The
When the iconic photos of teenagers sobbing over the bodies of their dead classmates reached the American public, most of the country came to realize that the national response to the youth movement had lost all sense of proportion. Allison’s death in particular inspired plays, books, films, poetry, and some very emotionally-charged music. This song by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is probably the most famous:
The day before Allison died, she had a conversation with one of the National Guardsman who had been sent to her campus to keep order. Noting the lilac blossom someone had placed in the barrel of his rifle, she said to him, “Flowers are better than bullets.”
What's that? There! Sparkling on the ground...
I bent over and picked it up. The ring was dirty, but I could see that it had words engraved all the way around it.
“Good eyes,” said M, glancing at the piece of silver in my hands. “What does it say?”
Oh, I'm serious, all right. From the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 64:
I don't know...
...This looks an awful lot like a horse to me.
In fact, I think there’s some rule that says you can’t hold a rodeo without horses. I think these team ropers would agree.
So would this bronc buster. This cowboy might have been distracted by a different sort of “bust” over there to the right in the white tank top.
Not these team ropers, though. These guys were all business, as were their horses. At one point, I found myself cheering for the horses by name. “Good job, Chief!” or, “Way to go, Goldie!” When the cowgirl in the stands next to me started laughing, I laughed too and said I was more excited to see the horses perform than the cowboys. Nodding knowingly, she replied, “The horses are classier.”
But the
When attempting to ride a bucking one-ton animal with horns, a helmet can come in handy. I know it’s not very cool, but I bet about now this dude is really, really happy he has a helmet on his head instead of a Stetson. One of the things I love about this shot is that even though you have four cowboys rushing over to help the guy on the bull, the cowboy closest to the action looks like he just wandered into the arena because he thought he might have left his pickup parked there the night before.
Oakdale Rodeo, Salinas Rodeo, Fort Bragg Rodeo - asses hanging over the rail is universal.
I don’t think Stilts the Clown and Zeus the Wonder Horse are universal, though. This ensemble might be unique to
Aside from Stilts the Clown, this cowgirl was a highlight of my day at the Fort Bragg rodeo. She’s a local barrel racer, and what I loved about her was her town pride. She was thrilled that many of the local competitors performed so well because now when anyone called them hippies on horseback, it was with respect.
She told me that even though the current fashion among barrel racers was to have a lot of expensive “bling” on their tack and outfits, she’d rather wear her mother’s needlework out into the arena than have the fanciest rig in the show.
I just loved this cowgirl’s easy appreciation for the simple things that make our little corner of the world wonderful and unique. After all, when the tack is off and the horses are tired, we all need a home to go to that we can be proud of.
