...and while it's not quite as early as last year (i swear i saw the first chair a full week before the 4th), we all know that it means that our nation's birthday - and the only I-Day parade in our entire county - is just ahead. More signs of summer: the heat, and the related shift of the every-Friday-evening peace vigil to a cooler 6-7pm under the Pergola in front of Libbey Park.
The Stagecoach Station General Store & Hardware in Upper Ojai got ahead of the game by having its "Freedom Celebration" today, which apparently included the freedoms to make, sell, and buy art, to eat tri-tip, and to enjoy a Jolly Jump. That's followed directly by the Farmer and the Cook's "Brand New Opry", which every Sunday features local musicians paired with organic beer and wine from 6-9pm in Meiners Oaks. Both of these events were only slightly upstaged by the dedication yesterday of the Rotary Community Park, which now features a big white flagpole with a big red-white-and-blue flag. That very park also features this stone:
It reminds me of two things: gravel trucks, and SiCKO.
The latter is Michael Moore's latest documentary in which the healthcare industry finds itself in his camera's crosshairs. i saw it last night at Century 10 Downtown in Ventura, and found it to be just the kind of jaw-dropping, head-shaking, eye-widening, and WHEEL-TURNING film that ought to inspire people to action. The film is connected to Ojai in the same way Ojai is connected to the world: we're all human beings, and we all have a right to be healthy.
The former seems to want to touch the entirety of Mr. Loebl's quote. As i ride my bicycle from Oak View to Ojai City and see a double-hopper gravel truck growl its engines through an intersection or up a slight grade into town, pouring dirty black smoke not only into the air i breathe, but right across my view of our famous Topa's, it's hard for me to see the need for gravel behind the active destruction of my environment, natural resources, health, and safety.
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