Discuss: Roadkill: How to Make a Great First Impression

Wow! This is really terrific and I’m impressed (giggling) at the outcome with the cop. Professional bearing you know: no smiling.

The print isn’t half bad, either. Wow, again.

Just don’t get into photography. (My trigger for soapbox.) Why just last night at the central train station in Milan, where I’d arrived for my horrible 12.30 am train, I’d finished taking pictures of the posters for The Incredible Hulk and Sex and the City, and moved on to photograph the locked entrance to one of the cheesy coffee bars.

Cop 1: ‘What’re you doing?’
Me (interrupted) ‘Taking picturs.’
Cop 2: ‘Why?’
Me: ‘Hobby.’
Cop 1: But the bar is CLOSED.’
Me: ‘And?’
Cop 2: You’re taking pictures of the bar when it’s closed? In the train station?’
Me: In the station, in Milan, in Lombardy, in Italy, in Europe, in - let’s see, are we in the eastern or western hemisphere?’ (I’ve been told it’s good to answer a question with a question when possible.)
Cop 1: ‘But what’s it for?’
Me: ‘For art motives.’
Cop 1: Ah, ok, buona serata.’

Et cetera…

Roadkill is a great subject for exploration.  I used to teach Lopez’s “Apologia.”  Drove my students crazy.  So I put together a little homage that was picked up by _Isotope_ a few years ago.

http://isotope.usu.edu/web/2-1/roadkill.htm

Such tender respect!  I wish you well.

I notice and apologize for the carelessness of my species.  Then I pray for the well-being of that species, those others of the one sacrificed to our unthinking human care-less-ness.

Wow… this reminds me of tropical holiday cards I once made with a squirrel fish in the Bahamas.  The fish once caught, had been discarded; but I found it immediately, inked it, and while remembering the sadness of it’s death, thinking yet how impressive were the prints, and the detail that that fish provided. Later, it was consumed by a gull, after I washed away the water soluble ink.

Well, some years ago I had two girls win the science fair with their roadkill data, pictures were the grabber. The whole class was involved in bringing in data, kind of animal, location, date and a column for unrecognizable. They gathered info from town, from road trips as I did also. It became a type of mini-obsession for several years, a notebook in the glovebox, adding up the similar animals, watching the roadkill species change on drives from Texas to Canada. Some general conclusions, lots of skunks in the spring on country roads, more dogs on the interstates, more cats in neighborhoods, what’s the point? just lots of animals, evolution of avoiding predators did not allow for 70 MPH. A science teacher

About thirty years ago, I was editing a book for a Unity Church minister on Visualizing Abundance. Because I was a freelance editor and small press publisher, I was not exactly rolling in “abundance” myself. The minister was really after me to try the visualization techniques for abundance so one day after a meeting with her I decided to give it a try.

I lived in the country so as I was driving down the winding country road home that evening, I started silently repeating the abundance mantras - and then the strangest thing happened. Animals started jumping out in front of my car!

I was used to watching out for the occasional deer or skunk but this was ridiculous. It was like rush hour. There was another critter every few yards. My partner, who was driving and who I had not told about the mantras, said, “What are you doing?!” He knew I was up to something so I had to tell him.

As soon as I quit, the animals quit jumping out and we made it home without causing any deaths that night. I never did that again! I just kept on driving slow on back country roads and staying with my simple lifestyle.

Ha! An interesting dialogue!

Great post. ater, it was consumed by a gull, after I washed away the water soluble ink.