Tuesday, February 06, 2007

My Five Cents

The new nickel, like a decorative rhubarb, sits spectacularly in the middle of a small pile of change on top of a copy of Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. It's the first time I've noticed this nickel, so it's new to me. For all I know it's been around for-fucking-ever. But I actually laughed out loud when I first saw it...the side where it reads, "Ocean in view! O, the joy!" It really speaks to this nation's unique history. A country founded by lost white people. It commemorates the Lewis and Clark journey of 1805, when a couple of map-makers and an annoyed Native-American woman found the Pacific. Well, they found it, she showed it to them. I'm supposed to feel somehow that the part of this country between the Mississippi River and the Pacific didn't really exist until white people got a gander at it. But at least the quote speaks well of how lost everyone was.

Today, the quote would be, "Oh, for fuck's sake, there it is."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Darren, I love your blog, but the white on black is so heavy on the eyes. Would you consider changing it?

Unknown said...

Yes, of course. I'll try something new.