The Changing Colors Of Autumn Approach The Nation's Capital

Leesburg, Virginia, October 22, 2008, at dusk: These young change seekers aren't just seeking quarters for UNICEF this autumn.

[Click on images for enlargements.]

Photo credit: (c) Ian Livingston and the Washington Post. With thanks.

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John Quidor, The Headless Horseman Pursuing Ichabod Crane, 1858, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Nineteenth century American painter of historical and literary subjects, Quidor was obliged to support himself by painting the panels of stage coaches and fire engines and died in abject poverty.

"Because the ghost [of racism] is incapable of crossing the bridge [into the 21st century C.E.], Ichabod assumes that he is safe; however, the Headless Horseman -- the ghost of a Hessian soldier who was decapitated by a cannonball -- throws his own severed head at Ichabod, knocking him from the back of his own horse and he fell onto the road. The next morning, Ichabod's hat is found abandoned, and close beside it a shattered pumpkin. Ichabod is never seen in Sleepy Hollow again, and is therefore presumed to have been spirited away by the [spiritually transformed] Headless Horseman."

Image credit: (c) SAAM. Copyright controlled.