{"id":8001,"date":"2024-10-04T13:07:33","date_gmt":"2024-10-04T13:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=8001"},"modified":"2024-10-05T17:35:42","modified_gmt":"2024-10-05T17:35:42","slug":"bruce-jackson-killing-a-grain-elevator-a-buffalo-crime-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/?page_id=8001","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Jackson: “Killing a Grain Elevator: A Buffalo Crime Story”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Return to Theme Table of Contents<\/a>
\nReturn to VJIC Table of Contents<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"

The Great Northern\u2019s south marine leg as it is being pulled down. After this, nothing of the Great Northern remained, save that fragment of the south wall. It was gone not long after. From Ganson Street. April 26, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

Bruce Jackson, an American photographer.\u00a0 Bruce\u2019s photographic, filmic, and written work over the last 60 years provides\u00a0windows into prisons (notably\u00a0Death Row<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Killing Time),<\/em>\u00a0interactions with poets and creative writers, inquiries into folklore, and other social texts.<\/p>\n

His films with Diane Christian include\u00a0Death Row,<\/em>which is archived on VASA\u2019s platform for viewing (https:\/\/vasa-project.com\/video\/jackson\/<\/a>).\u00a0 His contributions to the fields of visual anthropology, visual sociology and the humanities is vast and consistent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Killing a Grain Elevator: A Buffalo Crime Story<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Based on a talk at the opening of a photo exhibit\u2014The Life and Death of Buffalo\u2019s Great Northern Grain Elevator\u2014<\/em>at the Buffalo History Museum, June 5, 2024. The talk and exhibit derive from text and images in The Life and Death of Buffalo\u2019s Great Northern Grain Elevator 1897-2023<\/em>, SUNY Press, 2024).<\/p>\n

\"\"

\u201cUnloading Grain at Great Northern Grain Elevator, Buffalo, N.Y.,\u201d 1900. Detroit Publishing Company. Photographer unknown; courtesy Library of Congress.<\/p><\/div>\n

This is as much a memorial service as it is a photo exhibit. A memorial to an important piece of Buffalo history, industrial history and architectural history forever, and<\/p>\n

\"\"

\u201cUnloading Grain at Great Northern Grain Elevator, Buffalo, N.Y.,\u201d 1900. Detroit Publishing Company. Photographer unknown; courtesy Library of Congress.<\/p><\/div>\n

gratuitously, lost. It is a loss, as architectural historian Frank Kowski put it, on a par with the demolition in 1950 of Frank Lloyd 1906 Wright\u2019s Larkin Administration Building in Buffalo to make room for as parking lot.<\/p>\n

There are many people who, over the past 14 years, helped me understand the history, character and significance of Buffalo\u2019s grain elevators. I want to name one in particular: Tim Tielman, not only for his help in this project but more for his unwavering dedication to saving the Great Northern. If they ever put up a plaque at that now-vacant site, like the ones they put up at battlefields where people needlessly died, Tim\u2019s name ought to be inscribed on it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>These photos<\/strong><\/p>\n

I thought I was through photographing Buffalo\u2019s grain elevators when American Chartres: Buffalo\u2019s Waterfront Grain Elevators<\/em> was published in 2016. I\u2019d taken all the photos I needed to document the grain elevators then; I\u2019d written all I had to say about them.<\/p>\n

By the time I finished that work, the scene was already changing: there was a bar (Duende) and new fences at Silo City, the group of elevators on Childs Street. The street had been renamed Silo City Row. And work had begun on Riverworks, what is now a huge entertainment complex that, in large part, makes use of several other grain elevators.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ganson Street, railroad tracks, animal tracks, and the Great Northern.<\/em> March 24, 2011<\/p><\/div>\n

On December 11, 2021, a vicious winter wind blasted a hole in the brick curtain surrounding the Great Northern. When I went down to photograph, it was to get a post-script photo, just for me and for the group of prints that I\u2019d one day give the Buffalo Historical Society.<\/p>\n

