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Photography F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2024 Nov 26 6:56 am)
Subject: March Challenge....A Sign of the Times
Hey Cindy...The original is probably 40" wide...taped inside the window of a shop in Westport. Alot of the young homeless and dopers hang out on the sidewalk in front of this place. Haven't got any idea what is going on inside. Not the sort of place where this ole man would be welcome. Lots of attitude go'in around. I snagged this shot on a Sunday when the place was closed.
In the inner city violence has become the norm and anymore the suburbs aren't immune either. I don't know how our society is going to deal with the gangs...but here in KC its quickly getting out of hand. If LA is an example of the way the authorities deal with them...the lawless brazenly go about intimidating everyone, including the police and the whole community winds up living in fear. Here in KC just going to the convience store to fill up the gas tank after dark can be dangerous to your health. The gas stations are the favorite target of random drivebys...they all have armed guards...so do the grocery stores and the Banks of course...:)...Having lived up in the mountains of Idaho for the last 25 years...its really a shock for me to come back to my home town and see whats going on. I really can't imagine what it would be like to be raised in this environment. I can understand the apathy...like the whole city is numb...violence is so commonplace that its become a way of life. Everyone just turns their head as if its not there...walking around with that 1000 yard stare the soldier has from being in combat too long...they say to themselves....well at least it wasn't me.
hahahaha...jezzzz...that must be a genetic thing...up in Idaho I would have to buy a new mailbox at least once a year if not more...lol....the lane from the paved road back to my house was a half mile long...no way to keep an eye it. Sure was nice living at the end of the road though. Most folks didn't come up there without an invite. Course the no trespassing sign never did stop the Jehovas Witness....;)
ah....thanks, Cindy!!!! i see that now!!!! Raz, here in Louisville we don't have drive-by shootings and stuff. well, maybe we've had one or two but i don't know about them. Louisville does have problems with gangs. seems its biggest problems is rape. we have armed guards now at grocery stores because a women walking out to their car in broad daylight are kidnapped and raped. it's crazy! last summer this happened to so many women...all within a 2 mile radius of where i live. one was my supervisor. anyway, bet it is a shock for you coming from living in the mountains for 25 years to the city you described. cindy,i wish i lived in a place like where you do. where life is simpler and not so violent!!! sigh
Most excellent shot Raz..... sigh Very depressing reading this stuff.... I'm lucky too.... deer, and the possible rabid fox is about all we have to worry about here.
I am, therefore I create.......
--- michelleamarante.com
Yo Yo Yo! Word UP! Homes....last time I seen yo mug..I woulda swore you done lived at least two lifetimes..;)...and I must say that the "Singing Detective" is probably your finest work to date...so packed with imagery and emotion that it overflows...you a "Bad Ass" alright. Like you I had a cutoff date...swore I'd never make it...it was 27...I had my midlife crisis at 30...truely believed I was old...so when I hit 50 it weren't no Big Thang Brother...muuuuuaaaaaahhhhh! manly hugz
Hey Brian! You can't do that!!!! BRRIIIIAAANNNNN...Don't leave me here! I busted the wheel on my board man...we gotta piggyback home! BRRIIIIIAAAANNNN....come on man I'll give you my DoctorDre CD...WAAAAAAAAA...sits down on curb and pouts...:(...jezzzzz it just ain't right to do a dude that way just cause he's old....man I'll never make it home by supper time.....walk? who? me? walk?!!!...NO WAY!!! I'd have a coronary.
