Land-Sailing, Within Range of El Chuco
by Rich Wright
The wind started to blow. The car sailed fast, knots and not miles per hour, but lots of them. I tried to pull a tack into the wind, and the cart got up on two wheels, and then everything happened at once.
Getting Tribal on the Creative Class
by Rich Wright
Tribalism transcends class. The greased hair rockabilly aficionados can span the range from just above subsistence to rich. Tribalism transcends income, or wealth, and can transcend social station, though social station can be a tribe of its own.
El Paso Smorgasbord
by Rich Wright
I went to the show looking for, besides the food, the easy imagery, allegories to the social fabric, or rents in the time-space continuum. Instead, I found allusions to identity. And that's probably what El Paso has more of than most other cities.
Edward Ran Away
by Rich Wright
I don't know the real reason Edward ran away. Like a failed marriage, a person can't know the real reasons unless he's one of the principals. Even then, he might only know one side. But it's still hard to be a teenager, even in the best of circumstances.
The Best Bar in El Paso, La Cucaracha, is in Juarez
by Rich Wright
Recently, in the guise of altruistic community service, I came across what is, in my expert opinion, the best bar in El Paso. Of course, it's in Juarez.
Smeltertown Cemetery
by Rich Wright
The cemetery is bleak, now, and the desert is trying to reclaim it with greasewood and thorny mesquite. Most of the graves are marked with simple crosses of wood or concrete or pipe.
Chicken Feet and Zoot Suits
By Rich Wright
El Paso is a great place for bargains, because collectively we're so poor. But that's okay. Consumer behavior doesn't necessarily dictate quality of life. El Paso doesn't have to have a lot of money, as long as we have enough. For example, I like to shop for food at the Mexican grocery store, or, as we call it in my neighborhood, the grocery store.
Commentary on Brand Asarco, and Sociopathy
By Rich Wright
In his book, "The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power," author Joel Bakan makes the argument that if corporations were people, they'd be sociopaths. Now ASARCO has received permission to begin operating the smelter again. And I ask myself, do we want a sociopath operating a smelter in our city?
Political Parties
by Rich Wright
Pre-election parties are different than post-election parties. Pre-election parties are seduction. Post-election parties are payoff. On election night, I went to some post-election parties.
The Taco Experience
by Rich Wright
Tacos are an embodiment of El Paso's key brand feature, our Mexnicity. Our ethnic makeup is our Unique Selling Proposition, that single feature that distinguishes us from every other city in America.
