Pop culture - The monkeys who see and hear and speak no evil

Bumper art: See no evil... [post code 49505 on 3/2021]

Popular culture takes many forms but always seems to flow from a prominent status source like religion, celebrity, or governing authorities down to the average consumer of mass-produced, mass-distributed, and mass-consumed iterations. The national flag can turn up on T-shirts, wrapping paper, or coloring books. The crucifix from various traditions of Christianity can be expressed in precious metal and gems as jewelry or it can appear on album art for secular music. And a piece of clothing first seen on Princess Diana in the 1990s could turn up in discount clothing stores a few months later.

This photo shows the space sometimes reserved for license plates in some countries or states being used here to express a point of view with a bit of pop art that may be purchased online, on demand (send your image file for producer to fulfill), or at shops selling automotive accessories. Since Michigan only requires a legally issued and up-to-date license plate on the rear of the car, some drivers attach something referencing the university they support or identify with for sports teams and/or personal schooling experience. Others choose logos for professional sports teams, vacation destinations, ethnic heritage, religious teaching, or a bit of abstract art. This one bears the "3 Wise Monkeys," as Wikipedia in English calls the ensemble.

Screenshot of Wikipedia "3 Wise Monkeys"

Without talking to the driver whose car displays the monkeys, above, it is impossible to say what is being expressed. It could be "whatever happens in my world or the wider world, don't hold me accountable; I did nothing" (deniability). Or maybe it is less about denying involvement and instead a nod and a wink to "live and let live; just about anything is permissible since I don't value a lot of the restrictions asserted as legalities" (give me liberty; don't give me responsibility). Then again, the bumper art could be a reference to a career as art teacher, aficionado of folktales, lover of monkeys, travel souvenir from Japan, or merely a way to honor the person who gave it as a present. In fact, more than one meaning can apply at the same time, layering the significance of putting the scene into public circulation on highways and city streets, wherever the car is parked. 

For the purpose of this article, though, this example illustrates how pop culture can take something from its original setting (mausoleum of centuries-old warlord Ieyasu in Nikko, Japan; and before that, a folk wisdom story from India) and reshape, repurpose, and spread it into wider circulation and new contexts where people can give it new meanings, such as this front bumper of a Japanese car, either imported by ship or put together inside the USA as a joint-venture product for sale.

Buy Nothing online group redistributes goods locally

 

Front porch items deposited with names of recipients attached

Somehow related to the success of the "Nextdoor" email franchise that invites local residents to pool questions, answers, observations, complaints, friendly reminders, and sometimes rants, someone in this neighborhood of Grand Rapids, Michigan created "Buy Nothing" as a way for local residents to announce things being given away at no cost. Whereas Nextdoor is national or international and includes a commercial sponsorship (paid advertising) layer, Buy Nothing seems to have no reference to gainful private enterprise. Perhaps "social capital" does accrue to the most frequent commenters and givers-away of unwanted gear and clothing, extra batches of edibles, and so on. In any case, the rapid pace of posting items requested or offered and subsequent pick-up by the person who is selected by the owner is a good way to redistribute material goods directly, mediated only by the electrons flitting onto Internet-connected devices. When several responses come in for a particular item, the owner must decide whom to choose; sometimes by first-come, first-served logic, or else by lottery (random choice). But other times it is based on the case made for why the person is the most eligible.

H.A.B.U. (Highest and Best Use) of the disused freebies is achieved by this simple and valuable activity between local residents who otherwise do not know one another, despite living on the same street or in the same district neighborhood association within the larger city boundaries. Rather than putting something with value still remaining into the solid-waste stream bound for "long term storage" in a sanitary landfill, this method of redistribution finds a new owner to make use of the thing. As a by-product of the flurry of activity with residents picking up things from strangers' porches and others bagging up things with a name tag to leave on their own porch, a little of the social fabric is strengthened. For those on a tight budget this kind of "yard sale prices on demand" (put out a call for an item that is seldom or never used anymore and see if there is one to borrow or to get at no cost) is a boon. Equally for those eager to clear their cupboards, basement or attic or garage clutter, or wanting to empty a rented storage unit, this service is handy.

Whereas some societies are accustomed to scavenging perfectly good items discarded in junkyards or roadsides, in other (materially wealthy) societies there is some degree of social pressure to buy new things and to avoid used ones. In USA around the time of the Great Depression (1929 onward) and to a lesser extent during the Great Recession (2008 onward), necessity led more and more people to "make a virtue of necessity" and swallow any pride about always buying new. Instead they began to visit thrift shops, yard sales, estate sales, and word-of-mouth asking around to borrow or take possession of unused, unwanted things from others. Now due to the forced under- and unemployment of so many in USA due to the corona Trump virus the unconsumerism and rising concern about landfill waste is leading more city residents to give and take via the online hyper-local system of Buy Nothing. For the ancient brainstem legacy of hunter-gatherer ancestors, there is a certain thrill in finding ways to dispose of unwanted things; of obtaining things, and indeed lending a helping hand to others in the area who one does not personally know.

So the next time you see someone approach a porch and come away with a parcel, it may not be a Fedex or Amazon porch pirate. Instead, it could be the person named on the package being given away via the Buy Nothing service.

Rethinking "back to normal" when Covid-19 dwindles

At all levels of governance, United Nations, USA President Biden, many governors among the 50 USA states and perhaps among the territories, as well as from the mouths of (big city) mayors there is recognition of value in and pledging to "build back better" with a minimum wage that lifts a worker with a family above the statutory annual income poverty line (definition). Examples are the policing habits and mandatory sentencing (social justice), higher education and health care as a basic right (regardless of ability to pay), unequal access to clean air and water (environmental justice), and obstacles to building generational wealth ---burdens touching all lives, but proportionally more costly for those starting with fewest financial, informational, and social resources to drawn upon. In other words, using pre-Covid standards as the benchmark for restoring a state of 'normal' is not sufficient, not desireable, and not right.

 

In the video clip the carillon that plays at noon and again at 6 p.m. on weekdays at this church evokes many things about the pre-pandemic routines of the week that formerly comprised normal, proper, and generally pleasing parts of the social landscape. For example, the church annual cycle of events was one set of calendar markers that structured many residents' year. Dining out, vacation or business travel, and the many functions of consumer society all filled people's imaginations, budgets, and schedules. Focusing on the front end of those processes --- choosing what to eat, where to go, what to buy for self or as a gift for others --- there used to be an element of hunter/gatherer thrill of the chase: spotting the thing to satisfy one's goal. To complete the circuit from idea to pursuit to purchase to consumption there used to be a set of conditions (pre-coronavirus) that were taken for granted and now (during the pandemic) have been either prohibited, ill-advised, or otherwise abandoned. There was the fuel burned in driving from retail place to place (in Covid times substituted to some extent by online browsing, wishlists, and deliveries). There was the recycle or landfill burden of transport packaging and retail boxing that is discarded. And psychologically there was the imaginary land of endless purchase, use, disposal; as if one's individual indiscretions and feelings of wanting, deserving, or feeling obligated to go out and get something was disconnected from carbon footprint, energy consumption, food waste, and all the other components adding up to the USA 5% of the world's humans using up 20 or 25% of the planet's energy.

