Jumbled by Chipka
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Description
Another bolus of fog has belched from the river. The antic motions of taxis and buses—of automotive contrivances as bland as any assembly-like output—have disturbed the thick and vaporous eddies, relegating them to the city’s upper margins. There is light: the almighty lie that everything is grand and dreamy in the City. The streets speak a quieter truth; they announce it with slush and litter once-buried and revealed by temperatures warm enough to melt snow. Footprints mark the passage of businessmen and secretaries, of account executives and specialists of some arcane and vaguely agoraphobic breed.
There is ice on the river. Broken. There are lines of light and whispers of something soft and cloying. It touches the lungs like oil and like dew. It clings. It is like something lovelorn and lost, but it is invisible until it touches clothing, or metal. There are those who view it as a condensate particular to cities. There are those who call it “sleaze.” And now, as you walk along the curve of Wacker Drive, you notice that the sleaze has condensed on every available surface. Sleaze is a city-born thing, a form of precipitation that occurs only in the presence of skyscrapers and bridges. It lends a gleaming unreality to that which is real. It is beautiful, in its lovelorn way.
You walk, having visited a friend who now rests in the warmth of an apartment cluttered with belongings not his own. You think of the smell of old, oxidizing paper, recalling that apartment and the wonders it contains: so much stuff…so many dead white people staring at you from lifeless white walls. You have harbor no belligerent attitudes towards those lighter than yourself, but these dead faces disturb you. They are icons of an age unfriendly to all but the most anodyne of American ideals. You realize that you and your friend were never such an model of celluloid perfection. You realize that these faces: the friends of your friend’s roommate, were never friends of yours.
Now, the City, for all of its chill is a sheltering place. There is the jagged skin of broken ice upon the river, and card-stock cups emblazoned with the logo of an aggressive and overpriced coffee chain. There are pale people here, and for all of their similarities to the faces on distant apartment walls, none of them are white…not in that aggressively self-important way. They are a comfort to you, like your friend. They live their lives without ever once demanding that you call them "pretty."
***
This is my first official post of a 2010 photograph; it’s barely two hours old (at the time of this posting) and the text above represents the strange amalgam of feelings I swim through whenever I visit Corey. He lives with a roommate with a thing for old Hollywood…the Golden Age of Hollywood…where everyone was white and American even ancient Egyptians. (Weren’t they brown? And Un-American?)
I enjoy visiting Corey, and spending what time with him that I can: and as we talked today (during a rare lull in our hectic routines) we both verbalized the thought that Scarlet O’Hara really needs to take her snooty butt off of his wall and out of his room. I suspect she’ll be migrating soon, but based on Corey’s roommate and his overbearing hobby of collecting we’re afraid of where Ms. O’Hara is likely to pop up. We pray (and pray, and pray) that she won’t wind up on the bathroom ceiling (one of the only empty surfaces in that apartment.) How embarrassing it would be to satisfy needs of urinary importance with Scarlet O’Hara looking down like some religious icon dressed in…well…window dressing! Oh well...
***
As always, thank you for viewing, reading, and commenting, and I hope you're all having a great, warm week.
Comments (25)
koosievantutte
great story and very fine image - i love the yellowish light which makes a very friendly impression, despite the scale of the environment!
romanceworks
Well, as you're doing your business slowly look up at Scarlet on the ceiling and tell her you just don't give a damn. :o) Great image.That ice on the river is amazing. CC
beachzz
This has an almost surreal quality to it; I can't even be exactly sure what it is I'm seeing. I would have thought those chunks of ice were simply large rocks in a shallow river. Not quite. As for Scarlett, well, as Bret said, just say, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn!!" BTW--your new avatar----ROCKS!!!
danapommet
Marilyn is right on, your new avatar is awesome. Beautiful night shot and the light reflecting on the broken ice. Let us hope that Scarlet does not make it to the bathroom ceiling. Enjoyed you narrative. Dana
helanker
While reading your story, my headache disappeared, WOW! THat is something HUH? I like it alot BTW. The story I mean. But I also like alot this capture in all the wonderful and golden colors and lights. Gorgeous... and the broken Ice in the river is just fantastic. In all a Super Upload of yours. And your Avatar is just so COOL.
Meisiekind
First things first - I L O V E your new avatar Chip! The light catching your face is perfect!! The image - very busy and warm and viby with the yellow glow of the tungsten lights... Makes me want to be there... Your words - touching, funny, entertaining!!! A perfect combo!!!
