Thinking About God in Maine

I forget when I stopped believing in god. It was sometime right after I got back from Afghanistan. (I was Confirmed at sea on the USS Bataan by the ship's chaplain Father Scordo.) Lately I was thinking life is a lot easier when you believe in god. You always have someone to pray to or talk to. (Because, isn't talking to yourself crazy?)
My oldest sister told me that you can see the stories of the bible and other religious book as stories of strength. Replacing the meaning of god with the idea of inner strength. I like that.
Religion also keeps us from the tormenting question, 'Why are we here?'


Soldiers in Maine marching in the armory parking lot for god and country. A life with meaning.


Does god send geese south for the winter?


St Michael Poem
-ake -ide -ike -ole -ube -ute
cake side like mole cube cute
take hide pike pole

Hallowell Maine 111707

Duct tape for automotive repair.


I walked around Hallowell Maine. I went to a couple galleries. I went to a store. I went to the Liberal Cup. I went to The Wharf. I went home and talked to my brother on the phone.

First Faint Snow

Snow fell here
with a little
rain here
Friday morning
in Augusta Maine
here

Things That Didn't Happen in Maine, 111507

- didn't go to reading by Patrick Donnelly at UMF, when I realized he was a fellow at Colby which is 30 minutes closer. (saved gas too, and like an owl or two squirrels)

- Jim Brunelle didn't managed to keep his own presence out of an opinion page article about the death of New Journalist Norman Mailer.


- New England architecture didn't die.


- chicken didn't cross the road.

111407, Today in Augusta Maine

- a plane flew


- a frog died


- conversations ended


- New England architecture lives on


- traffic stops were made

Cultural Events of 111307, Augusta Maine

Cultural Event 1: I went to this lecture. I sat there waiting for it to start as long as I stayed. I didn't stay long. Just enough to hear Yulin Wang of Nanjing, China talk about his life and career. I think everyone thought it was pretty interesting, except his 'friend' Poul Nielen who stood behind him the whole time in an inpatient manner. Nielen's body language told the crowd he had heard enough of Wang's life. A life that seemed very interesting and relevant to any artists.
I left after Nielen started showing, what appeared to be a vacation slide show from China. He spoke about his experiences with no authority. He showed a slide of the largest video display screen in the world, in Beijing, and didn't mention that fact. I learned more about China looking at Eric Powell's blog last month during his trip to China. (Plus Eric's art is 1,000x better.)
Also, Nielen had an 'I'm better than you' attitude toward the crowd. Suggesting that no one but him had ever been to China by saying, 'You might have seen things similar to this on TV' several times.
My advice to Wang, stop traveling with such a jerk.

Cultural Event 2: I joined the Kennebec Valley Arts Association. I think that means I'm able to participate in a couple group shows a year at the KVAA's gallery, Harlow Gallery in Hallowell Maine.


Cultural Event 3: After safely passing by several times I finally went into the Capital Buffet. The service was really good for a buffet, unlike any other. The buffet was like any other, crappy food.


Cultural Event 4: VDT or Video Display Training is mandatory in the state of Maine if you spend more than 3 hours a day at a monitor. They tell you to stretch and come in and put rems of paper under your monitor to boost it up higher, they tell you how to sit in your chair, they tell your feet should be flat on the floor and where your keyboard should be placed.

Walk to Work Gazette 111207

A Plane Lands over Western Avenue in Augusta Maine yesterday. Several planes have been reported landing recently. There are several eyewitnesses. It is unclear whether authorities have been notified.


To Communicate Put Things Up High: a Walk to Work Gazette photo essay
Satellite waves to TV
TV waves to TV


HAM radio waves to HAM radio
Cell phone waves to your head


Bell tower sound waves to your head
Wind to vision
Flood light to area to vision


Symbol to vision
Electric pulses to homes


Death to America


Chemical death to the world

Events of Sunday 111107 Augusta Maine

Didn't get outside much. Even though it was a beautiful day. It's ashame when that happens. Drank coffee.


Augusta Maine Airport: Went by the airport. Residents are flying back from weekends elsewhere.
St. Elsewhere, Maine.


The Future of Food: I watched 'The Future of Food.' It's basically 1) we modify foods genetically using viruses and bactirias, 2) We use chemicals harmful to humans, 3) we eat that food, 4) that is bad for us.
Power to the local farmers. Power to the people. Organic out (as in end communique).

