If months were marked by colors, November in New England would be colored gray.COPYRIGHT 2018 CAROLE OSTERINK
Friday, October 26, 2018
More Gray
There are two unrelievedly gray houses in the 200 block of Union Street, and now there is one in the 300 block as well.
Searching for quotes about the color gray, I found one that struck me as apt as we near the end of October and soon after the return of Standard Time. It is attributed to Madeline M. Kunin, author, diplomat, and former governor of Vermont.
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An unconscious expression of the puritan revival?
ReplyDeleteAlso one now in the 400 block of Union - but the front door bonnet is picked out in white
ReplyDelete- its superb
Gray isn't necessarily attractive, but it's safe. And maybe people are going with this color to avoid being criticized and trying to easily improve their dwelling.
ReplyDeleteYou describe an essentially conservative mindset, and you might be right (pun intended!).
DeleteIf the homeowner is not otherwise conservative, though, then the more s/he consciously identifies with anti-conservative societal forces, the more likely it is s/he'd be unaware of the conservatism of the color choice - if gray is even a color.
The Puritanical disposition of gray was alluded to earlier, a mindset whose excesses are frequently strongest where its practitioners are least aware of their orthodoxy.
Whatever the origins of this "safe" choice, if we're alert to the unconscious aspects of all human expression then the wide use of gray will also have its consequences. Traditionally, gray is conventional; conforming; detached; motionless; frequently drab and depressing (though occasionally elegant, in situ; see Vincent above); depending on circumstance either controlled or indecisive; detached; lifeless; lonely; isolated.
Now that I think of it, perhaps gray really is the best "color" for a city founded by our 18th century New England Proprietors (no pun intended).