Living Rootless: arrow rock

Showing posts with label arrow rock. Show all posts

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Missouri: Arrow Rock Camping, Part 3: A Fuller History

Never Been Beat by Artist Joe Don Brave, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

The Arrow Rock State Historic Site's Visitor Center is very, very attractive. It is a space easy to miss, abutting the village, but tucked behind trees and a boardwalk. There's an expansive parking lot accessible from the rural highway that serves both the village and the state park.

Joe Don Brave exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

Given the diminutive size of Arrow Rock and its rural setting, it surprised and pleased me to see the permanent exhibit called Slavery, Racism, Violence: Justice and the Constitution -- the African-American experience in the Boone's Lick from Emancipation (1865) to the beginning of the Civil Rights Era.

History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

For healing to occur in our society, it is imperative for us to look at our shared history, to gaze on it, to see it and to see the women, men, and children - our ancestors - who lived it.

History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

The exhibit impressed me with its straightforwardness in presenting facts and the effect of slavery and post-slavery times on residents, both black and white.

History exhibit, Arrow Rock Historic Site Visitor Center, Missouri. May 2018.

The visitor center featured a beautifully-lit room of art work by Joe Don Brave, an artist of Osage and Cherokee heritage.

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Missouri: Arrow Rock Camping, Part 2: Additions to the Carcass Gallery

I experienced a moral dilemma about my photo of this racoon, freshly killed on the road. The original photo was very, very graphic, and it prompted me to think what I wanted to achieve by sharing it or even keeping it at all.

Because I'm not entirely sure why I collect this gallery of animal carcasses to begin with, I didn't have a clear answer to the question of why I would censor one of the photos.

I do know that one reason I capture these pictures is because it is an act of seeing an individual that used to be alive, but which is now dead. So the way I edited the racoon picture is in that spirit. I can look at that small hand, for instance, and touch the leathery palm, in a way. I can see the animal as a whole and not get lost in its entrails.

Dead racoon, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018.

There is something odd about a carrion eater like this vulture being dead. Do vultures eat dead vultures?

Dead vulture, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018.

My cumulative carcass collection below:

Monday, May 7, 2018

Missouri: Arrow Rock Camping, Part 1: Cold Coffee and Some Walks

Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018.

I'm a bit of a camping Goldilocks, perhaps, in that I don't want to camp when it's too cold and I don't want to camp when it's too hot.

The first weekend in May was a splendiferous time for my first Missouri camping foray this year.

I chose Arrow Rock State Park. I've been there before. I like that the state park is tucked up against the village of Arrow Rock, and it's pleasant to poke around town.

Cold coffee fixings, Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018.

To keep things super easy for me, I decided not to cook a damn thing. Not even coffee. Whoa, wait a minute! Not that I'd do without coffee, for God's sake! Nope, I'd bring my favorite instant coffee, some sweetener, a flavored creamer, and shake it all up in cold water each morning. Damn good stuff.

Arrow Rock State Park, Missouri. May 2018.

When I arrived at the campground, I nabbed the second to the last available campsite. Hoo-wee, that was lucky! The Audubon Society was hosting a weekend birding event, so I got there in the nick of time. I saw a lot of big-rig camera gear. Impressive.

I took several walks over the weekend.