Category Archives: Life

Animals, Becky, Candid Portrait, Cousin Amy, Dawn, Event, Formal Portrait, Geri, Jay, Jaycees, Jen, Music, Sara, Shannon, Teresa, Willy

2009-07-10

November 16, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2009-07-10 are all from an Ames on the Half Shell concert that featured by far my favorite artist that we ever booked. Her name was Bonne Finken and she was one of maybe 3 artists that we booked during my entire run with the Jaycees that couldn’t be described as generic classic rock cover band.

Listen, that isn’t an insult. There is nothing wrong with a classic rock cover band. They are usually pretty enjoyable to listen to, but they certainly don’t challenge you as a music enthusiast.

I’m terrible at describing her sound, but it both pop and rock and it is undeniably powerful. Bonne is still producing music, but she has moved on from this local scene. She moved to Tennessee. She released her third album earlier this year. It was produced by a member of Slipknot.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from Bonne Finken’s conert:

By adding these images to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

Bonne Finken

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve flowers and sparklers, but not necessarily together.

Animals, Black & White, Boone FUMC, Brandon, Candid Portrait, Holidays, Johnathan, Logan, Mom, Naima, Nature, Still Life, WPC - Alternate

Dogface

November 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Here is another post from the 2018 backlog. These are mostly pictures of Naima. I think they might have been alternates for the WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme the week they were taken. I’m not entirely sure and I’m not up to that level of soul searching and research.

There is still more in the 2018 backlog, but it is getting smaller every day. Well maybe not every day.

Becky, Black & White, Candid Portrait, Event, Formal Portrait, Geri, Jaycees, Logan, Music, Night, Shannon, Teresa

2009-07-06

November 9, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder 2009-07-06 are from my 2009 Independence Day. I spent the day immersed in Ames Jaycees projects.

The beginning of my day was spent helping with the special Independence Day Ames on the Half Shell with The Nadas. Then I finished the day helping out with the fireworks display.

Shannon’s cousin Matthew came down to help with Half Shell. Teresa helped as well. Logan and Willy were in attendance at the concert.

It was a very long day. Now I barely even leave my house on Independence Day. I should probably remedy that in 2020, but I’m guessing that won’t happen.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the album:

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” post to its original glory:

4th of July

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve my favorite artist to every play Ames on the Half Shell.

Black & White, Holidays, Lists, Nature, Photoshop

Celestial Dome

October 31, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett 5 Comments

First of all, Happy Halloween! After a 1 year hiatus, I’ll be able to handout candy to trick-or-treaters. Which also means, I will be able to replenish the candy bar selection in the Union Street Theater. It has gotten pretty bad, since I didn’t buy any candy last year. I think all that is in the candy bucket is candy Nora got at the 2018 Pufferbilly Days Parade. Which, wasn’t the good stuff.

I do need to replenish the candy supply down there because I’m expecting a big crowd for November Movie Night. November Movie Night will be a Godzilla double feature. Celebrating Criterion’s recent release of all 15 Showa Godzilla movies in a sweet boxed set. In fact, it is the sweetest boxed set ever released in the history of boxed sets. However, I will get into that in the future, because there will certainly be several Godzilla blogs in the future as I crack into the boxed set.

But this is Halloween, therefore I need to release my annual candy bar power rankings!

2019 CANDY BAR POWER RANKINGS

10. Payday
9. Rolo
8. Kit Kat
7. Skor
6. Take 5
5. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
4. Snickers
3. Twix Caramel
2. Peanut M&M’s
1. Whatchamacallit

Please respect my decision. No interviews at this time.

But in case you were wondering, the worst candy bars. The ones you will not be seeing me handing out tonight while watching my 4K copy of THE SHINING… Milky Way and Three Musketeers.

But enough candy, how would you like to see some sky pictures:

Took those near Ledges back in March.

