Indiana State Fair

Lesson learned: Don’t eat bacon and then go out in the heat for a prolonged period of time. My stomach strongly disagreed with that decision and, wouldn’t you know it, I was at the Indiana State Fair when my body decided to process that fateful act. Fortunately, there were plenty of open restroom stalls. Still, my stomach never really settled down, foiling my plan to cheat on my diet for the day. I had a $4 bottle of water, instead.

My motivation for going to the fair on such a hot day, besides the fact admission was only $2, was the desire to check out Travis Little’s newest work. Health issues have prevented Travis from being able to paint and this is his first work since regaining use of his hands. Spectacular? Uhm, of course! If you’re going to the fair, you’ll find his work in the Arts building, lower part of the first floor, in the “Professional” room, and in the watercolor section. Yes, watercolor. While Travis mostly uses pastels, he used watercolor for this piece, and that resulted in the unique placement of his work.

Those of you who’ve been around for a while know what I’m going to say next. STOP MAKING ART A COMPETITION! As I walked through both the art and photography galleries I was deeply disturbed by the degree to which superior works received no attention at all. And who the fuck decided to post the photographs with no attribution? Whose work was I looking at? Yes, it matters! I have different expectations for someone who has been snapping for 20+ years than I do for someone who is just starting out. My complaint applies double to the youth sections where failure to acknowledge strong work could result in the artist giving up and setting their tools to the side, causing the world to lose out on a spectacular talent that is just getting started.

Art is and always will be subjective, no matter the medium. The “purists” who strive to put rules and fences around art are detrimental to the open creativity necessary to move art forward. There are some amazing sculptures on display, for example, but the one given the blue ribbon was a cliche that was almost insulting to the works around it. In fact, there were a lot of cliche themes throughout the galleries, perhaps because the selection committee was too afraid to let through pieces that “break the rules.” All artists deserve a platform and the state fair should be the place for that platform.

They should also improve the air conditioning in the building.

I walked through all the animal barns, but there wasn’t a lot to see. Only a few Herefords, Angus, and Highland cattle were present in the cow barn and only 4H horses were present in that building. Both the sheep and swine buildings were all but empty. I did grab a handful of pictures, but I haven’t gone through any except one at the top of this page. I think another trip is in order next week, but it will have to be a lot cooler and I’ll have to be more careful of what I eat in advance.

Getting home, one might have thought I’d been missing for months with the way the dogs greeted me. I don’t know what might have happened in my absence, but both pups were more interested in seeing me than in going outside. Even when I let them out, they wanted all my attention and only left my side long enough to bark at the mail truck, which is, apparently, a requirement. When we came back in, I sat down at the desk, and Belvedere (the hound) was having none of it. He knew I needed to lie down and didn’t stop pestering me until I did, at which point he curled up as close to me as he physically could.

Kids came in, we ate food, and then everyone went to sleep.

Of course, the big news yesterday was Kamala Harris’ choice of Tim Walz as her Vice President pick. Cue the usual, “Yeah, but…” chorus. The fact is that Walz probably balances Harris better than any of the other potential nominees. Sarah Smarsh in an opinion piece for the New York Times says that Democrats Have Needed Someone Like Tim Walz for Decades, and she’s probably correct by most counts. What could be most important, though, is Walz has a surprisingly strong pull with young voters. This could be critical in a race that is going to be analyzed and picked at from every possible direction.

What else? Hamas names Yahya Sinwar, mastermind of the Oct. 7 attacks, as its new leader in a show of defiance. If we were hoping for a more gentle response to the assassination of the group’s leader, this wasn’t it. Expect the war to grow more heated and most likely expand to Lebanon and possibly Iran. The entire situation there is not looking good.

Global shares rose and Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.2% as markets settled after a wild start to the week. Tesla has issued yet another huge recall, this time in China. And Thai court dissolved the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the election but was blocked from power. So much for democracy.

The Justice Department says a Pakistani man alleged to have ties to Iran has been charged in a plot to carry out political assassinations on U.S. soil. That one’s a bit scary to read. The question now is whether they only sent one or are there more.

And your stupid ass GOP move of the day? Louisiana governor tells parents against Ten Commandments in classrooms: ‘Tell your child not to look’. Not kidding. Let this be a sign of what’s coming, though, if we allow Republicans to have any level of power after this election. They’ve gone off the deep end. I’m not sure labeling them as weird is enough.

Today needs to be a rest day. I’m going to eat breakfast, check on a few details, and then most likely nap the rest of the day. If you need me you’ll need to wake the dogs.

Good luck with that.