An excavation began south of the Mai Wah on July 12. We hope they will find out more about the Chinese neighborhood that used to stand there.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Looking for history
An excavation began south of the Mai Wah on July 12. We hope they will find out more about the Chinese neighborhood that used to stand there.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Condo Town
Butte faces changes. As much as it remains the same vociferous contradiction in which I grew up, it is no longer the 19th Century industrial city memorialized in countless books and newspaper articles and magazine articles. It still sticks in the journalist's and the artist's craws, but below the rough beauty of its urban landscape moves an evolutionary imperative.
If you go to the Butte Archives and look up old newspaper articles about life in Butte, surprisingly modern-sounding problems recur. Immorality, in the forms of substance abuse, infidelity, lewd behavior, greed, gluttony and lack of charity glare from the headlines. Fires, earthquakes, packs of stray dogs, pigeon infestations and epidemics of disease show the difficulty of survival on this urban island in a high desert. Politicians are made and broken by the whims of big-money men. Nothing has changed, but everything has changed.
We have to adapt, and not all the adaptations will work. The first fish to develop landgoing organs was a mutant. I'm sure it was reviled, as are all harbingers of change. Change is frightening; it invites mockery, terror and hatred. Creatures of habit and comfort, we view change as an aberration rather than as an inevitable fact.
As 21st Century humans, we have to evolve faster than ever, and in the harsh environs of the American West, this change will be more painful than any before to us.
Get ready to morph; the time to adapt or die is close at hand--or digital device, more likely. The old corporate model of a beneficent parent caring for its workers is dead and buried. Likewise, the charitable government is a casualty of the world-wide economy and dwindling social conscience. It's either a survival of the fittest, fattest rat or it's a survival of the smartest rat. Use what you have.
Not all of your current skills are relevant, but a lot of forgotten skills may be useful. Try to remember what you know. Practice it. Try using it for new purposes. You may have to do it sooner than you feel ready. Think of yourself as MacGyver with a straw, a wad of gum, and an old battery. How do you get out of the jam, Dude?
If you go to the Butte Archives and look up old newspaper articles about life in Butte, surprisingly modern-sounding problems recur. Immorality, in the forms of substance abuse, infidelity, lewd behavior, greed, gluttony and lack of charity glare from the headlines. Fires, earthquakes, packs of stray dogs, pigeon infestations and epidemics of disease show the difficulty of survival on this urban island in a high desert. Politicians are made and broken by the whims of big-money men. Nothing has changed, but everything has changed.
We have to adapt, and not all the adaptations will work. The first fish to develop landgoing organs was a mutant. I'm sure it was reviled, as are all harbingers of change. Change is frightening; it invites mockery, terror and hatred. Creatures of habit and comfort, we view change as an aberration rather than as an inevitable fact.
As 21st Century humans, we have to evolve faster than ever, and in the harsh environs of the American West, this change will be more painful than any before to us.
Get ready to morph; the time to adapt or die is close at hand--or digital device, more likely. The old corporate model of a beneficent parent caring for its workers is dead and buried. Likewise, the charitable government is a casualty of the world-wide economy and dwindling social conscience. It's either a survival of the fittest, fattest rat or it's a survival of the smartest rat. Use what you have.
Not all of your current skills are relevant, but a lot of forgotten skills may be useful. Try to remember what you know. Practice it. Try using it for new purposes. You may have to do it sooner than you feel ready. Think of yourself as MacGyver with a straw, a wad of gum, and an old battery. How do you get out of the jam, Dude?
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Sunday Sunday
I'm getting ready for the 4th of July. Dave and I made signs for the van and got it cleaned up for the big parade. I wrote a snarky e-mail about the upcoming week's entertainment. Why not? Everyone just keeps asking the same questions, over and over and over and over again whether I provide information or not. Let's just post pictures of pretty stuff and cut up colored paper, why don't we!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
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