I’ve never gotten the War on Marijuana. I think that the old adage that pot smokers are loosers is kind of silly. Most people I know who smoke pot are actually quite successful. They use the drug in moderation, it chills them out and if anything makes them better at dealing with every day stresses in the a calm and collected way. Sure I know stoners who are loosers but also folks who make a ton more money then I do at my job.
To be clear, smoking marijuana is pungent and it lingers. While odor is closely associated with people’s views on the topic, there is no doubt that it’s pungent. It lingers in the air and on your clothes like mucking a hog or dairy barn. Unlike farmers though, pot smokers don’t usually shower and change out of their barn clothes before heading back to town. I guess you can grow to like the smell and associate it with good things – just like farmers like to joke that manure smells like money.
I don’t worry that much about people driving intoxicated because I think people will find ways to be foolish with motoring however they want to be, and while there may be more deadly crashes, that’s more of an issue of motoring then the drug itself. Marijuana also adjusts perception different that alcohol and its impacts are different. So there’s that.
I do think it would be an excellent agricultural crop especially once it becomes federally legal, which is only a matter of time. If the democrats win the White House that could happen in two years. It’s apparently quite easy to grow and process, it could not only help the agriculture industry but also inspire the younger generation to learn more about agriculture and do some gardening and home cultivation.
“Tell me how long you plan to stay here Joe, some people say that this town don’t look good in snow. You don’t care, I know.“
It is a life goal of mine to eventually get out of New York State in search of greener pastures, where the winters aren’t as cold, the taxes are lower, the regulations are less zealous. Certainly it would be nice to have winters that are less harsh, but honestly having a place with a good woodstove and snowmobiles make it a little less harsh, although I still hate driving on icy roads in the winter.
But it’s not going to happen next week. I plan to stay in New York at least as long as I have family around, which is probably another 10-20 years. I can’t leave my elderly parents alone, especially as my sister has my niece to take care of and she lives over an hour away. They sometimes fall or need to be driven to doctor. And in New York, at least in the Capital Region, there are a lot of good jobs that just aren’t available in Rural America, were wages are lower and the work is generally harder. Albany is able to siphon quite a bit of wealth off America’s biggest city and if you can live frugally, you can put it away for a better tomorrow.
The wind is cold and harsh. Your dress shoes and pants gets covered with road salt, the days are short and gray. Road salt covers your car or truck, burns holes in the sheet metal and corrodes everything up. The best roads to backcountry are blocked off by the snow, although you have question whether or not you would want to camp in the cold and dark nights of winter. But it’s good, I stay home, I save and invest for a better tomorrow. Heating bills may be high, but their offset by lower fuel and supply bills from road trips.
This past weekend when I at Plattsburgh I spent a few minutes in the evening going for a stroll around Plattsburgh State, briefly sticking my head into the Feinberg Library and the Angel Campus Center. Hawkins Hall was locked as it was the weekend so I did not go in – funny enough thought I might still have a key to the building that I was supposed to return decades ago.
I can’t say though that I ever spent that much time at Plattsburgh State, despite my status as alumni and my B.A. degree on Plattsburgh State paper. Between the Assembly Internship and transferring in the bulk of my credits from other colleges, I only was here two autumn semesters. Still I have memories of the time spent here, and I was noticing the Green Fee (the “Energy” part of language was dropped in the give and take of legsilating) that I helped author and push through is being used for investment and improvement in Nature Trail at Rugar Woods all these years later.
Plattsburgh State still is a lot of fun to explore and get around on a bike. Rugar Woods has seen a fair bit of development with a disc golf and the former Rugar Street landfill now sporting the Chip Cummings Baseball Field on top. Officially the trail doesn’t go to the still very dilapidated Imperial Mills Dam, though that may change when the state installs fish ladders over the dam. Real pretty in the autumn colors. People were saying a lot has changed in Plattsburgh over the past twenty years, though at least in my mind the changes are a lot more subtle then I might have thought.
I’ve heard college students have dwindled in recent years – the state college is no longer affordable and monied students don’t want to go to rag-tag Plattsburgh. They demolished Adirondack and Banks Hall, though I never was in either buildings, so I hardly missed them. But at least they still have the classic funky lamps at SUNY Plattsburgh Library, and much of the mid-century Brutalist architecture remains in tack. I put my cowboy hat for a while the other day while I was poking around the city, just for memories of what was.
Before I leave Plattsburgh for who knows how long again, I might stop by the Political Science department to see if any of the professors I know are still around. Probably Dr. Harvey Schantz is the only one left but a lot of people come and go over two decades. I don’t even know if Dr. Tom Konda is still alive but he is certainly long retired. A lot depends on time and if I can get parking nearby the college. I am trying to be gentle on my elderly truck suspension and not push it too hard.
In some ways, it’s hard to put myself back in college. The world was a different place two decades and I was somewhat different of a person. A lot more idealistic but also ignorant. And I certainly undervalued the local scenery and beauty, though to this day, I still love the rural and expansive mountain landscapes. The Adirondack Northway is a treat on the eyes when you drive it. And touring that off-grid cabin and that New Land Trust cabin was definately something that got me thinking about my future, something I want to do some day once my years of work and toil – and investing – add up to something great.
Plattsburgh is a fun town. Not that I would want to live in city or anywhere near it, but living within commute distance to a reasonable place where you can supplies and services is a good thing. The deep rural of Adirondacks makes for much more difficult living when there is not a full-service grocery, a Walmart, healthcare and other services within a half hour drive away. Maybe not New York State due to my years working in sausage factory of Albany, with the gun laws and burn ban, but it’s good to know such places like Plattsburgh exist at least in my mind. While I spent so little time in Plattsburgh, I did really love the brief time I spent up here. Too bad there isn’t more roadside camping opportunities close to Plattsburgh, or I might come up here more.
