NOTES FROM THE ROAD
(arranged in reverse chronological
order)
(c)1998, 1999 by Michael Riversong
10. Pasadena New Year's
Pasadena is one of my favorite towns. It was founded in the last century as
a land development community, by a bunch of people from Indiana. Located at the
base of the San Gabriel Mountains, the vegetation is lush and very diverse, with
everything from palm trees to evergreens towering over the mostly modest
buildings. Most Americans are familiar with the Rose Bowl and the parade.
Being there is something extradordinary.
About two days before New Years, chairs and people in sleeping bags start
appearing along Colorado Avenue, where they hold the parade. On the side
streets, RVs from all over the USA start materializing. Over the next several
hours, over a million people converge on the avenue. By dark on New Years Eve,
most of the people and their gear are in place. That evening, all kinds of cars
start cruising up and down the street, at a walking speed. Most notable were
some antique cars, two gold Chevy Malibus from the 1960's, many chopped cars,
and a few small sports cars. Kids spray whipped cream or shaving cream on their
hands, and run out into the street to rub the stuff on all ordinary-looking
cars. Several people get into wearning or throwing marshmallows. Silly String
is everywhere. So are all kinds of Silly Hats.
Towards midnight, the activity gets increasingly more intense. Many people
set up outdoor grills, so there are small fires everywhere. Drinking happens,
but the police try to keep open containers to a minimum. There are lots of
police officers, who are universally reserved and polite. Some were imported
from over 50 miles away just for the evening. You might think that such a large
mob would be destructive, but almost all the people, even those who look mean,
are very well-behaved. They didn't even mind me wandering through the crowd
passing out literature for my church.
Right at midnight, every car horn honks. One guy had a railroad engine
horn strapped to the top of his SUV. The noise is at an amazing level. People
throw confetti, marshmallows, and tortillas everywhere. Only in California
would people throw tortillas, which are tossed back and forth across the street
until they land in the beds of pickup trucks. They fly just like Frisbees, if
you get the right wrist action going. After midnight, the parties continue.
About 2:00 am many people crawl into their sleeping bags for the rest of the
night, and slowly get up after sunrise. But there are plenty who stay up the
whole night -- some of them lurching around spilling drinks everywhere.
Of course the parade is just as spectacular as you would believe from TV
coverage. Seeing the huge floats in three dimensions, towering over the street,
is amazing. Music from the best marching bands in the country gets everyone
cheering. It took nearly three hours for the whole thing to pass by our
location. There truly is nothing like this anywhere else.
9. Los Angeles December 1998
No city is quite as vast and various as LA. A short essay like this can hardly do it justice -- i need to write a book about it. Stereotypes of this town are shown everywhere in the world, but there is nothng like experiencing it. Actually, Los Angeles is not one city. It is a closely packed area of neighborhoods, each with its own character. For example, one street, Western Avenue, goes on for miles with mostly Korean signs on all the buildings. Another area, Tujunga, is really a little mountain town in itself. Van Nuys is a central nexus for every kind of business imaginable. I am always conscious of the fact that you could fit about 200 Cheyennes into LA, or about 5 Denvers.
My favorite part of LA has to be Glendale. It contains the world's largest Armenian community, nestled alongside a growing network of more Scientologists than anywhere else outside of Clearwater. Glendale is surrounded by big mountains, which point up the futility of its little skyscrapers in the beautifully landscaped downtown. It is prosperous, clean, efficient, and yet homey. Downtown is very pleasant, and contains the world's best used bookstore.
Given the dreamlike quality of many of the surrounding mountain and beach landscapes, it is easy to dream in LA. But it is also easy to work. Even with the complexities introduced by the freeway system that holds everything together, one can find any simple way of life you may care to live, tucked away in one or another of the beautiful neighborhoods. Or you can hang out in the ugly neighborhoods if you want. No matter what you do, it is important to avoid certain freeways, such as the 405 or the 60, which are almost always jammed.
LA contains everything you would want on a whole planet, all in one small area. Except water -- but they scammed enough water rights back in the 1930's, legally stealing it from other areas, to take care of that little problem, at least for now.
