Grand Opening for Last Gallery On The Right

Roads, Roads, Roads...

One of the neighbors mentioned that  her cousin from New York City (or some such place) was visiting for a while, watching the place while she was gone and seriously asked her, "What is wrong with the people over her; they are always waving their hands at you when they drive past, or am I doing something wrong?"  Which brings up an interesting observation by some of us rural folks around here, which is that people don't hardly wave at each other anymore these days, like they used to (and like they do up around Reserve, I noticed last year).  Must be the city folk out here again, polluting the  beauty of the place, again.  Now I must admit that sometimes some of us go overboard, like my wife who waves at everyone from the passenger seat, confusing even the hardcore finger lifter.  When I got out here many years ago, I developed a system of "waving" based upon some subtle observations and some natural inclinations:  a nod of the head is the basic acknowledgement, then one finger (the pointer) raised on the steering wheel is a friendly gesture like the nod, the hand (still on the wheel) raised is a pleasant hello, two hands is real "hello", the hand and arm up off the wheel is for someone you know pretty well (maybe waving somehow), and the waving hand out of the window is for special friends. The peace sign is to remind us that there was a 60's. There are various variations on these approaches.  To ignore is basically rude in the country (I think).  But, to give a little on this, none of this is obligatory, just cool.

Starting here maybe we can move into a few basic categories to look at. They fall basically into this, for some of us: Roads, Roads, Roads.  Then there are Lights, Weeds, Noise (music), Water (creeks), Floods (flash), Manners (needing help), Style, Animals (pets and livestock), Wildlife, Fences, Aesthetics and Attitude.

Roads:  Driving on and maintaining a dirt road is an art.

1. A dirt road is a very changeable thing.  It is very sensitive to anything that you do or don't do to/with it.

2. Anybody that drives on it can positively or negatively affect it; sometimes it is just one driver at one time that can help/hurt it.

3. A dirt road can be maintained just by certain ways to drive on it.

  So here is the basic scoop:  To start with we need to understand the bumps and dips in a dirt road.  How they are or grow is of great interest to us who drive on it.  Now you may have noticed "potholes" or dips in the road.  These look like the road sunk in there, but that is not the case, really.  A pothole is often created by a simple depression in the road.  Then it might fill with water or get muddy sometime.  If a vehicle drives right over the pothole that is a little pond or muddy, then the wheels and weight and speed will cause the water and some mud with it to "splash" out from the little hole, making the little hole just a little less full of water and mud.  The dirt that is splashed out is now on the road and the pothole is bigger.  Once it is bigger, then it holds more water (creating more mud, etc.) and will splash out more stuff and the pothole gets even bigger.  It does not take long for the little depression to become a huge road event.  So, how do we prevent this?  It is easy: just don't drive through the pothole when it has water showing in it or is wet or muddy and, especially, do not drive fast on it.  Sometimes, when it is wet around the hole, you can drive in a way that pushes some dirt back into the pothole, helping to close it up.  A little gravel in a bucket , put into the hole can help a lot. 

Now that brings us to another scource of dirt roads: washboard roads (sometimes called corduroy roads).  They are the little series of bumps in the road that  look a little like lines across the road or a series of road waves.  They are really irritating and are caused by ignorant people in their sometimes silly cars.  I call it the "BMW and Empty Pickup Truck Syndrome" , having watched it first up in Tesuque, in Pacheco Canon, thought about it and then did some research.  It is sort of like this: a little high torque (spinning out) car whips up a dirt road, spinning out and pushing away little divits of dirt (or a truck with no weight in the rear) and it also starts small and gets reinforced once the problem starts.  It often happens on during drought conditions, they talk about,  I guess because the dirt can be spun out all the more easily.  Those little ripples somehow are like big waves and they go DEEP and are very hard to get rid of.  So, if your in a hurry neighbor is scooting along in his city car or non working car, you can bet they are creating the washboard effect.  That is why we talk about driving slowly on a dirt road.  Then, probably few people know this, but one can "work" on the road just using a vehicle, if, again, you catch it in time.  When the road, often in the spring or after lots of rain,  starts to get rutted,  then one can, first, try not to drive in the ruts, or wait till the road is frozen (both sides of a winter day)or less goopy to drive on it (plan things out) or wait till it is just starting to dry up and one can drive just at the edge of the rut and "push" the dirt into the track with the wheels. Or, if you have the right conditions and/or a 4 wheel drive, one can break down the ruts by zig zagging across them, again pushing the dirt into the ruts. 

