Thursday, August 22, 2019

Closed Down Rural School Near Denton

I love biking around Denton because you the history and changes in the place all around you. This old school has become a community center after it was shut down in the mid-1900s or so. It makes me think of stories my Dad told about going to a one-room schoolhouse as a kid in rural Wisconsin. Farm kids. I wonder what it was like. My Dad and his brothers went to a school like that and ended up going to college eventually. But many of his kin didn't.





Sunday, August 18, 2019

Victorian House Museum in LA

The craftwork involved in creating these houses and buildings was amazing. They really are works of art compared to a lot of houses today including my own. And the work it took to keep them looking good and cooking and cleaning up and serving the rich owners took plenty of men- and women-hours by working class people. Almost none of that is related to the visitor taken on a tour by two period dressed guides. Nor do they talk about the sexism of the time or the racism or the class divisions that these houses represent. I'd be the first to say "duh" if any of this was mentioned but I was saying that about the other stuff that was relayed about the lives of the rich who inhabited these homes. Many people who come through on tour probably don't think a lot about those issues when seeing these awesome homes. The presenters told us about parties and gatherings where they dress up like the time. Do you think many of them dress like the servants? Why would someone want to live like the rich of old? I walked out bored with the tour before I asked that question.