Cordova is a place we'd all rather forget.  Funny how you classify things in your mind.  Hastings Street was always known as kind of a "last resort" type of place.  If you were really hard-up, you might shop at the Army & Navy.  If you had shady dealings with shady people, you might be seen in the "Ovaltine Cafe", with its archetypal neon marquis flashing wanly into the wee hours of numbness.

But the land "beyond Hastings" was virtually unknown until Gastown became trendy and a happenin' place to drink beer on Saturday Nights.  Remember the Gastown Inn?  The Anchor?  Well, Cordova is in the fabled "land beyond Hastings".  The graf below were shot in a vacant lot - which may well be gone forever.

We now come to the highlight of our Cordova Presentation.  We unearth the archeologically-correct archetype aptly named, "Teddy Bowel".

Hold on Sigmund, this one's not only fascinating from a visual viewpoint, but there's a plethora of undefined and unrefined subconscious danger points and mine-fields lurking beneath Teddy's awesome exterior.

If we put on our Bunny Shrinko Thinking Cap, we immediately notice several interesting features of this lonely Dear. Let's say there's something reassuringly "male" about Teddy, even though his sexuality is undefined.  He takes a powerful stance on all of Life's issues.  Rigid and opinionated he is, but strong and protective as well. He could be a "General McArthur"

But teddy also has a "female side" as we can see by his donning a wig and entering dangerous "Drag-and-Drop" territory. No Teddy, this is NOT Davie Street.  Your very life is in danger here if you reveal your true nature in this crumbling abyss.  You will note, that even with his "yin" side showing, Teddy is resolute and expressionless, a man of substance but no emotion.   However, he displays outstretched arms in his female side, indicating a willingness to "connect" with others. This is indeed hopeful.

Moving right along, it might be noted (how can you miss it?) that Teddy has some type of fixation on things intestinal. On 5 of the 7 shots I took of Teddy, there is a direct presentation of Teddy "cut off" at the waist and being somewhat "disemboweled" in the process.  Okay, psyche101, let's have a case study, shall we?

Teddy, as it turns out, despite his upright position on life and his ambiguous contact with his "female side", is somewhat Anal Retentive, and fixated in one of the early stages in infantile development.  All the portrayals we see are remarkably "non-sexual", so Teddy's libido seems to have been permanently diverted, at a young and tender age, into the repressed sensibilities of the lower bowel.

As Teddy matures into an upstanding citizen and perhaps a denizen of the corporate world, Teddy will present to Medical Authorities with severe lower intestinal issues - along the lines of Chrone's Disease, Inflammatory bowel disorders and ultimately Colon Cancer.

Still, we respect Teddy's iron-clad presentation to the "real world" and his commitment to keeping his problems suppressed so that they don't create waves in his perfectly-pressed business realm.  Unknown to Teddy, his immediate family, and his board of directors, his cancer is spreading rapidly and there is not much time left for the Brown Bear in this particular incarnation.

Teddy is a piece of work, but more importantly, a piece of humanity. In Teddy's fierce determination to shield his loved ones from his profane and disturbing "inner self", he has opted to live the lie that so many live, professing "stability" and responsibility on the outside, but hiding a deeply troubled, but deeply creative soul on the inside.

We pray for healing for Teddy and for the huge chunk of humanity that Teddy resonates with.  We pray that Teddy will come to terms with both his inner and outer lives, perhaps visit a Tarot Reader or clairvoyant for some nudges in the right direction.

Until Teddy opts for professional help and steers away from the brink of personal destruction and imploding morality, we can only support this brave and courageous soul, for his work in the community of Wall Writers that function beyond the mundane creed of tagging and vandalism.  His work is at once both a message of hope and message of futility

.

It all depends on your vantage point.

And the color of your spectacles.

Well folks that wraps up our Cordova Presentation. 

Psyche101 students can submit their essays for marking - and possible publication on the SEZ1 CONTACT PAGE.

May God Bless, and may the unbridled song of Creativity and Free Expression play long and hard from the Reaches of the Inner Mind, to the pastures of the Outer Limits.