The crop of 20th century eccentrics who made Key West the desirable haven it is today, even as struggles to gentrify continue, has been thinning rather alarmingly of late. The businessman Frank Romano who figured out how to sell aloe and was one of the leading voices in the creation of Fantasy Fest died recently
Romano and his partner (what a strange title that is in our homophobic world) had a head for numbers and an ability to sell, but those traits that are so frequently used as an excuse to diminish individuality and creativity were expressed in the exact opposite way to the benefit of the community at large. Carolyn Fuller also died recently as did the owner and creator of the Sign of Sanford Gallery, whose passing comes to mind when I ride Simonton Street. Fuller was not a loud voice in key West but her presence near the cemetery did not pass unnoticed.
I was walking past Fuller's former home, site of the bottle wall which became the mirror wall in an effort to keep pedestrians and vehicles out of her yard, and I got to thinking about that passage of time problem. Time passes faster the older we get because we come to understand there is nothing new under the sun and repetition is the enemy of long lived memories. If you notice the days passing in a flurry of speed it's because there is too much routine in your life. And yet how do we mere mortals escape routines in a world driven by same-ness and repetition? By being eccentric perhaps.
It happens from time to time that I end up wondering what it would have been like had I found a career path in my youth and followed it straight into middle age? I watch youngsters in the police department doing just that and I fear for their breadth of experience and the precipitous flight into middle age that daily routines will bring as they settle into what is probably one of the best and most secure jobs one could find.
Such speculation is fruitless- we can't all be eccentric artists or travelers by inclination. Routines must dominate for most of us, and this Memorial Day weekend is a reminder of mortality and the annual start of the national summer season. It will invade Key West this weekend of course, when I will be working all night each night, but yesterday afternoon the city was a sleepy little hamlet with empty streets down which you could shoot the proverbial cannon. What was I doing Memorial Day last year? Or the year before...?
Romano and his partner (what a strange title that is in our homophobic world) had a head for numbers and an ability to sell, but those traits that are so frequently used as an excuse to diminish individuality and creativity were expressed in the exact opposite way to the benefit of the community at large. Carolyn Fuller also died recently as did the owner and creator of the Sign of Sanford Gallery, whose passing comes to mind when I ride Simonton Street. Fuller was not a loud voice in key West but her presence near the cemetery did not pass unnoticed.
I was walking past Fuller's former home, site of the bottle wall which became the mirror wall in an effort to keep pedestrians and vehicles out of her yard, and I got to thinking about that passage of time problem. Time passes faster the older we get because we come to understand there is nothing new under the sun and repetition is the enemy of long lived memories. If you notice the days passing in a flurry of speed it's because there is too much routine in your life. And yet how do we mere mortals escape routines in a world driven by same-ness and repetition? By being eccentric perhaps.It happens from time to time that I end up wondering what it would have been like had I found a career path in my youth and followed it straight into middle age? I watch youngsters in the police department doing just that and I fear for their breadth of experience and the precipitous flight into middle age that daily routines will bring as they settle into what is probably one of the best and most secure jobs one could find.Such speculation is fruitless- we can't all be eccentric artists or travelers by inclination. Routines must dominate for most of us, and this Memorial Day weekend is a reminder of mortality and the annual start of the national summer season. It will invade Key West this weekend of course, when I will be working all night each night, but yesterday afternoon the city was a sleepy little hamlet with empty streets down which you could shoot the proverbial cannon. What was I doing Memorial Day last year? Or the year before...?
3 comments:
There are a great number of people in the land of your birth who have never ventured outside their home village - this you know.
The others?
A friend of mine once likened the experience to being seated in a movie theater with 200 people in the audience. All are rapt with attention for the screen - save you. You look around and question why everyone is engrossed in the screen until your eyes alight on another with the same question.
These are the people who are attracted to Key West.
The average age of my motorcycles is 37 years; i ride them not only daily - they are ridden barefoot.
that's got to account for something.
Finally - Rick Worth moved into the house with the bottle sculpture, so the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Eccentric in my own way,
Chuck.
That being the case I take it the art on display is by Worth...
Michael--
Eccentricity is the key to living a life like no other's. It alters the space-time continuum in some fashion.
I made a statement on Facebook the other day about having a beer at Turtle Kraal's with some famous musician...a woman I've known for almost 30 years now thought I was the most eccentric person on earth.
To me, it's just being normal.
Greg P. In WV, where no such "normal" exists
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