Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that many who post in this series already know one another to some degree, but we welcome guests at our kitchen table and hope to make some new friends as well.
I was having trouble with DK the other night — came into KTK on Tuesday and had trouble commenting. Mind you, it was a complicated comment I was trying to post, going back and forth to capture links and quotes. And I lost my drafts three times. They went poof. So I gave up!
What I was trying to post about was the bust of York, the statue that mysteriously appeared in February on an empty pedestal in Mount Tabor Park some time ago. The pedestal had been empty since October, 2020 because, during the BLM protests, a statue of a conservative white dude was pulled down. In turn, in July, the bust of York was defaced and pulled down — a great shame because York is an unsung figure in Pacific Northwest history, the first black person to make the overland journey to these parts as part of theLewis and Clark expedition. He didn’t make the journey by choice, he was enslaved to Clark. And though no one knows what York actually looked like, the bust gave the viewer an idea.
Portland Parks has been considering how to restore or redo this bust of York and install it somewhere… But meanwhile, the Mount Tabor Park pedestal has been mysteriously occupied again — Bird flipping the bird takes up residence at site of former York statue on Mount Tabor. Yes, the figure of a giant crow giving the finger (as if such a thing were physically possible) appeared on the pedestal. And a message was written on the plaque below:
“Dear Portlanders,” the plaque reads. “How about taking pride in your city; let’s clean it and accelerate a recovery from the mayhem that has decimated the downtown economy.”
“Stop reacting like idiots and commission an actual bust of York for this location,” the plaque continued.
It is signed Philip D. Bird.
The crow will go. Portland Parks will be taking the “unauthorized art” down. But I hope York will be back. In proper bronze, if possible. I love that statue.
As an aside, Portland Parks has another statue dilemma. After being damaged in the downtown protests, Portland’s beloved elk statue is still in an undisclosed location. That’s another vacant pedestal that was once occupied for a century.
So that is some light news on a day of dark news about the pandemic. I think we’ll all be hunkering down for the holidays again because too many remain unvaccinated. Did you hear? The Washington Post is reporting, Santas are also in short supply this year, which leads to some intriguing alternatives
With his magical workshop and vast contingent of workers, Santa is usually a guy who understands supply and demand. But maybe that only applies to toys: There are more parties this year, and there are also fewer Santas available. The pandemic hit the Santa Claus community hard, for obvious reasons: Many of the men who play the role are at high risk in the covid-19 pandemic, because of their age. The Santa physique (see: "bowl full of jelly") tends to check off a not-so-nice list of potential co-morbidities, starting with a high BMI.
“Several hundred Santas and Mrs. Clauses, over the last 18 months, have passed away, and it’s just a tragedy,” says Allen, though he cautions that not all of those deaths may have been attributable to covid-19. Other Santas, wary of the risks of being around germy, potentially unvaccinated children, have decided to sit yet another pandemic holiday out, or retire.
I don’t blame any Santas for sitting out this year! Do you?
Anyway, enough of that. Come in, be comfortable, and share your day, your weekend plans, your menus! This is an open thread.