A Softer Geometry

I think I'm beginning to begin to get a feel for photography.

It is easy to take lovey pictures of gardens; nature in essence is our pattern book. But man-made structures are, relatively speaking, impoverished. The Central Library, where I've worked for almost 30 years, is a grand, large-scale, neglected public building that can easily look cold and impersonal.

Which is not my experience of the library at all. My library does not feel like the above picture, even though it is an effective, realistic photo. So how can I depict my library, a lived unity of objective and subjective?

Unusual angles help, but it's the light that holds the key. At the library there are often different types of light illuminating a single space: natural, florescent, incandescent and reflected.

While we may not consciously see the different tones within the lighting of a room, my guess is our bodies do. These invisible colors have an effect. So by being able to bring forward that inner perception, the hard geometric angles are softened  And since the different lights' washes of color are not arbitrary; the photo they create remains realistic.

 

Now that's my library. 

The secret  is not to overdo it; it may be a blessing that I'm a techno-klutz. There are a lot of photos out there that I would like if they were just a little less processed. They have crossed the line out of realism.

But here, years worth of dust bunnies certainly keep it real!

 

The Wisniewski Pledge, or a well-mannered rant leading to action

Mostly I've been doing pictures on this blog, but today, watching the News, I knew I needed to bloviate about matters I probably do not know enough about. I've interspaced some recent pics of Fairmont Park amidst the blow to rest the eye. Just read the bottom part if you want to cut to the chase--the middle just gives the reasons for it.

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This is what bothers me. Military-grade weapons (ones best suited for invading a foreign country,) are being handed over to the insane with the supposed blessing of the Constitution. Really--this was the framers' original intent?

The NRA pretends to speak for gun owners. It doesn't. It speaks for gun makers. And gun-makers are not people; they are corporations. As corporations their moral imperative is their own prosperity. That's it. Nothing else. In short, they are the equivalent of psychopaths. And the NRA gets the majority of its money from gun makers who care about nothing but selling more guns.

 
These are military weapons. Even though handguns bought to protect the home are 44% more likely to be shot at a family member or oneself, no one wants to ban regular  handguns. And no one wants to ban hunting rifles either. 

And those people who argue that they need military weapons to resist the government? Because they feel the government could go evil in a snap? Now, while I doubt that our government is constructed to go rogue, as a government worker myself, I gotta point out one huge problem with this scenario. It assumes that government can attain the level of efficiency, effectiveness and secrecy necessary to produce such a doomsday horror.  People who think that such a thing could happen have obviously never worked for the government. 

And all joking aside,  if the government did go nuts,  do you honestly think  a bunch of fantasy soldiers, even if armed with assault weapons, could take down the United States Army? So the argument that we need arms to resist the government is just not logically valid. As if that really needed to be explained.

O.K., so much  guns. What about the shooters? The shooters do not surprise me. I work in a public library in a major city--we are the day room for the local homeless shelters. Many of the homeless are mentally ill or have substance abuse issues (which may be a mental illness.)

There is a psychosis of the sane in this country. It is simple. It is that the insane do not exist. As long as most citizens do not see them, they are not real.

But the fact is, the insane have always been with us, and probably always will. Just because they disappear into cities to become floppy bundles of dirty clothes that you spy as you drive through, does not negate their existence as human beings. 

Shouldn't we learn to deal?

If someone with psychological difficulties is lucky, they belong to a family that understands mental illness as well as most doctors, is amazingly wealthy or has topnotch medical insurance, and is so functional and supportive that its structure is not destabilized by the stress of the whole thing. Most people aren't so lucky. Most families are overwhelmed. And a psychotic on his or her own has little ability to handle care or cooperation. So they get their Social Security Disability and are left to rot. But hey--like owners of assault weapons,  they do have their rights! Yeah, they have the right to suffer.

So what to do?

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The NRA's power comes from its money. As long as they have the most power at the table it will be hard to get meaningful reform.

But how many of us who support gun control will take action and cough up dough? Not enough, and I'm very much part of that problem. So here is my pledge.

Americans for Responsible Solutions is the foundation set up by Gabby Gifford and Mark Kelly to prevent gun violence. I pledge to give them the princely sum of $50 this year, and every following year that this work needs to be done. I am a cheapskate -- I should give more. But this is what I can handle. And if everyone of us who knows this is a problem gave $50--the problem would get solved.

So why this organization?

1. Visibility
2. I believe Kelly and Gifford will be effective stewards
3. The organization is middle-of-the-road politically. This is not about Republicans versus Democrats; this is about reality versus magical thinking.
4. This may not register for everybody, but as a Christian, I am sensitive to how God's grace can  work in strange ways. Gifford was a rising star in our political system and must have had ambition to gain power in order to do good for her country. Then evil stopped her. The personal powers that made her so promising were diminished--but not destroyed. And in her greater powerlessness may arise her greatest power. I hope so.

By turning my bloviation into a public pledge I can turn my hopes into action. If you have read this--thank you for reading. And think about donating. Or better, just donate.

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