My mother's room at the nursing home
Few things I will miss more than going to Johnny Boyd's store during the holidays and visiting with Mr. William.
We have a new business in Abbeville with Santa on the roof. What used to be the old Britt Ludlum's car lot, then Troy Wilson's produce stand has been ... let's call it “sinclaired”. As far as anyone knows it was never a Sinclair gas station. But the place is magnificent. The new business is Sinclair Sips and shakes. It is very good, Ill try to take a few more photos, especially of the dinosaur I hear is coming.
My mother Bettie Carroll, waiting for Santa Claus at the Henry County Nursing home
I’m gone to see about a girl. Let your heart rule.
Exit near Colorado Wyoming border, a fault line of urban sprawl south, rural ranching north
Urban versus Rural
Part 1-Notes from a conversation – in words and image – between Jack Williams and myself. Williams is Emeritus Professor of Landscape Architecture and former Chair, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture , Auburn University, former Professor of Architecture at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and author of East 40 degrees: An interpretive Atlas and Easy On Easy Off .
Jon, landscape architect and former mountain guide served the State of Wyoming as director of planning for Platte County and the Town of Wheatland, is a former graduate student of Williams. He has spent most of his life in the American West.
Jack’s word’s: So my question is – are the two poles, rural community versus high density urban, mutually exclusive – or is that a cultural construct that is embedded in American society since Thomas Jefferson? Can the two co-exist in this country or are the fault lines too deep? Ask around your table in the local watering hole, what do the citizens of Wyoming think of New York. Tell them you know this old guy that wants to understand their world view – can community be found outside of small rural places?
Western Sky’s Diner, Wheatland Wyoming
Jon’s response: Jack I looked up Wyoming’s constitution while drinking coffee before going in to work this morning at “Western Skies.” Note the temperature here was 10 below. After looking up the term “mutually exclusive” – unable for both to be true at the same time– I started taking a few notes on bar napkins.
By the way Western Skies is a gathering place where ranchers meet to discuss among other things sealing the border (state border). If there is a difference in “rural community v. high density urban” I started here.
A little background first, “Wyomin” is a description of landscape, traced back to the Delaware word “Maugh-wav-wa-mu”; meaning large plains and mountains with valleys alternating in waves.
Wyomingnites, or if one uses Justice Scalia’s term Wyomans, derive identity, even in the state’s name, from the experience of landscape, not an inherited place. Presumably in “New“ York, to get to see the original “York” you must go elsewhere. These guys take pride in this.
In one of our friend Michael Robinson’s readings J.B. Jackson said, landscape was a mirror to man representing the social order of the day. In Learning about Landscapes he describes a spatial order,
the city rich and splendid, surrounded by dependent towns and castles and estates stood as the central symbol of authority [1].
I quote Jackson because his observations of the European landscape as a soldier in World War II may be key to understanding your fault line. If Jackson is right the divide is in the physical landscape and mirrored in the culture of men. The two “poles” I would posit are differences in the cultural landscape.
I am going into work to deal with a planning emergency, a preacher wanting to have church in a bar and variance needed. The old ranchers I spoke with at Western skies are going to meet me after work at a local bar named “Ben's Bar” to help answer your questions.
Platte county line (a cattle guard) heading west
At our “local watering hole” Ben’s Bar in Guernsey, I learned Wyoming was formed with a different attitude than that of the founding fathers. Bartender Matilda believes the beginning of the “fault line” you describe is a identity tied to the land and most importantly, it – the land drives culture. You have to get your head into the mind of a pioneer woman she says. This is interesting because maybe the “fault line” you describe is what the landscape has produced. For example, one mirrored a European order that defines boundaries of wealth, priviledge and rank by the resultant form. In contrast the County Judge explained the only reason we are here (Wheatland) is because the wind in winter blows the snow off the ground and allows grazing. Buffalo grazed here in winter which was a food source for the Cheyenne and later pioneers. This connection few places have, not a navigable waterway or pre-existing Indian village dictating settlement, but a stretch of ground where the geography was just right so wind kept snow blown off in winter. Author Annie Proulx describes these as the Wyoming Breaks in her novel Close Range.
A series of ridges near Glendo that wind in winter keeps bare from snow
Ben’s Bar in Guernsey
Bartender Matilda
Matilda pointed to the state seal as further evidence of you fault line (see below). A rancher and miner, stand beneath a beautiful woman elevated above them.
