Category: Visual

Yerkes Observatory, built in 1895, is a historic astronomy research institution near the north shore of Geneva Lake in Wisconsin, owned by the University of Chicago. In early summer 2018, My sister Patty told me Yerkes Observatory was ending its public tours in October. In late June, I drove up there to take a look around, and to get some photos of Yerkes. Patty and Paul recently bought a cottage near the north shore, east of Yerkes, across Williams Bay. My grandfather originally had rented a cottage for his kids in Williams Bay many years ago. Eventually he purchased one near the south shore when his kids had families. Each family would spend about 3 weeks there during the summer. My parents later owned homes there, and eventually Patty would as well. Our earliest memories of Yerkes were viewing it across the lake from the south shore. Above the trees, you could clearly see the 3 observatories: the large one at the west end and the two smaller ones east. Lately, the smaller ones have become harder to see as the trees have matured further and begun to obscure their view from the lake. My parents took us on the Yerkes tour when we were young and we observed the interior of the majestic structure we previously only viewed on the horizon above the shoreline. We are hoping that Yerkes’ historic significance is appreciated and the institution is respected and endures.

Earlier this summer when I first heard about the Great 2017 American Eclipse, Carbondale, IL was its ground zero, as it would spend the longest duration in Totality, or total eclipse. My family considered renting an RV and spending a long weekend downstate to experience it, but for a number of reasons, it wasn’t going to be possible. I wound up spending that weekend visiting my daughter Natalia in Austin, Texas. After a nice stay with her, I boarded flight 1258 on Frontier Airlines Monday morning, August 21, around 11. As I entered the aircraft, I asked the stewardess who was greeting passengers if the flight would cross the eclipse. Her response was basically “Oh, gee, I guess it might.” I asked her if the pilot could give us advance notice on the intercom just prior. She said she would relay my request to the pilot. I found seat 19B, and settled in a few rows behind a guy already asleep with his head leaning against his shuttered window.

I don’t think the stewardess request was necessary, because as soon as the door was closed, the pilot made an announcement telling us they would increase airspeed some, and deviate slightly from the normal route so the flight would intersect the Totality zone approaching the Illinois border just west of Carbondale. We would be experiencing the full effect of the eclipse a little after 1. Amazing luck! I ordered a drink, deleted some stuff on my phone, and made sure I had plenty of memory for photos. Around 12:30, I began watching the sky thru the window. We were above light cloud cover. Around 12:45, I noticed the faintest dimming of light. It was as if clouds were slowly starting to obstruct the sun, but the clouds were miles below us. By 12:55, it was very noticeable. The deep blue sky around us was turning grey-blue. By 1, it had the appearance of late twilight. At 1:05, it was total eclipse. Dark as night, Totality lasted around 2 minutes. As gently and eerily as we entered the Great 2017 American Eclipse, we left it. By 1:20, this event of a lifetime was over. Three rows in front of me, the guy remained asleep, oblivious to wonder.

I first became aware of Polish Poster Art when I went with Stan Borys to the Opole Music Festival in June of 1991. There were copies of a charming poster advertising the event all over: on the side of the hotel, in the cafe and restaurant windows, at the entrance to the train station, on placards at the taxi stands, everywhere. I was mesmerized by the simplicity of the image. It was a canary with an elegant opera singer standing on its back, being led by a very formal butler. There was a medallion with details of the event in the upper left corner, and a tacked on strip of paper saying Opole ’91 in the upper right corner. I asked the woman at the front desk of the hotel where I could buy a copy of the poster. She gave me an amused look and told me they were not for sale, but I was welcome to just take one, which I did. On the way to Warsaw after the festival, at the train station, I dropped my rolled-up poster between the train and the platform. I climbed down onto the tracks not sure when the train would roll, and retrieved it. It is my prized poster, framed and glowing from across my office in pastel yellow, blue, and green. Three short years later at the ’94 Sopot Music Festival, the event poster for it was a tacky mishmash of corporate logos and branding, similar to what you would see anywhere in the States or Western Europe. Polish Poster Art died in the early nineties along with the old system that sponsored it, and was often subverted by it.

Video, Editing and Production by Inja Lin.

About Eric’s Freaks… In high school, most kids study Algebra and Social Studies. I studied Shel Silverstein, Basil Wolverton and Gahan Wilson. When I was young, I wasn’t conscious of it, but I’d developed a process of visualizing in advance what I would draw. I’d created a visual vocabulary that allowed me to crank out my Freaks easily and naturally. After school, I got away from these sketches. Now and then I would do one randomly, but years would pass between them.  Later, when my kids were young, I would amuse them with my goofy creatures (see above gallery) and we would have fun drawing them together. They grew up and I stopped drawing again for a long time. Then late last year, December 2022, there was a knock at the door, and Eric’s Freaks were back!

Freak Boutique is my online gallery of odd new cartoon creatures. Each Freak features its own line of T-shirts, mugs, hoodies, posters, phone cases and cards available through Zazzle. See them doing their thang at Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. My Freak pals would love it if you would take a look at their merch lines and consider investing in a collection or two! Click Eric’s Freaks below to sneak a peek.

A Universe Diverse!

Freaks

My freak looks bewildered. Natalia’s freak looks thrilled.