3,181 Comments Posted by Lynne

Er, my father is an engineer. I thought it was against the law for engineers to get warm fuzzy feelings, or at least to express them publicly? ;-)

Bob, three-story boilers scare the bejeebers out of me! What do you know about accidents and explosions and such at these places? I can imagine an accident involving equipment of this size must have been fairly devastating.

"Hey, Rocky - watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!"

There is some irony to the weird comment above that we have all been referencing, and that is that this very photo is still one of my top favorites that Motts has done. Given what a large body of work Motts has and given that, like many others, I am drawn to this site such that I come back often in hopes of finding new material and looking at the old material again and again, that is saying something powerful about the impact this particular image has made on me. I think that's why I reacted as strongly as I did. This shot rocks absolutely. Anyone who doesn't feel the impact of this shot would better spend their time looking at Disney art. Disney art is lovely, it has clean lines and pretty colors, and even the very youngest people can understand it. There is a nice "black and white" "good versus evil" "and they lived happily ever after" feel to Disney art that you don't find here, because this is a reflection of reality.

The images on this site are darker and speak to things that are more substantial, more complex, and are the remnants of a culture that few outsiders generally want to understand (although most want to condemn without understanding all the complexities and subtleties that have been involved). I am lost at times looking through the power plant and harbor pix, but I can use my feel for colors, shapes, and textures to let them take me somewhere. I am most drawn to the pix of the abandoned institutions because I have spent the majority of my adult life working in them and getting to know the people and practices, current and past, that are part and parcel of them and that have shaped them. When I see these pix, I am reminded of many things, because I have walked down (and still walk down) similar halls and have spent time with people who have lived in these settings for much or all of their lives. There are great stories, there are wonderful stories, there are terrible stories, and there are boring stories, just like the stories we all have of our own lives.

Seeing these reminders of how things were in the past, I am glad that institutions are no longer like they used to be, but not because the institutions have changed - because the culture that used to support the practices that occurred in these institutions has changed. An institution is nothing more and nothing less than the sum of the attitudes that people have about other people. The people who formerly and currently work and live in institutions are you and me. To condemn and pity them is to condemn and pity you and me. When I see people come on to this site who make comments about how horrible it must have been to live here, I know they are unaware of how difficult it would be to be in the clutches of a devastating mental illness, both for the person involved and for those who love them. Sometimes living in the community is not an option. It's just that simple. And when I see people come on to this site and condemn everyone who was ever associated with an institution, again I know they are unaware of how horrible it was to work under the conditions the staff did and to have to observe the wretchedness produced by the lack of funding and lack of caring from the outside world.

I want the people who lived here and the staff who worked here to have a voice and be remembered in all their complexities, and I am frustrated that so many assumptions are made about both groups of people without taking the time to research the conditions under which the one group lived and the other group worked. But caring about others requires an investment of time and energy that few are willing to expend, and this, my friends, is where bad institutions come from.

[Tripping as she jumps off soapbox and spraining her ankle.]

No, they didn't perform lobotomies like that.

JHC, I am gasping with claustrophobia after reading your comment! =8-o

My first thought was that the machine had been alive and was in an alien ocean and had been hauled up by a metal mesh net during a fishing expedition.

I will be readjusting my medication later today, if that's any comfort.

Ed, you the man! :-)

anna is correct. However, when the seizure is over you want to lay the person on his or her side in the "recovery position" so the relaxed tongue doesn't block breathing.

http://www.northeastrehab.com/Articles/seizurefaq.htm

Here ya go, rich:

http://www.opacity.us/image298.htm

Sweet!

Now this is one FINE shot!

Puts you in mind of the hallways in some of the institutions, doesn't it?

Poor Gus! 8`-)

So, didja pull hard, Motts?

OK, here is another album cover shot. :-)