I assign my students an inspection and reflection writing assignment after visiting Special Collections on campus. They spend some time perusing various photo books in Special Collections and they always seem to gravitate towards one artist. They spend an hour looking at the book and writing down what they see. Who the artist is, where were the photos taken, on what type of camera, film or digital. They spend one hour getting to know a part of history represented in visual form.
in·spec·tion
/inˈspekSH(ə)n/
noun
1. careful examination or scrutiny.
re·flec·tion
/rəˈflekSH(ə)n/
noun
1. the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.
2. serious thought or consideration.
One hour can be a long time to some, or a blink for others.
One hour of time seems to stretch beyond eternity now.
One hour of my time today was spent walking, observing, reflecting and inspecting Boulder.
One hour.
So I went for a walk.
The streets were quiet.
Offices were empty.
Then I realized it was Sunday.
Everyone is on edge.
Yet some people were not. I walked down the street and many people walked in groups and continued to go into stores.
One family was upset that Patagonia had closed its doors during this time of proactive social distancing.
A man taping up informative articles and documents to a public bulletin on Pearl st.
Boulder as of today had only two presumptive confirmed cases.
It is only a matter of time before more begin to surface.
Again, I'll leave you with a visual metaphor.
Found in one of our decrepit planter boxes outside of our house.
Unknown of its origin, but its still here, and I am going to have to deal with it whether I want to or not.
