I've flipped through my negative sleeves and then finally turned to my digital libraries and found a photo I took a while ago that expresses my mood when I read about greedy corporations. It's a photo of someone peeking into a dumpster. I chose it because I think that when our taxes and our Federal financial situation are helping the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we're going to end up with such a class divide in this country that you either throw your food into a dumpster, or you find your food in one.
I've been known to take walks down alleys here and there for some fun dumpster-diving. I think it should be an official sport in the Olympics, actually. I found a perfectly good glass cabinet once and it's still in my kitchen holding my spices and Tupperware. I also picked up an old window once and turned it into a little art project- taking the glass out, sanding the many layers of paint down, and then using it as a picture frame. Looks neat.
Most photographers or thrifty artists rely on thrift stores, alleys, and curbs for their supplies- especially tree-huggers like me who would rather re-use an old chair than see it slowly degrade in a landfill. (Who would throw away a perfectly good chair if you can sit on it without falling over? I've never seen a chair so ugly that I won't even put my butt on it. Are we Americans really that snobbish?)
I guess if I have a point to this rambing, it's that I hope there never comes a day when all of the thrifty dumster-diving artists out there ever stop looking in garbages for fun art supplies and start looking for food. I started re-reading some Studds Terkel books on the Great Depression... for tips on how to survive. Just in case.
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