I reckon I may have missed the cut off for this year’s Connect 2020 because, well, I’ve been working in our pharmacy (deemed an essential service while this coronavirus pandemic is in full swing) keeping our regular customers well stocked with their medications while at the same time trying to get my application in. So for what it’s worth here is said application:
Making a difference with U.S. Grant. Sometimes you come across gems of places that have somehow fallen through the net and not yet been added to Google Maps. On a recent trip to Tokyo our four member family found itself strolling through Ueno Park one late afternoon when we stumbled upon a monument to Ulysses S. Grant. The one time president of the United States was easily recognizable by his last- century beard and his stoic demeanor. It came as something of a shock when I realized the monument hadn’t yet been added, or perhaps had been lost to time - Grant visited Japan with wife Julia 150 years ago - so I figured the memorial had been forgotten. But given Grants worldwide fame as both a leader and diplomat I thought the addition had simply been overlooked. Regardless of the reason I jumped at the opportunity to make a difference and added the monument. I was pleasantly surprised when my edit was included on Google Maps as soon as the following day. There will never be any marker saying that S. Grant added the historical marker of this Ulysses S. Grant monument (you can see the connection between the two names, loose, I know!) to Google Maps, and that’s OK with me. Just the thought that one day someone might search out these plaques, this monument and if only for the slightest moment remember what a great leader the world had in U.S. Grant and more importantly recall what a peace seeking diplomat the great man was. After all the best type of fight is no fight at all.
Here is my list, made public. I’m a huge fan of fine art but don’t have it in me to be an art snob. All of this might be put to better use in 2021 when the strange pressure of isolation and silence is lifted. How peculiar we are!
The list is called From Sydney to Nolan: An Australian Art Highway
Here is a video I made, outside my beloved NSW Art Gallery. I understand Google has to have it’s own set of rules about applications for Connect 2020 but my wife Sandra felt I worked so hard on the application and I do devote an inordinate amount of time to updating these maps, Google needs to at least have a look. At any rate, it’s an unprecedented time in world history. Or as Justin Vernon of Bon Iver fame sings ‘This is axiom…’ And you’d have to agree it is.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/sDjaWnHjr8AvXk756
For Arts Sake