The Boulangerie is a regular, unscheduled feature of Technocomplex, appearing once or twice a week. It is for half-baked, rising dough, the just-now-in-the-oven entries. After all boulangerie in French is bakery. Entries are always very short. To find out when new loaves have been set out, follow @mrdelong@mastodon.online or watch Substack Notes.
Boulangerie: Beth Lilly's liminal interstates
Two collections from photographer Beth Lilly explore two "bardo" -- liminal spaces on US interstate highways.
November 24, 2023
I am drawn to websites with photography, and that has surprised me. It seems to be an interest that has emerged in the past three or so years. I regularly check out Blind Magazine. Check out the “About Us” page to get a feel for the publication, which is offered in French and English.
I was impressed by the photography and the essay by Beth Lilly, a photographer from Clarkston, Georgia. The piece, entitled “American Drivers,” focuses on Lilly’s “The Seventh Bardo” projects — there are two: one on landscapes and the other “portraits.” “Bardo is a Tibetian term that simply means a transition or intermediate state, the time between two states of being.”
View the projects on Lilly’s website. I particularly like “The Seventh Bardo: Portraits”
“The creation of the network of interstates upended how we thought of travel. Before, it meant going out into the world to discover new cultures, new ways of thinking. Driving on the interstate now means withdrawing into complete isolation, not only from fellow travelers (who pass you just feet away), but also isolated from the areas you pass through,” Lilly observes. “Typically, a journey unfolds in a linear fashion and moves through time, with specific landmarks and with a distinct past, present, and future. An interstate seems to defy that linear experience.”
Boulangerie: A boy and his horse
Cody Dorman died at 17-years-old. A story of a boy and a winning, loving horse.
November 20, 2023
I saw this obituary in the New York Times, and it made me think of the mysterious and wonderful connection that sometimes emerges between human beings and other creatures.
Cody Dorman was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, a genetic disease that affects multiple organs. Cody died at age 17. The story of his relationship with Cody’s Wish, a winning race track horse, is one for the books.
America’s Best Racing reported on Cody’s first encounter with the foal who was later named “Cody’s Wish”:
Given that foals tend to be skittish about anything they have not seen before such as a wheelchair, farm manager Danny Mulvihill was concerned about which foal they might bring out to meet Dorman. He settled on an unnamed son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, a Godolphin homebred.
“He was a nice, quiet, laid-back foal,” Mulvihill recalled. “It was very important from my point of view to see if we could get a foal close to Cody, knowing he was in a wheelchair.”
The foal eyed the boy and the wheelchair and began to inch closer until he was able to sniff around him for a bit. Then he laid his head in his lap. Pure bliss. For that instant, all was right in Cody’s world.
“It was one of those magical moments,” said Mary Bourne, the office manager who later named the foal Cody’s Wish.
Said Mulvihill: “This is a foal who almost by intuition knew what we wanted him to do.”
Horses are indeed amazing creatures, far more complex and understanding than most give them credit for. The bond of Cody Dorman and Cody’s Wish is just one example.
(Pictures from American’s Best Racing, BTW.)