DALLAS IN WONDERLAND
Between the mouth of the Triple Underpass and Houston Street is a landscaped triangle that’s witnessed so much local history. Even before its WPA transformation, Dealey Plaza was known as the “Birthplace of Dallas.” It’s the spot where John Neely Bryan erected his first cabin — becoming the geographical center from which Dallas grew.
Today, it remains our most fascinating and popular tourist hub.
The title of this photo project was borrowed from the headline of a November 1937 Fortune magazine profile about Stanley Marcus. The glowing article appeared after the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, which lasted six months and drew more than 10 million visitors, who enjoyed Big D’s hotels, restaurants and retail outlets.
To incorporate the bloodstained Widow Kennedy at Dealey Plaza would be ... too overt and, frankly, an exhausted concept. Instead, we embrace Lewis Carol’s “Alice” — a little girl who changes size by ingesting hallucinogenic pills and potions.
Carol (whose real name was Charles Dodgson) was more than just the author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” He was also a conservative math teacher at Christchurch College in Oxford, England. Dodgson hated new mathematics — especially quaternions, which are numbers that deal with understanding rotations instead of counting things. That’s why the characters at the Mad Hatter’s tea party can’t leave the table and are constantly moving from one chair to the next in search of clean cups and saucers.
Conspiracy theorists obsess over Dealey Plaza and the events near the Grassy Knoll. Most are concerned with measuring the distance between the Texas School Book Depository’s sixth floor “sniper’s nest” and the second X (the “kill shot”) located on the middle lane of Elm Street.
The afternoon of our shoot — March 29, 2010 — was, coincidentally, the same day that local neo-soul queen Erykah Badu released her “Window Seat” video, which showed footage of Badu stripping completely naked and falling to the ground as if hit by a bullet.
Badu filmed the video on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2010. But it wasn’t until April 2, 2010, that 32-year-old Ida Espinosa, a resident of Vernon, Texas, complained to Dallas Police about Badu’s au naturel display. Badu was charged with disorderly conduct and fined $500.
Initially, Badu refused to pay — in hopes of fighting the charge. However, in August of 2010, she settled the fine and was sentenced to six months probation.
‘ALICE:’ JOE S. HOSELTON
LOCATION: DEALEY PLAZA | POSITION: ELM STREET, MIDDLE LANE, KILL-SHOT ‘X’
PRODUCTION DATE: MARCH 29, 2010 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER
Today, it remains our most fascinating and popular tourist hub.
The title of this photo project was borrowed from the headline of a November 1937 Fortune magazine profile about Stanley Marcus. The glowing article appeared after the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition, which lasted six months and drew more than 10 million visitors, who enjoyed Big D’s hotels, restaurants and retail outlets.
To incorporate the bloodstained Widow Kennedy at Dealey Plaza would be ... too overt and, frankly, an exhausted concept. Instead, we embrace Lewis Carol’s “Alice” — a little girl who changes size by ingesting hallucinogenic pills and potions.
Carol (whose real name was Charles Dodgson) was more than just the author of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” He was also a conservative math teacher at Christchurch College in Oxford, England. Dodgson hated new mathematics — especially quaternions, which are numbers that deal with understanding rotations instead of counting things. That’s why the characters at the Mad Hatter’s tea party can’t leave the table and are constantly moving from one chair to the next in search of clean cups and saucers.
Conspiracy theorists obsess over Dealey Plaza and the events near the Grassy Knoll. Most are concerned with measuring the distance between the Texas School Book Depository’s sixth floor “sniper’s nest” and the second X (the “kill shot”) located on the middle lane of Elm Street.
The afternoon of our shoot — March 29, 2010 — was, coincidentally, the same day that local neo-soul queen Erykah Badu released her “Window Seat” video, which showed footage of Badu stripping completely naked and falling to the ground as if hit by a bullet.
Badu filmed the video on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2010. But it wasn’t until April 2, 2010, that 32-year-old Ida Espinosa, a resident of Vernon, Texas, complained to Dallas Police about Badu’s au naturel display. Badu was charged with disorderly conduct and fined $500.
Initially, Badu refused to pay — in hopes of fighting the charge. However, in August of 2010, she settled the fine and was sentenced to six months probation.
‘ALICE:’ JOE S. HOSELTON
LOCATION: DEALEY PLAZA | POSITION: ELM STREET, MIDDLE LANE, KILL-SHOT ‘X’
PRODUCTION DATE: MARCH 29, 2010 | PHOTO: BRYAN AMANN | DIRECTION: DANIEL KUSNER
