SOCIEDAD HORTICULTURAL BOURET PRESENTS THE JUANA MORALES AWARDS III EDITION

I THOUGHT everything was said and done in Puerto Rico. Particularly in all those issues
regarding environment, ecology, garden installations, horticultural creative criticism, but I was
mistaken. Fortunately the capacity to be surprised, positively or as in this case negatively is
a sure sign of being alert, alive and kicking.

On the night of the 21 of September some Tarita Rodriguez from the MUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEO sent an email to a far away, distant in the Rincon wild west vicinity
edible gardens colleague, requesting information about people just like yours truly. Humble,
with Pulitzer writing skills, into horticulture and such in the URBAN CONTEXT.

Your humble servant, happy as clam, at the possibility of sharing my certainly common place know how,
sent a link of your favorite blog, reminding her that in the past I had offered this so
easy to find skills and background to the MUSEUM, without response. Tarita, remained in a PUERCA SORDA mode, with no response. You, dear reader have no idea how irritated I get
when I perceive such lack of manners/education, I this kind of situation.

The inquiry was to find out about people into planting, as myself or in any other kind of context
for a project called: "Siembras Urbanas". Another group from SPAIN, BASURAMA.org is/was also involved in this new environmental recycling bandwagon chapter. I gave not much thought to the first message, from our wild west heroine or the one sent to TARITA and cohorts, six of them. NONE responded and one was rejected! I should not have been surprised considering
that the tribalism down here is so intense, that even agencies requesting volunteers for this
or that lack the manners to respond, at least to say...sorry we are full.

The next day 22, I went for my almost daily four miles strolls, my ecotourist trips
in the dangerous, dirty, uneven, with puddles, garbage, weeds, sidewalks of the metro area. After
a coffee an toast in one of those native joints I kept on. Three blocks later, I noticed the BUS STOP in front of an architectural jewel, the Central High School, something unusual, odd, ugly as hell, as if thrown by some jerk/jerkette without notion of what I thought/think ART is could/should be. I could be mistaken, it is not the first time.

WINNER OF THIS EDITION
OF THE JUANA MORALES AWARDS:

MUSEO DE ARTE CONTEMPORANEO
TARITA RODRIGUEZ
AND
STUDENTS
TEACHERS
AND
ELSE.

CONGRATULATIONS!

If you are immune to this king of aberrations, please notice the following:

There are two tires besides a bench in another bus stop. What does it look
to you, art or garbage, even if the ribbons are cute?

The cutest and perhaps the one defeating the
INTENTION, honestly,
I got no idea of what this could be. Either in terms of the ENVIRONMENT,
RECYCLING or ART for ART SAKE.

The cutest is that rubber boot stuck with SANSEVERIA leaves!
I am almost six decades old in PUERTO RICO no one plants
anything, in any kind of shoe/boot, however in USA is pretty usual.
That is one. The other is sticking plants, leaves of plants as if they
were planted! Are they just thrown to create this natural atmosphere? Original?
Art? What the hell should the onlookers think of this?

Instead of using this BUS STOP in front of a building
with WELFARE SERVICES, if there is any artistic merit
in the concept, missed by yours truly, validating these
ugly crap, then it should HAVE BEEN INSTALLED IN FRONT
of the MUSEO CONTEMPORANEO DE ARTE.
Their sidewalk is four times as wide, with better light and
traffic.

The humble has written.
More info: adm1@museocontemporaneo.org


EDITORS NOTE:
Tarita did not bother
to respond until I abrasively/bluntly, expressed to her, much less delicately, what you
have just read.
Enjoy the pictures!