Liens du Moment: 7/7

Posted on July 7, 2007 by Varg

The Mose Project in Venice
Saving Venice from High Water
Italy Down Under

Another good map database
Index of /afs/athena/course/4/4.196/www
MIT

I obviously haven’t gone through this whole site but plan to spend a good bit of time here. My favorite part so far is the annual cycle of folk activities in the Atchafalaya Basin.
Louisiana Voices Home Page
Folklife in Louisiana

4 thoughts on “Liens du Moment: 7/7”

Maitri says:

July 7, 2007 at 6:08 pm

I think this is the Mose link you’re looking for.

When I was in Venice, people I talked with were of two minds about Mose. In fact, I saw graffiti around town that denounced it as an inadequate solution. But, at least, Venice is trying, while our ACE comes up with cover letters, excuses and more press releases.
Varg says:

July 7, 2007 at 6:31 pm

Egad. I knew I shouldn’t be multi tasking with my posting.

About MOSE. I agree. The United States as little as 30 years ago was a country of great vision. And lately it seems to be living paycheck to paycheck. I know Nagin made an obtuse reference to it but, look at New York, They have a huge scar in their skyline and much progree towards the building of the tower and monument has yet to be seen.

And no one will die if the Freedom never gets built.

Our levees on the other hand.
RoRo says:

July 9, 2007 at 5:40 pm

True dat baby.
I understand wanting to memorialize those who were killed in the Towers, but those billions of dollars could do a lot in other areas, helping those who are struggling all over this nation.
Charlotte says:

July 11, 2007 at 11:31 am

The Louisiana Voices site is so cool.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.