There’s been a lot of strange economic news lately. All of it, sadly, was true. Here are a few stories that I would prefer to see.
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Formaldehyde
Ever day we learn that a chemical in our lives is thought to cause cancer or some other illness. After a while, most people’s eyes glaze over and it’s left to the experts to figure out what the real hazard is. Sometimes, movements form to get rid of the offending material and either an industry converts away from it or legislation is passed to force the conversion. One very simple molecule, formaldehyde, has stubbornly resisted the pressure on it and remains a large part of some people’s lives to this day. It is, at least, very strange.
Water
Spring is the season of water. The world starts to wake up as the sun beats down stronger, but the buds and the leaves wait for rain. We finally had a good soaking storm announce the arrival of the season with thunder interrupted sleep just the other night. Saint Paul is waking up to the water. But how that storm gets here is a story in itself, the story of planet that defines itself by life and the movement of water from one Spring to another.
Confederate History Month
Confederate History Month is not an ancient tradition. The practice of declaring April, the month of surrender at Appomattox, to be a month set aside to remember this sorry war appears to have caught on only in the 1990s. Why would such a thing take off as recently as it did?
I think that the answer lies in the way I learned a lot about the Old South. His name was MacMullen, and by the time he settled into a lawn chair in front of the Perrine Ace Hardware store nearly every day he was a very old man. It was the early 1970s, and old MacMullen had seen a lot of changes take place. He eagerly told to a young white boy who was willing to listen to what he had to say.
Three Years On
Today is the third anniversary of Barataria. I have written at least three times a week, MWF, without a single miss, and with a few extras have over 500 posts. This is as good of a time as any to stop and mark what we’ve accomplished over the last year and answer the eternal question: What is this blog about? Please allow me a little indulgence as I look back at the last few years to find some coherence.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 