As Andy Rooney Might Say....

As Andy Rooney Might Say…

It finally occurred to me that the TEA people and people like me (a progressive rural liberal) have something in common that may be at the root of their disgruntlement. I do not like the policies and personalities of those people, as far as I know them and would not like to have them as leaders as they vilify some of the most important safety nets and aspects of our security and the progress that has been made (at high cost) to make this country so great. My thinking, in so many ways, goes against the grain of those naysayers; they are just too damned backward, it seems. So before I digress and get angry, I will let you know what the commonality is, though.

I am tired of the rule makers and the rules…..in general.

By that I mean that there are far too many people around who are far too interested in creating enforceable rules and regulations. These rule makers are super tenacious (read vampires and killer octopi) in their need to control the world around them. Because of that tenaciousness they tend to impose themselves and interject themselves into every aspect of our lives. In the guise of doing good they have created, as a cultural storm, so many controls and naysaying that it has become difficult to maneuver around our planet. I include many of the so-called environmentalists who would gladly and did completely kick out the aboriginal residents of all of the major “wilderness” and park areas; not wanting them to, god forbid, touch the land and actually live on it and use it (as they had for tens of millennium; making their first mistakes that they learned from thousands of years ago, I am sure).

Anyway, the less rigid people could actually be in the majority. There are many of us that belong to the “live and let live” category. Maybe we want to build our own home, for instance, and have issues with the codes (important as they are) or engage in a variety of activities that we think should not be overseen to any great degree. Riding around in the back of a pickup truck, for instance, always seemed like one of the pleasures of life. Even the birds and insects have the freedom to construct a place to live and fly around without interference from the “nest police”. The more easy going people just want life to be more “free” and not to have to think about all these controls so much of our valuable time as we are enjoying ourselves and doing our work. It is a matter of degree, I guess.

That is not to say that regulating the bankers and hedgefunders, for instance, is a bad idea; that is a good idea because the potential damage is so great. Those rich computer-fingers are not my idea of “easy going” people; quite the opposite as they wreak havoc on our civilization with their reckless nano second algorithmic viral surreptitious mentalities.

So the obsessive rule people tend to win the day, like many fundamentalists, also, because they are, yes, so obsessive and tenacious in their need to control. They make life miserable for the most of us (with all of their “musts”) as we don’t wish to be locked into a bunch of rules; good as they may be. It just doesn’t feel like we are free or able to move (you know; like the Sundance Kid talking to butch Cassidy when he is trying to show him how well he can shoot and keeps asking, “Can I move?” because he clearly can only shoot well when he is on the fly and diving and putting his full personality into it).

And now one of the people I thought I liked the least shows up this week and writes about the local people taking over the reins of the forests to protect their surrounding lands from catastrophic fires and starting to do grassroots forest tending. I agree with him on this and wish it were someone else sending the message, but it isn’t. Paradox pie. If only the obsessive environmental left could decide to be more in touch with forest management through action not litigation. I admit it; I agree with Steve (see link below) although suspect he would be less careful of the forest in general.

So that puts me, once again, in the Obama camp where he is trying to work “with” the conservatives in order to solve problems. Now I only wish Barry Obama knew how to use a chainsaw and came from a forest products gathering background (but not wielding one like Bush who brought his chainsaw into the kitchen with him). I shook Ralph Naders’s hand once, also, and discovered that he was lily handed (as I suspect Barry is too, as well as most of those rule makers, including Steve Pearce). You cannot have everything and I would rather have Barack than most others…..as long as he doesn’t add too many more rules. I agree with my friend, Jess, who says that there ought to be a law that says, “For every new law or rule that is created, the governing bodies must get rid of two old ones!” Enough Already.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinion/Looking-In--U-S--Rep--Steve-Pearce-Work-together-for-common-good

