This post is about moving forward. As a writer I'm have not published the volume of short stories yet, I haven't gotten my podcast off the ground or done any stand up storytelling in a year. Yet as I write this my first gig will be this December and I'm editing the collection of short stories this time for me and the grandchildren. I haven't given up and never will. My stories are for the public and some can argue it is long over due though I know today I'm ready.
That gets me to the subject of this blog post. Many people are ready to move beyond yesterdays past, racism, bigotry and the status quo. We are ready for the young generation to lead, to educate the masses and provide preventive health care to everyone in the United States. I'm realizing why when it comes to budget cuts the first thing cut is education. In a town right outside of where I work and live is Pahrump, Nevada. There isn't any future there for young people and it is a hang out spot for snow birders. To make matters worse you can see the affects of meth on the population and distinct difference between the have and have nots too. It is the broke systems of education in rural communities who suffer the most from conservative politics. Yet they continue to vote and support the likes of Ron Paul and other ultra-conservative politicians. I'm not writing this to speak on the politics of that paradigm but to speak about how the lack of knowledge beyond your street, block, town, state can and does handicap you. Education once use to be this liberating force that propelled youth, people to go out and see the world. It challenged us to find out why people and cultures are different and to either embrace it or at least acknowledge there is more than one way of seeing the world. I have met so many people who are afraid to live that it boggles my mind. I'm at the place where I can't be around them at this time. It is one of the many problems with the federal government. I love the National Park Service however it gets to be committed to its people and their quality of life just like its mission is committed to wilderness, historic places and national parks.
You can't miss driving through Pahrump, NV if you are going to Death Valley National Park. Highway 160 runs through the town punctuated by three strips malls on the left side of the street and a big Nugget Casino on the right. Drive down one of the side streets and you have double wide trailer homes with large patches of land beside them. Some land is scattered with litter with a trailers that looked abandon but upon closer scrutiny you see someone does live there. You can find a house with miniature ponies in the yard right beside a new looking house with a nicely fenced yard. It's like this neighborhood after neighborhood unless you live in one of the developments. A "hot mess" is what my mother would have called it. Yet in this dusty town you can find diversity taking hold if only in little sprouts like the Cafe off Highway 160 is a balm in this dead town. Inside the cafe walls are covered with great local art; classical, blues, folk and hip hop flow out of the speakers or NPR during the day. It is always a crowd with free wi-fi and great coffee, tea or sandwiches.
I'm saying most people today can't be hoodwinked anymore. We are tired of divisive politics, conversations and bigotry and racism. We are tired of all racist including those within my culture. We desire real change and those who are full of fear can't come where we are daring to go. Right now I'm sitting in the coffee shop watching a group of young people playing chess. It is great to see them for my hope is in them being fearless and having courage to tackle the hard decisions without the hesitation our generation has shown. People are gathering now to hear the school boy who is going to jam on his sax tonight. Others are placing games on their laptops, or gameboys or doing home work. I see our future despite the old infirm who fear it, despite the elite who only want to keep everyone outside the gates looking in. It is a place of community and in this desolate town of small minds, there are many who are awake ready to move forward and change this country one street, block neighborhood at a time. I invite you to let the children come and lead.
--
getoutdoors4u@gmail.com
An Adventure is Waiting Outdoors
y
That gets me to the subject of this blog post. Many people are ready to move beyond yesterdays past, racism, bigotry and the status quo. We are ready for the young generation to lead, to educate the masses and provide preventive health care to everyone in the United States. I'm realizing why when it comes to budget cuts the first thing cut is education. In a town right outside of where I work and live is Pahrump, Nevada. There isn't any future there for young people and it is a hang out spot for snow birders. To make matters worse you can see the affects of meth on the population and distinct difference between the have and have nots too. It is the broke systems of education in rural communities who suffer the most from conservative politics. Yet they continue to vote and support the likes of Ron Paul and other ultra-conservative politicians. I'm not writing this to speak on the politics of that paradigm but to speak about how the lack of knowledge beyond your street, block, town, state can and does handicap you. Education once use to be this liberating force that propelled youth, people to go out and see the world. It challenged us to find out why people and cultures are different and to either embrace it or at least acknowledge there is more than one way of seeing the world. I have met so many people who are afraid to live that it boggles my mind. I'm at the place where I can't be around them at this time. It is one of the many problems with the federal government. I love the National Park Service however it gets to be committed to its people and their quality of life just like its mission is committed to wilderness, historic places and national parks.
You can't miss driving through Pahrump, NV if you are going to Death Valley National Park. Highway 160 runs through the town punctuated by three strips malls on the left side of the street and a big Nugget Casino on the right. Drive down one of the side streets and you have double wide trailer homes with large patches of land beside them. Some land is scattered with litter with a trailers that looked abandon but upon closer scrutiny you see someone does live there. You can find a house with miniature ponies in the yard right beside a new looking house with a nicely fenced yard. It's like this neighborhood after neighborhood unless you live in one of the developments. A "hot mess" is what my mother would have called it. Yet in this dusty town you can find diversity taking hold if only in little sprouts like the Cafe off Highway 160 is a balm in this dead town. Inside the cafe walls are covered with great local art; classical, blues, folk and hip hop flow out of the speakers or NPR during the day. It is always a crowd with free wi-fi and great coffee, tea or sandwiches.
I'm saying most people today can't be hoodwinked anymore. We are tired of divisive politics, conversations and bigotry and racism. We are tired of all racist including those within my culture. We desire real change and those who are full of fear can't come where we are daring to go. Right now I'm sitting in the coffee shop watching a group of young people playing chess. It is great to see them for my hope is in them being fearless and having courage to tackle the hard decisions without the hesitation our generation has shown. People are gathering now to hear the school boy who is going to jam on his sax tonight. Others are placing games on their laptops, or gameboys or doing home work. I see our future despite the old infirm who fear it, despite the elite who only want to keep everyone outside the gates looking in. It is a place of community and in this desolate town of small minds, there are many who are awake ready to move forward and change this country one street, block neighborhood at a time. I invite you to let the children come and lead.
--
getoutdoors4u@gmail.com
An Adventure is Waiting Outdoors
y
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