2024 08 03
As a longtime obsessive news reader, Iāve been hard on myself for shifting increasingly more towards youtube in recent years. A big part of why I started this blog was because I was concerned about the amount of time I was spending consuming youtube vs. creating art of my own. That said, Iām still wildly pro youtube and am amazed by the amount of top notch, well-written, interesting, and informative content (not to mention entertaining) which is available on the website. As with anything in life, balance is crucial and avoiding rabbit holes or becoming radicalized is always to be monitored.
The recent Trump assassination attempt has been on my mind a lot and continues to be wildly confusing and concerning, not because I think I know what really happened or how it happened, but simply because it happened at all, regardless the cause. The video linked below by RealLifeLore does a really nice job of summarizing the long list of assassination attempts against sitting presidents and people in important positions. Many of the events mentioned I had completely forgotten about or didnāt even know happened! When they are all recapped in quick succession, it makes the history sound so much more insane.
I enjoy considering historic events and why they happen while endlessly ruminating on it inside the ole brain of mine, even if Iām not āgetting to the bottom of thingsā. Did you know a former mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak was assassinated while sitting next to then president-elect of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt? Had that single bullet struck its likely-intended target, the world would be a far different place today, and poor Anton wouldāve been able to return home to the greatest city in the world. What a world.
-Clayton
Image made for Chicago Magazine at the best new restaurant: Warlord. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
As a longtime obsessive news reader, Iāve been hard on myself for shifting increasingly more towards youtube in recent years. A big part of why I started this blog was because I was concerned about the amount of time I was spending consuming youtube vs. creating art of my own. That said, Iām still wildly pro youtube and am amazed by the amount of top notch, well-written, interesting, and informative content (not to mention entertaining) which is available on the website. As with anything in life, balance is crucial and avoiding rabbit holes or becoming radicalized is always to be monitored.
The recent Trump assassination attempt has been on my mind a lot and continues to be wildly confusing and concerning, not because I think I know what really happened or how it happened, but simply because it happened at all, regardless the cause. The video linked below by RealLifeLore does a really nice job of summarizing the long list of assassination attempts against sitting presidents and people in important positions. Many of the events mentioned I had completely forgotten about or didnāt even know happened! When they are all recapped in quick succession, it makes the history sound so much more insane.
I enjoy considering historic events and why they happen while endlessly ruminating on it inside the ole brain of mine, even if Iām not āgetting to the bottom of thingsā. Did you know a former mayor of Chicago Anton Cermak was assassinated while sitting next to then president-elect of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt? Had that single bullet struck its likely-intended target, the world would be a far different place today, and poor Anton wouldāve been able to return home to the greatest city in the world. What a world.
-Clayton
2024 03 06
Everyone is safe, which is all that matters. The moments during the fire, which woke you up in the middle of the night, confused, smelling smoke in the air, seeing the lights and the hearing the commotion out the window but unsure what was happening, are now seared into your brain. You step outside onto the back porch to try and gauge what is happening and see your neighbor rushing outside of his house. āEveryone is safe,ā he yells up to you in a voice that doesnāt sound like his own.
It is no longer a home but a place transformed into somewhere that something happened. The first floor is dirty, wet and disheveled as if I college keg party had taken place during the night only to have the participants flee from any cleanup responsibilities. There are streaks of mud on the floors and walls showing the movements of people at a different time. Walking up the stairs, the space is transformed into something unrecognizable. The ceiling and roof are missing, revealing charred wooden beams and a view of the late afternoon sky above. Coldness fills the air giving a clear feeling of abandonment. The floor everywhere is spongey and wet with debris scattered throughout, making movement difficult and dangerous. You get the sensation that the floor may be structurally compromised from all the weight of things.
I then realize this is likely the last time I will be in this place and, unknowingly, my last visit to this home had already occurred without me knowing it. Something monotonous that was actually meaningful. Everything has changed in a moment. The structure will need to be demolished and replaced with something new; it will be made from modern materials and of a modern design; another old growth, hand crafted, century old home lost to time, never to return. New people will eventually fill the space, completing the transition into something fully unfamiliar and new. One spark from a busted furnace altering the course of lives.
Itās at this time you take to heart lifeās fragile reality, rearrange your priorities a bit, and call your insurance broker to get some clarity on what your fire coverage is like in a worst-case scenario ā the kind you previously never considered one day might happen to you.
-Clayton
Aftermath of a neighborsā house fire. Chicago, Illinois. February, 2024. Ā© Clayton Hauck
Everyone is safe, which is all that matters. The moments during the fire, which woke you up in the middle of the night, confused, smelling smoke in the air, seeing the lights and the hearing the muffled commotion out the window but unsure what was happening, are now seared into your brain. You step outside onto the back porch to try and gauge what is happening and see your neighbor rushing outside of his house. āEveryone is safe,ā he yells up to you in a voice that doesnāt sound like his own.
It is no longer a home but a place transformed into somewhere that something happened. The first floor is dirty, wet and disheveled as if a college keg party had taken place during the night only to have the participants flee from any cleanup responsibilities. There are streaks of mud on the floors and walls showing the movements of people at a different time. Walking up the stairs, the space is transformed into something unrecognizable. The ceiling and roof are missing, revealing charred wooden beams and a view of the late afternoon sky above. Coldness fills the air giving a clear feeling of abandonment. The floor everywhere is spongey and wet with debris scattered throughout, making movement difficult and dangerous. You get the sensation that the floor may be structurally compromised from all the weight of things.
You then realize this is likely the last time you will be in this place and, unknowingly, your last visit to this home had already occurred without even knowing it. Something monotonous that was actually meaningful. Everything has changed in a moment. The structure will need to be demolished and replaced with something new; it will be made from modern materials and of a modern design; another old growth, hand crafted, century old home lost to time, never to return. New people will eventually fill the space, completing the transition into something fully unfamiliar and new. One spark from a busted furnace altering the course of lives.
Itās at this time you take to heart lifeās fragile reality, rearrange your priorities a bit, and call your insurance broker to get some clarity on what your fire coverage is like in a worst-case scenario ā the kind you previously never considered one day might happen to you.
-Clayton