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Since I’ll be away until later next week I thought I’d leave you something to reflect on. It is happening everywhere right now, all over the world. The problem of homelessness for refugees is tragically always with us. Wars and internal conflict lead to millions of displaced and homeless people every year. But there is a growth in homelessness in our relatively wealthy and peaceful cities too, and the results can also be tragic.
Several decades ago it became fashionable in psychiatric circles to close the institutions that once cared for people with severe forms of mental illness. Many of these former patients ended up on the streets. Drugs and alcohol continue to claim many too. You see them now in every large city. Some people even step over the homeless on their way to work, barely stopping to take a sip of their latte. It is awful and as I’ll show in the story of this triptych, people are dying on our streets while the comfortable complain about forgetting to put on their electric blanket. Excuse my cynicism, but truth is always more important to me than being liked. So if the truth hurts, so be it. We need a revolution in our societies at so many levels.
With hyperinflation and interest rates on the rise, real estate values getting out of hand, and people taking their houses off the rental market to turn them into even more lucrative Airbnbs, many ordinary working class people are now sleeping in tents under road overpasses (yes even in Launceston, until the local council moved them on, as they always do without any solution to the problem!), single mothers with children sleeping in cars in a freezing winter. These are people who just a few years ago would never have dreamed of being homeless.
The working poor are now a reality in our once egalitarian societies. And all the time we pay our politicians more to do less at solving our social problems. Oh but they are good at talking! And then the vast majority of the population turns into ostriches and sink their heads into the sand.
By now I’ve probably lost most of my readers. Never mind, I’m more interested in radicalizing the few who will do something. This is not about politics, Marx or Lenin (though I much prefer the message of John Lennon), Left wing or Right. I couldn’t give a damn about ideology or party loyalty. People are dying every single day in countries regardless of their political system. This is about common human decency and whether we as a race care anymore about each other. I mean look at all the empty rhetoric in the West about the poor people of Ukraine being made homeless in their millions - talk, talk, talk, and nothing done about ending the Russian aggression. Never mind as long as Wall Street doesn’t collapse.
Have we been so brainwashed completely by the narcissism that social media was designed to condition us all to, that we just carry on commenting endlessly about meaningless stuff? You may have seen the graffiti that’s been around a while now: “Shut up and shop!” Well that’s what the authorities of any political persuasion want from us right now. They’ll milk us dry of our cash and strip us from our meaningful social bonds. The pandemic taught us to be compliant, but really the process of conditioning started with the events of 9/11 and the new security measures. This has been coming for a long time. But so is the day of reckoning.
So if you’re still wondering about why I’m so angry perhaps one day I’ll show you some of the graffiti that’s spreading through our cities like wildfire. You may also have seen this painted on street walls. Just one word: ANGRY.
The reality is people are dying on our streets. So let me quickly tell you about these three photographs that I’ve tied together.
LEFT: “What’s the upside?”
This notice was hung in a tree by some local activists. The Peter referred to here is the former Premier of Tasmania who boasted about how well the economy had survived the pandemic restrictions. Well it has for the well-heeled, but the housing crisis has led to a large rise in homelessness.
CENTRE “People are dying on the streets.”
Daniel James Tommerup (1970-2021) burned to death when he caught fire cooking food on a gas stove outside Milton Hall across the street from Launceston’s Princes Square. He was part of a growing homeless community that was moved on from the city centre where they were sleeping outside an empty city building. The City Baptist Church allowed them to use the facilities at Milton Hall, but as you’ll see the result after Daniel’s tragic death is that the homeless have been moved on again and a fence has been put up with chain and lock. Given the dire state of the retail rental market there are empty shops all over town, but no room for the poor to lay their heads. What would Jesus say? WWJD?
You can read Daniel’s sad story here.
www.examiner.com.au/story/7477642/a-scallywag-with-a-good...
RIGHT: “Catafalque”
It’s an interesting word “catafalque”. Every Anzac Day in Australia it is mentioned in relation to the tomb of a dead soldier. The dictionary definition is as follows, “a decorated wooden framework supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state.”
This photograph was taken in Launceston’s City Park in the bandstand. In it is a bed for the homeless. But not a real bed (because that would have been moved on very quickly by the authorities), no it’s an art installation. The artist has designed it to reflect on the issue of the homeless, but if a real homeless person dared to lie down there it would be a problem.
This is a catafalque for the homeless, but it might, if what Peter Kingsley says is true, be a catafalque for us all. I mention Peter Kingsley in relation to his two volume work, “Catafalque: Carl Jung and the End of Humanity”, which surveys the wreck of Western civilization. Peter spares none of us in his social critique, and he would agree with me that a day of reckoning is at hand. peterkingsley.org/product/catafalque/
Have you ever read Matthew 25:31-46 in the New Testament? You might be surprised by its implications.
