Dear friends of Torrid Art,

Hi everyone. Ryder here. An amazing thing happened to me during a visit to New York City back in 2000. The numbers on the National Debt Clock were actually going down.

The National Debt Clock is a display, currently on 6th Avenue in Manhattan, that shows the US total public (governmental) debt. Since its installation in 1989, the Debt Clock had been counting upward as the debt increased. But on that day in 2000, after leaving Grand Central Station where I had just arrived via train, I stopped on the sidewalk, amazed. The clock was counting downward!

That was an election year in the US, and one question the presidential candidates were asked repeatedly was "what are your plans for the budget surplus?" The US, it seemed, had too much money.

Things change. Nearly nine years later the US has the largest debt in its history - nearly 3 times as large as that day in 2000 - and the world economy is in crisis.

But now there is a new president in the US. After just two days in office, his actions have already sent a clear message that things are now different. Very different. Optimism is at a high level throughout the world. The US and world economies might still have a chance.

One thing remarkable about the US is that every few years it seems to become a new country. Though it goes through periods where it appears to go backward - becoming more childish, hegemonic and debt ridden - those periods are followed by progressive movement forward.

One step backward, two steps forward. I think my own life follows such a pattern. Maybe yours does too.

- RAP

New model - Jana C in jeans
87 photos
Beautiful Jana C has become a member favorite since she made her debut in early November of last year. With or without jeans, she is beautiful and highly erotic. It's hard to believe that a woman like this would live next door to anyone!

Jana C's model page at Torrid Art

Lana at the counter
81 photos
For the most part, the galleries of Torrid Art are all photographed in different locations. Some locations have more variety than others, some are more affluent than others. Since "the girl next door" may take many forms, I like a variety of locations.

For this gallery of Lana, the house I used was rather limited in background and space. As you know from other newsletters, when space is limited, I have fewer options for placing lights. And you might also remember that I find darker skin shows more texture under less-than-optimum lighting conditions.

For all those reasons, Lana was a good choice for photographing in this house of limited space.

Lana's model page at Torrid Art

The blog of Bryan Borra
Hunting Beaver
Bryan's recent blog retraces the events of a cold winter's night somewhere in Canada, when he made a new friend who took him back to her apartment and wanted to be "bad."

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Torrid Art - Not the biggest, not the "best on the web"
Torrid Art is the hand-crafted website of one photographer and one author. We are not big. We don't update every day. We don't have the "best on the web" of anything. We just have some really good, original stuff.

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