View allAll Photos Tagged cleanliness
Whether it be the elderly, children, homeless, the workers or the men and women that carry out the mating ritual on the city sidewalks. .. My social photography intends only to inform, and to share with others what I observe and find to be interesting. I apologize if I inadvertently offend anyone ~Rhpsr
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 4529/1, 1929-1930. Photo: MGM.
American film star Joan Crawford (1904-1977) had a career that would span many decades, studios, and controversies. In her silent films, she made an impact as a vivacious Jazz Age flapper and later she matured into a star of psychological melodramas.
Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur in 1904, in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were Anna Belle (Johnson) and Thomas E. LeSueur, a laundry labourer. By the time she was born, her parents had separated. The young Lucille was bullied and shunned at Scaritt Elementary School in Kansas City by the other students due to her poor home life. She worked with her mother in a laundry and felt that her classmates could smell the chemicals and cleaners on her. She said that her love of taking showers and being obsessed with cleanliness had begun early in life as an attempt to wash off the smell of the laundry. Her stepfather Henry Cassin allegedly began sexually abusing her when she was eleven years old, and the abuse continued until she was sent to St. Agnes Academy, a Catholic girls' school. By the time she was a teenager, she'd had three stepfathers. Lucille LeSueur worked a variety of menial jobs. She was a good dancer, though, and she entered several contests, one of which landed her a spot in a chorus line. Before long, she was dancing in the choruses of travelling revues in big Midwestern and East Coast cities. She was spotted dancing in Detroit by famous New York producer Jacob J. Shubert. Shubert put her in the chorus line for his show 'Innocent Eyes'(1924) at the Winter Garden Theatre on Broadway. Then followed another Schubert production, 'The Passing Show of 1924'. After-hours, she danced for pay in the town it-spot, Club Richman, which was run by the 'Passing Show' stage manager Nils Granlund and popular local personality Harry Richman. In December 1924, Granlund called Lucille to tell her that Al Altman, a NYC-based talent scout from MGM had caught her in 'The Passing Show of 1924' and wanted her to do a screen test. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) offered Crawford a contract at $75 a week. On New Year's Day 1925 she boarded the train for Culver City. Credited as Lucille LeSueur, her first film part was as a showgirl in Lady of the Night (Monta Bell, 1925), starring MGM's most popular female star, Norma Shearer. Crawford was determined to succeed, and shortly after she also appeared in The Circle (Frank Borzage, 1925) and Pretty Ladies (Monta Bell, 1925), starring comedian ZaSu Pitts. She also appeared in a small role Erich von Stroheim's classic The Merry Widow (1925) with Mae Murray and John Gilbert. MGM publicity head Pete Smith recognised her ability to become a major star but felt her name sounded fake. He told studio head , Louis B. Mayer, that her last name, LeSueur, reminded him of a sewer. Smith organised a contest called 'Name the Star' in Movie Weekly to allow readers to select her new stage name. The initial choice was 'Joan Arden', but after another actress was found to have prior claim to that name, the alternate surname 'Crawford' became the choice. She first made an impression on audiences in Edmund Goulding's showgirl tale Sally, Irene and Mary (1925). The film, which co-starred Constance Bennett and Sally O'Neil, was a hit. Joan's popularity grew so quickly afterwards that two films in which she was still billed as Lucille Le Sueur: Old Clothes (Edward F. Cline, 1925) with Jackie Coogan, and The Only Thing (Jack Conway, 1925) were recalled, and her name on the billings was changed to Joan Crawford. In 1926, Crawford was named one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars, and she starred opposite Charles Ray in Paris (Edmund Goulding, 1926). Within a few years, she became the romantic female lead to many of MGM's top male stars, including Ramón Novarro, John Gilbert, and action star Tim McCoy. She appeared alongside her close friend, William Haines in the comedy Spring Fever (Edward Sedgwick, 1927). It was the second film starring Haines and Crawford (the first had been Sally, Irene and Mary (1925)), and their first onscreen romantic teaming. Then, Crawford appeared in the silent horror film The Unknown (Tod Browning, 1927), starring Lon Chaney, Sr., who played Alonzo the Armless, a circus freak who uses his feet to toss knives. Crawford played his skimpily-clad young carnival assistant whom he hopes to marry. She stated that she learned more about acting from watching Chaney work than from anyone else in her career. Her role of Diana Medford in Our Dancing Daughters (Harry Beaumont, 1928) elevated her to star status. Joan co-starred with Anita Page and Dorothy Sebastian, and her spunky wild-but-moral flapper character struck a chord with the public and zeitgeist. Wikipedia: "The role established her as a symbol of modern 1920s-style femininity which rivaled Clara Bow, the original It girl, then Hollywood's foremost flapper. A stream of hits followed Our Dancing Daughters, including two more flapper-themed movies, in which Crawford embodied for her legion of fans (many of whom were women) an idealized vision of the free-spirited, all-American girl." The fan mail began pouring in and from that point on Joan was a bonafide star. Crawford had cleared the first big hurdle; now came the second, in the form of talkies. But Crawford wasn't felled by sound. Her first talkie, the romantic drama Untamed (Jack Conway, 1929) with Robert Montgomery, was a success. Michael Eliott at IMDb: "It's rather amazing to see how well she transformed into a sound star and you have to think that she was among the best to do so."
