28.5.07
25.5.07
20.5.07
18.5.07
Neighborhood Observations
Today I walked through my neighborhood, not looking for anything, just seeing things. Ans because I was seeing, not looking, I noticed things, and thought about things.
One thing I saw was one one of my neighbors' houses. It is a wholly unremarkable house, exept for one minute detail. You see, the house and it's yard are above the grade of the street, and the edge between the two levels is lined with a wall (also unremarkable). The surface of the yard is level with the top of the wall, and the street is level with the bottom. Although the purpose of a wall is to be impenetrable, this wall had a crack in it. The neighbor's lawn required copious amounts of watering to keep it a uniformly green and bland as possible; more, in fact, than the grass could handle. The excess water spilled through the crack in the wall and out onto the sidewalk. Because the neighbors perpetually water their lawn, there is a constant stream of water, always at least a trickle, flowing across the cement into the gutter. Now, where there is water there is normally some form of life, and in this case there's a gigantic algal bloom occupying the space where the water most frequently travels. I just found it to be an interesting concept, a bloom of algae in the middle of suburbia, surrounded by the gray of concrete and the black of asphalt; that you could have a marsh on solid cement.
The world would be a more interesting place if more people would imitate the way the algae sticks out, green and red hues, and purple, instead of becoming grey like the concrete masses.
Deeper than our usual fare, I know, but I felt like writing down what I was thinking about my neighborhood. There might be more of these installments.
-C
One thing I saw was one one of my neighbors' houses. It is a wholly unremarkable house, exept for one minute detail. You see, the house and it's yard are above the grade of the street, and the edge between the two levels is lined with a wall (also unremarkable). The surface of the yard is level with the top of the wall, and the street is level with the bottom. Although the purpose of a wall is to be impenetrable, this wall had a crack in it. The neighbor's lawn required copious amounts of watering to keep it a uniformly green and bland as possible; more, in fact, than the grass could handle. The excess water spilled through the crack in the wall and out onto the sidewalk. Because the neighbors perpetually water their lawn, there is a constant stream of water, always at least a trickle, flowing across the cement into the gutter. Now, where there is water there is normally some form of life, and in this case there's a gigantic algal bloom occupying the space where the water most frequently travels. I just found it to be an interesting concept, a bloom of algae in the middle of suburbia, surrounded by the gray of concrete and the black of asphalt; that you could have a marsh on solid cement.
The world would be a more interesting place if more people would imitate the way the algae sticks out, green and red hues, and purple, instead of becoming grey like the concrete masses.
Deeper than our usual fare, I know, but I felt like writing down what I was thinking about my neighborhood. There might be more of these installments.
-C
13.5.07
Sheesh
It's been almost almost a month since I last updated...and I promised to be good this time.
Oh well. Things have been busy, studying for the AP History test and whatnot. I took it on Friday, and it was surprisingly easy. I think it was just like swim meets- there was WAY too much hype. I was so psyched, though- I doodled all over the test booklet, and thought I'd lost the drawings forever when the were collected, but it turns out we get them back.
I had the chance to go to the local photography museum yesterday. They had an exhibit on a news photographer in China during the Cultural Revolution, Li Zhensheng. His work was full of stark images of people being prosecuted under Mao Zhedong. Seriously, the communist culture of china was like a paranoid cult, which rooted out anyone with any measure of doubt.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go into anything especially deep. I was just really awed by Li Zhensheng's photographs.
Adios.
Oh well. Things have been busy, studying for the AP History test and whatnot. I took it on Friday, and it was surprisingly easy. I think it was just like swim meets- there was WAY too much hype. I was so psyched, though- I doodled all over the test booklet, and thought I'd lost the drawings forever when the were collected, but it turns out we get them back.
I had the chance to go to the local photography museum yesterday. They had an exhibit on a news photographer in China during the Cultural Revolution, Li Zhensheng. His work was full of stark images of people being prosecuted under Mao Zhedong. Seriously, the communist culture of china was like a paranoid cult, which rooted out anyone with any measure of doubt.
Don't worry, I'm not going to go into anything especially deep. I was just really awed by Li Zhensheng's photographs.
Adios.
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