the elizabethan world picture

west side market, cleveland, ohio
Originally uploaded by Theresa K.

i take pictures of signs, buildings, etc. that have my name on them. there's a building in hoboken, nj on garden street named "theresa," and there's a little street in cleveland called "theresa ct." in london, there is a "st. theresa's square" which was very near where i worked and of course there are a million italian restaurants called "theresa's" although many of them spell it wrong.

this is a photo taken in the west side market in cleveland. i have a friend named jim, as well as a first cousin named jim (he and i are only 6 months apart as well - very close childhood buddies) -- so i thought it was funny that these two vendors were next door to each other.

but it also represents to me a set of correspondences - correspondences as i understand them vis a vis my favorite book that explains everything - THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD PICTURE by EMW Tillyard. he taught at jesus college, cambridge - which is one of the colleges i attended there during a "summer abroad" session of my undergraduate years. the book was required reading for students studying shakespeare and marlowe. and it should be. it really does explain everything, and during the three months i sojourned in california, living with my jesus freak sister, THE ELIZABETHAN WORLD PICTURE gave me the only solace i knew.

a lot of people just don't get it - everyone has a cuckoo relative - but most people are lucky enough that the cuckoo relative is not a first degree relative.

repeating the insanity only drives me insane.... suffice it to say, i enjoyed reading the "unsaved" interpretations of how the world got to be the way it was - and explanations of angels and the like through the elizabethan purview.

on another note entirely, seeing Jim's Meats and Theresa's Bakery next to each other corresponds to the properties of cooking and baking and my life. baking is an unforgiving craft if you're talking about breads and cakes. in this craft, you must be exact and exacting or else everything falls apart. however -- if you are using the oven to bake meat, then the method is a forgiving one with lots of leeway, unlike the stove top, where a minute too much of direct fire heat can ruin a meal in a flash.

i learned something today that took me quite by surprise. the lesson i took from the news is that i must stop being subtle.