* These photographs were all taken on the streets with the Leica D-Lux 7.
These artwork conflicts at times with our ideas of how art should look like; of how it meets the observer' s expectations. Clearly this art does not respond to the sciences of the Art Academies, does not imitate the real world, nor does it use conventional perspectives.
Mirit Ben-Nun transmits her inner world and its sounds, giving rise to an infinite number of artistic compositions, springs of dreams, an assortment of realities and perhaps her 'Unreality.
Her art is connected to her life and the real world, it is a back and forth between herself and the spectator. Her thoughts are expressed in a unique style and approach.
Mirit Ben-Nun's art usually exists independently of reality, she even dares to move it away. Her aggressiveness in the use of primary colors along with bright tones, reveal Her autonomy in relation to shapes. The lines, the points and the forms do not try to imitate reality but rather give each work a unique importance showing the emotional charge of the artist.The artist has a spirit of rebellion, new ideas, trying to overcome without seeking perfection, just looking for expression. Through her work she explores personal identity trying to redefine the art itself. Its purpose is to describe and illustrate or to reproduce the world and the nature of human civilization, focusing primarily on the dominant exposure of the expressive function.His art is made by an artist that reflects the complex problems that shape our diverse, global and rapidly changing world, trying to redefine art.
Dora Woda
Two young chacma baboons have a spat over something. A moment later they were again friends and grooming each other.
Kruger NP, South Africa
Digital painting with Procreate five, iPad Pro, and Apple Pencil.
I’m not sure if this one is done or not…
The monument was originally erected to commemorate the seventy railway workers who enlisted from the workshops and died in service or were killed in action in World War One. The names of more than twenty-five men who died in service or were killed in action in World War Two were added at a later date.
The monument is a square section column which at the top has a bronze female figure of Peace standing on a globe of the Earth.
The Midland Railway Workshop Memorial was erected through voluntary contributions from the staff assisted by the goodwill and co-operation of the Commissioner of Railways and management. The figure on the memorial was sculpted by Pietro Porcelli and the bronze casting was executed in Italy. The memorial was unveiled on the 20th December 1925 by the Governor of Western Australia, Sir William Campion and the stone was dedicated by the Archbishop of Perth.
Info: Monuments Australia
I love taking my family to the zoo, and the Memphis Zoo is a very good one. But I also confess some conflicted emotions. My first title for this photo was “prison bars”. But is that what it is? Are these harmless attractions, or an atrocity? I’m conflicted.
Two sows sort it out...Its not just the boars who mix it up during breeding activity, sows routinely chase off, or wrestle(as here)when one or the other is perceived to have transgressed, transgressed meaning tried to move in on their male! Unfortunately my 70-200 zoom was out of reach when this match occurred leaving me no option other than the 300 prime...thus the second sow could not be fully framed...
This is one shot. Taken in a room with mirrors on all sides with a single snooted strobe stuck with a camera mount to the upper part of the mirrors.
Strobist: Canon 430 EX in gridded snoot upper camera right at 1/64. Triggered with RF 602s.
As CP 9732 rolls into Clinton,IA from the north with a unit train of fuel oil, UP 8075 comes into town from the east after crossing the Mississippi River with a load of containers and intermodal trailers. The CP tracks have to cross both UP main lines to continue south so CP9732 was stopped for :30 min while the UP cleared both main lines of east and west traffic.
Made for Mobile Frame Zero, the Lego tabletop wargame where you can build anything you want! (Seriously...)
Train 109 waits to let Train 20 slide by after meeting at the location where double-track returns to single-track East of 11th St. Station. This is CP 33.3 on the South Shore Line in Michigan City Indiana.
October 30, 2023
A story of conflict from Lands of Classic Castle.
DISCLAIMER: No offense meant to my Loreesi builder friends...but you been talkin’ smack, and it’s time for your smack-down!
Sir Caelan Munro looked out from the shadows at the approaching invaders with a mixture of anger and regret. He did not want to do this, but it was both his duty and was absolutely necessary. The Loreesi army was neither justified nor welcome. Lenfald had sought peace, even as the opening battle began, but driven by a lust for power the Loreesi would not listen. At the Battle of Ainesford, Lenfald had fought the Loreesi’s game out in the open, and had been destroyed by his war elephants and cavalry. Now it was time to fight the Lenfel way, with brains instead of brawn. Today was payback time.
Caelan looked around at his own Scout Snipers, well-hidden in their green-dyed leather armor, with a mixture of pride and concern. He had trained them hard, they had done exceptionally well, and now he was about to put them in harm’s way for the very first time. He had formed them only three months ago along with his wily and highly-capable chief archer, Tavish. The King had just been murdered, and all the evidence pointed to the power-mad Loreesi. Their own prince had declared he could “be king in a fortnight”. Not likely, so long as Lenfald opposed him. And so Lenfald was targeted.
