Blue Highways: Rome, New York

Unfolding the Map

I remember it was always an adventure to go downtown, even in my own little small town where I grew up.  Many downtowns today, after struggling, are finding themselves again thanks to new initiatives.  William Least Heat-Moon (LHM) wasn't that impressed by Rome, New York's downtown, but perhaps it too has found rejuvenation in new ideas and initiatives.  To see where this downtown is located, forget all your troubles and cares at the map.

Book Quote

"On down the highway to Rome, New York.  From its appearance, it could have been London in 1946: the central section gutted but for a few old brownstone churches, a new shopping mall with triple-tier parking lot, and the National Park Service reconstruction of eighteenth-century Fort Stanwix covering several blocks on the east side.  While the palisaded fort had been elaborately rebuilt, it did not turn Rome back into a city, and while ribbon development along the highways gave an economic life, it didn't give Rome a center.  The place looked as if it had died of heart rot - from the inside out."

Blue Highways: Part 8, Chapter 6

City Hall in Rome, New York. Photo by Doug Kerr and hosted at Wikimedia Commons. Click on photo to go to host page.

Rome, New York

This is not a new theme for me, but I will touch on it again.  I want to start this post by saying that 30 years is a long time.  LHM penned what he saw in the early 1980s.  As I write in 2012, for all I know Rome does not resemble anymore the place that LHM described, or perhaps it might still be as LHM wrote.  The issue of downtowns, and stagnation, seems to be perpetual.

Downtowns in towns and small to medium-sized cities have it very difficult in this day and age.  For many of them, development happens, as LHM describes, in ribbons along the highways in and out of town as the downtown, unless it has a comprehensive development plan in place, withers.  Another problem has been the growth of strip malls and big box stores, such as Wal Mart, Costco and others that set up on the outskirts of towns and cities, drawing people away from downtowns and local businesses with their slogans that always have to do with low prices and big savings.  A third problem is the towns and cities themselves, when they let owners keep unused buildings vacant and boarded and contribute to the perception that the downtown is wilted.  A fourth problem is the closure of traditional industries that cannot compete in a world economy, or the relocation of those industries to cheaper markets overseas.

If you drive through the United States, you'll see many towns and cities like this, from the backroads and blue highways of the rural states to the urban blight of Detroit.  And everywhere, the mantra is the same.  "We have to bring new business downtown."  "We have to make downtown a place where people want to be."

Unfortunately, in my opinion, most places are in a Catch-22.  We want the private sector to step in, renovate the empty buildings and establish businesses.  Capitalism doesn't always oblige us, however.  If a place is a losing bet - if you think that you want to establish a small hardware store in the downtown, then you better hope that there isn't a Lowe's somewhere nearby because you'll be out of business soon.  If you want to open a restaurant featuring locally made products, then you better have a plan to draw customers from the Applebees, Fuddruckers, and Red Lobster out by the freeway.  In fact, for a while, it was the biggest companies, usually chains, that always won, save for a few businesses that were able to keep customer loyalty over the years.

Even in my city, Albuquerque, with a population of 450,000, the downtown is not someplace where I want to spend a lot of time, especially in the evening.  It is made up mostly of bars and, I kid you not, a strip club in the main part of the downtown.  Sure, there are a couple of nice restaurants, and a beautiful theater that is now being utilized more often.  There's also an amazingly innovative art gallery and interesting shops.  However, it seems that the market right now is for young people to cruise up and down Central Avenue and go to the bars, and from 2-3 in the morning the downtown becomes a place that is very annoying and sometimes dangerous.  But it seems that no matter how hard it tries, Albuquerque just can't come up with a comprehensive economic development plan that will make downtown a place that appeals to everyone at all times, not just the cruisers and wanna-be gangbangers who clog the streets in the evenings.

However, happily there are signs of hope.  One has been the "buy local" movement.  One of my wife's favorite things to do, wherever we happen live or visit, is to visit the local farmers' markets.  These markets are becoming extremely popular.  Our downtown farmers' market in Albuquerque draws in hundreds of people each Saturday from spring to fall, and features local produce, baked goods, arts and crafts.  There are also activities for everyone in the family.  They have even worked out a system to allow people who are on government food assistance to use their credits to buy good, fresh food.  More stores are starting to also sell locally made products, and that in turn helps people to renew their pride in their town or city.

