Colors of the Fall

Autumn has come to the Portland Classical Chinese Garden and the maples aren't the only things turning red. Welcoming you into the entrance courtyard are two signs, blood red with white letters, hanging like slabs of new butchered meat. The "Garden Shop" sign is new and the "Ticket Booth" sign replaces a sign that was tastefully subdued, like the Garden itself.

Seems that "tastefully subdued" wasn't jazzy enough to make people notice. Seemingly taking a cue from Target, Coca Cola, and the Dept. of Transportation, management decided red and white would do the trick, like the rouged lips of a lady of the street.

Too bad the insensitive people that the new color scheme was supposed to hit over the head have harder heads than expected and continue to actually trouble the staff to enquire about where to buy tickets and knick knacks for the folks back on the farm. As for those sensitive people who schlep to the garden to meditate, unblock their chi, and smell the flowers, the effect of the new signs is galvanizing. Mouths open, eyes wide, toes rigid in their Birks, they can only stare and wonder.