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November 25, 2007 |
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Gun Child
FOUND by Michelle Blomstedt
in San Francisco, California
I volunteer at a thrift store on the weekends and while sifting through a box of junk in the back room, I found this picture sandwiched between some odds and ends. The date on the back says 1973. It now belongs to my friend Clint who proudly has it framed and hanging on his bedroom wall.
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George March 16, 2007 |
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We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
i like the star patches on the jeans, they don't really go with the rest of the picture
I think that this girl/woman is topless underneath her coat...
Man, this picture makes me miss the Sears Roebuck catalog. You could order anything from just one place.
This is quite possibly my favorite find so far... there's something amazing about this that I can't put into words.
I'm with Samantha. It's almost kind of eerie. The gun, the knife, the skull. It's like Children of the Corn a decade earlier.
This is officially my favorite find. Amazing.
I think what really happened here is that the mountain goat shot that lady in the elbow, prompting her to wrestle it to the ground and strangle it with her bare hands. She then decided that it would be beautifully ironic if she were to pose with its skull while holding the weapon that it tried to kill her with. That would be the ultimate "fuck you" to a homicidal, sharpshooting ram-type creature.
That's not a woman. That's a boy. And that's all I have to say.
And that's not a mountain goat; that's a steer's skull. Flargy's onto something, though. I have no doubt that kid could make a clean shot, field dress the kill, bring the carcass home, then cut steaks and make sausage--all before school.
That's no goat and that's no girl. I'd bet that dad was taking the pic. Show how tough you are Big Guy...even with the patches on the pants (and everyone had dorkus patches on their jeans...toughskins my ass)! LOL!
Brutally cool.
i hate to say my favorite find, since there are so many more to come, but still, that's what i thought as soon as i saw it. the knife is my favorite part, for sure. i could've known this kid in '73. i was 11.
TO Jonathan, Chrome Toaster, and anyone else: I found Chromey's MySpace. I'm not that technological. I tried to message but they want me to register and I'm extremely paranoid. But I now know where you are. (evil giggle)
Any Orinocos on there are not me. Reject imitations...hold on for the real thing. Today I'm sleepless...tomorrow may be different.
As for today's find, not my favourite. "Let's be Clint Eastwood" or that girl in True Grit. Somehow, I don't think so.
It's making my head hurt to see the Chuck Ts in the same picture as a rifle (sorry if I got that wrong - firearm illiterate) and knife. I know in '73, Chucks were practically a uniform for all kids (except me, my mom wouldn't buy them for me 'cause I'm a GIRL), but their connection in my mind with 1st) hippies and 2nd) skaterboys is causing a synaptic disconnect when I look at this.
to Coffee in in bed , who said "I think that this girl/woman is topless underneath her coat..." If its a girl, thats just inappropriate. If its a woman, she's not very well endowed. I think you should take a closer look.
I think this is a teenage boy. Its a wonderful pic. Love the expression on his face, the setting. It's perfect.
Awsome, long hair, knife stuck in bench next to HIM (absolutly a boy), pants pulled up to chest....wow, he's from Deliverance! That is one funny pic.
that's so badass.
this is amazing.
it looks like it could be a converse ad, or something.
That's so tuff. You had to be tough to wear those iron on patches, the were very rough, especially if you had skinned knees.
This reminds me of one of the opening parts of "Mean Girls" where the little redneck children are explaining why God created the shotgun. Truly classic.
I love this photo, but I'm guessing it was totally staged by suburbanites. Possibly for the family winter holiday greeting card.
That's no suburban kid.
I like this tough guy.
I probably would have had a crush on him in 1973 when I was 13. I always did like the bad boys.
I love this picture. I shall call it "Anonymous Androgyny". Anyone like that?
I wonder where he is now and if he can still make that "try it, punk" look that he has in the pic. This pic tickles my memory, it makes me think of the neighborhood boys and playing man hunt in the woods.
I was pretty sure it wasn't a mountain goat because it doesn't have those curly horns. I didn't know what it actually was, so I decided that calling it a mountain goat might enhance the absurdity of my theory.
I guess everyone is right about it being a boy, too. He just happens to look an awful lot like a lady I know.
