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February 19, 2008 |
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Chuck Taylors and Cigs
FOUND by Virginia Holman
in North Carolina
Sometimes I check out-- and even read-- books from the library. I was reading John Berger's "On Looking" (great, btw) and out fell this terrific photo. No writing on the back, just "Kodak paper." It looks like a silver gelatin process, a little dark, but so gorgeous. I contacted our librarian, but the library doesn't save patron info--they hate The Patriot Act, too--so I am left with the wonderful mystery of these two kids. I hope someone recognizes them. The boy's mouth, the cigs, the Chucks. I just wonder what's going to happen next
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Don't Give it to War! March 16, 2003 |
Regretful Child's ... September 20, 2007 |
Wedding Day December 28, 2003 |
Food For Thought June 02, 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...
duuuude, man, we were like, sooooo waaaasted.
tchyeoh, I know.
I'm pretty sure that dude on the left is
http://foundmagazine.com/find/2188
Gun Child, a couple years later.
What's going to happen next, huh? (cue the banjo: do do doo do do doo doo do doo...)
Squeeeeeeal like a piggie!
aha.
i'm glad to see more Awkward Children, Posing Wierdly.
and you know who else is Awkward?
...Arthur, the very awkward and moderately creepy intern from six feet under, which i am watching RIGHT NOW!
What a great shot...I don't know how I feel about the child on the right smoking any thing though, must be starting to act my age
Wonder how old this pic is? And Captain, I think you're right. At least the set of his mouth looks the same. Must be sitting in front of the barn in that one tho...the logs in this cabin are horizontal while those are vertical.
This is actually a great photograph.
I love the near-timelessness of the photo. . . this could easily be from the late 70's to current.
Telling signs are the shoes, but that's not even much to go on.
Composition is great, I just wish his right foot were completely in the shot.
Also, I'm guessing the book you found this is was actually Berger's "About Looking" (found here: http://www.amazon.com/About-Looking-John-Berger/dp/ which makes this find that much more amazing.
Somebody obviously placed the photo in the book for the finding. And for the many interpretations that can come of what has been found.
Awesome story.
My suggestion: Scan or rephotograph the image for your own preservation (if you wish), re-check the book, replace the photograph, and let others keep on finding and wondering.
Also, it would be interesting to know which pages it rested between.
You said it just "fell out", so you probably didn't get the chance to notice...
... bummer.
My mother would say, "There's trouble looking for a place to happen." But then she married at 15 (and no, she didn't "have to"), so she had no youth and darn little childhood.
Looks like a private home, but I could imagine the fellow on the left nonchalantly blocking a sign saying "No Loitering." (One of my students asked me what "loitering" meant. My best explanation was, "Well, you know...hangin'." He got it.)
Such beautiful hair!
AGAIN with the early morning math? Jason--have you no pity??
Totally 70s, man. Impossible not to be 70s. I want a poster size version of this to put on my wall.
'Hey, Mama, we got ourselves some roadkill!'
Hillbilly's galore.
just another still from some joseph gordon-levitt film.
They aren't loitering, they're watching the old man trying, unsuccessfully, to get the Ford to take just one more jumpstart so they can get on down to the feed store. Not that they particularly want to get down to the feed store, but the hogs gotta eat, after all. And, besides, they're down to their last pack of Kools.
Sigh, I loved those long haired boys in the seventies.
ok.. the boy on the left, sardonic grin, long hair, flannel and chucks looks *exactly* like my son grendel. spooky, uncanny. make the hair dark red, lose the smoke- the girly needs to put down that cigarette and grab a sandwich.
the building could easily be in willard- a teeming town consisting of 3 abandoned buildings and a postoffice....
love, love the photo-
I'm going to have to get that book. This is an amazing photograph. I wonder when and where it is, and who these boys are. They could be that other boy's brother, the awkward boy with the gun. Or his cuzzin. Beautiful.
So very long I hsve wondered about the spelling of "tchyeoh". At last, I know.
I wish long hair for boys was back in style!
real boys wear long hair even if it isn't in style.
nuthins gonna happen next.
damn right, mona lisa. this is a really good find, i loved 'gun child' too.
I could've known these guys.
I would have been wearing too much eye liner and shooting the camera the bird.
And smoking.
I think '80's and these are the non-stereotype 80's kids. Their dad is a straight-cut business man, mom stays at home and these two guys are cutting class and hanging out at an abandoned cabin in the woods.
(I had Chucks all the way through college and didn't leave there 'till '95.)
The first thing I thought was this is a modern-day Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade from "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton.
Stay Gold Ponyboy!"
I am saving this picture as wallpaper...which should set Wellington wondering...and wombling...
