Author: duckshots

Lapsed lawyer. Reader. Photographer. Jewish. Strongly attached to loving, caring, wife-Sharon. Working at remaining relevant. Hoping that my body and mind outlive my dreams. Maybe something I blog will make some sense.

Peter Shumlin Runs

Shumlin Listens

Politicians have to listen when they run. Polls predict the outcomes and rate the issues.Citizens approach, voice their likes and dislikes. Their opponents attack their ethics, experience, and motivations. And, should they be elected, they have to deal with the intricacies of an outdated legislative system and entrenched judiciary, all run and controlled by special interests. Only people who quantify their existence in terms of how much they can compromise so as not to be considered a loser and thereby be reelected would campaign honorably and hope to be elected.

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Jesse May Not Vote

I had not seen Jesse for a while, which always makes me nervous that something has happened to him or some of my other friends. He said he had stuff to do and needed to deal with the elements. He has located a brother with some help from a woman-friend who has access to the internet. The brother lives in Phoenix and has a family and a business. Jesse also said that he has a kid who lives in Boca whom he has not seen for fourteen years. “It causes me a lot of pain and sorrow.” No doubt.

“Jesse, you going to vote?”

“I don’t know if I am registered. Besides. I wouldn’t know who to vote for. None of those guys would do anything to help me would they?”

Columbus Day Flags

At the Lone Sailor
Next To Boathouse
Battery From Boardwalk

How did Columbus Day become a National Holiday? I know how it  became the day for Italian Americans. An Italo/American named Joe Columbo, one who may have had organized crime connections, didn’t like hearing bad things being said about his ancestry, so, in 1970,  he started the Italian American Civil Rights League and held a rally in Columbus Circle.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds

The Birds opened this semester’s presentation by Access Cinema in Hinesburg. Very challenging list of films on Ken Peck’s list. Engaging discussion after the movie. Sixteen signed up. Ken wants the entire auditorium filled. Audacious expectations. And, I don’t think watching a movie in such an overwhelming venue will be fun or enlightening if so many people are watching.

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Fritz Lang at Fleming

To make a relationship work, you need to have things in common with your companion, otherwise you don’t have anything to talk about and you don’t need to be together. Sharon and I share film in common. Luckily, we both like film noir. Otherwise, we have lots of conflicting tastes. You could not guess correctly, if you tried who likes what.

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Christo at the Flemming

Christo spoke, backed by images of his and Jeanne Claude’s work. Some wept for her. “Jeanne Claude used to say, ‘we were born on the same day of separate Mothers.'” He covets the artistic process, while recognizing the politics of his craft. Not only a visionary, but he is, as Ashley Montagu would say, “a cultured man, an artist, an artist in humanity.”

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Hope Cemetery and Its Vehicles

The Pharaohs had boats to take them to the Netherworld. Some at Hope Cemetery have their lives as drivers recognized in death. Another must have liked to drive while listening to music. One has the car ready to drive the causeway to heaven. The graphics and sculptures make going to graveyards uplifting and interesting. All the dead have stories, but few have illustrations that hint of their lives. The addition of images gives those who didn’t know the person interred a hint as to their backgrounds and reminds those who do of something of importance to their loved one which they adorned to the grave in what must have been an act of love.

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