At first, I didn\u2019t think it was a big deal. Almost exactly the same thing had happened once before: in 1907 a similar chunk popped out of the south wall of the same brick curtain in an 87mph windstorm. It was repaired as soon as warm weather returned and that was the end of the matter.<\/p>\n

But this time would be different, very different.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>THE BRICK CURTAIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

The Great Northern and several other elevators along the Buffalo River. From Lake Erie. August 24, 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>The surviving Buffalo grain elevators show you what they are from the outside\u2014the partial cylinders you see at Silo City and Riverworks are the exteriors of the actual silos. There are working spaces at the tops and bottoms, but nothing separates the concrete silos from the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"

From the Buffalo City Ship Canal. August 19, 2010.<\/p><\/div>\n

The Great Northern was different. Its silos were made of steel and they were entirely hidden behind a brick curtain. That curtain served no structural function whatsoever. It supported nothing. Its only job was to keep foul weather away from the huge steel machine inside and the workers who tended it.<\/p>\n

In Spring 2022, as I watched demolition crews destroy more and more of that brick curtain and began tearing away at the steel structure within, something seemed amiss. The huge machine that was being ripped apart seemed unlike the fragile structure described in the demolition stories I\u2019d read online and in the Buffalo News.<\/p>\n

Sometimes when I crossed the train tracks between Ganson Street and the Great Northern, and tried photographing through the chain link fence surrounding the whole complex, a security vehicle would appear from nowhere. Usually, the driver would just sit and stare at me. Sometimes the driver would shoo me away. They could chase me from the tracks and along the fence; they couldn\u2019t keep me off Ganson Street, although sometimes one of the cars would pull up nearby and the driver would start the staring routine.<\/p>\n

I got to know some people who were regulars there. They came to watch the
\ndemolition. Two had worked in elevators in the area. They talked with sadness
\nabout structures that had been demolished previously, and more sadness
\nabout a way of life that was all but gone. There aren\u2019t many of them left, but there are
\npeople in Buffalo for whom a vital grain industry exists in living memory.<\/p>\n

The more I watched the demolition, the more what I saw became inconstant with
\nnews reports about the demolition order. The brick curtain that was said to be so fragile by Archer, Daniels, Midland consultants (ADM owned the Great Northern) and Buffalo city officials never fell and never collapsed. The bricks that came down after that December 11 failure were all pulled or knocked down. The huge steel elevator that the ADM consultants and Buffalo\u2019s fire commissioner insisted was in precarious condition never gave way on its own; all the steel that came down was steel ripped from secure moorings. The workhouse atop it all that ADM\u2019s consultants and Buffalo\u2019s fire marshal claimed was supported by the brick curtain were obviously supported\u2014as the preservationists had clearly documented
\nin court hearings and as had been noted by an earlier US Government report on the
\nGreat Northern (it was in evidence)\u2014by dozens of steel beams, all of them firmly
\nattached to the silos and anchored deep in the ground. You can see them in the
\nphotographs.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Tugboat, ADM Mill, and the Great Northern. From the Buffalo River. September 18, 2010<\/p><\/div>\n

Buffalo\u2019s Great Northern Elevator was, when it was built in 1897, the largest grain elevator in the world. It was the first grain elevator powered by electricity. When it was torn down, its structural integrity was uncompromised. When its silos were ripped apart by a 165\u2019 ultra-high demolition wrecking crane, the interior steel glistened in the sun: after 126 years, they were still watertight.<\/p>\n

I read the documents, the reports, the court decisions. And I came to understand that what I was documenting with my camera wasn\u2019t demolition of an unstable structure of no value whatsoever. I was documenting a methodical architectural murder. I wasn\u2019t doing a photo series; I was working on a crime story.<\/p>\n

These photos are some of what I saw; there are more of them in the book. The
\nbook tells the story of what I learned. I\u2019ll summarize some of that now.<\/p>\n

GRAIN ELEVATORS<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"

Hole in the Great Northern\u2019s brick curtain caused by December 13, 2021 storm. From Ganson Street. July 15, 2022<\/p><\/div>\n

