By Jim Stanford on August 16, 2007
It started with one person talking to another over lunch at Pearl Street Bagels. Then a mountain bike ride on Snow King. And a chance meeting on the steps of the Mangy Moose. “Wouldn’t it be great?” the conversations went.
The vision was there, and indeed it would be great. All that was needed was a little scrap metal, a pair of old waders, piles of discarded newspapers, plywood, duct tape and some Jackson Hole ingenuity.
Everyone we contacted was eager to help. A broken fishing rod was procured from a garage, an old tweed jacket dusted off from a closet.
An underground union of artists, artisans and fishermen formed, happy to donate materials, tools, advice and most of all, their time. About 30 to 40 hours in all.
We were tired and we were busy, but we were driven by a desire to take a stand.
My labor consisted of rounding up materials, helping to craft the frame and stuffing it full of old news. Into Dick’s drawers and torso went page after page of real estate ads, each dirt patch promised to be more exclusive than the rest; the slogan “Wildly Civilized,” plastered over a set of golf clubs, struck me as bizarre. Ink on my hands, the vapor of paint in my veins, the smell of dry, stale paper in the air.
I would glance at the headline on each page before crumpling it into a ball. Bill O’Reilly, spewing propaganda trash, I took particular pleasure stuffing in Cheney’s ass. There was a story about Dangerous Dick declaring himself above the law, neither legislative nor executive branch, and certainly not bound by any pesky archiving rules. “Bombing, rocket attack rip through Iraq market,” page 11, JH Daily, July 27.
It all came together remarkably smoothly. Throughout the process, the sounds of Michael Franti and Spearhead pulsed through my brain. Yell Fire!, the album Franti composed while traveling around Israel, Palestine and Iraq with a guitar on his back. Track 3 especially, “I Know I’m Not Alone.”
Every time I read the news
I’m always more confused
they’re telling me to choose
but there’s only lies to choose from
What was born in anger gradually became a healing exercise. Art was a way to express rage and expunge it from the system. By Friday night, with the statue all but done on the eve of the rally, I felt totally at peace.
Posted under Iraq war, art, dick cheney, politics
U stupid !!!!!!, no matter that ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS kill more Americans in one year than the Iraq war has, what, we should elect you dumb ass Democrats so you can give our country away to the Mexican’s? Why don’t you come stay at my place next door to the fair building and see how YOU like getting 3 hours of sleep because the beaners were thumping their chitty ass music till 11pm, stupid F…ing cops cater to their brown asses and to hell with the fact that I have to move because of them. I have lived here for 16 years and they have driven me from my home. Just wait till they rape one of YOUR woman or effect YOUR family and see how you like it. You want the freaking Mexicans, you can have them…Where’s the freaking protest about the crime committed by ILLEGALS (who by the way had jobs on construction sites and hotels etc, somebody is hiring them) How aboput our STUPID F..ing Chief of police who doesn’t give a damn what they do. How do you have 58 ILLEGALS in the jail at one given time and NOT think we have a problem? You guy’s need to wake the hell up. This town has lost plenty of good workers because we don’t want to live next door to them and have their nasty ass culture shoved down OUR throats. Wait till it happens to YOU, YOU DUMB ASSES, ANd SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!! I bet your stupid enough to vote for Gary Trauner too, the guy who would like nothing better than to grant a “path to citizenship” for these lawbreakers. guess you never think about the fact that the guy cooking your food has NOT been screened for diseases. Drive around town town areas and it is little Mexico, 10 cars parked in front of one house, no rules apply to these people, why should we follow the damn laws. Jackson Hole, I mean Mexi Hole is nothing more than a sanctuary town where the ILLEGALS can do WHAT EVER THE HELL THEY WANT, OUR Police FORCE is NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF PUSSIES WHO REFUSE TO GET INVOLVED TO ENFORCE OUR LAWS, DUMB BASTARDS!! If they had to live next to it, you can bet it would be stopped in a heartbeat. To Evon (s) Robertson , fairboard manager, I say KISS MY ASS YOU DUMB BITCH!@!! How many F…ing complaints do you have to have to so the right thing., You should be ashamed of yourself, I KNOW that YOU have had so many complaints reguarding the beaners at the fair building and you continue to ignore us while you sit down by the river enjoying the peace and quiet, I think you know where you can go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jeannie McIntosh You treacherous bitches!!!! Please don’t give any credit to the Prez for the fact that we have had no more terrorist attacks and don’t have any feelings for Cubin because her husband has been sick, very sick. at least she is working for Americans instead of lawbreaking ILLEGALS. You think Republicans are happy with Bush/ Cheney? No, We are NOT, but at least we have the decency to RESPECT THEM. Traitors….
If your ramble weren’t useful as a sociology study, I would have deleted it immediately, Bobbie.
You are about to be cut off.
No me jodas, puta!
Like I would ever come to this website again?
looks like nobody comes here anyway
Bobbie,
In under 4 sentences, can you express your point besides that you are pissed about illegal immigrants in JH? You do know that your hero, President Bush, supported what is essentiall “amnesty”, right, and that he was unable to get passed in congress a comprehensive immigration bill that would criminalize those residing here illegaly?
You guys ruined a completely legitimate message with immature, childish antics.
It’s such a shame to see people such as yourself lose any sense of relevancy when you drown out all good intentions with the type of luncatic behaviour that ensued during the “Peace” Rally.