So what might this "build back better" look like? The list of issues, above, touches on some examples that may be engaged with seriously to find local expressions for attaining the goals and addressing wrongs of present and future (maybe even compensating for past wrongs, too). But from the experiential level of individual "life chances" or dreams and realities of people in all points along the social and economic status spectrum there will be other changes to look for; things that translate from the slogan level to the lived-in level.

For the sake of this argument and skipping over all the conflicts, obstacles, excuses, and special interest lobbying, suppose that minimum wage does go up and working hours go down. That could lead to more consumer activity - in direct contradiction to the Green Economy recognition that the carbon footprint must be reversed for this generation and for the burgeoning human populations on all continents that are yet to come. Not reining in the consuming of fossil fuels only worsens the extreme weather, expands the destruction of habitat --including water and air for humans, too--, and accelerates the extinction of diverse plants and animals of air, land, and sea (and non-salty waters, too). So from the experiential, first-person point-of-view, better laws and enforcement, along with income levels improving, results in individuals having greater social, economic, and aspirational reserves to face good times and bad, normal life and the times of disaster from natural source or human cause.

Supposing, further, that big consumers of the G-20 societies where much of the global energy and resources are used up (not just to survive, but for discretionary uses) were now to cultivate a mindset of conserving water, air, species, and material wealth (make it last, right to repair, barter and down-cycling before recycling). Then the limited resources and the renewable resources will be consumed at their HABU (highest and best use), rather than to be squandered in unsystematic, careless ways. At the personal level as well as at the organizational scale this new mentality would translate into amplified mindfulness about disposition of resource and its final disposal, and before that, careful use of the things one is in charge of using. Much more of the economy's services and products, and leisure pursuits will leverage the savings of time, knowledge/expertise, and fuel by using Internet for communication and engagement in a subject virtually instead of in-person, face to face.

Finally, if it were so that health care and higher/further education were guaranteed rights obtained in one's citizenship and in one's active contribution to society (paid or unpaid work, building rather than breaking the social fabric), then people from all walks of life could imagine bigger and better futures for self and others. The possibility of pursuing one's dreams would be actually within reach, unhindered by matters of net worth or generational wealth/poverty and social capital in the names and interpersonal debts and credits among the constellation of one's own contacts.

Taken all together, "building back better" instead of "back to normal" is exciting to think about. Some parts may actually take initial or even final form, but other elements will remain talking points to aspire to in the next generation of people participating in "the art of the possible," as the political arena has been characterized over the years.

Extreme weather in a big world with bad energy habits

 

about 8 a.m. on February 17, 2021: cold dashboard temperature

Reversing from the garage the car's thermometer on the dashboard showed 25 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3.8 Celsius) but within a couple of minutes driving to work the number fell little by little until stopping at negative five degrees (minus 20.5 Celsius). That is cold enough for one's breath to land on eyelashes and freeze almost instantly, producing a decidedly unpleasant sensation.

Somewhere it is written that the USA population comprises something like 5% of the planet's humans, but that those citizens (and the undocumented people, as well) consume about 20 or 25% of the annual energy budget around the world. And of those 5% of Earthlings the wealthiest 10% of the richness pyramid probably account for an outsized part of the fuel consumed and carbon footprint produced each day and cumulatively for each year: luxury services and goods tend to require more energy than items of an ordinary status, or indeed by comparison to the alternative of doing without such luxuries all together.

Therefore, so long as old habits persist for transportation, gift-giving, leisure pursuits, plug-in conveniences, and so on, the disproportionate spoiling of water, air, and habitats will go on until no more remains. Let us hope that enough people see the insanity and injustice; and that peer pressure, government carrots and sticks (incentives and disincentives) can transition the consuming public to think twice before making a purchase, flicking on an electrical switch, or jumping in the car for little or no reason other than boredom or aimlessness. Such a transformed mentality would lead to fewer single-use (disposable) products, fewer one-stop trips (instead combining errands and appointments and commuting), and less landfill discarding of uneaten food or unloved chattels.

Big car at big store - the Walmart Cadillac

Expensive cars and trucks at Walmart Super Center 2/2021
 

Mid-morning on a cold day early in February, there were maybe 60 cars scattered through the parking lot. Interpreting the demographic profiles of Tuesday morning shoppers based on the cars and trucks they drive is a very imprecise and impressionistic exercise unless there is a way to get to know the drivers themselves. But for the purposes of stretching a few analytical muscles, there is no harm that comes from guessing at some of the forces at play now 11 months into the Trump Virus (pandemic scourge of USA and world-wide).

Walmart presents itself in its origin story and present-day marketing in such a way to appeal to shoppers seeking the most product (or service) for their money. The overall vibe is "buy in bulk," "choose in-store brand," and be unpretentious, although there are selected name-brand items also sold under the same roof. So if bargain prices and budgeting are uppermost among many of the shoppers, at first glance it seems out of place to see a new-looking car, particularly one that is more expensive that a modest or basic model: the Cadillac line of GM (above), or a European car, for example.

There must be many ways to interpret this scene of a pricey car (in 2020 MSRP of $75,000 -about the same price as an older house of 1500 square feet in the town) whose driver relies on Walmart for some of the products to use at their home or business. Here is a list of a few possible explanations, in no particular order. (1) Lottery or raffle contest winner - modest or big jackpot (at least one big winner lived in this town more than a decade ago). (2) Recent inheritance of financial assets or the vehicle itself. (3) Factory employee with discount or other incentives to allow purchase on easy and advantageous terms. (4) Budget-conscious shopper has saved enough money over the decades to finally purchase a car of her/his dreams (i.e. it is thanks to big-box retail stores like this one that the owner was able to buy this car. (5) The car is borrowed, is a rental,  is used for business, or was taken with a 3 year lease agreement such that the sight of an expensive car's driver shopping for inexpensive groceries is not anomalous after all: the appearance of great wealth is not actually true. (6) The car was bought or leased pre-Covid when income was good, but now with livelihood cramped or ended by the pandemic the once proudly owned transportation seems extravagant, but still it functions for transportation all right. (7) As a strategy for conserving a little wealth for someone seeking to qualify for Medicare to pay for nursing home, assisted living, or memory care, one's house and one vehicle are not calculated in the personal wealth inventory. So pouring some savings into a car that is premium price is one way to hold onto a little more owned wealth.

Whatever the real-life context that make possible this picture of a high-priced car parking at the budget-friendly Walmart Super Center, it is clear that there are many explanations that could apply alone or maybe even in combination. By contrast, though, most vehicles are modest and much less eye-catching. A few may look in very decrepit condition on the outside, but be maintained to a high standard on the inside. A few may be in the new years of their lifecycle. But most cars and trucks are somewhere between shiny and new on the one hand and falling apart on the other hand.

Spending time in the woods on the North Country Trail

 

[near the Rogue River state game area, Kent Co., Michigan]

On this Tuesday afternoon on February 2, there were Nordic ski tracks and boot-prints from perhaps 8 or 10 people since the most recent snowfall 5 days earlier. But on the two miles of the trail north and then going back to the parking area on Red Pine Road, just north of 18 Mile Road, there was no one else here. Most of the time in daylight, and probably all of the time in nighttime, the thousands of miles of North Country Trail (NCT) are undisturbed by people. This video clip illustrates the brief passage of a hiker, followed by abiding quiet for the rest of the time.