Guy

When I first saw him he was playing with a large pig

Then he tipped his hat to my wife

Then regaled us with talk of roping elk, riding elk and chasing burros

For only twenty something I think he was quite a guy

In fact I think his name was Guy

He could live here too and take a cowboy dip at the falls

Or he could be driving the crawler around the ranch fixing things

Or taking Belle out dancing and two-step, polka, waltz, schottische, pretzel

Or making a table or set of shelves with all those tools, or less tools

He could be drunk in a bar, staggering all over the place

Wrapped around the toilet after closing time

He could be getting a divorce from his Anglo wife or his Spanish one

He could be talking to cops because his son turned him in for child abuse

He could be crying like a baby because it is all so beautiful and yet so sad

He could be writing a story of how he dumped the 1010 off the back of the truck

Or drove it off the mesa with no brakes with the 1010 and wife aboard

Or lifted it with a crane with neighbors and cops everywhere

Or hugged the bulldozer and then the crane guy for good measure

Or picking peaches with Fernando and supporting apple branches with sticks

Or walking in the river bed looking at rocks, beautiful rocks

Or making art, rustic and textural, pouring bronze or melting glass

Or wondering where the next dollar was really coming from

And worrying whether he was taking too long or charging too much or too little

And  bringing children onto the land so they could scamper around day after day

All summer long

Or catching rattlesnakes with a long pole and loop, dropping them into the dynamite box

And watching the children dreaming of catching one themselves later that day

And hearing his daughter talk of how the hawk swooped down in a blur of feathers

As she stood by wondering “what the hell” as it tried to get the duck six feet away

Or watching the ducks in water as they freed up that tension in his chest

Just by being themselves and loving water by birthright

Or playing his electric guitar loud and long and feeling the music in his body

Or playing Leadbelly songs on a 12 string Stella

Or going to an iron pour in Denver and playing for everyone solo

As the molten metal was poured into moulds for bowling balls

And sent down the chute spraying sparks and glowing red-orange

Headed for the white pins made of ceramic mold

Or speaking Spanish all day long to his helper, learning about Mexico

And how difficult it is down there and how much poverty and crime

Robos and drogas, gubierno sin mucho ayuda

And how they took the railroad apart for the steel

Or working hard, sweat dripping, arms pushing and pulling

Hands manipulating, making , making, thinking , thinking

Stress and tolerances, level and plumb, straight and curved

All things leading towards a goal, a house, a fixture, a door, a shower

Working for a living like our lives depended  on it

Like a young cowboy, Guy, playing with a large pig

On a beautiful rented ranch above Folsom and east of Clayton

Just a small one, barely 20,000 acres, barely enough to make a living on

Ya gotta give us credit where credit is due

For playing with that pig, alone, with noone watching

Except for maybe a tourist or two or a lessor and his friend

Credit for knowing that a donkey can toss a lady in a creek

If you aren’t careful

Or a sunset is worth taking a camera to, worth pointing and shooting

Give us credit that we got that elk and butchered it and brought it home than lean year

Credit for telling his hunter friends they are full of shit

Cause they don’t know a rat turd from a pinon nut

Credit for tanning the hide or trying to

Credit for buying the gun and chasing the bastard down with it

And going half-crazy afterwards, like a man in war who just shot a guy

Yeah and for saying “Howdy, maam”  and tipping that hat to the lady

And deciding not to get wrapped around a toilet anymore

And learning how to help things cool off

And learning how to type

And knowing how to read a tape measure, by god, and not tossing it into the nearest drink

