The second day of Spring peeks out from under a blanket

No one welcomes the snow anymore. It is a dismal blight upon the spirit after a record-setting year for snow. Winter has so outstayed its welcome, that scores of young families have packed their things and wandered off to the south, with no fixed destination except south, warmth, light. The skyways fight off the light of snow, the reflections of it, and draw a self-preserving darkness into their vulnerable corridors. This photo is a sigh from the depths of an unnerved heart. Oh snow, what have we done that has made you hate us so?

More of the nature not contained by skyways

I am always chewing on a philosophical proposition or two. It's in my blood. I am half Welsh, and a strong believer in the Bardic tradition. According to Celtic lore, the sacred is encountered in nature, not in man-made environments like cities.

But I am not satisfied with that. I think about the ensoulment of place. If shrines and cathedrals can be consecrated by the faith of many, and stones and waterways become sacred to clans through the encounter with the spirit in specific places, why couldn't constructs like the skyways acquire spiritual presence? Perhaps they already have them because of the intensity of personal experience leaving its wraith in the polished metal and glass passage ways.

Could skyways be haunted? Could skyways become a kind of unravelled cathedral, laid out among the city blocks, an accidental blessing to the unmindful and devout alike?

Would skyways be more spiritual if there was a movement among many to consecrate them though ceremony, music, exalted speech, special artwork dedicated to the embodiment of faith and reflecting the beauty of pure spiritual perception?

Maybe skyways already are spiritual places -- to those who have the faith to see ensoulment in any place where the human spirit has risen above the fear and tarnish of mortal limits...

Richardsonian Romanesque High School

Also designed by Long and Kees Architects, as was the Minneapolis Municipal Building and the Masonic Temple. This Duluth landmark reminds us of what architecture used to be.

Skyways take over Duluth

The colorful port town of Duluth Minnesota has developed an ambitious system of skywalks tying together the downtown district.

shirtsleeves vs jackets

Shirtsleeves in the skyway. Jackets on the street. Not to rub it in.