In recent years people around the world have recorded the ordinary sounds of forests they visit, https://timberfestival.org.uk/soundsoftheforest-soundmap/ And the practice of "forest bathing" (a complementary form of recreation or therapy to sunbathing), translated from the Japanese term (ShinYoku), also has attracted people into the forests both named and large along with others unnamed and small.

People's experiences of this habitat vary not just by season and the day's weather, but also with their relative depth of knowledge and familiarity with hiking and their personal limits, preferences, and interests. Some go on a segment of a long-distance (national) trail to add a notch to their walking stick. Others go at a quick pace for exercise mainly, but incidentally for the change of setting that it offers to  treadmill exercise. A few may be naturalists keen on observing plant or animal life as a refreshing change to engaging in human society. Still others may commune with nature and place value on abiding under the leafy canopy, not in a hurry to get to some predefined destination. Potentially, there are professional "gatherers" of wild mushrooms and other materials, too. So the relationships between people and hiking trails and the surrounding meadows, fields, streams, and forests are diverse. Turning away from the analytical parsing of "types," the empirical situation may well compound more than one type of relationship or motive among those who pass along the way. And the same person may shift their dominant motivation as they grow older or suffer serious or limiting health effects, too. So a composite picture of the people and the forest along this section of the NCT shows people of various ages, experience levels, and combinations of motivation and amount of interest in engaging and knowing the habitat and its many life forms.

In summary, those who show up at the parking area for a day-hike, or ones passing through on a multi-day trek form a subset of the wider population. During the pandemic Trump virus, outdoor pursuits have given coronavirus-chary people an outlet for their energy and attention as an alternative to quarantining or staring at Internet screens. But still there are relatively few people who go beyond a city or county park to walk on the NCT or another long-distance trail. Those who do hike, especially in bad weather (cold, wet, dark) seem to be respectful in their relationship to the habitat. Even if not card-carrying members of a conservation lobby or organization, they do seem to value the land and the life that goes on there largely unconcerned with human events in the world.

_____________________________
See also this view of one of the creeks that form the river's headwaters, https://archive.org/details/rogueriver2021headwaters

 

The experience of seeing unfamiliar writing or code

Suppose this were another form of writing seen only on frosty days.

Full disclosure: the photo is morning frost on a car hood. It is not a newly discovered rune or other form of written notation.

Imagination is a powerful thing, sometimes leading down the corridors of fear and paranoia, or the opposite direction to a place of confidence and sense of connectedness to all other sentient beings large or small. Taking this photo as a writing prompt: imagine that this pattern of sometimes perpendicular, sometimes linear, and sometimes angled lines represented music or computer code or, indeed, spoken language. What, then, is the experience of seeing unfamiliar writing?

Several responses come to mind to begin with: (a) this contains secret meaning and possibly is a sign of communication powers that exceed our own system, (b) what is it about; and might it be a threat or a benefit affecting me directly or in a more indirect way, (c) maybe it describes subjects that we in our own writing and thinking so far have not touched, (d) aesthetically, is this instance typical, low-brow or high-brow in learnedness, beauteous or instead inelegant, (e) with regard to the experience of reading this message, what does it "sound" like.

Taking the experience of reading a paragraph or entire short story in English, a beginning reader moves from syllable to syllable or from word to word. An intermediate reader jumps from phrase to phrase, from predicate to predicate. The most practiced reader operates at the level of whole ideas or threads of discussion, barely noticing words or even paragraphs as the entirety plays out in the mind's eye. In the same way for this "text" in the photograph, if one were an advanced reader of this language painted in the cold dark night to be revealed briefly before the morning sun makes it invisible again, then what would the message tell the reader?

Something less than 7,000 human languages exist now, down from a much, much larger number before the time of industrialization, mass-migrations and extraction of natural resources from land and sea. Every 2 weeks another language goes extinct when the last speaker has no one to listen, according to K. David Harrison, When Languages Die. Only about 120 of the languages have a writing system; all the others use the spoken and chanted and shouted and sung word to communicate across the generations. So the imaginary experiences sketched above as "the experience of seeing unfamiliar writing or code" probably happens here and there when people accustomed to life without writing do finally encounter a piece of text that is written by hand or has been printed.

Expanding on this linkage of abstract marks that can be interpreted to entire worlds of meaning, perhaps the day will come with the aid of AI and fast PC processors that we can "read" the chorus of birdsong, the melodies of whales and the other sea mammals, or even "listen to" the trees and fungi in their yammering and soughing.

Mainline churches in USA adjust to tides of social change

Freeze-frame from 28 minute interview on January , 2021

Each generation enters into church life differently, according to social conditions of the time and stage of one's own life, things that may be changing or that may be staying the same. The contextual meaning for worship and shared experiences is supplied by sources like the popular culture, educational system, one's own network of peers who provide a reference to life, and the arc of aging across one's life course. All these shifting circumstances color the unchanging Word of God as taught, read, studied, praised, and preached. Even though the lyrics and published text do not change, these surrounding meanings of life make the same habits of heart, the annual cycle of traditional church activities and one-time events, as well as the interpretation of scripture remain "alive" - not tried once and done, not tired out, not static, but a living word to fit each life; each moment in the flow of social history; and indeed the challenges to the organization and cultural institution itself.

The video recording of this conversation with Rev. Olson in mid-Michigan touches on the sea changes from his childhood church experiences of the 1960s-70s, then his years of seminary and internship in the 1980s and the decades since full-time work up to the present at one of the churches in the traditional mainline Protestant denominations, the First Congregational Church of St. Johns, Michigan. He describes the range of functions he serves; how the generational changes are reflected in the kinds of things worshipers value and seek; and how the tides of social change -- very most recently the months of Covid-19 pandemic suppression of face-to-face church life -- are undermining the 20th century routines and expectations for church membership and the fellowship inside the church community and outside, too, in the wider town and world of social relationships. The interview wraps up with a message for seminarians today and for both the clergy and the worshipers of five, 10 or 50 years from now: the message remains the same, only the times change. Rev. Olson says not to fret or feel beholden to the fixed Order of Service or to the building for gathering to worship. Instead, cling tightly to the message and enlist whatever media and working arrangements most successfully engage others.

There is documentary significance for recording this moment when churches, workplaces, and families beset by the transmissibility of the Covid-19 coronavirus have been meeting and communicating online rather than in person. Once the waves of death and economic ruin of the pandemic stop and the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods can resume, then some of the lessons and innovations of the online basis for social relationships and doing business in the pre-pandemic way will remain. New forms of interacting will rise up where the older habits once stood unchallenged. Stepping back from the documentary purpose of this conversation with a clergyman who has seen the 20th century structures in their prime now fading and the first signs of the 21st century structures rise up, there are a few observations to make from an anthropological point of view.