Wrye, I don't see the person on the right as necessarily a girl...all young people go through that "androgynous" period in adolescence where, without 5 o'clock shadow, you're really not sure WHAT gender they are. Especially with today's penchant for earrings and longer hair...
I'd love it if there was the magnify option. I'd like to see more of the detail of the boys faces (bad eyes and black and white). But the composition of this picture is awesome.
I already googled, so I don't need a big history lesson, but am I the only one who never knew Converse All Stars were known as Chuck Taylors? When did that start?
anonymous, i was with you on that lack of knowledge, till i learned about chuck taylors from Gun Boy.
My mom and I were cleaning out my Great Aunt's house a while ago, and came across a picture very similar to this one only a bit older. When we asked my Aunt about it, she said "oh yes that was Cousin Sam and Cousin Dorrie." My mom asked where they lived, and my Aunt said they lived on a reservation... Apparently we're part Cherokee.(One eighth or something like that.) Wouldn't know it to look at us (pale, blonde, etc.) My mom asked my Aunt why no one had ever told us and she said "well it wasn't something talked about. The place your grandmother worked didn't hire non-whites so..."
Anyway, that's what this picture reminded me of.
These two put their heads together and came up with this:
http://www.foundmagazine.com/find/2520
Long hair for boys IS back in style, at least around here it is.
I would have loved a magnify option, too, but I still love the photo!
Btw, in my humble opinion, "sound like a dumb country person" comments are OLD, BORING, STEREOTYPICAL, VERY INSULTING and INACCURATE. Sorry to be so serious and preachy, but I am just SO over it. (And I do know what I am talking about, not just being PC.)
Hey, Anon in fear, I don't know when it started, but I do remember in the '80's there was a big ad campaign for Chuck Taylors (all the rage at the time- our Dads had all worn them in hs basketball. No Air nothin' back then)... and the slogan was "get your yucks in Chucks" ("yucks being, I guess, "jollies"? Oh: urban dictionary says, "A slang term used mostly by children in the Minnesota area meaning: Shits and Giggles/No good reason at all.")
So I've always known them as Chux.
These are definitely a couple of the kids who hung out at the smoker lot, the wall, whatever your term for it was in hs.
Tough call for me, on the gender of the one on the right. The posture looks masculine, but the forearms/wrists look delicate and chickish. (sure, guys can have delicate, chickish wrists)
What happens next is they shoot the video for "18 and Life" by Skid Row.
wrye-your son's name is grendel?! I love it!
Anonymous, NO, you're not the only one. I had to google "chucks" when I heard it from a found friend for the first time just last week! (You know who you are.) Of course I know the shoe style! We called them basketball shoes, hi-tops, or more recently, just Converse. I never even heard of that guy named Chuck that they are named after.
Does anyone else remember Red Ball Jets? I'm pretty sure they were a chucks ancestor or maybe cousin. Wikipedia says chucks were first invented in 1917.
Here's an interesting tangent:
http://sneakers.pair.com/clone-b.htm
Magnify option please! Thank you!
... because the one on the right looks exactly like a girl I know, even the pose, the head tilt, the body language. She would have been this kid's age in the 1970s.
i've always known converse high tops as "chucky-t's" they were the only shoes we could put on the boychild that would make it through an entire school year without falling apart.
Could this be the finder: http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm?ta
It looks like the finder has written a book herself. Or maybe it's just a coincidence that there is an author with the same name. I'm going to look for this book; it looks interesting!
nadine, we were there at the same time!
This is my fav found yet. If I was an english teacher I'd assign a writing assignment on what comes next. Hell, maybe I'll write what comes next myself. I'll write what happened to them out in the pines.......
when I the page first loaded I asked myself, "is this really a find? Who would misplace this?" It really is great. I do like the idea that maybe someone put it out there for the purpose of being found. I'm glad it was and was shared. Really great picutre.
These are CK boys. No self-respecting hillbilly would wear anything on his wrist, or care to part his hair down the middle.
this, to me, looks like two young American Indian men on a reservation. Something about their bone structure, the state of the house, the atmosphere really suggests that. It could be the 70s, it could have been a week ago.
And I agree with you, Marie in C-ville, such comments are getting old. Not to mention, they aren't even funny anymore.
They are soooooooooo no CK boys. neither of them are showing their prepubescent/pubescent abs, or their underwear.
Good grief. Wtf is CK?
Calvin Klein
I immeadiatly thought they could be friends with Pnyboy and Sodapop.
they arent hilbillies, they arent delinquents, they arent girls, they arent models. they are simply two boys on the rez tryin to find something to do. and this could be any decade.. the rez doesnt change
They do not look like Native Americans at all. I think these are just two teenage boys in the 1970s in N.C. If anything, the older books looks like he has Irish roots. Why do you think they are Native Americans - the long hair?
