Vandalizing History

On a walk Friday, I visited Plante's Ferry Park in Spokane Valley, Washington. The park is located where the first "settler"* of present-day Spokane County established his home. Antoine Plante lived in the Spokane Valley c. 1849-1878, and then moved to the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana, where he died in 1890. A stone monument at the park claims than Plante settled there in 1849, but other sources place him in California at that time. He certainly was established in the Spokane Valley by 1852. His home was across the river from that of his brother-in-law, Camille Langtu.

There is an iron statue (by sculptor David Govedare) of Plante looking over the river where he operated a ferry with Langtu for perhaps two decades, 1852-1875 (Nisbet claims the ferry was constructed 1855--see reference below). The ferry was profitable as the principal route across the river c. 1855-1865.

In the park, there is an interpretive kiosk put together as a school project by students at Spokane Valley High School. Both the statue and the kiosk have been severely vandalized. The iron statue remains intact, but has disturbing paint. The kiosk has been shattered, now standing as a metaphor for the average American's knowledge of our national history.

A Metaphor?

*I cannot call him non-Indian because he was Metis--his ancestry was a mixture of French Canadian (father) and Blackfeet or Gros Ventres (mother). I call him a settler because he was unrelated to the Natives who lived along the Spokane River, and whose own ancestors had lived there for thousands of years. His series of marriages--none lasting long--to Indian women included several whose lands were between the Spokane area and the lands of the Blackfeet. The best online source of information concerning Plante is Jack Nisbet and Claire Nisbet, "Plante, Antoine (ca. 1812-1890)," HistoryLink 9606 (7 November 2010).

View from the south shore

This Old House

Someone built a house near the banks of the Spokane River, and at some point in the past it was abandoned.

Nothing New Here

What passes for thinking today is the old process of relating the unknown and unexpected to familiar categories of explanation which have been arranged on a symbolic basis by our educational experience. If an event does not relate to the categories we have committed to memory early in our youth, then it has no ultimate existence for us or it is forced into these categories and forgotten. Society is trapped between a world which it experiences and a world it has been taught to recognize. Never have so many foolish statements been sent abroad in search of true believers.
Vine Deloria, Jr., We Talk, You Listen (1970), 23.

What is remarkable about this piece of commonsense?

First, as I was remembering it while walking laps on an asphalt trail around a nearby city park, I thought I'd read it the previous evening in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (1974). It took me a lap and a half to correct this error of recollection. I did not read it in Robert Pirsig's classic on Tuesday evening, but in Deloria's second book on Monday morning.

Pirsig has been sitting on the shelf for many years unread. In graduate school, my wife often told me that I should read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which she assigned to her English composition courses. I started it once a few years ago, perhaps twice, but other priorities interfered and the text went back on the shelf. Then, last week, one of my son's friends (a college sophomore) sent me a text asking about Phaedrus. I did not know the answer, so I started anew reading Zen on Sunday evening. This time, I'll get through the whole by dedicating to the task thirty minutes or so each evening.

Second, the notion of fixed categories that fail to account for observed phenomena tend to irritate dark horse politicians. I'm thinking in particular of John Waite who is running for Spokane City Council. He is one of several candidates hoping to unseat Nancy McLaughlin, who has raised more money than "all other candidates in every council district combined" (Pacific Northwest Inlander). This morning, Waite sent out through Facebook a rant against the Inlander article, stating:

You have done a great disservice to the 3rd district city council race in Spokane, and a disservice to me, a progressive independent running for office. Just because someone doesn't carry around their "progressive democrat" card doesn't mean that you cannot have progressive leanings. Neither does being a fiscal conservative stop you from being a social progressive. It just means that I actually think about how I can pay for government plans. The things I think are important are fiscal responsibility, fair and responsible budgets, social equality, a healthy social service structure (preventive services, healthcare and policing), an emphasis on "quality of life", and all of this built around a progressive tax structure (which we don't have). And to say that the 3rd district is some "conservative bastion" disregards all the non-republicans, non-conservatives who have suffered through 8 damaging years of conservative government. Maybe you need to take off your two-party system glasses, get out of the office and visit some of the neighborhoods you write about in your newspaper.
John Waite

Third, the construction of such categories is the integral to the business of college, but perhaps not of the "real University" as Phaedrus conceived it. Thinking and effective writing differs. The teaching of rhetoric in freshman composition classes, for instance, brings out this scene in Zen.

A student would always ask how the rule would apply in a certain special circumstance. Phaedrus would then have the choice of trying to fake through a made-up explanation of how it worked, or follow the selfless route and say what he really thought. And what he really thought was that the rule was pasted on to the writing after the writing was all done. It was post hoc, after the fact, instead of prior to the fact. And he became convinced that all the writers the students were suppossed to mimic wrote without rules, putting down whatever sounded right and changing it if it didn't. There were some who apparently wrote with calculating premeditation because that's the way their product looked. But that seemed to him to be a very poor way to look. It had a certain syrup, as Gertrude Stein once said, but it didn't pour. But how're you to teach something that isn't premeditated?
Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, 156.

Air

When I posted "Ice Volcano" two weeks ago, we knew there was air to the surface of our pond. Since then, until today, this air hole has been buried under snow. The small hole at the bottom of a depression in the deep snow covering the pond confirms that our aerator still works.

