I’m afraid there isn’t much “essay” to this photo essay. This summer I went halfway across the country with some photo-shy punks.
I used to hate the National Park system. It tokenizes nature… it lets the federal government say “look, we have nature!” while gutting the rest of public lands. It still does those things and I still hate it for that. But there’s no denying the beauty of these places, and I appreciate the work that they put into making such beauty accessible to people while (usually) attempting to minimize the impact humans have on the area. Hell, if they weren’t in the process of destroying the rest of the undeveloped areas of the country, I could even applaud them for getting humans into specific chosen pretty areas so that the rest of the areas are left alone.
Of course, that’s not what’s happening.
But Glacier is beautiful, even if its namesake glaciers are almost gone. See them while there are any left to see, I suppose.
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I just gave a lecture the other day on 19th century utopian communities and your comments on the National Parks system makes me think of one of the communities I covered: The Kaweah Colony in California.
In the 1880s a group of socialists and labor organizers and their families left San Francisco and went to start a co-operative village among the redwoods in the Sierra Nevada. Their economy was based in a “time check” system, so there was no profit, and equal compensation was given to men and women. Eventually they were kicked out following the formation of Sequoia National Park.
When I found this photo I almost shit my pants:
http://foundsf.org/images/8/8f/Kaweah-coop-in-front-of-karl-marx-tree.jpg
That’s the residents of Kaweah standing in front of the General Sherman tree (which they called the Karl Marx tree) – the largest living tree on earth by volume.
Anyway, I thought all this might be up your alley.
Here’s some more info if you’re curious to learn more:
http://48hillsonline.org/2014/08/27/karl-marx-tree-southern-pacific-railroad-killed-socialist-colony-name-creating-yosemite-national-park/
http://brbl-archive.library.yale.edu/exhibitions/utopia/uc13h.html
http://yesteryearsnews.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/from-karl-marx-to-general-sherman/
Hope you’re doing well.
– Tim