Drove into a witch's brew of wind from the North as we made our way to Hutch. It drizzled from the time we left Rogersville at 7 A.M. until around fifty miles South of Wichita, where the gray clouds lifted a bit. Worse was the force of a North wind so fierce it pierced my skin every time I had to fill Fric's tank. There I stood shivering, wondering, and lamenting, "Why aren't you in Tucson?" It's seventy-five there today. You're not there because you decided to be here, so who's fault is it, really? By then the meter had passed the $60.00 dollar mark and the pump handle clicked. That's how the day goes when you drive 300 miles in a day, but let's go back to breakfast this morning. While we were waiting for our food, Judy read out some Wikipedia facts about Springfield, MO. (150,000 city population, 400, 000 in the area, 81% White; 5% African American.) On the courthouse, a plaque commemorates the lynching of three African American males. A mob of white men broke into the jail, hung the three men from the Gottfried Tower, which held a replica of the Statue of Liberty. Then they burned them. The year was 1906. The event culminated a community push of harassment, intimidation, and terror in an effort to make Negroes feel unwelcome. It worked. The question is what has any of that to do with today? I, too, live in a town with similar demographics. I know of no outright violent histories in Spokane against African Americans, but our history is rife with the abuse of Native Americans. So what? I didn't do it, wouldn't do it. How do we reconcile the past and move productively forward? We can start by accepting people where they are. For example, Stan and Beth Coombs, owners of the Arlie Farm and the Rustic metal fabrication business are fabulous people. They're honest, hardworking, creative, dream living Americans. They're also card carrying Southern Republicans. So what? On several levels they're exactly the kind of folks I'd enjoy hangin around with. Like I've always said, "People are more alike than they are different." It's either that's what I'm finding, or it's that I'm finding what I'm looking for." I don't know. What I do know is that life is good here at Wib and Arlene's, especially today.
Fledgling radishes.
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