The Sounds

Friday, September 14, 2001 Ottawa fell silent today. Today at noon the Parliament Building Peace Tower bells tolled the hour. At the last stroke the crowd on the Parliament Lawn, which had been gathering for more than an hour, fell silent. It was the silence of the countryside, without a beeping auto horn, a belch of air brakes or screech of tires in mid-town Ottawa, Ontario, the capital city of Canada. Thousands of Canadians leaving their usual daily posts carried US flags and single stem flowers, to congregate in front of the building that seats the Canadian Government on Parliament Hill. It was an unprecedented show of sympathy and communal sorrow and support for the terrible losses only a short distance south across the border in the States. The military band played and a baritone sang one chorus of O Canada, the Canadian National Anthem and then one chorus of The Star Spangled Banner. A burst of applause and then all silence again. Except perhaps an occasional sob. Everywhere were faces clenched in pain and sadness, shoulders sagging, heads bowed, shaking. Nearly in tears himself, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien addressed the somber multitude. His amplified speech echoed slowly in the urban canyon of government buildings, the reflected sounds making his words nearly undecipherable. But the sadness and resolve in his voice were very clear. US Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci then spoke, his voice tight with resolve, his face tense, strained, his eyes never leaving the throng before him. Applause rippled across the crowded lawn. Applause that sounded more like the rustle of leaves in a quiet meadow. Again the echo carried the sound past the usual bounds of reality. Governor General Adrienne Clarkson spoke briefly of sadness and humanity, echoes of her sad tone clinging to the air, clinging to memory, clinging to time itself. Then a single bagpipe began. No other sound could have expressed more sorrow and pain, the echo, this time a primal wail, resounding from inside everyone there. It was the echo of generations of frustration and fear and anger welling up, the echo of the pain and sorrow and suffering of all humanity. Governor General Clarkson then asked for three minutes of silence, prayerful silence. The crowd, finally estimated at over one hundred thousand, fell silent. Bowed heads, hands over hearts, some just in tears. Three small, toy balloons drifted up from the crowd. Three small balloons rising quietly into the windless day. Three small balloons: one red, one white, one blue. The tower bell again began to toll very slowly, each peal echoing alone in the clear air and then fading alone into history. It marked not the time but the times, not the hour but the moment, not the passing of time but the passing of life. The crowd began to filter away, photographers catching tearful faces and huddling groups. The people returned to activities as usual but now somehow different. Everything has changed. Making the best of those changes is how we survive.

The Profile(more than you really wanted to know)is here.

Lost GalleryThe rescue mission for battered and abused orphan photographs.

For more about Double Exposures see this page in Lost Gallery.

The Day After

My trip back to Duncan probably will not start until the 20th or later. Bought a ticket yesterday. The border is back open already but tight around the New York line. Fortunately last year’s changes in the Duncan/Ottawa bus route take me through Windsor/Detroit instead of Montreal/upper New York State. Whether there will be any permanent problems crossing the border remains to be seen. I just returned from a walk down south on Bank street to a health food store because I was out of gluten flour for bread. On the way, I stopped to talk to my young friend, Chris Griffin, in his studio. He had been working on a painting but was just sitting, listening to the radio. He was choked and speechless. "I was just painting," he said. "Now I just can't. It's just too terrible, too senseless." Then he just reached over and unplugged his radio. It changes the way you think. It changes the way everyone thinks. Later, each customer at the health-food store, as they paid for their, carob or wheat germ or vitamins, commented how painful, frightening it was to hear the news about the US. At the Blood Center on Plymouth Street near here, there are lines in the street of Canadians, mostly university students, waiting to help. Some are waiting as long as two hours to get in to donate blood. I stopped for coffee at a Starbucks. I sat and watched the conversations at other tables, the exchanges between the incoming customers. Everyone shows shock and sorrow at the awful and useless loss. I looked through the remnants of this morning's papers scattered around the tables. I had the passing urge to save them to read again tomorrow. Tomorrow's editions will be very sad. Some people have likened this attack to Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. But it bears little resemblance. The difference is mainly that after Pearl Harbor we knew the identity and location of the attacker. This time we don't. The enemy is faceless. One similarity is that undoubtedly this will increase mass prejudices against the Middle East, The Arab and Israeli states in particular. If we learned nothing from the Second World War experience, there may even be concentration camps of Mid-Eastern-Americans. I just heard a radio news report that a 15 year old Arab American was beaten up in a school yard by school mates. Another similarity is that the tragedy will probably cause Americans, (that is Mexicans, Canadians and the States) to gravitate more toward unity. The entire democratic free world will probably (or at least should) tend toward greater unity. The Allies, Americans, British and Russians, in the second world war were partners in defending against the aggression of Japan and Germany (as those countries were configured then.) Before then and indeed after, they were not all great friends. Bush is probably wishing he hadn’t fudged in Florida about now... Canadians have a different view of our political circus. Many actually feel that the US politics are a bit more down to earth than Canadian. Others just think that it is not quite as funny as their own. To be drug out...

The Profile(more than you really wanted to know)is here.

Lost GalleryThe rescue mission for battered and abused orphan photographs.

For more about Double Exposures see this page in Lost Gallery.

Mikey G. in Ottawa

Things ain't what they used to be. (In fact, they never was.) The Profile (more than you really wanted to know) is here.

'It'll Cost You' - Montreal 1987, originally uploaded by Mikey G Ottawa. This photograph ran in January, 2007, on a THINKS HAPPEN page titled "Gee, that's good" among some other fine photographs selected because they reached above the level of most postings on Flickr. Each of those photographs selected for that page contains elements that reach back into one’s thoughts and ask questions, fill in gaps or create new ones. These photographs are art; they touch something that prompts appreciation, admiration. They hit something, moved something. It’s probably been repeated here too often, sure. But here is some more: A good photograph doesn’t have to be technical perfection; It doesn’t have to have balance, detail, clarity. It just has to speak. This one is a stunning photograph. A passing observer can’t resist stopping to look at it, often commenting on the feelings and thoughts it evokes. It was first posted on Flickr November 1, 2006 and Mikey was impressed with more than a hundred views and several comments on the first day. It now has more than five thousand views and a long line of comments. Mikey G has, what has been termed, here and there, “The Eye.” He sees things that have meaning, have no meaning. He sees and photographs bits of life that move the observer. His photographs are often just little bits of street scenes like this one but they always tell a story, ask a question, make a statement, make a smile. He takes photographs that make one think. That’s good. And Mikey? He will tell you he is just a guy with a camera. A fine photographer and a good guy. Thanks Mikey.

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