Friday, March 4, 2011
Thursday, March 3, 2011
The happy taxpayer
My husband was so organized this year that we delivered all our records to the accountant a week ago, and apparently all his other clients hadn't, so the tax returns are already finished and we went over to sign them this morning. In this increasingly mean and nasty political winter of discontent, I want to go on record as saying that I don't begrudge a single penny of the taxes we paid, and in fact I wish that people like us, who have been so blessed by our country and our economy, would be asked to pay more.
Let's don't get all mushy about poor people or old people or sick people or kids -- let them fend for themselves. Let's just talk about me.
I'm thankful that I live one mile from an interstate highway on which I can drive safely and quickly to visit my sister or flit off on a museum day trip, voyages that in the old days would have taken three times as long. I'm delighted that when I got on an airplane recently, its path through the skies was supervised by air traffic controllers. I like to log onto the National Weather Service website and see whether there's time for my walk before the rain gets here.
I sleep easier at night knowing that a police station is a half mile away and a fire station only a bit farther, and it's nice having my garbage collected at the curb rather than having to take it to the dump and pay to leave it. I'm glad my granddaughter goes to a good public school (but wish we would spend more on education so she could have an even better one).
Much of the good fortune that allows me to indulge my love of art all day instead of working as a greeter at Wal-Mart is due to our investments, not to mention Social Security and Medicare. Not only am I glad the FDIC insures my bank balance, I'm glad that the SEC is on the alert to watch over the activities of the corporations in which I have placed my trust and my money. In fact, the occasions in the last decade where our finances suffered came about largely because the regulators were asleep at the switch, allowing Enron to operate a shell game, allowing banks and insurers to issue worthless derivatives that had to be bailed out.
I'm happy that the FDA inspects the meat, fish, produce, milk and eggs at my grocery (although I really wish they would have more resources so thay could do a whole lot better job of it). I'm happy they require manufacturers to test the medical devices that were implanted in my parents and my husband and the drugs that are so enthusiastically pitched at me every day on TV. I'm happy that processed foods are required to have nutrition labels so I know what I'm buying. I'm happy that Honda was required to install seatbelts, perform crash tests and tell me how many miles per gallon I'd get.
And I'm profoundly thankful that our armed services are there to protect me from the various evils of the world.
Without these government services my life would be a whole lot less comfortable and pleasant. I think it's reasonable for me and other people to pay our fair share to receive them. And I think it's dishonest, hypocritical, selfish and short-sighted for politicians and voters to build a world view on the foundation of less government and lower taxes. Not to mention all those poor people, old people and sick people and kids who get thrown out with the bath water.
Let's don't get all mushy about poor people or old people or sick people or kids -- let them fend for themselves. Let's just talk about me.
I'm thankful that I live one mile from an interstate highway on which I can drive safely and quickly to visit my sister or flit off on a museum day trip, voyages that in the old days would have taken three times as long. I'm delighted that when I got on an airplane recently, its path through the skies was supervised by air traffic controllers. I like to log onto the National Weather Service website and see whether there's time for my walk before the rain gets here.
I sleep easier at night knowing that a police station is a half mile away and a fire station only a bit farther, and it's nice having my garbage collected at the curb rather than having to take it to the dump and pay to leave it. I'm glad my granddaughter goes to a good public school (but wish we would spend more on education so she could have an even better one).
Much of the good fortune that allows me to indulge my love of art all day instead of working as a greeter at Wal-Mart is due to our investments, not to mention Social Security and Medicare. Not only am I glad the FDIC insures my bank balance, I'm glad that the SEC is on the alert to watch over the activities of the corporations in which I have placed my trust and my money. In fact, the occasions in the last decade where our finances suffered came about largely because the regulators were asleep at the switch, allowing Enron to operate a shell game, allowing banks and insurers to issue worthless derivatives that had to be bailed out.
I'm happy that the FDA inspects the meat, fish, produce, milk and eggs at my grocery (although I really wish they would have more resources so thay could do a whole lot better job of it). I'm happy they require manufacturers to test the medical devices that were implanted in my parents and my husband and the drugs that are so enthusiastically pitched at me every day on TV. I'm happy that processed foods are required to have nutrition labels so I know what I'm buying. I'm happy that Honda was required to install seatbelts, perform crash tests and tell me how many miles per gallon I'd get.
And I'm profoundly thankful that our armed services are there to protect me from the various evils of the world.
Without these government services my life would be a whole lot less comfortable and pleasant. I think it's reasonable for me and other people to pay our fair share to receive them. And I think it's dishonest, hypocritical, selfish and short-sighted for politicians and voters to build a world view on the foundation of less government and lower taxes. Not to mention all those poor people, old people and sick people and kids who get thrown out with the bath water.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Form, Not Function 3
First the good news. I fell in love with this piece by Judie Huss on display in "Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie." It's black cotton, discharged, and then densely hand stitched.
Judie Huss, Study in Black and Grey
It's relatively small -- maybe a foot across -- and the low contrast makes the work hide until you get close to it, but what a punch it has when you stop and look.
Being a sucker for letterforms, or shapes that look like them, I was particularly drawn to the small motifs appearing in places on the quilt. And the texture is beautifully controlled, with only a few areas unquilted while most of the work is covered with tiny (about an eighth of an inch) stitches.
Now the bad news. The presentation of this work detracted significantly from its impact.
I cropped the full-view photo as much as possible, so you wouldn't be as distracted as I was, but you can still see that the work was stitched so densely that when the stitching stopped, it left loose, almost ruffled areas around the edges. These were wrapped around stretcher bars to finish the work. But it was impossible to wrap them tautly enough to get rid of the bulges.
The treatment did indeed make the focal area of the quilt nice and flat, but those baggy edges looked like spinach in the teeth of the beauty queen. In addition, the stretcher seemed to be the wrong size for the piece, leaving wider margins at the sides than at the top and bottom, and crowding the piece lengthwise.
When you stitch this densely, you're bound to have loose fabric on the edges, and it's not always easy to figure out how to deal with it. In this case I might have cut the extra an inch or so outside the stitched area and folded it under, or perhaps torn the edges as close as possible to the stitching. Then the central piece could be mounted on a stretcher covered with a separate piece of fabric. And I would have chosen a larger stretcher, so the piece could breathe easily in its space.
Back to the good news -- it wouldn't be too hard to unfasten this piece from its stretcher when it comes home from the Carnegie and start over. With better presentation, this piece could easily be best in show the next time it goes out in public.
Judie Huss, Study in Black and Grey
It's relatively small -- maybe a foot across -- and the low contrast makes the work hide until you get close to it, but what a punch it has when you stop and look.
Being a sucker for letterforms, or shapes that look like them, I was particularly drawn to the small motifs appearing in places on the quilt. And the texture is beautifully controlled, with only a few areas unquilted while most of the work is covered with tiny (about an eighth of an inch) stitches.
I cropped the full-view photo as much as possible, so you wouldn't be as distracted as I was, but you can still see that the work was stitched so densely that when the stitching stopped, it left loose, almost ruffled areas around the edges. These were wrapped around stretcher bars to finish the work. But it was impossible to wrap them tautly enough to get rid of the bulges.
The treatment did indeed make the focal area of the quilt nice and flat, but those baggy edges looked like spinach in the teeth of the beauty queen. In addition, the stretcher seemed to be the wrong size for the piece, leaving wider margins at the sides than at the top and bottom, and crowding the piece lengthwise.
When you stitch this densely, you're bound to have loose fabric on the edges, and it's not always easy to figure out how to deal with it. In this case I might have cut the extra an inch or so outside the stitched area and folded it under, or perhaps torn the edges as close as possible to the stitching. Then the central piece could be mounted on a stretcher covered with a separate piece of fabric. And I would have chosen a larger stretcher, so the piece could breathe easily in its space.
Back to the good news -- it wouldn't be too hard to unfasten this piece from its stretcher when it comes home from the Carnegie and start over. With better presentation, this piece could easily be best in show the next time it goes out in public.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
