I make maps to understand what it means to be blind, and a flaneur . Those ideas are elusive destinations. Think of them as streets you can wander along with me. Start with the first post, ![Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]](../wp-content/uploads/2008/04/isle_royale_fog.jpg "Fog at Isle Royale [Source: wildmengoneborneo.com]")
"Brendan, this is what the world looks like all the time to me. Just a little fog. It’s a fine day for boating on the Great Lakes.” Without missing a stroke he turned to dart a skeptical glance at me. Brendan the Navigator. When we named him I didn’t tell his mother everything the legendary Irish name implied. But I imagined him taking on the role of navigator for me. Growing up with Coastal Survey charts and tales of Great Lakes shipwrecks, he came to know Superior as another home. He never doubted the wisdom of canoeing there with a father who was half blind. 
If there is an emerging genetic underclass, I could run for class president or class clown. Read more in 
![Charlotte Casiraghi in a red dress. [Source: Stylophile]](../wp-content/uploads/2008/02/charlotte_casiraghi_red_dress.jpg "Charlotte Casiraghi in a red dress. [Source: Stylophile]")
When I figured out who Charlotte Casiraghi was, I realized that I once sent a poem to her mother. 
Poet and street artist Miss Tic isn't exactly a kid in a hoodie with a can of spray paint. Maybe she can still run like hell when the police show up, but can she sprint in high heels? Well-known in international avant-garde circles, her work is exhibited now at the Venice Biennale as well as the alleys of Paris. Grant Wood. Parson Weem’s’ Fable. 1939. Amon Carter Museum, Forth Worth.
When I was five years old, before I learned to read, I laid claim to a book in the family library called Pictorial History of American Presidents. It covered the course from George to Ike, who still held office then, and it was loaded with […]
Entries Tagged as '1930s'
Flaneur’s Gallery: Parson Weems’ Fable
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September 14, 2023 at 6:00am
by Mark Willis
politics · 1930s · surrealism · memoir · Flaneur's Gallery · Art Add Your Comment
Orwell, Marx, and the Snake
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August 9, 2023 at 5:24pm
by Mark Willis
George Orwell wrote in his diary on August 9, 1938:
Caught a large snake in the herbaceous border beside the drive. About 2’ 6” long, grey colour, black markings on belly but none on back except, on the neck, a mark resembling an arrow head (ñ) all down the back. Did not care to handle it […]
snakes · 1930s · Orwell Add Your Comment
What If Protesters Doused The Flame In 1936?
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April 10, 2023 at 12:15am
by Mark Willis
A German runner carries the Olympic flame into Berlin’s swastika-draped stadium in 1936. [Source: Wikipedia]
The notion that the Olympic “movement” is about individual athleticism is a myth. The Olympics have long been devoted to nationalism and the manipulation of individual aspirations for the glorification of nation-states. This haunting image is a reminder that the tradition […]
1930s · global citizen · Olympics · Berlin · genocide · free speech Add Your Comment