From: Clay Harmon (wcharmon@wt.net)
Date: 04/13/02-09:59:09 AM Z
on 4/13/02 3:04 AM, Judy Seigel at jseigel@panix.com wrote:
>> ... Like Judy, I also photograph "ugly" things almost
>> daily here in Houston; as well as photographing the magnificent live
>> oaks and huge pines in our neighborhood, I put garbage bags, trash,
>> rusting machinery and old warehouses in my digital collages. I have
>> come to love looking at these things. (Houston is a very ugly city.
>> If you like ugly, you would love Houston.) These collages have the
>> beautiful trees in the background and the foreground is filled with
>> weird junk from people's yards and from the streets. Also there are
>> lots of freeway ramps, cars and downtwon buildings. I am making a
>> website now where these collages will soon be available for your
>> delectation.
>
> With all due respect to Houston, which must have some redeeming features
> and some fine sections, I spent a week there in 1978 -- for the "Women's
> Meeting," we were "arts delegates," and Bella Abzug was the wicked witch
> of the east. I never imagined a city could be so oppressive -- everything
> was in highrises -- no street life, no street food, no pedestrians, no
> sidewalks, and if you did walk, nothing to see at street level because
> everything was 15 stories up in a tall building. Actually, the sight of
> some trash would have been a relief... all we could see was "moderne"
> architecture -- metal and marble.
>
I have lived and worked in Houston for over 10 years now, and I can say that
it may be one of the ugliest cities in the U.S. Yet at the same time, it can
be beautiful in some places, often within a few blocks of the ugliness. It
is a shining example of the results of a totally laissez faire, no zoning,
unplanned, freewheeling metropolitan development. Housing is cheap, the food
is great, the traffic awful, and the people are unpretentious for the most
part. The weather is brutally hot in the summer and beautifully mild in the
winter. It's a total contradiction. It's so homely it's interesting. Lyle
Lovett is from here.
Clay
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