9 November, 2025

Hey JoJo….it’s time to return to writing my chronicles!! (smile) Yeah, my procrastinating finally reached its max point just a few days ago. The origin of the primary display I wanted to show started a very long time ago. I found two globes, one White and one Black, and placed them equally balanced on a beautiful brass justice scale, and called the display “….If Not….Why Not??”

The challenge to the viewer would be to determine if they didn’t consider the Black World equal to the White World….why wouldn’t they do so?? I’m really bummed that I didn’t photograph that display as that doggone scale was really nice!! (sigh)

The brass scale broke, and I tried to find another one, but didn’t like any that I saw, so to this day, I’ve never replicated that piece. A number of years later (I don’t remember exactly when), Tim and you guys came out to Cali, and we were walking down State Street in Santa Barbara (maybe you remember that) and walked into a glass shop, and I saw the Speaker behind the lectern. Tim surprised me with it as a gift just before you guys headed back to New York!! (smile)

I placed the Speaker between the two globes and referred to it as “The Speaker in the House”, but thought it more like a Preacher giving a sermon. When I found the Gavel, years later after that, I wanted to revert back to a visual that would make one think about how the current judicial system climate has changed over the past number of years. Do people have opinions on that?? I’m sure they do!! The one thing that’s pretty inescapable though is the fact that….

When a judge pounds the gavel, it may be in an effort to restore order in a courtroom, it may usually indicate the day’s activities have come to an end….or it may mean that a case has indeed come to its conclusion. Regardless of its intent, the sound of a gavel to me means pretty much one of my favorite lines said by the Pharaoh in The 10 Commandments, “So let it be Written…So let it be Done”!!
Just for the record JoJo, if I ever find a glass or crystal pen or pencil, you can be sure that the title of that installment will be that line from the movie!! (ha,ha,ha,ha,ha)

The displayed dioramas in my collection hopefully at times make one think about what they’re seeing, and the possible interpretations they may wish to allow themselves to have. Whether or not justice indeed exists and is equally dispensed for all might be a question never satisfactorily agreed upon by the majority of our citizens.

Perhaps the most we can ever hope to achieve is “respectful interactions with one another as we attempt to support, challenge, disagree with and appeal the decisions of our justice system overall”!!