Decayed Americana: newlyweds on folding bikes explore border NY State

[Patrick Moore]

A bitter-sweet nostalgia for a genuine America. Newly married couple explore contemporary America on folding bikes. These links go to descriptions of decayed, far NE/Canadian border, grey winter, very small town America.

https://shagbark.substack.com/p/love-letter-to-america

https://shagbark.substack.com/p/a-journey-begins

https://www.thefp.com/p/the-other-american-border-towns

https://www.thefp.com/p/twelve-months-to-fall-back-in-love

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning,

But wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish,

I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.

[James Valiensi]

Golly, I have not be in a Perkins forever. I’m from western PA, which had its peak in 1967. It has been down hill ever since.

On Nov 30, 2024, at 5:16 PM, Patrick Moore <bert...@gmail.com> wrote:

A bitter-sweet nostalgia for a genuine America. Newly married couple explore contemporary America on folding bikes. These links go to descriptions of decayed, far NE/Canadian border, grey winter, very small town America.

https://shagbark.substack.com/p/love-letter-to-america

https://shagbark.substack.com/p/a-journey-begins

https://www.thefp.com/p/the-other-american-border-towns

https://www.thefp.com/p/twelve-months-to-fall-back-in-love

<image.png>

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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Executive resumes, LinkedIn profiles, bios, letters, and other writing services

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When thou didst not, savage, know thine own meaning,

But wouldst gabble like a thing most brutish,

I endowed thy purposes with words that made them known.

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[iamkeith]

Thanks for posting this.. Skim-read the first one, and it seems great.  Can't wait to find time to read the rest.

It obviously deals with a lot of political and citizenship questioning that many of us are dealing with right now, but I've long been passionate about the americana / love-of-small-towns / sprawl-and-growth-as-inherently-problematic subject, too.   Another thing I've been struggling with for some time is my own role in things.  Practicing as an architect in one of America's last-best-places for four decades, I've just come to feel like I've been a tool in its destruction - no matter how sensitive or altruistic I tried to be.  As my once-unknown home town transforms into the most exclusive and sought-after of all real estate markets, it's really been tough.

If you like this sort of exploration and decaying history thing, I'll share a tip for a documentary series that my son and I stumbled upon during the Pandemic. It's called "Abandoned," and was produced in 2016, so not too old yet. I think we found it on HULU, but I really reccommend seeking it out anywhere you can find it.   The premise is that this ex-pro skateboarder (Rick McCrank) goes around to places with decaying civilization, looking for obscure objects to ride.  It sounds stupid, but give it just a few moments to hook you.   We both found it hauntingly beautiful and tragically heartbreaking at the same time, and occasionally even had to stop watching just because of the emotional toll.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6150820/

Folding bikes and skateboards are Rivendell-adjacent, rigth?  At least as long as Will is at the helm.

[Glen]

Patrick I've always appreciated your contributions to this group.

Please keep politics and anything to do wth Bari Weiss as far away from this place at possible. 

ModeratorJim, delete if needed.

On Saturday, November 30, 2024 at 6:16:49 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote:

[Will Boericke]

I'm not sure I see an obvious political slant to this post / the author's work.   Or, at least, I see no politics that slots neatly into our current binary.  Having grown up in upstate New York (and subsequently fled), I certainly recognize a lot of what the author describes.  I appreciate exposure to people radically rethinking the American lifestyle.  From an aesthetic viewpoint, I find his writing a little over-flowery, requiring serious skimming on my part :)

Will

[Patrick Moore]

Sorry, I saw no political references; perhaps read it too quickly.

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[Patrick Moore]

I went back and did a search (command + F) for bari and for weiss on each of the three pages linked and found nothing except in articles linked at the bottom of 2 of the articles, which of course I didn’t see and emphatically didn’t intend when I posted the links for the articles, not for any of the linked articles. I don’t even know who Bari Weiss is. [Will someone — offlist! — explain who she/he/it is and why he/she/it is controversial?]

Enjoy the linked articles and just close your eyes when you get to the bottom of the pages.

