Road ramblings
Went through Winslow, AZ. Alas, no flatbed Fords, let alone girls, my lord… slowing down to take a look at me. Then again, I’d really rather a cute young cowboy was doing the slowing down. Of course, knowing me, I’d assume he was checking out Dark Star, not me. :)
Traveling through southwest Texas, I pass between two tall buttes. On my left the butte is topped with several monstrously large windmills. On my right, a huge white cross. Interesting symbolic perspective on the local cultural power struggle.
Okay, this is just embarrassing. I haven’t sold anything on my amazon.com account for something like six months, so I forgot to set it to vacation. Now I’m out on the road: three sales! My kami are laughing at me, I’m sure. :)
Gasoline prices and speed limits are all over the map, literally. The best I’ve seen so far is $3.19 in a tiny New Mexico town near the Texas border; the worst was $4.79 just outside of Death Valley — grifters! Speed limits consistently amaze me. I was startled to see in Nevada that I could go up to 70 mph, until New Mexico informed me I could do 75. I decided to stick to just 65 in Nevada, and then 70 in New Mexico, to save gas. Now I feel like a piker for “only” doing 75 in Texas — since you can legally do 80 mph here! Wow.
Important sleeping tip! Before going to bed in Dark Star, I have learned to check either the sunset or the stars to figure out which way is east. Otherwise, it is uncanny how effectively the newly-risen sun can sneak in a ray and blind me upon awakening. Also, amazing how quickly false modesty falls away when traveling cross-country. When you’re another 26 miles from the next rest stop, and you have to go! …well, let’s say that creativity and having a roll of toilet paper wins out over socially mandated decorum. :)
If previous lives are ever proven true, I shall not be at all surprised to discover that in at least one of them I fell from a great height to my death. I find I rather dislike driving on the “outside” lane on twisty mountain roads with a steep drop off. If there’s even two feet of gravel past the barrier, I’m fine… but having the mountainside drop away on my right is unpleasantly disconcerting. In a tall vehicle like Dark Star, there’s the further optical-tactile illusion that the van is tipping to the right while going around curves, and I find myself leaning tensely inwards to counter-balance — even though I know rationally that wouldn’t make a whit of difference!
It’s very much an internal visceral reaction too. I was on the 11th floor in Vegas and opened the curtains to see there was no wall below the window — the entire wall was window. Standing there, I could feel my muscles involuntarily tensing and leaning me back away from the visual drop-off — again, even though I knew rationally that I was perfectly safe. It’s not an overwhelming gut reaction — I can make myself walk up to the window and lay a hand on the glass as I look down — but it is a surprisingly strong one.
I’m unfortunately having to skip Hoover Dam, Sedona, Saleri’s Arcosanti, N’Awlins, and maybe the Florida State Caverns, to make sure I make Gainesville on time. I’m definitely going to try and make N’Awlins and the Florida State Caverns on the way back, though. The trip would be too utterly dull otherwise!
I thought for sure rural California, Arizona, and Utah would be heavily conservative. However, in Bishop, CA I chatted with a nice girl with green-streaked hair and a Dr. Who T-shirt. In Death Valley I met a nice young man behind the counter of the Visitor’s Center who was wearing several leather and metal wristlets, and a button which said: “Hi, my name is GEEK.” Heck, they had free wi-fi available there! In Utah the little town of Duck Creek had a clearly christian church, but it also had a sizable contingent of what seemed to me (from their clothing and signage) to be almost California-liberal-like individuals. In Arizona I met a nice couple who were moving in to start new jobs teaching indigenous kids there. The wife was of Danish descent; the husband was of Puerto Riqueño descent, but born and bred in Brooklyn. They mentioned that the town before us in the valley was mostly Mormon, while there was a Buddhist enclave nearby, and the regular Lutherans (IIRC) were a few miles down the road — and they all got along fine.
