Willard Suitcases / Madeline C. / Ovid talk
One of the cool things for me about Madeline’s collection is that she had the negatives for many of her photographs. The museum did a fantastic job in conserving and co-ordinating the negatives with the prints.
When I turned over this particular postcard, I was thrilled to see that she had stayed at the Prince George Hotel in New York City. I have overnighted there twice, and both were memorable. The first time I had just turned 16 and I, along with my friends Jeff, Jay, and Dennis drove to the city from Meadville and were there for a few nights. The other occasion was sometime in the early 1980s. That one got a bit weird.
Tomorrow I drive to Ovid for my talk at the public library. Edith B. Ford Library, 7pm. Hope to see you. I also expect to be there on Friday at noon for a brown bag lunch.
Washington Nationals v Miami Marlins
I usually attempt to put up posts in a timely manner, but Peter and I got home very late after the game on Thursday and I was up and on the road back home by 7.00 AM on Friday. Yesterday I drove to Gillette Stadium to shoot the UMASS football game which was pretty much a 12 hour day.
I generally dislike sports mascots, but the presidents at Nationals Park are so cool. And Teddy is the coolest. Good thing he has his pince nez on so he can see the selfie that this guy took.
It was Hispanic Heritage Day, and it was nice that some of my favorite players were mentioned in the pregame ceremonies, including Roberto Clemente
Peter and I scored $5.00 tickets (the best deal in baseball) and sat in our favorite section (402).
It was pretty sparse up there.
It was a perfect night for baseball; about 70 degrees with a lovely breeze.
Apologies to my vegan/vegetarian friends, but another great thing about section 402 is that there is a Ben’s Chili Bowl at the bottom of the stairs. If you like sausages, the “half smokes” are the bomb.
This is my favorite baseball situation. Bases loaded, 2 outs, 3 balls and two strikes on the batter. The runners are going on the pitch (if you look closely, you can see the ball on the way to the batter.) In this case, Ian Desmond ripped a single into right field and two runs scored. The Nats lost 6 – 4 and are barely hanging in for a playoff spot. Maybe next year.
Van Ness Metro Station
I’m in DC for a few days visiting Peter. / The Metro is starting to show its age, but is still a pretty amazing system, and most of the stations photograph pretty well. I love public transport.
Off to see the Nationals tomorrow night, then home on Friday.
3 County Fair / Outer Stylie
I went over to Northampton yesterday to catch the end of the 3 County Fair. My friend Tom Schack’s band Outer Stylie were playing, which was my main reason for going.
Here’s Tom lookin’ good. He is the nicest guy in the world.
I haven’t been to a county fair in a very long time and it was fun to walk around. This looks like the second place okra winner.
Here’s Henry, a massive Yorkshire Boar.
What a stud!
It is very likely that Henry is responsible for these little guys.
It was very hot and muggy and the ride operators seemed eager to shut things down. This was the final ride on the Ferris Wheel. Not quite the London Eye, but still pretty cool.
Ithaca / Willard / Ovid Library Talk / Golden Rod
I drove to Ithaca on Friday in order to attend the annual Willard Psychiatric Center employee reunion. Saturday morning, Peter Carroll and I started our day in the usual way; breakfast at the Lincoln St. Diner and then a photo of him jumping. It is the best diner breakfast anywhere.
I seem to remember a time when the Happy Landing was open, although I never did eat there. It is on Route 96 between Trumansburg and Willard, and I have driven past it hundreds of times. Love the sign.
I have been to the employee reunion before, and it is an amazing event. Peter came along this time so that Peggy Ellsworth could introduce him to some of the retired staff. It looks like he and Deb Hoard will be making a documentary on the suitcases project that will include some interviews with former employees. It is something Peter and Deb have been talking to me about for a while, and is very exciting. It’s still early days, and funding is a big hurdle, but I really think it will happen.
After the event, we drove over to Ovid to look at the “three bears” buildings in the center of town. I noticed that the public library was still open, so I went in to say hi. Librarian Katie Fontana was just closing up but was happy to show me the room where I will be speaking on Thursday the 24th of this month. I would encourage any of you who are nearby to come. There also will be some sort of brown bag lunch the next day. Here’s is a link to the library web site. Hope to see you there. And this is the BEST sign ever.
On our way back to Ithaca, we had time for a quick stop at the Rongovian Embassy in Trumansburg for a beer with Craig Williams and Helen McLallen. Quite a place with lots of history.
On my way out on Friday, I had noticed more goldenrod than I’ve seen in ages. This shot was taken about 3 miles East of Bainbridge, just before I got back on Route 88 for the drive home. The hillsides are covered with it.
