September 11, 1977

I was going through my old photos looking for a color shot from the early days, and came across this one marked with the date, 9-11-77.  Twenty-four years later the world changed forever, but captured here is an age of innocence.

I’m twenty-one years old and it’s my second season at the festival.   This photograph was taken at the Sheriff’s stocks manned by Gary Zahradka. Everyday I would spend an hour or so at the stocks while Gary would place this sign around my neck after locking me up.

Ironically, after September 11, 2001 the world has slipped back into a kind of neo-medievalism. Orthodox religions here in America, and around the globe seem to be locked in a deadly struggle to drag us all back to a time that we were making fun of in those days.

In 1978 I began my apprenticeship at The Valley Studio where I received my formal education as an artist, but my true training began here on the streets of the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

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