21 JUN 05: PALEY-UN-TOLOGY
A large crowd gathered at the Columbus Public Library auditorium Monday night, for an art debate. On this night, the issue was a sculpture. Maybe this will lead to a series - and next month we'll debate bluegrass music.
The crowd gathered to tell the Muscogee County Library Board what it thought of a proposed three-story-tall statue for the front of the main library. For all of you complaining the statue is too tall - maybe the board heard your complaints about the library sign along Macon Road being too small.
One woman told the Library Board Albert Paley's "Transformation" statue is not what "we in the South particularly like." I hope this woman takes the next step, and calls for tearing down that obelisk in the middle of Broadway - you know, the Confederate Soldiers' Memorial.
(So people in the South don't want pointy things outside buildings? Maybe we've made progress against the Ku Klux Klan after all....)
Some people in the audience seemed to be local artists, who complained they never knew the Library Board was looking for artwork to put outside the main library. Perhaps they assumed what many of us assumed - that a strip mall was going there instead.
But "Transformation" had its supporters at the public hearing. One man said what Columbus Councilor Red McDaniel might consider "scrap" could be "meaningful to others." Just ask any couple with an old, junky-looking car in their garage....
Another man told the Library Board Albert Paley's sculptures are NOT mere scrap - because "every metal piece is cast, and either hand-forged or fabricated." To which some skeptics muttered under their breath, "Yeah, like counterfeit money."
One of the biggest complaints about "Transformation" is the cost - $250,000 in tax money. But Library Board minutes obtained by your blog show board members estimated last year an entrance statue would cost $300,000 or more. They saved the public 17 percent, and it's still not good enough....
The public hearing ended with the Library Board deciding to look at alternatives to the Transformation statue - and paying for it with private funds. You won't mind if there's a 25-foot-tall AFLAC duck staring at Macon Road drivers, will you?
One crusader against the statue has suggested in recent days the Muscogee County Library Board violated Georgia open meetings laws - for instance, by holding meetings in offices. But if advance notice is posted somewhere, what's the violation? If the agenda says they're meeting at a Waffle House, go have it "covered."
Perhaps lost in all this debate is the "Transformation" artist himself. We checked the web site of Albert Paley Monday, and learned his works are in all sorts of noteworthy places:
+ Gate work at the entrance to Florida State University. So this explains the opposition from Georgia Tech graduates....
+ The High Museum in Atlanta. For the critics, of course, "high" is the key word -- in more ways than one.
+ The Birmingham Museum of Art. Are Columbus residents suddenly too big to accept an artist who's liked in Alabama?
+ The White House. I don't know which President accepted Paley's work -- but remember, Republicans built our current budget deficit.
All this leads to an obvious question. Would the Columbus Museum take Albert Paley's statue, if the Library Board doesn't? Just put it amid the trees down the hill from the back door, and it could blend right in.
Perhaps the Columbus Public Library stumbled upon the answer to this entire debate over the weekend. More than 3,000 people attended the free "theater under the stars" movie - so simply leave the movie screen up outside the entrance, and play cartoons 24 hours a day.
E-MAIL UPDATE: Hold on tightly to your mouse for this one....
Dear Sir,
As a new Columbus resident, I was interested to see if anyone here has started a BLOG. To my disappointment, I was only able to find one. As a Republican (who isn't about beating Bibles into peoples' heads and going to war with any country who looks at us funny) I was disappointed at how you referred to the lot of us as "stupid".
Upon scrolling down and reading more of your entries, I came to a conclusion. You're a very bitter person. Probably because you can't find a living, breathing human female to go out with you. Hmmm, I wonder why? Could it be the bitterness? Maybe that's why you sit alone at your desk writing this BLOG. Perhaps as a child you were coddled too much by your over-bearing mother, or not loved enough by your father. I don't know, and I have better things to do than speculate about your apparent unhappy childhood.
My point is, it's a tragedy that your BLOG was the only one Google popped up when searching for Columbus BLOG sites, other than Sweigart's 3rd Brigade BLOG on www.wrbl.com, a worthy BLOG to communicate the daily happenings of our troops giving their lives for ours. It's even more tragic to think that if someone were new to this area and looking for insight into this growing city, they would find this BLOG. Now, I know the internet is here as yet another outlet for fat, lazy Americans such as yourself to complain about their indulgent, materialist lifestyles, but isn't there any room in cyberspace for some people to actually make a good contribution? I guess not.
And so it seems yet another cancer has developed on our democracy which serves only to destroy it as time passes. My hope is that you will post this email, as I'm sure you will (if only to chastise me in return), and someone will read this and say to themselves that there is way too much negativity in our city, country, and world to let someone like you go unchecked.
I look forward to that.
AR
OK then, all together now: If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands (clap, clap)....
A.R. apparently is upset by one of our Sunday jokes concerning REPUBLICAN Herman Cain's new book, "They Think You're Stupid." That's his title, not mine. And if he suspects that's why most Johnny Isakson supporters voted the way they did last year, then A.R. should avoid buying any of Cain's "Godfather's Pizza."
If I heard Herman Cain correctly, he says BOTH main political parties consider certain loyal voters stupid - the Republicans and the Democrats. Just listen to the party leaders, if any members talk about voting for Ralph Nader or a Libertarian.
But I digress: perhaps A.R. is right with his analysis about why I "sit alone" writing this blog. But perhaps there's another reason - such as the "no pets" clause in my apartment lease.
Yes, there are other blogs in the Columbus area. I stumbled upon a couple of new discoveries online the other night, including one written by the wife of a Fort Benning officer. There's plenty of happy, positive stuff there - about family trips to Arizona and Europe, but it's happy and positive.
I could go farther in responding to A.R. - but I don't think I will for now. I thank him for his "constructive criticism." And I hope he enjoys his new job working either for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, or the "Committee to Re-Elect Mayor Poydasheff."
Instead, THE BIG BLOG QUESTION is taking A.R.'s comments directly to you, the reader. Am I a fat, lazy, bitter blogger who's destroying our democracy? If it will help in determining your answer: I don't drink bitter lager....
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We're planning a special entry on the "fat" part of this complaint. Watch for that in a few days.)
Now let's see what other cancer cells we can spread in the summer sunshine:
+ The Muscogee County School Board voted 5-4 to hire a district "Communications Specialist." I can see the need for this - because Superintendent John Phillips has had trouble communicating with the board from time to time.
(Some school board members said the district should be spending money to save the DARE anti-drug program, instead of hiring a Communications Specialist with a $66,000 salary. But if this specialist is such a great communicator, can't he or she tell the students to avoid drugs?)
+ The "Daughters of the U.S. Army" presented a $250,000 check to help build Fort Benning's National Infantry Museum. This group donated money it's been collecting since World War II. You'd think some of those old pennies might be valuable enough to double this gift....
+ Rehearsals began at the RiverCenter for this year's Miss Georgia pageant. WRBL reported the contestants are NOT allowed to use cell phones all week! What is this, "Survivor: Columbus" or something?
+ The Columbus Civic Center staff confirmed arena football will return next spring - with a team in the Atlantic Indoor Football League. In the lingo of the sport, this sounds like a swap from "A-F-2" down to about "A-F-4."
+ Instant Message to NBC-38: What happened to "Wake Up Columbus" at 5:30 a.m.? Does Reggie Richards need beauty sleep for her radio job?
BIG PREDICTION: I normally wouldn't call it this early, but I'm truly leaning toward "Miss Warner Robins" to win the Miss Georgia pageant. In fact, I wouldn't mind if she leaned on me for awhile....
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