Palm Avenue Perspectives
Posted on July 9, 2014
Palm Avenue is one of the more attractive streets in downtown Sarasota. It is lined with art galleries, boutiques and restaurants, palm trees (many of which will soon be removed), historic buildings (some of which will be removed to make way for another high rise for the affluent), and even a large verdant grassy patch (soon to be dug up and covered over with a hotel).
Even after these changes, Palm Avenue will still be attractive — and probably even more comfortable for some. But it will also be different, and so will the rest of the city. With every change, the benefits of the change are trumpeted — and the losses and questions papered over with glossy brochures. These “Perspectives on Palm Avenue” ask whether we are building the kind of city we want.
The Other Side of the Brochure
Palm Avenue Home for the Cars
Life Repeats Itself
Who Owns the Water?
It’s All in How You See It
Posted on June 2, 2014
It’s easy to not notice… to not notice the lens with which we view the world. It’s especially easy when rushing through the day, not even noticing the world!
Sunrise at Celery Fields
Bulge
Window Well
Upon Closer Inspection
Behind the Facades
Posted on May 3, 2014
It’s always worth a look behind the facades to see what’s happening in the alley. These images all came from a one-block section of alley in the heart of downtown Sarasota, Florida. In addition to the now-defunct “Golden Apple” dinner theater, they show the backsides of a few of the city’s finer restaurants, a brand new parking ramp, and some graffiti on the back wall of the Opera House, where they often sing in Italian. Of course, there was much more to see there, too.
So next time you want to get to know a town, spend some time in the alleys.
l’Hiver a Monte Carlo
One Flag?
The Weight of Concrete
The Man Behind the Blue Tarp
Door to the Other Side
Laundry Production
The Fallen of Jekyll Island
Posted on April 3, 2014
Jekyll Island on Georgia’s coastline may be best known for it’s historic district and the Jekyll Island Club — a retreat and playground for the country’s wealthiest elite in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Established in 1886, the Club was frequented by the Morgans, Rockefellers, Vanderbilts and others of their class.
However, there is another feature worth seeing on Jekyll Island.
“Driftwood Beach” on the north end of the island shows the ongoing work of erosion. It is humbling to stand amid the ruins of the great trees that have fallen to the steady beat of ocean waves and current. And there is some sadness looking behind at the majestic oaks just off the beach — some already salt-scarred — that will soon be the next to go.
While erosion along these barrier islands is a natural process, rising sea levels are sure to hasten it. And we have yet to see whether man’s attempted interventions, like the rocks placed along the shore further south, will slow or further speed its progress.
The Fallen
Next to Go
Lightworms
The Way It Is
Thunder by the Bay
Posted on March 6, 2014
Every year the City of Sarasota hosts “Thunder by the Bay” — a motorcycle event and charity fundraiser in the heart of downtown along Sarasota Bay. Thousands of motorcyclists and spectators crowd the streets.
Of course, there are always a few residents in the high-end high rises who complain about the music, the partying on the street, and especially the “thunder” from the motorcycles. But everyone else seems to enjoy the excitement, the crowds, the noise, and the motorcycles. This is their chance to shine.
And shine they do. The colors, shapes and designs — while constrained by the laws of physics and rules of the road — are as varied and evocative as any art. And that thunder is just a part of how they speak. We don’t all have to be the same, do we?
Red Thunder
Cycle Samba
The Power of Green
Swamp Magic
Posted on February 6, 2014
I’ve often wondered what it is about Southwest Florida’s tropical landscape, its swamps and tropical foliage that gives its natural areas a feeling of mystery. Is it simply that the landscape is unfamiliar to those of us from other places? Or is it the density and lushness of so much life packed together — along with a sense of the things that lie hidden just beneath the surface.
Whatever the source of the mystery, it is a landscape worth saving.
Swamp Magic
A Single Leaf
Veterans Day, 2013
Posted on December 28, 2013
It was Veterans Day, and in the park where the speeches were given, stood the Salvation Army truck — symbol of the only real help many veterans will receive.
The parades and other patriotic events offer little for many who they supposedly honor. Instead, the parades seem to glorify wars past, promote the jingoism of war, and praise the children destined to become the veterans of the future.
Meanwhile, politicians cut veterans’ pensions and other benefits for those who have suffered disabling injuries — even though many find it impossible to successfully return to jobs, family, and a functional life. So despite the parades and the speeches, there is no help or honor for some — only a desire for the vets in trouble to disappear from sight.
Is this any way to honor and thank those who served? Wouldn’t justice for them, and the promise of peace be better?
Veterans Day, 2013
Honor to the Flag
Vietnam Vet
Childhood’s End
Draped in the Flag
Messages from the Garden
Posted on December 4, 2013
There is so much to be learned from a garden — just by looking and listening. The swelling flower bud is ready to burst with life and color, the orchid invites us in, while the bamboo sends some symbolic message for us to take home to decipher. Each plant has it’s own voice and the messages change with the seasons.
Bud
Open
Bamboo Semaphore
Channelling
Feeling a Little Fuschia
A Rising Asphalt Sea
Posted on November 16, 2013
Mostly empty, its parking lot free of cars, this suburban mall is in foreclosure. But do not worry. Plenty of money was made, and the risks and debt shifted off onto others.
And for the shoppers, the good news is that an even larger new mall will soon be built nearby, where another chunk of woods and wetlands will slip beneath the rising asphalt sea.
The Virus Spreads
Ghosts from the Past
Papered Over
Suburban Wasteland
Mind Your Vegetables
Posted on October 29, 2013
As kids most of us were told, “eat your vegetables.” But was it ever suggested that we honor them, too? Offering respect and honoring the animal is not that unusual for hunters who personally kill what they plan to eat. Honoring our fruits and vegetables, not so much.
So try taking a moment to be mindful of your fruits and vegetables — their colors, textures, shapes, and their beauty — and thank them for being what they are before chopping them up and gobbling them down. Being mindful of what we eat may help connect us to the earth and even each other. In any case, it can’t hurt.
Garlic Scapes
Golden Apricot Glow
Nature’s Velvet
Painted Carrots
St. Croix — Hotel Caravelle Artwork
Mocko Jumbies
Donald Diddams 