BSO

BSO

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Town of New Salem

Majestic View

 


 

I went to a neat little town this afternoon called New Salem. It has these great old buildings in the town square like the one above, or the church below built in 1794.





But the real prize to be found when visiting New Salem requires you to go down this dirt road behind the old buildings, past a pile of newly cut logs. 





Soon you will see picnic tables and a hint of the view beyond.





Here is the majestic vista to be seen at the end of the road, where you can see over the treetops the Quabbin and the hills and mountains beyond that enclose our great Valley.





Sitting at one of the tables was a historian doing some writing.





When he left I saw these words carved into the table.





Cool Shirt

My friend Rhythom has this t-shirt that says, "All My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys."





When Rhythom was young he didn't play cowboys and Indians. He played Indigenous Peoples versus Western Imperialist Oppressors.

9 comments:

Don Schneier said...

Libertarians should know that John Perry Barlow, the lyricist of Estimated Prophet, is one of the founders of the cyberlibertarian Electronic Frontier Foundation. On the other hand, he would probably prefer to forget that at about the same time that the tune was a smash hit for GD, he was supporting, and, reportedly, even the manager for, the Wyoming congressional campaign of a guy named Dick Cheney.

Anonymous said...

I believe the top photo of the building with the flag pole in front was the New Salem Academy.
I was once told the name of the town is a result of people fleeing Salem, Ma. in hope of finding less religious persecution.

Tim said...

And around the same time, Barack could have been the wild eyed tripper the song is about, dreaming of some band of vaccuos hope n' changers marching off a cliff with him.

Don Schneier said...

Hey Tim, I'm just reporting Barlow's own sentiments, so if you have a problem with a life-long Republican voting for Kerry, or contributing to one of the epicenters of the 60s counter-culture, take it up with him. In the meantime, with all the stones that you throw, you could probably arm a town the size of Abilene.

Tim said...

Thats guns, to arm Abilene. The Dead to me were the antithesis of mainstream politics. yet every time you comment on them you gotta interject some political message. Seems to me, if you listen to a song like "Throwing Stones," you realise they didn't have faith in any of those clowns. Nowadays, that seems to have changed, as some of them have made overtly political messages. Maybe its rubbed off on you.

Don Schneier said...

the indians are where they are because they are idiots incapable of adaptation

Anonymous said...

psycho Don has gone off his meds again

Don Schneier said...

Once again, Anonymouse is trying to impersonate me, as clicking on the name will prove. Who exactly do you think that you are fooling, you coward? Meanwhile, Tim, nothing that I said about Barlow's verifiable biography pertained to Prophet itself, so you are the one who is politicizing the lyrics. And, Tim, I don't know where you were on Feb. 19, 1971, but I was in Portchester listening to the second ever performance of Loser, just as I was around in the days when Conservatives were beating up Deadheads.

Tim said...

Don,

I was 13. Didn't even see a Dead show until 77.' Still, that was 32 years and many, many shows ago. I know the history. Don't get me wrong, I often lean towards things conservatives believe in, but I'm just as much libertarian. Liberals seem to have changed, and to me they are totally mainstream and have more rules than you can shake a stick at. So, you have been a Deadhead longer. No doubt about it. I mean no animosity towards you, only looking to engage in a healthy discussion now and then.