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Well-meaning people have often told me that I should consider moving because Salida is a remote backwater, far removed from the mainstream of contemporary American life.
At first I argued that the mainstream rat race was a perfect place for rodents, who were welcome to it. But then I discovered that Salida might have taken over California's job of cultural and economic leadership.
The saying was that Whatever happens in America
happens first in California,
but in truth, things
happen first in Salida.
Is the rest of America now suffering from plant closings and lay-offs that affect industrial workers? That happened here in 1982 -- ten years ago when Climax Molybdenum and CF&I's Monarch Quarry shut down. It also happened in 1955, when the railroad closed its local shops and roundhouses. As for any new jobs, do they pay minimum wage? Welcome to Salida, America.
Are real-estate prices now declining nationally? Does it take just this side of forever to sell a house? That trend started here about ten years ago. And even though prices dropped, we still faced a shortage of affordable rental housing -- a problem that is hitting the rest of America now.
Nationally, banks were failing left and right in 1989. Three years earlier, the Buena Vista Bank & Trust failed on account of speculative loans, as did a local credit union. Our area led the way.
Is cocooning
now fashionable in mainstream
America? We might have invented it here in about 1985, when
we couldn't afford to go out anyway.
In the middle of the eighties, we often used to sit around someone's kitchen table, drinking beer or coffee while we gleefully exchanged pernicious gossip:
Teacher X and Administrator Y, both married to other people, had gone to an out-of-town workshop, and didn't even bother to get separate motel rooms. But delivery-driver Z said Y's car is more often over at Secretary W's house these nights.
Wasn't that the same W who starred at a notorious hot-tub party thrown by Merchant V? She was also coming on to everybody at the big party where Lawyer U was found swiving under the pile of coats on the bed with Clerk T, who's the second cousin once removed of Waitress S, who was seen up at the Hot Springs enjoying a nude romp with County Official R.
I used to be rather embarrassed about talking of such frivolous matters, for this gossip seemed to exemplify all that was stupid, mean and petty about small-town society. I presumed that people in more enlightened regions found higher and nobler things to talk about -- trade deficits, capital formation, decaying infrastructure, educational reform, etc.
But now, thanks to our great organs of public enlightenment and how they have handled the allegations about Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's activities, I realize that once again, we Salidans were on the leading edge of American culture.
Perhaps I should be thrilled, because it means that just by living here, I've got an excellent view into the future. But actually, it's rather frightening to realize that important, sophisticated people in New York, Los Angeles and Washington have become just as stupid, mean and petty as we are.
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