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Art Colony: derelicte
Thursday, March 29, 2007
› by victoria
The last time I watched the local news, the highlights included Lake Michigan's amazingly high fecal bacteria pollution count (linked to Miller stadium's sewage system, which apparently is discharged directly into the river/watershed, medieval-style), the shooting of four people in one house on the North Side, several more shootings (the details of which escape me at this time), and one state politician asking that the National Guard patrol Milwaukee over the summer in preparation for Summerfest.
It's a miracle that anyone manages to capture sunny, tourism-style photographs here at all. If it wasn't for the Calatrava addition, what would we put on the vistor's bureau promotional materials? Shots of cigarette butts imbedded in a filthy pile of snow that refuses to melt?
"Ahem--er--you know of course that all ships have rats in them, Doctor, do you not?"
And the Doctor said, "Yes."
"And you have heard that rats always leave a sinking ship?"
"Yes," said the Doctor--"so I've been told."
"People," said the rat, "always speak of it with a sneer--as though it were something disgraceful. But you can't blame us, can you? After all, who WOULD stay on a sinking ship, if he could get off it?"
"It's very natural," said the Doctor--"very natural. I quite understand.... Was there-- Was there anything else you wished to say?"
"Yes," said the rat. "I've come to tell you that we are leaving this one. But we wanted to warn you before we go. This is a bad ship you have here. It isn't safe. The sides aren't strong enough. Its boards are rotten. Before to-morrow night it will sink to the bottom of the sea."
"But how do you know?" asked the Doctor."
--from The Story of Dr. Doolittle by Hugh Lofting
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