In the early 1930s, tired of playing fun-loving flappers, Joan Crawford wanted to change her image. Thin lips would not do for her; she wanted big lips. Ignoring her natural lip contours, Max Factor ran a smear of colour across her upper and lower lips. It was just what she wanted. To Max, the Crawford look, which became her trademark, was always 'the smear'.
As the 1930s progressed, Joan Crawford became one of the biggest stars at MGM. She developed a glamorous screen image, appearing often as a sumptuously gowned, fur-draped, successful career woman. She was in top form in films such as Grand Hotel (Edmund Goulding, 1932), Sadie McKee (Clarence Brown, 1934), No More Ladies (Edward H. Griffith, 1935), and Love on the Run (W.S. Van Dyke, 1936) with Clark Gable.
Crawford often played hard-working young women who found romance and success. Movie patrons were enthralled, and studio executives were satisfied. Her fame rivalled, and later outlasted, that of MGM colleagues Norma Shearer and Greta Garbo. Among her early successes as a dramatic actress were The Women (George Cukor, 1939), Susan and God (1940), Strange Cargo (1940), and A Woman’s Face (1941).
By the early 1940s, MGM was no longer giving Joan Crawford plum roles. Newcomers had arrived in Hollywood, and the public wanted to see them. Crawford left MGM for rival Warner Bros. In 1945 she landed the role of a lifetime in Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945). It is the story of an emotional and ambitious woman who rises from waitress to owner of a restaurant chain. The role gave her an opportunity to show her range as an actress, and her performance as a woman driven to give her daughter (Ann Blyth) everything garnered Crawford her first, and only, Oscar for Best Actress. The following year she appeared with John Garfield in the well-received Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946). In 1947, she appeared as Louise Graham in Possessed (Curtis Bernhardt, 1947) with Van Heflin. Again she was nominated for a Best Actress from the Academy, but she lost to Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter (H.C. Potter, 1947). Crawford continued to choose her roles carefully, and in 1952 she was nominated for a third time, for her depiction of Myra Hudson in Sudden Fear (David Miller, 1952) opposite Jack Palance and Gloria Grahame. This time the coveted Oscar went to Shirley Booth, for Come Back, Little Sheba (Daniel Mann, 1952). In 1955, Crawford became involved with the Pepsi-Cola Company through her marriage to company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alfred Steele. Crawford married four times. Her first three marriages to the actors Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1929–1933), Franchot Tone (1935–1939), and Phillip Terry (1942–1946) all had ended in divorce. After his death in 1959 she became a director of the company and in that role hired her friend Dorothy Arzner to film several Pepsi commercials. Crawford's film career slowed and she appeared in minor roles until 1962. Then she and Bette Davis co-starred in Whatever happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962). Their longstanding rivalry may have helped fuel their phenomenally vitriolic and well-received performances. Crawford's final appearance on the silver screen was in the bad monster movie Trog (Freddie Francis, 1970). It is said Bette Davis commented that if she had found herself starring in Trog, she'd commit suicide. Anyway, Joan Crawford retired from the screen, and following a public appearance in 1974 withdrew from public life. Turning to vodka more and more, she became increasingly reclusive. In 1977, Joan Crawford died of a heart attack in New York City. She was 72 years old. She had disinherited her adopted daughter Christina and son Christopher; the former wrote the controversial memoir 'Mommie Dearest' (1978). In 1981, Faye Dunaway starred in the film adaptation Mommie Dearest (Frank Perry, 1981) which did well at the box office. Joan Crawford is interred in a mausoleum in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.