Since there is a whole planet here, it's all too easy to get trapped. If you find yourself trapped in LA, there are three ways to deal with it. 1) Find your favorite neighborhood, and stay there as much as possible. 2) Become some kind of super-genius, and get to actually understand the freeway system. 3) Devote all your time and energy to escaping, which is what a surprising number of people do.
The core of Los Angeles is the old Pachuco community west of downtown. Pachucos are a unique group. They are the descendants of people who have been living in the valleys for thousands of years. Over that time, they developed the casual, easygoing attitudes which were transferred to new settlers and which most people have come to associate with LA. You see them all over the place, angelic shadows bemused by all the crazy changes brought in over the past century. If you get to know any of them, you will find great wisdom and experience which will change your life.
8. Albuquerque, New Mexico December 1998
New Mexico is a different and dangerous place. It has the highest traffic
fatality rate of any state, and one of the worst economic climates. At the
center of all this turmoil is the city of Albuquerque, quite possibly the most
difficult city name to spell on this entire continent. It is named after a
small mountainous area of Spain not too far from the border with Portugal. Here
you will find a number of different types of people who really don't exist
anywhere else. Hispanic influence is everywhere, and some parts of town
resemble Mexico more than they do any American city. Most of the Hispanic
people are actually of Native American ancestry, and their values are actually
Indian values. In addition, several pueblos are in the outlying area, providing
cultural influences that you won't find anywhere else.
The town is mostly
very open, and spread out. I like to say that Albuquerque is a city of 700,000
people crammed into a space fit for ten million. Almost everywhere in town, you
can find views of the spectacular Sandia Peak, which is festooned with beautiful
pine forests among huge rock formations. Everyone's problems are easily reduced
just by looking up to the east. Unfortunately, the northeast quadrant of the
city, closest to Sandia Peak, is absolutely ugly. It is mostly new
developments, with tangled streets surrounded by long, straight strips of
commercial buildings which appear to be just thrown together overnight. But the
older parts of town are charming, with a delightful mix of Spanish, Indian, and
American styles of houses.
It is not easy to live there. Most of the people
i knew there came from somewhere else, and have left within the past three
years. Employment can be hard to find. A good crowd of people to hang out with
can be even harder to find. Most of the city's natives come from large
families, with so many relatives nearby that there is no need to meet and become
friends with new people. Some would say the city is predominantly composed of
small cliques. This can be frustrating for a newcomer or a visitor. Still, it
is worth experiencing. The cultural opportunities, even if only from listening
to the local radio, are vast and endlessly fascinating. That's the real value
of this crossroads of New Mexico.
7. Telluride, Colorado May 31, 1998
If you have read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand, you remember that
part of the book is set in Colorado. I always imagined the Telluride Valley to
be the place where the new society was built. (If you haven't read that book
yet, do it, now!) Interestingly enough, several residents have said exactly the
same thing.
I was here to play harp for a unique interfaith festival
called "Steps to Awareness". There probably isn't a more beautiful
place on Earth. The mountains rise dramatically on every side. There is just
enough room in the valley for the town and a bit of open space before running
into the steep, forested slopes. At the east end of the valley is a really high
waterfall, about halfway up to the top of the pass. Many of the nearby peaks
rise above timberline. The stark grey rock faces turn indecribable colors at
sunrise and sunset. This is a classic "box canyon" -- you can't get
out to the east, unless you ski in the winter or jeep in the summer. Ouray is
only about ten miles to the east, but you have to travel more than fifty miles
of road to get there.
Lots of young people come to Telluride for a season or two, and then move
on. Some of the locals refer to this as "Telluride University" -- of
course the nearest college is over 75 miles away in any direction, but the kids
who come here learn a lot about life. Many of the people who come here can't
hold on for long. The cost of living is very high, and wages are low. The town
includes the homes of a few major celebrities, but about all they do for
Telluride, for the most part, is jack up real estate prices. Still, somehow, a
number of people hang in here for years, trading a chance at a real income and
economic progress for the amenities of this valley.
