Hello all, This may sound like a weird question, but please understand it comes from someon e who has been grieving heavily after the disaster and has a flag out on her own house (albeit a small one). Here in Eastern Pennsylvania there are American fla gs everywhere; they have completely changed the appearance of small towns and re sidential neighborhoods and even farmsteads around here. Are there other archite ctural/place photographers out there who fear for the disappearance of their bel oved subject matter? I would not worry about it if the flags and signs were up for a few months or even a year, but given the patriotic fervor in this country, I suspect that many people will leave them up indefinitely. As some of you know , I am starting to photograph Main Streets and this week in Kutztown, PA the pro blem really hit me -- my shot selection is extremely limited if I am going to po rtray these American towns in their "normal" paradoxical states of timelessness and flux, NOT as they look in wartime, or whatever this time might be. Sometimes it is downright impossible to photograph a building -- some of these flags are huge and virtually cover entire facades.

Before the attacks, I felt somewhat the same way about the increased appearance of those stupid dribble lights and colorful cartoon flags on houses and big redu ndant banners on Main Street streetlights. For those of us who love architectur e, it is frustrating to see older neighborhoods start looking like shopping mall s, everybody with the same kind of decorations, covering up the indivudual chara cter of their houses.

I would like to hear from people in other parts of the US --- are the towns near you also covered in flags? Do I need to rethink or postpone my project, Main St reets in America?

Thanks for any and all comments. Peace, Sandy