Sources: Stephanie Jones (The Best of Everything), Michael Elliott (IMDb), Encyclopaedia Britannica, Wikipedia and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
For NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and its incredibly sensitive scientific instruments, cleanliness is critical. Contamination Control Engineers like Yingrui “Zao” Huang, who has been on the mission since 2013, play an important role in ensuring Webb’s hardware is in pristine condition during the testing and integration that lead up to launch.
Zao is pictured in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility (SSDIF) at NASA Goddard, standing in front of the wall of filters that help keep the cleanroom clean.
Image credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
Thoughts on cleanliness seems to split UK rail photographers. There are some who love to shoot filthy locomotives believing that muck offers a great deal of hard work and industrial presence. Of course there are those who like to see sparkling examples that illuminate their photos. In Serbia though this locomotive 661 112 certainly fits in the former category.
The JŽ 661 locomotives were originally introduced via a class of Yugoslav Railways. They are an GM-EMD export model of type EMD G16, built by General Motors in the USA and under licence by Clyde Engineering in Australia and MACOSA in Spain. The class was known as Kenedi, after the US President John F. Kennedy. After the breakup in 1991, the locomotives were passed on to successor states. In Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Slovenia have all kept the JŽ-era designation series 661. Today there are around 15 operational series 661 with Serbian Railways. They are used used mostly on non-electrified railways, primarily to haul freight trains, but also the occasional passenger trains.
In order to fit more trash in the trash can, the janitor crawled into the dumpster and tramp down the trash .
when i was a kid, there was nothing better than getting a new pair of sneakers. so much promise in their pristine cleanliness. and they always smelled so good! (i am big on smells -- new shoes, the pages of an old book, gas stations, burning wood... smells really are bridges to the past.)
in fact whenever i got a new pair of sneakers i used to place them very carefully on my pillow at night. i guess i couldn't quite believe my good fortune to have them, and was afraid they'd vanish as mysteriously as they'd arrived.
so... while in maine last month we stopped at llbean, and i picked up these orange suede kicks. nirvana in a shoe, i tell you! and after seeing some of the fabulous shoe shots by computer science geek and debaird, i decided to try my hand at shooting them for the My Impression Of... group. after playing around with PS elements i somehow got my dining table to look green, while the shoes stayed true to form. weird. cool.
so here ya go.
see you on the playground.
Vim was one of the best known brands of scouring powder and marketing such as this helped make sure it stayed as a brand leader. Lever's had introduced it in 1904 as an abrasive cleaning powder that at the time was used for a variety of purposes. Latterly it seemed to be more a toilet or lavatory cleaner and indeed by the 1990s the brand name was being used on other types of cleaner. It was effectively replaced by Unilever's other brand, Jif, and the brand was sold on. It is now owned by the Henkel Group.
The graphics are very much of Lever’s own studios of the time - bold, with minimal text, and the break in the visual frame.
Dhaka is not a clean city. People loves to make everything dirty, remain dirty. Only exception is perhaps Dhaka University and BUET campus, where cleaners regularly try their best to remove the dirty things from streets,shops,cafe and canteens.
BUET, Dhaka 2015
Black & White
White Queen represent
purity, perfection, honesty, cleanliness, and goodness.
#lego
#BlackAndWhite
#creativity
#chess
#LegendBricks
#herbertbrickwork
#her_brick
other cat cleans her paws - I'm disappointed it's a little out of focus, but I still find it an appealing shot
another wild and windy day but my heart was full of joy to find a new pair of swans
on the laundry field..............
im well on the mend now off to see the specialist in the morn......
maybe ill even get some proper physio .....
hope this finds you all well and happy my dear friends.....
your support means so much more than i can ever say.......
thank god for flickr n the web...............xxxxxx
Pure white cleanliness and frosty silence in the park early in the morning.
