"We Will Make Addis Ababa a Flower that Flourishes, Like Her Name"

In my previous post, I posted the Facebook dancing fountains of PM Abiy's Addis Ababa Riverside Project.

The "translation" on this Abiy's Facebook page Amharic note:

አዲስ አበባን እንደ ስሟ የምታፈራ አበባ እናደርጋታለን::

is...

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that fears Addis Ababa like its name.

This is slightly wrong!

The actual translation is:

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that flourishes, like her name.

I suppose in some ways it is good to fear Addis Ababa, to prevent enemies and ill-wishers from getting on her streets.

And, Abiy's philosophy of peace, for which he won the Nobel Prize for Peace, and his persistent strategies to ward off war with malcontent ethnic groups, makes his wish ring true:

We will make Addis Ababa a flower that flourishes, like her name.

Conversation Snippets

"How is Hamilton?" I asked my brother, who's been living there for the past couple of years and where there has been a lot of "development." The last time I was there it looked lovely with a newly renovated waterfront just by the downtown. There had been some talk of industries and companies (with Hamilton as part of the Silicon Valley North in Ontario) coming in to fill in jobs lost to the disappearance of the steel mills, and the economy was looking good.

Hamilton is several miles south of Toronto, and is also becoming something of a "bedroom" city for Toronto workers.



"It's nice. There's not much of a mixture though. It's mostly whites."

There you have it.

"Whites not allowed" is going to be the new 21st century sign.

Below are photos of the waterfront I took about a year ago as the marina was being developed and part of the the steel mills' infrastructure was still in the background.





Information on the steel mills departure impact



But the steel industry hasn't disappeared. In fact there is a resurgence that is occurring. Read about the North America Free Trade negotiations here.

And about the downtown redevelopment project here.

In the guise of "whites not allowed here" what this really means is leaving room for others to elbow their way in.

That is what the Chinese are doing by dumping cheap steel into the Canadian market. Various Canadian officials have stated that Canada needs to impose trade barriers to protect Canadian steel.

And with the continued collapse of the Chinese global strategy, I think Hamilton will have a resurgence, a revival, and as I told my brother, a renaissance.

Richard Florida: The Failure Who Wont Admit His Errors

Richard Florida: Posing by a Hip, Diverse, Creative Space of a Graffiti Wall Somewhere in a Creative City

Florida is out promoting his new book:
The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation,
and Failing the Middle Class - and What We Can Do About It.

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Richard Florida came on the scene about ten years ago. I caught on the falseness of his ideas and wrote about them then. Here are some quotes from posts I did on him following interviews he had on Television Ontario with Steve Paiken on The Agenda.

Florida, who declared half way that he was more of an NDPer then a Liberal, making him in the far left sliding scale of Canadian politics, mentioned the word "equity" several times. (Also on a Charlie Rose interview in 2004). His future village is global, where everyone works in harmony - the lion next to the lamb, as imagery goes - and where everyone is creative. In fact, his most successful book is called: The Rise of the Creative Class: And How It's Transforming Work, Leisure, Community and Everyday Life. The equity of creativity.

A whole city full of experimental visible minority immigrants, where his mantra - we are all equal, we all do things equally, we are all creators - can play itself out. Florida is creating his own heaven on earth, and found just the right petri dish in Toronto...

Maybe in the future he might consider an office in one of those shiny buildings rising up on the Ryerson Campus. After all, it is the same population group that attracted him to Toronto in the first place that's driving the Ryerson growth.[Camera Lucida, April 28, 2008]

And here:

[Floridas'] convoluted, unproven, idea, on which the [University of Toronto] has spent millions already, is that immigrants, especially the current type, will be part of the creative class now so necessary in the economies of countries - at least according to Florida.

The fact is that there is absolutely no empirical evidence to prove this. Toronto's high-immigrant economy has actually been on a decline, including the much touted "Hollywood North" film industry - that most creative of professions - which is losing to Vancouver, and back to the US via Detroit and Boston.

Florida talks about "20 years down the road", which is just fine with him since he is only proposing a theoretical hypothesis. After all he doesn't lose either way - right or wrong. He's just a researcher.

But, the great influx of immigrants to whom he has such an affinity - the Indians and the Chinese - started almost 15 years ago here in Toronto. So where is the data to prove, after fifteen years, that they are truly part of the "creative class"? Here is actual data from Center for Immigration Studies in the US which indicates that Asians are not the creative types Florida is banking on:

[T]he East-vs.-West pattern observed earlier for the TM* data also holds for levels of expertise, with Asians typically being hired into non-innovative jobs while more Europeans are in the types of positions that could involve innovation.
*TM stands for Talent Measure

[Camera Lucida: April 29, 2008]

About a year later, an article in The American Prospect, The Ruse of the Creative Class, echoed those sentiments, but added explicitly that such cities are failing, and that Florida's arguments didn't hold: the "Creative Class"attracting a "vibrant" city and economy was bunk.

Inspired [by Florida's message], Elmira's newly elected mayor, John Tonello, hung artwork on City Hall's walls, installed "poetry posts" around town featuring verses by local writers, and oversaw the redevelopment of several buildings downtown. "The grand hope was to create retail spaces that would enable people to make money and serve the creative class Florida talks about," Tonello says. The new market-rate apartments filled up quickly, but the bohemian coffee shops the mayor fantasizes about have yet to materialize.
[ Source: The American Prospect: The Ruse of the Creative Class, December 18, 2009]

Instead what people were doing was to set up enclaves within enclaves. Neighborhoods, and even whole cities, started to become exclusive to the wealthy or reasonably moneyed. The low-income neighbors never materialized. And immigrants were hard to find shopping in the local grocery stores and eating in the restaurants, where they were more often than not working in low-level jobs often as janitors or bus-boys. They lived way out in the suburbs in high-density high rises.

Florida is now promoting his new book: The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class - and What We Can Do About It..

The book could have well been called "The New Urban Disaster."

This was a guy who spent months promoting his "Creative Class/Cities" book with glib phrases and clever catchwords, who sat on endless urban symposia, who won accolades and prizes and book awards for his ideas, who became the uncontested expert on creatively creating creative cities. Now he's back to talk about his "failure."

Not quite. He's here to say "Well I'm only human. I missed some things. But! I have these solutions!"

