Great things are happening in the Passthrough Tower. The awful art has been removed. Since the building opened in 2000, there’s been a huge mural of ugly, decaying, oversized cardboard boxes. I believe it was a commentary on housing. I could be mistaken. I believe it was universally loathed, or at least regarded with weary indifference. I don’t think I’m mistaken there.
Rumors say the building is completely empty now. I mean, dead empty. Not a soul but the maintenance crew. I did a piece on its future, how it’s possible that these buildings are so unprofitable in the WFH era that it’s cheaper to tear it down.
The art was removed to the company’s other location, I was told. I’m sure everyone there will regard it as a bright ray of sunshine as well. Whether it was removed because it actually is valuable, and the building is going to be sealed off at best or knocked down, I don’t know.
When the tower was completed it was the tallest building constructed in the USA in 2000.
I call it Passthrough Tower because it's between my home office and the 333, after which I pass outside into the miserable wind. It has no culture. No cafes, no open spaces, no sense of itself as a destination. Our building had its Holiday party today, desserts and hot cocoa for all tenants.
It seemed underattended. I would've stoppped for a coffee, but to be honest I don't feel connected to the building like I used to. There's my desk, and there's my locker at the gym, and I'll have it today, and probably tomorrow. Maybe even in March. God forbid or God bless if I have in May. Everything seems like a series of shopworn sets for boring plays and second-rate absurdist dramas. If they leave the canvas black in the Passthrough Building, that's utterly apt. But I'd still like to bump up against it one day with a marker and leave a jot of white. Just because.
We should be done with the CEO murderer soon enough, until the trial. The fans will sift out the good things and valorize his acts and thoughts. A charismatic photo will be turned into a Che shirt. People on Twitter will be Very Angry about the American health care system for a while until they are Very Angry about something else. The people in the middle of the discourse will not that at least we’re starting to have a conversation about the health care system, insurance, and all that.
Two points:
1. There is no placating the people who want the current system - for that matter, all the current systems to end and be replaced with Cornucopianism, a political philosophy I just made up. It means everyone gets everything in unstinting amounts as they need, because that is fair, and the only reason it’s not happening is greed and hatred.
w. This is not the time to have that discussion at all. There is only one “discussion” that should follow a politically motivated murder, and that is the evil of politically motivated murder.
Our old friend the Fulcrum of the But: Of course I think murder is wrong, but. Everything after the but must be disregarded. Try modifying it, and see if it sounds acceptable:
Of course spousal murder is wrong, but
Of course child murder is wrong, but
You’d look foolish. Let’s try this: someone is mad about illegal immigration because his second cousin’s daughter was raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant in a city whose mayor had announced they would not cooperate with ICE. This mad person shoots the mayor. Anyone think we’ll have a conversation about immigration after that? Or that we should?
Does this mean we send everything the guy said or wrote to the Bin of Lunacy? No. I came across this:
He is correct. It is not a novel or particularly insightful post, though. People ascribe Hard Truths to the Unabomber because he said some obvious things about modern society that no one would have noted had he not sent bombs to strangers like a dank-brained twisted coward. But we're supposed to sit up and pay attention and sift through the cliches and banalities because the author killed someone.
Tucker was absolutely wrong and guilty of fallacious logic! Also, according to my twitter feed the last week, the modern medical system is explicitly designed to murder people with the intention of murderly murdering them for murder's sake.
Beware of any complaint that can be solved by Cornucopianism. When someone puts forth a complaint that strums the Aeolian Harp of general resentment about All the Things, look for Cornucopianism as the implied solution. If you see it, point it out, and laugh at it. Then find some adults with whom to talk.
It’s 1924.
I don’t see Blocton on my list of Main Street visits, so it must be gone. That can’t be, can it? Towns big enough to have newspapers don’t just go.
Checking . . . well, it’s there, but it’s sad. There’s enough for tomorrow, though, so stay tuned.
Front page funny:
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Things are looking up. Business is good. Buildings are sprouting everywhere. They've solved the boom-bust cycle! It's clear skies from here on, lads. |
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The "store and office building" is still there.
The disused sign says "Paloma." Storied, no doubt. Home to many to came to seek their fortune in the business, and ended up living in a relatively decent apartment for forty years, working as a receptionist or an office manager. No shame in that.
Something's up there on the second floor.
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Margosian and Roubian: your Armenian dispora in action. |
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Absoloutely standard drug-store / apt, right down to the angled sign and clock.
The neighborhood has taken a turn, alas.
But to be fair he was old and freshly dead. How old? His Wikipedia page has a picture and the photo credit is Matthew Brady.
Cornelius Cole (September 17, 1822 – November 3, 1924) was an American politician who served a single term in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican representing California from 1863 to 1865, and another term in the United States Senate from 1867 to 1873. Cole, who died at the age of 102 years, 47 days, is the longest-lived U.S. Senator.
And there’s this:
In 1880, he moved to Colegrove, where he lived in retirement. Cole was the founder of Colegrove, a settlement he created on land that had been part of Rancho La Brea; he acquired the land from owner Henry Hancock as payment for helping Hancock confirm title to Rancho La Brea. Colegrove was named for Cole's wife.
What? Yes: he was named wife, but his wife’s maiden name was Colegrove. That worked out nicely.
Or not: Colegrove today.
Renovated, but vandalized by the usual scum.
I’m not sure Hollywood post men faced such adverse conditions.
Editorial page syndie feature: some bathetic booshwha. It's true, except in the sense that it's not.
To be fair, reproduction of photos had a ways to go.
The lass on the right looks like she just bit the tongue out of someone's mouth,
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That'll do. Next for you: Chain Store Age returns to the restaurants.
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