The community here is very different from most towns. The main radio
station is public, and residents take turns being announcers. You get to hear
more kinds of music on the radio in this tiny place (1,800 permanent population)
than you would even in New York. Just off the main street, there is a Free Box
where you can pick up furniture, clothes, books, whatever. Last night i found a
great wool sweater there. People are genuinely friendly. You can strike up a
conversation with just about any person (or dog) on Colorado Ave. Many of the
people here are highly educated. One of the strangest things -- just after
arriving, i ran into this guy in a wheelchair who looked for all the world like
your average derelict. We ended up having a technical conversation about
nuclear physics and gravity theory. The town marshall also works at the radio
station. We had met a few years ago at the radio studio, where he interviewed
me. Our conversations late at night across from Elk's Park were wonderful.
You may have heard about the married couple who died on Mt. Everest within
the past couple of weeks. They were permanent residents of Telluride. On
Saturday, i was asked by Sergei's best friend, another Russian, to come and play
for the memorial service, which was held outdoors in a beautiful meadow about
three miles west of town. Of course their deaths were tragic, and everyone knew
it. But the service was what a funeral should be -- a celebration of Life.
Fran's 11-year old son talked for a while, just random stories about his mom.
Sergei's friend played a few of the Russian songs that had drawn them together
as friends. Tears and laughter got all mixed together. People were really
close, and you could feel the love in the air, combining with the scent of
spruce trees. Afterwards, we had a potluck there -- tables had been set up in
the meadow. Like most mountain towns, Telluride runs on potlucks.
There is only one reason to tell you all this, really. I want everyone to
know that any town could be like Telluride. You don't have to be on the edge of
civilization, or have great big mountains towering over you, or have a lot of
refugees from higher education passing through all the time. What makes
Telluride special is the fact that you can indeed strike up a conversation with
anyone on the main street. From that, comes everything else that makes this
town a magical place.
6. Texas Revisited April 1998
In Texas, lots of good stuff happened. Hadn't been there since December
1995, and it was nice to be back. First i was in Bay City, a bit south of
Houston. Played harp at a preschool, and then in two public school 3rd grade
classrooms. Most of the preschool staff bought CDs, which helped a lot. At the
public school, saw more reasons why the system is defunct. The kids in the
first classroom wanted to talk about religion but they couldn't. The second
class, i found out later, was a special program for "gifted" kids.
They were almost all white, obviously being groomed to become the town's elite
someday. The atmosphere was very polite and sterile. Lots of politics as to
who gets in the program. Totally disgusting.
My cousin works at the nuclear power plant there, and he gave me a tour.
They have a huge cooling reservoir which is host to a lot of wildlife. For a
while, an alligator was trying to decide if we looked enough like lunch to come
up on the dam and try a bite of us.
Took a little time off on Thursday (April 23) at Matagorda Beach, which
was uncrowded and quiet. This place is highly recommended, at least on
weekdays.
Then on Friday i went up to Austin. A poet friend, Anastazja McFayden, got
me into playing at a church graduation that night. She also got me into a
poetry reading on Saturday night, as featured artist. This was all set up by
e-mail just a couple days before -- totally awesome job. Turned out two of the
church staff members were getting married on Saturday, and the coffeehouse where
i read poetry was only half a block away, so i did both. The wedding people
were pretty neat. And the poetry people were very much artistic types -- one
girl wore wings on the back of her dress and face paint. The reading went over
well, and they want me to come back there in the week before Easter next year
for a big festival.
Austin calls itself the "Live Music Capitol of the World" and i
believe it. There was a lot happening there. The university is huge and really
is the dominant influence in town -- which is saying something, since it's also
the state capitol. Wrote a new poem there, which may be posted elsewhere on
this site eventually. It's called "Armadillo State of Mind".
5. South Florida April 1998
Florida is a big place. Even in its flatness, there are a lot of flavors.
It would have been good to explore more of the flavors, but there were
considerations of time and distance. Sometimes it's nice to not have to drive
for a day or two. Mostly i hung around the suburbs of Ft. Lauderdale.
