mjh's blog

Bad, Bad Neighbors

Our neighbors rented their house at 1419 Quincy NE, Albuquerque, NM, 87110, to a group of college students last September. The first week these punks moved in, people were sleeping in cars on our street. Every Thurs-Fri-Sat, these folks party. This means visitors coming and going at 2am, 3am, 4am, with car doors slamming, alarms set and unset, booming radios, loud cursing, and bunches of cars along the street the next morning, along with trash. Awful people.

Today, there are two busted windows on the front of the house. So, it really can get worse. peace, mjh

PS: The home owners, Shannon LeTourneau and Mark letourneau, have very little Internet presence, so, I hope this blog entry comes up in every search for them or this property.

A Quiet Night at Home

For us, the Fourth of July is like Halloween to fundamentalists: A night when evil is abroad, a time when seemingly decent people become devils. At the very least, a time when one realizes just how out of step one is with the broader culture.

My own dislike of the noisy Fourth is magnified by the terror it strikes in poor Lucky Dog. He cowers; he trembles; he slinks from spot to spot, finding no escape. I have held him shaking, his heart pounding; it is hell for him.

When I was a kid, I loved fireworks, of course. I had little interest in snakes and sparklers: I liked flying things, like helicopters and rockets or the spinners one nailed to a tree. I recall wheedling my father into buying a huge assortment of fireworks for an outlandish price. As I got a little older, I bought my own fireworks. There was an afternoon I methodically studied the effect on various objects of single firecrackers extracted from the long chains favored by the Chinese. As you would expect, the effect was delightfully destructive — and in the name of science, yet. I had no sympathy for the neighbor who called to complain and threatened to call the police. Old fart.

But I grew up. While I haven’t put away all childish things, I have turned my back on the destroyers and those who love loudness. I sit here, all the doors and windows closed, the stereo up, the swamper rattling futilely overhead as it sucks in sulfurous smoke, wishing to drown out the noise that so delights others.

A year ago, after a very long period filled with extremely loud, explosive rockets that flew directly over our house, littering our yard, I stormed out into the street and charged my neighbors in a rage, a human Roman candle. For days now, I’ve wondered what to do, where to go, how to escape. Is there anyplace people don’t go mad over pyrotechnics? Dare I take Lucky to the woods or the wilderness. What if there is a passel of patriots where we end up? (I’ve had many camping experiences ruined by gun nuts delighting in noise and destruction. And those were regular days, not even the Day of National Ejaculation.)

The way we celebrate the Fourth is the epitome of Americanism: Short-lived, loud, flashy, expensive, destructive. Underlying it all, the smug certainty that we Americans live in the Shining City Upon the Hill, the Greatest Nation on Earth and of All Time. Add in an aggressive indifference to anyone who doesn’t like the way we do things — We’re Number One, Screw You!

Still, we’re not the only nationalists and chauvinists; it’s as natural to our species as murder. Years ago, in a beautiful campground in Canada, we were awakened by booming music thumping from a stereo as some local began his drunken celebration of Canada Day at 6am. There are loud idiots everywhere. Today is one of their high holy days. peace, mjh

PS: The clearly illegal rocket racket — Operation Slackened Jaw — lasted almost until midnight. The streets and park are littered with debris.

KOB.com – Dozens cited for illegal fireworks

Fire officials show off fireworks confiscated in the past three days

In the last three days, Albuquerque police and fire marshals say they have given out more tickets for illegal fireworks than all five days of enforcement last year.

Since Tuesday, 69 tickets have been written. Additionally, they have confiscated a large amount of fireworks, some of which officials liken more to small explosives.

Fire marshals said they are planning a massive enforcement operation on the night of Independence Day to keep everything safe and legal. They say it will be no small task.

“It appears to be much busier and we anticipate with the fourth being on a Friday night, that it’s gonna be real busy,” an official said.

Firefighters say if you are lighting off your own fireworks, keep it safe and legal.

“If you’re gonna do fireworks, please just do the ones that are sold in the city and not any of the arials or anything because its fun for a while but the whole department is gonna be out tonight,” an official said.

If you are caught with illegal fireworks, you could face a $500 fine and 90 days in jail. If authorities see you launching one, it is punishable with a second ticket of $1000 and up to six months in jail.

KOB.com – Dozens cited for illegal fireworks

Air Pollution

Perhaps you felt the latest slap in the face? Much of the past week, a plane has flown over Albuquerque towing an air-borne billboard. Imagine: burning precious fossil fuel while generating noise just to get you to look up and — if you are shockingly impressionable — to run into a local business, even though that business wants to irritate you for their own profit. Let’s go! You’d better hope this ideal is deeply unprofitable, because if somebody goes into that noxious place and says, “gee, I saw your sign and came right in,” we can expect more and more and more of this obnoxious advertising. Oh, well, it does distract us from all those damn helicopters. mjh

(… and the quiet.)

A Clear View

Sigh. I’m not often forced “to take a stand.” I have values and rules to live by, but I rarely get tested or asked to choose something I loathe in order to further something I love. In addition, I believe an open mind requires consideration of many things and a closed mind cannot grow.

I love taking pictures and I am very happy with — even proud of — some photographs I have taken. For me, a great photo is an intersection of art, craft and luck. I have been lucky to be in the right place at the right time a few times.

A noble artist works for himself or herself alone — the world means little. I am not noble. I want my photographs to be seen and — heart on my sleeve — loved. I should withdraw in shame at this point, but I must confess this unseemliness for the larger effect.