Oops, I just typed the spam protection answer in the text of the comment. It wouldn't have made much sense if that last sentence had the word "five" after it.
I'm guessing that this kid's family was part of the back-to-the-land movement of the 70s (sort of a cross between hippies and survivalists). It's the only way that I can reconcile the long hair.
who knew that a young danny bonnaduce was a card carrying member of the nra?
This is Chuck Norris in his early days. I am sure of it!!
I don't know how many of you remember the '70s, but it certainly wasn't uncommon for boys to have hair like that.
This picture was obviously set up by some photographer. Maybe it's a lost Diane Arbus photo. It would sort of fit her style of work, except I think she died before '73.
My first thought was "a young David Koresh". Someone with a militant compound looming in his future, anyway. I do love the picture.
What's that hint of golden.. something in the bottom right corner?
Dave you said exactly what I was going to say. I was born in the late 70's and yet even I know how in style the long hair was. Come on people.....it's a HE!
I love this pic though, something very captivating about the whole thing especially his expression.
my first reaction wasn't that it was from the early '70s but from TODAY. with the long hair on boys back in style (my two boys are right about this age with similar hair), the Chuck Taylor-esque shoes, minus the waist high jeans with the star patches, and the gun doesn't have the required orange tip (indicating air soft guns). This picture could have been taken this week. And it is the start of deer/gun season too. hmmmm
He looks like a Partridge.
Absolutely...a 'BONADUCE' Partridge Family wannabe'!!!
White-trash hillbilly adolescemt wearing sister's hand-me-down homemade bluejeans. This individual would be in his late 40's now. Hopefully not a serial killer.
This kid obviously spent all the money that was supposed to go toward socks and haircuts on weapons.
In 1973, I was twelve. This was just the kind of bad boy I thought was coolest of the cool back then. I would've smoked stolen cigarettes with him in the woods. I'm a girl... and he's for sure a boy.
this is actually a very good photo! Love the composition, its very well put together, even if it is disturbing. his face is perfect for the photo!
Why should Clint has to feel proud about this picture? My God! and then we criticize the Muslim soldier children.
Chrome toaster- is it a grill on the right edge of the picture, maybe? Or an air vent? it's really interesting how that and the gun are really shiny and new-looking while the rest of the stuff looks old and rusty and worn. What is on the bench/chair next to the BOY? (So obviously NOT a girl.) It looks like a piece of paper or something to me...
thesoundbites.blogspot.com
nope, i still think it's a very tomboyish young woman.
I want to call this one "wholesome(ish)-deep-mountain-gun-porn."
Maybe I'll even print this to see if it has any effect on my husband (who's at the rifle range right now)
:-))
ha!
This picture gives me deep, deep chills and makes me truly sad for this scary country we live in. An amazing find, but a true American embarrassment. Shameful.
reminds me of a neil young song.
ahem.
husband agrees that it's a very feminine face.
and no, it didnt do anything for him:-)
I hope I don't ruin it for anyone, but this is a boy!
Orinoco, i wish you would join myspace. You can't see Chromey's photos (or anyone else's) unless you have your own myspace. Why are you paranoid?
This looks like a staged photo for an album cover (as in vinyl) to me.
I think the golden color in the corner that Chromey mentioned earlier is light. It looks like maybe he's leaning against an old barn or shed. I think there's a light on inside, which we glimpse between cracks in the boards.
Wait. Are you guys mocking me?
The golden color in the corner made me think of the suitcase (or briefcase, whatever it was) in Pulp Fiction.
One hand in pocket, your reaction to this picture is so extreme.. I'm not sure why you think this picture is such a shocking embarrassment to America.
I think he's STILL pissed off that his parents named him Larry.
It was supposed to say: in myspaceland. C'mon, everybody! It's FUN!
but somehow I hit enter too soon.
Alice in W-land, the "piece of paper" is actually part of his shoulder sack. If you look closely you can see the strap going over his sholder. I assume that is where he stores extra ammunition.... just my guess though, I don't spend much time out in the woods so I can't be sure.
love
this
find.