One observation is about Organized Religion's location and visibility on the social landscape, and about the its importance in the USA now: school sporting events used to begin with the national anthem and a prayer (especially before football, where there is risk of injury or worse), but now those practices are not ever-present; maybe the anthem, but seldom a public prayer - although individuals may still be in the habit to do so by themselves. And public meetings, committee work, and local governance in the public eye would also sometimes include a prayer. A majority of citizens were nominally enrolled as members at one religious institution or another, if not for guidance in one's personal spiritual growth, then for company in life's passage and the aura of propriety that comes with appearing dressed up at worship events. In military organizations, too, a designated clergy person would be invited to pray at certain points in the life of the company or battalion. The expansion of church services on radio and TV allowed those unable, unwilling, or possibly unwelcome from attending in person to stay connected from a distance to the teachings and melodies of the religious organization, too. And while cable channels (narrow-, not broad-casting) and Internet compete with the radio and TV forms of communication, the numbers of people attending and going beyond nominal attendance in a place of worship to get more actively involved dwindles year by year, generation by generation. In summary, religious organizations, their leaders, and their congregations are less prominent in their visible presence in civil society and public life, and less hearkened to by fellow believers and the expanding numbers of non-believers.

Another observation is about the place of religion in the diverse lives and livelihoods, as well as the community sources of belonging nowadays versus 20 years ago and before. "Cramming for finals" is one image for the tendency of people at middle age or older to develop an appetite for matters that go beyond self, and the material world. People often begin to notice issues, seek answers, or sharpen their interest in how to respond to misfortune in self and those one cares most about; in what happens after bodily death; in one's legacy to those who survive one's own demise; and so on. In other words, aging, a serious illness or accident, or loss of a loved one seems to bring religion into the foreground of a person's life. At the opposite end of the life course are the youngest members of society; some of whom are churched and others not. Growing up in a church makes everything about it familiar and easy to take-for-granted until adulthood. At that point a young person may sever their church ties, explore new ones, or begin to compare the World Religions as one part of the natural search for one's identity. Those with no formal religion during their formative years have fewer wrong notions or old habits to face in the search for a religious community that they can feel part of.

A third observation about the subject of religious life in this time of rapid changes in authority, sources of meaning, and models for living has to do with the function of religion in the society overall. There is much more to it than the generalization about religion being the "opium of the masses" as Karl Marx is credited saying about the many citizens congregating each week. Economically, a body of believers may benefit each other materially or by information shared and wisdom offered when making one's own decisions big or small. Spiritually, a church provides a place for individual and group expression in song, worship, and prayer. In life crisis (birth, wedding, funeral) a religious community shares the moment and facilitates the rituals that are part of these times. Educationally, an organized group of practitioners is able to host study groups, discussions, and programs of learning. Socially, an organized religion can provide social services to those outside (or within) the church. Politically, a formal organization like a church can assert a position, critique social injustice, and advocate for social changes.

All together the transitions that most churches are undergoing during the pandemic and even before that, in reference to the larger society's own changes, makes for a fascinating story. This video interview with Rev. Matt Olson gives a glimpse into these matters through the lens of one church during the past several decades.

Native lands acknowledged by institutions occupying it today

examples of public recognition of Native lands underlying today's economy, 12/2020

 Since late 2019 there has been the occasional public statement of recognition by event hosts and by institutional organizations that the land presently being used did first belong to native peoples at the time of contact with outsider (non-native) immigrants. What typically was held in common for all generations of that indigenous community in various ways was traded, purchased, deeded by treaty, or simply taken by force of arms or threat of harm. That is not to say that the named society tied to a given landscape was timeless ever since the most recent ice-age retreated 10,000 years ago; or that indigenous groups did not displace each other through agreement, by conflict, or in a slow drift of incremental changes in environment and series of  small events. 

The public acknowledgements that appear footnoted on websites, are declared during an event rollcall of sponsors and thank-yous, or show up in email signature lines since 2019 are part of a growing awareness of the injustice coming from undermining a Commons system of land use incidentally, on purpose, or through carefully calculated design. Infiltrating an individual title holder concept of legal control of land ownership that can be commodified to market values has led to many positive planetary changes (for humans at least), as well as harms to the natural environment and social landscape.

It will be interesting to see if similar practices appear in the corporate sector, in local government (perhaps laying open liability for restoration, for careful reviews of historical treaties), or even at military installations both active and mothballed. As the #BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement expands and strengthens, sparking public awareness of injustice not limited to people of African ancestry, this public acknowledgement of historical abuses of Native people with real-life and ongoing consequence could conceivably come to be normal, expected, and potentially obligatory. In so doing, the risk may be reduced of slipping off track into the tangle of Political Correctness that glibly discounts ideas, words and deeds driven by public image and peer approval instead of motivated by integrity. With public statements to respect the prior cultural landscape of meaning and land uses, light is reflected back to illuminate modern, mechanized, and de-personalized consumer society. If such a change in buying and selling, social relations, and worldview comes to pass, then these early acknowledgements from 2019 will be seen as modest but powerful levers of change - not just in English-speaking countries, but world-wide wherever indigenous ways of life cling to the land and waters.

Special LEGO exhibition at Grand Rapids Public Museum in 2020

 

The giant LEGO honey bee suspended overhead in the foyer of the Grand Rapids Public Museum is a vivid example of the wondrous sculptures and dioramas created for display in the special exhibition starting in fall 2020. This video clip starts with the scale model of the hosting museum itself, adjacent to the (LEGO) Grand River, made from more than 4,000 pieces of the colorful plastic building materials. Then the camera turns to show the larger-than-life bee above.

Seeing both the miniature LEGO museum in its plexiglass case and the honey bee brings to mind several thoughts: the creative impulse to make such things, the faint whiff of irony that the honey bee representation is made from the petroleum product that modern life depends on but which also has led to habitat degradation and destruction that accelerates loss of bee populations, the nature of public engagement and awareness, including the role that museums play for sparking interest in the natural world and forming relationships between humans and all the other creatures sharing the planet. Not everyone coming to the museum will pay the separate admission to the LEGO exhibition, but for those who do browse the sculptures and dioramas, the intricacy of the models and creativeness of the makers will make an impression. But it is an open question with unclear answers to know whether new curiosity will arise, new respect will develop for non-human creatures and their habitats, and by extension an increase in awareness for the consequence of personal consumption assumptions and expectations will occur.

While the pandemic rages in Michigan the museum controls the number of visitors by online (or telephone) reservation of admission tickets and member passes accepted each day. In this video clip some of the visitors queued at the admission desk show their face masks. Perhaps this heightened microbe consciousness from the sustained health mandates from the Michigan health department will contribute slightly to greater public curiosity of the natural world, scientific tools and logic, and renewed respect for facts supported by data instead of 'gut feeling' or the hubris of bald claims made in loud, politically motivated performances that Donal J. Trump incarnates.

 An album of G.R.P.M. photos and video clips can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/albums/72157717510759343

Getting to know whales by museum engagement

 At the Grand Rapids Public Museum in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan there is an impressive display of a mature Finn whale killed around 1900 and later donated by the private owner near Jackson, Michigan to the museum, where it is suspended about 35 or 40 feet above the main floor hallway. In the past year or two a large video display (twin monitors about 10 feet apart and mounted in portrait orientation to accommodate visiting groups) has been added.

