Long Shrift

guitar anti-hero

My son shelved his plan to be a ghost for Halloween, and instead decided to be a railroad engineer (or, as he calls it, a railroad conductor guy). The other night, we were hanging out with my wife's cousin and her family; her husband plays in a band, and had a room filled with instruments and equipment, including a child-sized electric guitar. I should add that the other kids were wearing makeup as part of their costumes. All these factors came together to make this shot:

The photo called to mind another guitarist. Was it Woody Guthrie? Pete Seeger? Then it dawned on me.

Maybe it's time to encourage the boy to explore the trombone or something.

the game changer

I've watched all of the presidential debates as well as the VP debate. Before and after the debate, I'd watch the talking heads on CNN - there are a lot of different perspectives there, some of the analysts are very respectable, and you can count on James Carville for some demonic grins and homespun wisdom.

But when the debates started, I switched channels, because I didn't want to watch the approval graph on the bottom of the screen. Some people have mixed feelings about the graphs, but my dislike never wavered.

Maybe it's because undecided voters drive me nuts. As if this contentious election cycle wasn't enough, we had the added bonus of watching the last two Democrats duke it out for months. The candidates have spent an insane amount of money on advertising, and issues big and small have dominated the media. And somehow CNN has managed to find a few dozen undecided voters in Ohio, gotten them to sit down and watch the debates, and given them little dials they can turn to indicate whether they like or dislike what they're seeing. If they haven't been able to make a choice after all this time, I'm not sure if they're even competent to use that little dial. For all I know, they're just jiggling the dial back and forth hoping that the right combination of turns will cause jellybeans to fall from the ceiling.

And the graph reminds me of a particular video game that I sucked at.

mixed messages

My neighbor has recently put up another sign on his front door:

Barack
will redistribute
the wealth and
give you
the "change"

This is followed with a frowny-face, in case you weren't sure if this is meant to be an endorsement.

I'm thinking of putting up a message on our door. Since I'm at a loss for anything clever, I thought I would this description I found while browsing used books at Amazon:

Comments:   Ships from PA, 15-day return for any reason. Fast Shipping, thank you for your order.book has cocked on it.clean copy.

getting the message

Came across an article - in Network World, of all places - about an artist who decided to make security checkpoints more entertaining by designing metal plates that will show up on TSA X-ray machines. As you can expect, Mr. Roth is often subjected to additional security searches, which is fine with him:

"I fly all the time, and a big part of doing this project is simply so I have something to look forward to when I go to the airport. I hate flying, I hate airports, I hate security, I hate wasting time, and most of all I hate being forced to play a role in the theater of security.
"Of course having to take off my shoes and throw out my 4oz Jell-O isn't the end of the world, but by passively going along with it I feel as if I am agreeing to take part in the ruse. Taking off my belt is not going to make flying any safer... I would rather go through the dance of airport security as an active participant rather than a passive one."

The next day, I happened across an article about Harriet Russell, who put 130 letters in the mail with insufficient postage, just to see if the Royal Mail could return any of them. And they did - almost all of them. Ms. Russell published a book about it.

I have to say that I appreciate Roth's sentiments about security theater, and the rebellious nature of what he's doing. You could easily make the argument that his project is more original and intriguing than sending a lot of letters with insufficient postage.

Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Royal Mail, a group of employees is confronted with a number of strange letters. I'm sure that, like the TSA employees, they have some strict rules they have to follow, and they have to make those rules fit an unexpected contingency. But there's a stark contrast: the subtle and humorous puzzles are a nod to the intelligence of their intended audience, while the clever messages on the steel plates show a conceit on the part of the artist. The plates, meant to mock the process that created the security checkpoints, also end up mocking the people that work the checkpoints. Perhaps even the people who are waiting in line there, too.

While those plates were causing a stir on the brightly lit concourse, I imagine the truly interesting conversations about the nature of art were happening in a poorly-lit basement somewhere inside the Royal Mail. But we'll never know:

The identities of the sleuthing Royal Mail staff have never been established and Ms Russell... believes it is most likely they have moved on.

sign of the times

I debated getting an Obama yard sign. I've never bothered to put up a sign for any political candidate, largely due to apathy: I've never been that fired up for a campaign. This year is a little different, in that I'm both excited by the prospect of Obama - not just any Democrat - taking over as President, and terrified by the alternative.

