SandBox
From Plastic Tub
To understand the genesis of Mister Wilson’s photography, one must do a little digging through the roots of his family tree.
It all begins 120 years ago with his great-grandfatherWilhelm Ratzinger, born in 1880 near Chicago, Illinois, the son of a German immigrant and pig farmer. Wilhelm was an ambitious lad who found the contraints of midwestern society chaffed against his sense of adventure. Thus at the tender age of 17 he made his way westward in search of his fortune.
Ratzinger made his way to New Mexico where in quick succession he worked as a roughneck, stable boy, mail courrier and finally, down on his heels and contemplating suicide, as his journals recount, he was employed by a "shifty and unscrupulous" character who supplied the local army garrison with pork. Ratzinger could not escape the pig, it would seem, and he dutifully began his life as a swine driver.
His life on the pig trails was a colorful one, full of hardship but also great whimsy. He took to wearing a bright red poncho and was nicknamed "the Cardinal." On one such pig run in May, 1900, a photographer accompanied the swine driver as he drove his herd from Albuquerque to Denver.
Carnival Play: A (More-or-Less) Pantomime Script
Characters:
- Bacchus (or a fat roman)
- Harlequin
- A creole woman
- A ditzy secretary
- An angry noble Venetian style
The current time is 14:58.
Archived Text:
- SandBox/Archive8-20-2005 holds text from inception through 8/20/05 (at 15:39).
- SandBox/Archive11-2-05 holds text from the creation of Archive # 1 through 11/2/05 (at 2:16).
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