Djavad
Superbe reflet nuit et glaçons
durleybeachbum
My first thought was 'How does Corey put up with it?' I share my house with 5 other people but I don't have their things on my walls and they don't have theirs on mine. Public space is another matter entirely. The photo is such a confusion of light and your choice of title perfect. Beautiful though it is is speaks to me of the feeling of alienation induced by cities in so many folk, including me. I so enjoyed your expansion of the meaning of sleaze..marvellous! And of course I too love the new avatar!
flora-crassella
fantastic golden picture!
anahata.c
With everyone else, your new avatar is beautiful! Just beautiful. It's almost an upload in itself. Second, your feelings on the city are haunting & beautifully written. And your ruminations on Corey's place--the faces staring out, and the utter 'whiteness' of old hollywood--are genuine poetry. It's funny about Scarlet O'Hara: The actual actress--Vivien Leigh--was a troubled soul who went through hell in her life (she played, as you may know, Blanche DuBois in the film version of "Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams, and she was spectacularly volatile with deep emotional cauldrons, and she sears into the play like a sabre...) So you're not just being stared at by Scarlet (good name for a white hollywood face, btw) but being stared at by someone who had tumultuous ups & downs in her life. That alone would inhibit me from using the bathroom for weeks! You've captured the fragments of lives & shards of the city, in another of your penetrating prose-snapshots; and your photo is just grand, Chip, a sweeping piece of gold & yellow along the Chicago River with the Wrigley to the side (I hate that bulding, esp with the old lights that shine on it...); and you caught the feel of this glittery scene in frigid winter. (Amazing capture of the river!) It's a beauteous shot, haunting, assaulting and strangely alluring---like the allure of Scarlet O'Hara herself, all beauty on the outside but torment & volcano on the inside. Maybe it's about Chicago too. A beautiful upload in word & image, and I for one definitely give a damn, lol. This scene may be gone with the wind one day too...
MrsRatbag
What a hauntingly beautiful capture, a signature Chip shot with the golden light and the darkness! And your narrative matches perfectly--golden friendship amongst the hovering darkness.
ladyraven23452
love it.
MagikUnicorn
B E A U T Y
bmac62
Before we get to the meat of the issue at hand...WOW, what a great avatar. There should be a contest for most handsome avatar...you win:) When I opened "Jumbled" today, your photo opens facing your new avatar. The golden light of the photo is shining in the depth of aforementioned avatar. How did you do that? LOL. The meat of the issue: What descriptive writing! At least that's what I think they called in some old English class of mine. The river, the city's atmosphere, Corey's apartment... I've got it all filed away neatly (versus jumbled) in my minds eye. Your photo does provide the feel for what "expansive" means in a large city like Chicago. So, after probably embarrasing you about your avatar...did you ever think it is faces like yours who have helped replace the pretty, dead, white faces that hang all over Corey's apartment? Does Corey's roommate like you? We do. Great job.
mermaid
yep can only agree, the avatar is superbe, Chip! And this shot also, it's an amazing mesh of light and forms and the broken ice is literally the icing on the cake...smile And about this Scarlet thing...oh my... I would just tell the guy, a bathroom is surely not the fitting place for a southern Belle like Miss O Hara, especially not the guys bathroom...
jocko500
wonderful
jac204
As always your narratives and images are superb.
JaneEden
Love your avatar Chip it is great and good to look at such a handsome chap! This photography is amazing, so detailed and clear although so much to see also, and the ice on the water almost looks like broken crazy paving stones. About Scarlet O'Hara issue somebody does certainly seem obsessed by her, so let's hope the bathroom ceiling remains clear. Wonderful as ever to visit your gallery. hugs Jane xx
auntietk
Save that avatar ... it's the image of you that needs to go on the back of your book jackets. :D Wow! I love this photograph ... the light reflecting off concrete, off water, off glass, off metal, is just spectacular. Your thoughts while walking must have been ringing in your head, images of what those times were like for ordinary Americans, how different things were in the movies. I've been pinning different pieces of art to my bathroom walls (still haven't committed to anything after the remodel) but Vivien Leigh has not been an image I've been considering!
kgb224
My friend i like the colors in this capture. I spotted a fish in your capture as well. Outstanding capture and story line.
myrrhluz
The lighting, detail and color of your image are superb. It looks like what I imagine at ground level when I look down at a city from an aircraft. Lights brilliant, and shadows unable to find a place to lurk. Beautiful gold tones, but a bit intimidating and invasive. Two places that shadows do seem to have found a foothold is around the McDonald's (Is that significant?) and in the water. The jagged ice emphasizes the deep darkness in the water below. The river broods with ill intent. It sets my mind thinking of Gormenghast. Your reading, once again, carries me to another place. It is a place I might prefer to visit from a distance. Cloying air that clings and eyes, many eyes, staring indifferently from white faces, I find it challenging living in my own clutter, sometimes. I would hate to live in someone else's. Excellent image and story, and superb new Avatar!
Kaartijer
Awesome night shot, good composition!
giovanino
gorgeous piece of art
volcomman1
wonderfull!
blondeblurr
At last I am starting to catch up with my observations and comments, starting from the back, hmmm ? Your first avatar was intriguing, trying to make out, what you really looked like ? (with Mr. Kafka in the background, I presumed) but now , all is revealed in rainbow colours, let's hope there will be a pot of gold by the end of the year, before you change it again. Mr.Corey has Ms.O'Hara and you have Mr.Kafka...no comparison, but very controversial. Cheers BB