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Sep. 5th, 2009 07:27 pm
On the trip Home...
Ok, that was... kind of a bust.
I love Napa as much as I ever did, even though it is a very different place than it was when I lived there. The changes in businesses are actually the hardest things to process; I know it's been nearly 30 years, but some places are only recognizable because I remember the land around them.
The houses in my old neighborhood are still very nice, some of them even nicer than they were, but the driveway (about a quarter-mile long, and shared between eight houses--which is three more than shared it when I lived there) is in poor repair, and I can't help but feel someone is going to have a problem there during a big storm. Not my problem, of course, but it's kind of sad; a lot of people will be massively inconvenienced if any of that road collapses--it's only one car wide, with steep dropoffs on both sides in some areas, and it seems to be crumbling in some of those places.
My primary mission, to obtain a copy of an article written about my family in 1982, was a bust. It was a "puff piece" about a local (my adopted mother) who seemed, on the surface, to be a great person. It's one of those heartwarming tales about the recently-blinded woman and her husband, who rescued three kids in great need. It's also a pack of lies and distortions, and as a primary source, I can attest to them. I use the article in my classes as both a lesson on not always believing what you read unless you can find corroboration, and also in my Journalism class I use it as a lesson in journalistic pitfalls. There was no reason for the article's writer to know 80% of what he was told was incorrect.
Anyway, I can't find anyone with the Napa Register on fiche here, so I went to the Napa Library. And failed. Their ONE fiche machine had a burned-out bulb, which they hadn't known before I got there, and they had no spares on hand. So I was denied.
Tegan and I had lunch at a place I used to eat with my dad, and then came home. Unfortunately, the little bug didn't nap all morning, and crashed in the car at 2:30 for an hour. Ah well. Late night for Daddy. Maybe, if she's still awake, I'll take her to see the Cal Expo fireworks and then drive around until she passes out.
I love Napa as much as I ever did, even though it is a very different place than it was when I lived there. The changes in businesses are actually the hardest things to process; I know it's been nearly 30 years, but some places are only recognizable because I remember the land around them.
The houses in my old neighborhood are still very nice, some of them even nicer than they were, but the driveway (about a quarter-mile long, and shared between eight houses--which is three more than shared it when I lived there) is in poor repair, and I can't help but feel someone is going to have a problem there during a big storm. Not my problem, of course, but it's kind of sad; a lot of people will be massively inconvenienced if any of that road collapses--it's only one car wide, with steep dropoffs on both sides in some areas, and it seems to be crumbling in some of those places.
My primary mission, to obtain a copy of an article written about my family in 1982, was a bust. It was a "puff piece" about a local (my adopted mother) who seemed, on the surface, to be a great person. It's one of those heartwarming tales about the recently-blinded woman and her husband, who rescued three kids in great need. It's also a pack of lies and distortions, and as a primary source, I can attest to them. I use the article in my classes as both a lesson on not always believing what you read unless you can find corroboration, and also in my Journalism class I use it as a lesson in journalistic pitfalls. There was no reason for the article's writer to know 80% of what he was told was incorrect.
Anyway, I can't find anyone with the Napa Register on fiche here, so I went to the Napa Library. And failed. Their ONE fiche machine had a burned-out bulb, which they hadn't known before I got there, and they had no spares on hand. So I was denied.
Tegan and I had lunch at a place I used to eat with my dad, and then came home. Unfortunately, the little bug didn't nap all morning, and crashed in the car at 2:30 for an hour. Ah well. Late night for Daddy. Maybe, if she's still awake, I'll take her to see the Cal Expo fireworks and then drive around until she passes out.