Monday, January 01, 2007

elder

i went to a notable party, few days ago. it was the 90th birthday celebration of Gordon L. Maham, a contemporary of locally famous anti-war, anti-gentrification activist Maurice McCrackin. people HATE McCrackin, cuz he bought up a bunch of blighted real estate and made it legally difficult for gentrification developers to use.

anyway, Gordon is so cool. he has this big organic farm and a bunch of pet buzzards, which he collects road kill for everywhere he goes. "I take plastic trash bags with me, and when I see something dead on the side of the road". At 90, I was impressed by his ideas and energy, even if some of his sentences weren't finished or didn't technically conjunct together very well. I told him that I was planning to do a permaculture internship, which was like sustainable organic gardening. "Well, my farm is about as sustainable as it can be. You know what ISN'T sustainable? Guns. I don't think guns are sustainable. Which means the war in Iraq isn't sustainable." Then he gave me a final smile and walked away. If happiness and idealism are the last mental functions left to me when I'm 90... what more could one hope for?!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gordon L Maham, he's always been quite a person. He was a great mentor. I took up engineering because of him. He always led by example. He has gotten some recognition. I'm glad to hear he made it to 90. I didn't he has taken to caring for buzzards. It fits his character.