Date: December 8, 2017 07:50
Temperature: -1°C (30°F)
The Deutsche Bahn (DB), which is the successor to the Deutsche Bundesbahn, faces a number of operational challenges. Issues with punctuality are a frequent complaint, with delays often caused by a combination of aging infrastructure, maintenance work, and signal failures. Additionally, the railway network is highly utilized, leading to capacity issues, especially on major routes. Customers also sometimes report problems with cleanliness and the reliability of on-board services.
Despite these issues, the condition of the trains is generally not as depicted in this image. The ICE trains, for example, are high-speed, modern electric multiple units designed for passenger comfort and speed. While regular maintenance is required, they are not at all "rotten" or "overcrowded" to the extreme, with passengers riding on the exterior of the train. This image is a dystopian and exaggerated depiction, not a factual representation of the current state of DB's fleet.
The scene serves as a visual metaphor rather than a realistic portrayal of public transportation in Germany. While DB may have its problems, the trains and infrastructure are maintained to a much higher standard than the "dystopian" image suggests, and safety regulations would prevent such a situation from occurring.
"The end is nigh" is a phrase that signals a warning about an impending and often catastrophic event, typically a doomsday scenario. It is a modern English translation of a passage from the Bible, specifically from the Book of Revelation, which describes the end times and the second coming of Jesus Christ. The phrase has transcended its religious origins and is now commonly used in a more secular context to describe any situation where a significant and negative change is believed to be imminent. The tone of the phrase is often one of urgency and foreboding, implying that there is little time left to prepare or change course. It is often associated with images of an apocalyptic future and is a common trope in literature, film, and other media.
Historically, the phrase gained prominence through its use by street preachers and prophets who would walk through cities with signs bearing the words "The End Is Nigh." This practice was particularly common during periods of social unrest, economic depression, or heightened religious fervor. These individuals often saw natural disasters, plagues, or political instability as signs of the impending apocalypse. Their public pronouncements were intended to serve as a call to repentance and a warning to the populace to prepare for divine judgment. The visual of a lone figure holding a sign with this ominous message has become an enduring cultural image, symbolizing a last-ditch effort to warn humanity before it's too late.
In modern usage, "the end is nigh" has lost much of its literal religious meaning and is often used metaphorically or even sarcastically. For example, one might say "the end is nigh" when a favorite sports team is losing badly or when a long-awaited technological device is about to be replaced by a newer model. This more casual use of the phrase highlights its shift from a literal prophecy to a dramatic exclamation. It can be used to add a sense of hyperbole or theatricality to a situation, making a minor inconvenience seem like a major catastrophe. The phrase's adaptability across different contexts demonstrates its powerful emotional resonance, even when its original meaning is no longer the primary focus.
The phrase taps into a deep-seated human fear of the unknown and the inevitable. Throughout history, societies have grappled with the concept of their own demise, whether it be from natural causes, war, or divine intervention. "The end is nigh" encapsulates this anxiety in a concise and powerful statement. It reflects a cyclical view of time, where periods of prosperity and stability are inevitably followed by decline and collapse. This idea is present in many myths and legends, from the Norse Ragnarök to the Hindu concept of Kali Yuga, where the world is believed to be in its final, most degenerate stage before its eventual destruction and renewal. The phrase serves as a modern echo of these ancient eschatological beliefs.
In conclusion, "the end is nigh" is a multifaceted phrase with a rich history, evolving from a literal biblical warning to a widely used cultural idiom. Its power lies in its ability to evoke a sense of urgency, fear, and finality, regardless of the context. Whether used by a doomsday preacher or a sarcastic friend, the phrase effectively communicates the idea that a significant, often negative, conclusion is imminent. It reflects a universal human preoccupation with the end and serves as a powerful reminder of the fragility of our existence and the cyclical nature of life and civilization.
On the left is a bronze jug with a handle showing Hercules's lion skin. On the right is a pan for pouring water over hands made of bronze with silver inlay. It is decorated with Cupid and his companion Psyche. Both items were found in the House of the Lararium of Hercules in Pompeii.
Winning scores:
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wlwlwldl: 97/100
-Cleanliness: 50/50
I believe he really did a great job applying these decals! The fin was a major plus, whether it was painted or decaled, it was done very very nicely, comparable to even Dutch's infamous fin decal application!