And write stuff that is important, somehow

There is Irony in the Air

There is irony in the air. Those that understand how we got here are people who have learned that these are immutable truths; that evolution is the way we got here. Period. To call it a theory is misleading to the doubters. It has been proven. Creation theory is not proven, in any sense of the word, as the “word” relates to truth. The irony is that the creationists espouse, more often than not, and without realizing it, what is called “vulgar social darwinism” which is a wordy way of saying that they believe in a spin off notion of “survival of the fittest” as embodied by many conservative notions such as: “freedom” means “unfettered capitalism”, capitalism means survival of the fittest, “socialism” mean “communism” which means that the wealth must stay in the hands of the wealthy or else we are communists, “communism means the devil”, capitalism means survival of the strongest and no government, globalism, corporate strength, freedom to accumulate wealth however you see fit, be the world’s “superpower” (junk yard dog, my way or the highway) and let the weaker amongst us slip off the boat,. It is called “vulgar” social darwinism because it is not only a misinterpretation of Darwin, but a less than pretty way of doing it. Social darwinism relates to the fact that these people have applied to a scientific theory of evolution and mating systems a context that was never intended or talked about by applying “survival of the fittest” across the board into financial, economic and social applications that have no bearing on evolution; in fact, clearly may damage it. The reason why this has become a part of our culture in general and pounded by the right wing (who , again, ironically espouse fundamentalist Christianity...an irony within an irony; Jesus being the blessed are the meek and turn the other cheek and the rich man going to heaven is like the camel going through the eye of a needle sort of guy)..... in such a fundamental way) is that during the Cold War when everything about communism was battled, we became brainwashed (a term usually referring to communism, by the way) by the corporate, capitalist, greedy and selfish Reaganesque people that trickle down was the way to go, that corporations needed to be promoted and that freedom meant capitalism and......yes......Survival of the Fittest. Anything other than this was heading straight for the dreaded communism. So, to reiterate: the GOP and TEA have become, on the whole, the proponents of a vulgar notion of Darwin’s theory, twisting it and corrupting it, but they do not believe in evolution as it conflicts with Christian fundamentalist religion. These are the people that kill people fairly easily (in wars, in the justice system, with lots of handguns, etc.) but would deny a woman’s right to control her body (thus her life). So, to go further, it is clear that fundamentalists want survival of the fittest (men) to control as much as they can (kind of like the islamic fundamentalists,terrorists, with no regulations to stop their free capitalist progress to the top of the economic ladder or their male dominance (quite Darwinian sounding, isn’t it) . If only the irony stopped here, but it does not; the soon to be largest economy and economic strength in the world and to whom we have been borrowing from and buying from and hiring is a godless communist country, China, which has done a great job of learning how to take care of themselves and make things and better themselves (with no help from us to begin with). Ha ha, the joke is on us. And on a less hysterical note; it is becoming more and more clear that non-zero sum actions and realities such as natural and cultural altruism in many realms of biology, including humans; have propelled the most important contributions to civilization so far. So better get with it, ya’ll. You might get left behind, because, like the Neanderthals, you just don’t seem smart enough or well educated enough or kind enough to be a fruitful part of our lives as we work towards a fundamentally sound and balanced understanding of the world around us! The final irony, of course, is that these people will never read this ! They have god and air conditioning and a fascistic government and glocks to take care of any problems that might come their way, like the theory of global warming (which, like evolution is far beyond a theory). Sorry to be so hard on you, folks, but it is time to wake up.

Outsiders and Atheists

The line between “outsider” art and the rest of the art world is often quite blurred; no obvious distinction between them, often. This was the case at the SOFA art show in Santa Fe this year. They were kind enough and thoughtful enough to include outsider art this year, for the first time. I was fascinated to see that there was not a clear delineation of the “rows” and that I was not really able to tell the difference between the two at that time. Of course, there were some clear indications such as using recycled materials and such, but even some of the participants even agreed that it was difficult to see the line between the two. Being something of an outsider myself, I was, of course, deeply interested. Like my father quips, “I am self educated, myself”. Having thoroughly enjoyed the Meow Wolf installations over the years, I know that there is a tendency for me to appreciate outsider art. My opinion is like my opinion of a dancer; if they have the guts to get out there and make a fool of themselves, sometimes; they get my vote. Being a custom furniture maker, builder and outsider architect, I know that making those distinctions between craft and art are often very difficult to do. I was taking bronze foundry classes at Highlands University a while back and vividly remember a crazy old woman, retired art teacher who wandered around the studios in sheer see through blouse and odd attire and thinking, “Is she art?” and another professor (“teacher” to me, “tutor” to St. Johns ) overheard me talking about snagging some roots or sticks for my artwork from somewhere that was “forbidden” to remove such things and I invoked “Artist’s License” and he cryptically asked if I had a license. I didn’t like his attitude or that of many artists from academia as they often think they do have a more important license to practice and judge art. Now anyone with any sense in the real world should know that this is ridiculous and propped up chauvinism. Many children do better artwork than most adults, even professionals, naturally; for reasons that are beyond my understanding, but suggest that a license is not required. For someone with decades of personal discipline, attention to detail and countless hours of thought as to the form and shape and function and finish of a piece of furniture or a house to contemplate these questions is natural. Of course, a professional builder of things cannot really slide through their careers, as money is always involved; the success of the piece is always judged promptly. And we all know that in this particular trade, the amount of effort to create the pieces is often not commensurate with the cost to the customer. I know it is important for an “educated” person to use their training and papers to further their careers and do not ridicule this by any means. I honor them and also wish to keep things the right size so that a clear picture is in front of us by honoring also those that did not sit behind a desk and possibly kowtow to a narcissistic, politically tenured or possibly sadistic teacher or institution. This whole situation is a little like coming out as an atheist but still wanting to go to church to talk about deeply important spiritual truths and keep those friends that have shared so much with you over the years; not minding hearing or using the term “god” and also knowing that, in your heart and mind, you know there is none. You still want to play with them and suspect that many of them agree with you but are afraid to admit it. The penalty for being “outsider” does not seem fair, right sized or appropriate. So, as we pass through Santa Fe; noticing Indian Market, Spanish Market and Sofa show and the free music on the Plaza and walk together with each other, I think it is worth thinking about all this. My friends and I recently did a bronze pour together and decided to experiment pouring bronze into a green gambrel oak post carved out with our very first bronze “Artist Licenses”. What fun! Don’t you wonder how they came out?

