I managed to have a few extra minutes the other night and caught an episode of Cash Cab on the Discovery Channel and was amazed that two people missed a question in which they had to identify a llama. I guess I am so conditioned to knowing of so many different types of farm animals from being a product of the rural Midwest that I didn't even consider it possible for other people to have never seen these creatures. 

A Good Forum Discussing Many Different Opinions of The Midwest

Here is a really great forum of different people responding to the topic "Why do so many people hate the Midwest?"


Why Do So Many People Hate The Midwest?

Pet Prosthetics

I think it is absolutely incredible that scientists have been able to develop prosthetics for our pets. Because domestic pets are typically treated like family members, many have gone to great lengths to improve their lives after an unfortunate incident resulting in the loss of a limb. I am hoping that by developing these prototypes that the same approach can be taken towards other types of animals. Here is a video of a more recent dog leg prosthetic. 

Final Renders For My Horse Prosthetics

I am still currently working on these horse leg prosthetics in conjunction with other farm animal prosthesis productions. I am planning on prototyping these out of wood and actually making them function using servomotors. Does anyone out there have any ideas for other farm animal prosthetics? I am currently beginning one for a pig, which I will post later this week. Enjoy.

Lima Locamotive Works

Sadly, many of the Midwestern train stations have shut down. These railways were not only a main source of transportation for goods, but for people as well. In my home town of Lima, Ohio, the trains still run (only carrying goods, not passengers) but not nearly as often as they used to. Our main locomotive center closed many years ago and is now a desolate waste of land with crumbled buildings...not adding to the "beautiful" scenery.

Two Enthusiastic Ohio Rappers (specifically Columbus rapper)

A School Project that I found on You Tube...Sarcastic and funny yet mildly (hardly) informative

A Day in the Life of a County Fair Enthusiast

I thought this was an interesting assignment for this class, so i thought I would post it on this blog. We had to do a post and go through the "day and the life" of someone, so I chose to go through my day/week at the county fair.

To begin, the following images are not in chronological order, however, I will do my best to take you through my day at Lima, Ohio's Allen County Fair. This county fair is one of the biggest in Ohio and has been in existence for 151 years. I have been attending this week long event since the day I was born and haven't missed one yet. Though I did not raise livestock, i was at one point an avid 4-H member participating in the k-9 program (showing an training dogs-much like AKC dog shows on TV). I look forward to it every year, and though some might think I am crazy for loving the smell of animals and fried foods and getting my feet muddy walking the grounds, to them i say, don't knock it before you try it. This past summer I had the opportunity to photograph the fair everyday for a week, and here are just some of the thousands of photos I walked away with. Have fun enjoying the sights of a home town county fair.

One of the Fair's entertainment options, The Rough Truck Contest....Locals get to take old trucks and modify them and race them through a dirt track hoping for the best time and the first place prize.

Buck Cherry, Papa Roach, and Hinder performed this year at our fair. Even though I do not care for any of these bands, it was still great entertainment for many others

Though I'm not much of a ride enthusiast anymore, I still love this double ferris wheel...it has become the Allen County Fair's icon and has been around for as long as I can remember.

Watching the 4-H horse riders practice after a hard rain....caught a glimpse of a young rider in a mud puddle. Definitely got splashed a few good times trying to get this photo.

the classic pony ride

I can't even count the number of screaming children walking off of this ride. They seem kind of primitive compared to roller coasters, but these rides are a blast, even if they are propelled by old tires and rusty chains.

One of the many things available to purchase at the fair...Many of the local growers enter their produce in competitions...biggest tomato, tallest corn stalk, heaviest pumpkin etc. You name it, and the fair probably has a category of competition for it. They also have categories for best baked cake, oldest antiques, and quilt sewing.

Yet another classic ride, the swings. This little boy was reaching for his sisters hand.

One of the many animals just hanging around. This cow was too goofy to not take a photo of, great shadow and snot too.

The "Best Dressed Pig" competition put on by the 4-H members. Kids as young as 4 years old gate these big pigs around in costumes that they choose and hope they can come away with the big prise. I think this pig was supposed to be little bow peep.

Just two sisters hanging out and milking their goat. The 4-Hers have to stay at the fair and camp all week, usually in RVs or tents to take care of their animals day and night.

enjoying the fun house attraction.

Ticken sales woman...

Continued Thoughts

To continue thoughts on a previous post and the “dry up” of rural/small town Midwest, I began to wonder if the inhabitants of these smaller towns don’t feel that they are “behind” as far as development…perhaps they are completely content with a slower paced lifestyle that does not need nor welcome change. Our world is in the midst of a technological revolution, It’s not that I find it strange for people to want to live a simple life, with little to no technological application or advancement, I just don’t understand why you would not want to at least investigate and keep up with the rest of the ever changing world.

