Comments

I learned something new tonite, thanks Lynne :)

So, Motts, do you drag your girlfriend-wannabes along when you photograph these places to see how they handle it? It's absolutely none of my business, so naturally I just had to ask. :-)

G.D. ! Mott, your stuff is like walking through a "Tool" music video. Horrifying.

"Fronkensteen" or "Frankenstein"? ;-)

Well, if that don't take the damn cake! You give that beer back, child, or we're gonna make you sit on ragdolledwahine's commode chair! And we're not even going to give you one of those handy dandy paper toilet seat liners! >:-(

anna, don't be gettin' all technical on us with all that photo jargon and all . . .

Anna,

I sell dehydrated water on ebay .... comes in a zip lock baggie ...very convienent... Just Add Water!

Cool pic, but I must say.... Ewwwwww! I wonder how long thats been there.....

Ha! 8`-) anna, I was wondering why you were clearing your throat ("hrm") until I saw that this is someone's name. 8`-)

I just lie and say mine always looked fashionable, while burning every old picture I can get my hands on.

Our fire alarms are like that on most parts of campus - they require a key. Otherwise the folks would have an uproarious time setting off the fire alarms. We don't have very many folks left on campus who understand the concept of a fire alarm to alert others for a fire, so none of them would be able to use one if there was a fire and they were aware of it.

Mott, very cool stuff, your pics are eerie and artistic - just like ruins should be. FYI, not to nit pick but on the opening page, its inccorectly states that this park opened a few months before Disney World Florida, I think you mean Disney Land California.

Keep up the good work.

OK, so tonight I was doing my monthly living area monitors to check out the different sections of campus - were staff interacting with all the clients, were there materials available, were gloves locked up so no one could eat any, were the bedrooms decorated in an individualized way, etc., etc. I go to one of my living areas where they are painting the bedrooms and some one has apparently handed the gentlemen who live there a large book with paint chips so they can select a color for their room, and whatever color their finger fell on (since none of them are verbal), that's the color they painted their bedrooms. =8-o

Motts, in 20 years you will come here and photograph this place, and people will be wondering why in God's name there were different bedrooms on a single living area that ranged from mauve to goldenrod to royal blue to fuschsia. =8-o I am still blind from the experience.

Great site all the way around. One comment about the building "bending". I think this is what is known as "parallax distortion". Usually an undesirable effect but may work in some situations. See http://www.outbackphoto.com/workflow/wf_58/essay.html

Really great photography and quality site.

. . . mutter mutter mutter short leash and a large muzzle mutter mutter mutter . . .

And to add to what anna said, the majority of the people DID get out. There was a massive "mental health revolution" in the 70s. It's in all the history books, even. Almost everyone was "freed" - well, dumped on the streets without any resources, is what many of us would call it.

It helps to work in the field a few years before getting romantic Gothic ideas that everyone was trapped for a lifetime in a mental hospital and that every caretaker was a sociopath. Some of us who read this list HAVE worked in the field a long time or still do, and in many different places, and it hurts to get slapped by people with "ideas" they read or heard about and didn't experience first hand. Or maybe heard about it from a friend who heard it from a friend who SWEARS it was true.

Yes, it's true - life sucked for many people in institutions for many years in many places and still does for some, but some of us were actually trying to make things better and we're not thrilled with the knee-jerk reactions of "outsiders" after watching "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" one time. If someone hasn't personally done something to make life better for these people, we wish they would spare us their weird beliefs and ideas that aren't based on fact.

I am boring the same people again, but please, people, get out there and work in the field and/or ask for increased taxes for funding for people with MR/DD and MI and cut us some slack.

And to you-know-who - "I already done been called worse things by better people than you." :-)