Blog Archives

It all falls down…or gets bulldozed

031313

Even though this church’s website doesn’t mention any sort of building demolition, but the reflection in the front door indicates that something is going on here.

The day I stopped by, there was demolition going on across the street, and now I wonder someone working on that project backed a bulldozer into the corner of this building. I’d say a return visit is in order – I’ll let you know what I find.

5th and Ave. U
Lubbock, Texas

photographed 3.2.2013

The loading dock story

031213

Our local newspaper is called the Avalanche Journal, a curious name for a paper representing a city on the high plains (with no mountains, our annual avalanche numbers hover around zero). In Mrs. Rankin’s fourth grade classroom, we were taught that the name came from the desire of the paper’s first owners to provide an “avalanche” of news. Wikipedia gives a slightly different account, noting that the founder of the paper chose the name based on his desire “that the newspaper surprise the citizens of Lubbock.” Either way – it’s what we’ve got.

(Note: the rumor that the newspaper’s motto is “If it happens in Lubbock, it’s news to us!” can be neither confirmed nor denied.)

(The AJ’s best headline ever said “Drinking: educators should do more.”  I have an active, fertile imagination but even I couldn’t have made this up.)

During my extensive research* for this entry, I learned the following: During strikes over crop support prices in 1977, an editorial published in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal infuriated farmers, who blockaded the newspaper’s delivery docks with their tractors. The unsigned editorial accused farmers of using the “anti-social tactics of union goons.” Farmers demanded an apology and formed a tractor blockade, preventing trucks from the delivering newspapers. Editor Jay Harris spoke with the farmers and indicated the editorial was not intended to imply that the farmers were goons. (from Wikipedia.)

When I was there, I didn’t see any tractors. Or farmers. Or reporters, for that matter.

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.2.2013

* Extensive research means I read the ENTIRE Wikipedia article. All 462 words. I am quite the researcher, aren’t I?

Maybe an altar

031113

It’s been a while since any roofing business was conducted here, at the Adolph Roofing Company, on the corner of 8th Street and Texas Avenue. One of the big windows on the front is boarded up. The vinyl blinds on the other one are in a yellowed heap on one side. There’s still a mailbox, though, but it’s thick with accumulated dirt and pigeon droppings.

Inside the building – this scene, which for some reason makes me think of the church in Terlingua.

Maybe it’s the table along the far wall, giving the effect of an altar? Or the bright, beckoning light coming from those windows? Or maybe it’s just me. (You’re right: it’s just me. Forget I brought it up.)

Lubbock, Texas
photographed 3.2.13

It’s empty, but sort of elegant. In a way.

031013

An empty building in downtown Lubbock.

photographed 3.2.13

Risk management

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I love the bottom three rungs of this ladder: they have a distinct “rustic” or “artisanal” feel to them, don’t you think?

But I am not a risk manager. Or a safety officer.

I am just alley-roaming photographer.

Lubbock, Texas

photographed 1.6.2013

PS – For those of you keeping score at home, this is post #400 here at One Day | One Image.