-Detail: 18/20
Based on the Clone Captain from EPII, I looked up a reference image of it. The only reason why he didn't get a solid 20/20 was because there were some red markings behind the helmet, which were not present on the fig. Things that really made this clone a winner was the tiny details, like the small square near the mouth of the helmet, very subtle but very effective details were put into it.
-Presentation: 10/10
Exactly what I want to see with the entries, the picture is a nice, high-quality, non-blurry picture that really shows off the custom!
-Design: 19/20
The templates used are similar to most templates, with the TLC leg design and a wrap-around arm design that is becoming a lot more widespread in use. For this portion of scoring, it's really the helmet decals that really took the cake! The visor decal is, in my opinion, the best part of the fig.
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JPO97Studios: 93/100
-Cleanliness: 50/50
The decals on this fig were applied very nicely, all parts of the custom having even, non-crooked application. As always, JPO shows his skilled application through his Hardcase fig!
-Detail: 16/20
Based of of the Season 4 Hardcase, I looked back to my reference pictures taken of this clone. For the most part, JPO had his designs spot on, but points were docked because the details on the back of the helmet were not included. Another small detail that I was really glad to see though was that the line on the fin did not take up the entire space of the fin, as it leaves the edges of the fin white. Little details count!
-Presentation: 9/10
The only reason this isn't a 10/10 is that the background is white, therefore making the fig sort of blend in to the background. This sounds like a really picky statement, but when you think about it, designed or darker backgrounds really portray a contrast, making the fig and all its details stick out. Aside from that, the desired high-quality photo was produced!
-Design: 18/20
Small details overlooked on the template, for example, there are two blue lines over the visor, whereas in the show, there was only one line directly over the visor. Aside from that, the rest of the design is great, you can always tell a custom belongs to JPO from this signature torso design!
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Xero_Fett: 90/100
-Cleanliness: If any of you have seen Xero_Fett's stuff, you'll notice that he is very good at applying decals, always getting the decals spot-on and as even as can be. This figure is no exception to that!
-Detail: 16/20
I couldn't give a solid 20 because this is another person's template, but credit was given. Score was bumped up a bit, however, because he added some details on the back of the helmet, making the fig more accurate to the actual clone!
-Presentation: 10/10
The unique background Xero_Fet uses always makes the fig stand out and really show off its colors! You are easily able to see the quality of the photo (huge image size!)!
-Design: 15/20
For those who used other peoples' decals, the score was usually automatically set to 15/20 under presentation and details (depending if the decals you used are accurate). I can't give a solid 20 for these categories, because the design is someone else's, but as stated in the rules if you use another's design, you have a bit of a lower chance at winning. Xero_Fett really managed to get a good score on this fig with his excellent application and presentation though!
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I'd like to congratulate everyone who entered, there were some pretty close scores (a few of you got scores in the upper 80's)! If you didn't win this time, don't get discouraged! There'll be another contest hopefully in the spring, so you can try your skills again through there! To the winners, your excellent customs have earned the prizes, which will be shipped to you all within the next two weeks. Just let me know your addresses via FM and you're prizes will be shipped asap! Thanks to all who participated!
A Happy Twomey Thursday to you and welcome to the heart of Cork City.
There was great activity around todays photo with contributions from sharon.corbet Niall McAuley Carol Maddock beachcomberaustralia Foxglove guliolopez and dorameulman
The comments are a must read and give a great account of business on Shandon Street in the early part of the last century.
But what about - Machine Bakery? Carol Maddock provides a gem of a post with the help of the Cork Examiner's archive.