If any of you can make it to Ovid for the talk, shoot me an email. Maybe a bunch of us can meet at the Rongo for a beer afterwards. Cheers, y’all.
Willard Suitcases / Madeline C (update)
I was just speaking with my friend (and the person behind getting me access to the suitcases) Craig Williams. He thanked me for the post I recently did about Madeline C, and mentioned that this exact recording of You’re Driving Me Crazy was online. Here it is.
Unbelievable.
Happy New Year…
…Well sort of. I grew up in an academic family; my father taught at Allegheny College, and when I was in the 7th grade my mother began teaching at Meadville High School. So for me, the Autumn is my favorite time of the year and a return to a routine in which I am most comfortable. I have always viewed the 1st of September as my New Year’s Day. (The difference being that I am rarely hung over. I’ll leave that for the 1st of January.)
I was driving back from Boston on Sunday and saw these trees just off Route 202 in Pelham. I went back last night to take this photograph. For you lovers of Summer, I know this isn’t such welcome news, but for me it was nice to see some early color. “For every season”, etc, etc.
I have always liked this XTC song. Pretty much sums it up.
Willard Suitcases / Madeline C
Peggy and I have been making great strides in shooting the cases that were returned from the Exploratorium. Last week, we started in on Madeline C, and yesterday we worked on her books and papers.
Madeline’s life was very full before coming to Willard.
She was living in the New York City area, and taking classes at both Columbia and Hunter College. You can see her Hunter ID card in the photograph above.
And here is a New York Public Library request form for a Sigmund Freud book. Her studies seemed to be focused on philosophy and logic.
Madeline was quite a diarist and writer.
Somehow, she became a patient at Central Islip Psychiatric Center, and it was pretty clear that it wasn’t a great place for her. We came across many letters that she wrote to doctors outside of the institution that were never mailed. This is something that we rarely found at Willard.
Peg and I were both very moved by Madeline’s possessions. She was highly educated, completely bi-lingual in French and English (the original spelling of her name was Madeleine, so we assume she was born in France), and lived a very stimulating life before she was institutionalized.
This is just a tiny selection of her papers and books. I could easily post 50 photographs of her things; something I will get to when I upload her to the willardsuitcases.com site. Which given the sheer volume of images, might be a while.
Thanks to all of you for hanging in there with me on this. I really think that I will be done with shooting in the next few weeks, and will move to spending at least a few days a week editing and uploading. I am hoping to find some sort of artist’s retreat where I could spend a month just working on the project. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Robert L Crispin
My dad, seen here in the middle, died 8 years ago today. I have always meant to write a long post about him, but the time never seems quite right. He was a really interesting guy. As he was about to be drafted into the Army, he heard about a US Navy Japanese language program at the University of Colorado. He applied, got accepted, and learned to read, write, and speak fluent Japanese in less than 18 months. He came out as a naval officer and spent the rest of the war translating intelligence intercepts. He was on a ship next to the USS Missouri when MacArthur accepted the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945.
This photograph (a 4×5 contact print) has been on the wall of my studio for a really long time. I am sure at some point I turned it over, but the date on the back never registered with me.
Yesterday, I was looking at it and realized that he arrived in Yokohama just 2 days after the surrender. And very soon after that, these 3 guys were the first Americans to arrive on the island of Hokkaido to begin the occupation. I remember him saying that they didn’t know how they would be received, but that the Japanese were very welcoming and seemed to be greatly relieved that the war was over.
Click here and here for a couple of links about that time. It seems almost surreal to me to have such a direct connection to something that happened almost 70 years ago, and seems so far removed from my own experiences.
Willard Suitcases / Michael B
Here is another example of a complication in one’s life that could possibly lead to time spent at Willard. It has not been unusual to find evidence of language problems in the lives of people who were patients there. Obviously, there must have been other factors in Michael’s situation that led him to Willard, but we have never seen such a direct link to language issues. (Michael was born Michele B in Italy.) The pink note should be readable, but if not, here is the text. “Please give this man something for his ear as he can not talk much english [sic] to make you understand what he wants.” Very sad, and I wonder what the writer meant by “something for his ear”. My first thought upon reading this was a reference to the Babel Fish which is featured in Douglas Adam’s Hitchhiker’s Guide series of books.
This is also the second case in which we found postcards having to do with the Lone Ranger.
Yesterday, we also photographed Lawrence Mocha’s suitcase. I will do a longer post about him in the next few days.
Thanks for following.
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