Patrick Moore, apparently an ideological neophyte, in ABQ, NM.

On Sat, Nov 30, 2024 at 11:50 PM Glen <gla...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Patrick Moore]

Yes, his style is rather gen z baroque (think I got “gen z” right; aging boomer here; damned sub-60 whippersnappers) but it’s not so constipated to make reading painful; skimming is the right technique, and occasionally amongst the verbiage you find some modest gems.

And he is a good observer which covers a multitude of literary sins (if paraphrasing St. Paul — but only in a literary way!!! — isn’t offensive).

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[Josh C]

Agreed Patrick, I did the same, and searched for Bari and the like, but nothing. I found Glen's take to be a bit odd. Interesting work, it is. I liked what I read this morning; I think I'll keep reading. I am also one who doesn't have to agree or disagree with someone to read their work. I find all sorts of viewpoints and POVs to be interesting. I like to read things from people who see things in a way that makes me think or, better yet, change my mind. I'm always open to revisiting a thought pattern that I've settled into. Not sure this writing will but more to the Beri Weiss/politics point from Glen. I'm glad he's doing the work and, for now, I'll keep reading. 

[ian m]

Bari Weiss helms The Free Press, which is thefp.com links in the original post. While I agree w/ Glen's opinions of BW, not wanting links to a company/publication run by cretinous turds is a hard line to draw when the likes of facebook, twitter, amazon, &c are so commonly shared

[Patrick Moore]

Speaking of suspect links, I came across this somehow — not sure if the platform is owned by the Chinese communist party or Elon Musk, but I think it could be worked with a bit of effort into “Just Ride.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/C-5O6Bhp8wU/?hl=en

[George Schick]

This fellow writes very well.  Kinda reminds me of Jack Kerouac's anecdotes of his trip across the country decades ago.  There's a glimpse of good and bad to be viewed here - some very good and some very, very bad.  I almost wish that I had taken a similar adventure too many years ago.

[Ted Durant]

On Sunday, December 1, 2024 at 3:04:59 PM UTC-6 ian m wrote:

Bari Weiss helms The Free Press, which is thefp.com links in the original post. While I agree w/ Glen's opinions of BW, not wanting links to a company/publication run by cretinous turds is a hard line to draw when the likes of facebook, twitter, amazon, &c are so commonly shared

So much for respectful discourse. I'm a big fan of what Bari Weiss and The Free Press are doing to provide a platform that encourages many different points of view. Adding the Hickmans' story about spending a year exploring the country by bike is a good example, and they'll be seen by a larger audience, probably by at least 3 orders of magnitude, than they would have had on his blog. I'm pretty sure most people on this list agree that if you want to travel in a way that maximizes your interaction with the people you come across, going by bicycle is hard to beat.

Ted Durant

Milwaukee WI USA

[Doug H.]

I could not agree more, Ted. Asking folks to not post because of an indirect link to someone they don't like is ridiculous. I enjoyed the articles Patrick. Thanks so much for the links.

I hope to travel some by bicycle in retirement and reading these articles helps to bide my time until that can happen.

Doug

[John Rinker]

Thanks for sharing these stories, Patrick!  I suppose the argument can be made that such stories are not really relevant to a bicycle board. Of course, I'll entertain any such argument respectfully, but then I'll just appreciate that my horizons have been expanded a bit by someone willing to stretch the boundaries of what's acceptable and what's not. Isn't this really how all forward movement is made? Anyways, thanks a lot. I enjoyed Hickman's Love Letter to America. His writing is both thoughtful and poetic to read. I learned a few things, and- once again- I see I am not alone. I'm looking forward to his other installments.

And, Iamkeith, thanks for the recommendation of 'Abandoned'. I just finished the episode on 'Detroit', and found myself totally enthralled. What Rick McCrank comes away with after engaging with and listening to the people he encounters is hopeful. Indeed, the American dream is not mine or yours, but ours. Thanks for making me aware of this voice as well. 

Oh yeah and, steel, mechanical bicycles are still cool!

Cheers, John