This is like that tight jeans pic from January. Boys had long hair and wore tight jeans in the 70's.
magnification would be nice.... :-)
to me the one on the right looks like s/he could be Native American. the one on the left does not. Then again, my hubby's maternal Gma was Native American, and he's blond and blue. So.. judging solely by outward appearances, we know jack.
I don't know why, but:
"We've only just begun,
To liiiiiiiiiiiiiive..."
popped into my head when I saw these kids...
Can not be older than mid-80s. Chucks changed from a "ribbed" toe to the "smooth" toe visible in this photo around then.
Young couple in love...deciding if they should elope or have a traditional Wedding...NOT!!
The pretty, dainty girl on the right does look very small-boned and happy but doesn't want to show too much through the photo.
MR. Groom is in ecstasy!!! My very, own flower child!!!
These kids are one chromosome away from being Klingon.
This is a wonderful picture; I could stare at it for hours. I second the motion for magnify!
@ Seeker - This is exactly what I'm going to do. Put it on my desktop & let the kids write about it. They love checking out Found pictures on my computer, so it should make them happy(ish. It is writing, after all).
@ MONA- Oh, I'm toyally feelin the love , today!!!
REAL men will wear or grow long hair ANYTIME!!!!!
I should know this one, hubby is a biker, moi aussi!!
RIDE TO LIVE-LIVE TO RIDE!!!!!
LED ZEPPELIN
PINK FLOYD
OZZY OCBOURNE
ETC...
MUST I SAY MORE???
I love the utter timelessness of this- I can't see enough detail to tell whether the shoes have plain or ribbed toes, the hair is long but plain, without styling details, the pants are straight legged. It could be 38 years old, or six months. My guess, though, is early 90s- those look like Grunge boys to me. I'm thinking Pearl Jam fans.
easy to get lost in this photo. it's like they already know what the future holds for them.
This picture is haunting, but maybe because it reminds me of my teen years. My first thought when I saw this was of the movie "Almost Famous" which is one of my faves. Wonderful find!
Best band photo evaaaaaarrrrr.
its JUST 2 guys, hanging out I say, i mean look at them. what else would they be doing? not causing trouble obviously, someone just decided to take a freaking picture of his 2 friends / sons / son and friend / nephew etc. no need to make a fuss now.
'79 shovelhead, holly, what's yours?
Captain Althuzad, you know us not. A day without fuss is a day without Found.
The hard-scrabble life of West Virginia had already started to take a toll on Jesse and Caleb. Jesse looked at life with a cynicism far beyond his 17 years. A smirk and a snort were his usual response to his mother's prmoises that life would be better if he would just finish school (something she never did.) Caleb had a belly full of hate (and little else). He cursed the God of his grandmother's faith for leaving him a coal mine orphan, living in the cold, cold cabin his grandfather built from the timbers he had taken from the land. He hated all who had more, more of anything, and he couldn't understand why he was unjustly denied the life he expected.
Sorry no magnifier on this one... I want it too!
Freon, you've got it all wrong. Ricky was a young boy, he had a heart of stone.
Looks like me in the fifth grade. I was smoking cigs and other by then too.
Sue bee, that looks like your mom in fifth grade.
Why so mean?
Sue Bee, I think that was Jason being mean to you.
aawwww... i was just bein silly. that's all.
Or it could be an American Apparel ad distributed strictly to the Appalachians.
sarasara:
6 Feet Under is my favorite show EVER in the existance of FOREVER!!!
and Arthur was quite possibly my favorite character, mainly because of his awkwardness.
I hope to be seeing his lovely face on the Awkward Kids website soon (??)
This looks like it was taken on an indian reservation.
Funny.
something's really sad about this find... the one on the left looks like my ex boyfriend...
It looks like a bunch of skaters that I see all the time hanging out, the only difference is that there wearing flare pants( if they were current skaters they would have skinny straight leg jeans) wow trends really do have a boomerang effect!
P.S. this is by far my fave found, I'm considering printing it out.
PS - I forgot to say, I too am a slut for long-haired guys. Still.
my ex bf's mom is an artist. she paints great portraits of ramdom pics. this would be a great one.
His mouth is all lopsided 'cause when kids want to look EXTRA cool smoking, they blow the smoke out the side of their mouth like that.
I LOVE this one. It's a beautiful image and I would frame it. You can also post it at: http://ifoundyourcamera.blogspot.com/ to see if anyone recognizes it. The site is a sister (or brother?) to Post Secret. A few photos have been reunited with their owners already.
A wonderful find. Thanks for sharing.
Ragamuffins in 205: Long haired boys in California always part their hair in the middle. These two look like they want to be thought of as bad to the bone. I do love this picture. At first I thought it was from the 70's too but now I think it is more recent. Reminds me of boys from the Indiana/Kentucky border areas. Look at the darkened doorway. Do you see a face in the dark?
to the finder, i also love that book, "on looking." and it's awesome that this photo was found there.
the dude's mouth makes me think of Popeye. (how would you spell that laugh that Popeye does? "ek ek ek ek ek ek ek") And it almost seems like there's a cloud of exhaled smoke to his left.
