“Nothing is unreal as long as you can imagine like a crow.” Munia Khan
I love that the crows are “roosting.” I don’t like that I am not around them because I’m missing opportunities to interact with people. My mom is quite the ambassador of the crows to Palo Alto. (Hahaha in my head I said, “bless her sou!.” Clearly I have been in the south for a while now!)
Every day I get her calls, because every time she goes in front of the house she notices something different, or someone checking them out. Is it possible that even the traffic patterns have changed? She claims that during rush hour bumper to bumper traffic time - people are leaving large spaces between their cars. Could it be that they are checking out the crows and shifting their gaze? Thinking about how smart crows are and linking them to the name of the piece: YOU - ME - WE.
We are all unique & all connected. That’s a difficult thing to remember in traffic, after a long work day, where most spend almost all their income on housing. I am thrilled about anything that is activated by art - art that makes us love each other more and not less.
I wish I had a recording of all of mom’s daily reports. These conversations have happened randomly, when she has picked up her newspaper / taking her garbage out kind of daily chores. Here is a little list:
A few kids are there with grandparents walking around the crows. The grandparents tell my mom that one of the kids loves crows and so they brought her to see them.
A young dude with a beard is video taping around the grass. His motorcycle is parked across the street. He asks if they are ravens or crows. Tells mom he knows crows are very intelligent and that they are messengers - they are the messengers in Game of Thrones.
A young filmmaker who lives in East Palo Alto stops by to admire them - explaining to mom that there is a proposition to change the name of his city to Ravenswood. There are three entrances from Palo Alto to his city - we should put a bird at each entrance.
So far - I haven’t heard any negative comments. Are they coming? Could this project slip through what seems to be inevitable - criticism? Time will tell. Either way - I am happy to be part of a problem if it leads to solutions :)
“Nothing is unreal as long as you can imagine like a crow.”
Munia Khan