 

The animated scene shows a mature Finn whale swimming along with accompanying text (and voice) in both English and Spanish on a continuous playback loop, first one language loop and then the other. It would be interesting to document the bi-lingualization of the permanent exhibitions here: how the decision came about, how visitor native-language was surveyed, how the content was edited (native speaker or team of speakers? online machine translation? Castilian Spanish or one of the varieties of the Western Hemisphere?)

Some of the facts on the screen concern daily diet of krill, organ size (tongue of 18 feet, heart, brain, and so on). This video clip shows part of the recording in Spanish when biological facts are given. The animation illustrates each organ singled out by showing the steady beat of the whale's tail, but instead of the skin view or the skeleton view in motion, now we see the organs specified in the description, all the while moving as if in motion.

The large video screens are mounted low enough for 5-year olds to approach the display before looking overhead to the ceiling where the skeleton hangs. For the generations accustomed to video animation, this kind of window into knowledge, spectacle, and curiosity is normal and natural and desirable. But for people over the age of 35 or 40 it still seems a little futuristic to find a multimedia production of such high quality outside of a movie theater. 

No matter if the digital presentation seems normal or seems futuristic, though, it does seem to attract passing visitors to pause long enough to figure out what is being described. Then they either drift to the next visual hook, or settle in, prepared for the full course of what is being told. In the end, some visitors satisfy a small appetite for marine biology and others expand their appetite. What was little known, rarely experienced, or not even wondered about across the wide oceans' leviathans now has come alive, if only for a short while under the shadow of the overhead whale. Through such things as museums, stories from people in one's world or those seen on TV and online, little by little the relationship and knowledge of life on Earth grows. Of course, the exact character of the human to non-human relationship changes across history as technology makes possible wider and deeper experiences, and then there is variation according to language/culture (worldview, livelihood traditions, and so on), too. Meantime the encroaching human life endangers the habitat for all other forms of life. So there is more frequent intersection of human and wild things, some of which are endangered or one step away from extinction.

Notes from polling precinct 3 November 2020 USA General Election

 

scenes early morning and later afternoon in Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505

Pandemic and relatively recent voting law changes in this state to allow "no reason absentee voting" resulted in something like 3 million ballots around Michigan's 83 counties being voted by mail, drop off at the respective county clerk office or its designated dropbox(es), or in some cases "early voting" at the counter of the clerk's office. So even after the in-person, conventional voting period from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. ended and each of the 76 precincts in the city of Grand Rapids transmitted their results electronically (and by paper and duplicating SD card delivery to the tabulating headquarters), still the results could not be concluded while the many mail-in and absentee votes were being tabulated by an army of workers. While states like Florida allowed early votes to be processed in the days ahead of the precinct in-person voting, the Republican-controlled legislation in Michigan refused to allow any processing ahead of time with the exception of jurisdictions of 25,000 or more residents. In that case the outer envelope could be opened 24 hours before the voting day.

These photos show a few of the scenes at a 1928 neighborhood elementary school vacated by the pandemic so that children are relegated to online connection to teachers and peers. The day begins with crews delivering the voting equipment the day before and then the poll worker chairperson opening the door to fellow workers at 5:45 a.m. to begin setting up the gymnasium polling place starting at 6 a.m. and then declaring "The polling place is now open" at 7:00 a.m. In this case about 5 voters keen to be at the head of the line had arrived a hour before that official start time. But very soon the line ran from the first station (writing name, address, date of birth) for application to vote, all along the hallway and out the door, over the sidewalk leading the roadside and all along that streetside sidewalk for a total length of perhaps 80-90 yards.

There are 2594 voters in this precinct (maximum of 2999 per precinct by law): on this day at this precinct 763 voted in person, of which 1 man did not accept the mask offered him; another had a health condition precluding mask-wearing. All others waited in mask, mostly silently. Some people engaged with their smartphone in texting, reading, gaming, or with earbuds connected for music, recorded book, news, or podcast. The first 2 hours were long, long, long lines socially spaced, requiring about 90 minutes from lining up to leaving the polling place. By noon there was just a 10-minute wait thanks to a helpful "challenger" (party-appointed and registered observer) who called in 6 cardboard booths to supplement the 7 that had been assigned. From noon to 8 p.m. things faded away until just 200 or so arrived in dribs and drabs in those final 6-7 hours. Impressionistically, it seemed like many women under the age of 35 showed up in person and a certain proportion of retired people, too. One of the young women sported a Trump-branded face mask, which is disallowed on the polling premises. So she was politely asked to reverse it, which she did. The seven assigned poll workers never flagged during the 14 hours. When all was tidied up and signatures showing full-day work, certifying all steps fulfilled, and so on, then the chairperson and 1 of the others made the drive downtown to the headquarters to deliver the data and supplies. So their day was even longer than for the others.

In the 2016 vote when there was no pandemic and before Michigan's "no reason absentee" voting, the election DJ Trump brought 800+ voters to this same precinct in person. For the 2020 General Election maybe half the votes (still being counted at DeVos Hall downtown) were early or dropbox or mailed in. So the total number of ballots seems to be more than in 2016. For poll workers 14 hours makes for a long day. When greeted or directed to the entry door, several voters remarked "this is my first time to vote." In some ways the shiny hallway, silent lines, solemn context stirred by in the frenzy of mass media and online-targeted user campaign advertising contributed to the whole experience being quasi-religious or civic ritualistic.

Intersections of religion and government of society

A week or two before the November 3, 2020 General Election in USA

 

Most yard signs in the month or two before a national election are concerned with supporting one party or the other, with a few in support of neither Republican or Democratic parties and instead promoting the names and websites of third-party candidates such as Libertarians, Green Party, and so on. And for the Trump versus Biden campaign season, a few pun-worthy signs use text or visual jokes to make the point in support of one side or the other: Biden spelled "Bye Don" (as in Donald J. Trump), or the one showing a swoosh of dyed orangey-blonde hair to stand for Trump in which the word NOPE is spelled out in large letters and the "O" stands for the head of the President and the colored swoosh adorns the top to stand for trademark hair. A variation on this negation of Trump substitutes NOPE with NAH.

This photo, though, takes a completely different approach. It does not identify either the candidate for the Democratic Party or the Republican one. Instead it uses the symbol-colors of both main parties (red =Republican; blue =Democratic), which coincidentally signal the USA national flag (rectangular and with red, white, and blue as bars and a sprinkling of stars, as well). The this sign puts forward the candidate that rises above either Biden or Trump. It is Jesus of Nazareth, crucified about 1990 years ago and said to have risen from the dead, according to believers. 

