December 29, 2005
Halloween - Garden City, Kansas I'm out here trying to get in a few last licks of painting before it's too cold, like today. It's 40, and I'm stuck inside writing instead of painting. Working here isn't bad if you don't mind the combination of piped-in show tunes blaring from streetlight-mounted speakers, in always empty downtown, mixing with the distinctive bouquet somewhere between rotting cauliflower and a paper mill. Garden City is known for two maybe three things: 1) the world's largest concrete public swimming pool (where elephants used to take a dip on Labor Day), 2) being surrounded by feedlots and beef processing plants (Tyson alone slaughters 6,000 head a day), and 3) the city's proximity to Holcomb (a few miles west) where the Clutter family was murdered, paving the way for Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood." Even though Capote is the biggest thing that's happened around here in 50 years, the county historical museum is forbidden to display or mention anything having to do with "that tragedy" (which, I'm not sure, refers to the murders or the presence of an openly homosexual man in their midst.) The mural I'm doing doesn't have any of that stuff in it - it's all about kites. Why? Because I just like kites and I didn't think they would mind out here if I painted a picture of some. And because it's windy, and flat, and there's so much sky, and so little to do, and I just can't bear seeing one more sepia-toned version of "The Good Old Days" splashed across a disintegrating downtown. I had to do something hopeful and dreamy. When else would I get a chance to paint a 40-ft. Chinese dragon kite menacing the locals? Really, that's in there. Some stuff for visitors: -signs in all the public buildings are in three languages - Spanish, English, and Vietnamese -Garden is closer to Amarillo, TX (pronounced Amarila) than to Wichita -there are roughly 60% Hispanics, 40% white, and 10% Vietnamese here but the Hispanics are still referred to as a minority - the Arkansas river is a dirt track for ATVs - water from it is all taken by farmers who need to fatten their livestock - if you think it smells bad there, go to Ulysses
Comments
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sallyride (anonymous) says...
Kites!! An appropriate message in a windy abandoned town. That's quite a large wall to fill, isn't it?
Do the Mexican or Vietnamese cultures have specific kite designs?
(I'm guessing that was the inspiration for the Dragon)
There are lots of small downtowns that could use a mural to breathe some life back into them. Nice addition to 'da blogs'!
December 29, 2005 at 4:54 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GCMeganS (anonymous) says...
Abandoned Town, Rotting Cauliflower, Paper Mill, Menacing the Locals, " I didn't think they would mind out here if I painted a picture of some. "., Who did you ask? I dont' think I'd call it a mural. For one you can't see it unless you go looking for it, that must be a hidden for a bad artist. I work around this "mural", that happens to be on a one way street, the street runs southeast and so is the side of the building that it's on, also covered by a tree. What a wonderful place to put something that looks like a child imagined in Kindergarten. No one has ever heard of this man, no one cared if he painted that, no one likes the Kindergarten work. If he was going to come to Garden City, and paint something for us, maybe he should have spent some more time to ask the locals, what we would like to be on it. As for the whole article slamming Garden City, did he ever ask someone about this town. One more thing get your facts straight about #3. That was pretty cold harted "(which, I'm not sure, refers to the murders or the presence of an openly homosexual man in their midst.) " What's the email so I can send the so called "mural". Some people in this town would love for a local man, one who knows about this town, to paint over it.
December 29, 2005 at 7:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MyName (anonymous) says...
Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! What does it matter what the "locals" think? And anyway, Megan, how do you know he'd ask the "right" locals (meaning the locals whose artistic sensibilties you approve of)? The only opinions that matter are the owner of the building and his own. The rest falls under freedom of speech type issues.
In any case, it's just a bunch of kites. It's not like he spray painted "Garden City Smells Like Cow" up on the wall or something. Oh well, maybe you'll get the chance to start the new year off in a better mood.
December 29, 2005 at 9:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
beatle919 (Marcy McGuffie) says...
Welcome aboard, Dave!
December 29, 2005 at 9:32 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
0426Roses (anonymous) says...
Don't stand to close to the elephants at the zoo in Garden!! :D
December 29, 2005 at 10:09 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
counterlife (anonymous) says...
As a regular visitor to Garden City, may I suggest that on your next foray west (assuming you get one after this), you ask your fellow Lawrence.com blogger, Tom King, to accompany you and provide some more open minded insights into the obscure but interesting aspects of far southwestern Kansas. See Mr. King's "Street level" entries entitled "Stalking the Greasy Spoon", "On to Elkhart" (where your work is praised) and "Elkhart, Kansas".
