Daily Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Reeves County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

OPINION

Opinion

Wednesday, November 19, 1997

Loose Fish

Dreaming on the range

In the rush to hash out a reasonably readable column for
this week I wavered between several topics. I considered
sharing tid-bits of Texana acquired during my father's
recent visit and our trip down to old Fort Stockton (he's
quite a buff when it comes to Texas history-and spins a mean
rope, too).

Several conversations with friends came to mind. One of
which ended with a San Marcos buddy e-mailing me a document
chronicling the top ten fatal blunders of the year, or, the
strangest ways people had "done away" with themselves. But
this seemed a little harsh for the general readership and,
perhaps, not suitable for publishing.

The tension mounted as I fluttered between the computer and
my desk struggling for some place to start, wondering what
the heck my father-in-law would think if he accessed the
Enterprise from his desk in Korea tomorrow (tonight?) and
found a glaring blank spot where my column should be.

Swallowing hard, hands a little shaky, I stabbed away at my
keyboard hoping that somehow if I could just get started on
the thing it would begin to shape itself despite my lack of
preparation.

Then I remembered another call I had received just the night
before. Somehow, the caller and I got onto the subject of
dreams. We shared a few strange ones-rabid dogs, road maps,
and the like. I won't relate mine in too much detail in
case a reader out there might have an updated Jungian dream
analysis book and a penchant for curiosity.

Anyway, the caller, a good friend from Arlington, Texas,
asked if I'd ever looked up end-of-the-world dreams on the
Internet (apparently there is a website devoted to
apocalyptic fears) and I told him that I had not.
I try not to dwell too much on that kind of stuff. I watched
a Nostrodomus special on HBO when I was about 12, I guess,
and it had me scared silly for over a month. But, the
question got me thinking.

As the century draws to a close, and we move into what
politicians and technophiles the world over have heralded as
a brave new playground of plenty (thanks, I suppose, to the
great beneficial scientific leaps we will make there),
anxieties increase and religious communities generate more
expectations about what is to come.

I am reminded of the UFO cult out in California, the other
in Sweden, and Waco, Japan. . .etc. People are moved,
excited, scared by the approaching millennium. Of course, we
could look into the past and find the same type of behavior
occuring just previous to the year 1000. It's not without
precedent that large groups of people have gotten together
and laid each other out with poison pills and
state-of-the-art weapons. But these cases invoked involve
those types we enjoy referring to as "them crazies."

We do the same with all extremists. Put them into boxes that
require little or no understanding from us. Physicians call
them unbalanced, politicians reproach them for their
"heinous" actions. We call them 'wackos' and think nothing
of it until the next exotic murder or suicide. But, behind
it all is something. There always is, no matter what the
outlandish nature of the claim, something there. Some reason
for the fanatical behavior.

I'm not going to get too heavy into this, but I have my
suspicions that, should I find this website dedicated to
dreams about the end of the world, the recollections I may
find there (or at least the majority of them) won't be
posted by psychotics, 'weirdos,' or whatever. . .but from
everyday people puzzled by the strange visions they have
encountered in the night. It's a big world out there and the
night sky is wide open.

Editor's Note: Greg Harman is an Enterprise writer whose column appears
each Wednesday. He can be e-mailed at: greg@pecos.net

Critic's Corner

Cookbook offers recipes for people on the go

In line with her Ode To Real People, Dee Wolk, has put
together a cookbook of sorts entitled "Kitchen
Express.....Good Food Fast - For Real People with Real
Lives."

The reason I call it a cookbook of sorts is that it also
gives information on how to prepare healthy food and what
everything means that people hear about in eating healthy.

It also deals with preparing meals in limited time or as she
calls it "The 20-Minute Meal Deal!"

A press release with the book notes that every recipe had to
meet Dee's four-point criteria before being included. Each
recipe is 1, low or no-fat; 2, full of great taste; 3, quick
and easy to prepare, and 4, only uses ingredients found in
most people's kitchen or easily found in the supermarket. A
full nutritional analysis accompanies each recipe.

It's a 157-page paperback book that sets on fold out edges
so it can be looked at while following the recipes much like
a flip chart. Published by Quail Ridge Press, it is
available at most book stores for $12.95 or though Amazon
Books on the Pecos Enterprise web site - Bookstore
or you can order through Quail Ridge Press, 1-601-825-2063.

There's a lot of information and what seems to be tasty
recipes although we haven't tried any yet - but we will.

MAC McKINNON

RAMBLIN'S

There is a small patio at the Gage Hotel in Marathon that
has a most intriguing wall sculpture. It is an arrangement
of about forty cow skulls. Some have horns, some do not. The
placement of them makes an attractive design on an otherwise
dull stucco wall.

I have taken several pictures of that unusual cow skull
mural. Sometimes I stare at the photos and try to figure out
how someone could create something so unique and beautiful
from things not especially known for their artistic merit.

Looking at that work of art pleases me. It is relaxing. I
stop thinking about everything else and concentrate on the
design, the concept, the simplicity of it. Sometimes I think
to myself, "I wish I had thought of that. It gets my
creative juices flowing.

When you are involved in artistic pursuits, you clear your
mind and open it to new and exciting ideas. It is a welcome
challenge and a change from ordinary day to day activities.

Looking at a work of art transports us to Walden Pond. And
we contemplate the whole of life. I took a drama course in
college and the professor had a student just walk in a
circle on stage. "It was something I could do very easily,"
said the student. He is now a prominent scientist with a
Ph.D. and credits his accomplishments to that easy start
into thinking.

We've all seen the results of how art has changed the lives
of youngsters. Children growing up in poverty and crime have
been given art instruction. As a result, their grades
improve. They latch onto something they can do. They are
encouraged to create and aspire to greatness. They are
praised for their work and their lives are enriched.
Creativity fosters new satisfaction in personal achievement
and affects the morale and soul of our country. Federal,
state, county and city governments should do their part to
encourage cultural activities in schools.

A person will never write a poem without reading one or
paint a picture without seeing one or create a song without
hearing one.

Art is the symbol of a country's genius. It is the great
unifying and humanizing experience. It expresses emotions
and embodies values. It can only exist in a free society.
When the creative impulse cannot flourish freely and is
deprived of spontaneity, then the root of art is severed.

The purpose of the artist is to make the world a more human
dwelling place, to build a bulwark against the chaos. The
artist's life is marked by intense application and intense
discipline. We should listen to the artists, for they have
perspective both on their work and on life. It is from the
artist that society gains it loftier images of Hself.

We could not have gone from wilderness to the most powerful
and technologically advanced nation in the world without art
and culture. Since the emergence of man, art has been a
concern of every fully developed human being. Culture is the
free world's most powerful ally in leading its citizens to a
truly humane society. The artist and society are bound to
each other.

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