More cities are also planning events such as festivals and things like First Friday Art Crawls.  These types of events again help highlight local talent and serve as a draw to downtowns.  There are also cities that are taking advantage of the creative economy, trying to serve as hubs for non-traditional types of businesses and employment opportunities.

Finally, some cities have really thrown a lot of energy into remaking themselves and their downtowns.  I lived in San Antonio, which has put a lot of development into its Riverwalk and making its downtown a destination for not only natives but also locals.  Despite being located in one of the most conservative states in the country, Oklahoma City passed an increased sales tax called the Metropolitian Area Projects plan (MAPS) that renovated the downtown and constructed new projects which halted the city's decline.  Pittsburgh also has put a lot of energy and investment into turning itself from a rust belt city in decline after the closure of the steel mills into a city that has regularly been voted as one of the top five "most livable" cities in the United States by the Places Rated Almanac and as a city worthy of hosting a G-20 summit.  Smaller cities and towns are also experimenting with a mix of public and private initiatives to make themselves more likeable, livable and as destinations.  Even Detroit, often maligned for its urban decay, has numerous neighborhoods that are taking extraordinary initiatives to revitalize the city a few blocks at a time with activities, festivals, and other rejuvenation efforts.  I have a friend who lives in one of those neighborhoods, and I'm often amazed at the activities going on in Detroit.

Again, I will emphasize I don't know Rome's situation.  But if it is facing difficult times and its downtown is still challenged, then it is not alone.  One thing is apparent to me, however.  As the U.S. matures, the old formulas that made economic development work are not as effective, and new energy and initiative has to be put in place that doesn't demonize either government or private business, but utilizes the best of them both.  Those cities and towns that show such vision will survive and flourish, and those that do not will crumble and fade like the empire that inspired the name of Rome, New York.

Musical Interlude

Petula Clark's 1964 song Downtown captured a world of optimism, where downtowns were destinations before they became, all too often, places to be avoided or places that weren't desirable to visit.  Recapture some of that feeling with this song!

If you want to know more about Rome

Erie Canal Village
Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo
Fort Stanwix National Monument
Rome City Website
Rome Sentinel (newspaper)
Wikipedia: Rome

Next up: Alder Creek, New York

Blue Highways: Umatilla, Oregon

Unfolding the Map

For the first time since we started traveling with William Least Heat-Moon (LHM), we go back into a state that we've already visited.  Okay, so a technicality might be when we passed through the Navajo and Hopi reservations from Arizona and back into Arizona, but the reservations aren't really carved out as separate states.  In my mind, then, this is a first and I attach to it some symbolic qualities of a new beginning in William Least Heat-Moon's journey, especially since he had been so emotionally low in Oregon before.  Where does Umatilla fit in the geography of the journey, take a look at the map!

Book Quote

"Across the Columbia at Umatilla, Oregon, and up the great bend of river into country where sage grew taller than men."

Blue Highways: Part 6, Chapter 10

From McNary Dam Overlook in Umatilla, Oregon. Interstate 82 bridges over the Columbia River in foreground, and Mount Adams in the background. Photo at the Columbia River-A Photographic Journey site. Click on photo to go to host page.

Umatilla, Oregon

Here is a first for LHM's journey in Blue Highways.  In the nearly 200 places that we've visited so far, he has never doubled back into a state after leaving it.  He may have meandered, and he may have wandered, but he has pretty much kept himself moving straight through states, seeing some of what they have, and then moving on without a backward glance.

So why does he dip down into Oregon again, crossing the border at Umatilla (pronounced yoo-ma-till-a - I live in a Southwest border state and my inclination is to pronounce it ooh-ma-tee-ya)) and then going up the south and east side of the Columbia River?

A simple answer is that it's where the road has taken him.  If you look at the map of the area, the road he has been driving upon in Washington, state route 14, ends at Interstate 82 across the river from Umatilla.  He evidently decided to cross the river on the interstate, and then pick up the Columbia River Highway (US 730) to continue his drive along a blue highway.

He also has tended, whenever possible, to avoid interstates.  An alternative route might have taken him up Interstate 82 to Kennewick, where he could have then taken US 395 across the river and then started making his way east on US 12 from there.  But he chose not to.  Instead, he dips back into Oregon.

I don't put a lot of stock into this, but just go with me for a minute here as I look at some possible symbolism of this return to Oregon.  It may be a bunch of crap, but all of my posts are my own interpretations of what I'm reading so far, so I can go out on a limb once in a while, like I have a few times in my posts.

