Junk Drawer (5)

Recently, I was asked what thoughts I might have about the conflicts in the Middle East. Kiddo, I thought, what might I say about turf wars over shifting lines in the sand reaching back millennia--I got nothing. Other than abhorring violence of any kind. Which given the scale of human violence worldwide, makes my take pretty much milquestoasty.

A recurring ad for Sunday performance joggers finally hit home with me. Duh! How about performance wear for every day of the week? Imagine what I could do--walking the dog, trodding out to fetch the mail, rolling the garbage can to the curb, pushing the mower (seasonally adjusted, of course), and whatever else my 70-year-old self might get up to these days.

Empty spaces--geographically--interest me. Like Loving County, Texas, 677 square miles, population as of 2020 a mere 64. The county seat, Mentone, counted 22 residents. First thing I thought of was schooling for local kids. The Mentone school closed when only 2 students showed up. In the 70s had to merge with the Wink schools in the neighboring county.

Meet Carl Barks (1901-2000): Barks was the cartoonist most responsible for Donald Duck and his tales. He also gave us Scrooge McDuck, and the nephews--Huey, Dewey, and Louie. A scan of Scrooge McDuck was the first image to appear on an Apple Macintosh computer. In the 50s, his 10-pagers were part of Walt Disney Comics and Tales, selling 3-million copies a month. He worked anonymously from 1934-1960 as Walt Disney wanted to maintain the myth that he was the cartoonist responsible for the company's output. In 1990, Barks was celebrated as a Disney Legend. You can learn more you know where. Oh, and YouTube.

Should you be on an NYC subway and see a candy-seller approaching, she might be 31-year-old Maria (a pseudonym) from Cotopaxi in Ecuador. Yes, she is an illegal immigrant, who with her 2-year-old strapped to her back, makes $10 to $50 per 13-hour-day. Housing, with a cousin, is a space in a living room for $800 a month. Her husband was a Covid victim, the violence in Ecuador collapsed to new depths, and months later, here she is. She is brave, obviously. She works. She cares for her child. Is she a threat to our country? I don't think so. What to do? I don't know.

What I do know is 30 years ago this month I made up my mind to travel to the Himalayas. And as sometimes happens, you tip one domino--Harrer's Seven Years in Tibet-- and then in the back pages of The Atlantic you see a small ad for a trekking outfit out of Utah that sends folks to Ladakh up in Northern India. Voila, July 4th, I'm at 11,000' in Leh, Ladakh. As for the rest of the story....