My first day there, my hostess took me & her kids to Flamingo Gardens.
Highly recommend it -- one of the best botanical gardens anywhere. Absolutely
beautiful setup. Especially liked their aviary.
Thursday (April 9) was the Unschooler's group picnic. I was told later
that this was one of their most well-attended events ever. Sure were a lot of
cool people there -- it was hard to keep track of everyone. Things happened
very fast. What was most impressive was the kids. They were easily the most
attentive audience i have ever seen -- and i have run into some pretty
extraordinary kids before, in other parts of the country. We had a very tight
little circle in our picnic shelter. Questions were fired off thick and fast --
that's always a joy because then i don't have to think up a program sequence --
just flow with it. Several of them definitely wanted to learn to play the harp
-- hope the parents will forgive me for putting the desire for a rather
expensive and exotic Christmas present into their minds.
On Friday, a couple of local Tesla enthusiasts took me down to Coral
Castle, where i made several electromagnetic field measurements. (Email me if
you'd like a copy of the report.)
Easter weekend was a real joy. Did a fairly unremarkable performance at
Borders Books Sawgrass. Spontaneously created a new kid's story there, roughly
based on the Finnish national epic, the Kalevala, with some Native American
elements attached. That seemed to work well, and will be a part of future
presentations when appropriate. Sunday was just one big Easter party, and i met
a lot of extraordinary individuals. Even though i may not like the environment
of South Florida a whole lot (too many bugs and two-legged sharks for my taste),
the people i met there more than made up for it. Especially those Unschooling
kids. Wow.
4. Twin Oaks Community, Virginia, April 1998
This is a special place, for many reasons. It is a survivor of the commune
movement of the 1970's. They are unique by having existed for over 30 years
with no strong leader and no spiritual doctrine to hold the community together.
Many people see them as a model for a new type of society.
When Twin Oaks
started, its only doctrine was B.F. Skinner's behaviorism. Eventually, that was
abandoned as unworkable. Their politics are now very much like the old Native
American ways of that region of Virginia -- lots of long meetings, discussions
of many things, and deciding things by consensus.
Manufacturing has been a
primary emphasis all along. This is probably the secret of their success. They
started out making high-quality hammocks. Over the years they have added chairs,
tofu, and tempeh (a cultured soy food which can be made to taste like chicken).
Money does not circulate within the community. Members accumulate labor
credits, which can be used within the community for personal services as needed,
or converted to cash for use outside the community. All buildings, furniture,
cars, and recreational equipment such as canoes and VCRs are owned by the
community as a whole. Cars and recreational equipment are signed out as needed.
I heard about one incident where a person was kicked out of the community for
lying on the log sheets about the distance he was driving a car on frequent
trips. People make their choice of places to live among available rooms in
several residence buildings. The residences vary in size, holding from
approximately 7 to 50 people. They are very well-built, to some degree
resembling apartment houses but with common kitchens and bathrooms. Several
styles of buildings have been built, ranging from the funky and chaotic Tupelo
to the slick and modern Kaweah, where i stayed.
Lunch and dinner are
usually provided at a central building. The food was excellent. People take
rotations on kitchen duty, and i was impressed with the way they paid attention
to keeping the facilities clean and orderly.
Environmental concerns are a
big thing at Twin Oaks. They try to have a positive impact on the land in
general. Large areas of the community are forest which remains largely
untouched. Several alternative energy projects have been set up, including an
excellent composting toilet, solar hot water systems, and some solar electric
installations. In fact, i assisted with the repair of one solar system.
Education
has shifted and changed many times. They used to have a special building just
for kids, and in the beginning were intending to have the children raised wholly
by experts, as Skinner had advocated. The building is partly underground, and
actually is about the only badly done building in the whole place. Everyone
gradually deserted it, along with Skinner's methods. Now, some of the kids go
to public school, others go to a Montessori about 30 miles away, and a few are
home-schooled. One community member has a reading program that she has
developed and markets to people in the surrounding area, but she was very busy
and we never found time to meet. When i did my special program for the
community's children on Thursday night, they were incredibly energetic, and yet
paid attention to what i was saying as well.
