dayton is not in ohio

Actually, I guess I’m not even a real blogger, because no one bothers me if I fail to post something every day, or even every week.
The truth is, I’m pretty busy, and I’m sorta sick right now. I’m also trying to finish the golf hole. Not much fun while feverishly sweating. Yesterday for lunch I went to Corner Bakery and got a bowl of cheddar broccoli soup and a hot Chamomile tea. This may not sound strange unless you know me and my preference for, well, NOT soup and hot tea for lunch. Hot wings. McDonald’s. Coke. Salami: Lunch.

NCAA Bracket Update: Not much to talk about. I’m in last place in all but one of my pools, and the person I’m beating in that one is a girl who signed up but failed to fill out a bracket. Pitiful. Good tournament, though. The Ohio State, Georgetown and North Carolina games were as exciting as any you’ll ever see in the Sweet 16. I’m all North Carolina from here on out, they being the only ACC team left, and my $10 check sealed, stamped and just waiting for a mailing address.

Here’s a link to the blog for the experimental putt-putt course that I’m taking part in. There are some really cool holes, including some by fellow sculpture MFA’s.

In the college ranks, my boys at FSU took a 12 — 4 loss today.

In the Major Leagues the Phillies were on the winning side of a 12 — 4 battle.

Could this point spread be a mere coincidence? It could be… but it isn’t.

For the first time in my life, one of the teams I wholeheartedly support, beat another one of the teams I wholeheartedly support. Philadelphia Phillies 12 — Florida State Seminoles 4. I did not see the exhibition game (the only similar match-up that I witnessed being FSU vs. Kansas City Royals, circa 1989), and I’m not sure what it would have been like emotionally for me.

The Phillies are 1 - 1 in spring training “grapefruit league” ball, not counting the victory over the ‘Noles.

FSU, a traditionally powerful program, is 15 - 0 to start the season, tying the record for the best start in program history, with it’s only “loss” coming in the exhibition against the Phillies. The Seminoles have outscored their opponents 185 - 55 this season.
One highlight that I sure would have enjoyed seeing was FSU’s Tony Thomas Jr. hitting a solo home run off of Phillies starter Kyle Drabek to lead off the game. But just so the kids didn’t get too big for their britches, Chase Utley went yard in the bottom half of the first for a three run shot and the Fightin’ Phils never looked back.

Ahhh… I’m glad baseball is back!

The only reason that I have this streak is because, a) collecting and keeping reams and reams of rejection letters over the years actually succeeded in compelling the art world to have pity on me, b) I only apply to things that seem to fit my strengths — I don’t bet on the 40/1 horse, and c) apparently my writing is stronger than my drawing.

Regardless, I’m excited to have the chance to make my putt-putt hole! REALLY excited! No awkward, stressful, wine and cheese opening for this one… It’s a freaking golf tournament, baby! There really is no better blend for me than golf and art and athletic competition. The irony is that one of the prominent art webcasts in Chicago is called Bad at Sports. Not the Church Studios crew! We have a gym, sucka!

So anyway, since the streak is alive I thought I’d reminisce about the proposal streak…

1. Eastern State Penitentiary, 2005 — Every self-respecting sculptor in Philadelphia is required by secret civic art-law to submit a proposal to Eastern State’s installation program, so that’s why I did. The only reason I got an idea for this is because the Church Studios were next door and I had a free artist’s pass. I simply spent so much time inside the prison, that eventually the only thing I could think about was trying to escape my self-imposed incarceration, and The End of the Tunnel was born. I owe everybody at the studios a lot for the success of this one (especially Keith Crowley and Ben Volta) because of the feedback to simplify my original, more complex ideas.

2. Chambers-Wylie/Broad Street Ministry, 2006 — This one just made sense to apply to. I’m an artist and a Presbyterian preacher’s kid. This was a call for proposals for an installation in a Presbyterian church building. Duh! However I really struggled with articulating my idea for this installation, and considered not applying even after I had labored over a complex drawing, because I couldn’t do the vision in my head justice with the written proposal. I woke up the morning the proposals were due with the idea for a narrative, rather than a description in the abstract, and wrote it quickly with the deadline just a few hours away. I liked the idea for Tilting at Giants a lot, and was almost sad that I liked it so much, because you just can’t get your hopes up with this kind of thing…

3. Experimental Putt-Putt @ Material Exchange — This was a no brainer to apply for. It was a mini golf hole. How could I not give this one a shot? I wrote in my proposal that one reason I felt qualified to do a golf hole is because I’ve actually listened to golf on the radio. It’s true. I listened to the final round of the 2005 Masters. Tiger won. It was awesome. This actually had a lot to do with coming up with the idea for Tin Cup: A braille mini-golf hole for the sight impaired.