Events of Saturday in Brunswick and Portland Maine

Brunswick Maine: One Church.


Brunswick Maine: Two Church.


Brunswick Maine: Three Church.


Brunswick Maine: Four Church.


Bowdoin College: Campus Chapel.


Bowdoin College: Bowdoin College Museum of Art.
One of everything
Rauschenberg, Warhol,
Kiki Smith, Frank Kline,
Picasso, Manet, Monet, Klee,
Homer, Mary Cassatt
& the almghty Albrecht
Durer ... Rubens,
Brugel the Elder, van
Rijn.
[Hong Lei]- Landscape Photo
Freidlander, Cindy Sherman,
Callahan, Winogrand,
Gertrude Kasebier


Bowdoin College: Studzinski Recital Hall


Bowdoin College: Boston Modern Orchestra Project played works commissioned by Bowdoin College in celebration of the opening of Studzinski Hall.
If more band kids were studzinskis, less of them would get picked on by the football team. (Haha, good one self.)


Congress Street Portland Maine: A very short clock tower at High & Free Streets near Longfellow Square.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Looking east down Congress Street Portland Maine.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Coffee by Design, I stopped in for 3 coffees in about an hour, it was about 30 degrees outside walking around.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Maine College of Art, MECA.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Strange Maine was having a performance art piece. No false advertising here.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Possibly the oldest ATM in the U.S.


Congress Street Portland Maine: Geno's.


Geno's Rock Club:
Geno's Portland Maine
Yes there is Brackish
water here
but no, it's after 9
and the band
hasn't started
yet
yes I'll have another
yes I have cash
yes yes yes yes yes yes
no I don't mind if
Geno stops the Jukebox
to start the band ...
but, someone else
has a quarter, so
that's not gonna happen
yet
Even in Portland Maine
My phone will not
send picture
messages
yes it's a T-Moblie
network
yes I have a full
signal
no i can't send
pictures
but yes I do like
the robot lobster
on the wall
'Butter, Will Robinson!
Butter!'
After I almost nearly
put $2 in the juke
the opening band
begins almost nearly
1 1/2 hours after
they are scheduled
opener, rock & roll
have to play quick
btw songs feedback
a drunk girl asks
'what is it you
like about the band?'
a drunk reply,
'their energy.'
obvious
oblivious


Geno's Rock Club: I went to see the Pubcrawlers at Geno's Rock Club.


Geno's Rock Club: The Pubcrawlers were a great punk show to see. They had more instruments than I've ever seen in a single band. (Except the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.)


Geno's Rock Club: Foosball.


Geno's Rock Club: Gino's. The end of a perfect day that seemingly began in Heaven with the churches and Boston Modern Orchestra Project around Bowdoin College, and ended w/ the Pubcrawlers at Geno's.

Maine!?

btw Greene and Augusta Maine

Ray from Poland Maine, land of Poland Springs, is putting new windows in my apartment in Augusta Maine. The improvement might lower the heating bill for my landlords.


Winthrop is a cool little town east on Route 202 out of Augusta. Maine is filled with cool little towns. Augusta Maine is well-located for gas-burners, day trips, road trips, short ventures, jaunts, romps, and 4x2-ing.


An Agricultural Building Many Maine buildings can be described as agricultural. Many Maine houses are connected directly to their sheds and barns. The worst condition of this I've seen, which it appears has long since been empty of its flock, was a farm house connected directly to a long chicken barn.
I wonder what living with that much nitrogen would do to a person?


In the Maine Country
In the Maineland
Cupolas & Silos &
Stonewalls are
characteristic
like the strange
steeples of
Russian Orthodoxy


Maine Churche: New England Camera fodder.


A Cross Section of Maineland soil.


Dale Johnson an independent film producer showed his film 'Venture to Alaska' at the Sawyer Foundation on Sawyer Road in Greene Maine.


Greene Roof: Greene Maine.


Maine Boats: on land in winter.

Churche: Winthrop Maine.


Maine Lobster Lobsta.


The Wicked Bean: I went to The Wicked Bean coffee hut in Winthrop Maine. I talked to the owner Dave and told him about some photo in my portfolio about the coffee huts in Eugene Oregon. Dave lived in Eugene for a number of years and moved back to Maine. He said Eugene is where he got the idea for his own coffee hut.
Wicked great coffee here. It must be made with brackish water! They don't have brackish water in Eugene Oregon.