Downtown Hamp Stroll

Poking around.

Every morning we start the day by contemplating a little snippet of philosophy, then we go around the room and everybody has to say something about what they feel about it. As an addict I find it a refreshing way to start the day, because the night is when demons prey on hidden doubts and weaknesses and plant tempting drug dreams. To ponder good ideas at dawn is a way to chase demons away, and return oneself to a calm and reasoned mindset for the day.

Yesterday the saying contemplated was by Massachusetts author R. W. Emerson. More often he is referred to as Ralph Waldo Emerson, but I think the name"Waldo" sounds silly, don't you? Like you can't find where he is or something.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are but small matters compared to what lies within us.

When it was my turn to speak, I said that the past can't be changed, and the future can't be known, but we can handle anything if we have the right attitude. How you feel inside will greatly influence how you react to what happens to you, both good and bad. Of course the unanswered question is "How should you feel about what?" The only reliable guides we have for that is Reason.

Because of blather like mine, the discussion went on for longer than usual and when I walked to the bus stop, just when I was almost there, the bus zoomed by. The buses are running only once each hour, since the students are away on Spring Break, so that meant I had a 59 minute wait until the next one. That could have spoiled my mood and upset my day, but I decided instead to take a walk downtown.

There is no excuse not to live in interesting times. If things ain't interesting, make them so. But that is seldom necessary in Hamp.

Downtown Northampton at 8:30 in the morning. What a concept.

This grand old downstreet house was built in 1796. Yikes! America was only twenty years old.

It's ancient door is an entranceway to a bygone era.

Unfortunately, it was impossible not to notice that the place is going downhill, being in need of a paint job and missing a shutter. 

You have to act quickly with really old places like that, because once they start falling apart the deterioration continues at a fast pace. The house is owned by the city historical society, but I assume, like most historical societies, that they have very little money. Can some be raised?

Walking near the courthouse, I saw that instead of Amherst it was Hamp where they were driving funny cars. This belongs to station 93.9 The River.

Parked in front of it was the much more conservative looking van for WHMP. 

I'm not sure why the radio cars were there except that there were some tents being dismantled nearby that suggested the stations had been broadcasting their morning shows from downtown. Signs also suggested it was some kind of cancer fundraiser.

From behind the locked doors of Faces, Albert Einstein waits for opening time.

Once upon a time it was a hippie head shop called Faces of Earth. Now it's a novelty shop for Smithies looking for excuses to use Daddy's credit card.

The Haymarket Cafe should consider getting a new sidwalk sign, ya think? 

Then again why bother? The cafe's legend alone is enough to draw a crowd.

Near Memorial Hall, I saw this colorfully decorated tent. 

It turned out it was the headquarters for all the Save Tibet protests that have been going on downtown this week, abandoned when I went by until later in the day. I just walked right in anyway, it's amazing what you can get away with if you'll just act like you have a perfect right to do it. I saw that the tent had leaked during the torrential downpour the night before, and that there were muddy puddles on the floor. 

It really is a shame what is happening in Tibet. What's disheartening is that the Tibetans don't seem clear about what kind of government they would make if somehow they won their freedom. The Dalai Lama is not the answer. The answer is a capitalist democracy, but we're not hearing much about that.

Anyway, that's how I spent my 59 minutes waiting for the next bus. When it arrived I climbed aboard and rode contently away.