So we are supposed to give him a pass? We know who he is and even where he lives. No immigrant janitor will be anywhere near his house, with the 1,945 surveillance cameras which surround his territory with direct links to the Ontario Provincial Police, the Fire Department, and the emergency Ambulance services.

You see, he now has a toddler daughter.

The "Let Them Eat Cake" French queen, which won her the guillotine, was young, naive, sheltered and possibly had limited linguistic ability (she was Austrian, after all!).


Richard Florida's Toronto home

What's Florida's excuse?

Here is an excerpt from The Houston Chronicle in The Re-education of Richard Florida:

Sixteen years after Florida published his first book, "The Rise of the Creative Class," that theory has proved half true. For many small, post-industrial cities without assets like big tech companies and universities, no amount of creative-class marketing would turn things around. Elmira, N.Y., for example, saw little return on its investment in the Florida program, as a 2009 story in the American Prospect detailed. [Source: The Houston Chronicle in The Re-education of Richard Florida]

More from The Houston Chronicle from an article in 2013:

...research revealed the conditions that create pockets of poverty, and found a downside to ethnically mixed cities: People in different groups tend to live apart. "Here's Mr. Diversity, extolling the virtues of diversity in large cities," Florida says. "And what comes back to smash you over the head is that large diverse cities also incubate a horrific level of sorting and segregation."

A pseudonymic commenter posted this comment following Charles Mudede's article The Twittering World.

Richard Florida is an interesting guy, but he's like a math equation that gets further and further away from the truth the closer he gets to it. He's smart, but he has the Futurist Disease (remember Alvin Toffler? Faith Popcorn?) of seeing patterns everywhere, even where (especially where?) no patterns exist, and he constantly mistakes slight movements among a tiny coterie of the ultra-rich for genuine social movements. Or rather, the IDEAS of a tiny coterie; his work would be a lot more valuable if he was capable of thinking about the lives of real people for even a second or two.

I agree.

Of course Florida, with false modesty, "accepts" the fallacies behind his "theories." But his solution?

Bring in more government money to let these "excluded" members of our society to enjoy the fruits of Canadian/American capitalism. Let them live alongside the wealthy but with their government subsidized condo-apartments. Anything else makes us a callous and exclusive (i.e. a racist) society.

This is what he says in his interview a week ago on at Television Ontario's The Agenda with Steve Paiken, and also what he writes in the Toronto Star (quotes proivded after the video).

Listen to the video below to the excellent (on Paiken's part) interview and Florida's convoluted efforts to regain his credibility as an "urbanist."

Paiken introduces the interview thus:

"It hasn't all been positive. I must confess this isn't the follow up to the last book that I thought we were going to read!...Things are just very very dark and gloomy here!"

What Paiken is talking about is Florida's latest book, fresh off the presses: The New Urban Crisis: How Our Cities Are Increasing Inequality, Deepening Segregation, and Failing the Middle Class - and What We Can Do About It.



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The Toronto Star
By: Richard Florida
Tues., April 11, 2017

Toronto ranks as the ninth most expensive city in the world. Affordable housing is supposed to cost no more than three times a family’s income, yet a Toronto home now costs roughly eight times the average income.

Such rising housing prices and worsening affordability are a key indicator of what I call the “New Urban Crisis.” This is the dark-side of the sweeping back-to-the-city movement of the past decade or two, which has brought affluent, highly educated people back to the urban cores of superstar cities, such as Toronto, New York, London, Paris and others.

The New Urban Crisis is defined by a new model of winner-take-all urbanism. In a winner-take-all economy, talented superstars such as Beyoncé, Brad Pitt or LeBron James make outsized money. In winner-take-all urbanism, superstar cities house disproportionate concentrations of talent and leading edge industries.

Toronto is the 11th leading global city in the world according to my Superstar City Index. Toronto is even more dominant in Canada than New York is in the United States. Greater Toronto generates about 20 per cent of Canada’s economic output compared New York, which generates about 9 per cent of U.S. GDP. In fact, Greater Toronto’s share of Canadian GDP is equivalent to that generated by America’s five largest metros: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Boston.

Winner-take-all urbanism generates winners and losers within cities as well. While affluent knowledge, professional and creative workers have been squeezed, it is lower-paid blue-collar and service workers who bear the brunt of rising housing prices. Across Canada, the former have roughly $45,000 per year after paying for housing, but blue collar workers are left with $26,400 and service workers have just $11,500 to live on after paying for housing.

And here specifically:

It is imperative that the city and region act aggressively to address the New Urban Crisis across three related fronts:

-It must overcome NIMBYism by increasing density and building more housing, especially more affordable rental housing.
-It must engage the private sector in upgrading low-wage service jobs into family-supporting employment.
-It must invest in better transit infrastructure to connect more people and places to its centres of employment.

Spring Highrise

A combination of block printing
and painting on cloth
[Design By KPA]

To Be French, in a Particular, Unique, French Way...

Galliawatch has a post on journalist Eric Zemmour. I've posted below extracts from the post. But, what caught my attention was Zemmour's reply to the intriguing question:

"What does it mean to live in the French manner?"

And Zemmour answers thus:

"It means giving French names to your children, being monogamous, dressing like the French, eating like the French, cheese for example. Joking in cafés, courting the girls, loving French history, feeling oneself to be the heir to this history and wanting to continue it..."

What a concept: To be French, in a particular, unique, French way!

Here are parts of the interview:

Journalist Stefano Montefiori: Your book is a type of reactionary and populist manifesto.

Eric Zemmour: But I support populism. On the surface things haven't changed. Paris is still beautiful and the girls still make heads turn, but under the surface everything is rotten. Populism is the refusal to renounce our way of life.

Stefano Montefiori: Who is responsible for this attack on traditional France?

Eric Zemmour: Le Monde has written that my book is conspiratorial. But I am not denouncing a conspiracy, I am criticizing an evolution of society imposed by the French ruling elite. In the last forty years this ruling elite has acted in accordance with the three D's: derision, deconstruction, and destruction of France in the name of great ideals: Europe, opening to the world, progress.

Stefano Montefiori: Modernity, globalization, immigration are concerns of everybody, not just France.

Eric Zemmour: That's true but only in France is there such a self-hatred propagated by the ruling elite. They never stop repeating that we are not enough like the Germans, or the Americans, or the Swedes. All models are good except our own. Then, in Italy, there is no strong State, society is used to defending itself. We feel betrayed by the State. We are the country with the largest Muslim community in Europe.