Now now KIDs....age is only relevant if you possess very little or have accumilated enough to put you in the white haired class. All those in between are in middleage limbo...:P...once you gain the spry age of 65...then you can start bragging about how many drugs it takes to keep you alive. I call it the fast lane, the point where its justified to live like there is no tomorrow...hahaha...I can't wait! I was pulling into a grocery store parking lot a few years back and right in front of me a little ole woman cut her turn too short and put a tire up over the curb, in the ensuing bouncing and jouncing she accidentally pushed the throttle of the car to the floor thinking she was hitting the brake...went bouncing over the island and across thirty feet of parking lot to hit a parked pickup truck head on. I made my way over to her and asked her if she was ok...and the look on her face was of perfect calm and she said "Oh, I'm fine". She gathered her purse and got out of the car and went into the grocery store leaving the crashed vehicles nose to nose. In the store she acted as if nothing had happened and calmly went about doing her shopping. I only needed a couple items so I was in and out quickly and once back in the parking lot found a big commotion going on about a hit and run driver. The police had put out an APB and everyone was all agitated...so I told them "No..No...its just a little ole lady and she's in the store shopping, so an officer went in the store, then came back out and told the owner of the pickup truck that she would be there as soon as she was done..hehe..and I thought to myself, she's right, what can they do?....she's OLD....ain't no point in gettin worked up....
Tibsy, I was referring to the geriatrics around us, not our age difference!! Solo, it's exactly that sort of story that frightens me AND makes me gag when I get my insurance renewals.... when you see someone who can hardly walk, barely see and has the reactions of a sloth climbing in or out of a car... shudders Just today I had the pleasure of having to bang on the boot of a car in a car park becuase he hadn't bothered looking behind him before reversing.... and got within a few inches of actually pushing me and our youngest over - thankfully he was reversing slowly. He couldn't have been a day older than 70, I'm sure. I'm not age-ist or anything, but I honestly think that once people are over 55 they should have to take reaction tests to be on the road. More and more people are living longer and longer, and the very design of cars these days makes them too comfortable. IMO it's a deadly combination. (",)
Since you bring it up ReBourne...check out this link... http://www.powermaxconsulting.com/teens.htm for Stateside stats, nice little pie chart there. Don't know how it is in your location...lots of variables from country to country. From what I see on the street personally...I notice that people younger than I are much more aggressive drivers...DUI's, speeding, running red lights, zooming through traffic changing lanes and in general endangering themselves and others...For some reason...I just don't see many greyhaired folks being assholes on the road. I drive a large SUV loaded with tools and equipment so its not practical for me to zoom at all...just wear out things alot faster, plus it ain't no freekin sports car...but its always a wonder to me when I see someone driving like a madman in a rush zooming in and out of traffic and we wind up sitting at the same stoplight...whats the point?
good point raz... the old folks can be a pain to have to pass but they've got to go places too especially when their family is too busy to drive them there or not around... another challenge issue i had wanted to show but have used up my 5 entries already... is the way some people treat their elders & respect for old folks... someday we'll be there too & i plan to be just as ornery if not more so & wear purple (in reference to a poem...)
WARNING
When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin sandals and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week.
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
- Jenny Joseph"
Solo, when I passed my test way back in '88 I used to have a pretty fast little car, and used to go racing quite a bit. Street racing, yeah. I was lucky in that I was never one of the crashees, but I saw a couple of little spins n shunts.
Anyways, even now if I've got somewhere open and there no sign of any traffic or anything I enjoy to have a little blast around - but ONLY if it's safe, I learned that much. I don't say I'm proud of it, but being able to 'throw a car around' HAS kept me out of a few accidents that wouldn't have been my fault. Touching wood, I haven't had an accident for 8 years, and that wasn't mine either. It's 14 years of driving since I managed to hit anything, and I can honestly say I've never managed to get anything stationary. Mind, when I'm driving people can anticipate what I'm doing easier than someone who's toddling down the road at 20mph with a line of traffic getting annoyed behind them. I'm not saying get old people off the road, I'm saying PLEASE make sure they're safe while they're there.
(",)
btw, 2 years back my driving was still good enough to be able to pass my motorbike tests too. More fun, and my job includes having to test equipment, a lot of it in new and expensive cars and minibuses, so I do have to be careful!
Message edited on: 03/22/2005 12:15
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The agony of youthfull idealism...2005.