The modern grain elevator, with its movable marine leg, invented in Buffalo by
\nJoseph Dart and Robert Dunbar in Buffalo in 1842, is a huge machine with a single
\nfunction: to move grain from one form of transportation to another, and, in the
\nprocess to keep it dry and free of vermin. Because of Dart\u2019s and Dunbar\u2019s
\ninvention, which permitted rapid unloading of grain ships plying the Great Lakes,
\nand because of Buffalo\u2019s location at the eastern end of Lake Erie and western end
\nof the Erie Canal, Buffalo was for a century, beginning in 1850, the largest grain
\nport in the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Enlarged hole and initial ripping of ripped steel structure. From Ganson Street. November 22, 2022<\/p><\/div>\n

Steel elevators were a transitory phase in the world of grain elevators. They
\nreplaced elevators made of wood, which had a propensity to blow up and burn
\ndown. They preceded elevators made of reinforced concrete, which could be built more cheaply in less time. Reinforced concrete and steel elevators were amazingly stable. You can see a dozen of the former on Buffalo\u2019s waterfront now. Most have received no maintenance of any kind for decades. The only time they come down is when they\u2019re knocked down\u2014as happened to the H-O Oats elevator in 2006 (it was destroyed to make room for a gambling casino parking garage that was never built) or part of the GLM complex (demolished in 2011 to make space for Riverworks\u2019 skating rinks and bars), or when they are ripped apart, as happened to Buffalo\u2019s Great Northern.<\/p>\n

WHAT USE ARE THEY?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people involved in cultural affairs here loathed the grain elevators, all of
\nthem. My late friend Robert Kresse, one of the directors of Buffalo\u2019s largest
\nfoundations, spent more than a million dollars of Wendt Foundation money
\nrestoring the Roycrofters Inn in nearby East Aurora, but he insisted the elevators
\nwere a Buffalo eyesore. It may be that some of the people who sought and
\nfacilitated the demolition of the Great Northern are of that persuasion. We\u2019ll never
\nknow about that unless some choose to come out and tell us, which hasn\u2019t yet
\nhappened.<\/p>\n

More people think they are of value but haven\u2019t a clue what to do with them.
\nThey\u2019re so damned BIG.<\/p>\n

Some grain elevators have been repurposed. That\u2019s difficult and expensive; it
\nrequires vision. But it can be done. In 2009, Baltimore\u2019s Locust Point Grain
\nElevator was converted to a gorgeous high-rise residential complex. On May 11,
\n2024, in Kristiansand, Norway, Kunstsilo opened. It houses the world\u2019s largest
\nprivate collection of Nordic art. It is spacious\u20143 floors with 35,000 feet of
\nexhibition space. The very top provides a splendid panoramic view of the city.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Detail, interior demolition. From Ganson Street. November 22, 2022<\/p><\/div>\n

The most cynical suggestion for preserving the Great Northern came from Ted
\nKruse, president of ADM Milling, which owned the Great Northern. Kruse
\npublished op-eds in the Buffalo News on January 21 and February 12, 2022. Both
\nattempted to justify the demolition. Both were full of untenable or arguable
\nassumptions and assertions: the Great Northern endangered citizens (it didn\u2019t), it
\nwas beyond repair (the elevator didn\u2019t need repair), so (he insisted) the only
\nresponsible action was demolition. \u201cThe best way to preserve the legacy of the
\nelevator, is to dismantle it and preserve artifacts that can be displayed in a museum
\nfor members of the community and visitors to enjoy for years to come.\u201d Enjoy? How nice. I haven\u2019t been able to find out what or where these \u201cpreserved artifacts\u201d or even if they exist. Kruse\u2019s promise to sequester them is like the murderer saying,
\n\u201cI saved you a kidney and a femur. Enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But repurposing\u2014seriously as in Baltimore and Kristiansand, or cynically as in
\nKrouse\u2019s offer of probably nonexistent trinkets\u2014isn\u2019t the only answer to the
\nquestion: What is to be done with the elevators? And neither is it necessarily \u201cthe
\nbest way to preserve the legacy of the elevator.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

