A Brazilian Chimes in.

I don't know how many people ever bother to check in on this site, but I do welcome comments and am happy to respond to anybody who has something to say. So I would like to address a recent comment for two reasons. One is to assure anybody who does check this site out that no animals have been hurt in the making of this movie and second to inform the commenter that he is in error.

I don't know who this commenter is as he signs in Anonymous. I can only assume that perhaps he is a Brazilian soccer player. I know that they like to go by a single name. Or it could be that it is just a last name...Anonymous...it sounds Greek possibly. Perhaps it is Yanni Anonymous or something like that. Or maybe even it is a clever Nom de Plume. Regardless, the commenter makes four observations in his statement and as far as I can determine they are all false.

First, he suggests that the sculptures are in violation of the rules of a "homeowners association". I'm not sure whose association he is referring to, but the neighborhood association in the area has been defunct for close to a decade and therefore has no meaningful rules. If Anonymous actually has a homeowner's rulebook from the defunct association, I would actually be interested to see it. As an anthropologist, one of my interests is legal systems of pre-state social organizations and as a member of the community I would find it further interesting as a piece of community history.

Anonymous makes a second observation that the sculptures violate Millcreek Zoning. When the Millcreek Zoning people were contacted about these sculptures, I was informed that no zoning concerns existed. In fact the individual who addressed the concerns actually seemed to be rather amused that anybody would entertain the idea.

The third observation about state regulations I cannot speak to definitively, as state regulations are infinite in number and juridictions are complicated etc. But I can say that I've sat on that sculpture watching sunset with an agent of the Department of Environmental Protection on more than one occasion and if he wasn't aware of the regulations that were being violated then I must admit that it is not likely that I would be.

Now frankly, these three comments although false, are not really of import to me, but the final comment is not just patently wrong, it is personally offensive. I am and have always been an environmentalist and an outdoorsman. I've been a hiker for over half my life and have hiked on four continents. I ride my bike 16 miles to work (round-trip) 8 months a year. I've got those spirally light bulbs in every socket in the house. I am a long time member and supporter of the Sierra Club and the EDF. I have hauled a ton of garbage off of those beaches over the last decade...bottles, cans, broken glass, plastic, old tires, construction materials. Every time I go down to work, part of the ritual includes collecting garbage. After every storm I police the water to pull out dangerous metal, stone and construction materials. To suggest that I would harm my beach or my lake is just ignorant. Any stone that I move and stack has been washed up on shore by storms that regularly reconfigure not just the beach but the lake bottom. Every sculpture that I have made has eventually been washed away by storms. No piece has lasted much longer than a year before it is swept away. I have seen ice dunes plow 150 pound rocks up on the beach in the winter and waves push tons of rock up and down the beach hundreds of yards in a single day. To suggest that anything that I do has any impact on such a dynamic zone is just silly.

Now, I don't know what the motivations of Anonymous are. His agenda is a mystery to me. I have had hundreds of people talk with me while working on the beach. The feedback has been supportive and positive. All of it. I do not mind negative feedback, but when it is unfounded and untrue I confess my lack of patience. So, Anonymous, if you happen to check back in on this blog I have two suggestions...if you have any facts or data that can support your assertions I would be happy to see what you are basing your observations on. If you can't defend these claims then please do not come back. I have lived through eight years of lies and deceit with the current administration, I don't care to deal with it on my own blog.

On a more pleasnt note, over the first couple of days of January we had some nice windless days. These are the best days for working. Staying warm is no problem and it is very restful. I took some time off of the larger project to play around with a couple of window images. The above image consists of some smaller flat stones arranged on the side of the ice dunes. I scraped out the innner window part in order to make it appear white. Outside the stone frame the dunes are colored by the presence of sand and gravel. In the background there is a second ice dune and then beyond, the lake and sky. I like the way that the photograph is divided by the horizontal bands of the differentiated landscape. It adds something to the overall affect. The image below is the same piece with the inner window filled with small ice balls that are currently littering the beach, components of the most recent set of ice dunes. And finally, Taek Jin, if you check back in, it was good to hear from you. Vaya con dingos.