Nutcutter Bob (Bob works on the side treating and castrating local cattle herds). explained “New” York and other former colonies, some recaptured by force in the south he pointed out with a wink, continue to struggle with civil rights, Wyoming is known as the “equality state.” We gave women the right to vote and hold office as a territory in 1869 and strictly enforce equal rights among races and religion.
The territory of Wyoming had the following in it's Constitution as early as 1869.
As a territory in women in Wyoming had the right to own property and vote as opposed to a Puritan tradition of New England which only allowed them to vote in 1920
Since equality in the enjoyment of natural and civil rights is only made sure through political equality, the laws of this state affecting the political rights and privileges of its citizens shall be without distinction of race, color, sex, or any circumstance or condition whatsoever other than individual incompetency, or unworthiness duly ascertained by a court of competent jurisdiction.
- Wyoming State Constitution
One of the ranchers has a question. “Why is it that the rest of the nation is so far behind Wyoming? “Where this fellow lives, they voted for women to have the right to vote in 1920? “They must not like women,” another one said. Then a group discussion (with shots of whiskey) evolved where the consensus was Wyoming had cold winters and in the 1870s-80s, when most ranches were established, the Cheyenne, Sioux, and a few Blackfeet north of Douglas would kill you. Matilda said men from back east are scared of women with guns.
A cowboy knew the worth of a good woman, so we gave them whatever the hell they wanted when they wanted it. They all toasted to that and said, “AMEN!” In other words, fear of being scalped and killed instilled the right for women to own property and vote as opposed to a Puritan tradition of New England.
The moment I started thinking the Wyomans were cowboy philosophers, one of them said, “It could be the alligators in the sewers.” Then another recalled how he once spent the night in New York flying to Europe and noticed you couldn't tell women from men. He said he told his wife they didn't have enough men because there were women who looked like men on the streets asking for dates.
If your right about a cultural fault line, Jefferson had a different cultural construct in mind maybe it was not about low versus high density, perhaps it was the strength/fertility of the land they were settling (European agricultural traditions) and the role this played in ideas about government. The whole concept of the yeoman farmer. Consider the idea of how the land settled being the cause – could it not be that in Wyoming and many western states the influence of the land itself upon those settling it is the determinant of the the two poles? Is it possible the definition of freedom and equality in men’s minds are tied to the experience of a majestic landscape and a huge western sky more than we can imagine?
Read Jefferson’s letter to Madison December of 1787 [2].
And say, finally, whether peace is best preserved by giving energy to the government, or information to the people. This last is the most certain, and the most legitimate engine of government. Educate and inform the whole mass of the people. Enable them to see that it is in their interest to preserve space and order, and they will preserve them....They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of liberty.
We value information as a rural population differently and how it informs how we think about goverment accordingly. People describe the least populated state in the nation – Wyoming as self-reliant but I beg to differ. I would say they are a very reliant people. Now we are getting at the fault line as you describe it. Ranchers have to be reliant on neighbors, depending on one another as much as themselves in harsh winters and droughts with no hay. The men at the coffee table and feed store are not just gossiping and harrasing the waitress. If one listens closely, it is an ongoing workshop and mentoring process about preserving community and beef production. Regardless of their differences they get along and need each other. The America you are in is not like this. Maybe it was temporarily after World War II when Jackson observed it but not now. The vast physical landscape of Wyoming is the common thread connecting people here not laws or Jefferson's theories of government.
I will keep asking about what they think of New York. So far I have not found anyone that has even been there except the old rancher describing women looking for dates. Several ask where the hell is the “old york” and what did they do to it.
Au fait, personne ne parle français ici !
My mother’s response when I asked about the Trump-Harris race.
“I would’nt vote for either one of them, its shameful”
Elmarit 28mm, 2.8 ASPH
the Billywillies
Micco my fearless protector a Belgian Malinois
Life for me has gotten simple. Taking a leap of faith to pursue a idea – live simply and minimally – is not easy. Moving by yourself even more difficult. Approaching 60 years young you pull muscles, develop blisters on your feet, then scabs form over blisters and there are pains in all kinds of places you have never had pain before. On top of all of this my little dog Autie had a stroke and barely survived. I never realized how much this dog meant to me until I almost lost her.