Without asking the owner of the yard sign about the reasons to obtain and plant it here, it is hard to know exactly what it asserts, but it does seem to be a way that is partly humorous (suggesting that Jesus could be a write-in presidential candidate) and partly serious about seeking to overcome divisiveness from demonizing and dehumanizing people who do not support your own candidate. News commentators have talked about casting a vote for the person who seeks to unite the many communities: choose the country, not the (cult of) personality. "Choose country loyalty over party loyalty," as the commentators have phrased the matter of voting this week.

addendum: One writer looks into the origins of the message in Alabama and concludes this is a veiled message of Trump brutalism, https://gen.medium.com/the-story-behind-those-jesus-2020-signs-76e620bf2a52

Ambiguity - the same glass half-empty and half-full; political signage, too

Corner lot on town center highway expresses political support 10/2020

First came the yard signs, then more recently the Hallowe'en decorations appeared on the house and around the lawn. Putting the skeleton in juxtaposition with the biggest sign could have several interpretations. Probably this supporter of the incumbent White House resident intended to make the display seasonally fitting with the custom of lawn decoration rather than to suggest an astute political meaning. And yet, the 215,000 deaths as of early October 2020 caused by the elected leader's lack of leadership seems to fit well with the banner: Trump 2020 truly does produce skeletons.

The same double meaning seems to come from the foreground yard sign, "How Many Seniors"? The picture of the Michigan Governor overlays the 'O' in SENI*RS. The hashtag says "Whitmer Death Toll." Probably the sign designer intended to criticize the executive orders to restrict visits to nursing homes and other institutions that support elderly residents. And yet, ironic like the earlier example, it is due to the Governor's leadership that so few elderly have died from pandemic complications. Critics of the restrictions want freer access for themselves to visit loved ones, which provides a transmission vector to kill those same loved ones.

In the middle of the photo, in front of the large Trump sign is one that says "My governor is an idiot." Curiously the sign designer made the largest letters spell IDIOT. For passing drivers unable to pause and puzzle out the entire message, only IDIOT can be recognized at first glance. The result is that the sign could be interpreted to self-label the occupant of the house. Related, the root of the word idiot is IDIO, the core of words like idiosyncratic, idiomatic, idiocentric, and ID (Id, Ego, Superego). So 'idio' means self. Idiocentric means self-centered. Taken literally, "idiot" means a person concerned only with self, not others. And while the person erecting the yard sign is pointing a finger toward the Michigan governor ostensibly, ironically the person seems to point at himself or herself: a self-centered person who sees the world  not as a team sport but as an individual one. Self is all that matters and any attempt to govern for the Common Good infringes on Self.

Taking the point about diametrically opposing interpretations of a sign, slogan, or criticism even further, the tidal wave of irony in just about everything coming from the mouth of Donald J. Trump and his acolytes is astounding. Jibes about an adversary's incompetence so often seem to fit the one issuing them. Cries of foul just as easily seem to apply to the one crying. It should give a person pause to see how readily one intended message can backfire or amplify irony so that the meaning seems self-referential rather than to stick to an opponent. This proliferation of irony and obfuscation is a species of doublespeak: saying one thing but meaning the reverse. But then, so nimble are human minds that meaning can be imagined or extracted from the barest of source material. Rationalizations can prop up a decision or action that began from emotional responses. Very likely this ability to find contradictory meanings or sniff out hypocrisy has allowed social life for so many generations and in so many languages and habitats.

Indian headdress where water meets land in west Michigan

Near the Grand River's delta into Lake Michigan are many bayous: lawn ornament.

In many parts of USA until the 1990s or 2000s sometimes a cast-iron and smartly painted African-American lawn figure dressed in the livery of a carriage driver or attendant could be seen. Originally some of these were sold with large metal ring in the hand as a convenient anchor point for a horse rider to secure her or his horse when visiting the property owner. Still today there are a few left here and there at relics rather than tie-ups for people who travel by horse, but there are not so many of the cast-iron figurines as before.

The photo on this page is much less common, since the subject is an imagined representative for Native Americans (men). And yet the prestigious headdress in not universal, but pertains to a place and time among only certain societies. Similar to the coachman or carriage attendant described above, this lawn figurine is diminutive and non-threatening to the owners, their guests, and neighbors. Apart from its physical properties, what might be meant by the property owner positioning it far from the house (top left of the photo) near the place that water meets land, facing the approach to the house?

Without talking to the residents and neighbors, it is hard to know which meanings are foremost, and what significance is indirectly expressed at the same time. But here are a few lines of meaning that could potentially intersect in 2020 at this location near Grand Haven, Michigan.

1. Heritage: perhaps the owner has some lineage connected to the Plains Indians.
2. Honor: perhaps the owner has no personal stake, but studies deeply and respects the Native ways of life then and now.
3. Habit: perhaps the owner today is following an earlier generation's lawn decorating decision and maintains the property's look little changed from the 1970s or 1950s.
4. Satire or parody: perhaps the owner sees a conflicted double-meaning. The injustices of past and present are given a visual reminder, even as the pop culture attaches heroic or noble symbolized meanings.
5. Abstracted aspirations: taking the figure to stand for many appealing things, instead of as a person in a social setting and moment of history, perhaps the owner chooses this figure from the lawn ornament retail lot to symbolize things like: living off the land, unfettered by tax collectors, judicious, wise, ancient, embodiment of 'liberty', strong and governed by integrity.
6. Class project: perhaps the owner or family or friend created the statuette as art project and this is the display space it occupies now from that day to today.

Grocery patriotism a month after Independence Day

Sunday afternoon grocery shopping in the peanuts, dried fruit, snack section.

Although the waist-level grab shot makes the Star-spangled Banner look very large, in fact this is the normal retail size that homeowners display on poles attached to the front of their house. Since this instance is indoors and cannot flutter in the breeze, the supporting structure holds the full rectangular shape rigidly unfurled.

The range of possible intentions by the grocery-store corporate headquarters, or the local branch store manager could be one or more meanings. Without probing in conversation, though, here are a few ways to interpret this public display on private property indoors, listed in no particular order of significance.

1. Initiated around the time of the July 4th national holiday in celebration of the Declaration of Independence from the colonial powers in London, this show of The Colors is a traditional sight, albeit normally outdoors instead of in the food rows.
2. Ever since the pandemic arrived at the end of winter season, little by little the small and large impositions on people of all ages and social circumstances has led to tension and irritability, tribal outbursts and blaming one another. So perhaps this national unity statement is a reminder that all citizens (and tacitly, too, the undocumented non-citizens) are members of the same team.
3. At the risk of overthinking the possible primary or secondary meaning, maybe what began as traditional July 4 exhibition has slowly taken on a new meaning as the federal government, starting with the POTUS, has failed to lead a response to Covid-19, including the Black Lives Matter movement, and will soon face the November election, preceded by the August Primary Election. Thus this flag might be a visual reminder to shoppers that times are bad for life expectancy, for social interaction, and for economic livelihoods and therefore it is time to elect fellow citizens who actually do have leadership credentials, plans, and results demonstrated in their careers.
4. Lastly, and not particularly compelling as a purpose for displaying the national flag, it could well be that this one location in all of the vast store, at shoulder height or higher to most shoppers, is meant as nothing more than a cheerful, comforting, decorative and status-quo declaration: "we were here before, we are here now, and we will be open for business tomorrow, too."

Gay pride flag on display with the national flag

most days the flags fly in the front yard along this busy street in Grand Rapids, MI

Flags serve many purposes and appear in diverse settings in connection with personal, corporate, local, state, regional, national, and international organizations or events. Like the verb for marking or setting apart a thing, "to flag" draws a person's attention to something important; something that carries significance, often something intangible but present and real.