Alexis, Baseball/Softball, Becky, Candid Portrait, Carla, Flowers, House, Jason, Jaycees, Jesse, Kelly, Lowell, Mom, Music, Saydie, Shannon

2009-06-29

October 26, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures from the folder 2009-06-29 are mostly from a softball game between Alexis’ team and a team coached by Jesse and Lowell. I assume Alexis’ team won the game because of… Bennett genetics.

There are some pictures of Larry Howard in this post. Larry passed away earlier this year. He isn’t the first person to have passed on, that has surfaced on these walks down memory lane, but one of the closest.

Here are some pictures:

None of these pictures have ever been published before. They were lost to the ages until now.

The pictures at the end are from the Ames on the Half Shell performance by a band called Otter. I was in charge of booking the bands that year and I won’t deny that I booked Otter because their drummer was a pretty loyal Ames Jaycee.

This could be a false memory, but I believe I got some pushback on that. Definitely a lack of enthusiasm about it from some other Jaycees. I found this weird because every single year the Jaycees booked this absolutely terrible band called Saucy Jack based on the fact that a member of the band was a brother or ex-boyfriend of an ex-Jaycee. They booked a terrible band based on somebody that wasn’t in the band and wasn’t even a Jaycee any longer. And they were terrible.

Almost all the Half Shell bands fell into the category of generic classic rock cover band. Saucy Jack was in that same category. But they played every song about 10% slower than it is supposed to be played.

I remember once they played “Everlong” by Foo Fighters, which is a Top 100 song for me, and it took me about 45 seconds to even figure out what the hell they were playing.

But booking the slightly stoner band with a Jaycee drummer, that isn’t cool man.

But I digress…

Next Saturday’s walk down memory lane will involve the Boone City Band.

Event, Politics, State Fair, WPC - Reminder

President Quest 2020 – Pete Buttigieg – Volume 1

October 25, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

On my first stop to the Iowa State Fair, the trip where Baby Got Rack dominated the competition with our Meatloaf Cupcakes, I stuck around longer in the day to see 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg.

He was speaking at the Des Moines Register’s Soapbox. I badly underestimated how soon the crowd would line up to see him. I also badly underestimated how many people would show up to see him.

I cracked out one of my longest telephoto lenses and grabbed what pictures I could. It was hard to hear him, so I decided that I would have to go see Mayor Pete a second time, in a more intimate locale.

Here is a little information on Pete Buttigieg from the Wiki, the first openly gay candidate to run for the presidential nomination of a major political party.

Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg[1] ( /ˈbuːtɪdʒɪdʒ/ BOOT-ih-jij;[2][3] born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former U.S. Naval Reserve officer who has served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, since 2012. He is one of two combat veterans running for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2020 United States presidential election.[4]

After graduating from Harvard University and then from Pembroke College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship, Buttigieg worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company.[5] From 2009 to 2017 he served as an intelligence officer in the United States Navy Reserve, attaining the rank of lieutenant and deploying to Afghanistan in 2014.[6][7]

Buttigieg was elected Mayor of South Bend in 2011 and reelected in 2015. Before his reelection, he publicly came out as gay. On April 14, 2019, Buttigieg announced his candidacy in the 2020 United States presidential election,[8] after having formed an exploratory committee in January 2019.[9][10] His platform includes support for reducing income inequality, pro-environmental policies, cooperation between the Democratic Party and organized labor, universal background checks for firearms purchases, the Equality Act, a public option for health insurance, and preserving the DACA program for children of illegal immigrants. Buttigieg also supports reforms that would end gerrymandering, overturn the Citizens United v. FEC decision, and abolish the Electoral College.[11]

Here are some pictures of Mayor Pete:

I would see Mayor Pete again, a couple of months later.

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This is your reminder that this week’s WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE theme is LINES:

LINES

LINES photography, is the drawing the viewer’s eye along vertical, diagonal, parallel and horizontal lines.

Many subjects make LINES. Roads, paths, bridges, buildings. Just to name a few.

Happy photo harvesting!