It wasn’t until I got to New Mexico that I was startled by a bumper sticker that read: “The 10 Commandments aren’t multiple choice!” I resisted the urge to wait and engage the car’s driver in discussion, since I doubt they’d like to know their bumper sticker was technically wrong. After all, Yahweh’s supposed commandments appear in three different locations in the Old Testament. Further, not only are they never consistent, but in none of the three cases are there actually strictly ten of them! If we’re going to get really technical, we should also note that Jesus’ teachings were the much kinder — and requiring more effort-full levels of thoughtfully loving behavior — eight Beatitudes and handful of commandments. However, I suspect bumper stickers that say things like “Love your neighbor as yourself: not multiple choice!” or “Do unto others as you would have done unto you: not multiple choice!” wouldn’t go over well with the truly conservative. :)
Curiously, there was another bumper sticker on that same car, with 13 white stars in a circle around a “II” symbol, on a dark blue background. I don’t know what that stands for, though I speculate it has something to do with the original 13 colonies? Or maybe… weren’t there only 12 tribes of Israel, but Mormonism has something about a missing 13th tribe? Of course, so far Texas has everywhere beat for conservatism. There’s something about stark, almost threateningly large crosses on hilltops, while you’re listening to someone growl in a country-western song about how everything sucks right now and Jesus is the only answer… to really make you want to lock your doors and keep driving! :)
On a silly final note: every time I’ve been warned about wind gusts I’ve had no trouble with them. Every time I’ve had trouble with wind gusts there were absolutely no warning signs within miles. Every time I’ve been warned to watch out for cows, none have been close to the road, and the sign is of the silhouette of a fat, contented-looking milk cow. The one time there were cows next to the road, however, they were lean, long-horned, wary-looking range cows. The sole bull — a fat, placid-looking black Angus — was the only dehorned bovine there! Hmm… could the US signage system be playing games with us? :)
Lou: LOL! Goodness, you’re right — well, heck! I guess I missed my chance to thoroughly check someone out! :)
Re the cross, etc.: I don’t want to remove people’s comfort, but I do wish these christians would be a little more sensitive to other folks around them. I actually wouldn’t mind that symbolism at all, were it not that no other religious symbolism is allowed. Heck, I’d be happy if it was just that the christian symbolism wasn’t now so deeply and thoroughly intertwined with racism and bigotry — because that is emphatically not what Jesus taught.
Also, re, Winslow, AZ: You forget that you ARE a “girl, my Lord!” and you were driving a Ford. Who’d you slow down to check out? =)
I find it ironic that you are put off by the giant cross and radio reminding you that Jesus is the answer, when so many of the people there are comforted by those same things.
I agree with you on the topic, and find a lot of people who need that level of reminder and reinforcement to be kind of sad. The idea that no one around them can be different and that everything must match their narrow goals or must be destroyed is a real downer.
Oh, that should have been ‘not often enough for anyone in law enforcement or even most of the country to really see it as a trend.’ Sorry!
That’s what most people I’ve talked with are concerned about. This very topic came up on Fred Clark’s blog “Slacktivist” not too long ago, actually. He took people such as the anti-abortion crowd to task: If they truly believe that abortion is murder then they need to act appropriately. They don’t; therefore the protest for a different reason. There were some commenters whose reply was basically, “Don’t encourage them!”
But in the end, this sort of thing will continue happening: The protesters will picket and shout and pray and make a nuisance of themselves while being told by their leadership — who are comfortably several states away, usually — that abortion is murder, women getting abortions are horrible sluts, and abortion doctors are one step away from Max von Sydow playing Ming the Merciless. Then every so often — not often enough for anyone in law enforcement or even most of the country — someone gets killed, a clinic is firebombed, or worse. Leadership makes a not-pology that sounds sort of like ‘They had it coming,’ and life goes on.
I have sometimes considered what Tom Hartmann once said regarding ideological violence in the US. I think he’s rather much further to the left than I’m comfortable with, but he brought up a point that I find troubling though not entirely without merit, though I imagine it can be more easilly debunked. His idea was that every so often, ideological violence is inevitable and in fact must happen. Things such as duels, riots, brawls, minor insurrections act as pressure releases for ideological tensions. Without those releases, things build up to to civil war and societal collapse. I don’t think I believe it; the idea seems to justify violence rather than repudiate it. I think that there’s enough testosterone going around, however, to give credence to the idea that there are some people who do want that violence, the justification to punch their ideological opposites in the snoot.
