The Roman Aqueduct in Segovia Spain
with a view toward the
What a busy month! Most of the time I've been busier than the proverbial 'one-legged man in an ass kicking contest.' But, the good news is that it's beginning to feel normal, whatever that might be. What got to me thinking about Spain was a workshop of the Planning Commission I recently attended in Eureka Springs. It was a a rather surreal experience by any stretch. I will not divulge who invited me to the meeting or for what purpose because he threatened to rezone the property across the street from us to allow for the construction of Sarah Palin's new restaurant, the You Betcha Cafe. Only a friend, right? Well, he kind of piqued my interest at a meeting of the Krewe of Blarney in which we are both involved. He told me that it was all kinds of fun telling the community of Eureka that you were planning to cut down some old-growth forests in order to put up a metal building housing antiques. He told me that meetings like that were "uproariously funny because they brought out all the environmental nutjobs in town that liked to hug trees and feed the animals." I thought, 'Doesn't he have that backwards?'
Well, like the curious environmental nutjob I am, I moseyed on down to the courthouse and sat in on the workshop. It was a real treat, these fellows talked about a chicken ordinance for the City of Eureka Springs for a little over an hour. It was all I could do to stay awake as the Krewe of Planning and Zoning droned on about the size of the coop and exactly how many feet the coop should be set back from a neighbor's property line and exactly what constitutes a chicken and can you walk your chicken in a parade and how do you choke your chicken. Well, this was all a little to complicated for me, it takes a more organized mind to fathom the depths of chickeness than I possess. Or, as the old Zen Chicken Master once asked, "if a chicken clucks in the henhouse and your not there, does it still make a sound?"
Well, I'm sure your asking, just what the heck does this have to do with the Aqueduct in Segovia? Well, it seems as though there a several different camps of philosophy on how Eureka Springs should maintain its 'Eurekyness.' There are those who wish to preserve Eureka as it was, those that think Eureka will lose its Chi if things change, those that want the town to grow and keep its quaintness, those that think 'quaint' stifles growth, those that want motorcycles to come to town, those that want them to go somewhere else, just a lot of factions. Sitting in the Meson de Candido, run by the same family since before Columbus set sail for America, and looking out on an aqueduct that was built 1500 years ago, you get this awesome sense of history. When I listen to people in Eureka talk about preserving homes and buildings because they are part of Eureka's history, I start to realize that our country has no real concept of history and until we do, we should not be allowed to use the word 'History' in a conversation. I can just imagine Juan on the Planning and Zoning Board in Segovia saying to the developer, Junius Brutus, "I don't know Junius, if you put that damned aqueduct through the center of town you are going to ruin the damn plaza and think of the effect it will have on Pedro the water-bearer, you are going to put him out of business."
It seems to me like it's not necessary to preserve some things, I mean if you build something to last 1500 years, you might have to remodel it once or twice, but preserve? I don't know, seems like it will preserve itself, barring some kind of natural disaster. But I think it wise to remember the lessons of Ozymandias, also. What folks need to figure out first is what is worth preserving. I mean I like a good pickle every now then, but there are folks that could care less about ever preserving a cucumber. All the different organizations and commissions in Eureka have the best of intentions, they just need to remember that the road to Hell is paved with Chicken Lips.
Until Nest Time,
I Remain,
Just Another Zoroastrian Chicken Plucker trying to figure out how to get across the road when I'm already there....
