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Mystery Pentagon X-Mas Tree

Jan 12, 2005 9:40 PM
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I was going to post this in conjunction with the "my feelings about Christmas" post that never materialized, but it's worth documenting:

Pentagon Christmas tree

That tree is growing out of the cracked asphalt of a ramp adjacent to the Pentagon. In fact, I probably broke two laws taking this picture — no photography of the Pentagon is allowed and I was parked in an employees-only lot — and did I mention that I'm two blocks from the DEA? Man, that's a lot of fucked-upness in my neighborhood. But I digress ...

Anyhow, the tree's ornaments were placed by an anonymous prankster a few weeks before Christmas and are still up, despite rain, snow and wind. A modest, yet enduring, celebration of Christmas. And no, I'm not offended; I think it's cute. Then again, it's totally uncommercial and only tenuously religious.


Comments: Mystery Pentagon X-Mas Tree

"In fact, I broke two laws taking this picture"

Heh, hopefully this won't be your last post. Ignore the strange knock in the middle of the night.

Posted by: O'dell on January 12, 2005 11:04 PM | permalink

I love the decorations in the gutter. That's art, that is.

And can we please have "the 'my feelings about Christmas' post that never materialized"? Most of Christmas down here is also only "tenuously religious"; nativity scenes and "Silent Night" cause about as much deep reflection as Santa and Rudolph.

Posted by: Alan Green on January 13, 2005 12:51 AM | permalink

O'dell:

It's hilarious how paranoid you are about the cops, for such a goody-good. Believe me, I've done a lot worse than just park illegally and download mp3s.

Alan:

Christmas in general is surreal in Australia, because Frosty the Snowman would last about 5 seconds before becoming a puddle.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on January 13, 2005 8:22 AM | permalink

What's most astounding here is that an entire tree is growing from a crack in the asphalt.

Posted by: ChuckJerry on January 13, 2005 6:26 PM | permalink

Dude, if I blogged about jaywalking, they'd come arrest me.

Then they'd find my collection of human skulls that I keep in the closet :(

Posted by: O'dell on January 13, 2005 6:50 PM | permalink

"... no photography of the Pentagon is allowed ..."

Aha, I see. "we had to deny these freedoms in order to protect them". Kinda like the old Vietnam-era "We had to destroy the village to save it."

Re: growing from a crack: I see the most amazing examples of that in the Sierra...
http://zia.pycs.net/diM-NFSJ/diM-NFSJ-Pages/Image72.html

Posted by: on January 16, 2005 2:55 AM | permalink

No offense, but your analogy between denying photos for security reasons and obliterating a village full of Vietnamese civilians is preposterous.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on January 16, 2005 10:14 AM | permalink

Sorry, I didn't mean "kinda like" to imply a strong analogy. I just meant that the bizarro backwards "logic" used in the two situations reminded me of one another.

Posted by: Doug L. on January 16, 2005 2:28 PM | permalink

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.