But this is rather a downer subject; I rather firmly believe that the US is going to keep on trucking and is not headed for the brink immediately. There may be a weakening of government on the Federal level and some state levels, but even if things fell down BOOM, we’d somehow still continue. It’s not going to turn into the United States of Thunderdome anytime soon. =)
I would think so — though I should also be honest & admit I don’t want to be the martyr who dies to show their true colors. ;-j
You make an excellent point there. Perhaps it’d be better, then, that they reveal themselves as, well, as who and what they are, and remove all doubt or debate?
See, I feel that if these people actually acted on their beliefs, they could no longer hide behind their illusion that they are somehow “true” Americans — because doing the things you mention is against the law. The general masses would turn against them (as happened after the first murder of a doctor who provided abortions), and these terrorists (because that is what they espouse) would be sent to prison to pay for the crimes they committed. There is no rational, stable society, religion, culture, or government which does or can condone such behavior — because that behavior is ultimately destructive, not constructive, of community. That’s the reason countries which have suffered under years of guerrilla warfare are falling apart, socially.
I’ve been very careful about accusing people such as that as lacking the ‘courage of their convictions.’ Acting on their beliefs would result in assassinations of centrist leaders, assassinations of abortion providers, bombings, murders, violence, concentration camps for QUILTBAG folk… a return of the KKK or the Holy Vehm, in other words. So I’m quite content to let them remain passive-aggressive complainers. Nevermind that acting on those beliefs would be highly ‘un-Christian,’ they would still — and do still — consider themselves Christians.
I try to view tribal markings like NOTW and Revolution II in much the same way that geeks (such as myself) have a FLYNN LIVES tee, or the Autobots symbol on their car, or put ‘Jedi’ down on their Census form for ‘religion.’ (Not that I do all that!): Mostly harmless tribalism, marks for identifying other members of the ideological tribe, indications of a shared jargon. At least, I try to tell myself that. They’re all escapim of a sort (the Revolution II people imagining themselves in some remake of Red Dawn, I suppose) but I worry that the political escapism may map too closely to reality to keep someone (such as those who believe Tim McVeigh was ‘right’) from doing something violent. Geeks may say ‘Optimus Prime died for your sins!’ but I’ve yet to see that in a manifesto. So maybe it’s not entirely harmless escapism.
Have to run to client, will be back later to comment more! =)
Wow, what an unpleasant-sounding group of people! Talk about passive-aggressive wastes of time, whining about not getting their way. It appears they do not even have the courage of their convictions, if they can’t even bring themselves to act on their beliefs. Do these folks actually consider themselves christian — through some travesty of highly creative interpretation?
Re scheduling, I’ve come to the realization that what I really need is a year or so to really experience my country! This will do for a nicely educational substitute, though. ;)
I had a touch of foreboding when you mentioned that symbol. I did some research. I think it’s probably best that you didn’t stop to talk with them after all. That symbol is being marketed as representative of the Second American Revolution. No, not the SECRET one as described by Commander Hunter Gatherer! =) No, this is a symbol being sold — on flags, stickers, etc. — to represent either the desire to see, or the belief that we are in, a ‘Second American Revolution’ against the currently-existing government.
However, I don’t think it is actually a symbol of a coherent movement. Like the ‘Not Of This World’ merchandise, it’s a trademarked, copyrighted symbol used to identify members of an ideological tribe, that someone is making money off of by selling to members of that tribe. I don’t know weather to laugh or cry. At least NOTW is moderately harmless to other people; US Revolution II passively — if indirectly — encourages political divisiveness, class warfare, sedition, and violence.
As for the people you saw in Utah, I’ve heard that there’s something of a dramatic reaction to the news that the Mormon Church had a major hand in the passing of Prop 8 in CA. A lot of Mormons who might not personally approve of marriage equality liked their church getting involved in such a way even *less*. I imagine there was some memory of the days of Brigham Young and the early Salt Lake City migrants, and how external forces were brought to bear against them, and deciding that if it was wrong to have it done to them then, then it’s wrong for them to do to others now.
Feel lucky you’re seeing signs at all! =) In Pennsylvania, the joke is that when you enter the state, you see a sign: “WELCOME TO PENNSYLVANIA, This is the last sign you will see here.”
It’s a shame you’re missing Arcosanti! I’ve heard it’s fascinating. Still, I can understand the tight scheduling.