And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street

was the first children's book of Theodor Seuss Geisel, and it was finally published after many rejections in 1937. His second book was the great, The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins in 1938. Doctor Seuss, used as his alias, was a notable anti-fascist of his day. He would not be lauded on Fox and Friends. Well, we were on Mulberry Street (not in his Springfield Mass., but Cleveland O.).

Stella Maris  ( [Our Lady] Star of the Sea) is one of the many titles given to Mary, the Mother of God. Under that title she is the guiding star that leads men (especially sailors) to Jesus. In 1948 a priest at St. Malachi's (which is steps away) worked with Alcoholics Anonymous to create a residency for the drunken homeless to be cared for. That work continues. [painter W. Sherman 2016]

 'M' is for Mulberry

 Well, buses have had advertisements, this was the first brown package truck i have seen with one.

Cleveland Metroparks have a completed a short "centennial link", which runs from Detroit to River Road.

2017 Miscellany #9

  outside Firestone High Akron

Patrick Garnett, one of the greasy pole climbers at St. Rocco's

hawk on railroad bridge Cleveland Calvary Cemetery

 

gravestones behind Lakewood Historical Society, bodies interred elsewhere

 

Cleveland Cultural Gardens passport

no kicking of tires

some fotos Cleveland east side

There is a lot of construction near University Circle. Here is an interesting foto of the Chinese Cultural Garden, which has been imprisoned as a new walkway through campuses is going in. They have recently planted new trees. Previously, the Chinese associations had planted ceremonial trees that were removed for the construction.

Some of that construction runs past the Art Museum, which will soon have a new exhibition.

 

 Behind the thinking guy, is a party girl flapper with a fiddle.

  Across Euclid Avenue some more construction.

St. Francis is on E.71st & Superior & Myron. The church burned down around 1970, then the church shared quarters in the school building. It began as a German parish. Then Lennon extinguished the parish in 2009. The school is still open, and they have had this message up for a while.

Wingfoot

Wingfoot State Park is in Mogadore Ohio. If one did not know the history, the sound of 'wingfoot' might suggest some American Indian appellation.  Before 2009, most of the park was Goodyear Rubber's. The lake was created for a water suppl for the factory. It became a recreational area for employees.  2009-12 Goodyear, Trust for Public Lands, and the State of Ohio combined to form the state park. To-day, ten high schools came for a track meet. The park has several game fields, dog parks, playground, and picnic areas.

 From 1917 to 1972 these stones were at the top of the corporate headquarters.

 Across the lake, in Suffield Township, is a blimp hangar. To-day, Wingfoot One was outside.

 A very quick moving osprey(?) kept flying after snatching a fish. I was lucky to get a shot.

 Giant blue heron posing on a little island of tires.

 This red bellied woodpecker was making new holes.

 The hounds are by a big tire.

2017 Miscellany #8 — church

 Light through stained glass, at St. Mary's Collinwood.

This was taken June 24th during the vigil mass, so during the 5 p.m. hour, and there is a tree outside the glass. The amount and quality of light changes through the year, and the day, and the visual effect on the same window will differ. Of course, the window is inanimate, but it is 'alive' with light. Glass is not all equal, the composition, and quality of craftsmanship either adds, or detracts from beauty.

 St. Vincent de Paul Akron

The oldest parish in Akron is St. Vincent, it is older than the diocese it is in. The building is from the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, these windows came later. In so many churches, the window openings are planned for and built before internal structures. Organ lofts, the steps that lead to them, and the organ may cover a window. Sometimes, part of the window is visible from the ground floor, another part of the window from the loft, and sometimes not at all.

These two fotos are of the scaffolding about Holy Name Cleveland, taken on a gray day before the rain came. Scaffolding as architectural quality too.

Resistance Art

A form of peaceful resistance is mocking the devil. It is what the devil hates. Those without power can not do much. This they can do, and it can be effective. Last week two interesting installations of resistance art appeared in the two capitals of the countries that warred in the failed Southern Rebellion of the 1860s. First in the weekend, Project Scholl posted four thousand posters, of seven designs by Robert Russell, in the style of patriotic propaganda against nazism in the District of Columbia. The group was named after a twenty-one year old martyr, Sophie Scholl 1943☨ who was guillotined for treason (as was her brother Hans, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, Kurt Huber), and for the distribution of anti-war leaflets in Nazi Germany.

A few miles away, a few days later, the art collective, Indecline, made eight dummies dressed as clowns with ku klux klan robes. They hanged them, by rope, in Richmond's Joseph Bryan Park. In 1800, twenty-six slaves were hanged in that park. They had been led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, before “Gabriel’s Rebellion” could be realised, they were found out and captured.

Authorities in both cities were not amused. The posters began to be torn down. The resistance artists came during the night. The police came in the morning and closed the park, and took down the Ku Klux Klowns.

9/11 Memorial

Dale Johnson. First Responders Memorial. Parma Heights. 2017.

On the corner of Cuyahoga Community College — West a monument will be dedicated Monday, September 11th. Dale Johnson is the sculptor. Johnson lives in Sunbury Ohio, and done much abstract work (an exception are his bas reliefs at St. Brigid in Dublin Ohio). This piece has nine cut limestones at eleven feet height to resemble a tower. Inside is a piece of structural steel from the Trade Towers, which came down in an attack on '9/11' 2001. A 'shadow' is part of the installation. It has lights, and some sit in troughs that are now holding water [bad idea].

from under the bridges

 Terminal Tower (with football team flag) seen through Nickel Plate Railroad Bridge

 Scranton Road is being rebuilt. Man in center is wearing a cowboy hard hat.

One of the Guardians of Traffic seen from the ground below.

dude, you must grasp the support

 

Every year this brings a jammed crowd. This is the most unique public hour of the year in Cleveland. At 2 p.m. on Labor Day at St. Rocco's campus is this athletic competition, the greasy pole climb. I have posted before in (click the following years):  [2013] [2014] [2016].

  Before the start, teams sign up, and a draw for order is taken.

Billy Crystal  used to do a skit on Saturday Night Live, Fernando's Hideaway. He would quote Fernando Lamas, "It is better to look good than to feel good."  There were seven teams this year. Team Florio was best dressed. This is them after the first round (Gio DeLo, Vito Florio, Gio Florio, Pat Garnett, Tim Norman).

As soon as i saw the blue grease on Patrick Garnett, i thought a similar photo would make Cleveland's daily.

 Before the contest, the captains and others scrum for a handshake.

 And the men climb, but to climb the pole you have to climb men.

It was warm to-day, but not sweltering. Energy was not sapped as on really hot days, and the grease did not liquefy. It was hazy, with very few wisp clouds, and the sun did not blind, but glowed and glared, and the sun was in front of me, making tall shots unclear. For a moment, with so many on the ground with their hands up, one could think this was a Pentecostalist event.

Each team has five members. The first round only four can compete. One of the objectives is to swab the pole of grease, so a successive attempt has less grease to slip on. So if the fourth man makes it up, he often slaps grease down. The second round allows all five to play. Here, Team Plum (5th in order) climbs to the top, but he does not grasp the metal support brace, he only touches.

There was some argument and tension. Some people believed that the competition was done.  It continued. Team Plum was given another go, but they were exhausted, and could not come close to their attempt a few minutes ago.

Andre Miles of Team Dempsey (3rd in order) grasps the metal support for the win, in the third round. He was thus successful two years in a row.

Three of five winning team members, Andre Miles (R).