Okie Noodling

Fishing Derby Photo
www.okienoodling.com

My instructor for this class recommended that I check out this movie in conjunction with talking about Midwestern culture. Though Oklahoma is technically not part of the midwest, it reminded me of a lot of different people and values associated with the Midwest. It reminded me of a much more challenging and intense version of fishing derbies...for those of you not familiar with what a fishing derby is, it is a fish catching challenge in which you use a cane pole with no reel and there are multiple categories that you can win prizes in (longest fish, heaviest fish etc). A great documentary nonetheless and a pretty incredible sport to witness. I will post some photos of a local fishing derby that I covered over the summer as well as the movie cover and a photo from the website

Dried Up - Rural Development

This summer, as part of one of my seemingly ridiculous work tasks, I had to meander around town looking for photographs of dry crops. At the time it seemed completely meaningless and I thought, what a “great story” for people to read in the newspaper...however after further thoughts, I realized how much of an integral part American farms, and more importantly Midwestern farms are to our countries economic welfare. This summer was a very bad growing season. Though I grow bored at times of driving through miles and miles of corn, soy beans, wheat, pumpkin patches, and apple orchards, I have at least finally found appreciate for them after 20 years of living amidst them. I have always felt that the Midwest, especially being a product of small town Ohio, is dried up. Sure, our land has a lot to offer, and there are great people here with old town family values, but as far as development, It seems to be in a recession (and many would argue that is in conjunction with the rest of the country, and I'm not disagreeing with that), but as far as rural development, I think the recession started long before now. Urbanization and growth has definitely taken place within the larger cities, but it seems like the smaller ones are getting left behind, becoming ghosts of once good things, and that makes me sad. Maybe I'm wrong, but maybe the old town family values aren't enough to spark change in the rural Midwest. What do the bigger cities have that the smaller one's don't? Both are filled with intelligent people with great ideas for change and improvement, is it lack of money or lack if initiative, or both? Until next time. 

Here is the actual model I have created for the chicken foot prosthetics that I promised. More thoughts and comments on the life of the midwest like I also promised to come later this week.

Chicken Prosthetics That I promised

Horse Prosthetics

Until I get my Chicken Prosthetic piece posted, here are the Horse Prosthetics that I am currently working on. Right now they are in a hybrid cross between the actual horse bone structure and the prosthetic structure.

Chicken Farming

The Midwest is known for it's farming and livestock operations. Cattle, llamas, chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, horses...you name it, and the Midwest probably has it. Lately I have been fascinated with the Chicken farming process. Just to clear this out of the air, I am not a PETA activist nor am I a vegetarian. However, while investigating farming systems for one of my class projects, I learned a lot about how some of these farms (especially large slaughter houses)operate. Later today I will be including a post that will feature my latest piece that I finished in December 2007. It features a line of Chicken Prosthetics that I designed that are meant to be taken as a satirical way to fix many of the common problems that chicken farms specifically are facing because of the evolution and sometimes the lack of technology. Many of these birds lose their wings, have their beaks cut, and ultimately die because of the need for the products that they produce . Rather than explain how these farms operate, I am posting a great video that I found on You Tube that does these everyday farms justice. I am also posting one of my favorite videos from Wonder Showzen (if you haven't seen it, it is pretty funny, on MTV2) about the chicken dinner factory. This one is not meant to be taken seriously, though I do find it humorous that the show took time to visit the place where many of our dinners come from.


45 Days in the Life of a Broiler Chicken








Wonder Showzen- The Chicken Dinner Factory

Once again, another one of my favorite photographs of a pony ride at a county fair. Midwestern means of entertainment at its finest.

While working for a small newspaper in Ohio, I managed to get this photo before the lightning started to set in before a storm. It reminds me of how I feel many people see the Midwest, a desolate farm land filled with lost buildings and barns. Any thoughts?

A geographic and demographic overview of the Midwest

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image:census_regions_and_ divisions.png

According to my research, the term Midwest, or "Middle West" originated in the 19th century and its territory is bound by the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys and the Great Lakes. The original Midwestern states included those in the Northwest Ordinance (which covered all of the modern states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota) and the other six states were acquired during the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Currently the Midwestern States of America Include:

Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wisconsin. According to the 2006 U.S. Census, the estimated population of this region is 66,217,736

The largest city in the midwest is Chicago, followed by Detroit and Indianapolis. Other notable large cities within the region include: Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, De Moines, Kansas City, Madison, St. Louis, Wichita, Omaha, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee.

New Readers:

Just to give you some insight, I intend for this blog to be a discussion place of Midwestern society, somewhat sarcastic and satirical at times, but by no means a degrading write up on the people in the Midwest. Being from Ohio myself, I want to explore a society in which many of us grew up, and look a the the changes and sometimes stagnant culture that we exist in. I want to critically analyze the seemingly mediocre aspects of the Midwest and look at them in comparison to the rest of the world that continues to move through an era of technological revolution. While discussing and exploring these issues, I will also be introducing some of my artwork that deals with many of these topics, specifically focusing on rural existence and the American livestock farming system.