Friday, July 17, 2009 - Pittsfield MA
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Stand Behind the Weed, Home Farm, Red Rock, East Chatham NY, July 8, 2009
Two nights at Walmart
Spending two nights in a row at Walmart goes against my grain - I don't want to wear out my welcome here. I spent the day today working on some wiring in the rig here within walking distance of Home Depot where I could get parts as I needed them. By the time I was done on this muggy day I decided to just stay another night. After all, tomorrow is Saturday; the Farmer's Market will be on and I can do the laundry I meant to do today before heading back to Red Rock.
Night camp
Wal-Mart Supercenter in Pittsfield MA
Wal-Mart Store #2228, 555 Hubbard Ave./Suite 12, Pittsfield, MA 01201 - (413) 442-1971
- Good level parking lot
- Verizon cell phone service is good
- Verizon EVDO Broadband service is good
- Find other Wal-Marts in the area
- Check the weather here
Disaster and the Failure of Authority
Disasters are almost by definition about the failure of authority, in part because the powers that be are supposed to protect us from them, in part also because the thousand dispersed needs of a disaster overwhelm even the best governments, and because the government version of governing often arrives at the point of a gun. But the authorities don't usually fail so spectacularly. Failure at this level requires sustained effort. The deepening of the divide between the haves and have nots, the stripping away of social services, the defunding of the infrastructure, mean that this disaster—not of weather but of policy—has been more or less what was intended to happen, if not so starkly in plain sight.
The Uses of Disaster Rebecca Solnit, Harpers.org, September 9, 2005