Stefano Montefiori: But the elite that you are denouncing defend laïcité, for example. France is one of the few countries where the burqa, and even the veil at school, are forbidden.

Eric Zemmour: This is residue, insufficient, from a system that is finished. The French model was assimilation, that is, anybody can be French if they make an effort to be French. My ancestors were Berbers of the Jewish religion, they were certainly not French, but today I say that my ancestors are the Gauls. This no longer exists. The Muslims have their own civil code, it's called the Koran. They live among themselves, on the peripheries. The French have been forced to leave.

Later on Montefiori asks Zemmour an intriguing question:

Stefano Montefiori: What does it mean to live in the French manner?

And Zemmour answers thus:

It means giving French names to your children, being monogamous, dressing like the French, eating like the French, cheese for example. Joking in cafés, courting the girls, loving French history, feeling oneself to be the heir to this history and wanting to continue it...

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Falling Glass and Decaying Cities

The Mies van der Rohe building in downtown Toronto
(in the Toronto Dominion Square)

The Christmas tree has tiny lights, lit up even during the day

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I went to the Toronto Dominion Centre yesterday to sit by the skyscrapers and to have a warm cup of soup, when I noticed broken glass. As I approached closer, there were police guarding the square and a yellow ribbon closing off a large area surrounding the square.

"What happened?"

"We have broken glass" said the reticent policeman.

I stood around, and realized that something had fallen from one of the buildings. Listening in to some conversation, it became clear that it was a piece of glass from a window.

I had my camera strapped around my neck, so I took some photographs. I then sat a distant away, still in view of the buildings, and warmed up with my soup.

I persisted, and asked another policeman what had happened.

"Are you with the media?"

"No, I take photographs of the city, I can show you if you want. I'm here to take a picture of the Christmas tree."

(In fact, I have taken many photographs of the area, and posted them here, here, here, here and here. As far as glass skyscrapers go, I think it is one of the successful ones.)

"A piece of glass fell off one of the buildings."

"Wow! Is everything OK."

"Yes, it was the internal glass. We're OK, but we'll close off the area for a while."

"Thanks!"

Imagine the sturdy, beautiful, still-standing architecture of the pre-modern era which I recently posted about here, here, and here falling apart like this. Despite their lack of maintenance and care, these buildings are STILL standing. And with all the attention the TD Center gets (it is in the rich, fiancial district of the city) it is falling apart!. Imagine these glass skyscrapers lasting this long. In fact, I was downtown Toronto today, and the area around Mies van der Rohe skyscraper was closed off because a glass window had fallen down on the pavement!!!!

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Judith from Galliawatch recently wrote to me, after I posted my Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Erie photographs:

I hope you are well, and despite the bus error have fond memories of your trip. The cities you visited unfortunately are no longer what they once were. Will they come back to life, stimulated by intelligence and caring? Or will they continue to decay? Until we are rid of the destructive elements of our population the answer is not positive.

I replied to Judith:

Laura at The Thinking Housewife also commented on the decline of these cities on her blog. I guess it is not news, I remember reading about Detroit for many years, about its horrible degeneration.

But, I also think we should show off these cities, and their sturdy and beautiful architecture (can you imagine the terrible glass sky-scrapers lasting this long?).

Can I use your comments for a post I will write on this (not-so-new) phenomenon, and what I think the cure is?

By the way, some degenerate was standing many feet away from me, watching me, while I was at the one of these sites in Cleveland.

I stood there and "out-stared" him, and waited for him to leave. He did, eventually. But, it was still dangerous, which I didn't realize was an issue there (like downtown Phillie - amidst those lovely buildings!)

Here is what Laura from The Thinking Housewife posted on her site, including my photo of Cleveland, and a comment from Jewel, a reader:

Your link to Reclaiming Beauty’s article on Cleveland made me think of the trend in photographing dying cities, namely Detroit and Philadelphia, and the beautiful ruins left behind after years of fiscal mismanagement. Even in ruins, so much of what was once beautiful stands as a silent condemnation of the present culture that espouses ugliness.

Here’s a hastily made tourism video inviting you to visit Cleveland.

Here is the awful promotional video, suitable for a degenerating city:



Still, my thoughts hold. These cities have beautiful buildings, and they can still be salvaged, unlike the glass skyscrapers for which I don't see a long future at all. With a little imagination, some dedication, and a lot of perseverance, I think we can reclaim these architectural heritages.

The really sad part, though, is that the Board of Education building in Cleveland (I posted on it here) is being transformed into "luxury condominiums." I understand that urban designers are trying to get money into their decaying cities, but turning heritage buildings (the Board of Educaion building was constructed in 1931, after the Classical, Beaux-Arts style, as the Board of Education) into homes for the rich is not the route. Why not allow this building to resume its former function?

Of course, this requires much more than renting out to the rich. It means building some kind of community which will invest in the area besides setting up a gated residence with bullet-proof cars and alarms to ward off dangers. It means people living together and building together. I suppose the idea is that if the money comes then other amenities will also arrive: shops, restaurants. Schools. Too quick a fix, I say, which looks at the problem in a narrow, isolated way.

Plus, downtown should be for the people, for everyone. This blogger agrees with this. And if one feels that one cannot go downtown because it becomes, however subtly, out-of-bounds, then it still remains the ghost town that it is now.


Former Cleveland Board of Education building, with a statue of Lincoln
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Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

I had some lay-over time in Pittsburgh, so instead of waiting at the bus terminal, I decided to take my suitcase and carry-on (I was getting quite adept at this, and much stronger too!) and walk around the city, since the ticket agent told me that I was in the downtown area, where there were a few things to see.


View of Pittsburgh across the Allegheny River. These two bridge views are from my bus.


Two of the "Three Sisters" bridges (the second one is just behind the one at the front)
The are named: the Roberto Clemente Bridge, the Andy Warhol Bridge, and the Rachel Carlson Bridge.

