of subversives and countersubversives

Hartford, Vt.

Quechee, Vt.


Sharon, Vt.

In the top two images the message is clear but you might need a little help with the last one. For months like a Zen koan it has been there, written in magic marker on the pump at the trading post where I get gas, its meaning a little puzzle I turn over in my mind as the tank fills. I didn’t think to photograph it until it was gone. If you look hard enough you can still see it: Free Tibet, Not Public Rest Rooms. I noticed this morning that someone had almost managed to scrub it clean. A sad day for freedoms, I guess, for Tibetans, bathrooms and public expression. But ignoring the slogans themselves, I find these little acts of subversion and countersubversion fascinating. I wonder at what compelled them, both the move and the countermove. A sense of conviction, a sense of humor, or lack thereof? And how strange that the stop signs and gas pumps of Vermont should be the battlegrounds for these ideas to meet.