Category: Culture

I went a’ protesting

Spent a few hours in the pouring rain last week protesting with about 120 other folks down at City Hall.

One guy came up and was reading our signs. He said he was an immigrant to the US for 10 years and in his entire time of being here he’s never seen something so “insane”. He couldn’t believe what is happening in the White House and thanked us for showing up.

Another gentleman was a military veteran who spent the entire two hours walking with his partner from corner to corner with a large visible sign. He was very stoic, yet friendly, individual.

A lot of horn honk and thumbs up including one from a school bus and a firetruck, which was very amazing. I’m pretty sure the firetruck wasn’t supposed to be doing that. 🙂

It felt good to get out of the house and be around other people. To do something other than doom scroll and read sarcasm and defeat on social media.

A++ would protest again.

Charger

Cars were my father’s one true obsession. He could take a single look at any car and regale you with information about it. What engine it came with from the factory, what options were available, who famously drove one, what races it participated in, quirks of its engineering or design. My dad loved cars. Car magazines? If one was published, he was a subscriber. When YouTube came along he would share numbers car-related videos with us over dinner – kindly, but forcefully in his excitement. 

Every year, for as long as I can remember, we would go to the big car show in downtown St. Louis. Where all the manufacturers – and later only a few – would show off their latest concepts and models. Easter car show in Forest Park. Every year. Sundays as a kid at the local dealer looking over what they had in stock. No nosey salesmen to bother you! Every Friday, from Spring to Fall we’d be at the local classic car show. He’d stop and look at every car. No hyperbole. 

I humored him as I didn’t get to spend enough time with him as a young man and enjoyed his company. As I got older and into car culture myself I found my own favorites and additions to the “If I win the lottery” wishlist. I also started bringing along my camera. Much to his chagrin I was more interested in taking close up photos of the details of the car. The ornaments, the badges, the chrome, the gauges. He always wanted me to take a wide shot of the whole car. 

He passed on the first of this year and when car season came around I wasn’t sure I’d want to go again. Finally, in July with the long holiday weekend I decided to go once more. One last walk around the parking lot. Smelling of exhaust and too-rich mixtures of gasoline. Of oil. Oldies – or popular music to my dad’s generation – on full volume. Cars of every color and shape.

I took this picture of a late 60s early 70s Dodge Charger. Lit by the fading sun. A well-cared-for specimen that my dad would have told me all about. 

Fujifilm X100VI f4.0, 1/1000, 125 ISO (Auto) Light crop and edits to RAW file for exposure and color.1