Basically, there just is nothing here in the southern end of Manitoba. Now I hear that the northern end is more interesting but the Northern end is so far away that it takes like 24 hours just to get there and that’s assuming perfect weather and horrible roads. You could fly…

But this is about road attractions. See in Manitoba all the towns are tiny and this being flat ground, there just is not much in the way of geologic formations. The country is not that old and since it is so vast, historical preservation is a relatively new concept so attractions tend to be settler related and most of the settler establishments that sound interesting in a history book are long gone in real life. The stuff that is around is like the west wall of a fort, not a whole fort mind you, a place to explore and photograph, no just like 1 wall; fascinating…

Now, apparently, there are some fossils around Winkler/Morden, I say apparently because I have never seen them. Oh I wanted to but the presentation was so awful that I just went home.

Let me set the scene; Nina and I were coming back from the states a little trip into the western part of North Dakota. So we had already been in the car for over 4 hours and the thinking was, lets just get back to Winnipeg. But hey, there’s a sign for a Manitoba attraction and this one is for fossils. Its said “Fossils 2 KM” with an arrow to the left; hey, how bad can that be, fossils 2 klicks ahead? It was mid-afternoon a short stop to check out some fossils might be fun after half a day in the car. Problem was there was a lot of road construction and not too many road signs ahead. Well, two clicks ain’t far so I cruise on down the road but there are no signs, no turns, no indications, no nothing. A few clicks ahead later I see a road on my left but no signs of any kind. No road signs, arrows, nothing and the road is kinda hard to see with all the orange mesh and barrels everywhere “Maybe that’s the road” or maybe not so I keep going. A few more klicks and still nothing. Clearly that was the turn and now I need to bust a U. I pull over and after waiting a while for the traffic to thin on this main road reduced to two tiny lanes due to construction and I can turn around. I approach the unmarked road now from the other side but still no signs for what this road is or where it goes. I take the road anyway, I mean this must be it and I am quickly rewarded with the tell-tale silhouette of the Manitoba attractions sign. As I get closer I see “Fossils 57 KM”

57?! The last sign said 2! So the 57 might simply mean 57 km to the next turn? Hell with this.

So even if they seem interesting, you gotta find them first…

That would not be much of a comparison. Kinda like comparing a Cheetah to a tree frog really. But in ,many ways I do have an easier time. Of course Michelangelo was easily the best Sculptor (Moses, David, Pieta) who ever lived, one of the best Renaissance Painters (see the Sistine Chapel), poet, architect (St. Peters dome) and so much more.

But, he had real disadvantages comparatively: Michelangelo had to write letters to correspond with his family. I can pick up the phone and call mine. They may not answer of course but I can leave a message. Michelangelo had to travel by horseback for a week to go from his native Florence to Rome. I made the trip via high-speed rail in less than 2 hours cost about 60 Euro round trip.

I can get on the internet and send photos or my work all over the world, post them on this website, print them and hang them on the wall, mail them to friends. In Michelangelo’s time, people would travel for weeks to see his latest masterpiece. (Actually, I think he wins that one, if people traveled weeks to see my latest work THAT would be an accomplishment.)
Michelangelo lived under a theocracy with a tyrannical pontiff Julius II known as “Il papa terribli” (The terrible Father). Come to think of it I was living in a Theocracy too, at least until I moved out of the states and away from George “I talk to God everyday” Bush. Of course Pope Julius the II ruled for a lot longer than 8 years and the Constitutional protections did not exist (even in their currently shredded form).

Honestly, communication, politics and possibility are far better today then they were in the Renaissance, this website is a testament to that, scheduled elections are a testament to that, modern medicine is a testament to that, signing onto my web-cam is a testament to that. Flying to Europe to photograph Michelangelo’s master pieces is a testament to that.
However, despite clear superiority in travel, and medicine and food and so many other things. Millions of people travel to Italy every year to see sculptures of Michelangelo, paintings by DaVinci and Raphael, Baroque Churches and the Ancient Coliseum. Is it possible that art was better then than it is now?
Michelangelo apprenticed under a master sculpture for a decade; he learned the art of fresco from accomplished guildsmen and local legends. In the Renaissance Art was a craft, a career; you could become a star like being a stockbroker only without the red bull. (Michelangelo even had his own personal biographer) Basically, great artists were the “big swinging dicks” of the Renaissance.

Art today is a folly, a diversion, a hobby or worse, the pursuit of shameless self-promotion (Britney, Boy Bands, Reality TV, etc). Will people 500 years from now make a pilgrimage to see the birthplace of Mel Gibson?
I have been writing poetry for 15 years and yet my formal training consists of a single 1 semester course at an engineering University over a decade ago. I worked at a photography studio for a single year and had to learn the rest the hard way. We, as an era of humanity, have been bewitched by the notion of the self-made artist and the results are obvious; plenty of vision, paucity of skill.

Think of it this way…
Michelangelo lived over 500 years ago but he still gets more Google hits than most people who are alive today. That speaks volumes.