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"Art Brut", or "outsider art", consists of works produced by people who for various reasons have not been culturally indocrinated or socially conditioned. ...

The Wrong Worries

It was an awakening when I read about the history of the “Great “ Depression recently and that Franklin D Roosevelt (famous for setting up the CCC camps, the WPA and other major jobs programs for the country) had begun to cut back on many programs and reduced spending and the depression was, again, in trouble, just like it is now.  Then WW II set in and the country was mobilized to all get to work, set up plane and munitions factories, create new technologies etc.  etc.  and  that is why people say that “wars are good for the economy” (which that one was)  etc. etc.  Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been good for the economy, in fact have created a huge deficit only to benefit a few rich corporations like Haliburton and Blackwater and  a relative  few  young people.  The reason why is that the country was not mobilized to fight a war (not that we should have) which involved sacrifices of all sorts; belt tightening, rationing of gas, corporate support, etc. etc.  So killing people is not the solution.  But it does suggest what needs to be done; discover what the needs of the people and the planet are : alternative fuels, solar energy and clean energy, education to support all of that, debt reduction…bank sacrifices (remember those corporate sacrifices)….new jobs in biomass and forest management (remember those forest fires) in all sorts of new and exciting places (teachers aids for millions of teachers), new sources of revenue (look at the 1% of population who have been getting richer and richer every year…on our backs…trickle up …well, er,  not really a trickle, really; more like a flood) !  And how about soil building (the backbone of everything), grey water treatment, water catchment, organic farming, etc..  The GOP  and the others who are bickering got it wrong all along and it is time to wake up and see this; this is the time for the government to step in and help out big time (not with bank bail outs this time, but jobs programs and boot-strap support…..on our new war …..to support the people who need help the most right now and not after the economy has begun to (don’t make me laugh) “trickle down” again.  Houses need to be solarized and sealed and insulated and set up for water harvesting.   Wow, everybody….let’s have a war…….ON POVERTY and ECONOMIC ABUSE and POOR MANAGEMENT (gotta keep those unions, folks, to keep the working people’s rights supported).  Gotta have regulations to keep people from ripping each other off in a myriad of ways; the big economic crisis was caused by lack of regulation and proper support of the people’s needs.    In Germany (recently when the economic collapse hit) they made sure that people were not laid off, but they (mostly) all kept their jobs and reduced their hours so that people shared in the economic situation (no zero sum games being played).  No offence to Barak Obama but he needs to get out of that “preppy” world of his and start listening to people with dirt under their fingernails for a change; there is no place for people who are not attached to the earth anymore, because it is in saving the earth (and not the way the litigious enviros and greenies have been thinking and doing) that we will save ourselves. 

Here is a link: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/opinion/the-wrong-worries.html