We decided not to post one of our usual stories today. We felt that our heads and hearts would be too full of what has just happened. I’m referring to the election. I write this in advance of it, not knowing the outcome yet.
So rather than post a story, we thought we’d share some photos I’ve taken that might remind us who and where we are, and what we might be.
We here in the U.S. are living in an In-Between world, and these pictures reflect that. I take pictures as both a form of note taking and a way of keeping a record of how lovely, strange and surreal the world is. Ordinary things and places, when framed in this way, often jump out and reveal themselves to be a metaphor, a joke, a mirror, or an echo of another place or thing.
Though there are no people in most of these photos, our footprints are everywhere. Sometimes the captions I give them are a way to hint at some other thing, place, or idea that this image conjures. A disassembled piece of furniture might remind me of an ancient cosmological diagram. A chain-link fence is a threadbare sweater. A seaside mural incorporates an air conditioner — God’s chiller. A bronze monument immortalizes a homeless person’s possessions.
I ask myself if these pictures are somehow a reflection of this very strange, sad, hopeful time. Are they trying to tell me something?
We’ll resume our regularly scheduled programming next week.
DB