Oh.. no magnify option? I wish Virginia would re-scan it larger and send it in again.
Lots of comments about the cute kids, but what is the building behind them? It looks unlike a house or even a real barn. It looks more like a stage set, or maybe a painted back drop. I've seen some pretty poorly structures in the southern states, and this doesn't look like them. Maybe it's a dock or a boat house on a lake.
Anyhow, as cute as they are, I hope they have quit smoking, so that their lungs stay cute too. :)
Drusilla, that's funny!
For me the Billy Bob type comments are still just as funny as they ever were.
I love this photo. It's brilliant. The girl looks so familiar, for some reason. I love the look on her face.
deliverance!
@ Clover, that looks like the typical "shotgun house" of the Tennesee/Carolina Depression era. So-called because it had a front door and a back door on a straight corridor, so you could "shoot a shotgun" straight through it. The rooms (usually only 2-4) opened off the central hallway in order to provide ventilation and coolth (the opposite of warmth) in summer. Which also meant they could be darn cold in the winter, of course. No insulation or amenities, they were "company houses" put up by mining cos etc. on the cheap. If you wanted any extras, you provided them yourself.
Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash both claim to have grown up in a "shotgun house."
Clover, in diappointment, the door way looks exactly like that of a 19th century log cabin. A friend's family homestead has been in the family since the 1820's and still has some of the original buildings, including the big square timbers. Unfortunately, some need to be replaced and that will be difficult since the American Chestnut no longers grows that large, if at all.
I was too busy to respond to this yesterday, but I think this looks like a picture taken by a student in photgraphy class.
When I was in high school all of the rebellious and artsy kids took photography and there were a LOT of pictures that looked exactly like this.
This house has two doorways. One between the kids and one behind the girl. I think the doors may be gone. You can see windows through the two doorways but there's no light from the windows reflecting on what would be an open door.
When I was a kid in rural Ohio, we used to hang out in abandoned farm houses, smoke, make out, get into trouble, etc...
It would make a perfect setting for a picture like this.
Did anyone notice the plant growing out of the side of the porch to the left of the boy? This picture is all about lines and angles and corners except for the little round leaves on that plant.
Oh my, does the girl/person on the right have a cleft lip?
My ten year old son has hair as long as the one on the left - he's had to fight for it at school, though. All the other boys have short hair, but it's the girls who give him the hardest time. I think they're jealous!
The two in the photo look so content with what they are - I wish more people could be like that.
Not a girl, for heaven's sake. Two brothers, with the same twisted expression possibly put on for the camera.
Truly ageless. Give them short haircuts and they could be 1950s out of West Side Story. Or give them scruffy uniforms and it could be a Civil War photo from the 1860s.
nelly furtados' rustic childhood?
Love that photo! Makes me think of all the hot, fast, stolen kisses of junior high. *sigh*
The girl reminds me of the smoking girl on the Dinosaur Jr. "Green Mind" album cover.
wrye in rural willard: grendel is a truly awesome name, although somewhat intimidating. I'm neither American nor middle-aged but I agree with Margaret, it reminds me of a grungy style rather than any earlier one.
This is a fanastic photo! I want to meet these kids and have a smoke with them :)
btw, my spam question was a multiplication problem, and the answer came out to be 420, how appropriate!
I went to Jr. High with the exact images of those BOYS. (I just can't believe that's a girl on the right... the small, young guys with long hair always looked like that.) They were the super-cool. Pretty white trash... Dad was an druggie, Mom moved out last year. Dead cars in the yard. But I wanted to hang out with them. They were SOOOO cute! It was the early 70s, and all we cared about was hanging out or going down to the bowling alley to buy cigs out of the machine and play pinball. Good times...
I think they went on to form the Meat Puppets.
This absolutely looks like my fiance's parents. Where in NC did you find it? I can't get over it. It really looks like them. They got engaged VERY young and continued to look very young for a long time.
I loooooove this picture! Oh my, it's beautiful! Maybe my new favorite find. =]
Doesn't this remind anyone else of Hanson?
Mmmmbop!
I didn't read all the comments here. There's lots. But I think the boy on the left is really Darlene from Roseanne.
I have seen a very similar picture to this one. If it is the same two boys, they are thai soldiers who are believed to have godlike powers.
Bill in Ottawa - what an interesting statement about a very interesting photo. I love this photograph... I don't need to know the story behind it. It's written all over their faces.
70's definetly... and i don't think they're hillbillys or rednecks.... maybe just not rich and spoiled....