Here's something about the waterways of Pittsburgh:

Downtown Pittsburgh is constrained by two rivers, the Allegheny on the north and the Monongahela on the south. They join at what is known as the "Point", forming the Ohio River. Because it is thus limited it has been forced to grow upwards, the downtown core is a dense and vertical bustling center; office workers stream in and out on the weekdays, packing buses, light rail trains, and the bridges during rush hours.[Source: Wikitravel]

The Double Tree Hotel clock tower, near the Port Authority Bus Terminal
(Downtown Pittsburgh)


A couple of blocks off the Port Authority is the United States Post Office and Court House
It was completed in 1934, and is still in use by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania [Source]

More on the building:

The building was designed in the Stripped Classical style of architecture, which was commonly used for government buildings during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It is a refined style that conveys the dignity and stability of the federal government, which was particularly important during the Great Depression. It does not, however, contain excessive or exuberant ornamentation that was deemed inappropriate for a somber period in American history. It was one of the last classically inspired buildings to be constructed in Pittsburgh before Modern architecture became popular. [Source]

The building underwent several renovations:

During the 20th century, the building underwent several significant interior alterations, whіch included the addition оf new courtrooms аnd the removal оf the train tracks. Renovations thаt began іn 2002 involved the modernization оf existing courtrooms аnd the installation оf six new courtrooms аnd judge's chambers tо accommodate the growing needs оf the courts. Lobby spaces were restored, аnd the building's exterior wаs cleaned аnd re-pointed. [Source]

Below is a video of the buildings history, and its renovation highlights:




The Old Train Station, known as Penn Station

Union Station (or Pennsylvania Station, commonly called Penn Station by locals) is a historic train station at Grant Street and Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...The station building was designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham and built 1898–1903...On January 3, 1954 the Pennsylvania Railroad announced a $31.7 million (2014 dollars) in expansion and renovation for the complex...In September, 1978 The New Yorker art critic Brendan Gill proclaimed that Pittsburgh's Penn Station is "one of the great pieces of Beaux-Arts architecture in America. [Source]

[Photos By: KPA]

Below is a map of downtown Pittsburgh:


Map of Downtown Pittsburgh

The purple highlights show some of the places I managed to see.

The bridges highlighted are called the Three Sisters Bridges
(although the names are not all female, or related) [Source: Wikipedia]:
- 6th Street Bridge (Robert Clemente Bridge)
- 7th Street Bridge (Andy Warhol Bridge)
- 9th Street Bridge (Rachel Carson Bridge)

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Light Reflections

[Photo By: KPA]
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View Down Victoria Street

Victoria Street, Downtown Toronto
[Photo By: KPA]
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When New York Was New York

Times Square ca. 1985

This image is very similar to this one on Vintage NYC, who date the photograph around 1985

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There was a time when New York was upfront. Times Square may have been dangerous (in a pick-pocket sort of way, not terrorist bombers of this era), but it kept you on your toes, and made you realize that you were not in some paradise. It was, in a way, a metaphor for life.

Now, what you have is Disney. But mingled with bombs.

I prefer the old Times Square.

Oz Conservative writes about this in his post His dream is not my dream, which about a writer who says he wants the old New York of:

...a massive ecosystem of gay, lesbian, transgender, BDSM and plain old sleazy heterosexual hangouts: clubs, bars, dancehalls, cabarets and all the dim-lit alleyways and grassy knolls inbetween.

At least debauchery was debauchery, in those days.

Now we have Disney stores, giant characters from children's books accosting pedestrians, movie theaters which have taken the danger inside, call girls advertising in the back pages of local papers for Times Square hotels, and any one of the pedestrians carrying a bomb laced with religion?

So which is better, an upfront debauchery, which we can avoid, and at times sympathize with, if only to get its prisoners out, or one where its all camouflaged with the bright cheeriness of Disney?

And would anyone make movies about or around Times Square anymore, other than a multi-million sterile Disney film riding on the backs of innocent children?
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Commerce, Government, Art and Gardens in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Below is background on the Classical Revival style of the Philadelphia Museum of Art:

The City Council of Philadelphia funded a competition in 1895 to design a new museum building,but it was not until 1907 that plans were first made to construct it on Fairmount, a rocky hill topped by the city's main reservoir. The Fairmount Parkway (renamed Benjamin Franklin Parkway), a grand boulevard that cut diagonally across the grid of city streets, was designed to terminate at the foot of the hill. But there were conflicting views about whether to erect a single museum building, or a number of buildings to house individual collections. The architectural firms of Horace Trumbauer and Zantzinger, Borie and Medary collaborated for more than a decade to resolve these issues. The final design is mostly credited to two architects in Trumbauer's firm: Howell Lewis Shay for the building's plan and massing, and Julian Abele for the detail work and perspective drawings...

[T]he new building was not completed until 1928.[11] The facade and columns are made of Minnesota dolomite.

The wings were built first, which helped assure funding for the completion of the design.
The building's eight pediments were intended to be adorned with sculpture groups. The only pediment that has been completed, "Western Civilization" (1933) by C. Paul Jennewein, features his polychrome sculptures of painted terra-cotta figures, depicting Greek deities and mythological figures. It was completed in 1933...The building is also adorned by a collection of bronze griffins, which were adopted as the symbol of the museum in the 1970s.

I'm a New Yorker, through and through. You cannot convince me of the superiority of any other city, even of Paris.

But, each city has its own wonders, charms and hidden gems. The Bourse is one such place in Philadelphia. And another, just a few block away, is Washington Square. And New York may boast of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but the gorgeous setting of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, on a hill, surpasses even what the Met folks can say. And it's collections are no less inferior. And does Central Park have any fantastic fountain garden to rival the Longwood Gardens near Philadelphia?

I've posted photographs of these sites which I took while in Philadelphia this past July.


The Italian Water Garden
Longwood Gardens
Kennett Square, Pennsylvania (about one hour west of Philadelphia)

From the Longwood Gardens website:

Pierre S. du Pont's love of water and fountains is embodied in this Garden. Simple color tones—green grass, blue-tiled fountains, and sparkling water—create a serene atmosphere.

Mr. du Pont planned every aspect of this Garden, from the sculptures inspired by his travels in Italy to the hydraulic calculations. He even calculated that the northernmost pools needed to be built 14 feet longer than the southernmost pool to appear symmetrical from the viewing deck.

Experience a piece of Europe with this water delight that runs from 9:00 am–5:45 pm daily mid-April through mid-October, and until dusk on Friday and Saturday evenings during the Festival of Fountains.

The basic layout of this much-loved water Garden, which debuted in 1927, is similar to one seen by the du Ponts at the Villa Gamberaia near Florence, Italy.

