Sunday, July 11, 2021

Do Currency Movements Create Inflation? . . .OK that's the question

Destination: "To The Lighthouse" A Derelict 19th-Century Lighthouse On An Island Along The Rocky Basque Coast

Probably not in your travel plans any time soon and probably not interesting at all, except for this remarkable write-up that illuminates the twice-daily movements of tides

Cristina Iglesias makes liquid sculptures by the sea

The Economist | Jul 10th 2021

Contemporary art

Her piece in San Sebastián’s lighthouse is a haunting comment on nature and time

". . .Much of Cristina Iglesias’s art has been commissioned as public monuments for specific sites. She spends months, sometimes years, honing the individual character of each piece—yet they are all connected. She often draws inspiration from the fragile relationship between humanity and the natural world. She mixes the real with the imagined, the seen with the remembered. Typically, she took a long time to decide what she wanted to make for her home town by the sea, which she left at 18 but never forgot.

The city of San Sebastián in the Basque country of Spain had asked her several times for a sculpture; the initial request came in 1998, when Ms Iglesias put on an exhibition at the nearby Guggenheim Bilbao. Conscious that San Sebastián already boasted monumental pieces by Jorge Oteiza and Eduardo Chillida, two 20th-century Basque masters, as well as numerous religious statues that stand in the hills overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, she wanted to do something different.

And then it came to her. In the middle of the bay, around which San Sebastián hugs the ocean, is a small island called Santa Clara. No more than a few hundred metres from the shore, it is nonetheless remote from the daily rhythms of the city, observes Ms Iglesias’s longtime collaborator James Lingwood of Artangel, an art-promoting charity. In bygone times this was where victims of the plague were taken to die.

Over the decades a small lighthouse flashed out both a warning and a welcome.

As a child Ms Iglesias used to gaze at it as she fished from the mainland. “Santa Clara was always part of the landscape for us,” she says; at 16 she swam across to the island with her brothers. But none of them had ever been inside the lighthouse. Creating an artwork within the building, which had been derelict since the mid-1960s, would, she decided, be her gift to the city.

. . .Learning how the extraordinary work was made enhances its theatrical power. Ms Iglesias’s team excavated a nine-metre hole in the rock beneath the lighthouse, then installed a hydraulic system through which the sea-spray is pumped up onto the bronze rock. The floor itself, curved to convey the eroded layers of sediment that emerge from the sea around the island—“the Earth’s ribs”, as Ms Iglesias calls them—was cast in a foundry and slowly winched into place from a helicopter. It was “one of the biggest challenges of my career”, says Hugo Corres, the structural engineer behind the project.

The result is a feeling of something, or everything, being swallowed and carried away to the void. It echoes the human peril in the story of Jonah and the whale, at the same time hinting at the vulnerability of marine animals. Ms Iglesias wanted the sculpture to have a name that would bring out what Mr Lingwood calls its “dark enchantment”. She enlisted the help of Beñat Sarasola, a young poet who, using an etymological dictionary, discovered an old Basque word he hadn’t known before: “Hondalea”, which roughly translates as “marine abyss”. “As soon as I heard it,” the artist says, “I knew it was perfect.”

Among her muses is Rachel Carson, an influential American conservationist who called the seashore “a place of unrest”.

Carson’s book, “The Rocky Coast”, which Ms Iglesias read and reread while she worked on “Hondalea”, ends with the writer standing on a rock, thinking about the place where the deep time of geology meets the twice-daily movement of the tides, advancing and receding, covering and revealing. Ms Iglesias’s sculpture captures the same mood of transience and eternity, peril and fate. It grips your senses on the island and, back on the mainland, swirls and swells in your memory. ■

Saturday, July 10, 2021

INSIDE THE BUBBLE OF THE UPPER CHAMBERS: Mesa City City Council Meeting - 7/8/2021

Your MesaZona blogger doesn't have much to write about this public meeting, except to say that when it takes Senior Public Information Officer Kevin Christopher more than 6 minutes to read the CONSENT AGENDA during this 12:20 minutes of running-time of the entire meeting... It's probably the first time any one of the Mesa City Council members present heard - or even read all the items and meeting details! No blue comment cards from the public, and one connection 'tele-phonically' wasn't there

Turning Point Time for Andy Biggs: Last Week's Newsletter A Day Late

Equal Time for a "newsletter" from The Far Right Conservative Arizona Congressman elected to The Congress of The United States from the "Fighting 5th Congressional District". There is quite a talent pool there when-then AZ Congressman Matt Salmon got a higher calling and left that small-time district leaping into a series of revolving-door schemes - recently jumping back into his home spawning grounds to join the upstream fight in home base Arizona for the highest state elected-office on dry land - Governator of Arizona.

