Sunday, 29 May 2011

The Dog in the River




IV. THE DOG IN THE RIVER

The churl that wants another’s fare
Deserves at least to lose his share.
As through the stream a Dog convey’d
A piece of meat, he spied his shade
In the clear mirror of the flood,
And thinking it was flesh and blood,
Snapp’d to deprive him of the treat:—
But mark the glutton’s self-defeat,
Miss’d both another’s and his own,
Both shade and substance, beef and bone.

PHÆDRUS.

Mojave

Proverbs 11:25, yall         



Gon kill my ma and pa



I'm taking my son the hell out of Barstow. gonna show the boy the North
Pull the belt across his blessed chest. wipe his sticky fingers after the truck stop
Show him Keeler California up the 395. Where they cling to a dead lake 
Take him up that highway between the peaks of the sierra nevada and death valley ridge




Overton, NV


Michael Heizer, "Double Negative" (1969).


Northeast of Vegas, outside of Overton, in the Moapa Valley on the Virgin River Mesa. Take Mormon Mesa Road up onto the mesa and to the edge of the mesa. Travel North following the cliff. 



You don't really need a four-wheel drive, but you should probably have a spare tyre.


Get a killer sandwich from Inside scoop cafe on Overton's South Main Street.

On Exactitude in Science


... In that Empire, the Art of Cartography attained such Perfection that the map of a single
Province occupied the entirety of a City, and the map of the Empire, the entirety of a
Province. In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers
Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided
point for point with it. The following Generations, who were not so fond of the
Study of Cartography as their Forebears had been, saw that that vast Map was Useless,
and not without some Pitilessness was it, that they delivered it up to the Inclemencies of
Sun and Winters. In the Deserts of the West, still today, there are Tattered Ruins of that
Map, inhabited by Animals and Beggars; in all the Land there is no other Relic of the
Disciplines of Geography.

Suárez Miranda, Viajes de varones prudentes, Libro IV, Cap. XLV, Lérida, 1658

Jorge Luis Borges, 1946

The Bunker

                                  


It was by chance that I first found the bunker. I had been heading out towards the beach, walking atop the dunes that swept the tip of the remote peninsular. Reaching the peak of the furthest dune, the view of the ocean opened out before the long silvery coast. And there it lay – A nonchalant grey visitor on an otherwise unremarkable strip of beach.

Barstow, CA

Before the advent of the interstate highway system, Barstow was an important stop on both routes 66 and 91. Barstow ranks among the 10 poorest cities in California. Numerous construction projects have been announced for Barstow, including a Wal-Mart distribution center, retail growth, and an increase in lodging accommodations. (wikipedia)  


In 1986, the Barstow McDonald's burnt down when a car pulling up to the drive-thru window caught fire. In 1997, a gunman shot several people in the McDonald's, killing a nine year old girl.

Barstow local Raquel Roxanne Beezley is a beauty queen and was crowned Miss California USA 2008. She also competed at Miss Asia Pacific International 2005 but did not make the top 5 nor win any awards.
Barstow is home to a two-screen outdoor cinema.