is the title of a huge mosaic that greets you inside the Federal Building at 300 N. Los Angeles St. - after you've passed through security, that is, which takes a while (and was entirely conducted in Spanish, which I hadn't been expecting, but was therefore user-friendly for most of the long line). The mosaic is by Richard Haines, who started his public art projects with the Works Progress Administration; came to California to work for Douglas Aircraft during World War II, and then went on to become a painting instructor, first at Chouinard and then at the Otis Art Institute. This dates from 1962, and certainly conveys Pride in the Systems of law, and also in what I take to be religious inclusiveness.
I was there, of course, to get a stamp on my passport that will let me leave and get back in to the country whilst I wait for a new Green Card to replace the one that disappeared, with my wallet, at Columbus Airport. I've been overwhelmed, genuinely so, by how friendly and helpful the USCIS have been - I had a long chat today with an officer about how no, I have nothing to do with Flint, Michigan (its name coming from the Flint River, which in turn is a translation of the Ojibwa "Biiwaanagoonh-ziibi" (Flinty River) - so now you know), and about the ongoing water crisis there, and about how a different sort of crisis was bound to be unfolding because of the crazy number of plastic bottles that are being deposited there.
And I was very grateful to be processed quickly, and to have gracious and understanding colleagues who coped very well with the fact that I was a little late and sweaty when I eventually arrived at the meeting that I was supposedly chairing ...
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