From the Longwood Garden vistor's guide booklet:

Experience the world of Longwood Gardens...a place to see dazzling displays that elevate the art of horticulture...a place to enjoy performances that inspire..a place to watch majestic fountains spring to life...a place to relax and reconnect with nature. Discover our storied heritage and the indelible mark of our founder, Pierre S. du Pont, which guides us today. Explore one of the great gardens of the world, from our 4-acre Conservatory to the splendor of our outdoor gardens spanning 1,077 acres. Step out of your world and into ours...where the living things that surround you make you feel more alive.

The fountains are by no means the only features. The small guide booklet lists 22, from an "Idea Gardne" to various floral gardens, including wisteria and roses. Here is a link to the outdoor garden map. The letters and number thumbnails pop-up images of the various gardens, and clicking on them will take you to the website. Number 21 is the Italian Water Garden.


The Bourse Building

The Bourse's website describes it thus:

The concept of the Bourse – meaning a place of exchange – was brought to Philadelphia in 1890 by George E. Bartol, a prosperous Philadelphia grain and commodities exporter. While in Europe, Bartol visited the great Bourse in Hamburg, Germany. Upon his return to the United States, Bartol called together the most influential businessmen and merchants in the city, asking them to pool their resources to construct the city’s own business center – a Philadelphia Bourse.

In 1891, The Philadelphia Bourse Corporation was formed, with each member subscribing $1,000 to the project, by an issue of stock and mortgage. The Bourse motto was “buy, sell, ship via Philadelphia”.

The Philadelphia Bourse Building, the first commodities exchange in the United States, was completed in 1895. The building was one of the first steel-framed buildings to be constructed. Three types of masonry were used on the facade: Carlisle redstone, Pompeian buff brick and terra cotta. Inside were large columns and pilasters leading to a balcony surrounding the main floor. Bow-top girders were used to support a skylight at the third floor.

The original tenants included the American Telephone and Telegraphy, Moore and McCormick Steamships lines, grain dealers and export agents. The Bourse was also home to the Commercial Exchange, the Maritime Exchange, Grocers and Importers Exchange and the Board of Trade.
Quotations from all markets of the world and the latest financial news were received by telegraph. Pneumatic tubes connected the Bourse directly with the United States Post Office. A trading clock signaled the end of every business day.

Kaiserman Company, Inc. purchased The Philadelphia Bourse Building in 1979, renaming it “The Bourse” and adapting it as a retail and office complex. The restoration took three years to complete at a cost of $20 million, twenty times greater than the original construction cost.

Celebrating over 100 years as a center for commerce and trade, The Bourse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, it is one of Philadelphia’s leading commercial complexes, home to 24 retail and food service stores and more than 50 businesses.

I went to the Bourse with my friend in Philadelphia, and we had a simple deli meal in the food court of soup and sandwich.

The current Philadelphia stock exchange is at 19th and Market, not that far from the Bourse.

The Philadelphia Washington Square, which has the same name as the more famous (or infamous) New York Washington Square, is a peaceful park, unlike the hustling and bustling New York version.


The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies within Washington Square,
with a statue of George Washington, and an Eternal Flame

Messages engraved on the wall of the memorial include:
- "Freedom is a light for which many men have died in darkness"

- "The independence and liberty you possess are the work of
joint councils and joint efforts of common dangers, suffering
and success [Washington Farewell Address, Sept. 17, 1796]"

- "In unmarked graves within this square lie thousands of
unknown soldiers of Washington's Army who died of wounds and
sickness during the Revolutionary War."

I took a photograph of the statue of Washington, at the far end of the square, which stands above the Tomb of the Unknown Revolutionary War Soldier.

Below is background on the Tomb of the Unkonw Revolutionary Soldier:

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lies within Washington Square, one of the five public parks drawn up by William Penn in his 1682 blueprint for Philadelphia...Shortly after the square was laid out, however, it was being used for a wholly other purpose — as a potter's field. Burials in Washington Square, then known as Southeast Square, started in 1706 and continued for nearly nine decades...

Over the years, the square has been used for as a fishing hole, cow pasture, hayfield, duck hunting spot and, appropriately enough, revival meeting grounds. 19th-century historian John Watson reports that slaves would be allowed to congregate in the square during holidays, sometimes numbering a thousand, holding dances and honoring the "sleeping dust below."

By 1776, that "sleeping dust" would be jolted by the first Revolutionary War casualties...

By 1778, Washington Square would be the last barracks for the thousands of soldiers who died in Philadelphia. Though not much fighting occurred in Philadelphia during the War, plenty of dying did. Those wounded in nearby battles, or those sick with disease would be brought to Philadelphia. Pennsylvania Hospital and the Bettering House for the Poor filled quickly. Churches became ad-hoc hospitals...

The Colonials reoccupied Philadelphia in 1778 and became the jailkeepers at Walnut Street. No doubt a Millgram (where prisoners became the guards) atmosphere prevailed when the prisoners got to run the jail. Suffice it to say, many bodies of British soldiers also are interred in Washington Square, sleeping far from Albion's shores.

In 1793, the square once again served as a mass graveyard — this time for wracked, malodorous victims of the 1793 Yellow Fever epidemic. Philadelphia was literally decimated by this epidemic: about 5,000 of Philadelphia's 50,000 residents were taken by the Aedes mosquito. Washington Square was once again pockmarked by stench-filled trenches.

After the square stopped functioning as a cemetery, a beautifying campaign was undertaken. In 1825, the Square was renamed in honor of George Washington, commander of many of the troops buried within it.

In 1954, the Washington Square Planning Committee decided to erect a memorial that honored both George Washington and an unknown soldier from the Revolutionary War. There was a catch, however — culling a Colonial soldier from this unmarked golgotha. In 1956 an archaeological team was brought in. They dug nine holes mostly in the northwest quadrant of the square. The first bodies the archaeologists discovered belonged to three paupers, identifiable as such by canvas sheets serving as their graveclothes. Some exploratory holes found single graves, not the mass trenches which were being looked for. Finally, a mass grave was found. Within they found the undisturbed remains of a male about twenty years old within the vestiges of an oak coffin. The skull had evidence of a "plow wound" which could have been caused by a musket ball. This would be the body used for the unknown soldier.

Though the archaeologists and historians were fairly certain that this disinterred body was that of a Revolutionary War soldier, one vexing question still remains: Was the body that of a British soldier or a lad who had just started calling himself by a new name — American?...