With much of the the brick curtain gone, the steel girders supporting the bins and cupola are clearly visible. From Ganson Street. November 27, 2022<\/p><\/div>\n

A viable alternative is: do As little as possible. Make the most important of them as safe as possible for visitors and otherwise leave them alone. Many large architectural works\u2014public, private, and industrial\u2014are significant enough architecturally and historically to be preserved in their own right. Every preserved structure doesn\u2019t have to DO something. Some can just BE. Nobody does anything athletic in Rome\u2019s Coliseum, no one lives in the cliff houses of Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon or Machu Picchu; no new internments have taken place in the Great Pyramid of Giza outside Cairo in over 4600 years.<\/p>\n

\"\"

With the brick curtain gone, the steel girders supporting the bins and cupola are clearly visible. From Ganson Street. November 27, 2022.<\/p><\/div>\n

TWO WORDS
\n<\/strong>
\nTwo words doomed Buffalo\u2019s Great Northern grain elevator, both of them used
\nerroneously or disingenuously by three public officials. One is “emergency”; the
\nother is “reasonable”.<\/p>\n

On December 15, 2021, four days after that fierce winter storm took out a section
\nof the northern part of the brick curtain surrounding the steel Great Northern Grain
\nelevator, James Comerford Jr, Buffalo Commissioner of Permit and Inspection
\nServices, received from Archer Daniels Midland a \u201cSubmission Concerning
\nEmergency Demolition Order Due to Safety.\u201d It consists almost entirely of brief
\nstatements that had been used in three earlier ADM attempts to demolish the Great
\nNorthern\u2014attempts that had been rebuffed by the Common Council and the
\nBuffalo Preservation Board. None of them involved actual inspection of the Great
\nNorthern.<\/p>\n

Two days after that, on December 17, Buffalo\u2019s Fire Commissioner, William
\nRenaldo, writes Commissioner Comerford that the Great Northern is a fire hazard
\n(it wasn\u2019t), at risk of immediate collapse (it wasn\u2019t), and its movable marine towers
\nmight topple at any time (they weren\u2019t). It is, he writes, an emergency situation.
\nBear in mind that Reynaldo knew so little about grain elevators that, when shown a photo of the Great Northern\u2019s marine towers in court he identified them as \u201cstorage
\ncontainers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reynaldo\u2019s letter ends: \u201cAfter reviewing aerial drone footage along with still
\nphotos, the Buffalo Fire Department has determined that the risk versus reward is
\nsimply too high and is therefore recommending that the building be taken down via
\nemergency demolition\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Ripping the last two bins apart.<\/em> From Ganson Street. March 12, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

The same day, Permits Commissioner Comerford issues a two-page \u201cNotice of
\nCondemnation.\u201d The primary justification he gives is the fire commissioner\u2019s
\nletter.The word \u201cemergency\u201d is key. It appears only once in Comerford\u2019s Condemnation
\nNotice, in the final sentence of the penultimate paragraph: \u201cDue to emergency
\nconditions, we request that the ten-day notification be waved.\u201d<\/p>\n

That one word is what permitted Comerford and ADM and the city of Buffalo to
\nkeep the entire case away from the city\u2019s appointed Preservation Board.
\nThere were voices for the Great Northern. Developer Douglas Jamal said the
\nstructure was in far better condition than many he\u2019d totally restored, and that the
\nonly problem was maintenance neglect by ADM. Prominent architects wrote letters
\nabout the elevator\u2019s importance. A union urged a more thoughtful and considered
\napproach. A congressman offered tax breaks if ADM was interested in
\npreservation. The letters and the offer were ignored.<\/p>\n

And there were court hearings. Campaign for Greater Buffalo History, Architecture
\nand Culture sued to block the demolition. State Supreme Court Judge Emilio
\nColaiacovo got the case. At one hearing, he took testimony only from consultants for ADM. He ruled the demolition could go forward. A review court told him he had to hear from both sides before rendering a decision. He did that, then came to the same conclusion.
\nAt another he said that he gave great weight to ADM\u2019s paid consultant because that
\nconsultant, he said, was objective, and that he gave little weight to the testimony of
\none of Buffalo\u2019s most prominent architects because that architect was biased. The
\nnature of the architect\u2019s bias? He was interested in and actively advocated for
\npreservation of important works of architecture.<\/p>\n

