Political and Social Commentary | A Picture's Worth

Humpty Dumpty, of Caper Acres and Angelia McAlpin, a prison inmate of Butte County Jail, have the same goals: to start their lives over from an unfortunate past.

For Dumpty, McAlpin is the person who’ll restore his face and character and give him a new “life” deserving the love of Chico’s kids. And for McAlpin, painting Dumpty’s new face could be just the start she needs to demonstrate to the people of Chico that she’s a capable, talented and responsible person, deserving of a second chance.

Angelia McAlpin is doing a 5 year prison term for a non-violent crime. If all goes well, McAlpin should be released in August of this year. McAlpin has a degree in Graphic Art Design from Arizona State University, and when she’s released, she’d like to stay here in Chico and get a job as a graphic artist. But, knowing that many businesses won’t hire a “felon,” McAlpin realizes she might not get a job as an artist right away. This is where Dumpty can help her: If the people of Chico (especially the kids) like the “face job” she does on him, then maybe she’ll get the start she needs.

Over time, Dumpty’s face paint has been scarred and chipped. And it’s been said that some of the kids visiting Caper Acers found Dumpty’s old face a little “creepy and scary.” McAlpin’s artistic plan is to give Dumpty a face that’s a “cross between Alice In Wonderland and the Humpty Dumpty Mother Goose Rhyme.”

McAlpin says she wants to dedicate Mr. Dumpty’s new beginning, and her’s as well, to Deputy Sherriff Robert Jackson, who died recently in an auto accident. An artist himself, Deputy Jackson encouraged McAlpin to keep up with her artwork. “He believed in me. People need someone to encourage them and believe in them.”

Maybe “All the King’s horses and all the King’s men” only needed Angelia McAlpin to put Humpty Dumpty together again.

Angelia finishes H.D.’s socks.

H.D.’s new face takes shape.

Good work Angelia!

Yesterday, on the corner of Salem and 8th Sts., I witnessed the removal of an ancient Valley Oak that had occupied and shaded that corner for at least 200 years. Just hours before, it stood straight and tall, its branches reaching into the sky. But soon, one by one, its lateral branches and then its trunk were chain-sawed off until all that was left of it was nothing but a pathetic decapitated stump of its former self.

(click on image to view larger)

Before

After

The tree had been condemned at a public meeting. It was said that it had to come down because it was a danger to people and because it stood in the way of two proposed duplexes. The developers apparently assumed that the oak was incompatible with their construction design – either you get a tree or you get the duplexes, with no alternatives in between. As for the tree’s danger, I’m not a tree expert, but it looked perfectly healthy to me. The cut pieces of its trunk that I saw showed no evidence of disease. I still think that, somehow, the tree could have been included in the architectural plans for the duplexes. But it was more convenient for the developers to get rid of the tree than take the time to accommodate it in their plans. What a shame, what a loss.