Lots of ads in the Cork Examiner in the early 1890s for John Twomey advertising “High-Class Bread at Moderate Prices” and “Van Deliveries Daily to all parts of City and Suburbs”. I’m wondering if machine made bread was quite a new phenomenon, as all of the ads list the advantages of bread made by machinery…
1. Sweetness, by the more rapid and skilful treatment in its manufacture.
2. Fineness of texture by being properly, yet powerfully, kneaded.
3. Colour, by having the various flours perfectly and thoroughly blended.
4. Flavour and moisture are retained by the ability to finish the work at the exact moment required by fermentation.
5. Quality is always uniform by having a perfectly unvaried system of treatment.
6. Cleanliness by being free from hand labour. This alone is commendable.
Photographer: Fergus O’Connor
Collection: Fergus O’Connor Collection
Date: Circa 1910 - 1915
NLI Ref: OCO 86
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
When it comes to personal hygiene, cats are the epitome of cleanliness. They are naturally equipped to groom themselves: a barbed tongue for licking, forepaws they moisten with saliva and use as a washcloth, and teeth to dig out tougher debris. Bobcats are no exception to this feline phobia of uncleanliness.
Our beautiful world, pass sit on.
If cleanliness is next to god-liness, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral just scored some points with the big man upstairs.
The venerable house of worship unveiled a brighter new pressure-washed Fifth Avenue facade this week — tearing down the scaffolding that masked it for more than two years.
It’s the first time the 135-year-old cathedral has undergone this type of restoration — which called for workers to spray its marble exterior with a mixture of water and glass beads to remove decades’ worth of dirt and gunk, according to St. Pat’s reps.
Church leaders ordered the $25 million top-to-bottom scrub-down, which began in May 2012, after golf-ball-sized chunks of stone began to fall off the Gothic cathedral. The restoration helped solve that problem by removing toxins from the marble that had caused it to crack and crumble. It’s part of a larger $180 million restoration that is roughly two-thirds done. The full restoration, which is expected to be complete by late 2015, also includes cleaning and -restoring the stain-glass windows.
"Being clean is a sign of spiritual purity or goodness, as in Don't forget to wash your ears--cleanliness is next to godliness. This phrase was first recorded in a sermon by John Wesley in 1778, but the idea is ancient, found in Babylonian and Hebrew religious tracts. It is still invoked, often as an admonition to wash or clean up."
A snowy owl caught in the act of preening. Preening is a bird's way of taking care of its feathers. Birds preen to remove dirt, insects, and to keep their feathers in good orderly working condition. Most birds have a uropygial gland at the base of their tail that secretes an oily or waxy substance that can be applied to their feathers. Of course, there are some birds that don't have these glands, but owls are not one of them. There are some spurious reports on the internet to suggest otherwise, but these are false. There is one article suggesting that owls have down powder. Down powder is the result of a special down like feather that never molts but continues to grow. The ends of the feather turn to a powdery substance with a waxy keratin like composition. This takes the place of secretions from a uropygial gland in these birds. There are several bird species that have down powder feathers (pigeons, night herons, parrots, etc.) but owls are not one of them. I think I'll just stick to taking showers for now. As long as I still have hot water!
Tide series, Yellow, Red, Black; 2003; 12.125"h x 11.5"w x 6.5"d, mixed media on abandoned Tide laundry detergent box.
About this series: TideYellow, TideRed and TideBlack.
I began noticing vagrant TIDE boxes all over the city (Montreal)... in the recycle bins and in garbages on Recycle Bin Day and/or Garbage Day. They stood out so vividly among the green plastic bin containers and the garbage bags thrown out on the streets of our neighborhoods. They were so compelling to me: "TAKE ME HOME", that I began stopping my car wherever I was and no matter where I was going and picking them up.
They were usually in perfect condition... empty. They are very sturdy, having to hold all our laundry detergent for generations... never changing its look very much... just an upgrading of graphics now and then over the years (first introduced in '46)
I fell in love with them... they spoke to me of wash day Mondays... motherhood, family... cleanliness (is next to godliness). Andy Warhol (with a twist)...
I held on to them for a long while, enjoying their beauty. I started to paint them.... giving them different personalities... different interiors.
Each Tide box contains a smaller box/bag inside.. way at the bottom... a precious gift.. a secret hiding place...
But... this is all a GREAT SEDUCTION.... Yes, making a "cultural icon" from something that is a destructive force, is alarming.... and so my vision of these tide boxes has evoked and touched something in all of us... beyond what was originally intended... This is art....
...And ART IS THE CONSCIENCE OF HUMANITY.
It is the responsibility of the artist to provoke... and engage.
