Semi-random musings, poems, and visual images from the journey
After the Customs Service vacated the building in 1983, it served several other federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It’s now an apartment building. But on closer inspection, particularly eyeing the formidable black eagle above the entrance, one can imagine certain cinematic uses, such as a filming backdrop for “The Man in the High Castle” and other dystopian tales. Add a few banners, a few Brownshirts, a bad haircut or two and suddenly it’s Nuremberg 1934….
“Collect call from Leni Riefenstahl. Will you accept the charges?….”
“Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak… One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive us of their shade.”
Antione de Saint-Exupery from “Wind, Sand and Stars” (1939)
An old friend sent me a coloring book, basically because I’m still in grade school creatively. I decided to buck convention and stretch the boundaries a bit, with an assist from Rene’ Magritte….
(from Wikipedia) George Stoneman, Jr was a US Army cavalry officer and politician of the Civil War era. Though born in New York, he ultimately settled out West and served as Governor of California from 1883 to 1887. His roommate at West Point was Stonewall Jackson — so many ironies and cross-connections to that incestuous conflict. He was adjutant to General George McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign in Virginia (both Democrats, notably). Their relationship was strained due to McClellan’s poor understanding of the function of cavalry in battle. Under General Joseph Hooker at Chancellorsville (1863), Stoneman failed in a bold attempt to get into General Robert E. Lee’s rear(!!), bogging down at a crossing of the Rapidian River. He took the brunt of the blame for the outcome and Hooker relived him of his duty, sending him to Washington to convalesce his chronic hemorrhoids (an occupational hazard of the cavalryman… also perhaps the reason for his “stone-face” appearance). Impatient with garrison duty in Washington, he requested and later took command of the cavalry for the Army of Ohio under General John Schofield, which was used in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. Stoneman commanded a failed raid on the infamous Andersonville prison and was captured in the process near Macon, Georgia. He was held for three months before being exchanged at the personal request of General Sherman, and he became the highest ranking Union prisoner of war (this guy had nine wars!). He is most famous for his crippling raids in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina, memorialized in the song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” by The Band. They sacked towns and destroyed bridges and railroads, apparently while also taking “the very best (of what was left).” It is an unconfirmed rumor that Stoneman had a wooden left testicle, though some of his letters hint at the fact. He was widely considered an excellent dancer, both by his Union colleagues and Confederate counterparts. His random doodles have been credited with inspiring the original design for the Space Shuttle.
Great Exudations 