One of my favorite books is “It Can’t Happen Here” by Sinclair Lewis. It’s sort of a lighthearted romp about fascism in America, circa 1935. I’m not very adept at reviewing books so I won’t try. But, one of the main tenets of the novel is that we can tell what is going on around us, if only we listen to the signs and signals, and stop burying our heads or other parts of our bodies in the sand. Fascism, doesn’t just appear one day, it develops and grows until what we once thought was isolated instances of an over zealous official, are actually calculated repressive policies.
Once such possible sign happened to me a little over a year ago. I like to photograph the sights, scenes and smells of a city. I was in the middle of shooting quite a few pics around the famed “milk bottle” in the Fort Point channel area when I was approached by one of Boston’s finest. He’s the fellow with the blue uniform and badge approaching me in the photo. I think, but I’m not sure, but if you look close, you can see his trigger finger on his gun…and the very least, he’s thinking about it. In any event, it’s not a very good photo, but it is evidence! He then asked me what I was doing? “It’s a milk bottle”. 
Why was I doing it? “It’s a milk bottle”. Where’s my identification? “It’s a milk bottle”. And, that I should stop immediately. “It’s a milk bottle”. He didn’t ask for my film, which is a good thing as I was shooting digital.
What did I learn from this experience? I learned that the seemingly innocent milk bottle was actually a secret government installation. Now, what does this has to do with Sinclair Lewis’s book?