How much time did you spend it Garden City? Didn't you find it wonderful that public signs are in three languages? (They could use more.) Did you visit the Vietnamese restaurant known as Pho Wa - great food in a dining room decorated in an eclectic ethnic style only that may only be described as "American" -- complete with defunct disco ball? Did you check out the rest of the "Asian Plaza"? A Mexican fundamentalist Christian goods store separates the restaurant from the Asian grocery. In the grocery check-out you are privileged to admire the photos of American born children of Vietnamese parents, decked out in their Garden City high school prom best, or graduation photos of the same children on the hill in Lawrence, or at KU Med. This is the new rural melting pot.
Maybe the Clutter murders, made into a pop culture success by Capote, are indeed still regarded as a local tragedy? It may matter as something tragic that happened to people everyone knows, not just as the last gasp of a failing writer, made iconic only by the state of Kansas hanging the men Capote claimed to understand and strangely admire. In my experience, homophobic people are no more common in Garden City than in NYC.
There is much beauty there and much that is ugly. The same is true for most places you may work. Garden City does often smell bad, but this is where the American habit for excessive amounts of beefy, fatty food is fed and it doesn't always smell like McD's pretty and refined version of the carnage. And yes, much of the local economy seems based on short term thinking. After all, how much can the landscape and limited water produce. But, it is nothing but all American in its excess, waste and beauty. All waves of immigration are based on economic needs and produce fear, strangeness, beauty, cultural growth and more. It is not fair to criticize this new American melting pot without examining it in the context of the whole. Most of the people I know in Garden City are dedicated to making the city as good, as open, and as beautiful as it can be. Garden City is many things, good and bad. I am sorry you missed so much of the good.
I hope you will go back when you are in a more open frame of mind. Perhaps you might take a local guide. I have some recommendations. I intend to see your mural on my next visit. I expect to like it. Best, Mary Carson
December 29, 2005 at 10:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
counterlife (anonymous) says...
As a regular visitor to Garden City, may I suggest that on your next foray west (assuming you get one after this), you ask your fellow Lawrence.com blogger, Tom King, to accompany you and provide some more open-minded insights into the obscure but interesting aspects of far southwestern Kansas. See Mr. King's "Street level" entries entitled "Stalking the Greasy Spoon", "On to Elkhart" (where your work is praised) and "Elkhart, Kansas".
Didn't you find it wonderful that public signs are in three languages? (They could use more.) Did you visit the Vietnamese restaurant known as Pho Wa - great food in a dining room decorated in an eclectic ethnic style only that may only be described as "American" -- complete with defunct disco ball? Did you check out the rest of the "Asian Plaza"? A Mexican fundamentalist Christian goods store separates the restaurant from the Asian grocery. In the grocery check-out you are privileged to admire the photos of American born children of Vietnamese parents, decked out in their Garden City high school prom best, or graduation photos of the same children on the hill in Lawrence, or at KU Med. This is the new rural melting pot.
Maybe the Clutter murders, made into a pop culture success by Capote, are indeed still regarded as a local tragedy? It may matter as something tragic that happened to people everyone knows, not just as the last gasp of a failing writer, made iconic only by the state of Kansas hanging the men Capote claimed to understand and strangely admire. In my experience, homophobic people are no more common in Garden City than in NYC.
There is much beauty there and much that is ugly. The same is true for most places you may work. Garden City does often smell bad, but this is where the American habit for excessive amounts of beefy, fatty food is fed and it doesn't always smell like McD's pretty and refined version of the carnage. And yes, much of the local economy seems based on short term thinking. After all, how much can the landscape and limited water produce. But, it is nothing but all American in its excess, waste and beauty. All waves of immigration are based on economic needs and produce fear, strangeness, beauty, cultural growth and more. It is not fair to criticize this new American melting pot without examining it in the context of the whole. Most of the people I know in Garden City are dedicated to making the city as good, as open, and as beautiful as it can be. Garden City is many things, good and bad. I am sorry you missed so much of the good.
I intend to see your mural on my next visit. I expect to like it. Best, Mary Carson
December 29, 2005 at 10:21 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
counterlife (anonymous) says...
I don't know why two versions posted -Lawrence.com told me to reduce the characters and I did, didn't think the first one (too long) version made it. Oh well, essentially the same. Sorry for the repeats.
December 29, 2005 at 10:26 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
leslie (Leslie vonHolten) says...
Good to see you writing more, Dave. Looking forward to the next installments, as well as a visit to Garden City.
December 29, 2005 at 10:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thirtyeight (Dave Loewenstein) says...