They ARE mocking you. They've been calling you Chromey for days, and stuffing their mouths with toaster strudels and popping them in and out, it's disgusting, and they've been using up all your polish and spilling it everywhere, and changing all the settings to "dark" so everything gets burnt. It's a good thing you're home!
Chrome, not as pissed as his brothers Darrell and Darrell.
When I first saw that light in the corner I wanted the magnify option, like some finds have. Chromey, do you not like that nickname? It's meant only in fondness, you know. Do you think it is light down there in the corner? It's been forever since I saw Pulp Fiction and I don't remember the suitcase.
Nightie, you promised you wouldn't tell!
with curlier hair, this could have been my father. time period is right and all.
also, i don't understand all the people who seem upset or disappointed by this picture. i really don't get that. i knew how to handle a shotgun and butcher a pig when i was this kid's age. (but i'm female!) fine skills to have, and i turned out alright, even a bit of a hippie. a hippie who wants to raise her own livestock one day...
Whispering to O. Womble so as not to be overheard...
Be not afraid!
Go to Chrome T's page as you indeed have done. Then click on my elephant (in CT's Friends) which will take you to my page. There you will find directions to my other site, not a clickable link but you can copy and paste it, or even write it out with a small 4B pencil stub such as I know all Wombles carry in their pocket.
Having found my other page you will find a click that will give you my e-mail address...
(but don't tell anybody). Got that? Now EAT these instructions! I'll be waiting.
Alternatively scrabble through the secret tunnel to a certain windswept open space in SE3 and give the call sign at dusk. I should hear you from here.
Love love love this find!! I don't know much about photography but to me this is a work of art!!
Jonathan, you have given very clear instructions for wombles and foundfanatiques to find you. I think you must feel very safe, protected by a wide ocean and all. :)
To orinoco womble, i have heard it said that just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. Still, get a myspace. You can set it on private, and invite only the people you choose to be your friends.
whispering back to jonathan... don't anyone else listen...
(jonathan, we can hear you.. and is that the same 4B pencil stub that someone used to draw eyebrows on me that one time? hmmm)
I'm sure it has everything to do with growing up in the deep south, but I was appalled when I read the comments from people who say this picture is disturbing or embarrassing. And even more appalled when people compared it to gun toting millitant children!?! Wha'? How does hunting for food to eat compare to killing people? I don't presume to know that this particular child is a hunter, but the skull of the (cow?) is a pretty good indicator. I'm assuming that's what you're comparing. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here.
If this isn't already an album cover, it really should be. Also, Dave in Salem? I am pretty sure you cut me off yesterday, if you have a found magazine bumper sticker on a subaru. For the record, I forgive you.
Tori, I hear your point loud and clear. But growing up in the Montana/Northern Idaho area, where there are a number of militia groups, minute men and patriots (as well as hunters, farmers and ranchers, and many crossovers between these groups).. This kid looks to me like a kid whose dad probably has a shed full of guns and ammo, maybe some buried in the yard for good measure, and a stockpile of survivalist necessities, to last through the standoff.
I don't find this picture disturbing though. I love it. I love the patriotic star patches on his jeans, I love imagining how grungy his sock-less toes probably are in those Chucks, I love his oh so serious face.. (that's almost a smile, he's trying so hard to be tough.)
And he looks like any of a number of kids I grew up with.
For me, the incongruous element in the picture is the steer skull. He doesn't look like a farmer, rancher or hunter to me. (plus, who hunts cow?)
Liza, that's hilarious!
am i the only one who thinks this looks one of the first in a series of pornographic pictures of this young lad? Perhaps Dirty Found has the rest.
Liza, I wish that had been my Subaru! I don't have a car, nevermind a bumper sticker. ;)
you're not the only one, rex. i just dinna say it.
Amen to Tori and Lil Ol' Me!
This is a piece of Americana and people need to lighten up a bit.
Rex! Welcome back, me old chum.
Mona, I have hundreds of those 4B pencil stubs (hangover from my days as a music librarian). They live in a jar labelled 'P.O.P.T.S.T.K. (but T.L.T.A.)', which of course stands for Pieces Of Pencil To Short To Keep (but Too Long To Throw Away). Like Nightingale's granny and her string, if you know whereof I speak.
*TOO* Short
idiot.