The Week in Review

Happy Friday!

This week, the Democrats yet again refused to acknowledge the pressing issues that matter to the American people. However, at this point, it’s not even the lack of action by the Democrats, but rather what they are pursuing in broad daylight. “Defund the Police'' calls have led to soaring crime rates across the country while law enforcement retention has bottomed out. Nonetheless, the Far Left have stepped up their anti-police agendas by calling to defund CBP, ICE, and the Department of Homeland Security. President Biden’s agenda now also includes open support for Critical Race Theory and going door-to-door to find out who has been vaccinated. The Swamp stinks, but I am more energized than ever to keep fighting. Keep reading below to see several important happenings from this week.

Letter to DHS Sec. Mayorkas on his Failure to Enforce U.S. Immigration Law

I wrote a letter to Secretary Mayorkas reprimanding him for limiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) ability to enforce immigration law. The Biden administration's actions have allowed our border to become overrun by the cartels and has put communities across America at risk. I will always fight to put America first, ensure our border is secure, and equip our law enforcement agencies with the tools and confidence they need to carry out their duties. Click on the picture below to read the letter:

Interview with Varney & Co.

Today, I went on Fox Business’s Varney & Co. to discuss pressing issues across America, but most prominently, the Olympic athletes who have displayed animosity towards the United States. Athletes who represent our country do not deserve to don the American flag while spewing hate towards America on a global stage. There are plenty of opportunities to make a civil liberties case in your own personal time, but not on the platform given to you by the country you chose to represent. Check out the full interview below:

Letter to President Biden on Door-to-Door Vaccine Checks

This week, the Biden administration introduced it’s plans to send federal workers door-to-door to inquire about the vaccination status of Americans. This is a clear abuse of power and an unprecedented action to document the personal, private healthcare decisions of U.S. citizens. I wrote to President Biden demanding answers about this unlawful action that threatens the civil liberty of all Americans. Click on the picture below to read the letter:

Mornings with Maria

The Biden administration continues pushing policies that weaken national security and safety within our communities. The border crisis is an unmitigated disaster and crime rates are soaring in liberal-run cities. I joined guest host Cheryl Casone on Mornings with Maria to share my thoughts on the Biden administration’s failure to protect our nation and to enforce policies that put the American people first. Click the picture below to watch:

Gilbert Public Safety Training Facility Tour

Keeping our community safe for families to grow and businesses to prosper is one of my top priorities as a Member of Congress. It was my pleasure to visit the Gilbert Public Safety Training Facility for a tour with leaders from the Town of Gilbert. Check out my visit below:

The Real Story w/ Natalie Harp

The rise in crime rates is becoming a growing issue for the American people. Sadly, President Biden doesn’t seem to think it’s a problem. The reckless policies of the Far Left and the Democrat congressional leaders have emboldened criminals to act without fear. Tackling crime must be prioritized before innocent lives are destroyed in our communities. I shared my thoughts with Natalie Harp on the unnerving increase in crime across our country and what we need to do to reverse it. Click on the picture below to watch:

Tele-Townhall

On Thursday, I hosted my monthly telephone town hall and answered questions from several Fifth District constituents. It is an honor to be your Representative for Arizona’s Fighting Fifth Congressional District, and I will always fight to ensure your voice is heard in the halls of Congress. If you were unable to attend and would like to in the future, please follow my Facebook page for updates on the next one I host!

Honoring WWII Veteran

One of the greatest honors I have as a Member of Congress is to fight on behalf of every veteran to ensure the promises this country made to them are met. It was my privilege to present a flag flown over the U.S. Capitol to the wife of Sgt. Harris who passed away in January. Sgt. Harris served our country in the United States Army in the World War II era. He served honorably while stationed in North Africa, Italy, and Greece. View the photos below: