Last night I posted a letter on the site written by my friend Jeff. In it Jeff explained how, the previous night, a person, or persons, unknown had vandalized what we’ve come to call the Water Street Commons, tearing apart a large sculpture, defacing books in the outdoor lending library, and upending a bench that had been placed on the site by an anonymous community member. Well, this afternoon Jeff returned to the site to find that, at some point last night, a miracle had occurred. The sculpture was once again assembled and standing…
Here, for those of you who are skeptical, is one of the photos that he took.
OK, so maybe it’s not really a miracle. (Sorry. I’ve been reading too much about religious con men lately.) Still, though, I think it’s incredibly cool… Someone in the community, after having read Jeff’s post, must have gone out to fix the damage. Either that, or whomever did it in the first place, must have had a change of heart. Either way, this particular sculpture is back up, where it can be enjoyed by visitors to Water Street, which is an awesome thing.
And that’s not all. Not only did someone repair the sculpture, but there was also a new message written in chalk across the door of our little lending library, urging people to “learn,” not “steal.”
This makes me incredibly happy… It’s moments like this that I find myself the most thankful for having chosen this place as my home.
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I like the idea that the culprit sobered up and returned to right his wrongs against the community, but I find it doubtful. If that were the case, the note on the front of the library would have read ‘I’m sorry’
It looks to me like the chalk message originally said “Do Not Learn” and that “Steal” was added as an afterthought. Could it be that the vandals wrote “Do Not Learn”, and that someone then came along and updated the message so that it said “Do Not Steal. Learn.”
Learn what?
Malcolm X comes to mind. If your getting pissed on, don’t smash stuff and be stupid. Get educated. It makes you much more dangerous.
The last few blog posts on this site have been cute and funny, but are you going to talk about the up and coming clusterfuck that is going to happen in Syria?
Agreed. Stop talking about making the community we live in a better place, and focus instead on the sad-making foreign policy of the United States. Less optimism. More sadness. When in doubt, always write about the most depressing non-local thing that you can. That should be an editorial rule.
An angel told me there were brass plates buried beneath the pyramid.
Saipan, why don’t you start us off?
I don’t think Mark intended for this to be a Syria post, but I’ll get the ball rolling.
From Robert Reich:
Cliff notes on a potentially disastrous decision. (1) Were Syrian civilians killed by chemical weapons? Yes. (2) How many? Estimates vary. (3) Was Assad responsible? Probably but not definitely. (4) Should the world respond? Yes. (5) What’s the best response? Economic sanctions and a freeze on Syrian assets. (6) What are the advantages of bombing Syria with missiles? (a) Highly visible response, (b) no American troops on the ground. (7) What are the disadvantages? (a) Syrian civilians will inevitably be killed, (b) it will fuel more anti-American, anti-Western sentiment, thereby increasing the ranks of terrorists in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, (c) our involvement will escalate if Assad or others use additional chemical weapons or engage in retribution against the us or Israel, (d) we have no exit strategy, (e) most of our allies aren’t with us, and we can’t be the world’s policeman everywhere, (f) it will distract us from critical problems at home, (g) the Syrian rebels are not our friends. (8) So why is Obama pursuing this so vigorously? (Your theory?)
To comprehend why Obama would like to wage yet another war, you’d have to first understand some basic aspects of the Father Complex.
>(8) So why is Obama pursuing this so vigorously? (Your theory?)
> (f) it will distract us from critical problems at home
Rolph, sorry.
I was just wondering why Mark has been so silent on this. I agree though, talking about planting flowers and 18th century cults are way more important then talking about what is happening in the middle east right now. War is icky and a real bummer and I would not want anybody’s happy little rainbow bubble to be burst!
People get pissed at me no matter what I do. If I write about national stories, people say, “I could read that anywhere, what I want you to write about is local stuff.” And, if I write about local stuff, people say, “You’re ignoring what really matters.” So, I aim to go down the middle and write about both. Unfortunately, given that this blog is only something I work on a few hours a night, that means that neither subject gets sufficiently covered. I wish I controlled a newsroom. If I did, I could assign people, but I don’t. So I try to write about things where I think I have something interesting or different to say. And, to be honest, I don’t have anything insightful to say on the subject of Syria, at least at the moment.
Saipan, why don’t you start us off?
I enjoy how so many people have become experts on Middle East politics in such a short amount of time.
Good one Pete.