards, plastic flowers, and ribbons slowly fading in the elements to be doubly sad. That being said, I do identify strongly with the sentiment behind them and can imagine loved ones coming back to a spot where someone they cared for lost their life. I saw this frequently when I lived in south Texas and am seeing it more and more here in the Northeast. I don't necessarily find them beautiful or tasteful, but I do understand why someone might find it meaningful. And I always look and wonder what happened. But perhaps I should keep my eye on the road.

I will try to be precise here.

On this one I have to go with Micheal 100%, me being a romantic and all, he seem to be one, too :-) He has the most touching and romantic interpretation here:-) On the other hand I go 100% with you, you being a curmudgeon :-) I love this new word I learned today, describes the situation and your point of view perfectly. I am glad you took the picture Dave, is a great social commentary looking at human folly. Best regards, your 100%romantic/100%curmudgeon friend from Oz :-)

 

 

So we get one vote for and one vote wavering but leaning against my being a curmudgeon. Guess that means I am one. Well we can all agree that it is a sad scene. The greater significance remains to be interpreted.

I must be a curmudgeon like you, David, perhaps it has something to do with the number of tree rings we have accumulated. I can certainly be moved, but rarely by artifacts. I don't mean to put these little memorials down; to some they may have meaning, but not to me. They have also become popular in Japan.

I think these little memorials are a very important part of society. They provide us a place where we can dispose of little white sticks, plastic or cloth flowers and paper bags while at the same time expressing a statement of love for the departed. What could be better than all this! Think of it as the Americanization of Dia de los Muertos.

Jack, I never considered you anything but a curmudgeon!

 

Shawn, I'm not so sure about you. I'm thinking you are a bit too mellow and appreciative of beauty to qualify. I'll check the membership rules.

 

Take care both of you.

Maybe if I hang around more I'll get the knack of it...

very interesting. i would love to see one of just the paper and the dried grass. where is all of that paper from?

Glad you asked. This is within a stone's throw of the Sun Maid raisin plant. When the grapes are ripe, they pick them and lay them on paper trays at the end of the vinyard rows. These are the paper trays that the raisins were dried on. The wind has blown them willy nilly.

AHH! We now have a new advertising campaign for Sun Maid Raisins. My brain is remembering some artwork on this similar topic from about a decade ago. I must go research it and then follow up...

By all means let me know what your research turns up. You always come up with interesting stuff when your curiostiy is piqued.