UNESCO World heritage site:
"Bassari Country: Bassari, Fula and Bedik Cultural Landscapes" (ref 1407 whc.unesco.org/en/list/1407)
The site, located in south-east Senegal, includes three geographical areas: the Bassari–Salémata area, the Bedik–Bandafassi area and the Fula–Dindéfello area, each with its specific morphological traits. The Bassari, Fula and Bedik peoples settled from the 11th to the 19th centuries and developed specific cultures and habitats symbiotic with their surrounding natural environment. The Bassari landscape is marked by terraces and rice paddies, interspersed with villages, hamlets and archaeological sites. The Bedik villages are formed by dense groups of huts with steep thatched roofs. Their inhabitants’ cultural expressions are characterized by original traits of agro-pastoral, social, ritual and spiritual practices, which represent an original response to environmental constraints and human pressures. The site is a well-preserved multicultural landscape housing original and still vibrant local cultures.
© Zoë Murdoch. All Rights Reserved. Use without permission is illegal!
“Cleanliness is almost as bad as godliness”
~ Samuel Butler
GE's in ascending order of cleanliness (IC 2704, CN 2839 & CN 3036) lead CN 120 by MP 6 of CN's Montreal sub, passing the now closed Lachine spur at left.
He was a neighborhood fixture back in the days before "keep Portland weird" was a bumper sticker motto.
Ragged clothes, pushing a shopping cart filled with garbage bags, he looked homeless--but wasn't. He was right at home, being and doing just what he wanted.
He seemed mute, but only because he didn't feel much like talking. Everwhere he went, he swept up. In his wake was cleanliness. Once, I saw a motorcyclist take a fall in the rain, and The Sweeper (the only name we had for him) was the first to jump in to help the biker get his Harley up again.
The cigarette butts he'd sweep off the sidewalk, he'd smoke those down to the filter. I offered him a pack of Marlboros once, and he shuffled by wordlessly. The guy who ran a coffee cart near the Art Museum earned his trust, and said he enjoyed his conversation. He called him "The Professor", and said he'd retired from teaching at the Colorado College of Mines. He warned me not to take his picture, or pay him too much interest--he was a bone fide "recluse", had a pension, and was happy just to be ignored and left to sweeping the streets he lived on.
The newspaper staff in the 80s--we all saw him a lot. My kids' St. James Day Care played at "Peace Park", where he'd often sit on a park bench and watch--they knew him, too. I got on his wrong side after a late night encounter where I noticed he had a huge .45 automatic pistol in his cart, and mentioned it to a cop friend. It turned out to be a pellet gun. Later, I tried to apologize to him, and he tossed his coffee on me. Yeh, good intentions aside, I'd earned a spot on his shit list.
Eventually Portland got too aware of him, his cloak of invisiblility frayed, and he left. I tried to keep tabs on him, and learned he'd relocated to Seattle, and then eventually I read an obituary. He'd remained inscrutable to the end. I thought about him the other day, when I saw a video about a high school kid who had found his place with his schoolmates, simply by holding doors open for everyone. He became "The Doorman", and was elected Prom King. It got me thinking about "right livelihood", the ease and value of picking out the little things that help and are appreciated. It made me think of "The Sweeper" and his broom. thedigitalnest.com/the-doorman-josh-yandt-how-he-overcame...
It resonated with me, and called to mind a passage I'd just read from Clyde Rice's "Night Freight" a conversation with an old man hobo (former Wyoming sheriff) who was hiding from his family, and enjoying life riding the rails: "They want me to quit living as I want to and live as they do. But I don't and by God I won't...Success seems to make men petulant about the founding things. Yeah, and I've found that there's more fire and eagerness in the eyes of transients and petty thieves and even killers than there is in the eyes of the successful middle class. I've come to it that when men cease to be savage and impulsive they soon convert even their integrity to suet."
So--it struck me, thinking on The Sweeper, and what he taught everyday. And how maybe that other name, "The Professor", suited him better. I tried to find some record of him on the internet, but without any luck, until I found a little-viewed locally written folksong eulogy to the man--it's worth a listen: Mr Sweeper Man (original)
Designer: Zhou Ruizhuang (周瑞庄)
1982, April
Love cleanliness, improve hygiene
Ai qingjie gao weisheng (爱清洁搞卫生)
Call nr.: BG E15/811 (Landsberger collection)
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