The judge used the word “rational”, or some variant of it, almost like a mantra. It
\ncame up again and again in his opinions, many times in the same document. \u201c\u2026the
\nonly issue before this court is whether Commissioner Comerford\u2019s decision to issue
\nthe emergency order had a rational basis.\u201d he wrote. Elsewhere he wrote, \u201cAs previously noted, the Court\u2019s decision rests squarely on whether there was a rational basis to the demolition order\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Moving a ripped steel strip to the scrap pile. From Ganson Street. March 17, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

In his first ruling in the case (December 30, 2021), he wrote that the hearing he scheduled \u201cwill be limited to the issue of how the city reached its decision and,
\nspecifically, whether the Commissioner had a rational basis for issuing the Order for the demolition. The authority to issue such an order is vested solely with the
\nCommission. As such, what other witnesses or experts would opine is of no moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is astonishing. The judge excludes from consideration the fact that the information Comerford had was wrong as was the justifying document, the fire commissioner\u2019s letter, which is full of factual error and wild speculation. It excludes from consideration Comerford\u2019s failure to amass adequate expert information before setting about making his \u201crational decision.\u201d It excludes all information submitted in testimony about the stability and historical significance ofthe Great Northern. It excludes everything but John Comerford\u2019s presumed state of mind on December 17, 2021.<\/p>\n

While these court hearings dragged on, the Great Northern was still, other than that
\nhole in the north wall, in fine shape. In all those months, no chunks of wall fell, no
\npieces of roof detached, no segments of steel separated. This was not like a murder
\ncase, where all the facts are in the past. It\u2019s not like those \u201cstand your ground\u201d
\nacquittals in the South: \u201cI believed the ham sandwich in the black guy\u2019s hand was a
\ngun so I shot him.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the case of the Great Northern, the gun hadn\u2019t been fired yet. Commissioner
\nJames Comerford\u2019s demolition order was the equivalent of picking up the gun up.
\nIt could not be fired\u2014the building could not be destroyed\u2014until Judge Emilio
\nColaiacovo said it was okay to do so. Which, on September 15, 2022, nine months
\nafter that December 11, 2021, winter storm, he did. Demolition began the next
\nday.<\/p>\n

The Campaign for Buffalo History, Architecture &amp; Culture and the Great Northern
\nGrain Elevator had their days in court, but they never had a chance.<\/p>\n

WHAT THE GREAT NORTHERN SAID<\/strong><\/p>\n

I want to end this with \u201cWhat the Great Northern Said,\u201d the final text section of the
\nbook:<\/p>\n

The Great Northern is demolished; the tons of steel and millions of
\nbricks have been shipped elsewhere\u2014the steel to be melted down and reused,
\nthe brick to restore old brick buildings like the Great Northern or for new buildings trying for a certain look.<\/p>\n

But, in a way, the building itself had the last word on all the self-
\nserving ADM reports, on Comerford, on the judge who sought reason but not
\nfacts, on the fire commissioner who generated a key letter full of imagined
\ndangers.<\/p>\n

In the ten months from December 11, 2021, to the commencement of
\ndemolition on September 16, 2022, nothing happened. Even though that
\ngaping hole made the brick wall more vulnerable to wind, rain and snow, to
\nsummer heat and winter cold than it had been since it went up 126 years
\nearlier, none of it fell to the ground; there were no reports of new cracks
\nappearing or old cracks widening. The cupola, which ADM and Comerford
\ninsisted was supported by the brick wall didn\u2019t tilt, slip or dip. If there really
\nwas an emergency situation when Comerford signed his December 17, 2021,
\ndemolition order, it slipped out of town in the dark of night.<\/p>\n

