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Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I'm probably the last blogger to see Brokeback Mountain. To me it is a movie about what ifs. I've spent some time on that subject, sometimes I wonder what life would be like if I had chosen to live somewhere besides Arizona.

I've lived in Wyoming twice. Once for two months in the Grand Tetons Park. Beautiful place, especially when they close the park at the end of tourist season. All the animals come out of hiding. In the morning the pair of bull moose would watch us as we drove by. One day we found the tracks of a mama bear and her cub at our site. Some mornings a family of otters would lazily swim by the place we were digging.

The second time I lived for five months in Rawlins and Rock Springs. Couple of things the movie got right. The wind blows constantly, all day long. Steady one direction until about two o'clock, then a lull, then it reverses direction. Sometimes the grains of sand whip across your face and cut like glass. Sometimes you wonder what the fuck you are doing digging in some oilfield or coal mine when the wind was sliding up your sleeves or down the back of your neck. The sheer desolation of the place- all of the boarded up stores and such. When Walmart opened in Laramie all of the little small stores promptly shut. I remember using the library in Rawlins and when I was moved to my new jobsite in Rock Springs I stopped in and gave them fifty dollars to buy some new books. The librarian about cried.

I never saw a gay cowboy when I was there, maybe I wasn't looking in the right place or maybe they don't really exist. I tell you what, if a Heath Ledger-look-a-like was standing around chewing on a piece of straw I might be tempted to buy him a beer.

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