bringing to bear

Stop 1: Kingman
- bought paper, pens, gum and toothbrush

Stop 2: Greensburg
- Stop at worlds largest hand-dug well
- met Stacy at the gift shop. Says "Green movement is a reason for young people to re-inhabit rural America".
- Land and trees are barren due to 2007 tornado. Stripped of all vegetation
- lots of new model homes
- Met a green-architect from Lawrence (KS) named Dave. Claims his efforts are in vain. “Build a house. Fill the house. Find no work. Leave the house. Community crumbles. Western Kansas is not a retirement spot.”

- Essential question: How do we get young people to rural America?
o Incentives?
o Family Values?
o Resurgence of small-scale agriculture?
o Gun point?

- Who profits from small town resurgence?
- Is minority inclusion probable in a new exodus?
- Elaborate on why urban notions of disgust surround rural living.

- Remember “the dust settles” poem.

- Towns in atrophy: Greensburg, Lakin,

- Towns in rigormortis: Coolidge, Meade, Mullinville

- Living towns: Pratt, Kingman

Stop 3: Mullinville

- Country café for lunch
- Town of nearly no population
- See pictures
- 3 total feed yards as of this town
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6:27 pm 3-19-09

At the windbreak in Syracuse. Upon my entrance, the bar turns to look at me. All of them men over 50 years old. The bar tender asks if I’m “ABC”, to which I say “what does that mean?”

“Alcoholic Beverage C-something”. They ask what the hell I’m doing here.

“I’m visiting family.”

“what’s your family?”

“The cooks. You know, Darrel and Linda.”

The bar erupts into stories of my family.

“I went to school with Darrel. He should be coming in here in a few minutes.”
“One night in about 77, I was sitting here at the bar and it was packed. I feel someone push me from behind and it was your dad. I was ready to cut him with my knife, but he was just visiting from college and we sat and drank beer all night, the old son of a bitch.”

After all the familial formalities were finished, they asked what I do.

“I go to school.”
“what for?”
“To become a teacher.”
“…what the hell is wrong with you?”“I’m not as strong as the rest of the cook boys.”
“Not by the looks of ya’, cubby.”
“thanks.”

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I’ve been trying to piece this town together for years. All I have are stories and the limited experience as a city boy visiting for the summer. I’m trying to figure out what people look forward to here.

From first glance, the town is staying alive somehow. The people seem to know their purpose, but don’t wear it on their sleeve. The ones I’ve seen so far have been ravaged by years of chain smoking, lackluster crops, subsidies, and alcoholism.

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Sampling water to grow for nations. Jovial to taste a drop, out of humor and horror that our tongues stay salty. Or that our best love of land is never enough, how god has always forsaken the land. We are broken to break, too shaken for the sake of rattles in the grass, the only thing growing.

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quote from bar:

“Obama’s trying to get us out of an economic crisis. No work, no crisis.”

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This is how well I know my family:

*me exiting the bar. Directed to man at the bar who looks familiar*
me: you my cousin?
Him: what?
Me: you ben?
Him: … no.
Me: my mistake. Take it easy.

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Greensburg cont…
- People walking about in various directions. Oddly visible. Not obstructed by structure. Aimless, it seems, but with reason.
- The majority of cars in the town are in front of a brand new Kwik Shop. State of the art.
- New art gallery made of temperature sensitive glass that opens and closes to adjust for weather. Powered by solar panels. I imagine Leonardo Dicapprio narrating.

Mullinville cont…
- collection of metal art. All political. See photos. AMAZING!
-

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3-20-09 6:50 AM- Ramblin Inn Restaurant- Syracuse, KS

Collection of friends and acquaintances sit at adjacent tables. I notice a familiar accent. I peg him as Scottish and through some pretty simple eavesdropping (they all speak loudly), I confirmed it: he’s a Scott. I can’t imagine why he has come to this tiny Kansas farm community. He seems to be well known to the regulars here.

The breakfast was good: pancakes and hash browns

The whole town is talking about #33 (Bryce Simon) on American University’s basketball team, who is from Syracuse. They made it to the NCAA tournament for the 2nd year in a row. They were beating Villanova Thursday night, but lost in the 2nd half.

Gossip is thick: talking about a kid to took a shit in the swimming pool. They put cameras around the pool to prevent it from happening again.

Their conversations: Work, politics, frustrations, taxes, sports, town business
My conversations: Work, gross stories, movie/tv quotations, booze/drugs, sex, games, sports.

Total feed yards observed during trip: 8 (including Tyson’s relocation to Garden City)

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Agenda for today:
- Visit Grandpa and Grandma’s grave
- Talk To People
- Visit Jeff/Pam, and Linda
- Visit Hamilton County Museum
- Get stats on economy
- Watch “Slumdog Millionaire” at 7pm at theater
- go to bar. Try and get some interviews in.