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier itself bears the words: "Beneath this stone rests a soldier of Washington's army who died to give you liberty."

An eternal flame flickers in front of a wall bearing a replica of Jean Antoine Houdon's famous bronze sculpture of George Washington. Washington's eyes gaze eternally upon nearby Independence Hall.

The Longwood Gardens, Small Lake

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[Photos By: KPA]
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Fountains for Everyman

Celebration Square is another of Hazel McCallion's additions to beautify Mississauga. The idea, I expect, was to unify the city through common celebrations.

What we do have is a successful "square" where a large shallow area is filled with water during the summer, with fountains, and a skating rink in the winter. There is a pleasant cafe at one end, and around the three other sides, seats with shelter from the sun (or rain, or snow).

I took the following photographs of close-ups of the bubbling water.










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Paris in Phillie

This is Paris, or a relative of Paris, a French Poodle. I met Paris in Phillie last week during my trip. She was sitting a little out of breath, so presumably she had been out for a run in the park.

"What's her name?" I asked her owner.

"Paris."

"Can I stroke her?"

"Just make sure she smells your hand first."

"Hi, Paris," I greeted her, stroking her surprisingly soft fluff of coiffed hair.

She just sat grinning at me, quiet and calm.

"Paris!" I said to my friend who was showing me around Philadelphia. My friend is a France expert, and speaks fluent French. She also knows the real Paris.

It seemed a good sign, to find a poodle named Paris in Philadelphia. And indeed, the rest of the day went beautifully well.

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Spring in a Pot

Spring in a Pot
At the Atrium, on Bay and Dundas, Toronto
[Photo by KPA]

Every spring, outside the Atrium on Bay, these giant pots come out with variations of spring flowers. This year, there are tulips, daffodils and pansies, delicate flowers which somehow fit the austere urban gray and concrete of the giant pot.
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Our Journey To Truth

In our most recent email exchange, Kristor (who sent me images and his impressions on the Philadelphia City Hall capitals, which I posted here), writes this:

Your post had a photo of Leonidas lying pierced on a bed of shields. It was the custom in ancient times to pile shields of the vanquished at the foot of the trophaeum. Here’s a photo of a relief from Trajan’s Column – NB, a column, covered with depictions of war – that shows a Roman trophaeum, from the Dacian Wars.

Here is the accompanying image:


Relief on Trajan's Column showing
the piled shields of the vanquished

Here's what Wikipedia says about Trajan's Column:

Trajan's Column (Italian: Colonna Traiana) is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which artistically describes the epic wars between the Romans and Dacians (101–102 and 105–106). Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.

The structure is about 30 metres (98 ft) in height, 35 metres (125 ft) including its large pedestal. The shaft is made from a series of 20 colossal Carrara marble drums, each weighing about 32 tons, with a diameter of 3.7 metres (11 ft). The 190-metre (625 ft) frieze winds around the shaft 23 times. Inside the shaft, a spiral staircase of 185 stairs provides access to a viewing platform at the top. The capital block of Trajan's Column weighs 53.3 tons, which had to be lifted to a height of c. 34 m.

Ancient coins indicate preliminary plans to top the column with a statue of a bird, probably an eagle, but after construction, a statue of Trajan was put in place; this statue disappeared in the Middle Ages. On December 4, 1587, the top was crowned by Pope Sixtus V with a bronze figure of St. Peter, which remains to this day.

As I wrote in my previous post:

The ancients influence us, through their own type of wisdom, and their own journies towards truth, our truth (which is that of Christianity).

Pope Sixtus V crowned this Roman column into a Christian monument, replacing the figure of Trajan with that of St. Peter in 1587. St. Peter reaches out to the gates of heavens with his keys and his judgement, atop this tall column.

Matthew 16:19:
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

Trajan's Column in Rome, with St. Peter at the top
More on the history of the Trajan Column here


Top of the Trajan Column with St. Peter's figure

As part of the extensive rebuilding of Rome, Pope Sixtus V capped the Trajan's Column with a large bronze statue of St Peter in 1587. The artist for the statue, Leonardo Sormani, was part of a stable of artists and architects whom Sixtus used for his numerous projects...

Sormani's muscular St Peter has an active striding pose, the figure turning on axis as he extends his keys into space. The exaggerated facial features, perhaps necessitated by the great height of the figure from the ground, recall those of earlier papal images.

[Text Source: Web Gallery of Art]

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Reclaiming One's Rights!

Map of Île de la Cité, Pairs, ca. 1550
Source: Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam

Tiberge, from Galliawatch sent the article below with the following comment:

There was an interesting article a while back about a 7th century church that was unearthed in Paris. I thought of you. I said to myself that the church was reclaiming its existence after being hidden for 1400 years. In addition, it was unearthed on the site of the Paris police headquarters, something that aroused much humor among the anti-gay protesters who had been arrested or molested on that very site. Talk of reclaiming one's rights! I did not do a post, but I'm sending the link in case you decide to write about this. I wonder what other marvels are slumbering beneath Paris streets.

(Here is an English language version of the article, which discusses the discovery of a medieval church in the heart of Paris. I've decided not to translate the article, since French is a beautiful language to read. And if you read it aloud, some of its aural beauty might also be transmitted).

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Une église médiévale découverte dans le 4ème arrondissement de Paris

Une église médiévale du septième siècle a été découverte lors de travaux à la Préfecture de Police. Ce trésor archéologique pourrait permettre d'en savoir plus sur la formation de la ville de Paris.

Des travaux à la Préfecture de Police ont permis de découvrir une église médiévale du septième siècle, bâtie en 635. Cette trouvaille pourrait permettre aux archéologues d'en savoir plus sur le passé de la capitale.

La découverte a eu lieu au numéro 2 de la rue de Lutèce, au cœur de l'île de la Cité, au cours de travaux destinés à construire un nouveau hall d'accueil pour le public.

Un site archéologique très prisé

"Avec la montagne Sainte-Geneviève, l'île de la Cité est l'un des points les plus sensibles de la Lutèce archéologique", explique Xavier Peixoto, le responsable des fouilles "car c'est là que les premiers occupants se sont installés".

Les archéologues projettent donc d'ici la fin de leurs recherches, en septembre, "d'aller au plus profond possible, pour essayer de connaître le niveau de formation de l'îlot", indique Xavier Peixoto. Selon lui, le banc de sable devenu l'île de la Cité existait déjà en l'an -3000.

