Picto Diary - 13 November 2015 - Provo Excursion

Above: The Bishop observes "Walking House," 1989 gelatin silver print, by Laurie Simmons, Long Island, NY 1989. "No Place Like Home" exhibit, BYU Art Museum 13 November 2015.

From the description...

"For many centuries, women have been more readily connected with homes than men; and in this image, the woman has become the home and a pair of legs, calling attention to this frequent domestic association and the often unrealistic expectations placed on women's appearance. Much of Simmons' work regards the the roles of women in the domestic space as homemaker and object of desire, particularly in context of the the stereotypical American dream. The matriarch of an artistic family, Simmons has spoken of the difficulty balancing her work and the chaotic realities of family life. She now lives and works in New York and Connecticut."

The Bishop observes that society currently continues to distance itself from the domestic model considered by Simmons in her art. Today, more mothers work. Less attention is given to traditional parenting and family formation as implied in Simmons' art. The most important job a culture can have, that of nurturing and raising its young, is now seen as a low priority drudge, a task sloughed off to the state or disinterested day care centers. It should not be a surprise, therefore, that today's millennials, America's worst parented generation, disappoint. Relative to historical trends, millennials don't form families, they don't work, and they don't buy stuff. The "disappointment generation" is one reason that I am a strong supporter of increased legal immigration quotas.

Above: Lift Up Thine Eyes, Norman Rockwell original. BYU Art Museum, Provo, UT. 13 August 2015.

Notes:

Rockwell depicts New Yorkers with hunched shoulders and downcast eyes passing St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue and 53rd Street. A male figure posts the message "Lift up thine eyes" by the portal doors - a wry comment on the loss of religious faith in America. The Gothic portals, tympanum arches, and statuary of the church are inspired by European cathedrals . Rockwell studied Monet's renderings of Rouen Cathedral before painting this work.

The disappearance, if not complete eradication, of faith in Europe coincides with falling birth rates and imminent population decline. It is in response to this demographic ticking time bomb that European leaders, such as Angela Merkle, have promoted massive immigration to Europe from troubled Muslim lands.
The hope is that economic growth can be sustained by an influx of new, foreign workers to replace those "native residents" that were never born. Europe, with no history of assimilating immigrants, is placing a bet that assimilation will work and that civil strife down the road can be avoided... or, otherwise that the multicultural strife now rising in Europe can be contained.

Above: 1960-1963, Norman Rockwell painted, Saturday Evening Post magazine covers. BYU Art Museum exhibit of all Rockwell Saturday Evening Post covers. Provo, UT. 13 November 2015.

I graduated from high school in 1963... Provo High School... about two miles away from the this museum.

I was attracted to this early 60's section of Rockwell's magazine covers as it contained images of world leaders that impacted on the period of history where I first started becoming aware the world.

Note the images of Gamal Abdul Nasser and Jawaharlal Nehru.

I would have my first year of college at American University of Cairo (AUC), in 1963/64. Once standing at the gate of AUC on Tahrir Square in Cairo, I watched Nasser and his guest, Soviet Premier Nikta Krushchev, drive by in an open car in a heavily guarded motorcade.

My first professional work experience would be in Nehru's home country, India, over a three year period from 1972 to 1974.

And the image of JFK.

I was standing in the kitchen of our Garden City, Cairo, Egypt apartment with my Mom, when a friend called Mom to announce the assassination of President Kennedy. Kennedy was an ineffective president. His inexperience and perceived weakness brought the world close to atomic war during the Cuban missile crises. His abandonment of anti-Castro Cuban insurgents at the Bay of Pigs was unconscionable and unprincipled. Millions of Cubans have been relegated to lives of poverty because of JFK's perfidy and America's abandonment of principle.

Nixon.

The paranoid Nixon resigned following the Watergate scandal... but, his contributions to America loom large in my mind. As a key member of the House Un-American Activities Committee Nixon was a lion in stemming the penetration of communists into the US government. Sans Nixon, the communist spy, Alger Hiss, would not have been outed and convicted. No presidential administration in modern times has run America's foreign policy as effectively as did Nixon/Kissinger.

Above: Maynard Dixon originals, "Round Dance," (1931) and "Hopi Interior." (1923). BYU Art Museum, Provo, Utah. 14 November 2015.

Maynard Dixon.... there long before Fritz Schoulder, John Naito and Malcolm Furlow.

TIMDT and Mwah (sic) own a couple of Furlows.

Above: TIMDT and Aunt Joyce check out rainbow art feature, BYU Art Museum. 13 November 2015.

Above: Mt. Timpanogas, Utah County, 14 November 2015.

Image, looking north, captured from Riverwood shopping center, 4:15 PM. Timp is just shy of 12K feet in elevation.

"Timp," with a layer of new November snow, was a constant scene in my Provo upbringing.

As I look at "Timp" today I wonder why I wasn't as awed then by its presence as I am now, sixty years later. A lifetime of traveling around the world has given me a greater appreciation for the setting of my youth.

Above: TIMDT, The Bishop, Aunt Joyce, Rachel, and Ian. Riverwood Shopping Center, Provo, UT. 13 November 2015.

Rachel is Aunt Joyce's granddaughter (daughter of cousin Sarah and Paul). Ian is Rachel's boy friend.

When this image was taken we had just dined together at La Jolla Grove, the only restaurant that TIMDT will eat at in Utah Valley. Take that back... she'll eat at Carrabas, in Orem... Rudy Jr.'s favorite restaurant... but, only when Rudy Jr. is there with her.

Rachel is a graduate assistant teaching English at BYU. Ian is a senior at BYU studying environmental science. He hopes to return to Ecuador, where he served an LDS mission, to introduced soil improvement techniques. Both kids are from California... Rachel from Palo Alto and Ian from Laguna Niguel... and both seem imbued with more than a touch of California idealism. These kids are the reciprocal of the common perception of millennials. Educated, bright, hard working, optimistic about the future, idealistic... look you in the eye, articulate, happy kids.

Addendum:


Great pics...you are living the life....sorry to miss Aunt Joyce.
When does she leave?
On the way to Miami to see 2 Heat games and Coach Spo and his Dad.

'Cake,
Maui, HI

She returns Sunday, 15 November 2015. Missing Miami.... we'll have to do a winter weekender.


Thanks for sharing Margaret's photo in front of the Shooting Star Saloon! She looks great and we'd like to put the photo on our Shooting Star website...permission granted? Great office view as well. Always excited to hear about good snowfall.

All the best from Miami,

Magnolia,
Miami, FL,

TIMDT always looks great.