While Twin Oaks looks like a "counterculture"
institution, there are important values unique to the place which make it work.
For one thing, i saw no evidence whatsoever of illegal drugs, even during a
major celebration that took place while i was there. The emphasis on honest
work is another important thing. Everyone is free to choose their own work
hours within reason, and i saw members working hard at all hours of the day and
night. While consensus politics may seem unwieldy, it can work, as the community
demonstrates. It has no trappings of a cult. People come and go freely. When
someone leaves, they may have to settle up financial matters, especially if they
had extensive health care or legal expenses paid for by the community, but other
than that anyone is always free to leave. Joining the community involves
visiting for a while, then a provisional membership, and finally a vote by
everyone as to whether or not the member is accepted.
In conclusion, i am
very glad to have visited Twin Oaks. I found some new friends there, and plan
to return within the next year for another visit.
3. Woodstock, March 1998
Made it to Woodstock, only about 29 years too late. Only the people who
live there know that the Big Event actually happened several miles down the road
anyway.
One fun thing to do is collect bumper stickers. They are all white
on green, with WOODSTOCK in big letters, and various slogans underneath:
"Don't
worry, they'll never find you here"
"Home of stale hippies and old
beer"
"Set your watches back to 1969"
Driving around
Woodstock is confusing. None of the roads go where you think they do. Makes a
person hungry for noodle soup. Directions are meaningless in these relentless
woods, which pause only for beaver ponds and marshes. To match all this, the
geology is also confusing, having recently been scoured by glaciers so that no
rock rests near its point of origin.
Woodstock has a reputation for being
tolerant. In fact, sometimes people walk around in their pajamas, and that's
not considered a big deal. There sure are a lot of gurus hanging around, and
also several interesting religious communities. Lots of seminars are going on
all the time, but it wasn't clear how much of this education had any practical
application. Of course, being tolerant is nice, but it can also mean that
nobody takes anyone else seriously. That's one of the hazards. The other is,
of course, drugs, and it seemed like everyone i met knew someone who had killed
themselves that way.
When things go wrong, the excuses used in Woodstock are
interesting. It's either, "Well, this is Woodstock, you know" or "Mercury
was retrograde". Since Mercury seems to be causing all this trouble, maybe
they should start a chapter of my NUKE MERCURY movement. Bet it would find some
solid adherents in Woodstock.
2. New Jersey, March 1998
They call this the "Garden State". Well there are still a few
places you can put in a few vegetables, anyway. Somewhere between the endless
factories sinking into the muck of what used to be the Meadowlands, native
plants struggle upward. Somewhere among the new apartments, there still are
woods here and there, places good for a secret rendezvous where more citizens of
this state can be created late on summer nights.
Most of the people you come across happen to be drunk. The State Lottery
supports "Education and Institutions". This state still runs a couple
of spinbins, so one can have the comforting knowledge that every time you try
for unlimited wealth, or at least a way out of endless debt, you've provided for
your brains to be suitably fried once the other drunks finally drive you crazy.
Something about the culture is very depressing. People seem to have the idea
that art can only exist in galleries over in Manhattan, music can only happen in
carefully controlled spots in smoky nightclubs, and dancing is something naked
women do in the Meadowlands, which you can maybe watch sometime if you have the
guts to be surrounded by menacing functionaries from the Mob and throw away
enough money.
One lady called up a bunch of friends to see if they would like to come
over and hear a random Gypsy harpist on a Saturday night. None of them could
even imagine such a thing. You won't find this attitude anywhere else in the
country. In New Jersey, family is everything, and family obligations have to
take precedence over all other possibilities in life. The people who have good
jobs got them through connections, and fixes. If you want to join a union, you
have to buy "The Book" -- $700 for a binder which contains almost
nothing. Then you have to "Shape Up", which means a year or more of
virtual slavery while the union bosses find out whether or not you're going to
follow the right orders, and know without being told which orders are the right
ones.
