The
1932 3Af Claret by Richard Krech
THE
1932 3Af CLARET
In July
of 1932 the Afghan post office
issued
its first regular series of stamps
displaying
a pictorial design.
Instead
of being confined to geometric patterns
and calligraphy,
these postage stamps
depicted
modern and ancient monuments
and buildings
in Afghanistan.
The three
Af value, printed in claret
on thick
paper, had an image
of the
giant buddha statue
carved
into the mountain at Bamiyan
some fifteen-hundred
years before.
The entire
series was questioned
but criticism
of the 3Af was particularly fierce
because
the stamp portrayed a graven image
of the
Bamiyan Buddha. The 3Af was withdrawn
from circulation
in September of 1932.
Sixty
nine years later the government
of Afghanistan
destroyed the statues themselves.
The course
of human progress
winds
both backwards and forwards
as it
journeys on its path
towards
what end?
9/26/01
HAND
TO HAND COMBAT
It comes
down to the things
you can
hold in your hand.
Your head,
for example
or the
objects you encounter
in your
daily routines.
“You
should know that concept
like a
room you know
with its
furniture
&
be comfortable with it” she said.
Making
things personal
so we
can pick them up
understand
them and move our lives
in the
direction we want.
Using
objects to get beyond them—
the constancy
of change & movement
the only
fixed star.
The horizon
approaching.
12/18/01