The pond is hard to find.



Officially, we have received 59.8 inches of snow in December, but due to compacting and some melting from sunshine and rain, I was able to measure a mere 29 inches. The previous record snowfall was set in January 1950.



The gate that was buried, then clear, became buried again. But having had the foresight to open it before the latest round of snow, travel remains a possibility. It was necessary to move the garbage cans through this space, as there will be "no alley pick-up until further notice" the City of Spokane informed residents. The garbage trucks did not make it to our neighborhood last week, so we have quite a bit to haul to the front.



In the street, it is clear who must go to work, and who gets to stay home. Or, rather, it is clear which cars are worth trying to move, and which are not.

The Kids

The kids got to the gate ...


and one built a snowman.

Historic Storm: More Photos

My brother in Virginia asked for more photos of eastern Washington's winter storm.

At 4:00pm yesterday, it had temporary stopped snowing after coming down for more than thirty hours. With my trusty "scientific" measuring tape, I found almost 22", just under the 23" reported on the television.

We had this much snow last winter. The quantity is not significant, but how fast it fell. Last year's storm was substantial and lasted a week. As much snow fell in a day this year. Last year's storm created inconveniences, and called for mammoth snow removal efforts by city and county governments, and many private contractors. This year, the storm shut down many activities.

Our morning paper never arrived yesterday, and today's was delivered in the afternoon. The mail carrier has not been to our house since Wednesday. Many businesses have closed early, and others did not open yesterday or today.

More snow is falling, and we may get quite a bit this weekend. The snow is very dry--perfect for skiers. Because it is dry, it creates greater snow depth, but will pack down over time.

Up the street across a busy arterial, upon which there was no traffic yesterday, but plenty today, a neighbor was creating paths in the street. It may be days before the snow plows come down the residential streets. This extra time helps us move much of the snow so cars on the street don't get plowed in.



As I was typing this entry, I got the call to meet an associate in a nearby parking lot so he wouldn't need to risk my street to deliver some goods. Once I got away from the curb, I ran some other errands, and took along my camera.

Division and Buckeye at 4:30pm


A Car Parked at the Bank


Equipment for those Without Four-Wheel Drive



More from Yesterday

The Gate


X-mas Tree


Our Street

Record Snowfall

The weather service recorded 17 inches of snow at Spokane International Airport in the 24 hours that ended at 4 a.m., 4 inches more than the record of 13 inches set in 1984. Records have been kept since 1881.
"Record snow fall paralyzing Spokane," Seattle Times, 18 December 2008

Records have been kept at the airport since 1881?

As I wrote yesterday, the official snowfall at the airport generally runs a few inches less than in my back yard. Some of my neighbors have convinced the local news that 23" have fallen in north Spokane. My measurements give us something close to 21" in the 24 hours from 8:00am yesterday until the same time this morning, and the snow continues to fall almost five hours later.

Meanwhile, the city of Las Vegas also is shut down with a record snowfall of a bit over 3 1/2".

The Pond


Two Benches

And then it Snowed

...and it's still coming down with the bulk expected tomorrow. The TV weather guy just announced that the official seven inches at the airport set a record for this day in Spokane. It looks like more than that next to the pond in my backyard.

My wife spent ninety minutes making the less than three mile drive home from downtown, while my trip home from twenty miles north took me less than an hour, and I had a rider that needed dropped off along the way. My Jeep is a bit more snow worthy than her Scion, but I also had better roads and a lot less traffic.

One local high school reportedly told the kids to walk home because with all the neighborhood's roads closed, the buses could not get to school.



Historic storm! Unseasonable cold, followed by more than the usual amount of snow.

8:00pm update

The TV news just reported that chains are required on Spokane's South Hill. Only two arterials north and two south are currently open. I do not recall ever needing chains anywhere other than a mountain pass (except for one parking lot in an apartment complex in graduate school when the plows encased my car behind snow banks).

8:50pm update


The official weather station at the airport gives us our snowfall. They have eight inches. I always get a different measure in my backyard, and it's even deeper north of town.


5:30am update

The snow accumulation totals this morning, as reported on the television news, include 13 inches in north Spokane, and 17 inches south. Usually, more falls to the north. The television has most schools closed today, but a few to the north are running two hours late.

5:52am update

Just got the phone call from Deer Park School District--fifteen miles north of Spokane. No school there today. They were listed at two hours late twenty minutes ago.

Thursday Morning



My science of snow measurement: hold tape measure in left hand, stick into snow until the end reaches the top of the bench upon which the snow is undisturbed. Hold camera in right hand. Depress shutter several times to account for blurs due to shivering from cold.

Ice Volcano

In order to maintain our koi through the winter, we have an aerator in the pond. The bubbling air assures that throughout most of the winter there will be a hole in the ice that forms on the surface. This hole helps maintain the oxygen required by the fish.

However, when the temperatures drop and reamain below 10°F for a few days, the hole in the ice may close, as it did for a few days last January. As a consequence of this year's early freeze, we have watched the hole slowly shrink since Sunday. This morning a small hole remains at the apex of an ice formation that resembles a small volcano.