Parting Ways On The Road To Happiness
Ken Wright's column [Neanderthal Crossing] in the Dec/Jan edition will solicit plenty of letters. I'd like to address
mine to Ken, personally. See, like you, Ken, I'm not a mover or a shaker and haven't gone Freddie Kruger since the
last time I drove the 405 (more on that later). I agree that Purgatory is a disappearing breed. It is precisely the
type of place some of us need and truly appreciate.
Like you, I "... don't believe that wealth imbues ... people with ... wisdom, vision, or moral authority ..." Hmmm,
but neither do I believe that wealth strips people of wisdom, vision, or morality. To presume so is closed-minded and
paranoid.
Where Ken and I part ways is the intersection of happiness and bitterness.
I live in Los Angeles, California. I can hop onto an interstate for a mere 90-minute ride to get anywhere I want to
go within a 10-mile radius. Or, surface streets can take me through smog, past roadside trash and dilapidated
buildings. I've chosen to make Purgatory my dream home because this is the place I want to live and be happy - and
because I believe it will continue to be this place - not because I want it to become Vail or St. Moritz.
I seek a happy life of outdoor adventure and community. I promise not to get mad if there are wealthy people in the
new lodge, if they fly in on their own jets, if they wear sparkles on their boots. I'm determined in my goals and I
believe this place will be great. It won't become what Ken fears. And if the mere presence of wealth (which, by the
way, will support many a local hillbilly) offends you, Ken, then shame on you for being envious and bitter.
Change is constant in nature. This mountain and this town should focus on including the community in rightful,
controlled, and respectful development. Ken, I hope you'll join us in that effort. I hope your children will want to
live out their own lives here. Respectfully, - Joni LeSage, Los Angeles, California
RESPONSE: "Paranoid"? Maybe. I probably ought to be. But "envious and bitter"? No. Not hardly. But I do have a
question for those, like you, seeking yet more "rightful, controlled, and respectful development": Okay, but when
does it end? When is it enough - enough places given over to people to run to from the urban nightmare where they
make their money? Does this growth - even rightful (whatever that is), controlled (isn't that a contradiction of
terms?) and respectful (by whose standards?) growth - have any limits? I've yet to see any.
I do invite you, though, if you like it so much here, to come try to actually live here, while working a real locally
based job on real local-level pay. Then maybe you'll see what that's like when you have to compete with prices driven
ever upward by those people who can afford to "fly in on their own jets."
Change might be constant in nature, but constant growth is not natural; it's disease. - Ken Wright
Keep It Dunked
I am writing on behalf of the Rico community in response to David Feela's article, "Clothing Optional" [Dec/Jan].
David, I completely understand a very responsible and successful man's resentment with entering into a mid-life
crisis state. I and many in Rico probably do not resonate, however, with your willingness to use a very special place
as a means for solving your public conflict with aging.
To help dispel a couple of myths: One, there is no gentleman that owns the property the Rico hot springs may or may
not be able to sit on for much longer if folks like you keep publishing its existence. He or they would not be very
interested in having a stream of bathers trespassing on private property . . . it is, after all, in a world of
lawyers, technically a liability.
Two, I think I feel pretty confident in saying most Rico folks would not be entertained by the thought of an over-40
white guy getting a nostaligic public plug off the exploitation of one of the local's small but ingenious community
contributions. It is not fair or, more importantly, respectful to assume permission to use public exposure of
community safe keeps for private gain.
Three, I think most folks feel that you are not going through anything that any one of us has not felt in our
day-to-day lives. The deeper search for meaning in life, a more real connection and sense of belonging within nature
. . . it really seems like nothing new; we all have felt that.
I urge you to keep seeking experiences like these out but please, do the folks of Rico a favor and either keep your
soaking times and locations to yourself or feel free to dunk in over your head to keep quiet. Whatever it takes,
don't use our or other small-town keepsakes in a public format to heal your inner conflicts. - Jen Stark, Rico,
Colorado
RESPONSE: I'm in hot water after all, despite me never showing up for my scheduled solstice appointment in
Rico.
I have to tell you, Jen, that I can't find anyone in my sphere of mid-life crisis' companions who has not heard about
the little spot I mentioned in my article, but very, very few of them have ever soaked there. If the bus tours have
started already, it's not because of what I reported from the stories I heard over and over. I mean, I didn't provide
a map or publish directions, so my private gain has been fairly limited as a result of my writing; I didn't even get
to soak.
Perhaps you suspect Rico, like Shangri-La, has been mostly invisible to those who travel back and forth from
Telluride, at least until my article appeared. Rico's website promotes the community as "A slice of paradise."
Would anyone ever seek paradise without the rumor of a comfortable hot tub nearby? - David Feela
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