The mural is about 1/2 way finished. I had to stop because the weather got too cold. I'll return in the spring to complete it. Most of the kites will have designs, suggested by local residents, that reflect cultural and historical aspects of the town. I visited with many groups, including seniors, school kids, and artists, to collect ideas. Students from the community college, Garden City and Holcomb high schools are helping to paint. (stay tuned - more about Garden City next time)
December 30, 2005 at 12:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lori (anonymous) says...
Okay, though I once lived closer to GC than I do now, and visited often, I still have a difficult time keeping all the towns out there apart in my little mind. But, I'm thinking Garden City was the first town in all of Kansas to have a mosque.
They are about 20 years ahead of many other meat packing cities out there. My own hometown, Great Bend, continues to have a dwindling population. Vrtually the only newcomers are hispanic, and let me tell you, they were NOT greeted with open arms when I was in high school 15 years ago. It was embarassing and shameful. I'm pleased to say that slow but steady changes in attitude have occured, now that people in the town recognize that most of the new businesses and homeowners are hispanics. My own xenophobic parents have started praising the "hard working attitude" of these folks, and rave about their cooking. My linguistically challenged mother started taking conversational Spanish classes.
My impression of Garden City is that they recognized this earlier than most small western Kansas meatpacking towns, and offered incentives for migrants to become locals, including things like assisting them in obtaining loans to start businesses and own homes. The migrant turned community member is who will make or break these small, dying towns. Embrace the influx of migrants and turn them into townies, or turn the cold shoulder, and watch your town continue to wither and die.
December 30, 2005 at 10:11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ladylaw (Terry Bush) says...
I will always have a fond spot in my heart for GC = it was where I lived for 5 years as a very young child and 3 of my siblings were born there. I loved "Penny" the elephant so much that we had an "incident" with peanuts in the nose....requiring a visit to the doctor...
I am looking forward to a trip to GC next summer - to speak and to see a couple of ladies who moved there recently. It's been way too long since my last visit. Anyone have suggestions on restaurants (hint hint Tom King - ahem).
Home is where the heart is, truly. There is much to love and despise about most places - and peoples. It all depends upon whether you are seeing with eyes (and souls) closed or open.
December 30, 2005 at 10:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
thirtyeight (Dave Loewenstein) says...
ladylaw, I liked La Playa Dorada on Fulton (Mexican/seafood),Pho Hoa on Fulton (noddle bowls and beef stew), Traditions on Grant (old time soda fountain and great burgers), and Kadees on Spruce (coffee)
December 30, 2005 at 1:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tomking (Tom King) says...
Loewenstein: It's about time Art came to these blogs.
Counterlife: Thanks for the shout.
December 30, 2005 at 1:14 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
GARY (anonymous) says...
The Pot calling the Kettle black is what I think. What State do You live in again?
We hired YOU. Was that some kind of assinine, laid back, small
town thinking as well?
When I see a Masterpiece such as the 'Mona Lisa' I see a great masterpiece. You, (from what I gather from your post) might comment on the cracks in the paint of a worn out painting from a dead guy.
Surely, you were beside yourself when making such observations; and I have high expectations and look forward to seeing your finished 'Masterpiece.'
I sincerely hope that the Thousands who will gaze upon it will look at it with a fresh, optimistic attitude that I'm sure it will deserve.
Happiness is where you find it. I've found it here; in Garden City, Kansas.
Gary Gipson
January 5, 2006 at 7:49 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lanny (anonymous) says...
The Garden City observations are quite interesting. I lived there for twenty seven years and can agree with some, but unless you have "lived the SW KS life" it may be hard to understand. The downtown has had a struggle as many towns do with "big box" stores moving in. The school system is first rate. Our daughter greatly benefited from the diverse cultures.
We moved to Lawrence in 2001 and are amazed at some of the perspections about the western part of the state. Yes, there is life west of Salina!
We love Lawrence and have been warmly welcomed. KU activities are great if you can afford them . The downtown scene is unique, face it most downtowns today are more like GC than Lawrence. The homeless and panhandleing here is a little unsetteling. The inability to drive across town is crazy, who ever planned the street layout was not thinking. The parking meters drive me nuts. The public library is so disappointing, even tho they try their best with the funds they have.
The trees are beautiful, but on a ninty degree day with eighty percent humdity give me that western KS wind! The cost of housing is terrible and what is with the crazy water rates.
I would suggest when you go back to GC to finish you check out more of the great ethnic restaurants, the art gallery at the Community College, the learning center while visiting the best zoo between Wichita and Colorado Springs, the buffalo reserve just south of town and the two wonderful golf courses just to name a few.
Garden City has it's problems like every town but the people are great. Also order the chicken enchildas at El Zarape, then you will know you are in heaven!
January 6, 2006 at 1:25 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )