1626 New View

I admit I get confused. Maybe it's part of my childlike mind. Newness isn't always threatening to me. It's more like a challenge to puzzle it out, rather than recoil in fear.
But it does mean I perceive things from the wrong view sometimes. Like recently, I heard an ad for a sporting event that said they were going to give everyone a forged medal. And I thought, is this a direct result of illegal downloading and pirate CDs? Has that stuff made everyone really want a forgery?
On another note, I drove by our local Occupy Wallstreet camp in the park the other day. Man, my twisted mind thought, I haven't seen that many blue tarps since my trip through Appalachia.
And then I thought, Hooverville. Yep, Hooverville.
Hoovervilles were camps of actual poor people set up in various places during the Great Depression. Less protester-ate and more just plain desperate. Not that the unemployed aren't under real stress, but thanks to the Hooverville folks, there are now a few more safety nets, like unemployment insurance, food stamps and such.
Anyhow, history proves the campout concept has worked in the past. And hopefully today's youth will know that Hooverville isn't a vacuum cleaner section in Wal-Mart.
Not that having safety nets is any excuse for not finding a way to get all of the unemployed, including the 20 somethings back to work. I just hope some bright State Parks official doesn't light on the simple expedient of turning on the sprinklers.
Finally, there's the road sign my friend Rick was concerned about. "Shoulder Closed Ahead." Is illegal driving on the shoulder so common we have to warn people?
And if the shoulder is closed, how are we going to connect to the elbow in the road?
America, ya gotta love it.