Letter from Slim Wolfe
Colorado Central – April 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine
Ed and Martha:
Talk about gratuitous rudeness!
Why do readers grouse about alleged errors in Colorado Central? Were I the editor I’d just toss these complaints without apology. One might as well get angry at Count Basie and Jerry Garcia for failing to follow the rules of four- part harmony. We cut ourselves a bit of slack because it makes life more interesting, and I’m willing to overlook missed apostrophes and dropped prepositions so long as there’s good content. Bode- a- ejucation speakin, up- with- which- I- will- not- put, and go read the Monte Vista Valley Courier if you want to look for nits to pick!
I repeat my over-the-canyon compromise: Give us the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, or maybe three Viking ships! Give us art and high craft, not the dumb artifice of disembodied sails. Has anyone done a serious wind study? What if a sail snaps loose and slaps a semi- sideways? What if we wind up with a load of uranium ore or a bus full of tourists floating in the Arkansas!
Rather than inconvenience the many to give the economy a booster shot, why don’t the few make a choice to earn a living on the basis of what is. The Chamber of Commerce expects hefty fees from artists to fund injections of foreign capital known as artwalk, whose main benefits seem to go to restaurants. You might as well invest in munitions and hope for war!
As the gospel song says, are you building on the rock, or on the shifting sand? Why not come up with products and services including arts and crafts and music and poetry, which don’t require gas- guzzling tourons to keep afloat?
Slim Wolfe
Villa Grove
Post Script: Slim Wolfe may have sold an occasional craft item to an occasional tourist, with the help of an occasional third party, but prefers to deal directly with locals. His ad is in these pages.
