Kung Fu
A mural by Guido van Helten in Mankato, Minnesota, catches the cooperative spirit of this college town and agricultural community.
The TV series Kung Fu first aired in 1972, my junior year of high school. It appealed to my adolescent brain with its fortune-cookie philosophy and simple plots where good triumphs over evil. The late actor David Carridine played the role of Kwai Chang Cain, a mixed-race orphan raised by Shaolin monks who fled to America after killing a Chinese prince responsible for killing his master. Cain goes looking for his half-brother while dodging bounty hunters and stepping up to defend the helpless from all sorts of bullies along the way. One episode stands out in my memory. Cain was trapped and held in some sort of a pit. Seeing no way out, he sat down, drew himself into a lotus position, and began meditating.
That’s where I am at the moment. And that’s where you are, too. I was preparing for a couple of dance events when two things got in the way: The resurging coronavirus and a new tear of my right rotator cuff. The virus prompted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to tighten restrictions on public activities for at least a month. Out went my dance plans. But it coincided with me tearing open my rotator cuff. It’s been coming for a long time. I was told in 2013 that I needed to have it repaired, but my wife was deteriorating with frontotemporal dementia and ALS and I had to be ready to lift her out of the tub. So I had some work done on my shoulder and my right biceps, which I had severed doing some jujjutsu, but I avoided the rotator cuff repair because it requires a long and very restricted recovery period. Everything healed nicely and I got by with minor pain over the years until about 10 months ago, when I tore it again moving furniture. Then a couple of weeks ago I tore it some more with a sudden movement. It was ready to go. So now I am facing the big repair.
The new coronavirus restrictions caused me to lose an upcoming portraiture job. My clients got too nervous about exposure and made the right decision, I believe, to cancel. I realized that once I had the rotator cuff surgery I would not be able to make any photographs for at least a couple of months. During recovery, I won’t be able to extend my right arm, and holding a camera is out of the question. So I decided to run down to Mankato, Minnesota, about 90 minutes south of the Twin Cities, to see the finished work of muralist Guido van Helten. I had written a story about him for the Star Tribune when he began painting a mural on some grain silos at the edge of town. I wanted to photograph the silos while I could still do some work, and I thought sunset might be a perfect time for it.
I placed my camera on a tripod with a 70-200mm zoom lens. Even reaching for the shutter button hurt my shoulder. In fact, even typing this blog entry causes some discomfort. As you can see, I am in a kind of pit with no immediate way out.
So the only thing to do is step back and look inward for awhile. I’m told it will take about five months to get back to full strength after the surgery. I will spend my time studying technique and the works of artists I admire (photographers, painters, dancers). Maybe when I emerge the coronavirus will be less of a threat. At least two vaccines are on the precipice of release and the early reports indicate they are highly effective and safe. And with the presidential election finally behind us, our nation also has an opportunity to restore political order and make reforms.
Breathe in. Breathe out. A new dawn is coming.