Sur le site de l'ancien atelier de serrurerie de la préfecture de police, on a trouvé une pierre tombale du XVIe siècle, des squelettes et des sépultures de la fin du Moyen-Âge, certaines contenant des vases à encens. Les fondations d'une autre église, bâtie en 1632 et détruite en 1860 lors des travaux d'Haussmann et appartenant à l'ordre des Barnabites, ont aussi été mises à jour.

Le passé de Paris dévoilé?

Les spécialistes de l'Inrap (Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives) disposent à présent de quelques mois pour étudier le site.

Leur objectif : déterminer la chronologie précise de la création de la ville. En effet, les origines de la Lutèce antique restent un enjeu historique majeur. Le doute plane encore sur sa localisation exacte.

Les textes de César placent Lutèce sur une île, mais aucun vestige gaulois significatif n'y a jamais été trouvé. Certains archéologues envisagent également que la ville gauloise ait été située plus en aval, au niveau de Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). La cité se serait développée ultérieurement, sur la montagne Sainte-Geneviève.

Selon Xavier Peixoto, les Gaulois se seraient relocalisés vers la fin du IIIe siècle, poussés par la crise économique et la montée de l'insécurité.

Les visiteurs auront la possibilité de se rendre gratuitement sur ce chantier, ouvert au public ces samedi et dimanche de 10h à 18h, pour la 4e édition des journées nationales de l'archélologie.
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Roadside Yellow Lilies

Yellow Daylilies

These are yellow daylilies growing in front of a convenience store in a small patch by railings. The sidewalk is just in front.


[Photos By: KPA]

From some google and image searches, I've identified it as the Hyperion Daylily. Here are its characteristics:

Modern Daylilies are the product of many years of breeding work, resulting in freely blooming plants of the easiest garden culture. They form dense clumps of grassy foliage, with upright stems of trumpet flowers. This classic selection has large, fragrant lemon-yellow flowers. Repeat blooming. Midseason. Plants do not usually require dividing for several years, but are easily split apart in fall or early spring. Spent flower stems can be trimmed back after flowers are finished. Remove old foliage in late fall. An older selection, but still an outstanding garden performer. Award winning.

Flower Colour: Yellow
Blooming Time: Mid Summer, Late Summer
Foliage Color: Deep Green
Plant Uses & Characteristics:
Accent: Good Texture/Form
Border
Containers
Culinary
Cut Flower
Drought Tolerant
Rabbit Resistant
Fragrant
Massed
Specimen
Flower Head Size: Large
Height: 35-39 inches
Spread: 23-35 inches

And more information from this site:

HEIGHT: 36-40 Inches SPREAD: 20-30 Inches ZONE: 3-8 (Here is a "zone" map)

Although an antique in the hermerocallis world (introduced in 1925) this clear yellow flower remains unsurpassed in its color class and is still one of the standard varieties used by gardeners everywhere. Its 4" yellow flowers that bloom in July and August are accented with a pale lime throat and have a sweet fragrance that is lost in most modern hybrids. Easily grown in well-drained soils in full sun to part shade, it is an aggressive enough grower to quickly crowd out weeds if planted in groups, making it a carefree and colorful groundcover. Tolerant of heat and humidity, 'Hyperion' will still appreciate occasional deep watering during dry spells to keep the foliage an attractive back drop for its numerous stems of bloom.

Theodore Luqueer introduced the daylily through cross-breeding:

Theodore Luqueer Mead (February 23, 1852 - May 4, 1936) was an important American naturalist, entomologist and horticulturist...As a horticulturist, he is best known for his pioneering work on the growing and cross-breeding of orchids, and the creation of new forms of caladium, bromeliad, crinum, amaryllis and hemerocallis (daylily). In addition he introduced many new semi-tropical plants, particularly palm varieties, into North America. [Source: Wikipedia]

This sturdy flower with its dynamic yellow color and abundant leaves, brightens up city sidewalks and parks.


Hemerocallis flava
Pierre Joseph Redouté (1817–1824)
Les Liliacées, vol. 1: t. 15, 1805-1816

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Posts on Redoute at Camera Lucida:
- The Art and Science of Lilies
- More Flowers: Redouté's roses
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The Linden Tree Flower and its Fragrance

The small clusters of flowers and the heart-shaped leaves of the linden tree


Younger flowers are pale yellow


The flowers turns a deeper yellow as they mature


[Photos By: KPA]


Albrecht Durer (1471-1528)
Linden Tree on a Bastion
Painted: 1494

The flowers are barely discernible from a distance. But once up close, their scent tells us that we're under the linden tree.

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These flowers were blooming on a nearby tree. It is a strangely inconspicuous tree. Its flowers are barely distinguishable in the thick foliage. But once underneath, they have a pungent, sweet smell. I thought it was a honeysuckle tree.

I picked a short stalk (I didn't have my camera to take a picture).

I arranged the flowers in a small bowl, and took a photo. And thanks to "google image" I was able to identify it as a linden flower, from the linden tree.

Here is information about the linden tree and its flower:

This tree will grow to 130 feet in height and when in bloom perfumes its whole neighbourhood. The leaves are obliquely heart-shaped, dark green above, paler below, from 2 1\2 to 4 inches long and sharply toothed. The yellowish-white flowers hang from slender stalks in flattened clusters. They have five petals and five sepals. The original five stamens have each developed a cluster, and there is a spoon-shaped false petal opposite each true one.

Linden tea is much used on the Continent, especially in France, where stocks of dried lime-flowers are kept in most households for making 'Tilleul.'

The honey from the flowers is regarded as the best flavoured and the most valuable in the world. It is used exclusively in medicine and in liqueurs.

The wood is useful for small articles not requiring strength or durability, and where ease in working is wanted: it is specially valuable for carving, being white, close-grained, smooth and tractable in working, and admits of the greatest sharpness in minute details. Grinley Gibbons did most of his flower and figure carvings for St. Paul's Cathedral, Windsor Castle, and Chatsworth in Lime wood.

It is the lightest wood produced by any of the broad-leaved European trees, and is suitable for many other purposes, as it never becomes worm-eaten. On the Continent it is much used for turnery, sounding boards for pianos, in organ manufacture, as the framework of veneers for furniture, for packingcases, and also for artists' charcoal making and for the fabrication of wood-pulp.