Today, two photographers I admire sent me an invitation to a photography competition. I’m not afraid to compete. I have entered other contests, sticking my neck out to bow before judges. In this case, the prize is extraordinary: To be seen all over Albuquerque. Wow.

Long before blogs existed, I frequently wrote letters to various editors and a few were printed (though I’m no Don Schrader). Occasionally, I’d run into someone who’d say, “I saw your letter….” (Often, they couldn’t recall what it was about.) I even saw one of my letters on someone’s office door once. That needy child within me — please, look away! — bubbled with joy.

Imagine: To be seen by countless Albuquerqueans. What a prize!

The Face of Albuquerque
Call for Entries

ClearChannel will be introducing seven new digital billboards into the Albuquerque area market in mid-November. The billboards utilize LED technology and their messages rotate every 8 seconds. As part of a testing period scheduled to run through December 2, 2007, they have agreed to display an exhibit of local photographers’ work on those billboards; the show will be titled, “The Face of Albuquerque.” Marc Gutierrez and Lisa Tannenbaum are working with ClearChannel to select approximately 40 photos for the exhibit.

In the end, doing nothing is always easy. I can do nothing and save my self-respect for another day. There is no need to be in anyone’s face, either on a billboard or in protest of the same. No need to snap at my friends. Still, I must protest: Billboards are litter. Billboards are a stick in the eye. Billboards are vile distractions for a populace barely able to focus on a txtmsg or 10 second commercial. Clear Channel wishes to use our art as a lubricant for that stick. I’ll have no part of it. mjh

mjh’s blog — Puh-lease, god, no!
http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/loco/albahquerque/puh-lease-god-no/

Oh, Joy! More billboards, not fewer

ABQjournal Metro: City Adding Bus Shelters, By Lloyd Jojola, Journal Staff Writer

Albuquerque will get new bus shelters as part of an agreement with Lamar Transit Advertising.

“We’ve really had a great need for shelters, and funding has always been problematic,” Mayor Martin Chávez said at a Thursday news conference.

The City Council earlier this month approved a bus advertising contract with Lamar. As part of the deal, Lamar will build new bus shelters.

“In return,” Chávez said, “they get to put advertisements on them…”

Of the 2,814 bus stops in the city, 155 have shelters, according to the Transit Department.

About 100 new shelters will be built over the year. They will be lighted at night, using energy collected from the sun. [mjh: making this a *green* thumb in your eye!]

At the very least, the lighting on these eyesores should be restricted to times the buses run, not 24 hours a day. mjh

Consent

I’m stunned by the hung jury in the case of the cop accused of raping a then-14-year-old. The issue seems to hinge on consent and deception. As I understand it, a minor cannot legally consent: Sex with a minor is always rape. Should it be regarded as such if the minor lies? If a minor cannot legally consent, I’m not sure she can legally be responsible for a lie of consent. Further — come on! — how incompetent is a cop who believes a lying minor? He must be some poor judge of character. Cops think everyone who talks them is a liar. Unless there’s something in it for him.

Sadly, another public servant — this one a fireman — is accused of the same jaw-droppingly dim judgment. Or, simply, raping and lying about it.

And now, a 24-year-old frat “boy” serially rapes under-aged girls and videotapes it for the added pleasure. Drunkenness negates consent, if there was any and if any of his victims was old enough to legally consent sober. His parents must be proud, if the news has reached their cellblocks.

Ours is a sick society unable to restrain its own evil. You fear terrorists? There are three — just the smallest sampling. mjh

Your Ad Here

I appreciate the Albuquerque Journal’s eulogy for Lady Bird Johnson. She tried very hard to get America to clean up its act and to recognize that beauty should be commonplace and vistas should not be ruined by billboards.

I understand a eulogy is not the best place for the truth, but an editorial is, and so I’m disappointed that the Journal’s ignores the truth: Lady Bird lost, as did we all. Start at the Big I and drive in any direction. You’ll see countless hideous billboards within yards of starting, each blocking the magnificent vista of the Rio Grande valley. You’ll see hundreds before you leave the city or reach the stateline. The winners are corporations like Clear Channel, which invoke sacred personal property rights as a shield for personal profit. Everywhere you look, someone sticks a thumb in your eye and deposits another dollar in his pocket.

Beauty is blocked by blight. Greed won. Lady Bird is already spinning in her grave. mjh

ABQjournal Opinion: Lady Bird’s Legacy
Friday, July 13, 2007
Remember Lady Bird Johnson as a reason more wildflowers bloom along highways lined by fewer junkyards and billboards.
Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson, the widow of President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday at 94.
Known as the Environmental First Lady of America, she did more than plant bluebonnets. She translated concerns about pollution, urban decay, recreation, mental health, public transportation and the crime rate into national policy.
The Beautification Act of 1965 called for control of outdoor advertising, including removal of certain types of signs along the nation’s interstate highways. It also required junkyards along primary highways to be relocated or screened.
Her vision is distilled to perfection at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin, with its woodlands, sweeping meadows and public gardens filled with native flowers and plants.
But the seeds of her advocacy for beautification scattered far beyond Texas. Her legacy can be seen perennially flowering on roadsides across America.

http://www.abqjournal.com/opinion/editorials/578102opinion07-13-07.htm

I’ve written about this before and will again (talk about Sisyphus). See http://www.edgewiseblog.com/mjh/category/loco/albahquerque/ (scroll down for more stories and photos).

Update: Thanks to Coco on Dukecityfix for the link and taking the discussion to more of Albuquerque.