I've since donated money to the Obama campaign, and I got a t-shirt. I'm not sure where to wear it. I don't plan to attend any Obama rally in town, since I hate crowds. I wouldn't wear it at work, even if it wasn't a violation of the dress code. And I don't get out much, so that pretty much means the only people likely to see it are the staff and customers at the Pet World Warehouse. Some of these people bring their dogs into the store, so that could be exciting.

But the yard sign. I wondered whether it was right for me to advertise my opinion about who I'd like to see as President. (And I should say 'our' opinion - it's not like I live alone.) I wondered if putting out a yard sign would impact our relationship with the neighbors. Admittedly I don't have much more than a nodding acquaintance with most of them, but politics is probably not something I'd want to discuss over the fence. Especially with one of my neighbors: the bumper stickers on his car might lead you to believe that he's a fervent supporter of the GOP. A couple of weeks ago, he put up a hand-lettered sign on his storm door:

Actually, doesn't he
remind you of an acorn*

* an organization he
worked with that
promotes voter fraud

I assume that 'acorn' (he underlined it twice) is a reference to ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which appears to have fans and detractors. Here in Milwaukee, there's been a crackdown on voter registration fraud: one person has already been charged, and apparently there are more to come. (I read something about this in the local rag a few days ago, but I can't find bupkus on their site.) ACORN is certainly involved in voter registration, and it appears they hired convicted felons to help them get out the vote... which isn't illegal, by the way. You can expect more from the Republicans on this, be it overtly or in slimier fashion. And it would seem that there are some people who think that ACORN could be Obama's albatross. Or maybe it's just swift boat season.

Which may be why I stopped at an Obama campaign office. At the first one, they were out of signs. Friday, I stopped by the Milwaukee headquarters; maybe there's some irony in that the space formerly housed a bank. Everyone I saw was either half my age or twice my age. The youngsters sat behind messy desks where I assume loan officers once sat, and a couple of elderly women had replaced the tellers. Everyone seemed to be on the phone. All the blinds were closed, and before my eyes had even adjusted to the light, a young woman strode up to me and asked if I was interested in volunteering. I said I had just come in to get a yard sign, and $8 later I had it - but by then she had positioned herself between me and the door, and asked again if I'd be willing to volunteer. Perhaps she imagined the spark of idealism in my eyes, although it's not impossible that I reminded her of her dad.

The volunteer handed me a clipboard and vanished back into the cacophony. I looked at the options on the volunteer form: make calls, canvass, and/or drive people to the polls on Election Day. I thought about my job, and the meetings that I'd have to move and the work I'd have to shuffle around. I had also made an appointment to get my hair cut that day, and had joked that I wouldn't be doing much else that night. Then I thought about a friend of mine, who had voted Democrat in the past but had recently referred to Obama as 'scary.'

I checked off the boxes next to 'available on Election Day' and 'I have a car' and handed the clipboard back to the volunteer. I left the office in a daze, the lawn sign - which seemed to have somehow doubled in size - in hand. As my son helped me plant the sign in the yard, I noticed that my neighbor had taken his sign down. I checked our sign several times that evening, half wondering if someone was going to steal or vandalize it, half in disbelief that I had even gotten a sign, much less volunteered to cart around strangers in my car.

Saturday morning, the neighbor's sign had reappeared; he had added "libs" (underlined twice) after 'Actually, doesn't he'. Went to a wedding, got home late. Around midnight, I took one last look out the front window before heading up to bed.

Someone had added a McCain sign to the front yard, across from the Obama one.

I brought the McCain sign inside. I noted the cheap construction - it was like a garbage bag stretched over a wire hanger. (In contrast, I probably could side my house with the rigid plastic Obama signs. It occurs to me that the Obama sign may be less environmentally friendly.) The next morning, I threw the McCain sign in the garbage, which I regret now; I probably could have used it to bag up some used cat litter.

Went out this morning to get the Sunday paper. The neighbor's sign is gone again. As of a few minutes ago, the Obama sign is still there.

domestic stability

There, I finished cleaning up the garage. Happy now?