The inner bark or bast when detached from the outer bark in strands or ribands makes excellent fibres and coarse matting, chiefly used by gardeners, being light, but strong and elastic. Fancy baskets are often made of it. In Sweden, the inner bark, separated by maceration so as to form a kind of flax, has been employed to make fishing-nets.

The sap, drawn off in the spring, affords a considerable quantity of sugar.

The foliage is eaten by cattle, either fresh or dry. The leaves and shoots are mucilaginous and may be employed in poultices and fomentations. [Source: Botanical.com]

Tilia L. Var. Americana
Illustration By: David Nathanael Friederich Dietrich

Family Tiliaceae
Tilia americana L. var. americana
American basswood, American linden, basswood
Status: Native
Plant: Perennial tree to 130' tall
Flower: Inflorescence a stalked cluster of fragrant, yellowish flowers
Fruit: Nutlike, hairy, roundish
Leaf: Oval to round, heart-shaped to flat unequal base, edges sharply toothed
Habitat: Rich woods
[Source: Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium]

Here are some well-known perfumers who have used the pungent, sweet linden blossom scent:
- 5th Avenue, Elizabeth Arden
- Paris, Yves St. Laurent
- PanAme, Jean Patou
- Aroma d'Orange Verte, Hermes
- Central Park, Bond No. 9
- Central Park West, Bond No. 9
- Eau de Cologne du 68, Guerlain
- DKNY Women Summer 2012, Donna Karan
- Beatiful Sheer, Estee Lauder
[Source: Fragrantica]


Franz Schubert
"Der Lindenbaum" (Winterreise, 5)
Gerald Seminatore, Tenor and Michael Schütze, piano
Meng Concert Hall, Orange County, CA (live performance)

DER LINDENBAUM Am Brunnen vor dem Tore Da steht ein Lindenbaum; Ich träumt in seinem Schatten So manchen süßen Traum. Ich schnitt in seine Rinde So manches liebe Wort; Es zog in Freud' und Leide Zu ihm mich immer fort. Ich mußt' auch heute wandern Vorbei in tiefer Nacht, Da hab' ich noch im Dunkel Die Augen zugemacht. Und seine Zweige rauschten, Als riefen sie mir zu: Komm her zu mir, Geselle, Hier find'st du deine Ruh'! Die kalten Winde bliesen Mir grad ins Angesicht; Der Hut flog mir vom Kopfe, Ich wendete mich nicht. Nun bin ich manche Stunde Entfernt von jenem Ort, Und immer hör' ich's rauschen: Du fändest Ruhe dort!

THE LINDEN TREE Near the well before the gate, a linden tree stands. I dreamed in its shade many beautiful dreams. And in its bark I carved many words of love; My pleasures and my sorrows were drawn into the tree itself. Today I had to pass it, in the depths of night - and still, in all the darkness, my eyes closed. Its branches bent and rustled, as if they called to me: Come here, companion, here you will find peace! The icy winds were blowing, straight in my face they ground. My hat flew off my head, yet I did not turn back. Now I many hours away from where the linden tree stands, and still I hear it whisp'ring: "Here you will find peace!"

Johann Strauss III (1866-1939)
Unter Den Linden, waltz for orchestra
(Under the Linden Trees), Op. 30


Berlin, Unter den Linden

In the nineteenth century, Unter den Linden was "the best-known and grandest street in Berlin."
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View of Boston Common

[View larger image here]
View of Boston Common
Designed around 1750
Hannah Otis, 1732–1801
24 1/4 x 52 3/4 in
Wool, silk, metallic threads,
and beads on linen ground
predominately tent stitch

Rectangular canvas-work picture depicting a Georgian-style house with horse paddock; a church steeple and beacon in foreground; a figure on horseback and black servant in foreground; a male and female figure at left looking over a wall at a body of water; military-style building in background; trees, flowers, birds and animals throughout; original pine frame with gilt border and original glass.

Affluent girls were educated in the feminine arts of embroidery, painting on glass, and quillwork, as well as in reading and writing. After completing a sampler in their embroidery classes, girls worked pictures that proudly were hung in the family home. While the majority of the pastoral scenes depicted on Boston schoolgirl embroideries are based on European print sources, Otis's chimneypiece is a realistic depiction of Boston Common, with the beacon on Beacon Hill and the stone mansion, built in 1737 by merchant Thomas Hancock, clearly delineated.
Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat

Beauty Cannot Redeem Horror

Bridge on a canal in Bruges

In Bruges, a horrible, nihilistic movie, was on T.V. the other night. I watched it solely because of the title. Belgium, and the Flemish region which contains Bruges, is often neglected and ignored (the Dutch get more attention than the Belgians). But it has beautiful Flemish art, the lovely Flemish lace, and extraordinary, lace-like architecture as seen here in Burg Square.

The film is about hit-men killing innocent by-standers (a child in a church!), who continue with their hit-jobs. One of them summons up some guilt for having shot an innocent child, and his expiation is to shoot and kill those he thinks have killed innocent children.

Yes, convoluted, but it all really was a permit for gun shots, blood spurting out of bodies, and creepy atmosphere (a dwarf who keeps re-appearing).

I watched it twice.

The first time, I missed the beautiful shots of Bruges because of the disgusting violence. I stopped watching about two-thirds of the way.

The second time, I wanted to see if the beautiful Bruges architecture in any way redeemed the film, which the clever and devious director and cinematographer as a backdrop for the film.

It doesn't. It desecrates the city.

We cannot reclaim beauty by putting it along-side horror, expecting it to be the winner. We cannot redeem horror by placing beauty along-side it.

We have to remove ourselves completely from the horror, the ugliness and the desecration, and let it devour itself, because otherwise, it will devour beauty along with itself.

We have reached a vicious (and new) impasse. Horror and ugliness are winning, unless we arm ourselves against their its assaults. We have to fight to the core to reclaim beauty. It is no longer enough to separate ourselves from horror, since it has also reached our own door-steps.

Bruges is an exceptionally beautiful, northern European city. It is in the northern part of Belgium where Dutch (or Flemish ) is spoken. Some call it the Venice of the North, because of the intricate canals and bridges, and the lovely architecture which surround these canals.

Can Bruges be re-captured and reclaimed?


Belgian Lace from Bruges
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat