Crazy Crap#271: The part concerning art

A couple of weeks ago, I came home to discover James Casey (just turning 7 years old) on my front boulevard struggling with some boards and a length of string he had tied to my tree. I asked him what was going on, and he told me, “I was going to climb this tree, but then I decided to do something impressive instead.”

I looked at what he was compiling, and asked if it was art, or did it do something. He replied, “Both. It’s art, but art makes people happy, so that’s the thing it does.”

I noted that his construction would be greatly aided by some rubber bands, and would he like some rubber bands? His face took on a glow of unexpected joy, so I took that as a yes and went to find my tin of rubber bands.

I showed him how to wrap the bands several times, and use the power of basic geometry and physics to keep the thing standing. He was quite pleased with our work. Our neighbor Kevin offered to commemorate the new structure, which James dubbed “The Norwood Thingy” with a photo.

James designed not only the structure, but also came up with his pose in the photo. He’s quite the artist and public figure.