That's ok, Jon. I think granny misspelled it, too. 8-)
lol My mom saves plastic bags. Actually, tho, since she's started using cloth bags for her groceries, she's run out of plastic grocery bags to put her newspapers in for recycling.
I hope he doesn't wear long overcoats to school.
this picture looks so familiar!!!!! but i can't figure out why...
Mona -- I have absolutely the same problem. I save plastic bags to line all my wastebaskets every week, but now the supermarket won't give them out (in order to save the planet) I have to BUY bin liner bags instead. How crazy is that? (even if they're biodegradable).
PS -- one day I'm going to write a string quartet (in lots of short movements) called Pieces of String Too Short To Keep.
That's after I write Bronco Sonatas for four contrabassoons of course.
Little Teddy Nuggent?
Great photo-
Kinda looks like Jodie Foster in a strange way.. Just a bit creepier.
Your friend has a good eye. I'd say this is pretty artistic and definitely frame-worthy, even if it wasn't meant to be.
like, for real! i mean, what's embarrassing about kids with guns? like, we should like totally be proud of kids that use firearms!
Jonathan...... oh my... could you write in an alto solo to accompany that string quartet? oh please? please? just a nice short aria.
do you want me to mail you some plastic bags? i could fold them up very small.
i have a pencil that i've had forever, because its too funny to sharpen, and lose the printing on the side. it says "data transcription device with automatic error correction system"... from nanaimo business machines in BC. I think its from the early 80's, late 70's. how nerdy am i?
Great photo. I don't find it disturbing at all, I find it rather wholesome. The gun looks like a 30-30 lever action, I've had one since I was about this kid's age. Great reliable deer gun.
All kids should learn safe operation of firearms (when they're old enough) in the name of safety and defense.
Oh, and to pre-empt the "OMGZ you must be a white scary Christian militia member with lots of guns!"... I'm black, a Buddhist, a Democrat, and I own (legally) a belt-fed machinegun and several other firearms.
Frank, if you're a buddhist, don't you like, vow not to harm things? i thought that was the point of that kleenex commercial, you know, the one where the buddhist guy uses a bacteria killing kleenex to blow his nose, then realizes what he's done. If you were really a buddhist, you wouldnt have a gun, not even for self defence, and DEFINITELY not use a belt-fed machinegun, for buddha's sake.
Ooh, Mona -- there's a challenge!
My best 'Found pencil' was in about 1968 -- someone had left it on a classroom desk. It had all the Kings And Queens of England printed on it, and the last one at the tip was 'King Edward VIII, crowned 12 May 1937'. Now of course (if you know your 20thC UK history) that was the 'King we lost', as he abdicated and married divorcee Wallis Simpson instead, and never had his coronation. So that pencil was a souvenir of an event that never happend. I stole it, because I thought if I didn't, the next person to sharpen it would lose that vital historic info. I gave it to my mother, who collected Edward VIII coronation memorabilia (there's a surprisingly large quantity of it about).
ooh..i would love to see that pencil. Do you think your mum would let me hold it, if i promised not to sharpen it?
Correct me if i'm wrong, but was Wallis Simpson Canadian?
Sorry, Mona, I don't know where it went. The cabinet of coronation mugs and stuff was sold off after she passed away, and I suspect it was in a drawer with the calendar and biscuit-tin and book of matches and probably wasn't noticed. Either that or it's a prize exhibit in someone else's collection now!
Nope, Wallis was born in Pennsylvania apparently --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallis_Simpson
My mother remembered singing at Christmas 1937: 'Hark the herald angels sing, Mrs Simpson's pinched our King!'
She said she and her chums took it very personally and were hearbroken.
Myself, I just think he couldn't face the responsibilty of kingship, and Mrs S was a good get-out.
(How did we get here from this Find, by the way??)
xx
So wait: gun child is descended from Wallis Sipmson, of the Pennsylvania Simpsons? Wow. coolest.
And then he begat Homer, obviously.
Kid with a gun gets one creepy. Kid with a doll gets 14.
this looks like the cover of a metal album
High wasted pants from American Apparel.
Who gave Danny Bonaducci that gun?
This is the coolest pic and it was posted on my birthday!