Autie a blue heeler, who is recovering from a stroke
Autie unconscious in a ice bath after her stroke
But this morning I am sitting on a porch in a trailer park. I have my essentials – banjo, camera and dogs. A pair of hiking boots and tevas, a few wood bowls and hunting knife. No bed just my sleeping bag. My two sellouts are a electronic coffeemaker and the ipad I’m posting this from. I have two oil lamps which I am redoing, this should enable me to use less electricity. The idea establish a cicadian rhythm, awake with the sun and sleep when the sun goes down.
The old trailer I remodeled slowly, replacing the flooring, walls, insulating everything, repainting and adding a deck. Most of the stuff inside is salvaged and recycled. Very rough and slow carpentry with lots of duct tape.
I tried an old flip phone – the ringer did not work and I don’t have good service, so that didnt work – but no television or cable. News is not something I care to be aware of, if it is even real. My circle is small, one friend since high school the “Culpster” operates bull doziers and excavators another I call “Bertimus” is semi-retired and helps another friend operate a produce stand. We have been down many roads together and are still standing. Then a new friend who I call “Kathi Cleaner” – she is a rare find. Its not often you meet and become good friends with someone later in life.
Kathi Tye
Kathi is not to be confused with “Cathy Yoga”. At present I cannot write about that Cathy who is my yoga teacher. She is German and says “verboten”.
Then there is the “snippet” as my friends call him – Bill. Bill googles his thoughts and reads news all day and sends links to various articles by text and discusses politics. We have known each other since high school. Bill is caught up in the culture wars which is largely responsible for division in the country. I have an older friend, former mayor, who is less technologically savvy like Bill – both named Bill, one Bill one Billy. Lately the two Bills are concerned about whether olympic athletes competing as women have penises. There is alot of ranting about men in women’s restrooms. Which seems odd – they have never seen this by admission. I’m assuming they do not go in women’s restrooms checking the users genitals but use the mens, so these ideas come from things they read on the internet – not personal experience.
For the record I myself don’t check out the genitals of others using restrooms and wonder why Bill and Billy dont seem similiarly concerned that women – God forbid – might be using men’s restrooms! Their fixation and subject of endless texts are news “snippet” links on the rumour of penises in female restrooms. Vaginas in men’s restrooms I suppose is ok. I just don’t understand it. If a woman wearing a dress has a penis…and identifies as a woman, when dressed in such manner, this is not something that worries me. But for the two Billys concerned with Willys it causes great consternation.
It is worth a fortune to have peace of mind and be removed from fear of the billywillies. I have no need to know what day it is, no clocks in my home. I figure if it is a true emergency the sheriff or a friend can find me. I learned about this approach Niksen after watching a Southpark episode about how the Dutch avoid stress. Dumbed down it advocates having a simple rich life with few distractions, all I can say is for me it works.
So why all this? I am going to focus on creative work and light. Light as in pertaining photography (painting with light) and how I explore it with watercolors. And a winter reading list (see below).
One of my favorite philosophers, Robert Nozick, says most of us live our lives on auto-pilot, following through the views of ourselves and the aims we acquired early in high school or college, with only minor adjustments. When we do this we find ourselves directed through life by a not fully mature picture of the world [1]. Freud hyperfocuses on this same idea ofchildhood and adolescense defining how we form ideas as adult. My experiment in simple living is to rethink how decisions about how to live are made. Its not that I dont want to learn about the world but I want to learn about it differently and not be held captive to what I was taught as a child or young student in high school. To quote Nozick “I want to think about living and what is important in life, to clarify my thinking – and also my life”.
Life simplified
Wait almost, the Snippet is back focusing on 4th graders.
- Nozick, Robert. 1989. The Examined Life : Philosophical Meditations. New York: Simon & Schuster..↩
My first Grateful Dead show
1987 Telluride Colorado
Thirty seven years ago today I drove into a beautiful box canyon for the first time and discovered Telluride Colorado. I was there to see a Grateful Dead concert having dropped out of Auburn University. Here are a few pics and link to recordings that day. Knowing what I know now I never would have returned. I had driven for two days straight from Alabama and entered the San Juans at night coming up from Amarillo TX to Raton NM and Durango CO. I woke up in Stoner sleeping beside the road and drove 12 more miles to Telluride that morning. That is how I was introduced to the San Juan mountains – to this day may favorites. Listening to the Dead that day changed my soul and the mountains that were looking down at us in the town’s park set a course for me.
“Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right.”
German prisoners of war picking peanuts in Barbour county, 1943 – DL Hightower