******************* Moderator Comment ******************
You still have until midnight Monday to cast your vote on the Newport fire horn.
The choices are "Keep It" or "Retire It." Just hit REPLY with your choice.
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My vote is : the horn should be KEPT, but I would like to add a caveat

Among the many sculptures ornating Easton's Beach these days (thank you,
Project One!) there is one by Rupert Nesbitt that really caught my
(intellectual rather than artistic) attention. The "sculpture" is like a
stand of sorts, exhibiting a (fictitious, of course) architectural project
to be soon built at Easton's Beach. The detailed, realistic rendering of
the works shows two of what I would describe as observation towers, lots of
glass and metal with some plants scattered on terraces, and the whole
contraption is seriously encroaching on the beach space.

The more conservative among us risk a seizure on the spot at the sculpture's
sight, but even the more futuristic-minded would raise their brows with a
hint of disgust and question the purpose and aesthetics of the project. It
is only when you read the Architect's citation to the left of the drawing
that the whole raison d'etre of the sculpture becomes clear.

The artist is trying to counteract a seemingly prevailing tendency to PRESERVE
EVERYTHING in Newport, and argues that such an inclination is not as harmless as
it may seem.... Whenever something is preserved, something else is barred from
coming into existence, Nesbitt argues, and questions whether this attitude
extends from the neighborhood to the mind. Are we missing new ideas and our
share of the avant-garde of various areas in Newport because we collectively and
mutually seem to nurse a passion for what is already there? I am afraid he has
more of a point there than I would like to admit.

So, back to the horn...

If it is not too costly or cumbersome to preserve the horn, let's do it. But
let us not lose sight of the fact that -to put it in Newport's TRADITIONAL
(...) sailng context- some times you need to tack. Perhaps, this is the time
to part with the old horn, and set up in its place another element which
will allow future generations to remember OURS for our innovation and
creativity, just as we remember those who brought to our town the buildings,
the statues, the plants and the culture we so adamantly preserve and revere.

Mike, thank you for your dedication to the list.

Pablo