The Facade

So, I think the focus of this blog is going to be on the power of place, more specifically the power of place in the American West. Even more specifically what that means to our lives as westerners, and eventually if the power of place in the West is any different than anywhere else in the world.



I have been thinking about a situation that permeates the West, and will shed a great deal of light on who westerners are. That situation is the relationship we maintain with nature, which is a widely varied subject and different in some ways for all people of the West. However, I think that there are a few similarities that really illustrate the nature of the situation. To start I think it is important to focus on natural wonders, landmarks, big things, things that Westerners identify with. Then, examine how what the worship is, was, and will be.



By things that Westerners identify with I mean Mount Rainier, the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Pikes Peak, The Colorado River, the list is inexhaustible because every town or city in the West has its landmarks and there are usually several per city. I think in all of these situations you can find, at least a little evidence of a love hate relationship. From the simple viewing of a mountain as something to be conquered, to looking at a river canyon as a hydro-electric power plant, to getting nachos on your way to old faithful, or driving your car to Santa's Workshop on top of one of America's most beautiful and identifiable mountains, it exists everywhere. For this example I am going to focus on one area.



The Colorado River is a part of every Grand Junctionite's life. It is the lifeblood of GJ and should be the symbol of it. Growing up it was the thing that symbolized Western Colorado and desert life. It became apparent to me at a fairly young age that the Colorado River was not nearly as cool as it had once been. It is merely a facade of itself. Like an old woman on life support, the river just flows downhill, plugged and tapped just lying there. Also, knowing that the river was once an awe inspiring sight, and mean and ferocious, is like finding out your grandmother had a sordid wild past. You respect even want to know more, want to know her then, but you realize you never will, and that makes you feel like you are missing something, like you are incomplete. This may be a dramatic look at how a natural thing affects you. However, if you drove over the river everyday of your life, and thought about that water as snow melting, flowing down slowly to GJ, then on to Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and eventually evaporating in the desert or watering a field of commercial agriculture or a golf course, you would feel remorse to have never seen the thing as it could be.

So, in the West where our governing paradigm is still conquering nature, where nothing is sacred, and where we are running out of things to conquer, how does this paradox affect who we are? The nature of westerners can be seen in the relationship between the worship of natural things while knowing you want to destroy or own or conquer them. This nature can be seen, especially, in the relationship people have with things already conquered, such as the Colorado River, or Pikes Peak. Maybe this is because we see it everyday and we know it, maybe we lack an understanding of the importance of nature, or maybe these feelings are in everyone, they just do not have a way to express them. I do not know. I do know that if everyone took a few minutes to think about the natural world surrounding them, what it is, what it means, maybe we could change some things. Maybe not.