Florida State’s Al Thornton looks away from Duke coach Mike Kryzewski, right, when they met after the Seminoles defeated the Blue Devils 68-67 for the first time at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C., Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007.

I did a fairly quick proposal this week that I thought I’d share. The venue is Experimental Station, a “small business incubator” and event venue, non-profit, and it’s done in conjunction with an art/design collaborative called Material Exchange that’s really into, well, exchanging materials — sustainability, recycling and stuff like that. They received a large amount of Astroturf from a Martin Kippenberger installation at the Renaissance Society, and have put out a call to design putt-putt holes as part of a nine hole installation at their space on the south side of Chicago. Golf. Art. Proposals. Sounded right down my alley so here’s my shot at it. By the way, the super awesome proposal images are what I made after the first meeting of my new 3-D design class. I just made one model and rotated it for all of the images. I’m pretty pumped about this class. I thought it would take me all semester before I’d start being able to use this stuff to make proposals, which is why I took the class…

I don’t want to post the whole proposal, but the gist is a putt-putt hole that consists of a ramp leading up to a thin raised putting surface with 18 holes - the number of holes on a standard golf course - that spell “hole in 1” in Grade 1 Braille. Each of these holes connects to a long central conduit beneath the putting surface that carries the ball the length of the hole and drops it with a resonant “plink” into a tin cup. Special flashing LED lighted balls, popular for sneaking onto fancy golf courses to play at night (not that I would know personally, Scott… well, maybe just once…) are provided to play the hole.

If you are one of the blog visitors that hates my sports posts, you might want to read this one, because it’s not about sports. Well, it is, and it isn’t. I’m aware just now that I sound a lot like the sportswriters who write the occasional introspective piece as an attempt to assert that they do actually care about something other than sports.

Today at 8pm Eastern time, the Philadelphia Eagles will play the New Orleans Saints in the NFL playoffs. The winner goes on to the NFC championship game to play for a trip to Superbowl XLI. The loser goes on vacation. For Philadelphia, it is a chance to end it’s quarter-century championship drought, and break the curse of Billy Penn. I won’t for a second, however, compare this to New Orleans’ situation, where the success of the historically impotent Saints has come to capture the spirit and symbolize the rebirth of a city literally rising from the ruins of hurricane Katrina. The Superdome, which became the principle symbol of the anarchy and hellish reality of a destroyed city, has become the unifying arena of a community’s rebirth. I’ve never approached a sports event with more personal melancholy than this particular contest. This game, for me as a sports fan, is like being asked to choose between loving my mother or loving my wife.

I was born in New Orleans. The house I grew up in was under water for a week. I love the city of my birth, and when its heart is breaking my heart aches as well. I didn’t choose the Big Easy, just like I didn’t choose my mom, but there is a love between a mother and her child that can’t be broken. In spite of the fact that, in terms of football, the city gave me no love for 31 years, I retain a loyalty to the Saints. In a sense, now more than ever, the city needs the Saints to win. It reminds me of a sermon illustration that my dad once used (I think…) about a sick person that was given hope for recovery by a vine growing on a fence visible from their sickbed. After recovering, the person paid a visit to the vine, only to discover that even after the real vine had died over the winter, a loved one had painted the vine on the fence to give them hope. I’m afraid, in a sense, for a city that has placed it’s heart and its hope in the success of a football team, because there’s no pretending that you won the Superbowl.

Then there’s Philadelphia, the city that I chose. I chose to become an Eagles fan. Philadelphia is where my daughter was born, and where I came of age as an artist. The Eagles have been good to me. I greatly admire the spirit of Philadelphia, and the spirit of Philadelphia’s fans. They demand performance, and they will let you know if you are not performing to their expectations. But if the team fails, they’ll faithfully come back next year to give it another go. There are no “friendly confines” in Philly like you’ll find at Wrigley field, here in Chicago. I was almost offended at the indifference I was greeted with when I showed up at Wrigley to see the Phillies in a Philadelphia jersey. Philadelphia has a blue-collar spunk and intensity that is infectious, even if you’re not a blue-collar guy. Vince Papale’s dad has a line in the movie Invincible where he says of a past success of the Eagles: “That touchdown got me through thirty years at the factory.”

I think these types of hopes are ultimately misplaced, don’t get me wrong, but a sense of hope is a sense of hope and I hate to see one of these teams lose. In a sense, the loser gets the gift of reality. They are forced to come to grip with the reality that it’s just a football game. I guess I wish they could both win this one.

But one has to lose, and I have to choose who to cheer for. So, I’m choosing the one that I chose. It is just a game, after all…

FLY EAGLES FLY!!!