The invading army was forced to use this road, for it bypassed a boggy marsh and skirted a thick forest. That made this road a “choke point”. The forest was now at the Scout Snipers’ backs and would allow a quick escape through hidden paths which the desert-soldiers of Loreos would not easily find.
The lead army elements came and passed by their position, completely unaware of the two dozen Scout Snipers waiting to strike. Then the main target came into range: the first war elephant, all dressed up in flashy Loreesi gold and red trappings. Finery would not save it.
Caelan did not give the order to fire. That would be decided by Flannery, formerly of Lenfald’s logging industry. He knew how to cut a large tree so that it barely stood with just enough trunk left, waiting for the final blows. And Flannery timed it perfect. The moment his enormous axe struck the first hit, every archer, including Caelan, let fly. They had each been tracking a selected target, and Caelan had sought a burly Loreesi marching right by the elephant. Out of the corner of his eye he watched his men strike their targets suddenly out of nowhere, shocking their victims even when they missed, which was rare. Tavish shot a knight right in the neck and the nobleman tumbled backward off his horse. But not Caelan. He shot wide and to the left...archery was never his strong suit.
For the Loreesi, shock and dismay spread as seconds flew by in chaos. That chaos got much worse as Flannery’s second blow brought the great tree down. It came crashing down on the elephant, which tried to avoid it by lumbering to the right, only to crash into another tree and trample several men in the process. Flannery’s tree still nailed it squarely in the back, after crushing two of the four men riding it. The great animal was down, and despite it’s struggling would clearly never rise again. It would also never be used again to crush Lenfels under foot.
Three shots. That was Caelan’s rule, and then mandatory rapid withdrawal into the forest. He hated it; he far preferred a stand-up fight with his longsword and dirk, but with thousands of Loreesi here, it would be suicide. He aimed and took his second shot at one blindly charging their position. And missed. Meanwhile Tavish felled another knight. Caelan’s third shot was at the same man as before and he so close now that the young Lenfel knight could make out his eye color...finally a hit, yet only in the leg!
Caelan quickly glanced around and saw that some of his men were still shooting. “NOW!” he yelled at the top of his lungs and they turned in unison and quietly faded into the paths they had used to arrive. Behind them he could hear the Loreesi charging. They crashed into thickets, vines, and thorny bushes to no avail, their eyes not used to the low-light of the forest. For all their frustration they could find nothing, except Flannery's axe and his message left on his implement of destruction: "You want our trees? Here is how you get them". By the time they stumbled onto anything that looked like a path, the Scout Snipers were already at their horses and mounted, having seen their first action. Not a single Sniper was wounded. Over three dozen of the invaders would not live through the night.
Postscript.
While riding to their next ambush site, Tavish looked at Caelan and stated, “Sir, your archery has not improved in spite of much practice. How is it that a leader of archers is such a bad shot?”
Caelan returned the stare. “How is it your arrows only find noblemen?”
Aware of how sensitive this issue was in their society, Tavish merely grinned, “Only Loreesi knights. They hardly count anyways.”
2nd DISCLAIMER: No real elephants were harmed in the making of the MOC.
Previous Caelan stories:
One Eagle attacked another and kept knocking it into the water. Or the one Eagle was trying to hang onto its fish and the other tried to drive it away. Not sure. This went on for quite a while.
Not the violent conflict
between parts of the truth,
but the quiet suppression
of half of it,
is the formidable evil;
there is always hope
when people are forced to listen
to both sides;
it is when they attend
only to one
that errors
harden into prejudices,
and truth itself ceases
to have the effect of truth.
John Stuart Mill
Taken from the book I have been reading, "The 3rd Alternative" by Stephen Covey
Another title for the book could be---How to love your enemies and do good to them
that despitefully use you....
A man looks at an Ukrainian armored personnel carrier (APC) BTR-4 destroyed as a result of fight not far from the center of Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, located some 50 km from Ukrainian-Russian border, on February 28, 2022. (Photo by Sergey BOBOK / AFP)
SPREAD SUCH FOTOS! HELP RUSSIANS TO GET INFORMATION INSTEAD OF PROPAGANDA!
Así como hay dos polos en un imán, uno positivo y uno negativo,
todos también tenemos dos personajes
que muchas veces están en conflicto
Two rival gangs clash at the abandoned canal lock in Noordoostpolder, Netherlands.
There's not much backstory to this - it started off as a canal lock based off this photo (hence the name - I wouldn't deliberately choose such a mouthful), flipped between post-apoc and a normal lock several times, but I finally decided on post-apoc to give it a gritty edge. Someone is fighting someone - who's on what side may be debatable, but at least we know where it is.
~John
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ps. Many thanks to Kate Nash, whose excellent album 'My best friend is you' kept me entertained throughout the many hours of building this. And yes, that does mean I listened to it several times >_>