John Adams Today

I just finished watching the eight part series on John Adams, one of the most influential founders of our great country. It was wonderfully produced by Tom Hanks, of all people. I hated to see it end. The last episode was sad as it portrayed the death of John and his wife, Abigale. John lived to the ripe old age of 90, which was unusual for those times when the average age at death was in the forties.

I wonder what John Adams would think of our country today. He was distrustful of politics and political parties, professing them to be devisive. He would likely deplore the unending presidential race on going now. He was right. They are devisive, but a necessary part of the political process.

The electoral college and the process by which presidents are elected needs to be changed. In Adams day they feared the uneducated masses which gave birth to the strange electoral college system. The number two vote getter then automatically became vice president, regardless of party. Wouldn't that be interesting if Al Gore became vice president under George W. Bush? What fun that would be.

What is Art?

I am an artist. I paint in watercolor, acrylic and oil occasionally. Most of my work is realistic, although I have experimented with abstract forms in the past. A lot of the stuff that passes for "Modern Art" today leaves me wondering what were they thinking? A recent exhibit opened here in Tucson at the museum of moderen art featured some really unfathomable work. A group of artists were invited to come to Tucson and let the desert suggest their theme for artistic expression.

One artist built a concrete block wall with pink mortar oozing out of the joints. The work was explained by a bunch of artistic gobblegook, in my opinion. The pink mortar didn't do a thing for me. Another copied a bunch of squiggly lines on a wall. Another twisted a bunch of neon together to suggest the neon he saw around town. Heavy, man. That took a lot of chutspah to pass off as art.

I'm a retired architect and I have to admit that architects have their own line of gobblygook. Famed architect, Paul Rudolph spewed a line way back in my youth that left me wondering what the hell he was talking about. He was referring to one of his designs when he said "It has the abstract quality inherent in the new concept of space." I never did find out what the new concept of space was. I theorized that it referred to the concept in which spaces in buildings flowed from one to another without walls or doors, in lieu of the old practice of building structures containing boxes unconnected from one another except by doors. Why didn't he say that?