Choices

My last couple of posts have been particularly passionate, okay - downright ornery. So maybe I need to lighten things up a bit.

Like a goofball, I love collecting the state quarters.

My favorites are



and



Both designs are highly detailed, yet simple and beautiful. There is no sledgehammer to the face - on the nose, THIS IS STATE X! Such as with this not so great design...



Yuk. Too obvious, no subtlety, cluttered. Spelled out and clunky. If you actually have to have the SHAPE of the state on the dang coin, at least make it look cool and majestic, like this beauty...



Not my favorite style, but perfectly executed.

A couple more that I really like...



Now that's majestic. Again simplicity rules, but it's not an absolute. This next one is super detailed, it could have been a disaster, but it's stunning.



And here are two quarters that I detest. (As much as I CAN detest them, State Quarters are just so darn cool!)

First we have



Please don't post "Why do you hate Helen Keller?" comments, my annoyance at this quarter has nothing to do with her. I know she was heroic and stuff. It's just, what in the blazes does she have to do with Alabama? Other than the coincidence of her being born there?

Now, I don't know much about Alabama - but doesn't it have something interesting or beautiful that we can put on the quarter besides a brave lady. I'm sorry, I don't get it. This thing smacks of the worst kind of political correctness; whoever made this decision was clearly not interested in aiming towards truth and beauty about the state - rather they had their sights set on assuaging guilt and making people "feel okay". Blech.

But the sanctimoniously offensive Alabama quarter pales in comparison to the worst one of all.



Let's not make something classic and gorgeous, let's not be intellectual in a good way. And please, let's not be clear, simple and powerful. Let's spoon feed everyone specifically what we THINK is great about the state.

I know there was a contest for the design, but I'm shocked that this cluttered mess was chosen by the people of California. What a PC nightmare. It's actually laughable.

A redwood tree, check. Halfdome, okay, check. The California Condor! (The ultimate endangered species.) Check! And how can we be subtle about this? Hmmm...I've got it!

Let's LITERALLY PUT JOHN MUIR ON THE COIN! THAT LOOKS GREAT!

Um, it sucks. Ugly and patronizing. Smug to the extreme, everything I can't stand about modern liberals.

The California quarter should have been the Golden Gate with a sunset. That's it. Simple, beautiful, iconic.

Instead we get JOHN MUIR HIMSELF!! AND HE WILL TEACH ALL YOU ENVIRONMENT HATERS THAT THE CALIFORNIA CONDOR (which, oh yeah, has never been seen anywhere near Yosemite) WILL FLY OVER YOU AND SHOW YOU HOW TO NOT BE SUCH A MONEY GRUBBING BASTARD!!!!

Oye. Did I say I was going to lighten up?