Skate, Not Hate
The above image depicts culture clash long after the crash: the famous Buddhas of Bamiyan, constructed by long-vanished Afghan Buddhists in the fifth century, were infamously blown to oblivion by the Taliban in March of 2001. The image above, featuring Skateistan volunteer Erika Ollies with one of the destroyed Buddhas in the background, gives hope that iconoclastic hate may someday give way to pure healthful joy expressed freely through sports and recreation.
No Moai, No Less
The magnificent and mysterious Moai of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) appear to have stood, singly and in groups on raised platforms – for centuries. Appearances can deceive: though most of the almost 900 statues were carved, transported and erected before the year 1500, nearly all of them had been toppled by the year 1868… and the topplers were the natives themselves. Since 1955, efforts led at first by American archaeologist William Mulloy investigated the toppled Moai and meticulously restored them to what is thought to be their former positions on pre-discovery (before 1722) Easter Island. Will some unknown future apocalyptic event see the Moai in their multitudes toppled once more?
Picacho, I Chose You!
To selectively quote the late great Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Two vast and trunkless legs… stand in the desert… nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away.”
The Picacho Trading Post was once a popular stop & shop for travelers driving to & from Phoenix and Tucson, AZ. The store was distinguished by an interesting variation on the Muffler Man decked out in stereotypical native American dress – tomahawk and all. Sadly, on November 16th of 2002 an electrical fire burned down the store and most of the mascot outside. All that remains today are part of one leg and its mostly skeletonized companion… a modern-day Ozymandias in search of his Shelley.
