“Strange days have found us
Strange days have tracked us down
They’re going to destroy
Our casual joys” The Doors
Well, strange days have definitely found us, as to whether or not it will destroy all our casual joys, the jury is still out. I like to think there’s still a lot left to do just around the neighborhood.
“When you’re strange
No one remembers your name
When you’re strange” The Doors
Isolation is a relative term. We live way out west in rural Washington and it can feel pretty remote sometimes, but during this period of self-imposed seclusion, it has been a blessing. We have friends living in city apartments and their idea of isolation and ours are two very different things. Even though we can’t hug and kiss friends and love ones, as long as we take precautions and avoid people, our mobility is in no way hindered. We have taken to long solitary walks on the beach. A beach that, now free of tourists and tire tracks, feels somehow more vast and expansive, and still has small untouched details.
Road Trips
Yes, like all good Americans, we just couldn’t wait to get out on the open road, at least for the day. So we packed a lunch, filled the gas tank, loaded up the face masks, latex gloves and hand sanitizer and set out on a little excursion to some very small towns where there just aren’t many people around in the best of times.
Fort Stevens, Oregon
Fort Stevens was an American military installation built near the end of the Civil War to help protect the mouth of the Columbia River. Now it’s a small settlement built around a military history museum.
Fort Stevens is named for former Washington Territory governor and slain Civil War general Isaac Ingalls Stevens. A little guy with a lot of courage. Isaac stood just 5′ 3″ . He is said to have died holding the Regimental Colors high and shouting “Highlanders! Highlanders! Follow your general!” while leading his men in a charge against Confederate forces at the Battle of Chantilly on September 1, 1862.
Brownsmead, Oregon
With the exception of a hand full of very creative souls there is not much in this tiny unincorporated community. It was built out on the flats on the south side of the Columbia River along Saspal Slough. Located on a bend in the river, Brownsmead’s chief claim to fame is as the northernmost settlement in the state of Oregon
Warrenton, Oregon
The area began developing as a small fishing community in the late 1840s. Warrenton was platted in 1889 and incorporated as a city in 1899. The town was built on tidal flats and relied on a system of dikes constructed by Chinese laborers to keep the it from flooding.
Raymond, Washington
Founded in 1907, Raymond was named for it’s first postmaster, L. V. Raymond. The downtown was originally built on slits, six feet above the tidal flats below. Starting as a rough and tumble lumber town Raymond fell on hard times but has now reinvented itself as Pacific County’s marijuana manufacturing hub.
To be continued. Stay safe.
The streets of Portland are still full of anonymous messages although I can not help but notice that graffiti is making a transformation. In some ways this change mimics rock and roll’s move from underground to mainstream in the 80s and 90s. Medium sized gang tagging, crude graffiti and whacked out counterculture messages appear to be on the wane as more and more wall sized murals begin to dominate the landscape. These gigantic, amazingly produced, pieces of art appear to be commercial calling cards that help businesses stand out from the landscape and visually separate themselves from the surrounding buildings.
The Rise of the Sticker
The counterculture appears to have become more automated, opting for huge numbers of preprinted minuscule wackiness that has firmly harkened in the age of the sticker. Think of it a little like Punk Music; rude, disorganized, snarky, messy, small and, yet, still loud. Clever miniature tags, notices, art and bits of wacky wisdom festoon most every pole or metal railing in town. They seem to encompass artistic expressions, clever ads, nasty pronouncements, silly doodles or simply the rantings of lunatics.
The Hippie/Artist/Cartoonist/Illustrator/Social Commentator R. Crumb keeps an extensive library of source material containing hundreds of photographs of telephone poles, overhead wires and electrical transformers. These things are part of systems working in the background of our lives, transporting unseen energy and silent communications to and fro. Because of that background role these forces don’t seem to impact our daily lives in any immediate way, so we simple dismiss or remove them from our consciousness and over time they become invisible. Crumb accurately concluded that including the things, which most people visually edit from their reality, added authenticity and believability to his drawings.
Of all the things that we have chosen to unconsciously ignore in the urban environment there are none more loyal or steadfast than the legions of fire fighting minions that wait patiently on every street corner.
They are woefully ignored and I would go as far as to suggest that, even though we are literally surrounded by these conscientious little lifesavers, most people would be hard-pressed to even tell you what colors they are painted or if they come in more then one style.
Are they offended? No, they quietly hide in plain sight, ever ready, just longing to remove their cloak of invisibility and be called into action.
Spigots
Let’s not forget the lowly spigot. The downtown buildings are riddled with every manner of faucet, fitting, pipe, coupling and drain you can imagine. These things, having none of the cartoonish charm of their fire hydrant buddies, are truly invisible.
Nonetheless, I’m certain that their hidden role in the urban landscape is critical, probably.
