Humble gutters, wires, & pipes

Camouflaging the mundane

Form follows function—except during a hard freeze . . .

New Orleanians are always hoping that a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina will provide the city an opportunity to bury the utility lines that clutter the streets. Blame it on lack of money (a perennial excuse), corruption (ditto), as well as the difficulty of making repairs in a flood-prone city with a high water table.

Somewhere in Jefferson Parish:

R. Crumb once drew a series in which he charts the “progress” of a Gold Rush town that over the decades becomes visually marred with crisscrossing utility lines. He traveled to such places to sketch the tangle, saying, “You can’t make this stuff up.”