ruminations during snow watch

Mid to late January is often enough times the coldest time of the year. No big news bulletin. It is not pleasant to be outside, and for those who can stay inside, it is a good choice. I haven't posted in a few days, and my mind wanders through subjects, some minor, some major.

I see in language differences, some people are surprised that 'bakery' can be synonymous with pastry, or any non bread item that comes from a bakery. We have heard on the media, for years, 'barbecue' used this way. "Hey, Melinda Sue, let's go get some barbecue". There was some other language thing that someone had a snit about, and i have forgotten what it was...well, maybe one day it will pop up in my mind while in the shower.

Something is rotten with the American people. Donald Trump is undeniably evil, yet he is worshipped by millions. Psychiatrists diagnose him as a malignant narcissist with dementia. Someone so incompetent, stupid, and sadistic to be successful as he was in receiving such great political power must be allied with demonic forces. Of course, many psychiatrists have no belief in the supernatural; but logical cause and effect can not explain Orange Caligula. Those in his thrall love the cruelty, even if it destroys themselves. In Iowa he told his worshippers, "You can't sit home. If you're sick as a dog, you say: 'God, I gotta make it.' Even if you vote and then pass away, it's worth it". He also told the trumpster stupids, "And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning...". Well, the original Caligula said, "Would that the Roman people had but one neck!"...so he could strangle, break it, or cut it off. Now, Trumple-thin-skin is repeatedly mentioning Al Capone being murderous if one looked at him wrongly.

Vanishing America, 

Julian Hoke Harris. Keeping Away Death. 1959. Atlanta.

Another tale of vanishing America, never been to Atlanta. This was once on the County Dept of Health. The building is gone, Emory U and Grady Hospital wanted the space. Harris was an architectural sculptor, and a graduate, and later a professor at Georgia Tech. He had several commissions for public buildings in Georgia. Harris had been an army officer, and the US Army has Hermes' caduceus as the symbol for the medical corps. This was an error, but it can now be looked at as satire/sarcasm. Hermes was a god of commerce. Asclepius was the god of healing, and he carried a staff with one snake, the aesculapion. Some physicians and health workers found this image apropos in the struggle against covid-19.

in the American Sign Museum Cincinnati [not my foto]

Neon signs were common and popular for a generation in America, from the mid to late 1920s to the end of the 1950s. Interests change, and things become passé. Nostalgia rolls in, and curios become dear to compilers. There are neon sign museums in Cincinnati, Las Vegas, Warsaw, Canada, and elsewhere. God’s Own Junkyard sells and rents them in London. 

 

The signs began with the work of a scientist inventor, Georges Claude in 1902. He later became a very willing nazi collaborator.

 

St. Malachi Cleveland c. 2018

Looking at fotos from the Cincinnati museum, i noticed two signs from churches: a Baptist, and a Pentecostalist; and i thought, well yeah. When looking at American religious denominations, there they are: déclassé, and gauche. This American Protestantism gloms on to whatever is current in the larger society. They purposely appeal to the lowest common denominator, any hook will be fished. Most neon signs were used for commercial purposes: restaurants, saloons, and such.

Then i remembered. We often are vexed at things we have done ourselves. Around 1995, another fellow and myself were caught in a foto published by Cleveland Plain Dealer. We were on a steeple removing neon lights about the cross, it needed regassing. Years before, during WWII, the original church burned down. Malachi's could be seen from the lake, and i heard that its steeple was used as a landmark. When the new church was built after the war, the cross was meant to be seen from the lake. I do not know when the original installation of the light was. Back to the picture, i was suspicious about the photographer. The sky was beginning to look ominous, and dumdum had an aluminum ladder. This was the time when OSHA was made to be a bogeyman. I made sure my back was to the camera.

I remember once in the twentieth century an OSHA man came to construction at the new baseball park, and once to a hospital building going up. Foremen were only worried about extension outlets. There was a job in Beachwood, where i was working for a replacement contractor. Every other trade was scab, some from out of state. They were hiring off the streets. It was a very unsafe job site. One day we were working, and we noticed all the other trades were gone from the building. We saw them standing in the parking lot. OSHA was on site. They can't cite you, when you are not working. Me and another journeyman showed the guy around, and pointing out hazards. All he did was put caution tape around the porta potty. Some miscreant shat in the pisser portion, and gravel was strewn about. That didn't effect me, i went to a nearby fast food joint anyway. I quit that job, the shop was full of creeps. I never saw OSHA in this century.

Well, many churches had sign boards, before and after some started using neon. Now with led and plasma screens that can be programmed, many churches of all denominations have lighted electrified signs.