Symbolically, it seems as if Oregon was a difficult state for LHM.  Really, beginning in California, he had some despair and began questioning why he undertook this journey.  He began to perceive life and our travels in it as an unending circle that just keeps bringing us back to the same point.  He didn't really see the utility of that, especially since that same point always seemed to be a low point.  As he moved up through Oregon, these feelings became more intense.  In Corvallis, Oregon he reached his nadir.  Sitting in Ghost Dancing, while it rained for days, he called his wife and she didn't want to talk to him.  At that point, he decides he wants to see "what the hell is next."  He continues to the coast of Oregon where Lewis and Clark reached the end point of their westward journey, and that association with the explorers seems to enliven him.  After touching the coast, he turns east and at Portland, he heads into Washington.  In Washington, he briefly flirts with a woman who fires his imagination.  Then he meets some hang-gliding folk who discuss the thrill of the unknown and the risks involved.  As we read, and travel with him, we can see his writing change as well - he gets back into the trip again and seems more excited to see what else might come his way.

Here's my stretch with the symbolism.  His dip back into Oregon seems to be a return to the same state where he once languished in turmoil and low spirits.  Except that now, he isn't languishing anymore.  It's therefore a return to a former area of weakness but now with strength and a groundedness that lets him move through and not get stuck.  It is a repudiation of negativity that put him in the blues before.  And, as we'll see, he stays forward looking, moving without pause on to Wallula and to points beyond as he heads back into the state of Washington.

I do counseling because I've dealt my whole life with being stuck in places that aren't necessarily the best places for me to be.  These are self-critical, self-pitying and ultimately soul-sucking places that want me to stay there.  I've learned that when I leave those places they don't just disappear, just like Oregon was not going to fall off the map once LHM left it.  Instead, my hard places sit there and wait for me, seemingly knowing that I'll come back by roundabout routes.  If I'm not paying attention, often I end up back in them.  Then I get stuck again.  But lately, I've been doing something different.  I've been visiting those places but in a different frame of mind and with a different reference point.  Sometimes, it's hard.  But other times, with a new vision and outlook, I can remake those places into something much nicer.  It becomes me deciding when, how and even if I will visit, not fate or life dictating to me where I go.

Another very important and real symbol - by "real" I mean not my imagination - in the passage above is LHM's mention of sage.  Sage has symbolized a number of positive concepts throughout history.  On this page, I learned that sage stands for or was thought to contribute to the following:

immortality
increased mental capacity
healing
life creation
prosperity
business
curative powers
spiritual cleansing
banishing of evil spirits

In addition, sage is at the heart of a Christian legend that relates how Mary and Jesus escaped from the soldiers of Herod after Jesus' birth.  They asked a rose bush to open its petals and shelter them, but the rose bush refused and told them to go to the clove plant.  The clove also refused and referred them to the sage.  The sage blossomed abundantly and sheltered them, and the soldiers passed them by.  Since that time, the rose has been cursed with thorns, the clove with flowers that don't smell very good, and the sage has been blessed by curative powers.

Since LHM drives into an area abundant with sage, it doesn't seem to be a stretch that he is driving through a cleansing place, a healing place, and a place where the bad and even evil of the past can be banished.  And maybe this is all a coincidence and means nothing.  Sure, LHM could have decided to take the interstate and avoid going back into Oregon again.  But he didn't, so you can draw your own conclusions.

So, that's my little foray into symbolic territory.  Perhaps I've overthought this, but that's the beauty of symbolism.  It doesn't have to be something that one plans out.  LHM probably never even thought of this - he was just looking for a blue highway rather than the interstate.  It was up to me to make whatever symbolic allusions that I perceived.  But, I can take these flights of fancy because I am an unique reader and I can interpret as much as I want and I can allow my thoughts to go whither they wish.  That's the beauty of reading, Littourati!

Musical Interlude

Once again, I had a song come to mind for this post.  I'm not sure why it this song wanted to come forward, but it did.  The title is appropriate to the post, and so enjoy Get Back by The Beatles in their famous last rooftop concert at their Apple Studio in London.

If you want to know more about Umatilla

Center for Columbia River History: Umatilla
City of Umatilla
Wikipedia: McNary Dam
Wikipedia: Umatilla

Next up: Wallula, Washington