I'm totally nerding out on the maps and stories collected by Derek Hayes. His latest atlas is titled the Historical Atlas of Washington and Oregon. It feels like a friend, in book form. Which, once again, is a total nerd thing to say. So what. Hayes also wrote previous atlases about the Pacific Northwest and the United States. Even though he's verifiably and proudly Canadian. My initial motivation for diving into his oeuvre came from a desire to see some of the historical representations of the Hudson's Bay Company in their exploration and mapping of North America all the way to the Pacific due to the fur trade. That Company certainly wasn't alone, and thanks to Hayes I've now got a much better handle on who got here when and how. But what's got me coming back for much more of Hayes' shtick are the nuggets that come from this part of the world being, in effect, such a distant corner of the globe until well into the 18th Century and beyond. Hayes expounds upon the typical colonial rivalry motivations (Spanish vs. British...vs. Russian...as a way of getting to China - quite a twist in the case of the Pacific Northwest - FYI). He manages to also quite uniquely showcase the bursts of energy and influence that luck had in settling this part of the World. Just plain awesome nerdball (of history buff) stuff. In fact, his entire bibliography looks fascinating and he comes off as a real nerd's nerd. That's a compliment. Takes one to know one. If you lean in any sense in that direction, I highly recommend checking it all out.
Digging into something entirely different
I've stepped momentarily aside from the issues of the past month (researching militant activism) and questions about where that leads or doesn't (the sharply double-edged sword of those involved seeking media coverage). Call it a breather or a chance to shun the blinders I've slipped on. More, totally new freakshows lie ahead - such as trying to get someone from a certain controversial Midwestern Governor's office to lower the drawbridge for me to cross. But those are other stories for other days. However, this moment's lovely not-at-all left field distraction is a new book that arrived today. Not my typical fare, but something I'm nonetheless using as an introduction to days of yore. Exploring Fort Vancouver (edited by Douglas C. Wilson and Theresa E. Langford) gives an introduction to what was the biggest West Coast outpost in the early 19th Century. Credit that toehold somewhat to the old Hudson's Bay Company. As this book lays it down, site specific history is much more complex than just quoting dates and names. Plus it's just a lovely little book. I haven't yet ventured to the actual National Historic Site in what is now Vancouver, Washington. I will someday soon. Until then, this book is a glossy time capsule escape. Along with being a reminder of the loving work too often ignored but still being done by archaeologists and historians. Highly recommended.
Fondly posting about the Postal Service
I seldom see such an unromantic notion as that of abolishing the U.S. Postal Service for the sake of budgetary politics. This meme has been going on for ten days since the NYTimes appropriately gave it some Front Page dap. I'm still amazed that so few people have risen to defend this transcendent service. With renewed focus on the act of doing so, I visited our local Post Office this morning to pick up an Express Mail package. I waltzed through the door right at 9am, after dropping Maya at school. There was one car in the parking lot, no one in line, and the woman behind the counter greeted me like an old friend even though I've never seen her before. I'm sure that most of us have far fewer occasions than those around the holidaze when such a trip is required. But the thought of losing the overall cloud of things that make up the Postal Service painfully pinches the sentimental core of my brain. Combine all the retro-yet-still-utilitarian coolness in the world - vinyl records, Polaroid cameras, manual typewriters, knitting, growing your own vegetables, beer making, basically anything you'd ever find at a flea or farmers market - multiply it by 10 and you're less than halfway to the appreciation and loss factor I think we as a Nation would feel if we actually stuck a fork in the souffle that is the mail. Speaking as someone with his own stationary who still revels in the chance to use it, the loss of snail mail would be a crushing blow. I imagine most Americans can find distinct, personal reasons to keep the trucks rolling. I fondly remember the huge but still permissibly-sized old Hudson's Bay Company boxes we used to mail all manner of things all over the country. And those 35 boxes of books weighing in at over half of ton we mailed from San Francisco to Seattle when we moved? Thanks y'all - it was actually cheaper than having it go on a truck with the rest of our stuff. Which is surely part of the problem. Still...I fondly remember and relive the courting of my wife via snail mail letters. Yes, I said "courting" - that's how I roll. Come rain, sleet or gloom of night - let it be so for the foreseeable future.
Until the next page turns...may a barista you've not seen in a few months today have your coffee up on the counter before you even ask for it.
Until the next page turns...may a barista you've not seen in a few months today have your coffee up on the counter before you even ask for it.