Carla, House, Mom, Ruins, Slice of Life, Teresa

Time and Memory

October 22, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

I read a quote recently from Thomas Wolfe who that is reminiscent of a recent event of some note that happened in Boone, Iowa. An event that, while it escaped the pages of the “Boone News Repbulican”, will no doubt echo through the pages of time. The quote went something like this:

“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood … back home to a young man’s dreams of glory and of fame … back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time – back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.”

The event was that the boyhood home of Christopher D. Bennett was demolished. It was going to be the future site of the Christopher D. Bennett Museum, but now I suppose future generations will have to find a new location to venerate me.

I had two boyhood homes. One on West 15th Street where I lived until the 2nd Grade. It was torn down a long time ago. The only thing that remains of it is a garage that once held the Bennett Antique Store.

Between 1st Grade and 2nd Grade we moved to 415 Greene Street. This was important because it was after this move, I would meet most of the people that would matter in the shape (what there is of it) and direction (which there is even less of) of my life.

Life is far from linear, but in the story that is Christopher D. Bennett, moving to that house sent a million different things into motion. I wouldn’t be sitting where I am right now, typing what I am right now, if it wasn’t for that move.

Whether that is good or bad, you can debate behind my back ad nauseam.

I can remember having a sinking suspicion when my Mom moved out of that house that it would fall into a further state of disrepair. The house was not in bad shape, but it certainly was in need of a little love and elbow grease here and there.

I was worried that the house would fall into the possession of some notorious area slum lords, but it didn’t. It ended up being worse than that. The people who bought that were hoarders and they took a house that needed a few touches and ran it straight into the ground.

In less than a score of years, the house was condemned. Beyond reclamation. Slated for history’s ash heap.

Last Tuesday, the house was euthanized. Put out of its final misery. It was no longer a home. No longer a place of hopes and dreams. It was just a house. A collection of brick, beams, wood, pipes. It was time for it to go.

I got stuck at the computer mine a little late last Monday. I was a little behind schedule on my way home when Carla called me with the news.

I wasn’t sad to hear the news. It was actually relief. I have avoided driving down that street for years because it filled me with anger to see the state the old girl was in. After years, that rage had turned into sadness. Now it was over. I can drive down that street again.

Here are a few pictures of the house when it was a home to be remembered:

Here are pictures from the destruction of the house on 415 Greene Street:

I honestly thinking the house being torn down hurt my friends more than it hurt me or my sisters and Mom. It shows what it meant to so many people.

Andy, Animals, Carla, Cathie, History, Holidays, Kim, Linda, Michelle, Monica, Naima, Steph, Still Life, Tamara, WPC - Submissions

WPC – WEEK 213 – LOW PERSPECTIVE

October 14, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

Today is Indigenous Peoples’ Day… To some who don’t know about this holiday, here is are 5 ways to celebrate: from bustle.com:

1. Participate in Cultural Appreciation – No, cultural appreciation is not the same thing as cultural appropriation. Cultural appreciation is all about respecting different cultures, understanding the role you play in oppressing or erasing said culture, and not trivializing sacred cultural traditions by simply adopting them.

2. Donate to Indigenous People’s Rights Organizations – Consider donating to the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition, a group made up of five nations (and supported by 30 Native American Tribes!) who are in a battle to preserve Bear Ears National Monument that has come under threat because of the Trump administration. Or, donate to Stand With Standing Rock, the group formed of Native activists, different tribes, and allies who halted the Dakota Access Pipeline — and are still fighting against it.

3. Attend vigils, rallies, or other events that Native activists organize – On Indigenous People’s Day, let’s celebrate Native culture, but let’s also recognize why the holiday is needed in the first place. Systemic racism has long erased the narratives of indigenous people from American history, and contributes to the large health and wellness disparities Native Americans face today, when compared to all other Americans. Native American women are especially marginalized, as they are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted than women of any other race. Additionally, so many Native American women end up missing or murdered that North Dakota senators are calling it an “epidemic.” If Native Activists organize vigils or rallies on Indigenous People’s Day, try to show up and acknowledge the harm the United States has inflicted on different nations.