Searching the past few years of my photo/video uploads and commentary, there have been at least 66 examples with the keyword 'flag' attached. And a few previous blog compositions come to mind, too. Most instances come from USA, but there are other locations and subjects, too:

Shredded USA flag (retired some months later), https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/45577566424/

Fast-food public display, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/29716417247/

Cemetery dressed for national holiday, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/42419459411/

International flags at Amway Corp., https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49543044207/

Shrine in rural Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/37230805966/

National holiday flag display in Japan, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/36513232865/

Campus international flags in China, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/50083306786/

Sandwich packaging in Britain, https://www.flickr.com/photos/anthroview/49542917481/

Flying the flag at home, http://www.flickr.com/photos/gpwitteveen/3985554820/

''Police lives matter" blue flag, https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/star-spangled-blue-banner.html

Annual display of flag to commemorate September 11 attacks,
https://anthroviews.blogspot.com/2009/10/flags-and-feelings.html


Today's photo, above, shows a neatly kept lawn with crisp national and gay pride flags flying high. Leaving aside the variety of personal and collective meanings and applications of the national flag, and without polling a variety of responses from the passers-by here and the people who live in the house, let us consider some of the meanings that go along with hoisting this flag alone or together with the national flag.

The pattern of the gay pride flag itself has a history, no doubt, and has come to its widely recognized position after many other local designs had been tried. In general, the average person may associate the rainbow with several meanings: a rare thing of wonder and beauty to brighten one's day unexpectedly, a phenomenon comprised of many distinct colors that forms a larger composite, something non-threatening. Each of these interpretations or associations can transfer to the subject of LGBTQ relationships. As a public statement or declaration the rainbow flag is eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive. For viewers with strong opinions for or against the lives that the flag references - whether it is sexual orientation of the flag owners, someone among family or friends, or none of the above, but meant as a statement of solidarity -- the recognition of the familiar rainbow can go beyond the characteristics of eye-catching, unmistakable, and attractive, to trigger emotional responses that are strongly positive or strongly negative. Meanwhile, for people in-between who have neither strong opinions for and against the flag and its reference, the most remarkable thing about it may be limited to visual or surface reactions, not any particular emotional response.

Little by little the rainbow design has been adopted here and there, visible in Pride Marches in cities around the world in more and more countries, societies, and languages. As a badge or emblem it appears in many forms besides flags. But the concept of a flag carries particular meanings: conventional aspect ratio and contexts of public display lend it a quality of being official (carrying authority), accepted, and authorized. Flags are associated with boundaries, borderlands, and belonging within a group (in-group versus out-group). And flags by the nature of public, prominent, visible display assert something. They are not quiet or passive. They wave and they are held high so as to be seen at a distance. So the physical qualities, the social context, and the cultural traditions for flags contribute to the Gay Pride Movement. The extent to which "gay" is inclusive of L*G*BTQ may be known to people concerned with making distinctions, but for less informed viewers probably the rainbow flag stands everyone claiming a place among the acronym's five letters.

Seasonal foods for sale - neighborhood grocery store

In most parts of the USA it is the large national chains of food-plus-general merchandise "super" markets that attract most buyers as a one-stop solution to products for sale. Particularly in urban centers there are "food deserts" where there is no place to buy edibles not processed or ready-to-eat. Things designed for human consumption can be bought at convenience stores and gas stations. Fast food restaurants proliferate since profits can be had in urban centers with commuters and other temporary consumers on the ground during the day. But for residents, it is common to find no full service grocery store.

By contrast, this photo shows a store operating for generations in the city of Grand Rapids where shoppers can buy a wide range of fresh foods, knowing that the store's buying team constantly seeks local businesses to source the foods. The price is higher than the mass scale, low-margin business model for the national and regional huge floor plans of supermarkets. But enough people nearby this store are willing to pay for the flavor from freshly harvested produce and locally raised meat animals that this business is sustained.

locally sourced fruit, vegetables, and meat is part of the business model here

The weekly sign changes first thing every Sunday to advertise what is promoted with special pricing for the coming seven days. At the end of July the list includes Michigan cherries, blueberries, tomatoes, leaf lettuce varieties, in addition to chicken (breast). A smaller sign in the corner of the parking lot in the distance can be seen between the uprights of the big sign. It lists sweet corn for sale at 2 ears for $1.

The brick building in the background is one of the fire stations in the city of Grand Rapids. Sometimes the navy blue uniformed fire-fighters can be seen in the checkout line after they walk across the parking lot to buy a sandwich or other things to eat or drink. During the 2020 pandemic most customers readily began wearing masks early on, when trips indoors were recommended to include face-masks. Now there is a statewide order for all retail customers and workers to wear face coverings of some kind, so compliance is 100% by casual survey, looking around the premises.

Outdoor movie night hosted at church parking lot

Summer get-together during Covid-19 pandemic, masks at hand, as needed

Here and there the cars park to face the inflatable movie screen and sound system. The closest space is cordoned off for people to arrange their chairs without any worry about cars being in the way. Before the sky darkened enough for the digital projector to fill the screen, a rock and roll trio of church members played a few sets of pop songs as church members, friends, and members of the general public began to arrive and socialize, either with masks (especially those with their own health problems, or anxious about any risk caused by bringing Covid-19 back home to others or infecting co-workers) or by keeping approximately 6 feet between each other.

As the pandemic overtook this county seat in middle February, the church's liturgical calendar was complicated by the need to close the building. Fairly soon their leadership arrived at a solution involving drive-in worship: people isolate themselves in their car or truck, then tune into the low-power FM signal on their phone or car radio to listen to whoever is at the microphone, sometimes broadcasting from indoors and sometimes from outdoors. Initially things were restricted to outdoor, in-car, gatherings. Then the Michigan governor made incremental changes to the emergency orders and gatherings out of doors up to 100 persons (in masks) developed. At one point limited indoor worship also was permitted with distancing, masking, and limiting the exposure time. These days there are some worshipers who scatter themselves widely among the pews inside and others in their cars at the worship hour on Sunday mornings. The worship leader makes an effort to broadcast from both indoors and outdoors over the course of the service so that everyone has a chance to see him in person, rather than hearing only a disembodied voice.

The logistics of serving the sacrament of communion was a challenge to overcome. Eventually, they created individual serving size packets for each person taking the communion. The commercial ones use grape juice instead of wine (grape juice that has been fermented). So in the interest of conforming to pre-pandemic customs of using wine, the church crew prepares their own individual serving size packets.

This photo is taken soon after the movie began. The wide-angle lens exaggerates the small dimension of the projector screen. In fact it is the size of a very small house side. All together there were  perhaps 50-70 people attending of all ages, mostly adults, many of them retired or nearing retirement age. By way of concessions for sale, a brightly painted and lit up ice-cream truck was open for business to the left of this frame, near the church entrance. A table on the porch of the church had pop-corn and soft-drinks on offer, too. The evening music group with amplified speakers was playing near the corner nearest the church and movie screen.

Everybody seemed especially grateful for the chance to mingle informally in the warm summer evening, either unmasked and keeping their distance from each other, or standing at the pre-pandemic accustomed "personal space" of 3-4 feet apart.

Covid-19 dramatics for (backyard) cabaret

part of "backyard cabaret" hosted by Grand Rapids residents for friends or neighbors

A dozen or two cars lined the quiet residential street to enjoy outdoor, socially distanced snacks and b.y.o.b. drinks ahead of the evening's contracted performance with some of the city's local theater production company actors. Before the pandemic the Grand Rapids Civic Theater performed downtown regularly throughout the year to season subscribers and to one-time ticket buyers. As well, the city had at least one stand-up comedy location. But with public indoor gatherings of more than a handful of people no longer allowed because of the risk of transmitting the virus between asymptomatic spreaders in particular, some of the thespians launched "backyard cabaret" with brief sketches, song, and commentary for private performance at the host's house. Apart from the novelty of professionals appearing at one's home and repurposing the deck as a stage, there is the great satisfaction that comes from supporting the arts locally and engaging peers invited for the evening, too. Perhaps from the performer's point of view, as well, there is some degree of satisfaction in performing on the "small stage," after all. It would be interesting to know how widely this (business) model is happening around the country and indeed around the world.

Star-spangled (blue) banner

National USA flag imitated with no red stripes (downtown Grand Rapids, MI 7/2020)

The black and white U.S. flag with a single blue line in the middle of the field appears in front of people's houses here and there. An early June essay at The Marshall Project discusses this version of the flag with reference to the intensified scrutiny and protest over police abuse of black and brown-skinned people since late May 2020. What originally was imagined as a visual expression of police solidarity is being seen by others as symbol of White Supremacy agitators.

The reason to snap this photo, though, is not to mull over the specific case of the monochrome banner containing a thin blue line, but to reflect on the more general practice of co-opting this national symbol for narrow, sometimes personal, uses. During the 1970s and around the time of the bi-centennial in 1976 , especially, there was a lot of pop art and commercial use of the readily recognized combination of red and white stripes and the white stars that comprise the Star-spangled Banner. Motorcycle helmets, knickknacks, wallpaper, paint schemes on muscle cars, badges, cake decoration, and underwear like this could be bought or made. Now more than 40 years later the splintering of TV channels and (online) news sources and alternative schools has led to the tribal divisions that group people into communities sometimes defined by what they are not and emphasizing difference to others instead of being concerned with commonalities and common cause that everyone shares a stake in.

This black and blue likeness of the USA national flag seems to say that the "thin blue line" (uniformed members of local police departments) is what connects and holds together the halves (and the "haves" and have nots) of the displayed flag and by symbolic extension also the halves of the whole country itself: social order that comes from firmly enforcing laws, no matter if those codes are written well or poorly. Taking a similar approach of appropriating this national (and thus diversely shared and experienced) symbol for public display, school teachers could claim a key role in the life and future of the society. So could tax collectors, farmers, truck drivers, and car repair professionals. Taking a different theme from the occupational one, political factions might want to claim that only their way of seeing the world can be good for the country. A riff on the national flag could then express their own self-appreciation. Maybe most foundational of all, as William Ross Wallace put it in his 1865 poem, "the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." By that estimation, the national flag should be interpreted to express the abiding presence of mothers and the very most formative child development years.

Seeing the flag in this photo displayed on the top of a pole in downtown residential Grand Rapids could be a private statement of support for friends, family, or neighbors who devote their working lives to the various roles within the police department in this city or elsewhere. Or maybe it is a larger statement about Law and Order as the basis for human relationships in the public arenas of commerce, communication, and cultural expression. Without talking at length with the person displaying the flag it is hard to know the shape and size of the meaning that the flag holds in this one instance. Perhaps it is most of all a reflection of this generational moment or historical intersection of events, ideas, and personalities that has no parallel in other societies or even around the USA at other points in history. But one thing is certain, because that flag has appeared in domestic and foreign places in private gatherings and public occasions, the meanings are many and the image is readily recognizable.

It is a rich source of meanings which can be harnessed for individual, organizational, or (inter)national purposes. Seeing it on this morning brings to mind a distant recognition: ah, that looks  familiar, except that this flag has drained away the full-color form to give only black and white, along with one stripe of blue. It may express a truth or the lived experience among past, present, and future employees of police departments, but for people without this direct connection, the original red stripes and blue field for the 50 stars to represent all citizens somehow is muted into black and white. Only the blue stands out in that flag; all else is diminished by comparison.

We Are One - so says the sign, but one what?

About 7 weeks on display: since pandemic week 4 in Michigan [17 June 2020]

Both sides of the sandwich board give the same bold assertion. Such a short, direct statement is powerful and unambiguous. And yet there may well be several interpretations carried by the message at the same time, depending on the state of mind when a person notices the streetside note. The location is about 2 miles north of Grand Rapids city center in west Michigan on a major traffic route for local travel. So even when most people obeyed the Governor's directive to "stay home, stay safe" there were still cars traveling up and down this route. And people on foot or bike who complied with the guidance on social distancing also pass this way from time to time.

The ALL CAPS is a typographic emphasis similar to shouting or speaking in a loud enough voice for people far away to be able to hear the message. The choice of this shade of blue may signify something, too: neither is this color a somber dark navy or official looking tone, nor is it cheerfully light-hearted sky blue. Instead the color is somewhat light (not taking itself too seriously or self-righteously) while still displaying a slightly muted aspect (in respect for those harmed by the Covid-19 disease directly, or by harm to their livelihoods and social/psychological vitality).

As for the text itself, "one" implies shared destiny and shared present conditions and shared past experiences. It does not insist that everyone is alike or should be uniform in their lives; only that unity in relation to the threat posed by the pandemic is a unifier. "We" is inclusive, like "one," as well. Unlike "me and you and they over there," the subject "we" encompasses one and all together, no matter the deep or the surface differences. "Are" is a state of being; the present moment; the state of existing in time and place. Taken all together the intent seems to be encouraging one another with a message of the present and a promise of the future. By extension the message suggests, therefore, that each person should express responsiveness and bear responsibility for one's fellows in need of small or big help now (and extending indefinitely into the future). "Be your brother's keeper," is the message, to reference a Bible passage.

People with friendly, optimistic, or trusting disposition may accept the message at face value: yes, OK, we all will manage to sustain our economy and social and spiritual life during and after the pandemic. On the other hand, people who have not been sustained or rewarded or respected by The System of social services, attitudes, abuses, and injustices may take a different interpretation of "WE are ONE" (but excluding selected categories of people who do not fit our preferences, ideals, or mental image of belonging together). In other words, whereas many readers see the message as hopeful and encouraging; a proclamation or permission to go out of one's habits and way of doing things in order to care for others, in the eyes of other readers the message repeats a set of exclusions so that only certain people who meet particular conditions can be included in the declaration. Such is the flexibility of meaning, rationalization, and us/them distinctions reproduced one relationship at a time. Even if the sign-painter authored a statement intended to be inclusive, some readers may take exception and define "we" in their own image alone. Other readers, accustomed to being excluded or cut-off from some relationships, social capital, and other opportunities in the community may well see the message as yet another assertion of moral superiority or otherwise exclusionary movement. In the end, each instance of noticing another person's distress and responding (or ignoring) will make the full meaning of the signboard apparent.