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| Midpoint Cafe, Adrian, Texas. The midpoint on Route 66. (click any image to enlarge) |
Sign, sign,
Everywhere a sign.
Blockin' out the scenery,
Breakin' my mind.
Do this, don't do that,
Can't you read the sign?
—“Signs,” Five Man Electrical Band, 1970
Traveling across the country by automobile, especially trying to stay off the interstate highways by taking secondary roads and going through small towns, one sees a lot of old signs that are interesting. They are remnants of days gone by, what used to be, our collective history and a comment of what our culture used to see as normal.
I’ve always been attracted by history and to the old, abandoned, left behind, out of date, buildings, bridges, factories, signs and other things for many years. During my fall, 2025 road trip, I photographed a number of old signs. Here is s sampling.
By happenstance we discovered a small park in St. Robert, Missouri (St. Robert Neon Park) that has a number of old signs from days gone by. They have been partially restored and light up in the evening. Quite a neat little place to stop.
The next group of signs are also from my fall, 2025 road trip as well, just not all in one place.
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| Uranus, Missoui. Yes, a real place called Uranus. Go Figure? |
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| Springfield, Missouri |
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| Uranus, Missioui |
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| Springfield, Missouri |
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| San Fidel, New Mexico |
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| San Fidel, New Mexico |
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| Joseph City, Arizona |
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| Amboy, California |
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| Seligman, Arizona |
Of course, I didn't photograph all that I saw, although I would have liked to have done so. It just wasn't practical as there were far too many.
Speaking of signs, here is an interesting observation. Surprising. In the American southwest where there are many Native American tribes and hundreds of square miles of tribal lands, there were dozens and dozens of signs advertising jewelry, trinkets, services, etc. Out of all of the signs I saw advertising these handmade goods, not one used the term "Native American." Every one I saw used the term "Indian." I found that quite remarkable and fascinating. I wonder why? Political correctness and conventional wisdom tells us the term ‘Native American’ is the preferred moniker. But?
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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We have the same confusion here in Australia, Dennis. Aboriginal people, we are told by the media and others, should be called First Nation people. That's a Canadian term picked up by activists in the 70s and media in the 80s, and supposedly covers Australian and Torres Strait Islander Indigenous peoples. We grew up knowing them as Aboriginals, but don't call them abos, that's offensive. Speak to them, and they're happy with Aboriginals, or 'blackfulla', and sometimes even 'Australian'! We're 'whitefella', lol. I've met plenty and they are great people, and we have a lot to learn from them. It's a pity we couldn't co exist better
ReplyDeleteThat’s very interesting Michael. I’m very familiar with the “First Nations” terminology as well. After retiring as chief of police (chief constable in the UK) the director of the United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) asked me to come to work for them as a project manager in developing and propagating an information sharing system we jointly developed before I retired. In that position, I frequently worked in the southwestern U.S. and western U.S. and had quite a bit of contact with Native Americans. As far as my memory serves me, I can only remember one person telling me he preferred Native American over the term “Indian.” Almost none cared—no preference. It seems, from your and my experiences, the preferences and original correctness may be more related to those who are not a member of the affected population than the population itself. In short, I’ll always call someone whatever they prefer to be called since it is about them and not me. Thanks for your comment. ~Dennis
DeleteAt least 2 places seem to think stem heat is an *advantage*. Huh.
ReplyDelete