4. Purchase art from Native Americans – Put your money where your mouth is, and support indigenous communities’ artwork and business. Being an ally means showing support through action — not just talking.

5. Don’t just celebrate Indigenous People’s Day; actively disavow Columbus Day – No one’s trying to “rewrite American history,” Brenda — Native Americans have been brutalized and subjected to genocide since the inception of America, and as the popular chant goes: your silence is violence. Sign petitions if your city has yet to recognize Indigenous People’s Day, and don’t be hesitant to have conversations with other white people about why it’s important to celebrate it over Columbus Day.

Why does Christopher Columbus not deserve a holiday? Here is some information from owlcation.com:

For the second voyage to Haiti the following year (1493), Ferdinand and Isabella gave him the resources needed to subdue the population. When he returned to Haiti, Columbus demanded food, gold, and cotton thread, and was increasingly met with resistance. This resistance gave him the opportunity he needed to declare war on the Arawaks. According to Bartolomé de Las Casas, who was there with the Spanish, Columbus chose “200 foot soldiers and 20 cavalry, with many crossbows and small cannon, lances, and swords, and a still more terrible weapon against the Indians, in addition to the horses: this was 20 hunting dogs, who were turned loose and immediately tore the Indians apart.”

The Spanish won the war, of course, for the Arawaks had only rudimentary weapons. As Columbus still could not find the gold he sought, and needed to bring something back to Spain, he rounded up 1,000 Arawaks to be used as slaves. Five hundred of these he brought back to Spain, and the remaining 500 he gave to the Spanish then “governing” the island.

Tribute System
Though now in control of the Arawak Indians and their island Haiti, Christopher Columbus still could not find the gold that he was sure was somewhere on the island.

The Arawaks, I’m sure, were not very willing to tell him where it was. Therefore, he set up a “tribute system” which worked thus:

Every three months, each Haitian over 14 years of age would be required to pay Columbus with either 25 pounds in cotton or a large “hawk’s bell” of gold dust (a lot of gold dust.)

Once the slaves paid this, they would receive a metal token. This token was worn around their necks as a signal that they were home-free for another 3 months (during which time they saved up for their next token, of course.)

Those who did not pay had their nose & both of their hands chopped off.

Genocide
Due to the tribute system, the Arawaks were forced to work in the mines instead of growing food in their fields, which led to generalized malnutrition. According to a letter written by Pedro de Cordoba to King Ferdinand, “As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose and have chosen suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth…Many, when pregnant, have taken something to abort and have aborted. Others after delivery have killed their children with their own hands, so as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery.”

The initial Arawak population was estimated at 8,000,000. By 1516 only around 12,000 were still alive. By 1542, less than 200 remained. By 1555, the Arawaks were all gone
Thus, the crime of genocide was perpetuated by Christopher Columbus; not exactly what I learned in public school. He completely exterminated an entire race of 8,000,000 people –and that’s only counting one of the cultures he decimated. “Haiti under the Spanish is one of the primary instances of genocide in all human history.” – Dr. James W. Loewen

Transatlantic Slave Trade
Columbus wasn’t just into subjugating and decimating; he was also interested in the sexual aspect of slavery. According to a letter written by Michele de Cuneo, before his first voyage had even reached Haiti in 1492, “Columbus was rewarding his lieutenants with native women to rape.” Columbus wrote in 1500: “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.”

Aside from sexual slavery, there existed, of course, the aspect of using slavery for profit. When there were no more Arawaks to mine his gold for him–for they no longer existed–Columbus systematically depleted the Bahamas of their peoples for this task. Tens of thousands of slaves from the Bahamas were transported to Haiti, leaving the islands behind deserted. Peter Martyr reported in 1516: “Packed in below deck, with hatchways closed to prevent their escape, so many slaves died on the trip that a ship without a compass, chart, or guide, but only following the trail of dead Indians who had been thrown from the ships could find its way from the Bahamas to Hispaniola.”