And stayed out of town. During the eight months of demolition, the
\nonly parts of the wall that fell to the ground were the parts that were knocked
\nor pulled down. The only parts of the steel elevator itself and the cupola
\nabove it that fell to the ground were pieces that were ripped out by the 165-
\nfoot crane.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Trash pile of bricks and steel. From Ganson Street. April 10, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

The demolition was a noisy affair: in addition to the usual mechanical
\nnoise from the mill and the honks and screeches from the geese and gulls,
\nthere was the chatter and clanking of the 165\u2019 Ultra High Demolition
\nExcavator tearing at the steel and two or three smaller devices moving the
\ntorn steel pieces to mounds a hundred yards away, there were also the
\nscreams and groans from the Great Northern itself as chunks of bent and
\ntwisted steel were ripped from the elevator\u2019s rivets and welds.
\nOn April 3, 2023, there was another sound: a shriek, like the gulls, only
\nfar louder. It wasn\u2019t the chattering shriek of the gulls; it seemed anguished
\nand angry. It continued the entire time I was there that day, almost without
\npause. It grew louder every time the UHD Excavator dropped a piece of steel
\nand moved back in for another bite of steel. I finally located it in the small portion of the cupola still standing. It was probably an eagle\u2014the only bird around here capable of so loud a cry\u2014protecting its eggs or nestlings. After all, what could be a safer place for a nest than the far corner of a space nearly 150\u2019 above the ground that no human had visited for decades?<\/p>\n

The final part of the elevator to come down was the south marine leg,
\nwhich the Fire Commissioner had insisted was in imminent danger of
\ntoppling into the City Ship Channel. It crashed to the ground eleven minutes
\nafter noon on April 26, 2023. It didn\u2019t fall. Earlier that day, workers with
\ntorches had cut large notches in the elevator\u2019s east supporting beams. When
\nthey were done, two thick steel cables attached to the upper part of the leg
\nwere connected to two pieces of construction equipment to the north of the
\nelevator. The equipment backed up slowly. Pulleys let their northward motion
\npull the cables attached to the marine leg eastward, toward Ganson street.
\nThe time between the first of my photographs showing the tower beginning
\nto tilt and the last showing it on the ground with bits of metal and brick in the
\nair was six seconds.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Great Northern\u2019s south marine leg as it is being pulled down. After this, nothing of the Great Northern remained, save that fragment of the south wall. It was gone not long after. From Ganson Street. April 26, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

When that tower came to ground there was the sound of a large crash.
\nNo surprise there. But there was something else, a subsonic wave that I didn\u2019t
\nhear, but felt in my bones, in my teeth. I don\u2019t know if it moved through the
\nair or, like the subsonic rumble of some earthquakes, though the ground. I\u2019ve
\nnever felt anything like it; it was awesome, uncanny. My audio recording of
\nthose last minutes has chatter among the dozen or so of us inside the barriers
\non Ganson Street blocking traffic during the pull-down. After the crash there
\nare several seconds of silence, then someone says, \u201cWow!\u201d Someone else
\nsays \u201cYeah.\u201d There is more silence, then the sound of vehicles as the barriers
\nare moved away and traffic resumes.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dumping steel from the south marine leg into a scrap metal truck. From Ganson Street. April 27, 2023.<\/p><\/div>\n

That was the Great Northern\u2019s last word. If I had to translate it, it would
\nbe something like this: \u201cThose guys lied. They used all kinds of legal
\nmaneuvers to get what they wanted and they got it. What are the rest of you
\ngoing to do to keep this kind of atrocity from happening again?\u201d<\/p>\n

go to the top of essay<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to Theme Table of Contents Return to VJIC Table of Contents Bruce Jackson, an American photographer.\u00a0 Bruce\u2019s photographic, filmic, and written work over the last 60 years provides\u00a0windows into prisons (notably\u00a0Death Row\u00a0and\u00a0Killing Time),\u00a0interactions with poets and creative writers, inquiries … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88910,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8001","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P2KsSU-253","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88910"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8001"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8052,"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8001\/revisions\/8052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vjic.org\/vjic2\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}