But the arts live on anyway. One little bar on Hackensack Road
looks pretty Irish. Now, in Ireland, you can walk into any pub, any time,
carrying a harp, and suddenly people will appear out of the woodwork, even in
the middle of the day, to enjoy the magic. Someone took me in there, with my
harp. They actually did turn off the jukebox, and on a Saturday afternoon the
sounds of authentic music, live the way it is supposed to be, rang out over the
unstable spirits of the day. Only a few people pretended not to hear, and
nobody tried to beat up the harpist, as they would in any other American bar. A
few tapes and CDs were sold. So there is hope for New Jersey.
I have been
informed that there are nicer parts of New Jersey than the northern counties
where some of my cousins live. There are mountains, and roads even get closed
by snow occasionally. And of course there are the beaches (they never use that
word here -- it's always "the Shore"). This time of year (March)
isn't ideal for being by the ocean. Maybe i can get here sometime in the summer
and see another whole dimension of this place.
1. New York City, March 1998
In a little space two miles wide and 24 miles long, everything in the rest
of the world is somehow represented. One of the most fun games to play out on
the streets is guessing what language you're hearing at the moment.
People
make great sacrifices to live on this dynamic island. Rents are unimaginably
high. Wages are laughable by comparison. But it is worth it, to be able to go
downstairs at any hour of the day or night and get anything your little whims
dictate. That is, you can get it provided you happen to have any money left
over after paying rent.
In New York City, the arts do flourish. There are little independent
scenes everywhere -- tucked away in lofts, abandoned warehouses, and even art
galleries. Walking through SoHo (which means South of Houston Street) is an
education in everything possible in the arts. Dance performances happen in art
galleries, plays are put on in old warehouses, music sparkles randomly in the
subways, and paintings can be found almost anywhere.
Of course, the quality of music in the subways varies. The worst was a
sleazy-looking little guy in a tuxedo who had nailed a mannequin with a huge
blonde wig to his shoes. He played tangos on a boom box and danced with the
mannequin. Another strange one was a seriously ugly guy who got on a crowded
shuttle train one day with a portable microphone and pretended to be a comedian.
But there were excellent ones too, some even sponsered by the transit
authority. A jazz band playing underneath Times Square stood out. By far the
best was a duo, one playing an African Kora (harp-like instrument built from a
large gourd) and a French trumpet player. Got their phone number. If i ever
get rich and famous, that Kora player is getting his own album.
In this
most artificial of environments, where all of the buildings and even many of the
trees are kept in cages, several important environmental organizations keep
their headquarters. You can even get a map showing all the ecological and
environmental points of interest. This map, called the New York GeenMap, is
available free in many places, and is covered with little dots showing all kinds
of fascinating items. (There is a web site for this:
Green Maps.)
There probably are
plenty of fat people in New York, as there are everywhere in America, but not
many are evident on the streets. This is one of the best places in the world to
walk. You have to pace yourself. The first time I walked freely in the city
back in 1970, I exhausted myself. Went from Central Park all the way to
Washington Square, with no rests or breaks. This is not advisable.
At
first glance, Manhattan seems like nothing but endless canyons walled in by
overgrown buildings. But at street level, each neighborhood has its own flavor.
One place is filled with Greek restaurants and souvenir shops. Another area is
all Italian. Still another area is mostly Jewish. But no matter where you are,
something totally out of character with its surroundings will exist -- a
McDonald's among high-class art galleries, a pizza joint in Chinatown, an
X-rated video store a block from City Hall. These contrasts are just part of
the fun.
People from other parts of the country think that New York is dangerous.
It might be, but then you only hear about the bad stuff in the news. Every day,
over eight million people crowded together like nowhere else on this continent
do just fine. Currently the mayor is spearheading a courtesy campaign. News
hounds may make fun of it, but actually people are starting to mellow out a bit.
They still walk fast, but many of them are smiling, and nodding quick greetings
to perfect strangers. In short, New York is full of very nice people. They
might be a little high-strung at times, but the rest of us can still learn a lot
from them.