After the new batch of slaves died, Columbus depleted Puerto Rico, and then Cuba. When they had all succumbed, he turned his eyes to Africa, thus establishing the transatlantic slave trade and the concept of “race.” Through his exploits in Haiti, Columbus lead the way for other European nations to begin seeking wealth through domination, conquest, and slavery. In essence, Columbus changed the world, and we recognize this in one way or another by delineating history as being either pre- or post-Columbian.

Getting rid of Columbus Day isn’t about “erasing history”, it is about decided who and what should be exalted by our society.

In short, Christopher Columbus was responsible for the extincion of an entire tribe of people that once numbered over 8 million! Then turned around and invented transatlantic slave trade.

Christopher Columbus does not deserve to be exalted.

Or to put it another way:

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For the third week in a row we have hit double digit submissions! Woohoo! LOW PERSPECTIVE didn’t lead to low participation rates.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates. You came to see the submissions:

Christopher D. Bennett

Andy Sharp

Kim Barker

Andy Sharp

Stephanie Kim

Michelle Haupt

Carla Stensland

Tamara Peterson

Cathie Raley

Kim Barker

Monica Henning

Linda Bennett

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

STILL LIFE

STILL LIFE! What a great theme! But what is a STILL LIFE photo? A STILL LIFE photo is a photo of an inanimate object. A picture of your kid, not STILL LIFE. A picture of a bowl of fruit. STILL LIFE. A picture of tools. STILL LIFE. A picture of your dog. Not STILL LIFE. If it isn’t alive and it is something you can arrange. That is a subject for STILL LIFE.

I look forward to seeing your interpretations!

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HOUSEKEEPING

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 RULES DIVISION

The picture has to be taken the week of the theme. This isn’t a curate your pictures challenge. This is a get your butt off the couch (my personal experience) and put your camera in your hands challenge. Don’t send me a picture of you next to the Eiffel Tower, when I know you were in Iowa all week. I will point out that I have let that slide some in the past. I will not in the future. Since it is literally about the only rule.

Your submission needs to be emailed to bennett@photography139.com by 11 AM on the Monday of the challenge due date.

I now allow people to text me their submissions. In the past, I had made exceptions for a couple people that aren’t real computer savvy, even though it was an inconvenience for me and required at least 3 extra steps for me. I am now lifting that embargo because I have a streamline way of uploading photos. I’m not giving out my phone number, but if you have it, you can text me.

It should be pointed out that this blog auto-publishes at 12:01 on Mondays. So it wouldn’t hurt to get your picture in earlier.

That is it, them’s the rules.

A MESSAGE FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY 139 SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION DIVISION

Nobody showed class, taste, and sophistication this week by signing up for a Photography 139 email subscription. I’ll try and do better next week.

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That’s all I got for today, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will commune right here again next Monday. Hopefully it will be a very still Monday!

Baseball/Softball, Candid Portrait, Dawn, House, Jesse, Lowell

2009-06-23

October 12, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

The pictures in the folder are mostly from a Little League game I attended that was coached by Jesse and Lowell. It doesn’t appear that I ever published those pictures before.

There are a couple of pictures of the Garden of Eden that is my backyard. Grapes, raspberries, garlic, and currants are all proudly on display!

I eventually tore out the currant bush because I couldn’t find anybody that wanted them. Dawn took some and made me a currant cheesecake, but that was about it. I kind of wish I still had the bush now, but I also wish that I took better care of my raspberry bush.

By adding these pictures to the Photography 139 Gallery, I was able to restore the following historic “An Artist’s Notebook” entry to its original glory:

What the Hades?

Next week’s walk down memory land will involve flowers!

Boone FUMC, Candid Portrait, Event, Holidays, Jaxon, Jodie Cue, Self-Portrait

Eastern Star Christmas Service – 2018

October 10, 2019 Christopher D. Bennett

More from the 2018 backlog. After knocking out pictures from the Eastern Star Trick-or-Treat night, put me in the mood to also knock out the pictures from the Christmas service that my church did at the Eastern Star Home last year.

These pictures include at least one person that has since passed away and people that have passed on from our church to a next phase of their life.